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  • footballpubcast 8:30 am on April 25, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Chelsea, ,   

    1 Leg On The Cup: Semi Final Part 3 

    The second half is only a few minutes old when the ‘did it / didn’t it’ moment came as Juan Mata peeled off in celebration after scoring the 2nd for Chelsea? We had absolutely no idea if it was a goal or not, in fact we thought a penalty had been given when we seen John Terry on the floor with his arms spread like he was appealing to the ref. A moment or 2 later the blue side of the stadium erupted & the scoreboard changed to 0-2.
    A more relaxed mood now with the Chelsea fans sat with us, but that soon disappeared on 56 minutes when Adebayor went one-on-one with Cech & looked certain to score! The striker & keeper both ended up in a heap in the penalty area but the ultra-quick Bale was on hand to slot the ball home in front of the Spurs fans! If only he wouldn’t do that stupid love heart goal celebration after scoring! 1-2.

    The next 20 minutes seen Chelsea turning the screw & gaining the upper hand, Mata sends in the perfect pass for Ramires, who had slipped Assou Ekotto & was now goal side of the defender & took his chance to put Chelsea further in front with a little dink over Cudicini. 1-3.
    With just 10 minutes left , me & the big fella are fairly confident this will be done & dusted within normal time giving us at least a fair chance of catching the 9.51 out of Euston. Step up & take a bow Mr. Frank Lampard! WOW! It’s the only word i can think of & if you’re not sure what i’m on about then go & check it out on the ITV i-Player! 1-4.

    However, this was cause for concern for us. On the one hand this will definitely be all over in 90 mins but on the other hand the Spurs fans are now flocking out of the stadium in droves! “i can’t really see anyone heading North can you?” the Rhino asks me as more & more empty seats become visible to our left.
    84 minutes on the clock & 85,000 people that will ALL be heading for that London as soon as the ref blows for time! “stick or twist 1 leg?” and by the time he had finished asking the question we were sadly looking for the nearest exit ;-( we hate leaving before time at any game but this was worse as it was the biggest game yet but we just couldn’t risk it…. DAM!

    I just had time to buy one of them half & half scarves from the stall outside as we headed for the over ground station. The temporary barriers were in place zig-zagging us to the station entrance and by the time we had to stop we reckoned there was maybe 500 people in front of us.
    Everyone in the que was a spurs fan, a very sombre & quiet gathering all with that ‘i just can’t believe it’ look on their face, this was no time for me & the big fella to crack jokes or even be happy yet inside i was still buzzing from the fantastic football experience Wembley had just given me. A big cheer went up from the stadium in the distance & i, along with everyone else thought that was the final whistle until various phones started beeping with the news of Malouda’s injury time 5th goal filtered through! This news didn’t go down very well at all, and we also blended in well with sheer disappointment at missing a goal, although nobody knew that

    I’ve said it before but the Rhino IS a logistical genius! I’m still not sure how it happened but at 8.05 we were stood with hundreds of people in front of us & we still had a bit of a journey to do. We got the 2nd train out of Wembley, a tube to somewhere, up some steps, down an escalator to another tube before we popped up at Kings Cross with the hotel in sight!
    I just use the big fella like a blocker in American football in situations like this or a tiny child holding on to Mummy’s coat belt & just try and keep up! With our bags now in-hand we were back on the tube for the one stop journey & sat in the station bar with a beer for 9.15! Brilliant!
    So after all the perfect planning to get back to Euston on time it turns out the train was delayed by 15 minutes! In fact it wasn’t even there; we had to wait for a service coming in from Piccadilly & for it to be ‘prepared’ before we could depart.

    Once we finally boarded the train we found our reserved seats, we had 2 isle seats opposite each other on a table of 4, the 2 window seats were already taken by a young couple & when i looked back at the big fella saying “we’re in these 2” the young girl looked at me and with a smart look on her face said “well this is going to be a bit of a squeeze if YOU’RE sitting here!” laughing quite loudly because she hadn’t seen the Rhino yet i said “don’t worry love, i’ll sit here my mate can sit next to you” the look on her face was priceless when the big fella came into view saying “come on darlin’, budge up don’t be shy” lol lol lol stuck up cow!
    Once again though, the Rhino had a cunning plan! We took our new seats in the first class carriage & when the guard came to collect the £30 weekend up-grade charge the Rhino re-negotiated the price to £10 because the train was late & a mess! The guy is a logistical genius

    The driver made up the time & we were back in Manchester for just after 1 in the morning where my one & only offspring was there waiting for us bless him. On the way back we jotted down a few questions we want to throw at David Barber next week, if you was going to meet a bloke with such a vast knowledge & experience of FA Cup football, what would you ask him? I’m going to turn the interview into a blog & post it next week sometime if all goes well…. i’m quite looking forward to it

     

  • footballpubcast 11:16 am on April 24, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Chelsea, ,   

    1 Leg On The Cup: Semi Final Part 2 

    We were in the Royal George outside Euston by now & the reds had won 2-1, we had tried to meet up with Dave, (a fellow blogger who was on his own cup run from the extra prelim’s) earlier on in the day at Thirsty Eddies but the police had put a stop to that shutting the pubs but he made it to the George for the ‘hands across the country’ moment when 1 Leg On The Cup met 3 Men & A Trophy! I still don’t know how he managed it but he got tickets for his game and we wasn’t really supposed to meet until the final if you follow both of our routes

    I didn’t even hear Treacle get mentioned in the National but the George was packed by the end of the race & we joined in with the confetti style throwing of unwanted betting slips into the air! Happy reds & sad blues were all over the place without even a hint at any sort of trouble, but i was flagging fast by now & when the big fella suggested we should get a carry-out and go back to the flop to watch the boxing i couldn’t agree quickly enough 
    I managed to stay awake just long enough to see Tyson Fury win although i was somewhat confused by the fact he seemed to be fighting left handed? I did ask the Rhino a couple of times about this but the only answer i seemed to be getting was him thrusting a phone at me saying ”what’s that?” as he had about 10 different games of ‘draw something’ going at once on his mobile! He did however have the time to take the photo of me as i finally burnt out, i knew he would get revenge from the train earlier that morning!

    Sunday! & i’m up in time for the Grand Prix on the 32” TV at the foot of my bed, and after a quick scout round the room, the big fella has “done me a favour” by drinking ALL the beer left over from the night before! “it’s less for you to carry later on” is the actual words he used, what a nice, thoughtful chap ;-)
    Breakfast was spot on at the hotel as once again my faith in the almighty is restored with his most wonderful of creations…… Bacon! A buffet style breakfast where you can serve yourself as many times as you want & after my 3rd trip i was finally full. I was contemplating knicking some marmalade from the table as we were off to Paddington later & i might meet a certain little bear from my childhood? A very stern looking Rhino looks at me…. “going to be one of those days with you is it?”

    Showered, teeth brushed & half a pint of mouth wash we’re off out into that London again. The plan for today is to meet up with Chidge & the Chelsea podcast guys in the Victoria pub, Paddington but the Rhino has talked me out of the marmalade idea with the promise of a magic trick at the first McDonald’s we come across! mmmm, not the best trick i’ve ever seen sending me to the counter with 1 sticker short to get 2 free coffees even though it worked. Although the big fella did give out relationship advice while we were in there, after over-hearing a conversation between 2 girls & one of them complaining about her boyfriend not treating her well, as we were leaving he stopped & said “look darlin’, just ditch him – Love is like a fart, if you have to force it then it’s Shit!” lol lol lol just brilliant! The guy should have his own TV show lol lol.

    The Vic was easy to find & we were there nice and early which isn’t great when it’s £3.90 a pint but there was a good crowd building up and everyone was nervous about the game & no one wanted to predict a score. There was even talk about the Champions League semi being more important & people would rather take a win over Barca’ than Spurs if they had to choose!? All we wanted was for it to be all done in 90 minutes! With a Chelsea win of course ;-)
    Chidge finally turned up about half 2 and told everyone that a Chelsea win was a definite because i was there & i’m their latest & newest good luck charm! “me, really? A bloke with a leg missing is your good luck charm?” “yeah good point…. don’t worry everyone, the Rhino is here, he’s our latest & newest good luck charm!”

    Leaving the Chelsea boys in the Vic, we head off a little earlier that them for Wembley & this time we have tickets for the game! Same deal as yesterday, off the tube at Wembley Central and the main difference between today & yesterday is the amount of police. Yesterday they were all over the place & today there’s not even half of the amount of our high-vis friends?
    Surely today was more of a threat for crowd trouble? Chelsea & Spurs are supposedly bitter rivals and we had heard the word ‘hatred’ used on more than one occasion by both sets of fans over the last couple of days, still i’m sure the police know what they’re doing, it’s not like they’re going to leave themselves open to ridicule in any way is it?

    We walk up Wembley way & the last time i did this was 20 years ago in 1992 to watch Man. U beat Forrest 1-0 in the Rumbelows League Cup final.! God i’m old! lol lol i’ve been to Wembley 3 times in my lifetime, the 1981 cup final replay when Ricky Villa had me going back to Manchester on a very quiet train and my first time when Alan Sunderland had the same effect on the train back with the reds.
    “well it’s changed a bit since 92” i tell the big fella as we walk around to find entrance ‘B’ “in fact, it’s changed a lot! What’s happened to the twin towers?” not wanting to get involved the Rhino muttered something about euthanasia and headed for the gate. “i wonder if they’ve kept anything from the old Wembley?” i’m still going on with myself “ a turnstile ,a clock, a staircase or the smell of piss?”

    Well what can i say…. Wembley is magnificent! It’s really impressive & so are the seats we’ve been given, a perfect view of the pitch with a sea of white shirts, scarves & banners to our left & the blues to our right. We were pretty much right on the segregation on the halfway line opposite the prawn sandwich brigade seats where we’ll be for the final.
    A fantastic atmosphere with over 80,000 people buzzing about the place it really was breath taking for me. Pockets of people getting songs going & of course the mad ‘hello mum’ type banners were popping up all over  the formalities are over, the teams are ready and at 6 o’clock me & the big fella do our ritual of wetting one finger for a mythical ‘strike one’ in the air meaning we can cross “Step 15” off the list…… and we’re off!

    A nice evenly contested first half with the stand out moments for me being; how easy is it to spot Assou Ekotto these days – seriously, how quick is Gareth Bale and have Tottenham really only got one song? This seemed to be Chelsea’s chant back at the Spurs when they had finished singing their slow rendition of ‘oh when the spurs go marching in’. Now i’m a lover of songs from the terraces but mainly the amusing ones where something or someone is instructed to be shoved up someone else’s arse! But i have to admit that when around 40,000 people sing this & they are all on their feet with arms spread wide it is impressive.

    With the first half coming to an end the Rhino is more than a little concerned about his pie report, there was some sort of mix-up or miss understanding as we arrived at Wembley that resulted in him possibly being evicted! In true friend fashion i fled the scene leaving him to deal with whatever the problem was ;-)
    “are you coming with me this time shit bag?” the big fella asks me as he stands up… “hang on a minute” BOOOOM! Drogba smashes in the opener on 43 minutes away to our left & we quickly move in for a pie as everyone else runs for the TV screens! The big fella did get his hands on a Wembley pie & it is reviewed as ever on our pie-ometer page

     

  • footballpubcast 3:48 pm on April 23, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Chelsea, ,   

    1 Leg On The Cup: Semi Final Part 1 

    Our friends at @1LegOnTheCup reached the 15th step on their monumental FA Cup journey earlier this month. Here’s their latest musings…

    A monster semi final weekend ahead means a really early start for me & the big fella as we head off once again to that London for the penultimate game on our road to Wembley. Hotel & trains booked a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of a couple of my ‘connected’ people being able to sort tickets out for both games for us…… mmmmm… i may have jumped too soon there!

    “WTF do you mean i’m picking you up at 4.45 in the morning!?!?” the big fella asks me on Friday night. I did tell him this some time back but he either chose not to register this information or just didn’t believe me  still he managed it and for 5.05am along with lots of red & blue scousers a very grumpy Rhino was with me at Piccadilly ready for the off. I suppose we did have a little time to spare as the train wasn’t leaving until 5.25 but none of the coffee shops were open at the station & that just added even more frown lines to the big fella’s brow!

    We’re off! 5.25 on the dot, no singing or anything from me on the train, even though i was quite giddy, as you might expect it’s unadvisable to upset an angry Rhino! Just let him sleep lol. so with the big fella snoozing away & pinning me into the corner i got chatting with a young girl opposite me & she took the photo for me  no doubt he will get me back for this at some point over the weekend. She was a very nice girl & was filling out the application form on her laptop for a visa to go working in New York, i told her everything would be fine so long as she didn’t have a criminal record “you don’t have a record do you?” “just a caution” she replied “i battered a girl that slept with my boyfriend!” …. oops! Ipod & headphones time for me, catch up on a few podcasts.

    The big fella wakes up in a much better mood on our arrival at Euston & after a coffee at our usual stop at the station we go in search of our hotel, even though it’s just after 8 o’clock and we can’t check in until after 2pm we want to leave our bags there as we’re still hoping to get a phone call or email from someone to say “the tickets are waiting for you at Wembley”
    After a 15 minute walk down Euston Rd. we come across Belgrove St & the Hotel California… que the Eagles! lol lol but no! What’s this? the Rhino has turned into a hotel inspector! I look round to find the big fella scrutinising the railings outside our flop for the night and it put me right off singing the smash hit from years ago!
    Once i had stopped laughing we went inside to ask if we could leave our bags ar reception & check in later on in the evening, the girl on reception was fantastic & she told us if we waited in the lounge area she would find out if we could swap to an empty room & check in straight away. Sat in the hotel lounge we have one more check of the phone & email for ticket news while we are waiting for the room key and still nothing! But on a lighter note the receptionist came over and told us we had been upgraded to a bigger room with no extra charge!….. nice!

    ok, many of you have asked how i managed to get tickets for the semi & up until now i have remained tight-lipped! I was still fairly confident in the PR people coming up with tickets for Sunday but if they could get us Saturday tickets as well that would be a great bonus after all it’s these people who we are getting the tickets for the final from, so if they can’t get semi tickets… who can???
    I have been trying to get an interview at Wembley with a guy called David Barber for quite a few weeks now & i finally got to speak to him in the week leading up to the semis, David has seen over 400 FA Cup games in his lifetime dating back to his first one at Crystal Palace in 1960! So after various conversations with lots of different people at Wembley i got a phone call from a guy called Jon telling me that our quest to follow the cup had been brought to his attention and had i been able to obtain tickets for the semi yet? I told him i hadn’t as yet but was confident in the PR people coming through for me, “well just in case they can’t sort it out for you can i offer you 2 tickets for a semi final of your choice compliments of the FA?………. hello, are you still there?” not for the first time on this fantastic journey i was speechless & blubbering like my 12 year old step daughter when 1 Direction are on TV! “er… yea…i mean, really? Honestly?…. HELL YEAH!!!”

    I was completely bowled over with this phone call & not only did he offer me a choice of games he also put us on the halfway line in the Chelsea side, as we were technically there with the blues but isle seats as well, sure enough the postie turned up the day after with the tickets & a note from the guy saying “Tony, have a great day on us! Regards, Jon”
    But on the 23rd April, St. Georges Day, me & the big fella will be Wembley bound once again for an interview with David Barber – the ultimate Jedi Master Cup Football Anorak! How cool is that!? i will be doing a special blog of the interview and the list of questions we want to ask is growing by the minute. Same day we’re off to Putney in the evening to rip up the Chelsea Podcast with Chidge & the boys! Let’s hope it hasn’t wilted & gone all droopy by then…………… the red rose i’ll be wearing i mean

    Cracking on, it turned out we were closer to Kings Cross tube station than Euston so we go underground for the first time today & decided to head to Wembley and soak up some of the atmosphere with the scousers. This was always going to be the plan if ever we couldn’t get tickets for a game on the journey & technically our game wasn’t until 6 o’clock tomorrow!
    We were a little hesitant about this at first as it’s pretty well known that scousers & manc’s don’t really get on with each other when it comes to football but everyone was in fine spirits and if anything it was that London that was the main problem. The circle line was shut that had a knock-on effect with other services & the police had decided to segregate the pubs with ‘Liverpool only’ & ‘Everton Only’ signs in the windows of the pubs surrounding Wembley! All these people had travelled down the road & rail networks together and on the anniversary weekend of Hillsborough did they honestly think there would be trouble?

    we went into Thirsty Eddies, an Irish-looking pub because it had the ‘Everton’ sign in the window & we were wearing blue coats! It was as good a reason as any plus other than on twitter, i only know one Everton fan, Martin Heywood, a poker mate of mine back home 
    The blues were fantastic! What a top bunch of blokes and after about 30 of them had sang “you can shove your Wayne Rooney up your arse” at us we had a good few beers with them lol lol. As the reds walked past the chants came from the blues, but they gave as good as they got and it was all just great banter, the sort of atmosphere where a cynical old fart like me would say “why can’t all football be like this”

    The Rhino’s new detective look was going down quite well too! A couple of blues were more than happy to pose with one of the world’s greatest sleuths & the big fella informed the lads he would be at Bootle FC before too long on a pie inspection!
    The Police once again played their part in spoiling the day as we were informed that all pubs in the area would close & be emptied at 11.30 then re-open at 12.45 (15 mins after kick off) i really don’t understand why this was necessary but who am i to judge? we left it until about 12.15 before we walked down to the stadium & the streets were almost empty by now apart from the odd ticket-tout who had now ‘dropped’ his prices to a mere £200 each! Er…. no thanks.

    Wandering down an almost eerie Wembley way gave us a great opportunity to recky our exit from the stadium tomorrow, we have to be back at Euston for the 9.51 train that we booked well before the FA changed this game to kick off at 6 o’clock!
    We’re told by the staff at the over ground station at Wembley that there will be extra trains that hold 500 people departing every 15 minutes to Marylebone & it’s only a 10 minute, one stop journey so we hop on the next train to check it out. The £7.70 travel tickets are valid on this service and before too long we’re looking for a pub in Marylebone with a TV to watch the game.

    it took us another 10 minutes or so to find a pub & when we did it didn’t have a TV! But there was a bookie’s over the road so it was time to get a couple of beers & pick horses for the National later on. This involved more detective work from the big fella with tips & hot picks coming in by tweet & text as well as a lot of form studying from the free paper. “ok, i’ve made my mind up…. Treacle, £10 on the nose!” and with that statement a £10 lands on the table in front of me and off i go over the road to place the bet.
    Having not watched any of the scouse semi we walked back to the station to get the tube back towards Euston, “Andy Carroll was a good price at the bookies” i said as we set off, the big fella chuckled & said “depends who’s riding him & if he gets jostled at the start!”
    We worked out that it would take just over an hour to get from Wembley to Euston on the route we had just taken & that was with a stop off at the flop to pick up the bags, so if our game goes to extra time & penalties we would be knackered!

     

  • footballpubcast 9:57 am on April 19, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Chelsea, , , , , , , , , , Piermario Morosini, , , , , , ,   

    Pubcast #76: And here’s our Graham with a quick reminder 

    How could you turn down number 2, the lovely Football Pubcast from London? (Probably quite easily given this week’s photo – although the toilet based theme will become apparent we promise)

    Anyway… make sure you don’t turn down the opportunity to listen to Show #76. After a week off the boys have a plethora of issues and talking points to get through including

    • Aldershot and the Dalai Lama
    • The FA Cup Jedi Master
    • Promotion & Relegation spotlight
    • Scholes inspiration
    • Random character assassinations
    • RIP Piermario Morosini
    • Bath City competition
    • Some suspect toilet smells
    • FA Cup Semi Final review
    • Is Neymar better than Messi?
    • “That goal” from Ben Arfa
    • Steve Evans leaving Crawley
    • Pick of this weekends games
    • Some woeful Chelsea v Barca predictions
    • Plus much more

    listen to ‘Pubcast #76: And here’s our Graham with a quick reminder’ on Audioboo

     

    • Michael Coxon 11:23 am on April 19, 2012 Permalink

      I’m a really special boy… my mum always said so

    • Stuart Hoare 11:28 am on April 19, 2012 Permalink

      What is Dan Silver looking at?

  • footballpubcast 2:59 pm on April 4, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Chelsea, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   

    Pubcast #75: Angry Birds 

    The team had to overcome some technical difficulties to bring you this week’s show… with the old adage of “turning it of then turning it on again” eventually doing the trick. Once underway there was a packed week of news, views and opinion to bring you. Jim also revealed the very special prize up for grabs in the next Pubcast Trivia (VHS Player not included). Also on Show #75…

    • QPR v Arsenal
    • Ian Taylor’s headphones
    • Gareth Bale
    • Preston North End “leak”
    • Terry Venables returns
    • Aston Villa reserves update
    • Performances of the week
    • The Championship promotion race
    • Pans People
    • Plus much more

    listen to ‘Pubcast #75: Angry Birds’ on Audioboo

     

  • footballpubcast 8:37 am on March 29, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , Chelsea, , , , Kenny Dalglish, , , , , , , , , ,   

    Pubcast #74: From The Heart 

    A barmy Canary Wharf was the setting for another action packed Pubcast this week. Despite having to move locations mid-recording, our regulars managed to regain their composure and push on in their usual (un)professional manner. This week’s chat includes massive news from our adopted team down under Melbourne Heart. Also on Show #74…

    • Bradford v Crawley brawl
    • FA Cup Semi Final previews
    • Benfica v Chelsea reaction
    • Bath City NameTheStadium update
    • The Ben Foster saga
    • JPT Final
    • Roy Hodgson’s moment of shame
    • Aston Villa reserves update
    • Bournemouth managerial change
    • “That goal” from Crouch
    • Liverpool in the spotlight
    • Performances of the week
    • The League 1 promotion race
    • Pans People
    • Plus much more

    listen to ‘Pubcast #74: From The Heart’ on Audioboo

     

  • footballpubcast 9:05 am on March 27, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Chelsea,   

    Drogba Acting Up (again) 

    Here’s the footage that’s got Benfica manager Jorge Jesus irate ahead of tonight’s Quarter Final clash with Chelsea. As the Blues players gathered to watch the initial draw take place, the loveable Mr Drogba appeared to mock the opposition by “acting” scared. He could get an interesting reception from the home fans this evening after this…

     

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