And a happy new year to anyone who actually drops by to read this shit.
We'll be going into the new year with a decent looking speedway team following the signings of Pepe Franc and Arlo Bugeja, an upsurge in form from Barnsley FC following the inspired appointment of Mark Robins but sadly the demise of my adopted "home town" team King's Lynn who folded in early December due to mismanagement at the highest level.
With luck a phoenix will rise from the ashes of the Linnets and this time next year it will be well on it's way back up the leagues to it's true position.
It's also the end of a decade so I'm going to have a think about that and in the next few days reflect on the past 10 years which, in more ways than you could imagine, have been quite eventful on a personal level as well as a global one.
Til then, pip pip....
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Friday, 4 December 2009
Pleasantly surprised!
So it's Josef Franc, colour me impressed, we now need to get the right number 7, we have about three and a half points to play with, hopefully we can find a gem.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
A Lot Has Happened!
Ages since the last time I added to this blog, shortly after the last entry there was one of those periods that whilst exhausting made the hard work of the past few years worthwhile, after all had we not put everything into establishing the company there would have been no way we could have either had the time off work to gad about going to gigs or being able to afford it.
Too much really to go into the minutiae but the highlights were two Wilco gigs on consecutive nights in Leeds then London and a weekend in New York where we took in the quite marvellous Glenn Tilbrook in a small bar in Brooklyn.
We now have a situation where my number 2 football team King's Lynn is in the middle of a winding up fight over £67,000 owed to the taxman and a further £80,000 or so of debt. it has made me realise that although I love going along to the Walks and watching them I am still at heart a Barnsley fan who goes to watch Lynn, I don't want to see them fold but it hasn't devastated me like the close shaves with Barnsley or like any of the other fans on the Linnets Forum.
My speedway team has almost been completed for 2010 and surprise surprise there are no surprises so far! Of the 5 riders so far named all five were part of the terrible 2009 team, with just 2 spots to fill the promotion will really have to pull something out of the bag to secure my place there most Thursdays next year. For me the biggest mistake is the retention of Paul Cooper, how many times does he have to flatter to deceive? How many more seasons of under achievement are going to be accepted from him - at least another one I assume. I have always been one of Neil Machin's staunchest supporters railing out many a time about accusations that he will not pay the money required to build a successful team. I have used both Sean Wilson and Andre Compton as examples, neither of which could have been cheap options in the past but this time it seems that after long talks with Andre he has decided he will be better off travelling a 400 mile round trip every week to Workington rather than make the 20 minute trip to Owlerton. Either Worky offered him silly money we couldn't match or we offered silly money that Worky easily beat - either way it looks as though we will have another team based on mediocrity in depth. As the Speedway Star reports of talks with a prospective heat leader (rumoured to be Christian Hefenbrock) failing, the smart money now seems to be on an Owlerton return for Robbie Kessler leaving about 5 points to play with for the final place when in reality what was needed was an out-and-out number one with an 8 point average (i.e. someone like Hefenbrock) and an up and coming junior. As always I beg to be proved wrong, despite my feelings that Ricky Ashworth needs a season away from Sheffield I hope he establishes himself as a true top rider, I hope Richard Hall gets the consistency he needs, that Josh Auty managed to gate within 2 seconds of the tapes going up, and most of all that Paul Cooper managed a season of reasonable form - not a season of spectacular scores, just one of steady scoring and a run of completed races!
More once the team is completed - hopefully on a more positive note!
Too much really to go into the minutiae but the highlights were two Wilco gigs on consecutive nights in Leeds then London and a weekend in New York where we took in the quite marvellous Glenn Tilbrook in a small bar in Brooklyn.
We now have a situation where my number 2 football team King's Lynn is in the middle of a winding up fight over £67,000 owed to the taxman and a further £80,000 or so of debt. it has made me realise that although I love going along to the Walks and watching them I am still at heart a Barnsley fan who goes to watch Lynn, I don't want to see them fold but it hasn't devastated me like the close shaves with Barnsley or like any of the other fans on the Linnets Forum.
My speedway team has almost been completed for 2010 and surprise surprise there are no surprises so far! Of the 5 riders so far named all five were part of the terrible 2009 team, with just 2 spots to fill the promotion will really have to pull something out of the bag to secure my place there most Thursdays next year. For me the biggest mistake is the retention of Paul Cooper, how many times does he have to flatter to deceive? How many more seasons of under achievement are going to be accepted from him - at least another one I assume. I have always been one of Neil Machin's staunchest supporters railing out many a time about accusations that he will not pay the money required to build a successful team. I have used both Sean Wilson and Andre Compton as examples, neither of which could have been cheap options in the past but this time it seems that after long talks with Andre he has decided he will be better off travelling a 400 mile round trip every week to Workington rather than make the 20 minute trip to Owlerton. Either Worky offered him silly money we couldn't match or we offered silly money that Worky easily beat - either way it looks as though we will have another team based on mediocrity in depth. As the Speedway Star reports of talks with a prospective heat leader (rumoured to be Christian Hefenbrock) failing, the smart money now seems to be on an Owlerton return for Robbie Kessler leaving about 5 points to play with for the final place when in reality what was needed was an out-and-out number one with an 8 point average (i.e. someone like Hefenbrock) and an up and coming junior. As always I beg to be proved wrong, despite my feelings that Ricky Ashworth needs a season away from Sheffield I hope he establishes himself as a true top rider, I hope Richard Hall gets the consistency he needs, that Josh Auty managed to gate within 2 seconds of the tapes going up, and most of all that Paul Cooper managed a season of reasonable form - not a season of spectacular scores, just one of steady scoring and a run of completed races!
More once the team is completed - hopefully on a more positive note!
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