I’ve got to say, I really like the noises coming out of Molineux following the appointment of Dean Saunders as manager.
@BBCSporf, #SneijderToQPR and the Power of Twitter
This past Thursday and Friday, we had a wonderful example of both the power of Twitter in 2013 and the way that Football has sold it soul to a media that laps up everything to do with it, no matter how dubious the source. @BBCSporf is a classic example of a parody twitter account. It has nothing to do with the BBC, but uses a similar logo to con people into believing the “news” they post may have so truth to it. It doesn’t, of course. It’s all jokes and made up stuff. They readily admit that. Their aim is to make you smile. And usually they succeed. Always entertaining, if you like sport but don’t follow them, you should. At 7PM on Thursday evening, this tweet appeared in my feed. Well, that’s clearly a joke. A player being chased by Man Utd, Arsenal & Liverpool is about to rock up at bottom of the table QPR? Yeah, right. Still, you can see the number of times this got retweeted. And with other people picking up on it and using the hashtag, it wasn’t long before “SneijderToQPR” was the number one trending topic in the UK. Then, we get this… Really? Really? No, that’s a joke, right? Channel 4 News aren’t that stupid as to believe this was real, are they? By 9PM, we get this from Sky Bet… So that’s two major media organisations that have picked this up and either through lazy journalism or sheer stupidity, have believed there’s some truth in it. But it gets worse. National “newspaper”, The Sun, ran the story on their back page on Friday morning. Of course, The Sun claimed it was genuine and they had quotes from Harry Redknapp to back it up. But the quotes from Harry were in response to a question he was asked about this after the fake storm had broken on Twitter. And besides, Harry’s quotes were basically a diplomatically worded, “You’re joking, right?” And finally, the story appears on the actual BBC’s website, with a classic quote from the player’s agent. So there we have it. One joke tweet is picked up by media organisations that should know better. But it involves, football, and more specifically, the media’s favourite topics, Harry Redknapp and a London based club. You couldn’t make it up. Except, of course, someone did. The original tweet, that is. The rest is all true. Sad, but very, very true.
Then & Now
This is one of those Meme-things that goes around from time to time. Same set of questions, asked about yourself from various periods in the past. I found the questions (and answers at the time) in a blog post I made in 2007 on my Blogger site. Thought it might be nice to resurrect it. 20 Years Ago – January 1993 1.) How old were you? 18 2.) Where did you go to school? Sneyd Comprehensive School in Wolverhampton– I was in Year 13 by then, getting ready to sit my A-levels 3.) Where did you work? I didn’t, I was still at school. 4.) Where did you live? At home, with Mom & Dad, obviously. 5.) Where did you hang out? At School. Yeah, I know, it’s a bit sad really. 6.) Did you wear glasses? Yep, was still a couple of years off getting contact lenses. 7.) Who was(were) your best friend(s)? I guess that would be Paul and Nick. And Ste, of course. 8.) What car did you drive? I didn’t. Not yet. 9.) Had your heart broken? Sort of. I guess it felt like it at the time (1991) but looking back, was it really all that bad? 10.) Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter: Single – and probably a bit bitter because of it. 15 Years Ago – January 1998 1.) How old were you? 23 3.) Where did you work? At this point I was in my ill-fated appointment at Willenhall Comp. God, was that ever a mistake. 4.) Where did you live? Ashamed to admit that I’d moved back in with my parents after 4 years away. 5.) Where did you hang out? In my room, marking books and preparing lessons. 6.) Did you wear glasses? Sometimes. But lenses for the most part 7.) Who was your best friend(s)? That would have to be Sandrine – my future wife. Ahhhhh. 8.) What car did you drive? This is shameful, but I still didn’t drive – I rode everywhere on my bike. What a saddo. 9.) Had your heart broken? Yes, but I’d gotten over it by then. 10.) Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter: Taken. 10 Years Ago – January 2003 1.) How old were you? 28 3.) Where did you work? A Solicitors in Northamptonshire! Which is where I still am. 4.) Where did you live? My first home with Sandrine – a two bed semi. 5.) Where did you hang out? Didn’t really do much ‘hanging out’. 6.) Did you wear glasses? Yep. No corrective laser eye surgery for me. 8.) What car did you drive? I think I still had my old Rover at this point. 5 Years Ago – January 2008 1.) How old were you? 33 2.) Where did you work? Same Solicitors! Although this was the year I became a ‘manager’. 3.) Where did you live? Same little two-bed semi. 7.) What car did you drive? I still had my 306 Estate back then. 9.) Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter: Married for 3 and a half years with a just-turned-two year old son. NOW – January 2013 1.) How old are you? 38 and feeling it. 2.) Where do you work? Yep, still here. Almost part of the furniture now. 3.) Where do you live? Moved to a new house in the same area two years ago. 7.) What car do you drive? 406 Saloon. 9.) Single/Taken/Married/Divorced/Bitter: Still married, and now have a little girl as well who’s coming up to her 1st birthday.
Steve Mogan’s Big Decision
I posted about this on Facebook a couple of days ago, but I’m going to expand on it here. Wolves owner, Steve Morgan, has a massive decision to make in the next few days. Massive. Does he hold his nerve and trust in his initial judgement regarding Stale Solbakken’s appointment as manager, or does he bite the bullet & pull the trigger on his time at the club so he can get someone in before the transfer window closes in four weeks’ time? And make no mistake, they are his two options. Doing what he did last year and waiting until after the window closes before giving his manager the boot—thereby making it exceedingly difficult to get anyone new in and turning our club into a joke for six months—is not an option. Or at least, it shouldn’t be. They say that learning from your mistakes is a mark of intelligence and without doubt, last year’s debacle is one mistake that Morgan needs to learn from. If Steve decides that he was right last summer, then he needs to back Solbakken with funds to buy new players because the players we have are either not good enough to adapt to the style of play Stale wants from them, or they are still “Mick’s Men” and just too stubborn to play for Stale. Personally, I think it’s a mix of the two, but what do I know? However, if Steve decides that Solbakken has to go, he needs to do it now (or, more likely, right after we lose to Luton at the weekend) and get in someone who can work with the players we have, to motivate them the way Mick did and really get the best out of them. Because let’s face it, there is something wrong at our club. This squad of players should be better than 18th in the Championship. They should be better than six points above a relegation place, nine points below the play-offs and God knows how many off the top spot. (Okay, maybe that’s not fair—Cardiff are running away with this division to some extent and it’ll be a massive surprise if they don’t go up as champions. Imagine that—two Welsh sides in the Premiership!) Of course, this damn division is part of the problem, with its wildly unpredictable, anyone-can-and-will-beat-anyone nature. For God’s sake, we’re 18th but only nine points of the play-offs. NINE POINTS! That’s nothing That’s a gap that can be closed in a month with a decent run. Hell, string five or six wins together and you’re right back in the mix. But here’s the problem—with the way things are going, I can’t see where the next win is coming from, let alone stinging together a half-decent run. Just look at our next few fixtures. Our next Championship game is a Friday-night home game against Blackburn. By that time, Blackburn will probably have a new manager in place and the players will, you’d imagine, be doing their best to impress him. Add to that the atmosphere of fear of failure at Molineux at the moment and it’s a recipe for disaster. Away to Sheffield Wednesday? They’re right down there fighting for their lives—that’ll be a toughie, just look at how we performed against Peterborough for evidence of that. Then home to Blackpool, away to Leicester… It goes on and on. Is that typical Black Country pessimism? Probably. But I’ll bet I’m not far off what a lot of Wolves fans are thinking. So, what should Steve Morgan do? Well, firstly, I don’t presume to even try and tell him what he should do. As Jez Moxey once said, “It’s Steve’s club, he can do what he likes.” But I can offer my opinion. And my opinion is that Stale isn’t up to the job. Or rather, Stale doesn’t suit our club. I don’t like saying it. I don’t like calling for a manager to lose his job, but something clearly isn’t working and since we can’t change the whole squad of players in a month, we need to find a manager who can work with what he’s got. I said this time last year that I’d like to see Milton Keynes’ Karl Robinson given a chance. MK play lovely football and while they keep falling just short in their quest for Championship football, that doesn’t mean Karl won’t find real success at the right club—and I think Wolves could be the right club. Either that, or Sean O’Driscoll is available—who seems to be another talented manager looking for the right club to let him show what he can really do (plus, isn’t he supposedly a Wolves fan to boot?) Either way, I’d like to see us get a manager in who will give this crop of talented kids coming through the academy a shot at first-team football. What’s the point of having a top-rated academy if what it produces is sold off before being given a chance to shine? Sheffield Wednesday fans think Danny Batth is the best defender they’ve seen in years. Jake Cassidy tore up League One with Tranmere, Hibs are desperate for Leigh Griffiths to stay and keep banging in goals. And that’s not to mention the supposedly so-talented-he’ll-be-the-first-£100m-player that is Zele Ismail. I’m not going to join the increasing number of people that are calling for Morgan and Moxey to leave. I think the club is in sound hands and is well run. When the football-finance bubble bursts (and it will burst) and the foreign owners get bored and start looking for new playthings, Wolves will be a stable club, standing tall while those around it fall. But in the meantime, I think it would be nice to watch Sky Soccer Saturday and not get utterly depressed every time Jeff says, “To Molineux next…” Related articles Stale Solbakken under pressure at Wolves (dailymail.co.uk) Sean O’Driscoll set for Wolves job (dailymail.co.uk) Where did it all go wrong for Wolves? (footballfriendsonline.com) Wolves boss Solbakken confident of avoiding
‘You can all bite me’: Tulisa Contostavlos hits out at her ‘haters’ with latest Twitter rant
This comes from the MailOnline website (link below if you’re interested). The gist of the report is that Tulisa is once again showing the world just how classy she really is. After a week of being splashed over the front pages thanks to humping a footballer (which completely passed me by last week so I didn’t get Louis’ reference to her being a WAG on Saturday) and then her bizzare rant on Sunday night when she basically told off the public for voting for the wrong person on X-Factor (A person she herself had saved previous – what goes around comes around), she’s now coplaining about all the “attention”. Which is a bit rich, to be honest. Here’s a screenshot from the Mail website showing her tweets This girl displays no class at all and the sooner she crawls back under what ever rock she emerged from the better in my opinion. She clearly demonstrates that she thinks an awful lot of herself – and a lot more than most members of the public seem to think of her. As an aside, read the comments section of the article on MailOnline.
Fixing the X-Factor
Following this weekend’s sing off between arguably the two best singers in the contest, it’s fair to say that most people now think that X-Factor has become a bit of a farce. Especially when you consider that Rylan is still there – A man who in proving he could stand on the stage and sing for Gary Barlow, proved he was just as tone deaf as we all thought. So what’s gone wrong with the show this year? I think that’s obvious – it’s been abandoned by it’s guiding light, one Simon Cowell. X-Factor was his baby and he has always been the driving forcing behind it. And while he’s been busy state-side with the US version of the show, the original has suffered, becoming almost a parody of itself. So, how to put it right? Well, what follows are my humble suggestions. None of them will actually happen, but if the producers are reading (which they won’t be ) – give these points some thought. The Judges Like it or not, the judges are the stars of the show, not the constants. And right now, the judging line-up is flawed. Two years ago, what I would consider to the be strongest judging panel in the 9 years of the show was broken up and aside from one, the replacements haven’t been up to scratch. Simon and Cheryl Cole left for the US version (although Cheryl was then dumped because no Americans could understand a word she said) while Danni Minogue was unceremoniously jettisoned. Last year saw the addition of Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos, and Kelly Rowland. And this year, Kelly has been replaced by another American – and a reject from the failed first US series – Nicole Scherzinger, which along with loveable Louis Walsh, gives us the current line-up. Gary Barlow – I think Gary has been a success as a the ‘replacement’ for Simon Cowell. Like Cowell, he talks a lot of sense and appears to want the genuinely talented contestants to do well over the comedy acts. His views, of all the judges,the ones that are closest to my own. So I’d keep Gary – although I wouldn’t be surprised if he walked away after the train wreck that has been this year’s series. Louis Walsh – Once he was loveable, now he’s just annoying. His comments are the same every week, and haven’t really changed from nine years ago. Much like the series itself, he’s become a running joke. It’s time he left. But they tried to get rid of him once before, remember? It seems he’s like a bad penny. Tulisa – Just get rid. Now. The woman brought in to replace Cheryl as the nation’s sweetheart is about as far from that as it’s possible to be. A gobby Chav with a sex-tape. She has nothing useful to say, hates anything that she doesn’t see as “urban” and thinks more of herself than anyone else thinks of her. Get rid. Now. Nicole – She’s been a breath of fresh air and great fun. But she’s also responsible for inflicting Rylan Clark on us and for that reason alone she needs the sack. Which leaves me with one judge. So who to replace the deadwood with? The most obvious choice is to bring back Cheryl, pronto. Some say she wouldn’t come back, but I disagree. X-Factor made her. It turned her from a member of Girls Aloud to the first genuine ‘Nation’s Sweetheart’ that we’ve seen in a long time and a solo star in her own right. Her empathic sway with the contestants, coupled with just the right amount of support, praise and constructive critiques makes her the ideal judge. I’d have Danni back too, but I can’t see that happening with the way she was treated. So instead, I’d give Mel B a chance. She was the best of the guest judges at auditions this year, and I think she’d be great as a full time judge. Finally, since the chances of Simon coming back are less than none, ITV need to find a ‘new’ Simon Cowell. What do I mean by that? Well, remember the first series of Pop Idol? Pete Waterman was supposed to be the star judge. No one knew who Simon Cowell was other than some shadowy record exec. And that’s what ITV need now. An ‘unknown’ (to the public at least) record exec who knows his stuff and isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. Is there one out there? There has to be, surely? Back to Basics Part of X-Factor’s problem is that it’s gotten “too big”. It’s too full of it’s own self-importance. The contestants are stars as soon as they make the live shows – before even. Every stage, from the auditorium audition (nicked from Britian’s Got Talent) to boot-camp, to judges houses to the live shows and even the results show – it’s all too big, too staged, too… too much. It’s needs to be stripped back to what the show is at its heart – a singing contest to find a recording artist. Forget the over top production of the performances at live shows (Rylan again!) the best performances this year have been when a constant just stands there and sings (or plays an instrument and sings). So let the constants stand there and sing. Let them showcase their voice and their talent. What I’d do is go back to the original auditions. Have the contestants in a small room, singing a cappella (or with a guitar/piano) to the four judges. That’s it. Same goes for boot camp – make both stages feel like proper AUDITIONS – not part of the damn show. I think the Judges Houses section is fine, so leave it as it is. But it’s the live shows that need a big make over. First, get rid of that massive stage set and have something a lot smaller. In fact, get rid of the studio based set completely. What I would do, is take the show “on the road”. Each week, broadcast
How Goes the Mo?
We’re two weeks into Movember, and it’s time to take a little look at the progress of the upper lip adornment. Or, as it’s been put to me, that thing on my face. This is a really important cause. Here are some things you might not know about prostate cancer • 1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK – one man is diagnosed every 15 minutes • A man will die from prostate cancer every hour – more than 10,000 men will die of the disease this year in the UK • You are 2.5 times more likely to develop prostate cancer if your father or brother has had it • Occurrences of prostate cancer in men are comparable to the rates of breast cancer in women At the time of writing I’m ranked as the 63775th highest fundraiser in the county but I want to do better than that! You can donate to the cause at my MoSpace – http://mobro.co/markgeveritt Right, that’s the series stuff over, now, on with the photos… First off, here are a couple of snaps from, Day 1… And here’s two from just two days later… And from Yesterday, Day 12 I’ll be honest, it’s getting a bit itchy now, but I’m going to stick to the rules and not trim it – just comb it. I actually think it looks better in the whole head-shot than in the close up. And it does make me look older and quite serious. Or that may just be the lack of a smile. Next time I’ll smile. What do you think? Looking good? Or looking like an idiot? Comment below and let me know.
Festive Cheer – Not
A colleague who shall remain anonymous (unless you’re from work, in which case you know exactly who this comes from) sent this very cheery Christmas message in advance of the festive season. Thought I’d share it to get everyone in the mood. I am conscious that I am bit late this year in sending around the my Christmas message (it normally appears in July!) – but Halloween seems as good a day to do it as any, based on my well known view of the forthcoming festive season. What brought this whole horrible episode to my mind was the fact that the Christmas lights in Oxford Street (that’s in London if you were not sure, as opposed to the Chipping Sodbury Christmas lights – which might in fact be marginally more impressive that the London ones – Jeremy Clarkson would probably turn those on, if he was not concerned about being electrocuted in the process by some reactionary socialist disability rights terrorists group – sorry I digress!) – are being turned on just after the weekend, and I can only think badly of the poor sad people that turn out on a drizzly Monday in November to watch this remarkable spectacle! I simply can’t imagine that anyone here would be so desperate to see something so crass – I suppose if Robbie Williams were performing it might be marginally more interesting (Oh! he is – I take it all back……..how do I get a ticket…NOT) – but someone turning a light switch on can’t be that interesting I would not have thought – still whatever floats your boat. Anyway I always thought someone from Coronation Street always did it – and it was part of their contract – Cliff Richard was in pantomime at the Northampton rep. theatre one year – I didn’t go and see that either, just so that you know. The other thing that brought it to mind was all this ridiculous happiness and merriment about going to Leicester football ground and paying £40.00 of your earth pounds for the privilege of eating turkey and Christmas pudding and putting on a paper hat – what has got into you people!! It is the usual culprits I notice – Happy bloody clappy Christmas bunnies – bah Humbug!! Still I am sure you are all looking forward to it – such wonderful fun for all concerned – reading a Christmas Carol (that’s by Charles Dickens – if you were not sure – not the Charles Dikkens with two k’s – he’s the dutch one) in front of the fire with a warming glass of hot grog – magical isn’t it. I shall not be sending Christmas cards this year – I shall be donating to charity – have not decided which one but as the willow tree in our back garden has just been chopped down it will probably go to homeless birds or something
It’s “Movember” – Follow my “mogress” here
For those of you that don’t know, Movember is a fund-raising imitative aimed at raising awareness of “men’s health” issues, in particular prostate cancer & testicular cancer, and raising money for charities working to fight them. Prostate cancer kills over 10,000 men in the UK every year, a similar number of men to the number of women killed by breast cancer – and yet prostate cancer receives a lot less publicity. Movember is trying to change that. Testicular cancer if far less of a killer – it only killed 75 men in 2010 – but it does leave thousands of men infertile each year. The idea behind movember is that men around the world grow a moustache throughout the month of November and post pictures of their upper-lip adornment for the world to enjoy (read, laugh at). Also, it’s a celebration of that once fashionable and so cool it ought to be brought back male facial growth. And in case you hadn’t quite guessed, I’m movembering this year. You can donate to my efforts on my Mospace, and follow my ‘mogress’ on this blog, my facebook and my twitter.
X-Factor 27/10/12 – Live(ish) blog
I’m a bit late to the ‘live’ part of this live blog (by which I mean I’m writing as I watch the show, cause, let’s be honest, you need to do something while watching). And I might have to stop if Lily wakes up, starts crying and therefore needs a cuddle to go back to sleep. But anyway… It’s Halloween week, but I think they’re missing a trick. Skyfall was released yesterday and it look like the contestants all went to the première (bastards), so shouldn’t it be Bond week? Kye was first up this week, singing a Robbie Williams classic. The one he usually opens up his shows with. And he had to rehearse it in from of the man himself. Bet he felt shit about that. I expected it to be shit but it wasn’t as shit as I expected. Not good though. Union J went second. I’ll be honest, it kind of passed me by and I was only half listening. But that was enough for me. Shit. Sometimes I wonder if the judges are watching the same thing as me. How could they praise them for that? Oh, and Louis, you need to find a new catchphrase. “I think they could be the next big boy band…” What, has Simon already been on the the blower offering to manufacture them into it next year? 20:59 – Oh my god. It’s Rylan. Should I take this chance to go get a beer? 21:00 – Lewis Hamilton – you’re a lucky, lucky boy…. 21:04 – Sorry, still don’t ‘get’ Rylan. I mean, how many songs can you get through in two minutes? 21:07 – That dress Tulisa is wearing is really quite tight, isn’t it? Looks painful to be honest. Having said that, I’m not complaining about it 🙂 21:10 – Ella’s great. But very samey. And now she’s doing one of my favourite songs, but it lacks the energy and sheer passion of the original. I know she’s the favourite, but sorry, I can’t see her winning. 21:14 – One thing that annoys me about X-Factor is the way the crowd reacts whenever a judge offers an honest critique or makes genuine points that help the performer improve. Anything that isn’t gushing praise is greeted by boos. Why? I don’t understand it. 21:22 – I like Christopher, and if the rumors of the phone vote polls are true so do a lot of people (they reckon he’s topped the polls every week), but can he really win it? And if he does, will we hear even less of him afterwards than we did of… er… that one, you know… and… er… thingy. Yeah, those two. 21:28 – Gary just called Tulisa “Fag Ash Breath”. Now that’s entertainment. I think that Tulisa’s problem with Maloney is that he isn’t ‘urban’ enough. Either that or maybe he’s admitted to her that he’s seen that video of hers that came out in the summer. Perhaps that’s why he shakes all the time when he sees her. 21:35 – District 3 next. And they murder one of the best songs of all time – Every breath you take by The police. Not only do they sing it out of tune and at the wrong speed, they ‘mash it up’ with some other shit. Hated it. Hate them. Shit. Shit. Shit. 21:37 – Thank you Gary Barlow. I’m sick of bloody mash-ups too. Oh, and Nicole, the five eyeballs thing is Clockwork Orange. Do you have no cultural knowledge? 21:43 – Holly Willoughby has just tweeted in on the whole “”Fag Ash Breath” thing by informing the world that her breath smells of Tequila. Well, there are worse things for it to smell of. 21:46 Jahmene sang for Samuel L. Jackson, officially the coolest man on the planet. I don’t life will ever get much better than that. This boy is class. He’s singing Killing Me Softly. And singing it well. 21:48 – Best performance of the night. So far ahead of the other it’s untrue. Only James Arthur comes close. It’s nice to see the judges gush this much when its well deserved. 21:54 – Jade. Good song choice. But she looked lost on that stage on her own early on. Then the bondage dancers came out and I think it put her off because her vocals suddenly got worse. In fairness though, if six girls in silver catsuits started dancing around me with ropes, it would put me off first. 21:58 – Apparently “Freak Like Me” is a song that Jade listened to when she was ‘growing up’. Shit, I feel old now. Thanks. 22:04 – Can I go and watch Boardwalk Empire yet? No, not yet, James is on next. 22:07 – James Arthur. Nothing more to say really. 22:09 – Okay. If I must. This guy is great. If he doesn’t win (and I don’t think he will for some reason) I think he’ll be the real big winner from this year. I’ve loved everything he’s done so far. Just incredible. 22:13 – Well, I enjoyed that. Writing about it as much as watching it. I think we’ll end up with Christopher, Jahmene and James in the final. Yes, I don’t think Ella will make it that far. Semis at best. I just think people will tire of her. One thing is clear though, Jahmene and even more so James are streets ahead of the others. Robbie is on the results show tonight. He must have a new album out or something. Well, that’s a Chrissy present for Sandrine sorted at least.
