I have followed English football since I was in secondary school. I was even in Bolton, England. The closest I got to a football match was shopping at Tesco under the Reebok Stadium. My daughter Elaine does not follow football. She asks the odd question and get answers from me (Arsenal fan), Joshua (Chelsea fan), and Matthew(Liverpool fan). Yet she has entered the Old Trafford of the Manchester United 
Football Club and watched a football match where the host played West Ham Utd. You can call this grace! The person who worked got nothing; the one who was not even looking experienced the Old Trafford atmosphere. I sent her a terse message on her wall in her Facebook, “Dear, if you decide to become a Man Utd fan, don’t bother to come home. Love, Dad” 
Posts tagged ‘football’
“Dear, don’t bother to come home”
Off to Manchester for a semester
My daughter Elaine went to stay with my wife’s sister and husband, Amy and Mike in Bolton, England. This is the coldest in England in perhaps two decades. All of us are going to miss her but she is all wrapped up in warm comfort and care.
She will be an exchange student in the University of Manchester for a semester. How the Lord opened the way and provided the funds for her to go there is a testimony in itself. We are grateful to God for his undeserved blessings, and the
generosity of friends and family.
We were with her on skype and she looked happy and spoilt! She showed us a smart jacket and some warm turtleneck from sales there- snazzy stuff. We were happy for her and appreciated the Blyths for the love and generosity in hosting her for the period.
As all football fans know, Manchester is the home of the world’s second most famous football club: Manchester City FC. In case you wonder which is the most famous, and greatest, it is Arsenal FC.
Arsenal’s search for new striker can end here!
Arsene Wenger says he is shopping for a striker in the January window. They have to buy because Van Persie is injured and will be out for several months. They need a central striker who is able to hold the ball with his back to the goal. I have found the striker that Arsenal needs in order to have any chance at all to challenge for honours. She is from China and she is available on a free transfer . Manchester United, and Chelsea watch out!
How will this EPL season pan out?
My prediction has gone awry. In August my prediction of the English Premier League 09/10 was: first, Chelsea; second, Liverpool; third, Manchester United; and fourth, Arsenal.
My prediction of champions still look formidable: physically, technically, tactically and as a team. Best in Europe right now: Chelsea.
Liverpool has surprisingly unravelled quicker than expected. Who would have known that besides losing Alonso to Real Madrid, poor Liverpool would be hit with a double whammy of losses to injury of their twin terrors- Torres and Gerrard?
Manchester United, as usual, grinded out results despite their mediocre football. Mediocre compared to the last two glorious years, when Ronaldo and Tevez were around. They have too many injured. Too many pensioners. Giggs and Scholes will start creaking and make costly mistakes. Other teams, even the likes of Stoke, will fancy their chances of defeating a weakened Manchester United. The despair of teams when facing Man Utd has gone.
Arsenal is currently in second place with one game to play. I watch their goals on footytube and read of their exploits with glee. They have iron, thanks to Song and Diaby. My hope is that when Chelsea’s Essien and Drogba go play for their countries in January 2010, Arsenal will overtake them and not lose the lead until the end of this age.
I want to be wrong about my prediction. Let Arsenal top the table from January onwards.
How do you think the season will pan out?
How I became an Arsenal fan
I have been an Arsenal fan for ten years now. But it was not so before. When I was in Swiss Cottage Secondary School, I was a Derby County fan and then a Nottingham Forest fan. I liked manager Brian Clough and followed wherever he went except for his Leeds blip. He brought the best out of his teams on a tight budget and that could only mean he was a genius.
Arsene Wenger joined Arsenal in 1996 (when Arsenal was known as “boring Arsenal, 1-nil to Arsenal”) and was of a similar stature though of opposite temperament from Clough. He is more professorial, understated, detached, left-brained and philosophical. Like Clough, he pieced together teams on a reasonable budget but got 
them to play together like a premier orchestra. He transformed boring Arsenal into exciting Arsenal. That converted me into a fan. This is the only British team that plays with a Brazilian attacking flair. They are entertaining, and I hate it so it when they play against leg-kicking, anti-football teams. Yesterday, Arsene Wenger became the longest serving manager in Arsenal’s history and I hope he continues with the club till death do them part. This is unrealistic. Succession would be a real problem. They have to find someone with the same philosophy of football. It could be someone from the “Invincibles” team like Henri Thierry. Or Tony Adams. As long as the baton exchange takes place without incident. I really wish Arsenal well in the post-Arsene era.
I am perhaps more a follower of managers. I sometimes ask myself, “Would I continue as a fan of Arsenal, if Arsene Wenger, Arsenal’s heart and soul moved on? What if the players and style of play changed, and it was no longer recognizable?” I probably would not remain a fan. Many fans are admirably or masochistically loyal to their clubs even when the club has been relegated numerous levels. I don’t think I can endure that kind of humiliation and pain. This makes me a fair-weather and happy fan!
Fastest men in the world
So its official. Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the world having just broken the world record for 100m at 9.58 seconds. The second fastest man in the world is Cristiano Ronaldo who bolted from Manchester United for Real Madrid in record time. Third fastest man would be Elijah who ran away from an angry woman, mainly out of fear for his life but most men would add, out of wisdom too. Fourth, would be Charles ‘Chip’ Goodyear who ran away real fast from the Temasek stable, some say for the same reason as Elijah, but I think his appetite for risk outstripped that of his board. Fifth, is Gareth Barry who wanted to move from Everton to play Champions League football, but ended up in oil rich Manchester City who are not in the Champions League. He ran so fast everybody was surprised, especially Benitez. Sixth fastest man was Jonah, who was running away from a God assignment; he ran a slow time – taking a slow boat to Spain. Seventh was Adebayor who bolted from Arsenal. His timing was slow because he hesitated, hoping Manchester United or Chelsea would offer him more $$$$$. Some of the fastest men are the ones in Wall Street; they ran out of trouble through government help and back into it with outrageous bonuses, and are still running, so we have yet to complete timing them to rank them among the top runners. So this is my list of the fastest men in the world. You may beg to disagree of course.
Premier League 09/10 predicitons
I don’t play football. I watch the occasional “big” matches, or watch the Footytube.com video clips of the goals that were scored. And I do like reading up news about football. Its a habit from the time I was in Secondary school. Reading the news from the sports page at the back to the headlines in the frontpage. Now the news are more up to date online. Since I started blogging, I have tried predicting every year but got it right only once. Forgot which year. But its very unpredictable the Premier league, more so with the rise of the Asian dragons and tigers and their bookies. Yes, of course there probably is some “betting” influence on the major games. I may sound cynical, but actually I am being very realistic about human greed. But before I ramble off on a tangent, here are my personal predictions based on gut feel:
Champions : CHELSEA: (they have the pace, muscle, experience and master tactician)
Runners up: LIVERPOOL, (bridesmaid again: they sold the chance to be champions for 30m pounds when they sold the lungs of the team)
3rd: MANCHESTER (without Ronaldo and Tevez)
4th: ARSENAL (without a “Viera-like enforcer” in the middle of the park)
What are yours?
Tonight the matches begin!
Note: Blogpastor is a fan of Arsenal and would have loved to play professionally for them this year as an enforcer but the coach only takes in kids under 25 years, and anyway my church would not consider this a proper sabbatical!
