OK, so where will I be – well obviously this site will be up until it goes down (probably sometime in August).  But it will not be updated.  I will be moving to a standard WordPress blog, hosted by WordPress, which can be found at http://oliverdrew.wordpress.com/

This move will save me dosh, and also mean that I get the nice cool bits and pieces – like running a blog, without having to think about what I could be doing with a website that I’ve got…it’ll be nice when everything’s up-and-running, which will hopefully be later today…though of course the blog itself is running now…

My ownership of this domain comes to an end next month and having had a website for 2 years I’m not entirely sure that it’s worth the dosh keeping ownership of the domain and paying the hosting fees.  Further I simply don’t have the time to do anything interesting with the site, and I won’t have for a long time, another good reason!

Therefore this website will lapse when my registration runs out sometime before September.  I’ll still be blogging online when I have the time mind, and when I’ve set that up I’ll post the link on here for anyone who likes to read me!

There’s no point crying over spilt milk.  England were simply horrendous throughout the World Cup, and that continued yesterday as they were humiliated by the first class opposition they’d played.  The World Cup was a horror show for a number of reasons – and I’ll discuss those and the future of English football (yes what I think has wide reaching implications across English football) in my next post.  First I’m going to dissect the players and the manager…just because it makes sense!

First the manager.  He’s been stuck between a rock and a hard place.  So the England players can’t take a boot camp for 5 weeks…pathetic, loads of people would’ve given anything to be on that plane to South Africa and they can’t concentrate on football for 5 weeks…HA!

But Capello did violate his “first principles” when he selected the World Cup squad by taking out-of-form players… Emile Heskey, Jamie Carragher and Matthew Upson have all had shocking seasons (well, to be fair Carraghers was by his own standards bad, he was ok).  What about poor Darren Bent (2nd top English goalscorer in the Premier League), Gary Cahill (excellent for Bolton all season when fit) and of course Rio Ferdinand would’ve gone had he been fit.  Carragher, Heskey and Upson should’ve been nowhere near the England squad.

Then his subs made no sense at all – Capello didn’t change the game once in any of England’s 4 games – he swapped like-for-like each and every time (I mean, Defoe for Heskey yesterday…gimme a break!), and that tactical stubborn-ness was a major issue in my view – England, and Capello, need to be more flexible in the future.

For the players it kind of goes without saying, but they lacked passion, they lacked self motivation, they lacked the ability to play as a team, and they, overall, were simply not good enough.  How can they possibly play so well for their clubs and not for England?  I think it’s time for a massive change (see next post!)

So I’m going to rate England’s manager and player out of 10 for their tournament performance…

Fabio Capello – 5 (tactical inflexibility, poor squad selection and substitutions, but limited by a squad who, frankly, seemed uninterested and were just not good enough).

Goalkeepers:

Rob Green – 5 (unfortunate mistake in the first game, not just his fault we didn’t beat the USA, but non-the-less made a big mistake)

David James – 6 (did his job well, unfortunately made some mistakes against Germany, but was the only one who really did his job).

Joe Hart – Should have been England’s number 1 this tournament, and definitely should be now.

Defenders:

Glen Johnson – 5 (good going forward usually, but not in this tournament, and was ruthlessly exposed against decent opposition)

John Terry – 4 (out of position, out of form, world class?  don’t think so, couldn’t marshal a reasonably experienced back 4)

Matthew Upson – 4 (was poor in both his games, sure he scored against Germany, but he and the back 4 were directly responsible for the 4 German goals).

Ashley Cole – 6 (best English player at the finals, still defensively sound despite the failings of the other 3)

Jamie Carragher – 5 (poor, slow, past his best).

Michael Dawson – Never got on the pitch, shame, had an excellent season for Spurs.  Must start the next game.

Ledley King – 7 (most talented English defender, played well in his only game against USA in the 1st half.  Why did it have to be him that was injured?!)

Stephen Warnock – Was never gonna get a look in against Cole!

Midfielders:

Steven Gerrard – 6 (did ok, but he was played out of position on the left wing…oh dear oh dear, what a waste of genuine World Class talent)

Frank Lampard – 5 (was poor apart from 10 minutes against Germany when he showed what he could do)

James Milner – 6 (mixed, poor but unfit against the USA, fantastic against Solvenia, average against Germany.  Did ok)

Gareth Barry – 4 (like all the other players, massively underperformed, especially against Germany)

Joe Cole – 4 (didn’t play much, wasn’t that great when he did)

Aaron Lennon – 4 (from what I saw, did next to nothing, final balls were awful)

Shaun Wright-Phillips – 4 (see Aaron Lennon)

Michael Carrick – did he get on the pitch?  Don’t think so.

Attackers:

Wayne Rooney – 4 (what happened to the Rooney of Manchester United?  Did nothing in 4 games)

Emile Heskey – 4 (why take a striker so woefully out of form, and who never looked like scoring, even when 1-on-1 against the US goalkeeper?)

Jermaine Defoe – 6 (did his job, got a goal, best of the strikers)

Peter Crouch – shoulda played, but didn’t.  Shame, because he offers something different to the others, and goals.

In short, it was a woeful world cup.  Yet you can bank on these players regularly scoring 7-10 for their clubs in the Premier League next season…apart from Heskey who can’t get in Villa’s team.

So my previous post was about who I thought should be in the England squad.  I got some of it right, and some of it wrong…Unfortunately one of my picks to go, Michael Dawson, has ended up going because Rio Ferdinand is injured…bad news, but not the death knell of England’s hopes that some make it out to be.  Ledley King and Jamie Carragher are both top class defenders…and in fact I think were it not for his knee problems, King would be the best defender in England.  I still would’ve preferred Darren Bent to have gone ahead of Emile Heskey…so much for form eh Fabio!

But now the more important bit…just who is my pick to win?  Frankly for me I think England will probably get to the Semi Finals (and so they will now not make it through the group stages…such is my luck with picks!).  Once you get to the semis then anything can happen…but my pick is Spain.  They are the best team in the World at the moment, full of World Class talent from back to front and I think they’ll win the World Cup.

Who will be the top scorer?  I must first add a caveat, and that is that I drew Diego Milito in the lottery involving my friends…so I kind of hope it will be him!  But I can’t really look past one of Fernando Torres, David Villa or Lionel Messi…so it’ll probably be Emile Heskey!!!

Enjoy the World Cup!

Goalkeepers:
Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green
Defenders:
Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock
Midfielders:
Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips
Forwards:
Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney

That is the 30-man provisional World Cup squad that Fabio Capello has picked for England, and several of those players played in England’s 3-1 victory over Mexico, which was in my view a reasonable start to the World Cup build-up.  True it was not a “world beating” performance, but it didn’t have to be.  People are suggesting that it was a poor performance and that England’s chance of winning the World Cup is over…no it’s not fools, it’s not even started yet!  Why in England do we, or the press, constantly swing from mass hysteria over how good we are to folly about how poor we are?  News flash – we ARE one of the best teams in the world.  But we are not the best by a long way.  That’s not a bad place to be.  We should make the Quarter-Finals of the World Cup.  Anything else is a bonus and would demonstrate an excellent performance in my view.

So who should go to the World Cup as part of England’s final 23-man squad?  I would go with this squad:

Goalkeepers:
Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green
Defenders:
Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry
Midfielders:
Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Theo Walcott
Forwards:
Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney

Perhaps I should give justifications for the players I’m leaving behind…

Matthew Upson – has been part of a very poor West Ham side this season, Michael Dawson has had an excellent season for Spurs and deserves to go over Upson in my view.

Stephen Warnock – simply you can only really take 2 left-backs, and I think that Baines is better than Warnock at this point.

Tom Huddlestone – got a big future ahead of him, but a victim of having lots of quality players in his position.

Aaron Lennon – unfortunate that he suffered a few injuries otherwise would probably be ahead of Adam Johnson in my view, but Lennon hasn’t rediscovered his best form, and therefore Johnson goes ahead of him.

Scott Parker – had an ok season but not great for West Ham in my opinion, Barry and Carrick are both better on the ball and that is critical in a World Cup, and in general in his position.

Shaun Wright-Phillips – was not in the Manchester City team and in my view was not on his best form.  Has been usurped by Milner and Adam Johnson, who can both play wide-right.

Emile Heskey – Simply players are in better form than him – Heskey is not anywhere near his best, Bent is scoring loads of goals and therefore deserves to go.  You could take Heskey in place of say Michael Carrick and that would be ok as Ledley King can play as a holding midfielder.

That squad I think is the best for England and, under the right circumstances, could go all the way, but as ever winning a World Cup is as much about getting a bit of luck as skill…England have a shot, and that is all we can ask.

I’ve been a Hull City supporter all my life (well, at least since I was 9 and I first really cared about football!).  In fact in my first season supporting them they were relegated – an auspicious start to a loving relationship!

Like most long-term football supporters I really love my club.  The last decade was something special for all Hull City fans – it started in administration and the pain and fear of losing the club.  Then it was saved on day by a certain Adam Pearson, just hours before it was going to be closed down and lost forever.  After that and a brief lull whilst things were sorted out, rocket-ship Hull City blasted off.  Over the next 9 years there were some incredible highs – promotion 3 times, Wembley for the first time and eventually rocket-ship Hull City landed in the Premier League for the first time in 104 years in August 2008.

Since then though it seems to have, well, gone a bit wrong!  Gone is the team that were a battling black and amber army at Wembley in May 2008, gone is the spirit, the togetherness, the great Hull City battleship that took the Premier League by storm in the first 4 months of 2008/09!  Instead, with most of that greatest ever City squad gone (only Boaz Myhill, Andy Dawson, Ian Ashbee, Craig Fagan, Richard Garcia, Caleb Folan and Dean Marney remain) we are left with a squad leaving the Premier League with nothing so much as a whimper based on recent performances (the Birmingham performance excepted).

But no fear I hear you cry, the Premier League money has set Hull City up financially.  No problems there, you’ll bounce straight back!

If only that were true.  In the program notes from Wednesday’s game with Aston Villa, the chairman (the saviour Adam Pearson, who now works for owner Russell Bartlett) called the spending by then chairman Paul Duffen, “poor business sense” and called the payments to agents “abhorrent”.  It should be noted that Mr Duffen has responded by suggesting that the club has one of the lowest debts and lowest wage bills in the Premier League.

But today the story unravels further with the Hull Daily Mail and BBC Radio Humberside suggesting that the clubs debts are now in the region of £30-£40 million pounds!  With a turnover (in the Premier League) of £50 million (ish) and a wage bill of £40 million (ish) that is a MASSIVE chunk of money to find in the next 12 months…further, City have (according to the Hull Daily Mail) taken £10 of the first year’s £16m parachute payments already for next season (which you get for 2 years upon relegation from the Premier League).  That is bad news.  It indicates to me that there is already a cash-flow shortfall despite Premier League incomes.

Now here’s the doomsday scenario – if Hull City lose to Sunderland tomorrow and West Ham win, Hull City are, barring a miracle, relegated.  FACT.  6 points behind West Ham with a vastly inferior goal difference, we would be back in the Football League Championship.  If the rumours are true City have players on very large contracts (actually, that’s a fact!), with few relegation clauses in them.  How are Hull City supposed to rid themselves of over-paid underperforming (and sometimes frequently injured) players to other Premier League clubs?  Which Hull City players will attract £40 millions worth of investment?!

So what happens to the football club in the short, medium and long-term?  Truthfully only Adam Pearson and Russell Bartlett can answer that question.  I trust Adam Pearson to do the right thing by the football club, all Hull City fans should after what he did for the club the last time.  Do I trust Russell Bartlett?  Not as far as I can throw a 1 tonne boulder!  It is time for the property mogul to step up to the plate, step out on that KC Stadium pitch and tell the fans exactly what is going on.  It is our right.  It may be “his ” club legally, but it is OUR club morally and emotionally.  It is not enough for him to sit in his ivory tower behind the scenes and do nothing anymore.  It is time to set the record straight.

The rumours however say that if we go down then administration or a Company Voluntary Arrangement it is.  This of course would mean at least a 10 point penalty for the start of next season and I believe a transfer embargo being placed on the club!  That would result in players leaving the club for less than their already small value, and no players coming in.  The nightmare scenario therefore is relegation straight through to League One.

This is not a nice position to be in.  In fact it’s a blooming horrible one.  As fans all we can do, all I will do, is take my seat at the KC tomorrow, and again when Liverpool come in May, and again in August (assuming the club still exists) and cheer on the lads as much as I can.

But, despite the undoubted willing and desire behind the scenes from the staff, and from Adam Pearson.  But from where it matters – Russell Bartlett, the Board and the players, I’m left feeling that there is no passion, no desire, no willing.  Which therefore leaves me with no hope of survival.

The Premier League dream that was supposed to set up this clubs long-term future has been shattered.  Premier League, thanks for the memories.

I guess the answer is yes – he hasn’t called an “early” election (despite polls narrowing to as much as 2 % – could that loss possibly give Labour a remaining majority, or largest party in a hung parliament?), he has faced Chicott and come out with no damage.  And last but not least, the budget today has been scheduled for 2 weeks from today (March 24th).

It seems I was wrong on almost all, if not all, counts.  The Prime Minister scents Conservative blood, scents he can win a majority and is going for it.

However, I have no doubt that the budget in two weeks will not be the “austerity” budget this country requires.  The truth – that we need massive cuts in public spending, and tax cuts to help inject money back into the economy from the general public and encourage business back to these shores to help long-term economic stability/prosperity – will not be told.  Instead we’ll get higher stealth taxes (watch out all of us who like a nip of whisky or a pint!), minor pay freezes and rises in borrowing to cover the shortfall, whilst minor public spending savings are made to look like major ones.

In short, rather than getting the truth, I think we’ll get a “General Election” budget, like we usually get from governments just short of a General Election.

But again, I could be wrong, though I’m not counting on it!

First off – an apology!  I’ve not blogged since January 8th – because in short I’ve had a lot going on, I’m moving and possibly changing jobs over the next few weeks/months and things have just been very very busy!

Now however I’ve got a little bit of time I have a couple of thoughts.  Earlier in the day I tweeted that I think that Gordon Brown will call a General Election in the next week and set the date for that election to something like the 25th March (last Thursday of the month).  Obviously I have no information to back that up, but the noises that have appeared on various blogs and the news and in the polls (with the Tory lead dropping to less than 10 points on average now) suggest that Brown will do what he should have done in 2007, and that is call an “early” election.

Obviously given the Prime Minister’s tendency towards dilly-dallying rather than decisive action this might not happen.  However I expect that given the way the political landscape is moving at the moment (the Tories seem surprisingly inept and Labour are even more surprisingly sort of taking advantage whilst slipping up a fair bit themselves) it would seem that perhaps, just maybe Gordon Brown and Labour could hang on to a slim majority or more likely win the most seats in a hung parliament (when no doubt the Lib Dems and Labour will once again shack up).

Iain Dale has the annoucement that Gordon Brown’s appearance at the Chilcott (Iraq War) inquiry will take place on the 4th-5th March and in his estimation that rules out a March GE.  Whilst he obviously has more political nouse and knowledge than I, I have to respectfully disagree.  And I have two reasons (maybe 3) to back up my thoughts:

The first is that regardless of Brown’s pronouncements that he is happy to go to Chilcott, I do not think he is.  The Chilcott inquiry cannot possibly go well in the long run for Brown as it links him again with the very unpopular decision to go to war in Iraq, and reminds people that, as the Chancellor at the time, if he wanted too, he could have in all likelyhood stopped it from happening.  Make no mistake, in my view, Gordon Brown is every bit as responsible as Tony Blair for the Iraq War, and I doubt I’m alone in that viewpoint.  One way to get out of the inquiry before an election is for Brown to call that election.  Because then Chilcott would have to break (as I understand it) until after the election, and thus postpone the day of destiny for the current PM.

The second is the dreaded “b” word…”Budget”.  I doubt that Gordon Brown would want a budget before an election for two reasons.  The first is because he will have to announce big tax hikes for either the next year or next parliament – which will immediately put off voters in his estimation – though I think it has to be done (and the Tories themselves have said this too),  and that it can be done in a way which would hit the lower and middle income persons in this country the least whilst hitting harder those on higher incomes.  You might say that this is the “Labour philosophy” but over the last 13 years it has not been – does anyone recall 10p tax, or higher national insurance (hitting employment), or rises in fuel duty etc etc.  This list goes on.

The second reason that Brown would not want a budget before an election is the dreaded “c” word – “Cuts”.  Brown would have to, in all likelyhood, announce big cuts in public spending.  Which would leave people wondering – “well, the Tories have been saying for more than 6 months that this is the case.  Why did he (Brown) suggest that the Tories were being savage and would ruin public services when he will just do the same himself?  Who do we prefer, someone who is honest even at the expense of some electability, or a liar?”

The third reason why Brown would not want a budget before an election is this.  If you take it as read that he (Brown) would not be able to be honest in a pre-election budget and announce tax rises and cuts in public spending to reduce a deficit that is absolutely massive, then he would have to do neither of those things.  This would in all likelyhood mean a continuation or increase in borrowing, along with no rises in obvious taxes (income, national insurance etc) but in stealth taxes (alcohol, cigarettes, fuel duty etc etc).  Some people predict that should this happen that borrowing would become a massive issue for the government because with a debt already this large, inflation rising worryingly fast (3.5% in 2 months) and sure to continue (therefore causing interest rates to rise inthe long term to attempt to control inflation) why would people who buy Government debt want to continue buying a nearly broke countries debt for another god knows how long – maybe as much as 5 years!

So that was my second reason.  The third reason is another economic reason – there is no guarantee that we will not return to recession (or negative growth at least) over the next 3 calendar months.  Only today we heard of Corus closing a steel plant in the north east, potentially causing a fallout of 8000 job losses when taking into account losses in ancilliary businesses, and that in January sales of goods dropped off by over 1%…all is not looking sweet for the economy despite what the Government say.

All in all therefore I believe electorally going sooner rather than later is certainly better for Brown and Labour.  Though were that to be the outcome, and Brown and Labour were to win through, what would be the consequences for this country of another 5 years of high and increasing tax, and massive borrowing that we cannot afford?  I fear it would be disaster.

Wishes and thoughts go out to the staff and players of the Togo international football team, and their families/friends after their bus was hit by gunfire whilst travelling from the DR Congo to Angola for the African Nations Cup (link to the BBC story here).

Having said that why did the organisers schedule games for a part of the country where there is a “war of independence” ongoing (according to BBC News – I know nothing about Angola!)?  That seems like utter madness to me.

I hope that no players or staff have been seriously injured or worse.

It’s fair to say, I think, that they do not get along.  And it’s not just the difference in political outlook either…

Tory Bear has started a “Get Kerry Out” campaign, the website for which has just gone live in the last few minutes and can be found here.  It seems that plenty of people are supporting the campaign, including the man that politicians love to hate…Guido Fawkes.

Personally I know enough from what I’ve read, from both sides of the coin, to know that there is likely good reason for this campaign, though I want to find out more before I display a “Get Kerry Out” logo on my site!!  But if the campaign achieves it’s aims, then there will be one less “Labour Twitter Tzar” and £400-per-month food expense claimer in Parliament come June…