With the FA Cup over for another year, and the Coleman carrying around the Manager of the Month trophy like someone with a very large monkey on his back, we were always going to go on one of those runs. It should have been upwards towards the Play Offs, but as long suffering fans, we sort of knew it was more likely to be back down towards Charlton, just to keep some interest alive in the rest of the season.
Life, work, family and finances meant none of us made the trips to the West Country or to the North. Would have been pointless, which it obviously turned out to be.
Doncaster at the Ricoh next up, and we're taking the former CEO of Orange UK, which given the rest of the blog, sounds somewhat surprising.
Chelsea at home
Well, it happened, we gave a goal away early doors, then got hit on the break.
What can we take away from today's performance?
England's Brave John Terry earns more than our entire starting eleven and seven subs put together.
The gap between Blackburn and Chelsea is huge. Between us and Chelsea is even greater.
Chelsea were always in charge, and will probably do enough against Juve to get to the final for the second year in a row.
We have come a long way in 12 months, and if we compare Charlton away in May last year (pre-blog) to today, then we should be proud. Annoyed, but proud.
PUSB, now we focus on the play offs. Arson Yarn, we salute you, it's not perfect, but we are heading in the right direction.
FAO YDO
The YDO may be visiting his gay father-in-law in Oz but he remains in our thoughts at all times.
Co-ordination Skills
Did the groundsman deliberately soak the Sky Blue Crew as part of a Guinness World record wet t-shirt competition?
The 100th post, and pre-match nerves
It's fitting that the 100th post on this soon-to-be bestselling sports book of 2009 (tracking the amazing season of an underdog team who go on to confound the critics and lift the FA Cup with a 3-2 triumph over Manchester United) should fall just before the Quarter Final at a sold out Ricoh. Our inevitable triumph over Chelsea awaits.
2-1 is my favoured scoreline, with a correct first and last goalscorer bet on Oh Lord. 2-1 and Oh Lord (F or L) is a nice 250-1.
Almost too easy. While browsing SkyBet this morning, I also noticed that the odds on Elvis announcing a 20 date residency at the O2 Arena in August 2009 were an attractive looking 100-1, so I had a quid on that as well.
All the celeb fans are coming out of the woodwork now, which is great to see.
2-1 is my favoured scoreline, with a correct first and last goalscorer bet on Oh Lord. 2-1 and Oh Lord (F or L) is a nice 250-1.
Almost too easy. While browsing SkyBet this morning, I also noticed that the odds on Elvis announcing a 20 date residency at the O2 Arena in August 2009 were an attractive looking 100-1, so I had a quid on that as well.
All the celeb fans are coming out of the woodwork now, which is great to see.
PUSB - make us all proud.
Fraser Digby's washbag is cleaner than Lawro's
On the way back to London from the Blackburn home game (which we have forgotten to report on!) we were listening to Danny Baker for the first time this century and heard his "Fraser Digby's washbag" slot including the said line being sung to the tune of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (Fraser Digby's washbag is combless...) On recounting this to my Spurs/Orient mate Tim he suddenly started telling me about Robin Friday. The following text from wikipedia tells the whole hilarious tale:
Robin Friday (27 July 1952 – 22 December 1990) was an English footballer, generally regarded as Reading's finest ever player and voted into their team of the millennium.
Friday was found dead in his London flat on 22 December 1990 at the age of 38, having died of a suspected heart attack.Friday started his career for the now defunct Walthamstow Avenue football club, but soon moved to Hayes, who were willing to pay him more and were closer to his home in Acton. Hayes started one match with only ten players, as Friday was finishing a pint in the local pub. When he finally took the field after ten minutes he was obviously drunk and spent the game staggering around the pitch[citation needed]. Naturally, the opposition ignored him, until he scored the only goal of the game.In 1973 he was transferred to Reading, where he signed professional forms for the first time. In the 135 games he played for The Biscuitmen he scored 55 goals and made many more. He became such a crowd favourite that his on- and off-field antics are still the subject of discussion three decades after he left the club.[citation needed] He even won the "Player of the Millennium" award, a considerable achievement when many of the voters could never have seen him play. In a vote to compile the Royals' best-ever eleven, Friday was voted on the team as centre forward with 33.1% of the vote.His goal for Reading against Tranmere Rovers in March 1976 has been described as one of the greatest ever goals - sadly scored in the days before there were cameras at every match. Friday was waiting just outside the left hand corner of the box when the ball was sent towards him. He subsequently leaped high into the air, caught the ball on his chest with his back to goal, spun around 180 degrees, and proceeded to fire the ball into the top right-hand corner, to the great roar of the crowd. The referee that evening, Clive Thomas, held his hands in his face in disbelief and afterwards described it as one of the best goals he had ever witnessed. In response, Friday in typical fashion quipped that he should come more often as he does that sort of thing every week! (quote needed)[citation needed]In 1976 Friday moved to Cardiff City for the knock-down price of £30,000. The Cardiff City manager commented that he felt he was taking advantage of Reading, but was simply told "you'll see". Robin didn't disappoint and was arrested at Cardiff railway station on the day he arrived, having travelled from Reading railway station with just a platform ticket.He started his playing career with Cardiff even more spectacularly, scoring twice against a defence directed by Bobby Moore. He lasted only twenty-five games with Cardiff before simply leaving football for good. Whilst playing against Mark Lawrenson for Cardiff against Brighton on the 31 October 1977, Friday became agitated by the future BBC pundit. He kicked Lawrenson in the face and received a red card before defecating in Lawrenson's kit bag. Friday returned to non-league football and never played another professional game again - he claimed that he had had enough of people telling him what to do. Reading manager Maurice Evans once told Friday: "If you would just settle down for three or four years, you could play for England." Friday is said to have replied with the question "How old are you?" Evans told him and Friday duly responded "I'm half your age and I've lived twice your life."Trivia
The cover of the Super Furry Animals' single "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" featured a famous photograph of Friday scoring a goal for Cardiff, by taking the ball around Luton TownMilija Aleksic then "flicking a V" at the stranded goalkeeper.He was voted Cardiff's all time cult hero in a poll conducted by BBC Sport finishing ahead of Robert Earnshaw who came 2nd and John Toshack who finished 3rd.
And whilst on the subject of the Fraser Digby's Washbag Song Competition here is the man himself singing it to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang:
Before the Lord Mayor's Show
During the last century when I was a City Councillor back home the Labour Group had a large banner in its lounge proclaiming words of wisdom from the Leader of the Council who led the rebuilding of the City after the War: "Socialists shall be judged by their actions not their words".
Chris Coleman said before the game against Sheffield United that this was more important than the FA Cup Quarter Final. "Words". Words that were clearly cobblers when the team sheet revealed that our centre forward pairing was Eastwood and Simpson, (a pairing that had never started a game for the Sky Blues) rather than Best and Morrison which had been at the core of our recent good run. As Best was not on the bench he may have been injured and as I arrived at the Ricoh direct from London I have no idea what the pre-match news was. In any event the tone was set with the team seeming subdued and reticent.
Eastwood & Simpson (surely a gentlemen's outfitters from the 1920s) were as ineffectual as expected and it was only the introduction of Hillary in the second half that finally gave some oomph to our performance. By this time we were two-nil down. There will be many howls about the first goal in the last minute of first-half injury time which was awarded by the linesman when Westwood swore blind (at the cost of a yellow card) that he had saved the ball on the line. My first reaction was that it was a goal but from behind it is hard to tell (as I am sure at least one actress must have said to a member of the episcopacy at some point). What may get lost in the fuss is Vivienne's culpability when he came out too far for the ball allowing the attacker to chip the ball back into an untended goal area forcing a saving header on the line which led to the goal.
The crowd were livid about that and in the second half were further incensed when Gunner was booked for a fairly soft challenge after being on the receiving end of unpunished fouls. This rage was in full flow when Osborne (on for Danny Fox who looks to have injured himself whilst fouling and may miss the Quarter Final) was correctly judged to have fouled a Blade. From the resulting free kick the second goal was conceded when a bullet header at the far post gave Vivienne little chance (though some rather more forceful marking may have helped).
Most annoyingly despite our dysfunctional attack we ought to have scored twice by half-time- "I looked over Jordan" had two chances that he should have taken. In fact he also missed a third chance in the second half which would have resulted in an equaliser, Scott Dann having scored with a header from a superb Gunner throw to set up a last 20 minutes of hope.
As silver linings go a lack of over-confidence against Chelsea is pretty meagre.
Chris Coleman said before the game against Sheffield United that this was more important than the FA Cup Quarter Final. "Words". Words that were clearly cobblers when the team sheet revealed that our centre forward pairing was Eastwood and Simpson, (a pairing that had never started a game for the Sky Blues) rather than Best and Morrison which had been at the core of our recent good run. As Best was not on the bench he may have been injured and as I arrived at the Ricoh direct from London I have no idea what the pre-match news was. In any event the tone was set with the team seeming subdued and reticent.
Eastwood & Simpson (surely a gentlemen's outfitters from the 1920s) were as ineffectual as expected and it was only the introduction of Hillary in the second half that finally gave some oomph to our performance. By this time we were two-nil down. There will be many howls about the first goal in the last minute of first-half injury time which was awarded by the linesman when Westwood swore blind (at the cost of a yellow card) that he had saved the ball on the line. My first reaction was that it was a goal but from behind it is hard to tell (as I am sure at least one actress must have said to a member of the episcopacy at some point). What may get lost in the fuss is Vivienne's culpability when he came out too far for the ball allowing the attacker to chip the ball back into an untended goal area forcing a saving header on the line which led to the goal.
The crowd were livid about that and in the second half were further incensed when Gunner was booked for a fairly soft challenge after being on the receiving end of unpunished fouls. This rage was in full flow when Osborne (on for Danny Fox who looks to have injured himself whilst fouling and may miss the Quarter Final) was correctly judged to have fouled a Blade. From the resulting free kick the second goal was conceded when a bullet header at the far post gave Vivienne little chance (though some rather more forceful marking may have helped).
Most annoyingly despite our dysfunctional attack we ought to have scored twice by half-time- "I looked over Jordan" had two chances that he should have taken. In fact he also missed a third chance in the second half which would have resulted in an equaliser, Scott Dann having scored with a header from a superb Gunner throw to set up a last 20 minutes of hope.
As silver linings go a lack of over-confidence against Chelsea is pretty meagre.
Aron Gunnarsson welcomes us into his wonderful home
Or his Crib as MTV would no doubt say. My memory of the word crib is purely Christmas-based and it really was like Christmas when we discovered that AG had an open Facebook profile so that anyone could view his photographs. As has been discussed by the Collective there is a retro-feel to this sudden outburst of intimacy between the fans of the club and its talismanic young stars. Rather than seeing our heroes on the bus on the way to Highfield Road as allegedly happened in the 1940s and 50s (and rather than seeing them down the boozer which definitely happened in the 80s and 90s) we can see our heroes make sandwiches in their kitchen and lounge around in their bed all from the comfort of our own laptops. To honour this peculiar new trend we present a few choice selections of Gunner's not at all private photographs:
You all look the same - Norwich Away Match Report
Thanks to SBJ for the scene setting below. Mascots and Aviva Divas were indeed a sight to behold.
A quick match report. G2, SBJ and myself were in attendance, and Grandpa performed admirably to transport us into the wilds of East Anglia, particularly after an early game of chicken with a London bus. We arrived early. Too early for the ticket office, who weren't open for another hour. We retired for lunch to the "Milton Keynes" riverside area of Norwich about 5 minutes away. I should add that this description isn't mine, but is provided by Mr Steve Stiles (Telegraph Fantasy Football Controller) who has spent many of his formative years in the City, and claims the Canaries as one of his two teams. Two teams, I agree, is wrong but he is unmoved and unshaken by his split loyalties. Anyway, I digress.
We opted for the best restaurant in Milton Keynes-on-the-Yare, as it had been pay day recently, and luckily Old Orleans wasn't fully booked. We fancied treating ourselves, so after a cider/WKD skyblue/peroni aperitif, we opted for the Premier page of the winelist, and bought a top priced Chablis 1er Cru. A fine wine, for a fine establishment, and a bargain at £20. We ate, it was edible, and we then went to the ground.
Not a bad away following, best part of 800 or so, in a decent sized crowd of over 24,000. While I may have issues with the carparks being full of tractors on match days, you have to respect their loyalty, particularly when their team is totally lacking in style, confidence and points.
2-1 was the bet of choice before the game, with first goalscorer doubles covered with Ward, the Gurner and Fox. Could we pay for the whole trip with a good result?
After the Divas performed, quite well considering their obvious lack of practice since their rebranding, the game kicked off. In a nutshell, Inda Carlisle had a moment of magic and cut the ball back for Bigfoot to score, before vanishing into a predictable routine of receiving the ball and refusing to move forwards at all. Not many chances in the first half, but we went in a goal up. SBJ was advised by the stewards, who were friendly I thought throughout, that his camera would be confiscated if he was spotted taking photos during the actual gameplay itself. While it wasn't obvious who would be confiscating it if they spotted it, the camera disappeared into G2's smaller handbag, where it nestled comfortably with the spare shoes, occasional table and picnic chairs for four.
Second half kicked off and we were awful for the first ten minutes. Vivienne flapped at a high ball, and they spanked in an equaliser. Annoying, but the boys just hadn't started at all, so it wasn't undeserved. Then after an hour, the Fox took a corner, it went over the far side, and then ended up at the corner of the box from whence it had come. Fox dummied Oh Lord out of the way, beat Carlton Pole three times, then pinged a curler off the far post. A peach of a goal, and a worthy match winner.
Despite about 3 handball appeals against various defenders, they couldn't get past Vivienne, and More Reasons landed a toe-poke on top of the bar in injury time. A 2-1 win was secured, and some of the bets dropped in. Not the 2-1 with Fox, as it was a first goalscorer not a last goalscorer double, but it was tantalisingly close.
On the way out we managed to get caught up in some sort of tractor rally, and spent an hour going nowhere, but it gave us time to reflect on the plight of the Canaries, who look destined to be playing Leeds next year.
The Blades at home on Wednesday, before the big one on Saturday. Wembers still beckons on more than one front, it's going to be a good 3 months.
A quick match report. G2, SBJ and myself were in attendance, and Grandpa performed admirably to transport us into the wilds of East Anglia, particularly after an early game of chicken with a London bus. We arrived early. Too early for the ticket office, who weren't open for another hour. We retired for lunch to the "Milton Keynes" riverside area of Norwich about 5 minutes away. I should add that this description isn't mine, but is provided by Mr Steve Stiles (Telegraph Fantasy Football Controller) who has spent many of his formative years in the City, and claims the Canaries as one of his two teams. Two teams, I agree, is wrong but he is unmoved and unshaken by his split loyalties. Anyway, I digress.
We opted for the best restaurant in Milton Keynes-on-the-Yare, as it had been pay day recently, and luckily Old Orleans wasn't fully booked. We fancied treating ourselves, so after a cider/WKD skyblue/peroni aperitif, we opted for the Premier page of the winelist, and bought a top priced Chablis 1er Cru. A fine wine, for a fine establishment, and a bargain at £20. We ate, it was edible, and we then went to the ground.
Not a bad away following, best part of 800 or so, in a decent sized crowd of over 24,000. While I may have issues with the carparks being full of tractors on match days, you have to respect their loyalty, particularly when their team is totally lacking in style, confidence and points.
2-1 was the bet of choice before the game, with first goalscorer doubles covered with Ward, the Gurner and Fox. Could we pay for the whole trip with a good result?
After the Divas performed, quite well considering their obvious lack of practice since their rebranding, the game kicked off. In a nutshell, Inda Carlisle had a moment of magic and cut the ball back for Bigfoot to score, before vanishing into a predictable routine of receiving the ball and refusing to move forwards at all. Not many chances in the first half, but we went in a goal up. SBJ was advised by the stewards, who were friendly I thought throughout, that his camera would be confiscated if he was spotted taking photos during the actual gameplay itself. While it wasn't obvious who would be confiscating it if they spotted it, the camera disappeared into G2's smaller handbag, where it nestled comfortably with the spare shoes, occasional table and picnic chairs for four.
Second half kicked off and we were awful for the first ten minutes. Vivienne flapped at a high ball, and they spanked in an equaliser. Annoying, but the boys just hadn't started at all, so it wasn't undeserved. Then after an hour, the Fox took a corner, it went over the far side, and then ended up at the corner of the box from whence it had come. Fox dummied Oh Lord out of the way, beat Carlton Pole three times, then pinged a curler off the far post. A peach of a goal, and a worthy match winner.
Despite about 3 handball appeals against various defenders, they couldn't get past Vivienne, and More Reasons landed a toe-poke on top of the bar in injury time. A 2-1 win was secured, and some of the bets dropped in. Not the 2-1 with Fox, as it was a first goalscorer not a last goalscorer double, but it was tantalisingly close.
On the way out we managed to get caught up in some sort of tractor rally, and spent an hour going nowhere, but it gave us time to reflect on the plight of the Canaries, who look destined to be playing Leeds next year.
The Blades at home on Wednesday, before the big one on Saturday. Wembers still beckons on more than one front, it's going to be a good 3 months.
The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty
It is not often that I get to channel Wim Wenders in the blog but it seemed an appropriate description for this picture of Vivienne on the spot.
Grabbed by the Goalies
One of the major problems with being told before half-time that you can't take any more photos is that the blog gets padded out with pre-match photos instead. So a mini-homage to the three Sky Blue legends - two of whom have been our Player of the Year and the other is a contender for the award this year (and hopefully for many more years to come).
The Crass Menagerie
One oversized furry mascot is acceptable even if he is called Captain Canary. Two is unusual - particularly as the second one appears to be a skunk designed by Dr Seuss.
Three is just bonkers - particularly when it isn't in your club colours and not wearing your kit. This looks like an hallucinogenic Sylvester chasing Tweety Pie. And as for the Referee and the Linesman at the top of the picture.....
Aviva Divas
As this blog has something of a reputation of favouring one proclivity over another it really is time to redress the balance... I suspect the Norwich Union only changed their name to Aviva to allow the dreadful rhyming pun to work for Carrow Road cheerleaders. Thank god the Jag don't sponsor the Sky Blues...
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