Seagulls with altitude sickness...

I’m one of those football fans who associate themselves with an adopted team in each of the top divisions. First and foremost, I am a Newcastle United fan, but I follow other teams loosely too...

npower Championship – Preston North End

npower League One – Brighton & Hove Albion

Blue Square Bet Premier – Bath City

You’ll notice straight away that I don’t support a League Two side, and all I can say is that I’m still searching! As for my other teams, it’s been a mixed season so far. Preston North End are rock bottom of the Championship with just 5 wins in 30 matches and are almost destined for relegation.

Brighton & Hove Albion, by contrast, are just one place behind North End in the Football League standings, sitting prettily in pole position in League One when mid-table obscurity was predicted at the beginning of the season.

Bath City are enjoying a fantastic term, happily lost in the mid-table places, well clear of the relegation zone and dreaming of play-off hope. Adie Britton has done a fantastic job with a bunch of part-time footballers!

It is Brighton though that I would like to draw closer attention to. The last time they were promoted to the Championship, they had Bobby Zamora scoring goals for fun at the Withdean Stadium. This time, it’s more of a combined effort in the goalscoring department. Kazenga Lua Lua (on loan from Newcastle) netted 4 times early on before an injury prevented him staying on the south coast. Striker Glen Murray has 14 goals to his name, Ashley Barnes has 10, and the midfielders have each contributed with three or four each.

The Seagulls have got a good all round team now with Kasper Ankergren in goal and defenders Gordon Greer and Inigo Calderon particularly impressive this season. I think they have a team that could compete in the second tier of the Football League, and it certainly looks promising thus far for the Albion.

And with a move from the often slated Withdean Stadium (which is really an Athletics Stadium, I used to have my primary school sports day there!) to the brand new, 22,500 seater Amex Stadium, they have an arena in which they will look like they belong in the Championship or even (dare I say it) the Premier League.

World Cup Fever?

Meaningful international cricket returns this weekend with the beginning of the 2011 World Cup in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. I think the success of this particular World Cup has potentially huge ramifications on the future of 50 over cricket.

This format of the game has been slowly dropping in popularity since the creation of 20/20 cricket shortly after the turn of the Millennium, and having discussed the matters with many fans, I can see a repeated theme as to why.

The middle overs. The general flavour of the public viewpoint is that 50 over cricket is entertaining for the first powerplays (a fantastic invention by the way), and the final 10 overs are worth a watch too. For those unfamiliar with ‘powerplays’, they are five-over stints of all big hitting and wicket taking, as only two fielders are permitted to be outside the inner fielding rings, thereby encouraging batsmen to hit over the top, which inevitably leads to opportunities for the fielding side to take a wicket.

But the middle 25 overs are lacking conviction. Where’s the power or the passion of 20/20? The captain of the fielding side brings the spinners on, and the batsmen settle for nurdling the ball to the boundary fielders for three or four singles an over.

On a personal note, I like 50 over cricket, it certainly has never captured the intensity of test cricket but for spectators who are inside the ground, there are often 100 overs of cricket, nearly 600 hundred runs and wickets aplenty. The best ever ODI I have ever watched is this one.... But I do think the middle overs can(and I emphasise can because there are times when the middle overs can make riveting cricket, but I think they are the exception) be tedious, especially to budding cricket supporters who believe 20/20 is simply the more attractive brother.

Back to the matter in hand and it would certainly seem unlikely that England will win this World Cup, especially given the lack of form we bring in from the 6-1 toasting we got down under and the generally struggle to adapt to sub-continent conditions that England have found in seasons past.

Nonetheless, there is optimism in the ranks with the return of Stuart Broad (who took 5-37 in the last warm-up game) alongside the well rested James Anderson, which makes a fiery opening partnership with the new ball. Speaking of leading well from the front, it’s an exciting prospect to have Andrew Strauss partnered by the effervescent Kevin ‘KP’ Pietersen at the top of the batting order.

My hopes for the tournament are that all the big players turn up, the teams take it seriously and that England and South Africa meet in the final. Bangladesh continue to improve, and I will be watching the progress of Tamim Iqbal closely, let’s hope they put on a good show as co-hosts of the tournament. Australia have won the last 3 world cups, but I think they’ll struggle this time around. South Africa for their first World Cup win for me.

Black and White Addicks

AAn interesting article on how a modern day football club seeks to keep discipline and injury free players while in the youth academy using an ‘old fashioned’ ploy;

Click here to see the article from BBC Sport

The IPL

Most people who know me, know I am a traditionalist when it comes to formats of cricket.

I love test cricket and wholeheartedly believe it to be the purest and most exhilirating form of the game, but I've been watching a fair amount of the Indian Premier League these last few weeks, and I think it is absolutely fantastic.

Great hits, great cricketers, and best of all, great catches.

Check this one out from David Hussey, my favourite catch so far...

This sort of cricket is wonderful, but I'm still more excited about the test cricket on offer in 2010. Bangladesh hop over briefly at the end of the month, followed by Pakistan, and then Strauss and his men pack their bags to go and give those Aussies a royal beating down under in December.

Black and White Army March On

Well, I’ll be honest here; this is undoubtedly the best season in a long time to be a Newcastle fan. I can’t remember these dizzy heights of joy since the Sir Bobby Robson reign.

For those of you far too interested in the higher echelons of English football to even warrant a glance at the Coca-Cola Championship, the Magpies are five points clear of second-place West Bromich Albion, and ten points and a game-in-hand above third placed Nottingham Forest with just eight games to go in the current season.

The season has gone through the motions with minimal fuss so far this season. At the beginning of the season, Alan Shearer declared that he was interested in what seemed to be a vacant manager’s hot seat at St James’ Park (or is that Sportsdirect.com@ St James Park Stadium?), but Chris Hughton has made the ‘poisoned chalice’ his with spectacular consistency in both performance and results, which has been lacking for a number of years.

Roberto Di Matteo’s West Brom have been superb on the attack, but questions are still be asked of their shaky defence which has seen them leak 42 goals in defence, in comparison to the 28 that Newcastle have let through.

It represents a remarkable turn-around in fortunes for the back four at St James’ Park. During Newcastle’s 17-year stay in the top flight, defence was the constant source of criticism from pundits all over the media. To name but a few of the defenders famous for leaking goals; Titus Bramble, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Craig Moore, Oguchi Onyewu, Claudio Cacapa, Olivier Bernard and many more.

But now stability has been found. Can it be retained in the Premier League next season? Only time will tell. Either way, it’s been a great season.

The authoritative voice of Nigel Adkins, Scunthorpe United manager, commented after their recent 3-0 loss to the Magpies; "That's a Premier League side you have just seen out there, end of story, so we don't need to get too disillusioned about the result because that is a Premier League side and a very, very good one."

While it is nice to hear of the fear that Hughton’s men are instilling in opposition teams, I cannot help but disagree with Adkins on this matter. We may just about qualify for Premier League quality at a stretch, but to say we are a ‘very, very good one’ is complete hyperbole. Andrew Carroll, Peter Lovenkrands, Nile Ranger, Leon Best and Shola Ameobi represent an astounding strike force in the Championship, but move them up a league and they are distinctly, distinctly average.

Looking back on my previous blog post about Premier League relegation, I still think that Burnley, Hull and Portsmouth will be ejected based on a lack of quality and ability to win matches that really matter. These three teams currently occupy the bottom three, and Burnley have been in absolute freefall since Owen Coyle left, and any side with an away form of one point out of a possible 48 is asking an improbable task from their home form to keep them up.

Tis the season to be 'olly

The Barclays Premier League is widely considered the best league in the world, and we certainly have a classic on our hands this season.

In the upper regions, we suddenly have a three-horse title race on our hands, following an Arsenal revival and a dip in Chelsea’s form. Carlo Ancelloti’s men also have the daunting prospect of losing several key players for the African Cup of Nations, which starts on January 10 in Angola. Man Utd don’t exactly look like settling the world alight with a distinctly average midfield by their standards. It will be interesting to see if Arsenal can keep up the pace on the front runners. It’s been impressive to see the form of Aaron Ramsey, Manuel Almunia, Abou Diaby and the rest. The problem seems to be in the forwards department, does Eduardo have what it takes to replace the goal machine Robin van Persie? Perhaps Arsenal will sign a forward in the January window, or we may see more of the young Carlos Vela in the new year.

There is an excellent contest for the much coveted fourth Champions’ League spot in the Premier League this season. Liverpool have played poorly and probably deserve the 7th position they currently occupy. Realistically it’s a wide open race, with Aston Villa, Man City, Tottenham Hotspur and dare I even add Fulham into the equation to contend with the Reds?

And at the bottom end, we’ve got all sorts going on! After the travesty of Newcastle going down last year, I’d like to see Hull get relegated, which is a realistic scenario in my humble opinion. Pompey are four points from safety but are looking much stronger since Avram Grant became manager. Only five points separate 19th placed Hull and 10th placed Sunderland; any of the teams between could go down, but my favourites for the drop are Hull, Portsmouth and Burnley. Everton, Blackburn, Stoke and Sunderland will pull well clear by May, and I think Bolton have enough about them to stay up. Wigan and Wolves are definite candidates to drop to the Championship.

And in Europe’s second best league, the Coca-Cola Championship, it looks as if Newcastle and West Brom are a cut above the rest. It would be interesting to see if Nottingham Forest can continue their good form; they look very solid indeed under Billy Davies. I think the funniest scenario would be to see the Tangerines (aka Blackpool) move into the Premier League, just to see Ian Holloway on Match of The Day.

And this is why...

Killing in the name of...

Christmas time is generally child-friendly in the UK. We have chocolate calendars, Cliff Richard’s music, Christmas tree fairies, Macaulay Culkin’s films and Santa Claus. In Carol Services, everyone loves having the kids on show doing the nativity drama.

I was thinking the other day about the real message of Christmas, which in many ways is anything but child-friendly. The nativity, although a lovely scene, isn’t the complete message of Christmas. Far from it. Christmas points to Easter for Christians, the birth of the Lord Jesus is in fact a pointer to his death. The Saviour comes into this world in the nativity. But he can only save us through his death on the cross.

Imagine an Easter ‘Nativity’ scene. There would be no baby Jesus, no manger and no smiling wise men with gifts. The baby Jesus has grown up! There’d be a full grown man with a beard, beaten and bruised, a crown of thorns, a wooden cross and an empty tomb. A brutal death instead of a cute birth.

The Bible calls this ‘good news of great joy’. Why? Because through the perfect life of Jesus, every human being who has rejected God (that’s all of us) can be forgiven and can begin a relationship with him. All of our wrong is exchanged for Jesus’ perfection, so God can see us as perfect. The relationship we were meant for can begin. And that my friends, is the greatest news in the world.

More on this good news... click here

L.E.P Mapping Locations

I have mapped four articles from an edition of the Lancashire Evening Post on Friday, November 6, 2009. This shows the variety of locations in which news items occur in one day.

View LEP Article Map in a larger map

Should the National Football Museum stay in Preston?

Below is a short video of an interview with Adam Johnson. He gives his opinion on where the National Football Museum should be located. The interview took place outside the Museum's current location next to Preston North End's football stadium, Deepdale.

National Football Museum

The National Football Museum in Preston cropped and resized to 400 pixels wide by 300 pixels high



The National Football Museum in Preston cropped and resized to 200 pixels wide by 500 pixels high



Thumbnail of the National Football Meseum - 100 pixels wide by 100 pixels high





Original Image - image taken, uncropped and not resized

Road Accidents

The number of road users in the United Kingdom is on the increase, as the adult population continues to grow at a rate of knots. In 1999, the UK population was 58,682,466 and in 2008 stood at 61,399,118. As a result, the expectation would be a rise in road casualties...

However, the chart (see above) shows us that the opposite is in fact true. The casualties on the roads have dropped significantly over the last nine years, down by almost 33% (or nearly 100,000 casualties).

An interesting pattern on the chart is the constant and gradual decrease in casualties. This shows that it hasn’t been down to short term government campaigns, which would show fluctuating values in the bars, but rather a long-term crackdown on reckless driving and promoting safety on the roads.

As the chart shows, car drivers have been the predominant casualty in road accidents since 1999, but have also been the type of casualty that have shed the most in percentage terms too. This is shown in the graph by the continual reduction in size of the green bar.

Out of the four main modes of transport on British roads (except Horse and Cart!), pedal cyclists make up the least of the casualties, followed by motorcyclists and there were just over 30,000 pedestrian casualties in 2008. Campaigns such as this recent one will help to further reduce the numbers.

Spreadsheet from the DataStore

Welcome back Kev.

Kevin Pietersen has returned to International Cricket after a fleeting appearance in England’s Twenty20 loss and yesterday’s One-Day warm-up game against South Africa A. It’s a big test of his bouncebackability (Thanks Dowie) at the start of this epic two-and-a-half month England tour of South Africa. But our 'Kev' is expected to be fully fit for the One day Internationals (5 matches) and the proceeding Test Series (4 matches) as England bid to repeat their performance of the last visit to the Proteas four years ago (South Africa 1-2 England in the Test Series), only with more success in the ODIs.

And it's great to have 'the big man' back after an achilles injuries which has hampered him for almost a year; since the Caribbean tour last February. He was supposed to be fit for this year's Ashes Series, but this proved to be a false dawn as he only appeared in the first two tests, and those with clear signs of the injury as he limped during each of his innings.

Perhaps you're thinking; "Hold on a sec. We pretty much won the Ashes without this guy, should you be branding him 'the big man'? I thought only Freddie Flintoff was 'the big man'!" Well, I'm hear to tell you otherwise. I think KP is England's finest cricket player now that Fred is off the scene; and even with FF in the team, I think it's a close call. What's not impressive about Kevin Pietersen's Curriculum Vitae? He averages over 46 in ODI cricket, and is just shy of 50 in Tests; he is currently England's highest ranked One-Day batsman at 17th and is just behind Andrew Strauss in the Test rankings, as he resides in 15th position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings.

Statistics can perhaps only say so much, but this man has all the attributes to accompany them. He is brilliant. Simply brilliant for English cricket. His attitude is fearsome, his shot-selection is fearless, his mindset is also fearless. I love watching him play, his innings’ are epic battles between egos as much as there are about cricketing technique. But that’s cricket at its finest, a game played in the mind as well as on the well-cut green strip.

I think this is Kevin Pietersen's most memmorable innings, a swashbuckling 158 which made the Ashes safe in 2005 with a draw at the Oval. Four and a half years on, KP is now 29 years of age, and with almost a whole year out of the game (on and off), it could take him time to find that best form which makes him the world’s finest architect at the crease. But I’m confident he’ll rediscover it eventually, and I, for one, am glad to see him back in an England shirt and waiting with excitement as the series against South Africa gets underway on Friday.

Newcastle - A Premier League club in the Championship?

Newcastle United have reacted well to life in the Coca-Cola Championship, shaking off accusations that they are 'The New Leeds'. Following an embarassing relegation from the Barclays Premier League last season, many thought the club would struggle to keep hold of it's best players and fall further down the Football League ladder.

But here we are. Now in November, and Newcastle are top of the Championship with 30 points from the first 15 games, and have managed to retain a number of the club's best players from last season. A side boasting the likes of Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton, Nicky Butt, Alan Smith, Steve Harper, Jonas Gutierrez, Ryan Taylor, Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini should surely be alien to a league below that of the Premier League.

Even branding a team 'The New Leeds' is becoming less insulting, as the Elland Road club are once again knocking on the Championship door, as they lead Coca-Cola League One by an impressive seven points. Things are looking up for the Toon.

But the Championship season is a more of a hard slog. There are 46 games to be played in all, only 15 have been played. Newcastle have already lost three games - all away - to Blackpool, Nottingham Forest and Scunthorpe United. On top of that, a number of unconvincing performances - like the home win over Doncaster Rovers. Only the one demolition job - 4-0 on the road to and awful Ipswich side. I have seen little to distinguish Newcastle from their Championship counterparts.

There is an enormous amount of work to be done. I don't think Newcastle United are a Premier League side in the Championship. The big stadium can be deceiving. The big fan base and big name players are even more deceiving. Judge a club on their performances and results. At the moment, things look good - but the Christmas period will be a testing time, as Newcastle's small squad do battle with a frantic fixture list. January is perhaps even more threatening with question marks over the 'Big Names' leaving the club for more immediate Premier League football.

Lets not count our chickens before they've hatched. Newcastle for the Premier League - wait and see.

How to Shine - Writing for Online.

Recent reading material from Paul Bradshaw and Yackob Nielsen has helped me see the differences between writing for online and writing for newspapers. People read words on a page completely differently to reading them on a screen, which means those who write the words need to take this into consideration.

According to Bradshaw, computer screens have a much lower resolution than in newspapers. "72 dots in every square inch, compared to around 150-300 in newspapers and magazines", he points out. In other words, its harder and takes longer to read words on a screen, therefore we need to communicate in less time. Online journalists need to develop Brevity.

Bradshaw points out articles should be of shorter length, using chunking where necessary, and have succint paragraphs, sticking to one concept in each paragraph.

Nielsen, who specifically focusses his article on writing headlines, points out that the BBC website is spot on and follows SURFP rules;
Short
Understandable out of Context
Rich in information scent
Front-loaded
Predictable

So there it is, quick tips from the experts on how to shine - online.

Who the heck is going to play for England at the Oval?

This is a massive question. After the spectacular collapse at Headingley Carnegie in which England's middle order (Messeurs Bopara, Bell & Collingwood) amassed a catastrophic 16 runs for 6 wickets between them, potential substitutions have been banded around leg, off and centre. From Surrey's 39-year-old veteran Mark Ramprakash to Kent's 19-years-young Joe Denly, the media speculate both ends of the age spectrum as to who will replace 'Bops and Bells'.

South-African (born) Jonathan Trott is perhaps hot favourite to be the only replacement in this team (preferred at three to Ravi Bopara), assuming Flintoff is fit to take his place batting at number seven on his final test match in an England shirt (not that he is going to appear in any other shirt, which can't be ruled out for our 'new bru' Trott). That would mean Bell gets another shot at four, while Harmison is ousted for the returning talisman.

But how about wholesale changes, which robs Ian Bell of his place for the cataclysmic fifth npower Ashes test, and prefers instead the reliable experience of Mark Ramprakash. For a man averaging 54.35 in first-class cricket, a flawed statistic in itself when considering the player's form over the last five years, it is astonishing he is not more seriously been considered for selection since his last test match in the April of 2002. Some will say that he simply floundered during his international career. He had an England career which spanned almost eleven years beginning at Headingley in June 1991. In his 52 test-matches, he hit only two test-hundreds (the latter of the two intriguingly achieved against the Aussies at the Oval) at an average of 27.32, and a suprisingly slow strike-rate of 36.18, although one never associates Ramps with the big-hitters of modern day international cricket. He is more Neil Mackenzie than he is Kevin Pietersen. But there is something more aesthetic about Ramps' thrashing blade against the red leather than that of sturdy defence and the odd thump to the boundary (Mackenzie is more effective than he is pleasing to the eye). He has a graceful cover drive accompanied by a plethora of other orthodox strokes played with twenty years of batting authority. The man personifies the word 'patience', and looks in complete contrast to the hurried strokeplay of Ravi Bopara at the moment.

Onto personal opinion, I would most definitely swap Bops for Ramps as we come into land (as Mike Pilivachi famously said) on the epic Ashes Series (although perhaps not as epic as 2005 - i think the last test will make up everyone's minds). Like-for-like in that I would stick Ramps into the number three role. I would stick with Bell (I'm a fan - see previous post), not least because he'll be coming in off the back of a superb 126 for Warwickshire. I confess I know little of his Warwickshire team-mate Jonathan Trott, other than the information provided by cricinfo.com, which is that of a well-timed 121 made yesterday alongside 'the Shermator' and that he averages a solid 44.31 in first-class cricket, and is likely to at least double the test stike-rate of Ramprakash in his first game. He is described as 'aggressive' by the experts at cricinfo. And Flintoff in for Harmison to complete the eleven; an eleven I believe capable of re-capturing the Ashes.

Pietersen's injury rings a Bell

So with KP gone for the remainder of the npower Ashes test series. Enter the ring... Ian Ronald Bell?

Yes it would seem so. Bell will make his return to the England side for the 3rd test match in the highly-anticipated Edgbaston duel starting next week. I, for one, am pleased to see him back in the test side after a five month absence. However, I am sure that Bell won't be so pleased that his re-appearance is only due to the loss of England's most prolific batsman, Kevin Pietersen.

His record for England is solid but not outstanding. In his 46 tests, Bell has made 3004 runs at an average of 40.59 per innings. In 2008, he was named one of the Wisden Cricketer's of the year after impressive displays against New Zealand. He was ear-marked for greatness from a young age and burst onto the county scene with Warwickshire in 1999 and was in the Enland set-up only a year or two later. His first test in 2004 was against a touring West Indies side at the Oval and Bell hit a confident 70 batting at five for England.

Ian Bell is the ultimate form player. When he's in form, he looks majestic at the crease. When out of touch, as he was in the Carribbean earlier this year and back in the 2005 Ashes Series, you continually wonder if the next ball he faces will be his last. In the 2005 series, Bell only made a timid 171 runs in ten innings. But Bell has been firing on all cylinders for Warwickshire this season with 640 runs at an average of 80.00, with twice hitting three figures for his counties.

Doubters remain about his ability to withstand intense pressure as he will face next Thursday, but I firmly believe Bell has what it takes. I love watching him, an extremely elegant batsman, partially in the mold of Michael Vaughan, partially in his own mold. Here's what Vaughan has to say about Bell; "If he just relaxes and plays he's got so much talent. He needs to not try to play the perfect innings. He should just play it in his natural way and I'm sure things will happen".

So come on Ian Ronald Bell, prove me right!

Collingwood Back in Frame

Who will be England's cricket captain in three years? I don't think anyone has the answer to that.
Who will lead out the ten other perfectly dressed white warriors on Wedneday 8th July in Cardiff for the start of the npower Test Series against Australia. Few wisecracks seem to have the answer. Even good old Geoffrey Boycott struggles to offer a definitive answer.

A turbulent winter has seen Kevin Pietersen stripped of the honour of captaining his country in international sport. And who's in? Andrew Strauss at the moment. But for how long? No wins in five test matches against a West Indies side who's most recent test series win came on home soil against a woefully lacking-in-quality Bangladesh side back in 2003.

If truth be told, this winter has been dreadful. The summer ended on a high after recovering from the test defeats to a quality South Africa side, to beat the then top ODI side 4-0 in impressive style. Since then, the Stanford 20/20 for 20 was a public disaster, India trounced England in both the Test and One-Day series as well as being caught up in the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Following from that, the Peter Moores/Kevin Pietersen feud resulted in even less team harmony. Moores was sacked and Pietersen was out as skipper. Strauss faces an almost impossible job, and now he's injured, his team can't stop losing and Collingwood is in as the boss for the first One-Day International. Oh yeah and England don't have a manager either.

Should KP be back in? Moores has gone now which would seem to open the path wider but Collingwood is in ahead of Pietersen for tomorrow's crunch match with the Windies. Perhaps Pietersen could manage the team too...
English Cricket is crying out for direction.

Nick's Debut on Blogger

My name is Nick Spear. I am a 1st year BA Sports Journalism student at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston. Born in Southampton, home is based in Bristol/Bath area. Very much a southerner turned northener. I'm a Christian and that shapes my life. Sport is one of my biggest passions.