We're gonna score one more than yooooooooooo!!!!!!!

or maybe not...

The World Cup 2010 is in full swing now and England have played 2 of their 3 group matches...

so far we haven't won either. I am reliably informed by the football lovers in the house that this is NOT good.

It's a shame really cos things started off so well..hahah

Englands first game was Saturday 12th and although we knew the USA were no push over it was widely expected that we'd win..

kids got excited, Rich got excited out came the England shirts and the face paint... it was going great.

Rich decided we'd watch the match in HD so there we are all singing and laughing and happy and a few minutes in the channel cut to a commercial.. oops think I, someone's head'll roll for that one.. fancy cutting to commercial in the middle of the game! What happened if someone had scored?? wait a minute... oh its back on.. why is Steven Gerrard running around with a big grin on his face...wtf is all that cheering...? WHERE DID THE BALL GO?!?!?! Oooh For F*@&'s sake!!!!!!!!!

yeah.. we missed the goal. The air in our house was blue.. and that was from Jake..LOL just kidding ;)

SO needless to say it wasn't a great start to our World Cup. The match finished with 1-1 draw too.. (yes a DRAW, its not a TIE for my US friends..lol)

so whilst we're on the subject of draws and the USA.. the next day this was splashed across the headlines.. you'll have to hit the link cos I can't reprint the pic. lol

"USA wins 1-1"

o_O I think something went wrong somewhere... anyway, fair play to the USA, they've had a couple of good games so far, good luck to them.. but its a draw ffs.. not a tie and you didnt win. lol.

Then we wake up next morning and Rich has a big scab on his nose and some nice blotches on his forehead and cheeks.. he wouldn't let me take pictures but I can tell you I think he has an allergy to face paint.. this does not impress him as he wanted to dress up as Ace Freeley (sp?) later ;) heh. He also had to go play an open air gig with his band infront of lots of people.. poor blotchy faced git. lol.

Moving on... then we come to this weekend and Friday's match with Algeria in which England were abysmal..basically but I felt for the poor lads, it wasnt going their way at all and I knew that they all knew they'd be slated in tomorrow's press and then some.. which has to be horrible really, the British tabloids can be sooooooo bitchy...lol

So just as I'm feeling all soft and sorry for them I also have to cheer up a crushed 8 year old and talk down an irrate 39 yr old..but then..to top it all off as the match finishes our beloved striker Wayne Rooney just can't help gobbing off at camera with this little nugget.



er... excuse me Wayne?

and all of a sudden I have very little sympathy for the man that's paid millions to put a itty bitty ball in the back of a big net... something that has so far escaped him on 2 nights running now despite him supposedly being a footballer of the highest quality.

So... now I feel that maybe Mr Wayne "Paddy Pants" Rooney needs a swift kick up the arse or a hairy hand around his windpipe as someone reminds him of the job at hand here...

So what's gone wrong? Well.. apparently some of the players don't like the way the manager, Fabio Capello who I am told hails originally from Italy, doesn't bond with his players properly.. yes apparently he sometimes walks past them and doesnt talk to them...

all together now... "awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww".. pass me the worlds smallest violin pleeeeease.. how ridiculous. The man is Italian and his English isn't very good and quite frankly if faced with a bunch of petuant overpaid morons like the England Squad moaning about how their wives just don't understand the need for them to have a skank mistress over my morning coffee I'm not sure I'd say "hi" very often either.

Next complaint is.. he wont let the WAGs go to South Africa to be with their men.

and rightly bloody so!!!!! They're WORKING!!! I don't get to go and stand in Richard's kitchen all day looking pretty and being distracting do I?? noooooooooo. Do I get my bus fare to Saltaire paid by the British Tax payer to do some shoe shopping whilst he's at work? no.. stupid people... leave the women at home and play football... thats why you're there.

Next.. they have to relax in their hotel rooms for at least 5 hours a day... well bugger me lads life's a bitch isn't it?

Next.. they dont like that Capello doesn't announce his game team until 2 hours before the game.. now I dont see whats so bad about this, in fact I think its a good idea.. it means that everyone is prepared to play.. there is no late change to the team, no last minute panics from the players, they're all fit and wound up to do the job because they have to be as they're told who is playing and then they play.. simple as. Job done.
But they're whining.. cos they don't like it... probably cos they cant go get drunk the night before the match if they don't know whether they're playing or not..hmm.. thats not a bad thing believe me.

Next...they dont like the formation 4-4-2.
Well tough boys, these are management decisions and you're not management. Feel free to air your grievances and say how you think it should be dont (doesn't every other man in the country have something to say about the England managers job?) but at the end of the day you're their to play the game and you're supposed to be top quality professional players - you should be able to play in any formation your manager see's fit. 4-4-2 has seen you ok so far so stop whining, get your boots on and off you go play.

Whats wrong with them?

Well they're spoilt and overpaid and they think that have earned the right to have it their own way.. well no sorry.. but you didn't. Bring home that trophy and then we'll talk about your way..

There are a number of ways to fix this.. performance related pay. I'm not sure if they actually get paid to play for England but I know if they had prp at the clubs then we'd soon see a difference in the game.

I think instead of being torn apart by the press - which he will be if England lose this next match with Slovenia - Capello should be supported in his efforts to bring these petulant 5 yr olds back down to earth and if that means that John Terry doesn't get to play this Wednesday because he's still having a hissy fit and stamping his feet because he lost his position as Captain then tough.. or maybe Rooney should be reminded that no one is indispensible and actually there'll be other world cups and other top strikers that actually score goals...

Personally I'd shuffle the team and make it impossible for them to win and sod them all...teach them a lesson but he won't.. because this is football and the thought that we might actually win is more important.

Well now we HAVE to win the next match tomorrow to go through..but Rooney and the boys aren't happy, the team haven't been named yet and Capello's still giving them nothing, and nor should he imo... unless its a slap.. yeah he can give them one of those each..lol

It'll be a hard job and the nation will sit with our hearts in our mouths at 3pm tomorrow afternoon..but we'll still believe, because we're England.. and thats what we do.



Good luck boys. x

Dark days...

I never did like May.. it's too expensive for a start..lol . There are lots of birthdays in May, lots of family members, lots of friends.. wedding anniversaries etc..

I have problems with May for my own reasons, it's not a good month for me.. it's tinged with pain and sadness and haunted with memories of those that are lost that shouldn't be...

Well a few days ago I heard a friend was suffering her own loss...her friend passed quite suddenly from complications of an illness that they had in common. The loss of a friend is so hard to bear... and especially difficult when that friend is not "old enough" to be lost. So to my old friend Lou I offer my most sincere sympathies for the loss of your friend, Charlie. I'll be keeping you both (and Charlie's family) in my thoughts.

It reminded me of my own sadness (as if I need reminding) of what is to come. Next week will be the 2 year anniversary of the death of my father who was 57 at the time and also way too young to leave us.. I have dark days to come.. anniversaries bring a different kind of sadness.. a reminder of what might have been... of what should have been.

We should have been celebrating big things this year.. I'm 35 in a few weeks.. Richard will be 40 in August (how the hell did THAT happen??), we will be celebrating being married for TEN YEARS (!! o_O ) in June and in September my Dad would have been 60.. a few milestones worthy of a few parties indeed.
Instead what we're left with is 2 big birthdays and an impressive (these days..) anniversary with a big Peter shaped hole in them.. and a day in September that I'll climb into a big hole to avoid no doubt.

and yet in some ways still I feel lucky because things may have been very very different..

On this day (11th) in May 1985 a terrible thing happened in my home town. The main stand in the ground at Valley Parade, home of Bradford Football Club caught fire. 11076 fans were in attendance that day and my Dad and little brother (7 at the time) were 2 of them.

Over 3000 were in the stand, thankfully most got out alive but 56 were not so lucky and lost their lives and 100's more were horrifically injured both physically and mentally.

My Dad and brother were very very lucky and got out quickly and safely. I'm not sure what my kid brother remembers.. thankfully I don't think its much - if anything but I'll never forget my Dad's face, blackened from smoke and shaken with fear.. or the relief on my mum's as both of them realised the enormity of what had occured.. I'm sure my Mum will remember it well.. she might even make a post!!

He never mentioned it but I know it affected him... quite strongly too. It affected a lot of people here in Bradford and today, 25 years after that fateful day the people that lost their lives were remembered in a memorial service in the city centre.

So why do I feel lucky?? Well.. 25 years ago if my Dad had been able to get the seats he wanted that day he and my brother would have been right there in the middle of it and maybe they wouldn't have been so lucky.. I got to keep my Dad for another 23 years longer than some people who's Dad's went to a football match one Saturday afternoon in May 1985...

For the 56 that were lost and the countless others that were injured on 11th May 1985...25 years on, we remember you. Rest in peace, you may be gone but you will never
be forgotten.