I have to start with the big news of the last fortnight and that is the parting of ways between my daughter Janene and her now ex-boyfriend Ross/Russ/Shrek. This came as a surprise to me as I thought they were getting on so well together but it turns out that she wasn't keen enough to continue the relationship. I was, of course, last to know and even then I heard it from her sister and not her. When I asked her what was wrong she just said it was by mutual agreement and she says that she thinks he liked her more than she liked him That's my girl. Get rid of the dead beats. A bit unfair to say that I suppose since I never made an effort to get to know him. It was a bit strange though since he had stayed here on the Monday night and then they split on the Tuesday but I assume that she decided that night. Unfortunately Janene would rather tell you things they way she thinks it should be rather than the way it was. I say this because when asked how she split up with him, she said that she phoned him on the Tuesday and after talking it over they decided to end it. That sounds fine and fair. Later on we find out from her friend Joanne that she actually dumped him by text. Cringe! In my opinion that is the worst possible way to be dumped and I let her know about it.
Ross after receiving the text
This is becoming a bit of a habit with Janene and she is tending to not tell the whole truth with things. I don't want to say she is lying a lot but I suppose when it comes to the bottom line then yes she has been lying. I feel there will be more to this 'lying' and I am determined to get to the bottom of it. To be continued...
Janene is also the headline maker in another happening this week. On Monday she passed her driving test at the first time of asking. This makes her the final member of the family to pass her test but with it also comes the problem of space outside the front door. We live on a relatively busy road mainly because we have a couple of shops across the road and about 100 yards along the road there is a primary school. If you include all the houses then it becomes a road that is too busy for its original purpose. A lot of houses means a lot of cars parked along the road also. To try and combat this we turned our front garden into two driveways, one for my car and one for the wife's. Now with Janene on the road as well as the other two kids we are going to need space for five cars. We can get away with it at the moment with four cars as we can have two in the driveway and two parked in front of the driveway but when Janene gets her car in about 8 weeks time, we are going to have overspill. Hopefully our neighbours wont mind if we can squeeze into their airspace when we need to. It won't need much room as we are getting her a Fiat 500.
Janene's chosen car
They are quite small but it is what she wants so that is what she gets. We don't mind getting her the car but she will be responsible for her own insurance and then fuel etc. I don't know if there is any road tax for that car but if there is then it is her expense.
I am not in the best of moods at the moment and it's all to do with the horse lorry. The time has come for it to be plated and Alison has told me it will cost about £1000 for the stuff that needs done to it and passed through it's MOT. This lorry is the bane of my life as I don't think they use it enough to justify the cost of keeping it on the road. To be fair, she does do hires where someone needs transport to move horses about but she doesn't charge nearly enough. Alison's problem is that she is too kind hearted. She has no business sense and is easily manipulated. She may plan to charge someone for example £120 to move the horse but ends up agreeing to £80. I try and take nothing to do with it but it isn't easy when you say money being thrown at it with little return.
On a personal front it has all been quiet with everything involving myself rolling along quite nicely. I am enjoying the run in to the Premiership title and it always helps when you want no team in particular to win it although Leicester would be my last choice. Talking of football my attention is more on the Championship with Derby finding new ways each week to make an arse of themselves. On Saturday they drew 3-3 at Rotherham or as the website said 'on form' Rotherham as they tried to make the draw out to be a decent result. The problem was that they were 3-0 up with 8 minutes to play and somehow managed to lose 3 goals. The clueless manager, Darren Wassell, tried to blame the players and didn't take one ounce of responsibility however when you look at one particular moment in the game then it is quite obvious who is to blame. Leading 3-0 with 20 minutes to play Mr Wassell felt the game wasn't yet won (how true that turned out to be) and decided to change things by taking off the holding midfielder, George Thorne, and also striker,Chris Martin, who had scored earlier to make it 4 goals in 4 games. He replaced them with two strikers who couldn't hit a barn door at the moment and with they puzzling changes he also had to change the shape of the team, the shape that had Derby 3-0 ahead and playing some of their best football of the season. The result was of course, as I have already said, was the loss of 3 goals and two points.
Darren Wassell with his backroom staff
The owner of the club, who had sacked Paul Clement and replaced him with his own puppet, is now seeing that maybe he has made a huge mistake but instead of holding his hands up and removing Wassell from his position, he has persuaded Harry Redknapp to come in as a mentor. I don't know whether this is a good thing or not. I am glad Harry is there as he will be able to organise the team and get them playing consistently but I also hope that the owners are looking at getting a proper manager in for next season and Darren Wassell can return to his duties with the youth academy.
Soccer Manager still continues with the old interface option and I, for one, am delighted with this. I do wish, however, they would come out with a statement that tells us if the old interface option is now always going to be there or if they are still planning to drop it. If they said that the choice will always be there then I would consider going gold once again. I have always said I will not give them another penny but if the option for the old interface was to be there indefinitely then I would go back on my word.
The new match engine has not changed the way I thought it would have. Last night in The Churchill Cup (report coming tomorrow) my Liverpool side inexplicably went down 3-0 to Newcastle of which I will talk more about later on. The problem I had with this was that Newcastle played with 10 men for 86 minutes. If Newcastle had won 1-0 it would have been fair enough but to win 3-0 is just ridiculous and tells me the red card problem is still alive and well. Getting a player sent off is pointless as it doesn't affect the game. All it does is get a player suspended for 1 or 3 games which is no big deal to be honest. In my opinion, the whole discipline part of the game needs overhauled as I also think that 5 yellows equalling a one game suspension is very weak. If they are happy with 5 yellows before a suspension then they should try and fix it so that after the five yellows, then another 3 would men a two game suspension and also carry yellow cards over to the next season. That may not be the best answer to the discipline side and I am sure there will be better ways but whatever the case, I think suspensions need to be more severe the more times a player gets booked.
Life at Liverpool in the Top 100 has been mixed recently. The league performances have been much improved but the Youth Cup and the Regional Cup have been a disaster. Their has also been movement in the transfer market that I think will benefit the club.
In the league we are on a run of 6 games without a loss. Admittedly 4 of they games have been draws but when you are near the bottom end of the table then every point counts. Last time out we had our best performance of the season as we won 2-0 at Real Madrid. Goals from Lucas and Skrtel gave us the win but I have to mention the defence that has tightened up tremendously in the last month and has played a huge part in our current run. The introduction of Erkin to the left back position seems to have made a big difference and the decision to let Sakho move on is becoming a good decision.
Erkin has been a pleasant surprise
Tonight, at Anfield, we take on a struggling Inter Milan side that has been banned from transfer dealings for a month(?) after pulling out of an agreed deal earlier in the season. As is every game in Division 1, this will be a tricky match as they will be fighting for every point they can get but I have held a meeting with the players and have told them that there is no point in winning in Madrid if they lose to Inter tonight. This game also marks the start of the second half of the season and I will be looking for a marked improvement on the 3 points that they took from the first 6 games in the first half.
The Churchill Cup, which is our section of the Regional Cup, has been a disaster. We have lost 3 games out of 3, scoring just 1 goal and conceding 7. Last night we went down 3-0 at Newcastle, a complete embarrassment to the club with the performance being the low point of my time here. The players just don't seem to be able to get up for this competition and with just one game to come against Celtic, I will be fielding a reserve side and tell them that whoever plays well will get a chance to show what they can do in a league match.
The Youth Cup has also been poor with just one win and a draw in six games, effectively eliminating us from the competition. I accept that some of the youth players are out of their depth and still have a lot to learn but there were players that should have performed better and been an inspiration to the rest but simply were not up to the task. One of these players, Divock Origi, has been sold on. This has brought it's share of criticism but as far as I am concerned he did not show any enthusiasm in a role that a lot of players would give their right arm for. He has now moved on to AC Milan and maybe Mr Beddows can get something out of him that I couldn't or maybe even the warmer climate may be more to his liking. While Origi was going to Milan along with another youngster, Sheyi Ojo, a legend was coming the other way. We are delighted to welcome Nigel De Jong to Anfield. We have been searching for a suitable midfielder to play along with Lucas in the centre and Nigel fits the bill. He brings with him a wealth of experience and he has also picked up a lot of that experience playing in relegation battles since he has been at AC Milan. I think this could be the final piece that we need to make sure we finish in a safe mid-table position this season and then we can start looking at kicking on and trying to spend more time challenging for a top six position than trying to get away from the bottom end.
Nigel De Jong. The final piece?
The next thing I am wanting for Liverpool is to try and look at strengthening the youth team all over the park. We will once again be entering the Youth Cup next season but this time I want a team that is capable of going all the way and the scouting for that begins now.
Finally, still on the transfer front, Martin Skrtel and I had a disagreement and it has resulted in Martin wanting away. I have granted his wish but have told him that he wont go cheaply. In return I will be looking for a replacement central defender that is a bit younger than Martin but with a rating of 87/88 being acceptable. Martin still has 3 or 4 seasons ahead of him and will be a good purchase for a side that are playing in a lower league.
Well that will do it for today. Probably not as entertaining as some previous blogs but when you are not in the best of moods and suffering a hit of a grand for something that is of no interest, it is difficult to get motivated. Anyway, as always, I would like to thank you for reading and I hope it wasn't to tedious. Next week will be another Fannie Licker interview and I believe the next subject will be chosen within the next hour.
Once again thank you for taking the time to read and I will see you all in a fortnight.
Ciao
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