Slippery When Wet (and most other times too)

I do not like John Terry, I never have liked him and my revulsion at the man has only got worse since his “profile” has risen. Furthermore I do not like Chelsea FC, the way they play their football, the way they run their club, what they represent or many of the people who they employ to skulk around a football pitch wearing their latest fluorescent kit. However I digress, back to one of the most obnoxious people in Premiership football:

• Allegedly Terry made racist comments to Ledley King during a match
• Urinated on the floor of a nightclub
• Parked for an extended period in a disabled parking spot
• Ridiculed American tourists in an airport shortly after 9/11
• Spat on Carlos Tevez during the Champions League Final

There have been so many incidents that have been documented in a multitude of places, one particular one that caught my attention recently was this one on a Liverpool fans Blog – a good Post I thought. I think the author has got it bang-on when he says – “He’s shit out of every penalty shoot out he’s ever been involved in, but this time he puts himself forward for the fifth kick? Why, because he suddenly grew a pair? No, he wanted the glory, he saw the headlines and he wanted it to be him that scored the winning kick. ‘Mr Chelsea scoring the winning penalty’ Instead he ended up blubbering like a schoolgirl, AGAIN.” The sense of schadenfreude when I saw him miss that penalty was overwhelming and made our victory taste even sweeter.

Free Willy 3

I listen to podcasts on a daily basis and the Today programme from Radio 4 is one of my favourites. The other day Willie Walsh (the Chief Exec of British Airways) was being interviewed about why he had declined his annual bonus, some 700,000 GBP. The explanation he gave was that essentially after the Terminal 5 debacle he did not feel it was appropriate to take the bonus; additionally when given the opportunity to lay much of the blame for the problems at the door of the BAA, he chose not to and took a portion of the responsibility on behalf of BA and admitted mistakes had been made.

What a refreshing change, a person in a senior position and in the public eye who will actually admit culpability for something. I know that when he was at Aer Lingus he had some problems with the unions, but notwithstanding that it is like a breath of fresh air to hear someone actually accept some responsibility, I was impressed and I will be watching Mr Walsh’s progress henceforth with interest.

Hail Hadrian

I was born in Manchester and as I have commented on here in the past, like many other people I have a fondness for the city of my birth. On Wednesday last week the UEFA Cup FInal was held in Manchester and one of the teams partaking was Glasgow Rangers. The fans turned up in large numbers, many without tickets – it is good that they have so many loyal supporters and I have also travelled to foreign fields to watch football without a ticket – in the hope of getting one “on the night”. However I was somewhat annoyed when I received a text message from my brother advising me that many of their fans had congregated in Piccadilly Gardens and were singing songs about the Munich Air Disaster – for Man United fans that is regarded as despicable. A few more SMSs flew between the two of us, none of which were complementary about our Northern visitors.

As the evening wore on the jocks got even more out of hand; some large screens had been set up around the city by the Council, to allow fans without tickets to watch the game. However when one of them stopped working and an engineer attempted to fix it, he was pelted with beer bottles and sundry objects for his trouble. As a result of this objectionable behaviour I was rooting for Zenit St Petersburg to win the match – which they eventually did. I am not a great fan of the Police force, but they do not deserve this anymore than Rodney King deserved what happened to him.

As if this not annoying enough, there have been two further repercussions of what a section of the Rangers fans did that day; many of my fellow Mancunians who could not make it to Moscow will now be denied the opportunity to watch the game with other like-minded fans and a victory (hopefully) parade has also been denied us. Thanks a lot yer Jock b*stards.