Rangers Get To Play Football In England
This is how the BBC put it in a long article.
Rangers’ old ambition to play league football in England was realised in circumstances they would not have imagined until the club’s summer of financial turmoil.
As they crossed the border to sun-kissed Shielfield Park, memories in the capacity crowd returned to that famous victory in 1967, when the Wee Rangers caused one of the biggest shocks in Scottish Cup history with a 1-0 victory over the men from Ibrox.
Rangers only drew and now are fourth in the Scottish Third Division.
Just thinking, but have Rangers paid their tax bill yet?
They’re Playing Water Polo At Wembley
The Rugby League Cup Final is being played in atrocious weather at Wembley.
They’ve also called off the Sunderland Reading football match, as the ground is waterlogged.
And it’s only August!
A Bad Day For Living Alone
Today is probably not going to be a good day. It’s going to rain all day and the football is in Blackpool, the town with the streets paved with vomit. I suppose the heavy rain forecast for the cess-pit of the Lancashire coast, will clean it up a bit, but it’s not the weather to visit a town without any gluten-free food.
So I’ll just stay here and listen to the radio in between watching the football on Sky.
I can’t even go to bed, as I don’t have a lady to make it more comfortable.
At least with the cafe opposite, I can go there and have a coffee in between the rain showers.
I think I’ll look for a matinee at the theatre. At least, I can catch the 38 bus from round the corner direct to Shaftesbury Avenue. Singing in the Rain anybody?
Was Half-Time Longer Today?
It was very hot and after the collapse of Fabrice Muamba last season, did the referee make half-time a bit longer today?
If he did, it was probably a wise decision.
Living Near Premier League Grounds
The Halifax has done a survey of house prices near Premier League grounds. It’s here in the Telegraph.
As I live within walking distance of the Emirates Stadium, I’m not bothered, especially as I have a buy-to-let close to both Old Trafford and Carrow Road. Don’t ask me why an Ipswich supporter should have those! But suffice to say, they were purchases my late wife made without consulting me. Although, I did think that nearness to football grounds could be an advantage.
My Most Expensive Ticket Ever!
I went to the Olympic athletics last night and I got some tickets for Thursday morning in the ballot. But I really wanted to see Mo Farah run on the last Saturday night.
I didn’t get a ticket in the ballot, so as I’ve finally sold my stud, I decided to try to buy a ticket for the Saturday night. But I couldn’t so I bought a ticket for the Friday night, to see some more finals.
I’ve never really paid a high price for a ticket and certainly, I’ve never paid over the odds. Although, I did buy an unwanted Senior ticket at Sheffield Wednesday for £10 instead of £11 from a tout at Sheffield Wednesday.
The most expensive ticket, I’d bought was one for about three hundred to see Ipswich play Torpedo Moscow in the Moscow Olympic Stadium. But I suppose it did include a flight from Luton.
I went on the official site and bought one for Friday night for seven-hundred or so.
Does that seem excessive? Probably at the moment, yes! But ask me again on Saturday!
An I Was There Moment
One of the BBC presenters on Sunday was talking about Mo Farah on Sunday. It could have been Brendan Foster or Steve Cram, who were both good distance runner in their time, but they were nowhere near as good as Mo .
Whoever it was said that it was one of those I was There sporting moments, like Roger Bannister running the first four-minute mile, Llanelli beating the All Blacks or Liverpool winning the Champions League in Istanbul.
Obviously, the 82,000 in the Olympic Stadium were actually there, but how many of the British squaddies on Olympic duty will claim they sneaked in to watch? After all, servicemen are not known to varnish the truth to make better tales are they? Especially, when it’s about something like being the Army’s champion for painting lumps of coal white! i.e. Anything where no-one gets hurt.
A survey done in a few years time, will show that there were at least a quarter of a million crammed into the stadium.
What is going to be the size of the claimed crowd on Saturday?
Millennium and Wembley Stadiums Compared
I’m not comparing anything, but their use for football, as I’ve experienced both in the last few days.
I’d say Wembley is very Jaguar, whereas the much less expediently-built stadium in Cardiff is more Audi, with more concrete and wood and less marble.
On the other hand, the sight lines in Cardiff, may even be better to those at Wembley. You also seem to closer to the action. I wonder, if this is because it is a much squarer stadium than Wembley. Only an architect with experience of sports grounds would know.
Food in both stadia is the usual gluten-rich junk, but then as the Millennium Stadium is in the centre of Cardiff, anybody who like me is choosy with his food will eat off-stadium. That is not really an option at Wembley, so I always eat before I leave home or in the centre of London.
The Millennium Stadium does lose on access to the trains, whereas Wembley has improved greatly in the last ten years. I believe Cardiff Central station is being rebuilt, so hopefully, better access will come. But a nearly three hour wait for a train to London is unacceptable, even if First Great Western were their usual helpful self, even handing out bottled water.
We Can’t Win Everything!
I did try to get to the womens football on Friday in Coventry, but there no tickets available. As they lost to Canada, I wasn’t that bothered, especially, as like many men, I’ll look upon the women’s side of the game in a different light.
I did go to Cardiff yesterday to see the men lose on penalties to South Korea.
I’m sure the system of deciding matches on penalties, was brought in by sneaky foreigners to make sure we never win anything.
Arise Sir Bradley
If after his exploits this year in the Tour of France (It’s the Anglo-Saxon’s now!) and then his untouchable performance in the Olympic time-trial yesterday, where he made a world-class field look like amateurs, he must be odds-on to be knighted in the near future. The web certainly thinks so.
Would he be the first Sir Bradley?
Searching the Internet only finds an anti-gay evangelical Christian web-site, a US wrestler called Sir Bradley Charles and a Sir Bradley Avenue in Sacramento, California. In my book only the last one has any credence. So who was it named after?
So I think he would be the first Sir Bradley!
There of course a lot of sites saying he should be knighted.
For different reasons, such as his part in bringing the Olympics to London, it can’t be long before Her Majesty corrects the mistake the Greeks made over David Beckham, by adding a knighthood to his name.
The Anonymous Widower 