Best Of Both Worlds

So here's my dilemma.

What should I devote my attention to this afternoon?

It's billed as the best end to a Premiership season ever. So much to be settled;

Who wins the Premiership?
Who will go down?

My predictions, for what they are worth, are The ManUre to win and Birmingham and Reading to do down (sorry lover!)
On the other hand my daughter is in a dance competition in about an hour and I would like to see her. Experience tells me that it will be a very hot sticky and crowded experience, although I do love watching her dance.

Shame I can't have the best of both worlds.

I think in the end maternal feelings will prevail.

And surely no-one will really notice the tiny lead trailing from my ear, under my hair to the little radio tucked in my thong...................................

No Way Out?

Big day for my lover's Royals tomorrow.

Hopefully, Kevin Dillon won't live to rue his undignified words about Derby.

If the worst happens and they are relegated, I think we'll have to put a red cross on our front door with a sign saying "Unclean". I mean two in one household. How shameful would that be?

Interesting too that Mr Coppell is being so coy about his future should Reading go down.

Lets hope they can follow in these footsteps.

Stevie does not have a track record of escapology though.

Maybe I should drop him a last minute email with details of this website.

I'm off now to practise on my lover and see just how good those Royals are at getting out of a fix.

Hold Your Nerve

It's a big night tonight for some. Namely Newcastle and Birmingham.

Newcastle, apparently, do not have Thierry Henri playing for them, but do have Michael Owen, who apparently needs his team mates to do their bit in order to score. Presumably then Henri could win games on his own.

I'd be down at my local watching it for sure if I didn't already have tickets to see this lot.

At the moment I feel as if I am surrounded by people who support teams under the looming threat of relegation. Me and all my fellow Foxes fans. My lover and Reading. Mosher (you feel like an old friend already) and Newcastle. I guess those of you who have been around for a while would say that is what being a football fan is all about - living with the downs as well as the ups.

I do wonder what will happen if Newcastle lose. Although I am not a big KK fan and feel Big Sam was badly treated, I also recognise that when the rot has set in it takes a while to turn things around (as at Leicester City). You wonder if the Board will feel they have no choice but to take action if tonight does not yield the desired result.

As for the Foxes, I hope Steve Howard's view that we are finally on the up is borne out in our performances over the next few weeks. The alternative leaves me with a sort of sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I must hold my nerve though. Imagine if I lost it and it drove me to this.

I Ain't No Prawn Sandwich Fan

You'll all be relieved to know I am back.

It's like I always said. Give a Reading fan a blade of grass and they take a football pitch.

Thanks to those of you who have been leaving comments. I was beginning to think I was at an Arsenal match it was so quiet.

Anyway, one of these comments by a new reader, Colin Randall, himself a football blogger, challenged my fervent Foxes fanship (try saying that when you've had a few) on the basis that I show too much interest in and favour towards other teams.

It made me think about a conversation I had with my lover recently about the prawn sandwich brigade, some of whom (allegedly) change allegiance on a regular basis (only amongst the top four clubs of course).

The sort of think a member of the "prawn sandwich brigade" might say is:

"I think I'll support Chelsea next year. It will be nice to watch a team playing in a different colour for a change."

or

"I chose Manchester United because the parking at the ground is easier than at Liverpool"

As you know I am fairly new to football and have only been a Leicester City fan for about a year. You might wonder therefore how deep the roots of my loyalty really go. I have to confess to asking myself the same question with the threat of relegation looming so large.

I jokingly suggested that if they are relegated I would choose a different team. As I did so I had this really weird feeling. Like guilt. As if I had committed adultery or was at least contemplating it. I quickly realised that I could no more support another team than change sex. Even after such a short time and all the trials and tribulations, I'm a Foxes girl through and through.

But my journey has been about learning to love football and that has included learning to appreciate good football. So inevitably I have watched other teams play and bizarrely (although I don't believe for a minute I am unique in this) have found myself forming opinions and a level of allegiance on the scantiest of evidence.

None of these views would stand up to much scrutiny or analysis but here is my take on the Premiership teams:

Arsenal: I have a love for them because sometimes they play really really beautiful football. I don't like the persona Wenger presents in public but I do think he is a great and passionate manager. And of course my son loves them so I have an understandable affinity
Man U: How could you not love the football they play? I am much less keen on Fergie though even though I know he is a god in many ways.
Liverpool: I feel less pull to them although I love Crouchy
Chelsea: I can't love them Mourinholess
Newcastle: I'm sorry Mosher. I can't love a team who think KK is groovy and look like a packet if mint humbugs
Reading: I have to like them because my lover does. I do sort of - they have an underdog appeal don't they
Everton and Blackburn: Like 'em a bit. No idea why
Sunderland and Tottenham: Well there's Roy Keane and Ramos - yum!
Man City: I have to confess to finding Sven just a little bit sexy..........
Birmingham, Aston Villa and West Ham: No feelings either way
Portsmouth: Not sure really. Harry is a bit too much of a wide boy for my liking
Middlesbourgh and Wigan: Seem a bit dull
Fulham and Derby: I'm sorry. You can't love the unloveable.
Bolton: May they die a horrible death

Yet despite these strange affinities, I couldn't support any of them. Not like Leicester.

No - there is no doubt about it. Given the choice between a pie and a prawn sandwich I'll take the pie every time.

Ooohh What A Day

We've got some friends coming over for a meal later.

They are both Everton fans apparently. They don't know it yet but we plan to play the Talk Sport Football Quiz with them. Its on DVD and interactive so we can play as teams.

We bought it in the pound shop a few weeks ago. Each round is introduced by one or two of the Talk Sport presenters. It's as cheesy as they come of course but stretching and funny.

Of course, being Saturday I have had my ears tuned to the football world. After listening to the Talk Sport commentry on the Fulham/United match I excitedly awaited the full time results.

And what a day;

Newcastle lost. It can't be. You are in quick sand Kevin. They can't afford to wait. You are about to sink.

Tottenham - what a kicking! What on earth was going on at St James' Park today?

And I hear there were fights on the pitch at the Chelsea match as Avram Grant and his team put two fingers up to his critics.

Oh and I do fear for Arsenal. A narrow miss and only a draw in any event. I have a feeling the Red Devils are going to get the better of them again this season.

Meantime, both my lover and I are celebrating 1 - 0 wins, although the Royals are still languishing in the relegation zone, whereas we are looking a much healthier 17th.

Our guests will of course have to wait before they find out about their fate against Portsmouth tomorrow.

Keep Singing The Blues

It's been a bit glum around here tonight as you can imagine. Both The Royals (the team my lover supports) and The Foxes lost their matches today.

We were trying to think of things to do to cheer each other up. Tricks. Stunts. Playing guitars. Eating cake. Singing.

Then we had an idea.

Do you remember how your mum always used to say "There's always someone worse off than you"?

So we counted our blessings and thought how glad we are tonight that we are not:

• A Magpie


• A Hatter


• A Ram


• Gary Megson

You see. Your mum was right.

Of Antics And Arses

That Joey Barton is a bad boy isn't he. That awful tackle at the weekend on his former team mate Diskson Etuhu.

FA are not going to take any action though, which seems even more shocking.

It's not the first time he has been in trouble. There was the time he was suspended by his previous club Manchester City after hitting a team mate Ousmane Dabo during a training session.

And he seems to have a bit of trouble keeping his clothes on.

Not afflicted by an overdose of modesty either:

“It's always nice to be linked with the big boys and always nice to be gazed at from afar and be admired for your football.”

Talking of Arses, the Arse are up against Reading tonight at The Madejski Stadium. My lover has his fingers crossed but the fact that Reading have played Arsenal just 7 times at home and lost every match means it could be a bit of an uphill haul. And the Gunners are in amazing form at the moment, led by the enigmatic Wenger.

Those Royals do have a habit of sneaking out of the shadows and taking everyone by surprise though.

No One Hit Wonder

My lover is a Reading fan. Fortunately I am a kind girl and I love him despite this.

Funny club in lots of ways Reading. They have not really featured in the news particularly since I established my interest in football (which admittedly was only in March this year). Compared to many of the other Premier League clubs they are minnows. Their promotion in 2006 was the first time the club had ever been in the top division since they were established in 1871.

What is more, they did it is style. They secured promotion earlier in the season than any other post-war team and had the highest tally attained in any of the 4 top divisions - ever! Ironically it was a win against Leicester that earned them that distinction.

Steve Coppell, their manager, the man who led them to these dizzy heights of success, appears to be a gentle, modest man. An article in The Observer earlier in the year suggested that in the same way that dogs resemble their owners, football teams resemble their managers. It goes on to describe The Royals as presenting an image of fair-minded, unpretentious decency.

Any media coverage I have heard relating to them seems to mirror this. For example, teams get described as "playing against" Reading rather than commentators talking about X versus Reading.

They had a cracking first season in the Premiership last season but have had a number of defeats this year. Some suggest this is evidence of a phenomenon referred to as "second season syndrome". This refers to a pattern whereby clubs who get promoted and do well in their first season in the Premiership, struggle in the second.

Steve Coppell has previously been scathing about there being such a thing, but now accepts that Reading are suffering the effects.

In an interview on Talk Sport today with Hawksbee and Jacobs, the Reading goalkeeper, Marcus Hahnemann, said that last season they had the advantage of being an unknown quantity to most of the other Premiership sides and therefore they had the element of surprise. Other teams are much more prepared this year and The Royals are paying the price.

Despite this dip in form, however, they are currently 12th in the table and well clear of the relegation zone. I suspect we might not see the impressive 8th place finish of last year (narrowly missing out on a place in Europe) , but my guess is they will probably achieve a respectable overall performance.

I hope my lover is able to deliver to a similar standard.