The Fixtures For 2011-12 Are Now Out.
Now that the fixtures for next season have been published, what are going to be the difficult ones to get to from London or even Ipswich?
At present there is only one, that I probably couldn’t make.
That is on the 29th November 2011 at Burnley. It was a good trip last season and too far for a Tuesday in November.
Ryan Giggs Again!
According to the Daily Mail, Ryan Giggs is good at playing away.
I always remember meeting a First Division star in about 1990, at a lunch at Newmarket Races, where we were all guests of a company, who transported racehorses to races abroad. He was with an attractive lady, who was a few years younger than himself, but the name cards showed that they shared a surname. He explained to C, who was sitting next to him, that his wife was ill and that he’d brought his younger sister instead. But he also told her, that he hoped the photographers didn’t get a picture of him and his sister, that they used inappropriately. C jokingly said she was a divorce barrister and he joked that if he ever needed one, he’d give her a call. A few years ago, we met them again at Newmarket and they were good enough to recommend us to a friend, who needed a stud to board a mare.
This footballer played before the high salaries of today, but it does show how worried some are about getting ensnared by those who want to make a quick killing.
Sepp Blatter is in Favour of Women Wearing Stockings
The following paragragh is from this page on Sky News.
One of his stranger roles was as president of the World Society of Friends of Suspenders – a male group that wanted women to give up tights and return to wearing stockings and suspenders.
Doesn’t that say a lot about the Great Administrator. Rumour has it, that Fred, Max, Peter and Dominique are also members of the same society.
Another World Cup Problem for Qatar
FIFA and the Qatari government have been put on notice about labour conditions in the build up to the World Cup 2022, according to this report on Bloomberg.
The International Trade Union Confederation and Building Workers International urged FIFA and the Qatari government to prove that migrant workers won’t be subject to “inhuman” conditions as the Persian Gulf nation begins to build stadiums in anticipation of the 2022 World Cup.
Do we really want to compete in a World Cup built by exploited labour?
But then our athletes went to Beijing, where human rights are non-existent and there have been two Olympics and two World Cups in the United States, where there is the death penalty.
He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune
It looks like Fifa and Sepp Blatter have broken this major rule of both life and business, in that four major sponsors are unhappy at how the organisation is run, according to this report.
How many others will join them?
As after all the rich and powerful, who run such businesses, like to give people a good kicking, just to show you don’t mess with them.
This is one Blatter and FIFA will lose, as you may be able to fool some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
A Good Day For Wales
Yesterday, Swansea got into the Premier League at Wembley and the English cricketers turned a certain draw into an unlikely win at Cardiff.
I wish Swansea well at their new status. Their ground, the Liberty Stadium is certainly up to it, as I found last season. Perhaps, all it needs is a station of its own or better transport from the town centre.
Crisis? What Crisis?
I couldn’t believe that Sepp Blatter said this, but according to this report from the BBC, he did.
If ever there was a case, that when you gotta go, you should go now, this is it.
Barcelona Comes To London
I took these pictures in Trafalgar Square before the match.
Everything was very good-natured. It also seemed to be more about photography, singing and hsving a good time than excessive consumption of alcohol.
It was very busy in Charing Cross station, but where were the signs in Spanish/Catalan. There seemed to be a degree of crowding as fans tried to work out how to get tickets to Wembley.
London should get this right before the Olympics. But then we don’t need to, as all foreigners speak English. Don’t they?
Sorting Out Fifa!
With the Champions League Final going on today, FIFA have missed an easy way of sorting out their problems.
At the match or even at half-time, they could have a genuine shoot-out to see who prevails. After all, FIFA needs a strong person to sort out their problems and one who could survive a shoot-out would have a genuine advantage. On the other hand an innocent spectator might get injured by a stray bullet. But I suppose there is always Paintball guns, providing the gunk inside is indelible.
The shoot-out could also be linked to the match in the event of a draw. But then who’d want dear old Sepp? And some of those involved in the hoo-hahs at FIFA, are probably so bent they couldn’t shoot straight.
The Anonymous Widower 