Sunday 20 January 2008

A little bit of Keegan and my weekend

In Newcastle's 'bore draw' with Bolton this weekend, it was evident that Kevin Keegan had not yet had the influence over his new players that he has over the fans. Keegan himself was quick to blame absences for the result.

He said: "You take nine players out of a football club of that quality - four of them are good enough to play for their countries in the African Nations Cup, there are two very experienced players who have played for Manchester United and won things, a player like Emre, who is a very inventive player, and then Mark Viduka, who has scored goals wherever he has played and at international level too."


Sounds like sour grapes to me.

I personally had an excellent weekend, meeting some great people at a party for a brilliant woman’s birthday and a brilliant cause in Breast Cancer Care. Some of you may have seen it in the guardian. I also got the chance to talk to a professional footballer - Lee Bell. The first I've spoken to at the level I did. Most people probably won't have heard of him but in my opinion he should be playing in a better league than he is having done well at Crewe. Sadly that didn't work out and he moved to Mansfield via Burton Albion on loan. Aside from his football, he is a nice bloke, from what I saw in the half an hour I met him in. Most people wouldn't care but I thought it was quite weird sitting with a cup of tea with a footballer who is friends with people like Dean Ashton and Luke Varney, both of whom are players I genuinely like, and both coming from the same Crewe academy as himself. This makes me think he's probably a better player than his club suggests. No disrespect to Mansfield of course. Everyone who reads this, look out for him in Saturdays home game against Middlesbrough. If you read this as promised Lee - good luck and I hope for a repeat of 1967. If you don't know the score - you should! Look it up! lol

I also found time to go to see Stoke City, as I was in the vicinity, at home to Preston on Saturday, and I was shocked, having watched Charlton most of the season, to find some good football being played at Championship level. The stadium's not bad either. I was also shocked at the sheer power with which Rory Delap launched a throw into the box and almost directly into the net, only for a flick from Leon Cort for Stoke's first goal. It's quite amazing that anyone can throw that far AND get power on it, it's like a whipped cross. Anyway, I enjoyed the match, although Preston played some good football on the floor at times, they were quite bad, but I did feel sorry for their young 'keeper.

I'd just like to finish by saying, if anyone who reads this hasn't visited before, please do read some of my other stuff. I hope you like it. Cheers!

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A few pieces of my mind - basically just stuff I either feel like writing down or think that others should indulge in.