NEW MUSIC!!!!! J. Cole - Niggaz Know

I’m started to get a little bit excited now. Since any new music from Cole has emerged he announced over Twitter that he has moved up the release date of his album ‘Born Sinner’ to June 18^th so that he can go up against Kanye. Now if you follow me on Twitter you will know that I have already been pretty vocal about this. Kanye’s ego has swallowed him and he doesn’t interest me anymore, I’m more excited about the J. Cole record. I know that’s sacrilege to some people but that’s how I feel and Cole really is that good.

Overnight a new track appeared on the internet and once again it delivers. There’s a serious Bone Thugs influence going on, with lines blended in from ‘Notorious Thugs.’ If you don’t know that record check it out hip hop classic, know your history!

Here we go J. Cole ‘Niggaz Know’

Throwback Thursday: R Kelly - Ignition (Remix)

10 years ago today this song was number 1. 10 years ago! How old do you feel now? When I saw the age of this record it did make me want to cry a little bit.

Anyway all these years ago for seemingly forever this dominated everything. It was all over radio, music channels, it was everywhere you went. It might not be as fashionable as it once was to say that you are a fan of an R Kelly record but I do love this track. It’s smooth as you like, pop and R&B perfection. There will be some serious memories brought back with this one, press play and reminisce with a smile.

England vs Ireland - What A Waste Of 90 Minutes

Without being too harsh too early, my expectations for this game were beyond low, and I highly doubt that I was on my own. To start with England aren’t normally much fun to watch at the best of times, let alone in an end of season friendly where even the players look like they can’t be bothered.  I know we were all supposed to be celebrating Ashley Cole’s 100^th cap (It was his 102^nd appearance by the way) but I didn’t really care what happened.

Friendly matches should be about trying new players, new systems and new ideas but it seems England always seem compelled to do the opposite. They lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with the likes of Lampard, Rooney, and Johnson in the side, what was Roy Hodgson going to learn by doing this? Absolutely nothing. Daniel Sturridge got a chance to show what he can do from the start, but even that was only because pretty much everyone else is injured. The only thing that was new into the team was the kit, and even that wasn’t original. I think it’s fair to say the designers lloked to Munich for inspiration.

12 minutes in and England were 1-0 down.  A Seamus Coleman cross from the right was met by Shane Long’s head sending the ball into the corner of the net. Glenn Johnson had tracked Long’s run across the box but instead of challenging for the cross he just proceeded to play him on side. England’s central defenders were missing with Gary Cahill marking thin air, jumping up and heading thin air, in fact the only thing he made contact with was the Wembley pitch when he fell on it.

Was this to be the turning point, would going a goal down spark England to life? No, not quite. The response may have been pretty limited but it did eventually result in a goal. On 22 minutes a Sturridge cross came in from the left which wasn’t dealt with by the Irish central defence allowing Lampard in to poke the ball home from 6 yards out, it was his 29^th goal for his country. But that was about as good as it got England, as they stifled themselves with a total lack of fluidity and cohesion.

The start of the 2^nd half was marked by the return to the international stage of Ben Foster, making his 1^st international appearance since the back end of 2010. Phil Jones also came on at right back and was one of the few in white to make at least some sort of positive impression. With Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain wide there should have at least been potential for some attacking intent, but instead of a sustained attack all we got were glimpses. There were a couple of good runs from Walcott and despite the fact that he isn’t the most gifted of footballers his pace will always cause problems for the opposition. He just wasn’t used enough. But for me it is Oxlade-Chamberlain that is the most frustrating.  To start with he isn’t really a winger but the main strength of his game is his ability to run at defenders with pace and beat them, he has a trick as well. It’s just a shame he doesn’t seem to want to do this often enough. When he 1^st came on the scene and when he broke into the Arsenal 1^st team he used to do this all the time, now he seems unsure when he gets the ball, the curse of the England shirt has struck again.

England will now head off to Brazil for a game against the seleção on Saturday night, where they will try and prove that the win in February wasn’t a fluke. In that game in February England actually looked like they were making some progress. They weren’t playing the most entertaining football but tactically the team were moving forwards, the midfield 3 was starting to work, there at least appeared to be a little bit of hope. But on last night’s evidence Hodgson seems to have taken a huge step backwards. I don’t expect to see miracles, the players aren’t good enough, but just an end to the predictability would be nice. As I said at the outset friendlies should be used as an opportunity to try new things but all we learned last night was that 4-4-2 still doesn’t work and playing in a German inspired kit won’t make you play like them. Instead of tactical innovation expect to see England in a Spanish inspired red and blue number by the next World Cup. But whatever happens one thing is clear. Last night wasn’t good enough.

New Music!!!! Obie Trice - Bang

There’s a fair chance that no one apart from me cares that new music from Obie Trice has appeared on the internet or that he has a new album on the way, but this is my blog and my rules.

The man Obie broke through in the early mid 2000’s after signing with Eminems’ Shady Records’ label. He dropped a couple of popular singles; ‘Got some teeth’ did pretty well. Since then he dropped off the map, got shot and left the label.

He released his comeback ‘Bottoms Up’ last year which was a pretty decent effort.

I think he is one of the most underrated dudes out there, and doesn’t get props he deserves, but I’m doing my bit, right here, right now.

Obie Trice – Bang, check it out.

 

 

Throwback Thursday: Thin Lizzy - Dancing In The Moonlight

The choice for throwback Thursday this week comes from Sam aka Rafiki. His hero worship of Led Zepplin worries me slightly at times but on the whole his taste in music is pretty good, so I was confident that he would pick something decent for this now legendary feature.

As it turns out I also love this record. I came to the band pretty late until the last 6 months or so I have to admit that I didn’t really get it. But when I heard this song that all changed, the melody, the guitar solo it’s all there.

The track comes from Lizzy’s 1977 album ‘Bad Reputation.’ The album like the cover and artwork only features 3 members of the band with guitarist Brian Robertson only featuring on 3 tracks.

As for this track itself it reached number 14 in the U.K in September of 77’ and it’s a fantastic record. Well done Rafiki, well done.

 

Premier League Season Review 2012/2013

Now that the dust has settled, I think the time is right for me to do my little review of the season.

First of all despite all of the hype (Yes Sky that means you) I think this season has been pretty average. Even the last day of the season lacked any sort of real drama and excitement. Yes, I know that the ‘race for 4^th place’ was going on and all that cobblers but that pails into insignificance when compared to the end of the season drama in the Championship and League 1.

At the top Manchester United ran away with the league and it was pretty much in the bag with 6 games to go. I think United would readily admit that they haven’t played fantastic football for large chunks of the season, but what they have done is be very very effective. After a slightly ponderous start they have kept a load of clean sheets and racked up the goals, and are deserved champions. City shot themselves in the foot, on multiple occasions, and having a manager constantly moaning about how bad his players are and that he didn’t really want some of them anyway isn’t really going to help morale. Chelsea were Chelsea. They changed their manager part way through the season, played some great football alongside some rubbish, and a 3^rd place finish can be viewed as a job well done by interim manager Rafael Benitez.

The race for the final Champions League spot was between Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton. Arsenal had a pretty shocking start and there were calls for Arsene Wenger to go. Spurs were really up and down for the 1^st 10 or so games with some stupid fans calling for Andre Villas Boas to be sacked. (He has done a great job by the way) And Everton did what everyone has always wanted them to do; they started a season how they normally end the season, leading many including me to believe that they might just upset the apple cart. But it wasn’t to be and they fell away as the season went on. Spurs also played brilliantly for large parts of the season and then suffered when midfielder Sandro got injured and they had to start playing the massively overrated and massively hopeless Scott Parker, and they missed out on 4^th on the final day, as Arsenal got themselves together and went on a brilliant run pipping them to the post.

At the other end of the table Reading were largely not very good as was expected and were relegated. Wigan played well in parts winning the F.A Cup but their lack of any sort of defensive ability cost them. Martinez is now portrayed as a God like figure but I would like someone to ask him why when it has been obvious to the rest of the world for at least 3 years that his team can’t defend has he not done anything about it. He’s a decent manager but he’s far from the 2^nd coming. But the prize of hopelessly inept team of the season goes to Q.P.R.  They spent a load of money on players who are not good enough and then got Harry Redknapp in to manage them. The media said ‘Arry our saviour would rescue them while the rest of the world saw the truth… this wasn’t going to end well. He came in and said he would keep them up, he then realised they were bottom of the league for a reason and spent the rest of the season slagging his own players off and then wondering why they couldn’t be bothered to try for him. He now admits it will be difficult to move the players on… moral of the story, if you slag off a player for being terrible and having a poor attitude don’t be surprised when people don’t want to buy said player and put them into their team.

I should also give a mention to Swansea who won the League Cup, and played some fantastic football despite being predicted by many to struggle this season. It probably helps that I’m a little bit in love with their manager.  

But what this season will be remembered for are the large number of goodbyes and laying the foundations for next season.  Sir Alex Ferguson has retired, Paul Scholes has retired, Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher have also called it day. Next season will see David Moyes at Manchester United, a new manager at Everton, a new manager at Manchester City, Jose probably back at Chelsea and after getting rid of Tony Pulis Stoke may try and play a style of football in which the ball on occasion makes contact with the grass on the pitch. And hopefully Liverpool will learn to feed Luis Suarez before games to stop him getting peckish, that’s if he stays at course.

So in conclusion, this season was the equivalent of folk music. It was raved about by a few, while the rest of us didn’t understand the fuss finding the whole thing all a bit forgettable.

Throwback Thursday: Bob Marley And The Wailers - No Woman No Cry

I’m going to do something radical now and reclaim my own feature, at least for this week anyway. The sun is out so what better way to pick a reggae track for Throwback Thursday.

And in slightly obvious style I’ve gone for a Bob Marley record. It is in fact my favourite Bob Marley record, again I know that’s a little bit obvious but it’s a classic. The song first appeared on the 1974 album ‘Natty Dread’ but the most well known version is the one taken from the album ‘Live!’ in 1975.

The live version was also number 37 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of 500 greatest songs. Classic song.

Bupa Great North Run - 122 Days To Go

I may have mentioned that on September 15^th I am going to be doing the Great North Run for Diabetes UK. And you will definitely know that I am a blogger so it makes sense, to me at least, that I put these two things together.

First off, I am running for Diabetes UK because it’s an absolutely brilliant cause and one I have a close connection too. Last month my Dad was diagnosed with diabetes, and my Granddad has lived with diabetes for the best part of 17 years. And up until recently my Nan had looked after him and made sure that his diabetes was never a problem. But 2 weeks ago she passed away aged 91.

Because my Nan spent so much time looking after someone with diabetes I think that it’s only right that I complete the run in her memory.  So not only will I be doing the run for a great cause I will be doing it for her.

In the future I will use my blog to put up any information about the run, and keep you all up to date on how my training is going etc.

Until then here is the link to my just giving page if any of you would like to sponsor me. Even if you can’t give much, anything is better than nothing. Thank you.

http://www.justgiving.com/James-Holder1

Roberto Mancini Is Shown The Door

When Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement last week he must have thought that his days of seeing off rival managers had to an end, but apparently not.

Last night exactly one year to the day from helping Manchester City win the Premier League title Roberto Mancini has been sacked. In all honesty I don’t think the decision has come as a shock to anyone in football but City could have handled the situation a hell of a lot better. After all the news that Mancini would be on his way leaked on the Saturday morning just before the cup final, so everyone was aware it was only a matter of time. And this makes it frankly laughable that the club in their statement last night referred to taking action now ‘Out of respect for Roberto.’

On the face of it, it seems that Mancini may be a little bit hard done by. I mean this season they are going to finish 2^nd in the league and are runners up in the F.A Cup but there is far more to this than meets the eye. To start with the club have underperformed in Europe. Last season they failed in the Champions League and the Eurpoa League, and this season they again failed to get out of their Champions League group. Yes their group included a finalist and semi-finalist but they finished bottom of the group behind Ajax, and you have to say that they really should have finished above the Dutch champions.

I think however the biggest issue that has forced this decision is the relationships that Mancini had within in the club, or more accurately the lack of them. His relationship with those above him has been a little spiky at times and it has been reported now that he has left the club that he didn’t really make an effort to communicate and work with the board. He has also struggled with relationships with his players, with at least from the outside his man management skills looking to be non-existent. This season he publicly criticised Joe Hart and Samir Nasri to name just two. This is on top of complaining about the signings the club made over summer saying on numerous occasions that they were not the players that he wanted and that basically he didn’t think they were up to scratch. When looking at all of these things in black and white it’s not hard to see why squad harmony has been a problem. It’s got so bad that while I have been writing this post even the kit man has had a go! He took to Twitter to call the Italian ‘Arrogant and self-centred’ amongst other things.

It also can’t be ignored that for large parts of the season the team really haven’t played that well. They have been short of any form of urgency and spark that they showed last season and that you need to challenge for major honours. The best example came in the cup final just a few days ago, there was no energy and no imagination and frankly after 10 minutes no way that they were going to win the game. So, what next?

The club have announced that Brian Kidd will be in charge of 1^st team affairs for the last 2 games of the season while they look to appoint a new manager. The preferred candidate and bookies favourite is Manuel Pellegrini, who for my money would be a very good choice. There have also been whispers that should they not get Pellegrini, Rafa Benitez would be someone they could look at. And if Rafa does rock up at City it will just be a shame they Sir Alex has retired otherwise we could have seen so serious fireworks.

And as for Mancini he might think he has been a little hard done by but I wouldn’t shed too many tears for him he’s off to Monaco by the looks of it… What a nightmare ay?

Formula 1: Spanish Grand Prix Preview

So after a 3 week break the Formula 1 circus and rolled into Barcelona. And how nice of the BBC to give us chance to watch what will undoubtedly be the most boring race of the season live and in colour. I know I’m hardly selling this to you but that isn’t my job, anyway if you are an F1 fan I’m not telling you anything you didn’t know anyway.

Since the last round in Bahrain Lotus Technical Director James Allison has announced that he will be leaving the team, which will come as a big blow to the Enstone based outfit, as he has been key to the teams’ recent success. He has yet to leave the team but he isn’t in Barcelona this weekend, before announcing his expected move to Ferrari.

Also for next season the team have approved a penalty points system. As of next season a driver can be punished for an offence by having points put on their licence (The more severe the offence the more points they will get penalised) The points will stay on the drivers licence for 12 months and if they reach 12 points over the course of a year they will get banned for 1 race. Hopefully this will result in a bit more consistency a crackdown on repeat offenders. (Yes Pastor Maldonado I’m looking at you)

As it’s the start of the European season teams will have their 1^st set of major updates this season. This is especially important for McLaren and Williams as I think it’s fair to say that they have both struggled this season. In a bid to try and catch up to those at the front McLaren spent most of Thursday night bolting new bits to the car, breaking the curfew for the 1^st time this season in the process. And was the lack of sleep worth it? In a word; no. So far in practice the car has shown little or no improvement, which must come as really blow, who were surely expecting a lot more than what they got.

It is also important to note that for this weekend Pirelli have made the ‘hard’ tyre harder, as well as giving it a lower operating temperature. Opinion has been divided so far over what impact if any this will have during the race.

Right, back to practice, the 1^st session was mostly wet with the track only drying out a bit towards the end so the teams and fans alike really didn’t learn to much from it. Just for the record Fernando Alonso was quickest ahead of his teammate Felipe Massa. The 2^nd session was far more informative. Vettel was quickest ahead of Alonso and Kimi Riakkonen. Mercedes also looked competitive and Williams seem a bit more optimistic their updates and think they have started to make a bit of a step forward.

And now it’s prediction time. I think this weekend we will see a straight fight between Ferrari and Red Bull, and I think Alonso will come out on top. I can see Riakonnen once again getting on the podium with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg coming in just behind them. And my challenge for you the viewer is to not fall asleep. Enjoy the race, or at least make sure you get that ironing done.

Manchester United: Moyes Prepares For Job Of A Lifetime

The last time Manchester United had to announce the appointment of a new manager the idea of ‘social media’ didn’t exist, let alone websites like Twitter and Facebook. But yesterday afternoon United put up a message welcoming their new manager David Moyes on Facebook only to take it down, when they realised they had jumped the gun. It was swiftly taken down, but the cat was out of the bag. And then came confirmation from Everton that David Moyes was to leave the club at the end of a season. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to work this one out. David Moyes was to be the next manager of Manchester United.

Born in Glasgow in 1963 David Moyes like many around him he was consumed by football. His playing career took in Celtic, Bristol Rovers, and Preston North End, with a few other clubs thrown in along the way for good measure. He would be categorised as your stereotypical ‘good pro.’ But he seemed to know early on that teaching and coaching others would be his calling rather than playing the game; he started planning for a coaching career while still in his 20’s. There are numerous stories of while at Preston as a player when all the other members of the 1^st team squad went off on their summer holidays to lounge on a beach, Moyes would pack his bags and head to coaching courses or conferences dotted around the U.K. It is this dedication which has led to his rise up the managerial ranks.

He took charge of Preston in 1998 saving the club from relegation to the 4^th tier, the following season he got the team into the playoffs, (they lost) the season after he got them promoted as champions. In their 1^st season in Division 1 he took nearly the same team who had got promoted into the playoffs. These achievements did not go unnoticed and in 2002 he was appointed manager of Everton replacing Walter Smith, the team was heading towards relegation but the determined Moyes kept them up. And apart from a blip in 2003-2004 when the team had a fight to stay in the top division, Moyes and Everton have been on a steady upward curve ever since.

And that brings up to today. Moyes has signed a 6 year contract starting on July 1^st to replace arguably the greatest manager in the history of the game.  People have pointed to the fact that he has little European experience, but we are all inexperienced in our job at some point. Others have said that he hasn’t won anything in the game. And this is true he hasn’t but apart from cup competitions he hasn’t had a chance to. And let’s be honest cup competitions are a bit of a lottery, the best teams rarely win cup competitions. He is now taking over a club with the potential to win things so let’s judge his trophy haul from here on in.

But the key thing isn’t so much Moyes but the fans. He needs to be given time, and impatience from fans will not help him bed in or provide an atmosphere where he or the team will be successful. Many United fans will never have seen anyone other than Sir Alex in the dugout so they will need to adjust their expectations of their manager. If when given time he fails then fair enough, but he needs to be given the opportunity to succeed as well as fall.

It will be interesting to see who leaves and who comes in over the summer as this could well set the tone for what is to follow. Personally I don’t see that despite media hysteria over how bad this United team is, that there is a great deal wrong with the champions. Yes, the midfield needs work but the defence is solid, they have a quality goalkeeper, and the attack is full of options. And even if Wayne Rooney leaves I don’t think it will affect the team as much as he or the media thinks. After all they have a ready-made replacement in Kagowa.

What he needs in patience, and support. Will he be a success? Who knows. The club have already made one brilliant decision in not appointing Mourinho, but only time will tell whether they have the right man, and for the record I don’t see why they haven’t. All we can do is wait and see and wish him luck. He’s going to need it.

Throwback Thursday: Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come

Yes folks you read that title correctly, I am writing about a Sam Cooke record. But before I get to the song, I’ll explain where it came from. As you know I’m all about power to the people, so this week’s throwback track comes from my good friend Tank aka Adam, aka Bean, aka Bruce, aka Goldstein, aka mighty meat. And those are some of the nicer things people have called him over the years.

Anyway I can promise you he’s alright really, especially after reminding me of this classic. I must admit that when I asked him for a track yesterday I didn’t see this one coming, but something from left field always keeps things interesting.

So, Sam Cooke. Born on 22^nd January 1931 he was a pioneer of soul, and you can see his influence all over the likes of Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Bill Withers and so on. This track appeared on the last album he released during his lifetime ‘Aint That Good News’ which was released in 1964.

He was inspired to write the song by hearing Bob Dylan’s ‘ Blowin’ In The Wind’ and the song went on to represent so much to the civil rights movement in 1960’s America. The track was also number 12 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of 500 greatest songs of all time.

And it really is that good, so sit back and enjoy.

 

Fergie, Time Up; Sir Alex Ferguson Announces Retirement

Everyone in football knew that this day was coming; everyone at Manchester United knew that this day was coming; it just wasn’t supposed to be today.  Today 8^th May 2013, the most successful manager in British football history has announced he will be retiring at the end of the season.  This announcement has made the news not only here in the UK but around the world, it is huge, huge news.

Just to put all this in to perspective… Sir Alex took the reins at Old Trafford before I was born (I’m 23) and he has won everything there is to win, more impressively, often more than once. Here are some numbers for you. His record at Manchester United reads like this; 13 league titles, 5 F.A Cups, 4 League Cups, 10 Charity/Community Shields, 2 Champions Leagues, 1 UEFA Cup Winners Cup, 1 European super cup, 1 Intercontinental cup and 1 Club World Cup. I think it’s fair to say he was pretty good.

But his managerial career didn’t start off with shiny trophies and champagne.  His first managerial job was at the footballing powerhouse that is East Stirling. He then moved on to St Mirren where he won the 1^st Division with a ridiculously young team, but it was here where he was sacked for the first and only time, but it can’t be said that this held him back. Next up for the ambitious Ferguson was Aberdeen, and this is where he really made his mark.

For all the success that Ferguson enjoyed at United, what is often overlooked is what he accomplished at Aberdeen, which in some ways is equally if not more impressive than some of things he did in Manchester. To start with he broke the Celtic/Rangers stranglehold on Scottish football (the last man to do so) and had them not only competing in Europe but winning. He took average players and made them good players and took good players and made them exceptional. During his time with The Dons he won 3 league titles, 4 Scottish cups, 1 league cup, The European Cup Winners Cup in 83 and 1 European Super Cup. In the Cup Winners Cup Aberdeen beat Real Madrid no less. Real Madrid!!!

While all this was going on he was offered numerous jobs both south of the border and at Rangers where he had been a centre forward as a player. At various points he turned down, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Wolves as well as apparently resisting an approach from United. But as everyone knows he did eventually take the plunge and turned Manchester United into one of the biggest clubs in the world. He got to know everyone from the men at the top to the tea lady, he had the everyman touch and he knew that making people feel valued was key to United being successful.

He created a dynasty almost like an Italian mafia don. And how do you replace The Don?  Having said this he won’t be leaving the club completely, he will be moving upstairs to sit on the board and work as an ambassador. But this might not be the perfect match that it seems, United have been here before. When Sir Matt Busby relinquished control of the club he also moved upstairs and for years afterwards managers spoke about the pressure of knowing the great man was still at the club watching over them.

The bottom line is that it is going to be a very difficult task for whoever moves into the Old Trafford managers’ office next. At the moment it looks like it won’t be Jose Mourinho, and I think this is a good decision. I don’t see how he fits the club. Ferguson created inside the club ‘the United family,’ this won’t work if the man at the top feels he is bigger than the club and they are lucky to have him. The stars however seem to be aligning for David Moyes and he could be a good choice, his relationship with Ferguson could well be key. In my opinion if they do go for Moyes it will either be a brilliant choice and the team will keep winning or it will be an unmitigated disaster, as the Scot drowns under the pressure, and size of the job of replacing the man who’s name adorns the stand which directly faces the Old Trafford dugout.

For what it’s worth, my choice would be Jurgen Klopp from Dortmund. His team in Germany are being broken up, and he has a knack of getting the best out of and developing young players. And with the situation at Dortmund he may be looking for a new challenge, while Sir Alex is a known admirer of the German.

But frankly right now it doesn’t matter who takes over, as I said they are going to have a massive job on their hands whoever they are. Today is about looking back at the career of the man who is one of the best to do it. He is loved by millions, hated by millions more, but acknowledged as a true great by nigh on everyone, and there are not many who can say that in any profession. Football. Bloody hell.

Throwback Thursday: Nelly & Kelly Rowland - Dilemma

Tell you what this track will bring back some memories!

For reasons I can’t be bothered to explain I have had my mind on other things today, so I have once again reached out to someone else to do my thinking for me. My now world famous friend Bridg can take the credit for this one.  I was fearing the worst and thinking that she would get me to write about Olly Murs but she didn’t let me down.

Back in 2002 Nelly & Kelly Rowland hooked up for what I think is a hip hop/R&B classic. It won awards; it meant Nelly was cool, and that every man at the time wished he had a dilemma like Kelly Rowland.

So reader people I bring to you Nelly & Kelly and ‘Dilemma’