It’s a video of Sky Sports News but it does the job.
If you look carefully to the right of the goal at the front after Cambridge’s 2nd, 3rd & 4th goals you can see a light coloured hat bobbing up and down. That’s me celebrating!
So we lost, but it was OK. Considering how close to extinction we were just a couple of years ago taking 20,000+ people to a Play-Off Final at Wembley isn’t bad.
It’s a great stadium and despite our rather flat performance it was a great day out.
This is a picture of the Cambridge United fans below us as the players ran out onto the pitch. It was a special moment - thanks for capturing it Steve!
Cambridge United will return…
This is where I write something deep and meaningful.
Or rather I’m too nervous to so I’ll settle for this…
All I want is that come night-fall I can still sing (to the theme of The Flintstones) :
Cambridge! Mighty Cambridge!
We’re the greatest team in history…
We hate, Peterborough!
And we’ve never lost at Wem-ber-ley!
It doesn’t take a genius to work out the scenario that ruins the chant but positivity is winning at the moment…
We’re Going Up With Jimmy & Willy!
COME ON YOU ‘U’s!!!
With four days to go here’s footage of the game that finally got us back to Wembley…
Come On Cambridge!!!
Here they are…the final scores!
1st : Murph - 911pts
2nd : Steve - 861pts
3rd : Karl - 858pts
4th : Helen - 850pts
5th : Colin - 849pts
6th : Alex - 828pts
7th : Gay - 799pts
8th : Kymee - 771pts
9th : Rob - 744pts
10th : Kyle - 736pts
11th Alfie - 519pts
So congratulations to Murph who snatches it at the last and will now have to choose how to spend his £10 prize at the Cambridge United Club Shop! Hopefully we’ll get a picture of Murph receiving his prize posted on the site soon…
Thanks to everyone who entered, please let me know if you’d like to do it again next year, and if so if you’d like any changes made.
Oh, and please keep your fingers crossed for Cambridge on Sunday as they endeavor to go up with Jimmy & Willy.
Dion Dublin is a footballing hero of mine. There aren’t many of them because generally footballers aren’t worthy of hero worship, but Dion is different. He made his name at Cambridge United and when he played for England (although no longer with the club) I couldn’t help smiling and feeling proud that Dion had made it that far. Since leaving Cambridge he’s played for umpteen clubs but has always been glowing about the U’s and spoken warmly of his time at the club. Under John Beck Dion was a vital part of our rise from the lower parts of the old Division 4 to moments away from the inaugural Premiership. I, along with many other Cambridge United fans, have always hoped he might return to he club in some role and as he got older the likelihood of him dropping a few leagues to rejoin us seemed greater and greater.
Earlier this year he announced that he would be retiring at the end of the season at the age of 39. Jimmy Quinn, our manager, has apparently made attempts to re-sign Dion but he’s insisted that media work beckons. So it’s not going to happen. Possibly better this way - he’s not going to tarnish his glorious reputation - but it would have been nice.
Maybe, hopefully, a friendly appearance will happen but if not…
Dion! Dion! Dion!
One of the blogs I subscribe to is Football Shirts News. Yes, deeply sad I know, but I love it that at last there’s a place for breaking news about forthcoming football kits. Because these things are important you know. Really…
Anyway, they occasionally have football shirt related news too, and today they brought to my attention (to save me having to read The Daily Bigot) the information that Chelsea forward Dider Drogba recently spent £1800 on replica kits bearing his name.
The reason? Well you can find out by reading the full article here. He may earn £70,000 a week but you’ve got to wonder how fulfilled his life is if this is true…
Very much later than it should have been, here is the Late March update to the Premiership Position Predictor!
The scores below include the swaps made by several players and are current as of just after Man U’s 4-0 win over Aston Villa this evening. Scores are out of 1000.
1. Karl - 895pts
2. Murph - 883pts
3. Steve - 866pts
=4. Helen - 856pts
=4. Alex - 856pts
6. Kymee - 789pts
7. Colin - 771pts
8. Rob - 770pts
9. Gay - 758pts
10. Kyle - 749pts
11. Alfie - 459pts
So with six games to go I move into a slight lead, but it must be remembered that as it’s all down to position correlations scores can go up as well as down…
To see past Premiership Position Predictor posts click here, and I’ll try and update weekly as the season draws to its exciting climax!
Everyone thought this was just going to be a punt into the area…
4o yards out…. Not bad for a central defender!
Final score 2-0. “We’re going up with Jimmy & Willy!”
Sam Allardyce was sacked because he didn’t play exciting enough football for a club as ‘big’ as Newcastle United. He was replaced by ‘Geordie Messiah’ Kevin Keegan. Let’s see how how Sam’s last six games compared with Kevin first six…
Allardyce
Fulham 0 - Newcastle 1
Newcastle 2 - Derby 2
Wigan 1 - Newcastle 0
Chelsea 2 - Newcastle 0
Newcastle 0 - Man City 2
Stoke 0 - Newcastle 0
Overall - P6 W1 D2 L3 F3 A7 GD-4
Keegan
Newcastle 0 - Bolton 0
Arsenal 3 - Newcastle 0
Arsenal 3 - Newcastle 0
Newcastle 1 - Middlesbrough 1
Aston Villa 4 - Newcastle 1
Newcastle 1 - Man Utd 5
Overall - P6 W0 D2 L4 F3 A16 GD-13
So the teams that Keegan has faced may be a bit tougher than Sam, but where’s the improvement? Was it really worth starting again mid season with a man who has no idea tactically?
Big club? Six points from the relegation zone and dropping like a stone…
Derby, Fulham & Newcastle to go down anyone?
This post is taken almost entirely from this article on the BBC Website…
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says they must forget about the title and focus on finishing fourth in the Premier League.
Rafael Benitez’s side are 19 points behind leaders Arsenal and are in fifth place behind arch-rivals Everton.
Gerrard said: “We’re facing a big challenge to finish in the top four and we’ve got to forget about the title and focus on fighting for fourth place.”
“There are a lot of teams around us who are in good form and playing well.”
He added:
“It’s important that we don’t let our standards drop.”
Too late for that Stevie G… Much too late…
So they say…
James
Brown
A. Cole
Upson
Ferdinand
Young
Bentley
Hargreaves
Gerard
J. Cole
Rooney
Not bad…
Rooney on his own up front supported by J. Cole -odd. Rooney doesn’t like/play well in the role.
Young & Bentley on the wings is excellent. Upson we’ll wait and see.
David James is, whether we like it or not, currently the best English keeper so that’s OK.
But. Wes Brown over Micah Richards?!? I sincerely hope that that’s false information…
I’ll be watching against Switzerland. And hoping. Come On England…
I like David Beckham, and I really hope he gets his 100th cap from Capello later this year.
But.
Asked what he thought of Mr Brown, after his first meeting with the prime minister, he said: “He’s a very good man, he’s a man who’s looking after our country and he’s doing a very good job. I’m very proud to be here tonight.”
No. No. No. David Beckham should not be sucking up to any politicians. No one should be sucking up to politicians. Politicians don’t give a damn about anything but themselves, Mr. Brown included. He’s not a ‘good man’ - he’s a power hungry monster like the rest of them. Endorse a politician and you sell your soul to the devil himself.
I think David’s let himself down.
But I’d still like him to get his 100th cap. Even after brown-nosing Brown.
So we lost 2-1. The match report is here.
Still, no disgrace in pushing a side three divisions higher to the 88th minute.
Now we just have to concentrate on getting back into the League…
Come On You ‘U’s!!!
1-0 at Half Time, a Scott Rendell penalty.
Come on!
Here are the stats from the BBC.
Hearteningly we’ve got the better record of games between us, but then we’ve never played them from 67 places below them…
Can’t make it sadly, but COME ON YOU ‘U’S!!!
May the magic of the FA Cup be at Molineux today…
I didn’t get around to posting anything in November and December - sorry…
Here though is the beautifully colourful chart for January (click on it to see it full size) :
From it you can see that I’m very narrowly in the lead, followed by Murph and then a tie between Gay & Alex for third. It’s all worked out as a correlation so the nearer to 1 you are the better.
There’s still a long way to go, and remember that we have now entered the January Swap Window…
Between now and January 30th you can reply to this post, or e-mail me, stating the two teams you would like like to swap positions in your predictions. For example, if you are now regretting placing Tottenham so well you could swap them with high flying Aston Villa. Or you may be supremely confident and want to keep your predictions as they are - which is also fine. Only two teams can be swapped though, and the other eighteen teams will all stay in the same places, so choose carefully…
A reminder as we enter the new year that the prize this year is £10 to spend in the Cambridge United Club Shop, which can be visited (to imagine what you’ll spend your prize money on) by clicking here.
Good luck, and remember to let me know any swaps by the end of January.
A couple of good BBC articles here…
Firstly a feature on Jimmy Quinn and his attempts to bring the good times back to Cambridge United. It’s great to read articles about Cambridge which aren’t all doom and gloom.
Secondly news of The FA’s alledged approach to The Special One for the England manager’s job. Really this is a no-brainer. They have to at least ask, because he is the overwhelming choice of the nation. If he does well then all is good, if he doesn’t then we got who we wanted and it didn’t work out -but we can’t complain… Come on FA!
Goodbye Steve McClaren…
You won’t be missed. Good riddance.
Bolton Wanderers have appointed Gary Megson as their new manager. Here’s the story as reported on the BBC Website.
That’s them down then. I’m reminded of Charlton Athletic last year.
The only difference is that Bolton appointed in-house first rather than as the rush decision.
So it’s Derby, Bolton and one other for the drop. There are a few teams down there breathing a sigh of relief today I’m sure…