tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039822378571382612024-02-19T02:29:49.546-08:00Football Jersey MuseumA blog on things football, particularly the shirts...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-76294909856703580672013-03-03T15:21:00.000-08:002013-03-03T15:25:27.393-08:00The Tao of collecting. Not so much a philosphy as a way of life.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeSsPcDEoq0tJXxtvcQuNjr1ybNhjk0YKszE7Usnx3tzHcjML7PWekVVtMFmdrrqJ2gl0OqVZFEuXjQKodH6W8l2WZZZMj-nsE6H0K4aRFWwGcOWx8Q3UkJzVj0JwF63_GXkYeVCuMthc/s1600/St+Mirren+1993+away+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeSsPcDEoq0tJXxtvcQuNjr1ybNhjk0YKszE7Usnx3tzHcjML7PWekVVtMFmdrrqJ2gl0OqVZFEuXjQKodH6W8l2WZZZMj-nsE6H0K4aRFWwGcOWx8Q3UkJzVj0JwF63_GXkYeVCuMthc/s320/St+Mirren+1993+away+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why would I buy this? Apart for it's St Mirrenish magnificence</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It is a function of the human condition to have self awareness and wonder who we are and why things are the way they are. For example I'm sure if dogs had self awareness and wondered why the bit their own arses they'd stop doing it. In this spirit of self awareness and introspection I have often wondered why do I collect these damned football shirts and what's wrong with the rest of the world who don't seem to be fascinated by them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I don't honestly know why I collect them and test the patience of her indoors as the spare room slowly fills up with obscure Chilean second division away shirts. I don't for instance have a clearly defined parameter for my collection unlike Canadian collector Eric Kay and his project to get a shirt from each national team in the world. You can see some of his shirts on his site <a href="http://football.nationalteamshirts.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. You will be able to see even more of his disturbingly rare and obscure national shirts when he gets his finger out and gets them onto his site, I can't imagine there's anything else to do during the long Ontario winters. Another of my collecting friends, Anton Sorokin from Russia, seems to have specialised somewhat into more vintage shirts in recent years and is building up a very impressive collection. You can see his shirts <a href="http://www.soccer-collection.narod.ru/" target="_blank">here</a>. In comparison my collection seems to be utterly random and scatter gun with everything from <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Persitara%20Jakarta%20Utara/Persitara%20Jakarta%20Utara.htm" target="_blank">matchworn Indonesian league shirts</a> to the mighty <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Ayr%20Boswell/Ayr%20Boswell.htm" target="_blank">Ayr Boswell Boys Club</a>. I've always just picked up shirts because I <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Kyoto%20Purple%20Sanga/Kyoto%20Purple%20Sanga.htm" target="_blank">like the look of them</a> or they are so <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Sriwijaya%202011/Sriwijaya%202011.htm" target="_blank">bizarre as to be difficult to look at</a> or have a <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/USSR/USSR.htm" target="_blank">historical significance</a>. Some of the are just plain <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Denmark%201986/Denmark%201986.htm" target="_blank">all time greats</a> that any self respecting collector just has to have.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Os4j2gr_BdpQe0Ps8YBBltO96dSNyv-EeYIzx3M7l5r5qxgAHL-APd9DWZefcKbr4YU4_LO8AcGHEARFgJYNbSZ3bIELMq0UlTfXDC2_9KfnvVRgKjlRWizRyskyG8Yxt11kfxlXk1E/s1600/St+Gallen+away+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Os4j2gr_BdpQe0Ps8YBBltO96dSNyv-EeYIzx3M7l5r5qxgAHL-APd9DWZefcKbr4YU4_LO8AcGHEARFgJYNbSZ3bIELMq0UlTfXDC2_9KfnvVRgKjlRWizRyskyG8Yxt11kfxlXk1E/s320/St+Gallen+away+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What possessed me? The most boring shirt in the world.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Over the years I've had specific shirts I've been after like <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Penarol/Penarol.htm" target="_blank">Penarol</a>, <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Santos%202002/Santos%202002.htm" target="_blank">Santos</a> and the <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Mexico%201998/Mexico%201998.htm" target="_blank">1998 Mexico</a> shirt but these have always been individual bits and bobs and there's never been a larger subset I've been looking to fill. Until now that is. I recently noticed that I am only a few shirts away from having at least one from every league team in England and Scotland* and am now setting my sights on ticking the last few off the list. It's a new experience for the otherwise unfocused collector like myself. To complete the whole Scottish league (until league reconstruction or similar moves the goalposts) I only need an Annan Athletic shirt. I suspect I'll need to get one of those directly from the good folks at Galabank given Annan's rather small commercial footprint. At the time of writing this (assuming the couple I've just paid for on Ebay appear) to fill in the English leagues I need to find Crawley Town, Fleetwood Town and York City. Obviously that is until the end of the season but I have a fair chunk of the teams in the upper echelons of the non-league pyramid so as long as bloody Dartford or Braintree don't get promoted to League 2 (or the Fourth Division as it was known in Old Money) I should be OK.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTp-76YwJ8MkggNGzXrAZ8Pof6vBXQH575lTd2lrpz0D9z3ech30CY7PH7RH5orryskaQnaQYaAh-2LI63iXNYGR7a6MvDsfdbVfTNfVeyhSIqRvOiSLCgIhdlNlwDgdwwzERnJc7biSo/s1600/Maranhao+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTp-76YwJ8MkggNGzXrAZ8Pof6vBXQH575lTd2lrpz0D9z3ech30CY7PH7RH5orryskaQnaQYaAh-2LI63iXNYGR7a6MvDsfdbVfTNfVeyhSIqRvOiSLCgIhdlNlwDgdwwzERnJc7biSo/s320/Maranhao+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Danger! Retinal Damage. Safety goggles must be worn.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Once I polish off the UK (with the exception of League of Wales and the Northern Irish league although I have a respectable cross section of those Celtic leagues) I think I'll look at the Brazilian Serie A and B although they're nearly complete already thanks in small part to my friend Bira in Sao Paulo who supplies the finest South American exports which are legal. Then maybe the MLS, who knows That's all in the future though, first I have to find an Annan Athletic shirt...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">*There are a couple of Scottish clubs which I don't have in the collection and will not have. I won't mention them but they're focal points for very nasty politics and frankly medieval prejudices and they both do very well out of it thank you very much. They aren't the cause of the social issues they revel in but they do practically nothing to counter it and the perpetuation of it seems to work for them. A pox on both their houses.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-23790553925597490932013-01-19T14:30:00.000-08:002013-01-19T14:30:25.071-08:00It's just a bit of fun... Part 2<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I started something last week and now I just cant stop and so I present the "Stupid Tournaments based on Team names" Part II.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Lets start off with the <span style="color: red;">Military Cup Final</span> shall we? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Rajnavy Rayong vs El Nacional</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJM8qGr733D9R0RQRDLg807s0xpe7Gk_03lhYm0CRGCyO_CydN06bEUx31WUlCEbUn7dkf7YKfqjPEuw66NAPe_ZRqV15cpDjRLpRkNaEcLw8glqhIr1BGOmlHn9C6gDKdaUV79b1Xvns/s1600/Rajnavy+Rayong+2009+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJM8qGr733D9R0RQRDLg807s0xpe7Gk_03lhYm0CRGCyO_CydN06bEUx31WUlCEbUn7dkf7YKfqjPEuw66NAPe_ZRqV15cpDjRLpRkNaEcLw8glqhIr1BGOmlHn9C6gDKdaUV79b1Xvns/s200/Rajnavy+Rayong+2009+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDzwJ0ywyfoChVdjA4uyq7IKicKjrnqFOQ1b8X9dVoo2R4E4RJz0nD7Y06GA7fjq5eIu4BYMhZVLKe1CiKqUV3JbeuNEs9dlFBqnDc7at87kVVqrWvBtF2J5K3ACU06BcAtBXKPxe7veg/s1600/El+Nacional+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDzwJ0ywyfoChVdjA4uyq7IKicKjrnqFOQ1b8X9dVoo2R4E4RJz0nD7Y06GA7fjq5eIu4BYMhZVLKe1CiKqUV3JbeuNEs9dlFBqnDc7at87kVVqrWvBtF2J5K3ACU06BcAtBXKPxe7veg/s200/El+Nacional+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Rajnavy Rayong are the team of the Thai Royal Navy and El Nacional are a team of the Ecuadoran Military forces. The Ecuadorans would be strong favourites as they are one of that countries most successful clubs and the Ecuadoran League is stronger than the Thai one. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There's always the Perth Cup</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Perth Glory vs St Johnstone</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgNIHZEk3E7Apb7CW13Lz0FB6q1pfYLadmz588Nw_sftj4vcMPGoaMY1XmKaXa_YeaqQi4pJWpy9wGXOGY4hU_fTrMCKoHjN3Qqr91wszvmRh0-t-VuNXFKP0xOHqZcr4_7uEJ4My_alY/s1600/Perth+Glory+2000+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgNIHZEk3E7Apb7CW13Lz0FB6q1pfYLadmz588Nw_sftj4vcMPGoaMY1XmKaXa_YeaqQi4pJWpy9wGXOGY4hU_fTrMCKoHjN3Qqr91wszvmRh0-t-VuNXFKP0xOHqZcr4_7uEJ4My_alY/s200/Perth+Glory+2000+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirJy_5SBj33uMd1oIaePH9D7Y0KqR2hosy9GQuJRv0bRgE6THf3qBsQ0HYbooHX8s2ALKE2kj_r_0lTiKH-CioivZmLMDlLb65lLHDbsNiKS_3fNmNOTFUuM45bP6Dw-x0SUlE-UZnicU/s1600/St+Johnstone+2002+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirJy_5SBj33uMd1oIaePH9D7Y0KqR2hosy9GQuJRv0bRgE6THf3qBsQ0HYbooHX8s2ALKE2kj_r_0lTiKH-CioivZmLMDlLb65lLHDbsNiKS_3fNmNOTFUuM45bP6Dw-x0SUlE-UZnicU/s200/St+Johnstone+2002+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Perth in Western Australia is the most remote city in the world and has a population of almost two million people including it's surrounding environs whereas Perth in Scotland is just touching forty five thousand. Despite this I'd fancy St Johnstone to beat the Glory based on current line ups. For the record St Johnstone was the historical name of the town of Perth thus the club name.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b> </b> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">How about the <span style="color: red;">"Not where you think they are" Cup</span> quarter finals?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> <b>Barcelona vs Juventus</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOvyL5ywY-R8hPGXKX8CYUBaZYuXSL1HVGR_n_w77HNL9xN5p9zHwGe0EP8h0jMVt75u9P9DzIY-36_fwZeCFDc7CBWqIWKeQ8B4spt3HjMtj-QTzMfEFRR65j0c5bbGRAN_1wqlQxt_0/s1600/Barcelona+SC+1999+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOvyL5ywY-R8hPGXKX8CYUBaZYuXSL1HVGR_n_w77HNL9xN5p9zHwGe0EP8h0jMVt75u9P9DzIY-36_fwZeCFDc7CBWqIWKeQ8B4spt3HjMtj-QTzMfEFRR65j0c5bbGRAN_1wqlQxt_0/s200/Barcelona+SC+1999+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaTJFTAkxD47ENJv1_nsxPxHyBQKTGPM_355plmQMV8hpqCUCMaZnviLrAMqruBSCiUWSeHpHvzouhXr-5zM2xpHgQPA5sJ_R5AAK8e0FjuTND2vhqcrKXDcKHKLAT7hJI6rJOqugdOjo/s1600/Juventus+(BRA)+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaTJFTAkxD47ENJv1_nsxPxHyBQKTGPM_355plmQMV8hpqCUCMaZnviLrAMqruBSCiUWSeHpHvzouhXr-5zM2xpHgQPA5sJ_R5AAK8e0FjuTND2vhqcrKXDcKHKLAT7hJI6rJOqugdOjo/s200/Juventus+(BRA)+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Here we have two of European footballs big hitters, or actually we don't. This Barcelona hail from Ecuador and Juventus from Brazil. Like their European namesakes you'd fancy Barcelona to win this one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> <b>Arsenal vs Everton</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhME3cxHa4CjLeHTN5P-xLC0AGoiVPNyE1RtZmOpEA6v6ClcPwUvsdGELg4OZd0BKj6_P_PpineZbSd8K39WOXjdHigC126M8eGnsd0OBbf8dliF29OJw25MyFac2AHt6AZaGgBvdrajOo/s1600/Arsenal+De+Sarandi+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhME3cxHa4CjLeHTN5P-xLC0AGoiVPNyE1RtZmOpEA6v6ClcPwUvsdGELg4OZd0BKj6_P_PpineZbSd8K39WOXjdHigC126M8eGnsd0OBbf8dliF29OJw25MyFac2AHt6AZaGgBvdrajOo/s200/Arsenal+De+Sarandi+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxdpAjviH4ISRXCzvJ0hvLzJ39icLbulTUtTDqAmw2eNldXukyUEcrWw2HSzLkTTKlhlR3phnBcpT9hUAScpo_cAOxudHnlz0tWGPctJn-5qBuRDYnrBjF0gmYXTh0musC1o0oQgT72zE/s1600/Everton+Vina+Del+Mar+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxdpAjviH4ISRXCzvJ0hvLzJ39icLbulTUtTDqAmw2eNldXukyUEcrWw2HSzLkTTKlhlR3phnBcpT9hUAScpo_cAOxudHnlz0tWGPctJn-5qBuRDYnrBjF0gmYXTh0musC1o0oQgT72zE/s200/Everton+Vina+Del+Mar+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">White the Gunners versus the Toffees is a staple fixture in the English top flight but this game would be between sides from Argentina and Chile respectively. I imagine that most times arsenal would win this as you would expect with the same game in England. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Boston vs San Francisco </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-JhQ9rx4eAYtn3Wwoj2il5YqFN_7gbY4Nfl_JA4A_F1AJgnE7SLN2r4Lm1CXKAsheEgmt34J8nRR69uWqHe4NTpnYihjY8IqfG6Tupw8zx_wJtyP_p0OKgdltSihfmzea4K7q0T5Hog/s1600/Boston+United+2006+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-JhQ9rx4eAYtn3Wwoj2il5YqFN_7gbY4Nfl_JA4A_F1AJgnE7SLN2r4Lm1CXKAsheEgmt34J8nRR69uWqHe4NTpnYihjY8IqfG6Tupw8zx_wJtyP_p0OKgdltSihfmzea4K7q0T5Hog/s200/Boston+United+2006+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg6PPD9Dx6R273A3N7SpFCe5TU7veYiKEW7a8cSb48U2w5iO0aR5_n_2kjDL1w2Zcz9kinuY8ulZ3HfizftLkepsejYxhUDNDvjgdO5T1zZWLhp_FYsuWHSkiMc-8JunCQ6HxVSXXHdd8/s1600/San+Francisco+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg6PPD9Dx6R273A3N7SpFCe5TU7veYiKEW7a8cSb48U2w5iO0aR5_n_2kjDL1w2Zcz9kinuY8ulZ3HfizftLkepsejYxhUDNDvjgdO5T1zZWLhp_FYsuWHSkiMc-8JunCQ6HxVSXXHdd8/s200/San+Francisco+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">At first glance you'd expect this to be a tie between the Eastern Seaboard and West Coast of the USA but surprise surprise you'd be wrong. Boston United are based in plain old Lincolnshire rather than Massachusetts and San Francisco are in fact not from California but Panama. Put your money on the Panamanians to win this one. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Santiago Wanderers vs Bohemians</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvq0wJCudXbe2w6lr0NcZXiS1UgC-IdN1B-_xhM6xq2YIqCUYlW4df7GC9Q6fyv0OAjJyczhyphenhyphenmF1vYGHkod4ZeWahY0wmjO3jnVNZVUeW_MOhRItI-8pEPhn6eQx9H-tY-VB2tnqMVPg4/s1600/Santiago+Wanderers+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvq0wJCudXbe2w6lr0NcZXiS1UgC-IdN1B-_xhM6xq2YIqCUYlW4df7GC9Q6fyv0OAjJyczhyphenhyphenmF1vYGHkod4ZeWahY0wmjO3jnVNZVUeW_MOhRItI-8pEPhn6eQx9H-tY-VB2tnqMVPg4/s200/Santiago+Wanderers+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs6mNHsh-qEURtjX2GjGUXqXCXlnVl9_NDkIvE_WkjbGQv5Y9bGLE9QzVbX2jBE0gcb4rYnSVFZG-55redtyYS64Tq5Tzo82o4t2oI3UmfBNww7WLEdPirs6MclU9WDrmN1KHjqlOQisY/s1600/Bohemian+2007+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs6mNHsh-qEURtjX2GjGUXqXCXlnVl9_NDkIvE_WkjbGQv5Y9bGLE9QzVbX2jBE0gcb4rYnSVFZG-55redtyYS64Tq5Tzo82o4t2oI3UmfBNww7WLEdPirs6MclU9WDrmN1KHjqlOQisY/s200/Bohemian+2007+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Ok so far all the teams have been from countries you wouldn't expect but in this one Santiago Wanderers are actually from Chile. For reasons best known to themselves they aren't based in that long skinny country's capital city of Santiago. As for Bohemians, where's Bohemia? I'll tell you where Bohemia is and it's basically the western half of the Czech Republic. It's a long, long way from Dublin where the football club are based. I'd imagine the Chileans would win this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">How about another historical one? Here's the final of the <span style="color: red;">Age of Discovery Explorers Cup Final</span>.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Columbus vs Vasco da Gama</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuu7dTn2TVm2AyioyRmEC6GhATYg8jYoefkCOTUnggTYj8N0mssuiVQY3lZn4YCOD8aqdVlm978KCd_ZyUN8SYklKr3p8uoyj0zmi_cfZS9K9PG9j0tD80Zu_UAk0zm1WFm4ER0g4djyM/s1600/Columbus+Crew+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuu7dTn2TVm2AyioyRmEC6GhATYg8jYoefkCOTUnggTYj8N0mssuiVQY3lZn4YCOD8aqdVlm978KCd_ZyUN8SYklKr3p8uoyj0zmi_cfZS9K9PG9j0tD80Zu_UAk0zm1WFm4ER0g4djyM/s200/Columbus+Crew+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnpVeld2jF4on23yOY_pkTbCoMxiJ5yEskeFuLetuPl-gR-DbYGHhQIwt1RJKZjM5BOgZYJ59Ji2aczSG4_l6ECrqyv9pz_roxzRxETkuPW7WR84koRtMirwa3g2S8F3pz504HeGjGHU/s1600/Vasco+Da+Gama+2002+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnpVeld2jF4on23yOY_pkTbCoMxiJ5yEskeFuLetuPl-gR-DbYGHhQIwt1RJKZjM5BOgZYJ59Ji2aczSG4_l6ECrqyv9pz_roxzRxETkuPW7WR84koRtMirwa3g2S8F3pz504HeGjGHU/s200/Vasco+Da+Gama+2002+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For a man who never set foot on the mainland of the Americas and thought he had found eastern Asia Christopher Columbus doesn't half get a lot of credit. Columbus crew are not directly named after him but their home town of Columbus, Ohio is. Vasco Da Gama, from Rio de Janeiro, are named after the famous Portuguese explorer of the same name and another man who never so much as visited the New World. The Brazilians would be the winners of this one. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Some more modern history now with the "Warsaw Pact countries that don't exist anymore" cup final. There's not a huge number of entrants for this one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Yugoslavia vs USSR</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixAQ1x9_NkC56lLBBsWaJ6-XmJOvz2k4Vg9KJZG_SoD-yPs6EAjavndQhSah0ZRwNXHdg3eSQXUWpRRjk9yXSWKW2K_zzMfKWjA_3TW-rAHb40dvRAZe66BHwqlVNpOsODd_i4C4zCxf4/s1600/Yugoslavia+1990+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixAQ1x9_NkC56lLBBsWaJ6-XmJOvz2k4Vg9KJZG_SoD-yPs6EAjavndQhSah0ZRwNXHdg3eSQXUWpRRjk9yXSWKW2K_zzMfKWjA_3TW-rAHb40dvRAZe66BHwqlVNpOsODd_i4C4zCxf4/s200/Yugoslavia+1990+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUQ1SDvtiiyqZ-m9uRycSk4FilJwQ9JeV5vDYpHVkaDKKrq4EvW_iyHHsCCX68rL9mISlcQO9TTOCxxoOcmZXYOprdaI-sK_UC32_cUS6xJjKKjqhWQJzIjiPnwdxksdGxon_y6EkQyg/s1600/USSR+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUQ1SDvtiiyqZ-m9uRycSk4FilJwQ9JeV5vDYpHVkaDKKrq4EvW_iyHHsCCX68rL9mISlcQO9TTOCxxoOcmZXYOprdaI-sK_UC32_cUS6xJjKKjqhWQJzIjiPnwdxksdGxon_y6EkQyg/s200/USSR+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The break up of these two countries spawned no less than 23 new footballing nations in Asia and Europe so there was obviously a bit of talent there. Even though the Yugoslavs were excellent you would still imagine the sheer power of the Soviets would win this one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Here's one with a more domestic flavour. It's the <span style="color: red;">Fictitious Sides Cup Final</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Harchester United vs Warbury Warriors</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimaR7hpTPuyj0N09Y9sGCeBX2M1gdNDymfvJGxnFcVPFhbM6JMszqHZ-YIFYhl_9K56jcmzZm1zh3U83AJAf8Ds63_mTf2FW1THv41Dr8cKL6agtsO1QU8loWgwspWiJs25N_jJplq1ug/s1600/Harchester+United+1997+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimaR7hpTPuyj0N09Y9sGCeBX2M1gdNDymfvJGxnFcVPFhbM6JMszqHZ-YIFYhl_9K56jcmzZm1zh3U83AJAf8Ds63_mTf2FW1THv41Dr8cKL6agtsO1QU8loWgwspWiJs25N_jJplq1ug/s200/Harchester+United+1997+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3IbLwqHf4131nYYftsisOqHf41qnqIFFV_zQRU15A_sISNV9LdZGnEabMAkx5XcjSDVvCohyphenhyphenWyiy2_NgcHjO5xA0ho4yX8AmA_nEHgp5W42_UTwjVvaRFCAarPHos3S6hvoe1anmIPW8/s1600/Warbury+Warriors+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3IbLwqHf4131nYYftsisOqHf41qnqIFFV_zQRU15A_sISNV9LdZGnEabMAkx5XcjSDVvCohyphenhyphenWyiy2_NgcHjO5xA0ho4yX8AmA_nEHgp5W42_UTwjVvaRFCAarPHos3S6hvoe1anmIPW8/s200/Warbury+Warriors+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Harchester United were the team which the soap opera "Dream Team" revolved while Warbury Warriors are the team featured in the newspaper comic strip "Striker". I've never followed either to be honest as while I am clearly a sad individual as this blog suggests I do have a bit of a life. Who knows which side would win. That would be a stupid thing to ponder, not like the rest of the blog, right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'll stop there but I may well be back with this. I've got loads more of these...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-15709650809730618942013-01-13T13:54:00.002-08:002013-01-19T14:29:49.542-08:00It's just a bit of fun. Well it's fun if you're geeky enough.<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Hi again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Apologies as always for not blogging more often but I have been focusing on getting the site up to date and apart from anything else I hate the verb "to blog". The site is now as up to date as it can be for now and I've had a chance to draw breath. It's given me a chance to write up an idea I've been knocking about in my head for a while - stupid tournaments based on team names.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Firstly we have the <span style="color: red;"><u><b>Peloponnesian War Cup</b></u></span> final:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><u>Spartans vs Corinthians</u></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyPD_IRIPEF8m_fP4mGjmvaFF_9Er289GU9ZEaglC35v5VUtE8BjAqmChpCv0-QrRM9u7XmjxaYsr4JHVO3BGLql9atU8iDbi4RZ_lQ-uHbqGuWGd6rwWLrg4Nt4bvsGDt7LDn9XpHYJg/s1600/Spartans+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyPD_IRIPEF8m_fP4mGjmvaFF_9Er289GU9ZEaglC35v5VUtE8BjAqmChpCv0-QrRM9u7XmjxaYsr4JHVO3BGLql9atU8iDbi4RZ_lQ-uHbqGuWGd6rwWLrg4Nt4bvsGDt7LDn9XpHYJg/s200/Spartans+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo347n058UNepAVUFcSzP9WOwgRJwiNFMycEt9SXBaRce_pP-Yh4lcfMZYN1F3TK3KfGRObaJMmByobKKM4oLoQ5u7WjC7wrtaySrQlDp2KZIl68d_ni53JKW4Su7WBwrMwvgHwVAoFf8/s1600/Corinthians+1999+away+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo347n058UNepAVUFcSzP9WOwgRJwiNFMycEt9SXBaRce_pP-Yh4lcfMZYN1F3TK3KfGRObaJMmByobKKM4oLoQ5u7WjC7wrtaySrQlDp2KZIl68d_ni53JKW4Su7WBwrMwvgHwVAoFf8/s200/Corinthians+1999+away+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Now I know that technically the city states of Sparta and Corinth were nominal allies during the Pelopennesian War but overlook that for the sake of a rather laboured little joke. Given that the conflict in question took place in Greece, admittedly 2500 years ago, it's unusual that neither side here hails from Greece but from Edinburgh and Sao Paulo respectively. Ah well they do say Edinburgh, home of "The Spartans" is the "Athens of the North". For the record Sparta won the Pelopennesian War although I suspect the Edinburgh based semi-professional outfit would be rather unlikely to beat the reigning Copa Libertadores and World Club Cup champions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">While we're in the classical world let's look at the semi-final draw of the <u><span style="color: red;"><b>Herculean Trophy</b></span></u> shall we?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><u>OFI vs Hercules</u></b></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfZaOlxQzPxWZI-Ig6UBTuqlowNWgtltfAhO90VUHGz5F4djrzdvr9o2IUpE9mfRK03GLQqE_Ln8t3bMIvbvy9mFmEYEqxeKNqviXwJrRC4gkVBwJavypCgo6XYpQyIcm3haWEX5LCsI/s1600/OFI+Crete+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfZaOlxQzPxWZI-Ig6UBTuqlowNWgtltfAhO90VUHGz5F4djrzdvr9o2IUpE9mfRK03GLQqE_Ln8t3bMIvbvy9mFmEYEqxeKNqviXwJrRC4gkVBwJavypCgo6XYpQyIcm3haWEX5LCsI/s200/OFI+Crete+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1BVYEWQtiS9QKScAfGtSxeupfiuqAqJ1RG9k0viJOCCLxQBaHSEqhcpFsVP220OalDcrta-OJrk8B7gH9D4epDnThaH0-S53zyadEAlCy80Xzk8q2GEsWLDHyPJCCsBXUE_tYxbJ9wzQ/s1600/Hercules+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1BVYEWQtiS9QKScAfGtSxeupfiuqAqJ1RG9k0viJOCCLxQBaHSEqhcpFsVP220OalDcrta-OJrk8B7gH9D4epDnThaH0-S53zyadEAlCy80Xzk8q2GEsWLDHyPJCCsBXUE_tYxbJ9wzQ/s200/Hercules+1.jpg" width="200" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Hercules is the individual whom I believe has the most team named in his honour, even given that he's a mythical figure. OFI are based in the capital of Crete, Iraklion a small city which is named after Hercules while Hercules are from eastern Spain and have adopted the Latinised form of the demigod's name. I'd fancy the Spaniards to make the final where they'll play the winners of:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><u>Herakles Almelo vs Iraklis</u></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU4f24wQaHx8hBBjhcHX0As2DmkmXqNWblb5N2HAsrPhbpOFNbAH-9GU0udy2dpi6Jjynv67KXz8wuFSnCDlNcAn4-6oYfsJIgGxgTbJuaCT8rsvKkd4RlpYgunrfpXeE_wENYAIBvT28/s1600/Heracles+Almelo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU4f24wQaHx8hBBjhcHX0As2DmkmXqNWblb5N2HAsrPhbpOFNbAH-9GU0udy2dpi6Jjynv67KXz8wuFSnCDlNcAn4-6oYfsJIgGxgTbJuaCT8rsvKkd4RlpYgunrfpXeE_wENYAIBvT28/s200/Heracles+Almelo+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXa7leChuRLXrL3Bi3vy0jqspfI5Gjmo5Ukob7H9ns_NELSjdJ03reBSGbnjH9_RA6hLvrB3xrv95FKvCl03D5nMUei299kSIX8JjafxIpU7_1UbrcRYwpWz2tcwAJGqd7xcSWXL3Gm8g/s1600/Iraklis+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXa7leChuRLXrL3Bi3vy0jqspfI5Gjmo5Ukob7H9ns_NELSjdJ03reBSGbnjH9_RA6hLvrB3xrv95FKvCl03D5nMUei299kSIX8JjafxIpU7_1UbrcRYwpWz2tcwAJGqd7xcSWXL3Gm8g/s200/Iraklis+1.jpg" width="200" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Herakles Almelo from the Netherlands use a version of the her's namemore akin the original Greek while Iraklis, from Thessalonika use the actual Greek for obvious reasons. Iraklis even have picture of Hercules and his famous brass bound club on the badge. This semi final would be too close to call but the winner of it would do well to beat the Spanish side from the other semi. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'm not finished with the classical world, not by a long way. Here's the final of the <span style="color: red;"><b><u>"I'm Spartacus" </u></b><span style="color: black;">Cup</span></span>: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u><b>Spartak Moscow vs Roma </b></u></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQqdp0Cqi5DyiHKCmBVeeFoaYv6qlK-aA2Qzc-e4-75Isxe5MA-5G9hDiPYR31l-AU3i8IYd_wHpmmjBldIN_4BVR-IAx2bhhrVHW3Pln7LfllD3YejEzgKy63SpyStB9Cu0Vx-02gfP4/s1600/Spartak+Moscow+2006+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQqdp0Cqi5DyiHKCmBVeeFoaYv6qlK-aA2Qzc-e4-75Isxe5MA-5G9hDiPYR31l-AU3i8IYd_wHpmmjBldIN_4BVR-IAx2bhhrVHW3Pln7LfllD3YejEzgKy63SpyStB9Cu0Vx-02gfP4/s200/Spartak+Moscow+2006+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulzcW0XYqzndHB6dTL5Vj-67kJnEWm2KRPt6aE0rdxzNga-FKaohxAWI6dB7unED3Vv_31RFsCSG44WZb30VBgQzRZE0Z4dSevqo_MwJAr8eVk76KtUNU06vit9y1iANojIA8gixZ9kU/s1600/Roma+1993+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulzcW0XYqzndHB6dTL5Vj-67kJnEWm2KRPt6aE0rdxzNga-FKaohxAWI6dB7unED3Vv_31RFsCSG44WZb30VBgQzRZE0Z4dSevqo_MwJAr8eVk76KtUNU06vit9y1iANojIA8gixZ9kU/s200/Roma+1993+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Spartak Moscow are named after the Thracian gladiator Spartacus who led a rebellion against the Romans in the First Century BC. In this particular scenario the Roman legions are represented by Roma, obviously. I suspect that, just like the original Spartacus the Russians would lose to the Romans although with a lot fewer crucifictions afterwards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">OK, this is the last one form the ancient world I promise. How about the <b><u><span style="color: red;">Trojan War Cup</span></u></b> semi finals?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u><b>Paris (St Germain) vs Achilles '29</b></u></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAaTfWZw087Gn7zlQdbvegCEwYTT7T4WoQg_TSwNUWaj9T9vsg6gryHgv-lMWda-6x2vk1SDxReddXImjLIRtY2z3hwGToXexAp41Lq-vTgOxH4FXjP61axi6F2XpqCGRtX1gveVvt-o/s1600/Paris+St+Germain+2002+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAaTfWZw087Gn7zlQdbvegCEwYTT7T4WoQg_TSwNUWaj9T9vsg6gryHgv-lMWda-6x2vk1SDxReddXImjLIRtY2z3hwGToXexAp41Lq-vTgOxH4FXjP61axi6F2XpqCGRtX1gveVvt-o/s200/Paris+St+Germain+2002+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijpEgKASSCRr79e_Sxk-kyr7OKbU_u0mnITyYOBH9uMxXA0AMRZECUL4cFPAORvreWo8ZDNvWzFTwLa0Z7KvByal7TEqn28f-Y3PajRkJX5_W-NfSB9iKhOJ7xhqBSDCimtg4jnOvBYkw/s1600/achilles_29_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijpEgKASSCRr79e_Sxk-kyr7OKbU_u0mnITyYOBH9uMxXA0AMRZECUL4cFPAORvreWo8ZDNvWzFTwLa0Z7KvByal7TEqn28f-Y3PajRkJX5_W-NfSB9iKhOJ7xhqBSDCimtg4jnOvBYkw/s200/achilles_29_1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Paris, as I'm sure you know was the Trojan prince who kidnapped/ran off with Helen of Troy to trigger the Trojan war. Achilles was the preeminent Greek (or Achean to be more correct) warrior leading the attack on Troy. In the legend Paris killed Achilles with a poisoned arrow wound in the heel. I suspect PSG would heavily beat the amateur side from the Netherlands who would have more than an Achilles heel to worry about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><u>Ajax vs AEK Athens</u></b></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnaMVjPH8mf3glN-498T3CsRfTafSK-TcV3iGIsvMIex8Cx0W5gcVlbfIqu6qSeu3MtiLsAKaEjGcMHWjQO-b25dzh2zfP6LeZyxBtbAqo2o47RYFIsCfJYl3VJX49Jf0Viw1gFdVC4I/s1600/Ajax+1994+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnaMVjPH8mf3glN-498T3CsRfTafSK-TcV3iGIsvMIex8Cx0W5gcVlbfIqu6qSeu3MtiLsAKaEjGcMHWjQO-b25dzh2zfP6LeZyxBtbAqo2o47RYFIsCfJYl3VJX49Jf0Viw1gFdVC4I/s200/Ajax+1994+1.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhck4Fio7qWYF4M_DL0XfDyCqnUiwqh91sRlE-rW0nSZq-99HtfE1d2Z26Cu5SmdpRxEfxRsyFfX0_fgf-hNyUOjmtxIaKTTJGiVMJpWr30G3JGh5keUAaNu4lilOImjOFsnKGjyseH4n0/s1600/AEK+Athens+2000+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhck4Fio7qWYF4M_DL0XfDyCqnUiwqh91sRlE-rW0nSZq-99HtfE1d2Z26Cu5SmdpRxEfxRsyFfX0_fgf-hNyUOjmtxIaKTTJGiVMJpWr30G3JGh5keUAaNu4lilOImjOFsnKGjyseH4n0/s200/AEK+Athens+2000+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Ajax was a Greek warrior who went mad with anger and hung himself after not being awarded Achilles armour after Achiulles funeral. Athena, the eponymous deity of the city of Athens meddled in the Trojan war all through the legend. all things being equal I suspect the Dutch giants would beat the Greeks in this one but PSG would win overall.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I could go on and on with these things related to the classical world like Sparta Rotterdam vs Sparta Prague but I promised I'd stop with them. Let's move onto the <span style="color: red;"><b><u>Historical Monarchs Cup </u></b></span>Final shall we?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><u>Willem II vs Dom Pedro II</u></b></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHWajBCpZh6QGEFP8HxwFplRPH_bWrVI4Sqi2hqjwddWBxBQZ6yhN46SDwfWoWR392uLMw26dtIeOaYAMaCNy_if1GuPB49OK6FoEHJ2i-wTCcWJwAWvEC-RDqFxqjJn80nKj-OhxAMcA/s1600/Willem+II+2002+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHWajBCpZh6QGEFP8HxwFplRPH_bWrVI4Sqi2hqjwddWBxBQZ6yhN46SDwfWoWR392uLMw26dtIeOaYAMaCNy_if1GuPB49OK6FoEHJ2i-wTCcWJwAWvEC-RDqFxqjJn80nKj-OhxAMcA/s200/Willem+II+2002+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNwSWVEuikqKaQbbV50XlB61HRL-0Gv3tZ498WALREJTQKfSlOvvxfYvKAuneCdZfQiisIXfvUd0qgYyAHUp3A3cDLAROqy8ylhuWhvQ7HOtE62gaB3me0fvTT_DZp0fHcN8bkYz2DD38/s1600/Dom+Pedro+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNwSWVEuikqKaQbbV50XlB61HRL-0Gv3tZ498WALREJTQKfSlOvvxfYvKAuneCdZfQiisIXfvUd0qgYyAHUp3A3cDLAROqy8ylhuWhvQ7HOtE62gaB3me0fvTT_DZp0fHcN8bkYz2DD38/s200/Dom+Pedro+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There aren't many teams named after historical monarchs bet here's a couple of them. Willem II (1792-1849) was the king of the Netherlands and has the club from Tilburg named after him for some sort of tenuous reason. Dom Pedro II (1825 - 1891) was the Emperor of Brazil which is something of a surprise as most people outside South America probably don't even know Brazil had emperors. Put your money on the Dutch side to win this one as the Brazilian side are small fry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Enough history for a while. Lets have a game between two big names of Scottish football shall we. I don't actually have shirts of the biggest teams in Scotland for my own reasons but we can still look at the semi-finals of the <span style="color: red;"><b><u>"Not The Old Firm" Cup</u></b></span>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><u>Stafford Rangers vs Stalybridge Celtic</u></b></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX8jI5J5aMblL-brcaIQ9d-P2OLXL7rpWXdvjOjCTHMBNOkHJhZcD-ehg2EDC4rVB0LThQFaCpTqEdheXE-D-_c1rPaHhQ45EHhLWt92o1MMVjdfyT4SVtdfrav7FTogBeQzl3Hvzdnk0/s1600/Stafford+Rangers+2006+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX8jI5J5aMblL-brcaIQ9d-P2OLXL7rpWXdvjOjCTHMBNOkHJhZcD-ehg2EDC4rVB0LThQFaCpTqEdheXE-D-_c1rPaHhQ45EHhLWt92o1MMVjdfyT4SVtdfrav7FTogBeQzl3Hvzdnk0/s200/Stafford+Rangers+2006+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5wrnuvpfoFF97sQXgU7-pm6eUHrxtBECUkR56aoLsyKYjVs9B7cG-d67OGq_iX2Oh8KjPQUpmSsA0oeb27kyLysSzZFAARzC9n-eUkeHVqxxKOkyOw6D__ZKArQI4ahh1sUCB593WY-g/s1600/Stalybridge+Celtic+away+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5wrnuvpfoFF97sQXgU7-pm6eUHrxtBECUkR56aoLsyKYjVs9B7cG-d67OGq_iX2Oh8KjPQUpmSsA0oeb27kyLysSzZFAARzC9n-eUkeHVqxxKOkyOw6D__ZKArQI4ahh1sUCB593WY-g/s200/Stalybridge+Celtic+away+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">These two English non-league sides share names with the Glaswegian giants but as far as I know have no other affiliations to them. Stafford Rangers, hailing from Stafford surprisingly, would be the underdogs here against Stalybridge Celtic who are based in Greater Manchester.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u><b>Beijing Celtic vs Rangers De Talca</b></u></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVkgVWPFCCqBNmw28YWIYgqNI-xYmumcOnhaSIsY0ARuNTmDaF7-pSapIZXVT0KOdXreF89V_It0Viv-N501Ld_LEjSd8s3AFZ7_l9jqYMyeSqLxWLdSZQ00pc8g5HSAPXtfgpdrFIVVg/s1600/Beijing+Celtic+2003+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVkgVWPFCCqBNmw28YWIYgqNI-xYmumcOnhaSIsY0ARuNTmDaF7-pSapIZXVT0KOdXreF89V_It0Viv-N501Ld_LEjSd8s3AFZ7_l9jqYMyeSqLxWLdSZQ00pc8g5HSAPXtfgpdrFIVVg/s200/Beijing+Celtic+2003+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEh0NeNoYCVLE0knxq9hLb87ECfBBkryixW20dR_MafZ3kUZ9IIMcUH1JfWbLkC7zO45JTy4A03kkdbE0vSWJa6eC61xY0LERuxdQHFJs16eXW0H6GIOErM92rKy5JoZ7KxBgwYWlTQhw/s1600/Rangers+2008+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEh0NeNoYCVLE0knxq9hLb87ECfBBkryixW20dR_MafZ3kUZ9IIMcUH1JfWbLkC7zO45JTy4A03kkdbE0vSWJa6eC61xY0LERuxdQHFJs16eXW0H6GIOErM92rKy5JoZ7KxBgwYWlTQhw/s200/Rangers+2008+1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Beijing does not have any particular love for Celtic or indeed any other Scottish team but clearly has enough ex-pats to get some sort of team together. Rangers de Talca from central Chile were apparently named by a Scotsman so may well be named after the Glaswegian side. The Chileans would be very heavy favourites to win this one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'll stop there but I really could go on and on with these, in fact I might do some more some other time. Alternatively I might get myself a life but that's unlikely. </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-79709495194490372302012-08-15T15:15:00.000-07:002013-01-13T13:51:52.101-08:00Olympic football. An eyewitness report...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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Hello. I remember back in 2005 when the Olympics were awarded to London I was unashamedly underwhelmed having no interest in athletics or rowing or showjumping. I have to confess now that I do appreciate the games more and enjoy the chance to see some more esoteric sports such as handball, volleyball and water polo. Olympic football has largely passed me by in all honesty so I was pleasantly surprised when my significant other announced she had bought tickets for us to watch the double header of group games between the titans of New Zealand and Egypt followed by the mighty Belarus against some mob of minnows from Brazil. All of a sudden I was enthused by the prospect of a visit to Old Trafford to see the matches. I hadn't been to Old Trafford for years (Last time I had been Fabrizio Ravanelli scored against them for Middlesbrough!) so it was shaping up to be a good day out. The day itself was good although a couple of games with an hour or so in between makes for a long afternoon, so long in fact the other half fell asleep during a football match with a mere 66000 people in attendance proving my assertion that she can and will sleep anywhere. It was a genuinely nice experience to go along to a football match where segregation wasn't necessary and a genuinely good atmosphere pervaded. I suspect it was a peculiarly twenty first century experience to go to a double header of matches between countries from South America, Europe, Africa and Oceania and end up sitting next to a guy from Kazakhstan and end up discussing flight durations to Central Asia but such was my lot on the day. The football was generally decent and both games benefited from the comparative underdogs scoring early goals. Egypt's Ahmed Hegazy caught the eye as did elements of the Belarussian midfield which looked neat and tidy but the main attraction was surely the Brazilian side.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The spirit of Olympic football. A periscopey thing made of highly toxic mercury</span></span></td></tr>
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The stadium filled up markedly for the second game with what I can only assume was every Brazilian with a passport appearing to cheer on the selecao. In the end the Brazilians were just too damned strong for Belarus and ran out comfortable 3-1 winners. Neymar might just be the best (non-St Mirren) player I've seen with my own two eyes. "He got game" as they say in the states.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pele's got my name on the back of one his jerseys too. Honestly</span></td></tr>
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On the subject of St Mirren I noticed that Manchester United have named a stand after Alex Ferguson. I can only assume that this was for his sterling work at Love St in the late 1970 and early 80s. I imagine it's only a matter of time before they name their other stands after Ricky MacFarlane, Alex Smith and Tom Hendrie. Who knew that even the corporate shills at Man U thought so highly of St Mirren?</div>
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As you probably know the individual flair of the Brazilians got them a silver medal but wasn't enough to deal with the characteristically savvy and talented Mexicans. From a footy shirt perspective the tournament was a bit of a non event. Most countries sported a fairly plain shirt with their national flag in place of a badge but some such as USA, Morocco and Egypt didn't even bother with that! The best shirts were probably the victorious Mexico, Honduras or (whisper it) Team GB. Team GB was mercifully short lived experiment with a distinctly temporary air about it and it all felt a bit forced and understandably artificial. It was the first time in my lifetime such a thing had existed and I never really got a handle on how to relate to it. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In other news the site is coming along slowly and I've made a lot of changes behind the scenes and been doing a LOT of shirt photography, 670 down only 437 shirts to go which as the more numerate amongst you will not takes the collection over 1100 shirts. If that's not time for a sanity check what is? Anyway the push is on over the next few weeks to get a shedload more photography done and then gradually get ALL the shirts on the site. If anyone out there knows anything about search engine optimisation let me know as the site traffic has just dropped of a cliff since I put the new one online.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Until next time take care, have fun and enjoy the new season. Yeaaaaay, proper footy is back. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-87423921350012478862012-07-09T16:01:00.002-07:002012-07-09T16:03:51.983-07:00Notes and Queries<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3wRri2Ypqw_fp1XAHZuBZGAjjjYli2WrjjiJFJqAUbgmySIhEHkuFuIyglBUAiQjZmj7_1ZFHNNrExxexuL9FWRD14-pfgZbKC7-6DZrs_1dYC1wiI_GoyBLPCRRXtdgxHqksw-ISwxY/s1600/12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3wRri2Ypqw_fp1XAHZuBZGAjjjYli2WrjjiJFJqAUbgmySIhEHkuFuIyglBUAiQjZmj7_1ZFHNNrExxexuL9FWRD14-pfgZbKC7-6DZrs_1dYC1wiI_GoyBLPCRRXtdgxHqksw-ISwxY/s400/12.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New website graphics. So many black and white stripes it's practically a barcode!</td></tr>
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Thanks you for attending ladies and gentlemen. This blog will cover a few thought which occur and a couple of bits of site news.</div>
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Firstly, the new site is up and running and has just over half of the collection on it (562 of 1073 at present). I'm hoping to get another BIG chink of the collection uploaded to it in the next few weeks. It's on the usual URL - <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/">www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk</a> so have a look round it and let me know what you think. I've added thumbnails of all the shirts on the menu pages which took ages to do but helps browsing through the site. </div>
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I'm currently having withdrawal symptoms from the excellent Euro 2012 tournament. That was the best international tournament I remember for quite some time. The vast majority of the teams played an attacking brand of football, even <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Italy%202010/Italy%202010.htm" target="_blank">Italy</a>! While I would have liked to see <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Germany%201994/Germany%201994.htm" target="_blank">Germany</a> in the final Spain were worthy winners and dispatched the Italians with elan and panache. the tournament was also very well refereed on the whole even of the <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Greece%202006/Greece%202006.htm" target="_blank">Greece</a> sending off in the opening game was very harsh. The referees didn't blow for a free kick every time someone fell over and waved play on when in tournaments passed they would have stopped the game. Long may it continue.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlA6zFCUFrcWm3RRjQYUcvEWBglCtwZeW6mlLDsO5MZvgZu7aYgLecesLSQGCmor_Kh3gz6LNGuT5EPTzPqxCX-QskVV6CfVMjyjoBeRG2jYnUPdUeRIwUYT-E120byG8s178vorRJUg/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlA6zFCUFrcWm3RRjQYUcvEWBglCtwZeW6mlLDsO5MZvgZu7aYgLecesLSQGCmor_Kh3gz6LNGuT5EPTzPqxCX-QskVV6CfVMjyjoBeRG2jYnUPdUeRIwUYT-E120byG8s178vorRJUg/s400/3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is this sending your eyes funny yet?</td></tr>
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Here in the UK the continuing farce of the Olympic football team has reached fever pitch when manager Stuart Pearce had the audacity to pick a squad based on trying to win games and not about giving past it media whores a last hurrah. The UK press seem to think that he should have included David Beckham in the squad as a thank you for all Beckham's work in getting the Olympics in the first place. Here's the thing. IT'S AN UNDER 23 TOURNAMENT. While you're allowed three over 23s in the squad it's a tight 18 man squad and that doesn't really leave much room for a guy pushing 40 whose legs have gone and is semi-retired (given he doesn't seen to take his job at <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Los%20Angeles%20Galaxy/Los%20Angeles%20Galaxy.htm" target="_blank">LA Galaxy</a> all that seriously). Pearce did pick Ryan Giggs who is <i>even older</i> than Beckham but still playing week in week out in the EPL and Champions League AND wont disappear halfway through a tournament to do some media work. As for picking him as a "Thank You" that's utterly ridiculous. Sebastian Coe has worked on the Olympic project for years but nobody is suggesting that he should dust off his running spikes for the 1500m are they? So the press are criticising Pearce for trying to pick a squad based on merit and availability as opposed to who is friends with Tom Cruise.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlA6zFCUFrcWm3RRjQYUcvEWBglCtwZeW6mlLDsO5MZvgZu7aYgLecesLSQGCmor_Kh3gz6LNGuT5EPTzPqxCX-QskVV6CfVMjyjoBeRG2jYnUPdUeRIwUYT-E120byG8s178vorRJUg/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlA6zFCUFrcWm3RRjQYUcvEWBglCtwZeW6mlLDsO5MZvgZu7aYgLecesLSQGCmor_Kh3gz6LNGuT5EPTzPqxCX-QskVV6CfVMjyjoBeRG2jYnUPdUeRIwUYT-E120byG8s178vorRJUg/s400/3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Or have you gone colour blind?</td></tr>
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In other news Glasgow Rangers no longer exist, having dodged paying their taxes and essentially cheated through financial doping. Due to the hugely unbalanced nature of Scottish football where two clubs have over 80% of the fanbase this has put the whole league into jeopardy with TV deals and sponsors looking to bail out as it turns out they are only interested in basking in the reflected sectarian bigotry of Old Firm games. A pox on all their houses. At least the rest of the SPL had the integrity to boot the newly reformed Rangers out and the SFL are in two minds about where to accommodate them. I just hope that this doesn't have too much of a financial impact on the league as a lot of people could lose a living wage. Just as an aside this is a chance for the newly formed Rangers to make a statement and put some clear blue water between the club and the darker side of the heritage of the old Rangers. I doubt they will as a bigot's money is a good as anyone else's isn't it?</div>
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Anyway, that's the blog ticked off for another four months...</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-42478215305864250582012-03-04T17:24:00.002-08:002012-03-04T17:24:39.639-08:00Form is temporary, a profound lack of class is permanent!<br />
OK, so I'm a bad blogger, have no blogging discipline and wont be going to the Euro 2012 Blogging Championships in Bjarkalundur this summer. In my defence I'd say that I'm not the first person to go missing halfway through the season, in fact I recall the whole Charlton Athletic team doing it year in year out under Alan Curbishley.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwdHiriIPmfJsDTW1jHLJoZiq16H2hppM9JzNECzY-uakXef9_UWD3P_k1lGasETjNJ_woXGBDGnRElH8U7Sgv9tafX18JD2VgXw9OX99-MYD-b4o5yiBznCPzEZDPcQ8SeKpoXiTxkM/s1600/Laos+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwdHiriIPmfJsDTW1jHLJoZiq16H2hppM9JzNECzY-uakXef9_UWD3P_k1lGasETjNJ_woXGBDGnRElH8U7Sgv9tafX18JD2VgXw9OX99-MYD-b4o5yiBznCPzEZDPcQ8SeKpoXiTxkM/s320/Laos+1.jpg" width="320" /></a>Regular devotees of the website will also notice that I haven't updated it in months. There's a reason for this. I had an agreement with a web design company to redo my site. This meant that I realistically had to rephotograph ALL of the sodding shirts (1053 at last count and more on the way) which will take a while. Well things change and the deal with the web design company fell through but it made me look at my site which is a bit "Web 1.0" and I have already done new photos for about 25% of the shirts. All of these factors mean I've stopped updating the current site and have decided to throw all my limited mental capacity into developing a new look website myself. It wont look professional but it will look better than the current one.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizALtNj89589Af1g9t4g9FFJ5LRUUhev6v1FI1wuGZiF3GRgg8bfhgxm45oA600KBOnx50OvuFuHhBjBoGKqYBG3vZui3BXdE1VQD-D7iNWb9n47QRavGTX3elvtL4Q-yNPBxgsjZXIX8/s1600/Karpaty+Lviv+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizALtNj89589Af1g9t4g9FFJ5LRUUhev6v1FI1wuGZiF3GRgg8bfhgxm45oA600KBOnx50OvuFuHhBjBoGKqYBG3vZui3BXdE1VQD-D7iNWb9n47QRavGTX3elvtL4Q-yNPBxgsjZXIX8/s320/Karpaty+Lviv+1.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
The new look pictures will be a lot more standardised and with a little help from Photoshop will make sure that there's no background to draw attention away from the lovely shirts. There's a couple of examples of the new format pictures as a taster for the real shirt geeks out there to get marginally excited by. What do you reckon to the new format? Miles better than the old one I think.<br />
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I promise I'll get my head down, work hard and try and produce (a website) and achieve a level of consistency (i.e. blog a bit) and get back into the team!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-6738711767469942672011-09-20T15:47:00.000-07:002011-09-20T15:47:23.537-07:00I'd rather be lucky than good...<div style="text-align: right;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYaajMc2-2MCatIK6aCx7f1rsJw9AMVea9dpfpY963o3DmfoX5BhQVNG0vpbgfZEAe004ruielj8Q5OmnjwPG_KE-Y81dI1mk6aDDoaeaHVqmLTuE4Z1G5Luq5nr5beUnnP66Zgf1gIS4/s1600/dukla+front.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYaajMc2-2MCatIK6aCx7f1rsJw9AMVea9dpfpY963o3DmfoX5BhQVNG0vpbgfZEAe004ruielj8Q5OmnjwPG_KE-Y81dI1mk6aDDoaeaHVqmLTuE4Z1G5Luq5nr5beUnnP66Zgf1gIS4/s320/dukla+front.JPG" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Red shirts? They're not all lucky!</i></td></tr>
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I played football last week. In the interests of complete disclosure I should point out that I'm such a bad player than FIFA have threatened to charge me with besmirching the game for simply turning up with my football kit. That being said I played last night and wore my <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/panama%20away.htm">Panama</a> away shirt. I played so badly in it that I may well retire the shirt and never play in it again. I fully expect a strongly worded of letter of complaint from the Panamanian ambassador for bringing his country's good name into disrepute so poor was my performance. That led me to think about how some of the shirts in my collection are lucky, some are unlucky and some are <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Greenock%20Morton%201994%20AWAY%201.htm">Greenock Morton</a> shirts. I'm not suggesting that my footballing nadir was down to anything else than a profound lack of ability, fitness and a physique based on a cheese and cider diet but does a lucky or unlucky shirt pay a psychological part?<br />
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I read a recent report suggesting that team playing in red shirts were more successful than other teams statistically speaking. This makes sense when you consider dominant teams which play in red such as <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/manchester%20united.htm">Man U</a>, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/liverpool%202006.htm">Liverpool</a> and of course <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Brechin%20City.htm">Brechin City</a>. Then again is it perhaps that quite a lot of teams play in red as opposed to say green or purple. For every <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Benfica.htm">Benfica</a> that play in red there's an <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Accrington.htm">Accrington Stanley</a> or <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/dom%20pedro%20II.htm">Dom Pedro II</a>.<br />
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Looking through the collection there's a fair few lucky and unlucky shirts from my own experience of pond life level football. Some like <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/ghana.htm">Ghana</a> are lucky because of a volley taken at full tilt without breaking stride with my right foot on a ball coming over my left shoulder. Some like <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/liverpool%201994%20away.htm">Liverpool away</a> are lucky because of a (so rare as to be almost mythical) night when I could do no wrong. Some, like <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/partizan.htm">Partizan Belgrade</a> just have an aura that gives the confidence that leads to a good performance. On the flip side there's some shirts that have bad feeling to them like <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/servette%20away.htm">Servette</a> away which I wore one night when I stunk the place out and one of the guys I played with had a seizure or <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/heerenveen.htm">Heernveen</a> which I had on when I sustained and embarrassingly self inflicted ankle injury.<br />
<br />I'm not suggesting that the shirts have any mystical powers but that there's a psychological effect which can lead to a greater confidence and self belief or on the other side of the coin, cause a lack of confidence. <br />
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Does this apply in the big bad world of real footballers? Look at Glasgow Rangers old violet third shirts which seemed to be cursed or Man U's famous grey away shirt that was scrapped at half time when they were getting a roasting from <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Southampton.htm">Southampton</a> or even Diadora's last <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/SCOTLAND%202009%20away.htm">Scotland away</a> shirt which saw Scotland score no goals and concede loads. Maybe there's something in the psychological aspect of a shirt, maybe not. What do you reckon? Leave a comment about what you think were lucky or unlucky shirts.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-14194772523960714782011-08-17T15:54:00.000-07:002011-08-17T15:54:44.355-07:00Once more unto the pitch dear friends, once more...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So a new season has just begun in England and with it comes all the promise of ... well football. So what will happen this season and more importantly, what are the new season's kits like? Lets take it team by team for the EPL.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ4gAK9A_Hhyphenhyphen0H7RLo0JwFz7fVB5wGqg19WwJZLdudcKMh0Sigyl9PQVp0P6Sp0rPF0cGREphqqvgQwZIkwH1o1hPKPLAFvbuFuB_vTOutLZMcfxSkG2mkoXUx7M_9SQezSYzZaf4jEBI/s1600/l_arsenalH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ4gAK9A_Hhyphenhyphen0H7RLo0JwFz7fVB5wGqg19WwJZLdudcKMh0Sigyl9PQVp0P6Sp0rPF0cGREphqqvgQwZIkwH1o1hPKPLAFvbuFuB_vTOutLZMcfxSkG2mkoXUx7M_9SQezSYzZaf4jEBI/s200/l_arsenalH.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipMDMRdwMVNkVyCtsEM39rUoEaOaio3mYmn7TPi4ZTAVmRvmMFdbEMitgGzGYiuTAtW7tVxAV6UQLtbrHahGlOtDNI3mapoLil9x0gEqsspOUGhBHu5TFIU0IUu-3pBTvinVKhpt9fz_E/s1600/l_arsenalA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipMDMRdwMVNkVyCtsEM39rUoEaOaio3mYmn7TPi4ZTAVmRvmMFdbEMitgGzGYiuTAtW7tVxAV6UQLtbrHahGlOtDNI3mapoLil9x0gEqsspOUGhBHu5TFIU0IUu-3pBTvinVKhpt9fz_E/s200/l_arsenalA.png" width="152" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Arsenal</div><div style="text-align: left;">The team - It's bad news for Arsenal as they face the future without Fabregas and Nasri both of whom it appears are to move imminently. On the upside they're also going to get rid of Eboue and Bendtner so it's not all bad. I suspect the gunners will be scrapping with Liverpool for 4th place and probably wont make it. Defensively frail in the centre of defence and utterly devoid of leadership and real physical presence they'll have a lot of hard games especially away from home. Don't expect Wenger to go throwing any money about before the end of the transfer window either. His faith in this generation of players he's brought through could be his undoing and mar his long term record.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
The kit - Nike have been selling Arsenal short for year by consistently churning out dull shirts. This season's away shirt is decent but the home is the same old same old. The trim round the badge might well the closest Arsenal will get to any laurels this year. </div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXmb3Ppw-kis6UnNVdZJ1KA_pLjHz_4yEGp-bzCxifISqFcQydv0rXL_4eYdbxIsJgs4NCxXVMjDADx9x0zzq3MchNZnwukF4rY2y_p7WFXzztTyMX4lIvVN8OpCvBPvWvqfUCx1bzvU/s1600/l_astonVillaH.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67dk2CqhCqUUNiZeBNju5pFDgg-U7hk30HdE8X3e2CY4VfPZ2SkhPdckcJjPuuxgwzDqdz97Xz7ZHNTyK-vgdW8pSxoQsr3YeJa7zyUV09yApfxLH4jhThkXbQxZFaA5kEPhQVI-5hrA/s1600/l_astonVillaT.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXmb3Ppw-kis6UnNVdZJ1KA_pLjHz_4yEGp-bzCxifISqFcQydv0rXL_4eYdbxIsJgs4NCxXVMjDADx9x0zzq3MchNZnwukF4rY2y_p7WFXzztTyMX4lIvVN8OpCvBPvWvqfUCx1bzvU/s1600/l_astonVillaH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXmb3Ppw-kis6UnNVdZJ1KA_pLjHz_4yEGp-bzCxifISqFcQydv0rXL_4eYdbxIsJgs4NCxXVMjDADx9x0zzq3MchNZnwukF4rY2y_p7WFXzztTyMX4lIvVN8OpCvBPvWvqfUCx1bzvU/s200/l_astonVillaH.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67dk2CqhCqUUNiZeBNju5pFDgg-U7hk30HdE8X3e2CY4VfPZ2SkhPdckcJjPuuxgwzDqdz97Xz7ZHNTyK-vgdW8pSxoQsr3YeJa7zyUV09yApfxLH4jhThkXbQxZFaA5kEPhQVI-5hrA/s1600/l_astonVillaT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi67dk2CqhCqUUNiZeBNju5pFDgg-U7hk30HdE8X3e2CY4VfPZ2SkhPdckcJjPuuxgwzDqdz97Xz7ZHNTyK-vgdW8pSxoQsr3YeJa7zyUV09yApfxLH4jhThkXbQxZFaA5kEPhQVI-5hrA/s200/l_astonVillaT.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonrOC1fvQVB3zP8afvjwJ8Qmsw05to34TpkeBN64PKzg-Xv4JE7ARWdPQygz2InZfvCy7mqsvA3TvUeYcW40dDLevdRvUtNsY-X5V7rZRt_Hj96w-9CzJADhJBAn3wo7E8mSocdL-LUc/s1600/l_astonVillaA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonrOC1fvQVB3zP8afvjwJ8Qmsw05to34TpkeBN64PKzg-Xv4JE7ARWdPQygz2InZfvCy7mqsvA3TvUeYcW40dDLevdRvUtNsY-X5V7rZRt_Hj96w-9CzJADhJBAn3wo7E8mSocdL-LUc/s200/l_astonVillaA.png" width="152" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"> Aston Villa</div>the Team - It's an uncertain time for Villa as they have lost their two most creative players to Man U and Liverpool and Alex Mcleish's managerial career is patchy to say the least. Villa's notoriously picky and fickle fans wont need much in the way of bad results to turn on him. Darren Bent goals and Richard Dunne largely reliable defence along with a couple of the new signings (N'Zogbia and Given) should be good enough to keep the Villans mid table.<br />
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The Kit - Villa's traditionally dull colours allied to Nike's almost complete lack of imagination make for an almost sleep inducingly dull range of kits. most befitting for a team with Emile Heskey in it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVEYwcSE2RcbtP1mXPrhiu2Fg83T485JhkRkr4NtfPto8EfEZ_ZOaldf5HwHHUKNX1eoK6A87gIoi3dqAdic59uTfQvCi7KYk7HMC5zamkmQ0ObmTN-N56TFU9aEi4YuPqvTkxkHI8W4/s1600/l_blackburnA.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVEYwcSE2RcbtP1mXPrhiu2Fg83T485JhkRkr4NtfPto8EfEZ_ZOaldf5HwHHUKNX1eoK6A87gIoi3dqAdic59uTfQvCi7KYk7HMC5zamkmQ0ObmTN-N56TFU9aEi4YuPqvTkxkHI8W4/s200/l_blackburnA.png" width="151" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOaHInKEUBPmeUDdHtq1glSuxjlum-RAnVUElLjBQnf2RGtAwiqAL4ByoBt8OjHi72QY9V9lUb9-Q_4PUwxSqLbtIWIGvBBPojwC82xIAoQVXk-nzqtJ4Te-1SeDEvQYGbqSsEphyphenhyphen1vvg/s1600/l_blackburnH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOaHInKEUBPmeUDdHtq1glSuxjlum-RAnVUElLjBQnf2RGtAwiqAL4ByoBt8OjHi72QY9V9lUb9-Q_4PUwxSqLbtIWIGvBBPojwC82xIAoQVXk-nzqtJ4Te-1SeDEvQYGbqSsEphyphenhyphen1vvg/s200/l_blackburnH.png" width="152" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Blackburn Rovers</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> The Team - Last year Sam Allardyce built a patented Sam Allardyce team. Big, strong, direct and effective they looked set for solid mid table safety. Then Rovers were bought by their inexperienced Indian owners who sacked him and appointed Steve Kean. Kean has thus far failed to convince and the club tailed off badly under his guidance. It could well be a hard season for Blackburn and if they're not careful the trapdoor could open for them. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kit - it's a bog standard Blackburn shirt but it's nice to see a little bit of red trim to brighten it up. The away shirt is almost as mundane and unimaginative as Blackburn's midfield.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8DldMLcEpemfHLsaqQX9UsDezFtqk0WTbR7hBZS2dfzBXGFYiuah2xnjSneYhTxqFX3Z54jscan6GkyY8_q-Nz13ZRwU2K2f-HZD7qsVhd6aBN0psyWh-V61rAQxKSwvx66b2TjVTPZU/s1600/l_boltonA.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8DldMLcEpemfHLsaqQX9UsDezFtqk0WTbR7hBZS2dfzBXGFYiuah2xnjSneYhTxqFX3Z54jscan6GkyY8_q-Nz13ZRwU2K2f-HZD7qsVhd6aBN0psyWh-V61rAQxKSwvx66b2TjVTPZU/s200/l_boltonA.png" width="151" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh128LHelLbXSmxdJff1vH5AemyYixfuHMQrsOhMZqHsH138dlAyC0NDhO-x2FtK50pVXtzNck8qSEod1Dgtqy369fKLPGv-sb1arBUHbnRh9433Goe6V4rlFyHT0_2eQXRwPcnDqE_vz8/s1600/l_boltonH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh128LHelLbXSmxdJff1vH5AemyYixfuHMQrsOhMZqHsH138dlAyC0NDhO-x2FtK50pVXtzNck8qSEod1Dgtqy369fKLPGv-sb1arBUHbnRh9433Goe6V4rlFyHT0_2eQXRwPcnDqE_vz8/s200/l_boltonH.png" width="151" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Bolton Wanderers</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Team - Owen Coyle had Bolton playing some nice stuff last season although they too finished the season poorly. There's a lot of goals to replace as Sturridge has gone back to Chelsea and Elamnder has also left. South Korean winger CY Lee is out for the whole season so a lot will be required from the likes of Martin Petrov who didn't play that much last year. They'll be comfortably mid table if they can find a few goals from somewhere.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
The Kit - Reebok have made some real horror show kits for Bolton but the last couple have been decent. This one is not too bad and at least uses some blocks of colour. The away kit is the same shirt in different colours as is normal for Bolton.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisUt1gy5gm7JID14nCLfT6OPUjexh6X6v697N5enSxr3TH96i7FmvKirbexB1uOLoJXgd6iWORmoZAxaU94lXOHqxLBjhDU_miuI7dCJH3VcoDekVlF_jHalBl2uupZJalsx-UfEUa15U/s1600/l_chelseaA.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaiCGmRcR-EZCVG4_7l1rWP7XHibPKTL8TSsnlMnu-CV5fi_qmMlR3HJrHjmOX-7VSrnfiOv4NFBN0FfLYnOcNJ_FEktiYgtmCMnx-T0wXNGItp0_pssn-25imHWqjl7fTVWjhrutmF8k/s1600/l_chelseaH.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaiCGmRcR-EZCVG4_7l1rWP7XHibPKTL8TSsnlMnu-CV5fi_qmMlR3HJrHjmOX-7VSrnfiOv4NFBN0FfLYnOcNJ_FEktiYgtmCMnx-T0wXNGItp0_pssn-25imHWqjl7fTVWjhrutmF8k/s200/l_chelseaH.png" width="152" /><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisUt1gy5gm7JID14nCLfT6OPUjexh6X6v697N5enSxr3TH96i7FmvKirbexB1uOLoJXgd6iWORmoZAxaU94lXOHqxLBjhDU_miuI7dCJH3VcoDekVlF_jHalBl2uupZJalsx-UfEUa15U/s200/l_chelseaA.png" width="151" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOEQLZpnC2EreXURkwDlM-8CLNMNbDHBnp7o_ulj9k_EJdg5SGdfHP6wJqAng-G4SeV6j4RxB8kGFAWXrKyeIprMhKcVYwWygIn8WtG1NgIG5lyx9e8oMIpSiOtlcoMZ_UNstgiWUKEzo/s1600/l_chelseaT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOEQLZpnC2EreXURkwDlM-8CLNMNbDHBnp7o_ulj9k_EJdg5SGdfHP6wJqAng-G4SeV6j4RxB8kGFAWXrKyeIprMhKcVYwWygIn8WtG1NgIG5lyx9e8oMIpSiOtlcoMZ_UNstgiWUKEzo/s200/l_chelseaT.png" width="149" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Chelsea</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Team - Where do you start? A manger who is 14 years old? An owner who sees the club as the worlds most expensive game of Football Manager? A lot of ageing senior pros with fragile egos? £50M worth of striker who cant score any more and doesn't fit tactically? The team should still be strong enough to be scrapping with the two Manchester clubs for the title but I fancy they'll be second or third. The byzantine politics of the interior of the club along with Vilas Boas' relative inexperience should make the soap opera worth watching even if the team doesn't catch fire.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Kit - The home kit has shed the little bit of red trim from last season and has a shadowed hoop effect. I like the away kits a lot with Adidas managing to do something different without getting ridiculous (not that there's anything wrong with a really ridiculous shirt now and again)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKGgysaOyzq8NEyqPI08eU-ch8Me2N2y20rpTx91VckjoOjdUMgpuEVKSNP_GflhW9e0GPPCgniih-Vuay69tCe8b2tDHjP1l6ID5XEs5QwNi07ICkRtbfWnEdpmWQmeO0fxhr5GtfDI/s1600/l_evertonH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKGgysaOyzq8NEyqPI08eU-ch8Me2N2y20rpTx91VckjoOjdUMgpuEVKSNP_GflhW9e0GPPCgniih-Vuay69tCe8b2tDHjP1l6ID5XEs5QwNi07ICkRtbfWnEdpmWQmeO0fxhr5GtfDI/s200/l_evertonH.png" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNqspVvc7eL79ZZGPhatkJNfJiXt91KWq7ABKZx-JHpzYow8dGnFumM43OTiROkikvyPADyCbCrabKbid3HpDyp58Kl6PUdauqd4MM3kQ7Cs1xu1w5DTk61ox2Q90Lx3qQsN3-z2XBgk/s1600/l_evertonA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNqspVvc7eL79ZZGPhatkJNfJiXt91KWq7ABKZx-JHpzYow8dGnFumM43OTiROkikvyPADyCbCrabKbid3HpDyp58Kl6PUdauqd4MM3kQ7Cs1xu1w5DTk61ox2Q90Lx3qQsN3-z2XBgk/s200/l_evertonA.png" width="151" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Everton</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The Team - By Everton's standards this should be a good season given how badly they started last year but I fear for them. As much as I'd like them to do well I think they'll lack firepower. Saha is excellent but fragile and ageing, Yakubu is streaky and I personally think he's overrated. If he was up to much they wouldn't have loaned him out last year. Other players like Beckford and Anichebe are questionable and as a result the side are over reliant on goals for the likes of Arteta, Cahill, Osman and Fellaini from midfield. Moyes keeps them honest but eventually this side will need goals from up front. solid mid table to top half is likely.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The kit - Criminally boring stuff from Le Coq Sportif. a lack of imagination on a par with Nike's dullest stuff.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMize41604gwe-W8FTHHaojTPyzDOhHhs27QaFkqiWFX_j6xPnEe1jF3R00_rDSz9yVzKMy4-l7YKPiqy5crxmHN12yGuT7bLR_NSys2DjJfwKsiiaYZMHSMb6XJ5CJbK0_zR9h2C8Fwc/s1600/l_fulhamH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMize41604gwe-W8FTHHaojTPyzDOhHhs27QaFkqiWFX_j6xPnEe1jF3R00_rDSz9yVzKMy4-l7YKPiqy5crxmHN12yGuT7bLR_NSys2DjJfwKsiiaYZMHSMb6XJ5CJbK0_zR9h2C8Fwc/s200/l_fulhamH.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PPnM1GEIzqn31bEFcLN51krjMOIUkj0EA9b5_UlrDJpV2-WGODXcA-ti2q0gvgSRc6BVJsn-OLZqNgSwRNnkFpApGqOAnJuJbJlMBjN69e6ZARm_5m20_q00mz5pkHq4XXvAwe0f00A/s1600/l_fulhamA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PPnM1GEIzqn31bEFcLN51krjMOIUkj0EA9b5_UlrDJpV2-WGODXcA-ti2q0gvgSRc6BVJsn-OLZqNgSwRNnkFpApGqOAnJuJbJlMBjN69e6ZARm_5m20_q00mz5pkHq4XXvAwe0f00A/s200/l_fulhamA.png" width="151" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Fulham</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Team -Can Martin Jol reinvigorate this current group over overachieving ageing players? I don't know but another season might prove hard work for Murphy, Davies Johnson and Zamora. they should be ok at home and have enough to stay clear of the relegation dogfight but I'd be surprised to see them in the top half this year.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The kit - Kappa weren't up all night thinking it up were they? It's better than some of the featureless stuff Nike used to make for the cottagers but not by much.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVMnl5SHa-OcTxuvFW_bgvihQDKZXZNiVnZJtBml048BpPMHsKrqRnWgZXmCRtl8cuYb6Qayzw_9hielzGDt6JlW5x7A7q3478KOmFjy_hyz2U5aUOZYU27nnl2_PLx8fC4UCRRQUNMAQ/s1600/l_liverpoolH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVMnl5SHa-OcTxuvFW_bgvihQDKZXZNiVnZJtBml048BpPMHsKrqRnWgZXmCRtl8cuYb6Qayzw_9hielzGDt6JlW5x7A7q3478KOmFjy_hyz2U5aUOZYU27nnl2_PLx8fC4UCRRQUNMAQ/s200/l_liverpoolH.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMpoxtOS195Lso68lHfuxgiA62qJLONwDKDIgI_tudGqqOD1OeZq5NmKfIeorskn4YypHyTaZuSUsfMByzL5SbAPM1mh5-ZaVbdscBpths80X2J73t0liOPU9mnylDq_xKQgP0O4-0wg/s1600/l_liverpoolA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMpoxtOS195Lso68lHfuxgiA62qJLONwDKDIgI_tudGqqOD1OeZq5NmKfIeorskn4YypHyTaZuSUsfMByzL5SbAPM1mh5-ZaVbdscBpths80X2J73t0liOPU9mnylDq_xKQgP0O4-0wg/s200/l_liverpoolA.png" width="152" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSmBGgTH_G4XiZs5_BjVXZGbCjtu2uubcwzWdC-Ehwvg7oObvUQv02LH4IGhTiOwme08kA6EEUqQC-RmEziBSNhqltaGK99hrR9Vlnp6iELPc7WzWfBgooc3ZiGNkxUArmng2xhISSRs/s1600/l_liverpoolT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSmBGgTH_G4XiZs5_BjVXZGbCjtu2uubcwzWdC-Ehwvg7oObvUQv02LH4IGhTiOwme08kA6EEUqQC-RmEziBSNhqltaGK99hrR9Vlnp6iELPc7WzWfBgooc3ZiGNkxUArmng2xhISSRs/s200/l_liverpoolT.png" width="151" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Liverpool</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
The Team - An evolving squad under Dalglish should just about shake the last of the torpor of the Benitez era out of their system this year. Some big money signings over the last few months bring solid EPL experience to the side and the shape may be more reminiscent to the teams Dalglish himself use to play in. Suarez will undoubtedly be the creative touchstone and it'll be interesting to see how he interacts with the most traditional of British centre forwards in Andy Carroll, assuming Carroll can stay fit. the other point of interest will be Dalglish trying (or not as the case may be) to keep a legion of central midfielders happy and where Steven Gerrard fits in his plans. I wouldn't be surprised to see Liverpool finish fourth, ahead of Arsenal.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The kit - It's solid Adidas fayre with the home kit having a slight feel of the 1980s heyday about it. The third shirt is somewhat controversial among the fans as it's got a bit of blue on it. Maybe they could organise a protest or something...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU2_IhAqdH5fPEkw4H4CXmYTvfaBJeTLR_iMtEdQv5VaFbJXLQQjm7Bokc8yxxUs3bCJ2jva1kvg3J3U60EauDlhPDagPYEtB1rl8TBQIoQ5ONm38jry6HJb8pXQ60ACooXc06QRkNZEo/s1600/l_manCityH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU2_IhAqdH5fPEkw4H4CXmYTvfaBJeTLR_iMtEdQv5VaFbJXLQQjm7Bokc8yxxUs3bCJ2jva1kvg3J3U60EauDlhPDagPYEtB1rl8TBQIoQ5ONm38jry6HJb8pXQ60ACooXc06QRkNZEo/s200/l_manCityH.png" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGmgQ7fCL0O5a93zZAO0LqiMoMYbhooo9dF8dffLG3w60BSGJSEN50CIDQeuzGoVekaEoOYbEv3aQVR33z_IKElGOPqA7Yj6K7swIMVt73q4iqNpsEXS6uifJGlNo6dellCD-GokEt_j8/s1600/l_manCityA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGmgQ7fCL0O5a93zZAO0LqiMoMYbhooo9dF8dffLG3w60BSGJSEN50CIDQeuzGoVekaEoOYbEv3aQVR33z_IKElGOPqA7Yj6K7swIMVt73q4iqNpsEXS6uifJGlNo6dellCD-GokEt_j8/s200/l_manCityA.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79BCA3AO6tERj2UAIOH8siVBl9jwQhHhKOvJOLRIn7QU39F3eMaZXRPpddE_C4Kg_OAuR5nm8bYn6-e9f2vISzJi2K-zv5l6Eg_O2BuLhis9GJqzJ0RfgDtFD8-y9FyaxxoFkZ10sxKY/s1600/l_manCityT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79BCA3AO6tERj2UAIOH8siVBl9jwQhHhKOvJOLRIn7QU39F3eMaZXRPpddE_C4Kg_OAuR5nm8bYn6-e9f2vISzJi2K-zv5l6Eg_O2BuLhis9GJqzJ0RfgDtFD8-y9FyaxxoFkZ10sxKY/s200/l_manCityT.png" width="151" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Manchester City</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Team - This City squad could genuinely be challengers this year. If a bedded in Dzeko can fire and fit in with the potentially devastating Aguero up front City could genuinely go and just beat teams, assuming Mancici lets the off the leash enough to do so. A midfield with Yaya Toure, David Silva and probably Samir Nasri could suply the bullets and Mario Balotelli could be a fine plan B, if someone can get his head sorted out and keep him focussed. City's defensive frailty means I think they'll be looking at a duel with Chelsea for second place but it could be a fun ride if only they're allowed to go and play the game. They'll do well to offload Tevez to anyone who's willing to match his wages but who would or could? Incidentally, if Tevez is miserable without his wife and family, quit City and go and play for Boca for nothing. He's already a very wealthy man. Or is it about another big pay day for him and his agent?</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Kit - it's pretty standard stuff with City's traditional home and away deigns and a black utility third shirt. It's not dazzling but maybe it doesn't have to be with Aguero there to steal the limelight.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga-Kis52LFpIIfDPToP0kvExxLmz2gMyrie2ZRQ0ukYCUt7GlsSfdVlHzWQY1wEQirBiQcMEB7hwWWS0i427i7ebAncBltNzvG15ln2czy6O54UEkMcw6QflY67GtmknA-u-V3MZdO6bE/s1600/l_manUtdH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga-Kis52LFpIIfDPToP0kvExxLmz2gMyrie2ZRQ0ukYCUt7GlsSfdVlHzWQY1wEQirBiQcMEB7hwWWS0i427i7ebAncBltNzvG15ln2czy6O54UEkMcw6QflY67GtmknA-u-V3MZdO6bE/s200/l_manUtdH.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXPCWNgqi7hz8uoBgmuhVzET7FtBckkC1Ub2JrUH58iHhRZPJgUTSIvM9fSrwQt6s3l8Qle5CQJFx9UO9UiThMc0WsQDpTqCzTlVulHmwWd_QNTa8wNfghr-GlD_FWG7bn2ySCluHdttw/s1600/l_manUtdA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXPCWNgqi7hz8uoBgmuhVzET7FtBckkC1Ub2JrUH58iHhRZPJgUTSIvM9fSrwQt6s3l8Qle5CQJFx9UO9UiThMc0WsQDpTqCzTlVulHmwWd_QNTa8wNfghr-GlD_FWG7bn2ySCluHdttw/s200/l_manUtdA.png" width="151" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"> Manchester United</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Manchester United - St Mirren reject, Sir Alex Ferguson, has for many years accepted second best and tinkered with his small provincial club from Manchester. Never again for him the raw thrill of a 1-1 draw in the league cup with Dunfermline on a wet Wednesday night in Paisley. Man U have strengthened well and Wayne Rooney seems to have remembered he's a footballer. I expect Man U to win the league relatively comfortably. Integrating De Gea in goal will be key but the rest of the team should be good enough to get them out of trouble while he beds in. Hernandez will need to continue in the same vein of form as last season to give real cutting edge in the penalty box. The only area for improvement may be central midfield creativity but you Cleverly may get a run out in there rather than breaking the bank for an established star.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kit - Nike seem to have stuck with a slight 1980s feel for the home kit. The away shirt looks like a late 90s Middlesbrough kit<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL0Nrccj_YWbRM5j1qPJCypcduJsAkVbf7Czd9l_oBv_etabV2DY1jOpUH54Rl0bFqhHC0xkA7cFdTmWSyBSO_W7FHpjd0FN_trU2Cvkn3dYR4Nwuvp70_bZfRDtbP5l2Z0FZM36hJXiU/s1600/l_newcastleH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL0Nrccj_YWbRM5j1qPJCypcduJsAkVbf7Czd9l_oBv_etabV2DY1jOpUH54Rl0bFqhHC0xkA7cFdTmWSyBSO_W7FHpjd0FN_trU2Cvkn3dYR4Nwuvp70_bZfRDtbP5l2Z0FZM36hJXiU/s200/l_newcastleH.png" width="152" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfQOvemUVmmFasm4doWtoa1poSZeAZuMINgyyHa4QSL4GZ7_12Zuijsc4qL3mqDh-mwaCipkKLVfNuzMm5ddVxqWsJzPuUPgh6UtwyQje_0rSO7Pv9Y9DKEa2L961KpT5NBMmxbN57NYY/s1600/l_newcastleT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfQOvemUVmmFasm4doWtoa1poSZeAZuMINgyyHa4QSL4GZ7_12Zuijsc4qL3mqDh-mwaCipkKLVfNuzMm5ddVxqWsJzPuUPgh6UtwyQje_0rSO7Pv9Y9DKEa2L961KpT5NBMmxbN57NYY/s200/l_newcastleT.png" width="152" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt7OWWrufW8MCUV8h9kW4DLbY7Jrtw6afbMqiABGG8tEkjvUTc8DX-ecynYYILM2Nd2Wi6JqNAnC7I8Ik-4mOqFgpmUmpCYg7al1ibxsyCWc1mldbmkPcZ4NVX71bKh_lfxSeoxH7gfqc/s1600/l_newcastleA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt7OWWrufW8MCUV8h9kW4DLbY7Jrtw6afbMqiABGG8tEkjvUTc8DX-ecynYYILM2Nd2Wi6JqNAnC7I8Ik-4mOqFgpmUmpCYg7al1ibxsyCWc1mldbmkPcZ4NVX71bKh_lfxSeoxH7gfqc/s200/l_newcastleA.png" width="151" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"> Newcastle United</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>The Team - Newcastle tailed off last season after the sale of Andy Carroll. It's not unusual for a promoted team to run out of steam but now that the team that did well last year has been broken up. Carroll and Enrique, to Liverpool, Nolan to West Ham of all places and it looks like Joey Barton to anyone who'll take him. A huge infusion of French and Francophone players suggests a deliberate recruitment strategy which it remains to be seen how it will pan out. As a very general rule French players have done well in England, being more used to the style than many other nations. The Geordies should be ok and I think will be lower half but close to mid table.<br />
The Kit - Newcastle have had variable width of stripes in the past and so the home kit is in keeping with that tradition. The away kits are standard stuff and decent if not groundbreaking.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu8FdYZJyU7T9ezUrg8Apn3g2U9D3zREBTEv3QwQ3wcMS8Lj4i3pVHlXUDmILraF9mIMKTo0hNYWXGSD31o4rLa1og7PXkXfiTI8YlyqBDhilLN2HMgz9mDAOiQA2vHSkBmORsp7tKs0s/s1600/l_norwichH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu8FdYZJyU7T9ezUrg8Apn3g2U9D3zREBTEv3QwQ3wcMS8Lj4i3pVHlXUDmILraF9mIMKTo0hNYWXGSD31o4rLa1og7PXkXfiTI8YlyqBDhilLN2HMgz9mDAOiQA2vHSkBmORsp7tKs0s/s200/l_norwichH.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0SohHfwUqMeFBWfzvbuq0_-hENmdEDBWBATOAULogjqHs5nMpm1h37WriEcKvliTf0b0LV1L8qXYIH7KDZguWBz4gyNoQ1grcoQRBQm122PL4eeaWWJx7XtTPeSd2-82vWSeZUS1ZLg/s1600/l_norwichA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0SohHfwUqMeFBWfzvbuq0_-hENmdEDBWBATOAULogjqHs5nMpm1h37WriEcKvliTf0b0LV1L8qXYIH7KDZguWBz4gyNoQ1grcoQRBQm122PL4eeaWWJx7XtTPeSd2-82vWSeZUS1ZLg/s200/l_norwichA.png" width="149" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Norwich City</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Team - Paul Lambert is another man who, having hit the heights with St Mirren, slowly and quietly wound his career down with the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Celtic. His Norwich team have climbed two divisions in two years and I fear for them. There's a lot of players in that team who were there in League One and I wonder if the likes of Grant Holt will be good enough for the EPL. It might be a long season in East Anglia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kit - Errea are generally rubbish and Norwich kits always look like someone else's away shirt so I'm not that impressed by this one.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2C0eJocxUT9XByfuvrcavd1cA5aVQBfcMceictyotXNEv3zc2PFM5wMJMjQkrvBo_VP2T7UAXj2P1f5PkeMSlwp0tF2cIguhSpA8Azi7wptd4koF-G4CAvBHk9pUM8awQdjRHWzjOn5c/s1600/l_qprH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2C0eJocxUT9XByfuvrcavd1cA5aVQBfcMceictyotXNEv3zc2PFM5wMJMjQkrvBo_VP2T7UAXj2P1f5PkeMSlwp0tF2cIguhSpA8Azi7wptd4koF-G4CAvBHk9pUM8awQdjRHWzjOn5c/s200/l_qprH.png" width="152" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZmT9zVZmESMICcE5z1z8DHyjXf3faKMkB76c6br1qC_-IWG9SR0sUBw0hStMY0AdjkElW_83-LRAFsdTYNW4UrDg-3-cr4xecp9H6q1nKI7FvW3tKUApb4rGFToMgfvuBGuTS74835AQ/s1600/l_qprT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZmT9zVZmESMICcE5z1z8DHyjXf3faKMkB76c6br1qC_-IWG9SR0sUBw0hStMY0AdjkElW_83-LRAFsdTYNW4UrDg-3-cr4xecp9H6q1nKI7FvW3tKUApb4rGFToMgfvuBGuTS74835AQ/s200/l_qprT.png" width="152" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkH0d_N_rl5Uq17tv15xFjnCz36tJTLRkR5jX3Wx4n4F_91Ld7W0cvYblCfG0nzqp-5HsDRkdGYA4Yh-EhtwXiGFAdwqVToeb3NZFfAC0KV2Lap5T3oRUyhxGY19S5X2I-xgEndkwZ_To/s1600/l_qprA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkH0d_N_rl5Uq17tv15xFjnCz36tJTLRkR5jX3Wx4n4F_91Ld7W0cvYblCfG0nzqp-5HsDRkdGYA4Yh-EhtwXiGFAdwqVToeb3NZFfAC0KV2Lap5T3oRUyhxGY19S5X2I-xgEndkwZ_To/s200/l_qprA.png" width="152" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">QPR</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Team - QPR won the Championship last season on the back of a solid spine and Adel Taarabt's mercurial brilliance. they've signed a couple of decent Champinship strikers and will have to dig deep to stay up. The club's pantomime boardroom and apparent lack of support for Neil Warnock will only make it more difficult to keep an even keel, especially if the opening day thrashing by Bolton is anything to go by. I can see them going down.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kit - Apart from looking a bit too much like Greenock Morton for my taste the Lotto kit is actually not too bad. The away ones are interesting enough designs even if the green and white hoops are ridiculously similar to the home shirt.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggahex7wgIMLXL3AcuucDpKBYhet-ffznubcWfLu2r88OvTbVZ3-_U4Ve0X2hOswePsHqPGnibwreahZwpFccUdUFPY4TVSfTKsG8t5ZFeaidxCgPow0UEV7FYXRKMAhTxD9_woMBMS18/s1600/l_stokeH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggahex7wgIMLXL3AcuucDpKBYhet-ffznubcWfLu2r88OvTbVZ3-_U4Ve0X2hOswePsHqPGnibwreahZwpFccUdUFPY4TVSfTKsG8t5ZFeaidxCgPow0UEV7FYXRKMAhTxD9_woMBMS18/s200/l_stokeH.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCx0fly7m3jGNTayia-wp2g8C1ufJ9mGEVl7I3y9ZJ9lagmxk_M8YOkOFGMK5LDh5kZw2SlNsZ8hsR2atitD-8r-IKayNfhT_FmA2RqCQLWInfH3hyphenhyphenzGlRqTLP4bZuByLFsLd8L1vD0TA/s1600/l_stokeA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCx0fly7m3jGNTayia-wp2g8C1ufJ9mGEVl7I3y9ZJ9lagmxk_M8YOkOFGMK5LDh5kZw2SlNsZ8hsR2atitD-8r-IKayNfhT_FmA2RqCQLWInfH3hyphenhyphenzGlRqTLP4bZuByLFsLd8L1vD0TA/s200/l_stokeA.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuXYyrrolvKpDhFL9m3-wpOXcdzBMZh1fQR0b3s3gB2xCIa4qNn2eptZ1gpQBVQPqUzJDIpQA2qcoKXyBw8rDtRi07lZDcpubufCWAc-RvrFkAiQO9evwcPMmy_m3im7444o5U9oKPnL0/s1600/l_stokeT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuXYyrrolvKpDhFL9m3-wpOXcdzBMZh1fQR0b3s3gB2xCIa4qNn2eptZ1gpQBVQPqUzJDIpQA2qcoKXyBw8rDtRi07lZDcpubufCWAc-RvrFkAiQO9evwcPMmy_m3im7444o5U9oKPnL0/s200/l_stokeT.png" width="152" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"> Stoke City</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Team - Stoke should be ok this year so long as John Carew doesn't play too much and they don't sign Cameron Jerome. They're big and strong and play more football than they get credit for. That's not to say they won't exploit the black arts of hard tackling and making life uncomfortable for the opposition. They'll be solidly mid-table.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kit - Adidas have given Stoke their standard kit in the Potters colours which is decent but the away kits aren't exactly going set the heather on fire.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpPVEpRvty-sfeUNS2Ggdg7o-ISQT8KNgm33cZVl2nDzK5XsXDGRfY3Ehcb6L3btvXgCWvbwx_tLGH6swZHQK4D1CM9zZ7inAyjABOsajSSBzN_5OoXRZoWtGhgCNCkF7YcgyzoEgD8rs/s1600/l_sunderlandH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpPVEpRvty-sfeUNS2Ggdg7o-ISQT8KNgm33cZVl2nDzK5XsXDGRfY3Ehcb6L3btvXgCWvbwx_tLGH6swZHQK4D1CM9zZ7inAyjABOsajSSBzN_5OoXRZoWtGhgCNCkF7YcgyzoEgD8rs/s200/l_sunderlandH.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DIdGa7hLMFZF5hdwkb-Dbs42B0cJvkl1cmJDdnfh-jAMYJpT8IKRkrPuNh9bNxLUVkZ1yu4HXXrsuW8tTAsu3f2qJ1ysxs8yOfpvZahCIXqOjpdhWh5Rv8QT6p893PTgJIRf8VaopiY/s1600/l_sunderlandA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DIdGa7hLMFZF5hdwkb-Dbs42B0cJvkl1cmJDdnfh-jAMYJpT8IKRkrPuNh9bNxLUVkZ1yu4HXXrsuW8tTAsu3f2qJ1ysxs8yOfpvZahCIXqOjpdhWh5Rv8QT6p893PTgJIRf8VaopiY/s200/l_sunderlandA.png" width="151" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Sunderland</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Team - Like their close neighbours in Newcastle Sunderland had a poor second half to the season and undid an other wise decent start. To counter this Steve Bruce has bought up a bit of defensive know how from Man U and a fair few others to bring a bit of endurance and guile to an otherwise decent side. If Gyan can stay consistent and keep scoring goals then there's the kernels of a good team there. A top half finish is eminently possible.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kit - Umbro aren't going to reinvent the wheel with the home kit but the away shirt is a beauty. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_HYA5rEv-p-KPfh7_VzQ4-DcDgCoHy9rug4aXVZQ0D2wPmQZzkmsrfzM0KOIHac52gXG6e_wMNi7QjWVxt1P9xlP8BJG94mZAZyigOSlDQVLRdsAjHQKCb86bPg7xdhaqwXI6u6evE8/s1600/l_swanseaH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9_HYA5rEv-p-KPfh7_VzQ4-DcDgCoHy9rug4aXVZQ0D2wPmQZzkmsrfzM0KOIHac52gXG6e_wMNi7QjWVxt1P9xlP8BJG94mZAZyigOSlDQVLRdsAjHQKCb86bPg7xdhaqwXI6u6evE8/s200/l_swanseaH.png" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE7mw1-YFZ4XVD5Ea-jqLhqKDPr5oAmPVJZEHCqFd8RvUHUFNnZr6XL8JUGgHNICE6mqqHNQ6j7hL87phUVgZT83Drcso50e7RNZ7WlX7_dj0eRvfH3Ld33Trh18C9PnqzyF8Q1R9p2Ak/s1600/l_swanseaA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE7mw1-YFZ4XVD5Ea-jqLhqKDPr5oAmPVJZEHCqFd8RvUHUFNnZr6XL8JUGgHNICE6mqqHNQ6j7hL87phUVgZT83Drcso50e7RNZ7WlX7_dj0eRvfH3Ld33Trh18C9PnqzyF8Q1R9p2Ak/s200/l_swanseaA.png" width="151" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"> Swansea City</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Team - Swansea played good football under Brendan Rogers and are arguably the best equipped of the promoted teams to make a fist of moving up the table. The big problem will be scoring goals. Over the last couple of seasons the club have played pretty football but not found the goals to win as many games as the football promised. Scott Sinclair especially will need to step up to win crucial games against teams round about them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kit - Swansea's traditional all white kit and Adidas' standard template are decent enough for the home kit but the away shirt, still a standard Adidas design is a cracker. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAw3FLlvIQ8Zv3LIX33s9K4lpzvO-zyfQox86RlrU-iB4_O33ugDuHxz-DxIz9KMfqgrZXzjRuMPKxTEQl1H4muIYgboJ4Iy7AascXsFL-WM0vegVYOdjPIP_QTlhUckNzwlaAlaNNyc/s1600/l_tottenhamH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAw3FLlvIQ8Zv3LIX33s9K4lpzvO-zyfQox86RlrU-iB4_O33ugDuHxz-DxIz9KMfqgrZXzjRuMPKxTEQl1H4muIYgboJ4Iy7AascXsFL-WM0vegVYOdjPIP_QTlhUckNzwlaAlaNNyc/s200/l_tottenhamH.png" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLeCvvLJh_MePYlSIhBxc-JPaCr0kBqxELf-DG84kaxpZOc4reLT-JnQ2rWUvGbR_i7HD6wjoP_piSV7B1tVhGCQsJAQwHWB9qNCLzCFMJzI848UhJVJY1yLyNVirjoOek8EiSqtqSUE/s1600/l_tottenhamA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLeCvvLJh_MePYlSIhBxc-JPaCr0kBqxELf-DG84kaxpZOc4reLT-JnQ2rWUvGbR_i7HD6wjoP_piSV7B1tVhGCQsJAQwHWB9qNCLzCFMJzI848UhJVJY1yLyNVirjoOek8EiSqtqSUE/s200/l_tottenhamA.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiab1o5SPHjuhAQc3q35rV7qNinwPJFPItNI9Toc9dXD7iLzqPlZnWhdRRIM11ARdcpmyzY2Cl1JqrHu2nVBmUKm75kFC4bv5DxCUwvoogwNHUSq-3NmtuoxZVntLcTjI7RgGRSlLkGcbM/s1600/l_tottenhamT.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiab1o5SPHjuhAQc3q35rV7qNinwPJFPItNI9Toc9dXD7iLzqPlZnWhdRRIM11ARdcpmyzY2Cl1JqrHu2nVBmUKm75kFC4bv5DxCUwvoogwNHUSq-3NmtuoxZVntLcTjI7RgGRSlLkGcbM/s200/l_tottenhamT.png" width="151" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"> Tottenham Hotspur</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Team - Spurs dalliance with the Champions League last year allied to Harry Redknapp's addiction to buying players seem to have put the team off balance. Despite being unable to move on as many players as they'd like to give Redknapp the funds and wage bill to buy yet more players. In Defoe, Pavlyuchenko, Van Der Vaart and to a lesser extent Crouch the team has some potent offensive weapons, some of whom didn't play well last year. If the side plays well and Bale and Modric can stay at the club, stay fit and in form then Spurs can dogfight with Liverpool and Arsenal for fourth place. If not they'll be drawn into a scrap with Everton , Sunderland etc for a decent mid table place.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kit - Puma have tried in the past to make Spurs kit more interesting, and in general failed. This isn't a vintage batch either. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ9AXB7s1zxxOdjOmoZzQj1FScTVYGuscogNOl4krsmbMw3pa2P1UfNhsDI_0F0HP48A3EW3HneOuDy5HW3OS9zt7RUx75YsjbJe1iUlde653TWeIxilenAtUU5e9R509Yftj7_rVzLio/s1600/l_westBromH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ9AXB7s1zxxOdjOmoZzQj1FScTVYGuscogNOl4krsmbMw3pa2P1UfNhsDI_0F0HP48A3EW3HneOuDy5HW3OS9zt7RUx75YsjbJe1iUlde653TWeIxilenAtUU5e9R509Yftj7_rVzLio/s200/l_westBromH.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsmRcr0WvTWJw-TMws4CS7Ibro9rCvE6U9wN-BEY-OlfKdxpuCkJNrcCe008LtnJLkT6VyMEOkPNKW5_I-YcAIUu8AuR9ch5djpSZp5G1G1R42viuZCAdZojngEi-t3lhOSXfo3A1jrPM/s1600/l_westBromA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsmRcr0WvTWJw-TMws4CS7Ibro9rCvE6U9wN-BEY-OlfKdxpuCkJNrcCe008LtnJLkT6VyMEOkPNKW5_I-YcAIUu8AuR9ch5djpSZp5G1G1R42viuZCAdZojngEi-t3lhOSXfo3A1jrPM/s200/l_westBromA.png" width="151" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">West Bromwich Albion</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Team - West Brom's strong finish last season has raised expectations for this one. The addition of Ben Foster, certainly a better keeper than those available last season and Shane Long should compliment the likes of Odemwinge and Brunt in carrying out Roy Hodgson's detailed tactical plans. mid table is achievable for the Baggies again this season.<br />
The Kit - Again it's Adidas' standard kit for the home shirt. Is it just me or is the collar just a little bit feminine? The away shirt is very suggestive of an off the peg job for West Brom.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDPr6OSXPbC96qn2jMrXbdkhBABUkeYdkl7X_GrQIZv0bsMftAHocvAPRdWc0eKtQHDUQZnHomqlaPifCuEl_jpH4HN8lGnptZDg9rdd-67PBSub79T17mumsXBn4WwmwleRqXctV01xA/s1600/l_wiganH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDPr6OSXPbC96qn2jMrXbdkhBABUkeYdkl7X_GrQIZv0bsMftAHocvAPRdWc0eKtQHDUQZnHomqlaPifCuEl_jpH4HN8lGnptZDg9rdd-67PBSub79T17mumsXBn4WwmwleRqXctV01xA/s200/l_wiganH.png" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw53oXwq91kSakUjzDydI6vEPdtEL26TTKeF56FgTKqG9KLOsyuKHD3qAGjU9bMnfBBxf46HSUatfjj7rf5o18Yq12P5qF3PPwur3xC251nwh3YqNZfWuOQLS0CF0eYwlJ94Lmx2sMURE/s1600/l_wiganA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw53oXwq91kSakUjzDydI6vEPdtEL26TTKeF56FgTKqG9KLOsyuKHD3qAGjU9bMnfBBxf46HSUatfjj7rf5o18Yq12P5qF3PPwur3xC251nwh3YqNZfWuOQLS0CF0eYwlJ94Lmx2sMURE/s200/l_wiganA.png" width="150" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Wigan Athletic</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Team - How long can Wigan stay up for? Every year I think they've had it and they do just about enough to stay up. This season surely they're going down? N'zogbia's departure will hurt them and unless Rodallega can find some goals they're relying on the game but not particularly talented Conor Sammon to score the goals to keep them up. Cleverly's gone back to Man U although midfield is probably Wigan's strongest area along wih Al-Habsi in goal. I suspect they'll be in the mix to go down.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Kit - Gone are Wigan's stripes and back to the solid blue which they've had at times in the past. It's made by what I suspect is one of Dave Whelan's in house deals and looks pretty average in both home and away variants.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhqvpleKtxOn0EWZhavnJpgzn0uobgNmtfcLjSU5adRXxnB69X6Li4ZE0fLXm3FLHXqzzh4RnsimqOuwltAh1SS_JOVxRk99XDt7c0V7vw93CabUrQIbuRoRB59K3hFNxo2qN95swAwnQ/s1600/l_wolvesH.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhqvpleKtxOn0EWZhavnJpgzn0uobgNmtfcLjSU5adRXxnB69X6Li4ZE0fLXm3FLHXqzzh4RnsimqOuwltAh1SS_JOVxRk99XDt7c0V7vw93CabUrQIbuRoRB59K3hFNxo2qN95swAwnQ/s200/l_wolvesH.png" width="151" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVpxr5fxlBFp6114upEvI6G-rMF7EhlE35AYbm9YRxBOWvpoypgSqM2e3-yUhLBVwEJpn0y8GJwSjKVmlJNHk4nYvyiaYtRK6PUTg4R7huspyAobxmvwPcbo0EXVsM5RRIqWVN6KsTPM/s1600/l_wolvesA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVpxr5fxlBFp6114upEvI6G-rMF7EhlE35AYbm9YRxBOWvpoypgSqM2e3-yUhLBVwEJpn0y8GJwSjKVmlJNHk4nYvyiaYtRK6PUTg4R7huspyAobxmvwPcbo0EXVsM5RRIqWVN6KsTPM/s200/l_wolvesA.png" width="151" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Wolverhampton Wanderers</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Team - Wolves stayed up last year b the skin of their teeth which is perhaps a little unfair on them as they'd claimed a few big scalps during the season. They've strengthened with Roger Johnson to shore up central defence and that, along with keeping Kevin Doyle fit should keep them safe in the bottom half of the table.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The kit - Burrda have made reasonable kit for Wolves and this stuff looks decent with a hint of some Adidas' designs. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Credit where credit's due all the pics came from www.guardian.co.uk pre season kit guide.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ4gAK9A_Hhyphenhyphen0H7RLo0JwFz7fVB5wGqg19WwJZLdudcKMh0Sigyl9PQVp0P6Sp0rPF0cGREphqqvgQwZIkwH1o1hPKPLAFvbuFuB_vTOutLZMcfxSkG2mkoXUx7M_9SQezSYzZaf4jEBI/s1600/l_arsenalH.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-23341347466051856722011-07-23T16:27:00.000-07:002011-07-23T16:27:45.168-07:00Brazil - Myth, Legend or the real deal?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzGRz2eTS_8_IpZflEwo_GobRPWvy33bPTNjAQsisdQ4UpZz-ucU4Wkr52ULI5s3whpI2JDXaHAvHO8czJY7xQwX1DilR0QKBETveQpKZZu83C5DcSI9axs8H7ONPNI6pUkjzk-4D1vY/s1600/Copaamerica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzGRz2eTS_8_IpZflEwo_GobRPWvy33bPTNjAQsisdQ4UpZz-ucU4Wkr52ULI5s3whpI2JDXaHAvHO8czJY7xQwX1DilR0QKBETveQpKZZu83C5DcSI9axs8H7ONPNI6pUkjzk-4D1vY/s320/Copaamerica.jpg" width="138" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Copa America - it's not going on Mano Menezes sideboard</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brazil are good. Really good. That's pretty obvious from the five World Cup stars on the shirt and the fact that they are the spiritual guardians of the beautiful game.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here's my question, do Brazil still deserve their position as the unassailable yardstick by which all other teams are mentioned? I never saw the Brazil of Garincha and Pele play in the 60s and 70s and anything I've seen on video since is strongly influenced by their pre-existing reputation and fair enough, the Brazil team of the period looked pretty damned awesome and was a huge part of the development of the game from the 2-3-5 formations into the more modern formations of back fours and more interchangeable midfielder sand forwards. This is all well and good. but since then what has Brazil done in their role as keepers of Joga Bonito?</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Obviously in the last 40 years they've won the World Cup twice and been to another final which is admirable. <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/italy%201990.htm">Italy</a>, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/ARGENTINA.htm">Argentina</a> and <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/germany%201994.htm">Germany</a> have also won it twice in that period and Germany have been to a total of five finals (including West Germany pre-1990). Since 1970 the game has been redefined to a greater or lesser extent by the Dutch in the 70s, Maradona's Argentina of the mid 80s and now arguably by the <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/spain.htm">Spaniards</a> of the late 2000s. The only defining contribution made by the Brazilians in that time was the side of 1982 which, while fluid and fondly remember by many including myself, never actually won anything and in many ways was responsible for the shape of the Brazilian sides to come.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let's look at it World Cup by World Cup. In 1974 Brazil were ultimately defeated by Cruyff's Dutch side and earlier in the tournament faced the indignity of almost being beaten by <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/SCOTLAND%201990.htm">Scotland</a> and would have been had Billy Bremner been able to kick a ball into an empty net. Brazil based journalist and football sage, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/">Tim Vickery</a> says that the loss to the Dutch in 74 and the dominance of total football through the decade led to soul searching within the Brazilian game and led to the more scientific and statistical pragmatism shown by the Selecao from the 1990s onwards. In 78 the Brazilians again made hard work of the first group stage before eventually being dealt a coup de grace by <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/poland.htm">Poland</a>, who were a good side at the time in fairness. '82 saw the romantically remembered side of Socrates, Eder, Falcao and Junior. Ultimately even this last stand of the artistic soul of the Selecao fell to the Italians and largely the same ageing side were seen off on penalties by Platini's <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/france%202010%20away.htm">France</a> at the quarter final stage in Mexico in 1986. In Mexico the Brazilians had the potent Careca playing up front and may feel had he been fit in 1982 they would have won the World Cup. 1990's Brazil was functional and like the tournament in general, disappointing. The lost in the round of 16 to the streetfighting Argentinians. 1994 saw Brazil win the World Cup for the first time in 24 years. The 1994 Brazil side was a more pragmatic, European influence side bolstered by the uncompromising Dunga in midfield and many more large, mobile midfielders. Largely gone was the artistry and fluidity of the true Brazil. Only the mercurial genius of Romario and finishing of Careca were traces of the the real Selecao. In 1998 the mantle of the leader of the Brazil was carried by Ronaldo. Ronaldo at this time was an awesome, almost elemental force, all pace and power and skill. The young Ronaldo in full flow is as close to unstoppable as I have seen. Had he not been mysteriously ill on the night of the final and a shadow of his true self perhaps Brazil could have turned back the blue tide but it seems churlish to grudge <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/france%202004.htm">Zinedine Zidane's</a> victory with <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/france%201998.htm">France 98</a> side. 2002 in the Far East saw Ronaldo's redemption to an extent as he, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo led Brazil to their fifth World Cup. No mean achievement. 2006 saw Brazil struggle to fit Adriano, Kaka, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Barca%20ronaldinho.htm">Ronaldinho</a> and a now slowly fading Ronaldo into a "Magic Square" and ultimately fail as the fell to Raymond Domenech's France, again at the quarter final stage. South Africa in 2010 progress was stately but faltered yet again at the quarter finals to the pantomime villains <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/netherlands%201988.htm">Netherlands</a>, now a physically aggressive shadow of the total footballing heritage of the 1970s.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Following the loss to the Dutch in 2010 there was yet more soul searching by the Brazilians and Mano Menezes was appointed to take over from Dunga as coach, find Brazil's footballing identity again and, most importantly, win the World Cup on hoe soil in 2014. To this end he's brought in a lot of young talented players like Ganso and Neymar who will be the standard bearers in 2014. whether he is successful or not remains to be seen. The battle he faces is to get Brazil winning and dominant while retaining some sort of the Samba soul not really seen since 1970. Where is the soul to be found? For me it's in central midfield. Brazil's midfield over the last 25 years has been full of players like Dunga, Gilberto Silva, Mazinho, Cesar Sampaio and Felipe Melo. All fine players in their own way they reflect the change in the way Brazilian central midfield was utilised. Now the centre of the park was not used for a Socrates or Rivelino to stride forward and act as playmaker but merely to shield the central defence while the full backs charged upfield. Two defensive midfielders might win the odd tight qualifying game in Quito or Belo Horizonte but it doesn't win the hearts and minds of the masses. Tim Vickery describes this mindset during this period as the tyranny of the full back. In fairness Brazil produced many fine full backs in this period such as Cafu, Roberto Carlos and Branco but their supremacy came at the cost of the creative passing midfielder.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The jury is out on Menezes' project with Brazil having fallen to <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/paraguay.htm">Paraguay</a> at the Copa America as the Paraguayans try to emulate Greece of 2004 and win a tournament by playing practically no football. Menezes' squad was a mix of battle hardened veterans and raw youngsters and was clearly part of a bigger plan building towards the 2014 World Cup on home soil. The Copa was hugely forgettable for Brazil bar 45 decent minutes against Ecuador but it wont matter a jot if they lift the World Cup in three years time. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So that's where Brazil are. Undoubtedly a fine side, in the top four or five in the world but what has the last two or three generations done to make Brazil special? The country has undoubtedly produced more ridiculously gifted players then any other but surely in the last 40 years players like Cruyff, Maradona or Zidane have done as much to light up World Cups as much as any Brazilian.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
I'm not saying I expect individual players to beat five or six opponents before rounding the keeper and scoring every five minutes. The football pitch is a much smaller place now due the increase in players' size, pace and fitness but all the more reason that the little flicker of genius here and there could make the difference in what is rapidly becoming a globalised and stylistically homogeneous game. It's a tricky formula to find but if Menezes looks somewhere between the cynicism and technocracy of the last 20 years and the gallant but naive tactic of '82 he'll find a way to win, the right to claim the beautiful game and along with it the soul of Brazil.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-41390145774223589092011-07-16T16:29:00.000-07:002011-07-22T13:34:03.921-07:00Team GB - Celtic paranoia?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTP5BnSJlRS_tpni_Dl7z7-KRp_dtvfijmchok2oVSFzFqqdHGdU9zbl5FN1ttHUg5I4LNnvY6tY1KsDDEBYeE8G8wF7CvtcGrKUqt2brI-89V1WiI9w2Yu7qV34TtU7cA9XOxUIG-BwI/s1600/team-gb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTP5BnSJlRS_tpni_Dl7z7-KRp_dtvfijmchok2oVSFzFqqdHGdU9zbl5FN1ttHUg5I4LNnvY6tY1KsDDEBYeE8G8wF7CvtcGrKUqt2brI-89V1WiI9w2Yu7qV34TtU7cA9XOxUIG-BwI/s320/team-gb.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It'll never work. What colour would they play in?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> (For the purposes of this blog "Celtic" is pronounced with a hard "K" sound as in "Keltic". "Celtic Paranoia" with a soft "S" sound is something altogether different)</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The major downside of the London Olympics, apart from the taxpayer paying a lot of money for a sporting event during a time of financial difficulty, is a the spiky issue of the Olympic football tournament. Normally Olympic football isn't an issue in Britain. We don't have a unified team at any level, especially U-23 so we don;t qualify and concentrate on the sport we all love come the Olympics like rowing and sailing and kayaking and 10m pistol shooting. That's what matters at the Olympics, sports which we win medals at that we have no interest in the rest of the time. We'll leave the athletics to the Americans and Jamaicans and concentrate on the dressage. Olympic football simply doesn't exist to the denizens of Britain.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Britain hasn't entered a football team to the Olympics for donkeys years and hasn't even considered it since the tournament was opened up to professionals. The big worry, for those who don't know, is this. Despite being a relatively small archipelago in the North Sea, Britain has four national team and by extension four votes in FIFA. Now if FIFA was formed today there would be no England, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/SCOTLAND%202010.htm">Scotland</a>, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/.../wales%202005%20AWAY.ht.m">Wales</a> and <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/.../Northern%20Ireland%20away.">Northern Ireland</a> there would be a Great Britain team. The current status quo essentially dates back to a time when most of the members of FIFA were coloured pink on the map and were part of the British Empire and each of the home nations have over the decades developed their own distinct styles and footballing heritage. From a footballing perspective they are now four separate entities. Whether it's Moore's 1966 England, Charles' 1958 Wales, Armstrong's 1982 Northern Ireland or... er.... well let's not get into Scotland's performances just now each of the home nations have all become part of the pages of the World Cup. Would it not be sad if this was lost? I'm well aware that some countries which equally played their part in the World Cup have disappeared. Gone are the likes of <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/soviet%20union.htm">USSR</a>, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/yugoslavia%201990.htm">Yugoslavia</a> and Zaire but these have all gone due to overwhelming political turmoil and in most cases splintered into many more nations. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now the BOA have apparently have had assurances from FIFA that a one-off entry of a U-23 GB team into the 2012 games will have no future ramifications to the current status of the four home nations within FIFA and as far as I can see the English FA are happy to take that at face value. This is thee same English FA who started to throw accusations of bribery and corruption about at FIFA the moment they lost the 2018 World Cup bid, a bid which essentially seems to have been based on the strategy of "it's our turn, here's <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/LA%20Galaxy.htm">David Beckham</a> and Prince William". If FIFA is as corrupt and the FA and the English media are making out then why would you take such assurances at face value? Surely that's a bit on the trusting side? The Scottish, Welsh and northern Irish FA's have basically seen Team GB as a long term threat to their existence and as such been hostile to it from day one. The English FA seem to be happy to run a team for London 2012 with enough confidence that it wont affect their long term prospects. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The concern should surely be that the English FA aren't all that popular out in the wide world as their grand total on one vote at the 2018 ballot showed. Jack Warner may be turn out to be an old crook but he was right when he advised the English FA that nobody liked them. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/">Tim Vickery</a> gives a very good perspective on this. Until 1974 FIFA was run by the English, particularly under the leadership of Stanley Rous, who wanted to keep football as something of a European "Boy's Club" and royally pissed off the rest of the world by taking such steps as siding with the apartheid regime in South Africa. In 1974 FIFA voted in Joao Havelange who ran on a ticket of spreading the the game to rest of the world and commercialising it to everyone's mutual benefit. His successor Sepp Blatter essentially still operates on the same dogma thus he still has a constituency in FIFA outside Europe. For all the painfully apparent faults Havelange and Blatter showed they have still done enough to win several FIFA ballots. The rest of the world has long memories and the top offices of football associations around the world are now held by politicians and administrators who were around in the 60s and 70s and remember the way FIFA was. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
All of this dry history goes to show why the English FA may just be being a bit naive to assume both that any assurance from FIFA is worth the fax paper it's printed on and that their reputation alone justifies their continued existence as far as the Argentinian or Egyptian FAs are concerned. Let's just say for instance that the worst fears of the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish are right and due to some political chicanery at FIFA<i> </i>a move to abolish he home nations goes through. What then happens to the English FA? They get merged along with the Scots, Welsh and Nothern Irish. Then there's no blessed English FA with their sense of entitlement and divine right to win thing<i>s. </i>I'm a proud Scot and while I <i>immensely</i> enjoy seeing England being beaten but that's all in a sense of friendly rivalry. I certainly don't hate England, the English or resent the right of English people to back their team to the hilt and that is as it should be. I'm not politically or dogmatically opposed to the concept of a GB football team at the Olympics but if it presents a threat to the continuation of the four home nations then I have to stand firmly against it. The Celtic FAs can see this threat and I'm really not sure what makes the English FA think they're just that little bit different or special that it's no threat to them. They can hardly rely on their friends at FIFA, can they?</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The very presence of a Team GB could end up being a deeply divisive issue come the 2012 games and essentially counteract the raison d'etre of the project. The football tournament is one of the events which can be spread round the country and theoretically the most accessible of events. Team GB, rather than be a unifying force for the whole country to get behind could end up being a political timebomb, at best ignored and at worst resented by many of the people it's supposed to represent. I couldn't bring myself to cheer on a Team GB at the 2030 World Cup in the knowledge that it came about at the cost of my national team.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the upside David Beckham said he'd play for a Team GB at the 2012 games. That's just what you'd need in a summer U-23 tournament, a past-it, media-whore, semi-retired, show-pony who's only there for his profile and will play so long as there's a bit of exposure in it and he gets to carry the flag or torch or something. I honestly reckon he'd turn up at the opening of an envelope these days. Anything seems to be preferable to actually playing for the club which employs him and pays him handsomely</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Team GB will happen at London 2012 but let's hope it doesn't turn out to be the beginning of the end for the home nations. </span><br />
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</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-8090444639003078482011-06-25T16:43:00.000-07:002011-06-25T16:43:47.069-07:00Retiring from the international game...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1547476887" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUNJAUz6Iq6SxyO-vrkPVSgU5snKWZLt25zHkqOuWO4tHwi9aGS6iFimYu9j3Z4R6Bf2ijezHMAf_NLhFaCBdBeuXd74QSLjrizeUnFnyDdhMYZapXLrQzwGDacWNE_ItnTNzkoNF_Uj4/s320/SFA.jpg" width="227" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/SCOTLAND%202010.htm">Playing for this? Or for yourself?</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Firstly for our regular readers a point of business, I now have a Football manager team. It's PAOK Salonika. I know, I know it was obvious, don't know why I never thought it sooner. For the record, <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/PANANTHINAIKOS%203rd.htm">Salpigidis</a> is a hell of a player.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">OK, now to my rant. The rant is going to be Scotland-centric but the same principles apply regardless of whether you're from <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/canada.htm">Canada</a>, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/wales%201998.htm">Wales</a> or <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/tibet.htm">Tibet</a>.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> I wish to announce my retirement from international football. Pointless isn't it? I may be stating the obvious but I'm not an international footballer. That being said in his time Berti Vogts handed out <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/SCOTLAND%202010.htm">Scotland</a> caps to dozens of people who weren't international footballers. Kevin Kyle for instance. Seriously, Kevin Kyle has <b>TEN</b> Scotland caps. Ten. Take a minute and think about that. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's not pleasant is it.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Back to my mental meanderings. International football is an honour, not a choice. If you're body is almost kaput and not playing international football will extend your career for a year or so I'll cut you some slack but if a footballer is in their prime and they choose to quit international football it should be a one way ticket. Once you've said your gone, your gone. Or if you've blotted your copybook enough to be kicked out, you're out. Let me illustrate by taking a few Scotland players as examples. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Barry Ferguson - Arguably the most talented Scottish player of his generation, not that that's saying much, and Scotland captain Ferguson showed his reverence for the office by getting alcoholically hammered after a football hammering by the <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/netherlands%201988.htm">Dutch</a> and then flicking obscene hand gestures when benched for the following game against <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/iceland.htm">Iceland</a>. The SFA told him he was finished and showing the intestinal fortitude and backbone of an amoeba with dysentery said he could play again a few months later. Ferguson to his (meagre) credit said no thanks. He can concentrate on the big time of playing eternal sideways passes at such footballing Valhallas as London Road, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/peterborough%20away.htm">Peterborough</a> and Keepmoat Stadium, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Doncaster%20Rovers%202008.htm">Doncaster</a> next season.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">2 Allan McGregor - Arguably Scotland's second best goalkeeper of his generation but with the advantage of not being made of glass and cobwebs unlike the slightly more talented Craig Gordon. Gordon would be Scotland number one for years to come if he could only go for longer than 10 minutes at a time without breaking a bone in his arm. Anyway back to McGregor, he too was banned for his involvement in Ferguson's booze and V flicking but lo and behold was back in the team within 18 months. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. Lee McCulloch - Arguably one of the most functional players of his generation. Mcculloch was always an "all right" player. Decent at <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/motherwell.htm">Motherwell</a> and a squad player at the footballing giants of <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/wigan.htm">Wigan Athletic</a>, McCulloch became a utility player at Rangers and picked a fair few Scotland caps before retiring from the international game to spend more time with his family and save his ageing body for his club career. That would seem fair enough but a few months later made himself available for selection again as his reasons for quitting weren't what he said at the time but that he didn't like the Scotland management. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">4. Kris Boyd - Arguably the finest Scottish goalscorer and flat track bully of his generation. I confess that at one time I thought Boyd was an integral part of Scotland future being that rarest of commodities, a Scot who could score goals. Through his career Boyd scored barrowloads of club goals and in fairness had a respectable international record. Then the <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/norway.htm">Norway</a> game happened. An admittedly disappointing 0-0 draw in which poor Chris Iwelumo had one split second of madness and missed an open goal. Boyd then informed the world, through Sky Sports News, that he would not play again for Scotland again under then manager George Burley (although Burley had rarely picked him). It's interesting that Boyd, who has never fully understood how to stay onside, should have a tactical and tactical disagreement with his coach. Now here's the thing, if Iwelumo had scored as he should have and Scotland had won 1-0 would still have flounced out? Boyd has shown Scotland what they're missing by going on to be very disappointing for both <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/middlesbrough.htm">Middlesbrough</a> and <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/.../nottingham%20forest%20home.htm">Nottingham Forest</a> and achieving the status of "expensive fringe player" at these clubs.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">5. Steven Fletcher - Now Fletcher is unusual as he wasn't a Rangers player when he walked out on the Scotland team. Fletcher chucked the toys out of the pram after not being picked to play against <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/spain.htm">Spain</a> or the <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/CZECH%20republic.htm">Czechs</a> and texted the Scotland management to say he wasn't playing any more. As good a player as I think Fletcher is he wasn't even first choice for <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/wolves.htm">Wolverhampton Wanderers</a> at the time so why he thought he should be first choice against the World Cup winners is a bit of a mystery. To use a good good Scots phrase he's "pissed on his chips" as far as playing again under current manager Craig Levein goes. While this robs Scotland of a decent striker it leaves a space for someone who will work as part of the team and maybe keeps an unnecessary (and somewhat unwarranted) ego out of the dressing room.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1 - Playing for your country is an honour. While on national team duty you are literally representing your country. The world is watching, well at least Eurosport is. If you can't stay professional for three or four days maybe you're not the right temperament to be a sports professional in the first place.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">2 - If your national coach tells you to sit on the bench you say "Yes Boss" and train harder to start the next game. If your national coach tells you to play out of position you say "Yes Boss" and give of your best. If your national coach tells you to put on a skateboard helmet and run into a wall you say "Yes Boss" and do it. If you don't like the coach or disagree with him it doesn't matter a jot because you're not playing for him, your playing for the flag, the badge, the 50000 paying punters in the stadium and the millions at home watching on TV. If you don't understand this you're not playing for the badge, you're playing for yourself and that's the biggest sin you can commit playing for your country. If you don't want to be there you don't have to be. If you think you're too good for the Scotland squad go home. There's five million souls behind you in the queue to take your place who know what it means to pull on that shirt.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. You don't retire from international football, it retires you. Or at least it should. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So where are we at the end of all that? International selection isn't the honour it once was and it appears to expose character flaws in those without the cojones to knuckle down and commit to the cause. To be a primadonna in a team sport you have to be special. To be such a primadonna that you disrupt your national team you have to by quasi-legendary. players like Cruyff and Maradona are in that echelon, Fletcher, Boyd and McCulloch are most certainly not. Sadly it seems that sometimes everyone in the stadium is interested in an international match apart from the players.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Incidentally, if anyone knows where I can get a PAOK Salonika shirt for <a href="http://www.footballjerseymusuem.co.uk/">the collection</a> then let me know... </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.com/"><span>www.footballjerseymuseum.com</span></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/FootyJerseys" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img align="right" alt="Follow FootyJerseys on Twitter" src="http://twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com/follow_bird-a.png" /></a><span>Twitter- <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/FootyJerseys">@footyjerseys </a></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-31327867269565848492011-06-18T13:37:00.000-07:002011-06-18T13:41:11.745-07:00Not fit to wear the jersey...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJUsLWvTG6baLMpxM0GNIldq-2kdWH7rjTpEF1ui6Cq4_qvUJD0Izo8Yv6505_2c5pPicm96ux_q11rVyrxNwnYfrC3nh9oKVG6hi1IIupM88_5ouXDNUWjuUUE7VPBxsA16h9o63NC4/s1600/el-hadji-diouf-senegal-514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJUsLWvTG6baLMpxM0GNIldq-2kdWH7rjTpEF1ui6Cq4_qvUJD0Izo8Yv6505_2c5pPicm96ux_q11rVyrxNwnYfrC3nh9oKVG6hi1IIupM88_5ouXDNUWjuUUE7VPBxsA16h9o63NC4/s320/el-hadji-diouf-senegal-514.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A disgrace to the (rather nice) jersey?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(103, 103, 103); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: lightgrey; font-size: 9pt;">Footballers are a strange breed in a strange situation. They can be lionised one minute for being good at their job and pilloried the next for doing something morally questionable which has nothing to do with their job. Take the case of Ryan Giggs for instance. A few weeks ago he was seen as "Mr Nice Guy" and the elder statesman of <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/manchester%20united.htm">Manchester United</a>'s playing staff, second only in saintliness to Bobby Charlton. Now his stock has never been lower because of the sort of personal life which the public seem quick to condemn but lap up daily on Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer. Ryan Giggs is as good a player as he was six months ago but the sheen has come off him and he's no longer the housewife's choice he at one time was. Ironically if he were an actor or a pop star this behaviour would probably make him edgy and get him on chat shows. In sport though it means the end of sponsorship deals and undoubtedly pithy chants from opposing fans. Now here's my question, if Ryan Giggs wasn't a footballer and was let's say a lawyer or car salesman for arguments sake would anyone even care what he did in his private life? I'm not condoning his behaviour, far from it, but if the people involved want to live like that and accept the situation then that's their business and frankly I couldn't give a toss. Giggs is pilloried by the media (or given the Tiger woods treatment as it's known) for having a dubious private life. He's not the first, he wont be the last and in the great scheme of things it doesn't affect his ability to do his job. It's not like anything criminal has happened, distasteful yes but not illegal. don't feel too sorry for footballers though. If they turn out to be alcoholics or wife beaters it seems to turn them into folk heroes. The rousing ovation given by Glasgow Rangers fans after Paul Gascoigne confessed to domestic abuse or the pseudo-state funeral given to George Best by Belfast just go to show that so long as you're a footballer just about anything can be forgiven. I understand that alcoholism is an illness but people should be lauded for beating it, not living with it and letting it contribute to their downfall. <br />
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Now take the case of everyone's favourite pantomime baddie, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/SENEGAL%20AWAY.htm">Senegal</a>'s El Hadji Diouf. Now this guy is a peice of work. I say this with no axe to grind with any club he's played for in England but here's a guy who really does need a look at. Diouf has been at best a decent player in his time in England. His roll call of clubs show his level. <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/liverpool%202002.htm">Liverpool</a>, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/bolton%20away.htm">Bolton</a> <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/sunderland%20away.htm">Sunderland</a> and <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Blackburn.htm">Blackburn</a> have all thought better of employing him (although Blackburn still have to find someone to take him permanently). I'm not trying to be deliberately provocative to Liverpool in that last sentence but they weren't great under Houllier and Diouf was only one of many, many bad purchases in that period. Let that be a warning to everyone not to buy a player based on tournament performance. Remember Toto Schillachi, Oleg Salenko or Milan Baros? Rubbish players bought for far too much money after three or four good games in a summer tournament. Anyway, back to my point, Diouf is a different kettle of fish to a Giggs, Rooney or John Terry. Diouf regularly disgraces himself while playing football or to be more legalistic about it, while on duty representing his employer. He's not a hard player or even a dirty player per say, every club has their hard men and they tend to be cult heroes but Diouf is a player with a history of spitting and generally instigating trouble. I've played football and am willing to forgive anyone the very occasional red mist moment but Diouf has down the years spat at two different set of opposing fans and in at least one opponents face and, with a real touch of class taunted an opponent with a leg broken in two places, all done while wearing the kit of his employers. I'm no employment lawyer but am fairly sure that if anyone reading this goes to work tomorrow and spits in someone's face it will be the last thing you do in that job. Why is this tolerated by someone who is a pretty average footballer and is on tens of thousands of pounds a week? Is it because he's a great player? Well no, not particularly. Not at all actually. If a club were to terminate his contract he could walk away and sign for someone else and probably would but so what? What does a player have to do for a club to say enough's enough, that behaviour is not befitting an employee of this club ergo you're not fit to wear the jersey? I don't know but I suspect Diouf is on a mission to find out. Blackburn did at least have the sense to get Diouf out of town last season and bump him on loan to Glasgow Rangers where I'm sure he fitted in nicely with such club ambassadors and paragons of upstanding behaviour as Kyle Lafferty but must surely want to get him off the books for next season. There's rumblings of Sam Allardyce wanting Diouf at <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/west%20ham.htm">West Ham</a> which isn't surprising as Big Sam seems to regard Diouf as his own personal winged monkey and take him from club to club.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(103, 103, 103); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(103, 103, 103); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: lightgrey; font-size: 9pt;">So there's my question - why do people care what footballers do off the pitch and tolerate what they do on it? Were Diouf to sign for my team he would undoubtedly be the highest profile player at the club but I honestly wouldn’t want him wearing my team’s colours and badge. Ultimately a club’s reputation and heritage must stand for something to the fans, if not the management. Maybe I’m a bit of an old traditionalist but I’m not sure I’d want a player, however good to represent my club if he has consistently shown himself to be a reprehensible disgrace to the jersey repeatedly. What he does off the pitch so long as it’s not criminal is his business.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(103, 103, 103); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(103, 103, 103); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: lightgrey; font-size: 9pt;"> In summation </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(103, 103, 103); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: lightgrey; font-size: 9pt;">·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: lightgrey; font-size: 9pt;">Don’t lionise footballer and regard them as role models because their good at football. It doesn’t stop them being philanderers, drunks or generally unpleasant in the real world.</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(103, 103, 103); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: lightgrey; font-size: 9pt;">·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: lightgrey; font-size: 9pt;">A player, while on the pitch represents the club. If that club stands for ANYTHING then a certain levels professionalism and behaviour has to be adhered to. Failure to enforce it simply tacitly accepts and endorses the miscreant acts.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(103, 103, 103); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(103, 103, 103); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: lightgrey; font-size: 9pt;">Come to think of it I wouldn’t want Giggs at my team either. It's not because of a lack of ability or his personal life but because many years ago he <a href="http://www.lofi-gaming.org.uk/museum/games/game.php?id=932">put his name to singularly the worst computer football game ever</a>...<br />
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It was so bad. </span><br />
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<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.com/"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">www.footballjerseymuseum.com</span></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/FootyJerseys" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img align="right" alt="Follow FootyJerseys on Twitter" src="http://twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com/follow_bird-a.png" /></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Twitter- <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/FootyJerseys">@footyjerseys </a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-87084829040608976832011-06-10T18:06:00.000-07:002011-06-11T04:10:01.344-07:00Looking for a new club...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLiu7bH6OM9XXsrwvvTr-OYRZahfV9Bc0qgNdbZYvnLiXyOczGSs4WitBQ7odAMRwkJeWeqQn8F9acMEb2jS63A-WLeFhIMGdEmr6V2fV4EHAX05Toc_xWsCkgRcDlBoM5glSIKmSTmA/s1600/new+club.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLiu7bH6OM9XXsrwvvTr-OYRZahfV9Bc0qgNdbZYvnLiXyOczGSs4WitBQ7odAMRwkJeWeqQn8F9acMEb2jS63A-WLeFhIMGdEmr6V2fV4EHAX05Toc_xWsCkgRcDlBoM5glSIKmSTmA/s200/new+club.gif" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Decisions, decisions...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The end of the football season is an uncertain time for many in the football world. Contracts finish, transfer windows open and in my case there's a new edition of Football Manager and some major decisions to make. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Naturally my playing career has been glittering with hundreds of games under my belt for such footballing luminaries as Wallace Primary School P6, Monday Night Muppets, <a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/barry.bryce/">Dukla CRD</a> and Poynton Gentlemens Sunday Lunchtime Recreational Association Football Wanderers. There was even a game in 1994 when I was selected to play against Iceland (admittedly it was against Iceland the frozen food retailer and I was playing as a ringer for Littlewoods, not for Scotland) and *<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPbUKsTjihU">this goal</a> at the Mecca of football that is Moss Rose Macclesfield. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My virtual football management career has been similarly impressive with league victories with <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/ST%20MIRREN%201986.htm">St Mirren</a> (naturally), <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/leeds%20utd.htm">Leeds Utd</a>, Fakel Voronezh, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/Macclesfield%20Town%202008.htm">Macclesfield Town</a>, <a href="http://footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/torpedo%20moscow.htm">Torpedo Moscow</a>, Busan Transport Corporation and <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/stockport%202004.htm">Stockport County</a> amongst others. There's even been a Champions League win with Leeds. Now I have a copy of Football Manager 2011 installed on my laptop and am struggling to find a team to manage. Sometimes I start a game and it just doesn't "take". For some reason I just don't connect with a team and don't get the almost narcotic urge to play it. A game of Football Manager isn't a proper game unless every spare waking moment is spent considering what to do about cover for your right back and if your defensive midfielder will be fit enough for the league cup replay away to <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/arbroath.htm">Arbroath</a> or <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/anzhi.htm">Anzhi Makhlachkala</a> or<a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/kettering%20town%20away.htm"> Kettering Town</a>. I'm not proud of it but will admit to being reduced to thinking about team formations and who should be on the sub's bench while I'm sitting on the toilet. At that point you have to accept you have a problem. This behaviour manifests itself in other ways. I have a dislike for certain clubs and players for things they have done on a computer game. I'm aware this is irrational but I will still never forgive Martin Rowlands for not signing for me when I was in charge of Stockport County. <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/airdrie%20utd.htm">Airdrie United</a> will always be a pariah club to me not for anything the actual club has done but for a late equaliser they got in a 3-3 draw while playing the 2002 variant of Football Manager. The inverse is also true. I have a fondness for relatively obscure players across the world because of performances they've put in on a computer game! In our house never a bad word is said about <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/rubin%20kazan.htm">Marat Bikmaev</a>, Nathan Ellington, <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/spartak%202001%20cl%2025.htm">Alexandr Pavlenko</a>, Michal Gottwald or Peter Weatherson (even if Weatherson does now play for Greenock Morton).</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So now I have a new game and am looking for a new challenge, a new team, a new horizon. But where to go? Corinthians Paulista is an option to have a tilt at the Brazilian league and Copa Libertadores but Brazil has about 5 million footballers with approximately 12 names between them all. <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/persitara.htm">Persitara Jakarta Utara</a> is nicely exotic but have you ever looked at the Indonesian league? Well no you obviously haven't because you're a well adjusted human being but I have looked at it and it's a Byzantine web of clubs nearly all called Persisomething. I thought about the A-League but couldn't find a club I liked the look of (no teams with black and white striped shirts for a start!) I even considered the MLS but lost the will to live when I came up against the MLS Superdraft. What in the name of goodness is a superdraft? Some sort of air conditioner?</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So that's me left looking for a club for the adventure to begin again and for the next <a href="http://www.footballjerseymuseum.co.uk/Pages/kuban%20krasnodar%20away.htm">Artur Tlisov</a> or Alex Teixieira to come along and join the pantheon of obscure footballer who I have a Football Manager soft spot for. Who should I manage? All suggestions gratefully received so answers on a postcard to the usual address...</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*Please note if viewing the video ignore the commentary from my so called friends. They're just jealous of my pace, composure and Adonis like physique</span><br />
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</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-67382803471087464092011-06-06T17:11:00.000-07:002011-06-06T17:11:58.784-07:00Who's the greatest?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXJAMVBXBmf0zq9wvb_kXqlFj8w8PO7ed9ThJoO7ysnLVWaTu69-sEUoGSyX_tIoWOSqJ7mHsLycLb_yg1ZkuUVTTm6iHiYK02Wxgz2m3jlhp4e3pfyRkFb0c1xJNsqUW60EkPdpeItk/s1600/2235769977_f0fd1f2d61.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXJAMVBXBmf0zq9wvb_kXqlFj8w8PO7ed9ThJoO7ysnLVWaTu69-sEUoGSyX_tIoWOSqJ7mHsLycLb_yg1ZkuUVTTm6iHiYK02Wxgz2m3jlhp4e3pfyRkFb0c1xJNsqUW60EkPdpeItk/s320/2235769977_f0fd1f2d61.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Messi - a poor man's Gardner Speirs?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Following their demolition of Man Utd in the Champions League Final last week Barcelona have been touted as the greatest team ever. Obviously Barcelona aren't the greatest team ever, the St Mirren side of the mid to late 1980s were. End of discussion. Next topic please.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Xavi Hernandez may well have a World Cup, European Championship, Champions Leagues and a liberal sprinkling of La Liga medals but is he not just a pale imitation of Tony Fitzpatrick? I mean Xavi couldn't carry off a 'tache like Fitz could. Leo Messi's dribbling and trickery may well make him the finest exponent of the game today but I'll bet he's not got as many Renfrewshire Cup medals as Frank McGarvey. And as for Sergio Busquets, let's put him up against Billy Abercromby and give Busquets a good reason to roll about holding his face. Or knee. Or nurse some massive internal injuries.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let's just say for arguments sake that you disagree about St Mirren's place in the football pantheon and we reopen the "who's the greatest" discussion. It's a facile and pointless discussion but it kills a couple of hours at the pub. I never saw the Real Madrid of the late 50s and early 60s play (I have a DVD of the 63 European Cup final but haven't got round to watching it so don't tell me the result) ditto for the Bayern and Ajax sides of the 70s. I did see the Liverpool side of the 80s play and while I confess to being very young all I seem to remember is Hansen, Whelan, Lawrenson etc passing back to Bruce Grobbelaar but I'm sure there was more to them than that. I also saw the Milan side of the late 80s and early 90s, van Gaal's mid 90s Ajax and now this Barca side. They were all great sides and all boasted fine players. I'd have to say that of the sides I've seen that the current Barca side is the best but is that just because I saw them most recently? Or because they play pretty football? Or because I have a soft spot for Barcelona? Who knows? For what it's worth I'd say that Barca play the game with a level of technical purity no other side has got close to (honourable mention to van Gaal's Ajax) even allowing for the likes of Dani Alves and Sergio Busquets' cynicism and theatrics. The other point about this Barca team is that it's also the core of the obscenely successful Spanish side which has swept all before them in recent years. Other club sides have strongly influenced national sides previously, Bayern and Ajax back in the 70s for instance but has a club side ever had such a big influence on such a successful national team as this Barcelona team has on the Spanish? Holland never actually won anything with Cruyff etc in the team and Bayern didn't have as many players in the West German side (I think) but Spain seem to steamroller team largely in a Barcelona style with largely Barcelona players.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm sure older and wiser heads than I would scoff and say that this side isn't fit to lace the boots of the Honved and Real Madrid sides of the 50s or the tragic Torino side of the 40s and they may be right but this only proves what a pointless discussion it is. Apart from the hugely subjective nature of such a judgement the game has evolved so quickly and completely that it's almost a different sport compared to 20 years ago, never mind 60 or 70 years ago. The athleticism and speed of the game is higher now than it ever was and tactical innovations along with rule changes have made it harder than ever to score a goal. I'm sure that Puskas would be as fearsome player now as he was 60 years ago but just in a different way just as Zidane or Messi would be world class playing back in the 50s but they wouldn't be the same players. Puskas, Pele, Beckenbauer, Maradona, Campbell Money, Gullit, Zidane and Messi are and were all products of their footballing time and place and as such can only really be compared to their contemporaries for a value judgement. Comparing them against each other is as pointless as the "who's the greatest guitarist" debate, another staple of the pub bore. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All that taken into account I'd have to stand by my belief that the current Barca side is as good as I've seen but I still have one nagging doubt about those players. Not one of them can be considered truly great until they've knocked in a scrappy toe poke against Greenock Morton on a dark February afternoon. Then, and only then, can their names be mentioned in the same breath as the all time greats like Peter Godfrey, Tommy Wilson...</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303982237857138261.post-78519943057054032962011-05-30T13:20:00.000-07:002011-05-30T13:34:58.081-07:00Running for FIFA presidency<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8d9C0qb2T2GIcy5tm8-wMSxesM5VJOLxG5UmNZwHMbDLXShY5c4BH99sW-5E40xSvmqF9FfD3NJjfoQ1Rq0jRaGGIjImS21CmJM2H69hK8ONqtUbkf3KxJ7MmFCrxceosTrHLA-Y4dE/s1600/fifa_logo%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8d9C0qb2T2GIcy5tm8-wMSxesM5VJOLxG5UmNZwHMbDLXShY5c4BH99sW-5E40xSvmqF9FfD3NJjfoQ1Rq0jRaGGIjImS21CmJM2H69hK8ONqtUbkf3KxJ7MmFCrxceosTrHLA-Y4dE/s200/fifa_logo%255B1%255D.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I hereby announce my candidacy for FIFA presidency to prevent Blatter unopposed coronation for another term. Football clearly has it's problems and I'm confident that the following manifesto will sweep me to power in a landslide. I assume you can vote on Facebook or Twitter for me or something so I'll sit by the phone waiting on Jerome Valcke to call. Not all of the suggestions are entirely in jest.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rule Changes</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> If, in the opinion of the referee, an attacker has dived to get a free kick then the defender accused of committing the foul gets a "free kick" at the attacker who is feigning injury. A few boots caving in rib cages should provide an incentive for players to stay on their feet.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If a defender shields the ball to allow it to run out for a goal kick or throw in, blocking an attacker from reaching the ball with his body then it's sodding obstruction. If you aren't in control of the ball then shielding it's a foul! It's a foul on the halfway line but for some reason not near goal.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Journeyman or average players wearing coloured boots are to be dealt with by automatic yellow cards. Only exciting players should be allowed to stand out in such a way. If a player refuses to change into footwear more befitting his ability and creativity then he is to be red carded. The credibility of football cannot stand up to the mockery of a defensive midfielder from Stirling Albion or Barnet giving it the "big I am" in red or yellow boots. People might see!</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Clubs with boring away kits (i.e plain yellow or white) are be docked 20 points at the start of the season. Obviously this will cause major problems for Glasgow Celtic but they'll just need to sort it out.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> League games ending 0-0 result in no points being awarded. The aim of the game is to score goals and if neither team scored then they've both failed. That should brighten up the last 20 minutes of some games and get rid of the "what we have, we hold" attitude displayed by some clubs.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Administration</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
World Cups for 2014, 2018 and 2022 are to be retracted and reallocated to countries which are better for me to watch on TV in terms of time zones. I remember '86, '94 and '02. World Cup games at ungodly hours interfere with my enjoyment of it. Either the host countries run on GMT or they lose the World Cup. I'm not sitting up till 2am to watch Belgium versus Tunisia but I would watch it at 7pm.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Corruption and bribery will not be cleaned up but lessened. I'm not honest but I'm cheaper then Blatter, Warner et al.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Champions League, Europa League, Copa Libertadores, African Champions League and Asian Champions League are all to be downgraded in importance, prestige and prize money and FIFA will re-prioritise the Renfrewshire Cup as the World's Premier club tournament. The winners of champions League etc can all play each other in a play off for one place in the quarter finals against Arthurlie or Port Glasgow Juniors.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Unimaginative or Low Grade football punditry in the media will result in a country losing coefficient points. This will mean that football association will have to shut up the likes of Lawrenson, Shearer, Jamie Redknapp, Ray Hudson, Gerry McNee and Chick Young or face having to start qualifying for tournaments alongside teams from Andorra's fourth division.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sponsorship deals will be reappraised. Some kit manufacturers will be told to sling their hook until they can make some decent kit (Reebok, Nike - you have been warned!). I am also of the opinion that FIFA arent making the World Cup commercial enough and will personally spearhead the search for the 2014 tornament sponsors depending on which companies send me the best goodies. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Philosophy</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My FIFA administration will be based largely around my own prejudices (settling scores with teams which annoy me) and while I have strongly held principles they can be bought at remarkably modest rates. I reckon I'd only need to last about six or nine months to be set for life then someone else can get a go.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I couldn't do any worse and promise not to piss all the money away swan and panda steak buffets.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Vote for me, what's the worst that could happen?</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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