My vote for next England Manager.
From this mornings’ Guardian :
Rodgers has empowered a team of nobodies (that word is used in the nicest possible sense, and plenty of them are well on the way to become somebodies) to such an extent that they could outclass one of the best squads in the world…
… why has he not at least been mentioned as a candidate for the England job?
This is a damn good question. With (some of) the press finally realising that Harry Rednapp is no longer the only English manager out there – AND the fact that Tottenham are swiftly following their trait of bottling it at the end of the season – as they did last year (2 wins out of last 12), Brendan Rodgers should be very high up on the FA’s shortlist.
Say No CPO
The freehold on which Stamford Bridge stands is owned by the fans. It is the only example of real fan power – unlike Liverpool’s fans’ talk of doing something, but eventually doing nothing – we did something.
The club now would like to buy back that freehold to potentially use in any financing of a move away from Stamford Bridge, should they wish to move to a larger stadium elsewhere. The arguments for moving to a larger stadium are understandable and not totally ridiculous. Really it is the emotional issues that are getting people, including myself carried away. But that is what being a fan is all about.
I was on the fence for the vote on the 27th until the clubs point blank refusal to instill the same setup with the freehold at any potential future site. Why would they not do that?
The value of the current freehold, due to it’s location, would surely be more than that of any new site (in my opinion), so it makes no sense why the same setup could not be done at any new site. Why would the club flatly oppose that? I cannot see how they would lose any value. Buying it back from us (the fans) for the value it was, back in the early 90s, and now selling it on an open market would constitute robbery in my book unless the same structure with the freehold is put in place at any new site.
I also don’t believe that we would consistently fill a 60,000+ stadium in future. My opinion is to rather increase our income through TV/Advertising and stay at The Bridge. Who knows what football viewing will be like in 10 years time.
I also don’t want us to become another Arsenal. Great stadium, but cannot fill it, has no atmosphere and the burden of paying it off hinders the growth on the pitch.
The main argument for the move is to put us on a level playing field with the top clubs. But we are already competing with top clubs. The only club that has given Barca a game over the last 5 years has been us. Domestically, Man Utd have had the start of all starts this season (seemingly) yet we are only 1 point behind them and had a linesman been able to do his job properly, we would be most likely, 2 points clear of them. Man City have just moved into a new stadium in the last couple of years and it is of similar size to our own.
I cannot see any reason why staying at The Bridge will put us behind anyone else. I am grateful, as I am sure all CFC fans are, that we have an owner who, unlike others we won’t mention, is a fan and loves our club. He appreciates our history and tradition – evident in his immediate reversing of some of the more unfavourable decisions during the Bates reign.
But the truth is that although Roman may not be here forever, CFC will. We, the fans must continue to possess the unique opportunity / structure that we have with our club to guard against any future threat like we had in the 80s. Look at what has happened in Liverpool and Manchester. None of us want that.
And one last thing – Osgood’s ashes are laid to rest at the Shed end penalty spot…What happens to those? I know it is a bit irrelevant to the whole economics of the debate, but we have great history and none better than that of the Bridge – how the fans dug deep to save it. No other club has a ground with the history like ours.
The commentator v West Ham last season said, that when Torres scored his first goal for us, he felt the whole stadium shake when that ball went in – such was the noise and euphoria of the celebrations. Welcome to The Bridge my friend. Anyone who has been there and felt The Bridge shake to it’s foundations knows that it is an awesome feeling and one that will not be replicated at any other ground.
On the 27th Oct, my vote will be NO.
Medal in the Bag
They say that by the Wednesday after the race, all the post Comrades talk starts to change from tales of pain and suffering to the plans and strategies for running the next one. I had said to myself that this would be my one and only shot at snatching a Comrades medal – a kind of ‘tick it off the bucket list’ type of attempt. I made the excuses that there are many other things that I would like to accomplish while I still have the legs and that the dedication and commitment needed to train for Comrades, takes up too much time. I was convinced that no matter what, I will never run it again. But after one week, the word – ‘never’ seemed a tad strong…
The whole Comrades experience burst into life for me while at the Expo on the Saturday morning. Wandering around, absorbing the atmosphere was surreal. The sheer volumes of people moving through the registration desks was both inspiring and frightening. I was there with some other comrades – my brother-in-law, Bertus (running his 2nd Comrades) and Willem (5th) and we were in great spirits the whole morning, managing to get registered and then wandering around all the stalls of people trying to sell you lotions, potions, beer and balance bands.
All under the guise of carb loading, we decided to have some of that nice Nottingham road brewery beer and, unfortunately, some dodgy falefels for breakfast and then plumbed for what could only be best described as a free leg shave that came with some muscle/ligament strapping – By the time we left the expo, I felt I was now ready. Motivated and inspired, 05:30 the next morning could not come quickly enough.
Three years ago I joked to my brother-in-law (middle) that anyone could run Comrades. Provided that they had a decent level of fitness, and that they monitor their fluids and electrolyte replenishment, they should be able to finish within the 12hour time limit. At 5:30am on Sunday, I was no longer so sure of that statement. There were masses and masses of people on the streets of Durban that morning and it made me realise that, just based on statistics, not everyone here will finish the race. I was now quite nervous that it might be me, making up the stats. Looking around at everyone on the street made me consider that, at the very least, each person here had one marathon behind them. Some of them would have had dozens of Comrades medals to their names as well. I was now in the presence of not just a bunch of randoms that fancied a little trot around KZN on a Sunday, but amongst a group of hardcore runners, about to attempt an enormous challenge. Thinking about what I had done in the run up to Comrades, I started to feel that I might have been underprepared with only one marathon and a furthest run of 45km under my belt.
But there is no looking back at that stage. Once the epic ‘Chariots of Fire’ rang out to almost dead silence, it was then that I could sense everyone putting their final focus into the task at hand. Tightening laces, scoffing down last bits of energy and praying to their gods… When that gun cracked out over the crowd, I had no alternative but to feel that I had done everything that I could have, to prepare for that moment.
It is without a doubt that the hills with no names are the ones that you must look out for – starting with the whole journey out of Durban to Cowie’s. For me, the first half of the race seemed to be a relentless battle against gravity. Just when I thought I was starting to get the edge, I got walloped by a stretch of tarmac that I could not see the top of, only hordes of people disappearing over the edge. I had felt reasonably good up until Botha’s hill, but from there on, my legs were becoming tired and heavy. By the time we were finally over Inchanga, the physical battle was well and truly lost and the mental battle began. We had all been full of jokes, stories and laughs up until then. But after Inchanga, it seemed at times like we were running through a cemetery. My wife had even joked to Bertus and Willem that they were brave running with me because of my incessant yapping, but they both laughed knowing that this race would soon quieten me down!
Prior to the race I had read the statement ‘Do not let the body control the mind’. It had stuck in my mind the whole week and from about half way on in the race, it very soon started to sound like a broken record in my mind. When I reached the 45km mark – the point where I was now doing my furthest ever run – there were still 42kms to go and my legs were in pain! To say that my new landmark was met with a bit of disappointment would be a huge understatement!
At 50km in, I had realised that we had not seen our wives since ±18km. We had hoped to have seen them at Drummond, but they were not there and Willem then started to prepare our minds for the possibility of not seeing them until the end. When I realised that the end was still a long, long way away, this was a huge psychological blow to me. For some unknown reason, the prospect of this was spirit crushing to me. Then I heard Willem say ‘There they are!” – no more than ten minutes after saying we may not see them again while trudging up Inchanga, the emotions were too much. It took me a little while to focus in on where they were in the crowd, but once I did, the boost I received from seeing my wife jumping up and down and giving me a huge hug is indescribable. After a big sweaty hug and her telling me that she was so proud, setting off again was easy. The previous 50kms were forgotten about, Inchanga was no more than an ever increasing, distant memory and it was now all about powering on to the finish.
After Polly’s (and the lies you are told from the people at the bottom about it being the last hill) we knew that we were homing in on a bronze medal. But for me, I was tired and it felt that the kms were not ticking down quickly enough for my liking. We had been overtaken by a large number of people, including a large 11 hour bus and as we reached the 2km remaining mark, I asked Willem what he had left in his legs. His response will live with me forever – instead of saying that he was shot to bits or exhausted, he returned with a sly – “Why, what are you thinking about?”. According to the split times, I estimate that we over took hundreds of people in those last 2km. We bounded into that stadium, so quickly in fact, that my wife never even had a chance to get a photo of us! We crossed the line in 10hrs 44mins with the last 2kms done in under 10 minutes!
It was a great privilege to run with Willem because he is an exceptional Comrade. For the whole slog, beginning to the end, he displayed the exact spirit that makes this race so famous. While I was often too focused on my own mission, Willem was handing out high fives to all the people supporting from the sides, always thankful to people shouting his name, giving him support and when he came across anyone that was struggling at the side, he did not hesitate to pull over, put his arm around them and offer support. One particular runner was struggling with about 14km to go and Willem’s words and actions of encouragement were just as inspiring for me – as I hope they were for the comrade who was battling. I still laugh now and will do for many years to come when I think about his Nigerian influence kicking in at about 8:30am. Having smelled all the food being cooked at the side of the road by spectators, Willem decided he was going to go and beg for some. He spied someone cooking some Wors and made a bee-line to their braai. After some haggling and begging, he caught up with us with a handful of freshly cooked sausage, only to be disappointed that it was the thin type and not very tasty! It appears that beggars are choosers!
Having not grown up in South Africa and not having any particular knowledge of the history of the Comrades, I had found it hard to think of it other than just another race. Even as I was scaling Inchanga or plodding along the Harrison flats, it was difficult to come to terms with this race as being something special, with a fantastic history and that I was going to be part of it. It just would not enter my head. But I believe that it is because you cannot appreciate this race with your head alone. You can admire and respect it but you cannot truly love it until you have that medal in your hand. My love for Comrades was affirmed during those last 2kms. I knew at that point that I was there, I had done it. The roar of the crowd while bounding down the last mile took away any feelings or memories of pain, leaving me to soak up the fantastic atmosphere and set this race truly in my heart. To go through this journey from sign up to finish with such a great friend made it all the more special.
It is definitely one of my greatest achievements and I could never have completed this without the support and encouragement of so many fantastic people – top amongst those being dear old wife! Without her support, I would never have even made it to the starting line.
Will I run it again? No doubt.
Brighton Marathon
Probably a cliche, but I will never forget this experience. My first Marathon. To qualify for Comrades, you must run a marathon in under 5 hours so I chose the Brighton marathon to be my qualifier. It was a bit of a gamble because of the logistics involved and the timescale in which to submit my qualifying details for Comrades – but I am elated that I chose Brighton.
Brighton is a great town. It never needs an excuse or a reason to have a party. Having over 900 pubs is testimony to this! So when an event like the Brighton Marathon comes to town – they are out in force!! I used to visit Brighton regularly when I was younger and I always enjoyed her charm. So when the opportunity to run what in fact is only the second Brighton Marathon, I jumped at it. I was fortunate enough to also be able to run for The Stroke Association and by the day of the race had raised ±1500 GBP for their cause.
The race started at 9am so by 8am I walked along from the hotel to the start of the race, soaking up all of the atmosphere. Hundreds of people were making the same journey along the streets, to the start. Some were dressed as pacman characters, tigers, fairies and there was even a Spongebob Squarepants! The inspirational music was being blared out from the park and just before the gun, Steve Cram was there to give some words of advice. I was in absolute awe of all of this.
Somehow I had managed to get to the front of all the runners. It only took me 8 seconds to cross the line at the start! As we waited for the gun, I was thinking of all the plans and race strategies that I had been working on for months and replayed all of the advice that everyone had given me, but in the end I made what almost could have been a catastrophic mistake by ignoring it all, right as the countdown began!
One week earlier, I had gone out for a little run while I was visiting my parents house. I clocked 20kms in 1hr 19 mins. I was absolutely flabbergasted that I was able to run that pace and feel so comfortable. The training in the heat and humidity of Lagos seems to have been a huge benefit. So pleased was I, that I thought, as the countdown began, … conditions are good… I feel positive… let’s start off at a comfortable pace and see how that takes me to the half way point and make a decision then as to what to do with the flat second half.
BANG! Off we went and I settled into a pace of about 4mins 20sec / km. My heart rate was 76% and I felt fantastic. The route through the streets of Brighton and then out along the cliffs to the quaint village or Ovendean was stunning. I was absolutely blown away by the support of the crowds. I had never expected to see so many people cheering everyone on, making the whole event a wonderful spectacle. By the time we reached Ovendean at the 16/17 km mark, the spectators were in deck chairs, enjoying the sunshine and quaffiing ale!!
My family said they were going to be at the 25km mark, so it was a surprise to me when they screamed out my name as I blitzed past them at the halfway point. I was more in shock than anything else and for the remainder of the race I was constantly wishing I had stopped to give them a big, sweaty hug! And because I went past them earlier than expected, the only photo they could get of me was this :
Now you see me, now you don't!
Halfway… 1hr 33mins and Cruising… From here on in the race was flat or downhill. I thought to myself that because my HR was still 75-76% and that I felt full of energy, I would maintain the same pace. But then, for the first time in my life, I got cramp in my right calf at the 25km point. I was devastated. I tried stretching it out, but to no avail. I had to hobble along for the remaing 17km! Every time I felt that I had to stop though, the crowd gave me a boost to keep on going!
For this long 17km, I was thinking about the journey I had made to run this race and what I had put my family through just to be there. I also thought about all the people that had supported me with their advice, training tips and kind words of encouragement as well as all those, from all parts of the globe, who had sponsored me by pledging to The Stroke Association – and that also contributed to helping me through the pain. But most of all I thought about seeing my family at the finish line. When it hurt the most, I would think about seeing them and then just grit my teeth and power on. I am sure there is a formula to work out what percentage of the race is driven from your own ability, the crowd cheering, the support and sponsorship and finally that finish line feeling! Someone far smarter than me can probably work that out though.
After seeing the 3hr:20mins bus pass me with a few kms to go – I was suddenly inspired that i might even finish within 3hrs 30mins. I trudged along until I saw the big clock at the top of the finish line. As I was not wearing prescription glasses, I thought it said 3hr 29 – so I started to seriously rally to get in under 3.5hrs, only to realise, when I got closer and my eyes could see properly that it was 3:26 when I went under the arch.
The whole experience for me was truly wonderful and one that I will cherish forever. However, it served only as a taster for what is to come at Comrades.
Run for a cure
The Run for a cure race was run today in Lagos at the American school, which we participated in. An extremely well organized event, that was a lot of fun! Plenty of music and stalls with goodies! I was a late registerer, and received number 886 – so if that is indicative of how many people participated -then that is amazing!
Willem & I set off at 5am this morning to get some needed kms in before the race and by the time we arrived at the school we had clocked 18km. The thought was to pick up the tempo a bit, but not to actually RACE it!
As with all races lately, the race plan is decided at the very las minute and I set off at a much faster pace than I had anticipated. It was only 6.25km, but even after 18km, I managed to maintain my heart rate at 86%. Towards the end, there were only a few lightning quick Nigerians ahead of me and only 2 other ‘oyibos’. The idea was to not let them out of sight and catch them at the end. And that is exactly what happened!
Very pleased to have finished 6.25km in 25:08 and to have been the first Oyibo over the line!
Oshodi-Isolo Run
While training in Lagos, there are not many opportunities to run an organised race, so when the chance came around to run the second anniversary of the ‘Jogging with the Mayor’ Oshodi-Isolo race the other week, we bit the hand off!
The race is in the beating heart of the Lagos mainland, far away from the cosy expat areas of Victoria Island or Ikoyi. It was communicated to us, prior to the event, that it would be a half marathon. Cool, we all thought. But then literally, moments before the race began, we were informed that the winners usually run it in under an hour. Erm … Then someone had the idea of asking how many kilometres are in a half marathon, and the answer we got was “about 12”. OK then…
Men's Winner & Runner up... & David.
So not only were we not completely sure of the distance we would be running, but we had no clue of the route, whether there would be any water or even what would happen if someone suffered from an injury. Not that any of us really cared. There were 500 men, women and children, all in jubilant spirits – raring to go! Such became our enthusiasm and excitement, all the care in the world (as well as the race plans) went out the window!
Authentic Battle Damage
Bhuki & John - Female winner, 15yrs of age!
John & his race partner!
Smoothies for all!
As with all races it started it with the usual hubbub of everyone jostling for places and position, as we tipped out onto the road. A wonderful vibe filled the streets as people shouted out and cheered us on as we all ran past. To our surprise, the lanes on the roads were cleared to allow us all to pass by in safety.
I had had preconceived ideas that this race would be wild, no control, directions or regard. Just go out and belt it through the streets. I was amazed and humbled that it was very well organized and received in fantastic spirits. It is really encouraging to see such enthusiasm. Water, supplied by Eva, was positioned at regular intervals being handed out by incredibly enthusiastic volunteers. Marshalls were stationed at every point where the potential to run off into the middle of the Lagos mainland presented itself.
As far as I understand it, the purpose of this race is to promote health & exercise awareness as well as also providing an outlet for some of the children as an alternative to crime – which, obviously, is a fantastic cause. For the common Nigerian, life is not easy – and it is fair to say that the temptation to turn to petty crime can be great. So it is wonderful to see such desire and dedication by the Mayor and his team. His race is once a month, every month and costs nothing to enter.
To me the initial expectation was that it would be great to get in as many races as possible before Comrades, and this run presented one of those opportunities. But when you run 13km, sporting the latest quick dry clothing and top of the range running shoes, and beside you are are men, women and children running bare foot wearing their everyday clothes – suddenly the benefits of getting some speed work training becomes a very distant second.
As one friend of mine described to me after the race : He got a sense of perspective during the race when one of the runners kept crossing over onto his line. It eventually frustrated him to the point where he was just about to say something. Before he did however, he looked beside him and had noticed that the young boy, running alongside him doing his best to keep up, had no shoes on his feet and that he was simply trying to avoid treading on some nasty elements on the ground.
I could write pages about this race, detailing how fortunate we are, to have what we have, and how hard it is for the common man in Nigeria, but this blog is about running and the true fact is that man was designed to run, regardless of wealth or social standing. He was built to run long before Nike put air under our feet, and VO2_max charts were plotted. What I saw, and I am no talent scout, is that through all of the hardship and challenges here, it is very evident that there is huge running talent in Nigeria.
Winner of the Men's race
I have not run hundreds of races, so I do not have a lot to compare this race against. But I think when the old knees pack in and I can no longer run, I will look back at this race as one of the greatest I ever had the fortune to be part of.
The Bush Shop
When preparing for an 89km run, I think it is fair to say there are few environments more challenging than the streets of Lagos. Although improving, most roads in Lagos are not built for traffic, let alone provide nice, smooth surfaces for us to run on. As one of the runners in our group put it this week – At times, it can be more like Adventure Racing! Another challenge when training, especially during the long runs, is hydration. To the untrained eye, water stops seem to be either non existent or very few and far between. But by putting our trust in the main ‘Oga’ – Willem, we have discovered that there are plenty little stalls, kiosks and shops in what can seem to be the most unlikeliest and craziest of places. One of our favourites spots to stop and get some fluids is the place I like to call ‘The Bush Shop’.
I cannot put it any simpler than what the name suggests – it is simply a shop in a garden hedge. There are no walls and no roof. The shop floor is demarcated by what is, effectively, topiary. But this does not hinder the trade in almost all household goods you could possibly imagine. Candles, toilet paper, cigarettes, eggs, vegetables, soap powder – just to name a few. But most importantly from our perspective, the shop sells Guinness Malta & ice cold Coca Cola – in those funky, 500ml glass bottles. Drive or walk by with any kind of speed and you might miss this little gem, which would be a shame as these ‘side of the road’ kiosks are the heartbeat of Lagos. Every topic of discussion is mulled over and debated here around a drink or a meal. Anything from football to politics can be the topic of conversation.
Once you meander on in, you will nearly always find people enjoying their big, heavy, starch laden breakfasts of traditional Nigerian cuisine. Dishes such as pounded yam and fried catfish. Or you may just find people simply sitting around, enjoying the chit-chat and drinking litres of tea out of plastic mugs as big as wine barrels – nearly always with two or three teabag strings hanging out over the side. Nigerians, we find, are very social and animated people, so often when we walk in, it sounds like we have just missed out on the big joke or a story.
I love stopping here. Always at the helm, busy preparing a meal for her customers, you will find Mrs Adams – the proprietor of the shop. Not Gladys or Emily, but Mrs Adams. She is a typically proud Nigerian and wonderfully friendly. It often puzzles her why on earth we run as far as we do, but she is happy in the knowledge that we could not do our training without her shop. She tells us that she does an important job running the shop. Her customers that are enjoying their breakfasts are mostly the labourers working on repairing the roads, and that it is her shop and her cooking, she informs us, that gives the men the strength and power they need to do a good job. It is great to see that not only do we benefit by having better running surfaces when the roads are repaired, but that Mrs Adams also benefits from the increase in business while the work is being carried out.
We have become such regulars to the bush shop that we have sometimes turned up with no money and had to plead for her to help us with some water and coke :
“Please mamma, dash me some pure water and coke, abeg. Next tomorrow I don get cash, and bring for you”
Her customers almost fall of their chairs laughing at hearing these Oyibos trying to speak pidgin. We know we sound silly and that the joke is at our expense, but for those short little moments, although we might be worlds apart in terms of culture and experience, laughter is the common denominator that we can all share.
So to you Mrs Adams. When my Lagos friends and I cross that line in May and we look back and reflect on the journey it has been to get there, we will know that without the energy and smiles you and your establishment have provided us, our training would have been that little bit harder and not nearly as memorable.
Comrades Intro
With it being described as the ultimate human race, opting to run the Comrades ultra marathon this year has to be one of my more questionable decisions to date. Running 89km is a long and daunting prospect, which both excites and scares me at the same time. Should I cross the finish line on the 29th May 2011 however, it may just turn out to be one of the most important and rewarding decisions I have ever taken.
This will be my first attempt at running Comrades. I am a rookie runner and as of yet, I do not even have a marathon under my belt. I can run a bit though, 1:39 for my half marathon back in September indicates that there is something in the legs. Just needs to be stretched out a bit…
My brother-in-law ran Comrades for the first time last year and what possessed him to do it, I am only starting to understand now. I started running just as early as a year back and up until October last year, I had absolutely no desire to run Comrades. I genuinely thought that I will not put my body through the physical and mental extremities associated with running Comrades. I know plenty of runners that have not run Comrades and have little or no desire to do so in future, so I thought I could easily slot into this category.
Then I joined the running group here in Lagos, Nigeria. A fantastic array of people who have been inspirational not only in their commitment to the sport, but also in life in general. Being part of this group has opened my eyes here in Lagos and has given me the chance to see what this amazing city has to offer – if only you are willing to leave your preconceived ideas behind and get out there and look. Our runs are amazing! We duck through the insane traffic on the Lagos streets, dodging Okadas and minibuses; We run through the markets and the villages on the banks of the lagoon; We jump into the unstable (and often leaky and sinking) hand carved canoes, waving to the children and fisherman while paddling across the water; and best of all, we love to power ourselves by feasting on the greatest croissants and pain aux chocolat from our favourite French bakery!
During one of our long runs, our run co-ordinator, coach, mentor, drill instructor – call him what you will – started telling us about some of the great races of the world and how the Americans can put on an excellent race. Now, he has a bit of experience in these matters as not only is he within the circles of the people who organize races such as the New York, Boston & Chicago marathons, but he knows the winners of these races as well! I was not surprised when he listed the American races, or even when he threw in the London marathon, but I was a bit shocked when he said that the greatest race in the world had to be the Comrades Ultra marathon, and how South Africa’s love for it makes it unrivaled anywhere else in the world.
His passion and emotion describing a race that is literally on my doorstep made me question my reasoning for not ever wanting to run Comrades. Maybe subliminally I thought that because I live in SA, I will always have the chance to do it in the future – it will always be there if I decide to change my mind. But if there is one certainty in life, it is that nothing is ever certain, so on the 7th of October, I was the 9573 entry into the 2011 Comrades Ultra Marathon.
I aim to blog how I, along with a small group of South African, British and American runners here in Lagos, Nigeria, will be preparing for this year’s Ultimate Human Race.
2011 – Year of the Marathon
First post of the year. After a cracking holiday by the sea with the family it is time to knuckle down and start training intensely for the Comrades Ultra Marathon at the end of May. Before I can run Comrades however, I need to run a qualifying marathon. Hopefully, this will be the Pretoria Marathon in February.
Ok – 2010 for me was a year that I can look back at and say it was a good year. Some of the key highlights were – The birth of our second child, Karleigh; Our trip to the UK in Easter; The World Cup in South Africa and the opportunity of meeting lots of great people in Lagos, Nigeria. In 2010, we have become very settled in Lagos and are enjoying it very much. Another positive is that at the start of 2010 I was 13kg heavier than what I was by the end of it!
Some people’s eyebrows might be raised a little by that statement that we are settled and enjoying Lagos – but it really is true. If you do not get hung up on small inconveniences, then Lagos can be a wonderful and welcoming place to live. My family and I have made great friends and found amazing places in Lagos. If you go there with the right attitude, you can really find yourself quite attached to 9ja! For example, as I am typing this, my kayak has arrived in Lagos and she shall be ready for her maiden voyage this next coming week.
I have been thinking a lot about the things I want to do or achieve in 2011. One of them obviously is to run comrades. That plan has already been put in motion. But others things that come to mind are :
- Start or own my own business;
- Start taking aerial photography;
- Do some snorkeling;
- Hiking in the Drakensberg;
- Run a trail run;
- Drink more wine;
- Learn French.
A lot to fit in 365 days! All in all, we are positive about what 2011 has in store for us. Being in Lagos has been a great education in the art of being able to change and adapt at short notice. So our outlook for 2011 is exactly this:
Take every day as it comes. Every challenge or opportunity that comes our way, is designed to be there.
Mountain Run
Very excited to be doing the Obudu mountain run at the end of November
This is such a great opportunity to see another part of Nigeria, as well as being involved in what will be a great race, in spectacular surroundings. The race is effectively 11km UP the mountain, climbing to over 1500m above sea level. The altitude will not pose a problem to me, simply based on me living in Pretoria for the last 7 years has conditioned me to this altitude. However, the climb TO 1500m will be exhausting!
Let the gradient on the treadmill begin!!
John Terry
Captain. Leader. Legend. This is how the blue end of London will continue to see John Terry. In the same way no one in SW6 cares where Roman Abramovich obtained his fortune from, the same ignorance will be applied to John Terry. And rightly so.
The vultures in the press are baying for his resignation as England captain (but incidentally enough, not the Chelsea captain!)- with none actually providing a suitable replacement. I suspect the reasoning is because if he does so, then this will undoubtedly provide more column inches in the hope that it boosts dwindling newspaper sales. They are banging on the doors of MPs, the F.A and as soon as they have the chance, Fabio Capello, to get some sort of scrap of info that may indicate that England’s world cup chances are in disarray because of it all.
It seems, from what has been swirling around the sewer press, Terry did the one thing that journalists hate. The one thing that fuels their carnivorous desire to tear anyone to shreds if there is a remote chance it will shift a few newspapers – and that is to shut them up. The very fact that he succeeded in obtaining a super injunction has incensed them beyond measure. This is what it is all about. Nothing to do with morality. How dare he? Who does he think he is? We’ll show him…
Journalists think that it is their god given right to have the freedom of the press, no matter how low they sink to obtain content for their bile. Just look at how they have hounded Ms Perroncel since Friday. There is no genuine concern for the ‘innocent victims’ in all of this, who is in fact Wayne Bridge and his four year old son. They could not care less.
But through it all, let’s weigh everything up in terms of the England captaincy – morality and ability…
John Terry has never been and never will be an angel. The FA knew that. Capello knew that and Chelsea knew that. So why the media believe now he has to be whiter than snow because he is the England captain is baffling. If we are to discuss the replacements as the England captain, then let’s look at the likely suspects that would be in the running to take over Terry if the press have their way –
David Beckham – The F.A. Ambassador for the 2018 world cup bid is hardly squeeky clean himself, but no one is bothered about his ‘transgressions’ any more when he is being touted for re-instated as captain. I think that he has done an excellent job in the past and is a tremendous example to others but seriously consideration regarding his ability to play consistently must be looked at. You cannot have a fringe player captaining the side – and at this moment in time, Capello cannot guarantee Beckham a start in the world cup.
Then we have Steven Gerrard. The heartbeat of Anfield. This is the guy, remember, who escaped an assault charge over the summer by the skin of his teeth. It seemed to all and sundry that he was doing a bit more than ‘pre-empting an imminent attack’ : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9aehRAX_bk. As for his ability – when he feels like it, there is no one more inspirational. He can drag his team by the scruff of the neck to heights unimaginable. But he can only do that when it suits him and, only when he is fit. He has been a shocker for Liverpool of late and it would be hard to argue against this has been his worst season ever for Liverpool. Combine that with his actual lack of desire to play for England in ‘lesser’ games and it does not look like England would be getting a better captain to lead them at the world cup.
Rio Ferdinand is another potential candidate. He has kept his nose clean of late (no pun intended), but his ability to dodge drug tests at his convenience will always raise question marks. I could not care less really, to be honest, but his form this season for Man Utd is almost at the point where he may not even start for England. His lame defending against Tevez in the win over Man City last week begged the question – If it were Terry and he were up against an ex team mate who had done nothing but taunt players and fans in the run up to the game, would he have gone in like a wet lettuce into that challenge? Not a chance.
The only other candidate to take the arm band therefore is Rooney. From a morality perspective, it could be highlighted that Rooney has dipped it into more prostitutes than anyone would care to count, which puts the whole angelic figure of the captaincy, as demanded by the press, out the window. Again, I could not care less and his ability as captain could not be doubted. He leads by example and he exhibits that same desire and determination as Terry. A champion. A leader of men. But… he is a timebomb. At any moment, he is only ever a second away from a complete, nuclear, neurological meltdown. Should he explode on the pitch (and trust me there will be teams out to try and exploit this) he would be crucified by the same English press that is bleating for him to be there. God forbid he were to be sent off in a game at the world cup and England should then go on to lose. He has recovered once from 2006, but I don’t think that the press would be so forgiving.
The bottom line is England have no one else. They have no one that can give what Terry gives. His performance against Burnley in the face of all what was going on around him was amazing. I was tempted before the match to put money on Terry scoring the winner. I said twice to my wife during the game – I reckon he will come up with the winning goal. That’s what he is about. After the champions league final, he played for England and gave exactly the type of performance that Capello, Mourinho, Hiddink and Ancellotti believe in. They are four very big names in world football management and they can’t all be wrong.
Just to put the last argument to bed, the noise that Terry has benefited financially from the position and that that should also be considered as a reason for him to go is absolute hogwash. The powers that be have made plenty of money from Terry being captain. It’s not like it has cost the FA an arm and a leg to have him there. What they have got for their money has been – as Mourinho put when he was talking about Terry’s new contract at Chelsea – Worth every coin.
So – what ever it is that John Terry is said to have or have not done, no matter how unsavoury the press have flavoured it, John Terry should and in all likelihood – will remain as the captain of England. I am not here to judge him on how he or any other professional footballer maintains their personal lives and I find it rather humorous that suddenly everyone is an expert on morality.
When it rains… it pours
Man City 2 – 1 Chelsea
Ok. What went wrong for Chelsea? 2 things. The first being that they just did not want it as much as City. The commitment in the middle of both De Jong and Barry totally crippled any ‘diamond’ system that was supposed to have been there from Ancelotti’s side. Chelsea’s first goal only seemed to provide the catalyst for City’s midfield to chase more, tackle more and want it more.
The second reason reason was Chelsea’s petulance. There was too much of it all over the park. Carvalho – who was rightly subbed off before he got himself sent off – was the guiltiest of the lot, needlessly kicking out at Tevez which resulted in the free kick from which the same man offended, duly tucked away the winner into the bottom corner. This, perhaps ironically.
City’s performance signalled their intention that they have big ambitions in qualifying for the Champions League next season with a display that showed skill, commitment and determination. I would be sitting a little bit more uncomfortable right now if I were a Liverpool fan.
The star of the show probably would have to be Given. He will automatically be man of the match based on his penalty save. But had he not made the save, he was very much in the running for that accolade anyway, running a very close second to De Jong. His early save from Drogba after a wonderful cut back from Deco was quickly backed up with reaction saves from both Ivanovich and Anelka. It was only the ricochet from Adebayor that beat him.
There were other heroes for Man City today. Micah Richards did well to thwart the threat down the left and in doing so, left De Jong and Barry in the middle to gang up on Essien, which they did with great effect. His unfortunate injury to his troublesome knee hopefully is not serious.
Hughes’ tactics were spot on. He figured that Chelsea would start with Essien as the sole central midfielder with Lampard and Ballack drifting slightly off centre to the right and left, respectively. Essien is a tough, tough midfielder – but De Jong is no fairy himself. He shied away from nothing and set the tempo with some no-nonsense 50-50 victories in the middle. He was also well backed up by those around him, in particular, Adebayor and Robinho – both of whom mucked in with their fair share of tracking back. It was only the when the injury to Bridge and some additional muscle arrived in the form Mikel, did the coveted diamond midfield started to shine.
This was not a good afternoon for Ashley Cole as he had a terrible time at left back. He can be forgiven for having an off day based on the season he has had, but these are the games that you expect the top players to rise to. City were up for it. The had their tails up and needed no motivation to get about Chelsea. By my count, Cole had slipped no fewer than eight passes straight to the wrong type of blue shirt. Not that he was the only one. Essien joined in with this new found fashion and even pumped a free kick straight along the ground to a City player.
Anelka was wasteful on a number of occasions. Either opting to shoot from a ridiculous angle with Blue shirts piling into the box. Or, not producing enough venom when having the opportunity to do so.
It could be argued that the conditions were not good for goalkeepers and Cech certainly gave the Chelsea fans a scare when he raced off his line to meet a cross – only get nowhere near it. Richard’s header, although going wide, was acrobatically headed away by Carvalho.
Drogba was his fearless self. He showed exceptional skill in controlling the ball in the box that led to the penalty and again to send him through for a strike that he put wide with minutes remaining.
For City this is a huge morale boosting win. Their vociferous support in my opinion resulted in the nerves that Frank Lampard showed in his penalty preparations. It is now Arsenal and Chelsea that have left licking their wounds.
For Chelsea they must turn to the positives – Deco showed – not for the first time this season – that he is injury free and getting into a rhythm. Maybe the return of Joe Cole has prompted Deco to up his game a notch. And although was a full hearted display from City, their dominance did not result in too many clear cut attempts. It could be argued that the free kick from which the equaliser was scored from was incorrectly awarded against Chelsea. It could also be argued that Micah Richards may have used a little more arm than what is permitted when the ball fell fortuitously to Adebayor.
For all of City’s industry, Chelsea missed both a penalty and a great chance from Drogba at the end to snatch a point.
No need to panic from Ancelotti’s team. Still clear at the top with a favourable run of games coming up…
Arsenal’s moral high ground is a joke
Eduardo
Arsenal are incensed at the decision to ban Eduardo for the diving incident against Celtic last week. The basis of their fury is that UEFA should be now trawling through the thousands of hours of football every week to implement Article 10 (1c) which was introduced back in 2006. Only one player, Lithuania international Saulius Mikoliunas, has been charged with breaching the said rule and now Eduardo is the second.
The rule basically states that a player acted with the ‘obvious’ intent to deceive the officials, whether that is by acting in a manner which makes the official produce an incorrect decision or by supporting his error of judgement.
I feel that it is the second part of the rule where the charge against Eduardo comes in. I agree that any player that has had such an horrific injury, such as Eduardo had last year, is intitled to get his body out of the way of players flying into him, even if that means going to ground – that’s just instinct. It could also be argued that this is what his intentions were – as stated by Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal’s 19 page dossier trying to prove and disprove many points of their’s and UEFA’s arguments sound extremely flat when they are not consistent. One one hand you have Arsene informing us that some players dive to avoid challenges or injury. And on the other, Arsenal are claiming that there was a deviation of his ankle – which now makes me confused. Are Arsenal saying that he was trying to get out of the way, or are they saying he was touched by the keeper? TV replays show without any doubt that he went to ground on his own accord – and that is still fine by me if he is trying to avoid contact from the keeper.
What I am not convinced about is why did he not then get up and inform the ref that he was dodging the keeper’s challenge? By high fiving his team mates and looking generally pleased with himself at winning a penalty, he “continued to support the referee’s error of judgement” and in my opinion, those actions are worthy of the charge.
By all means Arsene & Arsenal – preach about the (failing) morality of the game – it’s good that someone is trying to uphold it. But for crying out loud, stop embarrassing yourself and your club by continuing to support Eduardo’s actions when it is clear he has deceived the officials either by diving or by supporting the penalty decision.
Two Good Health & Fitness Sites
I have been ramping up my mission to lose weight and improve my fitness. The football is helping, but it is not enough on it’s own. My biggest problem whenever I try to embark on a ‘diet’ is that I cannot just stop eating some of the things I like. Mostly, I enjoy cookies! I cannot go without them.
So what I have been looking for is an easy way of managing what I eat and what exercise I do. By adding up the KJs that I eat and the KJs that I burn, then I know when, and how much of things that are not so healthy I can eat, without losing track of my weight loss goals.
NutraCheck
I came across Nutracheck. The link is for the Men’s part of the site, but I am sure for new users, it will take you to the main site. The site manages and records your energy intakes, requirements and expenditures. For example, based on my weight and height, if I am moderately active, then I need 3000 calories per day. If I want to lose a kilo per week, then I need to do two things – decrease my calorie intake or increase my calorie expenditure with exercise.
What I like about this site is that it has the ability to track what you eat and what exercise you do with what is called your ‘Food Diary’. For example, you enter into the diary that you ate 1 apple. It inserts it into your profile for the day and calculates the energy & fat values and then deducts them from the amount that you should be consuming a day. The interface is very clean and neat and has a bar on the side to show you how much is remaining for the day.
They boast to have a database of food nutritional values for over 35,000 different types of food, so there should be no reason why this cannot work for most people. For example, Single Jack Daniels + Diet Coke is 64 calories!
The exercise diary is basically the same principal as the above, except that it will keep a track of the calories that you are burning.
It is not free. Why not, I am not sure. Some adverts in here would most definitely be able to subsidise the costs I am sure. It always amazes me that to try and lead a healthy lifestyle, you have to pay through your nose. The length of time that it has taken me to find such a site indicates that there is definitely a gap in the market for somebody to provide this type of service for free.
Nike+
The second site that I am all excited about is not just a site. It is the whole integrated Nike+ offering. I purchased one of those Nike+ sensors and ipod connectors to track my running.
I have a GPS tracking device, which is also very good but there is a problem if I run on a treadmill. I cannot track it with the GPS. Using EveryTrail.com, I can track all my activity – football included.
Everytrail.com lets you upload your GPS tracks and that was what I had planned on doing until I realised the problem of running on a treadmill. Which is likely to be my primary form of exercise in Lagos.
Nike+ (my first run) with itunes, on the other hand, works tremendously well. It is so simple to use and takes out a lot of the hassles of trying to manage your fitness. Once the device is calibrated, you tuck it in your shoe, hit new run on your ipod and then run. Once you have finished, you plug your ipod into your PC and that is it. It will automatically update your workout information on the Nike+ website. Simple.
So – my goal is to get to 85Kgs. If I can follow the goal set on Nutracheck, I should reach that weight by middle of June.
Quick Stuffz
Quick pic upload… On our way to football (play). The only thing was, at the end of the day only one of us could walk!
Chelsea 'till we die...
Just I was starting to think that the internet was getting too boring, I come across a few good links on the web:
- http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com
- http://www.overheardintheoffice.com/
- http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com
Other things that are happening – qmail-ldap migration to Zimbra is now all systems go. 9000 accounts have been migrated. only another 580,000 to go! Sheesh! Upgrades of clusters was not so good. Bug in upgrading from RedHat 5.2 to 5.3 in a clustered environment meant that it was not possible to do rolling upgrades. Complete shutdown of the physical cluster and the virtual machines. Not good.
Still no contract from Telkom to go to Multilinks. However, they have sent me the documentation to complete the visas, so I can only assume that the whole process is following traditional Telkom fashion. It’s only been 6 months since the initial interview, so what’s another month?
Some cool stuff that I am loving at the moment is:
Gmail video & chat – http://mail.google.com/videochat. Voice and Chat from within gmail with support for MacOS X!
Finger Piano for the iphone http://jyproduct.webhop.net/jyblog/index.php/fingerpiano-for-iphone. This app is SO cool!
Scolari Gone…
At the time of writing this the manager of Chelsea has been relieved of his position. Chelsea never really recovered from the defeat by Liverpool at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season and it has all snowballed from there on in. Once teams had worked out that stop the full backs… stop Chelsea, those tactics worked every time – the writing was on the wall. Some of the players have to take the blame for their tepid performances. Drogba has been particularly poor this season. Not just his form, but also his attitude. Scolari should have grown some balls and got rid of him in the transfer window. I suspect though that there were not many takers! Deco, Alex, Malouda, Ballack and Kalou just have not cut the mustard this season and have really let us down. So now we are slowly turning into Newcastle. 3 managers in a year and a half… Not good.
A nasty tackle at the weekend resulted in me going to get a scan on my left leg. Caught high and late by ‘Big Rab’ which has left me nursing a messed up left leg. Fortunately it is not broken – just some tissue damage. To top it off, I never even got a free kick! Nightmare.
Christmas Run
I was checking out the fixtures for the run into Christmas and it got me thinking a bit. We seem to have an extra game on Man Utd and even if we do not do to well against Arsenal and Everton, We can still be in a commanding position come middle of Jan when we play them. From what I saw of Blackburn, I would expect them to push Liverpool hard at Ewood Park. Both teams cannot score and surely Liverpool have had their fair share of penalties and playing against 10 men this season?? I also do not think they will get much at the Emirates so I have put them down for a defeat there meaning they will get a haul of around 17 points. If Arsenal do well they have the chance to make up some of the gap – Heres what the table could look like:
Chelsea 20 48pts
Liverpool 20 46pts
Arsenal 20 45pts
Man Utd 18 41pts
This is all hypothetical and it would also suggest that we will lose another home game, which I am not sure of. Our home form has not been good this season, but I expect that to change now that the 86 game run is over, and that monkey is off our back. I would never rule out Man Utd from the title challenge, and although they may be a bit behind, they will have 2 games in hand. But if Chelsea do better than I suggest below and Manure do worse then I think it will be a bridge too far for them. Come 11th January, they will have to beat us to have any kind of hope of winning the premiership. Arsenal look too inconsistent for a serious title challenge to date, but they may be buoyed by the win against Man Utd the other week and could go on a good run as I have suggested. But then again, they could also go out and drop points anywhere along the way – Middlesboro, Villa, Portsmouth – all capable of surprises.
Chelsea
West Brom v Chelsea 3 points
Chelsea v Newcastle 3 points
Chelsea v Arsenal 0 points
Bolton v Chelsea 3 points
Chelsea v West Ham 3 points
Everton v Chelsea 1 point
Chelsea v West Brom 3 points
Fulham v Chelsea 3 points
19 points
2 week break
Man Utd v Chelsea
Man Utd
Stoke (Home) 3
Villa (Away) 3
Man City (Away) 3
Sunderland (Home) 3
Tottenham (Away) 1
Wigan (Home) – OFF (according to BBC)
Stoke (Away) 3
Middlesboro (Home) 3
20 points
Liverpool
Bolton (Away) 3 points
Fulham (Home) 3 points
West Ham (Home) 3 points
Blackburn (Away) 1 point
Hull (Home) 1 point
Arsenal (Away) 0 points
Bolton (Home) 3 points
Newcastle (Away) 3 points
17 points
Arsenal
Villa (Home) 3 points
Man City (Away) 3 points
Chelsea (Away) 3 points
Wigan (Home) 3 points
Middlesboro (Away) 3 points
Liverpool (Home) 3 points
Villa (Away) 1 point
Portsmouth (Home) 3 points
22 points
Blackburn 0-2 Chelsea
Back on top. Nicolas Anelka with two goals – the second one, expertly taken. People can say what they like about him, but if he keeps banging in the goals like he is, then it is fine by me. I watched the game and although I am horrendously biased, Frank Lampard, in my opinion, is the complete midfielder. I try to explain to some of the players at Centurion Blues that by watching top class football week in, week out, and watching the players in your own position, you can pick up the things that professionals do which make them so great. Take Frank Lampard for example – watch the amount of times he looks around just before receiving the ball. This allows him to know exactly what he is going to do as soon as he has the ball at his feet. By doing so, he has great awareness and at any level of the game, it is highly beneficial – His 30yd free kick off the bar was phenomenal. In absolute terrible conditions there were good performances from Wayne Bridge & Obi Mikel. Deco has been a little quiet of late, so it was good to see him spraying the ball around nicely – Should of had a goal with a neat little chip that flashed past the far post.
Anyway, with Manure losing and both Chelsea and Liverpool stretching the gap to 8 points, you feel that Man Utd might just be giving themselves a exceptionally tough task of retaining the premiership. I still say that, although improved, Liverpool will not have the legs for the season. I say that with a huge amount of caution because just when I think they are dead and buried, they pull a rabbit out of the hat. They have also had their fair share of the luck that you need to challenge for the title – some say that you cannot win the league without it. I believe it also tends to have a snowball effect. The more that the press report that Liverpool are getting the 50/50 decisions (as well as the dubious ones) the more referees tend towards giving them decisions. I noticed this with Chelsea over the 2005 & 2006 seasons.
It is still a long way to go but we are now almost a third of the way through the season and going by the current form, the top two could be looking at 92 points + . What is interesting to note for me was that it was only the second game in the league where Liverpool have actually won by a margin of more than 1 goal. The other game was the 2-0 win at Everton. It looks like it may be a close season and if goal difference is to become a factor, then it would be a worry. It would also worry me if I were a fan, that Liverpool are not killing off teams. The defeat by Spurs is the classic case in point. A game that Liverpool should have wrapped up by half time and rested players. Instead the end up losing 3 points and undoing the work they did by beating Chelsea the previous week.
Anyway after the horror show in Rome, it was good to get back to winning ways. Blackburn look like a side that will be facing a relegation dog fight this year. They have not won a game in the last 7, in that run playing teams that face a similar future. Playing 4-5-1 when you are 2 down at home is not a good sign.
A couple of quick thoughts –
1) Hull losing 3 in a row now. Honeymoon period over?
2) 14 teams on negative goal difference.
3) 9 points between bottom and a Uefa Cup slot!
4) Celtic fans not observing the remembrance silence.
Just for a laugh, I thought I would post this video – Stevie G, upholder of footballing morals … enjoy.
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