Beccles Station and the Start of the Construction of the Loop
On the way to football at Ipswich, I went via Beccles station, to see how the loop is progressing.
As you can see, there hasn’t been much done yet.
I hope that they improve the station as well as the track. I was there just after a very rainy morning and there was only one dry place to sit; a small patch of low concrete wall. Passengers started turning up about half-an-hour before the train and a couple were quite a bit older than me. There wasn’t even a pub or a cafe nearby.
I’ve been to quite a few unmanned stations in East Anglia, but Beccles must surely be one of the worst, if not the worst!
Another Non-Video Referee Blunder
The Chelsea Spurs match yesterday was ruined by the fact that football doesn’t have a video referee, who would have not given Chelsea’s second goal. It’s here in the Guardian.
The ghost goal probably didn’t affect the result, but who’s to know.
On the other hand, Harry Redknapp’s handling of his players and team cast further doubt on his being given the England job. But his biggest failing, seems to be that he lacks any smidgen of good luck.
Worse To Be Late Than Racist
According to this article in the Guardian, Manchester City have been fined €30,000 by UEFA for returning to the field late for the second half of their match against Sporting Lisbon.
This compares with a fine of just €20,000 for Porto for racially abusing Manchester City’s black players.
The logic of this defies me and I suspect every other person in the UK, be they a football fan or not. To take a simple example.
Does this mean if my bus is on time, I can’t racially abuse the driver, but if it is late, I can? Or is it the other way round? Not that we do this in London or in fact anywhere in the UK, even if the bus driver is a UEFA official doing a job on the side.
Everton’s Cup Odds Have Just Shortened
Liverpool might still win their game tonight against Blackburn, but to have a second goalkeeper sent off in a week or so is careless.
Everton must be looking up for the FA Cup at the weekend.
Has Harry Blown It?
It would appear that Harry Redknapp hasn’t been having the best of luck with getting Spurs into next year’s Champions League.
So perhaps Stuart Pearce will get the job of England manager after all. At present Redknapp is still favourite with the bookies and Pearce is third after Roy Hodgson.
I wouldn’t rule out Roy Hodgson, especially as like me he is a Leo pig. We come with built-in luck.
What’s Going Wrong With Scottish Football?
Reading all of the stories last night about Scottish football, it appears to be digging itself a big hole.
Apparently, the Scottish Premier League is set up that all changes need an 11-1 majority, to protect the interests of Celtic and Rangers. The other clubs want this changed to a 9-3 vote. The manifestations of this are well set out in this reasoned article from the Herald.
The article ends with this statement.
The Old Firm, and the rest of the SPL clubs, have a responsibility to do what is right for the game. Where is the consensus? Who is prepared to act radically, instead of just talking about it?
If Scotland wants to have a viable football competition, the powers that be must act decisively, radically and quick. One solution, that I would not countenance at any price is Rangers and Celtic playing in the English leagues. They must keep their sectarianism north of the border.
To make matter worse for Scottish football, the driver of the Motherwell team coach managed to get it stuck under a bridge, as is reported here.
I do also wonder whether the rise of Scottish rugby teams like Edinburgh are turning fans against football and its never ending troubles. Fanslike nothing better than a winner.
Consequences of the BBC’s Stupid Move to Salford
Obviously we’re going to get a lot more inconsequential phone-ins based on Manchester, because of the BBC’s stupid move to Salford. Today’s was about Manchester City, who aren’t even the best team in Manchester and their rather immature player; Mario Ballotelli.
To be fair too, Manchester is probably not even the third English city after London and Liverpool.
Can you imagine French radio moving its flagship breakfast program to Lyon from Paris?
Let’s get rid of this sillyness and bring Radio 5 back to London!
The Scheduler Strikes Again
After yesterday’s problems getting to Ipswich, I have vowed that I’ll always travel in a proper train again.
However next Monday, Ipswich play Leicester at home and guess what. It is the usual Newbury Park detour with a coach. So that’s a match I’ll miss unless I want to have a very bad arm after the journey.
On the other hand, they’re putting on another train for Norwich supporters to get to Tottenham.
Not the Best of Days
Yesterday, I went to the football at Ipswich.
Before I left, I checked on TfL’s excellent Countdown system to see how long I’d have to wait for a 21 or 141 bus and it said that there would be three within the next five minutes and then a ten minute wait. I just missed the last of the three and so I thought I’d text the bus stop to find out how long I’d have to wait. But of course, I now had my Blackberry, instead of my Nokia 6310i and I couldn’t send the simple message of just 5 digits. Another reason for chucking the sodding F*ckberry. So no information. The first 141 was obviously in a hurry and drove straight past, despite five of us flagging it down. I then walked to the next stop, where other buses for Liverpool Street also depart. In the end, I caught another 141 and the driver apologised for his colleague.
One of the pleasures of going to Portman Road by train, is that if you pick your trains right, you get a Norwich train, with comfortable Mk. 3 coaches and a real engine to push you all the way. But today, no trains were running to Norwich, so it was one of the old multiple units, with no tables or arm-rests.
So by the time I got to Ipswich my left arm was really giving me gip, as there was no place to rest it.
Ipswich did win a rather scrappy game by the only goal of the game, which was the highpoint of the day.
But going home was a repeat of the journey down in an old dirty train. I needed to go to the toilet and the conductor apologised before I went. It was one of the dirtiest I’d ever seen on a train.
At least, I got back to Liverpool Street on time and then I walkked through to Moorgate to get a 141 home. Because of Crossrail, the area is in total chaos and I had to walk a long way, as the normal bus stop was closed.
TfL should have thought out how they do the buses in that area better! The chaos will go on for years.
At least I was able to have a decent drink in the Northgate.
The first thing I did when I got home, was to put my Sim-card back into the Nokia 6310i
Spurs Don’t Seem to be Lucky
I watched Spurs play Chelski on Sunday and they didn’t get any luck in the goalless draw.
That pattern seems to be continuing against Bolton.
Perhaps it’s Harry’s problem and he isn’t lucky. What was it Benjamin Franklin said?
Diligence is the mother of good luck.
So let’s choose an England manager who makes his luck!
The Anonymous Widower 