Swindon away: Friday preview

It's been a strange week........ for a start the midweek match watching the team in all white involved England not Leeds.  As it transpired watching England was a lot more difficult than getting to see Leeds as along with the vast majority of people I don't have the required satellite channel, Sultana or something, and therefore had to watch on ITV 24 hours after the event.  Now if I was an aging cynical fan who thinks that money has completely taken over "the beautiful game" I would suggest that the FA has sold out to the highest bidder regardless of the needs of the ordinary fan..........but as the FA always put the fan first there must be some other reason it wasn't on BBC or ITV on the day of the game!

So in the true tradition of sporting journalism in Britain before the match the knives were being sharpened  in preparation for a ritual savaging of the latest England manager as we couldn't possibly beat the 6th best team in the world in their backyard etc etc.....................but as I will testify time and time again Football is a funny old game and we put Johnny Foreigner firmly in their place thanks to a measured team performance backed by good finishing from young Walcott (see Sven did know what he was doing!) and some dubious defending that wouldn't have been out of place at ER.  Consequently after the game, with lots of discarded copy on the cutting room floor, it is now a cakewalk to qualify for South Africa and we can start booking our hotels and flights .

Watching the match on ITV did however send a cold shiver down my spine though as a certain Mr Danny Mills was sat there large as life offering his "expert opinion"  through some ridiculous deal sealed during the fire sale at Leeds we only finished paying for him last Friday, even though he hasn't worn the white shirt for a number of years.  Clearly he now needs another source of income to keep the Wolves form the door so up he pops on TV advising on how England should be playing......................so we can look forward to incisive comments such as "he should have put him in row J" & "What bonus do I get if leave this club" from here on in.

Other items on my radar this week include the fact that scientists have started the "big bang" test, costing £4bn it consists of firing particles around a circuit at fast speeds and waiting two years for a result, with the distinct possibility that it could all end in a big crash................sounds a bit like like Formula 1 racing to me!

Also Golden Brown has been offering stunning advice on how to cope with the soaring cost of energy bills............apparently it's simple we've just to put an extra jumper on when it's cold and bung a bit more insulation in the loft and everything will be tickety boo, another classic piece of political deflection from the real problem.

So what's been happening on the Leeds front...........tickets for the Carling Cup clash with Hartlepool plopped onto the doormat and the announcement that the JPT tie with Rotherham will be on Sky hasn't deterred me from ordering my ticket for a bargain price of £10

So onto Swindon away.  Not surprisingly we have sold out our ticket allocation for the long trek to the County Ground guaranteeing another cracking atmosphere.  Our journey plan will utilise the train through to Kings X and then out to Swindon so will be looking forward to catching up with the likes of the "Wakefield Warriors" etc, I haven't checked where Grays Athletic are playing yet so not sure if we'll bump into "Blakey" or not.  I will be also on the look out for material for the Stewards Rogues gallery and "Babes of the Bill" with a view to publishing the collections in the next couple of weeks.

On the playing front competition for places will be keen but I can only see Hunty coming in for the suspended Lubo and possibly Robbo starting instead of Hughes as changes from last weeks team.  Hopefully all the adulation shown to our own little Thunderbird (F.A.B.) after last weeks show doesn't go to his head and he puts in another match winning performance.

It's another early start and late finish tomorrow so the match up date will appear on Sunday morning.

Can't wait.

MOT