Arsenal

I think the Pompey game should be put behind us and we should be concentrating on our next match......which will of course be our last ever at Highbury......possibly our last one at Arsenal for while judging by our current plight....

But anyway, I am again looking forward to Saturday as London away games ALWAYS serve up a treat and we seem to enjoy the day out. Theres 10 of the "Miller Men" going this time so it should be a laugh if anything else.

I am thinking of taking it a bit more easy than the day we had at Chelsea (I bet you are too, Jim?) just the 3 or 4 tins on the train and a steady 4 or 5 before the game then I am going to be sensible and have some fish and chips with Brian.

We are due into London for 10.35am, I understand your train is a bit later - which pub are you lot going to? I've been told there is a few on Blackstock Road (?) just between Highbury Stadium and Finsbury Park

Message from Mick

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

I find it hard to believe. That's the worst 45 minutes I can remember.
We looked brittle after they scored the first. From then on it was embarrassing and I told the players I was going to say that.
It is not something any of us enjoy - we were awful in the second half.
It was disappointing to concede one two minutes after half time and the second one was shambolic. I can't legislate for that.
We'll never know about the character; whether we had the guts or the mettle to win it from 1-1.
Some of these players have come a long way in a short space of time, maybe it's tough for them at times like this.
Having said that, two of the most experienced players on the pitch were involved in their second goal and it had a dramatic effect on us.
Kelvin was very honest. He came in afterwards and said it was his fault. It was not his fault, it was a collective effort.
The second goal should have been dealt with long before it even got to Kelvin. We're all in it together.
I fully understand people leaving - I probably would have upped and left myself if it wasn't my job.
In booing Kelvin they are booing me and booing the other players. I don't like to hear it.
Anyone who blames him [Kelvin] for the third goal might as well blame him for the Tsunami and any other disaster we've had. Not a chance was it his fault. It was an unbelievable strike. Three keepers would not have stopped it.
He [Kelvin] got booed and that's what happens. It's difficult for him when the goals are going in.
I don't like to hear the boos. It's a collective thing. No one will single any one person out with me.
I'll be with the players through thick and thin. I have to say they are trying their hearts out for this club and for me.
Whether they turn out to be good enough, time will tell.
We knew it [the Premiership] was going to be difficult, perhaps it's proving harder than we thought. All we can do is keep going. Of course I'm concerned.

All the best

Mick

SAFC v Pompey

Well Huyton you were the lucky one - you kept away. What a follow-on from Tuesday nights display. Soxy was also unlucky he missed the coach as he thought it went at 1.10pm from Kelloe and blagged a lift bet he now wished he stopped at home.
The game started well with a penalty after 3 minutes and at 1:0 up everyone thought we would go on to romp home. But as the game went on and lack of tactics and goal attempts we went into the second half hanging onto our lead. Then it went all horribly wrong ... first a goal to make it level and then a total cock up between Stubbs and Davis let them in for a soft goal and then a 40 yarder that Davis stood and watched as it went in the back of the net. The final nail in the coffin came with a diving header that Davis seemed slow to dive for. Mass exit towards the door and at the final whistle a few of the loyal ones stopped back to either applaud or jeer the team off the pitch. I for one will never jeer any of the team but I also did not applaud them off the pitch.
This will go down as the worst performance I have seen for a long time. I was gutted at the way we caved in to a team that was the worst to appear at the SOL for quite a while.
We all thought and hoped that the next few home games we would pick up 9 points but it now seems that we will struggle all the way through the season, unless a miracle happens. It makes you sick when you see Wigan where they are .... and on merit as they have picked up some good results by playing with confidence due to a good start .... something that if we had started okay we would have had the confidence to tear teams apart like Pompey.
Now looking forward to our last trip to Highbury and probably our last trip to see Arsenal for along time.

Jim Gilling
FTM

Is anyone blogging on this blog?

I'm concerned. No one seems to want to post a weblog on here at present.

Ha'way lads I know times are bad at present but why have a blog if it isn't going to be used?

I'd like to hear your views about the parlous state of SAFC at present , where we are going wrong and what needs to be done to put it right again?

C'mon men get blogging.

Transfer Spending league this season

lets have a look and see who has spent the most money this season.

1. Chelsea £53.4 m
2. Newcastle £ 30.8 m
3. Liverpool £ 18.6 m
4. Everton £ 12.m
5. A Villa £ 11 m
6. Spurs £ 9.5m
7. Boro £ 9.3m
8. WBA £ 9m
9. Wigan £ 5.95m
10. Man u £ 5 m
11. Blackburn £ 5m
12. S/land £ 5m
13. Arsenal £3.5m
14. B/ham £ 3m
15. Fulham £2.05m
16. Man C £ 2m
17. W/Ham £1.775m
18. Bolton £ 1m
19. Charlton £0
20. P/mouth £0

Pictures from today!!

Click the title.

Dare you look?

McCarthy downcast says it all really.

How much longer can this go on?

I don't go.

You know my views about McCarthy. He is inept, both tactically and managerially, he demonstrated that on his first day in charge.

Today, we are overrun in midfield Pompey equalise, so what does he do? Replaces Miller with Robinson.
In the words of Gary Bennet " Thats a strange one"
Thats like playing Mickey Gray at Right Back.

It doesn't matter how you dress it up, how many excuses are made ( and I'm dying for MM email tonoght) we are shite and it all boils down to one man. Bob Murray doesn't manage or coach the team so he can't be blamed for that. Running the club on a shoestring now thats a different matter, but do you want a club or don't you?

Sickened. It's Portsmouth for fucks sake

Face in the crowd

None other than our very own Mel RTS!

Message from Mick

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

Arsene Wenger said afterwards that we made it tough for them in the first hour - until they got the first goal. They were much better than us after that.
Maybe Sunday [against Newcastle] took its toll on a few of our players - Nyron, Justin Hoyte, Steve Caldwell, Liam Lawrence.
They were better than us and mullered us in the last half an hour. They were stronger, quicker and it shows the benefit of getting the best youngsters around.
If they can let Justin Hoyte go it shows what kind of squad they've got. Arsenal have got real strength in depth.
I didn't know much about their full-back, Eboue, then he turned up and rattled one in. In the end they were better than us.
It would have been lovely to put on a show for the big crowd but it wasn't to be. It was not going to happen against them.
Let me tell you they are no ordinary set of reserves - they've got the best young talent around.
I'm sorry that we did not put on a great performance in front of the 48,000. It wasn't to be because they were better than us, simple as that.
Arsenal's players had something to prove, they want to get into the first team. Arsene Wenger said afterwards that it might have been easier for us playing against their first team, because the attitude might have been different.
A lot of those players would get into other people's first teams, no question.
I wanted to play the game tonight [two days after the Newcastle game] to give us more time to prepare for Portsmouth [on Saturday]. Hopefully that will pay dividends.

All the best,

Mick

SAFC v Arsenal

Well what a waste of time, good job it was cheap to get in! The first half saw both teams cancel each other out with the Lads only attempt at goal in the 31st minute - I think this was to be our only shot on target for the whole of the match.
Second half we were 2 yards slower than Arsenals second mob and there was no way back after the first goal went in. We stopped and watched as the ball was struck and hit the back of the net without the goalie moving. We created nothing and deserved nothing.
Once again in front of 47,000 plus fans we failed to play attractive winning football to try to get at least some of the missing fans back.
Roll on Saturday and hopefully a better performance from our first squad .... if this is the state of what is coming through if injuries start kicking in God help us!

Jim Gilling
FTM

Twitchy Mags Pt II

It's a week since I posted about the twitchy mag at work and now that he's been in again to fill the shelves up I gave him his opportunity to get the gloating and the bird flu jokes ( Sunderland fans sick as parrots) out of the way before we got down to serious debate. ( yes belief it or not there are some sensible ones kicking about.)

Agreement, that it was great advert for Premier League football.
Knew they had got out of gaol. ( Breathing the sigh of relief)
Disagree that Souness is the man to take them down. ( he hasn't put his best side out yet)
Agree that Amoeba scored the 2nd and not Caldwell.
That Given should have got a hand to Lennies goal,
That SAFC need to put a man on the post at free kicks.
That Freddy Shepherd is a model for the Pilsbury Dough Man or could be used as a weather symbol for wind.
They know they had a very lucky escape against a side who deserved more out of the game than they got. Pretty soon Sunderlands luck is going to change and some team in this division will say " hello".

Growing confidnec means increasing points and the way this league is at present anyone can beat anyone except Chelski.

Ha'Way The Lads.

Extract from the England Fans web site

Re: Newcastle 3 : Sunderland 2

Andrew Watt:
Posted: 24 October 2005 15:31:30

Rank: ChampionshipJoined: 19/01/2005Posts: 363Location: Washington, Tyne and Wear, England
I was knackered after watching this, great game.Bragging rights at least till april me thinks
Support the Huge Flag !NUFC and ENGLAND



Jim Gilling:
Posted: 24 October 2005 15:47:14

Rank: League TwoJoined: 10/01/2005Posts: 12Location: Durham, County Durham, UNITED KINGDOM
Good game, waiting to watch it on TV as from where I was sitting in the Gods you can't make out much of the players - was it a penalty or not etc...Anyway you lot were very quiet during the match, was it because you thought it was going to be a walk over and then realised that we were doing Okay. One good point at least you'll have Souness for a while yet and will still struggle. To summarise good for TV not for the faint hearted and a draw would have been a fair result ..... see you at the SOL on April 17th.
Coxhoe MackemSunderland 'til I dieFTM



Timothy Armstrong
Posted: 24 October 2005 15:50:13

Rank: ChampionshipJoined: 11/01/2005Posts: 186Location: Maubec, , FRANCE
got a mate who had a few too many in the Rose+Crown --didnt go to work today .




Mark Stephenson
Posted: 24 October 2005 15:50:21

Rank: All StarJoined: 10/01/2005Posts: 6,372Location: Shrewsbury, Shropshire, WORLD CUP WINNERS 2006
Andrew Watt wrote:
I was knackered after watching this, great game.Bragging rights at least till april me thinks well done watty




Neil Watson
Posted: 24 October 2005 19:44:55

Rank: Non LeagueJoined: 10/01/2005Posts: 8Location: Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UNITED KINGDOM
JUST GOT BACK FROM WEEKEND IN NEWCASTLE WITH WIFE WATCHED GAME IN PUB IN CITY CENTRE FANTASTIC, GREAT GAME ,GREAT PEOPLE ,HOPE FOREST WILL PLAY WITH SO MUCH PASSION
forest till i die



Julie Kitchin
Posted: 24 October 2005 20:01:21

Rank: InternationalJoined: 10/03/2005Posts: 2,861Location: Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UNITED KINGDOM
U lucky sods Watty!!! Well the ref c o cked up big time!! Booking Parker instead of Carr in the 1st half then when Carr got booked in the 2nd half he should have been sent off!!!A clear penalty (well i had to watch it when i got home to confirm it, as i couldnt see half of what happened on the pitch cause its so high up!!!)GREAT PEOPLE ???? Well some of them might be! I dont call blokes throwing bricks at our disabled branch's coach nice nor the fact of 300 people causing problems in the centre last night either!!!At least the scum got the bad name yesterday not us


Barry Pounder
Posted: 24 October 2005 21:19:46

Rank: ChampionshipJoined: 18/01/2005Posts: 317Location: Chester Le Street, County Durham, UNITED KINGDOM
Julie Kitchin wrote:
U lucky sods Watty!!! Well the ref c o cked up big time!! Booking Parker instead of Carr in the 1st half then when Carr got booked in the 2nd half he should have been sent off!!!A clear penalty (well i had to watch it when i got home to confirm it, as i couldnt see half of what happened on the pitch cause its so high up!!!)GREAT PEOPLE ???? Well some of them might be! I dont call blokes throwing bricks at our disabled branch's coach nice nor the fact of 300 people causing problems in the centre last night either!!!At least the scum got the bad name yesterday not us Worse than bricking the disabled coach - the blerts were doing that 'easy' Soccer am hand clapping thing when they scored.



Julie Kitchin
Posted: 24 October 2005 21:21:45

Rank: InternationalJoined: 10/03/2005Posts: 2,861Location: Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UNITED KINGDOM
I know but it didnt take them long to shout up 4goals in 7/8 mins The best team lost at the end of the day



Sean Riley
Posted: 25 October 2005 08:37:24

Rank: PremiershipJoined: 07/01/2005Posts: 945Location: CHADDERTON, GREATER MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM
Great derby for the neutral, some cracking goals (if only we had kept Stephen Elliot )Sean - CITY MANCHESTER ENGLAND

SAFC v Arsenal Pt II

Click the title.

There's a sense of Sunderland being at it again, though no one should be surprised by that.

£5 won't buy you 2 pints these days, (well it might but you'd struggle with the Pork Scratchings too, Billy)

SAFC v Arsenal

Please note there are no more seats left on the coach for tomorrow nights fixture.

Jim Gilling
FTM

Brilliant posting from RTG - The Lie

This says it all really. Haway the Lads and FTM, every last one of them, especially the Plastics!

A dozen or so years ago I hated mags. Mags hated me. That was fine. We understood and we “enjoyed” (if enjoyment includes painful agony) our derbies and our rivalry. In the early nineties NUFC was in a poor state. They generally tended to be in the top flight but they were having one of their brief sojourns in the second league. Their crowds were dropping below 10,000. But those 10,000 were the mags I hated - and the ones who hated me. Then the new all plastic mags were invented. They were told a lie by Sir John Hall and his successors: they were bigger than Man United; they were the Barcelona of the North; they were one of the seven biggest clubs in the world. And the plastic mags believe The Lie – because it is all they have.
Newcastle is the largest city with just one club (even quite a few smaller ones have two – Sheffield, Nottingham, Bristol). It is the economic and cultural centre of a whole region with the subsequent enormous catchment area for support. Consequently they get large crowds. They then conveniently forget the times not long ago when there were less than 10,000 of them there. They forget how even today European games deemed to be less attractive have only half the ground full. They also forget how 8,000 of them didn’t renew their season tickets because of the “failure” to qualify for the Champions League two seasons running (ah, to have such failure). The signing of Owen (to get World Cup fitness), after his current club had refused to play him and he had begged the top four English clubs to sign him, cured that of course. Like the signing of Kluivert it proved how “big” they are.
Our very existence damages the myth. We are a decent size club right nearby. If we get a whiff of anything like the success the mags have had (and two seventh place finishes followed by a drop back into the second league was the very slightest of whiffs) we get crowds up at their level. But that can’t be. It destroys the myth of the bigness. That is why the plastic mags if anything hate us even more than the genuine mags. They have to keep believing in The Lie. If they accepted what we were, they couldn’t also believe The Lie. And then what would the plastics have?
Worse we are there because we support our club. Not for the promise (so far laughingly unfulfilled) of glory. The very idea of a plastic or glory hunting SAFC supporter is a complete contradiction. We do it simply because it is our club. The plastics can’t bear to see us supporting our club – it highlights to them everything they are not.
So when I look across the Upper Leazes at the mags there, knowing at least one in five of them is plastic (possibly more in the Upper Leazes as it is one of the “newer” areas) do I feel hatred? Not any more. I feel contempt. When I think of the genuine mags who have lost their club to this lot, I can almost feel sympathy. When your club loses its soul and needs to rely on The Lie, what is the point of continuing to support it? If you don’t support your club just because it is your club, you might as well pack it all in.
For the record, we lost this game. How we did is still beyond me. I’d seen the mags on the telly the previous week because they were playing while we were in the pub before our game. I felt confident we could turn them over. In a fairly even first half (not according to Sourness mind – god is he an idiot! Long may his reign continue) there was a mad spell. First they got a corner from a ridiculous decision where two mag attackers were coming out so Breen had to try to head clear rather then leave it for Davis). How the hell can that be “not interfering” with play? The resulting corner turned into another one in which we left Ameobi a load of space to head in. Lawrence then scored a peacher. Then Ameobi “scored” again – this time using his arm to put the ball over the line. Elliott then scored an even better goal than Lawrence’s.
The second half was completely ours. We battered them. Various bits of Given’s body and bits of defenders bodies (including Taylor’s hand) stopped the ball from going in. Lawrence was upended in the box but the ref, who had a perfect view, waved play on. What exactly did he think he’d seen? Carr was booked for his second bookable offence. He stayed on the pitch because the ref had mistakenly booked Parker in the first half for an offence committed by Carr.
We gave away a free kick in our favourite place and the inevitable happened (how many bliddy goals are we going to concede before we put a man on that post?). The ball went over the wall and hit the post – and in a choice between slipping in and slipping out, it slipped in. Elliott picked up a through ball and lobbed Given. The ball hit the bar and in a choice between slipping in and slipping out, it slipped out. So that was it. One more coat of paint on the Gallowgate goalpost, one less coat of paint on the Leazes crossbar and we would have been the winners. What does it all matter? The papers this morning reflect only one thing – they get the three points and hence the bragging rights until April.
But this morning we woke up as SAFC supporters. They woke up as either plastic mags or genuine mags swamped by plastics. A dozen years ago I was pleased to be an SAFC supporter. But in all honesty I knew the mags enjoyed supporting NUFC as much as I enjoyed supporting SAFC. I would have struggled to describe any significant difference between us. Now I look at them with contempt and there is no way I would want to swap places with themPosted by Herts at October 24, 2005 07:22 AM
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Quote of the Day

"I don't have a sense of injustice, although there were things that happened in the game that went against us. I didn't doubt they'd get a free kick on the edge of the box at some stage, and I didn't doubt we wouldn't get a penalty when Lennie went down towards the end. There was as much cahnce of me making my own way way home by flapping my hands as there was of us getting that"

Michael McCarthy. 23.10.2005

Sums up the performance of Rob Styles in an eloquent and diplomatic fashion.

Scum v SAFC

Not much singing and dancing in the Black and White club when I got back from the match yesterday in fact there seemed to be a few not out at all, perhaps they were all rolling up their pray mats to put them away 'til the next derby match.
The day started with a long wait at the SOL they said the coaches would leave at 10.45am but the actual time was 11.30am, we were in the row of private coaches that left a good 20 minutes behind the free coaches that the club had provided. So it was a slow ride through to scumland this time up the A19 and into Newcastle via the central motorway. We parked next to the multi-story car park just four coaches from the front so it was just a short walk to the gates. A few ugly words exchanged between both sets of supporters as we entered the turnstiles that led to a great hike upwards; as we entered the bar area I was sure we were above the clouds. The bar area was crammed packed and no air so not comfortable area to catch your breath after the long climb up the hundreds of steps, so I made my way to the seats and found Billy and big Jeff already seated or should I say standing as we stood all the way through the match.
Team selection was probably our best still no sign of Stead on the bench and a return of Arca on the bench together with Stubbs.
Whistle blows game on... in the early spell both teams were getting used to the atmosphere and each other Whitehead getting to know Emrepaper a bit better after the first few minutes. At least I think it was Whitehead as from up in the Gods you can only make out the 22 strips not the players. It seemed that we were loosing it in midfield and struggling in defence but were still keeping the scum at bay. The more this went on we thought that their crowd would get on the scums backs. Then the scum seemed to be getting the upper hand and crazy defending - our defence were all bothered about Shergar than any others and the scum scored from that other striker Ameobi or something like that - a free header and for once you could hear the scum supporters sing but not for long ...... Within a minute and as the scum were still singing Lawrence hit a shot towards goal and bingo in the back of the net. The scenes in the Gods were like being in heaven and God had just told you you could have your pick of any of the angels for the night.
2 -1 we always win 2-1 was the chant now ...... but another crazy defensive mistake let the scum in again and the same scum guy scored. Bang goes the 2-1 we always win 2-1! As we approached half-time and seeing a frenzy of goals in a few minutes we were then given a pure piece of brilliance from Steven "Sleeves" Elliott. Same as against Man U he hit a blinder from well outside the box and bang into the top left hand side ...... where's God and those angels he promised us all?
HALFTIME 2:2 and we were on the up.
Second half for a few minutes we seemed to be laying back again but as the second half progressed we were the better team - not biased but I think a good appraisal of the performance of two teams a huge difference away from money spent on the players. Then Caldwell brought down a scum player and a free-kick that Solano, Shergar and Emrepaper were debating to take. We could all see it was going to be a shot so why did we not put anyone on the back sticks is a big question for another day. But Emrepaper took the shot and in the back of the net in off the right hand side post. Relief all around the scum as they all knew they were on the rack. We kept up the pressure - Elliott hits the bar, one cleared off the line was it a penalty or not, just a foot away from being poked in the net. Anyway no break-through and in the end after all the whistles for the ref to blow for the end of the game we all thought we were robbed and the scum knew it! Final score 3:2 to the scum.
The exit from the ground produced more verbals, a fence pushed over a charge between the two sets of enemies but nothing really serious. We got on the coach and set off down the A1(M) this time causing problems for anyone at the Metro centre then as we passed the Washinton services we thought nearly home and straight in the Club but CliveD had to drop someone off at Washington so we had to do a detour that would add another 45 minutes onto our journey home. Persuaded Billy to come into the club for a few met with StephenW and had a few pints came out at 7.00pm still proud at what our Lads had done ..... silenced the scum and shown them up ..... millions there's not millions difference between us .... and they knew it!

Jim Gilling
Proud to hate the Scum and SAFC 'til I die.

Message from Mick

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

I've got a sense of pride for our performance. We were supposed to have come into an eye of an storm here and we've quietened that storm for long periods of the game.
I didn't think we'd get the penalty when Liam [Lawrence] was brought down - there was not much chance of that here.
Things happen in the game, such is life. The width of a crossbar is the difference between the sides: the difference between a really great performance and a great result or me sat he peeved off.
It was sad that we were having to respond to goals instead of us taking the lead. I wonder how it would have affected them. We never got the opportunity to test it.
I can only admire my group of players who I got every last drop out of. I think there is more to come from this team.
Everyone knows it's dificult to come and play here and I thought we were the better side in the second half.
It doesn't matter - they got the bragging rights because they beat us but I can only admire the performance.
They got the initiative when we had Steve Caldwell off the pitch; until that, not much had happened. After that, they took the game to us.
It was a fantastic performance and I've got pride in my group of players.
They were two great strikes by us but when we've had the game by the scruff of the neck, we did not get that final pass or that finish we needed.
We scored two great goals but they had the one that counted in the second half.
Stephen Elliott has been fantastic and he's only going to get better and better. The goals will give him a huge lift.
If you have to score four to win the game, it's going to be extremely difficult in the Premier League.
We've played well against Manchester United and we did so again today. We can only get better by continuing to do the same things. We have some talented players.
I will change the team on Tuesday, play a few who have not been involved. I thought it was important we had some time before we play a vital game against Portsmouth [next weekend], that's why the cup game is close to this. It's two teams scrapping away at the bottom.
Gary Breen got a bang in the ribs. We don't yet know how bad he is.

All the best,

Mick McCarthy

I reckon theres been a lot of ale supped today.

No posts about the match from those that attended the match can only mean one thing. Lots of ale consumed, prior to, during and afterwards.

Hold your heads up though lads cos that performance can only auger well for the games to come.

It also augers well for the unwashed cos it keeps Sourness in a job a little longer and that can only be good for the filth. It increases their mediocrity rating and it was enlightening to hear their fans being interviewed post match.

No gloating, they know they got away with it. They know their defence is a shambles and they know that for Sourness it's only a matter of time.

The £50m team v the £5m team and only the width of a crossbar and some poor refereeing saved their bacon.

Ha'Way the Lads.

Did you feel the breeze at 3:20 pm

As them fuckin geordies breathed a big sigh of relief.

Lucky bastards!!!

Jimmy's new camera?

No sign of any photos from it yet (or at least any that can be posted on a public domain like this blog!). C'mon Jimmy we're all looking forward to some photos of the England game, and perhaps some pics of the 'Turkish delights' from Istanbul.

Will you be taking the camera (if it actually does exist and you know how to work it!) with you to Sid James on Sunday, to capture the scenes?

SAFC v Arsenal

Tuesday 25th October Kick-off 7.45pm
Please note that the coach (a 29 seater from Griersons) will pick up Kelloe Greyhound at 6.00pm and Coxhoe Londis Shop at 6.05pm (no pick up at Doggie)
There are 4 places on the coach still available if anyone wants to go.

Jim Gilling
FTM

Naked Geordie women

Click title to take you directly to them!

Where's Walter?

Just checked on soccerway (click title) and Velez won at the weekend and are now second in the Primera Division on 23 points, only 1 point behind Boca Juniors.
Surely this must be worth a posting from our second-favourite Argentinian! (Sorry Walter, Julio wins first spot)

Tale of our times

Sunderland Echo (AP)

A seven-year-old boy was at the centre of a Sunderland courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible. The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to Newcastle United Football Club whom the boy firmly believes are incapable of beating anyone.

Coxhoe:- The Good Old Days

Click the title for some photos of way back when from the Francis Frith Collection.

Or maybe its the air he is breathing in Smog land

Click on title to go to RTG

ABEL XAVIER insists the drug found in his urine sample after Boro's Uefa Cup tie in Xanthi, Greece, last month came from a food supplement he took to combat a virus. Fifa have banned the Portugal international, 32, pending a probe. The former Liverpool and Everton player is facing the sack from Boro and a life ban unless he wins a legal battle to overturn the positive drugs test.

Twitchy Mags.

Detected a distinct lack of confidence amongst the great unwashed this week at work as we head in to derby weekend.

It would seem that after our recent performances against Chelsea and Man Utd the filth no longer have the self belief they are famous for.

Famous for creating unemployment at the carbuncle could we be instrumental in seeing another managerial casualty up the road.

It has been rumoured in certain quarters that David Murray, Chairman of Rangers FC is tiring of Alex McCleish and wants Sourness back at Ibrox and that he will be there before Christmas. Well if results go the right way he may there long before Christmas.

You always get one Mag who is confident of everything Souness does and feels his signings have been good ones.

Amdy Faye? The worst midfielder in Premier league history.
Emre :- The new Marcellino. More sick notes than Darren Anderton
Scott Parker:- Who? Failing miserably upto now ( just my view)
Craig Moore:- Does he exist?
Michael Owen:- Feeds on scraps for England and crumbs at Newcastle.

This weekend could go either way and it's good to see at last recognising that they are not as good as their own publicity.

Days Gone Bye!!

Mate of mine dropped an old Programme from 68/69 season in for me.
How times have changed.
Keep Craig Busy lads.
Get your requests in.
The Coxhoe Cameraman

My contribution to the David O'leary debate

O'Leary's celebrations have taken up a lot of air time on 5 Live this evening , most from bitter Blues fans.

I saw fit to email 5 Live and gained national (and perhaps international fame via digital) fame by bringing the show to a close with this email being read out.



606@bbc.co.uk

O'Leary

Lets go one better. A manager celebrating before a match.

Malcolm Allison then manager of Crystal Palace, fedora on head, cigar in hand, strode to the Fulwell End at Roker Park during the Kick in before the 1975/76 FA cup quarter final and made the gesture 1-0. Of course we all took it in the spirit it was meant and gestured back with two fingers. ( 2-0)

The final score?

1-0 to Palace Alan Whittle.

Did we moan and groan. No we just got on with it.

I'm sure most of us older bloggers will remember that one.

Picture Quiz. Need more clues?

Defender.

Pies.

Had a spat with the "Son of Pele"

Message from Jim

Sorry to disappoint Bloggers but it's off to Istanbul again later today back late Wednesday, so no posts from me for a few days. Keep the posts coming in as we lead up to a very important weekend.

Jim Gilling
FTM

Message from Mick

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

I'm disappointed it ended 3-1. I think it puts a gloss on it for them that was not naturally there. We played well - certainly in the first half. I said to the players that I thought we got mugged a bit.
We were playing so well and getting forward so well. We've tried to put the ball into the box and have been caught on the break and mugged.
It did fall to a very special player. He's worth £30m. You'd expected him to score when he gets the chance. Having said that we gifted him the opportunity by trying to put he ball into their box and losing possession.
Van der Sar has made the save of the game. We've had just as much of the game as United in the first half.
I was concerned that they could hit us on the break, of course I was, but what do we do? Do we not go forward and not have a go?
If we get 20 draws out of the next 20 games we ain't going to stay up. On a different day we would have scored more. We've had more chances than them in the first half.
The way I viewed it before the game was that their best five or six players are all offensive ones. If we sit back and defend against them, they will pick us off and score.
I have been delighted with the performances over recent weeks.
If we looked at the fixture list, would we have said we were expecting three ponts against United? No.
Of coruse we want to win but we are not expected to. The other games - the West Broms and West Hams - they are the games that we want to pick up points from.
We are now going to have to pick up points away from home but we've proved we are capable of that.
The performance was good and the fitness levels are excellent. In the second half they [United] were a bit comfortable.
When a manager of the standing and knowledge of Sir Alex spends 20-odd million for him [Rooney], then it doesn't really matter what I think [about him]. That speaks volumes for him.
I don't want to say too many nice things about him [Rooney] because he's just beaten us.
I said to [Stephen] Elliott [at half-time] afer he had had a chance in the first half that last year he would have lashed at it. He tried to cross it to Andy Gray and that's not him.
With that self-believe of last year, I just felt he would have shot.
In the second half, well he pulled the trigger and it was a great goal, wasn't it? It gave us a lift for a little while but they got another and finished us off.
We had a go. I would hate to be in the Premier League for 38 games and sit back and not have a go and not give the players the chance to express themselves - and get relegated.
If we have a right good kick at it and try to compete like we did against Manchester United for the most part of the game, that will be my philosophy on it.

All the best,

Mick McCarthy

McCarthy's reaction to Man Utd goading.

In keeping with most Saturday afternoons these days myself and the good Lady Hoofer, took ourselves off exploring our fair land.

Today we looked around the market town of Barnard Castle and paid the ruins a visit. Returning via Middleton, Langdon Beck and the moorland road to St Johns Chapel I happened upon Radio 5Live who reported that in response to goading from Manure fans McCarthy had responded with a gesture.

Was it 2 fingered, 1 fingered, fist or what?

I'm curious.

Shed any light on it anyone?

Get your footie cards

by clicking the title.

Birth announcement

Another first for Coxhoe board. Click the title and it'll take you to RTG and an announcement from Shiner (of 'collapsoed at Rotherham' fame) that his wife has had the baby. It's a boy called Ben and he's obviously chuffed to bits.

P.S. It's taking Jimmy a long time to post those pictures. Wonder if he needs the CC to come over and help him?

Picture Quiz.

Which former Sunderland player is in the picture?
The Coxhoe Cameraman

Would you pay this for a derby match?

Click on the title.

Well would you?

Or would you rather book your flight and a canny hotel in Geneva for England v Argentina?

England v Poland

Picked CliveD, DavidD, Geordie and Stewy up at 2.00pm from the Black Lion and by the time we hit the A1(M) DavidD was sound asleep in the front ... and remained a sleep for most of the journey there and back. After a quick pee stop on the M62 we arrived at Old Trafford about 4.20pm it was almost like Saturday - peeing down none stop.
We decided to stay in the Trafford pub until kick off so I parked the car up at the cricket club for £6. The pub was packed to the rafters plenty feeling the impact of a full afternoons session, songs included 10 german bombers, were going to Germany and one to the poles (who were not allowed in the pub) you would have been a kraut if its wasn't for the English. Anyway we wormed our way through the masses and found a perfect spot to stand just outside the ladies bog! Man did we have some fun, I was asking for tickets to enter the toilet informing them that if they did not have one they were available from the bar, informing them that the toilets were being cleaned up and they had to wait a few minutes which they did and with crossed legs and then there was the constant pushing of breasts from large to small against us all this going on when Stewy was trying to tap up one of the barmaids remarks to the question "is there anything else you want" while being served "yes can I have your phone number" were a typical remark by Stewy as he kept on with his campaign. CliveD went outside to go to a bookies he had a tip and we all placed £5 on the nose it got beat, CliveD got wet again and he also reported a nearby pub was going up as he passed, all windows being smashed out and not by the English fans but the Poles.
A memorable and historic remark on my character was then made by CliveD - having only had one pint Stewy got me a pint of lager and lime instead of what I had asked for soda and lime, when I refused to drink the pint as "I had already had one pint" CliveD stated "I was a good alround genuine guy as if it was him driving he would probably have had about four pints."
So it was off to the match in the rain and seated before the start that is a change for me when I am with the two Billy's.
The team selection was probably the best available although I am not yet convinced with the quality of Sean Wright Phillips. As the game progressed worthy of a mention was Ledley King, Luke Young and the return of mad Rooney. Michael Owen again missed a few sitters and as I keep saying is not the same player as before he went to Madrid. Not many shots on target in the first half (come to think of it not too many in the second) We went one up in the closing stages of the first half with a flick by Owen from a Cole shot. Joe Cole I thought played one of his better games for England but fizzled out in the second half - not sure about his world class rating. Then as we were all celebrating Poland scored a good goal and then we found out that the Polish fans were not just in their section althrough the North and South stands you could see Polish fans up and celebrating - good for them it was good to see a team being well supported away from home. Obviously these were all UK poles that had applied via Ticketshitter and got their tickets anywhere except the away end. i hope there was no trouble but later heard there had been some flashes of violence shown against them. So 1:1 and HT.
Halftime entertainment was from G-Force and they were well and truely booed heckled and jeered all through their singing, chants of "who the f***ing hell are you" could be heard from all around the ground. Don't know why (R they Welsh or just rubbish) maybe someone might explain.

Second half probably same as first half England pushing up but not creating many shots on target. Then there was the Crouch substitution, okay I thought he played crap in his first full game but no player deserves to be jeered from his own supporters.
Then we scored the winner from Frank Lampard with a good volley from a flick pass from Owen.
Sorry Huyton but having just seen the goal again on TV I can't agree with your comment on an earlier posting. Crouch was in the area but did not take two men away from Lampard allowing him to score. My view after seeing it over and over again was that no one even marked Crouch as he went through they all marked Owen and Lampard and it was Owen's clever thinking that created the opening for Lampard. I don't believe I said that about Owen!
At the final whistle I think we were all releaved that it was over and that we had won the group. If we needed that win to qualify I don't think I would have had any fingers left never mind fingernails. Overall better than last Saturday's match but still a long way to go to get that all important teamwork and confidence going.
So it was back out to the rain and to the car. One thing I will remember is never to park in the cricket ground car park - what a nightmare to get out we had to wait over 1/2 hour before exiting the car park. We went through the city centre passing the Arndale Centre about 11.00pm DavidD by this stage - yes you've guessed it was sound asleep and considering that we got back to Sedgefield at 12.40am not too bad a drive - kept to the speed limit again!

Just been advise I am guaranteed a ticket for the England v Argentina game in Geneva on 12th November so looked up some flights and Easyjet have raised their prices so if would cost nearly £200 to get out by Easyjet on the Friday to the Sunday. Looked about again and found cheaper flights on KLM at £165 from Durham Tees Valley. Then I had a thought old airmiles that I thought I had for KLM from my old days of flying with my previous employer- one phone call and now booked business class both ways and the cost £60 to cover fuel and airport taxes. Now all I need to find out is do I have enough AMEX points for a free hotel!!
Pictures will follow as I am loading the software for the new camera as we speak.

Jim Gilling
FTM

SCUM v THE LADS and ARSENAL

The Scum:
As we have to be at the SOL for a set time for the now famous police convoy to Sid James's Park the Sedgefield Branch coach will leave Coxhoe at 9.55am, leaving Kelloe a few minutes earlier. Coach is full so no additional names please.
Arsenal Away:
CliveD needs money for tickets this Saturday £35.00 adult tickets - please give me the money on the coach to the SOL on Saturday and I will hand over to CliveD.
Arsenal Home (Carling Cup):
I will probably arrange for one of the Sedgefield coaches to pick up at Kelloe and Coxhoe instead of hiring a mini bus. CliveD is okay with this but need final numbers on Saturday - more news on times etc early next week.

Jim Gilling
FTM

In defence of Crouch

Love him or hate him, the treatment meted out to Peter Crouch last night as he replaced Shaun Wright –Phillips was out of order.

What has Crouch done to deserve such treatment by so called " Football fans"?
Like it or not Crouch is an England international. The management obviously see qualities that he can add to the squad, and as Sunderland fans we know how effective a big man up front can be.

The national press are seeping into our consciousness on this one, like they do with so many other things, because Crouch is unpopular. I said it in a earlier response to Jims posting about how The Northern Echo saw his performance against Austria. I tend to agree. I thought he was effective in what he did. Won the aerial battle with their defenders, provided the flick on’s, held the ball up well and linked up play.

Before we get into the relative merits of last night, Crouch only saw about 20 minutes, but who was it that calmly brought the ball out of the 18 yard box to start the move that led to Lampards goal? Who made his ground up as England moved forward and tied two of their defenders up while Cole got the ball over? YES, PETER CROUCH !!!!

Last night looked to me like a game that Crouch could have contributed to far more effectively than Saturday. Why? Two mobile wide men, in Cole and Wright Phillips, Two full backs in Carragher and Young all of whom got past the last man to cross the ball. Crouch territory.
Instead Erikkson went with a little man in Owen and had Rooney playing just in behind him and in front of the midfield 4. Owen as usual had to feed on scraps and Rooney as he always does, had opportunities to run at them and score "spectacular goals"

The big difference for me last night was in midfield and the inclusion of Ledley King. Now he looks more cumbersome and languid than Crouch but what he did, mirrored the role of Makelele at Chelsea. He kept it simple and allowed Lampard to get forward and become involved in play. The question now has to be " How do you accommodate, Beckham and Gerrard and Lampard in the same team,?" Can he? Or will he now realise that it’s horses for courses and there may be games where one or two may need to be left out.

One thing is for certain though, the game last night was more entertaining than Saturday’s if only marginally, and at times it was still like watching paint dry. Enter Peter Crouch, long lanky 6’ 7" Centre forward, strolling out of defence to start the move that won the game, the group and get England a seeding in the World Cup Draw.

I still wouldn’t like to mark him.

England v Poland

Well guys almost time to start the England travels again. Setting off at 1.30pm to meet up with CliveD and the Sedgefield possy at the Black Lion in Sedgefield heading down about 2.00pm. New camera in my pocket 5 megapixal with zoom and movie mode so hopefully will be better than the last one at 2 megapixal - I am giving this one to James for his nature pictures! Lets hope the guys back in Surrey don't notice another camera on my company credit card - the other one was broken when I dropped it in a pool of water and smashed on inpact - honest boss!
Anyway back early hours hoping for a good day. Plenty of time to talk to Clive about the scum match, how many tickets, all the travel arrangements etc.
Match and trip report on Thursday - I promise no pictures of dogs in my posting!

Jim Gilling
FTM

More silverware than the Mags

More silverware than the Mags - not hard, I know, as they've won nowt in the last 50 years but our little puppy has achieved it.

Pictured above is Hollybeck Carina (aka Tess) with her trophies and rosettes from the British Manchester Terrier Championship show held on Saturday 8th October. Here’s what happened on a memorable day.

The story starts about 2 months ago when Tess’s breeder, Chris Kirkland, got in touch and asked if we would take her to the Championship show in Leicester. We weren’t so sure but decided we would give it a go as it would be nice to meet up with Chris again and let her see Tess. Also it would be good to see the other dogs and perhaps meet their owners. On Friday night Chris phoned to tell us she couldn’t make it as one of her dogs was ill and she had to stay at home with her. One of the main reasons we were going was to see Chris so we almost cancelled. Chris said not to worry, she would arrange that someone would be there to look after us so we eventually decided to give it a go. That’s why, at 8 o’clock the next morning, we were on our way to Leicester, bombing down the motorway in the pouring rain.

We arrived at 10:45 to find that the show had already started and the dog classes were taking place. We didn’t know a soul in the place so I approached the judges table and told a lady of our predicament. She had a think then went and introduced us to our saviour, a man in his late 50’s called Glen. Glen was a breeder who was at the show but was not showing any dogs. To cut a long story short Glen agreed to show Tess in the ring. This was great as we didn’t have a clue how to go on and otherwise we’d have had to withdraw Tess from the show.

The dog classes finished, then it was the first bitch class, minor puppy bitch. Tess was in this one and Glen took her into the ring. The judge had a good look at all the puppies walking round the ring and then stood them on the show table. Tess behaved impeccably, despite never having been in the showring before and having just met her handler. A bit more walking up and down the line and then the judge pointed towards Tess, she’d won her class! To say we were shocked and excited would be an understatement - our Ross was beaming! Tess was entered into three other classes and came second in them all, against older dogs, so we had 4 rosettes, 4 certificates and a trophy, the Presidents Cup, for best minor puppy bitch.

After all the bitch classes had been completed there was a competition for best in show and best puppy. Unfortunately, because Tess had come second in one of her other classes, she was not eligible for best puppy, even though she was best minor puppy bitch, but the bitch that beat her actually won best puppy. What happened next was that Tess came up against best minor puppy dog (who had also won best puppy dog) and she beat him so she became best minor puppy in the show (another rosette) and reserve best puppy in the show. Figure all that out if you can! To top it all she was also best newcomer and won the Admiral Lad shield for that.

As well as seeing Tess do well we also met a lot of the other owners and their dogs and had a great day out. They were all very friendly and welcomed us to our first show although I do wonder if some of the ‘old timers’ were perhaps a bit miffed that the ‘upstarts from up north’ had more or less hijacked the prizes.

We left the show at 4pm, just in time to catch the England game commentary on the way home. Sounded a poor game on the radio, glad I didn’t stop at home to watch it.

What’s all this got to do with football – NOTHING, but it goes to show there is more to life than football and we should all make sure we have time for other interests as they can be very rewarding.

Ryanair flyanywairforfree link

How do they do it?

I think it was yesterdays Sunday Times quoted in an article about Jacques Chirac and his presidential jet that it costs upto £4000 per hour to keep a plane in the air. I reckon that would be about right given my return ticket to Vancouver was about £350 and a flight of 11 hours. Pay the fuel bill, Crew costs, food costs, insurance and taxes, landing fees etc and make about £50 profit per passenger.

How do Ryanair offer free flights and stay in business? There must be some pretty big subsidies, incentives from these smaller European regional airports to make it worthwhile.

What do you reckon bloggers?

click the title?

Will they be on for next years world cup in Deutchsland?

The Peter Crouch Appreciation Link

Just for you Jimmy.

Click on the link.

World Cup 2006 - Germany - ticket news

I know some of you don't want to go to England matches but hey guys we are there in the WORLD CUP 2006 AT GERMANY. Does this not get you going, wets your pants, makes your heart miss a beat??? So if you are interested here goes a copy from the England Fans web site ........

2006 - Here we come!
World Cup tickets
Monday, 10 October 2005.
Roll on Germany! Now that we have qualified for the 2006 World Cup, we can today update members on all the ticket information we have ahead of the World Cup draw on December 9th 2006.englandfans+ members will be able to apply for tickets after the draw; the deadline for applications will then be January 13th 2006 (useful dates)
World Cup Timetable
December 9 2005 World Cup Draw
December 14 2005 Application Process starts
January 13 2006 Application Deadline
February 13 2006 Allocation Resuls announced
Payment for tickets taken To be Confirmed
Tickets despatched To be Confirmed

How many tickets will we receive?The FA will be allocated 8% of the stadium capacity for each of England's matches in Germany. We will not know the exact number involved until after the draw.
The draw takes place in Leipzig on December 9.The FA have written to FIFA and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to confirm that we will be interested in obtaining any additional tickets for our matches should they become available. It is highly unlikely we will have any further information on this matter until after the December draw.There will be four price categories for each match. We do not yet know the split of prices in our allocation.
Ticket Allocation ProcessTickets allocated to England supporters are only sold to members of englandfans+. The englandfans+ membership was capped at 25,000 to allow members a more realistic chance of getting tickets. This limit has now been reached and no new applications will be accepted to englandfans+ for The World Cup.Tickets will be allocated to englandfans+ members on a match-by-match basis with the loyalty system being used in each instance. 70% of available tickets will be allocated to the highest “Caps” holders who apply. The remaining 30% will be allocated via a random ballot.Unlike previous tournaments we will be launching an online application facility which will help to speed up the process and also provide instant confirmation that an application has been received.Offline members will be allowed to make postal applications but are urged to use the web if possible. Please do not apply via both routes as this will only delay the allocation process.In the extremely unlikely event that tickets remain after all englandfans+ members have applied, these tickets will only be allocated to the standard englandfans membership. Standard membership gives fans priority access to tickets to England's home matches in the build up to The World Cup, as well as access to all the latest news from in and around the England camp.Disabled FansThe FA will receive a limited number of tickets for disabled supporters. Again, these will only be sold to those people who are already members of englandfans+. We will communicate directly with all of our disabled members as soon as we receive specific details about this allocation. This will be after the draw in Leipzig.What about tickets for Non-Members?The only alternative official route for tickets for matches in Germany is via the FIFA sale. A large number of tickets have already been sold since the original sale which started on February 1 2005.The Follow Your Team tickets for England which guarantees you a ticket for each match England participate in have already sold out. This is also the case for a number of other countries.Tickets are currently on sale via FIFA but no England tickets are currently available. There will be further ticket sales with a possibility of tickets for England's matches being available. The dates of these sales are 12 December 2005 to 15 January, and 15 February to 15 April.
For full information on this supporters should visit the dedicated FIFA website at www.FIFAWorldCup.com
What about tickets sold illegally?FIFA have introduced new technology for The World Cup in Germany which will allow them to cancel tickets that are believed to have found their way on to the black market. People with cancelled tickets will find themselves unable to enter the stadium and will be turned away from the venue.We would strongly advise anyone against purchasing tickets via any unofficial source. There is no guarantee that agencies offering tickets for sale will actually be in possession of the tickets when the tournament kicks off. Anyone purchasing unofficial tickets does so at their own risk.

They know nowt what they print

Mrs Gilligan just came in from work and gave me the Northern Echo and guess what guys Scott Wilson's report on the England game gave Peter Crouch Man of the Match - yes bloody hell MAN OF THE MATCH!.

Actual quote is " You either love or hate him, but Englands beanpole striker should go to the World Cup Finals for novelty value alone. He asks different questions to any other striker at Sven Goran Eriksson's disposal"

I thought you were slected for the World Cup on your performance throughout the year not your novelty value.

Have I got it wrong guys did Crouch perform okay, what were the punters saying on the box? OR was I spot on in my first posting that he was crap and should not get a start again for England?

J Gilling
FTM

Countdown to Saturday

Interesting game coming up in the Billy household on Saturday. I'm supporting Sunderland (honestly!), Ross not bothered, Julie and Alex are supporting Man Utd and have tickets for the away end and Tess is non-committal (but because she's a Manchester Terrier I guess she'll be supporting the Mancs - I've told Alex she's actually a Manchester City Terrier but he's not having it). So there you have it - unless it's a draw someone is going to be glum on Saturday night. It seems to me that I'm in a win-lose situation i.e. if we win then 3 points but no tea, if we lose then no points but some tea. Never mind there's always the Fish and Chip shop.

Haway the Lads and looking forward to a famous victory over the Red Devils.

England 1 : Austria 0

The penalty from Lampard that earned the 1 nil win against Austria

Last week in the life of a Gilligan

Sorry for the late posting guys I know you are anxious to know about my various trips away last week but sadly not the usual excitement as there is not much to report on.
As I said in the last posting I set off by EasyJet to Bristol at £19.00 single thank you very much indeed. For those who like to travel in the UK while I was looking for airports to fly into in and around Devon I came across Durham Tees Valley airport to Newquay, a lovely seaside place in Cornwalll and great for drinking and walking (Huyton) or just touring Cornwall. The fare with BMI baby part of British Midland was £5.99 each way including taxes - bloody hell guys you can't get a taxi to Durham for that price and it's just dearer than our fares to the SOL! Anyway I landed early in Bristol at 8.00am and had to wait until 12.00 for the sales manager for that area to pick me up as he wanted a lie in and had a terrible drive from London - I could have knocked his block off if he wasn't a mate. Then we drove to Paignton in Devon and went through our two meetings in the afternoon before going back near Bristol for a meeting the next day. The sales manager had got his agenda mixed up so we had plenty of time on our hands on the Thursday so we went sight seeing in Weston Super Mare, a nice seaside town that looked okay but maybe for the over sixties (somewhere to think of for the future Huyton!). It was there that I came across a lovely new housing development in a renovated hotel. I persuaded the sales manager to have a look around the showrooms for a laugh. I introduced ourselves in a puffyfied manner as Nigel and Henry and said we were interested in one of the apartments as a second home. You should have seen the face on the sales lady and my sales manager! She decided to show us around one of the two apartments left for sale - nice indeed and at £380,000 what a snip. She asked if it met our expectations and I said I thought so but not sure if Nigel was happy as we wanted a perfect sea view. I asked about the furnishings and she said they come with the price .... I said that the two ornaments to each side of the sofa didn't really do it for me and could they be changed, yes she agreed they could and said obviously you have different tastes than the average couple..... So it was onto the prices and she said £380,000 I said but what discount for cash. I am not sure guys but at this point I am sure that she nearly wet her pants. Then when I said that we already had a Barratt house she then said we could have additional discount on top of the cash discount at this stage I said Oh my God how exciting and hugged my sales manager "Nigel". She asked me for my business card at which point I picked one from my diary - the sales manager at Toyota Durham - now he will be getting a few calls over the next few weeks! The sales manager confirmed that I was mental when we got back in the car and then told everyone in the office about it all. When we got to the office on Friday they all said they could not believe what I had done .... I said that it was a laugh and showed the difference between North and South humour.
So it was back home late Friday arriving in Durham station at midnight Mrs Gilligan was there to pick me up and it was off to bed as soon as I got in as it was to be an early start for the trip to Manchester the next day.
Set off at 9.30am and arrived Old Trafford at 11.30 not a bad journey down but the weather had not improved as it was pissing down and I mean pissing down. I decided to wait in the car a bit to see if it would ease but after 1/2 hour no sign so decided to go for a train back to the City to meet up with the two Billys. I went passed the Trafford pub on my way to the metro link at the cricket ground only to find out later that Clive and his mob where in there as they did not want to brave the rain .... I should have gone in as well but decided the City might be the best bet as I was not drinking anyway. Met with the two Billys at 2.00pm as they had missed their train from Oldham where they would be staying with friends for the night. Billy senior was well on his way when we met ... he said he had a plan in the morning to keep sober and have a good drink on the night as he said the plan went out the window at 12.30 after his third pint. He then met up with a stranger who befriended him but what Billy senior did not know but I did was that this guys mate was pissed as a newt and when he came from the bogs he spilled a full pint over Billy senior and as he did Billy senior trying to avoid the dropping glass went through the opening in the bar just like Dellboy in OFAH! Great to watch and a good laugh at the time.
We then made our way to the ground and split up as we were in different ends I was in the West stand upper tier (The Stretford End) four rows from the back ..... bloody hell where was the oxygen when you were climbing the stairs????
The match well you all would have seen it on the box or the highlights if there was any. High points - the three points, the atmosphere, Luke Young a promising prospect, only buying a £25 ticket - The low points - crap match, Crouch (should never get a game again Flo was better for SAFC), the stairs, Sven's substitutions when Beckham was sent off, the rain, Owen (not as he used to be and won't be the saviour for the Scum as they all think). Question- why did Bent not get a shout during the match. He should have been on for Crouch when things were not going well. So the match ended 1:0 from a penalty from Lampard. Not much to cheer about other than the three points and buying the £25 ticket. Later news and results meant we had qualified for Germany and Clive straight on the phone asking for names for Germany .... have Griersons got a bus that can get us there and will Rossy know how to drive on the other side of the road???
Pulled away at 6.25pm after being kept in one of the car parks and returned home at 8.30pm to be in the club for 8.45pm and that all important drink and drink and drink .......
Next up Poland Wednesday night here's hoping that he will play Rooney and Bent up front don't think so but I think it will be an interesting combination.

J Gilling
FTM

C'mon lads, where's the footy postings!

I've had enough of looking at 'mental Mick' and his cider collection - where's some footy postings from the England game! I was at a dog show near Leicester yesterday (Tess won best puppy!) and missed the game so I'm after a full report of the game and any pre-match drinks etc.

I'll set the ball rolling by posting that Ferryhill U12's beat Leven 5-0 this morning with Reece Wooley scoring another scorching free kick from outside the box (even Beckham would have been proud of it) and our Alex volleying one into the top corner from a similar distance. Another great result and a better performance than last week. Watch out the rest of TJFA U12's Div 3, these lads are going to take some stopping!

Cider with Jimmy

Well, I was just wondering what Jimmy is getting up to down in Devon. I reckon he must be getting some of that scrumpy down his neck so I went on to google images, entered "Devon + cider", and this is what it came up with!!

Which one's Jimmy do you reckon? The 'cheeky boy' getting his arse whacked whilst bent double over the cider press or the fella doing the whacking?

Ebay memorabilia

There is currently a 1937 FA Cup Final programme on Ebay which is standing at ove £300

Click the title link to take you there.

As I said to my mate Billy, the Smoggies could never sell one of those.

The Week Ahead

Well guys thought I better write a blog before a busy week ahead. Tomorrow I am off to Newton Abbott in Devon for a spot of business and then around Devon and Dorset on Thursday. On Friday off to the office in Surrey for a bit of a sad do, the owner of the company in Surrey has lost his mother after a long illness and so Friday afternoon at the funeral. Then its home late Friday night to get up early next morning for the journey to Old Trafford to watch the England game at 4.00pm. Meeting up with CliveD and the Sedgefield boys. Then we are meeting up with Billy Senior and cousin Billy and all their crew who are stopping down Manchester after the match. Me, well I am coming back after the match to get to Coxa club for a pint or two with Mrs Gilligan, PJ and Mrs PJ. Then hopefully it will be a bit of a rest before setting off back to Old Trafford on Wednesday for the last game (hopefully) in the World Cup qualifying games. Picking up CliveD and his crew so it will be a great day out again in Manchester.
So excuse if it is a while before my next blog, but any pictures and stories I bring back will hopefully be well worth the wait.
Don't let the blog site go quiet, the regular posters will do their bit, Miller has posted some good ones of late so hope for more from him and need posts from GeorgeW and our latest blogger to sign up Soxy to post some notes.

See you all later.

Jim
FTM

Did anyone notice?

I know it brings advertisement revenue into the club but did anyone notice the advert behind the South stand goal for the film GOAL that is about a player that plays for the scum. Okay we may need the money but is this going too far should we get a thing going to get it removed.

Jim Gilling
FTM

Match report

Nobody seems to be volunteering a match report so I guess it’s down to me! Well I thought we played really well and were very unfortunate not to get all 3 points, we really should have won comfortably. Overall it was a battling and accomplished performance and the only problem was that we were not sharp enough in the box. Andy Gray missed a sitter in the first half, a free header from inside the 6 yard box, and later in the game we dominated West Ham for long periods but couldn’t score a second goal which would have clinched it. Unfortunately we paid the price and ended up with a draw. That’s what we’re finding different in the Premiership, we’re just not quite able to kill off games. Overall a very pleasing performance which augurs well for the future, but a disappointing result. Thats four points we've dropped in two home games but I guess the Boro victory made up for it.

My other game of the weekend was Ferryhill U12’s vs Stokesley in the TJFA cup. This was a tough one for the Ferrhillers. Stokesley won Div 1 last season and are currently top whereas we won Div 4 last season. Both teams had therefore won their respective leagues last season but were 3 divisions apart. The game kicked off at 10:30 and by 10:32 we were one down due to poor defending from a corner - a soft goal against the League champions! The Stokesley supporters were quite smug (smug smoggies) and must have thought they were going to waltz it. Anyway we quickly put this behind us and dominated the rest of the first half but couldn’t score so it was 1-0 to Stokesley at half time. Both teams started the second half strongly and within 2 minutes Stokesley had scored again! This time it was a well worked goal and things looked bleak but the Ferryhill lads got going again and soon won a free kick on the edge of the box. Up stepped Reece Wooley to hit a screamer straight into the top corner - ‘game on’. Loads more Ferryhill attacks then Reece went on a run which started in his own half and ended up with him scoring another cracker from the edge of the box, it hit one post, rolled along the line and in off the other! By this time Stokesley were punch drunk and hanging on for extra time but Ferryhill were not to be denied and scored again with 3 minutes to go from a well worked move finished off by Matthew Harker, smallest player on the pitch, but not before Reece was denied his hat-trick as he thumped another free kick from well outside the box onto the bar. Overall a great battling performance which sent cup favourites Stokesley tumbling out of the cup at the first hurdle and Ferryhill onto the next round. Well done lads.

Much Mirth in Muchoff's

I gather from Junior Huyton that there was much mirth in the two headed, four handed barbers shop in Coxhoe this morning . Thinking he had got away with it all week he found himself surrounded by Mackems all requiring tidying up ( risky having beaten the Smogs), however he seemed to take it in good faith.

I'm reliably informed that our very own 6 foot plus carrot top , Miller was present to have his red locks prepared for this afternoon, so if he would like to shed light on the goings on it would be much appreciated.