I'll take it

Goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni scores his 100th senior goal for Sao Paulo. That is one heck of a statement and one heck of an achievement. It's not as if the standard of play is that of the proverbial Dog and Duck as Sao Paulo play in the top league in Brazil, and even better, the 100th goal was against fierce rivals Corinthians. I have known a few keepers who have fancied themselves as a striker but Rogerio is something special, a goalscorer and a goalkeeper - it could only happen in Brazil!
I caught the last bit of the England game last night but to be honest I am not over interested at the moment. I don't know if it's the 'Capello factor' that is becoming a bit too annoying or whether it is all the talk of who is going to be the captain, either way I am very non-plussed about our national team. Don't get me wrong I am very patriotic, but there just seems to be a lack of passion in the squad, and I don't blame the players (and yes you may say that is because I was one). Although they hardly cover themselves in glory week to week in the tabloids, I do think it must be very hard to play for England. Not only is the spirit in the camp low, these lads have to pull on a shirt in front of an audience almost already baying for blood, and after all this,they then have to get back to training and playing in tough premiership games for their own clubs a few days later.
Yes you would think that running yourself into the ground to be able to put on an England shirt is an absolute minimum but until the fans and the tabloids (and the manager) give these players a bit of breathing space to enjoy playing for their country, I certainly do not see a trophy coming any time soon - it would also help massively if these players could just manage a few months without crashing 100 grand cars, taking naked photos of themselves, nipping round to their next door 'neighbours', or spitting dummies out until agreeing contracts of 250k a week,it just does not go down well with the punter sat in the pub with a few quid in his pocket who is willing to spend it to watch his country. I think the word is RESPECT.


CH

Game for Archie

I played for Argyle legends today and I have to say it was a top afternoon. It was really good to see some of the old (and some not so old) Argyle faces and it was great to play ninety minutes. The match against Elburton Villa was arranged to raise both awareness, and a bit of money, for the battle against Meningitis for Archie Barton. I had the pleasure of meeting five year Archie after the game and his unbelievable spirit and determination has most certainly defied the odds. His mum explained to me how it had gone from shopping in Morrisons with Archie in the afternoon to watching him fight for his life in the evening.
He spent five months in intensive care alone, he lost both of his legs and several fingers, and lost the tip of his nose and part of his ear. He has since had numerous operations, and will have numerous more. I have to say I was shocked, and I, like quite a lot of people I'm sure, didn't realise the effect that this crippling illness can have and how quickly it can take hold. Archie is a brilliant little boy and with the help of his parents and the many other people that will be involved in his ongoing recovery he will eventually enjoy everything a little boy should. Like all little boys he loves his footy, loves his sport, but will no doubt still hate his homework!!

P.S See you at the next game boys, and as ever, well done Paul and Andy and everyone else who was involved in organising the day.


CH

Game on

Back in the land of the living. What a lovely day. Football, followed by beach, followed by massive intakes of salt water.

Good luck

CH

Man down

Hargreaves has concussion, report to follow....sometime.

CH

Lenny Kravitz - It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

A Song For The Lovers - Richard Ashcroft

Blast off

I think I am turning into a 'tweeter'. I am in short blast mode again tonight due to tiredness and irritability levels that I cannot ignore.

Blast 1. Capello is a joke.
Blast 2. 'Fifteen' is good but old Jamie 'Slam it in' 'Pukka' Bad boy' Oliver needs to tell his apprentices to put a lot more on each plate.
Blast 3. Sepp Blatter is a joke.
Blast 4. I'm a moaning old git.

LOVE TO ALL

CH

BIG

A big weekend of football and a big weekend of entertainment. For now though, it is a small portion of Sunday night blues.

CH

THE NIGHT

AS MUCH AS IS POSSIBLE

CH

Bet

8 mile run.......done. I thought that I would need my usual Ibuprofen smoothie afterwards, a bucketful of ice, and a walking frame, but no, I feel great. I may feel differently in the morning, but for now, I am still planning a 'biggie' next week. I am upping the 'peg' around the streets to 14 miles, I have no idea why, I just feel like it.

I hope everyone has had a good weeks racing (Cheltenham) but for me all bets are now officially off. After joining a famous old manager's special 'winners' syndicate a few years ago, I learnt the hard way. We lost. My wife also wondered why I was so secretive with my phone, and on that score I made two fatal errors. The first was believing that I could beat the bookies, and the second, equally foolish decision, was putting the bookies number in my phone in the name of a woman, Betty !!!!!!.
Two sayings sum up betting for me 'Four windows to pay in and only two to pay out' and 'A push bike parked on the front and a BMW parked out the back' - I just made that second one up but I think it works - Still a little flutter once or twice a year does no harm and as I'm not a betting man, I am safe. Gotta go, I forgot to get my Euro millions ticket!

Good luck and god bless to all.

CH

Birthday girl

Happy Birthday to my beautiful girl, Isabella Eve Hargreaves, eleven years old today.

CH

Flash

So much going on, and not enough hours in the day. I think that is the case in most homes around Britain. The working week goes in a flash (for most!) and the weekends in the blink of an eye, in fact I now think that life itself goes by extremely quickly. Am I getting philosophical?, maybe, or is it an age thing?, maybe again. I am sure though that I made my debut only a few years ago, and that last year I was a professional footballer. That chapter of my life has certainly gone very quickly, and I now find myself trying to do all the things that I wanted to do as a player but didn't because I wanted to 'do it right'.

This blog has seen a fair few 'Hargreavesisms' and it will no doubt see a few more in the coming weeks and months. I know I don't talk about football as much as I used to - namely because I am not spending mornings beating Kev Nicholson at head tennis, looking at Mark Creighton's mental tattoos, telling Elliot Benyon to get away from me, or reassuring Matt Green he will score on Saturday - but I still think about all the old boys and want them to do well, but as they too will find out, eventually, there has to be life after football, and as you cant play forever, with managers jobs are at a premium, and with earning money still a priority, the football side of things does get a little neglected.

I do still coach, so I get my football fix (just), I get the odd TV gig (more needed)and I have finally finished the 'big' book - 'WHERE'S YOUR CARAVAN', available at all good bookshops this coming Autumn, sorry about that unashamed plug!- but my immediate future is in business, and very soon I will reveal all.


P.P.S Well done to those who won, and commiserations to those who didn't. Just keep grinding it out, and smile!

CH

Frazzled

V tired, el bloggo back tomorrow.

CH

Court 1

6-3 6-3

Anonymous

News

Terrible scenes on News at Ten last night, which may or may not be due to global warming, but all the same were horrendous. To be honest, I know news has to be reported, but last night there was so much death and turmoil shown that I turned it off in the end, it is just one disaster or killing after another. I will catch up with News 24 today but just for ten minutes I didn't want to see any more death. I asked my wife what to turn on and she nodded when I flicked past Louis Spence Showbusiness. I think he is funny, but after what I had previously witnessed on the news, watching three camp blokes burying a piece of apple in a plant pot just finished me off. I lasted one minute.


I did catch part of the Comic Relief programme a few nights ago, with Lenny Henry and a few other 'celebs' staying in the slums of Nairobi. It was truly an unbelievable sight, and made even more poignant when Lenny said he couldn't take it any more. He must have been to Africa for Comic Relief many, many times, so for him to think it was bad it must have been very bad.

I will take the boys for a game this morning and then it is a decision, go to a game, or spend the afternoon with the family. A tough choice but one that ultimately my wife may decide!!!

P.S Good luck to all you lucky players out there who are playing this afternoon, and good luck to all you fans (I may see you at a game!!!!!!!!)


CH

Ridiculous

I may be on my own here but I do feel a massive amount of sympathy for Arsenal last night. Playing with eleven men against Barcelona is hard enough but to play with ten is too much, and even if he did hear the referees whistle Van Persie shouldn't have been sent off. Having lost the Carling Cup final and now this it will take an almighty effort for the 'Gunners' to win something this season but I really hope they do.

Closer to home and could it be possible that Plymouth can escape the drop against all the odds? I massively hope so this time. I was appalled at the club having to let go fourteen or fifteen staff though, these are the people who keep clubs like Plymouth going year on year. The worst part of it is that all their wages combined probably wouldn't equate to that of the top paid player at Argyle. And he might not be even in the team. Now that is football at its most ridiculous.
In other news, I have a bad back and a broken hand, yes I joined in training with the lads!

CH

TRY IT

A good friend of mine (my old agent in fact) sorted me some tickets out for todays game. It was 2p.m and we had just returned from Branscombe, which by the way was excellent, a really picturesque village and a great beach - also very bizarre to see some pieces of metal still strewn in rock pools in amongst the starfish.

Anyway the game in question? Exeter Chiefs against, against a team from my old neck of the woods, Northampton Saints. Wrong shaped ball yes, but I have to say it was excellent stuff. I took the children and they loved it. Massive hits from massive players in tight shirts. That is a very basic outline of what is a really exciting game. We were obviously not as well versed in the rules and regulations as a lot of people in the crowd, but you tend to get the gist after a while. The fact that the crowd are friendly towards each other, you can batter the opposition and get away with it, and the refreshments are massively superior to that of a football match, and I reckon football has a bit to learn from 'rugga'. I obviously still love the beautiful game but with the professionalism on show from the rugby teams,including the subs warm ups which are a show in themselves, the half time entertainment, and the variety of food and drink on offer, and you can definitely see the attraction.
The only downside, if you want to sit, and you can't get tickets from your old agent!, is the admission cost, around forty pounds a ticket. If you take a family of five, have three hot chocolates, two coffee's, and some sweets, your maths will soon tell you that it is............a lot!

Well done teams and friends alike for this weekends results.

CH

Exciting

Well since Saturday we really have had everything in football, crashed cars, touchline bans, a brawl, a couple of elbows, a tense handshake,plenty of red cards, and even an air rifle. You can't say that it is not exciting, that is for sure. I don't know how fans view it, but some of it is real madness, the rest however has been going on for fifty years,it's just that now there are millions of TV's showing it, thousands of radio stations airing it, and tens of millions of papers printing it.
In other news I am very close to sorting out the business, and the family, as ever, are as mad as a box of frogs.
Finally, I am thinking of making a comeback and will start training at the end of this coming season. I will be having one more go at it somewhere next season.

Night then

CH