Friday Night Preview Time

Well, I did a great job of not posting what happened on Tuesday (and after) because I was ill. Ill, I tell you! Ill!

Right, let’s not waste time. City won 1-0 at Bournemouth and both Forest and Tranmere drew, which means going in to tomorrow’s tilt with Old Ham, City are in third position, behind Tranmere on goal difference.

The Arse and Manyoo both won, I watched Manyoo with ‘commentary’ by Clive Tyldesley and was impressed with the magnanimous reception that Cristiano Ronaldo was given by the Benfica fans, who presumably (as Mr Tyldesley pointed out) cheered him when he scored his penalty against England during the summer. It was also pretty obvious that if Manyoo had played anyone decent then they probably would have gone in behind at half time…is ‘gone in behind’ good English? I suspect not. Louis Saha ‘saved United’s blushes’ with a cracker that almost made me get off the sofa. Almost, but not quite.

I don’t know what happened on Wednesday apart from when I stopped watching bits of Shaktyor Donetsk* v Olympiakos and Barcelona v Werder Bremen, Liverpool were beating Galatasaray 2-0, but ended up scraping a 3-2 win. I know Wham lost last night, but that’s about it. I’ve been ill, dammit!

Division 3 Preview

Some very tasty games in Division 3 and I’m not just saying that. City v Oldham, Bradford v Tranmere and Forest v Swansea mean that six of the top eight teams are playing each other; it also means that the ‘Saturday night home win to go top of the league’ scenario is possible. At the other end of the table, all four teams in the relegation zone are playing each other and there’s a distinct possibility that Rotherham – who started the season with negative points having gone into administration – will overtake Millwall. Crocodiles, prepare to shed your tears.

In order to go top, City have to beat Oldham, Forest either need to lose or draw with Swansea and Tranmere need to lose or draw with Bradford. There’s a strong possibility of all three games being drawn, so even this early in the season a City win might prove vital in the long run. I was going to pick the City v Oldham game for my game of the week in Div 3, but you just know that the atmosphere at a packed City Ground is going to be cracking.

Games of the Week

(based on mid 1970s ‘Match Of The Day’ Selection Criteria)

Division 1 – Bolton v Liverpool

(I'm going into Jimmy Hill mode for the next couple: 'Now not too long ago, the teams in our next two games were in the first division but mind you I'd never had my stomach pumped before last Thursday')

Division 2 – Cardiff v Wolves

Division 3 – Nottingham Forest v Swansea

Division 4 – Torquay v Notts County

Anti-Games of the Week (based on…well, they look rubbish to me)

Division 1 – Sheffield United v Middlesbrough

Division 2 – Sunderland v Sheffield Wednesday

Division 3 – Gillingham v Cheltenham

Division 4 – Chester v Bristol Rovers**

Right, that’s it for now, American sports tomorrow morning (probably)

* Shirts were nice.

** Fancy that

Tuesday Night Football

OK sports fans, let’s take a look at tonight’s menu and see what football delicacies we have on the menu.

I’ll start with the most important stuff, Division 3.

There is a scenario where Bristol City can take the lead in the division, but it looks like a long shot. City would need to win by at least four clear goals at Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest would have to lose at Port Vale and Tranmere would have to lose at home to Huddersfield.

It doesn’t look very likely. City haven’t won down there since March 2002, Forest won both their meetings with Port Vale last season (and let’s not forget that City beat Vale 2-0 on Saturday) and Tranmere won their last four home games against Huddersfield. If you chuck Bradford (away at Donny Rovers) and Carlisle (at home to Blackpool tonight) into the mix things, if City get at least a point tonight they can probably maintain third spot. The bookies seem to like Carlisle and Tranmere to win tonight, so we might have to be content with keeping pace with the leaders rather than an audacious leap to the top of the division.

Still, you never know. Who'd have thought Take That would get back together?

At almost the other end of the footballing scale, there are a couple of ties in the European Cup* that merit some attention tonight. The Arse take on FC Porto at The (Insert Sponsor) Stadium while Manyoo travel to Lisbon to play Benfica at The Original Stadium Of Light, which I flew over once - in a plane. I don't have any superhero powers I'm aware of. Not surprisingly, it’s a big red football stadium (or at least it was) so it shouldn’t be too hard to find; it won’t take the Benfica fans too long to find Cristiano Ronaldo either.

After the nonsense in the World Cup between England and Portugal I’d be quite pleased if Arse and Manyoo both won, but although the bookies favour a Woolwich Arsenal victory, the odds on Newton Heath show indecision on the part of the punters and it may be a better match because of it.

Tomorrow night Chelsea play Levski Sofia in Bulgaria, Liverpool play Galatasary (I don't need no damn spellchecker!) at Anfield but I shall attempt to watch Barcelona at Werder Bremen. Barcelona will come up again at some point but you’ll have to wait for that.

On to Transatlantic nonsense and I have the pleasure to report that the Ashton Gators won their first fantasy game of the NFL season this weekend. Individually most of my points came from Clinton Portis (27) but I’d like to thank Nate Burleson and Darrell Jackson of the Seattle Seahawks for combining for the 29 points they scored during the Seahawks’ 42-30 win over the New York Giants on Sunday. The Giants were rubbish; the callers to WFAN-NY yesterday were unequivocal about that even if most of them sounded like Sil and Paulie from The Sopranos**.

Join me tomorrow for the next episode - who knows, I might not even mention football.

* Now known as The Champions League, although you don't have to be the champions to be in it. Which is stupid.

** Not that there is anything wrong with sounding like Sil and Paulie.

Schadenfreude For Fun & Profit Part 1

Hmmm...the heady aroma of capitalising on someone else's misfortune.

When I saw that William Hill were offering 13/5 on the Denver Broncos to beat the New England Patriots in Foxboro MA, I just had to take it. Even though I hate both teams, I hate the Patriots even more ever since I stayed up half the night to watch the travesty in the snow that introduced a large part of the world to the the 'tuck' rule.

The Patriots lost 17-7, I made some money and Monday morning was just a little bit sweeter.

Winning is better than losing

That statement is pretty obvious, but I woke up on Sunday morning to find that I was half way through one of those rare weekends where none of the teams I follow had managed to lose. Bristol City beat Port Vale 2-0 to retain third place in Division 3*, The Premiership Team I Have A Passing Interest In** had managed not to lose but most remarkably, the University of Notre Dame football team beat Michigan State by three points after being 16 points behind at the end of the third quarter.

Fortunately neither the Oakland Raiders nor the Lexington Redcoats (more about them later) don't play this weekend, so they can't actually lose, but that's not really the point is it. Most weekends between August until May (when the sporting limbo known as 'summer' begins) at least one of the teams mentioned above managed to lose, although obviously the odds decrease proportionally after the end of December, primarily because the Fightin' Irish and the Raiders have to go into hibernation.

So all in all a pretty good weekend.

* I can't be bothered to call it by the proper name.

** Welcome to the first instalment of 'Guess The Team'

Welcome To The Mighty Squirrel Kingdom

Yes, just what the world needs, another blog. Actually, rather than being another blog, this is really an aide memoire for myself, in case I forget anything.

Stuff will happen. I will record it. Some of it may actually being interesting for people other than myself - but I'm not going to guarantee it.