London Calling for The Real Latics

On Saturday The Real Latics travelled to Brisbane Road to play Leyton Orient and won 2-1, last night (Tuesday) The Real Latics returned to the Capital this time to play Millwall at The New Den.

Unfortunately Millwall won 2-0. For the full match report, click here

In ten days time The Real Latics are back in London as they take on Brentford at Griffin Park.

London CALLING indeed.

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Another Chance to 'BUY' A Dream

Two years My Football Club came into being where for £35, you could buy a stake into a Football Club of their choice and have a chance to voice your opinions - from kits, team selection - in fact own a share of the club.

The club My Football Club chose was Ebbsfleet United from the Blue Square conference.

Over the last couple of weeks I have become a bit of a 'twitterer.' Through 'twittering' I came across another club that is heading the same way.

The Chairman wants to sell his share of the club, so interpid fans of Scottish League side Stirling Albion have set up a trust to allow football fans from all the world, to buy a stake into the trust for a princely sum of £40.

Please click on the banner at the top right of this page for more information.


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Bardon Hill Sports Through to The FA Cup Preliminary Round

After an exciting 3-2 victory over Arnold Town in the FA Cup extra Preliminary round yesterday, Bardon Hill Sports FC FA Cup reward is an away trip to Coalville Town who themselves won an exciting encounter, 3-2 against Barrow Town.

Click here for all of the FA Cup results, so far.

Tie to be played over the weekend of 28/29/30th August.


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The FA Cup Team to Follow Has Been Chosen.

Since the beginning of August there has been a 'fun' game to select a 'team to follow' in this year's FA Cup which begins tonight with the Extra Premliminary Round.

Due to an overwhelming number of votes (precisely NIL) it was down to the editor (ie me) to decide the match number and therefore the team to follow, all the way to Wembley to the FA Cup Final next May, 2010.

For your information and to prove there were no underhand tactics or 'backhanders' involved, the number chosen was 69 (my favourite number) which related to the match between Bardon Hill Sports and Arnold Town.

As Bardon Hill Sports is the Home team, they are the FA Cup team to follow until they get knocked out of the competition then their victors become the team to follow and so on and so, until the two finalists are known at Wembley.

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Teams To Watch Out For - Part III - Carling Cup

Three teams we are following were in Carling Cup action this week, two won and one was beaten.

In the battle of the 'Hamptons,' South beat North 2-0, Ipswich won 4-2 on penalties after drawing 3-3 away at Shrewsbury and finally Notts County lost at home to Championship side, Doncaster Rovers.

In the next round, Southampton are at home to Birmingham and Ipswich are away at Peterborough.

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Specsavers INNIT?!?! Ferdinand and Barry

As I write this, the England team are flying back from Amsterdam after their 2-2 draw with Holland.

Before Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry report back to their respective training grounds, I hope they make a diversion to their local Specsavers for a couple of tests.

1) General eye-sight

2) Colour blindness


INNIT?!?!

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Carling Cup 2009/10

The 2009/10 Carling Cup kicked off last night as Leeds United beat Darlington at the Darlington Arena, 1-0.

There is more Carling Cup action tonight and you can FOLLOW all the scores here.

For a full list of fixtures, click here.

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Teams To Watch Out For - Part II

Back in July I wrote a post 'Teams to Watch out For' and after this weekend's round of fixtures, here is an update:

Money Citeh do not start their season until next weekend, but they did beat Celtic 2-1 yesterday at Eastlands.

This lunchtime, Ipswich lost away at Coventry 2-1 in the Championship.

In League One, Southampton drew with Millwall, 1-1

In League Two, Notts County beat Bradford City, 5-0.

This week, the Carling Cup starts, with games on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.


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Kick Off for The REAL LATICS

The REAL LATICS kick off their League One season at Boundary Park this afternoon against Stockport County.

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Fulham in Europe

To acknowlege Fulham's 2nd season in European Football - totty rules.

Tonight, Fulham play hosts at Craven Cottage to FC Vetra of Lithuania in attempt to qualify for the Europa League outright.

Fulham's continued passage should be guaranteed. They lead 3-0 from the first leg.

FOLLOW me on Twitter to see how Fulham get on.

Bolton Wanderers and the Virgin

I was struggling to find something to write about today until I came across this.

Bolton Wanderers used Virgin Trains to take them to Edinburgh for their pre-season match against Scottish Premier side Hearts.

All was well - £4,000 was paid in June for the travel - the players and staff lined up at the station to board the train, only to discover some of their seats had been taken.

Off they got and were told by 'helpful' but uninformed staff that the next train would be able to take them.

When that train arrived, there was no room either.

Eventually Bolton declined Virgin's offer of a third train, they got a bus instead - a journey that would take seven hours.

Manager Gary Megson was less than pleased. He said "The preparation for the trip was disgraceful, courtesy of Virgin Trains.

"We'll have to consider our options in future as we can't trust them.

"We booked the seats in June but people were sat in them."

Megson declined Virgin Trains offer of free seats.

He returned with the squad to Bolton on the bus.

Incidentally the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Martin Allen's Fundraising Bike Ride

Martin Allen, manager of League Two Cheltenham Town, completed a 72 mile bike ride on Sunday morning in order to raise funds for the cash-strapped club.

Allen set off at 6.30am from his home in Maidenhead and arrived at the Abbey Business Stadium (Cheltenham's ground), in time to get into the dug-out to watch his side play a friendly against Premiership new-boys, Birmingham City.

Sadly, Martin's day didn't end happily.

His team was thrashed 4-0.

Click here for pictures of the bike ride.

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Pick A Number...

On Friday August 14th, the FA Cup, the greatest domestic Cup competition in the world, kicks off with over 400 teams taking part in the extra premliminary round dreaming that come May 2010 they might be one of the teams walking out at 'the home of football.'

For a bit of fun, I want to do a 'Road to Wembley' feature where I am inviting you (via the comments section) to pick a number between 1 - 203.

The number with the highest amount of votes will represent the HOME team who will be the first team picked for this fun adventure.

Once the selected team gets knocked out of the competition, I will follow the new team until that team gets eliminated and so forth and so forth, until the OUR team hopefully picks up the FA Cup in May 2010.

So you have until 12 midday Friday 14th August (UK Time) to vote for any number between 1 - 203. If you want to study a list of teams taking part - click here

If there are no votes cast or there is a tie, the editor's decision is final.

Arsenal Win the Emirates Cup

After watching the Reading v Chelsea friendly yesterday which ended in a 2-2 draw, my attention turned the The Emirates Cup tournament being held at The Emirates Stadium.

I missed the first game between Rangers and PSG which Rangers won 1-0, but I saw the last hour or so of Arsenal v Atletico Madrid. Arsenal won 2-1 after a 'crazy' last five minutes when all the goals were scored.

Today, PSG and Atletico Madrid shared a 1-1 draw and finally Arsenal beat Rangers, 3-0.

Sir Bobby Robson RIP

To Elsie (Sir Bobby's wife) and to Sir Bobby's family and friends, please accept my condolences and condolences of my readers for your sad loss and I know there are thousands of blogs in cyberspace expressing their feelings of sorrow to you right now.

The Mail Online has reproduced Sir Bobby's last written column and for me I think it is ironic.

Thank you Sir Bobby

For Sir Bobby at Wikipedia

Barclays Premier Asia Trophy - Day 1

After Day One of the Barclays Premier Asia Trophy competition being held in Beijing, China it will be a Tottenham v Hull City final on Friday.

Tottenham beat West Ham 1-0 in the first game and West Ham's day was made worse when Luis Boa-Morte was stretchered off after damaging his cruciate knee ligaments. It is expected that Boa-Morte will be out of action for the next six months.

Tottenham's winner was scored by Jermaine Defoe.

In second game, Hull City drew 1-1 with the hosts Beijing Guoan. Geovanni opened the scoring for Hull and Beijing equalised just after the second-half restart from Midibo.

Hull eventually won 5-4 on penalties.

So the line-up for Friday is West Ham v Beijing (for 3rd and 4th place) and Tottenham v Hull (Final).


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How The Mighty Toon Are Falling!

First there was relegation from the Premiership to the Championship, then last Saturday the 'Toon' were stuffed 6-1 by Leyton Orient and today the proposed take-over of St James' Park fell through.

Can things get any worse?

You know what they say, once you start in a downward spiral.......

Cups Here, There and Everywhere

Yesterday Celtic won the Wembley Cup, Chelsea won the World Football Challenge (they didn't get a cup it was a silver plate), the Peace Cup is underway and later on this week we have the Asia Cup starting, followed by the Emirates Cup.

Cups are running over!!!


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'Welcome to Manchester'

Sir Alex, thousands of miles away in China on tour with ManUre has ruffled a few feathers at Eastlands, saying Money Citeh are a 'small club' with a 'small mentality.'

His remarks are down to the above picture (Tevez on a advertising hoarding in the centre of Manchester) and the season hasn't started YET!!!

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The Sven Goran Effect!!

He has had that 'effect' with women and it looks like the SVEN EFFECT is taking over the oldest club in the Football League..... that is Notts County.

This afternoon (Saturday) County took on Forest (from just across the River Trent) and beat them 2-1.

Albeit it was a pre-season friendly, but over 12,000 people travelled to Meadow Lane to witness SVENGALI's arrival.

I told you Notts County was a team to watch out for!!

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The Wembley Cup

The Wembley Cup kicks off this afternoon with Celtic playing Al-Alhy at 5.15pm (UK time) and then at 8pm (UK time) Tottenham play the Champions of Europe, Barcelona.

FULL updates on Twitter. Follow me!

Season 2009/10: Teams to Watch Out For

The following post IS A BIT OF FUN, not to be taken seriously and certainly not for anyone to have a punt.

The title of the post is called "Teams to watch out for." Here is my list for the Premiership, Championship, League One, League Two & throughout the season there will be regular updates on the progress of each team.

So here goes:

Premiership: Forget your 'big four,' and forget the promoted clubs (although clubs promoted into the Premiership are always good for a laugh because they normally go straight back down.) The team to watch out for is Money Citeh. A no-brainer really considering the money they have spent.... so far.

Championship: Ipswich Town - Simply because Roy Keane worked the 'miracle' getting Sunderland into the Premiership. Lets see if he can do it again with the tractor boys.

League One: A difficult choice to make, but I plumped for Southampton. Simply because of the turmoil they have been through since the end of last season - relegation, change of ownership and administration and THEY start the season on minus 10 points.

League Two: The team I had originally picked was new boys Burton Albion, but since Sven took the Director of Football job at Notts County..... Notts County it is.

So have a bit of fun with the above list and if you have a list of teams to watch out for - let me know.


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The Home of Football is Moving

Oldham Athletic has today announced plans for a new 12,000 seater stadium after shelving plans to redevelop Boundary Park.

Meanwhile The Real Latics beat Macclesfield Town in a friendly at Moss Rose last night, 2-1.

On Saturday The Real Latics are at home to Sunderland in a pre-season friendly and their League One campaign kicks off against Stockport County on August 8th.

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Chelsea v Inter Milan

LIVE updates on Twitter from 4am Weds morning (UK time)

This Blog Has Joined the Twitter Craze

Well you have to don't you. At least it will be easier providing LIVE scores.


SO FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW ME........................ please LOL

Ronaldo Debut

Ronaldo makes his long-awaited debut for Real Madrid tonight as they take on Shamrock Rovers in a friendly in Ireland.

So Much for Money Citeh's Millions and Millions and Millions.....

They lost in South Africa this afternoon 2-0 to Orlando Pirates.


HA HA HA

Wishing John Hartson Well

Ex-Wales, Celtic, Arsenal legend John Hartson lies critically ill in a Swansea hospital with cancer of the brain, lungs and testicles. Hartson went to hospital last weekend complaining of severe headaches and after a range of tests the sad diagnosis was made.

He has since undergone brain surgery.

Harton's sister Hayley has asked for ALL football fans to pray for her brother.

She said, "I would like to thank you all for your support through this devastating time. He is very, very ill. I am not a religious person but ask every one of you to pray for John to fight this.

"Thank You."

Gone For The Money

Money Citeh's Money Roll of Honour:

Stuart Taylor

Roque Santa Cruz

Gareth Barry

Carlos Tevez


Who's Next?

Adebayor

John Terry


Lets face it. They have only GONE FOR THE MONEY - it isn't as if Money Citeh will do anything special next season, is it?

Premiership PAH!! Money Citeh have got more chance of being relegated!!

A Bad Day at the Office

Stoke City sent out two sides yesterday for friendlies against non-league opposition.

Stoke lost at Nantwich Town, 2-0 and at Newcastle Town, 2-1.

Hardly ideal preparation for their second season in the Premiership.

Sorry

If you liked this article and you liked this article then I am sorry to say, there will be no more.

I received an email this afternoon from my 'writer' telling me that there will be no more articles. No reason, no explanation, just a straightforward termination (with immediate effect).


OUCH!!!!

My Football Kits

Normally I am happy in my own 'little' internet cocoon (I know where I am and I am dedicated to where I 'surf' on a daily basis) but I thought I would go out of my box and surf a little further a field (dramatic it sounds but I think you know what I mean).

Anyway I came across this site (a UK based site) and it seems we have struck up a bit of a deal.

I am going to write a few reviews about football shirts (guaranteed to be published) and for my efforts I will get a free football shirt and they are also planning a new segment to their site which launches at the end of July and I have been asked if I am interested in contributing.

We will see how it pans out, but hey not bad for a 'little' site in the World Wide Web of the Internet..... eh?>

£300k Per Week to Test Terry's Resolve

This story just won't go away. Back in January Man City made an enquiry on the availability of Chelsea and England Captain John Terry. Chelsea told City where to go.

In the last few days the City money men knocked at Chelsea's door again and were again rebuffed, leading to reports that City will come knocking again with a staggering £40 million transfer offer and a mindblowing £300k per week for the man himself!!

Owen On His Way?

Despite speculation that Stoke City and Hull City were keen to get Michael Owen's services, it appears Sir Red Nose has beaten them to it, as Michael Owen is set for a medical at Old Trafford today.

There is no transfer fee involved as Owen is out of contract, whether he can convinced the medical men at Old Trafford that he is a risk worth taking, remains to be seen.

In four years at Newcastle, Owen only managed 70 odd appearances.

1st July

Its the start of the 2009/10 season!!

Out On His Owen This Summer!

Following another injury-ravaged campaign in which he failed miserably to help Newcastle in the Premier League, I could not believe the gall of Michael Owen’s ‘come and get me’ plea to prospective suitors.

The 29-year-old, who cost the Geordies £17million from Real Madrid four years ago, has enjoyed a magnificent wage from the club but failed to repay them on the field. In four seasons he played just 71 games and scored 26 goals.

While Newcastle struggled last term Owen’s injury problems restricted him to 12 league games in which he managed just four goals! The Magpies were subsequently relegated and Owen wasted no time in trying to secure a contract with another club as his deal at St James’ Park is set to end this week!

The problem facing Owen, who says ‘the Premier League is where I feel I belong’, is that the only interested parties are Hull and Stoke City. No disrespect to these two clubs but I feel Owen had his sights set a little higher when pondering where to continue his career next season.

No ‘bigger’ clubs have expressed a solid interest as yet and it appears not many clubs can or will agree to pay him what Newcastle have stumped up since 2005!

If Owen used his head and stopped thinking about where HE wants to play and how good HE thinks he is, he could use this situation to propel himself back into hero status and boost his career in the long run.

Instead of enforcing the majority of football fans’ thoughts that modern-day footballers are all self-centred, money-grabbing, disloyal buffoons, Owen could dispel the myth with a goodwill gesture to his current employers.

Having earned a handsome living from the game – and Newcastle in particular – surely it would not hurt him to offer his services to the club for another 12 months on a wage that suits the club?

That way he could try and regain his match sharpness and eye for goal in the Championship, while possibly helping Newcastle reclaim Premier League football at the first attempt!

Owen could be given the freedom of the Toon if it all worked out, while the worst-case scenario is that he could at least say he gave it his best shot!

True it would not go down well with Fabio Capello, but then again the England coach does not seem in a rush to hand him a recall to the Three Lions squad. And his chances of returning to the national team fold would be barely enhanced by a move to Hull or Stoke!

The chances of this scenario happening are between slim and none. But what a refreshing change it would make if a footballer actually tried to give something back!


Written by Craig Smithson, a professional sports writer who blogs about football betting.

England Expects!!

After a pulsating semi-final against Sweden where England nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, England face old foes Germany in the European U21 Final tonight in Sweden.

If the semi-final success was done the hard way, tonight will be even harder - No Joe Hart, no Campbell, no Agbonlahor - all suspended and there is a possibility that Theo Walcott won't play due to injury.


COME ON ENGLAND!

When The Red Red Robin........

I bumped into an old friend yesterday who has supported Charlton Athletic all of his life and lives about 20 minutes away from the Valley.

After the normal greetings and the gracious how are you's, we got onto the subject of football and the first question he asked me was.

Are you still going to The Bridge? Of course I answered yes and I asked him, 'Are you still going to the Valley?'

Of course he said yes like I knew he would.

Despite Charlton's relegation to League One he was unfazed, he confirmed it was a terrible season and despite Charlton's performances he still managed to get to THIRTY-NINE games.

Put my twenty-five games or so right in the shade!!

One game he did miss last season was Plymouth Argyle away.

Instead he flew off to New York to watch Joe Calzaghe fight at Madison Square Gardens.

Plymouth, New York, Plymouth........?


'When the Red, Red Robin goes bob bob bobbing along....'

Bye Bye Setanta

I have no sympathy for the demise of Setanta Sports only sympathy for the couple of hundred Mr and Mrs 'Normal' who will lose their jobs.

I have no sympathy for those presenters and commentators who jumped ship from their previous employers to board the gravy train that was Setanta Sports.

To be honest I don't believe that LIVE football should be controlled and maintained by satellite TV companies but it is the way of the world and we live in that world.

Once upon a time, football was for the masses, now it is for the elite.

Not only are the 'real football' fans being priced out of going to matches, they have to pay a monthly subscription fee not to one satellite company but two, of course if they want to watch live games from the comfort of their armchair.

Setanta's demise has opened the door for ESPN (the sporting arm of Disney) to buy out the Premier rights for next season and beyond.

Whether I transfer my subscription to ESPN remains to be seen - I will just have to wait and see how many times Chelsea will be featured between the start of the season and Christmas.... wink, wink!

Tevez Quits The Ure

Not surprisingly Carlos Tevez has told Man Ure that he wants to leave Old Trafford.

But where will he go?

Chelsea or Man Citeh?

In A Fix With The Fixtures!

Wednesday morning at 10am was when football fans across the country were tuning into their TV sets or logging on to internet websites – well those media sources willing to pay the extortionate fees – to find out the full fixture list of their respective team for the coming campaign.

However in the days of saturated live TV coverage I am starting to think releasing the full dates of when teams are due to play – especially Premier League and Championship – might as well be left until the top brass at Sky and Setanta (finances permitting) get their mucky paws on them!

To be honest people requiring the fixtures to plan days off work, family functions, Christmas and basically fit their lives around their club’s games – which many people do – are wasting their time scribbling these freshly published fixtures into the trusty diary!

With Friday nights, Saturday lunch-times and evenings, Sundays and Monday evenings all now the home of live football on satellite TV, you can guarantee even the mediocre teams in any of the top-two leagues will have around four of their matches tampered with.

Fans of the ‘Big Four’ might as well bin their set of fixtures and just wait for Sky to dictate when they will be going to watch a match given the amount of times they are on the box!

I feel the simple solution is for the Football League and Premier League to print these fixtures off on a Saturday and hand them over to Sky et al. They can select their live matches until at least Christmas from the list and then give them back in time for all to be revealed by the Wednesday!

This would allow fans to know a definitive date when their team would be playing instead of swapping a shift for a match on Saturday September 19 only to find out a week later they will actually need the Sunday off work instead!

The present system is highly annoying and to be honest the remedy is hardly rocket science!

Hopefully the light bulb will flicker in the minds of someone who can actually do anything about it!



With thanks to Craig Smithson, a professional sports writer who blogs about football betting.

Pink Crop Top and Tight Denim Cut-Downs

OH WHAT A NICE BOY!!!

2009/10 Fixtures

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the day that the 2009-2010 season fixtures are published.

Due to extremely high 'policing' from the authorities and mega mega money that the authorities are demanding for rights to copyright, I am unable to publish said fixtures here.

However you can get ALL the fixtures from here and here from 10am (UK time) tomorrow morning.

COME ON ENGLAND

I haven't posted a 'totty' picture for a while now and as England U21s kick off their campaign to become European Champions against Finland later on today..... seems a good time to start again.

The game kicks off at 5.15pm (UK time).

In the Confederations Cup, Spain beat New Zealand 5-0 (Liverpool's Torres scored a hat-trick in eleven minutes) and the hosts, South Africa drew 0-0 with Iraq.

Do We Really Care?

The picture has nothing to do with the following, but do we really care?

I like it!

Do we really care that Ronaldo doesn't care when he gets jeered and abused?

Do we really care that he is off to Spain?

No not really

One cheat gone, lets get the rest packing!

More Football?

Watch out for more football this Summer.

There is the UEFA U21s Finals being held in Sweden and in a dress rehearsal for the World Cup in South Africa next year, South Africa are hosting the Confederations Cup.