Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Doing the 92

Doing the 92 league grounds is a journey like no other; it requires dedication, ambition and bags of commitment. We’ll never how many fans have set out with the aim of joining the 92 club or the number that have completed it, but one is for sure… a quest that began with football for each and every fan turned out to be so much more. It’s not just about seeing a game at a ground it’s the travelling, the long midweek trips, the people, the places, the food, the drink and the passion you experience along the way.

Four years ago, three friends began talking over a beer in the pub on a Friday night about how many grounds they had ticked off their 92. Over the subsequent weekend this turned into a spreadsheet which was circulated between them to allow them to keep track. Overtime this grew from a basic yes/no to include ratings and reviews, but then came the questions like; wouldn’t this be better online? And what if other people want to get involved? the92.net was born.

The92.net is a free website available to all football fans like you. The site will help you to keep track of how many grounds you have ticked off your 92 as well as rate and review them as you go. From your ratings on the things that matter to fans like atmosphere, character, pies and pint the site gives you the stats to show you who are good, bad and the damn right ugly of the 92 league grounds.

It only takes a few seconds to register and then you can start to create your 92. If you’re doing the 92 then we would love to hear from you. Drop us a tweet to @the92dotnet and let us know about your experiences doing the 92 league grounds.

Tribute to Cruyff

Three days later and tributes have not stopped flying in for Cruyff. T-Shirt manufacturers have printed special limited editions and Twitter streams have been jammed with expressions of appreciation, respect and affection.

FC Barcelona ✔ ‎@FCBarcelona
We’ll always love you, Johan. Rest in peace

Lothar Matthäus ✔ ‎@LMatthaeus10
Such sad news about @JohanCruyff. A great man, who transformed football. Condolences to his family and friends.#legend #totaalvoetbal

osvaldo ardiles ✔ ‎@osvaldooardiles
Johan Cruyff. Extraordinary player. One of the best ever. Had the privilege to play with him twice. RIP

Gary Lineker ✔ ‎@GaryLineker
Sad to hear that Johan Cruyff has died. Football has lost a man who did more to make the beautiful game beautiful than anyone in history.

Xabi Alonso ✔ ‎@XabiAlonso
The ’14’ will never be the same. RIP Johan Cruyff.

Catalonia Calling #27 is called “Thank you, Johan Cruyff, the Flying Dutchman” and is the personal homage to the great Dutch footballer, who both played for and coached FC Barcelona. It is presented in English by Barcelona writer and football lover, Simon Harris.

Feyenoord

I got this interesting post from my friends at Copa today. I thought it desereved more eyeballs. It is particularly poignant that it arrived on the day that one of the greatest footballers of all time died. Johan Cruyff R.I.P.

In collaboration with Feyenoord we have added two new retro shirts to the Feyenoord ‘Designed by…’ COPA collection.

It is the Home and Away shirt with the famous yellow shadow stripe that Feyenoord wore in the 1984 – 85 season. It was the first time that Feyenoord played with OPEL as a sponsor, who are their sponsor nowadays as well.

In this season Feyenoord qualitfied for the UEFA Cup. They did so with a team that consisted of players like Ruud Gullit and Johnny Rep completed with ‘local’ heroes Mario Been, Peter Houtman and Ben Wijnstekers.

The retro shirts are packed in a special Feyenoord X COPA gift box and can be found exclusively at the three Feyenoord fanstores in Rotterdam. Online you can order in the Feyenoord webshop where you can see old Feyenoord hero and captain Ben Wijnstekers as the model!

Brussels Atrocities

The world was rocked by yet more senseless killings on 22 March 2016 when fanatics detonated explosions at Brussels International Airport and on the Brussels Metro.

The Spanish sports daily, Marca, devoted its entire front cover on the next day to the victims.
“Somos el equipo de la Paz” (Tr. We are the team of Peace)

#JeSuisBruxelles #IkBenBrussel – little more needs to be said.

Jeff Stelling

I was really excited to see that Jeff Stelling is undertaking a huge fund raising event this year. It excites me on so many levels ad I am very keen to get involved. I hope that you will support him in EVERY way you can. Please read on ….

10 walking marathons, 10 days

Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling is walking 10 marathons in 10 days from Hartlepool United to Wembley Stadium to help beat prostate cancer.

From 21-30 March 2016, he is walking through the heartlands of England to raise money to beat a disease killing one man every hour.

The route

Jeff Stelling is visting over 30 football clubs across 10 days from Monday 21 March to Wednesday 30 March 2016.

He’ll be joined on each leg of the journey by a select band of Men United supporters representing football clubs on the route.

Day 1: Hartlepool Utd via Middlesborough to Marske

Day 2: York City to Leeds United

Day 3: Doncaster Rovers to Scunthorpe United

Day 4: Rotherham Utd via Sheffield to Chesterfield

Day 5: Derby County via Burton Albion to Notts County and Nottm Forest

Day 6: Wolves via Walsall, West Brom, Aston Villa to Birmingham City

Day 7: Coventry City to Leicester City

Day 8: Northampton Town to MK Dons

Day 9: Luton Town via St Albans City to Watford

Day 10: AFC Wimbledon, Brentford, Fulham, QPR and Chelsea and on to Wembley

You can support him.

Want to walk with Jeff for a day? Lace up your walking shoes and raise money to beat prostate cancer.

For more details please visit Jeff’s site

Chris Boardman Competition

I am not sure I want to be sharing this competition because I sooooo want to win the bike!

BOARDMAN PERFORMANCE RANGE 2016…
COMING SOON

We at Halfords are delighted to announce the launch of the brand new Performance bike range from Boardman on Friday 29th January, exclusively available in-store and online at Halfords.com

The new Performance range from Boardman is the result of many miles, hours and laps of testing by the Boardman team to ensure that the latest models are more than a match for the rigours of British riding. With something for every type of rider, from the commuter, to the thrill seeking mountain biker, and the all-out racer, each of the 23 new bikes in the range has been designed with the needs of the modern cyclist in mind.

To celebrate the launch of this exciting new range, we’re offering you the chance to win one of the fantastic Boardman Performance bikes, in the discipline of your choice, as well as the opportunity for the first prize winner, to put their new bike through its paces on a ride-out with the icon and inspiration behind the brand, Chris Boardman.

The Prizes

First Prize: Win the opportunity for you and a friend to partake in a ride out with Chris Boardman and a fantastic new bike up to the value of £1,000 each from Boardman’s Performance range, in the discipline of your choice!

Second Prize: Win a new Performance Boardman bike up to the value of £1,000, in the discipline of your choice, signed by Chris Boardman himself.

Third Prize: Win a signed Boardman bikes cycle jersey.

To be in with a chance of winning one of these exclusive prizes, all you have to do is enter your contact details and sign up.

Good luck and we can’t wait to hear what you think of the new Performance range from Boardman.

#OUTTHEREWITHYOU

For more details and to enter, click here

Chris Boardman

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I was intending to visit Halfords in Chiswick. I went and, as usual, it was my usual little boy lost in the toy-shop experience! They have a great range of clothing and I was soooooo close to treating myself to a new bike. The difference between Halfords and lots of the other cycle shops around nowadays is that they are staffed by guys who are real cycling fans themselves. I was all set to get one pair of gloves when a charming assistant suggested another paid whic he said were better and better value. Win-win! Thanks.

Whilst I was in the store I found out about the Chris Boardman competition above. I’d LOVE to win the prize but thought it only fair to share it with you all. Good Luck.

Halfords

Well, it was minus 18 last week and we had 20 cms of snow here on the Swedish/Norwegian border. Sadly it will get colder and the snow will get deeper, so it is little surprise that my mind wandered today to warmer days in the saddle. I was pleased to find this very useful infographic from Halfords in the UK and I used it to review my requirements for the coming season. Halfords have been the UK’s leading cycling retailer for many years and I am always happy to recommend them.

Next week I am paying a visit to their large Chiswick store to purchase more equipment. Their staff are cycling people and enthusiasts themselves. They don’t serve dishwashers or curved screen TVs! In other words, they know their onions as my granny would say! Crucially they are open until late in the evening, so I can visit after a day’s work at nearby Brentford. My main reason for visiting is for some new cycling shoes and I will be checking out their Shimano range, I am sure. I will add some overshoes, no doubt and probably some and some and some. It will be like Christmas. I am not specifically looking for a new bike but know that I will be tempted! They have a price match policy which always impresses me. I know I am going to get professional advice on getting the best product ….. and at the best price. Win-win!

Obviously, cycling has boomed in popularity over the past few years in the UK and Halfords have been growing in numbers of stores and in the range of products they supply to keep anybody from the first-time buyer to the professional happy.

Jigraphy

You probably know your football teams, but could you locate each team’s home stadium on a map? This ingenious 150 piece puzzle starts as a jigsaw. Once finished, 150 numbered footballs appear on the map, each one representing the location of the home stadium of every team in England’s Premier League, Championship, League One and League Two.
Also includes Scotland’s Premiership and Championship and the top divisions in Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Each ball is coded with a border colour representing the league in which the team plays and the balls are coloured in the team’s current kit colours. Your task is simply to work out which ball represents which team, on the map. All of the information is up to date for the start of the 2015/16 season.

The finished puzzle is approximately 50cm x 75cm.

Order today here