Forgot to mention it

Yes it was a sending off, no doubt about it. And yes he is a great player, but if I had given someone a forearm smash I would fully expect to be sent off. The F.A and Clattenburg have bottled it on that one, end of story.

An air rifle at one of the worlds most high profile training grounds, and in the hands of Ashley Cole, totally and utterly MENTAL. Why doesn't he have done with it and start leathering a scooter around the grounds or doing some handbrake turns in the car park.

CH

Final

What a cup final that was! Absolute determination and will to win saw Birmingham through, and as much as you have to feel sorry for the losing team and it's fans, those Blues players and the forty or fifty thousand 'Brummies' present really deserved that victory. Half the back four of the Birmingham team were limping for almost the entire second half, but somehow they got through it and made it to the final whistle. It was one of the most enjoyable games I have seen for a long time, again sorry to any Gunners fans out there, but even I was shouting at the TV for the Birmingham players to keep the ball in the corner at the end.
I have missed playing this beautiful game so, so much, and after witnessing that final yesterday I know why. You can't beat that underdog spirit, and a little closer to home here in Devon, I really hope Plymouth Argyle can beat the odds and survive after what has been a pretty torrid week on and off the pitch.


CH

Fun Fair

In true blog fashion I shall be honest and say I have been a bit preoccupied this week. What with the new business being imminent, the children having broken up, the in-laws having arrived, and the book nearly completed it has been a hectic few days.
I am still on the button with the football however, and I cannot believe the woes of my former club down the road, Plymouth Argyle. So much has gone on there that is wrong. Although they are not the first, and won't be the last club, to go into administration, I find it hard to understand how the situation came to this eventuality.
Clubs need to have a serious think about the consequences of any possible relegation, as well as future wages earned, length of players contracts, the whole gambit. It can't be easy to keep a club afloat but something must have gone seriously wrong with the financial planning at Plymouth to end up in that state.
The roller-coaster of football, and of being a fan, will continue, but the financial roller-coaster that clubs are on will have to stop.

P.S Please no more petrol rises, and forget the interest rate rise too.

Mind over Matter

Mind still active but body aching badly, hence bath and bed.

CH

Return

I nipped to see how my old mates at T.U.F.C were doing yesterday. It was great to return to my old stomping ground - albeit it was very low key from 3.01 to 4.44 p.m, and although a lot has changed, certainly staff wise, it was nice to see some old faces, and some pictures on the walls of the 'good times'.
Torquay should definitely have won the game and I reckon if they play like that at home from now on the play-offs are more than a possibility.
Last night it was fish!, it was Carol and Andrew, and it was the Anchor. Good food and good fun.
Today it's bacon buns, a lamb roast, and a walk on the seafront. No football and no deadlines. Loving it.

CH

Marbles?

It's Thursday already! Wow I am going mad,I honestly though that I blogged last night, but no, I haven't posted a bean for three days, sorry, sorry, and sorry again. My only excuse is that my fingers are on fire at the moment, I am in the latter stages of writing the big book and the last few thousand words are killing me. It is still enjoyable to write but with the madness I am surrounded with on a daily basis getting the 'quiet' time to do so is tough.

Football now and arriving back late last night me and the boy sent the girls upstairs and put the footy on. As Cam had school in the morning we put the game on 2x fast forward and to be honest it was perfect, we got the gist even at that speed - that Barcelona kept the ball incredibly well and then pressed the life out of Arsenal if they ever happened to give it away - Fair play to the 'gunners' though, they went a little bit more direct and low and behold a comeback was soon on the cards. What with head butts,comebacks,and Messi misses, it's certainly been an unusual week in European football.

CH

Loved Up?

I decided to stay in the end, the apartment would have been a bit too poky anyway, so until I have earned a few more pound notes it is good old Blighty for me and my clan.

I am reading Alan Sugar's autobiography at the moment and I have to say it is excellent. Not only can you pick up some great business tips, but the stuff about his time at Tottenham would open the eyes of any wet behind the ears football novice. The many goings on at that club were incredible, and the people who were at fault were our national heroes and members of our national institutions. Definitely worth a read.
So today is Valentines, and I joined the millions across the country who purchased their loved ones Valentines gifts. Gone are the days (for now!) that I would turn up with a piece of jewelery, a car, or a few nights away (after all we are married!!) but joking aside this is not just down to the fact that the bills are piling up faster than you can say 'Women linesman are great', no I actually don't like Valentines day at all. I think it is the least romantic day of the year, being a day of forced happiness and gifts.
And what about this one!, as I popped in to the shop this morning to get some bits for the children's pack ups I thought, why not, I'll get my wife some flowers and a card. And what happened? I got home to find the card accompanied by the wrong sized envelope and one of the roses had been severed at the head! Now you may think that there is some type of weird message or analogy in there somewhere but I tell you what I think. Some ****** has chopped off the rose because he or she is a. Ugly and can't pull b. bitter and won't let go or c. ugly and bitter and refuses to be happy. Well not to be deterred I set to work with the sticky tape and mended the rose, and it wasn't even noticed until this evening when I told my wife what had happened, and pointed the rose out to her, and here's the best bit, the rose is surviving! Here lies the proper analogy.....Love is too strong to be cut.
Hell, am I turning into a poet or what. Come on snap out of this, the football is on!

Happy Valentines

CH

Flight of Fancy

Well done to all those who have been victorious this weekend, commiserations to those who have not. Today it was Eden, and tonight it is tax. On the subject of tax, it is an absolute joke, as is the £180 we pay for Council Tax, the VAT rise, the price of fuel, and the cost of living, oh and the weather is rubbish too! With this in mind we are currently packing the cases as we have decided to move to a two bed apartment in Monaco....... gotta go as the flight is first thing in the morning.

Thanks for the memories

CH, FCH, CH, IEH, HRH,

Saturday Night Fever

Have a good one!

CH

Scrape

Two days without posting, very sloppy from me so apologies there. Today I have mostly been crashing my car and yesterday was spent mostly running, yes, a varied few days it has been!
I saw the tallest man in Devon on Wednesday, Scott Bevan, it was great to see the big fella and his lovely (trapped) girlfriend Kim. I had also totally forgotten about asking for a skinny latte at a coffee shop, so thanks for reminding that fat is not allowed in the diet - you would be very disappointed with my diet at the moment though, obviously I am still ripped, but my press up average has dipped to about five hundred a week, and my cheese, beer, and wine allowance, has quadrupled.


HOME FRONT
The children are busy bees at the moment what with school, clubs, pets, and sport. Hattie has just returned from the school disco having boogied her way through the last hour, Issy has now realised that her pet rabbit (Flopsy Peppa Marley Pip) is a one woman poo machine, and Cameron is making 'Sport Billy' look like a couch potato. Finally, my wife is absolutely delighted that it is the weekend, and I am.......rushing into the kitchen as World War three is kicking off. Gotta go.

Good luck to all this weekend.

CH

Debate

Three main points tonight, firstly I cannot believe the furore (great word) surrounding the case of a fourteen year old being left at home with their three year old sibling. Mum had only nipped to the shop (not to Majorca for a week, or down to the Nags Head), and the elder child was extremely responsible, and yet Mum has now been suspended until further notice and effectively banned from working with children for ten years. Basically a woman already trying to juggle having a job and looking after her children is now even worse off, unable to work and labelled irresponsible. For Christ sake someone show some sense here.
Secondly, Gypsy sites, and we have to be careful here because I am all for the free spirit and traveler in us - I am also well versed in the common rendition of 'Where's your caravan' having had it sung to me over the last fifteen years or so (this also happens to be the title of my second book DUE OUT IN AUGUST 'ish' and available at all good bookshops!), but, and it is a big but, the words 'permanent site' cannot sit comfortably with everyone, after all isn't it an ever so slight contradiction for the gypsy and traveler community?

Thirdly, our cricketers have returned from Australia having won the Ashes, and, well no one is really bothered. Why? because it was about six weeks ago, and also because the team had to play in the one day series which was duly lost 7-1. A brilliant achievement like winning the Ashes should have been celebrated straight away, not after a one day series that no one wanted to play in!
Discuss!!!



CH

Phone talk

Hard to concentrate tonight as my wife is yapping away next to me at around thirty words per minute, incredible really considering if she wasn't on the phone their would be no talking whatsoever! Yes I could go upstairs, and yes I could probably wait, but I was here first so I will try to sit it out and watch my programme - which incidently is the excellent Royal Navy Caribbean Patrol.
I shall join you again tomorrow.

P.S Love you my darling - she is still next to me

CH

Pop

Happy Birthday Martin Hargreaves, motorcycling mafia to the masses and one hell of a bloke!


In Football news;
50 million pounds, a 1-0 loss at home, and only sixty seven minutes played, not a great afternoon for the most expensive Premiership player ever. I cannot believe Carlo Ancelotti felt the need to drag off his most expensive player, surely for the amount of money paid, the type of player he is, the team he was playing against, and the sheer fact that it was his debut, warranted a full ninety minutes. I smell danger ahead.
On the home front;
Swimming, coffee and cake, and a roast at the Millers. Not a bad Sunday at all.

Gotta keep driving on, do not ask the Lord, just thank if you receive.

Amen

CH

Radio Ga Ga

I attempted to turn the radio on today but it was no good, after a couple of minutes of searching for a decent station I gave up such was the dross on offer. I listened to seven consecutive adverts on Talksport then gave up, I listened to a very annoying upper middle class conversation on Radio 2 (I do like Chris Evans show in the morning though), and finally I turned to Radio 1 to hear the lyrics rapped to me "You woulda taken the bullet, if you coulda".
Please someone, just talk normally, I don't want to listen to a loop tape of 'Safestyle' window offers, I don't want to hear some toff harping on about their many woes, and I'm not sure I want to listen to Dr Dread and his guns. Or maybe I was just a little impatient, after all I was late, and I was also stuck behind a man with a huge boil on his right foot!!!

Have a great weekend one and all

P.S Good luck to my two old muckers Benyon and Wroe. All good things come to an end


CH

Decisions

A tough night in a tough game.

CH

Loads of money!!

I have just realised that Blackpool's kit sponsor is non other than Wonga, the money loaning outfit. It seems funny really (well actually not very for the poor sods who are tempted in) that with all the money flying about in the Premiership recently, and with Charlie Adam's five to ten million pound on off transfer talk, that a club would want to advertise a company who no doubt provide misery to many people who are desperately in need of a few quid. For the five hundred grand, or whatever Wonga paid Blackpool to have their logo splashed all over the team shirts, they will most probably be getting ten fold back by charging an extortionate interest on loans that quite clearly can't and won't be paid back in the allotted time.
There is no real reason for this rant, I just don't like the fact that a player can be playing for a Premiership team, and earning thirty or forty grand a week, whilst endorsing a company who are very obviously preying on the financially vulnerable. Rant over.
In other news, I had a close shave with axe today, I cannot believe the ineligibility issue, and I am in desperate need of something wet to drink.

Over and out.

CH