I had spare time this week, no honest this is a real valuable commodity; you know, bit like a footballer who has moral's and family values. I find myself normally struggling with time like Mrs Terry and Mrs Cole would struggle to raise a fake smile, especially in the company of the Mr's in question!
What's wrong with footballers? God (Not the One from the City Ground) blesses them with a gift of being able to play the great game at a high level and the world we live in blesses them a pay cheque bigger than Jimmy Hills chin and yet still they crave the unobtainable. I mean, being a shoulder to cry on for a 28 year-old, French, Under-wear model…….Actually…....No, it's a joke, they have amazingly beautiful wives and girlfriends, why do they need to drape OFWAGS (other footballers wives and girlfriends) on their arm too?
Captain of his country, I wouldn't allow John Terry to be Captain Birdseye!
Did you hear the one about Belgium being a better footballing country than Scotland? No honestly it's true. Due to results in the Europa League this week, Belgium has leapfrogged Scotland in UEFA's 'Co-Efficient' rankings. What does that mean? Well, as of the 2011/12 season Scotland will now only be given one Champions league spot for their league and the league winner will also not be granted automatic qualification either; 3 qualifying stages, against other country's league winners must be tackled before you get anywhere near the likes of Milan, Madrid or Munich!
So the next time your sat in front of your goggle-box, praying for Urine Urinal (or whatever Liverpool's opponents were actually called on Thursday) to beat Liverpool, just remember that their result's may well effect your team's chances of European glory! And you thought the Europa League was a load of old………
Whilst north of the border the McTaggart's and McIsitinyet's are begging for Euro entries we've got more entries than the Euro Lottery and that's just what we intend to do with that 4th spot.
"Finish fourth, nah, I'll pace myself at the end of the season, stumble to the line in 7th and then keep my players fresh for the three game's in the play-off's" You can finish nearly 20 points off fourth and still have the right to a CL entry? Why not just give a CL place to the FA Cup winners, which would reignite a giant of the game and allow a team to enter the CL who has actually won something!!
Money, obviously, is the key to all of this. Remember the numpty that thought an extra game held overseas for all Premier League clubs was a good idea? Well I guarantee the person who had this play-off idea works in the same office as that plonker!
On to matters at hand and 'The Mighty Red's' made it 9 consecutive home wins equalling a club record, from 1953/54 & 1906/07 seasons. The mighty 'C' did get 12 back to back home wins but that was over the course of two seasons. Davies has had his problems off the field and seems to be pushing his players past the problem's they were having on it.
2 home 1-0 wins, against teams that Forest would have expected to be way behind at this stage in the season, Sheffield United and Middlesbrough, will remind people of the defensive strength Forest have showed all season. Whilst the flair and skill going towards the opponent's goal has caught the eye, 16 clean sheets shouldn't go un-noticed either.
Wes Morgan and Kelvin Wilson certainly have matured and grown under Billy Davies, however Billy's defensive coach Chris Fairclough is someone you can't fail to learn from. Dexter Blackstock's tireless work-rate upfront, Majewski, Cohen and Anderson becoming the most exiting midfield in the league and Captain McKenna's leadership are just some of the things that have seen Forest cement at least a Play-Off spot in the past few months.
We all know that Billy 'wanted' in January and that he was left 'wanting' come February but the transfer panel continues to frustrate; it can't go un-noticed that Forest's wobble happened at the same time? The will he-won't he saga for loan signing's will rumble for a while as Billy remains defiant but all in all, we can't grumble can we?
It's off to Leicester for the Red's and off to Wembley for me next weekend. Carling Cup final Commentary is the name of the game and I for one will be hoping for a Villa win!!
Lastly, some of you may know and others not but I'm currently undertaking a 5-stone sponsored diet, to raise money for kids cancer charity Clic Sargent. My aim is to lose the weight before December 6th.
It's going well at the moment; 17lb's in 5 weeks so far and I can't tell you how much I'd forgotten that exercise hurt!!
I'd like people to sponsor me either for every lb or stone's I lose or just a one off sponsor for undertaking the challenge. I was 19st 10lb when I weighed myself at the start in January and the target is 14st 10lb. So please get your generous side out of the cupboard. You can email me your proposal at alanmarch@sky.com or go to WWW.JustGiving .com, enter my name in the search and you can securely pledge on line.
In anticipation I thank you and I'll remind you to keep on shouting.....................
Yoooooooooooooooooooooou Reds!!
Alan March
Commentator for visually impaired spectators at Nottingham Forest and Wembley Stadium.
