TAILORED MADE FOR FOOTBALL

Tomorrow would have been Stanley Matthews' birthday; he would have been a 100. Matthews was regarded as one of the great post War players and he played at Stoke City (born there), then Blackpool where he helped his side win an FA Cup final after three attempts between 1948 and 1953. Matthews returned to Stoke in the early 1960s, playing his last game, as a professional, at the age of 53. He was remarkably fit and often made his right back colleague, in those days, Jimmy Armfield, a very good player because he was so industrious. When the Blackpool manager called Jimmy into his office to break the news that he had been selected to play for England, he was told to make sure he thanked Stanley for making him look so good. This is Sir Stanley at Stoke in his '50s.

On the other hand there is Reece Oxford who is on the bench today for West Ham United and at 16 years and 46 days, if he makes an appearance, he will be the youngest to play in the Premier League.

Today, I was measured for a suit and my better half insisted on Huddersfield Cloth, so we went to Owen Scott-Bespoke Tailor in 'Town and looked at some his kit. I noticed a couple of blue and white footballs in the shop and this morning Huddersfield were at home to Leeds-where better to be when there is THE West Yorkshire derby- in 'Town- and it was great to have a conversation topic, while I was being told I need a 36” not a 34” waist. WHOOPS.

Owen Scott is a very cool dude, who still plays “a bit”and I would urge you to look at his website which has photos of local sports' stars who wear his successful cloth. I won't spoil the surprise for you-LOOK!

His assistant is a student at the local uni who is doing some work experience, on his Business Studies course. Joshua Lockwood comes from a well known and historic local family. Joshua plays football and once we got chatting, it turned out he had played football for his old school, Queen Ethelburger's from York at my old place, Charterhouse, in the ISFA Cup. He remembered the school vividly, for its architecture and especially it's pitch, looked after by David Roberts and Jason Hunter, the two very knowledgeable groundsman at the school. David was the “curator” at Southampton FC before he transferred to Charterhouse to nurture one of the best playing surfaces in the country-go and SEE.

IT'S NOT SO POINTLESS.

It does make sense, watching Pointless on a cold winter's evening. I might have got a low score on US states or Famous Williams but I know I would have succeeded on the name endings of Football League Clubs; you know, Tottenham Hotspur, Sheffield Wednesday. 

So this evening they had Stockport C......Hereford U....,Lincoln C......, Kidderminster H.... and Gainsborough T....... WHAT?

I chose Gainsborough Trinity and it was a low scorer. 

But what else? I have mentioned a few recently in previous Blogs, such as Glossop North End, so do you know Burton S.......? Leicester F.........? not City, Burslem PV........? Woolwich A.........? Walsall TS........? Middlesborough I.....? 

You will get the Woolwich one if you know a little bit about football and I have mentioned Burton S before. Northwich Victoria was also a league side and the names above appeared in the first years of the Football League tables up to 1893-4.

There was a Burton Wanderers and later a Burton United. Port Vale is one of the few clubs not to be based at the name place, Vale, of course, has the ground at Burslem, one of the Five Towns. 

How many other FL suffixes can you find? Town, United, City etc. EASY.

CASUAL FLING IN SAMBA LAND

I would like to think that everyone who knows football, will have heard of the Corinthian-Casuals Football Club. They were pioneers of football in the 19^th Century, the Corinthian FC forming in 1882 and the Casuals in 1883, they merged in 1939. 

C-CFC took football to Brazil in 1910, enthusing the locals to form the Corinthian Paulista FC in Sao Paulo and hence sparked the development of football, the Brazilian way. Paulista recently beat Chelsea to become World Club Champions.

Already used to touring, especially in Europe and south Africa, the C-CFC sailed in August 1910 and took 15 days toget to Brazil. They played Flumineuse winning 10-1, a Rio XI 8-1 and then in Sao Paulo they won all three games.

The club went to Brazil in 1913-14 and played several games with the intention of visiting again in 1915.

When the London based club returned to Brazil, they had to leave before anything happened as the Great War had broken out. Many of these young Corinthian footballers fought and died within weeks of arriving at the front.

The tour in 2015 was to celebrate that centenary and hundreds of home fans have greeted the tourists at the airport, a thousand locals watched their training sessions and as well as visiting the Maracana, Copacabana beach and a community project founded by international footballer, Kleiber, they played their “brother” club in front of 50,000 fans.

The C-CFC is still very much an amateur club playing in the Rymans South League.

WATNEY RED OR YORKSHIRE BLONDE?

Thick snow again in the Southern Pennines and I could tell you all about sitting in the Boot and Slipper last night surrounded by Sheffield United fans, at least not supporters of Southern football. The Yorkshire Blonde was excellent at £2.50 a pint (that's a beer by the way, they don't measure their women in fluid units up 'ere), Spurs won, and I got home safely in the 4x4.

But what better tiime to remind you older fans of the useless cups that were invented to keep teams happy at the start of the season or when we couldn't play in Europe because of bans. Some were designed at the busiest times of the season with two legs and all manner of distractions.

Remember the Watney Cup founded in 1970? I daren't mention Watney's Red barrel and Yorkshire Blonde in the same breath; these are two beverages that could not be further apart in brewing, still it shows how important Red Barrel was back then, as it sponsored a competition for two teams that had scored most goals in their division from each of the four divisions, in the previous season. This was a knock out with the final played on one of the teams' own ground. This led to the first ever penalty shoot out in the semi-final between Hull and Man Utd.

George Best was the first ever penalty taker and Denis Law first to miss, but so did the Hull goalkeeper to decide the final, he shot wide. United went on the lose to Derby in the final, 4-1. Colchester United won it in 1971, Bristol Rovers in '72 and Stoke in the final year.

So, do you remember the Anglo-Scottish Cup, The Anglo-Italian, Full Members and the Dubonnet Cup?

MARIO, WHEREFORE ART THOU?

The unpredictable Mario Balotelli had a difficult 20 minutes on the Stamford Bridge pitch towards the end of normal time last night and then he made little contribution to Extra Time apart from a couple of back heels, a positive passing ratio but more importantly, being criticised for not marking goalscorer, Ivanovic,  in the Liverpool defensive line once a free kick from Willian was neatly placed into the L'Pool penalty area.

Was Mario to Blame for the Chelsea goal last night? It appears that he was marking Ivanovic at the start of the free kick, in effect, Jamie Carragher says, Liverpool defend zones and Gerrard and Lucas were defending zones too close to the ball as it was kicked, the defensive line should have been several yards deeper and thereby not leaving extra Chelsea players unmarked. Balotelli tried to cover Costa as Henderson lost him. Zonal marking is difficult-what do you do if there are more than one person in your zone? The easy answer is WIN THE BALL but with blocking and shirt pulling anything can happen. In the event, the Chelsea right back had a free header and this was the decider.

It was a fabulous game, in the "old style" with Chelsea statistically well on top in the end, as these stats prove:

Chelsea scores first:- Shots-19-16, On Target 5-4, Shots inside box 8-5, Accuracy 36% -27%, P0ssession 54-45%, Passes 599-508, Accuracy 78-74%, Passes in opponents half 70-63, Duels won 54-46%, Aerial duels won 54-46%, Clearances 24-39, Tackles 28-38, Fouls 13-20.

Remarkable that there were no red cards and the defense of Costa's stamps and the leniency of the ref. Good game though, best team won??

CUP TIES CATCHING UP; FC UNITED WITH BIG FISH; VASE IS FULL

Whilst the FA Cup was thrilling the press, the FA Trophy 3^rd Round proper slipped past last weekend with barely a murmour, although the Non-League Paper is on hand as always at £1.50 to give othe lower levels of English footy some publicity.

The clubs remaining in the Trophy are:-

Bath City in the Conference South.

North Ferriby 10^th in Conference North.

Dartford 22^nd in the Conference drew with 10^th place Halifax.

Torquay 13^th in the Conference

Woking 9^th in the Conference drew 3-3 with FA Cup heroes Dover who lie one place above them. The other FA Cup heroes Gateshead 12th in the Conference drew with Wrexham 17^th.

Lowest ranked remaining in the cup is FC United of Manchester, attempting to join their favourite Red Devils in England's top division by making rapid progress through the Pyramid. They are presently 7^th in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

The DRAW is:-

Woking or Dover Athletic v Bath City

Dartford or FC Halifax v Wrexham or Gateshead

Torquay v FC United of Manchester

North Ferriby Utd v Braintree or Ebbsfleet playing tonight after postponements.

Tie winners earn £8,000

In the FA Vase some matches have been completed that couldn't be played on the original round date on the 17 January:-

AFC Mansfield march on, beating Chadderton 5-0, Worksop Town lost to Glossop NE 0-1 aet, Tunbridge Wells and Highworth Town, Wiltshire in their replay, tied 1-1, then 2-2 aet, with Highworth winning on pens 4-1 before a crowd of 788.

Norwich Utd are through beating Ashford, Erith and Belvedere beat Yaxley 1-0, Shaw Lane Aquaforce and Walsall Wood still need to play to complete the round.
THE DRAW
Bradford Town v Highworth, AFC St Austell v Stanway Rovers, Ascot Utd v Norwich Utd, Walsall or Shaw Lane Aquaforce v Flackwell Heath, Glossop NE v Dunston UTS,  Holbeach Utd v Erith & B, North Shields v Phoenix Sports, AFC Mansfield v Tadcaster Albion: £2000 for the winners.

FROM HIGHEST TO LOWEST; IT'S ALL UP OR DOWN.

I think you are gradually becoming interested in my little blogs, as posts are up and eyes are down. Thank you.
Today sees the end of the FA Cup Round 4, with the DRAW of the 5th Round ties at 7pm and Rochdale hoping to create history tonight as the Dale takes on Stoke. Did you know that Rochdale's ground is known as Spotland, crowding in 10249 folk, although the record attendance has been in the 20,000s, all crammed together with cloth caps and fags on?
Spotland is the 6th highest League ground in the country at 498' asl and described as a difficult environment in which to play the beautiful game.
By the way, this should not upset the Potters whose Britannia Stadium is 9th highest at 431', thus equally grim to visit on a January evening.
Dale was founded in 1907, joining the Third Division North in 1921 and winning their first league game in August, 6-3 beating Accrington Stanley-who are they? Rochdale FC has the distinction of playing entirely in the bottom two divisions since their foundation. Only Hartlepool share this record of underachievement.
Dale also has the lowest average league position of all league clubs. There was an important promotion for Dale in 1969 when Bob STOKOE was manager. (Is this a sign that tonight's game may go Dale's way?) and a promotion most recently in 2014 to League One.
With a motto on the badge of "Credo Signo", "Believe in the Sign", the Dale hope to show the resilience of the sheep wool and toughness of the iron as depicted in the crest and a belief in BOB STOKOE!!
Pub quiz stuff:
Highest Grounds in FL:- Hawthorns 552', Oldham 526', Port Vale 520' Watch out for increased wind speeds as Climate Changes?
Lowest:-  Blundell Park 2', St Mary's 3'. Hull City 4' ; beware Global Warming when sea levels will rise.

TO SKI OR NOT TO SKI

It was the demise of Chelsea, Southampton and Manchester City that has taken the attention of FA Cup enthusiasts away from Fulham holding Sunderland, Bolton at Liverpool, Blackburn thumping Swansea, and lowly Leicester beaten Spurs at WHL. Then, of course, Cambridge United made headline news after Friday's amazing performance against the millionaires of Manchester. We decided to go to the Ipro Stadium, Derby. My colleague, Dave, a Lincoln City fan but living near Derby had arranged to take an ageing Chesterfield born ex amateur footballer to watch the Cup game between the Rams and Spireites. The ski slopes of roaring exchange rate Switzerland was too much for our Duckmanton lad and he missed all the fun. I'm easily pleased.

First of all, the pedestrian bridge over the A52 is a structural marvel, carrying the weight of thousands of spectators who prefer to park their cars in local side streets rather than in the retail park surrounding the ground. 

Secondly, the statue of Clough and Taylor embracing has to be seen and the food stalls are many and varied. 

Thirdly, the view from anywhere in the stadium is excellent. 

We didn't have an overpriced beer at the ground; Dave had already had one at the pub and I am on antibiotics. Money saved! The Duckmanton boy would have had an O2, if he had been there.

Derby made hard work of the tie allowing Chesterfield to play some excellent football, especially in the first half. Statistics show that Derby were in control, with Will Hughes full of skills and tricks, but Chesterfield could have scored three. The efforts of Darren Bent were promising and he really should have tucked away a hat trick, but as it was, he got on the end of a corner, nodded on by Buxton, that wasn't marked well on the back post and Bent was a fox in the box.

The second half had similar statistics to the first and the away fans were full of hope, but Hughes, always dangerous robbed the Chesterfield midfield and calmly but the ball into the net to make it 2-0. As Dave noted, Chesterfield probably would not struggle up a division, though Derby have too many huff and puffers to make an inroad into the PL, though Hughes deserves the elevation.

The first time these two clubs came together in the league or cup, was on January 12th 1907. Curious since Derby is an original FL club and Chesterfield claim to be founded in 1866. They have met only 15 times, with 8 wins to the Rams, and two draws. Four of these matches have been in the FA Cup.

UNITED v UNITED, GOWN TOWN v COTTON TOWN

There is much excitement in the scholarly city of Cambridge as the Manchester United Red Devils are in town to play Cambridge United at the Abbey Stadium in the FA Cup. A crowd of just over 8,000 is expected and I suspect there will not be too much going on in the college libraries tonight.

Now a League 2 side (4^th Tier) the original club was called Cambridge United from 1909 (nothing to do with the present club) but in 1912 a club known as Abbey United formed. By 1949, the club became Cambridge United, and joined the professional ranks in the Eastern Counties League and then the Southern League. In 1970 United joined the Football League replacing Bradford Park Avenue.

The 1990s was United's greatest period as the notorious “POMO” man, John Beck, played his direct method and took the club to the Wembley Play Offs from Division Four. There was also the small matter of two FA Cup quarter-finals and a Football League last eight.

United won the 3^rd Division championship in 1991 and then came 5^th in Division Two. They were a play-off away from the Premier League.

By 2005 the club was relegated to the Conference. After much coming and going, especially financially, recently, head coach, Richard Money has led his team in 2013-14 to qualify for the Conference play offs and then beat Gateshead at Wembley to return to the FL. There was also another final in the FA Trophy that led to a defeat by Gosport Borough 4-0 at Wembley.

Alan Brazil has been giving Cambridge a decent coverage on TalkSport and he fondly remembered pre-season tournaments from Ipswich as East Anglian teams came together. He also mentioned playing the university team on Fenners, the CUCC home pitch, when Ipswich Town and Gown came together. Mark Saggers and Max Rushden are well known as staunch supporters of the “Us”.

Money hopes that his team gives a good account of themselves, especially local lad Luke Chadwick, who having been at Man U from 1997 till 2004, with considerable success, now is very much part of his Cambridge side.

GLAZIER SHATTERED AT CRYSTAL PALACE

It is 20 years (25th January actually) since Eric Cantona brightened up an otherwise dull PLgame at Selhurst Park, when United and Palace were playing out a 1-1 draw. In the 56th minute when he should have been bonding with new signing Andy Cole up front, Cantona, having been wound up all game by his man marker, Richard Shaw, finally snapped. Shaw, who had spent the whole of the first half breathing down the Frenchman's upturned collar, was kicked by Cantona and Alan Wilkie had no choice but to show red. This was Cantona's 5th red card of the season, by the way.
As he walked down the touchline towards the tunnel in the corner of the ground, with the United kit man, Norman Davies,  Cantona was confronted by 20 year old glazier, Matthew Simmons, who had run 12 rows from his seat to the front of the home stand to make his feelings felt.
Simmons claims he said “It's an early bath for you, Mr Cantona”, though others heard more fruitful language.
Cantona jumped kung fu style into the terrace to catch Simmons in the chest with his feet and then threw a right hander.” It is not what is said, it is how you feel at the moment”, Cantona philosophised as he did once with sardines. 
The Sun devoted 12 pages to the event, this raised subscriptions to their “cell mates” BSkyB and televised football was never so popular.

Have a look at this kung fu tackle; at least it was at the opponent and not midrift of a simple glazier at the Palace.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/follow_button.21f7daa948263c3043bab783473c3475.en.html

MIRALLAS ON THE SPOT

With Miralass and Baines bickering over a penalty kick against West Brom, at Everton last night, it is worth reminding ourselves of the more important occasions when penalties have been in the news. Willie Cook of Everton scored three penalties in separate matches in the Christmas period between 24-27 December 1938. Ronnie Allen of West Bromwich Albion scored penalties in both the semi-final and the final of the 1953-4 FA Cup competition, firstly against Port Vale, his previous club and then against Preston, as his two goals were enough to win the cup for the Baggies.

The first league penalty was scored by Joe Heath for Wolves against Accrington in September 1891. The fastest penalty ever awarded was scored by Sammy Collins in August 1956, when the ref awarded a penalty against Wallsall, after only 10 seconds in the Third Division league game. On the last day of 1980-1 at the bottom of the Second Division, Don Givens missed a last kick of the game penalty and relegated his team, Sheffield United, whereas opponents, Wallsall, the Sadlers, rode their luck and stayed up.  

It is believed that William McCrum invented the penalty kick in 1890 in Milford, County Armagh, Ireland and it was approved internationally when the IFA presented the idea in June 1891.

FOREST PEARCE DERBY IN DERBY

There have been a few managerial casualties over the festive season and Big Sam and Psycho Pearce must have been looking over their shoulders more than most. Just think if Stuart had done that against San Marino in that qualifier, the part timers would not have scored their goal after 9 seconds of play! Having a doze Stu?
With Pearce's team having beaten Derby in the East Midlands' derby at the weekend, he will be feeling more secure but not completely safe. Six Derby and Forest managers have bitten the dust after their failure to come up with the goods in East Midlands derbies.
Billy Davies was sacked on March 22, 2014 after losing 0-5.
Alex McLeish left by mutual consent in January 2013, after a disappointing 1-1 draw.
Nigel Clough was dismissed immediately after the 1-0 defeat by Forest in September 2013.
Steve McClaren resigned when his Forest lot were beaten by Derby 1-2 in October 2012.
Joe Kinnear resigned from Forest in December 2004 following a 3-0 drubbing.
John Gregory was sacked shortly after the final whistle when Forest won 3-0 in March 2003.
I wonder if the percentages of dismissals after "derby" defeats is greater than other? Stato? Over to you.
95 games played in major competitions: Derby 34 wins and 144 goals Forest 38 wins and 142 goals.

VASE, CUP AND CHAMPIONS

The FA Vase, with a prize money of £2000 for winning clubs, entered the Fourth Round proper this weekend (17^th January) but several games were affected by the harsh weather. Local derby, Worksop Town v Glossop North End was postponed.

Glossop North End, a club that appears in the early football league tables, were runners up in the Second Division in 1898-9, second to Manchester City but were relegated the following season with only 18 points from a maximum of 68 and left the league after the First World War.

Worksop, the Tigers, claim to be founded in 1861 making it the oldest club, but there is no evidence to back this up. There was a record of a game played under Worksop's name in 1873 when 15 men played 15 men from the local church. By 1882 the club added Town to its name and that's where it all begins, joining the Sheffield League and then the Midland League.

Progress in cups has been infrequent although in 1908 they played Chelsea in the 1^st round proper losing 1-9 at Stamford Bridge. In 1923 at White Hart Lane, the club lost 0-9 to Spurs after a 0-0 also at WHL. Over the years, there have also been several financial hurdles that have not been cleared, so the club now shares its original ground with tenants, Handsworth Parramore, a club founded in 2013, now in level 5 of the Football League. Worksop also plays at level 5, in the Northern Counties East League.

Great names linked to the club include, Alan Hodgkinson, a well known Sheffield United and England goalkeeper, Peter Eustace, and the Chapman brothers. Yes, Herbert Chapman was the more famous of the trio, who managed Huddersfield Town, introducing the new WM system and with it his Yorkshire club won the First division championship twice and the FA Cup between 1921-5. By great demand, he then managed Arsenal for ten years, winning the Cup and two league titles also. Arsenal in the 1930s became the leading team in the country. Chapman also championed proper training methods and tactics, floodlighting, European football and numbered shirts but sadly died in 1934, aged only 55 and missed his club's further success before war broke out.

BORIS BIG BASH INSPIRES A GOOD KICKING

Boris is not built to be a soccer player; he has the dimensions of a rugby player and indeed proved the point when to took out a former German international at the Madejski Stadium in a charity match and also tripped up a young lad on one of his inner city visits to a football pitch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWIUp19bBoA&list=RDiWIUp19bBoA

He kept his feet under control at Millwall recently, on astro turf, when he was backing the London Premier League Kicks scheme, a spin off from the nation wide Kicks programme.

The Mayor's office (£200,000) and EPL (£800,000) are giving money to support this scheme, offering educational and sporting career opportunities to vulnerable teenagers in the most depressed parts of the capital. Over 1300 teenagers have benefited from being given the chance to make something of their lives rather than join a gang, or waste away. Kicks want youngsters be to “part of their gang”.

Nkemjika Eka is 19 and was at Charlton Athletic at their academy, but he was dropped by them at 16, after a back injury, he found himself drifting into bad habits. He was offered Kicks and after practising and engaging with the coaches two times a week, he took coaching qualifications and is now at university doing Sports' Science and works for the Charlton Kicks campaign.

The Metropolitan Police have a share in the scheme and figures suggest that gang crime is down in the city. 12000 youngsters are provided with regular football in London, many just keeping fit but others are making the most of what is available to them.

Boris can use this successful private-public social partnership in his electorial campaign this year. With latest figures showing that the “Get Inspired” legacy of 2012 is not working, perhaps this grand scheme that brings people together, provides opportunities and gets the population fitter should be part of the present government's electoral drive?

AT HIS AGE, DEFOE DEFIES DE COLD.

Jermain Defoe, at 32,  looks destined for Sunderland as his short venture in Canada with Toronto FC in the MLS, comes to an end. He may have been feeling the cold? 

Defoe has scored on his debut for every club he has joined, including England, where his career was intermittent. For somebody as goal scoringly prolific as he, it is surprising that he did not get more starts. He scored 19 goals in 55 games. 

A member of the well known London Sunday youth side Senrab, that produced Lee Bowyer, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Ledley King, Defoe has been around the block beginning at 14 years old with Charlton. He attended the National School of Excellence at Lilleshall, when it existed in 1997. He then was at West Ham, then he went on loan to Bournemouth, where he equalled an all time record of scoring 10 goals in 10 consecutive games. He joined Spurs, went to Portsmouth with Harry Rednapp and then back to Spurs in 2009. 

A Christian, he has had tragedy in his life, losing his brother to an assault and then his father soon afterwards. He always seems chipper though and hopefully he will bring a bit of cheer to the Black Cats and Gus Poyet, who needs a goalscorer.

Defoe has scored 29 goals in 93 appearances for WHU, 18 in 29 for Bournemouth, 91 in 276 at Spurs, 15 in 31 at Pompey and 11 in 19 at Toronto. Delightful. 

He may need to wrap up warm in the north-east.

CAN EVOSTICK BEAT VANARAMA?

The Third Round of the FA Trophy has been drawn and although not all ties from the previous round have been concluded, already there are some tasty ties. A win is worth £7000 to the victorious clubs with a trip to Wembley the ultimate reward. Alan Devonshire's Braintree United (Conference 14th) are paired with Ebbsfleet (Conference South 7th) a proper local derby, whilst Dartford (Bottom of the Conf) entertain Halifax Town (8th in the Conf). They played each other last night in the league and the home team lost 1-2 in front of 811 people.
Woking (Conf 7th) sneaked past Oxford City last night and are rewarded with a home match against FA Cup heroes Dover Athletic (Conference 13th). Other ties include Maidenhead (Conf South 14th) or Farnborough (5 places below Maidenhead) v North Ferriby (Conf North 9th) , Hemel Hempstead (Conf South 10th) host Torquay (Conf 10th) , Bath City  (Conf South 12th) are at home to Altrincham (Conf 15th) and FC United of Manchester (Evo-Stick NPL) entertain Fylde (Conf North 1st) or Telford (Conf 24th).
As the FA Cup rumbles on with no more "minnows" left, the Trophy keeps non-league teams dreaming of a final at the game's most famous venue. FC United of Manchester are the lowest ranked side, sixth steps below the Premier League.

STEPHANIE TURNS RONALDO'S HEAD AND MESSES WITH MESSI'S TOO

Ronaldo and Messi fought it out for the Ballon d'Or Ballot yesterday although in the end CR7 won at a canter, winning over 37% of the vote. Troubled Messi, got second place with 15.76%. At the FIFA awards, Christiano said, "Yes, it's justified. It was deserved", a modest beginning to his interview. Messi, who is having a tough time deciding what to do after Barcelona, had to put up with the runners-up spot although judging by the photo below, he benefited from a front seat when it came to the best goal award. Both Lionel and C7 had their heads turned by Irish sportswoman, Stephanie Roche, who wore a lacy number, which obviously drew approval from the two best footballers in the World.
Stephanie was walking the boards as runner-up in best goal which was won by James Rodriguez whose World Cup goal for Chile apparently was better than Stephanie's, SEE http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30786318 and judge for yourself.

Ronaldo is now one Ballon win behind Messi and he follows in the great footsteps of Real Madrid players such as Di Stefano (twice), Raymond Copa, Luis Figo, Ronaldo (the Brazilian) and Cannavaro.
In the best team line up, David Luis is included, somebody who appeared in the Brazilian back four when his team lost 1-7 to Germany in the last World Cup and who has "gone missing" several times in the Premier League. The FIFA-FIFPro-Team of the Year award also provoked ridicule when Thiago Silva, suspended for this crucial match, was selected alongside Luis. FIFA's crazy isn't it? BY THE WAY FANS THIS MODEST BLOG HAS TOPPED 3000 HITS NOW-THANKS.

OVER THE BORDER AND BRIDGE TO HAVERFORD

There is always a chance of a quiet few hours away from our loved other halves, and yesterday a trio found themselves in the Greyhound pub in Haverfordwest. Yes, Pembrokeshire and the Welsh National League Division One. The opposition was Briton Ferry Llansawel, an amalgamated club put together in 2009 and one that is playing for the fun of it with modest ambitions, presently 9th in the division whilst the home team, the Bluebirds, are 4th.

Haverfordwest County FC, apart from a number of domestic wins in Cups and Leagues, have the unusual honour of having played in the UEFA Cup qualifiers in 2003-4 by way of their previous league position. Having been elected to the Welsh League in 1936, the club plays at a very tidy ground, the Conygar Bridge Meadow Stadium, and clearly has much going in its favour. In their club house  team pictures and individual shits of those local who have played internationally, such as Ivor Alchurch, one of Wales' greatest "sons". They won their game against Briton Ferry 2-0, the first goal being a gymnastic overhead kick in the first few minutes and were refereed by a UEFA qualified ref, Mr Kris Hames.

YOUNG SHAVER TO OLD STAGERS

16 years old on December 17^th, Martin Odegaard is regarded as the most promising young footballer to have EVER played in the Norwegian League and for the country. He presently plays for Stromsgodset, appearing 23 times in the Tippeligaen, having made his debut in April last year. His international debut was against the UAE at 15 years and 253 days, the youngest ever for his country. He has trained with his father's local club twice a week but has been encouraged to play for the Stromsgodset first team this season, including playing in the Champions League. A midfield player, Martin finished his formal education this year, but is too young to be included in Football Manager 2015 and he regards the Christian faith as very important in his life. Real Madrid are courting him and hope to get his name on a contract soon. So lucky boy, if he does join up, he will be playing with the Zidane boys! Martin will be at the Madrid derby this evening.

Where at the other end of the age spectrum, Fernando Torres will be performing for Athletico Madrid. Martin will be in the crowd as a guest of Real Madrid, watching to see if Torres regains his form in , the Spanish Cup tie against Real Madrid. After a period of disappointment at a selection of clubs, it would be good to see him bounce back.

And old stagers Phil Neville and Paul Scholes formally took charge at Moor Lane where Salford City play in the Evo-Stik NPL (North). They are part owners of the club and led the team in a win over Kendal Town 2-1 after the departure of manager Phil Power.

THE SAINTS WAY

Thanks to James Kibbey, who has sent this link on to me and I suspect to a number of Old Carthusians. Richard Lewis (anyone remember Lew?) who knew Charlie Mortimer (anyone know who he is) who was part of the Southampton FC back room staff when the club played at the Dell arranged for us to visit the club and their training ground in the 1980s and the Charterhouse XI  had a fixture or two against a Saints Youth side, when the young hopefuls visited the school to play on our main pitch. The school, in 2014-15, is lucky to have ex-Saint, David Howells as Director of Football, who will encourage the school to play the Saints Way. So enjoy the film which is about 40 minutes long.
http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/pl-download-the-southampton-way
You can watch this rather than any FA Cup football which seems to be illusive unless you have BT Sport.

AKIN TO MUSCLE OUT POOL

Islington born, Adebayo Akinfenwa is playing for his 11^th club this season, having started his career at 18 in Lithuania for FK Atlantas, where he was subjected to extraordinary racial abuse, but where he cut his teeth on the professional game. Standing 5' 11'' and weighing 225 lbs, the 32 year old jumped for joy when his team, AFC Wimbledon, the 14th worst team in the Football league, was drawn against his favourite team, Liverpool, in tonight's 3^rd Round FA Cup tie. Having scored over 150 goals in his 12 year long career, Akinfenwa is described in FIFA 15 (EA Sports game) as the Football World's strongest man. He can bench press 180kgs and will provide the stuttering Liverpool back four with an immense physical challenge.

AFC Wimbledon is not bringing the “Crazy Gang” tactics to their playing part of the match tonight, though previous member of the gang and now manager, Neil Ardley, wants his squad to give Liverpool a rough old time down at Kingsmeadow, which with a capacity of only 4800, will generate an intense energy to fortify the League Two underdogs. Akinfenwa, who has learned his trade at clubs such as Barry Town, Boston United, Doncaster and Torquay, wants to be in the cauldron.

AFC Wimbledon, which re-formed in 2002,after the demise of Wimbledon FC and the attempted link with MK Dons, first played in the Combined Counties League with the like of Godalming Town as opponents. The rise of the club through the Isthmian League Premier in 2005, the Conference Premier in 2009 brought the club to the Football League in 2011.

It's a long way from the old Wembley with Vinnie Jones' first minute tackle on Steven McMahon, Lawrie Sanchez's goal and Dave Beasant's penalty save, but it is an intriguing fixture with history to be made.

Only two clubs have won the FA Amateur Cup and the FA Cup, the Old Carthusians (who else! In 1894 and 1881)) and Wimbledon Football Club (1963 and 1988). PS NEARLY 3000 HITS! exciting

THE LONG WEEKEND

TODAY should be FA Cup 3^rd Round day with all the minnows that have survived umpteen rounds of cup qualification since August, joining a full mix of Premier and League teams. Unfortunately the FA has strung out all the games from Friday (yesterday), through to Tuesday, no doubt allowing the TV sponsors the opportunity of screening as many matches as possible. This is not apparent on the TV listings.

The first tie has already been played, with Cardiff, at home, beating Colchester comfortably in front of just over 4000 crowd. On Tuesday, as well as Everton v West Ham, Scunthorpe are at home to Chesterfield, who have had to replay their Second Round tie against MK Dons yesterday because the Twisted Spire men played an ineligible player in the first bout. Why weren't they thown out?

Most games are being played today and tomorrow, but there are not a lot of televised matches, although there are a number of exciting ties to whet our appetites, including Gateshead away at West Brom with 85 places between them in the league; the Baggies with a fresh man at the helm may be vulnerable.

Blyth Spartans host Birmingham City (141 places apart), however, perhaps the non league club wishes that the game had been played a few weeks ago before the Brummie revival under their new manager. Derby are at home to Southport (89 gap) and Tranmere have Swansea visiting (81 gap). Leicester v Newcastle may raise a a tingle but the rest of Saturday's ties are unlikely to make the heart race.

On Sunday most of the premier clubs turn out, with Dover and AFC Wimbledon holding the home diamond ties against Crystal Palace (87 gap) and Liverpool (71 gap). Yeovil at home to Manchester United (65 gap) and Wrexham away at Stoke (95 gap) provide an odd chance of a set back.

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Best wishes to Steven Gerrard, an exemplary leader of Liverpool Football Club and for England, who has announced his "retirement" from the end of this season. In his career, there has been the odd indiscretion, but nobody will have served his sport better than he. Making his debut at the end of November 1998, Gerrard has scored 180 goals and won two FA Cups, three League Cups, a Champions League and UEFA Cup, mainly in an halcyon period between 2001 and 2006. He has stuck loyally to his home club, Liverpool, despite attractions from other clubs both English and on the continent. So, now that he has planned his Premier League departure with dignity, he may consider a future in America. 
International colleague, Frank Lampard, clearly has no plans to retire and has set his stall out by signing a deal with Manchester City that will keep him at the Etihad until the end of this season at least. He was to join the North American MLS and New York City in March but he has no plans to join the Blues "sister" club until he runs his contract out with City. This has left 11,000 American fans frustrated as they were already season ticketed up to see their new star play. And the result is that Lampard team shirts have halved in price since this was announced. Guy Poyet will be fed up too since it was the returning Lampard who characteristically planted a header into the Sunderland goal yesterday, to seal a victory for City.
Whilst these two oldies are enjoying their eventide, some youngsters are making their mark such as Harry Kane, the Hurricane, who destroyed Chelsea yesterday, fellow Londoner, Jordan Ibe on loan from Liverpool to Derby and in Spain, four Zidane sons who are all on Real Madrid's books.