No complaints

No-one has mentioned their surprise at my lack of entries this last week or so which means my girl's contention that the 10,000 plus hits are all her being nice and supportive may well be true. Not that I actually write for an audience, though I do have this slightly morbid idea that if I drop dead then my family have some sort of personal record of me beyond the photos on their mobile phones. It does mean I could probably be a lot more risque though I guess. Even so and even when I'm busy as heck I get itchy fingers if I don't put something up here. I used to mock diary keepers, saying they were girly, unnecessarily introspective and embarrassing. At least they were private. I was wrong of course. There's a catharsis in the writing and the odd bit of one to none counselling potential if I read back over entries at random. I can see for example how my mood does lift after I'm low and how there are things well worth being grateful for. As a sort of online memory it's great. Since I have nothing to write about I thought I'd put up photos from the last two London games we went to. The first is Craven Cottage in the FA cup 6th round. The sky was a lot nicer than the ground. As I type Spurs fans are planning their trips to Wembley for the semi finals all but forgetting that the 0-0 scoreline in this game means that we actually have to win the replay first.
The second photo is from last Saturday's win against Blackburn. My ultra brief match summary:
we scored three legit goals: first well made corner from Nico, nodded on by Charlie, tapped in by Defoe. Second breakaway finished by Pav. Third, great cross from man of match Bale to Pav.
They scored from corner after Samba climbed all over Daws. they scored another that was disallowed even though it was legit. Howard Webb missed 3 pen claims- two for us, one for them. Webb was rubbish. He'll be another embarrassment to England at the World Cup. They had about 40 fans there. 10 of them sang 'your support is f***ing s**t' I think they were being ironic. We sang 'What time's your minibus?'

Just heard that John Terry managed to run over a security guard at Stamford Bridge after last night's exit at the hands of the 'special one'. He drove off claiming not to have noticed he'd broken someone's leg. He really is the ultimate tosser. Twice in the last month I have wanted Chelsea to win- once when playing our new arch rivals from the middle eastlands and last night. They blew it both times. Or mysterious forces are at play. I wanted them to win last night because my granddad is a Chelsea fan and it's his birthday. He's in his 80s so his headhunting days are over and he can't get his aggression and anger out by arranging a fight with some guys from a Spurs or Millwall firm.

champagne superwa***r

I still haven't worked out whether I want us to get the Europa League spot. On the one hand it'd be an amazing way to mark then end of Harry Redknapp's first season, especially after the first 8 games under Ramos. On the other, it'd be good not to get embroiled in the mess that is the poor cousin to the notoriously misnamed Champions' League. Either way it's probably academic as Fulham are on a roll and play the toffees who'll no doubt have one (collective) eye on the FA Cup and we play Liverpool who have nothing but frustration to keep them occupied after losing out to Man United.

The blue half of Manchester was at White Hart Lane on Saturday and I was glad it wasn't a decent team. The 2-1 scoreline was about right and, although Keane and Pav were like those uncoordinated people you get at half time who have won a competition that allows them to try to score but they can't because they're pants, a few players put in a decent shift.

From the back of the Paxton we couldn't work out who was on the end of some barracking from Park Lane and Shelf but this (from the Mirror) explained all:

Oasis' Liam Gallagher laid into Tottenham Hotspur supporters at White Hart Lane on Saturday (May 16), as the team played his beloved Manchester City.Spurs fans infuriated the Oasis singer by chanting "You're just a shit Chas & Dave" at him early on in the match. In response Gallagher, who was watching the game from an executive box alongside his elder brother Paul, taunted the home supporters by flicking his middle finger and V-signs at them, forcing the club's security step in and force him back to his seat.The Spurs fans had the last laugh though, beating Man City 2-1 on the day

I shall never drink Carling again!

Too many cliches occur and block my efforts to express the feelings and experience of Sunday's narrow defeat: roller coaster, passion & pride, sick as a parrot.

Suffice to say the boys done good and we're proud of them. Or to use Harry's exact words: 'I'm well pleased with the lads.'

This is all apart from:

a) Pav's free kick (nyet, nyet, I take, I am striker, look.... Chyort voz'mi! I hit big screen)
b) Bentley's penalty. He can put a ball in a skip from a hundred yards for a Rolex (see below) but can he hit a sodding barn door or Ben Foster from 12? The answer is no.

It was actually quite emotional. Most fans stayed to cheer the players when they went up for their medals (compare Chelski fans last year who were heading back to the Bridge before the final whistle blew) and there was none of the churlish 'I didn't care about this mickey mouse cup' attitude that I remember from '82 when Liverpool beat us. At the end of that game we sang 'Stick your milk cup up your arse'. It was a bigger trophy in those days too.

Pav songs