football rambles

Here are the 50 most listened to bands of 2013: Countdown to 2014 by jim_bomb on Grooveshark The Stone Roses 916 Рубль 622 Happy Mondays 465 The Courteeners 454 Tequilajazzz 436 Сплин 337 Бумбокс 323 Ундервуд 319 Orbital 310 Воплі Відоплясова 257 Ляпис Трубецкой 233 The Charlatans 211 Aphex Twin 208 808 State 202 Reinhard Voigt 195 Мумий Тролль 195 Cage the Elephant 194 The Bodines 188 Inspiral Carpets 178 Boards of Canada 177 New Order 174 Arctic Monkeys 174 Kasabian 173 Nathan Fake 161 Tokyo Police Club 160 Superchunk 155 Ellen Allien 147 Echo & the Bunnymen 146 Vennaskond 144 ESG 143 The Thermals 140 The Jesus and Mary Chain 137 Kraftwerk 136 The Twang 136 Flunk 135 The Wedding Present 135 Mogwai 133 65daysofstatic 133 Kapten Röd 133 The Orb 131 Stanton Warriors 131 Curve

January The year started off with a trip to Villa Park to see Villa beat Ipswich in the FA Cup, which was probably the highlight of the month. Ely also provided a highlight by beating Histon on penalties in the quarter final of the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup. Unfortunately, the impressive FA vase run also came to an end when the Robins went down to Spalding once the game eventually went ahead. February We saw King's Lynn defeat Rainworth Miners Welfare at the Walks and Ely continued their run in the Invitation Cup. They booked themselves a place in the final after beating Cambridge University Press 2-0 in the semifinal. The other game we saw in February was when the Robins lost at home to Wisbech in freezing conditions. March Ely had a well balanced month in the games I attended winning one, losing one and drawing one. Elsewhere goals were flooding in as we saw Leyton Orient win 4-1 against Carlisle and King's Lynn beat Mickleover Sports 7-0 on their way to winning pr

In 2013 I saw 139 goals in 46 different games, which is an average of just over 3 goals a game. The biggest home win was 30 March when King's Lynn beat Mickleover Sports 7-0, which was also the most goals in a game. The biggest away win came on 4 May when Ely Reserves went down 6-0 at home to Fulbourn Institute. The stadiums - the number of games in brackets 1 The Unwin Ground, Ely, Cambridgeshire (23) 2 The Walks, King's Lynn, Norfolk (4) 3 NCK Olympiskiy, Kyiv, Ukraine (3) 4 Villa Park, Birmingham (2) 5 The Emirates Stadium, London (2) 6 Brisbane Road, London (1) 7 Julius Martin Lane, Soham, Cambridgeshire (1) 8 The Abbey Stadium, Cambridge (1) 9 London Road, Peterborough (1) 10 Westwood Road, St.Ives, Cambridgeshire (1) 11 Crown Meadow, Lowestoft, Suffolk (1) 12 Dynamo Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine (1) 13 Obolon Arena. Kyiv, Ukraine (1) 14 Recreation Ground, Thetford, Norfolk (1) 15 Craven Cottage, London (1) 16 Carrow Road, Norwich (1) 17 The Pirelli Stadium, B

Well, I sank a brewery load on Christmas Day and talked a load of cobblers, so going to watch the Brewers v the Cobblers on Boxing Day was the natural choice. I hadn't been to the Pirelli for a while, so I was looking forward to the trip and the game was well worth the visit. The Brewers are currently in the top 4 of League 2 while Northampton are languishing near the foot of the league. Last season both clubs made it to the play-offs and whereas the Brewers have taken off from where they finished last season the Cobblers have struggled. They sacked Aidy Boothroyd just before Christmas, so Burton were always favourites going into this game. Neither of the teams started all that well, but it was clear that Northampton were going to sit back and hope to hit their opponents on the break, but at least they seemed to have ditched the hoof up the pitch that they were famous for last season - which actually might have encountered for their undoing. Hussey, Kee and McGurk all came

It had been a long time since I last went to Carrow Road, in fact it was that long ago most of the ground was standing when I last went. Then it was turn up on the day, but nowadays getting in the ground is a bit more complicated, so when I saw an offer for the Swansea game I thought that I would give it a go. I was quite impressed with the ground and the game was entertaining enough. Most people probably thought that Swansea would be groggy after their exertions in Europe on Thursday, but it was Norwich who looked more sleepy at the start. On 12 minutes Sebastian Bassong was caught napping by Nathan Dyer who lashed on to a half chance to put the visitors 1-0 up. 2 minutes later Norwich could have got on to level terms if the referee had been more sympathetic when Leroy Fer's header hit Angel Rangel on the arm, but the official wasn't interested. Up until the half hour mark Norwich continued to push for the equaliser, and Gary Hooper seemed to be in most of the thick of

There are times when you feel like football god owes you one and Saturday was one of those occasions. After Sean's game in the morning we decided to go down the road and see what the reserves were up to. Brady Stone has now taken over at the reserves and they seem to have a few more decent players than they did last season, even though they are now in Senior A of the Cambridgeshire League, a division below where they were last season. On Saturday they were taking on Great Paxton who are currently second in the table. Ely had been on a decent run of late having one their 3 previous games including a 6-2 win over leaders Gaminglay. Ely started off the game promisingly. They had one shot just wide in the opening encounters and hit the woodwork. However, the game sort of petered out into a pre-Christmas snooze and it was a game that was small on action and chances. Even the referee seemed non-plussed by it all. He started the game 7 minutes early, had a shorter than normal half-time,

December usually turns into a barren month for me in terms of football, even though there seems to be loads of it on. So the chance of a double header at the weekend was too much to pass up on. The weekend started off with a trip to see Ely City Reserves take on Great Paxton and then it was up to the dizzy heights of the Premier League on Sunday when we went to see Norwich take on Swansea.

Yesterday Ely had a good chance to get their first home points of the season. Wivenhoe are struggling even more than the Robins and after a decent draw away to Newmarket and beating Mildenhall in the league cup it looked like a decent chance for the home team to turn their season around. It didn't work out like that though. The first half was a scrappy affair and Ely seemed to be labouring a bit, they definitely had more of the ball, but Wivenhoe looked a bit more convincing on the odd occasion when they did threaten the Robins. The teams went in at 0-0 at the break in what was a fairly uneventful half. Ely started the second half off a lot stronger and soon had Wivenhoe pinned in their own half. Stuart Walker had the ball in the Wivenhoe net on 50 minutes, but it was ruled offside. This set the tone for most of the half with Ely pressuring, but not having much luck with the decisions. The Robins were given the chance to take the lead on 59 minutes when they were awarded a pena

Although I worked for a short time in Swansea, it was summer and there was no football on. Up until last week when I saw Swansea beat Fulham in the Premier League I had only been to 2 games that they had played in. Once was against Fulham and once was against Brentford, both games were in London, in the fourth tier and yielded zero goals. Now it seems that I can't avoid them, as I was visiting London last week I saw them beat Fulham, in a couple of weeks I have cheap tickets for their visit to Norwich and I'll hopefully see them at Villa over Christmas. Swansea Town, as they were called; they didn't become City until Swansea became a city in 1970 were formed in 1912 in what was a predominately rugby playing area. They adopted an all white kit, which was the same as the rugby team and have kept the colours ever since apart from in the odd seasons when they wore black shorts. Swansea from their inception took up a residency at the Vetch which had been football pitches

On Friday night I was in London for the Happy Mondays and I made a weekend of it with the Fulham v Swansea match coming in between an evening out for Paul's birthday. I haven't actually seen Swansea since they played Fulham in the old division 4, some time in the mid-90s. However, as I am also going to be at the Norwich game in a couple of weeks and am hoping to go to Villa v Swansea at Christmas they could become quite a familiar site. Neither of the teams looked really effective although the game was entertaining enough. Fulham seemed to let Swansea come at them a bit too much and only Scott Parker and Derek Boateng looked interested in stopping them. Up front Berbatov and Bent don't exactly look like the dream team, as having 2 players who have such an adversity to tracking back means that Fulham were effectively down to 9 players when Swansea were on the attack. Swansea seemed to be guilty of messing around with the ball a bit too much when they could have ha

Here's a little quiz that I came up with so that you can find out what kind of football fan you are. Answer the questions and then look in the comments to find out what type of fan sums you up. 1 Watching habits - Which one of these best describes your viewing habits? A I go to a few of my teams' games each season and often watch them down the pub B I always watch the major European leagues on TV C You can find me at the local club every week 2 Football clobber - Which of these are you most likely to wear? A I have a Premier League / Barcelona / Real Madrid shirt B I have a Toffs / Score Draw retro shirt C I have an enamel badge on my sensible coat 3 Pundits - Who would you rather see on TV? A Gary Lineker B James Richardson C Mark Clemmit 4 Players - Who do you think is the best? A Messi B Zlatan C Any centre half who tackles like a man 5 Coaches - Who do you prefer? A Pep Guardiola B AVB C Dario Gradi 6 Reading habits - Which are you most likely to

The team sheet posted on a whiteboard on the side of the shed selling chips at Thetford. The view of the pitch from the stand, as from the picture that appears on the front of the programme (see the previous post). Kenny Smith and Matt Morris in Ely's change strip of blue keep an eye on Thetford's Elliot Smith.

It's been tough following Ely City recently, so much so I put a tweet out yesterday to try and get some opinion on if I should go to Thetford V Ely; King's Lynn v Ashton or Soham v Chorley. King's Lynn was my first choice, but I found out that Sean's gang were all going up to Thetford, so that made the decision for me. On the face of it, it was the least appealing game and I always feel a bit conflicted when I go up there, as they were a team that I frequently watched before they got promotion to the same division as Ely and then had home games on the same week. Both teams are also languishing towards the bottom of the Eastern Counties League Premier Division, so I went there somewhat less than optimistic. That said, Ely had just come off a fine 4-2 win over Saffron Walden in the League Cup, which had been inspired by Tom Meecham, who is on (unfortunately only) a 1 month loan from St.Ives. The first half was a bit of a scrappy affair and the ball was bobbling about

November is looking awful on the fixtures front for me. Tomorrow, I have to make the decision of whether to try and go to Thetford V Ely or King's Lynn v Ashton. After that I've got 2 consecutive Saturdays at work and then I'm away, so unless some mid-week fixtures come up then this might be the first and last game of the month, so let's hope whichever one I choose is a good one. After that, after all will be December when most of the pitches are just unplayable.

http://grooveshark.com/playlist/October+2013/92039647 October 2013 by jim_bomb on Grooveshark 1 The Vaselines - I hate the '80s Some Indie tunes from a band who were popular in the, erm, 80s. You have to agree with the sentiments of this song though. 2 Primal Scream - (I'm gonna) Cry myself blind Not the most popular track on not the most popular album by Primal Scream, but they got so many plays this month because this song was going around in my head for some reason. 3 Bibio - Take off your shirt Some nice chilled out and interesting tunes from the West Midlands IDM geezer have had a fair few plays this month. This one is a bit more upbeat and poppie than most of his stuff though. 4 Kraftwerk - Boing boom tschak Kraftwerk have probably been one of the most influential electronic bands over the years. I also listened to them a lot this month, mainly when I had to work at home due to the storm and no trains running. 5 Nirvana - Lithium I was at university dur

On Saturday I picked up a copy of 'Heroes & Villains'. The cover shows the image of Andi Weimann when he scored the opportune winner against Man City and ran to the Holte End before the ball had even reached the back of the net. Funnily enough, you can't tell if the mood of the fanzine is optimistic or pessimistic. After a fantastic home win against Man City, came a draw against Hull and then an abject defeat to Spurs. No wonder Villa fans are suffering from Schizophrenia. As well as the usual Blues baiting there are some decent enough articles, some of the highlights are an interesting article on how technology has changed our relationship with football; more on the 'safe standing' campaign that Villa have been the most instrumental in pushing for; an article on when Villa signed a rugby league player in 1912; a look at the reasons for not following England and Di Canio's ill fated reign at Sunderland. There's also some stuff on tactics, philosop

Sean was lucky enough to get Andi Weimann, Yacouba Sylla, Antonio Luna and Libor Kozak to sign the programme on Saturday. Sylla actually signed twice, going away to get a different pen when ours didn't work. Good lad, but as the song tells us 'he loves the Villa', or words to that effect.

As well as it being the 150th anniversary of the FA it was also a celebration of the most played football fixture in English football when Villa took on Everton for 215th time. There was the special programme (at the top of the page). Unfortunately, Everton won, so now they are just one behind Villa in the number of wins in the fixture.

Weimann's had a few flat performances lately, but this is just a bit mad. We met the real one outside a few minutes later. A view of the Holte end. It's been a quiet October, but yesterday we went to Villa to see the most played fixture in English football, when they took on Everton. It was Sean's birthday game and we were hoping for a win for a change after the last few years had seen Villa draw twice and lose once on this occasion. The day got off to a good enough start with Sean meeting Andi Weimann (the real one and not the one in the picture), Antonio Luna, Libor Kozak and Yakouba Sylla, which was a bit of a highlight and better than having to make do with the cardboard cut out in the club shop! The game started off well enough and Villa had a great chance to take the lead in the 6th minute from the penalty spot, but unfortunately Benteke's shot was saved by Tim Howard, who was on fine form. Too good form if the truth be known. Villa had load of ch

Ely have had a run of away games over the last 3 weeks, which it would seem is a blessing in disguise because what we witnessed last night was pretty terrible. It was perhaps fortunate that the crowd was lower than usual with England playing Poland in a must win game at the same time, as it meant not many people had to see the game. To be honest, the Cambridgeshire FA had a lot to answer for by refusing to put the games in the Cambs Invitation Cup on the Wednesday rather than on the Wednesday. I was one of the hardcore who turned up though in the hope that Ely could go one step further in winning the trophy 3 times in a row. Foxton shouldn't have offered too much opposition, playing 2 leagues below the Robins, but league places can sometimes be misleading. The Robins got off to a magnificent start and Diaper put the home team into the lead after just 5 minutes after some tricky wing play from Mendes. As Ely had already had one cleared off the line it looked like they were going t

September 2013 by jim_bomb on Grooveshark Here's the bands that I listened to the most in September and what weird mix of bands I had on. http://grooveshark.com/playlist/September+2013/91053665 1 Reinhard Voigt – In aller Freundschaft A bit of German techno always goes down well especially from the Kompact label 2 Бумбокс – Хвилюватися немає причин More Ukrainian and strangely more reggae than the tune that made the play list last month. 3 Рубль – Я хуярю на гитаре I didn't even realise I'd listened to these Russian punk rockers that much over the month, but it would appear that I had. 4 The Orwells - Mallrats It sounds a bit like 60s US Garage meets 90s Subpop, they are American, but they are far too young for any of that. 5 Inspiral Carpets - Saturn 5 Were part of the Madchester scene, but looking back they sound quite different from the rest of the set, although a lot of bands around that time copied the Hammond organ sound. 6 ESG - Six Pack Som

So far it's been a season to forget for Ely and more and more players seem to be jumping ship, so the league cup offered a chance to offer a diversion from the rigours of the league and also offered the chance for some of the new players to stake their place in the starting level. The opposition was Haverhill Borough, who were only formed a couple of years ago and after promotion last year and a good run in the Vase are now sitting at the top of Division 1. It was difficult to know before the game what sort of opposition they would provide for Ely. They had knocked out some fairly decent sides in last year's Vase run, but at the same time the gulf between the Premier and Division 1 of the Eastern Counties League seems to have grown over the last few seasons. The game got off to a brilliant start with Adam Murray starting up front instead of Central Defence. Striker Richard Chadwick has departed from Newmarket and Darren Coe was available again. Murray has always done well

On Saturday King's Lynn took on Marine at the Walks in the Northern Premier League. Marine are a team that I remember from games against Matlock and Buxton when I was a kid. They were always sturdy opposition. Some things haven't changed. They were in mid-table before the match and a couple of points behind Lynn. The game started off in typical King's Lynn fashion, with them looking robust going forward and vulnerable when hit on the break. Despite the somewhat frantic start the first real chance of the game came on 19 minutes when Dan Jacob came close with a header. However, Lynn's vulnerability on the counter attack was again highlighted when Andy Fowler went up to the other end and scored a well taken goal to put the visitors ahead. After Marine had taken the lead Lynn pushed and pushed for an equaliser. The next real chance fell for Marine on 35 minutes, again for Fowler and again on a counter attack, but this time he was unable to convert. Lynn did get t

On Saturday we were back down the Unwin for another lacklustre performance by the Robins, so apologies for another short match report. Ely started off well enough, but both teams seemed prone to mistakes without creating many great chances. The first real chance was when the visitors had a shot cleared off the line on 31 minutes. However, Clacton did take the lead from a good through ball on 37 minutes to take Clacton in with the lead at the break. in the second half Ely were pressing, but never really looked like breaching the Clacton goal. They managed to clear the ball off the line twice from 2 Clacton attacks, so the game finished 1-0 to the visitors and there wasn't much sign of improvement.

Yesterday was non-league day, so like almost every other Saturday we headed out to a non-league game. Fortunately, Ely were playing in Kirkley and as Crusaders had a match in the morning there was no way to make it there, so instead we travelled to King's Lynn to see the Linnets take on the bloods of Droylsden. After a few years of having things their own way the Linnets are now in the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League and despite having the second biggest attendances in the league they are no longer having things their own way and can no longer be described as big fish in a small pond. Droylsden, mainly because of their proximity to a lot of other clubs in and around Manchester have the smallest support in the division, although they once spent some time in the Conference, much to the chagrin of WELFs (Whingeing Ex-league Fans) who never relished a journey there. Things have been going downhill for the Bloods though, who have recently found themselves on the

August 2013 by jim_bomb on Grooveshark http://grooveshark.com/playlist/August+2013/90107883 It's taken me a while to get round to this and funnily enough there were a fe Ukrainian and Russian bands in this month's playlist. 1 Бумбокс – Звёзды не ездят в метро This band have been going for a while, but seem to be flavour of the month in Kyiv with all age groups at the moment 2 ...И Друг Мой Грузовик – Del Piero Another Ukrainian band. One that I saw live a few years ago about the ex-Juventus player. 3 Кино – Электричка a bit of classic Russian rock here. Some people on the bridge were playing Kino songs and we also saw the mural for Victor Tsoi that has just opened up in Kyiv. This song more or less sums up my trip to work too. 4 Hladno Pivo – Šamar A bit of Croatian punk here to spice things up a bit. 5 Воплі Відоплясова – День народження Probably the most well known Ukrainian band of the last 20 years. 6 Talco - Bella Ciao The Napoli fans were actuall

Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries on the day of the Obolon game, but luckily I have this one of me, Sean and Andriy.