Just a quickie!

Since my last post I am glad to report LUFC have been kind enough to take my advice, and have appointed a new manager. Neil Warnock is very experienced, knows what he is doing, outspoken, and to be quite frank, a bit nuts. So he should be a match made in heaven! Welcome to the Mighty Whites Mr Warnock!

On the Hull FC front we actually got a game last Sunday, after the debacle of the weekend before, when the game was called off because of a frozen pitch... in the South of France!
We got a win against the London Broncos, hard earned in the end as Loose Forward Joe Westerman dislocated a shoulder whilst scoring a try (and will be out for some time) and with about 20 minutes to go, the ref decided to send off  Forward Sam Moa, for what was to my mind a perfectly legal hit. I was flabbergasted it has to be said, although rallied around quite quickly to inform the Ref he was an idiot.
Poor Sam has been banned for 1 match and fined. Unbelievable!
  

We need a manager appointed.....

And Now! Yet another shocking display from Leeds United tonight, loosing 2-1 to bottom club (well they was) Coventry, handing them 2 penalties in the process. We need an experienced manager in now to sort this lot out!
That is all.

Boy its cold!

Well we're definitely having a proper winter this year. Is it cold! Just looked at the forecast, amd it's -6 tonight! I know in the scheme of things (like say compared to Poland for instance) it's not all that cold, but to us it is!
In my last post I said I'd mention Leeds Utd. Well as it seems to happen with all the teams I follow, LUFC have gone into 'Soap opera' mode again. We sell our Captain Jonny Howson to Norwich, then shortly after our manager for the last 3 years, Simon Grayson was sacked. Now I liked Simon, and thought in many ways he had to operate with one hand tied behind his back. But I have to say the problem we suffered in defence when he started his tenure, was still there when he left. Up to this season we've scored plenty of goals, nullifying any leaks. This season the goal spree has tailed off quite a bit, so showing up the defensive frailties in sharper focus.
It will be interesting to see who Chairman Ken appoints. I have a feeling he may give the job to reserve team manager, and caretaker manager of the 1st team at the mo, Neil Redfern. As I would imagine he would be cheap. One thing Ken doesn't do is splash the cash. Many Leeds fans hate his guts. I presonally have a grudging respect for him, he's no mug. But we can't go on without investing in the team. Properly. Not loan signing after loan signing. We'll never get promotion if this keeps up.

Hull FC are away in the South of France to play Catalan tomorrow night. The lads wont even be warm there too, just had a look and its 0 degrees. So at least its a bit warmer.
So come on you Mighty Whites and Black and Whites. An afternoon/evening of sports listening for me tomorrow!
Hope you all have a fab weekend :D

It's been a while!

I can't believe how long it's been since I last did a blog post! When I stopped working just over 3 years ago, I thought I'd have loads of time on my hands, hasn't seemed to work like that funnily enough! Anyway, updates. Family wise my 2 daughters have finally moved out, and both seem very happy and settled living with boyfriends. The 6 month deadline (when one seemed to come back home) has long gone, so it looks like the Hubster and I can look forward to being that old married couple at the end of the road! In the last year we've seen both our daughters graduate. Kirsty (my youngest) got a Masters degree in Social work at the beginning of last year, and my eldest Michelle received a degree in computer science the other week. Both got jobs straight away, so I'm pleased about that. On the sporting front it has been all change at the FC. A new owner has come in, and has really had a sweep clean, with a new Head Coach and staff. We've had a few new players come in, and everyone is very optimistic for the future. At least we have an owner who has invested in the club straight away, not like the last lot, who only wanted to make money off the fans! New to the FC

Starting from Top left clockwise: New Coach Peter Gentle, New Captain Andy Lynch, Brett Seymour and Eamon O'Carroll.

Top left clockwise: Aaron Heremaia, Wade McKinnon, 2012 Kit, and Tony Martin. That s all for now,I'll write about my other dear club, Leeds Utd in my next post. TTFN.

3-0 to the FC!

Last Thursday night was the 3rd derby against Hull KR this season, (there was a pre season testimonial game too) and we have won them all!
I have to say looking at the form book, most people was expecting a KR win, but we clinched a close game 20-16.
It was a fantastic game, really enjoyed it. Even had a couple of decent scraps, just like the old days!
Here's a video of the first punch up, someone has taken a video off the TV lol.

'A hard budget, but fair...'

Or so Mr George Osbourne said today when he rolled out his budget.
So lets see shall we?
Vat increase, of course that will effect people with less money.
Child benefit freeze, again, this will effect the poorest of us.
That is just 2 examples off the top of my head. It is a fact of life that people with excess funds can absorb increases in the cost of living, easier than people on a fixed income. People who work in the public sector are having their wages frozen for 2 years, (if they earn over £21,000 per year). The electric bill and the gas bill and the water bill and the food bill...will they be frozen for people? No. they wont be.
The thing is, who got us into this financial mess? The new coalition government would have you believe it was the outgoing Labour Government. This is partly true, but bailing out the banks cost this country a pretty penny. It's about time those crooks started giving it back.
I can remember the last Tory administration, I think this one scares me even more. Every one of them in the top jobs have no idea how it is to struggle to keep their heads above water financially. Not one of them.

Need Cheering up?

Well get your hands on an album by a band called The Baseballs, entitled 'Strike' They're a little bit different and new, in an old type of way. Here's an example, and their take on Katy Perry's 'Hot and Cold'

What a win by the FC

We beat St Helens 27-26 tonight at the KC after being 6-26 down at the beginning of the 2nd half. Trust me to miss the game as I had a knee flair up last night and couldn't walk very well.
Ah well we're at home next week too, should be able to make that match.
Well done lads, and thank you! :D

Oh Jermaine!

You forsake the gleaming white for this. I hope they're paying you enough!

New Phone pic

Just discovered I can send a pic too!

New Phone

 I've just got a new Phone, and a jolly posh one it is too!
The HTC Desire has the Android operating system, and really is like a
little PC in your hand! I'm just messing about with it now, trying to
do a blog post by email. I wonder if it will work!

Hello

I have been awfully lax with this haven't I? Now what has happened since I last posted on here? Hmmm now let me seeee......


Good innit? :D
Just on another related note, wasn't it lovely to see Bayern Munich get beat in the Champions League Final last night. I still remember 1975 you dogs!

Hull FC are having an up and down season. But having said that we went to 4th today with a win at Castleford. So really all we have to do is hit some real form around now and bingo! Mind you, nothing is never simple with both the teams I support.

Here's Hull FC fan video from youtube. Some of the players featured have left the club and one has been sent down the road for fraud! I just like it, and the last shot illustrates for me how Hull FC and the fans are a special team.

A thing of beauty, it has to be said........

I love Leeds United very much indeed xx

My God its December!!

Apologies for not keeping up to date with this. I'm sure I'll get better as the rugby season kicks off again. The thing is there are so many things to do online nowadays. Facebook is one. You read what other people are doing, you can keep in touch so easily, and the games.....
I have a farm, a fishtank, and a little pet to take care of. It all keeps me immensely busy lol. You see I'm at the twitchy stage of the close season, when I miss going to see the FC VERY MUCH, so busy is the only way! Thankfully the Mighty Whites are going great guns! Surely we can't muck this season up? Automatic promotion has to be the only way. I couldn't cope with another Wembley trip!
What has been happening with me? Well, I really need to get my eyes tested, my youngest daughter has moved back home, and the cats are still keeping me up till all hours as I don't like to leave them out all night if the weather is bad!
It's been really cold the last couple of days, where's this global warming then?? I have to admit to being a sceptic. Of course I have no evidence, it's just a gut instinct, and looking at some of the stuff I've read lately the other side haven't as well!
Back to the FC. Our 2 main overseas signings are actually have visas and are in the country! Amazing isn't it?? The way our pack is shaping up, we definitely will NOT win the Fair Play league this season lol. (Yippee!)
Signing off for now, be lucky :)

New Kit New Start!

I know I haven't posted on here for ages, but our new kit has been unveiled. I like em, lets hope its the start of a good season next year!!

Thoughts on the FC after another defeat.

On Saturday we lost our 16th game out of the last 20. This season has been a nightmare, and it has broken my heart seeing the absolute drivel my beloved team have served up to us fans. Anyone who has read my blog regularly (if anyone has!) will know that I try not to be reactionary and have always tried to back the coach. I cannot stand some of the fans that call for the coaches head at every opportunity. I found myself reasoning in a similar way to when our last coach Peter Sharp was under pressure, that he should have a chance with his chosen team in place, with players he had brought in himself.
This, I have argued, should be the case with Richard Agar, but some of his actions are beginning to worry me.
For instance his interchanges (substitutions) are a bit lacking in common sense. The interchanges are there to give players a rest, especially forwards, who have to get through a hell of a lot of physical work. the modern game is in reality a 17 man game. Who you name on the subs bench is as important as the 1st 13.
Anyway, I digress. Mr Agar has this strange habit of leaving forwards on until they are absolutely shattered. If fans from the stand can spot a player who is struggling and is becoming a weak link because of it, why cant the head coach?
OK, it has to be said Richard has admitted he gets this wrong. He is a new head coach with not a lot of experience. But Saturdays team selections where just unfathomable.
Let me explain. The team has injuries, our stand off is injured. Now who would you choose to replace him? The man who came to the club as a stand off, and happens to have the best footballing brain in the club, or do you move the Full back (who has been playing very well there, and prefers that position, and very little experience at stand off) to SO and put the aforementioned player at Full back?
What sounds like sense to you?
Well to our coach the latter scenario made more sense.
He also dropped who to many is the player of the season, and one of the few players that shows he gives a shit, Mark Calderwood, for a player coming in after a long term injury.
Mr Agar, you are going to have to start making sense, and fast. Because if you don't you wont get the chance of your 'own' team next season.

A lovely moment

I haven't posted much lately as I haven't really had too much to say, but today I have. It's only a little thing but it made me smile.
This morning I went into the kitchen, and a butterfly had got caught between the blinds and the window. I managed to get hold of it and gently carried it outside to let it go. When I opened my hand it didn't fly straight away, but stayed on my fingertips for a couple of seconds so I could look at how beautiful it was. It then swooped high up and away.
I'm not ashamed to say that it got me all weepy for a while. I don't really know why. Maybe its because some of the smallest things in life, that you can take for granted, are the most beautiful. It's always good to stop and smell the roses.

Good news At Last!

This season for the FC has been a disaster, rubbish on the pitch and bad luck off it. Well at least I have a bit of good news to report.

You may remember me posting in February (yes February!) that we had signed Hame Lauaki from the New Zealand Warriors. Well, he has eventually got his visa! So its taken about 5 months! Apparently his living and working in NZ for 20 years, wasn't good enough proof for the British authorities that he could speak English. So he had to take a test to prove it and re-submit his application.

Now I'm all for immigration control, our country is small and can only support so many people, but the bloody messing about Hull FC have had first with Michael Crocker's visa rejection, and now with Hame's application, just shows what chaos there is at the Border Agency. I'm still waiting with baited breath to see a foreign footballer held up like this! (cynic that I am!)

Just a word about Michael Jackson. I was never a big fan of his music as I went down a more rocky route taste wise, but I could see how good he was. I was though a big fan of the Jackson 5. Michael was a couple of months older than I am, and when I was a kid it was either The Osmond's or the Jackson 5. I was a big fan of The Osmond's, but loved the Jackson's because they made such fantastic records. In fact this song I'm embedding here, 'I Want You Back' Is one of my all time favourite ever tracks.

There's been some horrid things said about Michael in his life and after his death. I for one have never believed he harmed children. I think he was a sad man that desperately wanted to grasp a little of the childhood he undoubtedly lost.

If there is one story that shows that fame and fortune isn't everything, then his story is it.

May he rest in peace, and may God bless his children.

MP's expenses

Just a quick post.

Apparently some info has been released about what Mp's have claimed in expenses. My MP the Home Secretary himself, Alan Johnson claimed £131,711 in the last calendar year.

Now that seems a bloody lot to me, but I haven't got anything to compare it to. So, if anyone comes across this post and youre from the UK, please pop here: http://tinyurl.com/nycdn2

Put in your postcode and let me know what your MP has claimed.

Thanks :)

Odds and sods

Hello, I thought it was about time I updated this. What with Facebook and Twitter and everything else since I stopped work I haven't had the time lol.

I started this clog primarily for updates on my beloved Hull FC, so here goes:

Hame Lauaki is still in bloody New Zealand, no visa has appeared yet! For next season we have signed St Helens scrum half Sean Long, Forward Craig Fitzgibbon and full back Jason Tandy, both from the Sydney Roosters (although Jason is English so not on the quota) All this is very encouraging and a sign the board is starting to spend some of the money they make off us so well. But, it does seem to telegraph to the fans, that this season can go whistle Dixie when we are only half way through! We have had to sit through some utter dross after the first 5 winning games, culminating at Leeds just over a week ago, when our scrum half, Chris Thorman, buggered up the whole game himself. I have never seen such a incompetent performance from a Hull FC player in the way he sabotaged the whole performance. Of course that is because of his pivotal role in the team. It will be interesting to see if he plays tonight against St Helens. Craig Hall has not been near the team since his awful run at Full Back, a position he was not used too, but put there because there was no one else. He was terrible there, but the coach decided to put him in the position. He was dropped, will Mr Thorman be dropped tonight? He may get a roasting from the fans if he does play. We are very fair, but when we think someone is taking the mick, we can be vicious.

Now I called this post Odds and Sods, so lets go onto the Sods.

Can you believe the shenanigans that is going on in Parliament at the mo?. The MP expenses revelations have been jaw dropping at times and just goes to show how things REALLY need to change. But what I fear is that we'll just have a General Election, the Tories will get in, and everything will go on as it always has. We will, also I believe, see Mr David (cuddly) Cameron's real suit of clothes. I would be very surprised indeed if he turned out to be anything new when in government.

The Labour Party are reaping what they have sown in my opinion. As I write Gordon Brown is in a lot of bother with Ministers resigning one after the other. There is talk the leader may change, but I think Mr Brown will hang on as long as he can. He seems the type to tough it out.

What is interesting is that the Conservatives are calling for a General Election, which they would most probably win, but would they comfortably? The way the public are so angry about all the expenses palaver I would hope they would turn from both of them and go independent. For once we have a real bit of power in our hands, if there is a General Election!

As I write this I'm listening to Sky News and it has been announced that my MP Alan Johnson, who's constituency contains the KC stadium has been given the post of Home Office minister. Bloody typical! Too late to help us with the Crocker visa!

BLAH!