Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[DaveShoelace]

Exciting times this weekend in Kings Lynn, of all places, when the famous (?) "Campbells Tower" will be demolished with explosive charges. (Our friends Tesco have purchased the site).

In a peculiar twist, they ran a competition in Kings Lynn, the winning entry being the person who will get to press the button to bring the thing crashing down.

The winner was a middle-aged lady, who has a particular reason to want the tower gone - her father was killed there in a dreadful factory accident there back in the early 90's.

She was interviewed on the wireless this week, & said the tower reminded her of her Dad every day, & she could see it from all over Kings Lynn.

All a bit sad, & odd.

Click to see full-size image.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-16567792

Interesting that on the countdown the guy said "five." I remember Dick Strawbridge on a programme mentioning that on countdowns they would pause and not actually say "five" and then continue at 4. The reason he gave was to avoid "five" being misheard as "fire" and the charge being set off too early.

Geo

I'm from King's Lynn... this is about as normal as we do. Lovely place King's Lynn..........................................

My missus is from Kings Lynn, this Campbell's tower thing is the biggest thing to happen in the history of the town since the Halfords opened that time

[The Camel]

Why all the love for Tesco?

Scumbag company. Hope they rot in Hades.

[Jon MW]

Why all the love for Tesco?

Scumbag company. Hope they rot in Hades.

why?

[tikay]

One started his Managerial career no less than 38 years ago, the other scored his first senior goal 32 years ago. Many blondes were not even born then.

They have both aged pretty well, eh?

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

Getting old. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

[tikay]

Getting old. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

You recognize both those people of course Tom, yes?

[RED-DOG]

Getting old. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

You recognize both those people of course Tom, yes?

No.

I know Alex Ferguson. He came to my notice a while back. Not because of football, (I know nothing of football) but because of he comes out with such wonderful quotes.

He said of one player

"I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind."

[RED-DOG]

I just looked up a list of Ferguson's quotes. Some beauties in here.




On Gary Neville "If he was an inch taller he'd be the best centre-half in Britain. His father is 6ft 2in – I'd check the milkman."

On Paul Ince "I used to have a saying that when a player is at his peak, he feels as though he can climb Everest in his slippers. That's what he was like."

On Italians "When an Italian tells me it's pasta on the plate I check under the sauce to make sure. They are the inventors of the smokescreen."

On the 1999 Champions League triumph "I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Football. Bloody hell."

On media criticism of Juan Sebastián Verón "On you go. I'm no fucking talking to you. He's a fucking great player. Yous are fucking idiots."

On Liverpool "My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch. And you can print that."

On the 2003 title race "It's getting tickly now – squeaky-bum time, I call it."

On kicking a boot into David Beckham's face in 2003 "It was a freakish incident. If I tried it 100 or a million times it couldn't happen again. If I could I would have carried on playing!"

On Filippo Inzaghi "That lad must have been born offside."

On Arsène Wenger "They say he's an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages. I've got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages!"

On his former charges as managers "It can be difficult to pinpoint who would make it as a manager. For instance, nobody here thought Mark Hughes would become a manager, never in a million years, and we all thought Bryan Robson was a certainty to be a top manager."

On the referee Alan Wiley "The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. It is an indictment of our game. You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher's dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn't fit. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. He was needing a rest. It was ridiculous."

On José Mourinho "He was certainly full of it, calling me boss and big man when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper."

On Rafael Benítez, reacting to the Spaniard's infamous 'facts' press conference "I think he was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he'll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous."

On whether Liverpool would win the title in 2007 "You must be joking. Do I look as if I'm a masochist ready to cut myself? How does relegation sound instead?"

On Old Trafford "The crowd were dead. It was like a funeral out there."

[tikay]

I just looked up a list of Ferguson's quotes. Some beauties in here.




On Gary Neville "If he was an inch taller he'd be the best centre-half in Britain. His father is 6ft 2in – I'd check the milkman."

On Paul Ince "I used to have a saying that when a player is at his peak, he feels as though he can climb Everest in his slippers. That's what he was like."

On Italians "When an Italian tells me it's pasta on the plate I check under the sauce to make sure. They are the inventors of the smokescreen."

On the 1999 Champions League triumph "I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Football. Bloody hell."

On media criticism of Juan Sebastián Verón "On you go. I'm no fucking talking to you. He's a fucking great player. Yous are fucking idiots."

On Liverpool "My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch. And you can print that."

On the 2003 title race "It's getting tickly now – squeaky-bum time, I call it."

On kicking a boot into David Beckham's face in 2003 "It was a freakish incident. If I tried it 100 or a million times it couldn't happen again. If I could I would have carried on playing!"

On Filippo Inzaghi "That lad must have been born offside."

On Arsène Wenger "They say he's an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages. I've got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages!"

On his former charges as managers "It can be difficult to pinpoint who would make it as a manager. For instance, nobody here thought Mark Hughes would become a manager, never in a million years, and we all thought Bryan Robson was a certainty to be a top manager."

On the referee Alan Wiley "The pace of the game demanded a referee who was fit. It is an indictment of our game. You see referees abroad who are as fit as butcher's dogs. We have some who are fit. He wasn't fit. He was taking 30 seconds to book a player. He was needing a rest. It was ridiculous."

On José Mourinho "He was certainly full of it, calling me boss and big man when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper."

On Rafael Benítez, reacting to the Spaniard's infamous 'facts' press conference "I think he was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he'll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous."

On whether Liverpool would win the title in 2007 "You must be joking. Do I look as if I'm a masochist ready to cut myself? How does relegation sound instead?"

On Old Trafford "The crowd were dead. It was like a funeral out there."

Ooooh, GREAT stuff Tom, nice one. For that, I'll let you off the other kid, who is Mark Hughes.

Mark played for Man United when Sir Alex - just plain "Alex" then - first took over at Man Utd in the mid 80's. Since then, Sir Alex has won more titles than most can count, & Mark went on to have a wonderfully distinguished career as a striker. He used to have the nick "Sparky", had three teeth missing, a mop of unruly hair, but he scared the life out of defenders, & gave every once of effort & energy he had, he was a a terrific example to any footballer. His Teams included Man Utd (two spells), Barcelona, Bayern Munich, as well as lesser teams like Chelsea (sorry, that was just a Cos rub), Southampton, Everton, & Blackburn. He never let any of those teams down, & always gave 100%.  After retiring, he took up Management, & I think it's fair to say he's not quite cut the mustard so far, & I'm not sure he ever will, he's a shade below "top level", but it's hard not to wish him success, he has good morals, & is a straight guy who represents his Clubs wonderfully.

As to those quotes by Sir Alex Ferguson.....

I actually think that guys like you & I get every bit as much interest & fascination from football as the hardcore supporters, some of whom can, I'm sad to say, often be a tad one-eyed. Some cracking quotes there. He really is an extraordinary man. He turned 70 recently, but his mind is as sharp as a tack, & woe betide any footballer who thinks he can get something past the old fella.

The beauty of not really supporting any Premiership Team (though, in my case, I do have a soft spot for Arsenal), is that you can enjoy the game so much better. I cannot honestly say that there is a single Premiership Team, or Premiership Manager, that I dislike. Some I prefer to others, obv, but dislike, nah, no way. 

[tikay]

Getting old. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

You recognize both those people of course Tom, yes?

No.

I know Alex Ferguson. He came to my notice a while back. Not because of football, (I know nothing of football) but because of he comes out with such wonderful quotes.

He said of one player

"I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind."

That was probably in reference to Ryan Giggs. Ryan has been playing for Man Utd - & no other club - for nigh on 22 years, & has made an astonishing 627 appearances for Man Utd. 627!

We are blessed to be able to watch the like of Ryan, & having missed much of the twilight of Piggott's career, & then realised what genius I had taken for granted, I am not going to make the same mistake with Ryan, & I rarely miss the opportunity to watch him.

[RED-DOG]

Getting old. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

You recognize both those people of course Tom, yes?

No.

I know Alex Ferguson. He came to my notice a while back. Not because of football, (I know nothing of football) but because of he comes out with such wonderful quotes.

He said of one player

"I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind."

That was probably in reference to Ryan Giggs. Ryan has been playing for Man Utd - & no other club - for nigh on 22 years, & has made an astonishing 627 appearances for Man Utd. 627!

We are blessed to be able to watch the like of Ryan, & having missed much of the twilight of Piggott's career, & then realised what genius I had taken for granted, I am not going to make the same mistake with Ryan, & I rarely miss the opportunity to watch him.

Spot on. When I looked the others up, that was top of the list.

[tikay]

Before moving on from football, every Monday "The Game", which is the best football section of any daily newspaper by a mile (it's within"The Times") has the "Tony Awards", which purport to be written by Tony Cascarino, who I have come to know quite well of late. In fact, he does not pen them himself, they are written, I think, by a guy called Tom Dart, who, as it happens, will be leaving The Times very shortly.

Anyway, today, amongst his usual "Monday Five" was this......

"No Russian around.

Andrey Arshavin was out standing for Arsenal yesterday. The only problem for Arsene Wenger is that all his other players were out running".

[tikay]

Getting old. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

You recognize both those people of course Tom, yes?

No.

I know Alex Ferguson. He came to my notice a while back. Not because of football, (I know nothing of football) but because of he comes out with such wonderful quotes.

He said of one player

"I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind."

That was probably in reference to Ryan Giggs. Ryan has been playing for Man Utd - & no other club - for nigh on 22 years, & has made an astonishing 627 appearances for Man Utd. 627!

We are blessed to be able to watch the like of Ryan, & having missed much of the twilight of Piggott's career, & then realised what genius I had taken for granted, I am not going to make the same mistake with Ryan, & I rarely miss the opportunity to watch him.

Spot on. When I looked the others up, that was top of the list.

Well it was pure & utter guesswork, Tom, but if you watch Ryan run, the description fits him perfectly.

[tikay]

One last football bit before I move on to more erudite & interesting matters, & reply to some of the Posts that have accumulated whilst I have been largely absent on what turned out to be an enjoyable but testing weekend.

Today is the final day of Patrick Barclay's tenure at "the Times" as Chief Football Commentator, & he will be sorely missed. He is a very gifted writer, with a fine mind, & seems to be able to put football, & it's invariably pampered heroes, into proper context.

There is no sport that fritters it's money away more wastefully than football seems to, especially in the Premiership, & Patrick was never scared to say as much. In fact, by spooky coincidence, Sir Alex Ferguon had Patrick banned from the Press box at Man Utd, in a feud that lasted many a year, but Patrick never flinched in the face of some withering vitriol from Sir Alex. Fair play to him.

It's such a shame he's so bloody old - he's 65 this year, as it's a well-known fact that old blokes know sod all.

[RED-DOG]

It's such a shame he's so bloody old - he's 65 this year

This is 2012 ffs. 65 isn't old any more, it's the new middle age.