I’M JUST A YEAR AWAY FROM WHEN THE FUTURE SWALLOWS ME
“With good young players coming through (Robinson, Thelwell, Parker, Carrick, Defoe), I’ve got high hopes for winning the title in, ooh, 2005!” This is a direct quote from WSFFL Newsletter 2000/01 No. 20, from February 2001, wherein I was ruminating over my squad’s chances for that season, and future potential. So I reckon I’m a year late. But nevertheless…
Finally! The Rock has come back to the winning circle! You Know Your Boston Rock FC are the 2005/06 WSFFL League Champions, becoming in the process only the second team in WSFFL history to do the League and FA Cup Double. The “Sky Heroes” finished the job this weekend with a 1-0 win, their third victory in a row at a vital juncture in the season, over the 22 Legged Groove Machine. And it was fitting that Darren Bent, hailed as the missing piece in the Boston Rock jigsaw, was the one to fire them home with his 16th goal of a triumphant debut season.
By the way, thanks to Clive and Beef for congratulating me on my success before I confirmed the double. I dunno, were you boys trying to jinx me?
So, the “Sky Heroes” thus emulated Aardvark Abacus’ 1998/1999 League and FA Cup double feat, and it was therefore fitting that the Abacus were the team to run Boston Rock the closest in the league, in their efforts to keep their double record for themselves. Aardvark continued their rampaging run with a 3-0 win over Eleven Imaginary Boys, having knocked in 21 goals in their last 5 games. Ady did all he could to keep the league interesting right until the end!
Fred named a team containing 7 Manchester United players, thereby forcing a postponement of his game with Trusted By Millions. This final Week 28 game will be played on Week 29, next weekend, 29 April, with Fred and Beef doubling up with their scheduled fixtures. Those boys therefore stay in 4th and 3rd respectively, although San Dimas are now level on points with Fred following their 2-0 win over York’s Returning Glory, Todorov getting a rare goal for the High School in their win.
Claymore Athletic FC move up to 6th place after beating Thommo’s Titans 2-0, Malbranque and Henry getting the goals for Clive. Eleven Imaginary Boys slip to 7th after the defeat by Aardvark, and up into the top half of the table to 8th slot go Prettier Than You. Rachel’s team shrugged off the Cup Final disappointment with an emphatic 5-0 win over Real Muppets, a Shola Ameobi double and a Darius Vassell goal featuring for Rachel, to leap above their weekend opponents and keep their strong recent league run going. The Groove Machine slip out of the top half following their defeat to the new Champions.
It’s status quo with the bottom two following defeats for both Yorks and Thommos. The Dead Parrots, however, belied their recent poor form with an emphatic 5-0 win over sliding Nil Satis Nisi Optimum. A Kevin Davies double and goals from Konchesky, Harewood and recent signing Stephen Carr gave Dean the win, which also quite rightly won him the POTW £500,000. Well done chap! The Parrots leap above Final Fantasy XI in the process, Ceri’s team slipping to 14th place following a 1-1 draw with hubby Dave’s Mega Bucks.
WHEN I GET UP, I FALL DOWN
Am I alone in seeing nothing whatsoever wrong with Tottenham’s so called controversial goal, in the North London derby with Arsenal last Saturday? Admittedly, I was enjoying a convivial lunch with half the WSFFL managership in the “Lava Lounge”, so in true Wenger fashion, I “did not see ze incident” leading up to Keane’s goal until “Match of the Day” that evening. I must confess, however, to a warm feeling of schadenfreude whilst listening to Professor Yaffle spitting feathers at Martin Jol’s so-called “lies”. Here’s why;
· Arsene is the first one to claim a temporary attack of myopia if one of his players, God forbid, does anything controversial. To hear him clucking on when someone does it to him made the words “pot”, “kettle” and “black” immediately leap to mind.
· From what I saw, once the 2 Arsenal players collided and the ball was played out to Michael Carrick on the wing, he glanced over at the Arsenal players on the ground, and as they seemed to be moving to get up, he played on. Fair enough.
· Since when did players kicking the ball out when one of their opponents goes down “injured” become mandatory? I recalled an incident in Swindon’s Premiership game with Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, back in December 1993. Town goalie Nicky Hammond was clattered by Wednesday’s centre forward and lay prone on the ground whilst the game carried on for a good minute or so. This eventually resulted in the ball being played back out to the Wednesday wing, for a cross leading to an easy goal for the home side. I recall us Town fans being up in arms about it, not because the ball didn’t get kicked out, but because we felt the challenge that felled Hammond (resulting in his substitution) was a foul.
· If they do make it mandatory, or more de rigeur for players to kick the ball out of play when one of their opponents go down, I believe it would result in anarchy. Let’s face it, it doesn’t take much for a defender who’s been skinned by an attacker, leaving said attacker with a clean run on goal, to feign an injury to get play stopped, and allow his team time to regroup. There are worse instances of gamesmanship than this already happening in the Premiership.
· Ultimately, the ref should decide to stop play if he feels players are sufficiently injured to need immediate attention. I appreciate they get that wrong sometimes (I cringed when I saw play going on for about a minute before Alan Smith got any attention for his season-ending injury, for example), but it’s their call. Let them do their job!
Anyway, those are just my ramblings. What do you think? Is Arsene whinging on in a show of bad grace, or does he have a valid point? Let me know!
TRANSFER NEWS
That acrobatic scissor-kick goal obviously impressed Beef, at least…
Player From To Fee
Gary Cahill (D) Pool Trusted By Millions £500K
Anthony Le Tallec (A) Trusted By Millions Pool £250K
Don’t forget that the players highlighted are now subject to the pool “cooling off” period, Any managers interested in buying them can bid until close of play Saturday 29 April 2006, after which time they go into the pool proper and are readily available. All bids to me please.
THE FF£100,000 QUESTION
In the history of the Premiership (since season 1992/93), which player has racked up the most bookings without actually having been sent off?
Answers to me by close of play Saturday 29 April 2006. As usual, first correct one out of the metaphorical hat gets the dosh.
The player that brought AC Milan’s then-record Champion’s League clean sheet streak to an end was Manchester United and Aardvark Abacus midfielder Ji-Sung Park, who scored for his then-club PSV Eindhoven, in the 2004/05 Champion’s League Semi Final Second Leg, at the Philip’s Stadium on 4 May last year. Not that it made much difference to Milan’s relentless march towards the final…
I got three correct replies this week, from Clive, Ryan and Rich. The Big Man’s Saturday afternoon shout got him the cash, so the hundred grand goes to the 22 Legged Groove Machine. Well done to Rich, and thanks to the other boys for their guesses.
One wrong guess from Peej, who went for his own player Michael Essien, saying “he used to be good!” Yes, but that was before he joined San Dimas…
SHORTS
· This from Fred about last weekend’s Cup Final between myself and my good lady wife; “Possible correction to your point about your comment on Mr and Mrs Rose being the first husband/wife cup finalists. Did Clive and Ben, or Ady and Big Man never meet in the final?” Well no, they didn’t, but I thought that was funny anyway…
· And another point on the Cup Final – Rachel was understandably disappointed about losing it, and wondered how it would have gone, had the Cup Final been played on its’ original Easter Monday date. So just for kicks we had a “Cup Final rerun” friendly, which resulted in a goal fest, and a 4-3 win to Boston Rock. Closer, but...
SHORTS (continued)
· I Remember When This Were All Fields Dept.; First Beckham, then Neville, then Owen, now Ledley King – all have gone down with the dreaded metatarsal injury. I dunno, you never heard about any injuries like that years ago – could it possibly have something to do with these flimsy slipper things they laughingly call “football boots” nowadays? Back in my day, when half a cow’s arse went into making the leather for one solitary boot, you’d be hard pushed to feel it if someone jumped from a light aircraft and landed on your foot…
WSFFL RESULTS;
Week 28, W/E 22 April 2006
Aardvark Abacus 3-0 Eleven Imaginary Boys
Riise
Solano
Keane 64,575
Claymore Athletic FC 2-0 Thommo’s Titans
Henry (2)
Malbranque 39,148
The Dead Parrots 5-0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Kevin Davies 2
Carr
Harewood
Konchesky 26,422
Final Fantasy XI 1-1 Mega Buck Bandits
Garcia Phil Neville 24,713
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI PP Trusted By Millions
Real Muppets 0-5 Prettier Than You
Ameobi 2
Anton Ferdinand
Vassell
Dunne 38,326
22 Legged Groove Machine 0-1 You Know Your Boston Rock FC
(2) Darren Bent 52,272
York’s Returning Glory 0-2 San Dimas High School
Todorov
Senderos 35,420
Performance of the Week: The Dead Parrots
THE WSFFL LEAGUE TABLE, Season 2005/06
| ||||||||||
As at 25 April 2006
| ||||||||||
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
Diff
|
Pts
| ||
1
|
You Know Your Boston Rock FC
|
28
|
20
|
3
|
5
|
76
|
32
|
44
|
63
| |
2
|
Aardvark Abacus
|
28
|
16
|
6
|
6
|
82
|
42
|
40
|
54
| |
3
|
Trusted By Millions
|
27
|
14
|
7
|
6
|
58
|
40
|
18
|
49
| |
4
|
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
|
27
|
13
|
4
|
10
|
64
|
45
|
19
|
43
| |
5
|
San Dimas High School
|
28
|
12
|
7
|
9
|
55
|
43
|
12
|
43
| |
6
|
Claymore Athletic FC
|
28
|
10
|
9
|
9
|
55
|
47
|
8
|
39
| |
7
|
Eleven Imaginary Boys
|
28
|
11
|
6
|
11
|
38
|
47
|
-9
|
39
| |
8
|
Prettier Than You
|
28
|
11
|
5
|
12
|
46
|
48
|
-2
|
38
| |
9
|
22 Legged Groove Machine
|
28
|
11
|
4
|
13
|
32
|
58
|
-26
|
37
| |
10
|
Mega Buck Bandits
|
28
|
9
|
9
|
10
|
35
|
39
|
-4
|
36
| |
11
|
Real Muppets
|
28
|
10
|
6
|
12
|
48
|
53
|
-5
|
36
| |
12
|
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
|
28
|
10
|
5
|
13
|
39
|
61
|
-22
|
35
| |
13
|
The Dead Parrots
|
28
|
9
|
7
|
12
|
53
|
50
|
3
|
34
| |
14
|
Final Fantasy XI
|
28
|
8
|
10
|
10
|
40
|
43
|
-3
|
34
| |
15
|
Thommo's Titans
|
28
|
6
|
3
|
19
|
23
|
64
|
-41
|
21
| |
16
|
York's Returning Glory
|
28
|
3
|
9
|
16
|
25
|
57
|
-32
|
18
| |
TOTAL
|
446
|
173
|
100
|
173
|
769
|
769
|
0
|
619
| ||
No comments:
Post a Comment