Denilson ended up playing more than Fellaini, and I ended up walking the league, winning the Portuguese Cup and getting to the Champs League semi finals, after beating Man Utd and Liverpool in the first knock out rounds, before being rolled over 5-0 on aggregate by Barcelona. I suffered a 7-2 defeat to Sporting Lisbon after sticking to my ‘no goalie on the bench’ rule, I also found a great striker, I can’t remember his name, but he came in for Lima and finished top scorer despite only playing half the season.
True to my word, I resigned at Porto at the end of the season, with the hope of hopping around the continent, however, no-one good got rid of their manager, my reputation was set at World Class, but I just kept getting offered the Watford/Sheffield United/Hull/Bolton (all Championship clubs) jobs, there was no way of turning them into Premier League winners in a few years, so I stuck to my guns and rode it out, next summer is bound to bring some big changes in, right?
Wrong!
Inter once again had Mancini hanging on, being Very Insecure for a long time, before deciding to stick with him, I got offered a number of rubbish at best jobs and stuck to my guns, but getting eager to play. Eventually a job came along I liked the look of, a reasonably big club, offering a fairly big amount for transfers (£13million) with a long contract and in a good country (Spain), surely there’s no catch, I’ll take it.
Athletic Bilbao
To those as ignorant as me, it’s worth pointing out that Bilbao can only sign Basque players. Hmm. After taking a quick look at my squad and what I needed, I eyed up which were the best Basque players I could get. Manuel Almunia was the top player available. See ya, Basque Land.
Back to the job hunt, and still nothing, when a club I’ve never even heard of came in for me, their media prediction is to finish 5th in the Ukraine top league, and, crucially they’re called Chornomorets Odesa. Odessa! I’m Billy Bob Thornton, I’m Coach Gary Gaines, give me Booby Miles and the title is ours! Well, State, if not the national title.
Their team is reasonable, there’s not much money and I’ve took over the day of the first game, so not much time to plan anything. I’m aiming to win the title by the end of my third season.
Great Tracks
Ah, there’s a new Social Networking thing, where you can ask questions anonymously. Here’s mine
So yeah, like an idiot when I started my Porto game I forgot to put Spain & Italy as playable leagues. Which annoyed me, and made it a bit pointless, so I’ve restarted at Porto but now I’ve got England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Ukraine to move between, I’m going to move after every title win too, keep it fresh.
I’m going to set myself mini targets too, well, just how long I plan being at each club, like, with Porto having a good squad and I’ve been able to develop it quite well with my signings, I expect to win the title in the first year. Whereas if my next club is say Ateltico, I’d say a title would take two or three years.
The first transfer window has just closed, and I’ve made similar signings to my original game, I’ve brought in Carlos Vela, Leandro Lima, Felipe (A LWB, not the great Udinese guy), Marouane Fellaini, Patricio Araujo, Luka Modric, Andres Guardado, Juliano Bozzano (my good scout properly recommended him but he looks rubbish) and James McFadden (probably not the wisest move, cost £9million, but like I said, I only expect to be here for one year and wanted another forward option).
I’ve only had one league game, which I won comfortably and also won the Portugese Charity Shield, pre season was boring, just left the fixtures that were already set up, so had an exciting tour of Israel.
My starting line up at the moment is
Heilton
Bosingwa Pepe Araujo Guardado
Modric Anderson Fellaini Queresma
Vela Lima
I’ll probably but Mcfadden in for Fellaini soon (moving Modric into the centre).
Word, I’ve got a load of cds I no longer listen to/for sale! Roughly £3 each (some more/some less)
!!! – Louden up Now
Andrew WK – I Get Wet
Andy, Glenn And Ritch – Escape From The Bastille
At The Drive In – Relationship Of Command
The Beatles – Anthology
Belle & Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Belle & Sebastian – Push Barman To Open Old Wounds
Ben Folds Five – S/ted
Beth Orton – Central Reservation
Bloc Party – A Weekend In The City
Blur – Parklife
Blur – Think Tank
The Bombjacks – Batteries Not Included
The Bombjacks – Midnight Picture Show
Chaser – Best Seat In The House
The City On Film – I’d Rather Be Wine Drunk
The City On Film – In Formal Introduction
Clayhill – Acoustic/Tour EP
Clayhill – Small Circle
Coldplay – A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Coldplay – Parachutes
Ctrl Alt Delete – EP
The Coral – Invisible Invasion
Dave House – Kingston’s Current
Dave House – See That No-one Else Escapes
Defiance Ohio – The Fear, The Fear, The Fear
Deftones – S/ted
Denver Harbor – Scenic
Don Ramos Players – S/ted
Dugong – Quick To The City
Elliott Smith – S/ted
Elvis Presley – Elvis 30 #1 Hits
Fenix TX – Lechuza
Four Tet – Everything Ecstatic
Four Tet – Rounds
From Autumn To Ashes – Too Bad You’re Beautiful
The Futureheads – s/ted (cd/dvd)
Get Cape Wear Cape Fly – EP
The Get Up Kids – Eudora
The Get Up Kids – Red Letter Day
The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Graham Coxon – Happiness In Magazines
Green Day – International Superhits
Help She Can’t Swim – Fashionista Super Dance Troupe
Jerry Built – Upstarts
The Jesus Years – Are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Jimmy Eat World – The Singles
Joy Division – Substance
Kanye West – Late Orchestration
Knockout – Driven To Distraction
Jolly Not So – To Fear The Past, To Losing The Present, To Have No Future
Less Than Jake – Hello Rockview/Losing Streak
The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs
The Maple State – At Least Until We’ve Settled In
The Mars Volta – Deloused In The Comatorium
MC Lars – The Laptop EP
Mcfly – Room On The Third Floor
The Movelife – Forty Hour Train Back To Penn
My Awesome Compilation – Actions
My Awesome Compilation – Every Souvenir Has A Story
My Awesome Compilation – The View Is Amazing
My Favourite Co-Pilot – When All Your Hopes Fall
Nathan Fake – Drowning In A Sea Of Love
The Neptunes – Present Clones
No Coply – With Windmills Turning Wrong Directions
Not Katies – At Every Turn
Not Katies – Repeat Repeat
Over It – Silverstrand
Over It – Timing Is Everything
Paramore – Riot!
Route 215 – Steal Your Soul With Rock And Roll
Route 215 & Captain Everything – Make The Love Connection
Rufio – 1985
Rufio – Perhaps, I Suppose
Second To The Last – On The Bear Valley Trail
Shortcut To Newark – Heads In Hands : Hearts In Half
Sigur Ros – Takk
Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons
Slick Shoes & Cooter – Split
The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
Smoosh – She Like Electric
Something Corporate – Fillmore Theatre (£30/OFFERS)
Something Corporate – North
Sonic Boom Six – Sounds To Consume
Statistics – Leave Your Name
Statistics – S/ted
The Snake The Cross The Crown – Mander Salis
Something Corporate – Leaving Through The Window
The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free
The Streets – Original Pirate Material
The All New Adventures Of Us (TANAOU) – Primary Colours EP
Thursday – Five Stories Falling
Thursday – War All The Time
Tokyo Adventures – The Hunter’s Handbook
Tomorrow Never Came – Face In A Photograph
Travis – The Man Who
Ultimate Fakebook – Before We Spark
Ultimate Fakebook – Open Up And Say Awesome
The Vandals – Look What I Almost Stepped In
Vanilla Sky – Waiting For Something
V/a -Anti Folk Volume 1
V/a – Punk Goes Acoustic
V/a – Punktastic Unscene 1
V/a – The Smiths Songs By – How Soon Is Now
The Verve – This Is Music: The Singles 92-98
Volcano, I’m Still Excited – s/ted
Willy Mason – Hard Hand To Hold EP
Willy Mason – Where The Humans Eat
The WWF Superstars – Slam Jam
DVDS
Belle And Sebastian – Fans Only (£8)
Planet Earth (£10)
Live Aid (£10)
Columbo – The Complete First Season (£5)
Mad Men Series One (£10)
The Office: Season Two (American Office) (£7)
The US Office : Season One (£4)
WWE – From The Vault: Shawn Michaels (£8)
Blink 182 – The Urethra Chronicles / The Urethra Chronicles 2 (£3 each or both for £5)
Forrest Gump (2 Disc Special Collector’s Edition) (£3)
Toy Story (£5)
Toy Story 2 (£5)
King Of The Hill, Series One (£5) and Series Two (£6) or both for £10.
Peep Show – Series One (Original Cover/Artwork) (£6)
Thank You For Smoking (£3)
Falling Down (£3)
Full Metal Jacket (£3)
Totally Bill Hicks (£7)
Tee’s! All £6 inc postage, offers more than welcome!
Abathing Ape (Black Ape Shall Never Kill Ape) L
Armor For Sleep (Black, What To Do When You Are Dead design) XL
Clayhill (Light blue Small Circle design) L
The Futureheads (Royal Blue Robot Design) XL
The Get Up Kids (Red with white writing- Rollerskate, Summer League 1981) XL
The Get Up Kids (Green with white writing – Band Camp) L
Glassjaw (Navy with yellow GJ) L
The Go! Team (Yellow with Red Go Team! Design) XL
Head Automatica (Black with bright/multicoloured design, Shirt For A Cure/80’s Eyes Design) XL
Jerry Built (Navy with Yellow writing, Upstarts) XL
Jimmy Eat World (Black, Nintendo Pad Tour Design) L
Lost On Campus (Orange with white writing lost on cam pus design) XL
No Comply (Black with white writing/picture) XL
Punktastic – Selling Out In Style (Black with pink writing) L
Punktastic – Selling Out In Style (Light blue with red writing) L I think there was only three of these made.
Second To Last (Black with brown writing, If It Moves Kill Them design) M
Skirtbox (lightblue with yellow writing) L
Taking Back Sunday (Black, Arrow design) XL
PM me or email me at splashturntwist@gmail.com Paypal/Cheque/Postal Order/Concealed Cash accepted!
Is there a more exciting title in the world than me declaring I’ve started a new game on Football Manager?
I’ve started out as Porto!
They’ve got a pretty good team, with Lopez, Anderson, Pepe, Quaresma, Lucho Gonzalez, which I’ve boosted by bringing in Vela, Leandro Lima Sagna and Fellaini. Got a few more players I want to bring in, but they can only go through if I bring in some money. So, I’ll see.
I’m expecting to win the league, my team’s pretty strong overall and I’ve just spent a fair whack on boosting my coaches, I just can’t imagine anyone having as strong of a team with as good staff in Portugal, I’ve not looked at Benfica/Sporting Lisbon too much.
My plan at the moment is to try and win the league in every country I’ve selected (Portugal/Belgium/England/Spain/Italy/Ukraine), no set order in mind, but I just want a game where I can move around, and not getting set anywhere special, well, not until I’ve won the title in all of those anyway.
I only included Ukraine as Dan’s recently started a game as Shaktar on FM10 and it sounds pretty good so have followed his lead I guess. It sounds pretty easy to win over there too.
NFL tonight! Not too fussed about Bills or Jets, but I expect Jets to take it, as they’re just better, shouldn’t be a great game but definitely worth watching. I can’t wait for Sunday and Dallas v Giants. Annoyingly we always lose to NY Giants, but they’ve looked awful recently, so defeat would be all the worse.
World Cup Draw tomorrow! I’m going to have a proper look later/tomorrow and decide who I want. England should get through whoever, having had a brief look.
Not blogging anywhere near as often, sorry! I’m going to make a genuine effort to go daily again, it’s daft I don’t, I’ve just started writing things in a little book instead so I don’t forget them, but then forget to blog them, so here’s a few things from that over the past few days..
Played football again on Thursday, five v six, we lost by a few (I was on the five) we played okay generally, but one of the lads we had didn’t seem like he’d played much before and kept going in the wrong positions and stuff which was quite frustrating but he tried hard and was good in net, so it’s not really a big criticism, especially as I didn’t have the greatest of games. I much prefer playing on the little pitch though, there’s less space so good touch/brain favours over fitness, thankfully.
After playing, it was time to watch some NFL, it was Thanksgiving so there was three games on, I watched Lions/Packers before football, which was just typical Lions, Packers didn’t have to do much to win, I missed Cowboys/Raiders as that’s when football was on, but watched Broncos/Giants after football. The Giants played one of the worst games I’ve ever seen them play, it was crazy, Broncos looked good at everything but the Giants just didn’t step up at any point. It was great when Broncos made a poor play and it went to Josh McDaniels on the sideline talking to his players just screaming
“ALL WE’RE TRYING TO DO IS WIN THE FUCKING GAME!”
Fantastic stuff. I was very impressed by Kyle Orton, he’s nothing special, nothing fancy, but he was just sensible, which if the team is doing well at other things is all you need really. Just keep the ball, and get the chains moving. The Broncos secondary was magnificent, just didn’t let Eli throw anything easy. Brandon Marshall made an incredible catch too.
The one thing I hate about watching late night NFL, is the adverts, well, advert, the one for rat poison being in prescriptions. So so bad, especially when eating dodgy food, like chicken wings.
Eurgggh.
Saturday was football day! Started out watching MOTD from the previous week then Lincoln/Kettering, then Jeff, followed by the biggest game of the weekend, Carlisle/Norwich streamed on the FA website. Norwich have been one of the best sides in the division since Paul Lambert took over, and Carlisle have been pretty poor for the past eighteen months. Naturally, Carlisle went out and performed incredible, winning 3-1. My favourite part of the match was Keogh and Holt squaring up, which was proceeded by Carlisle fans singing ‘Wanker, wanker, wanker’ at Holt (a Carlisle lad) followed by a massive ‘Keooooooooogh’ chant. It’s great to see Carlisle fans have taken to Richard Keogh, he took a lot of stick when he first came, as we were rubbish, but he’s settled in really well, and although I’ve barely seen Carlisle this year, he seems to have changed into one of the most important players. Vincent Pericard scored a wonderful flicked goal too.
Big Vince.
Ended the day with more masculinity by watching Breakfast At Tiffany’s with Jack and May. Such a lovely film, but I shouldn’t bang on about that too much.
Then Sunday was a properly massive football day, first up, Everton/Liverpool, a pretty boring game in the end, but the tension obviously makes everything seem more dramatic, it was return to classic Liverpool, score a flukey goal, defend defend defend, Everton came close a few times, but just lack the cutting edge needed. They miss Arteta and a fit Saha/Yakubu so much.
Next up, Arsenal/Chelsea, and the removal of any title hopes Arsenal had, a thoroughly dominant Chelsea performance, just muscling Arsenal all over the pitch, and again, a big performance from Didier Droggington, two goals and incredible hold up play. What a man. Arsenal just looked like a nothing side, with no RVP and Eduardo expected to play his role, they just looked toothless going forward. Arsenal need boosting all over the position, but they cannot rely on RVP being fit for an entire season, he’s not done it yet, and it’s naive to plan your side around him always being available. No idea what they’ll do in January, but getting someone in up front must be a high priority.
The last football game of the night was El Classico, Messi vs Ronaldo, Kaka vs Iniesta, Xavi vs Alonso and so on and so forth. Not the best Madrid/Barca game ever, but incredibly tight so the entertainment was still present, the game swung in Barca’s favour with a few big moments, Zlatan coming on, Zlatan netting and Ronaldo going off. Both teams ended with ten men, due to silly second bookings, but I’d say Barca just about edged it overall.
Next up was NFL! Bears/Vikings, my word, Bears look awful and Vikings look great. It’s great to see the Bears being so bad, just because Jay Cutler seems like such a dick. They are clearly missing Urlacher on defense, but their offense is just non existent really, Devin Hester just isn’t a first choice receiver, Matt Forte is great, but with the O Line being so soft he’s not going to do anything. I’m pleased to see Brett Favre doing well, very well, I think he has a bad reputation for little reason really. I can understand him being hesitant about deciding whether to continue or not.
Last on Sunday was Steelers/Ravens, I love these games, so hard, so much ground and pound, especially as Ben Roethlisberger was out with a concussion (which prompted unusual comments, seemingly slagging him for not playing from Holmes/Ward). Dennis Dixon came in, and was mainly effective at play action and scrambling, he had two great runs (one was called back for a penalty though) and looked okay as a Wildcat type QB, but I can’t see him being a proper QB, his throwing motion just doesn’t seem right. He struggled to read zone coverage too. It ended with him throwing an interception in OT and Ravens pushing for a field goal.
During the game there was naturally a lot of talk of Michael Oher, who is an Offensive Lineman for Baltimore Ravens, his story is pretty remarkable and is told in the book The Blind Side, which has just been turned into a film. I’ve seen most of it, and loved what I seen, but due to a dodgy download, the last forty minutes was missing. I can’t wait to watch it all. I’ve read the book too, and it’s a really good read. I recommend it very highly.
Here’s the trailer
Well worth checking out. Not sure if it’ll be released over here, it’s a great story even for people not interested in football.
My favourite part of the Channel Five NFL banter was when Mike/Nat were talking about Sandra Bullock (who is one of the stars of the film), Mike remarked that Sandra Bullock had never made a good movie, Nat said it was harsh, Mike, very seriously told him, no, it isn’t. A short silence followed by laughter, I love their interactions. It’s a massive shame that Channel Five didn’t get Monday Night Football this year. I miss Mike Carlson. When previewing this weeks games he had this to say
Seattle (3-7) at St. Louis (1-9): Josh Brown Bowl! Kyle Boller gets the start for the Rams. Does it matter? Do you care? Would you watch, or will you find a cooking channel and begin preparing for next year’s Thanksgiving instead. Pick: ANYTHING ELSE! OK, pick: shudder! Rams
Also, when saying the results he asked who cares? Good point.
That’s most of the last few days, I still need to mention a few things, but will leave that for later on. Currently watching Drew Brees destroy the Pats, such a wonderful performance. I tipped the Pats to win, but Brees has been perfect. It’s not over yet, but I can’t see the Saints letting it slide.
Plus, December! Christmas songs are now fine, also, home soon! I can’t wait!
Sell Me The Answer! A new great quiz show on SkyONE which is on at 3:30pm every weekday, hosted by Gethin Jones. Basically, there are sixty ‘traders’ who can be used by the contestant if needed, so, say a contestant doesn’t know the answer, they would shout out SELL ME THE ANSWER all the traders would wave their little signs around trying to catch the eye, and then the contestant would pick two to give pitches, then pick whichever they think is more likely to be telling the truth.
Once the person has been picked, they go and trade with the contestant for a fee for the right answer (or, the answer they’re going to give them, anyway). They have thirty seconds to do this. Then, if they agree a fee then the trader tells them their answer, or sometimes just says they don’t know and everyone boos them. Then yeah, move up the ladder. The contestant can’t take any money until they’ve answered ten questions, so they’ve got to rely on traders usually.
The money goes up pretty steadily, you start with £50 to trade with (in case you need it for the first question), then £75, £125, £250, £500, £1000 then up £200 a time til £2000. After you’ve answered Question Ten, you can either gamble whatever is left in your trading pot on one question for £25,000 but you can’t use any of the traders. Or, just take home whatever is in your trading pot. In two weeks of watching, I’ve only seen one person get passed Question Ten and they just kept the money.
There’s a few other bits and bobs about it, but that’s the main stuff covered, also, you can only use a trader once.
I’ve been meaning to explain Sell Me The Answer for a while, so now I can mentioned specific events from it, like yesterday ;
There was £1800 in the trading pot, the question was asking about the Ivy League Schools, well, Ivy League was the answer, so she asked for a trader, picked a guy, he came down, just as they started trading, he asked for £1000, she said she’d just had a ‘light bulb moment’ and was sure of the answer, he said he’d call her bluff and held his hand out at £1000, she just said she wanted confirmation of it, so wouldn’t go above £200, with time ticking, he panicked and started rolling down by the hundred, eventually agreeing on £200 with no time left. Gethin started mocking the geezer saying it gave him great pleasure to only be giving him £200, everyone had a giggle, the bloke remarked it gave him even greater pleasure to reveal he didn’t know the answer. Everyone booed. Then the woman just knew the answer anyway. Good story, good outcome.
Some of the contestants are just greedy and stupid though, it does my head in.
Posted in Uncategorized on November 25, 2009 by byronchenko
No chicken to eat today, waaah. I ate a full chicken on Monday, loads of fried chicken, today has been dull-o by comparison. For shame.
I really don’t think there’s a better meat, obviously beef is good, pork is good for the by products, but chicken’s just fantastic in every form. Saying all that, today is Thanksgiving, well tomorrow is, but it’s essentially midnight, and Thanksgiving is Turkey Day. It also means there will be 3 NFL games on, I’m not too sure which three, but I know Dallas/Oakland is the middle one and I’ll miss most of it due to playing football.
I’m just about to watch The Blind Side, which is a film about the life (so far) of the Baltimore Ravens Tackle Michael Oher, I’m just reading the book at the moment, it’s really interesting, the stuff about the evolution of the Left Tackle has been great, it works really well when mixed with the stuff about his life. I’ve not finished the book, but will still watch the film.
Also, great stuff about Man Utd losing and Liverpool going out. Cheers Besiktas/Fiorentina!
