If Time Was For Wasting

Cameron is targeting welfare cheats………..thank Christ for that, for a horrible moment I thought he was going to go after tax evaders, what with us all being in together.

Go get 'em, Floyd

There was a very good article in the Guardian the other day on Jimi Hendrix.

Good article on the role of the modern number 10

The world cup, as viewed by Magnum photographers. There are some incredibly striking and beautiful images in there

The football season is nearly upon us and the first manager has already bitten the dust; fortunately, it affects our much loved and revered neighbours, so it has been the source of much mirth in the fraternity of Small Heathens. I only hope we are still chuckling, come May 2011.

The bi polar nature of the average Blues fan has been in evidence over the summer, and at the moment, with 4 days to go until the start of the season, we are in a down phase. This is not good news. Traditionally, the pre season is when all reason disappears and we ignore the evidence of  history and we all convince ourselves, that this season, it is going to be different; this is the year things start to happen. This will be the year we really start to achieve, when we manage to score more than one goal in a game or progress to the latter stages of a cup competition. Not this year though. The pre season euphoria is missing.

At the end of last season, there was good deal of optimism about, although I didn't share it. People seemed to feel that we had arrived and that we will push on and were salivating at the prospect of all our new signings. It has become a bit of a cliche to say that we overachieved last year, and we did, but our overachievement was due in part to the underachievement of others. We played solidly, without really playing all that well,  (although we did play well in patches, usually when chasing the game) and, to an extent, we got away with having little or no creativity and no consistent goalscorer. It was great, but it ain't sustainable. The end of the season was poor, either because we had been sussed out or because we were knackered. The amazing run in the middle of the season covered up a poor start and a poor finish.

As the summer has progressed, the mood amongst some fans has shifted from hope to well, not despair, but frustration and unease. We signed Foster and Zigic, then, nothing (yes, I know, Valles) and, days away from the start of the season, we look to be very short handed, and now Phillips has knackered himself. There is still time to get some players in and we are supposed to be in for 3 internationals, but as ever, there is a lot of pissing about going on. The frustrating thing is that if we had signed players before we got back for pre season, they would be bedded in, as it is, they will be learning the ropes in actual meaningful games. Not ideal.

Having said that, I still think we will be OK. By all accounts we have played some decent stuff pre season and have played a patient, passing game despite the presence of the huge Zigic. They can only have grown in confidence after last year and players like Johnson, Dann and Fahey will have learned and improved from their first extended appearances in the top flight. Zigic could be crucial. If he is better than Jerome at receiving the ball and holding on to it, and more thoughtful and accurate with his passes, the midfield might develop the confidence to get forward a bit quicker, and we might actually score a few goals. I predict another top half finish.

The Guardian has described us as a team full of Brits up for a fight supported by a smattering of Irishmen and Spaniards, just like Magaluf of a Saturday night. It made me chuckle, anyway.

The last 15 minutes of the 1982 world cup final, re enacted. Rather brilliant;

Refait from Pied La Biche on Vimeo.