Hello

And after the coma.....

Summer

It dosen't seem that long ago early in August that the football season kicked off. The last few months have flown by.

I was going to try and do a round-up of all the local football clubs but i've not had chance and with them all finishing at different times they kind of all been covered anyway with the exception of Shepshed Dynamo who I will try and get sorted for next week.

To be honest, after the events at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday, I have almost been trying to avoid football.
The Johnston Paint Trophy. Jesus wept.

Now the sun is shining and (most) of the cricket league's are two games old. My lack of Sky means I can't watch as much of the sport as I want, or any on the box for that matter which is downright stupid, so hopefully I will get around to see a few local matches.

Wasting time.

It has been a crazy old week. Twelve pages of sport is cool but don't expect that every week. Can't wait for a weekend of long lie-ins. I'm probably far less stressed than those who have done such a good job with the re-launch though.

Here's hoping Loughborough Dynamo do the business tomorrow and the same to Shifnal (who play leaders Atherstone). Could do with a nice easy backpage next week with the headline 'champions' complete with champagne pictures etc. Whatever happens though Dynamo have done a fantastic job to get where they are.
It doesn't seem long since the first game of the season on August 11 where they lost at home to Alvechurch.
Second (or maybe even third) might still be good enough for promotion but they face a long wait for confirmation from the FA's leagues committee and the Unibond League that nobody wants. It will be a deserved reward for a fantastic season.

May 3 is the LoughboroughCharity Cup final between them and Shepshed Dynamo. Hopefully it will be a league fixture as well next season.

One thing to get off my chest seeing as I have bored a few people in the office with it - Wednesday night's game between Barcalona and Manchester United.
Yeah i'm sure the Barca based papers will be critical of the visitors' negative style - but for someone's whose football is so hyped up I found Barca horrible to watch because of how easily they went down.
It was ridiculous to see so many of the world's most skilled players going down with a minimum of contact and wrecked the game as far as I was concerned, cancelling out the pretty (but lacking in end product passing).

What's the point in diving like that? They even made Ronaldo look like a (semi) balanced individual. They could probably take a better penalty though. :)

Summer's (kinda) here

I'm taking a break from the incessent writing of cricket previews.
There's still over a week to go before the season starts but already I seem to have been up to my eyeballs in different teams from a shed load of different leagues discussing their plans for the new season.
I think only one hasn't mentioned promotion this season so far so there are going to be a few who are disappointed but I guess fair play to them because if you don't have hope now then you never will.
So far Coalville and Long Eaton sides are done, just two sides to finish off for Nu News and while the majority of the Loughborough stuff is done, there's still some more to do.
The problem with the cricket season is that unlike with football you tend to get so much literature sent through as well which you end up reading. No doubt it will be great when things calm down and i'll go back to having less to do on a Thursday and Friday but at the minute I keep picking up Wisden to read something and then feeling the need to check up on Leicestershire's score rather than doing as much as I can before next week's chaotic 're-launch' week. This isn't keeping me from work though as I've been told I must update. :)

On Tuesday I saw a strange game between Loughborough Dynamo and Coventry Sphinx. Loughborough won 5-0 to set up tomorrow's trip to third placed Market Drayton with all of the goals coming in the first half. Strangely Coventry Sphinx were arguably the better side in that first half, two minutes into which their only goal keeper was carried off injured.
They looked a good side with a couple of very talented players and if they get a bit more commitment from their players (one of their numbers apparently rang up the manager to say he couldn't play hours before the game because he had tooth ache) and they dont' concentrate on the FA Vase so much, then they may well be right up there challenging for the Midland Alliance title next year.
Hopefully by that time Loughborough will be well established in the Unibond.

Air Ambulance

The charity match organised by Shepshed Dynamo on Sunday was a fantastic event and all in a good cause.
In the first few weeks after the game was mooted very little seemed to happen and to be honest I thought it wouldn't get off the ground.
The people behind the scenes at Dynamo however did a stunning job of organising it all and then got the weather to match. It's a shame the crowd was not quite as big as was hoped but those that stayed away missed out on seeing the likes of Muzzy Izzet (probably the youngest but first to be subbed off) back in action and the subtle genius that is Gerry Taggert.
Shame as well the rugby guys didn't turn up although apparently there were a few from the national media waiting for Martin Johnson to appear to ask him about the England managers job.
Once again cheers to those at Shepshed for the hours spent on the project. Secretary Dave Wheatley must have one impressive contacts book.

This week's Echo news section is pretty miserable really given how many of our local sides lost. Not least how many threw away leads. Still, wouldn't have minded witnessing Twelve 7 L'boro Royal Oak 10 in the Charnwood Sunday League. That's a goal every five minutes 20 seconds (ish).

Bank Hols

Bank Holiday's are made for football although this one was a fair bit colder than last year's.
Shepshed v Quorn at the Dovecote was a typical feisty local derby. Given Quorn's victory in the previous two games it looked beforehand that Shepshed might want to win it more and so it proved.

The Dovecote is a great ground to watch football in. Unlike a lot of local grounds you get a sense of history from the setting and you also get an atmosphere.
On Saturday the vocal Shepshed lot didn't endear themselves to everyone and they had to be told to tone down their language after half an hour which they did leading to chants of "he's here, he's there, we're not allowed to swear - Jamie Clarke".
I have no idea where you should draw the line as to what's acceptable to sing and what's not. One person at the game told me that he took his young nephew who was shocked by the language. When at certain matches I'm no angel around young kids myself and the mrs is ashamed to go to games with me. It made me think about my own conduct.
But what is certain is as long as a line isn't crossed, every club needs vocal and supportive fans creating an atmosphere.

Blogging is cool! says Honest Isaac!

So far I've not interviewed that many really famous people, England's Peter Moores probably being the only one, so it was good to have the experience of interviewing Sir Henry Cooper at Bar Sports in Loughborough.
At first I was told I would get 30 mins with the former champion and one of only a handful of men who can claim they have knocked down 'The Greatest' but somewhat predictably I was told on arrival that it would be five minutes.
As it was I manged to get 20 minutes after he had turned up fashionably late and it was fascinating to hear him speak.
It was quite unnerving interviewing him under a giant image of him that's permanently in the bar next to Bobby Moore, but he was a true gentleman and spoke warmly with others like the 95-year-old who had come to meet his hero.

Writing it all up nearly made working on a Bank Holiday worth while. I was laughed at when I said earliler in the week I was looking forward to a four day weekend.