In the news - Germans chose 1 of 3 lions

Rather surprisingly a Lion has been chosen to be Germany's 2006 World Cup mascot. One that looks like David Beckham too!

His or it's name is Goleo VI "at just 18, the rascally lion is still young but already brimming with confidence in his own abilities. He combines the looks of Lothar Matthäus, the elegance of Diego Maradona and the all-round ability of Oliver Bierhoff - or so the brash young lion says of himself in his first interview, albeit with a wink and a grin." (more). What bollocks.

Next up the World Cup song and it will never be as good as Spain 1982.

My kinda town

It's been a busy few weeks for Nobby. I finally moved into my new pad on Monday after what seems like ages after I closed on it. My last few weekends have been taken up with painting and decorating. And yes, that is why god decided that I would be an Insurance Broker.

It is good finally to have a place to call my own after living in 3 rented places in 17 months. I really don't want to see any bubble-wrap for a long while!

I need to tell people because it has been bugging me that a Paul Hurdle spitting image installed my television cable, just the Essex drawl was replaced by a Eastern European one.

It has been a hectic month work wise too. The April quarter is my busiest time but next week I am going on holiday and that is followed by a trip to London for a week with a client who I will hope to lose so I can get out and have a couple of pints. I will let people know if I can get out for a snifter.

So weeks 34 and 35 will be delayed I am afraid. Keep the transfers coming because they will be backdated. I am still short of some entry cash and will be bringing a list with me to the smoke to hopefully collect what is owed.

Hope to see you around the City in a couple of weeks. Nobs

Week 33 a blank

Due to the World Cup Qualifiers last weekend and again this week there were no Premiership games played during week 33.

Ginger spice

Breaking News 8888 Week 32 - The Premiership
7 weeks after relinquishing the lead to West Ham 4 West Germany 2, Ginger (not so) Athletic regained the number 1 position after scoring the week 32's best score of 65. It was Pete's 2nd MoW in 3 weeks. 12 points is now the difference between the top 2.

The next 5 sides remain unaltered but both Back Home and 2Infinity & beyond had good weeks scoring 49, the same coincidentially as West Ham 4 Krauts 2.

Into the prize money position of 7th go You got more toes. Lee hit 43. Lets all best the Gooners drop to 8th, Mark's lowest spot for 2 months.

And Tatters top tips lose their pink place after occupying one for 8 weeks.

Girls on their toes from Bears

Breaking News 8888 - Week 32 - The Championship
Alex Boswell's Meg & Hannah's Bears are hunting down Karen & Catherine's Flighty Feet at the top of the Championship. Boswell closed the gap in week 32 after adding 43 to his score. She fell over drop to 3rd.

Beer Monsters and Moulsters Molesters were also climbers last week. Rob Beere snaring 41 and Shaun going 3 better as they improved their positions in the table. Pull your finger out molly remain in 4th.

The big news in the Championship was at the bottom of the table.

The bottom 4 remained untouched although Idiots guide to soccer hit a personal 32-week best of 52 points and get within touching distance of Goonersmoan. Pride is of course at stake but so is 25 nicker!

Another season's best was had by fellow septic Tim Feldbruegge. In recent weeks young Timothy has been playing like Brazil, pity most of the season he was playing like Scotland.

Cheeky Americans are now at a season high of 18th and out of the bottom 6 for the first time ever.

Defoe's golden XI's re-election worries also seem a thing of the past. Another 58 points - the 3rd best of the week - saw Mark move further away from trouble and into 16th. The Elephant man(ager) are sandwiched between Mark & Tim in 17th.

Last weeks MoW (well they would have been if there had been one!) Herecomethewildebeestes jump another place to 14th above Hammers like coke.

The name of Super Eagles (sic) appears for the first time in the re-election zone after they dropped 2 places to 19th. Tiernan's side has hovered above the drop-zone nearly all season but following another disappointing week they finally have the dreaded black mark against their name.

Los Galacticos son espalda en la rosa

Breaking News 8888 Week 32 scores 8888 Breaking News
Carl Dillaway's Galacticos are back in the top 10 after an absence of almost 5 months. Where have you been Carl? A 62 point week was the reason for the promotion and further improvement is not beyond the handsome young Chav.

Nobby is setting himself up for a nice run, with some enterprising accounting of course. My biggest week of 2005 - 52 points, helped Make it a supersize push for some prize money.

Once again it was a week for the Championship side's with 4 of the best 6 scores coming from the 2nd tier.

The worst weekly score was from Hammers on coke, who slipped a place to 15th, after scoring a still quite respectable 21.

Bushism

Today's George 'Dubya' Bush quote:

"Anyway, after we go out and work our hearts out, after you go out and help us turn out the vote, after we've convinced the good Americans to vote, and while they're at it, pull that old George W. lever, if I'm the one, when I put my hand on the bible, when I put my hand on the Bible, that day when they swear us in, when I put my hand on the bible, I will swear to not - to uphold the laws of the land."

Toledo, Ohio. October 27, 2000

Got that? Right.

Lock up your daughters England are coming

Chicago's impressive Soldier Field will host England's first visit to the US since 1993 on May 28th, which is Memorial holiday weekend here. Sven has promised a full squad except for Real Madrid's Michael Owen and David Beckham whose La Liga season does not finish until the next day.

Alex Ferguson promised the same mind, when United played Bayern Munich here last summer but instead played a side made up of youngsters. Let's hope this game does more to help 'soccer's' popularity here because that game was truly awful.

Tickets become available on March 31st and start at $28 and I should have a little firm up for the match.

Who, which & why? - Tim Feldbruegge

Tim features in this weeks Who, which & why series. I have a few banked but would like a few more before the season is out so keep them coming.

Tim talks up steak and biscuits for breakfast and bratwurst's for half time! He has obviously never been to Brisbane Road.

And it is interesting to see that Bobby Moore and Des Lynam are famous here for reasons other than West Ham and TV fans will know and remember them.

Close but no cigar

Breaking News 8888 Week 31 scores 8888 Breaking News
Sorry but it was rule book time again in week 31. Page 46, paragraph 4, sub-section XI of the N&R FL rule book reads that more than 10 Premiership teams have to play in any one week for there to be a MoW award and for the scores to go towards the best or worst weekly score. In week 31, which was FA Cup QF week, only 7 Premiership teams played so I'm afraid Mr Hepburn that your best weekly score of 31 was in vain.

Herecomethewildebeestes did in fact score 31 points, 4 more than Tom Finney's splash and 6 more than Jonny on my shoulder, Keep the faith, Flighty Feet and Can I get a waistcoat. Tough titty as they say in all the best plastic surgeries.

Equally happy or unhappy will be Godders as Pull your finger out Molly scored a fat round 0.

Here's Jonny

Breaking News 8888 Week 31 - The Premiership
Jonny on my shoulder hurdled into the top 7 for the first time in 6 weeks after a 25-point week. You got more toes are the team to suffer as they go 8th.

I notice a little gap has opened after 8th with Keep the faith 30 points behind in 9th. Tatters top tips are also slipping, they are now in 10th.

Lower down The Premiership Lamb to the slaughter jumped 2 spots to 12th as did Ping Pong Yo-Yo to 15th.

At the top it is as tight as Greg Harris' arse at nightime in the dorm. Only 10 points seperate the top 2, West Ham 4 West Germany 2 and Ginger (not so) Athletic in the race to the title.

Flighty Feet fly into First

Breaking News 8888 - Week 31 - The Championship
Girl power leads The Championship after Barwick & Du Toit's Flighty Feet surged to top spot in week 31. Liz Keiller's She fell over improve to 2nd to give the top of the table a feminine touch. Old women Boswell and Godders drop to 3rd and 4th respectively. Pull your finger out Molly actually managed a round zilch points last week.

Up and down the table there was a lot of movement with Danny's Geeza's, Moulsters Molesters, Can I get a waistcoat, Make it a supersize, Californication, Herecomethewidebeests, Super Eagles all benefiters.

James Bird's Only one 'f' in Forest's 23 points took him above Cheeky Americans and Happy Hammers in the re-election dog-fight.

My kinda town

I have this notion that Americans before they can say "Mommy" or "Daddy" learn how to whoop and scream. I know us Brits are generally reserved, well except in an office environment but the Yanks sure know how to get excited.

At any opportunity American's find a reason to clap, whoop, cheer, wave their arms in the air and shout and scream. In sport, every move is met with a whooped approval. On quiz shows they answer a question and clap themselves before the answer is given. High fives replace a nodded approval. Girls scream, not only when they are in my company, but at a drop of a hat and heaven forbid someone spotting a television camera. It is taught at an early age that it must be screeched into looking like a mad thing, normally holding up some hurriedly produced banner like "Hello Wichita" or some equally fucked up faraway place where everyone has the same surname.

In fact it is more likely that the average American 2-year old's first words would be "whose ya Daddy" as opposed to plain "Dadda."

More prizes announced as N&R FL split in two

So this is it.... suurrprise! Two divisions - The Premiership and The Championship. The N&R league table was split down the middle after week 30 giving those mid-table drifters something to play for during the last 10 weeks of the season. We purposely held some prize money back at the beginning of the season and that will now be awarded as follows:

The Championship winner - £60
Runner Up - £30
3rd place - £20
4th place - £10

The original awards will continue. These were to remind you, as follows:

N&R FL Premiership Champion - £200 + prestigious trophy
Runner Up - £140
3rd place - £120
4th place - £100
5th place - £75
6th place - £50
7th place - £25
8th pink place - £10
9th pink place - £10
10th pink place - £10
46th place - £25
Best weekly score - £25
Worst weekly score - £25
Ready's Bangkok Bet - £25 WON BY SUZIE SYRETT
Manager of the Week - £5 x 41
Team Challenge - Trophy
(All £ prizes can be in $ equilavent)

That means the prize pot extends to 59 individual prizes. All for the entry fee of a round of beers.

The weekly scores will continue to be added to individual teams as before but no one will change league - the 23 Premiership teams and the 22 Championship teams will remain in their own divisions.

By my reckoning every manager with 10 weeks of the season remaining has something to play for. Whether it be the title, a top 7 or 10 prize, the Championship title, a runners up prize or the tight re-election battle.

All other rules will remain in place unless Nobby or Ready get bored and change them. You never know, anything can happen in the N&R FL.

The Premiership race

Breaking News 8888 Week 30 - The Premiership
The top 9 places did not alter after week 30's round of matches. The big news though was that Ginger (not so) Athletic closed the gap on West Ham 4 West Germany 2 to just 13 points. Only Doyley excelled in week 30 as others stuttered, particularly Tatters top tips who scored just 16.

Keep the faith moved up a place to joint 9th after scoring 30, whilst outside bet Blessed are the cheesmakers climbed two places to 12th after nabbing 31.

At what is now the bottom Someone other than Arse or Man U swapped places with Tom Finneys splash. Martin remember was in the bottom 6 up until the end of November. Bondy meanwhile maybe bottom of The Premiership but is only 94 points short of 10th - very achievable indeed.

The Championship race

Breaking News 8888 - Week 30 - The Championship
Well, well, well. Suddenly She fell over, Beer Monsters and Rose was ruined by a ladyboy who all thought their season's were over have a new opportunity to win some money. And Meg and Hannah's bears, Better than 2nd, Can I get a waistcoat and maybe even Cheeky Americans who have spent most if not all of the first 30 weeks of the season battling against re-election could now find themselves walking off with some prize money in May.

However it is fantasy old timer Pete Godfrey whose Pull your finger out molly lead The Championship race by just one point from girl on girl Flighty Feet and Meg & Hannah's bears. She fell over are just a further 3 points away in 4th.

The bottom half of the N&R table always has more movement than the more stable top half, so everyone right down to The elephant man(ager) in 15th have a great chance of winning some cash.

As if by magic it was The Championship teams who led the way in week 30. Danny's Geeza's leapt 4 places after whacking a magnificent 57 points. Cheeky American's are on a real run now. Tim hit 56 and climb another 2 places as his new look side look increasingly likely to avoid the drop.

Herecomethewidebeests had their best week since August scoring 54 and they move up a spot. Goonersmoan at last found their scoring boots and hit 52. They climb away from Idiots guide to soccer who seem pretty comfy in the prized penultimate place.

Only one 'f' in Forest's effort matched the boys from the City Ground with a poor performance and fall 2 places in the re-election zone.

Ginger takes biscuit

Breaking News 8888 Week 30 scores 8888 Breaking News
I almost forgot. Peter Doyle collected his 2nd MoW award in week 30 top scoring with 61 points, 4 more than Danny Matthews but more importantly 17 more than Ben Graves.

The rejuvenated Tim Felbruegge hit his best score of the season (56) whilst Tony Hepburn scored well with 54. Amazingly apart from Doyley, 8 of the best 9 scores were made by Championship managers! Wow, even Rutts turned in a good week with 49, his best since August!

Alex Boswell scored 53, Rob Beere 52, Shaun Moulster 48 and Chris Waterman 47. Alan Waters made it an excellent week for the re-election candidates knocking in 46 as the battle really hots up at the bottom of The Championship table.

Surprisingly 9th placed Premiership manager Nigel Tatlock worst scored with 16.

Road to Cardiff - St Patrick's Day

I don't think Patrick Kluivert is Irish but then again nor or the thousands of people in Chicago this weekend wearing stupid green hats, beads and drinking Guinness like they know where the River Liffey really is. "Is it in Europe?" Erm, quite.

Back to the Cup. It was Kluivert's early goal that gave the Toon victory over runaway Chelsea in the last round and he did it again yesterday putting pay to the mighty Spurs' Cup run. Oh well, there is always 2010. Didn't Spurs always win something when the year ended in an 0? Or was that about a million years ago when they were a big club?

It was Patrick Kluivert's goal and a spate of Shay Given saves sealed Newcastle's place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they will have to add Man Utd's scalp to the list of Chelsea and Yeading if they are to lift the glittering trophy for the first time in 50 years.

KLUIVERT scored from eight yards after Alan Shearer had brushed off Ledley King before picking out his team-mate with five minutes gone on the clock.

Tottenham did fight back, with Given brilliantly thwarting Robbie Keane then Jermain Defoe, as well as saving from Frederic Kanoute and Timothee Atouba. Keane had a late strike ruled out for a debatable foul by Anthony Gardner.

Newcastle were indeed lucky to win through, with the goal their only shot on target and Spurs missing lucky charm Ossie Ardiles were unfortunate to head home without grabbing a replay.

Tottenham were better than us for the majority of the game," said Souness.

"But we dug deep and we held on when the going was rough. I don't think two months ago we would have won that game. The players should be very proud."

Team: Given, Carr, Bramble (Jenas 40), Boumsong, Hughes, Dyer, Bowyer, Faye, Robert (Milner 81), Shearer, Kluivert (Ameobi 68).
Subs Not Used: Harper, Butt.
Attendance: 51,307
MoM: Shay Given

Geordies to play Man U in Semi

Man U and Arsenal were kept apart in the FA Cup Semi-Final draw today. So Chelsea's conquerors Newcastle United play United whilst Blackburn play Arsenal.

Both games will be played at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 April.

Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd said afterwards: "It's not the draw we wanted, but it won't have been the draw Manchester United wanted either. There's no reason why we cannot beat them. We won't be frightened of them, we owe them one for the Charity Shield defeat at Wembley in 1996 and also for the FA Cup final defeat in 1999, so we'll look forward to this one. Reet then I'm off to the brothel for lunch."

Road to Cardiff - All the way to the Semi's

Newcastle United led us to the Semi Finals of the FA Cup today beating the Spudz 1-0 (report to follow). Newcastle became our 6th team on the Road to Cardiff in the 3rd Round when they beat little Yeading. It seems a long time ago since we chose Odd Down back in August.

The Geordies are now just 1 game away from the Millennium Stadium. The Semi-Final draw is tomorrow (Monday). The draw will be announced on the N&R FL website once known.

SF Newcastle v ??

QF Newcastle 1, Tottenham 0
Scorer: Kluivert
Attendance: 51,307

5th R Newcastle 1, Chelsea 0
Scorer: Kluivert
Attendance: 45,740

4th R Newcastle 3, Coventry 1
Scorers: Shearer, Amoebi, Babayaro
Attendance: 44,044

3rd R Yeading 0, Newcastle 2
Scorers: Bowyer, Amoebi
Attendance: 10,824 (Held at Loftus Road)

2nd R Slough Town 1, Yeading 3
Scorer: Harris
Attendance: 2,418

1st R Slough Town 2, Walsall 1
Scorers: Hodges, Harris
Attendance: 2,023

4th QR Slough Town 3, Salisbury City 2
Scorers: Matthews, Wallace
Attendance: 1,195

3rd QR Weston-Super-Mare 1, Salisbury City 3
Scorers: Davis (2), Matthews
Attendance: 543

2nd QR Replay Frome Town 0, Salisbury City 3
Attendance: 665

2nd QR Salisbury City 1, Frome Town 1
Scorer: Salter
Attendance: 636

1st QR Replay Backwell United 1, Frome Town 3
Scorer: Bloomfield
Attendance: 90 (played at Clevedon Town FC)

1st QR Frome Town 2, Backwell United 2
Scorers: Hewitt, Bryne
Attendance: 191

Prelim Round Backwell United 2, Bridgewater Town 1
Attendance: 83

Extra Prelim Round Backwell United 3, Odd Down 2
Scorers: Quoi, Tilley
Attendance: 26

Letters & things

A little note from Mike Robertson that made me all sentimental....

I saw Ready in the RSA yesterday - Ah memories of Lloyds Chambers....
Christmas Party.. a venue at the top of the Minories.. Drunk.. Ready on top of me.. Gibbo on top of him..right hook... ouch my back hurts.
Cheers
Robbo

And it's the 150 tomorrow. Avoid Rob Munden at all costs, he is a ginger pest at those events. In fact the 150 also brings back cracking and terrible memories. There was that fucking awful news reporter who basically got booed off stage. When will they learn that people are not there to listen to the in's and out's of contingent business interruption and some old 'd' celeb talking bollocks, they are there to catch up with old muckers and get trollied.

One year I got into a red wine drinking race with Matt Grimwade and Paul Knight and we were on some big nobs RSA table at the front and we were hoovering red like no tomorrow. Anyway we kept knocking glasses of the table and were giggling like schoolgirls and getting daggers from the old duffers on the stage.

That day I also had a bit of a primary with Ready - 7 pints of Wife Beater and a pizza (I'm sure it was the dodgy pepperoni!) and all I remember was being woken up by a black cab driver in West Malling, 120 notes on the meter and getting indoors to the ex her-indoors and her being nice to me for once. That was until I threw up in the downstairs khazi! I spent the whole of the weekend redecorating the bloody bathroom! Never seen so much red vom in my life. Oh well, I will be thinking of those of you that will be attending tomorrow night. Have fun, avoid the boring twats and anyone ginger staggering around with a glass in his hand and a Leeds United lapel badge.

Cheers
Nobs

The have and the have nots

Other the last couple of months there have been some significent shifts in form amongst the N&R FL managers.

For example early pace-setters like Luadjemba have slipped out of contention despite being in the top 10 every week up until mid January. Other teams such as Lamb to the slaughter, Ping Pong Yo-Yo and Sweaty shagged a shemale have also recently dropped out of the race.

But there is a new order in the top 10. Ex champion Barry Plummer has revived his 2Infinity & Beyond side and are leading the chase of the long time top 4. Lets all beat the Gooners are not long behind them either.

Jonny on my shoulder were languishing in mid-table a few months back but have now established themselves in the top 10 and You got more toes were the early league leaders, but then slipped right out of it but are now back in the stew.

Two teams outside of the top 10 also catch my eye. Galacticos have at last put some consistency together and Blessed are the cheesemakers are on a marvellous run.

11 weeks remain and the title is wide open. West Ham 4 West Germany 2 are 30 points clear and favourites to win the title in their first ever season but there is a whole lot of experienced fantasy managers chasing them down the home straight - Doyley, Wenners, Paull, Plummer, Simmons, Day and Munden have all been there before.

Down at the bottom we have seen Tom Finney's splash, Meg & Hannah's bears and Better than 2nd all move away from trouble. Martin very expertly climbing the table in particular.

Californication and Defoe's golden XI have more recently improved their hopes of avoiding the re-election battle with good weekly performances.

And then we have seen the two American's begin to get the hang of the game and start their long crusade away from danger. Cheeky American's and Idiots guide to soccer both using their transfer opportunities to give them a spring-board to success in the last quarter of the season.

On the flip side Goonersmoan have had a disastrous last few months. A pre-season title consideration, Rutts started the season on fire but now has a desperate re-election battle on his hands. And the dream duo managed Woody's Warriors have hit rock bottom and can't seem to find a way out.

Other sides nervously looking over their shoulders are Super Eagles who have dangled above the drop zone for weeks and my very own Make it a supersize who are going backwards.

Looking higher up the table at teams with poor-form symptoms, there are two sides in particular who are wallowing quite badly. Rose was ruined by a ladyboy and Beer Monsters both flirted with the top 10 but are in a real bad run of form. Just like the real thing, a team nearly always drops from mid-table into the re-election fight during the last part of the season.

So, with 11 weeks left it is all to play for.... but just when you thought it was safe, we are going to add a little ingredient to the mix!

Nobby & Ready to rock the FL world in week 30

It's a big week next week in the N&R FL. Only Nobby & Ready know why its a big week, that's the surprise see? We will make history at the end of week 30 by doing something we or any other FL has never done before, and we would love to tell you but we can't. It's for your benefit and we don't want to spoil the surprise.

Just to say that it will open the whole competition up, remember to keep those transfers coming.

Birdy swoops for a fiver

Breaking News 8888 Week 29 scores 8888 Breaking News
James Bird's Only one 'f' in Forest shook the disappointment of losing to Spurs in the FA Cup replay by winning week 29's MoW award, his 2nd of the season - not bad for a team that 25 of the 29 weeks in the bottom 6.

Birdy's 49 points was a massive 14 more than the next best weekly team. This was Lets all beat the Gooners who climb a place to 6th. Another high-flying side Back home was next up with 34 points, they closed the gap on Wenners Wannabe's to just 5 points.

Form team Blessed are the cheesemakers stole another place to 13th after scoring 32, the same as another ex AIG man Alex Boswell, whose Meg & Hannah's Bears jumped two places to 27th.

Jonny on my shoulder concreted their top 10 place by scoring another 30 points, a point more than Robbos on top, Tom Finney's splash, Flighty feet and You got more toes than us.

Coked

Breaking News 8888 Week 29 scores 8888 Breaking News
Hammers like coke were out of it in week 30. They turmed in the week's lowest score of 6 points, Tony's worst of the season. This leaves him looking furiously over his shoulder in 37th.

The only change in the re-election zone was Only one 'f' in Forest leapfrogging Happy Hammers. Cheeky Americans are clear of Goonersmoan after hitting another fine score of 28 points, and they are now just 3 shy of 43rd place.

Tim has probably just set a record too. He has made wholesale changes to his side. Only 3 players survived the cull and he has his sights set on at least finishing above me. Shit, where's that player list gone....

Nil, zero, nada

Breaking News 8888 Week 28 scores 8888 Breaking News
Peter Godfrey, Giles Crowley & Nobby scored a big fat round zero in week 28 and between them will share the Season's worst weekly score prize unless it is beaten in the last few months of the season.

Week 28 was always going to be a low scoring affair what with only 11 Premiership teams playing in the 5th Round of the FA Cup but Pull your finger out molly, The elephant (man)ager & Make it a supersize 'exceeded' expectations with a weekly score of 0, 1 point less than Beer Monsters and two less than Rose was ruined by a ladyboy.

The current list of the season's worst weekly scores are as follows. Please note that the minimum team requirement per week is 10 to qualify for the prize.

1=. Peter Godfrey, 0 points, week 28
1=. Giles Crowley, 0 points, week 28
1=. Simon Newport, 0 points, week 28
4. Rob Beere, 1 point, week 28
5. Lee Baughan, 2 points, week 28
6=. Barrett / Baxter, 3 points, week 28
6=. Brian Dougal, 3 points, week 12
6=. Chris Waterman, 3 points, week 12
9. Mark Dewberry, 4 points, week 10
10. Neil Cryer, 5 points, week 28

Jenks hits jackpot

Breaking News 8888 Week 28 scores 8888 Breaking News
As mentioned above it week 28 was a quiet week in the N&R FL. The top 10 places remain unchanged but West Ham 4 West Germany 2 did increase their lead by a significant 10 points.

At the bottom Cheeky Americans scored 21 points to go back above Goonersmoan into 44nd place.

The Manager of the Week was Simon Jenkins who scored 32, which was excellent and Can I get a waistcoat pick up their first prize of the season. Herecomethewildebeests scored 30 and clambered a place away from danger, while 2Infinity & beyond edged closer to the top 4 with 24 points.

In the news - How to cook an egg and get it all over your face!

Oh dear, how embarrassing. Norwich director Delia Smith and celebrity chef, fresh from knocking up a few eggs for breakfast in the morning, decided to grab the Public Address system at Carrow Road during the half time break of the crucial relegation battle with Manchester City on Monday night and issue a passionate plea.

She clearly felt that her fellow Canaries were not getting behind their team enough and our Delia screeched in her best Norfolk accent "This is a message for possibly the best supporters in the world. We need a 12th man. Where are you? Where are you?"

Travelling Man City fans and of course the whole of Suffolk found the whole episode hilarious and in a BBC poll 65% of those who responded found Delia's speech "excruciating", while 27% said it was it "funny". A minority of 8% viewed her attempt at motivation as "inspiring".

Is it time that women stayed at home in the kitchen and let the men go to the football?

Payment reminder

I am still short of some cash. I will send out a personal email shortly to those concerned as I would like the money before the end of the season!

There are 2 ways to pay me. One is to give either a cheque made out to me or the cash to Lee Baughan or Ready and secondly it is by popping into a Woolwich branch with 25 nicker giving them these details:

Bank - Woolwich
Account No. - 34342738
Sort Code - 10 80 12
Reference - L965427555Z
Name of Account - Simon Newport (Fantasy)

Thank you
Nobby

My kinda town

I was back at home the weekend but didn't venture anywhere near the City. I am back again in April and will be around the market so I will let you know when and where for a sherbert.

I was back for Stuart Kilpatrick's wedding. I was his best man and clearly my speech was the highlight of the day! Truth be told I didn't eat a bloody thing and had two sips of wine before my turn came and I thought I was reasonably relaxed until it came to toasting the bride and groom and picked up my champers and my hand was shaking uncontrollably! It was a good day though and was good to see a few of the boys again.

It looks like next week will be my first full week in the office since the turn of the year which is quite handy as I'm very busy and have a ton of 3/31's, sorry 31/3's.

And this Friday I complete on my loft which I am buying and I will move in at the end of March when my current rental agreement runs out. Home Depot for me over the next few weekends!

I couldn't believe the weather at home, it was colder than here before I left but looks like normality has returned to Chicago because it was -9c today.