Transfer Deadline day madness? No, a good day of Business for Liverpool FC!

The dust has finally settled on a day of excitement mixed with disappointment referred to as transfer deadline day. Before I start I'm ignoring the stupid amounts of money mentioned in the papers this morning as the only major money spent yesterday was Chelsea's £71 million, the 50 mill for Torres was then respent making it the same money not two different amounts!! As all was quiet on new signings for Colne FC In this post I will focus on why I think LFC did a pretty good bit of business yesterday.

Firstly to Torres. This will not be a bitter slating of him cause he's left Liverpool, I still think he is a quality footballer, who's given Liverpool fans some great memories! I am a little dissappointed in the way he left, but such is modern football devoid of loyalty and where money talks!! He first claimed on Friday that he wanted to leave, as he desired at this stage in his career to win trophies! I'm not sure why he needed to wait until three days before the transfer window to decide this and could have given Liverpool more time to sign a replacement if he'd decided this earlier. But as soon as he said he wanted to leave he had to go! He has looked dissatisfied all season and a shadow of his former self and no club needs a player who doesn't want to be there!

Additionally, I think he is wrong when he says Chelsea is a step up, yes they are currently in the Champions League and should be next season, when Liverpool are not, but I seriously think over the next 5 years Liverpool will win more silverware than Chelsea!! It's a bold claim and one I will explain in a seperate post later this week!!

£50 million does represents a good deal though. Torres is 27 next month, which means he has another 5 seasons left in him(roughly!!) So Chelsea have paid £10mill per season plus his reported £150'000plus a week wages. But Torres has gone and Liverpool Fc move on......

Liverpool themselves moved quickly to sign Andy Carroll for a reported £35million! I agree with many that this is an greatly inflated price on normal market value I think he's worth half that, but a striker had to be signed in 24 hours, who could play in the Uefa Cup otherwise it would be NGog leading the line on his own as Suarez is cup-tied!! Carroll is also English, which generally inflates the price anyway.

The £23million deal for Suarez was also finalised. Meaning Liverpool have signed two forwards for a combined fee of around £58million, who potentially have 10 seasons each left in them. Add to the finances the £5-6million recieved for Babel's transfer to Hoffenheim and Liverpool have a net transfer spend of around £2-3million!! Taking into account the players signing and the players leaving the hit on the wage bill will probably be fairly unchanged. Compare that to Chelsea's £71million pound hit and a £200grand (ish) a week hit on wages on the same day they announced losses for last season of £70million!!

Liverpool have signed two exciting attacking prospects and the owners have shown they're willing to put their hands in their pockets to improve the squad! All in all it represents a pretty good day of business for Liverpool FC, which could only have been better if the reported deals for Ashley Young, Charlie Adam and Stevie Warnock had come off, but we'll wait for the summer for more!!

My favourite deadline day stat is that Liverpool loaned Paul Konchesky to Nottm Forest, a team who have twice won the European Cup. Torres left for a team who have never won Europe's biggest prize!!

Football is a game of opinions, these I mine I welcome yours!!!

23 from 30!

With the world cup less than two weeks away my excitement is building already despite two pretty lacklustre performances in the warm up games from England. All eyes are on tomorrow when we finally find out which 23 players Fabio cappello will take out to South Africa to attempt to win the world cup!! I've had a look at the squad and this is who, from the 30 already picked, I would take:

Goalkeepers

Joe Hart - Best Keeper in the Prem this season.
David James - Experienced, but is he reliable!
Robert Green - Had lots of practice shot stopping with West Ham's leaky defence, but does look like a hobbit.

Easiest decision to make, always three keepers and he's only named three. For experience alone James would be my number 1.

Defenders

Glen Johnson - Great goal against Mexico, good attacking right back, needs work defensively
Ashley Cole - Great on the pitch, absolute prat off it!!
Rio Ferdinand - Not convinced on him as captain, but if he can regain his form is quality
John Terry - See Ashley cole!
Leighton Baines - Good season for Everton, will provide backup for Cole, but not as good as Bridge!
Jamie Carragher - Offers cover in every defensive position, will offer 100% at all times, I love him!
Michael Dawson - Good cover for Terry/Ferdinand
Ledley King - Had a good season, but injury proneness is still a worry. The new "Bryan Robson/Darren Anderton"


Midfielders

Steven Gerrard - First name on the teamsheet for me, but looks lost out on the left
Frank Lampard - Good attacking midfielder, just stop letting him take penalties!
Aaron Lennon - Pace and skill down the right, but lacks the delivery quality of Beckham
James Milner - One of the best players in the Prem this season, can play anywhere in Midfied and will score goals.
Gareth Barry - Fitness is an issue, but if he's fit he goes if not Carrick gets in!
Joe Cole - Another fitness worry, but has the ability to come off the bench and change a game
Theo Walcott - See Aaron Lennon, but could also play up front
Adam Johnson - Impressed me since he signed for City, Good option down the left or right

Strikers

Wayne Rooney - Brilliant season, needs to keep his cool in the big games or when things aren't going well.

Peter Crouch - Fantastic goalscoring record, scares defenders and quality celebrations.
Jermain Defoe - Most difficult choice between Defoe and Bent, but I went for who has looked least crap for England!!
Emile Heskey - The enigma!! Disliked by most fans, but loved by England managers. Doesn't score many but can hold the ball up as well as anyone and is superb at bringing others into the game! I like him!

Those left behind

Matthew Upson - Poor season in a struggling side, just edged out by Ledley King despite fitness concerns
Stephen Warnock - Only room for two left backs and I think Baines has had a better season.

Michael Carrick - Not proved himself as good as Barry, but will step in if Barry isn't fit

Tom Huddlestone - He will feature for England in the future, but not ready just yet.

Scott Parker - Better players in his position

Shaun Wright-Phillips - Not been the same over the last few seasons. Lennon & Walcott have both proved themselves better this year. I'll expect an angry call from Ian Wright any day!

Darren Bent - Top English goalscorer in the Premiership this season, but just hasn't looked good enough at international level. Will probably be at home twittering during the World Cup!

So there's my 23 to bring back the World Cup. I make no apologies that any updates to this blog over the next 6-8 weeks will be all about the World Cup, as for the next 6-8 weeks that's all that will matter.

Bye for now and this year Football really is coming home!!

Simon

Election Candidate Theme Songs

I'm currently watching the election coverage, but the current lack of action has left my mind to wander onto what songs should the party leaders have chosen for their campaign. So here's a few suggestions from me

Gordon Brown
Better the devil you know - Kylie.
Don't leave me this way - Communards
Leave in Silence - Depeche Mode

David Cameron
Trust me - The Fray
Change gonna come - Otis Redding
Take the power back - Rage against the machine

Nick Clegg
Who are you - The Who (his own hairdresser doesn't know who he is!)
More than words - Extreme
This Charming man - The smiths

Nick Griffin
Black or white - Michael Jackson
Everything about you - Ugly Kid joe

These are just a few I came up with please join in and add your own suggestions. It may make the wait between results a little more fun!!

Simon

Who Should I vote for - A guide for fellow undecided voters!!

Thought I'd breathe some life into my blog (as it's over a year since I last wrote anything) and what better subject than the imminent election!! I'm already getting excited and gearing up for a very late night tomorrow, as I'm one of those sad people who stay up until a stupid hour to hear the result! Yet with the polls set to open in a matter of hours and will close in a little over 24 hours, I'm still not sure who to vote for. so as I go through the process of who I should vote for I thought I'd share it to offer some help for any fellow undecided voters. This will be a short guide to choosing and at no point will I attempt to persuade you to vote for a particular party, that's a matter for your own conscience! (Just please don't vote BNP!)




Step 1. The first thing you need to know is who is actually standing in your constituency. There is a great website for finding this out: http://www.yournextmp.com/



Remember under our current electoral system you don't actually vote for the Prime Minister, you vote for your own local representative and the party with a majority forms a government with their leader becoming PM.

Step 2. Ignore the hype of the last few weeks, who came across best and who impressed in the TV debates. This is an election based on policy not personality; substance not style!!

Step 3. Look into the policies of those candidates standing in your constituency. The website listed above provides links to their websites where you can look at their manifestos and peruse their policies.



Granted this is a little time consuming, but there are a couple of shortcuts by completing the surveys at http://www.myvoteadvisor.com/ (more comprehensive) or http://www.votematch.org.uk/ (Slightly quicker) Be a little careful with these though, the vote match one suggested my views were in line with the Bnp!! Not sure if this is something I should be worried myself about or the bnp's own clever use of policy to hide their blatant racism!!




Step 4. Think carefully about which policies fit with the world you'd like to live in. As a Christian I believe that we vote for the good of the country; for the good of society as a whole; for the good of the church and our own personal good comes last!




There are some great websites for making a decision on policy with a Christian emphasis:

• The Christian Institute: http://www.christian.org.uk/ Their election briefing is very helpful in outlining parties policies and their Mp's voting record is enlightening.



• Care: http://www.care.org.uk/ Also has some useful stuff.



• The Westminster Declaration of Christian Conscience: http://www.westminster2010.org.uk/ A bid to hold parliamentary candidates to account to protect the rights of Christians beyond the election. Check which of your candidates have signed it or are supportive.

Step 5. I believe as a Christian we have a responsibility to vote and use our democratic rights for the good of the country we live in. I also believe that as citizens of the UK we also have a responsibility to vote. So the last step is simply get out and vote, make your voice heard and engage with our democracy - It's not perfect but it's pretty good!!

Lastly Pray!! I haven't included this as a step as it should underpin all the steps. Pray for wisdom as you choose, pray for the candidates and pray for the leaders. And when the election's over keep praying for your MP, the government and the country!! God cares and will answer.

See you on the other side, possibly under a new government!!

Simon

Gluten-Free living ruins spontaneity!!!

Hi all,

Sorry it's been so long since my last update, but the unfortunate situation of assignment deadlines really got in my way!! My Lenten vows are going OK, apart from a quick slip-up with some pickled onion monster munch, there has only been one incident.

It all occurred whilst I was in Nottingham last week. I had a meeting first thing (10.30am!!) so in my usual prepared state I'd had no breakfast and not prepared any lunch! My meeting finished at 12.30 and I went straight to college to change my library books in order to catch up on some work over the Easter Break after this I had to make a journey to face my fears in Ikea, as Rachel wanted a new bookcasey unity thingy! When I left Ikea it was already 3 and I hadn't eaten all day. On the site of Ikea in Nottingham there is nothing but a Subway, so I was faced with the option of trying to find somewhere on the way home or breaking the gluten-free rule. I followed the desire of my stomach and ate at Subway!! Incidentally had I waited the only place I would have found was opposite our house!!

What it made me realise is that if you have to follow a strict gluten-free diet. Firstly it is impossible to not plan ahead and simply be spontaneous, but also that still very few places (especially chains!!) actually cater for you!! Also today when someone had a birthday and I couldn't eat the cake, for the first time I felt the exclusion that a different diet can bring.

This post has been a little too serious for my liking, so I'll end it with a joke. I went to the local offices of the RSPCA today. They were so small there wasn't even room to swing a cat!!

It was all going so well until..... Biscuitgate!!!!!

Hi all,

It started so well, I'd been fine, even resisted pancakes on Friday night (with a little help from my youth group!). I'd endured some GF(gluten free) savoury biscuits for lunch on Thursday, which tasted very similar to the box they were packaged in!! Then last night after church it all fell apart. After our youth meeting I went to get a drink as I normally would, but was in a bit of hurry as the discipleship course was on after the service. There on the counter next to my coffee were some chocolate digestives. The rest is somewhat of a blur, I can only put it down to my natural instincts cutting in. I picked one up and ate within two bites!! It wasn't until a few minutes later when Rachel caught me that I realised what I'd done!! Without even thinking I had consumed both wheat & gluten.

I can only apologise for this complete disregard for all things lenten, I promise I did not do it deliberately and think that the four days without wheat and gluten must have starved my body to the point, where my brain was no longer able to function at full capacity. Although some of you may argue it never has!! After much tears and apologies last night, I have woken this morning with a renewed vigour for the days ahead, I will complete this mission without any further slip-ups or mistakes. I will keep my head at all times and not give in to my chocolate digestive eating animal instincts again!! I apologise once again to all who have now lost faith in me and hope that through my actions for the rest of lent I can restore your faith in me and in humanity!!

Love you all

Simon D

Lent 2009

Hi all,

As someone who sees giving anything up as quitting, it may surprise all of you (except those who i've already told) that for lent this year I will be giving up wheat & gluten. This isn't just for the sake of it, it's in sympathy to my lovely wife Rachel, who is a coeliac, and also to prove that its not as bad as she makes out!! Throughout the ordeal I will be posting updates on here about how its all going and hopefully I'll stick in a bit about if and how it has helped me get closer to God, after all that is what lent's about!!

Stay tuned and see how I cope or don't!!