How annoying's Blogger? Sometimes Blogger is so pish. You tap away and then go to post and nothing happens! So annoying.

I fly home today, it was a tiring & hectic week with me driving hundreds of miles and included a morning in casualty on Sunday because I thought I had poxy DVT (am embarrassed about it now but I woke up on Sunday and could hardly walk, so started to put 2 and 2 together and needed to put my mind at rest. It was by a kind doctor at Eastbourne General Hospital).

Last night we sat in a bar in Kings Road just across from Martine McClutcheon. No reason I wrote that apart from the fact it made me realise that in Chicago, unless it is Brad Pitt or David Scwimmer (who I did actually see) I never know If I am sitting in a bar opposite anyone famous.

Back to work tomorrow, Detroit (nice!) Thursday night for a client meeting Friday and then it's the weekend and I'm told Chicago has seen it's first snowfall of the winter. Here comes the cold.
  ¶ 11:50 |

  Chelsea home.What was the score? 0-4 "And lets not forget Charlton are a good team but Chelsea were so good today that Charlton are best to just go home and forget about it," ummm Ray Stubbs on the Saturday's BBC Final Score.

But according to my mate Chris and my Ma and Pa who I'm staying with, Ray was about right, apart from the we "are a good team" bit of course, because we are clearly not. Curbs called it disastrous because of the early cock up by Konchesky (give up the 'I'm the best left back in the club' Paul, we're not buying it) and a 2nd & 3rd right after half time from corners.

So Chelsea were sublime and we got what we expected and we can take away the fact that we at least showed up unlike certain other games this season but surely it's time for another shake up? JJ is not cutting it against decent opposition, The midfield combo whichever way you look at it has no invention whatsoever and we are more leaky at the back than a leaky thing. But who do we bring in?

Looking at the squad, and remember Curbs constantly bangs on about how important having depth is, there are very few options.

Ok, we have about 14 goalkeepers and I agree with others and think it's time for Kiely to be rested (apologies to the Demelza House Children's Hospice). In defence with Perry out for a month, Fish still returning from injury & Turner gone, we only have the untried left back Adam Gross, Mark Ricketts and Osei Sankofa who played 17 minutes at Old Trafford 2 season's ago plus Chris Powell out on loan at West Ham. So that's 4 left backs then.

In midfield Euell, Stuart and the seemingly useless Brian Hughes have all been tried and maybe apart from the veteran have made no impact this season. Then there is the Romm who appeared to make a stake for consideration after the late substitutions on Saturday. After that we are down to youngsters Stacy Long and Neil McCafferty.

Curbs has tried all the conatations possible up front - including playing Euell - with Lisbie and Jeffers currently sitting behind JJ & Bartlett in the pecking order. Behind them we have Alex Varney keeping it in the family, and the potential's of James Walker (0 goals in 10 reserve appearances) and Lloyd Sam (4 in 8).

In the past 11 months we have lost or sold the following players:

Scott Parker
Matt Svensson
Stephen Hughes
Gary Rowett
Richard Rufus
Carlton Cole
Claus Jenson
Paulo Di Canio
Michael Turner
Jamal Campbell-Ryce

The following have joined:

Brian Hughes
Francis Jeffers
Stephan Anderson
Danny Murphy
Dennis Rommedahl
Talal El Karkouri
Jerome Thomas

Worrying isn't it?

Reports from those that were there: Independent; Addicks Diary; cafc.co.uk.
  ¶ 11:02 |

  Gagging for a pint.... Yesterday was the first day in ages I didn't have a drink. I don't know whether to be proud or disgusted with myself. Whatever, that will all change tonight when I meet up with my Hornchurch mates. Plenty of pints & a curry? Correct.

In the last month I have had a constant stream of visitors, which is great and has been a lot of fun but it doesn't do much for my kidneys, my work load or my ironing pile! And when I get back to Chicagoland the Christmas parties start in earnest but at least what with Halloween & Thanksgiving the Christmas songs don't start appearing in shops until December as opposed to September here, which frankly really pishes me off and turns me into a right bah humbug.

In the two days I have been back I have really got into I'm a celebrity get me out of here, although I am still working out who half of the 'C' Celeb's are mind. One thing that has become very clear though is I have decided, after being torn for years, who is the better looking off the Appleton sisters? Natalie or Nicole? Well after watching Nicole on the Frank Skinner Show last night looking more than lovely, this after watching Natalie looking like a hound with a plate of chips on her shoulder on I'm a Celebrity, my mind has been made up!

My Dad has just put the trusty old Teletext on and it is saying that Kevin Lisbie is expected to be considered for a return to the starting line up tomorrow. Well I must admit we did miss his natural goalscoring instinct up at Old Trafford....
  ¶ 16:10 |

  No turkey for me
It is Thanksgiving here on Thursday and work pretty well packs up tomorrow lunchtime as people lock themselves indoors to eat their way through deep fried turkeys - watch for the news on Friday telling us that people have burnt their houses down because they were doing it in their garage because it was snowing.

No turkey for me, not for a month or so anyway, I'm leaving for London tonight. Managed to get a flight for $399 but will fly home (I'm calling Chicago home, scary) on Tuesday and not Monday which was my preference as I have oodles on here at work. The reason for this? The $1,901 difference in the price. I'll never know how they work that out.

I will do the normal running around catching up with as many people as possible. Chelsea I think is a no no as I will see my son the weekend. So my season ticket will remain idle although I think my brother will make sure it's used.

As a side note, I am wearing my St George cuff links today. No reason. But our graduate, sorry Rotational Development Program(me) Associate, who has more degrees than you can shake a stick at, just asked me why I was wearing Swiss flags on my cuffs! America is the only country that you can go to school (often at great expense) for 20 years and still not know a flying fcuk about the rest of the world.
  ¶ 15:32 |

  Man Utd away. What was the score? 0-2 Now, I have done some silly things in my very poorly paid career as a Charlton fan and although waking up to an alarm call at 6.15am after getting home at 2am very drunk is not a patch on queueing overnight outside the Valley to get a Man United Quarter Final FA Cup ticket, it will probably feature in my top 20.

I could look at the game two ways. The first goal was a deflection and the 2nd was offside or I could suggest that we never looked like scoring, put in a very powder puff performance and were lucky to get away with just losing 2-0. Ummm, what do you think?

Not one player stood out in our 4-5-1 formation who was not a defender (thought EL Kak was our best player if I had to pick one) and it must have been a very frustrating early afternoon for Shaun Bartlett (why did Curbs wait until the 76th minute to introduce Jeffers?).

I know we were playing Man Utd but once again we did not have a worthwhile shot on goal and I know a lot has been spoken about expectations but it would have been nice if I had at least lifted my arse of my bar stool once in excitement as I sat amongst 20 or so very plastic Man U fans wearing No. 7 Beckham tops.

Again I watched Murphy have an ineffective game although he wasn't the only midfielder who kept conceding possession and probably for the first time Jerome Thomas struggled although he did see a lot of the ball in the first half.

Oh well, lets put the kettle on and go back to bed.

Reports from those who were there: BBC Sport; Sky Sports; cafc.co.uk; ITV Sport.
  ¶ 11:30 |

  Basket-brawl Man, there are going to be some lawsuits. You don't think some of those fans aren't going to want some NBA money? ” (more)

I was out last night in a bar and the basketball was on in the background when suddenly everyone's attention was turned to the television as the game between Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers turned into a full blown riot. I along with others watched with mouths open as players fought with fans for a good 10 minutes.

It started when Indiana's Ron Artest and Detroit's Ben Wallace had a bit of handbag throwing on the court. This resulted in a fight breaking out by the scorers' table as players came off both benches but then Detroit supporters got involved and started chucking cups and ice at Artest. Artest was then hit on the head by a flying cup and duly burst into the crowd to find the culprit.

With not a cop insight, what followed was utter mayhem as players swapped punches with fans with all manner of items raining down from the stands. The game was abandoned with 45 seconds left on the clock and I have to say I have never seen anything like it. It puts the Cantona and Palarse incident to shame. If you get a chance to see the footage you will see what I mean.

Now call me old fashioned but in my mind this was a tinsy winsy bit worse than seeing the top of a naked women's back (which apparentely is now a race issue) on television but lets wait to see how the American public and media react to this.
  ¶ 08:07 |

  The early bird catches the game Feel like I am in desperate need of a huge lie in but tomorrow morning I will attempt to raise myself out of bed with my expected hangover to get to the pub for the 6.45am kick off. Fado's is only a 5 minute walk from my apartment and at least they sell proper tea.

I agree with my fellow ex-pat New York Addick that suddenly we have become worth watching again with our new found formation. I am hoping that we exploit Shaun Bartlett's current rush of form & confidence and reinstate him to the line up with Jeffers on the bench and not Lisbie as he has more chance of scoring a Christmas No. 1 hit than at Old Trafford.

I have a couple of more mates here with me this weekend so there is no chance of me getting out my pipe and slippers and sitting in front of ABC's Desperate Housewifes. Supposedly rated the 3rd best show amongst men in the US, the not so clever folk at ABC took advantage of this on Monday night and had British born star Nicollette Sheridan in a men's locker room dressed in just a white towel. She then lost the towel and jumped into the arms of Philadelphia Eagles star Terrell Owens.

This being America you saw no nudity whatsoever of course but this being America it caused massive uproar and has led most news stories all week. ABC already has a 5 second delay on it's Monday Night Football programme (can you imagine Sky doing that?) following the flash of Janet Jackson's nipple at the Superbowl but at least someone at the New York Times agrees with me that this country is over obsessed with political correctness.
  ¶ 15:33 |

  Nightmare debut for Euell After searching through the myriad of television channels yesterday evening I eventually found live coverage of the USA v Jamaica World Cup Qualifier and Jason Euell's long awaited debut for the Reggae Boyz. It turned out to be a nightmare for our boy who did not even get onto the field of play until the last 19 minutes and I think I counted about 8 touches of the ball as Jamaica could only draw 1-1 with USA at Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Panama's defeat of El Salvador meant that they qualify with the US from their group and Jamaica are eliminated.

The United States who were already through to the next stages rested many of their higher profile players and tried out many youngsters including Chicago born Man U 18 year-old defender Jonathan Spector, who came on as a substitute.

Despite only 9,000 fans cheering on the young American side they were a technically more superior side with Jamaica relying on the occasional flash of skill from Bolton's Ricardo Gardner and a lot of huff and puff.

Up front Ricardo Fuller lacked pace and Chicago Fire striker Damani Ralph was completely ineffective with Forest's Marlon King replacing him in the 2nd half. The US dominated the first half hour and deservedly took the lead through Ed Johnson but Jamaica's Andy Williams (also from Chicago Fire) equalised from the spot.

I watched the 2nd half just waiting for the introduction of Euell and wondered why Jamaica, with nothing to lose, did not throw everything except the kitchen sink at a US side, who for the last 17 minutes played with 10 men when defender Oguchi Onyewu was sent off for two yellows. It never happened as coach Lazaroni and his players had a look of inevitability about them as the game drew to a close despite 5 minutes of added time.

Euell will be wondering if the whole experience was worthwhile especially after the time it took to get FIFA clearance to eventually make his debut. It will be a great shame not to see the Reggae Boyz (with an Addick contingent of course) and their fans in Germany but they did look a very poor side.

To rub salt into the wound for Euell, who has a number of England U21 caps, for the match the USA were decked out in the team’s 1950 World Cup retro kits, commemorating the team’s 1-0 upset win over England 54 years ago. The irony probably lost on most people on the pitch and in the crowd but not our Jason.
  ¶ 11:05 |

  Piss off and follow someone else I read with utter disgust that so called Charlton fans waited behind after the home defeat to Middlesbrough to hang around the car park and scream abuse at the players, particularly Jason Euell. Who are these people? We don't want these wankers following our club.

What possesses people to do that? Christ we lost to 4th placed Middlesbro' who have a team full of Internationals. Do they not know anything about the club they're supposed to follow? Many of us remember humilating home defeats by such giants as Rotherham and Notts County to name but two and I didn't hang around the car park to shout abuse at such legends as Steve Dowman. They need to read a bit about the history of the club, thats if they can read at all.

I hope they feel truly ashamed reading that the club have been forced to change the arrangements regarding the arrival and departure of Charlton players at The Valley. Pity those poor kids that will never be able to wait for hours in the rain again to seek a glance of their heroes and maybe grab an autograph or two.

People from all walks of life love Charlton and clearly not all of the 'record crowd' which attended yesterday's game has witnessed some of the really dreadful Saturday afternoon's, but if you're going to be a fan, do some research, talk to people, buy into the history of the club and what it really means to be a Charlton fan otherwise piss off and follow someone else.
  ¶ 19:35 |

  Norwich home. What was the score? 4-0 Feels good this winning malarkey. Talk of doom was obviously premature. I sat and watched the live text click over on the BBC website every two minutes and very satisfactory it was too. Not quite the real thing of course but a win is a win.

I spoke to one of my mates after the game and he did tell me that Norwich were the worst team he had seen for ages and reading the Charlton web pages it seems as if others were in agreement, however a clean sheet and 4 goals - which vastly improves our crap goal difference - should not be sneezed at. We all know confidence breeds success and it's good to bank some more points ahead of a tough looking few weeks on the calendar.

I am pleased for JJ, in his first season for us he often looked so dangerous and even forgotten man Konchesky scored. I'm told Murphy looked better again, Thomas once more was a revelation and El Kak had another strong game and decapitated a few Canaries in the process after kicking the ball with all of his might into the Jimmy Seed Stand. Good lad.

Breaking news. Kevin Lisbie is Curbs' lovechild. It's official. Team player or not, he wears number 10 on his back and it would be nice if he occasionally looked like scoring.

Anyway, back to the postives. My day was complete when the Live Text clicked over at about 10 minutes to 5 (GMT) and told me that Milan Baros had scored a late penalty at Anfield. Wonderful day all round.

Reports from those that were there: Wyn Grant; ITV football; cafc.co.uk; BBC Sport; All Quiet.
  ¶ 18:53 |

  It's not like the good old days - Luton '89 Luton Town, Kenilworth Road, 2nd May, 1989
Post the Millwall chair throwing evening at Kenilworth Road in March 1985 Luton Town, thanks in no small part to MP and hated chairman David Evans, had changed from being pitied to detested by every football fan in the country.

The reasons for this were 3 fold. One was of course Maggie Thatcher arse licker David Evans, the next was their horrible, nasty plastic pitch (they might be coming back!) and lastly it was their membership scheme totally banning away fans.

Stories of away fans efforts to gain entry to the ground were legendary in pubs & bars around the country. I knew some people (non Luton fans) who were actually members. In fact all the ban did was to make away fans want to go to the shit hole even more. Just like me and my brother during the 1988/89 season.

I had been to Kenilworth Road before and it fully deserves its listing as one of the 10 crappiest grounds in the country as decreed by an Observer poll recently.

It was a huge game for us, we were once again fighting relegation during our 3rd season back in the top flight and Luton were down there with us. We had been playing well but a loss on the Saturday before away at QPR had still left us with a battle on our hands. There were only 4 games left in the season and like other Charlton fans we knew we had to get into Kenilworth Road to give them our support.

This was our source - a friend of mine worked with a bloke whose mate's brother was a Luton fan. In this case of Chinese whispers my friend had managed to explain that we were neutral football fans who had never been to Kenilworth Road and wanted to go to a game, the Charlton game in particular. If my memory serves me correctly Luton fans were limited to how many additional tickets they could purchase. They also had to prove they were not for visiting supporters. He had got us four and for his trouble we said that we would meet him after the game and buy him a pint.

We had met at Farringdon Station dressed in work clothes with not an inch of red on (which lets face it was normal for any away game back then) and were told to expect a lot of questions from police and stewards on the way into the stadium and at the turnstiles. Bedfordshire Police were enforcing the ban and we even had our match tickets checked during the train journey to Luton.

We had already recognised some familiar faces and gave each other a knowing nod and a smile but none of us were prepared for what was waiting at Luton Station. The Police had formed a human line and every single person was searched, had their ticket checked and sporadically asked questions. I gave the copper a smile as I went to walk past him. "Oi, what is the name of Luton's goalkeeper," he said to me. I looked at him with a puzzled look and said "why, Les Sealey." And that was that. I was officially a Luton fan for the night!

The ground was grim, with barbed wire turnstiles and electronic gates, surrounded by tiny terraced houses - the Kohlerdome was then and still is a pipe dream. Stewards and cops hung around the entrances - the club's police bill must have been higher with the away ban than it would have been without it - and after a few more stern looks at both our tickets and our faces and we were inside the ground.

The four of us stood in the Kenilworth End which was historically the home end. I felt a real nervousness about me, tingled with excitement. It was like when you were at school and you had done something wrong but had got away with it.

It didn't take long after the kick off to realise that we were not the only Addicks in the ground. As any football fan will tell you; one of the hardest things to do is stand amongst rival supporters and show no signs of passion or support for your team but at this game not only were we in the wrong end but we shouldn't have been there at all. All around me I saw familiar faces grimace and kick every Charlton ball. I felt proud but nervous and anxious at the same time.

It was a big game for the Hatters too and their fans were noisy although I thought I could hear the odd strain of "Come on you Reds". Typically however we were behind after just 11 minutes when Wilson scored and then after 24 minutes Colin Walsh put into his own net and the people around us were wondering why we didn't share their enthusiam to what was going on out on the pitch, although I suspect that they had seen many an opposing fan in their end during the season.

Just as we were hoping we could make it to half time only 2 down, Wilson scored his 2nd to make it 3-0 and then Luton legend Mick Harford scored a 4th and it was all over. The break seemed like an eternity with only our achievement of getting into the ground worth whispering about. Only Charlton could make you suffer like this. Months of planning, a near military operation to get into the ground, a buzz of excitement as we kicked off a must win game and 4 goals down 45 minutes later!

Paul Williams came of the bench at half time to replace the late Tommy Caton and join Garth Crooks up front. The ineffective Crooks was then substituted to sarcastic applause from us and Andy Jones (where is he now?) came on. Now, Jones was a bit of an enigma to me. He had scored a hatful of goals for Port Vale and had already made his Welsh debut when Lennie Lawrence signed him for 350,000 at the start of the 1986 season. At that time it had looked like a worthwhile gamble but he never settled and his time was disrupted by injuries.

Nevertheless to aid Jones' most recent injury he was sent back to Vale where he was hero worshipped and had done well and I remember thinking we should capitalise on this and play him from the start. So his introduction in the 62nd minute gave us a glimmer of hope, albeit a blinkered one which did increase after Jones scored following a burst of pace in the 71st minute but we were soon brought back from la-la land 6 minutes later when Roy Wegerle scored to make it 5-1.

Andy Jones did score again, at least to prove mine and I'm sure his point that he should have started the match ahead of the lazy, television destined Garth Crooks (where are they now?).

After the match we had to meet up with those blokes who got us the tickets to buy them a pint which further extended our miserable evening stuck in godforsaken Luton, although looking back it wasn't the result that mattered it was the estimated 500 Charlton fans who had made a mockery of the away ban and the ridiculous train station and city centre checkpoints just to support their team.

We did bounce back to prove the Luton game was a blip, winning our next two games, both at home, to stay another season in the top flight and finish above Luton.

Team: Bolder; Humphrey, Reid, Caton (Williams 46), Pates, Shirtliff; Lee, Walsh, MacKenzie, Mortimer; Crooks (Jones 62).
Attendance: 10,024
Final Div 1 table
  ¶ 21:57 |

  No wonder American's have perfect teeth Feel rough today. At 8 o'clock this morning I had a dentist's fist in my gob supposedly giving me a deep root cleanse. It frickin' hurt. It's the 3rd time I've been to see him in 4 weeks - no wonder American's have such bloody perfect teeth and I also woke up with a really sore left shoulder - god knows what I was doing last night in my sleep? Breakdancing it feels like.

My mate Big DG has gone home. It was a great time and I already miss him being around. Think we crammed as much in as possible: bars; restaurants; The top floor of the Hancock building; brunch; Oreo shakes; Millennium Park; Mag Mile shopping; Saturday afternoon College Football; A live Bulls game (they got hammered); Soldier Field; the Lake; more beers; Fogo de Chao (endless servings of 22 different cuts of meat - it is truly obscene); Navy Pier; Piano Bar; Sports bar; more food.... no wonder I'm shagged.

I'm planning a quiet weekend, I need to get my fat belly down to the gym - it's only 28 floors down the lift for gawds sake, will probably meet a mate to watch a bit of footie and clean my apartment up. Then we have an ex colleague here from London for two weeks starting Monday and two more mates arrive thirsty and excitable on Thursday for a long weekend.

On that thought I'm off home for a lie down.
  ¶ 18:50 |

  MyPa arrangement shows good foresight "I'm not knocking the expansion of our impressive junior coaching network but how about us considering more grown arrangements of the likes of the Beveren/Arsenal or Antwerp/Man Utd ones?" This was me on Tuesday on these pages and as if by magic on Friday Charlton announce a four year collaboration with Finnish Cup Winners MyPa.

Seperate to the agreement, which will allow us first option on any promising players, whom previously had included Sami Hyypia and Jari Litmanen, is the signing of Finnish U16 international Jani Tanska who joins the club on a one year scholar basis, but will sign a two-year professional contract in July 2005. Credit to the club on a excellent forward thinking move.
  ¶ 12:22 |

  Spurs away. What was the score? 3-2
I tried a different way for me to 'watch' the game today - sat in front of the internet watching the Live Text on BBC where the page refreshes every 2 minutes. Very enjoyable at 3 up, not so much fun at 3-2 let me tell you, especially when the shot count is 20-4 in Spurs favour and increasing every 2 minutes.

But what a great result. Back to the Charlton of old, you know the one? The 3-0 up and cruising, deliberate handball, player sent off, penalty, terrible back pass and the hanging on with 3 minutes of injury time kind of one. Oh, how I miss that Charlton and it's good to see it back. Top result, Charlton fans at home will enjoy their Monday's at work.

Bartlett doesn't score nowhere near enough goals but when he does they always seem to be crucial and good ones to boot. And it sounded like Jerome Thomas, deflection or not, had another inspiring game on the wing. Dennis who?

So, we took advantage of the Tottenham turmoil and although I have got better things to do today than to listen to Talksport, its great to know that the phone lines will be jammed with despondent Spurs fans and not Charlton ones. As I said, it's back to normal. Let's move on from here. Come on you Addicks.

Reports from those that were there: BBC Sport; Sporting Life; cafc.co.uk; Wyn Grant.
  ¶ 13:19 |

  "America has spoken...."
Well old Dubya got his wish for 4 more years (god help us) after the American people voted to re-elect him this morning. John Kerry, in an emotional speech, conceeded defeat at about 2pm Eastern Time with George W Bush accepting his victory about an hour later.

Despite the problems in Iraq from which there appears no early way out and the failure of his administration to capture Osama Bin Laden who openly goaded it this weekend in his latest video release, a record loss of jobs during his first 4 years and trillions of dollars of national debt, Bush's win was by a larger margin than was expected with 274 electoral votes to 252. In the popular vote the difference was 3,581,355, about 3%.

At the end of the day the American people like it simple, they liked Bush's moral values and the fact that he banged on about God a lot. His unerring position on terrorism struck a proud cord with American's and his belief's and his consistent stance on Iraq, some would call it stubborness, won him votes.

It was the largest turnout since 1968 with 120m people voting. The voting map of the USA tells its own story in my dumb but inquisitive English mind. The so called metropolitan, cosmopolitan and financial area's of the country, i.e. the North East Coast, the MidWest and the West Coast are completely Democrat whilst the South and the old Confederacy states and it's border states of Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia are a sea of red.

For Kerry, whose lack of charisma is being blamed for the defeat even though voters acknowledge his intelligence, something that might be important in leading some countries but clearly not here, will, however stay in the Senate unlike his running mate John Edwards who won't. Back to making millions in the law courts for him.

Right, that's me done with politics for a while. Bring on 2008 and Hilary Clinton and local rising star Barack Obama whose name is on everyone's lips. I've been saying it since I got here (see) but even the BBC have got hold of it. Barack Obama - future President of the USA. Watch this space.
  ¶ 17:05 |

  Turner to Bees
Just a few days after I was touting him for a first team chance, Michael Turner today signed permanently for Brentford for an undisclosed fee. Much was made of the Lewisham boy's future over the past few seasons but I guess Curbs didn't think he could step up. I never saw him play to be honest but people that did, say he was not the quickest.

I always have a little bit of apprehension when we move on a so called promising youngster although Curbishley does have a good record in this department - Kevin Nicholls, Dean Chandler, Paul Sturgess, Paul Emblen, Charlie MacDonald, Mark McCammon (voted by Millwall fans as one of their worst ever players) to name but a few have never come back to haunt us.

However two players that were released and have gone on to do well are Linvoy Primus and Danny Shittu. Coincidently both centre halves like Turner.

I love the deceptive Real Madrid headline on the official site today about us joining forces with Spanish side UD San Pedro from Marbella who play in the Spanish Tercera Division, group nine (more). I'm not knocking the expansion of our impressive junior coaching network but how about us considering more grown arrangements of the likes of the Beveren/Arsenal or Antwerp/Man Utd ones? Or are we still licking our wounds from the Inter Milan farce?
  ¶ 15:39 |

  Well, this is it. Well the day has finally arrived, election day. It seems like the whole time I have been in the States everyone has been banging on about it. God knows what I am going to watch on television tomorrow night? I guess I could always tune into the new series of The Swan.

The polls opened on the East Coast at 6am (5 hours behind the UK) and the last booth will close in Alaska tonight at around 6am GMT. Analysts predict the biggest turnout for 40 years, approximately 1.25m people which is 75% of the total illegible to vote and I am told the queues at polling stations are huge. In fact returning from getting my lunch a moment ago I had this ridiculous conversation with a guy who recognised me from the hour long line at Irving Park this morning. He asked me how long I waited and what time I got there and we talked about how amazing it all was.

Of course it wasn't me, I can't vote I'm just a poor British bloke who thinks they are all mad but hey I didn't have the heart to tell him.

A full report on my take on the outcome or the resulting court cases will appear tomorrow.
  ¶ 15:00 |