football rambles

More music and football. Cruyff in the Bedroom are a Japanese Shoegaze band, who many people believe were heavily influenced by My Bloody Valentine, but who in my opinion have a much wider dimension to their music. They were formed in Shimikitizowa in 1998, which was the same year that Japan held the World Cup jointly with Korea. I don't know why they chose this name for the band, but we can safely assume that it was influenced by the former Dutch player, Johan Cruyff. I think that they are probably football fans, as one of their early EPs, Shoegazer of Happy Valley, featured a picture of a football pitch on the cover. Their debut album was Perfect Silence, which was released in 2002(see link below). Since then they have continued to release more music and are responsible for the only feedback club nights in their home town and the Only Feedback record label. Johan Cruyff is obviously one of the biggest names in World football, from 1964 - 1973 he spearheaded the Ajax team who won...

This week's music/ football crossover is from The Sultans of Ping FC. The Sultans are/ were a band from Cork who were Cork City fans. They were most popular in the early 90's and their single Where's Me Jumper? was a hit on the student circuit at the time. However, unfortunately most people can only name this song although the Sultans released 3 albums. Apart from their name being football related they also have 3 songs related to football: I'm in Love with a Football Hooligan, Back in a Tracksuit and best of all Give him a ball and a Yard of Grass. This song is about ex-England, Forest and Liverpool midfielder / striker Nigel Clough. During his time as a footballer I didn't have much time for him at all, mainly because of my dislike for the clubs he played for. However, as boss and sometime player of Burton Albion he has done a great job and the Brewers are looking good for the Conference play-offs this year, so well done to him. He has stayed loyal to Burton ove...

A few weeks ago I was talking about the Zidane album by Mogwai. This time it's George Best by The Wedding Present. Never has a band and a footballer been so paradoxical. Best burst onto the football scene after being discovered by Manchester United's legendary scout, Bob Bishop, who said the club had to 'sign him at all costs'. He was born in 1946 and made his debut in1963. He is generally regarded as one of the best footballers of all time and won the league in 1965 and 1967 and the European Cup in 1968, where he performed excellently. However due to alcoholism and his other vices his career was over by 1975. He also played for several American clubs, Bournemouth, Fulham and Hibs. The Wedding Present ironically haven't been so 'rock and roll' in this respect. They were formed in 1985, made their first Peel Session in 1986 and released George Best in 1987. Rather than being glamorous they have been steadily successful and have produced some good albums. T...

My favourite 2 Vische Liha clubs do battle on Friday evening as Metalist take on Arsenal in Kharkiv and I'm faced with a bit of a conundrum on Sunday. Dynamo take on Kryvbas and Obolon take on Prikarpattiya on the same day. I was unaware that Obolon were playing this weekend, as most of their games tend to be on weekdays, due to them being in the first division, although they are looking good for promotion. The only reason I found out was that I saw the Horse from the fan club in the street. However, I don't have any clue regarding the kick off time and a phone call to Andriy and a browse of their website didn't shed any light on the situation. Furthermore their ground is situated at the arse end of town and even the football daily Komanda prints kick off times for the Vische League wrongly, nevermind the first league. That said, it will test my resolve to go to Obolon and give Dynamo the elbow a bit if and when Obolon get promoted. I find Dynamo pretty annoying, most of t...

There is no doubt about it Zidane was one of the greatest footballers ever, and 'Zidane- A 21st Century Portrait' is a film that is a damn site better than such turgid rubbish as 'Goal'. I was lucky enough to see the great man play in the flesh, and on TV I don't think you realise just how good he is, although the aforementioned film does a damn good job of portraying him in full flow and ironically ends with him being sent off. I saw him play for France against Russia in Moscow, for Juventus against Lazio in Rome and for Real Madrid against Dynamo in Kyiv. Another great thing about the film is the soundtrack which is written by Scottish post-rockers Mogwai. Here's a link for it for sampling purposes. If there are any objections I will remove it straight away. http://rapidshare.com/files/64552004/zidane.zip

Well, thank god the winter break is over or so I thought until I saw that Arsenal were playing Zoria on Friday evening. As it turned out Respublikansky was re-opening and a crowd of 42,000 saw the game, which would have usually attracted about a tenth of that. Anyway, I used the opportunity to go to Kharkiv and catch up with some old friends, and check out the new stadium as well as a spot of tourism in what will be one of the venues for 2014. The journey there wasn't great we paid for first class tickets, but second class looked better. The first class compartment was tiny and for 6 people and came accompanied with a TV showing DVDs of ex-Soviet films everyone had seen a hundred times before. Therefore we went to 2nd class and indulged in a light refreshment or 6 before arriving in Kharkiv at 1230 where we were met by football journalist, Tolya Hamaev. After a couple of beers and a trip round the town, which took in the biggest square in Europe a monument to the ex-leaders of the...