No Football Today
Ipswich are at home and there’s rail replacement buses both way. I’ve normally nothing against buses, but rail replacement ones generally have a standard that leaves a lot to be desired and given the weather they’ll probably be icy.
Channel 4 Sacks John McCririck
Channel 4 has sacked John McCririck, one of their horse racing team. He blames ageism in this report on the BBC.
I’m not bothered one way or another if he appears on Channel 4 Racing, as he can be almost as irritating as the adverts that appear on the channel.
I’ve spoken to him a couple of times and although his views can be outspoken, I’ve never found him anything but charming and courteous. In fact a friend was interviewed by him, for their screen test for television and found he put them totally at ease.
I have a feeling that McCririck will appear elsewhere on television and/or radio, as his knowledge of horse racing is undoubtedly at the highest level.
More Football Travel Problems To Ipswich
Sometimes to get back from Ipswich after a match, a friend drops me at Newbury Park tube station.
But not for the next few days, as the line is closed from today until November the 4th, according to this on the TfL website. Explaining the need for the closure, they said this.
By closing the line for a longer period (instead of multiple weekend works) the overall time needed for the work will be cut from 19 to 12 days and will save more than £2.
It seems a lot of hassle for a saving of just £2.
I’m Watching Celtic
As it’s a choice between Chelsea, Manchester United and Celtic, it’s a bit of a no-brainer really. Especially, as the two English clubs are losing.
FIFA Sees Sense On Goal-Line Technology
At last! It’s all here about how the old farts have caved in to technology!
I’ll believe it when I see it in action.
A Good View from The Away Seats
This isn’t always the case. But yesterday, at the KC Stadium, this was my view.
A Good View from The Away Seats
It’s just a pity that Ipswich threw away a one-nil lead for the fourth time in succession.
Putting It Straight
I liked this sign at the KC Stadium in Hull.
Putting It Straight
No-one was smoking, so the message must be getting through.
Is Frankel The Greatest Ever?
Judging horses across the generations is a lot easier than judging footballers or even athletes, as everything is timed and analysed meticulously and available to everybody through Timeform.
I have not seen Frankel in the flesh and I only saw a recording of his win yesterday, as I was at the football. But he’s on the front page of many news websites today and I suspect his image will dominate the printed press.
BBC Radio 5 devoted a whole evening to the horse, which says something for his prowess, but is he the greatest racehorse ever?
I used to feel Brigadier Gerard was the greatest horse I’d ever seen, but he was a racehorse, who although great on the track didn’t really produce the progeny expected. He was also in a generation, where he raced against another great horse in Mill Reef.
Joe Mercer who rode Brigadier Gerard in all his races and has told the story, when after being in a plane crash, he wasn’t feeling the best, but still lined up on the horse. Normally, the horse pulled hard going to the start, but this day he didn’t. He came back gingerly looking after Joe and just pulled clear to win the race. He was one of those horses that liked to win. Some do!
In an article in The Times yesterday, this ability to run his own race and win was attributed to Frankel and not for the first time.
Will I see another horse better than Frankel? I doubt it!
My father might have disagreed, as he saw racing before the Second World War. He remembered Hyperion and felt he was the best he’d seen. The horse’s presence is still seen in equine pedigrees, fifty years after he died. His statue also has pride of place on Newmarket High Street.
But whatever you say about Frankel, spare a thought for Sir Henry Cecil, his trainer. Almost down and completely out a few years ago and battling cancer, he’s turned things around to give racing fans three years of pleasure. I’ll leave him the last word on Frankel.
“There has never been a better horse,” … “I love everything about him. He’s the best horse I have ever had. I’d be very surprised if there will be anything better.”
I just wish I’d been at Ascot yesterday, but tickets had been unavailable for months.
Greek Football Team Turns To Brothels For Sponsorship
I spotted this in one of the small articles in The Times yesterday. But the only place I can find it on the web is here on a New Zealand web site.
Here’s a couple of paragraphs.
Players on a cash-strapped Greek football team now wear pink practice jerseys with the logos “Villa Erotica” and “Soula’s House of History,” two bordellos it recruited as sponsors after drastic government spending cuts left the country’s sports clubs facing ruin.
Other teams have also turned to unconventional financing. One has a deal with a local funeral home and others have wooed kebab shops, a jam factory and producers of Greece’s trademark feta cheese.
But the amateur Voukefalas club – whose players include pizza delivery guys, students, waiters and a bartender – has raised eyebrows with its flamboyant sponsorship choice.
Times are obviously hard in Greece.
Racist Behaviour In Serbia
The disgraceful racist and violent behaviour in Serbia yesterday, when England beat the country, is of course to be thoroughly deplored.
But the Balkans have in recent years not been a place where black footballers seem to be welcomed.
There is the story of how a teenage Titus Bramble, went to play for the England Under-21 in Albania around 2000. He was repeatedly racially abused during the match.
On return to Ipswich, he was interviewed by the East Anglian Daily Times about the match and stated that he didn’t know what the chants were, as he’d never encountered racism in his personal or footballing life.
In a way it shows how well and how early we started to get our act together over racism in football.
i have no idea, if the Albanians were punished for the behaviour of their fans, but the behaviour last night is in my view partly caused by UEFA’s and FIFA’s weak response to incidents like that match in Albania.
The Anonymous Widower 