football rambles

Africa Cup of Nations - Group D - Guinea

2012-01-20T18:47:00.005Z

Colours: Blue with white checked shirts / black shorts / black socks
Capital: Conakry
Country population: 10,057,975

Guinea are one of my favourite teams in the Africa Cup of Nations, but somehow I don't think that they will get too far and they certainly don't have history on their side. Their best performance in the competition was when they reached the final in 1976, since then they have reached the Quarter Finals in 2004, 2006 and 2008. They have qualified for the World Cup Finals, however they have lifted the Cabral Cup Cup 5 times.

Star player: Ismael Bangoura

I have some very happy memories of seeing Bangoura play up front for Dynamo Kyiv and his goal celebration of jumping up and down like a kangaroo is always a joy to see. It was especially welcome when he scored the goal that sank Spartak Moscow in the UEFA Cup in 2008. They managed to get to the Semi final that year before going out to fellow Ukrainian's Shakhtar Donetsk. Bangoura scored one of the goals that sent them through in the Quarter Final against Paris Saint-Germain.

Bangoura started his career off at Athletico Coleah before moving on to the French League with a transfer to Corsican side Gazelec Ajaccio in 2004. He scored 15 goals in 44 league games before transferring to the bigger club Le Mans. He was then on the move to Dynamo Kyiv where between 2007 and 2008 he scored 28 goals in 46 games. He then went back to France and signed for Rennes and since 2010 he has been playing in Dubai for Al-Nasr, which probably suits his entourage who follow him around everywhere more than Kyiv did.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group D - Mali

2012-01-17T19:36:00.003Z

Colours: Green shirts with a yellow and red stripes / yellow shorts / red socks
Capital: Bamako
Country population: 14,517,176
Mali have never qualified for the World Cup Finals, but they have faired better in the Africa Cup of Nations. In 1972 they reached the final losing to Congo 3-2. The next time that they qualified for the final stages came in 1994 when they reached the quarter finals, something that they have accomplished twice since. Last time out in 2010 they were responsible for one of the biggest come backs of all time when they scored 4 goals in the last 15 minutes to get a 4-4 draw with Angola

Star player: Mohamed Kalilou Traore

The attack minded midfielder started his career off at AS Real Bamako in 2006, but his career really took off when he was at NK Istra 1961. In 2008 he scored 9 goals in 27 games, which attracted bigger Croatian teams such as Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split. However, in 2010 he signed for Odense in Denmark and is again attracting attention from the bigger clubs.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group D - Botswana

2012-01-16T17:02:00.003Z

Colours: Sky blue shirts with a white trim / black shorts / black socks
Capital: Gaborone
Population: 2,029,307

This is the first time that Botswana have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations and they have never qualified for the World Cup. They have always been second best, but a particularly poor run of results saw them turn to Stanley Tshosane and results improved markedly with them becoming the first team to qualify for this tournament.

Star player: Jerome Ramalhakwanae

26 year old striker Ramatlhakwanae is currently without a club after leaving Brazilian giants Vasco de Gama. He signed from Santos, but was hindered by visa issues, he scored on his debut, but has since been released by the club.

Africa Cup of Nations -Group D - Ghana

2012-01-15T15:56:00.003Z

Colours: All white with black trim
Capital: Accra
Country population: 24,233,431

Ghana are one of the favourites for the tournament having a wealth of talent at their disposal.

They have been playing football longer than a lot of the other African nations having formed their FA in 1957 when they were still known as the Gold Coast and under British administration. In 1960 they played a friendly against the all conquering Real Madrid and managed to get a very creditable 3-3 draw.

With regards to the Africa Cup of Nations Ghana are the second most successful team after Egypt having won the tournament in 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982. Strangely though they did not qualify for the World Cup until 2006. However, they had qualified for 5 straight Olympics prior to this and in 1992 became the first African team to win a medal for football after getting a bronze in Barcelona. They did have a few dark years in the 1990s including in 1994 when parliament had to get involved, players Anthony Yeboah and Abedi Pele getting most of the blame. However, by the 21st century things were better and in 2010 they managed to get to the quarter finals and would have probably got to the Semi Final if it hadn't been for the hand of Suarez on the line keeping the ball out for Uruguay in the most blatant cheating since Maradona's 'hand of God'.

Star player: Suley Muntari

Suley Muntari is a key member of the squad and his experience and passing ability will probably help determine how well the Black Stars do. The midfielder would love to add to the FA Cup winners medal he won at Portsmouth and the Champions League medal he won with his current club Inter.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group C - Tunisia

2012-01-15T13:44:00.002Z

Colours: All white with red trim
Capital: Tunis
Country population 11,245,284

Tunisia have qualified for 4 World Cup Finals, but have never got past the first round before. In 1978 they did become the first African team to win a game in the World Cup Finals by beating Mexico 3-1, they also held the reigning champions West Germany to a draw before getting the plane home. They were the only African team to be present both in the 2002 and 2006 World Cup Finals and came close to being there in 2010, but results went against them on the last day and Nigeria made it instead.

In 2004 they hosted the tournament for the third time and won the tournament, previously when they were hosts in 1965 they were runners up and in 1994 didn't get past the group stages.

Star player: Karim Haggui

The 6 foot 3 defender and captain of Tunisia currently plays in the Bundesliga for Hannover 96. In 2004 he was one of the youngest players in the squad that won the tournament and played in every game. He scored the decisive penalty that won the quarter final against Nigeria. In 2008 he was ever present again. Tunisia reached the quarter finals before losing to Cameroon after Haggui had gone off injured on 38 minutes.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group C - Morocco

2012-01-15T13:18:00.002Z

Colours: All green with a red trim
Capital: Rabat
Population: 35,657,056

The Atlas Lions are one of Africa's most successful teams, they won the trophy in 1976 and in 1896 became the first African team to win a World Cup group by finishing ahead of England, Poland and Portugal. They have appeared in the World Cup finals 4 times and in 2004 made it into the final of the Cup of Nations, but they couldn't manage to win the title.

They are managed by Belgian legend and master strategist Eric Gerets, so they should do well in the competition this time especially with the young exciting team that they have put together.

Star player: Adel Taarbat

The attacking midfielder was heralded as the new Zidane when he signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 2007, however things didn't really work out for him there and he probably didn't do himself any favours by saying that he should have signed for Arsenal instead. He was soon on his way to QPR where last season his fantastic performances helped Rangers win the Championship. His first proper season in the Premier League has not been a great success, as the player seems to have been unsettled by transfer rumours with PSG seeming the most likely suitors. He is a raw talent and as well as a chance to represent his country he might see the tournament as a good chance to puat himself in the sop window.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group C - Niger

2012-01-15T12:36:00.002Z

Colours: All orange
Capital: Niamey
Population: 15,730,754

Known as Menas after the hausa gazelle that appears on the club badge Niger are traditionally one of the weaker African teams. Their best performance in the World Cup came in 1982 where they knocked out Somalia and Togo in qualification before losing out to Algeria. Their best result in qualification came in 1990 when they beat Mauritania 7-1.

Like the World Cup they have never qualified for Africa Cup of Nations before and their best results came previously in 2004 when they won all of their home teams in qualification. This time though they are in the finals thanks to a shock 1-0 win over reigning champions Egypt.

Star player: Ouuwo Moussa Maazou

Maazou is a centre forward who is currently on the books of CSKA Moscow, but is on loan at Belgian team Zulte Waregem. He started his career for Niger's army team ASFAN scoring 17 goals in 2006-2007 and 20 the following season. He then signed for Sporting Lokeren in Belgium and after scoring 6 goals in 9 games he was snapped up by Russian giants CSKA. He has never really made an impression at this ex-army club though and was loaned straight back to Lokeren. He did make a few appearances for CSKA when they were in the later stages of the UEFA Cup in 2010, but has spent most of his time on loan at Monaco, Bordeaux and now Waregem.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group C - Gabon

2012-01-15T00:02:00.004Z

Colours: Yellow shirts / blue shorts / blue socks
Capital: Libreville
Population: 1,475,000

Gabon are the joint hosts of the tournament and are one of the smaller countries in the finals. Their first football match was in L'Amite, a competition for French speaking countries in 1960 where they lost to Upper Volta (Burkina Faso).

They first entered the Cup of Nations in 1970 and their best performance came in 1996 where they reached the quarter finals, since then they have qualified twice before this time in 2000 and 2010.

Star player: Didier Ovono

Goalkeeper Didier Ovono won the Georgian League with Dinamo Tblisi before being transferred to French side Le Mans, where he has cemented his place as the club's number 1. He shot to fame in 2010 when Gabon beat Cameroon in their opening match of the Cup of Nations. He put in a spectacular performance and can be seen celebrating it in the picture above.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group B - Angola

2012-01-14T23:30:00.005Z

Colours: Red shirts with a yellow and black hoop / black shorts / red socks
Capital: Luanda
Population: 18,498,000

Angola's first ever game was a 1-0 victory over Cuba in 1977 and their first appearance in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations was in 1996. On that ocassion they finished bottom of the group and they had to wait until 2006 before they got a victory in the finals of the tournament beating Togo 1-0. Their best showing in the tournament was in 2008 when they reached the quarter finals where they lost to eventual winners Egypt. They managed to equal this performance at the next time of asking in 2010 when they were hosting the tournament. This time though they lost 1-0 to Ghana.

In 2006 Angola reached the final stages of the World Cup for the first and so far only time. On reaching the finals they asked Jose Mourinho for advice, as his wife is Angolan. Perhaps it wasn't the best choice though, as their first opponents were Portugal, who they lost 1-0 to. They drew their next two matches, but didn't qualify from the group.

Star player: Flavio Amado

Flavio is coming towards the end of his career at Lierse Sk in Belgium, but his character and goal scoring ability will be essential to the team. He has spent most of his career in Egypt with Al Ahly. Things didn't get off as planned though missing a penalty against bitter enemies Zamalek in a African Champions League match. However, he won the fans over and found his scoring boots before joining Lierse this season. He also poses an aerial threat despite being only 5 foot 8.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group B - Burkina Faso

2012-01-14T23:09:00.004Z

Colours: All white
Capital: Ougadougou
Country population: 15,730,977

Les Etalons or the Stallions as they are known and Upper Volta as their country was once known will go into the tournament without much hope of doing much in it despite being ranked a very respectable 62nd by FIFA and having a number of players with experience in several countries inside and outside of Africa. They have never qualified for the World Cup and their best showing in the Africa Cup of Nations came in 1998 when they were hosts and finished fourth.

Star player: Ibrahim Gnanou

The talisman of Burkina Faso is the highest scorer for the country, Moumani Dagano, who has scored 23 goals in 51 games for his country. However, the key man in my opinion will be the young defender ibrahim Gnanou, who plays in Russia for Alania Vladikafkaz. He is officially a centre back, but is comfortable in any position in the back four and is a crucial player for the team.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group B - Sudan

2012-01-14T22:50:00.004Z

Colours: All red
Capital: Khartoum
Population: 30,894,000
Sudan are the only East African team represented in the finals and they have a proud history in football. They have the oldest league in the continent in the Khartoum state league and were always dominant in the early years of the competition, culminating in victory in 1970. However, they haven't done well since and with the recent problems in the country it is not surprising that football has taken the back seat.

It is hard to name a star player, but the backbone of the team is made up of the reigning champions, Kahrtoum, and seems to centre around defensive midfielder Richard Gastin Lado

Africa Cup of Nations - Group B - Cote d' Ivoire

2012-01-14T22:29:00.004Z

Colours: All orange
Capital: Yamoussoukoro
Country population: 20,617,068

The Ivory Coast will go into the competition as one of the favourites with a wealth of players who play in some of the world's biggest leagues including Emmanuel Eboue, Didier Zokara, Yaya Toure, Salomon Kalou, Didier Drogba and Gervinho. They haven't always been African heavyweights though, their sole victory in the Africa Cup of Nations coming in 1992 when they beat Ghana to lift the trophy on penalties. It took a record breaking 24 penalties to separate the teams, a record that the equalled one that the Ivorians had already set in their quarter final victory over Cameroon.

The coming of age for Cote d'Ivoire came in 2005 when they qualified for the world cup for the first time. since then as well as playing in 2006 World Cup Finals they also qualified again in 2010, however they haven't got out of the group stages on either occasion.

star player: Didier Drogba

With such a wealth of talent at their disposal it is difficult to choose one star player and the way Roberto Mancini has been moaning, he definitely thinks it should be Yaya Toure. However, Didier Drogba has been the Ivorian's most high profile player for the Elephans, as they are affectionately known, over the years and has scored 51 goals for his country as well as winning every trophy in the Premier League with Chelsea. Apart from being the country's leading scorer he is also the captain and despite his reputation in England he has been commended for his charity work in his own country. He was also credited with playing apart in helping bring an end to the troubles in the country when he called for calm after they qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group A - Zambia

2012-01-14T08:20:00.003Z

Colours: Yellow shirts with a green trim / black shorts / yellow and green socks
Capital: Lusaka
Country population: 12,935,000

Zambia are currently ranked 72 in the World, which falls a long way short of their highest ever ranking of 15, which they obtained in 1996. However, they have done well to recover from the position of 101, which they occupied this time last year. They have never qualified for a World Cup and their best finish in the Africa Cup of Nations was in 1994 when they reached the semi-finals emulating the team of 1974. I think that French trainer Herve Renard will probably have his work cut out for the team to get close to that this time.

the Zambian national team will also be remembered for one of the biggest disasters in world football when their plane crashed on the way to a World Cup qualifier in Senegal in 1993 which wiped out the team.

Star Player: James Chamanga

He might be a bit long in the tooth now, but James Chamanga who now plies his trade in China with Dalian Shide could be an inspiration to the other Zambian players. He comes with a lot of feathers in his cap. He scored his first goal for Zambia in the COSAFA Semi final against South Africa in 2005. Since then he has added 14 more to his tally for the national team and will be looking to at this tournament, which could well be his last major one. He also holds the record of scoring 5 goals in one match when in 2007 he netted 5 for Moroko Swallows in a 6-2 victory over Platinum Stars.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group A - Senegal

2012-01-14T08:08:00.002Z

Colours: All white kits with green trim on shirts, shorts and socks
Capital: Dakar
Country population: 13,7111,597

The Lions of Terarga are one of Africa's traditional powerhouses and will expect to get out of the group at the very least. They will face stiff competition later on when they meet some of the favourites, but with so many of the other powerhouses failing to qualify this time they may well fancy their chances.

Senegal's greatest moment arguably came in 2002 when they beat holders France in the opening game of the World Cup. Surprisingly though they have never one this trophy, although they have won the West African Amilcal Cabral trophy 8 times.

Star player: Demba Ba

Newcastle United forward Demba Ba is probably one of the most sort after players in English football at the moment and the form he is on at the moment should at the very least get Senegal out of this group. He arrives at the tournament having been made the Premier League's Player of the Month for December and amongst the 15 goals he has scored already for Newcastle this season are hat-tricks against Blackburn and Stoke. He will be eager to add to the 10 goals he has already scored for his country.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group A - Libya

2012-01-14T07:54:00.003Z

Colours: Red shirts,black shorts, green socks
Capital: Tripoli
Country Population: 5,670,688

It is a credit to the Libyan team that despite all of the political upheaval in the country the team is currently ranked 62 in the World, which is one of the highest positions that they have ever occupied.

The Libyan Football Association was formed in 1918, but the national team did not play a game until 1953. Their best performance in a major tournament came in 1982 when they were runners up. In 1966 they recorded a record breaking 21-0 victory over Muscat Oman

At one time this edition of the tournament was planned to be held in Libya, but that had to be changed for obvious reasons. However, they have got 2017 to look forward when they will be holding the tournament.

They could be dark horses, but with the hosts and Senegal in their group it could be hard for them to qualify and if they do I'm not sure how much further they can expect to go.

Star Player: Djamal Mahamat

The experience of 28 years old midfielder Djamal Mahamat is going to be crucial to Libya. He has a lot of experience in Europe and currently plays for last year's Europa League finalists Braga in Portugal. He was taken there when his manager, Leonardo Jardim took him with him to there from Beira Mar.

Africa Cup of Nations - Group A - Equatorial Guinea

2012-01-14T07:40:00.004Z

Colours: All red
Capital: Malabo
Country population: 676,000

Equatorial Guinea are the joint hosts of the tournament with Gabon. It's probably safe to say that they wouldn't be in the finals if it wasn't for the fact that they were hosting the tournament, as they have never qualified before.

The first game that the nation played was in 1975 when they played against China and lost to them 6-2, the defeat obviously came as a blow as they didn't take part in a competitive game again until 19895 when they entered the UDEAC Cup. Their greatest victory to date is winning the 2006 CEMAC Cup.

They have tried to bolster their chances by recruiting as many players as possible with Guinean heritage from Spain. In fact 11 of the squad members were born in Spain and they would be able to put together a whole 'Spanish' team if only one of the goalkeepers had been born there.

Star player: Rodolfo Bodipo Diaz

34 year old Diaz can inject some experience into the team. He is one of the most experienced players and part of the Spanish contingent who make up the team. He is currently on the books of Deportivo La Coruna, but is out on loan to Elche this season. He is a striker and his best year came 2004-2005 where he fired in 16 goals for Deportivo Alaves.

Africa Cup of Nations 2012

2012-01-14T07:37:00.002Z

I'm going to be having a look at the different countries competing in the Africa Cup of Nations this year. For a look at them all in one thread click on the label below.

Off to a flyer against Walsham

2012-01-08T13:59:00.002Z

Yesterday Ely City took on Walsham-le-Willows in what could have been a potential banana skin of a game. Ely are still in third and Walsham are in the bottom half of the league, however Walsham had just beaten the top two teams over Christmas and new investment in the club means that they could, like Ely be about to embark on an upward trajectory.

There was a new look at the Ely ground too as the hard winds of the week had seen the cover blown off the covered part of terracing, which in a way made for an improvement in the view from the main stand.

Ely's best bet was probably to take the game to Walsham and take it they did. Ely went ahead on the 2nd minute when Austen Diaper got a massive deflection and the ball went into the back of the Walsham net. Ely continued to press for more goals and Diaper and Chadwick continued to push for a second and Stuart Walker was controlling the game in the centre of the Robins midfield. On 27 minutes Ely could have easily been 2 up when Lewis McDonald hit the crossbar and one minute later a cross by Walker was met by Diaper that could have easily gone in but the keeper was equal to it and Chadwick was unable to steer the rebound in but did hit the woodwork. At the other end Walsham were trying to make progress, but Murray and Lawrence were keeping them at bay in the centre of defence.

Walsham's progress was short lived though and on 31 minutes Walker tried a clever lob on the Walsham keeper that nearly went in and a minute later Chris Sterecki turned and shot and was unlucky not to be on target. The rest of the half had the pattern of Ely dominating and creating chances and on 37 minutes Sam Parkinson was close and on 38 an Adam Murray header almost went in. However, somehow going into the break Ely were still only one up.

The second half however was a completely different kettle of fish. Walsham began to play themselves into the game finally and create some chances. Their best two chances in the first 15 minutes of the second half came from a couple of fumbles by Lee Pacey in the Ely goal, which fortunately he was able to recover from.

Pacey really made amends on 75 minutes when he made a brilliant save from point blank range, but it was to be a nervous last 15 minutes for Ely in a game that they deserved to have had already sewn up at half time.

Nevertheless Ely managed to keep them at bay and create a few chances of their own in the closing encounters, although Walsham came close in the last minute the game ended Ely 1 Walsham-le-Willows 0 in a game that was really a game of two halves.

Ely City 1 Mildenhall Town 0

2012-01-02T18:34:00.003Z

Ely got the New Year off with a home win today against local rivals Mildenhall Town and despite Ely sitting in 3rd and Mildenhall being in the lower half of the table it wasn't all one way traffic.

For the first 20 minutes Ely did dominate possession and the long throw ins from Ben Lawrence and Lewis McDonald as well as a number of corners for Ely put Mildenhall under the kosh. Mildenhall on the other hand couldn't really get past the Ely offside trap or Ben Lawrence who was in impressive form in central defence. That said the only real chance that Ely had came on 19 minutes when Austen Diaper tried to connect with Richard Chadwick, but some how the ball didn't go in.

Mildenhall then started to get into the game and appeared to have a shout for a penalty when the ball bounced up and hit McDonald's arm. The decision could have been ball to hand or hand to ball. The referee decided to rule in Ely's favour much to the outrage of the Hall fans in the crowd. Things could have got worse for Hall as the ball went up the other end and Chadwick fed Diaper, who should really have had the ball in the back of the net. McDonald clearly wasn't having the best of it though as the ball was soon back in the Ely area and his slip would have let Hall take the lead if it hadn't been for a great save from Lee Pacey.

The last 15 minutes of the first half were pretty even with both teams having chances, but none of them really threatening. Mildenhall's best chance came on 37 minutes when they seemed to have another penalty shout when Pacey came to save and the onrushing Hall forward fell to the ground. For Ely Adam Murray had a great chance on 40 minutes, but the ball went over and on 41 he came close again with a towering header from a corner.

The second half started off with Ely having most of the possession in the opening encounters, but like in the first half Mildenhall got back into it. Mildenhall looked like they might beat the trap, but again Lawrence was keeping them at bay. For Ely Austen Diaper came really close after some great work from McDonald, but again he was foiled at the last hurdle.

Ely did finally get the winner on 77 minutes when Chadwick headed in a through ball and then managed to hold on to what they had. A good if not great performance with Chadwick, Lawrence and Stuart Walker all having good games and Lee Pacey also looked solid in the goal when he was called upon.

End of year round up - stuff that happened

2011-12-30T15:50:00.002Z

January - a bumper month with failing floodlights
The year got off to a fine start with plenty of games coming in thick and fast after a November and December that had seen a number of cancellations due to snow and rain. Ely got off to a good start with a win over Newmarket. I went to Fulham v Peterborough in the cup which saw Fulham win 6-2, we were sat near Barry Fry and George Boyd in the stand and just behind Posh manager Gary Johnson in the dug out. At the time we didn't know it but a few days later Johnson was on his way out and Darren Ferguson was on his way back to London Road. In January I also made my first trip to Thetford Town where they drew 2-2 with Ipswich Wanderers in a game that went on for ages thanks to the floodlights packing in.

February - Wind and rain
The bad weather was back in February with yet more cancellations happening. The highlight of the month was a fine win for Ely City over CRC, where the wind assisted the team more than a little bit.

March - FA Vase and a lack of goals
The highlight of the month was definitely seeing King's Lynn beat Rye in the FA Vase with Robbie Harris providing the heroics with a brace in extra time that finally sunk the plucky visitors. I also saw Rocester put three past the now defunct Friar's Lane and Epworth. It wasn't all fun at the Unwin though as Ely followed up a 0-0 draw with Wroxham at the end of February with a 0-0 draw with Norwich United at the start of March.

April - Ely bonanza and the right royal skive
April saw Ely play 4 home games as the bad weather earlier in the season led to a number of rearranged games. It was that time of the season when the teams like Ely in mid-table were looking knackered. However, Ely put in some great performances at the Unwin and started off the month with a 4-1 win over Brantham and ended it with a 3-1 win over Great Yarmouth. Sandwiched between this was a couple of draws, but it meant that the Robins finished the season on a high and Josh Bridgeman showed us what he was capable of after breaking into the team. The only thing that spoilt it for Ely was some ridiculous refereeing in the Yarmouth game that saw Ben Lawrence get sent off. Apart from all the Ely games the Royal wedding allowed me to go to a Thursday night game in Lynn where the Linnets beat Rothwell Corinthians 3-0 despite not really getting out of first gear.

May - Play off excitement and the double headed weekend
The month started off with Villa v Wigan in what was my first trip to Villa Park of the year. The game ended in a disappointing 1-1 draw and saw Charles N'Zogbia score for Wigan. Despite signing for Villa in the summer that was the last time that he scored at Villa Park! The day after I completed a double header of a weekend by going to Ebbsfleet V Chelmsford on a 'work' trip and saw the Fleet clinch a place in the Blue Square South Play-off final. It was a great day out and a great weekend as double headers are a thing of rare beauty (apart from in Ukraine where we had them all the time). The play off atmosphere at Ebbsfleet was to be outdone on a noisy night out in Peterborough where Posh booked their place in the League one final after beating MK Dons. The story seems to have a happy ending too, as both teams seem to be holding their own in the Conference and Championship respectively.

June - No football
There wasn't any football in June.

July - Pre-season in Ely
The performances were encouraging, but the 1-1 draw with King's Lynn was probably the pick of the pre-season action in July. It was good to see Brady Stone back, but it has since become apparent that he won't be featuring much. The signs though were encouraging, but perhaps didn't hint at how good Ely were going to be this season.

August - The Emirates, Palace's panto villains and Diss get destroyed
August started with a trip to the Emirates in the pre-season Emirates tournament where we saw Boca Juniors take on PSG and Arsenal play New York Red Bulls. PSG looked fantastic and destroyed Boca. Although they were already there it was before the Arab money had turned the club into another media circus, and with Kevin Gameiro and Neeskens Kebano it looked like they had a good enough squad without buying the big names they are now being linked with. In the other game Arsenal looked like they were going to struggle, which they did at the start of the season before Van Persie started working his magic. A week later the real football kicked off and Posh beat Palace in a game where Glenn Murray and Darren Ambrose seemed to be playing the role of panto villains. Elsewhere I went with Beer Can to Cambridge v Telford and saw an Ely reserves game as well as two first team games that saw the Robins beat Diss 4-0 and then 2-0.

September - Cup goals galore
The month started off with a 2-0 win for Thetford in FA Vase and was then followed by a league game between Ely and Newmarket, which Ely won 2-1, but weren't that convincing in, but after that the Robins have hardly looked back. A few days after the Newmarket game the Robins drew 1-1 away to Needham Market of the Ryman League when Austen Diaper scored a last gasp equaliser. Ely gave the Market men a run for their money in the replay, but finally lost 4-3 in extra time with the post saving the visitors twice in the closing seconds of stoppage time. A week later Ely were away to March in the league cup. This time the game went to extra time, but Taz Chisonga saved the day and Ely won 4-2. It went to extra time again, but at least neither of the games went to penalties.

October - More goals
Ely made up for the blip in the previous season where there were very few goals with a flurry of goals this season and October really saw the goals begin to flow. The month started off with a 4-3 win over Haverhill and the next game I went to was a 3-3 draw at CRC. A few days later the Robins only beat Wivenhoe 1-0 and we felt hard done by. They made up for it a couple of days later by beating Over Sports 3-2. Elsewhere we saw Villa lose to West Brom in a game where Roy Hodgson moaned about everything after despite his horrible team getting the result. I finished off the month with a trip to Thetford where the home team beat Halstead 5-0 in a very one sided affair.

November - Winding down a bit
In November I had to miss some of the action as I was in Croatia and was also aware that I had to work a few Saturday's in December. My last Ely home game was a 4-2 win over Gorleston on bonfire night and my last trip to the Unwin of the year was a reserves game a week later where they lost 1-0 to Leverington Sport. That was a bad tempered game where the ref didn't even get his card out for GBH. The other game I went to in November was a 1-1 draw in the Championship between Peterborough and Middlesbrough.

December - the one game wonder
In December, as I said I have had a load of work on, so the only game I got to was Posh's victory over Coventry that you can read about in a few posts previously.

The rest of the season?
A year ago or even at the start of the season it would have been difficult to predict such a good season for Ely or Thetford. At present Ely are in third and the hope is that they can finish in this position or even higher. After a fantastic start to the season Thetford must be favourites to go up. Elsewhere King's Lynn will be looking to put the disappointment of coming second despite getting 100 points last season and to push forward with a promotion and Peterborough will hopefully finish mid-table and push on from there.

End of year round up - the teams

2011-12-28T14:15:00.002Z

Here is a record of the top ten teams on results of games I was at in 2011.

1 Ely City
P 23 W 12 D 8 L 3 F 48 A 30 Pts 44

2 Thetford Town
P 4 W 3 D 1 L 0 F 10 A 2 Pts 10

3 Peterborough United
P 5 W 3 D 1 L 1 F 8 A 9 Pts 10

4 King's Lynn Town
P 3 W 2 D 1 L 0 F 7 A 2 Pts 7

5 Needham Market
P 2 W 1 D 1 L 0 F 5 A 4 Pts 4

6 Mildenhall Town
P 2 W 1 D 1 L 0 F 5 A 4 Pts 4

7 Fulham
P 1 W 1 D 0 L 0 F 6 A 2 Pts 3

8 Paris Saint-Germain
P 1 W 1 D 0 L 0 F 3 A 0 Pts 3

9 Rocester
P 1 W 1 D 0 L 0 F 3 A 0 Pts 3

10 Biggleswade Town
P 1 W 1 D 0 L 0 F 2 A 0 Pts 3

Most goals in a match = 8 on 8 January Fulham 6 Peterborough United 2 (FA Cup Round 3)

Biggest home win = Thetford Town 5 Halstead Town 0 on 29 October (Eastern Counties League Division 1)

Biggest away win = March Town United 2 Ely City 4 on 27 September (Eastern Counties League Cup Preliminary Round)

End of year round up - the stadiums

2011-12-28T14:04:00.002Z

Well after a couple of quiet months, I still managed to get to 43 games and see 133 goals in 2011. The most notable thing about the year is perhaps that it is the first year since 1994 that I haven't visited a foreign stadium.

I'll get on with a full review of the year after looking at the stadiums and the teams performances of the year.

1 The Unwin Ground, Ely (Ely City) 21 games
2 Mundford Road, Thetford (Thetford Town) 4 games
3 London Road, Peterborough (Peterborough United) 4 games
4 The Walks, Kings Lynn (Kings Lynn Town) 2 games
5 Villa Park, Birmingham (Aston Villa) 2 games
6 The Emirates Stadium, London (Arsenal) 2 games
7 The Abbey Stadium, Cambridge (Cambridge United and CRC) 2 games
8 Craven Cottage, London (Fulham) 1 game
9 Recreation Way, Mildenhall (Mildenhall Town) 1 game
10 Hillsfield, Rocester (Rocester) 1 game
11 Stonebridge Road, Northfleet (Ebbsfleet United) 1 game
12 Bloomfields, Needham Market (Needham Market) 1 game
13 GER Ground, March (March Town United) 1 game

Posh grind out a win

2011-12-18T12:32:00.002Z

Yesterday Peterborough took on bottom side Coventry City in the Championship and got their first clean sheet of the season, it wasn't all good news though, although after a run of bad results it was pretty critical that Posh got the three points.

The first 20 minutes were not a typical performance by Posh with both sides looking reluctant to go forward and a Lee Tomlin shot that went wide being the only chance either side got in this period of play.

For the rest of the first half the better chances went to Coventry, who despite having the chances never really looked like scoring. Lukas Jutkiewicz and Cyrus Christie both had good chances for the Sky Blues, but they definitely lacked a bit of bite at the end and the target man Clive Platt looked like a poor man's Emile Heskey, he really was that bad. Peterborough meanwhile lacked a creative spark and with the absence of Grant McCann, who is injured, Emile Sinclair failed to get much service and when he did he showed a poor first touch.

The second half was quite a different matter fortunately and Peterborough looked a lot more creative and domineering going forward. This was helped by Paul Talylor coming on for Lee Frecklington on 47 minutes. Everybody was wondering why Taylor hadn't started and his introduction really did make a huge difference. The team was transformed and Posh started to create chance after chance most of them being created by Taylor. Finally Peterborough made the break through on 66 minutes when Taylor squared the ball to Sinclair who fired home to put Posh one up. Sinclair could have been 2 up when Sinclair had another gilt edged chance but it wasn't to be. Posh continued to push for a second, but Coventry were far from out of the game and towards the end could have easily equalised Bell, Wood and Christie all came close in the last couple of minutes and in the last minute our hearts were well and truly in our mouths when Gary Gardner hit the post and on the 3rd minute of stoppage time Jutkiewicz was cleared off the line by Gabriel Zakuani.

Posh held on to get the points, but Lee Tomlin joined the injury list which includes Grant McCann and it could be a worry, as the midfield attacking positions have been what have helped Posh get goals this season. Despite a clean sheet and some great performances in defence by Gabriel Zakuani and Ryan Bennett; and Joe Lewis being back to top form in the Posh nets, they going to have to be more resilient against the better clubs in the division.

The picture at the top shows Sinclair scoring the winner for Posh.

Some bad pictures from a frozen London Road

2011-12-18T12:16:00.005Z

Yesterday we went to Peterborough United V Coventry City. Here are some not very good pictures from the day, but it was that cold I have an excuse for freezing hands.

Here are a couple of pictures of Posh warming up:

The teams line up:

Some blurred match action:

Coventry City Shirt History

2011-12-11T15:10:00.017Z

Next Saturday we are off to London Road again, this time Posh are taking on one of my least favourite teams of all time; Coventry City, who were strangely the first team I saw playing against Stoke at the old Victoria Ground in 1983.

Anyway, it's not looking good for the Sky Blues this season, as they currently sit at the bottom of the Championship and all doesn't seem well at the club, it hasn't always been like this though.

Coventry were formed as Singers after the factory that made bicycles in the City in 1883. Their original kit was thought to be pink like the colours of the factory, there is also evidence that the Sky Blues wore sky blue in this period too, but that may have been a change shirt. One of the earliest shirts on record was a number that mixed both blue and pink, which dates back to 1889.

From 1890 to 1891 Singers adopted a black strip with a pink 'S' on the breast to represent the factory.

During the next few years Singers donned a black and red number before settling on dark and light blue halves in 1898 when they changed their name to Coventry City.

They kept this shirt until 1904 and then experimented with kits that mixed dark blue, sky blue and white. In 1919 when the football league was expanded Coventry were admitted and at the time adopted sky blue and white stripes.

The first few years for Coventry were a struggle as they tried to hang on to league survival. However, they were clearly starting to feel like they were representing the city as between 1892 and 1894 they adopted the municipal colours of the city, a rather fetching red and green number.

From 1924 to 1962 Coventry didn't do much of note rather than kick around in the lower divisions of the league and during this period they wore blue and white stripes. Things were about to change for Coventry though. Jimmy 'Chinny' Hill was brought in as manager and things were transformed. Firstly, he introduced the sky
blue kit (and introduced the nickname) that has more or less become synonymous with the club, he also got the maximum wage abolished, introduced the version of the 'Eton Boat Song' that Coventry still thing, encouraged the players to mix with the fans and later was the driving force that saw Highfield Road become the first all seater stadium in the country.

In 1964 Coventry were promoted from the 3rd division on the last day of the season and in 1967 they reached the first division and for the first time they were in the top tier of English football. Hill left for a career in TV on their promotion but Coventry were to remain in the top division until 2001.

During this period they released a couple of interesting kits. There was the sky blue first and brown second shirts of 1975-1978 that have become cult classics.

And then there was also the controversial Talbot kit of 1981 to 1983, which used the Talbot logo as part of the 'design' in order to get round rules over the size of sponsors on shirts.

Shortly after this they changed to a more sensible if unoriginal sky blue number that like a lot of shirts of the mid 1980s had the same colour in two different shade. This shirt being the same one as the one they were wearing in the first game I ever went to.

Coventry's greatest achievement came in 1987 when they won the FA Cup beating Spurs 3-2 with a Keith Houchen diving header.

In 2001 Coventry were, after years of hanging on in the top division, relegated by their ex-player Dion Dublin in a game against Villa, a team that they always found it hard to get any result against. It was an impressive record, but they haven't looked like coming back at any point since dropping out.

In 2005 Coventry left their Highfield Road stadium for the Ricoh Stadium. Since then they haven't worried the play off places, and are looking in real trouble this season in this kit, which is a more or less carbon copy of the one Jimmy Hill introduced.

Quiet time

2011-12-11T15:07:00.002Z

Well like the last couple of years November and December are proving to be a quiet period in the season. Unlike the last two years, it isn't because the weather is bad and that there are no matches on, but rather that after the last couple of years I decided to do some extra work on Saturdays in anticipation that most of the matches would be off.

Borough and Boro deadlock

2011-11-27T18:37:00.003Z

Yesterday we went to London Road for the clash in the Championship between Peterborough and Middlesbrough. The first half was a bit of a disappointment. Middlesbrough are clearly a decent team and should be looking at a play-off place at the least. They were clearly the stronger side in the first half but they didn't really look like scoring, although Peterborough seemed keen to give them a helping hand with some shocking blunders in defence. That's perhaps a bit unfair as the Posh defence saw a lot of the ball in the first period with them unable to get the ball out of defence. Anyway, the half drew to an end with neither side scoring, which wasn't helped by a whistle happy ref.

The second half was a lot better, but it was Boro rather than Borough who scored first with Matthew Bates putting the visitors ahead with a header on 58 minutes. Posh fought back though and Boyd and Tomlin both came close only to be denied by Jason Steele in the Boro goal. Grant McCann had a go at several set pieces in dangerous positions, but it wasn't to be his day as most of the shots were off target with the closest him coming to the goal being a shot that hit the post. Borough finally got back into the match on 82 minutes when a superb shot from Paul Taylor flew in from the right to go into the top left corner of the goal. And that's how it finished 1-1, a bad first half, but a decent enough second half made good by Posh's never say die attitude.

Park life

2011-11-13T12:14:00.004Z

Yesterday Ely were away to Brantham and the only game nearby seemed to be March v Cornard, so I decided to go to watch the reserves play Leverington Sport in the first round of the Cliff Bullan Challenge Cup. Basically it was a glorified park game. It's not often you see a right back having a fag as the game kicks off or hear a referee say 'get up you tart' when a player gets down easily,but as I still needed to pay £2.50 to go in I think that it counts as a game.

The game though was big on commitment. Ely's centre halves managed to keep Leverington at bay for most of the first half. They had a few chances themselves, but never really threatened to score. The Ely Reserves keeper did well and could perhaps step up if Lee Pacey does leave the first team. Ely didn't manage to hold on until half time though and Leverington went ahead on 41 minutes.

At half time I spoke to a couple of the A-Team players who had been playing against Cherry Hinton and had lost 8-1. It sounds like the referee had been card happy in that game with 2 sending offs and about 8 bookings. The same couldn't be said about the refereeing in the Reserves game though.

Leverington started off brightly enough in the second half, but Ely soon had them under pressure. The Leverington defence and midfield seemed able to mop up the pressure, although they were coming close to losing their cool. In fact the Leverington number 7 at times looked like he should have been cast in the prison team in 'Mean Machine' after two tackles on the Ely left back that looked designed to break his leg the left back 'accidentally' stamped on him. This ended up in some squaring up and I thought that the Leverington lad was about to throw a punch. The ref's answer: 'Shake hands'. I may have been critical of refs being too strict lately, but that was a bit too much.

Anyway, the game ended 1-0 to Leverington, which was probably fair. Ely had perhaps most of the play, but Leverington had the better chances including hitting the cross bar in the early encounters of the second half. They might have been a bit thuggish at times, but the visitors obviously want to do well in this trophy and showed a level of commitment that was higher than in the game between England and Spain in the evening. Well, the first half of the England game, as I didn't see the second half as I was at the fireworks.

Comeback Kings

2011-11-06T12:57:00.002Z

Yesterday Ely took on Gorleston and as has been usual of late there were plenty of goals.

Gorleston were quick out of the blocks and Lee Pacey had to get down well to block a Gorleston shot on 3 minutes. Ely soon got back into the swing of things though and Adam Wallis was unlucky to shoot wide. This led to a sustained period of pressure by Ely, but the Gorleston defence were fairly resolute and the attackers looked dangerous on the counter attack. On 20 minutes the visitors caught the Ely defence napping and were 1-0 up.

Ely continued to pile on the pressure and Gorleston continued to mop it up and on 38 minutes things went from bad to worse for the Robins when a well worked move from the Gorleston players led to a second goal and it looked like Ely would be lucky to get anything out of the game. If they were to get anything it was probably necessary that they got something in the first half.

Luckily Ely did strike back quickly and a Ben Lawrence throw was flicked on by Adam Murray and Luke Parkinson was on hand to prod home. 2-1 at half time might not have been to bad for Ely, but they managed to do better than that and get back on level terms before the break. Just one minute after getting Ely's first goal Luke Parkinson managed to win the ball just in Gorleston's half to run down the left and slot the ball home to make it 2-2.

Ely started the second half looking to get ahead for the first time in the game and Luke Parkinson could have had his hat trick in the first minute if the ball hadn't gone just wide. On 48 minutes Chadwick had a chance of a tap in, but he somehow managed to hit the post when it would have been easier to score.

At the time it looked like Ely might live to regret those chances when the Gorleston number 7 had two great chances on 51 and 57 minutes, but on both occasions he couldn't keep his balance and put the ball wide.

The Robins did finally get the lead though on 61 minutes when a goal line scramble from a corner was prodded home. It was difficult to see who got the last touch, but I think that it was Adam Wallis.

After surrendering a 2 goal lead to go 3-2 down Gorleston were obviously feeling dejected and Ely started to really dominate. Chadwick came close on 69, but the ball was not going in the net for him on the day. Ely did get another goal though when on 79 Ely were awarded a penalty for a hand ball in the box. I don't know what the statistics are, but I think that Ely have probably been given more penalties than any other club in the league, but have also probably got the worst conversion rate. Therefore nobody looked like they were willing to take it and the crowd were suggesting that Lee Pacey should abandon his goal and take it. In the end Josh Bridgeman showed the courage and converted with a well taken penalty.

In the last 10 minutes Gorleston seemed to wake up, however they didn't really threaten the Ely goal, so thankfully we didn't have our hearts in our mouths and luckily the referee ignored a couple of ludicrous penalty appeals by Gorleston. Another game and another 6 goals at the Unwin. Ely 4 Gorleston 2

Blakey and his magic boots

2011-10-30T13:25:00.003Z

Yesterday I went to see Thetford play Halstead in Divsion 1 of the Eastern Counties League. Going into the game Thetford had played 8 and won 8 in the league and are also still in the FA Vase having beaten Premier League high-flyers Dereham 3-0 away in the last round. Considering that they have gone on this run without centre forward Matt Blake or winger Bruno Tavares playing much of a role is even more impressive. Both Blake and Tavares were back for the game, but as Halstead themselves had a record in the league of won 5 drawn 2 and lost 1 it didn't look like it was going to be a pushover.

The game started off with both teams appearing to be fairly equal, although Thetford had the best of the early chances. A speculative shot by Bruno Tavares on 7 minutes nearly went in over the keepers head and Matt Blake had the ball in the net on 11 minutes, but was offside. Matt Dixon, who in Blakes absence has scored 7 league goals and 7 cup goals came close 26 minutes and hit the crossbar.

Just 1 minute later Thetford took the lead. As Blake got onto the end of a long pass from Tom Cusack to beat the keeper. What made the goal even more special was that Blakey had a broken stud when he scored and had been about to change his boots before running on to score. As soon as he did score he changed his boots got back up got on the end of a ball through by Tavares and it was 2-0 just before the half hour mark.

On 36 minutes Bruno Tavares ran through the Halstead defence and could have crossed to give Blake a hat-trick, but instead slotted the ball in the bottom corner to give Thetford a comfortable 3-0 lead.

You felt that Halstead might have got back in the game in the second half, but just 3 minutes in and Matt Blake crossed from the right, it looked like the ball had eluded everyone, but Tom Cusack was galloping in from midfield and connected with it to go 4-0 ahead.

Thetford weren't finished yet though as on 63 minutes Blake somehow got the ball in the back of the net to make it 5-0 and to make his personal record for the season so far played 2 scored 5.

That was it as far as the goal scoring went, but in true Eastern Counties League Fashion Thetford continued to try to score. Sean O'Donnell had the ball in the backl of the goal on 79, but was offside. Not a lot happened in the last 10 minutes, but who can blame them for sitting back a bit.

Club Focus - Halstead Town

2011-10-27T10:13:00.003+01:00

On Saturday I will hopefully going to see Thetford take on Halstead Town in Division 1 of the Eastern Counties League.

Halstead town at first glance look like they are probably a pretty likeable team, who can't like a team that where quartered shirts like it's still the nineteenth Century? Their record in the Eastern Counties League and the way they lurch from unparalleled success to abject failure also endears them. At the moment they are in one of their boost rather than boom periods. That said I shouldn't get my hopes up too much, as they will perhaps turn out to be an objectionable bunch as teams who wear black and white quite often do!

Halstead were formed in 1879, but due to the relative geographical isolation of the town only played friendlies until they were admitted to the North Essex League in 1894. Their first piece of silverware coming 8 years later when they beat Chingford in the final of the 1902 Essex Junior Cup.

After this early success Halstead flirted with various different local leagues until the end of World War II when they added Town to their name and joined the Essex & Suffolk Border League. During this period they also moved to their Rosemary Lane Ground that they still play at, although in the first season they had no changing rooms and had to change in a local hardware store. They also went on to win division 1 in 1950 and 1952.

In 1958 after promotion to the Premier Division they won the league and the league cup beating Lakenheath 11-4 over two legs in the final. They also went on to win the league in 1969 and 1978 before joining the Essex Senior League in 1980.

In 1988 Halstead joined the newly formed division 1 of the Eastern Counties League. In the first season they finished 2nd and were promoted to the Premier Division. In 1994 they finished runners up in the league and beat Canvey Island 2-0 to claim the Essex Senior Trophy. In 1995 and 1996 they finished top of the league and in 1996 managed the double after beating Fakenham 4-0 in the League Cup Final. They didn't build on this success by applying for promotion and just a few years later in 2001 they were again relegated to the first division. They didn't hang round with rebuilding yet again though as in 2003 they won Division 1 and the Division 1 Cup. It now seemed that Halstead were building momentum again and in 2005 they won the league, but in true Halstead fashion they were relegated again in 2007. They have been in Division 1 since then.

Hibernian shirt history

2011-10-26T11:24:00.011+01:00

Hibernian at the moment seem intent on bringing out even more shirts than Borussia Dortmund, so it seemed like a good idea to have a look at their history of their shirts.
Recently they brought out a shirt to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their Scottish League Cup Final victory over Dunfermiline.

The shirt appears to be pretty accurate, despite being made by a different manufacturer and the original can be seen below, as worn by Keith Wright scoring in the 2-0 victory over the Pars.

That said it all seems like a bit of a con for the Hi-Bees faithful with them also having a new home and away kit and a third kit. What they need to have a third kit for is anybody's guess, but they have brought out the lilac effort below that was worn in a home game a couple of weeks ago agianst Motherwell. They lost and Motherwell also wore their away kit.

The lilac kit has been advertised by the manufacturers as a homage to yesteryear, but Hibs, who were formed in 1875 first wore a white shirt with a white harp and white and green trousers. The players were responsible for providing their own kit and a cap too.

The team of 1875 grew up in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, which due to its high number of Irish immigrants in the area, hence the harp on the shirt and the club motto of 'Erin Go Bach' (Ireland forever). The first manager of the club was a Father Hannan of the local St.Patrick's church and it was soon decided that any profits from the club would be drilled back into the local, impoverished community. However, the club were banned from having any contact at all with members of the Scottish FA, but Heart of Midlothian broke the embargo by playing them on Christmas Day 1875.

In 1876 Hibs had adopted a green and white hooped shirt and were allowed into the Scottish FA. Hears perhaps regreted their friendly gesture though, as one year later Hibs knocked them out of the Scottish FA Cup and the first of many punch-ups between the clubs broke out.

In 1879 Hibs adopted an all green shirt that would form the basis of the kit until the 1930s although they regular changed the colour of the shorts mainly alternating between white and blue ones.

By 1887 Hibernian were considered one of the elite clubs in Scotland and in that year they won the Scottish FA Cup. This formed the catalyst for 'Hibernian' clubs to be set up by Irish communities across the country. One notable Hibernian club of the period being the Glasgow one, which became Celtic, who were formed by a Father Walfrid. Celtic as they were to become though actually served a few blows to their Edinburgh brothers, as despite being founded on the same altruistic ideology Celtic even then were much more commercial. By the following year Celtic had 'stolen' Hibernian's best players and the Edinburgh club was in meltdown.

In 1891 the lease ran out on their ground so as well as losing players they also lost their ground at the start of the year. In May their manager Father Hannon died and the club wound up. In 1892 the club was back up and running though and in February 1893 the club played their first game at Drum Park, which is on the same site as their Easter Road Ground, a makeshift team losing 3-2 to Clyde. In 1902 they won the Scottish FA Cup and in 1903 they won the League.

Just before the outbreak of World War II the Hi-bees introduced the white sleeves to their green shirts in honour of the Arsenal team of the period.

It seemed to do the trick as the post-war period was the most successful in the history of the club. They won the league in 1948, 51 and 52 and in 1955 became the first British club to take part in the European Champions Cup.

The next piece of silverware after these heady days came in 1972 when they won the league cup wearing this kit.

The 1980s were a lean spell for the Edinburgh club, but after bouncing back Hibs managed to win the League Cup in 1991, were runners up in 1993 and finished 3rd in 1994. In 1998 Hibs were relegated but in 2001 they reached the SFA Cup Final with Alex McLeish's Hibs going down 3-0 to Martin O'Neill's Celtic.

Not much good has happened since then unfortunately. This season the team are wearing the kit below, if they aren't wearing a commemorative shirt that is.

Aston Villa legends

2011-10-24T15:34:00.004+01:00

A new feature in the Villa programme is where fans choose their team of Aston Villa players from the ages. I also spent many a cold winter night debating this over a bottle of cheap brandy in Kyiv and on the what now seem like prehistoric internet chat sites of a decade or so ago.

After having a decent think of it here is mine.

Goal Keeper: Nigel Spink 361 Villa League appearances (0 League goals)1977 - 1996

Spinky joined Villa from non-league Chelmsford City when he was only 18 years old. He had to wait nearly 5 years until he made his debut though, and what a debut it was. He came off the bench, well legend has it he was actually having a hot dog in the stand to make his Villa debut in the European Cup Final in 1982, which Villa went on to win 1-0 against Bayern Munich, which was thanks in no small part to his goalkeeping prowess.

He went on to become a regular in the Villa team for the best part of 14 years and the poster I had of him on the wall nearly faded out.

After Villa he went on to play for West Brom where at 39 years old he became their oldest goalkeeper ever. I also caught up with him when he was Forest Green manager in a game against Burton Albion. Nowadays he's a gaolkeeping coach at Sunderland.

Right Back: Chris Price 111 (2) 1988 - 1992

Villa have had some decent right backs in the past, but unfortunately I'm too young to remember some of the legends and have therefore opted for Chris Price. He hardly ever missed a game in his 4 years at Villa, which were sandwiched between 2 spells at Blackburn. He was also one of those full backs that loved to get forward, which was a bit more unusual then and unlike a lot of today's full backs who love to get forward he could defend as well. He always gave 100% to the team and he had no hair and we didn't care.

Nowadays he lives in Australia and in January miraculously survived being washed out to sea.

Left Back: Colin Gibson 185 (10) 1978 - 1985

Colin Gibson was a member of the Villa team that won the league in 1981 and the European Cup in 1982. It was a close call between him and Tony Dorigo. Since the days of Gibson and Dorigo the number 3 shirt at Villa seems to have been cursed with Mark Delaney and Freddy Boume suffering from horrendous injuries and Stephen Warnock suffering from the curse of Gerard Houllier. That's not to take anything away from Gibson who had his best years at Villa before going on to play for Man United and Leicester City, where he played under another Villa legend: Brian Little.

Centre Back: Allan Evans 380 (51) 1977-1989

Alan Evans was what is known as an old fashioned centre half in era when defenders were men with feminine hairstyles Evans was a colossus and great leader of the club. He also had a fantastic record from the penalty spot that most people have forgotten about, if goalkeepers got in the way they usually found themselves in the back of the net too.
He was also an ever present on the bedroom wall of my childhood, wore brilliant sweat bands and looked decidedly hungover whenever the Villa News & Record took photos of training sessions.

Centre Back: Paul McGrath 252 (9) 1989 - 1996

Paul McGrath started his professional career at Man United, however the drinking culture that grew up amongst McGrath, Norman Whiteside and Bryan Robson led to Alex Ferguson getting rid of Macca. That's the biggest mistake he made. Despite recurring knee problems and a severe booze problem McGrath at Villa became the best centre half in the world, possibly ever. As well as being an inspiration at Villa until his knees finally gave in and he was put out to pasture at Derby the big man was also inspirational for Ireland in the 1990 and 1994 world cups. Still the hero of Villa fans and still known as God by the Holte End and so good they put him on the stamps in Ireland there was no way he wasn't going to make this team.

Midfielder: Tony Daley 233 (31) 1985 - 1994

Tony Daley used to go down the Villa wing like a torpedo and although maligned by pundits at the time was a player of mercurial if sometimes maverick skills. He won the League Cup with Villa in 1994 and almost scored, hitting the post before Dalian Atkinson drilled home.

The first time I came across TD he was a youth player and collecting money outside the ground for charity. The first time he came to the wider public's attention was probably when he scored a ridiculous bicycle kick for Villa in a 2-0 win against Everton from a cross so good by Chris Price that he celebrated it on his own. I also remember him going on a mazey run in a 6-2 drubbing of Everton where he beat the whole team of Toffees to slot home. Howard Wilkinson's response: 'he should have passed that'!

TD later went on to play for Wolves, but his speed had gone as I told Clint Poppie when I saw him pogoing around a nightclub in a Wolves shirt shortly after his defection. He also ended up at Forest Green with Spinky.

Midfielder: Gordon Cowans 288 (42) 1976 - 1985 and 117 (7) 1988 - 1991

Sid Cowans is a legend to all Villa fans and although he played for several clubs he always remained a favourite of the Holte End. A member of the Championship and European Cup winning team, he returned to Villa after a spell at Bari to help them climb up the table under Graham Taylor in his impressive first spell as manager of the club.

Midfielder: Tony Morley 137 (25)

Tony Morley is yet another member of the team that won the league and the European Cup. He played for several clubs during his career, most notably West Brom. However it was at Villa where his wing play was the most effective. He set up the goal that Peter Withe scored in the European Cup Final and in 1981 won the goal of the season.

Midfielder: Ashley Young 157 (30) 2007 - 2011

OK so Ashley Young is still playing and left the Villa, but we had some good times and he really was part of the Villa revolution under Lerner and O'Neill, which now seems to be ages ago. I wish he was still at Villa, but at the same time I still hope he goes from strength to strength and does well for the national team. Does anybody remember when Messrs Hansen, Shearer and especially Lineker mocked O'Neill for calling him a genius after one especially impressive performance against Everton? Well at least he's making those tools swallow their words.

Forward: Peter Withe 182 (74) 1980 - 1985

He might have played for a myriad of clubs but he was responsible for the greatest moment in Villa's history scoring that goal in Rotterdam in 1982. There was no way he couldn't have made this team. The number of times we have drunkenly tried to relive that moment in replica shirts from the final doesn't bear thinking about.

Forward: Gabby Agbonlahor 2005 -

The only current Villa to make the team. Given a couple of years Petrov, Dunne and Bent might come into consideration, but it's Gabby who has always shown willingness and loyalty to the Villa, has scored some cracking goals and has been willing to play anywhere and be patient when he is out of the team.

Peter Withe's goal in the European Cup Final:

Tony Morley's goal of the season 1980-81

Homage to Tony Daley:

Ashley Young in that game against Everton

Derby Day Blues

2011-10-24T09:50:00.003+01:00

On Saturday we went to the big Derby match of the weekend when Villa took on West Brom at Villa Park. All in all we had a good day out, although the result wasn't great and the refereeing from Phil Dowd would have embarrassed a referee at County League level.

Villa started off well enough and dominated the opening exchanges, although N'Zogbia and Hutton quite frankly looked out of their depth even when Villa were fully in control of the game. Villa duly took the lead when Gabby Agbonlahor was fouled in the box (the foul is shown at the top of the page) and Darren Bent popped the penalty away in style to make it 1-0 on 23 minutes.

Villa were looking comfortable, but seemed to lack the creativity of a wide man, whether N'Zogbia really is out of his depth or Mc.Leish and his disregard of the Villa tradition of exciting wing play is the problem only time will tell.

Baggies had felt aggrieved on 19 minutes when Shane Long limped off after a tackle from Alan Hutton, I think he got the ball, but it was a bit reckless and to be honest along with N'Zogbia he seemed like the weakest link as he seemed to panic every time Baggies were on the attack. That said Bannan and Petrov were controlling midfield and Dunne and Collins looked solid enough in defence; Agbonlahor was causing problems to the Baggies defence and Bent despite missing some good chances was at least in the right place.

All that changed though on 36 minutes when Chris Herd was sent off. As I was in the North Stand and it happened at the Holte End we presumed that he had done something diabolical, but as it happened Phil Dowd decided that he would send him off for apparently no reason at all and give the Baggies a penalty. It wasn't enough of a favour for Baggies though, well not yet, as Chris Brunt took probably one of the worst penalties I have ever seen and blasted the ball high and wide. You have to also remember that most weeks I watch Step 5 football at a club with the worst penalty conversions in their league and even some of their bloopers weren't as bad as Brunt's effort.

The sense of shadenfreude wasn't to last though as on 41 minutes Villa's Laurel and Hardy aka Hutton and N'Zogbia clumsily clashed heads. Some good came of it though as Carlos Cuellar replaced Hutton and it was great to see the Spaniard back and he did do a lot better job of being the right back for the remainder of the game. There was more pain to come though when Baggies equalised on the stroke of half time when left back Jonas Olsson, who is rapidly becoming one of my least favourite players out jumped the Villa defence and slotted home an equaliser.

I had thought that Villa if they could have held until half time might have regrouped and manage to battle on, but the equaliser and the sending off meant that it was always going to be hard. Solomen Tchoyi, who replaced the injured Shane Long was looking more effective than the man he had replaced and Shay Given was going to have to be on top form. Luckily Given was, but as the Olsson goal illustrated despite being one of the best shot stoppers in the game he is a bit dodgy on crosses.

The second half got under way and Villa were under the cosh from the off. The sending off meant that they started to bypass midfield and Barry Bannan and Stylian Petrov were clearly feeling the pressure. Tchoyi continued to press and Dunne, Collins and Cuellar, who despite playing really well was lacking match fitness were under constant pressure. Inevitably Baggies scored through a crossed ball to Paul Scharner on 57 minutes.

If Villa were going to get back into the game there was going to need to be a bit of creativity in midfield and a bit of play down the wings, luckily Marc Albrighton was warming up, but unluckily Mc.Leish decided to put Heskey on.

Villa did buck up a bit and Albrighton did come on on 78 minutes and made a difference after Barry Bannan had ran himself into the ground, but playing for the best part of the game with 10 men and Mc.Leish continuing to play without wingers meant that the result went to the Albion. Thanks Phil Dowd for ruining the game and Alex Mc.Leish, the wingless play may have got a result against Wigan, but it can't continue. N'Zogbia and Ireland, who have been so disappointing for Villa might stand a chance if we played to their strengths and why not use Albrighton more?

Photos from Villa V Baggies

2011-10-24T09:44:00.002+01:00

West Bromwich Albion shirt history

2011-10-20T21:08:00.014+01:00

On Saturday I'm going to my first Premier League game of the season when Villa take on West Brom in what is the derby game now that the Blues have gone. They might be the local neighbours and Villa's traditional enemy, but it's certainly worth looking at their history.

West Bromwich Albion started off as West Bromwich Strollers when they were formed as a team for the George Salter Spring's Works in 1878. They got the name Strollers allegedly after they walked to Wednesbury to buy a football so that they could play. Their first strip was the rather fetching white shirt with a blue sash and hat a baggy trousers shown below. However, they didn't get their nickname 'The Baggies' from this strip rather it was from when their fans turned up to Villa straight from work wearing the baggy aprons of the metal works that got them the name not long after their inception.

Their next change of kit came in 1881 when they adopted yellow and white quarters and also wore the Staffordshire not as a badge on their shirt.

After this kit they experimented with a number of different colours in their formative years: red and white hoops between 1882 - 1883; chocolate and white the following season and a very unpopular red and blue between 1884-85, its unpopularity coming from the fact that it looked like a comedy team that performed in the Black Country at the time. In 1885 The Baggies finally settled on the navy blue and white stripes they have more or less worn ever since.

The Baggies first major piece of silverware came in 1888 when they were surprise winners in the FA Cup Final where they beat Preston North End. After winning this they had the chance to become the 'World Champions' when they took on Renton of Scotland, however it wasn't to be and the team from North of the border won 4-1. They were also not surprisingly invited to become founder members of the league.

In 1900 Albion moved to the Hawthornes, where they started out life in the kit shown below.

In 1919 Baggies won the League for the first time in their history and what is up to now their last time.

West Brom were relegated in 1927, but they came back in 1931 and also celebrated by beating Birmingham to lift the FA Cup. For the game they wore a special crest on the badge that resembled a deer even though they had had the nickname the Throstles since the early days when they had a pet bird at the club it wasn't for ages that they would have a thrush on the team shirts.

They were back at Wembley in 1935 for the FA Cup Final and again had a special crest designed for the shirt, but this time they lost to 4-2 to Sheffield Wednesday.

Just before World War II West Brom were relegated and during the war years they wore a plain blue shirt as they couldn't get the material for the striped shirts.

In 1954 Albion had a bitter sweet season when they nearly won the double. However, they lost the league to bitter rivals Wolves at the the Hawthornes. A week later they lifted the FA Cup by beating Preston North End 3-2.

The next notable trophy for West Brom came in 1966 when they entered the League Cup for the first time and won the whole competition by beating West Ham over two legs.

West Brom's most famous team since then has probably been the team of Viv Anderson, Cyril Regis and Brendan Batson who between 1978-81 reached the UEFA Cup three times and as well as the home shirt shown below also wore the cult classic yellow and green striped shirt shown.

In 1986 West Brom were relegated and have been more or less a bit of a yo-yo team since. In 2000 the throstle appeared on the shirt for the first time.

The shirt for this season is shown below:

Another Tuesday and another cup game

2011-10-19T20:41:00.002+01:00

There's a chill back in the air and the nights are drawing in, so it can only mean one thing, yes the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup is back on the fixture list. Maybe it's not one of the most glamorous competitions in the calendar and the fact that it coincides with a drop in the temperature and is usually on the same night as Champions League games means that attendances aren't great it has a special place in my affections. First of all the mixture of the usual step 5 suspects, glorified pub teams and the local 'big' teams means that there is a chance to see other teams, put a decent run together and get to a few away games at grounds you wouldn't normally visit. The first season I was down here Ely put together a decent run taking in a mammoth comedy of errors and number of games against Great Shelford, a fine win away to Soham and an unlucky defeat at Cambridge City. The last two seasons though have been a bit of a disappointment with a dreadful thrashing by CRC in 2009 being followed by a an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Fulbourn Institute in 2010. One thing to note is that all of the recent cup games all of the 5 games that I have mentioned apart from the CRC game went to extra time.

Last night it was Over Sports who Ely needed to overcome to get into the next round. Ely had to and decided to make several changes but the reserves had recently drawn with Over Sports in the County League, so it should have been a routine win for the Robins, but it was cold and it was the cup so everything pointed to the game going over 90 minutes.

The first 20 minutes saw Ely dominating and looking a lot better than the Over Sports and the unusually vocal support seemed to be spurring the team on. Taz Chisonga was finally given his first start and was causing the defence all sorts of problems and Ryan Cotton, who had an undistinguished spell at the club previously after being released by Peterborough and has more recently been at Soham was impressive at right back, which was just as well as Adam Dalby has just left for Sudbury.

Not surprisingly with all the pressure that Ely were exerting Taz put the Robins ahead with a header on 22 minutes. Ely didn't seem happy with this and pushed for a second, but on 31 minutes with their first foray into the Ely box were awarded a penalty, but it missed and Ely went into the break with a 1-0 lead.

The second half promised to have more of the same and on 53 minutes Nick Impey went on a fine run beating defender after defender before slotting the ball home for a 2-0 win. He could have and perhaps should have squared the ball to Taz, but there was a hint that Taz was offside. After this Ely seemed to calm down a bit. At the same time they looked in control and capable of hitting Over on the break and Ben Lawrence seemed capable of stopping anything that Over threw at the Ely defence and Lee Pacey in goals looked in danger of freezing. So far so good then, but that was about to change.

On 66 minutes Over scored and all of a sudden were back in the match. Ely, as they usually do decided that attack was the best way of defending their lead and it almost paid off. On 70 minutes a nice bit of ball juggling by Nick Impey resulted in a ferocious shot, but it went just wide and then on 74 minutes Austen Diaper almost forced the ball into the goal with his first touch of the game. When Over did get the ball into Ely's half Ben Lawrence still seemed to be blocking them from getting near Pacey's goal. It was too good to last though and on 84 minutes Over equalised and it looked like we were heading for extra time.

The Ely players were obviously as keen for the game not to go into extra time as the fans were though and threw the kitchen sink at getting the job done. And thankfully a blasted shot from David Wilson found the top corner of the goal and Ely were in the next round, we'd seen another 5 goals and it was done in the 90 minutes, well 94 instead of 120.

A home win but less excitement

2011-10-15T20:32:00.002+01:00

Ely took on bottom club Wivenhoe Town at the Unwin today and after the high scoring games of late we were hoping to see the Robins bag a few more today.

The first chance of the game fell to Wivenhoe in the 2nd minute, but after that it was pretty much one way traffic with Ely having all the chances the best of the chances falling to Josh Bridgeman, who hit the post on 20 minutes and then came close again after some fantastic play by David Wilson 4 minutes later. Ely seemed to have corner after corner and shot after shot, but the ball didn't seem to want to go in the goal and Austen Diaper rattled the woodwork on 39 minutes when he hit the crossbar, but at half time it was still somehow 0-0.

Wivenhoe started the second half a bit more livelier and had a few chances in the first 10 minutes after the break, but then Ely got back in the game and finally on 62 minutes they got a goal through a Sam Parkinson penalty. Ely continued to dominate after that, but the game finished 1-0 and was a bit flat in comparison to the high octane games of late.

CRC at the Abbey

2011-10-13T20:32:00.002+01:00

Although it might be known locally as the shabby, Cambridge United's Abbey Stadium feels like Wembley when you are watching Step 5 football. Last night Ely City took on CRC at the Abbey in the Eastern Counties League Premier and again there were plenty of goals and unlike in recent seasons they weren't all in Ely's net.

The game started off in the drizzle and the referee seemed likely to be the star of the game after booking Richard Chadwick for diving in an innocuous looking place on the pitch and stopping the game twice as two Ely players were showing the bottom of black shorts under their red shorts, which must have 'clashed' with the black shorts of CRC. And that was about all that happened in the first 25 minutes. During this period CRC put some nice passes together and Ely showed a decent level of commitment and tenacity, but nobody showed any real ability to put a decent shot on target. Then CRC got a penalty out of nowhere, literally out of nowhere as when the player went down the nearest Ely defender seemed to be a yard away from him. CRC converted the penalty and it was 1-0. Nothing much else happened in the first half, although Diaper had a decent enough chance on 35 minutes that just went wide and the Parkinson brothers put some nice moves together on 40 that could have led to a goal, but didn't.

The second half started off a lot more livelier and Ely pushed for an equaliser with Chadders coming close on 56, but they were struggling against the referee who was being easily hoodwinked by some sneaky moves by the CRC team. However on 62 minutes the referee gave another soft penalty, but this time to Ely. Unfortunately, Luke Parkinson's penalty was saved. Ely continued to press though and one minute later David Wilson scored and it was 1-1.

Things started to be moving in Ely's favour and on 67 minutes one CRC player managed to pick up 2 yellow cards in a minute and the team were down to 10 men. One minute later and Chadders was on target for the Robins to put them 2-1 up.

The lead didn't last for long though and on 70 minutes CRC were back in it when a thunderous shot from distance flew into Ely's goal. There was nothing much that Lee Pacey could have done to stop it and it could quite easily be Eastern Counties league goal of the season. Things were to get even better for CRC and worse for Ely when on 77 a CRC forward, who should have been stopped, found his way into the box and was tripped. They were successful from the spot again and it looked like Ely would be going home without any points.

Ely weren't done for and Taz was on for his super sub role while David Wilson was getting more and more into the game after being away for a few weeks and together the pressure they were exerting on CRC paid off on 88 minutes when Impey slotted home to make it 3-3 and salvage a point.

A good performance, but it does raise the question of when are they going to give Taz a start.

Another goal fest in Ely

2011-10-05T20:41:00.002+01:00

If you have bothered to click on the link below or have already seen the video on Youtube you perhaps don't need to read this report, but hopefully it gives you a better feel for the match from last night when Ely took on Haverhill in what proved to be another match full of goals.

The first 20 minutes were fairly evenly balanced with most of the play being part of a midfield battle. Ely's defence seemed to be able to deal with most of what Haverhill threw at them and Ely seemed to lack a bit of bite with the final threw ball. The two best chances of this period falling to Austen Diaper, who glanced the ball across the goalmouth on 4 minutes and Luke Parkinson who came close with a header on 14.

Ely broke the deadlock on 24 minutes when a brilliant free kick from Adam Dalby on the left was headed in strongly by Adam Murray. This seemed to wake Rovers up a bit and on 31 minutes a bit of a defensive cock up led to the ball finally being headed in and the teams were back on level terms. Ely weren't going to lie down and take it though and Ben Lawrence and his long throws, which had already been a bother to the Haverhill defence, found Austen Diaper in the box and Austen Diaper latched on to the pass to make it 2-1.

Ely continued to be the stronger team for the remaining quarter of an hour of the first half, but the best chance fell to Haverhill when one of their forwards was given the chance of a free header on 39 minutes, but it went just over the bar. Ely definitely need to do something about their vulnerability from aerial attacks and it was to be their undoing again later in the second half.

The second half started off with the Robins in the lead and in the search for more goals. When the half was just 2 minutes old Chadders beat a defender and slotted home in a style we have seen many times before to give Ely a 2 goal cushion and it looked like they might be home and dry, or were they?

As I said the aerial vulnerability was to be Ely's undoing and another free header for Haverhill got them back into the game at 3-2 on 59 minutes.

With half an hour left it looked like Ely had to hang on to what they had or push forward to get another goal. In typical Ely fashion they thankfully decided to gamble on another goal. They had plenty of the play, although for most of the next quarter of an hour the ball was pinging about in midfield and then on 76 minutes Adam Murray was flattened off the ball and Luke Parkinson stepped up to Put the Robins 4-2 up with a strangely straightforward penalty.

It definitely looked like it was game over on 81 minutes when Haverhill had a player sent off for an off the ball incident. It seemed to galvanise Rovers though and on 86 minutes they proved that they also had a long throw specialist when a ball lobbed into the box somehow found its way into Lee Pacey's goal.

Fortunately Rovers ran out of time, even though there were 6 minutes of stoppages. They had a chance to make it 4-4 in time added on, but it could have also finished 5-3 to Ely, but again the score was 4-3, but this time in Ely's favour.

Ely City v Haverhill Rovers highlights

2011-10-05T20:39:00.000+01:00

Taz to the rescue

2011-09-28T21:06:00.002+01:00

Last night, as I have already said in the post below Ely City were at March Town United for the Preliminary Round of the Eastern Counties League Cup. Last week I said it was a bargain as we had a bounty of goals and extra time in the game in the FA Cup against Needham Market. We also had a bounty of goals and extra time last night (no surprise on the extra time front, eh?) but as the bloke in the paper shop said this morning it wasn't a good game.

Nothing much happened in the first 20 minutes of the game with neither team seeming like they were particularly up for it. March had a shot stray just wide on 8 minutes and Nick Impey had a decent shot for the Robins on 11, but it all felt a little half-hearted. Ely did get a breakthrough on 20 minutes though when a long free kick from Ely keeper Lee Pacey took a bizarre deflection off a March defenders head sending the ball rocketing in the air and into the back of his own yet. If there had been a cameraman there it would have definitely been a candidate for 'What happened next?'

Going behind seemed to spur the home team on though and 3 minutes later the Hares were on level pegging when a beautifully taken free kick whizzed into the back of the Ely net. This was probably the best period of the game and on 28 minutes Josh Bridgeman scored a brilliant long range goal to put Ely back in the lead.

The period of interest was soon over though and the only two other moments of excitement were on 35 minutes when Pacey was beaten by a March attacker, but he hit the post and a reckless tackle on Austen Diaper on 42 could have easily been a red.

The first 10 minutes of the second half were as uneventful as the first 10 minutes of the first half and then Ely from the Premier started to turn the screw on their first division opponents. On 54 minutes Impey had the ball in the March net, but it was offside and he knew it. Ely also had a gilt edge chance on 59 minutes and the ball was going in, but Ben Lawrence tried to make sure it was going in by helping with his head and inadvertently headed it over. Impey came close again on 62 and then the inevitable happened.

On 77 minutes the Ely defence did a perfect impression of a set of garden furniture and March, against the run of play had their equaliser. We all knew now that the game was going into extra time and despite the unseasonably hot weather both sets of players wanted it over in normal time, but their desperation let them down and neither side could breakthrough despite a decent attempt by Dalby for Ely on 86.

Extra time started off brightly for Ely and the introduction of Taz Chisonga on the wing for ely soon paid dividends. 3 minutes into extra time Taz picked out Diaper with an inch perfect cross for him to put Ely in the lead and then 3 minutes later he had a shot from the left wing that beat the March keeper to make it 4-2. Ely now finally were showing some dominance and could have won 5-2 when they were awarded a penalty at the start of the second period of extra time, however Sam Parkinson's shot bounced off the cross bar and over the wire netting into somebody's garden. That was it 4-2 and a home tie in the next round, but despite the result not the greatest game with Taz's supersub performance probably being the highlight.

A trip to the GER ground

2011-09-28T20:49:00.003+01:00

Last night I made my first trip to March Town United's GER Ground. Pictured above is their stand with a couple of players. I took my camera but the light was so bad I had to make do with grabbing this one.

The ground was opened in 1923 and is certainly showing its age, although for someone who has visited numerous lower division East European grounds it held a certain amount of charm and the locals were friendly enough, although not that numerous and there seemed to be more people from Ely there.

The stand was wooden and a bit worm eaten and obviously posed a bit of a fire hazard as there were signs advising against smoking within 40 feet of it. Sitting in the stand for a night game was a bit of a weird experience too, as the lighting in the stand seemed to be stronger than the amp-age of the floodlights, which gave you the feeling that you were watching the game on TV in the dark apart from in reverse.

The facilities were also lacking for fans there was a little kiosk selling tea, chocolate and badges, but no club house, which I thought was compulsory at this level. However in the past they had been able to use the social club over the road, but something happened and now they aren't, so that was your lot, but with a threadbare crowd it didn't really matter. There was also only one toilet (women's) and the Ely players may have felt aggrieved that they got locked out of the dressing room at half-time and had to sit it out on the pitch. They did have a turnstile but I think that we were a bit early and instead a guy came round asking for our £4s and giving out the free programmes. So although I have heard several moans about the GER from ground hoppers and er... Gorleston fans, you have to remember it might be a bit rough and ready and have seen better days, but how many Eastern Counties League clubs charge £4 in and throw in a programme?

Club Focus - March Town United

2011-09-26T20:54:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow night we are going on the relatively short trip up to March to see Ely take on March Town United in the Ridgeons League Cup. It will be my first trip to the GER Sports Ground. I have thought about going there before, as it holds a bit of mystery as anyone you meet who has ever been there doesn't have a good thing to say about the place.

The club who currently play in Division 1 of the League can trace their history back to two clubs who operated in March before World War 2; March GER United and March Town. The former of these clubs, United were founded in 1911 and moved to the present ground in 1923. March Town started life out in 1885 and had played at several different venues in the league before joining up with United after the War.

In 1954 The Hares joined the Eastern Counties League and finished in one of their highest positions in that season, 3rd. In 1988 the won the league for the only time in their history up to now, by beating Chatteris Town in front of 2000 fans. March have probably not seen such crowds for a Cambridgeshire Derby up until this season when they drew with Wisbech in front of well over a 1000 fans in the FA Cup before going down to the Fenmen in the replay in front of another bumper crowd.

March won't be going further in the FA Cup this year (and hopefully won't be in the League Cup either, but they have reached the first round proper twice, losing 4-0 to Brentford in 1954 and 1-0 at Swindon in 1979.

Tuesday is the new Saturday

2011-09-26T20:42:00.001+01:00

Well, I have had to work a few Saturdays recently, but the Tuesday games have been coming thick and fast and next up is a trip to a ground I haven't been to before, as March Town United take on Ely at their GER Sports Ground.

Six Quid Well Spent

2011-09-22T16:14:00.002+01:00

On Tuesday night Ely played Needham Market in the replay of Saturday's FA Cup tie. The weather was atrocious with heavy rain falling throughout the whole game and as is always the case with a midweek Ely cup game the game went into extra-time.

The game on Saturday had been pretty even despite the difference in league standings of the club and the greasy surface was definitely a leveller. The Market Men were the first to draw blood when they struck on 4 minutes. The lead was short-lived though as one minute later Ben Lawrence headed an equaliser.

Ely continued to push forward and look for the lead and Josh Bridgeman came close twice in a minute one from a corner on 15 and another from a defensive error on 16. On 17 minutes a cracking shot from Adam Murray went into the back of the net and the Robins were 2-1 up. The pitch was getting greasier and greasier and mistakes were happening all over the pitch. On 26 minutes the visitors were back in it. There seemed to be a bit of miscommunication between Pacey and Adam Dalby and the unfortunate defender beat his own keeper with a back pass. That wasn't it for the first 15 though because on 28 minutes a Ben Lawrence special long throw, which Needham Market had been fearful of, fell at the far post for Luke Parkinson to tap in and make it 3-2 with less than half an hour gone. There weren't any more goals in the first half and Ely had slightly more possession, but Needham Market had the better chances.

The second half started with Needham Market attacking and desperate to get back in the game. Ely were being more cautious with Chadwick playing on his own up front as he had in the first half on Saturday. On 57 minutes Needham Market came close, but Pacey pulled of a good save . This seemed to wake Ely up a bit and on 61 they hit the crossbar from a crowded shot in the box. The mini revival was short-lived though, and Needham got an equaliser a minute later when Pacey made a pig's ear of a save and the ball spilled through his arms. Needham Market clearly weren't keen on extra time and who could blame them with the rain continuing to pelt down and for the next 10 minutes the Robins were under the cosh. Ely then came back in to the game and Luke Parkinson came close on 82 and a blast from Austen Diaper one minute later was also close. In stoppage time both sides had chances to kill the tie, but neither of them did and the game went into extra time.

The first half of extra time was a bit of a damp squib after the excitement of normal time, but both sets of players were clearly tired. Ely had the ball in the back of the net, but it was clearly offside and nothing much happened. On 113 minutes Napier who had been the star on Saturday for Needham Market got the goal that put ely out of the cup. Ely weren't far off taking the game to penalties as both Murray and Beech hit the bar before the game was over. So near, but yet so far, but what a game!

The FA Cup Continues

2011-09-17T21:47:00.002+01:00

Today Ely City took on Needham Market at Needham Market's Bloomfields Ground. The signs before the game didn't really point in Ely's favour. Needham Market apart from being a league above Ely in the Ryman League North have been on fine form, unbeaten in 7 games this season and last week won 7-0; the second time that they have registered this score this season. Ely haven't been playing badly, but despite beating Newmarket on Tuesday the performance wasn't great, and to top it off as Needham wear red they were having to play in the cursed blue away kit.

Ely started the game off well enough, but a quite defensive formation with Chadwick chasing shadows as he was up front on his own. The first chance that Ely had came on 12 minutes when Adam Murray, who was playing in midfield rather than in his usual defensive role, headed a ball on to Chadwick who just missed the target. Needham Market's first real chance came on 19 minutes when a beautifully weighted cross was put just wide. A couple of minutes later Chadders came close again, but he was looking a bit lonely up front on his own and it was clear that he was going to have his work cut out. On 23 minutes though Needham Market took the lead when a well-taken free kick by Deakan Napier flew into the top corner of the goal.

After scoring Needham Market looked like they were going to increase their lead and on 29 minutes Adam Dalby cleared what would have been a certain second goal off the line. Ely were still in the game threw and on 37 minutes Luke Parkinson steamed through the Needham defence but his final shot let him down. The first half then petered out and the idea of playing just one forward seemed to be something that needed reassessing.

Needham Market started the second half with a certain amount of intent and on 50 minutes it looked like they were 2-0 up, but the linesman's flag was up and it was ruled offside. After this though Ely turned in an excellent performance and matched if not bettered Needham for the rest of the second half. Murray came close on 65 minutes. Ely were then further helped on 73 when a Needham defender picked up a second yellow card for a horrendous tackle on Nick Impey. Ely finally got the goal they deserved 10 minutes later when they were awarded a penalty. Sam Parkinson took the role that his brother usually takes as penalty taker as Luke had already been substituted. It was a very self-assured shot that went right into the back of the onion bag. 2 minutes later Ely could have won the tie with the move of the match when Ben Lawrence put in a brilliant cross for substitute Austen Diaper whose powerful header was excellently saved by the Needham keeper. The game finished 1-1 and most of the sizeable Ely following went home happy enough, especially as we now have another game to look forward on Tuesday.

Needham Market FC Stand

2011-09-17T21:44:00.002+01:00

Needham Market FC Terrace

2011-09-17T21:42:00.001+01:00

Entrance to Needham Market FC

2011-09-17T21:38:00.002+01:00

FA Cup continues at Needham Market

2011-09-17T21:35:00.001+01:00

Today Ely City took on Needham Market in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup. It was a good day out and Ely had a good away following. Pictures and a report to follow.

El Clasico of the East

2011-09-14T21:06:00.004+01:00

.... or something like that.

Last night saw the first local Derby in the Eastern Counties League take place when Newmarket were the visitors to Ely City's Unwin ground. I use the term 'El Clasico', as a bit of a tongue in cheek statement, but in some ways it was an apt description of a performance that probably typified what it's like following Ely City.

The Robins started off in the ascendany against a Newmarket team who are pointless so far this season. Tom Beech had a header cleared off the line on 3 minutes and 6 minutes later Chadwick was clear through and he should have scored but scuffed his chance. Chadders turned to the hero on the 11th minute when he made the best of a defensive error to put the ball in the back of the net.

It looked like it was going to be a walkover for Ely and at 1-0 they continued to press. That said though it also felt like some of the build up play was 'hit and hope' with the best chances coming from set pieces, with a Kenny Smith freekick which was nearly converted by James Wallis on 21 minutes being the pick of the bunch.

Newmarket on the other hand didn't look like creating anything, with ex-Robin Stephen Bell's play on the left wing being an isolated area of creativity. On the 28th minute it definitely seemed as if the Jockeys were dead and buried when Adam Wallis made it 2-0 after beating two defenders to place the ball into the goal with some style. It could have been all over just 5 minutes later when Chris Strecki tousled with a defender in the Newmarket box, it looked like he might have been brought down, but a free kick was given against him. The Ely onslaught continued and shots from Tom Beech on 35 minutes and one from range by Chadwick on 37 came close, but not close enough to extend the lead to 3.

Newmarket got back into the game during the last 10 minutes of the half as Ely started to relax a little and created 2 good chances, which both ending up wide of the mark. So at half time it was Ely 2 Newmarket 0.

The second half started as the first half finished with Newmarket edging their way back into the game during the first 10 minutes. Ely started to wake up a little then though and started to get back into the swing of things. Beech came close on 61 and on 64 he had the ball in the back of the net, but the chance was ruled to be offside. Chadwick then had a header cleared off the line on 67, but at 2-0 Newmarket were still in with a chance.

The Jockeys created a great chance on 74 minutes and finally seemed to be getting back into the game and then on 84 minutes the inevitable happened: after a bit of a defensive mix up Newmarket scored, which led to a nervy last 6 minutes, but luckily Ely weathered the storm.

So that's why it was a classic if not classical Ely performance, a lot of chances against a poor team who with a bit more luck would have been dead and buried by half time and then a late goal for the opposition that gave them a chance and us heart attacks for the last few minutes. A wins a win though, but there will have to be a better performance put in by the team if they want to get past Needham Market in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Thetford Town 2 Long Melford 0

2011-09-11T09:23:00.004+01:00

Last time I went to a fixture between these two teams was in the Ridgeons League 1 Cup last season and it was a pretty bad tempered affair with friction between the two clubs occurring on the pitch, in the stands, in the club room and on the Internet. Therefore I was expecting a spicy affair yesterday, but this wasn't to be the case.

The first half was a fairly drab affair, which was equally balanced. Thetford looked the stronger side but the best chance fell to Melford who hit the post just before half time. The highlight however was probably the cheap prices in the club house though, as although I've been to Thetford a few times before I haven't partaken of the cheap and good quality ale. They probably have the best and most reasonable priced beer in Thetford.

The second half was a lot better thankfully with Thetford looking a lot more lively. Melford though still looked slugish. In the early encounters Thetford were unlucky not to get a penalty when Dan Grindrod handled the ball from a Steve Davis corner. Grindrod redeemed himself a couple of minutes later when a timely tackle on Matt Dixon stopped what would have been a certain Thetford goal. The home side though were definitely missing the finishing skills of Matt Blake, who was sat in the stand, and who is still surprisingly at the club after being rumoured to be going on to a bigger club since about last April.

Melford gradually got back into the game, but on 73 minutes another Davis corner was met by Matt Howard and although a Melford defender cleared the ball it had already gone over the line. The last 15 minutes were then dominated by Thetford who had chance after chance and on 84 minutes they finished off the job when Matt Dixon, who had the option of getting the ball to either of the subs in space found one of them and I think O'Driscoll provided the final touch to beat the Melford keeper.

Melford had one more chance, hitting the woodwork in stoppage time, but the game finished 2-0 to Thetford.

Picture from the second half

2011-09-11T09:21:00.002+01:00

Not a bad picture of Thetford on the attack by Nadiya

Pictures from the Thetford stand

2011-09-11T09:15:00.003+01:00

Here's a picture of the main stand at Thetford from a weird angle and the badge that is in the centre of the stand just above where the players enter and leave the dressing room.

Photos from the first half

2011-09-11T09:05:00.004+01:00

The kids took the photos at Thetford v Melford. Most of them are by Nadiya. The top one here is Sean's and the bottom by Nadiya.

FA Vase gets underway

2011-09-11T08:50:00.004+01:00

Yesterday the FA Vase got underway with the first qualifying round. The competition has seen local side King's Lynn reach the semifinal last year and Ely's Eastern Counties League counterparts, Wroxham reach the final the year before.

Onr thing is for certain Ely won't be walking out at Wembley as they went down away to Clacton. I was at Thetford though for their Vase match against Long Melford. Thetford are still in it, however with the team looking for promotion they might at one point decide to sacrifice the Vase.

Match reports and photos to follow

More misery for Diss at the Unwin

2011-08-31T21:45:00.003+01:00

The Eastern Counties League results so far this season have been unpredictable to say the least. Ely's have been a bit more predictable and perhaps a bit better than could be expected having beaten Clacton at home and Gorleston away and as would be expected losing to Dereham and Haverhill away. Diss have also had a mixed bag of results with their highlight being a 4-0 crushing of Great Yarmouth. Therefore despite the 4-0 thrashing that Ely inflicted on Diss in the Cup a couple of weeks ago it was difficult to predict what would happen last week.

Ely didn't exactly start where they had left off in the Cup, as the first 10 minutes were pretty open, although the Robins looked the most likely side to score, with Josh Bridgeman coming close on 6 minutes and Austen Diaper also having a fine chance on 10.

Five minutes later and Impey should have put Ely ahead from another pass from Austen Diaper, but he blasted it over. Ely were to continue where they had left off in the Cup though on 20 minutes when a Diss player handled the ball in the box. Luke Parkinson stepped up to take the penalty and this time he managed to get it in the net first time, although the keeper did manage to get a hand to it.

It was 2-0 to Ely on 40 minutes and 2 for Luke Parkinson when he managed to follow up on a rebound from a shot by Austen Diaper.

The second half continued with Ely having the upperhand and although their set pieces weren't that inspiring they looked like they might be able to make something from them just because of the sheer number that Diss were giving away. In fact both Chadwick and Impey came close in the opening stages.

After the first 15 minutes of the second half with Ely pressing for a third, the second 15 minutes were more mixed up with the teams spending most of the time messing around in midfield.

In the final 15 minutes Ely brough on some fresh legs and started to settle again. Strecki was clear through on 77 after beating several Diss defenders, but his final shot was that of a defender and it ended up in the trees behind the goal. Ely continued to press and even had a shot cleared off the line in the last 2 minutes, but the game was to end 2-0.

Keeping it in reserve

2011-08-28T16:22:00.002+01:00

Saturday morning and I had a dilemma. I was pretty skint but needed a football fix. A quick look at the fixtures confirmed what I already knew: Ely were away, Thetford were away, Soham were away and King's Lynn were also away. I toyed with the idea of going to March Town United, a ground that seems to strike fear into the hearts of most nonleague fans who have ventured there, but they were also away, so I'll have to find out another day what the problem there is. I wasn't in the mood for Newmarket Town, which was probably just as well as they drew 0-0 with the omnipresent Diss. I toyed with the idea of going to Yaxley, but the transport options didn't look great. The other games on offer were Cambridge United V Hayes and Yeading and Histon V Corby. The weather was bad, neither of the fixtures inspired me and to be honest if I'm not meeting up with anybody I tend to avoid Cambridge if I'm on holiday. Therefore my last, but very cheap option was Ely City Reserves against Foxton in the Cambridgeshire Senior League Premier Division.

I don't venture to the reserves that often, but it's usually not too bad if the weather is OK and by kick off time it was. The one strange thing is that there seems to be no communication whatsoever between the first team and the reserves. Most of the bad blood boiling over when last winter the reserves had a game at Waterbeach and they asked for some first teamers, but none of them turned up. It also seems odd that the first team get players from other lower teams, but don't often give their own reserves or A-Team a chance. Anyway, I did recognise one player, the Ely left back who had played for the first team a couple of times, so maybe I am exaggerating the lack of communication.

It was the visitors who started the game the more lively of the two sides with their left winger Asher Wilson looking especially lively and it was indeed Foxton who took the lead on 6 minutes through Adam Farenden. Ely also applied plenty of pressure, but they seemed to lack fire power up front, which was starnge as the previous week they had fired 7 past Newmarket Reserves. Nevertheless the rest of the first half saw Ely going forward without really threatening and Foxton hitting them on the counter attack and always looking more likely to score.

The second half continued in the same way that the first half had and Asher Wilson had the ball in the back of the net to put Foxton 2-0 up on 57 minutes after the Ely defence made a mess of clearing a corner. After this Foxton sat back and defended with the proviso from their captain that they must not concede. Ely finally came close on 70 minutes, but the Foxton keeper managed to save it. Ely's best chance of all came on 79 minutes, but Foxton cleared the ball off the line and the last 10 minutes were played out with Foxton defending to the hilt and Ely throwing the kitchen sink at it without really threatening. So the game finished 2-0 to Foxton and it's back to the dizzying heights of the Eastern Counties League on Tuesday where Ely take on Diss yet again.

Football in the museum

2011-08-26T10:52:00.005+01:00

What do you do on a wet and windy day by the seaside when you are sick of the amusements and fish and chips? Go to the local museum of course. Earlier this week I was down in Brighton for a break rather than the tedious work trips that take place in Brighton. The second day was pretty rubbish as far as the weather was concerned and we found ourselves in the local museum.

Now don't get me wrong I enjoy a bit of history, but local museums tend to have the same series of themes running through them: A bit of history about how the town was formed (i.e. Vikings / Saxons / Normans, etc.); some famous battle (War of the Roses, Civil War); a look at the towns glory years and some of the harsh realities of the time (Usually always the Victorian era) and then some stuff about the two world wars abd their aftermath and its impact on the local community. Therefore I was pleasently surprised that in Brighton as well as the usual stuff there was a lot more about the more social side of history and stuff like fashion, music and thankfully sport. Along with some interesting stuff about speedeway and the surprising popularity of ice hockey in the city in the past was a small exhibition paying respect to Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club.

Part of the exhibition was a turnstile from the old Goldstone Ground:

The Goldstone Ground played host to football in Brighton (or more accurately Hove) between 1901 and 1997. From 1901 to 1904 it played host to Hove FC and then to Brighton & Hove Albion. It played host to many encounters, 2,174 to be exact and the biggest attendance was for a clash between Brighton and Fulham on 27 December 1958 when 36,747 fans were crammed in the ground. It was also the place where David Beckham made his professional debut coming on as a sub in a league cup game for Man U against Brighton.

However, with mounting debts and a greedy chairman in the shape of Bill Archer the ground was sold for redevelopment and is now a retail park. The last game that Brighton played there was a 1-0 victory against Doncaster Rovers on 26 April 1997 and the week later preserved their league status by drawing 1-1 at Hereford.

Brighton then groundshared with Gillingham at their Priestfield Stadium, which was a ridculous 70 miles away. They stayed there for 2 seasons. Several other groundshares were mooted but between 1999 and 2011 Brighton were forced to play at the frankly inadequate Withdean Athletics Stadium. The story does have a happy end though as the Seagulls moved into the beautiful Falmer Stadium (or American Express Community Stadium) at the start of this season. They also celebrated the move with promotion to the Championship where they have continued their winning ways including a 1-0 win over Premier stalwarts Sunderland in the League Cup on Tuesday night.

Another part of the exhibition in the museum is a shirt from arguably Brighton's biggest match - the 1983 FA Cup Final against Manchester United:

Brighton went into the game as complete underdogs, which was understandable as United had finished 3rd in the league and Brighton had just been relegated from the top division. I actually remember watching the game on my Granny's black and white TV eating fish and chips. The game finished 2-2 with Gordon Smith and Gary Stevens scoring for the Seagulls and Frank Stapelton and Ray Wilkins scoring for the Reds. Brighton went on to win the replay 4-0, but the achievement shouldn't be taken away from Brighton. The 3 players that could in any way be called household names were Gary Stevens, who went on to play for England when he was at Spurs, Jimmy Case, who was most well known for being one of the dirtiest players in football and will always be synonymous in my mind for wrecking the career of Gary Shaw and Michael Robinson, who was most well known for his weight problems and later for doing a brilliant job as a pundit on Spanish TV. Manchester United on the other hand had a star studded team that included Gary Bailey, Ray Wilkins, Gordon McQueen, Bryan Robson, Arnold Muhren, Frank Stapelton and Norman Whiteside (who became the youngest player to play in a cup final and to score when he did so in the replay. He was also the youngest player to play for United since Duncan Edwards whn he had made his debut in 1982, also against Brighton at their Goldstone Ground).

Anyway, if you find yourself in Brighton on a wet and windy day you now know what to do.

The road to Wembley

2011-08-21T14:08:00.002+01:00

Maybe it's a bit, well very optimistic to think that Ely will get anywhere near Wembley, but the first game in the FA Cup in the extra preliminary round saw the Robins progress in style and also the extra cash from a cupm run will come in very handy.

Ely completely dominated the game against Diss yesterday and ran out 4-0 winners in a pretty one sided contest. They did get a bit of help from the Tangerines of Diss though, who at times seemed happy to give Ely all the chances they could. The first goal which was scored by Richard Chadwick was pretty much indicative of the game as a whole. He fluffed his lines the first time and made a bit of a hash oif it, but Diss failed to clear their lines and he managed to force the goal of the line at the second attempt.

After this Ely dominated the game and could have been further ahead if they hadn't wasted some of their chances. Diss looked particularly weak on crosses and as for their own attacking they weren't able to get past the central defenders of Ely. The Robins finally made it 2-0 on 39 minutes when a cross from David Wilson (I think) bounced in off the head of one of the Diss defenders. And that's how it ended at half time.

Diss started the second half a little bit brighter, but they were to have a further set back on 53 minutes when Chadders got his second from a header at the far post. Ely continued to hem Diss back and what few chances they had were dealt with by the Ely defence. On 80 minutes Ely were to go 4-0 up in a strange fashion. After a trip on Chadwick in the box Ely were awarded a penalty and there was the usual conundrum that saw nobody looking keen on taking it. You would have expected that Chadwick would have wanted to complete his hat-trick, but eventually Sam Parkinson stepped up. He hit the ball to the Keeper's left and the shot was saved. However, the goalkeeper was judged to have moved off his line, so there was a retake. Parkinson put it in the same place and the keeper saved it again. However, when clearing their lines Diss tripped an Ely player which led to another chance for the Robins to have a go from the spot and Diss being reduced to 10 men. Parkinson stepped up again and this time put it to the keeper's right and it was finally 4-0.

A great performance from Ely with the attacking options looking better for them this year. Next up in the cup is Walsham-le-Willows. It should be OK as long as the game doesn't go to penalties!

FA cup kicks off

2011-08-19T10:48:00.001+01:00

Forget it when the media start going on about the FA Cup when the first round begins. The extra preliminary round starts tomorrow when Ely City take on Diss Town in what should be a close and from previous experiences a high scoring game. Let's hope that the Robins can put together a decent run in the Cup and the Vase this season - they need the cash. A decent run in the Cambs Senior Cup wouldn't go a miss either, as that was the highlight of the season 2 years ago, so no putting out weakened sides in any of the competitions this year, please.

Cambridge 1 Telford 0

2011-08-18T11:24:00.003+01:00

I couldn't be bothered to think of a witty headline for this, but it was a cracking match. We were joined by Beer Can and his friend, in fact I hardly ever seem to get down to the Shabby without guests in tow.

I have predicted that Telford will shock a few Conference fans this season, most of whom seemed to have written them off before they had a chance to kick a ball after gaining promotion from the Conference North at the end of last season. However the Bucks have been scoring for fun in pre-season and I think they will pose more of a threat than the Conference big boys think they will pose.

They certainly started off well enough at Cambridge on Tuesday night and could have easily been 3-0 up at the break if it wasn't for some impressive saves from Cambridge goalkeeper Danny Naisbitt, who was on tremendous form. A string of saves and double saves kept out the Telford onslaught with Sean Newton looking especially dangerous from set pieces. Cambridge on the other hand looked a bit predictable when they did go forward with Luke Berry and Ashley Carew being the only players who looked like making a difference, but all to often they couldn't get the ball in for the players in the middle.

Somehow the score was still 0-0 at half time, but the pattern of play started to swing in Cambridge's favour after them being lucky not to have conceded 3 in the first half. Adam Marriott and Harrison Dunk who had not imposed much in the first half looked like they had had the rocket they needed from Jez George at half time. And after just 5 minutes of the second half Dunk put the Us into the lead. Telford had a great chance on the hour mark when they hit the post to get back into the game, but after this they seemed to tire and started to fade as Cambridge and particularly Marriott grew in influence.

The game ended in Cambridge keeping the ball away from Telford and finally finished 1-0 to the Us.

It's difficult to see how either of these teams will fair this season, but it looks like it might be a mid-table finish for both of them. Cambridge need to be a bit more imaginative down the middle and Telford will need to conserve their energy more effectively agains more 'professional' teams, otherwise it might turn into a long season despite their impressive attacking powers.

Photo shows fans celebrating Dunks goal

Word of warning for the Ely Standard

2011-08-12T22:13:00.001+01:00

... I have to go to Gatwick tomorrow, so won't be at the game, so you might have to send a reporter.

Peterborough and Palace enter the pitch

2011-08-07T19:51:00.003+01:00

Here are a couple of photos of when Posh and Place got on the pitch. I didn't take any photos of the action, as the match was too exciting.

Posh off to a flyer

2011-08-07T19:20:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I was at Peterborough for the game between Peterborough and Crystal Palace and Posh got off to a good start. However, it will be interesting to see how they get on against some of the stronger teams in the division as both Posh and Palace are expected to find life hard in the Championship, but hopefully Peterborough can prove their critics wrong over the season.

In the first few minutes it was Palace who looked the most lively with Sean Scannell coming close in the first minute, but fortunately Paul Jones was equal to the task and saved. On 5 minutes Andrew Davies also came close for the visitors, but again Jones who has made his loan deal from Exeter permanent saved.

Posh then started to get into the game and Tommy Rowe was unlucky not to score from a Mark Little cross and a couple of minutes later Julian Speroni in goal for Palace did well to save a Grant McCann power drive. On 19 minutes Darren Ambrose, who is a bit of a legend at Palace, but who in my opinion is a complete **** had a chance to put Palace ahead from a free kick after Scannell had thrown himself on the floor. Scannell unlike Ambrose is a player who could definitely do a job at a higher level, so it was disappointing to see him and Ambrose high-fiving each other after he had 'won' the free kick. Luckily though they had no reason to high-five each other after the free kick, as Ambrose put it into the back of the London Road Terrace.

On the half hour mark new signing Nicky Ajose went off injured and he was replaced by David Ball. Then 3 minutes later things went from bad to worse for the Posh as Sean Scannel put Palace ahead. Soon after Glenn Murray who was making his debut for Palace after signing on a free from Brighton was cautioned for his persistent fouling, however how he stayed on the pitch for the 90 minutes is a miracle.

Peterborough came back at Palace and on 36 minutes Tommy Rowe came close. On 39 David Ball came even closer, but his shot was cleared off the line. Palace weren't done though and on 42 minutes Palace had a chance to go two up, but Davies shot wide of the mark.

The second half started with Posh in the ascendancy and Murray continuing to kick lumps out of the Posh players. He didn't get what he deserved and stayed on the pitch, but on 58 minutes Peterborough got what they deserved as Lee Tomlin pulled a free kick back for Grant McCann who blasted the ball into the bottom corner of the goal.

Boyd and Tomlin were now dominant in midfield as Posh tried to get the winner. However, they lost some of the steam they had built up when Grant Basey was injured by a foul from, you guessed it, Glenn Murray. On 70 minutes Posh had the chance to get the winner, but Rowe was denied by a fine save from Speroni. Finally on 72 minutes Little crossed for Ball who headed the ball in the back of the net.

Posh had got their confidence up now and they came forward again and again with McCann and Boyd playing like demons, but they didn't score again and ran out 2-1 winners. With 63% of the possession they definitely deserved it.

Crystal Palace crest history

2011-08-05T20:25:00.010+01:00

The badge above is the current crest of Crystal Palace. They are currently having a vote on a new badge at Selhurst Park, an idea which always seems to be ripe for being hijacked by rival fans to me. Therefore not surprisingly they are playing it safe with all four of the variants being Eagles, the nickname that has become synonymous with the club. It hasn't always been this way though, as they were known as the Glaziers up until 1973.

The 1935-36 season was the first one in which the team wore a crest of any description and this was the initials of the club at a time when they still wore claret and blue.

The next badge change for Palace came in 1955 when they introduced a badge with a facade of the place that they are named after, Crystal Palace (obviously).

In 1964 Crystal Palace played Real Madrid in a friendly to open their floodlights. After this they decided to wear all white for a couple of seasons and with it and for some reason changed their badge to a red and blue shield.

The change didn't have them playing like Real Madrid though, so in 1967 they changed back to claret and blue and decided just to have their name embroidered on the shirts.

1972 saw a 'proper' badge introduced, a rather modernist looking effort with the clubs nickname of the time 'the Glaziers' appearing on it. This badge was short-lived though as things were to change again just one year later.

In 1973 Malcolm Allison arrived at the club with some new ideas. It's starnge to think that the stereotype of managers in the 60s and 70s is of hard, no nonsense working class blokes, and in a sense they were. This wasn't to say that they weren't adverse to poncing around with club badges and shirts though. Oh, no. Shankley introduced red shorts to Liverpool, Jack Charlton introduced the white panel to the Middlesbrough shirt and Allison got rid of 'the Glaziers' and found 'the Eagles' more awe inspiring. It might be a bit poncey, but perhaps they got their way because they were hard not like today's managers who have to buy whoever their oil rich chairman says and who are told what the kit is by Nike et al. Anyway, I digress, Palace were now the Eagles and for the first time the badge had an eagle on it.

One further change happened in 1987 when the Crystal Palce was also introduced to the badge and the eagle was swooping rather than spread as in the 1973 version.

The current badge at the top of the page was introduced in 2006, one year after the club's centenary. It looks like it's going to be upgraded again soon, nobody knows what the badge will be yet, but it will definitely have an eagle on it.

Real football starts tomorrow

2011-08-05T20:06:00.001+01:00

The Premiership and most of the non-league might not have any fixtures apart from friendlies for another week, but the football league starts tomorrow and I'll be going to see Peterborough take on Crystal Palace in the Championship.

Arsenal 1 New York Red Bulls 1

2011-08-02T21:02:00.002+01:00

'The thing about the Arsenal is they try to walk the ball into the back of the net', says Moz in 'The IT Crowd' when he's trying to get in with some football fans and never was a truer word said in jest. Arsenal murdered the Red Bulls, but their lack of direct play and short passing game which often has commentators purring was their undoing. It really must be frustrating being an Arsenal fan as their lack of striking and sometimes suspect defending was infuriating. Arsenal did finally get a goal when Van Persie connected with a header on 41 minutes, but it could and should have been more.

The second was more of the same with Arsenal running the ball down to the by-line and then trying to walk the ball in and it just wouldn't go in for them. Ex-Gunner and now New York Red Bull's striker Thierry Henry had wanted to play the last 10 minutes for Arsenal, but the referee wouldn't allow it. It might have worked out because Arsenal needed a striker who wasn't scared of shooting, but instead Arsenal's defensive frailties were underlined when Kyle Bartley put the ball in the back of his own net with 4 minutes to go. The game ended 1-1 and New York Red Bulls, who on Sunday's performances were the weakest team in the tournament ended up winning the whole thing.

It looks like it might be a long season for Arsenal if they don't splash the cash in the next few weeks.

Boca Juniors 0 Paris Saint-Germain 3

2011-08-02T20:45:00.002+01:00

On the previous day PSG had lost 1-0 to New York Redbulls and Boca had drawn 2-2 with Arsenal. Arsenal had been criticised in the media for poor defending, judging by their performance in this match the Gunners defending must have been very suspect and how Red Bulls beat PSG is a mystery.

PSG played some really impressive stuff and new signing Kevin Gameiro looked worth every penny they paid Lorient and 19 year old Neeskens Kebano, who had only played three times before for PSG definitely has a big future ahead of him.

Jean-Eudes Maurice was first to get on the score sheet after meeting a cross from Kebano on 8 minutes and it was surprising that they weren't ahead even earlier on. PSG dominated for long periods of the first half and on 38 minutes Guillaume Horau headed them into a 2-0 lead. Boca also had their chances but were quite wasteful in front of goal.

In the second half an Arsenal fan behind me commented that Boca played like Arsenal, which I think he thought was a compliment, but their dodgy defending and trying to walk the ball into the net really was like Arsenal with Nicolas Blandi wasting several chances in front of goal with some lack lustre shooting. Boca were passing the ball about nicely, but they definitely need a replacement for Martin Palermo up front. Conversely PSG's defence looked capable of stopping anything anyway with Siaka Tiene being especially effective at centre half, when they did go forward their wing play was magical and every chance looked like it could turn into a goal.

PSG finally got their third goal on 78 minutes when Brazilian right back Ceara scored an unstoppable free kick into the top corner of the goal. And that's how it ended.

Arsenal corner

2011-08-02T20:36:00.002+01:00

Arsenal take a corner agins New York Red Bulls in the second half of their games. Like most of their corners it didn't amount to a decent chance.

Thierry Henry free kick

2011-08-02T20:34:00.002+01:00

Thierry Henry takes a free kick for the Red Bulls in the first half of the game between Arsenal and New York Red Bulls.

Arsenal and New York Red Bulls line up

2011-08-02T20:32:00.003+01:00

Arsenal and New York Red Bulls line up before their game.

PSG V Boca action

2011-08-02T20:31:00.002+01:00

PSG on the attack

2011-08-02T20:29:00.001+01:00

Paris Saint-Germain put the pressure on the Boca Junior's defence.

Boca and PSG warm up

2011-08-02T20:27:00.001+01:00

Boca Fans

2011-08-02T20:26:00.002+01:00

Some Boca fans outside the Emirates.

The Clock End at Arsenal

2011-08-02T20:24:00.003+01:00

I think that they actually call it the South Stand, but it has the clock from the Clock End at Highbury ....

Outside the Emirates

2011-08-02T20:21:00.001+01:00

A couple of snaps outside the Arsenal stadium.

Bridge to Arsenal

2011-08-02T20:18:00.004+01:00

Top - The entrance to the bridge that leads to the North Bank at the Emirates.
Bottom - The bridge itself.

Photos from the Emirates Cup

2011-08-02T20:14:00.002+01:00

On Sunday I was at the Emirates Cup at Arsenal and saw Boca Juniors take on Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal play New York Red Bulls. On the previous day Arsenal had drawn 2-2 with Boca and the Red Bulls had beaten PSG 1-0.

Anyway, as I probably won't get a chance to go to the Emirates again I took plenty, which will follow before a couple of brief match reports.

Club focus - New York Red Bulls

2011-07-30T10:37:00.004+01:00

New York Red Bulls, who play at Harrison Park in New Jersey were one of the ten clubs who formed the MLS in 1996. They also hold the unpleasent record of being the only MLS club not to have won a major trophy, all this despite boasting some big name players over the years of the calibre of Donadoni, Matthaus, Djorkaeff and er, Juan Pablo Angel. At the moment their star player is Thierry Henry, which is probably one of the reasons that they have been included in the Emirates Cup. As well as some famous old players they have also had some famous foreign coaches, such as Carlos Quieroz, Carlos Alberto Parreira and the controversial ex-Rangers and Celtic player Mo Johnston. They have also been coached by two of the biggest names in US 'soccer', Bob Bradley and Bruce Arena, both of whom have had more success with the national team. Their current coach is Sven Goran Erikkson's ex-right hand man, Hans Backe.

New York Red Bull haven't always been New York Red Bulls, in fact they started out life as New York / New Jersey Metro Stars:

However, they probably rightly thought that was a bit of a mouthful and between 1998 and 2005 they were simply known as Metro Stars.

In 2005 soft drink firm / super brand Red Bull bought out the club. Unlike in Austria where Red Bull bought out Salzburg the deal went well with the fans off the pitch, but still hasn't seen the trophies come into the cabinet. Nevertheless, it feels like it's only a matter of time before New York Red Bulls start to achieve a similar success to Red Bull Salzburg and the Red Bull Formula 1 racing team.

Arsenal badge evolution

2011-07-27T19:44:00.007+01:00

Arsenal were formed as Dial Square in 1886 and the first crest the club adopted were when they were still Woolwich Arsenal was based on the coat of arms of Woolwich, with the three 'posts' in the middle representing the cannons of the artillery based in Woolwich. It was a motif that would remain apart of the crest up until the present day.

In 1922-23 Arsenal started to use a crest that was similar to today's after first introducing the single cannon as the emblem in 1922. It was a west facing cannon, which appeared to be based on the Royal Arsenal Gatehouse in Woolwich even though the Gunners had left Woolwich in 1913.

The next change to the badge came in 1949 with the marksman's motto being included on the badge.

This was the badge that Arsenal more or less stuck with until 2001 when it was tidied up a bit and then again in 2002 when they had to change it due to copyright problems. The only one occasion when Arsenal used a different badge was the 'Art Deco' badge that they used for the 1952 FA Cup final, which they won.

In 2002 Arsenal changed their badge, but it wasn't the usual upgrade that teams tinker with it was due to the fact that as the badge was composed of so many different elements they couldn't copyright it. The main change was that the motto went and the cannon became East facing rather than West.

This season Arsenal have made another change to celebrate their 125th anniversary. The 15 laurels on the left are taken from the 15 sixpence pieces that the 15 original members paid to set up the club and on the right are 15 oak leaves as the members met at the Royal Oak Pub.

Club focus - Paris Saint-Germain

2011-07-24T15:25:00.003+01:00

PSG are one of the richest, most prestigious and well supported teams in France despite only being formed in 1970. They were formed from a merger between Paris FC and Stade Saint Germain with the original idea being for Paris to once again have a top team that could challenge at the top of French football. The idea certainly worked as PSG reached League 1 in 1974 and have been there ever since. They are now the second most supported team in France after Marseilles and like L'OM have unlike any other French club won a European trophy - the Cup Winner's Cup in 1996. Over the years the dislike between Marseilles and PSG has grown and grown and now the fixture between the two clubs is French Classic.

PSG's golden era was the 1990s when they had a massive cash injection from television company Canal+. This coincided with success after success at home and in Europe including two appearances in the Cup Winner's Cup Final and a semi-final appearance in the Champions League. However, later on Canal + sold out and since falling to 9th in 2004 they have been more of a mid table team despite their huge support base. They have recently received a big cash injection from the Middle East and could soon be back amongst the honours.

Boca Juniors shirt history

2011-07-24T14:42:00.006+01:00

The first game that I will be at on Sunday sees Boca Juniors take on Paris Saint Germain. I have always wanted to go and see Boca Juniors and I can't see me getting over to Argentina any time in the near future, so I am going to have to make do with seeing them in North London. On my travels I have met plenty of Boca fans, but funnily enough they have all been Russian or Ukrainian. I am a bit disappointed that Martin Palermo has now retired, but I am still looking forward to it.

Obviously to do justice to the club history of Boca Juniors I'd probably have to write a book, so here's a quick history of their kit and colours instead.

When Boca were formed in 1905 they originally played in pink, but obviously came round to thinking that this was a bad idea and changed to a light blue colour later in the year. They didn't stick with this shirt for very long either and for the 3rd time in a year decided to change the shirt colour, this time to black and white stripes.

The following year they played another club who also wore black and white stripes and it was decided that the loser would have to change the colour of their shirts. Boca lost and decided that they would play in the colours of the flag of the next boat that came into port. The boat in question was the Swedish liner 'Drotting Sophia' and Boca have worn blue and yellow ever since.

From 1907 - 1913 Boca wore blue with a yellow sash, which was later revived for the centenary year in 2005. Shown below in the rather weird computer graphic.

From 1913 Boca wore the yellow panel on blue for the first time which has more or less been the shirt of choice since as worn by a rather young Diego Maradona below. Obviously in the early 80s rather than in the original 1913 shirt of course.

Since 1913 there have been very few variants from this strip. In 1996-7 Boca introduced a white stripe above and below the yellow panel:

and in 1998-99 they wore a shirt that featured more yellow than usual.

Boca have been pretty conservative in their experiments with shirt design, but they have experimented a little in the Copa Mercosur with the wearing a blue shirt with pinstripes in 1998 and a grey number for the 2000-2001 tournament.

The only other variant has been the special edition released for the 105th anniversary in 2010 which resembled the Swedish flag where the famous blue and yellow shirt originally came from.

Emirates Cup 2011

2011-07-24T14:12:00.003+01:00

It doesn't look like I will get the chance to go to a match until next week, but it should be a good one or two next Sunday, as I have tickets for the Emirates Cup where I'll see Boca Juniors v Paris Saint Germain and Arsenal v Red Bulls New York.

It was the subbuteo style advertisement that made me notice this event and with tickets only a few more quid than what I paid for Cambridge v Mansfield last season it was pretty good value for money. I have wanted to go to the Emirates for a while, but the tickets usually do cost a fortune.

One question though is why is Martin Palermo shown as the Boca representative in the advert? He mighy be a Boca goal scoring legend, but he has already hung up his boots.

Ely and Deeping - still no win for the Robins

2011-07-23T17:29:00.002+01:00

Ely continued their pre-season preparations today against Deeping Rangers of the United Counties League. Ely continued to play well, but were again unable to get a win in a friendly match. Let's just hope their luck starts to change when it matters.

Last season Deeping finished in a similar position in the UCL to Ely in the ECL. So, it should at least on paper have been an evenly challenged affair. However, Deeping are more used to finishing higher in their league and have spent a bit of cash over the summer. Ely have stuck with what they had last year with the addition of Kenny Smith and Austen Diaper, who is making a big step up from Long Stanton, there were also several Ely players missing today due to one reason or another.

That said the teams were evenly matched. There were few chances in the first half an hour with both keepers having saves to make, but neither of them being overly worried. Rangers took the lead though on 32 minutes after a comedy of errors in the Ely defence let them through. The rest of the first half continued in much the same vain and at half time it was Ely 0 Deeping 1.

Ely cae out firing on all cylinders in the second half and were unlucky not to be on equal terms on 53 minutes when the Deeping goalkeeper pulled off an amazing save the rebound fell for Diaper, but he hit the post.

After more to and fro-ing between the teams Ely finally got an equaliser on 69 minutes when Tom Beech latched on to some sloppy defending to round the keeper and put the ball in the back of the net.

The equaliser seemed to be the tonic that Ely needed as they started to dominate the game. On 78 minutes Beech was pushed over in the area and he put the penalty away in emphatic fashion to make it Ely 2 Deeping 1.

It looked like Ely were going to win the game, but it wasn't to be when on 87 minutes one of the Deeping midfielders decided to have a shot from a good 40 yards out. It looked to me like it was going hopelessly wide and it must have looked the same to Lee Pacey in the Ely goal who didn't move. However, somehow the ball went into the bottom corner of the goal to make the final score 2-2.

The pre-season continues

2011-07-20T09:30:00.002+01:00

Last night Ely City took on Biggleswade Town in a friendly at the Unwin and although the result didn't go Ely's way there were plenty of encouraging signs.

Biggleswade have been holding their own in the level above Ely, so the defeat didn't really come as a shock and it took Biggleswade only 7 minutes to go ahead. Their centre forward was a brilliant and the slightest error in the Ely defence saw him smash the ball into the back of the net. Ely also had their chances in the opening minutes with Tom Beech coming close on 20 minutes and Chadders also forcing a decent save from the keeper on 24. However, Biggleswade really were a cut above Ely and they always seemed to have an extra man wherever Ely were and when their tricky centre forward came close again on the half hour mark with a lovely turn that he whipped just wide of Pacey it was his third quality chance and other circumstances he might have had a hat-trick.

Ely did battle on though and the last quarter of an hour of the first half they showed great determination. Brady Stone showed his versatilty as an attacking midfielder, Dave Wilson got the ball moving well up front and the team as a whole looked determined despite it being a friendly match, although at times new right back Kenny Smith looked a bit determined. That said he looks like a good prospect for the new season.

Ely's determination continued throughout the match, but with only 4 minutes of the second half played the Waders were awarded a very soft penalty. Greygoose who was a half time sub for Pacey in the Ely goal, who doesn't look the biggest of keepers, almost got down to the shot, but couldn't keep the penalty out.

After going 2-0 up Biggleswade really began to ring the changes and Ely started to dominate. The Robins had the ball in the back of the net twice, but both times the linesman gave an off-side decision. They also had a really good shout for a penalty when a Biggleswade defender bltantly handled the ball, but it wasn't to be.

Both teams after a number of changes started to flounder in the last quarter of an hour and the game finally finished 2-0 to the Waders.

Biggleswade were a cut above Ely, but Ely can take out plenty of positives from the game. As mentioned before Brady looks like he can play anywhere, as long as his knee holds out; Dave Wilson looks like he is really at the top of his game; Greygoose looks like a keeper for the future and Kenny Smith looks like a useful signing at right back. This coupled with the team spirit that Alan Allsop has fostered at the club should bode well for the next season. Let's just hope it can continue.

Club Focus - Biggleswade Town

2011-07-17T14:57:00.003+01:00

On Tuesday night Ely City take on Southern League Division 1 Central side Biggleswade Town.

Biggleswade were formed in 1874 and started off playing mainly friendly matches at their Fairfield Road Ground, which they shared with a local cricket team. In 1902 they became founder members of the Biggleswade and District League, which they were also the first champions of.

In 1920 the club joined the Northamptonshire League, despite being based in Bedfordshire. However, the league was l to become the United Counties League in 1934 and today takes in clubs from several counties, although the majority are in Northamptonshire. in 1945 they joined the Spatan League before returning to the United Counties League in 1951. They also had a short stint betweeen 1955 and 1963 in the Eastern Counties League where they broke the record for the biggest victory when they beat Newmarket Town 12-0. A record which still stands today. In 1963 they returned to the UCL mainly because of the extra travel costs of playing teams mainly from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex in the ECL.

In 1980 Biggleswade joined the newly formed Southern Midlands League. They started out in the Premier League, but were relegated in 1983 before gaining promotion again in 1987. In 1997 the Spartan League and the Southern Midland League joined together, Biggleswade joined the Premier Division North. They bobbed around the divisions but were mainly in the Premier.

In 2006 the club left Fairfield Road and groundshared with Bedford United & Valerio. The season after they moved into the swanky Carlesberg Stadium on Langford Road and it seemed to do the trick with them beating Luton Town 3-2 in the final of the Bedfordshire Senior Cup and the year after they gained promotion to the Southern League Midlands Division.

The return of football - Ely City 1 King's Lynn Town 1

2011-07-17T14:15:00.002+01:00

Yesterday saw the start of the pre-season football at Ely City as the Robins took on the Linnets at the Unwin. Despite all of the pre-season rumours about players leaving and players coming in Ely had a familiar line up with 2 of the changes being Brady Stone who returned from an unsuccessful season at King's Lynn and Tom Pell who seems to turn up at Ely from time to time. The only other change was the right back who had a good game and whose name I don't know.

Both sides performed well, although it was a rather typical first pre-season game in many ways. Ely went ahead when a well worked move was finished off by Wilson on 19 minutes and could have had 3 or 4 before Lynn equalised on the half hour mark after an uncharacteristic slip up by Adam Murray allowed Jack Defty to get his name where you will often find it, on the scoresheet.

Not much more happened until the hour mark when Lynn were awarded a penalty, but Defty wasn't to get a second as Lee Pacey did well to save the shot.

Both teams looked capable of some skillful stuff, but it was a pre-season friendly after all and the game finished 1-1, which was probably a fair result.

Football in Berlin

2011-07-07T19:18:00.008+01:00

There are a multitude of teams in Berlin, so to catalogue them all would be a very time consuming job. Apart from the bigger clubs like Union, Hertha and Tennis Borussia there are many smaller clubs, some of whom show the cosmopolitan feel of the city with their ethnic backgrounds, such as Turkiyemspor and Croatia Berlin. However from the ethnic teams one name stands out: the name of Makkabi Berlin.

TuS Makkabi Berlin were formed in 1970, but can trace their origins back to Bar-Kochba Berlin who were formed in 1898. In the 1920s Bar-Kochba had a moderate level of success and between 1925 and 1927 won 3 consecutive lower league championships. In 1929 they merged with another Jewish soceity, Hakoah. Unfortunately with anti-Semitism on the uprise the club were excluded in 1933 and in 1938 all Jewish soceities were banned in in Germany. Since 1970 the club has operated with a keen group and is now one of the biggest Makkabi soceities in the world. They now play in the regional leagues.

1898 was a long time ago, but the oldest team in Berlin are BFC Alemannia 90 Wacker who were formed 8 years earlier in 1890. When they were first formed they went under the name of the name of Berliner Thor und Fussball Club. Thor being the German word for cricket and unusually for a German team apart from playing cricket they also played rugby. By 1900 they were clearly a football club, as they became founder members of the German Football Association (DFB). Their major success came in 1924 when they won the Oberliga Berlin Brandenburg.

The other part of the present day club is made up of SC Wacker who were formed in 1904 and who had tasted the relative heights of 2 Bundesliga Nord. However by 1994 they were in the lower divisions and facing bankruptcy when they decided on a joint venture. Nowadays the club plays in the 7th tier in the Landesliga Berlin.

Another club who have fallen on hard times are the wonderfully named Tennis Borussia Berlin. Who apart from having a great name wear purple, so they can't be bad in my books. They currently play in the 5th tier in the Oberliga-Nord after getting relegated at the end of 2010 to 2011 season. The club were formed in 1904 and strangely enough were originally a tennis / ping-pong club. By the 1950s they were the biggest club in Berlin and in 1963 they were invited to become founder members of the Bundesliga. It was about this time that their fierce rivalry with Hertha began to take root. Most of the 70s saw them bobbling between the top 2 divisions and from one financial crisis to another and by the 80s they were in the third tier. In 1997-8 a group of rich sponsors brought the club back to the 2 Bundesliga and things looked to be back on the up. In typical Tennis Borussia style though things went wrong and the sponsors left the club in a financial hole in 2000. On day they will be back though and with a wealthy middle clas fan base they may be able to find a backer.

A team that definitely can't be called middle class are 1 FC Union Berlin. Union have always been the working class club of Berlin. They tasted their greatest success in the inter war years and in 1923 reached the Championship Final where they lost 3-0 to Hamburg. Union have always been victims of politics though and the reorganisation of football under the Third Reich in 1933 saw them end up as a middling club. The after the war there were 2 Unions, one in the West and one in the East. Both teams had a decent level of support and both suffered at the hands of politicians. The Western side did well until the erection of the wall in 1961 and the Eastern side, who went under many name changes, were always up against it having to compete against the Stasi sponsored Dynamo. They did manage to win the East German Cup in 1968 and now play in 2 Bundesliga, where they don't have to worry much about Dynamo.

Berliner FC Dynamo currently play in the 5th tier of German football. In the cold war years they didn't enjoy the popularity of nationalist feelings in opressed nations like the Dynamos of Zagreb and Kiev, but felt the unpopularity of being the secret police team like their namesakes in Moscow. The club was really formed in 1954 when some of Dynamo Dresden's players were told to go and form a club in Berlin. They achieved a moderate level of success by winning the East German Cup in 1959, but in 1963 were relegated. However, in 1966 they won the support of the Stasi chief, Erich Miekle and funnily enough things started to get better for them and they were champions for 10 years in a row between 1979 and 1988. When the cold war thawed out they dropped the Dynamo name due to the negative connotations, but in 1999 with a generation who couldn't remember Communism starting to attend matches the Dynamo name was reinstated.

The biggest club in Berlin by far are Hertha. They were promoted back to the Bundesliga at the end of last season after a season away when Berlin was not represented in the top tier of German football. The team that play in the massive Olympic Stadium come from humble begginings though. They get the name from a steamboat and ome of their earliest victories that caused widespread celebration was when they beat Southend in a friendly in 1910. This had more to do with the esteem that English football was held in than anything else though. Like other Berlin clubs their progress was hampered by a reorganisation under the Third Reich in 1933 and then later in 1961 when the Berlin Wall was erected and they were banned from playing in the East, which led to a whole load of travel problems. In 1963 like bitter rivals Tennis they were elected to the Bundesliga. Hertha were the reigning champions so it would have been a traversty if they hadn't. However, their place at the top table was short-lived. In 1965 they were relegated not because they were performing badly, but because they had bribed players to come and live in Berlin, which was a depressing place to be at the time. They got back to the Bundesliga in 1969, but then in 1971 they were embroiled in a match fixing scandal.

The 70s were good to Hertha in general though and they reached the UEFA Cup Semis in 1979 and also did well in the leagues and the cup. They spent most of the 80s in the 2nd division and then started to yo-yo a bit. In the 90s when the wall came down their popularity grew. 11,000 fans from East Germany attended the first game after the wall came down against SG Wattenscheid. It was a bitter sweet moment for many though, as supporting Hertha had been a form of protest for many in the East and at the same game some of the ex-Communist officials were invited.

Most of the 90s and 00s saw the club perform well with regular forays into Europe. They were nearly relegated in 2004 and then spent last season in the 2nd division before gaining instant promotion.

The Berlin Wall

2011-07-04T21:50:00.002+01:00

What's left of it, around by Potsdamer Platz.

The Reichstag

2011-07-04T21:46:00.002+01:00

Germany's parliament building.

Brandenburg Gates

2011-07-04T21:43:00.002+01:00

The former city gates to Berlin and probably the most famous of German landmarks.

Holocaust Memorial

2011-07-04T21:39:00.003+01:00

The Holocaust memorial was built by Peter Eisenmann, who claims it has no symbolism, although it is to mark the genocide of the Jewish people during the war. It was built between 2003 and 2004 and was opened in 2005 to mark the 50th anniverssary of the end of the war.

Fernsehturm Tower

2011-07-04T21:36:00.002+01:00

The Television tower that was built by the GDR in the period 1965-1969. It has the weird quality of looking very small and very big at the same time.

Potsdamer Platz and Archineering

2011-07-04T21:28:00.003+01:00

I was mainly in Berlin for a visit to Sony. The land around where the Sony and Daimler buildings are was where the Berlin Wall was and was for a long time a flat piece of land. Thanks to the innovative work of the architects Murphy/ Jahn and a lot of investment from mainly Sony, but also Daimler the area is now a state of the art business centre.

Berlin photos

2011-07-04T21:21:00.002+01:00

I didn't see that much of Berlin as I was there for work and only there for a couple of days, but I still managed to see a few places.

The close season starts to come to an end

2011-07-04T21:03:00.002+01:00

... I'm not sure if that sentence really makes sense, but with no football tournament this year, it's been a quiet off season and I have swapped the usual weekend trips of the football season to such soccer hot beds as Cambridge, Peterborough and er, Thetford for places like Cromer, Hunstanton and Lowestoft (although I wouldn't mind visiting Lowestoft for a football game some time in the future.)

One highlight of the period was a work trip to Berlin. Some photos of that to be uploaded in a minute.

Next weekend I am off to Cirencester for a wedding, but after that the pre-season friendlies will be well and truly underway.

shirt history AS Roma

2011-06-05T16:04:00.010+01:00

Roma were the club that I followed in Italy and although they are most famous for wearing red and yellow, hence the nickname giallo rosso the club didn't always wear those colours.

AS Roma were formed in 1927 by a merger between SS Alba-Audace and Fortitudo-Pro Roma SGS with Italo Foschi being the driving force behind the merger. AS Roma could also trace their lineage back to FBC Roma who were formed in 1901 and who wore red and yellow, but the first shirts they wore took the red, white and blue of Fortitudo-Pro Roma.

Roma soon established themselves at the top table of Italian football and in 1931 finished runners up to Juventus and by now had settled on red and yellow as their colours. However, you'll have to take my word for it because the picture below shows Attilio Ferraris in black and white.

In 1942 Roma went one better and won their first Scudetto with Amadeo Amadei scoring 18 goals to help them secure the title. Pictured below he is wearing the change shirt with a replica of the home shirt also shown.

The next 30 years or so were a fairly quiet period for Roma with them being a constant in Serie A. In fact they have played every season in Serie A apart from 1951-2 (replica of shirt shown below). However they didn't exactly fill their trophy cabinet either as Milan, Juve and Inter dominated Italian football with Torino being one of the few teams that challenge the dominance of the big three during the period.

Below is the 1971 shirt that Roma wore, which was unusual for two reasons. Firstly, the shirt was red and yellow stripes rather than red with yellow trimming and secondly in a time when it was unusual for teams to name the manufacturers of their shirts it was made by tennis brand La Coste.

The following year Roma were back in more traditional shirts and won a trophy. The Anglo-Italian cup in which they defeated Blackpool. It wasn't really until the early 1980s when Roma started to bother the historians again when in 1983 they won the title for a second time and the following season they reached the European Cup final in their own city where they lost to Liverpool on penalties Below is a photo from the scudetto winning game and the shirt that was worn the following season complete with the scudetto badge.

Roma again tasted defeat in Europe in 1991 when they took on fellow Italians, Inter in the UEFA Cup final. Below Rudi Voller, who later had an unsuccessful stint as Roma manager leads out the team in the game against Inter.

Towards the end of the 1990s, when I lived in Rome, Roma were on the up again with the talismanic Francesco Totti reaching maturity and Gabriele Battistuta enjoying a swansong after leaving his beloved Fiorentina. Vincenzo Montella, who is currently the temporary boss of the club was also knocking the goals in. Finally in 2001 after I had left and after they had seen their bitter rivals Lazio lift lo Scudetto Roma won the title for themselves. Below are the 3 before mentioned players celebrating the victory.

Since then Roma have won the Italian Cup a couple of times and have been regular competitors in the Champions League, although they have missed out for next season. Below are the kits they were wearing last season.