Posts Tagged ‘England’

Last year’s campaign was one of the most enthralling and competitive seasons for a few years. Man Utd eventually won the title by 6 points with Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal making up the top quartet. Will this year be as interesting? My guess is without a doubt, yes. Teams have strengthened again this year but with some real quality signings, not just cheap foreign imports but players with pedigree and potential such as Liverpool’s Fernando Torres and Chelsea’s Florent Malouda. This piece will run you through the major players for the coveted title (with a few surprise inclusions) and the teams who may have to fight tooth and nail to stay up.

Manchester United – 5/4

Where better to start than with last seasons Champions. Sir Alex has been relatively busy in the transfer window this year with England midfielder Owen Hargreaves being the major signing. He is a player who will do all the leg work in the team, tracking back and protecting his defenders. This will allow Scholes, Carrick and the more centrally located Giggs to maraud forward and to add to an already impressive attack. Two fairly unknown quantities are the youngsters from Sporting and Porto, Nani and Anderson. These have cost Utd a combined fee somewhere in the region of £25m-£35m, so they must have a lot of potential. Utd assistant Carlos Quiroz will have no doubt watched these players on many occasions to splash out the sorts of figures that have been banded around. They are both attacking midfielders and although they may not be an instant hit, they may warm up to the Premierships fast pace and then take the league by storm ala Cristiano Ronaldo. Overall Man Utd have a huge chance of retaining their title, providing the main two players Rooney and Ronaldo have another relatively injury free campaign. This for me is my main concern. They are by no means a one man band but lets face it, the two R’s made all the difference for Utd last season.

Liverpool – 6/1

It is probably best to start with saying that Liverpool are one of my strong fancies for a good title challenge this season, although 6/1 isn’t massive – it is still a bet that I will be placing. Liverpool have made plenty of signings so far and quality ones at that. We all know Torres’ pedigree and is potentially a special player. He literally carried Althletico Madrid for several seasons, taking the captains armband aged just 19. Ryan Babel is another quality signing. Anyone who saw this lad in the U21’s European Championship knows what he can do, we mustn’t forget that he also has 14 full international caps, netting 4 times. Benayoun and Ukrainian Vornin seem to have settled in well too, especially the latter, he has been named LFC man of the match twice out of his three pre season friendly appearances scoring twice. I think what is more important than the signings is the hunger shown by all of the players. They have been quoted as saying how important the opening weeks of the season are. This is where Liverpool have slipped up recently. The Premiership cannot be won in the first 10 fixtures but it can be lost. In summary – Liverpool are a good bet at better odds than Man Utd and Chelsea, with for me – similar potential.

Chelsea – 13/8

Jose Mourinho is never one to shy away from the media spotlight, even when the team is in L.A on their pre season tour he still manages to put his two penneth in. He recently said that all of the pressure is on Man Utd and Liverpool this season as they have been the “spending clubs”. While this may be true I do not whole heartedly agree. Chelsea have the reputation of being up there with the “world’s elite” and rightly so – after winning back to back League titles, but last season they lost their title and got knocked out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage yet again. Make no mistake they are under pressure too. The addition of Frenchman Florent Malouda will certainly help their cause, especially if Robben does leave “the bridge”. Ex Reading midfielder Steve Sidwell has also been added to the squad, although I fail to see where he will fit in with Lampard, Ballack, Essien and Makele. Chelsea will be chomping at the bit to regain their title and this is what makes them so dangerous. Obviously they too have an excellent chance of regaining it and it will be up to the rest to stop them.

Arsenal – 9/1

Not many peoples fancy this season, but this can be such a huge advantage for the Gunners. After losing Henry and Ljungberg, many people have written of their chances of winning the league – this can be dangerous. Arsenal will be playing with little pressure this season, they have been quoted as being in a “transitional period” which will only push them on to be stronger and pressure free. Croatian International new boy Da Silva may or may not work out, but one man who will step up and be counted for is Van Persie. He was missing for a lot of the season last year and will be looking to make amends. He will be first choice up front in my opinion and is one for your Fantasy Football teams. The young players at Arsenal had a good shot in the first team last year with all of the injuries – this too is an advantage for the Gunners. Whilst they do have a chance at winning the league, I feel they MAY fall short. The squad is very thin with not too many new signings, an injury to Gilberto or Fabregas could be detrimental to their challenge.

Tottenham – 100/1

Spurs will not win the Premiership this season, BUT they are a cracking bet for “without the big 4” at 11/8. They have a very youthful and skilful squad, the addition of Darren Bent and Gareth Bale will be huge. Spurs’ weakest position for quite a while has been left back. Bale who has gone to Spurs with a big reputation will make this position his own and do very well. Dimitar Berbatov was awesome last year, his first season at Spurs and in the Premiership and he scored 25 goals in all competitions. That is truly outstanding, now he is in his second season you would expect him to be even better. For me, worth a good punt for 5th place betting and if they do make 4th or 3rd which is likely – you will still win.

The relegation battle is often more exciting than the actual title race, we’ve seen plenty of last day survival games recently. Wigan were very lucky not to be relegated to the Championship last season, instead the plucky Sheffield Utd took the drop. It may be different this year, Paul Jewell has now left the JJB and he will be missed more so than if Heskey, Baines and Scharner were all to leave. He has proven in the past he is an excellent manager and you have to wonder whether Chris Hutchings can keep them up. At 5/4 to be relegated you’d have to be mad not to back it. Derby have to be an obvious choice to go back down, I can not see them having the ability or the squad to stay up, however 1/2 is hardly a price to be jumped upon. The final relegation place isn’t so simple. It would have to be a toss up between Fulham (2/1) and Birmingham (5/6), only a minor preference for the former

For any soccer fan, a visit to the new Wembley Stadium is a must. Not only is it one of the world’s most outstanding modern stadiums, but is host to the best of English football and features a veritable ‘footie-fest’ of the nation’s leading cup finals and Football League play-offs every season. The Football Association – the sport’s governing body – is planning a £12million move of its administrative headquarters from Soho Square to the new Stadium during July 2009. As Wembley is also the home venue for all of England’s international fixtures – including the qualifying games for the 2010 World Cup Finals – the move will firmly establish the stadium as the ‘home of English football’. As the English football season progresses towards its climax in May, Wembley hosts a number of prestigious finals including the traditional finale to the football season – the FA Cup Final. But, before that the cup final season begins in either late February or early March with the staging of the Carling Cup Final. This show piece cup competition of the Football League will celebrate its 50th anniversary at Wembley in 2010. Next up is the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final played at Wembley in early April. This competition is exclusively for clubs that compete in League One and League Two of the Football League. The 2009 final was an absolute thriller with Luton beating Scunthorpe 3-2 after extra time in front of a substantial lower league football crowd of 53,378. In May the games come thick and fast at the Stadium, starting with the FA Trophy Final and FA Vase Final, played on successive days on the second weekend of the month. Next, and still in May, the Football League hosts the Play-off finals when the last promotion spots for The Championship, League One and League Two are decided. Indeed, The Football League Championship play-off final – normally played on late May Bank Holiday Monday – is billed as football’s most lucrative ‘one-off’ game. The winners will be promoted to the Barclays Premier League and with that comes access to lucrative TV money. Finally, the last weekend in May sees the traditional season finale; the FA Cup final. This is one of the few ‘protected’ games to be televised live on terrestrial channels and is the daddy of all football competition finals. As you can see, May is also the month when the owners of London hotels – particularly those situated around Wembley – rub their hands in glee at the glut of ‘no vacancies’ signs, as they accommodate the thousands of football fans travelling to the capital to watch their teams in action. But, fans of football that can’t get a ticket to a game at Wembley needn’t despair. They can still access the stadium and sample its marvellous features at first-hand by buying a Stadium tour ticket.

At one time or another, we all make a mistake of gargantuan proportions. When the wife asked for a potential destination for a short trip, I foolishly answered ‘France’. I completely forgot that the place was almost exclusively full of the French.

As soon as we arrived I appreciated the gravity of my error, as the locals made absolutely no effort to speak any English. It appeared that they hadn’t been informed of our arrival.

The language barrier actually led me to be being deported. I popped into a café, but I didn’t fancy eating any strange French food such as ‘frites’ or ‘saucisses’, so I helped myself to a biscuit from behind the counter.

The owner went ballistic and called the police, and I was on the next plane back to England. I still feel embarrassed about being kicked out of Europe thanks to a simple ginger nut. Liverpool fans share my pain, they should console themselves with the 7/4 for a win over Birmingham.

The police were on the ball over there though, unlike their English counterparts. When a French person is reported missing, their filth launch an immediate search; but the Manchester police haven’t even begun their hunt to find poor Wayne. United are winless (and goalless) on their last six visits to Stamford Bridge, I’ll struggle to find a better bet than Chelsea at 6/4.

The North East of England is the one place on Earth that’s actually worse than France. The locals are equally as undecipherable, and they take up twice the room. 15/8 is absolutely massive for a Newcastle win over West Ham.

The North East does have its redeeming features; it remains a Redknapp-free area. Harry’s decision to stay in Portsmouth was warmly received by the Geordie Nation, as it decreased the probability of them ever bumping into Jamie. I’m particularly thankful for the 23/10 for a draw between Portsmouth and Blackburn.

Newcastle have taken a lead in the North East mini-league, which is a little bit like leading a race at the Special Olympics. Sunderland will beat Boro at 13/10 in the battle for the silver medal, but they’re all winners really.

There’s a real scrap going on at the bottom of the table, and Fulham are almost certainly relegated. The chairman will most likely blame Prince Philip, MI5 and possibly MFI. I’ve put together 9/10 for a Manchester City win over the doomed Cottagers.

Bolton have all the momentum in the relegation battle, but they won’t receive any favours away at Tottenham. I expect the 10/11 for a Tottenham win to last about as long as a Geordie in a beauty contest.

Graeme Murty should hang his head in shame after his dying swan act led to a three match ban for Alexander Hleb. Simulation is the unacceptable face of modern day football, alongside Steve Bruce. Wigan v Reading won’t be pleasing to the eye, a draw looks the correct call at 12/5.

If I was Robbie Savage, and I’m not (I’m quite good at football); I’d ask for Cesc Fabregas’ shirt after Derby’s ‘match’ against Arsenal. Such an item of memorabilia could potentially raise a tidy sum for when he upgrades his caravan. The 4/5 for Arsenal to beat Derby by two goals or more is remaining remarkably steady.

I genuinely feel that Aston Villa will be right behind Arsenal at the top of the table next season – certainly in early August. The Villans are on fire in their quest to make it into Europe; they’ll eat up and spit out the Toffeemen at 23/10.

To say I was happy about last week’s winning accer is an understatement; I felt like a Chelsea player after they practically booked their flight to Moscow. When Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham and Arsenal oblige for this week’s 10/1 accer, I’ll be happier than Ashley Cole after an invite into the cockpit.

The concept of the football pools dates back to Liverpool, 1923 when the late Sir John Moores printed off and distributed football coupons by hand after football matches. Fixed-odds betting on football matches had actually been in existence since the 1880s when newspapers in England began to present fixed prices on football matches. However, the concept of a football pool was radically different to that presented by the newspaper and has stayed relatively unchanged since.

Essentially, whereas the newspaper carried odds on teams to win or a match to end in a draw, the football pools allowed players to predict the results of multiple matches, with their entry ’stake’ being pooled together. Winners would then be given a share of the ‘pool’ depending on the amount of money in the pool and the number of winners.

The basic premise of the coupon was to amass 24 points from the list of games played on a Saturday. In order to do this, players selected matches that they thought would end in a ‘draw’ and mark their coupon with an ‘X’. The number of selections a player could make depended on the ‘perm’ (permutation) they wanted to play, as well as the cost of the bet. For example, an 8-from-10 perm allowed players to select 10 matches in the hope 8 of them would result in a draw. Players would hand their completed coupons and stakes to a collector or agent, who would send them on to the operator’s office for checking.

Once all the matches had been played, the pools operator would check each coupon and allocate a score to each selection, depending on result of the match. Commonly, draws were awarded 3 points, with away-team wins being awarded a point-and-a-half and home-team wins being awarded 1 point. Coupon scores would be calculated on the highest scoring combination, depending on the perm played and a dividend announced based on the total amount of the pool and the number of winning players – the more players who scored 24 points, the lower the winning payout was likely to be. Meanwhile, pools players would huddle around the TV or radio – coupon in hand – and await the football results being announced.

Football pools co-existed with high-street bookmakers, who provided much more specific betting opportunities on football matches and horse-racing. While the growth of the football pools had no adverse effect on bookmaker turnover, the easier access to gambling provided by bookmakers did not affect the football pools business either. In fact, many gamblers combined the two elements, contributing to the success and growth of both industries.

However, with the introduction of the National Lottery in 1994, the numbers of people who played football pools began to decline and threatened the pools operators’ long-term future. In fact, immediately prior to the launch of the National Lottery, there was an estimated 10 million football pools players but the introduction of the National Lottery has seen the loss of around 90 percent of football pools customers – lured away by the potential huge lottery jackpot. This is despite football pools still holding a potential payout in excess of £1 million!

In order to survive, football pools operators were forced to consolidate and regroup, which saw some of the major operators amalgamate into a single, larger entity. Furthermore, with the introduction of the internet and online gambling, football pools operators also cast their nets wider in an attempt to entice a greater range of customer.

Nowadays, the websites of football pools operators are about more than predicting the results of football matches. These sites now offer players the chance to play a range of worldwide lotteries as well the opportunity to play online bingo with other players around the country, or even test their knowledge across a range of quizzes as well as the possibility of an instant win ’scratchcard’. This is all in addition to the game that made the football pools operators a household name to begin with, and was the source of much excitement on Saturday afternoons gone by!

The chronicle of football is commonly traced back to it’s beginnings in rugby, the English amusement that is very like to football and soccer which also began in England back in the early 1800’s. The school campuses of Ivy League schools all played similar variations of football through the mid 1800’s. Then curtly after the end of the Civil War around the 1860’s some of the colleges began playing planned football. Princeton University frontiered some of the necessary policy of football and the tough became patented. It seems odd to be able to patent a fixture but, nonetheless the sport began to grow. The first football resolute in academy football account was then played in 1869 between Princeton and Rutgers with Rutgers as the conqueror thus producing football account. College Football History took another big stage in 1873 when several colleges met to form the first policy of the diversion and established the total of players on each squad. The coach for Yale, Walter Camp helped the absolute walk in the change from rugby form football to the American grandeur. He narrowed the number of players to eleven on each side and sized the football topic to 110 yards. He then fashioned the downs approach in 1882 which was originally three downs to grow 5 yards and then altered to 4 downs to collect 10 yards. Without proper security gear at the time the sport had become very brutal and perilous to all the players. There were even several deaths that had full place in the sport. It had become such a critical quandary that the President of the time Teddy Roosevelt summoned a change and helped apply a group of 7 preferred members to govern the rules organization and salvage football narration. This grouped eventually became the NCAA or National Athletic Association which we all know nowadays. The side twisted several new rules counting the forward succeed and several shelter trial which penalized players for brutality and unsafe acts. Football chronicle was tainted when an everyday apply for the time of locking arms and blocking in agreement which was rightfully made illegal as well. The fixture was shortened to the sixty record that we play nowadays and a neutral zone between the umbrage and defense was also incorporated. The development of the sport led to an inevitable extension into the school football sphere. College football chronicled has since flourished into an incredible weekly show. Hundreds of seminary teams now compete each year under the guidelines of the NCAA. Numerous seminary divisions now have conferences and all have hopes of pleasing a foremost New Year’s Day Bowl. The record of football and nostalgia are living in well in academy football today. Professional football was first played around 1895 and in 1920 the APFA or American Professional Football Association was fashioned. It was renamed to what we all know today as the NFL or National Football League in 1922. The NFL started sluggish and in the mid forties only had ten teams. A chief union then took place in 1970 that joint the 16 NFL teams with the 10 AFL teams to make one large association with two conferences. The growth continuous to the now 32 team league and professional football has adult tremendously since it’s beginnings in 1869 from one college diversion to a billion dollar empire. So goes the history of football.

St George is the Patron Saint of England. He will forever be popularly identified with England and English ideas of honour, bravery and gallantry. His emblem of a red cross on a white background is the flag of England and also forms part of the British Flag too. Perhaps he is more widely renowned as being the slayer of the dragon in the well known story of George and the Dragon.
St George’s Day is the 23rd April. The celebration of St George’s day is currently a fairly low-key affair in England. Particularly in comparison to how other countries celebrate their patron saints. For example Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day is widely celebrated all over the UK and the USA.
This is why there is a nationwide campaign to make St George’s Day a day to be recognised throughout the UK, to celebrate our English Heritage. To officially mark it as England’s National Day, with calls to make it a public holiday too.
Many events are still held across England in celebration. St George is also the Patron Saint of Scouting. So this day will also see thousands of scouts and guides throughout England parade through high streets as well as attending special church services.
So why not join in the festivities and be proud of our English heritage. An Englishman’s house is his castle and no castle is complete without a flag. So get online to findmeagift.com and hoist an England Flag up your flagpole and show your neighbours how much you love your country. Why not get the Jones’s next door some St George’s Flag Fridge Magnets as a gift too, so they do not feel left out!
But what ultimately are the English synonymous for? Yes, I know what you are thinking, but no, the answer I am looking for is not our poor performing football team. Tea of course, you obviously didn’t have your cuppa this morning!
Celebrate all that is quintessentially English with an Afternoon Tea Experience for Two. I’m not talking a teabag and a garibaldi biscuit in front of the television either. Enjoy afternoon tea at the stunning Palm Court Restaurant of the Park Lane Hotel in London. You will be served a selection of finger sandwiches. (Very posh, but you are oh so very worth it.) Followed by delicious scones with clotted cream (what else!) seasonal preserves and (this is the best bit if you have a sweet tooth) a selection of French pastries-oh la-la, monsieur you are spoiling us! All accompanied with a choice of exquisite teas from around the globe.
Cathedrals encapsulate our British Heritage. Standing the test of time, they hold a wealth of history in their walls. Travel back in time on a unique steam-hauled express train and visit some of England’s beautiful Cathedral cities. Findmeagift.com allows you to make tracks with the Cathedrals Express Steam Train Experience. The Express Train runs from April to November. It goes to different cities on different dates, including Bath, Cambridge, Canterbury, Gloucester, Lincoln and Wells, to name but a few. All trips last about 8-9 hours, with at least 3-4 hours to explore at leisure.
So on the 23rd April give a shout to St George and go do something really English! Take a picnic out into the countryside. Cook up a full English breakfast for everyone. Or really step back in time and visit a castle, you never know there may be a jousting tournament taking place or even better still, dragon slaying, in which case you really will be hailing for St George!

It is veritable that football is a sport which is played world thick but we can say that the Europeans loved it. European football is passion to the Europe citizens. Around eighty percent of Europeans fondness to play or sentinel football. That is why the European football has reached to a height restrict. The European football achieved this mountain frontier by pains of many countries like Hungary, England, France, Austria, Italy etc. These are the countries which have contributed very well in making European football to the sky limit. Nevertheless we can’t give whole of the praise to only countries for this achievement. The diverse clubs has also been contributed their part in European football like AEK casino, OFI mace, Paks casino, Hertha mace etc. These clubs are not the only clubs which have full part into the incident of house up European football to new heights. There are many other clubs also. The most of the countries in Europe have their own football association. Nevertheless all the countries have to be join with an association like FIFA or UEFA to play internationally. Most of the countries that play football in Europe are associated with UEFA. UEFA commonly conducts the leagues and matches between assorted countries. UEFA which is abbreviated as Union of European Football Association is responsible for the development of European football. This association provides many number of well maintained football ground for the countless kind of leagues and the championship matches. It can be say that European has become the football addicted. They are passionate about the football. European football receives new stars time to time because this passion. Now some of people will say that how can be the passion of football in Europeans crop new stars of football regularly. This is because the passion of football made the hobby of European to play football. And in the tribe of proving themselves a good player from other persona they do even perform of football. And there is a very old thesis that Practice makes a man achieve. So due to accepting football as their hobby the European Football player are bigger so much that it is become a very tough competition to get enrolled as football player in an international player. Not only is this the mind of gigantic quantity of players existing to play football. The other mind of substance quantity of players untaken for European football is the grow of number of clubs in Europe. In Europe the number of football clubs are improved so much that there are very large quantity of football players now untaken for the European football. By these club number of trait players are shaped which are polished so much that it become the complex chore to the variety agency of football players of any country to desire out the player into the bunch. It is not cool to limit out the players if there is a large quantity of attribute players vacant.