Well Done England !

The nation celebrates as plucky England today hammered those giants of world football, Slovenia, 1 - 0. Mastered minded by the tactical genius of Fabio Capello our brave boys turned on the style to get through to the knock out stages of world football's greatest competitions.

Some doubted that England would qualify but the players responded with a creditable second place finish in the group of death. Only a freak result for those other footballing goliaths, America, prevented England doing the unthinkable and winning the group.

It looks like it'll be Germany in the knock out stages and already those erudite callers to 6-0-6 are proudly predicting that the boys will put them in their place........." bring it on " is the cry without the slightest hint of  alcohol or something slighty stronger although a hint of irony sadly seems pretty distant !

The lads can stuff the Kaiser's comments down his throat as apparently " the boys are cooking on gas ". Like our good friends calling that thoroughbred Englishman, Alan Green, I'm fed up with the negativity that surrounds the team, some are even daring to suggest that the finest squad ever to leave these shores won't now go on and win the whole thing !

All the meticulous preparation in selecting unfit players, out of form players, players who are clearly not good enough, players who don't care about anything other than themselves and their wage packet, dissing the fans for not praising the team after a poor performance, allowing and being unaware of your former upstanding skipper to speak out of turn etc. etc. is now starting to bear fruit.

Only a highly paid Italian with little abiltiy to communicate in the mother tongue could have delivered the dream that is England's success today. How fit and proper it was to see him celebrate the win as though England had won the cup there and then.........a full dress rehearsal eh !

England can now beat anyone of that there's no doubt, just ask those 6-0-6 callers. Let's sit back and with great pride, watch them go all the way !

Brazil 1970 - It can't get any better !

These boys could play a bit !

Despite being 6 years old at the time I can't recall anything of England's only world cup success in '66. My ealiest recollections of world cup finals is Mexico 1970. Perhaps that clouds my judgement in believing that no side will ever better that Brazilian team. Adding to the nostalgia is my first experiences of colour t.v..........it was quite a thing back then kids...........forget your HD and 3D, this was technology of the highest order !

Not that we had a colour t.v ourselves, dad was still renting a black and white one from Radio Rentals. I don't think we could afford colour until about 1974 and England weren't in the finals that year ! For 1970 we went round to my dad's friend's house to watch as he was one of the lucky ones with colour !

 If you were around to witness the lads from South America in 1970 you'll know that they were sublime. Casually stoking the ball around before finally delivering the killer blow ! Fantastic stuff.

Now it's all started again in South Africa. I missed the opening game but got to see the France game. It looked as though it was being officiated by a bunch of postal worked judging from the shirts they were wearing and the ref was happy to deilver a number of cards eh ?

England have made the finals again this time and as ever it's a delight to see English flags flying from cars all across the country........a touch of class. There's a feeling that we must all get behind the boys. Perhaps this is because we don't celebrate being English in any other way or almost at any other time. Even when our lads won the rugby world cup or the Ashes, the celebrations were pretty mute compared to that which will almost invevitably greet a football world cup win.

For me, I'll be watching England games out of mild curiosity. This is because I personally can't stand the majority of low-lifes that are representing our country. I think I'd feel a bit sick if these guys won and had even more praise and rewards heaped upon them. Role models ? Er, I think not !

We've just lost one captain who " missed " a drugs test and he took over from a really decent bloke from a decent family, a real loss that, JT. Now we've got a skipper we all saw in bar brawl recently...........nice !

Wayne is caught swearing at a referee and in a friendly for God's sake ! This is fine for our former skip ( Rio ) because " he says much worse to Prem refs "..........so that's ok then. Perhaps this is all part of the discipline Capello has brought to the team. Wayne needs to be fired up apparently to play well so that means we must all accept whatever misdemeanours accompany his behaviour then !

Capello is seen as a great manager although recent performances would suggest otherwise. In addition, he lost his rag with photographers earlier in the week........perhaps spending time with those players is affecting him too !

Never mind taking the team on a safari, something I've no doubt most of them have already done or can do at any time if they want. It'd might have better to take these pampered stars to some townships, get them to meet people and give away some signed shirts, have a kick about or whatever. That perhaps would open their eyes to a world beyond their own. Little chance I fear.

What then of England from a purely footballing point of view ?


No Darren Bent again of course. I can't see him ever getting to a world cup..........he can do no more.

Heskey is going again ! George Best didn't play in one world cup and Emile has now done two.........I need say no more ! Apparently he plays well with Wayne, holds it up etc even if he doesn't score.........blimey sounds like Leaburn played about 15 years too early !

Alec Ferguson must be kicking himself. If he'd bought Heskey last summer Man Utd would have won the league....what does he know eh ?

England has several players with recent dodgy injury records. Time will tell if picking King was right but it doesn't look sensible to me when he can't train and is now expected to play so many game in a short space of time.

God knows what they'll do if Rooney gets injured or more likely, suspended. Can't see who's going to bang in the goals because as I said, it won't be Emile that's for sure !

England will of course thrash the US of A. That's the general concensus in the majority of our press and for fans of our national team. There's always this misbelief that England are much better than they are and in this case that, America are rubbish. Well, they're not and a draw won't surprise me.

I'm looking forward to games involving the likes of Brazil, Spain, Argentina etc. We'll see some good football then.

My hope is that Brazil win the cup and if they play as we know they can then they will. That would, some 40 years later, have me reminiscing some more about the boys of 1970 !

Time To Be Positive !

Work and the cricket season has impacted on me to the extent that I've not posted anything for two weeks. Well there's been bu**er all to comment on aside from a coalition, 1st leg play off, Palarse staying up and tonight's upcoming game !

My view is that we need to be positive both on and off the pitch. Off the pitch that means getting right behind the team for the full monty, however long that may be !

On the pitch that means no Mooney and playing Reid from the start. I've lost count of how many times I've been frustrated with the omission of Reid from the starting line up. How many times did we need a decent cross from the left on Friday but Bailey was unable to supply it not least because their defenders knew they just had to force him onto his left foot. Hopefully that hasn't already cost us the overall fixture.

Obviously an early goal will be great tonight but if we don't concede then it could go down to the wire.

It's going to be nail biting as it always is wth the Addicks. Let's hope we overcome the Robins and can look forward to another Wembley appearance !

Come On You Reds !

Scot wins poll despite gaffe !

Well done Christian !

Good to see our Christian win the most important vote of the month, year etc. He even managed to overcome a little pre-election gaffe when it appeared he'd upset the Addicks tea leady Gillian Wilkins. Gillian is, of course, infamous for providing the players with large mugs of the nation's favourite beverage. Chrisitain was widley mis-quoted and later able to confirm that he had called her " a bigger tea lady ". Thank goodness that was cleared up !

I was pleased to see Semedo recognised with a close second. He has been such a massive player for us in recent months.

Well, who'd have thought ? We go into the last game of the season still with a chance of finishing second ! Ok we all know it's unlikely but if we didn't have hope as Charlton fans there there'd be no point in anything now would there !

A shame that the Owls didn't overcome Palarse yesterday. Varney through one on one with the keeper.......we all knew what the outcome there would be. Similarly when Jeffers only need get a tuft of hair onto a cross to score.............we all knew what the outcome there would be.

Ambrose almost inevitably scored the all important second for that lot. Let's hope we end up playing them in the league next season, hopefully with the away game at a yet to be determined venue !

What's the most common owl in Britain ?

The teet...............the tea towel. ( old jokes revisited no. 789 )

We all hope to enjoy the long weekend although as usual the weather seems about to live up to its bank holiday reputation......damn ! My cricketing ventures mean that I'll not be at today's game........my second miss of the season for home games. In addition, I only recently discovered that the play off final is on Saturday 29th May....what's all that about ? Normally all play-off finals are over the bank holiday weekend going from league 2 on the Saturday culminating with the Championship final on the Monday. I can't make that due to my....ahem 39th birthday party !

It's also a long weekend due to the footie. Aside from today's action at the Valley I'll be keeping a close eye on events at Hillsborough. Come on you Owls ! How nice it'd be to see Palarse go down. That would put them in a spot of bother especially with their ground and how we'd all love the irony of a potential ground share ! A 96th minute Luke Varney winner would fit the bill eh ? We can but dream !

For today a good performance allied to anything other than a loss is fine by me. We're treading water at the moment waiting to see who we get in the play offs. Little point in risking players with niggles and more serious injuries.

Parky has two games left to sort out what he does with our midfield. He's tinkered around with it for months and still not got it right. Last week was the usual crazy situation of Reid on the bench and Bailey on the left. It still makes no sense ! I wouldn't start with Bailey but Parky please make a positive decision even if it's not one I agree with.

There's got to be concerns about Leeds fans in the home areas today. The refusal to sell tickets to genuine Addicks fans for Norwich looked, at best, a little silly when I and many others saw Norwich fans with Canaries scarves and shirts brazenly displayed ! That in itself is not a great issue for me as they in general tend to be quite civilised but allied to not selling to our own......I mean !

This can't be said of Leeds fans who've changed little over the years. A number of them in the home areas is a worry particularly if results go against them. I pray that there won't be any trouble today.

Fingers crossed for a good game and result.

Come On You Reds !

Jonjo A Go Go

Sometimes you just know when you've outgrown a relationship

It seems as though Jonjo is on his way to Liverpool. Good luck to him. It may not be a bad move. He resisted the temptation to move to Chelsea in the summer probably having seen what little good did it Mr Parker.

Liverpool are a much better bet. He may well go out on loan somewhere or if he stays he will probably get a go in the league cup and f.a. cup teams. With any luck the hapless Benetiz will be gone soon and he'll get an opportunity to work under a quality manager who can offer some decent guidance.

Shelvey signed a new contract not long ago and hepled ensure the the Addicks would be reasonably well rewarded when he finally moved on as was inevitable. 

As for the accompanying news that there will be a sharing of up and coming youth players, well we've seen it all before of course. Remember the flow of players between Inter and ourselves ? No ? Neither do I as it never really happened did it ?

Good luck to Shelvey, he's not had a great season with us for various reasons not least because we seemed unable to find a way to accommodate him after the initial few games. However, he is a player of some promise as we all know. I'm sure we'll all be watching to see how his career progresses.

I Don't Agree With Nick !

No, not you Nick, EVERYONE agrees with you it seems !

A really good performance from the Addicks went unrewarded yesterday. For me, this was the best the team has played for some time. Almost to a man they had good games. Our inability to put the ball in the net allied to and for the second week running a keeper in great form !

My only issue is Nicky Bailey. Talk about square pegs and round holes ! I know left side midfield isn't his position, so does he and it shows. He is tucked inside too much offering no width and has no left foot. I don't think he had a great game yesterday despite his efforts on goal. The free kick wasn't hit with enough pace to truly test the keeper in my view.

We had a natural left winger in Reid on the bench........why not start with him ? He's clearly better than Bailey in that position. Again we were unable to get many crosses from the left and also really attack down that side.

I don't care if Bailey is skipper, if he isn't one of your best eleven players in the system then he don't start ! The Aussies in cricket pick their team and then their skipper. We should do the same.

In addition, I don't think he showed much leadership yesterday. Too busy arguing with team-mates and the referee. Blimey, he was nearly as bad as Chris Martin and that's saying something !

Semedo should not have gone off yesterday. What a game he was having, pulling all the strings in midfield. Racon too was playing very well.

I was pleased to see Randolph continue in goal, he deserves too. Clearly he's gaining in confidence given his fancy footwork when being closed down.........better than some of our outfield players some might argue !

The last three performances should give cause for optimism. If we carry on like that we should give ourselves a good chance of going up whether automatic or not. The spirit seems good. Let's hope it continues as we head to the West Country next Saturday !