The Stanley Park Big Top

Well, not quite in Stanley Park - yet. What on earth is going on at Liverpool football club? I assume the media has a great deal to do with it but the place really is looking like a right circus at the moment, with Giletto and Hicksy the clowns at the forefront. Publically having a pop at each other through the media, draggin Parry into it, having a right old gripe and generally making themselves and their club look like right fools. All while Benitez is trying to guide the team to a champions league final. Folk say it doesn’t affect the players, but it obviously has - either that or certain players of theirs have been at the strong cheese judging by what Senor Torres came out with the other day.

Mr Torres had possibly instigated the biggest example of affairs relating to pots and kettles that I can ever remember hearing about. He has come out and announced to the world that he thinks Manchester United are a one man team. Basically, I think he believes that Manchester United wouldn’t be where they are now without Christiano Ronaldo. I suppose he can be forgiven as he’d been playing his football in Spain before this season, but surely someone somewhere has poorly advised him. Has he not heard of Steven Gerrard? Gerrard has pretty much single handedly carried Liverpools’ can for the last god knows how many years and won them a Champions League and a few other trophies - FA Cup etc etc. Would Manchester United be on the verge of winning yet another Premier League title without Christiano Ronaldo? I would think so yes. He is their best player, but they have the strength in depth to replace another world class, full international player with another one. Would Liverpool have won the Champions League or done as well as they have done without Steven Gerrard? I doubt it very much. He is their driving force and inspiration. If/when he does move on, they can probably find a player as good as him to replace him, but they will never find anyone who has anywhere near as much influence on their club, team and fans.

Down to the wire in the fizzy pop league?

It’s certainly looking like it’s going to be, that’s for sure. What a totally unpredictable season it has been and definately one of the most exciting for as long as I can remember.  It’s an old cliche but anyone has beaten anyone this year and probably will do over the remained of the season. The all important question that everyone is asking though - and looks a long way from being answered though - is who will be going up automatically and who will be making the playoffs? I’d like to offer my little deconstruction of the situation - well, try to as best as I can at least.

Obviously - being a Wolves fan - I am going to mainly focus on the old gold and black. Now, we start with a pretty tricky trip to Ashton Gate on Saturday, but i’d like to think we’ll be leaving there with the points. It is a tricky place to go as Albion amongst others have found out, but Brizzle have been having a bit of a wobble recently, and with us bang in goal scoring form, I think we will have too much for them (providing we don’t self destruct as we quite often can and gift the opposition a lifeline back into games that should have been killed off)

I don’t even want to attempt to predict the outcome of the Albion game, the way both teams have been scoring (and in particular - defending) recently, I can see the game being about 7 all. I’d be “happy” with a draw.

The final 4 games fall like this - home ties against Ipswich, Cardiff and Plymouth plus a trip down the M6 to Coventry. This is realistically what we have to play with if you take into account our games in hand.

There has been much talk about us getting into the automatic promotion places, so I decided to do a bit of number crunching just to show how tight it is and how, to be honest, it’s a bit far fetched all this automatic promotion talk.

Say we do win all our remaining games, the highest points tally we can get is 79. Which would put us top of the league right now. For teams to catch us this is what they would need to happen:

• Bristol City would need to win their remaining 3 games
• Stoke would need 10 points from 4 games
• Hull and Watford would need 11 points from 5 games
• Albion would need 12 points from 5 games

I really can not see us winning all of our remaining games, so I am being very generous by saying I’ll only take off 4 points for 2 draws in the last 6 games. That would leave us with with 75 points. See how that changes what is required from other teams to push us out of the top 2.

• Bristol City would need 5 points from 3 games
• Stoke would need 6 points from 4 games
• Hull and Watford would need 7 points from 5 games
• Albion would need 8 points from 5 games

See how little room for error there is? For me, playoffs is fine, anything more then even better. Just amazes me how quickly a couple of good results gets to some Wolves fans. Not long ago, McCarthy’s head was being called for. 2 wins later and we’re going up automatically aparantly. One step at a time chaps, starting with Brizzle on Saturday. Once that is over then look to the next game.

In other goings on this week, I vagueley remember hearing somewhere the some pundit chumps who think Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are the be all and end all, had been making a lot of noise that the FA Cup this year had been undervalued because none of “The Big Four” made it to the semi-finals. What absolute twaddle. Now personally I can’t stand West Browmich Albion or Cardiff City but credit where credit is due and all that. You don’t fluke your way to a final. Nobody has a divine right to play in the FA Cup final because they are in “The Big Four” or whatever. Liverpool couldn’t beat Barnsley so they didn’t deserve to play in the next round. Likewise with all the other teams that got beat at whatever stage of the cup.

I’m not going to get all soppy and start gushing about the “romance of the FA Cup” and “this is what the FA Cup is all about” because it’s not. The FA Cup is a cup competition in which teams compete for the right to play in the Final. Portsmouth and Cardiff have beaten everyone put in front of them and that is exactly what is required to get to a cup final.

If people are going to moan about “The Big Four” not being involved in the latter stages of competitions then why not exlude them from everything and let them play out their boring, cagey one all draws in front of everyone who is so ignorant they can’t see past their own team.

Credit to Cardiff, credit to Portsmouth and credit to every single player and supporter of every single club who stuck one up the fat cats this year in the FA Cup. Long may it continue!

To save some time……..

While we are on the subject of underachieving football teams, to save the Red Tops a lot of hassle, time and ink, let’s clear the latest transfer rumours up:

Newcastle United have been linked with every single player on the face of this earth in an attempt to revive their season.

History FC

Now. I have long had issues about Liverpool and the recent goings on both on and off the field have just made me feel more strongly about them.

Granted, they are one of the most succesful English teams of all time, but, I think in modern day football (by modern i mean 1990 onwards) their fans have delusions of grandeur. In the past 18 years, they have managed to win just a handful of pots - 3 of which being the League Cup which doesn’t count for teams in the “big 4″ of the Premiership (my blog - I make the rules). They have also never won the Premier League since it started. Ok, they won the Champions League - but that was an act of God, but still, as I am fair, I will acknowledge that as a monumental achievement.

Now, all this nonsence about the American owners dilly dallying about what they intend to do with the club has created a convenient smokescreen, and also - i feel - saved Rafa Benitez from the bacon slicer. For some reason unbeknown to me, Liverpool fans still back this guy. He has been given umpteen millions of pounds to spend to get Liverpool the Premiership or the Champions League again, and he has done absolutely bugger all apart from grow a crap goatee. Liverpool are miles off the pace in the Premiership and I can’t see them doing much better in the Champions League. This is his last chance surely, if he doesn’t deliver a decent pot this season (and I don’t think the FA Cup would be good enough judging by the amount of money he has shovelled down the drain) then surely he has to go?

Same shit, different year

So then. 2008. Anyone got one of those hoverboards for Christmas that we thought we would be all zipping about on in the 21st Century after watching Back To The Future? No, me neither. What I was shocked at was that this is the first year ever that I have received neither; boxers, socks, slippers or a deoderant set for Christmas. It just didn’t feel right, I was genuinely disappointed. Naomi did get tea towells though so that kind of made up for it.

We ended up at a house party on New Years Eve. Going out is so over rated. Even one of our locals - a grubby old boozer - was relieving people of £5 for the “privilege” of celebrating seeing another year disappear down the swanney in their mighty fine establishment. The nightclubs are even worse. Inflated door tax and further inflation of the already stupidly inflated drinks prices plus the oportunity to experience what life would be like inside a sardine tin - except without the smell - actually, judging by what some of the less respectable ladies wear whilst out on the town round here, you may get that as well. Anyway, I digress.

2008 has started pretty damn crap if I’m being perfectly honest. We’re skint, and to top it all off, Naomi lost her job yesterday. I think we have a very stong case for unfair dismissal though so hopefully I will get that nice new Nintendo Wii I was going to buy at her former employers expense. Fortunately she has managed to arrange 2 interviews already plus another application in the pipeline - for a job she has wanted for ages may I add - so hopefully she won’t be out of work for too long, and ideally she gets the job she really wants.

My car has also broken. Although to be fair to it, it did start first time after 3 weeks of being sat on the drive over Christmas and New Year. I think it’s something to do with the exhaust or catalytic converter. Which is grim and is more than likely going to be expensive to repair - especially as it’s going to cost me £30 just to find out what’s the matter with it. Going to just have to bite the bullet and cough up to get it fixed, then get it sold ASAP while there is maximum MOT left on it. Going to replace it with a nice BMW 3 Series coupe i think. German quality and now i’m over 25 insurance won’t sting me too bad.

Plan for this weekend is pretty low key I think. Quiet few beers and possibly a venture to the pub. I am also going to attempt to cook a meal more advanced than stir fry or curry tomorrow - after the FA Cup games, mind - so it will probably go hopelessly wrong due to beer goggles. It’s all about trying though.