Lucky Arsenal
Is there any other way to describe their win in Liege? Or should it be Luik, which is what Liege is called in half of Belgium.
The second goal was offside and the third should have been disallowed as Song was standing offside in front of the goalkeeper.
Who cares?
It’s only a game.
Where Are the Women?
Just watching Manchester United playing at Besiktas in Istanbul.
In the crowd scenes of the Turkish supporters there is not a female face to be seen.
Compare that to teams like Watford and Ipswich where twenty to twenty-five percent of the regular supporters are women.
Stirling Moss
Stirling Moss has just been on Radio 5 talking about his new book, All My Races.
I was fourteen when I saw him bring off one of the most difficult wins of all time. It was in Monaco in 1961. He was on pole and managed to keep in front of the three Ferraris after taking the lead early on. They were much more powerful cars and as they harried Stirling’s Lotus for lap after lap, it would only be a matter of time before they overwhelmed him.
But that time never came. There’s a video with a few shots of the race.
I shall be buying the book.
Simple Is Efficient
I watched the qualifying for the Grand Prix at lunchtime and it put forward an interesting proposition.
Since the unfortunate accident to Felipe Massa, the second Ferrari driver has struggled. First Luca Badoer, the test driver was very disappointing. Today, Giancarlo Fisichella qualified almost last. Yet last week, he was on pole and came second for Force India at Spa.
Now the performance of Fisichella is strange, given that his replacement at Force India, Vitantonio Liuzzi qualified in seventh.
I just wonder if the Ferrari has all sorts of gizmos and gadgets that it is very difficult to learn. It’s got KERS for a start.
Whereas the team with the smaller budget can’t afford them and has taken a simpler and easier approach.
A simple and efficient design is always better in my opinion.
A Missed Opportunity to be Miserable
I had thought about going to Middlesborough today to watch Ipswich. I’ve not been to the Riverside and I wanted to check out some local history and prove once and for all that my family is not related to Lord Byron.
Luckily I didn’t as Town lost by three goals to one.
The Petticoat Line
The Petticoat Line was a four woman quiz show/discussion program on BBC Radio many years ago. You can’t find many references to it on the Internet, but I remember listening sometimes as it was funny and put different slants on various topics. Panelists included the usual suspects, like Isobel Barnett and Anona Winn.
I think in the end it was discarded because it really wasn’t done thing to have an all-woman show. It was just too patronising for some.
But last night as I was driving back from Manchester and there was a sports discussion program on Radio 5, led by Eleanor Oldroyd. And guess what it was called Ladies’ Night.
Everything goes full circle. I enjoyed it too.
I Like Capello
He may a hard bastard with the England team. Or he may be a complete pussy-cat.
But he has this attititude that all managers of whatever, should copy. His dealing with the statements of Slaven Bilic is clever, inoffensive and will motivate England.
Judging by the expected result tonight, his attitude has worked.
The Halifax Explosion
I usually read the obituaries in The Times. Even if it’s just to check that I’m still here. But then I wouldn’t be in that esteemed organ!
Today there was an obituary of Marcus Chambers. He was not a man I’d heard of, but I do remember the triumph of Andrew Cowan driving a Hillman Hunter in the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon. He was the brains behind it all. One thing that is not in the obituary was that the car was tuned to run on the very low grade petrol, that would be all that was obtainable on much of the route.
Sad to think, that such a race would not be possible today, as you just can’t drive all the way. Well not safely, as the route included Tehran and Kabul.
But what caught my eye in the obituary is the Halifax Explosion, which Marcus Chamber’s parents survived. Two thousand people died, when an ammunition ship blew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in “The Narrows” section of the Halifax Harbour. About 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, or collapsed buildings and it is estimated that over 9,000 people were injured. This is still the world’s largest man-made accidental explosion.
That was a terrible tragedy.
Ulster Says No!
Well almost!
What a pity as they deserved to win in Poland.
An old friend was on the streets of Dublin, when Northern Ireland beat Spain in the 1982 World Cup Finals in Valencia, and it was one hell of a party. Note that I said Dublin!
Cricket in Manchester?
It rained on the first Twenty20 in Manchester on Sunday and there was no result.
And guess what?
It looks like it’s going to rain in Manchester again today.
No wonder they decided not to hold a test match at Old Trafford in the City of Rain.
The Anonymous Widower 