Not just football

party time - well sort of.

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:57:00 GMT

NOT long ago an international break would have seen me take the opportunity to watch a non-league game but this weekend will see me taxiing by three, getting on for 13, year old son around.

He has two parties to go to, Cerys and Amanda are both four, so that is my Saturday and Sunday afternoon's sorted.

My boy has also started his first football coaching session, not, I hasten to add, prompted by me but my wife. So Sunday morning I will be taking him to Felixstowe for the Young Kickers - hopefully all these activities will tire him out so he is fast asleep by the time the rugby, including build up, starts.

After England's quite brilliant win over the Aussies (were you watching Mark) it will be amazing if they can pull it off again and beat the hosts France in Paris.

Ben Drury (ex Town FM), who used to bore me rigid when I took him to town games last season, is making the trip from Bordeaux where is spending year studying (yeah right) is making the trip so I hope he has good time and we as a nation get the right result.

Not bothered who wins the other semi-final, although the Boks look too strong even for the Argies and wouldn't it be sweet to beat them in the final as revenge for the group stage humiliation.

Oooh arrrr

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:16:00 GMT

FUNNY how clubs coming up from League One tend to do well and then get into the record studio.

Colchester did it last season and made a few quid for charity at the same time and now Bristol City, who have even topped the Championship this season, are at it.

The Robins have linked up with the Wurzels (you know the ones of I've got a Brand New Combine Harvester fame) to record a version of the City anthem.

I think I would need a few pints of cider before listening to that.

Some might say that being a Championship manager is like flogging a dead horse at times but our old friend Ian Holloway has taken to selling one of his daughters' horse to fellow boss Dave Jones at Cardiff.

Apparently when the done were talking about players it came up that Jones' daughter needed a horse to ride and Holloway just so happened to be ready to flog one of the three his family have.

Good sports and Joe coming back

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:00:00 GMT

I don't know about you but I thought the Leicester City, with new boss Gary Megson, decision to allow Nottingham Forest to 'score' in the opening minute because they were a goal up when the game was postponed due to Clive Clarke's sudden illness, was outstanding.

Such sportsmanship should be applauded, although I still think Mandaric is a *&^%$ (put in your own adjective) for sacking Martin Allen the way he did.

I can see it ending in tears with Megson too because while he is a quality manager he is prone to falling out with chairmen so it should be fun.

Talking of chairman/managers, I hear all is not well at Preston with Paul Simpson and Joe Royle is being touted by colleagues of mine in the northwest as a likely replacement.

Should make October 6 interesting.

Now, I'm not one for praising the 'auld enemy' but the Sweaty Socks were excellent against the Romanians last night running in six tries, all duly converted and didn't need a penalty to boot.

I continue to enjoy the World Cup, despite the odd mismatch and while the cricketers look as reliable as a bank relying on the American property market, at least we can expect the rugby lads to bounce back after the debacle against South Africa.

Heskey is better than Rooney

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:53:00 GMT

I CAN'T remember the last time I was so happy to be proved wrong. Never in a million years did I think Emile Heskey would be England's saviour but his partnership with Michael Owen has proved to be pure gold.

The emergence of Gareth Barry as a quality international midfielder is much less of a surprise and of course Shaun Wright-Phillips has always been capable of these sorts of performances.

So the dilemma for Steve McClaren now is does he change a winning side?

No way.

There is no way in the world that a week ago I would have said play Heskey ahead of Rooney , or even Barry ahead of Lampard, but now it is a no-brainer.

McClaren has stumbled upon a winning formula and, barring injuries, he should stick to this starting XI when they go to Russia next month.

I watched the first half on England's win in the pub instead of watching the rugby but the World Cup has not disappointed so far.

Loads of shock results, plenty of exciting open rugby and all played in the right spirit.

Let's hope England can pull off a shock against south Africa on Friday.

Let the party begin

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:51:00 GMT

Although part of this weekend will be spent singing a sea shanty or three while well lubricated at Great Yarmouth's Maritime Festival, where of course I shall also be entertaining my young lad at the Sealife centre and on board the Grand Turk.

He will also watch his first Rugby World Cup, he missed England winning the last one by almost a fortnight as he was still in my wife's tum.

If truth be known I'm far more excited by these upcoming six weeks than I was in Germany last summer even though I doubt England will get past the quarter-finals in France either.

The previous Rugby World Cups have been amazing, who can forget Jonny kicking over in extra-time, or what a cracking match it had been up until then.

And South Africa's win when Nelson Mandela wore the Springbok's jersey and the whole country (black and white) embraced what had been very much the white man's sport.

Chester Williams scoring four tries to get them to the final and Francois Pinnear answering the television guy's question, live in the stadium, 'how does it feel to win the World Cup in front of 60,000 African in the stadium' by saying 'we didn't win it for 60,000 people here, we did it for 53million Africans all over the country'.

Perhaps it was destiny they should have won it, just as it was England's destiny in Sydney in 2003. Whose destiny it is this time I have no idea.

New Zealand are my favourites but the French at home can be pretty formidable.

Who do you think will lift the Webb Ellis Trophy in October?

Excuses, excuses.

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:17:00 GMT

Coaches love to spout off about a failure to prepare is preparing to fail but judging from the amount of excuses surrounding England football this week it seems they are simply preparing to fail.

All this rot about the amount of foreign players coming into our game has weakened the england team but what about 20 years ago when there were very few of our continental cousins plying their trade over here?

Lets face it we were rubbish then as well. When the Premier League first started we struggled the summer before in Sweden under Graham Taylor and then failed to qualify for the World Cup in America.

We flirted with glory in 1996 with football coming home and all that but on the whole the England squad has flattered to deceive and we have foolishly allowed our hopes to be built up only for them to be dashed.

We call our players world class but they flop on the world stage and that has nothing to do with Ronaldo, Drogba or Torres et al playing over here.

Nor is it to do with academies because they still produce quality players, the only problem is they come at a premium and players that are just as good, or perhaps even better, are less expensive to buy and even with the millions swilling around clubs still like a bargain.

So instead of looking for excuses to fail England should get back to basics and look to at least qualify without wingeing and then they should set realistic goals, while England fans should have more realistic expectations.

Hopefully you will have read the piece I did with Tony Humes with his views on academies and how successful they can be.

Let me know what you think.

Baby Love

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:51:00 GMT

EVEN though Neil Alexander's assertion that he would miss Town's game against Watford if his wife Joanne went into labour, caused consternation among some of my 'enlightened colleagues' it appears that it is now accepted practise to put births before games.

Mind you some players make every effort to get to both as Stoke City's Liam Lawrence showed when he got a call from his wife Rebecca while on the team bus to Southampton.

He leapt off and got a cab to Crewe hospital, costing him £200, in time to see his son Thomas born.

After snatching some sleep he got a lift to Southampton from his chairman Peter Coates, entertained on the way down by 'comic' Nick Hancock.

Stoke lost 3-2 and Lawrence legged it back home to see his son once more.

I remember a couple of year's back when Kelvin Davis left the team hotel in Leeds at 3am to get back in time to see his second child born, and Joe Royle didn't even know he had gone until after breakfast - Kelvin tells me Joe was not a happy bunny.

Money, money - no money.

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:59:00 GMT

I must have done something right last week when I stood in for Knightsy on Radio Suffolk as Mark Murphy has asked me to do a bit with him on his Saturday morning show from about 10.30am - beats having to go shopping any day.

Laughing at Leeds

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:17:00 GMT

YOU have to hand it to Leeds fans for looking on the bright side of footballing life in the lower reaches.

I called a mate in Yorkshire last week and he told me it was cold in Leeds. "Really?" I stupidly asked. "Yeah, it's minus 15" he chimed.

The Leeds programme has a squad number called Minus and inside it has a page -15.

They also have a 'real' table which shows Leeds up at the top end with six points, instead of bottom with minus nine. Ah well, at least it is getting warmer by gum.

Face for radio

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 16:40:00 GMT

MY weekend trip to Plymouth was spiced up and I don't just mean by the excellent curry I enjoyed with photographer Warren Page on the Friday night before the match.

I ended up doing a somewhat unexpected stint on Radio Suffolk when Bryan Knight's voice finally croaked it about half hour before he and Brenner Wooley were about to commentate live.

I quite enjoyed it, managed not to turn the airwaves blue and didn't make any gaffes. Of course the banter was flying and the old joke about me having a face for radio.

Of course I'm an old hand at this radio summarising stuff after doing it once before. That was when I sat alongside BBC Essex's Neil Kelly doing a Colchester United v Port Vale game where a certain George O'Callaghan was also playing just as he was at Home Park.

But Knightsy needn't worry, his job's safe and anyway as I told him on Saturday I don't mind helping out with the football but there is no way I'm covering if he loses his voice at at speedway.

92 and counting

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:50:00 GMT

THERE used to be 92 clubs to visit and it was dead simple - you just went round them and said you had been to all league grounds.

Well I have been to about 100 grounds now and still have not visited them all because just when you think you have cracked it they pop up with another.

Like Arsenal and Shrewsbury who have moved homes, the goalposts are, literally, always moving.

It is always a thrill going to new ground and they do just seem to get better. Of course many can seem soulless compared to the old grounds. Pride Park is just not the same as the old Baseball Ground but sentiment sometimes blurs the memory of just how awful, atmosphere apart, some of those old stadia were.

Visiting stadium:mk was interesting for many reasons, not least because of the Wimbledon links, and I'm delighted they have cut apart from that chapter and are going it alone as new club in its own right looking to build its own history.

Hopefully the FA and Football League will never allow this situation to arise again and a franchise be allowed to take a place in the league. It is also a fervent wish that AFC Wimbledon continue their climb and one day get back into the FL.

By sending all the old Wimbledon cups and medals back to Merton. Pete Winkleman, who has put in something like £6m of his money to get stadium:mk built and the new club underway, the people of Milton Keynes have their own club to identify with and if Paul Inces' side continue to play as they did against Ipswich they will soon be rising up the divisions.

The ground is awesome, even if it is not yet finished it is stunning arena and possibly Bradford apart, by far the best in League Two. The seating was great, padded seats with decent leg room and easy access to toilets and food outlets.

Okay not the easiest to get in and out of but you can see why they have been handed an England Under 21 game.

I would be interested to hear from town fans who went and what they think.

Anyway, off to cover Town ressies tonight, let's hope the game is as good as last night.

I would be interested to hear of o

Wise words from a football legend

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 14:35:00 GMT

GAMES like Saturday's make my job so much easier.

Everybody wants to but an EADT to see how great Town were and revel in what was a glorious afternoon packed with exciting and fun football - not if you are a Wednesday fan of course.

Given what I had said before the match about getting a bit nervous myself it was quite funny bumping into Mick Mills before the game.

The England and Ipswich legend was there being inducted into the Hall of Fame but typical of the man had some sound words of advice for this hack.

' Get the first sentence right early on and that will settle you', he told me and how right he was.

Seriously though, it amazes me that a man of his amazing football knowledge and experience, plus great character, is not involved in football is quite incredible.

Don't forget to log on to the live web chat today and let me know your views or ask me any questions you want.

Jellybeans and all that

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:41:00 GMT

The new season starts today and just like everyone else involved in football, either as a player, manager or fan. I as a reporter get just as excited, and a little nervous.

Every year people say the start of the season is like Christmas Eve where everyone, even those likely to be relegated are full of anticipation and optimism.

Town fans seem to be realistic about the season with most expecting mid-table and seeing top ten as a bonus, anything on top would be a miracle given how many other clubs have far more resources.

The 'jellybean' story seems to have tickled a few nerves and let's hope it gives them the right boost and doesn't have an adverse effect like it did the England cricketers.

Enjoy the season give me a shout after the game and let me know what you think, and of course there is always the live webchat on Monday.

Sheepy on Five Live

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:17:00 GMT

I caught the last hour or so of 'The Future of Football' debate hosted by David Davies on Five Live and was intrigued at how far removed the discussion was from what the guy representing the fans wanted more action on.

While David Sheepshanks, Brian Mawhinney, Richard Scudamore and Brian Barwick talked about the amount of foreign players in the game, the chasm between the FL and Prem, the guy from the Football Supporters, I didn't catch his name, wanted more to be done about ticket prices for fans among other things.

He made the point that with the amount of money the Prem now have from television clubs in the Premier League can afford not to charge for tickets yet some clubs, he mentioned Man United the richest club in the club.

Surely it is not too much to expect that clubs, and lets face it they have created the market where players can be paid £135,000 a week, should start thinking a bit more about its customers.

Lower down it is harder but they still risk pricing clubs out and sneaking extra costs onto a fan's day out risks alienating them even more.

I explained in yesterday's blog how much Jeffers was after and that is just silly money for a club that is in as much debt as Town, but are Wednesday that much better off?

Personally I was happy to see Leeds United get hammered so much for their transgression of the rules about administration, as Barry Fry pointed out, they are no different to Boston and they got dropped another division straight off so Bates and co should consider themselves lucky.

I'm back

derek.davis@eadt.co.uk — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:29:00 GMT

OKAY so I have been neglecting my blog. Well you will be delighted to know that I'm back and with a vengeance.

Whereas before I kept away from talking about Ipswich Town and football in general, well I have anew lease of life and I will be telling you all sorts of stuff that we don't use in the paper.

Not Just Football will also be like the Chatter was in the print version and those with a faint heart may want to stay away.

Let me start by telling you why Jeffers, greedy wotsit but we would all like it, went to Sheff Wed and not Ipswich - money.

I know you know but how much?

My spies tell me that he was on £7k a week plus £2k a game at Rovers but turned down £10k plus £1k bonus with Town. He also wanted a £200k golden goodbye from Rovers and a £100k golden hello from Town.

Now some people may say Town should have paid up but what would that have done to the morale in the dressing room? Just a thought.

Drop a line and let me know what you think.