Despite His White Boots

Football, football, football and, if the mood takes me, more football.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

QPR 1 Leicester 2

With 6000 extra squeezing into Loftus Road, we probably shouldn't take personal responsibility for bokking the Rs, tempting as it is. But Rangers were, as Jim Magilton admitted after the game, second best in this one and Leicester deserved to win. If you're interested in the game you've probably seen the goals anyway. I wasn't too impressed by the players I hadn't seen before, although Faurlin in particular probably just had an off-night. Whatever, Magilton added that "As much as we didn't get carried away by our recent fine form, I'm not going to go over the top about one loss." which is fair enough as well ; I think both teams should be around the play-off zone in the final shake-up. I quite enjoyed myself, but as much for the company as the game so I'll just stick to as and when I feel like it going forward. Don't hold your breath :-)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Debt And More Debt

A quick update to The League Table Of Debt ; you would have thought that having found their way into the Premiership with a debt of just £1m, Hull City might at least be reasonably safe - but apparently not. Now, as they say in the article, those numbers apply to the point just after Hull were promoted, so the extra Premiership income should see them through, you would think, if they haven't gone nuts on wages. It makes you wonder though, when Hull City, with a new stadium and good attendances, bink the Premiership out of nowhere, stay up and they're still apparently under threat, after basically finding the "pot of gold" - well, it's no wonder what the writer says at the end about most clubs needing a sugar daddy. Premiership (and wannabe Premiership) football appears to be completely unsustainable on its own merits at the moment.

Given that, I might as well pop along to QPR and see if they really are playing their best football since 1995 at the very least, before they hit the skids as well, and I should be at the Palace game next week (if not Leicester on Friday).

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Can Daniel Negreanu Put A Penalty Past Pepe Reina ?

WTF you say, can Superman outrun The Flash ? But there is some indication that this is a challenge that might actually be thrown down. I say some indication because we're working off a piece in The Sun (I know) :

Sheringham Is Feeling Flush

Incidentally the poker content of this piece is LOL even by The Sun's standards. However, this is the bit that sparked interest on 2+2 :

"But Canadian Daniel [Negreanu] has the chance to win some extra cash over a bet with another footballer - Liverpool goalkeeper JOSE REINA. Jose met Daniel at a tournament and reckons Daniel won't score past him in five attempts - and there's £12,000 riding on it."

Here's the 2+2 thread. Oddly, Negreanu chips in to comment on his football background but gives no indication whatsoever if the bet is genuine and, if so, when it might happen. This leads me to suspect shenanigans and severly doubt whether anything will happen. Nonetheless, if it does, I have booked $1000 with 2+2er BKIce, with me saying no way, Negreanu will not score in 5 pens and him taking 1/5 or more. It seems self-evident to me that I have the best of this, not least because Negreanu is a wet and a weed. Someone who's more than 9 stone dripping wet might have a better shot. I have to say though, it's a good bet - it's fun to see how many people (myself included) are so confident even though they're taking opposite sides.

Update : Sadly, especially for those of us hoping to make the easiest $1000 in earth history, this is not going to happen. Negreanu has again posted in the thread without giving any indication of if and when it will actually take place. My read of his thought process is "Yay ! 8 pages of people talking about me playing football ! Who says I'm gay ?". Everyone Daniel. Everyone.