On to this week in the Kinnear household and, as always, Thursday is my rest day from work. This isn't forced upon me but is actually my own choice as I think it breaks up the week perfectly for me. t used to be random days each week but I thought I would chance my arm and go ask the boss if I could just have every Thursday. He was only to happy to grant my wish, stating that it actually made it easier to do, what is called, the duty sheet, where each bus driver is given his duties for the following week. I won't go into that as it would be a bit boring. Anyway, my reason for mentioning my rest day is because I have decided to have the ultimate day of rest. I am still lying in my bed at one in the afternoon with Sky Sports News on the TV. I have turned the telly down though and I am listening to the music on my phone through my thing that I can never remember the name of lol. It charges my phone as I listen and it also has a radio etc. Docking Station!!!!!!! That's it. Just remembered. Music has always been a big part of my life. My parents always told me that all I wanted to do when I was a kid was listen to music and that has never changed. One of my childhood memories was when, during the school holidays, myself and my mate decided to hold a disco out in the back garden for all our pals and other kids around where we lived. We had plenty records and a good stereo, as they were called they days. The younger among you may have to ask a grown-up if you don't know what I am talking about lol. We cut up sheets of paper and wrote on each one, saying it was a disco afternoon and what time it started and finished. It obviously had to finish before my mum and dad got home from work. We had the audacity to charge 2p a ticket. Young entrepreneurs here I guess haha. I think we had sold about four before we were rumbled by my parents. We got caught because when I was out playing, someone came to our back door and asked to buy a ticket. DOH!!! Why hadn't we thought of that problem. Alan Sugar appeared and said to both of us, You're Fired!!! So that was the end of that plan as we were barred from holding the disco. Music continued to play a big part in my life and I never missed Top of the Pops on a Thursday and used to listen intently to Radio 1 every Tuesday lunchtime as the new charts were revealed. As I reached my mid-teens, buying my own records was the next step and I used to buy one every Saturday along with my mate who also bought one. We never bought the same one so we could borrow each others if we wanted to. The next step became obvious to us both and we saved up any spare money we had and eventually bought some disco equipment in the early 80's. We started up our own mobile disco and called it the Climax Disco Roadshow. I took to DJ'ing more than my mate and we were soon getting known around East Kilbride with a good reputation. We managed to get a weekly gig for the local CB club on a Monday night which was always busy and once a month they held a Saturday night disco and we packed them out. I very rarely blow my own trumpet, and in fact I am my own biggest critic, but I was one hell of a DJ and at home when everyone was out would teach myself how to mix records which I put into practice at our gigs. Now, I was nowhere near as good at mixing as they are nowadays, but the music nowadays is easier to mix because a lot of dance tunes are done with parts in them that are aimed towards mixing in another tune. I was still pretty decent though. When that kind of started to fall away, we sold up and I got a residency in a Hamilton pub where I played on a Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tuesday was quite quiet but I again packed them out at the weekends. Love soon took over though and after I got married to my first wife, my performance dropped and I lost a bit of interest and eventually came to an agreement with the pub owner that a change was needed. My final night was the last time I ever DJ'd.
Because of this, my favourite music is late 70's, early 80's dance with my favourite groups being Chic and Earth, Wind & Fire. Chic are good but I was actually more into anything Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards produced. The list of artists they worked with is the length of my arm but they include Diana Ross, David Bowie and more up to date, Daft Punk. Alas, Bernard died a good while back now but Nile Rogers is still working hard. I, also, loved the Bee Gees. I thought their songs were fantastic and anything they touched in producing turned to gold but, really, anything from that era is what I like. My phone is filled with that stuff plus stuff from every other decade. I still like some artists of the present day and the kids are sometimes stunned at how I know some of the things they listen to. As an example, I once got up for work and when I went downstairs, Stuart was already up and watching one of these morning programmes and they were interviewing two guys. I looked and said 'What's this?' but before Stuart could answer, I said 'Oh, it's Rizzle Kicks' . The look on his face was priceless as he stuttered out 'How the fuck?'
Anyway, as I was saying, I am just lying in bed chillin' like a villain along with the dogs, who only seem too happy to share the bed. We have six dogs, yep, six. We have five poodles and a pug and I named them all. This was because I came up with the best names that suited them so we have, from oldest to youngest, Tyra, Poppi, Angel, Penne, Roxy and Candi. Roxy is the pug while Candi is Angel's daughter. Every one of them is female and we breed the poodles. This pays for our holiday every year unless there is something high on our agenda that we want. Three years ago we gave up our holiday and got new windows and French doors installed instead. We also added a patio and got a new 7ft fence for the back garden so this breeding stuff works well for us. Each pup sells for £750 and they go fast. Of the five poodles, Tyra is a standard while the other four are toy. Tyra done us the biggest favour when she produced 8 pups. At that time it was £700 per pup and we raked in a nice £5600 for her trouble.
Poppi after she has been clipped
Family-wise at the moment we have a bit of concern for Janene. She has been having anxiety problems that we can't get to the bottom of. We have had her at the doctor, who was absolutely hopeless, just dismissing it as nothing and telling her not to worry when worrying is probably part of the problem. We have private health insurance o we got her an appointment at The Priory in Glasgow and they have been much better. Hopefully she gets sorted out but Alison and myself had a private talk with her each. I spoke to her and I got the feeling that self-esteem was a particular problem for her. I am no doctor or psychiatrist or whoever deals with stuff like that but when I asked her about what she thought of herself she was quite negative about her looks and things. She is very slim and could do with a little more weight on her but, in true daddy style, I said to her how beautiful she actually is and if I was a boy at her age then I would certainly want to ask her out. This brought a smile and seemed to cheer her up a little. I also asked if the way I look upon her boyfriend was a problem. She said no but she did worry that I thought she was, how can I say without being offensive, easy. I was a bit taken aback by that. Why would I think she was an easy lay? I told her no way and that I thought the exact opposite. I know she won't sleep with anyone until she is ready and I know she is not ready now. That seemed to reassure her and I must admit, she has seemed a bit better the last couple of days.
I couldn't leave my real life section without mentioning an incident that took place last night. My wife and I were lying in bed and I had put her phone on to charge on my docking station (woo hoo, didn't even have to think for the name of it). So, tonight we are having chicken for dinner but had forgot to take the chickens out of the freezer. Stuart was downstairs so Alison asked for my phone to give him a quick call and ask him to take the chickens out the freezer. Now, for some reason, mainly I have never got round to it, I don't have Stuart's number listed under his name so I said to Alison to have a look at recent calls since I thought he had phoned me not long ago. There was only one number that was obviously a mobile and didn't have a name so said try that as I don't know who it is. She phoned but it rang out. She kept waiting and it went on to voice mail and it was actually 'some guy called Stephen' as she said. I was relieved it was a male as I was always very careful with phone numbers as such. I said I didn't know who that was but a couple of minutes later my phone rang and it was this number phoning back. Alison answered it and explained to this Stephen guy that she had phoned the number in error. She told me it was an English voice and I assumed it had been one of these marketing calls or something. Another couple of minutes later and I get a message on MSN messenger from Mr Beddows saying some bird with a Scottish accent had phoned him. Haha it was Stephen Beddows number she had been calling and I had forgot all about him phoning me last week. I had to pmsl. However, respect to Stephen as he told me that he thought he should tell me in case my wife had been snooping through my numbers to see who they were. Stephen told me he knew my track record from reading this blog and he was just letting me know, so thanks for good thinking Stephen.
Well that's it for real life and now onto the latest Top 100 escapades. Since my last Thursday blog, major changes have taken place. I have left Club Brugge and taken up the manager's post at Liverpool. Club Brugge was a great club and we had some great times that will always be remembered. The players were a fantastic bunch and worked really hard. The play off final defeat hit everyone at the club hard and probably contributed to our slow start this season. When Liverpool came in for me, the Brugge board told me they wouldn't stand in my way of the chance to manage a huge club such as Liverpool and I made the decision that it was time to move on. After taking Brugge to the play off final last season, anything less than a play off place would be deemed a failure so it was time to give someone else the chance to take the club forward.
Anfield
Arriving at Liverpool was a humbling experience. I could feel the history of the club as I entered through the front doors but I was here to do a job, not for a stadium tour. After doing the usual stuff, meeting the board etc it was time to meet the players, except they were in France for the game against Lyon that night. With things moving so fast, after the press conference, I was whisked to the airport and was flown over to France for the game. I managed a brief meeting with the players before taking a seat in the stand to watch them draw 0-0 with the French outfit. How did I feel about what I had witnessed? Well, the team looked a bit disjointed and I could see why they hadn't managed a win in, what was now, the opening five games.
The next day, back in Liverpool, it was time to start the hard work. I gathered the players together and told them what I expected from them. Then I gave them the afternoon off as I went back to my office to decide how to put my own stamp on the team. Players would be leaving and players would be coming in. It wasn't long until my phone was ringing and it seemed to be ringing all afternoon into the early evening. I started getting some deals moving and the first one seen Roberto Firmino leave the club for the Etihad while Mattia Destro and Moritz Leitner arrived at Anfield. I was happy with this. Destro had scored plenty of goals for me with another club and Leitner would provide some much needed depth.
Destro already has 2 goals in a Liverpool shirt
Things were starting to move now and John Flanagan moved to Genoa while Emre Can headed home to play for Borussia Dortmund with Sven Bender arriving to strengthen the defence. I needed a keeper as Ulreich didn't impress me and I finally managed to bring in Szczesny with Alberto Moreno going to Arsenal. Among other deals Nat Clyne, James Milner, Jason Henderson and Jason Ibe all left the club while Oscar, Rafael and Dede were among those who will now wear a Liverpool shirt. I am quite sure I have now made this team my own and we can see how it progresses.
Emboaba Oscar signed for Liverpool
It's been a good week as I try to get the players settled into my way of playing and after a home defeat to an impressive Atletico Madrid side, we notched up a couple of victories, winning 5-1 in Seville and then a cup win at Porto. The new boys have settled in well and I have been impressed with Mattia Destro, Joe Allen and Daniel Sturridge. Their work rate has been phenomenal and things are looking up at Anfield. In my first season here I am looking to have a top half finish in the league which I believe gets us into Europe next season and I think we have some good depth that could see us go on a good run in either the Cup or the Shield.
I also brought in some kids to try and develop them into players capable of challenging for a place in the first team or the cup team and they will get some good experience in Stephen Beddow's Youth Cup. They played their first game last Saturday and although they went down 2-1 to Sassuolo, they showed me enough to suggest they can do well in the tournament. Some dodgy decisions from the officials certainly wound me up and we had two goals called for offside even though one of them was clearly onside. If we had they officials every week then we would be in trouble but fortunately it will be someone else that has to suffer them. This week's Youth Cup game will be a special occasion for me as we travel to Club Brugge. It will be strange playing against them but it is a game that I will enjoy. Meeting some old friends will be fun and I am sure more than a couple of bottles of wine will be consumed. I have also taken a risk and told the boys if they perform well then they can have a night out in Brugge and they will return to Liverpool on the Sunday while I fly on to Italy for the Top 100 league match against AC Milan.
Tonight we will be able to see how much we have advanced in the short period of time since I have taken over. Juventus, managed by DP91, provide the opposition at Anfield and they are a bloody good side. Health wise, we are not in the best condition after a flu bug swept the dressing room and I have already ruled out Vital Dede, Mattia Destro and Manolo Gabbiadini while Markovic, Oscar, Rafael and Sakho are touch and go and will be a last minute decision. This was the last thing we needed with such a big game in front of us and, to be honest, if we manage a draw then I will be a happy manager. I am not too sure about my history of games against DP but I think it is one of mixed results. He is a good manager and will provide very tough opposition tonight as he tries to improve on his 4th position in the table. Hopefully, the Champions Cup game in Belgium that they won 1-0 will take it's toll on their performance but that could be clutching at straws.
Anyway, that is it for this week and I hope you enjoyed a rather long blog this time. It will be Fannie Licker's turn next Thursday when she interviews another unfortunate soul. Meanwhile it is thanks for taking the time to read this and I wish you all luck for tonight's games whoever you may be playing against.
Ciao
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