Ely to York via Scunthorpe
I’m going to see Ipswich at Scunthorpe on the 25th. I have been told by East Coast, that I’ll need to use two single tickets, as I can’t break my journey at Doncaster, like I did last week at Micheldever.
So I’ve booked the first leg from Ely to Scunthorpe and that has cost me £16.45 First Class. Not bad as it would probably cost about £50 for the diesel in the Jaguar!
But getting from Scunthorpe to York, doesn’t seem so easy to buy a ticket. All that seems to exist are Anytime Singles at £20 or £13.20 with my Railcard. Why are there no Off Peak Tickets?
In the end, Ibought the Anytime Single from East Coast at £13.20!
Women’s Football
Last night on BBC3, I watched the English women beat Switzerland to qualify for the finals of the next World Cup in Germany in 2011.
The football was good and fast and of a high standard, but you couldn’t say that for the refereeing! England’s goal-keeper was sent off for a non-offence, but this was balanced by England being given one of the softest penalties I’ve seen in a long time.
If sports are to be taken seriously and that includes women’s football, then the officials must be of the same high standard as the players. I suspect that last night, part of the problem was that the referee couldn’t keep up with the fast pace of the game.
A Goalless Draw at Portsmouth
On my travels this season, Ipswich have won all of the games I have seen. They also have won the one game I didn’t!
So I was hopeful, that things would go well. But even if they didn’t, I would get to see one of the last remaning stands designed before the Second World War, by Archibald Leitch.
Fratton Park
Note that Archie’s signature criss-cross balustrades have been remved from the tront of the top deck of the stand to the left.
I spent a lot of my youth watching Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane and when I went to Liverpool University, I visited Goodison Park several times. Both were Leitch stadia and still had the criss-cross bracing, as did the old Twickenham and many other places.
But to return to yesterday at Fratton Park. It was a good game and a goalless draw was probably fair. But both teams could consider themselves unlucky.
Note that if you want to learn more about Archibald Leitch, a man who probably did more for the football spectator in the British Isles, than anybody else, read his biography by Simon Inglis called Engineering Archie. It should be compulsory reading for all football fans. I wonder how many fans, who troop to Craven Cottage realise that they are sitting in a Leitch stadium, that he designed around 1904. Thankfully, it is still pretty much intact and actually has Grade II listed status, which is fairly unique as sports grounds go. Brian Inglis sums up the chapter on Craven Cottage like this.
Had Letch slapped up one of his routine stands (of which he built many), had there been no corner pavilion; whether in a pleasant riverside spot or not, the ground would have succumbed to develpers years ago.
Such is the power of the place. Such is the aura of architecture.
There are countless football grounds bereft of character. But there is only one Craven Cottage.
And for much of that, the credit lies with Archibald Leitch.
Craven Cottage is on my list of must-see grounds.
Off to Portsmouth
I know the match isn’t until Saturday, but soon, I’m off to London, where I’m spending two nights, before going to the match.
It’s Very Lonely Today
Today would have been our forty-second wedding anniversary. I shall probably see no-one all day except for the postman and the lady who delivers the papers.
I wonder what C would be thinking. She always said that she would hate to be alone and wanted to die first. This was partly because she said she hated her own company, but I suspect she’d be coping with the loneliness better than I am.
Today, there is nothing to do, as it’s not going to be the best weather and I have no driver. And there is no public transport! I simply refuse to take a taxi just to get somewhere, where there are some people!
If I did have some transport, I’d go to Colchester to see England Under-21 play Lithuania. At least there is the football and cricket on the television this evening!
But then, life gets better in the next day or so, as I’m spending a couple of days in London and then it’s off to Portsmouth to see Ipswch play!
Why Not a Wayne Rooney Foundation Scam?
Now that footballers earn a lot of money, I’m surprised some of our friends in the 419 scam business haven’t been creating things like the Wayne Rooney Foundation, which chooses to give people at random large amounts of money. After all, judging by the recent press reports, he might actually be stupid enough to do something like this off his own bat! Some would argue, he should after his abismal performance in South Africa!
Perhaps because something like this hasn’t turned up, it just shows that the scammers are even more stupid, than your average footballer.
Do Blackburn Rovers Want This Man as an Owner?
The BBC has been doing some investigating into the prospective new owner of Blackburn Rovers Football Club.
This an except from the report.
Records show Ahsan Ali Syed has failed to pay a county court judgement of £61,500. Other debts include £7,800 in unpaid rent and nearly £1,000 in unpaid council tax.
Mr Ali is also listed as director of two UK companies which were dissolved for non-compliance.
We mustn’t let dodgy characters ruin our national game, by being able to buy clubs. I’m going to Portsmouth next week, where they know all about people who live on a different planet.
Where Was the Live Text?
I like to view the live text as a match is progressing, especially when you have the crap ITV commentary. But it wasn’t there today! Or at least I couldn’t find it!
The FA’s Bad Timing
When England played their qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, I saw two; Belarus away and Kazakhstan at home.
I shall not be going to the Bulgaria match tonight despite tickets still being available and the fact that I would have liked to. The match kicks off at 8:00, which means it will be very difficult for me to get home, unless I left the match early! I would not be able to get to Liverpool Street in time for a train , that would allow me to get a taxi.
Tickets are still available! so I wonder how many others fans are not going, as they will have transport problems after the game, either through distance, health like me, or perhaps bcause they have would like to take their kids.
And then to cap it all, the match is on that awful medium for football; ITV. I might have the pictures on, but I will be listening to the excellent commentary on BBC Radio 5.
This football fan is seriously pissed off!
According to the BBC this morning, the late start is a UEFA idea to appease the big clubs. But then I suspect that the old farts running that so-called organisation, aren’t real fans and don’t have the transport problems or other responsibilities, that many of us have!
The Isle of Wight, Great Yarmouth, Hastings and Morecambe
I am going to Portsmouth to see Ipswich on the 11th of this month to see Ipswich play. I thought that I might take the ferry and see the Isle of wight. but after reading Bronwen Maddox’s article in The Times today, I don’t think I’ll bother.
She says that the Isle is rather run down and virtually cut off from the rest of the UK, just like the other towns in the heading of this post. All places share higher unemployment than the rest of the country and have a run-down feel.
She says that the solution to the Isle of Wight’s problem is a bridge, just as all the other towns could do with transport connections to the rest of the UK to attract industry, jobs and tourists. I know the route to Yarmouth well and is it not only sib-standard, but very dangerous. upgrade it or perhaps the railway that runs alongside it and you might improve one of the worse unemployment blackspots in Southern England. I also drove to Hastings once. Never again!
These are the infrastructure projects that we must start. I even suspect that some might even be financed by the reduction in benefits, when the jobs are created.
The Anonymous Widower 