Good Luck Simon!

So after weeks of transfer speculation Simon Davies has finally left Everton this week and made a move to Fulham for an undisclosed fee. The promise of first team football and an opportunity to work with Chris Coleman was clearly too attractive a proposition for Davies to turn down. For followers of Welsh International football it’s good to see him move to another Premiership team and not drop a division the way Carl Fletcher, Robert Earnshaw and Jason Koumas all did when first team action wasn’t available to them. It’s a good move for him, especially for his flagging confidence. After one and a half seasons at Everton it must feel nice to be wanted again.

As a Welsh Evertonian it’s always great to see a fellow countryman grace the pitch at Goodison Park. From Kevin Ratcliffe to Neville Southall to Barry Horne to Gary Speed to John Oster to Mark Hughes to Mark Pembridge we’ve always had a Welshman in the first team since I’ve supported Everton. I imagined Simon Davies would have followed in this tradition and upon his arrival at Everton in mid 2005 there seemed to be no obvious reason why he wouldn’t establish himself a regular. He had been frequently linked with Everton for some time before his move and along with Sean Davis, Simon Davies had become an elusive transfer target for David Moyes. The amount of time the club had spent tracking his progress and availability suggested Moyes saw Davies as a vital part of the team he was putting together so when negotiations were complete I genuinely hoped and expected great things.

It just didn’t happen…

Injuries would probably be the main contributing factor. He did have his fair share of them during his spell at Everton, as he did at Spurs. It seemed to be more psychological than physical with Simon Davies. Like most players who face a crisis in confidence it’s a slow process. With every poor performance the belief is increasingly sapped away. The mistakes become a regular part of the player’s game. The more passes that go astray, the more ideas that don’t come off, the more shots that go off target. Then the crowd can begin to single you out. I spoke to an Everton season ticket holder before Christmas and he informed me that Davies had become a target for abuse by some of the fans. Every time a game would not be going Everton’s way a section of fans would proceed to vent their anger at him. It’s hard to hear that when it’s a player you really wanted to succeed.

This isn’t to say he never played well for Everton. We perhaps brought him in to add a bit of flair and pace to the team but as his first season turned out he had to do a bit of the ugly stuff as well which to be fair he has never avoided whenever I’ve seen him play for Wales. But anyway he’s gone now, leaving many Everton fans wondering why exactly David Moyes pursued him for so long only to sell him after eighteen months. Was he quite simply not the player Moyes thought he was? Who knows?

So all the best at Fulham Simon, hope you regain the form that got you noticed in the first place and start doing the business for Wales again (and please don’t do the usual thing when a player moves on and score a blinder from 40 yards the first time you return to your old club!)

Car Crash Celebrity No-Marks & to Anfield

Took my first trip of the new year to watch struggling Conwy United Saturday afternoon, up with the hardy old fans in the "new" stand (the tin roof now flapping in the wind, high % of seats broken, and flaking paint) and watch them play Caerwys, who were bottom of the league, and obviously, really struggling... 1-1 at half time, clubhouse coffee in hand with the force 10 wind against in the 2nd half for Conwy, I feared the worst... somehow Conwy dug out a win of 6-1! Great game.

My preparation for the week ahead began Sunday morning in tackling a walk around the Great Orme with Emma... windy? Just a bit. I also think this accelerated my "I think i'm getting a cold" feeling. It duly came on, taking my first sick day from work in what must be 12 months. Daytime TV, a miracle cure. "Alcoholic 45yr old wants access to his 14th child with age-gap of 25 years girlfriend".

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Let's, Play..." every year, why am I saying to myself "I should go there next year"... World Darts Championship at Lakeside, and what a final! For Sunday night drama on the TV, that was the best in years, Midsomer Murders...

Without sounding too diary - Monday night, somebody happened to pull out of a side road in Conwy into the main road without looking properly and swiped along my car good style - on Uppergate Street by the arch... Was entirely her fault, she admitted. Coincidentally she knew me, lives on the same street, and in her state of shock muttered how she was stood behind me in the post office that day - all true. Damage is around the £1500 mark for her insurance to sort out, just another hassle to do without.

Topical bit: So why are Channel 4, or the management companies or agencies surrounding the Big Brother show reluctant about condemning the recent racism on their latest Big Brother show? Here's a thing, since Jady Goody "shot" to fame on the show she has had the same management as the shows host, Davina McCall. Others represented by the same management company and agency include spin-off show hosts; Dermot O'Leary and Russell (cock) Brand. Last year's "Celebrity" Big Brother winner Chantelle (who if i recall wasnt a celebrity 'at all' - apart from having been a Soccerette on Soccer AM) is also managed by the same company. I think i've just answered my question...

How fucked up is it that some dumb-ass "no-mark" is having consequences on British relations abroad (and at home)? I'm sure she'll attempt to resurrect her "career" (?) post Big Brother with a high profile celebrity boyfriend (See pic). A great internet find i'm sure you'll agree!

Weekend ahead then: Whilst my work colleagues are off to the hills above Abergele to shoot paint at each others arses (paintballing) in a team-building exercise (?), i'm swapping tin-pot decaying local football grounds to visit Anfield wth Emma, for Liverpool v Chelsea. Which will this season, make "me" more of a (financial) supporter of Liverpool FC than most Liverpool FC fans i know. Last time i visited Anfield i was about maybe 9 years old and "stood" in the Kop, main memory is being pushed with the general tide of people down the concrete steps maybe 10/15 rows on Liverpool scoring their equaliser that day! So on that note...

Signing off.

The Wikipedia Guide To Football

When I was first introduced to the Internet it was presented to me as an infallible fountain of truth and knowledge. It didn’t take me long to realise that any shite-hawk can set up a website and write whatever rubbish they fancy (that includes us). I’m currently addicted to a site that encapsulates this freedom…Wikipedia. This free online encyclopaedia walks a thin line between truth and tripe. Giving people the ability to contribute and share knowledge on possibly every single topic in the world is truly a fantastic concept but naturally it has its faults. One day it can potentially answer a niggling question about some long forgotten kids TV show you were addicted to when you were eight years old. On another you may read that Tony Blair is a bigger fascist than Hitler, which whatever you may think is an opinion rather than a fact. Although I tend to stay away on from Wikipedia politics and stick to football. Wikipedia is great for football.

Here are ten random things I’ve found out on the subject via the site this week that I've decided to share with you. Take one or two of them with a pinch of salt.

1. M.S.L outfit F.C. Dallas play their ‘soccer’ at Pizza Hut Park.

2. After retiring from football in 2001, lengendary Everton winger/diver Anders Limpar opened a bar in Stockholm called The Limp Bar.

3. "Swindon Town" is the only name of a professional UK football club which does not contain any of the letters in the word "mackerel".

4. Stuart Pearce has met The Stranglers nearly thirty times.

5. Alessandro Del Piero is a big Oasis fan and shares a friendship with Noel Gallagher. Del Piero claimed Gallagher was Italy's lucky mascot in their 2006 World Cup success and invited him to the final and then the team hotel after victory.

6. After appearing in an ad for a mobile phone company, Franz Beckenbauer specifically requested the number 0176 / 666666 for his mobile phone. However, he soon was flooded with phone calls by men who thought it was a phone sex number (in German, "6" translates to "sechs", very close to the word sex).

7. Villa Park was the first English ground to stage international football in three different centuries.

8. Phillip Schofield is a Cardiff City fan.

9. In 1995 Zidane could have become another high profile signing for Blackburn Rovers. Manager Kenny Dalglish had wanted to sign both Zidane and Christophe Dugarry who were playing in France for FC Girondins de Bordeaux, however chairman Jack Walker reportedly said to Dalglish: "Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?"

10. Robbie Fowlers middle name is Bernard.

Smith Gone

One of the most respected managers in the entire league system was yesterday sacked from Wrexham FC. A man of integrity and loyalty, who managed under the hardest and most difficult of football circumstances; with "no" money to spend, the club in huge debts (courtesy of ex-chairmen), entered administration, stayed with the club through administration (18 months), with no contract allegedly, went unpaid for long periods, the clubs ground under threat and legal battles with chairmen. He has a proven track record in football, won promotion with Wrexham, won a recent cup with Wrexham (LDV 2005).

Sacked by our board of directors, "saviours" last summer, possibly on current league form and position. OK, so recent results have been bad (injuries and suspensions can be blamed?), yet "why now"? Transfer window time. We need players, loan players, anyone. The squad is dwindling to suspensions and injuries fast. Who's going to want to come to a club in the shit-storm Wrexham are in?! A club 2 points from relegation zone of League Division 2, with no manager.

Good luck in the future Dennis! Now there's a "superstar" (reference to last post).

I honestly don't see why they've sacked an experienced manager in Smith, and replaced him with a rookie in our defensive coach, Brian Carey - a shocking appointment! Carey is not a breath of fresh air, he is part of the coaching staff which have us in this precarious league position (injuries and suspensions aside), i respect Carey, yet from a directors point of view in appointing staff, this is shocking... and maybe done to save on a wage of a new manager? Who knows!

I'm writing this as news is still being broken, according to the BBC site now, Carey will be care-taker manager for the rest of the season with Darren Ferguson as assistant player manager - maybe get some of his dads youth lads over? :-)

Good luck to Brian Carey under the circumstances, and to his temporary assistant Joey Jones for this Saturday, and the entire squad! Everything crossed for Swindon away tomorrow.

The dodgy world of professional football rolls merrily on.

Voting for Star-Spangled Commentary on Bale

BBC and ITV Commissioners meeting minutes: So 2007 then, let's start as we closed the last year, awash TV scheduling with more "text/phone this number to vote for your favourite" programmes on TV!

GET OFF MY TV! In the words of MC Pitman "Too many actors trying to sing, too many singers trying to act". Maybe it is for charity, but would these so-called "superstars" do it for charity if it was broadcast on a much lesser known digital channel, i sincerely doubt it. Why are BBC and ITV commissioning such shite? "Please lord, wash these turds off the planet". I can't wait for the bubble to burst on these text/phone voting programmes, unfortunately i think it'll be a while away yet... and who are these idiots fuelling such shows?

Star Spangled Land Of My Fathers; The Welsh National anthem supposedly recorded by Jimi Hendrix was discovered last week at the end of a tape reel uncovered in a dusty box at the back of a London studio, which could possibly be the amongst the final Jimi Hendrix recordings - personally i hope it is Jimi, a real hairs on the back of the neck version it is too, whoever and whatever it's origin. The "Jimi" version can be heard here: www.thereddragonhood.com/pages/jimi.html

Found out too last week that the record label I run is now featured in the "Rough Guide of Wales", in the modern music section accompanied by a good little review of the label. Address included!

Football bit: Wrexham exit the FA Cup 3rd Round as predicted, my pitchside reporter (Mat) saw plenty of encouragement, and unluckyness infront of goal to raise our hopes of climbing out of the current dismal league position.

Next football bit: I've got to say this now, it's been bottled up too long, and hearing him again Saturday evening for Liverpool v Arsenal, brought this to the forefront of my mind, and although it's a supposedly legendary thing to slate, maybe, but... John Motson and his words/voice go right through me when he commentates! He "always" seems to angle the commentary to the English national side, be it referencing incidents, or singling out English players on the pitch / their performances, he'll do it! Sorry John, but sort it out - this is not balanced or impartial in anyway, and your commentary when England are playing is simply overbearing. And why does he always get the supposed "big games"; be it Match of the Day higlights shows on Saturday night or the bigger live games, the BBC always seem to wheel him out. Anyone else want to back-me up or slam me or these comments, feel free.

Final football bit: The below was a video posted by David on my MySpace comments yesterday (i removed it for aesthetic reasons Dave - sorry), so not to steal your thunder Dave, here it is - "the future of Welsh football", indeed!:



17 years old / 21 senior games, 5 goals / 3 international caps, 1 international goal. I think that statement and above video is a good a closer as i'll come up with this week, mwynhewch!

Predictable New Year Title

Another year over and all that, another oversize turkey still on the kitchen worktop, a bin full of Lynx deodorant plastic trays and those card things used to clip pairs of socks together, with plenty of glass stubbies clinking at the bottom of the bin bag signifying the seasonal festivities are pretty much all over.

In a festive flash of Christmas present shopping inspiration, I went and sorted a city break to Barcelona in February for Emma and myself as a surprise, that "just so happens" to coincide with Valentines and errr.. oh yeah, Barcelona v Liverpool at the Nou Camp - she's a Liverpool fan. It was "very much" approved on Christmas Day - result! In return I gets me a match ball from Wales 4 v 0 Azerbaijan (2003 - a Euro Qualifier game in Cardiff, i was at!) signed by the squad that day with all the proof and photos etc. Now that's a present!

So football... Wrexham continue to be dwindling away from any slim chance of promotion and ebbing closer to a football league survival scrap this season, injuries and suspensions like ive not known (yes Kev, worse than Newcastle!). New Years Day our defensive coach Brian Carey (ledge!), aged 40+ and not played a competitive game in 2/3 years, had to rush his eligibility to play in the Football League again, to feature in the game against Accrington Stanley, which they lost.

Meanwhile, when i began watching Wrexham at the Racecourse a few years ago, the one player who stood out for me, who consistently embaressed the opposition with his pace, skill and vision was one Carlos Edwards... he went on a free transfer recently after 5 seasons of service, to Luton Town - Wrexham couldnt afford the wage bill of the squad! Into context; Robbie Savage paid for Wrexham FCs electricity bill as the club was cut off from the grid last season! Back to Carlos Edwards then, Luton sold him yesterday for a cool £1.5 million to Southampton as the transfer window opened... gutted, yet glad to see him progress upwards, he's a Premiership winger, no question! Once again Wrexham / lower clubs are the feeder to the bigger clubs. That's just the way it is < as some idiot once said.

Saw a programme with Armando Iannucci last night on BBC Four, discussing how him Steve Coogan and Chris Morris all hooked up for Radio 4s "On The Hour" which eventually became "The Day Today", which in turn led to "Alan Partridge".. et all. Chatting about the BBCs commissioning of comedy shows, writing techniques, his sit-com inspirations, current comedy / sit-coms etc etc - Dave, I might have to send it down to you on DVD. Was followed by the feature-length "The Thick Of It" episode - "the best thing he's ever done" - Chris Morris, nuff said!

On looking for information on the 4th Indiana Jones film (yes it's a slow return to work this week) i found this quote from John Rhys-Davies, widely known as Sallah in Indiana Jones and Gimli in Lord of the Rings:

"I'd like to spend more time at my home on the Isle of Man. I love the anonymity of putting on a boiler suit and going down the shop to buy parts for the compressor"

Superb! A fitting blog entry closer.

Footnote: If the rumours on the web are to be believed, the Indiana Jones 4 script has supposedly been approved by Spielberg, Lucas and Ford and pre-production starts this month, and will probably be on the big screen somewhen in 2008...