There’s another England match coming up on Saturday and whilst this is an essential match, it isn’t quite a crucial one…

All depends on the results of course, but as you know things are more interesting when there’s a will/won’t they qualifying situation going on rather than a casual canter into the finals as we saw with the last World Cup.

Maybe if it was a bit closer and more nail biting people might take notice, because at the moment when you talk about the national team… no-one cares.

Club football has taken over. It is the Champions League now.   Tell me I’m wrong.

So on Saturday then… the timing of these things… but if this match was scheduled inside the regular season instead of after it, there’d still be complaints… These national/international matches have become an inconvenience now.

They’ll try to peak your interest for this game and indeed we should take notice. I’m sure that Wembley will be sold out, but I bet the television viewing figures will be down.

Not sure were I’ll be or if I’ll be able myself. But I know I’ll be looking for the latest score and the result.

Why is this then ? Is it because of the scheduling ? Or is it the opposition ? Maybe it’s because of the players….? *raises eyebrow*

The good thing is that he’s not playing because he made sure he kicked somebody in the last match and got a card, ensuring that he’s got himself an uninterrupted holiday. Plus there’s him with his long term injury.
But that one is still going to be there…

Ah you don’t care. You’ve stopped reading already. Where’s this bloody podcast then ?

A similar thing happened as it did with the previous podcast, so once again this edition comes in two flavours.

What happened was that I had some old England-related tunes and I tried to do some sort of England timeline, but with the music. I started with 1966 and added songs throughout the years, finishing at 2010. But this concept was too big, too much to do. Plus with the music too. The styles of the songs from way back then to now is obviously very different. So I’ve split the entire thing up and now bring you some England music sub-genres. The first one deals with the current subject at hand – the European Championships:

FootieAndMusic Podcast – England – The Euros:

1. Barmy Army – England 2 Yugoslavia 0
2. England Football Team (1988) – All the Way (On Yer Head Dub)
3. Union – You Are The Number 1 (Vocal) ITV Football Euro 92
4. Miriam Stockley – Jerusalem 96 (ITV Euro 96 Titles)
5. [audio] Gazza’s goal v Scotland Euro ’96
6. Collapsed Lung – Eat My Goal (Euro 96 Mix)
7. [audio] Shearer’s goal v Holland Euro ’96
8. Baddiel and Skinner and Lightning Seeds – Three Lions (Jules Rimet Extended Mix)
9. [audio] Brian Moore commentary – “The full time whistle has blown, and what we have now… is extra time…”
10. Black Grape – Englands Irie (Mel’s L.A. Irie Mix)
11. The Farm – All Together Now (England Euro 2004 Mix)

- As well as giving you something to listen to over the summer, here’s some Euro ’96 moments:
- Highlights of England v Scotland – and England v Holland.

Plus there’s a Baddiel & Skinners Euro 96 Fantasy Football Show, this edition was broadcast a few days after Germany knocked us out…
The guests on this show were AC Jimbo and Andy “can you tuck this down here for me?” Grey.
» Prt 1, Prt 2, Prt 3.

…

’66 & ’70:

This other pod looks at England and the World Cup in 1966 and 1970. It features some very traditional sounding songs. I may repost this when the WC Qualifiers come around again, but posting now because it’s ready now.
I’ve called it:

FootieAndMusic Podcast – England – Orchestral Brass:

1. John Schroeder Orchestra – The Britannia March
2. Lonnie Donegan – World Cup Willie
3. [audio] BBC Radio commentary – Geoff Hurst goals
4. Roy Hudd – The Day We Won The Cup
5. Unknown – England, That’s The Team For Me
6. England 1970 Squad – Back Home
7. [audio] Commentary – Bobby Moore’s tackle on Pele at 1970 World Cup
8. [audio] Commentary – Gordon Banks save against Pele
9. England Supporters – Oh Sweet England How We Love You
10. John Schroeder Orchestra – On The Ball
11. England 1970 Squad – Make Me An Island
12. [audio] Advert – Bobby and Tina Moore in the pub

Extra Time:
Found this on Google Video, it is part of a documentary looking at England and this section covers ’66 & ’70:

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  Leave your ideas for other theme suggestions - and your feedback below:

Or to give it the full title: G’olé!, The Official Film Of The 1982 World Cup.

Released two years after the tournament, this documentary looked at the events in the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

And when I say looking at, what I actually mean is looking around the events…
- Found via the GolGolGolGolGol blog there’s a very long description and a good review of this documentary. Some snippets:

“…”G’Ole!” was directed by Tom Clegg, best known at that time for “McVicar” (1980), and since then something of a jobbing television director. Clegg, with the aid of writer Stan Hey, seems set upon painting a lyrical portrait of Spain as a beachside utopia, its people uncorrupted by the modern world, living in their beautiful small towns beneath the fiercely blue Iberian skies. There is one montage midway through the film which is filled with shots of old people sitting chatting in town squares, sophisticates at outdoor cafes, children playing and crowds at the beach. The football almost takes a back seat, as Clegg indulges his interest in the World Cup as carnival. There is perhaps slightly too much footage of fans dancing and chanting and drinking, alongside one too many trips to the stadium on the team coach, and the film loses focus towards its climax..”

“…But despite its many quirks,”G’Ole!” is still a fantastic piece of work. Mainly because it features so much incredible footage. The 1982 World Cup was a vintage competition, containing perhaps the greatest game in the competition’s history – Brazil vs Italy. Spain, at that time still something of a post-Franco backwater, has always been a beautiful, cinematic location, and Clegg and his team shoot and edit the whole thing so that it is all atmospheric and visually arresting…”

As I said excellent description/review which paints a very good picture. And we have to visualise it because sadly, it was on YouTube at one time but those fine upstanding respectable FIFA lawyers have gone in with a takedown notice. You might catch it on ESPN Classics on the odd, rare occasion or find a knock-off copy via ebay.

For those of you pining to see some sort of moving images from that year – found this which focuses on Italy:

Remeber though as you read from the above review the clip is nothing like the documentary. They very much differed because of the person who recorded the voiceover – and – here is the angle of interest to us at F&M – the musician they hired to compose a soundtrack.

That musician was the keyboard player for what was known as back then as a dinosaur bands who played they pompous rock operas where the solo’s when on for about half an hour. And with his band because of the type of music they performed, he made sure it was the keyboard solo that got all the attention.

Step forward the purveyor of prog rock, the wearer of ridiculous capes. The keyboard player for Yes + Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe – Rick Wakeman.

Wakeman is a big supporter of football. At one time he was director of his favourite club Brentford FC. He was also involved in the ownership of the American soccer club Philadelphia Fury in the late ’70s, along with other rock celebrities such as Peter Frampton and Paul Simon.

After the ’82 World Cup finals Rick began composing, but sadly according to some, a mediocre soundtrack.
A review:

“Wakeman himself has called this an album for collectors only and I’d be hard pressed to disagree with him as quite a bit of the music presented here is considerably lightweight and fairly mediocre at best of times. That being said, it’s certainly not as bad as it might seem primarily due to Rick’s brilliant flourishes on the grand piano, something he does quite a bit of on this disc. Where this really works is on tracks “Wayward Spirit” “No Possible” and the beautifully symphonic sounding melodies of “Black Pearls”. The fact that the 1982 World Cup was held in Spain accounts for the noticeably Latin influence on numbers “Latin Reel (Theme from G’olé)” and the tasty flamenco flavoured guitar work of guest players Jackie McAuley and Mitch Dalton on “Spanish Message”.

Here’s a chance for you then to have a listen and decide if it is mediocre or a misunderstood classic:

[See post to listen to audio] » G’ole Soundtrack – G’ole! [See post to listen to audio] » G’ole Soundtrack – Latin Reel (Theme From G’ole) [See post to listen to audio] » G’ole Soundtrack – No Possibla [See post to listen to audio] » G’ole Soundtrack – Spanish Montage

Oh and the person who did the voiceover ?   Sean Connery.

Oh she was a former Miss Wales… I wondered how they met.

[See post to listen to audio] » The Rainbow Choir – Superinjunction We Love You

Two days late (sorry Kirsty)

It is now 10 years since she was robbed of her life.

Along with my new wife, we attended the memorial service at St Martin-In-The-Fields.
In the service various people involved with her life gave a eulogy about their memories of Kirsty.
Also there were some of her songs performed by Holly Johnson and others.
Near the end of the proceedings everybody sang one of her tunes, featured below:

[See post to listen to audio] » Don’t Come The Cowboy With Me, Sonny Jim ! » Lyrics Some boys with warm beds and cold, cold hearts Can make you feel nothing at all They’ll never remember and they’ll never mind If you’re counting the cracks in the wall They’re quick and they’re greedy They never feel guilty They don’t know the meaning of hurt The boots just go back on The socks that had stayed on The next time they see you They treat you like dirt The next time they treat you like dirt Now don’t come the cowboy with me Sonny Jim I know lots of those and you’re not one of them There’s a light in your eyes tells me somebody’s in And you won’t come the cowboy with me Don’t be too rough on my cold, cold heart It’s all I’ve got left to me now I fell out of favour with heaven somewhere And I’m here for the hell of it now Some girls play cowboys And some boys play harder to get But they’re got just the same They smile and say cheese They’re so eager to please But they’ll never remember your name The names and the places all change But don’t come the cowboy with me Sonny Jim I know lots of those and you’re not one of them There’s a light in your eyes tells me somebody’s in And you won’t come the cowboy with me Did somebody tell you I’m lonely as hell? I didn’t expect you to know me so well If I learned a lesson it’s how to bounce back again Sometimes I bounce off the wall And sometimes my head hits the floor So don’t come the cowboy with me Sonny Jim I know lots of those and you’re not one of them There’s a light in your eyes tells me somebody’s in And you won’t come the cowboy Oh don’t come the cowboy with me Sonny Jim I know lots of those and you’re not one of them There’s a light in your eyes tells me somebody’s in And you won’t come the cowboy with me

EXTRA TIME:
A repost of a football related tune:

[See post to listen to audio] » Kirsty MacColl – England 2, Columbia 0 » Lyrics Oh you shouldn’t have kissed me and got me so excited And when you asked me out I really was delighted So we went to a pub in Belsize Park And we cheered on England as the sky grew dark Oh you shouldn’t have kissed me cause you started a fire But then I found out that you’re a serial liar You lied about your status You lied about your life You never mentioned your three children And the fact you have a wife Now it’s England 2 Colombia nil And I know just how those Colombians feel If you hadn’t passed out while I was talking to your friend It could have really ended badly cause you very nearly had me If he hadn’t taken pity on my heart full of desire I might never have found out you’re a serial liar You lied about your status You lied about your life You forgot you have three children You forgot you have a wife Now it’s England 2 Colombia 0 And I know just how those colombians feel It is not in my nature to ever pick the winning team Sometimes I think I’m happy then I remember it’s a dream Now it isn’t in my nature to ever pick a winner I always pick a bastard who would have me for his dinner I can never possess the object of my desire Cause he’s bound to turn out to be a serial liar Ok I didn’t mention my kids, I thought I’d wait a bit But I am free and single and he’s a lying git Cause he lied about his status He lied about his life He forgot he had three children He forgot he had a wife And it’s England 2 Colombia nil I know just how those Colombians feel So I got into a taxi and sobbed all the way home Called my friend up in sao paulo and cried down the phone I played some tragic music and I lay down to die But later I woke and I hadn’t stopped crying You should never have kissed me, you tasted of deceit Your perfume was adultery but I’m not a piece of meat So I’ll be the one that you couldn’t acquire I found out in time you’re a serial liar You lied about your status You lied about your life And I pity your three children And I pity your poor wife Now you can go to hell I’m going to Brazil Still it’s England 2 Colombia nil

Last summer I took a look at those doing the impossible job. That of being a referee.

This subject has come up again in Scotland because of some reactions and attitudes towards the match officials.

The recent hullabaloo came about after an Old Firm game in which Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager was very critical of the referee’s decisions after their 1-0 loss. Then after this game that same ref received threatening phone calls.

But it’s not just this one Scottish referee, things are getting problematic for all match officials because of the pressure and criticism levelled at them from not just the team bosses, but the fans and media too.

…Another official, Steven Craven, resigned after criticism of his role in a reversed penalty decision the previous weekend.

And former Fifa referee Kenny Clark believes that people could be put off becoming officials if they are not treated with more respect.

“We’re perhaps heading for a crisis unless people start to recognise that we must ease the pressures being put upon referees,” Clark told BBC Scotland.

“If referees and assistants at the top level choose to resign then it diminishes the pool of officials able to handle matches in the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League.

» Full article

This isn’t the first time there has been refereeing controversy in relation to an Old Firm match, the well known and now retired ex-FIFA referee Hugh Dallas [pictured above], now the Scottish Football Association’s Referee Development Officer, was really on the receiving end of it during a match he officiated in 1999 when he was hit on the head with a coin. After a few minutes treatment he continued in the game but that was only one part of a very controversial match.

As mentioned this was in 1999 and it was May ’99 to be precise. Or even more precise than that – it was the end of the SPL season and this was the very last match (being played at Parkhead) with whoever winning to be crowned league champions.

And seeing only dollar signs in their eyes rather than the danger signs of this crucial decider, $ky Sports decided themselves that it should be a televised match on a Sunday evening…

After a couple of player warnings by Dallas in only the first few minutes, then the coin throwing incident and three players sent off during the game.

Eventually the match was won by Rangers who took the championship.

In the aftermath of the game a brick was thrown through a window at Hugh Dallas’s home, and any future Old Firm league matches to be played in the early afternoon. Plus the possibility of an Old Firm title decider has been avoided.

A few years later Dallas wrote about his experiences of refereeing an Old Firm game. And sadly he’s recently been in the headlines again.

- A few years ago the Glasgow band Mogwai named a song after him which was included on an anthology from Matador Records:

- To counteract and add some balance to this quite serious post… A few months back e-rawk emailed and pointed me to a video of a classical music piece by Dmitri Shostakovich, the Russian composer who was a certified referee.   He regularly went to watch Zenit Leningrad, now renamed FC Zenit Saint Petersburg – who have recently been in the new because of fan violence after their title win.

Oh I just made things serious again. Listen to some soothing music to calm things down…

Ok maybe not so soothing…

Ah you want some audio to listen to as well ? A repost of a couple from the previous referee post. Hitting the post if you will.

[See post to listen to audio] » Matt McGinn – The Fitba Referee [See post to listen to audio] » John MacLeods XI – Don’t Shoot The Ref

I’ve only just noticed that there’s some international friendlies being played midweek. Well what’s the point of doing that ? Other than filling the F.A.’s wallet to pay for the deeply in debt Wembley of course, but the question still stands – What’s the point of playing this match now when we are knee deep into a season and pretty much nobody (well…mostly the club managers) is interested in these matches. Especially with the ones that England and the Scotia are playing.

I suppose it give the fans a chance to laugh at a team who performed marginally worse than England at the World Cup when they take on France.

It also gives the opportunity for Boothroyd to join Kevin Davis in gaining that one single solitary England cap which will be noted on Wikipedia forever more.

There was a new name called up and he had the traditional reaction upon hearing the news – they pulled out due to injury. As usual though we’ll probably see them fully fit in time for Saturday.

There are also a few others missing (the booing) so it will mean a bit of a Keystone Cops/Three Stooges type performance at the back with (probably) Joe Hart in goal… What he’s going to pick Brum’s Ben Foster or West Ham’s Robert Green…? …and the leaky Man U Ferdinand and/or Smalling at the back, with Gerrard and Barry stinking up the place in the middle and Crouchy hitting air shots all by himself up front.

Since this is a faux forgettable and quite possible embarrassing waste of time for everybody, we might as well have some appropriate music…

» This first one is from 1998 and I bet you didn’t know that: “Radiohead” recorded an England song:

The Official England song [NOT!] from Radoihead – Save Us England was written and performed by Mark Oswin, James Griffiths and Jamie Sefton. Directed by Charlie Simmonds.

*Peep Peep*     Half time…

» Ten years after the above WC98 one there was this, a re-worded version of the songGrace Kelly originally sung by the multi-octave Mika. In this England would have been done for Euro 2008 if we had made it…. song the bloke attempts also sound like Mika and nearly cripples himself in the process.

The subject of the song is England’s Brave captain John Terry, beloved by all before him…

And not forgetting…

» A token Scotia gesture for the Tartan Army who have arranged a tricky home tie against…the Faroe Islands…

I say tricky because not matter who your competition is, you can never let your guard down.
Plus in the last match – a Euro 2012 qualifier they held Northern Ireland to a 1-all draw.

Ok they lost their previous two matches 5-0 and 5-1 but still…

The Scotland boss George Burley Craig Levein will be fielding pretty much a youth team after Gary Caldwell, James Morrison, Chris Burke,Matthew Gilks, Graham Dorrans, Christophe Berra, Alan Hutton, Steven Whittaker, Steven Naismith, Allan McGregor, David Weir, Kenny Miller, Lee McCulloch… are all out because of injury or some other excuse.

“So with all these player crying off it means that Christ Iwelumo was called up then…?”     Err… No.

For you the Scotland fans then we have some bangin’ choons… Some big fish/little fish/cardboard box musical crimes applied to some very familiar Scottish songs…

[See post to listen to audio] » Scottish Clubland – Loch Lomond [See post to listen to audio] » Scottish Clubland – Scotland The Brave [See post to listen to audio] » Scottish Clubland – Flower Of Scotland

Och… Just so … on every level.

Hey don’t blame me, I’m only the messenger.

- If you want to catch a half decent “friendly” have a look for the Argentina v Brazil game on Wednesday, kicking off at 5pm GMT.

For this instance it’s in relation to a campaign to get football fans to volunteer in their local communities – AND – if you sign up you could win tickets to see a Premier League game.

Vinspired, the national young volunteers service have recently teamed up with the Premier League in an attempt to get more people volunteering in Football. This partnership means that young people (between 16-25) who sign up get the chance to win tickets to see their favourite team in action.

You can read more about it via: www.vinspired.com/football – this from that page:

“Make the Team is v’s new campaign to persuade football fans to volunteer in their local communities.

Volunteering at your local football club offers you a chance to really get involved with the game that you love, even if you don’t play it yourself. There are hundreds of opportunities to choose from; whether you’ve got one minute, one day or one week to spare.

As a volunteer, you’ll be part of our national volunteering team AND have the chance to win tickets to see Premier League Clubs!

Anyone who volunteers will automatically be entered into our prize draw to win one of numerous pairs of match day tickets, courtesy of Premier League.

Local clubs are a great place to not only play football, but also make life long friends. You can be part of that, learn new skills and make a difference at the same time. Go on, make the team!”

As somebody who many years ago volunteered at my local football club and I know that the effervescent Danny Last over at EFW would also give this his full backing (recently he was at Lewes FC helping to decorate at the club). It is a great thing to volunteer, especially with your local team. There’s nothing that beats the reward of helping out.

But just don’t take my word for it, have a listen to the aforementioned Kammy talk about volunteering and how good it is:

So don’t hang about go and sign in or register on the Vinspired site and then go and have a look through the opportunities. There’s loads of stuff, such as being a football tannoy announcer or there are many, many opportunities for coaching.

- There’s one here for blogging about the Make The Team initiative.   Hey I could do that…

Extra Time:

We can’t finish until we’ve had the traditional pie in the face – AKA – some Klassic Kammy:

Back in Liverpool in 1984 ? The kid who was always sagging it. Always had run-in’s with the school caretaker (who looked like a vampire) and with the law.

Scully had a very vivid imagination and throughout the series run there would be surreal scenes born out of conversations and thoughts that he had – such as with the caretaker, nicknamed Dracula, would be chasing him around in full cape and fangs.

Still don’t remember him ? Have a look at this clip of Franny introducing a couple members of his family:

Yeah now you do… The mini-series on Channel 4 written by Alan Bleasdale, one of the holy trinity of Scouse playwrights (the other two being Carla Lane and Willy Russell) at that time.

Let’s start at the beginning though – The idea for this character started back in the 1970′s when Bleasdale was writing short stories that were aired on Radio Merseyside.

An episode of the Scully stories voiced by the writer Alan Bleasdale: [See post to listen to audio]

Then in 1978 the BBC produced it as a Play For Today with Andrew (also known as Drew) Schofield as the title character and his best mate, the slow witted Mooey crashing a New Years party. The play was all drama as opposed to what it became some years later.

Before the Scully idea made it’s return to the screen, Bleasdale had a success with another of his Play For Today scripts which was made into a mini-series: Boys From The Blackstuff was set, like nearly all his other writings, in his home city.

With some harsh views, but with black humour, it looked at the economic effects of Thatcherism on Liverpool with high unemployment and a sense of abandonment and loss of hope. Each episode focused on a different character and there was one particular bloke who everybody still remembers to this day…

Yosser Hughes is a man driven to the edge of his sanity by the loss of his job, his wife, the authorities continued attempts to take his children away from him and his constant attempts at salvaging his male pride (often the main give-away of his insecurity). His catchphrases, “Gizza’ job!” and “I can do that!” became part of the popular consciousness of the Eighties, summing up the mood of many who sought desperately for work during the era.
» Wikipedia

Go on…gizza job: » Link to video

Yosser talks to his lookalike – Graeme Souness: » Link to video

That footballing idea was used two years later when Channel 4 commissioned Scully with the title character and his obsession to play for Liverpool FC. Various players would be seen in episodes, including specifically Kenny Dalglish who Scully saw in his imagination and talked to him, but Dalglish never replied because he was imaginary.. There was even one time when Franny had a vision of Kenny dressed as a fairy godmother…Sadly I couldn't find any screencaps of this moment.... Other Liverpool legends to appear in the series were Bob Paisley and Ian St John.

As you saw in the first clip of Scully introducing his family there was Jean Boht, who went on to play Ma Nellie Boswell in Carla Lane’s Bread.

There were other now familiar names in the series, including Gary Bleasdale (Alan’s cousin) and Mark McGann (who both played Scousers in Harry Enfield sketches), as well as Cathy Tyson and Gilly Coman – who also played the first Aveline in Bread but sadly died in July this year (2010).

Gilly Coman in Scully was Marie, the object of his affection. You can see her below as well as Scully’s bessie mate the always picked upon Mooey:

Another family member Scully introduced us to was his brother Henry, who you can also see in the family photo below. As he says in video the brother Henry isn’t quite right, his Mam fell down two flights of stairs with him when they were leaving the maternaty ward and then his Dad dropped him on his head. Henry is obsessed with trains.

If you haven’t spotted it by now Henry was played by one Elvis Costello, who also provided the title music to the show.

As mentioned Scully’s one and only ambition was to play for Liverpool F.C, and at the time this was the mid-1980′s all-conquering Liverpool side. In the opening titles we see an imaginary scene (or is it real ?) of Scully as a member of the Liverpool squad in the dressing room and the going down the tunnel to run onto the Anfield pitch with his fellow players. For the Kirkby born Drew Schofield this was a dream come true for him, never mind his character:

“…I also got to lead the team out in front of the Kop and that was an amazing experience. All of a sudden the crowd just started singing ‘There’s only one Franny Scully,’ it couldn’t have been scripted better. People thought it was planned but I can honestly tell you it wasn’t.”
» Yoliverpool.com Forum

[See post to listen to audio] » Elvis Costello – Turning The Town Red

Info for the above article also gathered from:
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085089/fullcredits#cast
- http://www.retrotogo.com/2006/07/scully_1984_rev.html
- http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2576
- http://www.elviscostello.info/books/scully.html
- http://thevideovillain.blogspot.com/2008/09/classic-telly.html
- http://www.londonlee.com/2009/03/down-pool.html

Extra Time - Other music released around that period:

[See post to listen to audio] » The Imposter – Pills And Soap [See post to listen to audio] » The Imposter – Peace In Our Time

Which it did and which we all knew that it would.

The way that he lives his life and with all the drama that always surrounds it, the latest episode in his very public soap opera is with the exit from the Argentina national team job.

He lives with his heart on his sleeve and none of us would want it any other way.

The figure that we once loved to hate we now have a soft spot for, the media darling that the media wish they could cover every single day.

Whatever happened, even if there wasn’t the back-biting you couldn’t see him hanging around anyway.

Diego gets bored easily. He goes into these “relationships” like it’s a torrid affair and then when he’s found out… Well you couldn’t imagine it any other way. It wouldn’t be Maradona if there weren’t accusations, bitter recriminations and yes… a tear in the eye.

I was almost tempted to name this post Don’t cry for me Argentina but in fact the Argentinian public didn’t. They reviled him as a player, but not as the coach. Better for everybody now that the AFA (Argentinian Football Association) has extracted this distraction.

So then to future and what next for El Diego ? Has to be club management of course. But which chairman is that crazy/suicidal enough to even risk a dramatic and roller coaster ride through a single season before the inevitable emotional press conference ?

Form a line over there please…

Some music to accompany these musings… and with some foresight, but they like us knew it would be inevitable that he would be in the news either very soon or very often, the Corrigan Brothers – with Shay Healy added this to YouTube:

I would keep composing a few more tunes about him chaps. You know that there’ll be more headlines.

Not that he needs any more promotion, he’s good at doing that himself. But some kudos to the author of European Football Weekends (EFW) for his Twitter posts – which are plenty – and particularly for a couple that tickled me because of their clever play on words AND song titles.

So to expand on his original tweets may I present to you…

Mertesacker Emptiness

http://twitter.com/DannyLast/status/17977733207

Arsenal were interested in him before the World Cup:

Werder Bremen’s Per Mertesacker opened the door to a summer move to Arsenal with the German international centre-half calling a potential move to the Emirates ‘attractive’.

The 25-year-old, a first choice for his country, was asked about his future at the Weserstadion by German daily Bild.

‘There are certainly attractive clubs abroad. In particular, clubs that have been playing for years in the Champions League,’ he said.

After completing his fourth season at Werder, the 6ft 5in stopper could be exactly the type of performer required by Arsene Wenger to solve his central-defensive conundrum.

While Thomas Vermaelen – a £10million recruit from Ajax last summer – shone in his first season at Arsenal, the futures of veterans William Gallas, Sol Campbell and Mikael Silvestre are unclear.

With 60 caps already under his belt, Mertesacker’s leadership qualities and consistency could be exactly the attributes required at Arsenal as Wenger looks to mount a title challenge.

» Read more…

There are other articles in addition to the one above which are post-World Cup and all of them say pretty much the same thing. At the moment though there’s been no actual official word from Arsenal or Bremen.

Late Update: There was a fantastic addition to this by Spearmint Rhino on the WSC (When Saturday Comes) forums when he added an all German players lyrics to go with this title.

Pjanic on the streets of Madrid

http://twitter.com/DannyLast/status/10290727787

Via the Guardian:

A second-half goal by Miralem Pjanic had brought them to this. Cristiano Ronaldo’s early opener had promised to clear an easy passage into the quarter-final. Instead, Madrid were beaten yet again. When Pjanic hit the ball past Iker Casillas in the 75th minute, the score was levelled at 1-1, leaving the French side 2-1 up on aggregate and Madrid needing two goals in quarter of an hour. They didn’t get one…

… And then it happened. Lisandro, with his back to goal, hit a first-time pass into Pjanic’s path and when the ball sat up he hit it on the bounce. Madrid could scarcely believe it.

» Full article…

There’s no talk of the lad moving at the moment. Usually after you’ve scored an attention grabbing goal like that it happens, but not right now. But he’s only 20 so there’s plenty of time.