Thursday, December 31, 2009

Cardiff Midfield Crisis Intensifies



Cardiff City will go into this weekend’s F.A. Cup clash at Bristol City with no out and out central midfielder after Gavin Rae was ruled out for up to 3 weeks with two broken fingers, apparently after a challenge in the Peterborough game. (Not sure why it can’t be set in a light cast but he’s out). Rae joins Steve McPhail who is still recovering from his cancer scare and Riccy Scimeca (now retired) on the absent list.


Solomon Taiwo is a central midfielder but his displays suggest he is not up to this level of football and that Cardiff would now like to move him out. Certainly, he has been overlooked and this appears certain to continue.


City’s touted midfield for this weekend is Joe Ledley – himself playing with injury – with Peter Whittingham tucked in and Kelvin Etuhu sets to start wide.


Hopefully, by City’s next Championship outing – Blackpool at the CCS on January 10th – Dave Jones will have brought reinforcements to the club. We shall wait and see.

Rambo becoming a football superstar

It's not gone un-noticed amongst Cardiff City fans that Aaron Ramsey is starting to become a key player for Arsenal, keeps growing in stature and demeanour as a footballer and is proving his potential that was so obvious from his Cardiff City days ... it's frightening to think he has just turned 19 over the festive period.


A midfield maestro, he also scores stunning goals including a cracker in the Gunners 4-0 win at Portsmouth last night. Have a look at it below and also two goals he's scored for Wales this season - 1 for the seniors and 1 for the Under 21's. Quality, quality, quality.


Cardiff City let him go far too cheaply at £4.8M with no sell-on clause, didn't they?

RAMBO v Pompey last night


vs SCOTLAND November



v ITALY Under 21's October

And now for something completely different ...

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Chops going "home" - let the paper talk begin


The transfer window opens in 2 days so it’s time for all sorts of rumour and speculation to roll in earnest. Cardiff City have been linked to several targets recently – some being ridiculous, others more plausible but history teaches us to forget most of those linked to the club in the papers.



That is probably also true for players leaving. However eyebrows can be raised slightly at South Wales Echo claiming Newcastle United are pondering a bid for Michael Chopra. It is believed they were interested in the player before Cardiff stepped in last season and they may have even enquired with City before this season kicked off.



However they are in the market for a striker and with Chops still owning property in the town and frequently returning home, it is so ridiculous to think no conversation has taken place?



Chops was on fire at the start of the season with Cardiff but has now gone 11 games with no goal despite working hard which culminated in him being dropped to the bench at Peterbrough. Peter Ridsdale commented, “We have heard nothing about an offer for Michael Chopra, from Newcastle United or anybody,”



Let the silly season of rumours begin then!

Video Highlights - Peterborough 4 Cardiff City 4

** Peterborough 4-4 Cardiff **


Bottom Championship club Peterborough produce a stunning

fight-back to deny Cardiff City, who led 4-0 at half-time.


The mother of all collpases!!!
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_3/8434182.stm 

New X Factor Sensation

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Video of the Week: Bombay Bicycle Club, Dust on the Ground

I've been aware of B.B.C. for a while but never really listened in but now I have, I love what they do.

Here's one of their singles from last year, judge for yourself. Excellent band, distinctive sound.


Bombay Bicycle Club - Dust On The Ground (official video)

Bombay Bicycle Club | MySpace Music Videos

DJ blasts JB on official site


The internal inquest into the Xmas Disaster that was Cardiff City has gone into overdrive today.


Losing a home game to Leicester City as the club had not got around to commissioning the boiler for undersoil heating was embarrassing enough and made The Bluebirds a laughing stock but that pales into insignificance with the post-Christmas results.


Defeat at home to bottom of the table Plymouth who hadn’t scored in 6 games, all in front of Cardiff’s biggest home Boxing Day crowd for 40 years, was unacceptable but could be dismissed as a fluke and ‘one of those games’ after City missed half a dozen golden opportunities but were denied by defensive and goalkeeping heroics too.


However yesterday’s capitulation at Peterborough, who themselves became bottom club, is inexcusable and leaves the club, its manager and players with no hiding place. To lose a 4 goal half-time lead defies belief but as the blog as shown in the past 2 days, City and Dave Jones have a history of collapses and losing late goals that shows no sign of being arrested.


One unbelievable aspect has been Dave Jones’ decision to publicly lambast Jay Bothroyd and it is understood the pair were due to meet up today – 24 hours before Jones sees the rest of his battered squad. Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye because how a striker, who was withdrawn with City still 2 goals to the clear, can be blamed for failings at the back is beyond me but he has been singled.


The official website even runs Jones’ feelings in full under the headline “Dave’s Blast at Jay” (http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10335~1917407,00.html)


Jay scored a wonderful first half goal band did appear to be one of many players who thought the job was done at the interval and stopped their performance level but many will feel that others were far worse. However Jones was uninterested in how bad Jay’s injury could be, commenting that, “"I haven't spoken to him, don't want to speak to him, don't want to speak to any of them at the moment. I haven't asked him and don't want to ask him because he's one of those players who decided to do it his way and his way isn't good enough.”


As for the rest of the shambles, Jones has hinted he may now wheel and deal with some personnel by saying, “One or two, if we can do it, we'll change them. We need to get players in because the players, in the second half, didn't do what we expected of them. But maybe one or two of them just decided that they think it's a bit easy and one or two, if we can do it, we'll change them."


Cardiff’s cashflow problems appear to be no better than ever with the Malaysians continuing to stall on any investment, some even believing their future involvement in the club is in jeopardy. No wonder City are therefore appealing to fans once again to invest in season tickets with the club pledging to use those funds for new recruitment in January. They are aiming to raise £3M in season ticket sales by Friday with their interest free, price freeze for 5 years and full refund if City are promoted this season deal.


I’ve renewed mine and I truly hope it brings strengthening so the team can have a good crack in the second half of the season but it does sound like desperation, doesn’t it?

Dave Jones and Cardiff City's history of collapses

Dave Jones is the Championship's longest serving manager having been in the Bluebirds hotseat since May 2005. It would be churlish to deny he hasn't progressed the club on and off the pitch and the Wembley 2008 F.A. Cup Final appearence is something I will take to my grave.

However there are justifiable questions as to whether he can take us further and deliver us to the promised land. We collpased last season under his charge and many are speculating whether yesterday's surrender at Peterborough is a fatal blow to this season.

One damning aspect of Dave Jones' charge is a seemingly never ending ability to close out games. Yesterday on the blog, I listed a number of occasions where it has happened just within the past 2 months. Over his time, I speculate Cardiff City have dropped points in the last 15 to 10 minutes and upto 30 occasions - it vastly outweighs the occasions we've grabbed late results.

However I've taken a look at City's best (or worst) collapses with Dave Jones. This list is compelling and damning.



 

28/12/09 Peterborough away 4-4 draw after leading 4-0 half time

29/11/09 Losing 2-1 at home to bottom club Ipswich after leading with 15 mins to go

2008/2009 Gifting added time equalisers away at all the Championship’s top three – Wolves, Brum and Reading

23/08/08 2 up and rampant at home to Norwich with 12 minutes to go and we ‘escaped’ with a 2-2 draw

19/01/08 Cruising to a big win at leaders West Brom but we lost a 3-1 lead in the last 12 minutes with the leveller being a great Roger Johnson o.g.

02/10/07 3-1 up at Sheffield United with 5 minutes to go, we drew.

12/09/06 Plymouth away, three up with 21 minutes to go and we drew thanks to 2 own goals

27/08/05 Two-nil up at home to Wolves with 16 to go, we drew and held on for dear life at the end


Meet The New Oasis

Monday, December 28, 2009

Jones says. "Breate the players" after Posh collapse





** Jones fumes at Cardiff horror show **
 
Cardiff City boss Dave Jones says the video of the second half

of their 4-4 draw at Peterborough will be a horror show.
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/8433237.stm

Cardiff City's Late Goal Roll Call in the Past 2 Months

Today's capitulation at Peterborough, having to take a point at the Championship's bottom club after leading 4-0 at half-time, is the biggest kick in the guts yet for Cardiff City fans. It is a theme of Dave Jones' tenure that City cannot hold onto leads and gift late goals.

Remember last season's top three - Wolves, Reading and Birmingham - all grabbing added time equalisers against us?

Have City learned lessons? Of course not!

Just look at how the past 2 months has panned out.

Oct 24th - Sheff United away
City win 4-3 but only after conceding on 90 minutes after then seeing Sheff U have one disallowed in added time

Nov 1st - Nottingham Forest home
City denied victory by Forest equaliser in added time

Nov 21st - Barnsley away
The Tykes win scoring with the last kick of the game

Nov 29th - Ipswich home
Roy Keane's men grab a winner with 5 minutes to go (having levelled with just over 15 minutes left)

Dec 26th - Plymouth home
The Green Army fluke a win with 6 minutes left

Dec 28th - Peterborough away
City draw a game they couldn't fail to win with Posh scoring on 89 and 90 minutes.


Points lost to goals in last 5 minutes = 7 (which would have us 1 point behind West Brom)


Plymouth at home apart, each of those games saw our opponents change tactics and formation which Cardiff and Dave Jones refused to counter or match up. Dinosaur!!

That's Nuts

Airbag to the nuts, that is

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Video Lowlights: Cardiff City 0 Plymouth Argyle 1

 
** Cardiff 0-1 Plymouth **



 


Gary Sawyer's deflected 84th-minute shot gives Paul Mariner a first win as 

Plymouth
boss and lifts Argyle from the foot of the Championship.
 
(UK users only)
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/8431991.stm 

Michelle Heatons goes A over T

And I like it!

This on the Irish version of The Apprentice


Saturday, December 26, 2009

Jones and Mariner inrterviews after Cardiff City 0 Plymouth 1

 
** Jones bemoans Cardiff defeat **
Cardiff manager Dave Jones is left disappointed by his side's shock 1-0 defeat to struggling Plymouth.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/8431292.stm 
 
 
 
 
 
** Mariner delighted at Plymouth win **
Manager Paul Mariner is delighted with Plymouth's shock 1-0 Boxing Day win at Cardiff.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/plymouth_argyle/8431270.stm 

Football is Back


After no game for 2 weeks and with the Christams holiday producing a lack of any noteworthy news, Cardiff City fans will be looking forward to a game later today.

City have a massive chance of progess over the Christmas period playing rock bottom Plymouth at home today (1pm) followed by a visit to last butb one Peterborough United on Monday. City should look to miaximise points but Christmas often has a habit of produicng upsets.

Today, however, does look a relative formality. Argyle have lost their last 5 and failed to score in any of them. They are easily the league's lowest scorers with just 16 goals in 21 games and were well beaten (3-1) by City at Home Park earlier in the season with Michael Chopra grabbing a hat-trick. Their hopes of a result today have been further knocked with a couple of key loan men recalled by their clubs.

Let's hope this one goes to form ... more later.

The Baby Jacksons

Friday, December 25, 2009

It's Christmas

Merry Christams to you and your loved ones, have a fabulous day.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

It's 1 minute to Midnight so do you believe in Father Christmas?

The population of the world is estimated to be around 6.5 billion people, of which around 40%, or 3 billion, are children. In developed countries the average number of children per household is 2.4, though this is higher in poorer parts of the world where the number rises to around 5 children per household according to some estimates. It could be safe to assume, then, that on average there are 4 children per household worldwide. Around 1 in 3 households are Christian worldwide. If it is taken that Santa only visits Christian households with children, he would visit around 250 million households in one night. Given that Santa’s journey would take up to 31 hours through different time zones as children have to be asleep when he arrives, he would end up visiting 1,398 homes a second.

The circumference of the earth is 24,901.55 miles – a distance that would require Santa to travel at a constant speed of 692mph. However, Santa would cover around 111 million miles. This would require Santa to navigate at a speed of over 950 miles a second, which is around 200 times quicker than a rocket. This is a highly impressive achievement for a few reindeer and a sleigh carrying billions of gifts. Given that Santa would have to slowdown at a house, stop, deliver the gifts then accelerate away, Santa’s cruising speed would be much higher than that. While Santa is cruising, he would also be subject to air resistance, causing the front reindeer to absorb 14,000,000 billion joules of energy, a level beyond the realms of scientific research and so far untested, but one that miraculously that doesn’t turn the reindeer to charcoal.

Thinking of gifts, suppose Santa delivers 2 gifts per child. This would mean he would have around 2 billion gifts on his sleigh. Suppose the average box was 1 foot high and weighed 8 ounces and that large sleighs are about 12 feet long, the presents would rise over 48,000 miles above the sleigh, covering approximately a fifth of the distance between the earth and the moon. They would also weigh around 500,000 tons, which is equivalent to the weight of 800 fully loaded Airbus A380s.

Suppose that 1 out of every 4 households visited by Santa leaves a mince pie, glass of sherry and a carrot for Rudolph. Given the average mince pie weighs 2 ounces, Santa would munch his way through 3,488 tons of mince pies, the weight of 375 African elephants. Also if the average slug of sherry is 25ml, then Santa would have drunk 2,100,000 bottles of sherry which would leave him well over the drink drive limit and give him a blood alcohol level thousands of times higher than that which would kill a whale. Perhaps his constant state of inebriation explains how he can sit behind a herd of reindeer which, between them, eat 4,285 tons of carrots. In total Santa consumes 220 billion calories in 36 hours, which is as many calories as an average man would take 207,799 years to consume (at recommended levels), which is over twice as long as the last ice age.

So there we have it. We have a portly gentleman whizzing around the planet once a year at over 9000 times the speed of sound. He has a sleighful of presents that weighs more than 4500 houses and reindeer that can breathe normally despite being subjected to warp speeds and severe air resistance. Also, miraculously, even though the reindeer would be shitting out several million allotments worth of carrots, his beard remains white.

Do you still believe in Santa Claus?

tis The Night Santa Went Crazy

Santa, please don't drink and fly this Christmas Night

It's Xmas - Beware of a Turkey Attack

Watch Out - Lindsay Lohan's Looking for Love

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Cardiff City - The Heat Is On!

If the Golden Rule of Comedy is timing, then Cardiff City are up there with Laurel and Hardy.


48 hours after the farcical postponement of the Leicester City home game due to 'boliergate' with the club not getting around to connecting a bolier to its undergrond pipes to prevent the pitch freezing at up to -20, they now proudly announce work is complete ... just as the thaw is about to kick in!




Peter Ridsdale and the club have understandably taken some mighty flak from supporters, the press and Leicester City personnel too but rumour has it that another director was largely responsible for the fiasco. Director Steve Borley oversaw the completed work yesterday.


City are home to Plymouth Argyle on Boxing Day. The stadium should never suffer this problem again and we can out this behind us.


However for a club often accused of being a joke, they really know how to shoot themselves in the foot and play up to the label, don't they?

X Factor Voiceover Man has Marital Troubles

Monday, December 21, 2009

I meet Riccy Scimeca March'08
after City win at Middlesbrough
in the F.A. Cup Quarter-Final


CARDIFF CITY’s central midfielder Ricardo Scimeca today announced his retirement as a professional footballer leaving Bluebirds followers feeling a sense of shock and sorrow for one of the game’s true gents.


Scimeca has been forced to admit defeat in a virtual 30 month battle to overcome continual knee and groin problems just a fortnight after making a starring comeback.


In that game, City turned to Riccy in a crisis after 4 successive defeats and a depleted side but, starting his first game for 16 months, he starred as City overcome Preston. Three days later, he was performing similar heroics at West Brom helping City to a 2-0 win but having to come off at half-time feeling the effects.


It has emerged he had an op yesterday and facing another lengthy period out of the game, he has been forced admit his time is up.


Scimeca, aged 35, next summer gave sterling service to all his former clubs – Aston Villa, Leicester, Nottingham Forest, West Brom and over the past 4 years with Cardiff City. He amassed over 400 appearences (76 for Cardiff) and scored 17 times, 6 for City.


Talking to the club official website, www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk, Scimeca said, “Whatever the temptation to go on and to try again, you can't ignore what your body is telling you. I've had a good career - it's been great. I feel it's better to be grateful for that rather than think about my regrets about not carrying on as a player. Facing the lads and telling them I was finishing was one of the hardest things I have done. I welled up a little bit, but that's to be expected.”


"There's a feeling of relief as well but it was very hard to make that decision. It had to come at some stage. I wanted to be the one to make the decision, and it's come earlier for me than I would have liked, but that's the way it goes."


City boss Dave Jones added, “We are saying goodbye to a great professional and one of the nicest men in football, it's been a tough decision for him to take and we wish Riccy, his wife Laura and their family all the very best for the future."


I was lucky enough to meet Riccy a couple of times and even stood with his father-in-law, wife and children during an away game at Birmingham.


Good Luck with your future Riccy Scimeca.

For Xmas - The Underwire Bra

For some women, it's easy to find bras that fit in styles they like. But many others aren't so lucky, spending endless time and money in search of that elusive perfect style and fit.






The underwire bra is designed to provide additional lift. Underwire can be found in many different styles of bras. Some women swear by their underwire and others find them very uncomfortable. One way to determine if this is a style of bra that will work for you is to give it a try……


Underwire bra - from PARIS






Underwire bra - from EBBW VALE

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Another DEVO influenced group top the charts.

Amazing shock in the pop world as a husband and wife start a Facebook campaign to get an obscure Rage Against The Machine song - Killing In The Name - as an alternative for the Christmas Number 1 to wipe out X Factor;'s annual domination .... and they only went and succeeded!

RATH sold over half a million copies, beating this year's X Factor dope puppy, Joe McElderry, singing a dirge of a tune from High School Musical by over 50,000 copies. Good enough too.

Rage Against The Machine are DEVO-tees and even recorded Beautiful World ... so enjoy!

Cardiff City apologise for postponement

The fears of Cardiff City fans were realised when the Leicester City home fixture was postponed by match referee Michael Oliver at 10:30 a.m..

However the angry reaction from Cardiff City fans - some of whom had travelled from Ireland, Scotland and various parts of the U.K. - was entirely understandable as Cardiff had failed to install the boiler to stop the pitch freezing. The club stood accused of being a joke, amateur and unprofessional by supporters looking forward to the big clash and a traditional Christmas drink.


£50M state of the art stadium???
My ar*e!!!


What made it all the more annoying is that South Wales was hardly the worst hit area by the weather and although temparatures were minus 4 overnight and did not rise above freezing in the morning, it was a beautiful sunny crisp winter day with temperatures around 5 degrees by 3pm. To rub salt into the wound, games at Newport, Swindon and Bristol all went ahead.

City did bring in hot air blowers and covers but could not fully cover the pitch and it is understood that two thirdss of the pitch was fine, the remainder was unplayable. The boiler is being fixed in the coming week so a postponement of this type should never happen again.

Chairman Peter Ridsdale took a lot of flak in e-mails and did not respond kindly to some. He also stopped short of his much loved public statements but did apologise to City fans via WalesOnline adding that, "
I’m devastated by the postponement. I’m almost speechless, upset and angry, to be honest".


MUPPETS!!!!




"Like" Peaches Geldof

Check out how many times Peaches Geldof said the word LIKE in a 1 hour tv show and this wasn't all of them either. Her vocabulary is as big as her intelligence then!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

City set to face new stadium postponement embarrassment


Well in excess of 22,000 tickets have been sold for today's home game with Leicester City, the team are flying, the club could sorely do with a boost to the coffers and the supporters are looking forward to their traditional pre-Xmas drink together ... but, thanks to penny-pinching, the game looks ready to fall victim to the current freeze.


When Cardiff City built the new stadium this year, they proudly unveiled the pipes that would provide under-soil heating to ensure no game would be cancelled in a cold snap. The only problem is ... some clown at the club decided not to bother buying the boiler to go with it!!!

Temperatures since Friday 6pm have dipped below freezing, reaching up tp -4 overnight, and are not expected to rise above freezing until this afternoon. Local parks and gardens are rock solid so unless City have covered the pitch - and they have known this cold spell was coming all week - the game may be postponed.

Current news is a pitch inspection is due at 11:30am. I hope it goes ahead, the backlash will be deafening if this gets pulled.

Santa has a Christmas Message for Dave Jones!





A sickeningly cute kitty

Thursday, December 17, 2009

F.A. Balls Up - City fans shafted for Newcastle away

Cardiff City fans have been looking forward to the Newcastle away trip all season, many have pre-booked trains and hotels weeks and months ago.

However a muppet at the F.A. allegedly made a mistake and published the 2009/10 fixtures with both Newcastle and Sunderland at home same day. To compound that, they did nothing to change it until 6 weeks before the game.

Now, on police advice, City's big clash at St. James' Park will now take place on Friday February 5th with a 7:45pm kick-off. City fans going will have to take a day's holiday (or sick leave!) and many have lost money.

Thanks for your consideration everyone ... thanks for nothing!

More People of Walmart






And I thought Asda, Lidls and Tesco shoppers were bad!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Tonight's Cardiff City Phone-In with DAVID MARSHALL

City keeper David Marshall was studio guest taking the calls on tonight's show.

Listen in or download via this link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?ikelewi3z1q



Video of the Week - HOT CHIP, One Life Stand

Hot Chip just make me smile, not sure why. This is their new single, not out until February 2010, I like it.

Case Dismissed Against City

It was a shock last month when news emerged that Cardiff City were taken to court by the tax man to face a winding up order. The club were given 70 days to clear an undisclosed debt.


Chairman Peter Ridsdale, although annoyed that news in the public domain has got into the public domain (!!), was quick to assure supporters agreement had already been reached with HMRC but it created an air of suspicion and also came as a surprise to the potential Malaysian investors.


Late last night, there were more worried fans as Cardiff City were listed in the London High Court this morning to face another winding up order ... however, it turned out to be great news as the hearing was to dismiss the previous order.

In a short statement this afternoon, the club confirmed, "that the High Court today formally dismissed the winding up order that had previously been brought by HMRC. This was as a result of amicable discussions between the Club and HMRC. We are grateful for their co-operation and support".


Reasons to be cheerful then

Les Shoppers de Walmart





Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Have Cardiff City Finally Learned a Lesson?

Has the penny finally dropped at Cardiff City?



We all love flair and quality (especially Chris Burke’s recent herculean efforts) but good sides have to show far more than that. Therefore, it was fantastic to watch City only allow Middlesbrough to play in front of them on Sunday and defend as if their lives depended on winning every challenge and being there first for every loose ball too. And it was the same story at West Brom and against Preston in the past week. Each time, it was also with the added disruption of losing key players both before and during those games as well.


Is this really the same group of players who did anything but that in those awful defeats and performances at Swansea and at home to Ipswich and tossed away the play-offs at the end of last season? After those 4 successive defeats in Novmeber, at least one Cardiff City player admitted to some complacency amongst the squad which is pretty damning. Manager Dave Jones is now demanding more of the same rmeinding his men that they have now set the standard.


While I am sure City will continue to have inconsistencies – just like the rest of the Championship – if they show that spirit, standard and tenacity for the rest of the season, it may yet bring a most fantastic reward.


Congratulations to the Cardiff City management and squad … now keep on doing it.


Video Highlights - Middlesbrough 0 Cardiff City 1

Chris Burke's winner moves Cardiff to third in the Championship and condemns
Middlesbrough to a third defeat in six league games. (UK users only)




.

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