The return of the Messiah?

This post was originally about unexpected news at Reading Football Club this morning, but led me to debate, once more, the worrying state that the game is in.

I awoke this morning to the news of a loan signing for my beloved Reading.

Glen Little, who left the club after relegation last summer, has returned after just 6 months away from the Madejski Stadium.

Glen, who is described by many Royals fans as the 'White Pele', could well be the make or break moment in the club's bid to return to the promised land.

At first I was overjoyed, as Glen is one of the most talented and technically gifted players ever to grace the hoops, however the move did get my mind thinking.

Glen is one of many footballers who has made a move away from a club, and returned within a short space of time.

Jermain Defoe is another, who left Spurs for Portsmouth just to make the trip back to London soon after.

Robbie Keane, another of the mass exodus from White Hart Lane last summer, returned after an unsuccessful spell at Liverpool.

It got me questioning how much these footballers really think about the transfers they are involved in?

Do they just see the big pound signs in their eyes and sign on the dotted line?

Does loyalty to a club still exist in this day and age?

Or are there more important things influencing our professionals?

How rare is it to see an example of a player who has stuck by a club through thick and thin?

At Reading just one player springs to mind, Club Captain Graeme Murty, but other than that loyalty is a rare commodity.

In the Premier League, how many players can you name who have stuck by their club for years? Other than a very select few, namely Ryan Giggs, there are very few willing to spend their careers at one club.

In English football at least.

We frequently see players turning down huge money moves abroad, to spend their days at the club their hearts lie with.

Brazilian trickster Kaka, for example, turned down ridiculous amounts of money so he can follow in the footsteps of the likes of Paolo Maldini and end his days at the San Siro.

Argentinian wonder kid Lionel Messi is another example. Constantly linked with moves away from the Nou Camp, Messi has signalled his clear intentions to finish in Catalonia.

Closer to home we see players who are synonymous with the clubs they play for, Steven Gerrard for example, seemingly ready to throw away his heritage and boyhood dreams, just for that big money move.

Pascal Chimbonda is another shining example, after moving to newly promoted Wigan in their first season in the top-flight, Chimbonda made a name for himself, and on the last day of their inaugural season in the Premier League, he told the manager Paul Jewell and the rest of the players that 'he wanted to play for a bigger club'.

With international players even paid to play for their country in the major competitions nowadays, it does make one question the motives of footballers, with it becoming a rarity to find someone who just enjoys playing football.

With millions of aspiring youngsters willing to give anything to achieve even a fraction of some of these footballers' success, I wish some would come down a notch and start acting just a little bit humble.

To quote Mike Bassett in his inspirational half-time speech, “If you don't want to wear the shirt, then f**k off! There's f*****g thousands of kids out there who would f*****g die to put that f*****g shirt on!!”

His words, not mine.

But too bloody right, Mike, too bloody right!

Never high-five a Rabbi...

Jimmy Carr is a comic genius.

His dry wit, dark humour and extreme sarcasm create a combination any comedy fan cannot resist.

I saw the second night of his show 'Joke Technician' at Preston Guild Hall, this evening, and thought it was excellent value for money, twenty well-spent pounds for a session of laughter my stomach didn't envisage.

Forget the gym, for washboard abs you need a ticket to see Jimmy Carr.

Jimmy is crude, downright offensive and absolutely hilarious.

He is one of the hardest working comedians on the circuit, performing live to over 500,000 people in the last three years, and that figure doesn't even include his current tour.

Once described as “Comedy's overgrown schoolboy”, Carr delivers punchline after punchline, on a variety of controversial topics.

Tonight's topics included all the sort of content you would expect in one of his shows; sexually-transmitted diseases, the world's second most hated Austrian Josef Fritzl, gay Bishops and the Holocaust.

His bid to offend as many as possible in Preston's Guild Hall as possible was definitely successful, clear from the crowd's groans and uncomfortable, uncontrollable laughter.

Jimmy describes Preston as a 'man's town' claiming he has never felt so 'soft and southern'.

His shows are definitely a must for anyone with an admiration for a quick wit and those without a moral compass.

The sign of a true comedian is their ability to conjure up hilarity on the spot, and Jimmy does this every single time, without fail.

Heckling throughout the show didn't sabotage his nerve, shrugging off any awkward question or comments with his usual sense of poise, composure and humour.

He even took time to sign autographs and pose for photographs after the show, to thank those for coming to see him, despite the fact he has another gig in Milton Keynes tomorrow evening.

As Jimmy says himself ,“Not to be missed, unless it's not your thing.”

A fantastic performer, and a true gent.

The problem with football...

The, so-called, beautiful game has never been so ugly.

I say this having witnessed it first-hand as a player, supporter and referee.

It is no surprise the game is in decline when you look at some of the role models aspiring youngsters get to look up to. Footballers who are more interested in their celebrity lifestyle than what actually goes on in the pitch.

Take, for example, Ashley Cole, the prima-donna Chelsea left-back. Ashley was, once again, in the wrong place at the wrong time in the early hours of Thursday morning, arrested for being 'drunk and disorderly'. Good work Ashley. Perhaps you could try a little harder to earn your whopping 80k a week. Rather than spending the early hours in George Michael's favourite haunt.

It doesn't help the state of the game when players like Cole spend every week berating referees either.

That said, The F.A. arguably shot themselves in the foot a couple of seasons ago, when they scrapped one of the most effective laws to grace the game.

The ten yard 'dissent' law that, in the style of Rugby Union, allows referees to move a free kick ten yards nearer to the oppositions goal every time dissent occurs; this rule did wonders to deter aimless official abuse. A free kick in the oppositions half could quite easily end up on the edge of your six yard box if a petulant, child like tantrum over-ran.

The F.A. are trying to implement their 'RESPECT' campaign from grass-roots and build up, but surely it doesn't take a genius, or anyone with a brain cell to realise the only way to truly affect grass-roots level is to start from the top?

Kids playing on playgrounds with jumpers for goalposts are much more likely to follow suit of the example set by a Premiership footballer, than that of a spokesperson from the F.A. telling them guidelines of a campaign that is upside down.

It boils down to key decisions made at the Football Association HQ in London. Recent brainwaves include, the appointment of Steve McLaren, arguably the worst England manager in the country's glittering history.

It is about time the F.A. appointed someone with a football brain to head the association. Brian Barwick is set to leave Soho Square, but is due to be replaced by Ian Watmore; a man with no more football knowledge than any average joe on the street.

If English football is ever to see the improvements it's fans crave, and reach the dizzy heights it is capable of, common sense must prevail.

As Baddiel & Skinner once famously said, "30 years of hurts. Never stopped me dreaming."

To the next thirty!

Ever dreamt of being in a band?

Well, here's your chance! Sort of...

I stumbled across this whilst aimlessly drifting on the internet a few days back and it kept me amused for a good twenty minutes on a very dull Monday afternoon in Preston.

It involves a little bit of link clicking, a little bit of Photoshop (for best results), if you're an Adobe-phobe, feel free to use your good old friend, Paint!

The first step to creating your very own Album cover for your "band", is to find a band name!

You find your band name by using the title of a randomly chosen Wikipedia article.

Once you have done this, it is time to name the album, to do this, use the last few words of the very last quote from this page.

Now you're band has a name and an album title, it now needs some album art. To do this, use Flickr, and choose the third photo from a selection of interesting photo's from the last 7 days.

Remember to credit those photographs people, we don't want any copyright lawsuits on our hands now do we...?

The final step involves some crafty handy work, putting it together using the software of your preference.

My effort is displayed in the picture, not bad for twenty minutes work; what do you reckon folks?

Facebook Worms...

No, this isn't something that will appear in your toilet pan if you don't wash your hands.

It's the latest in a long line of viruses to hit the internet, and it targets people where it hurts them most, social networking sites!

With more than 175 millions users on Facebook at present, the site is an ideal target.

The virus is also affecting other networking sites, such as Bebo, hi5 and MySpace.

The virus, according to security firm TrendMicro, is a new variation of the worm "Koobface".

The worm works by sending you a message on Facebook from a "friend", inviting you to watch a video via an external link.

The link will then take you to a page that appears to be similar to YouTube, accompanied by an image of the friend that sent you the link.

To 'watch' the video, you are asked to download Adobe Flash Player, which then takes you away from the site to download the worm inadvertently.

The worm has the ability to gain control of your computer, potentially denying you access to all of your files.

The worm will rifle through your compromised PC, sniffing out browser cookies associated with 10 different social networking sites.

Then, using the usernames and passwords within those cookies it will log on to each service, search your friends and then send those people messages that include a link to the worm.

So, ensure your Anti-Virus software is up-to-date and be extra vigilant when downloading applications, especially if you are friends with me on Facebook!

Spotify...

A quick note to mention how unbelievably fantastic this piece of software is.

For those who don't know, Spotify is a little piece of software genius which emerged from Scandanavia last year, that allows music lovers to listen to practically any song under the sun, by any artist, free of charge, at the minor inconvenience of a short advert every twenty minutes.

Spotify, in my eyes is the future of music, it will seriously give i-Tunes a run for it's money, allowing users to find what they want to listen to, instantly.

No downloads, no hassle, and most importantly, no cost.

Another fabulous feature of Spotify, is the collaborative playlist option, allowing users to send it to a friend so they can both add tracks to the same playlist, a great way of sharing music, and exploring new genres.

With deals with major record labels, and a number of independent ones, Spotify seems to be the sought-after piece of software right now.

Spotify will be a God-send for smaller bands hoping to make a name for themselves, with a recommendation system with each artist, pointing users in the way of bands they perhaps may never heard of, amongst bigger names.

Spotify will also play a large role in beating music piracy, with the need to download music at an all-time low, why spend hours searching for illegal downloads when you can access the music you love, effortlessly?

Needless to say, Spotify is causing quite a stir, and rightly-so.

A great piece of software, for any music lover.

Hello, and welcome...

Evening!

Welcome to my blog!

This blog will give me a lovely opportunity to ramble, hopefully coherently, and vent some anger about life in general.

Be it sport, music or even my uncontrollable urge to dress up as the green giant, I am sure to have a view on it, and I hope you will too.

Anywho, I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much I will writing it.

Bye for now.

Andy. x