Wednesday Night Indian Meal

Forget about Christmas being upon us in 10 days, the Wednesday night get together is going away on Tour to the Agra Balti House. The table has been booked for 20:00 and the decision is currently being made of where to meet prior to the meal.

With a large number of people going, close eyes will have to be kept on certain people about what has been ordered or as in previous years what not has been ordered (naming no names of course).

See you Wednesday :-)

Anyone for a farm shop burger

As some people have jetted off into the eastern sky for a bit of sun and other certain activities?, we must remember that at certain points during another terrible summer BBQ's were an option.

The above pictures are from an evening in early May when Andy kindly hosted a Wednesday evening. Brin brought a selection of farm shop burgers and apparently they were of the finest quality but there was a rush in trying to get them cooked and naming no names they were placed on the BBQ when the coals were far too hot and ended up being rather over done (as per pictures shown).

As 2008 draws to a close the table has been booked for the Wednesday night Christmas Indian meal, and this year the agra will have the plessure of hosting the evening. Could you all remember to bring your camera's so that the photos can be placed on this blog for the joy of all to see.

This wednesday it's a return to Lewis' and Black Dam for another night of Champions league football where the game of choice will see either Liverpool or Chelsea play there respective match. However will football take centre stage when from previous visits to Lewis' the dart borad has taken centre stage and the legs of darts have been played up until the midnight hour!

I'm off to the Land Of Smiles (LOS)

Well I'm now off for a well earned break in Thailand. I'm looking forward to some relaxation on some of the best beaches in the world. If I get round to it I make make a post or 2 from Thailand but if not this is one of the places, Patong Beach on Phuket, where I will be staying. As for some of the cultural activiites I am planning have a look below. Apparently they have world class pole dancers here !!

Wednesday Night at Brins

Tonight sees a return to Brins house after a couple of weeks away on tour. It will be just like usual for Brin because he won't have to move very far - just like the rest of his normal working day.

Unfortunately I will be absent as I am off to Prague very early tomorrow morning to see the mighty Villa beat the living daylights out of Slavia Prague and take us forward on our Quest to win the UEFA Cup. I suppose they will be watching the Celtic v Man United game which I think will be a walkover as the competition north of the border is, in my opinion, more like sunday league football down south. I expect at least 3 or 4 for United so at least Brin will be happy.

I will post a trip report and a couple of photos ( if there are any that can be published) upon my return

The long awaited return

It may be a rare time when snow falls in October but it has also became rare in recent times that Lewis hosts a Wednesday night. However tonight is the night when the Wednesday night get together makes it long awaited return to Black Dam.

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Of course there's bound to be remarks regarding the cold and hopefully with Lewis now having other people living in the house 50p would have been put in the meter and temperature would have been turned up to prevent condensation appearing on the outside of the windows rather than the inside, because in the past comments have been made by certain people saying it's colder inside the house than it is outside. I'm saying no names but you know who you are.

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Tonight see's a near full fixture card of Premiership football and the live game on Sky see's Harry Redknapp take his new Tottenham side to Aresnal for a north London derby. Will Harry be able to continue his winning run with Tottenham after their win against Bolton on Sunday?

He is no blogger

After another night of gobbing off a count has been performed and it has been reviled that Phil has only placed 2 main articles on the blog in 2008, he claims unlike the rest of us he is too busy. Come on Phil lets see you put pen to paper and use you massive brain to write us a few witty words.

Other than the normal gobbing off, boozing and getting a little hammered it was another good night for England winning the 4th match in row taking us to the top of our world cup qualifying group, surely this is too easy, when are we going to get the huge banana skin slip up that will see us either not qualifying or taking it right to the last minute of the last game? Maybe we have finally got our players doing what they should do and playing with some confidence. We will see

By the way DTV:o)

Say No To 0870 Numbers

Been fed with paying higher call rate charges for phoning 0870 or 0845 numbers from your mobile, then there is a way where you can save money.

If you log onto the website www.saynoto0870.com then it is possible for you to find an alternative number for a company that has a local area number at the start meaning if you call this number from your mobile the called will be charged at local rate.

The website is quite straight forward to follow, all you need to do is click on the button "search to find an alternative number" and enter the company you're looking for, then if there is an alternative number it will appear in the list. For example if you have a mobile phone on the Three network there customer services number is 0870 7330 333 and from using the above website the alternative number is 01628 765 000 and this number goes through to the same customer services centre.

Simple and will save you money on your phone bills.

Wednesday Nite at the Ice House

Things all became a little slow last night at Phil's where a very dull match between Tottenham and Newcastle seemed to just last forever, everyone was praying that it did not go to extra time, the match was finally won by Tottenham. I would not think anyone would fear them in the next round but you would have thought that if you were drawn against QPR(beat Villa 1-0). We finally came to the answer as to why the evening was going so slowly, it was because we were all so cold we were moving in slow motion. Attached is a picture taken last night to prove how cold it was. Come on Phil put another 50p in the gas meter.

The Premiership is back

Today isn’t the all important day that British female swimmer Rebecca Adlington claimed a second gold at the Olympics in a world record time, or that Essex beat Kent by 5 wickets in the Friends Provident trophy at Lords, but the all important day has finally arrived when the new Premiership football season is back.

Even with the season only being a few hours old stories have already started with Hull making a dream start to life in the Premier league with a win, but both fellow newcomers Stoke and West Brom lose on the opening day.

Arsenal got off to a winning start along with Blackburn, Middlesborough and West Ham, but the late game on Saturday saw Liverpool travel to Sunderland that ended up with Liverpool winning 1-0 with a late Torres goal that was watched at the New Inn by Darren, Phil, Gary and Johnny.

Phil was full off his usual comments about the Liverpool performance but only time will tell if he still will be so forthcoming with comments about football when his mighty Villa host Manchester City at Villa park on Sunday?

Benitez Loses Plot - and hopefully job !!!

After the hilariously inept Liverpool performance against Standard Liege on Wednesday night Benitez is still living in cloud cookoo land. Here is an excerpt from the local Liverpool press regarding the Barry saga.

So Benitez goes into the new campaign stubbornly clinging onto the hope that he will get his number one summer target.
And he believes Liverpool can make a sustained challenge for the title, despite the shocking performance in Liege in midweek which cast doubts over the manager's planning.

Ludicrous

There's only one Keano...!

Robbie Keane joins his boyhood idols. Hopefully we have stopped our interest in Gareth Barry who is vastly inferior to Alonso IMO.

Could this be the signing we need to stay ahead of the Scum and get the elusive 19th title win?

Probably not! :-) But a great signing anyway.

Breaking News

Forget about all the transfer saga and media talk over the proposed moves of Ronaldo going from Man Utd to Real Madrid, or Frank Lampard joining up again with Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan, but Aston Villa have actually made a transfer before the transfer window closes. The deal was confirmed on July 26th that Brad Friedel with be joining them from Blackburn for an undisclosed fee.

This still leaves them struggling for senior players for the start of the season when it will be required for all premier league teams to have 7 subs on the bench, and with the unfortunate horrific injury that happened to Wilfred Bouma on Saturday in Villa's Intertoto Cup victory over Odense BK this still leaves their squad with minimum numbers.

If Aston Villa are to succeed this season and actually managed a top 10 finish then Randy Lerner will need to get his cheque book out and allow Martin O'Neill to make new signings, if it ends up with Villa starting the season with a small squad then the bet made by Brin that Villa wouldn’t finish in the top 10 could happen and Phil will have to pay up.

Champions Again

I know that you would all like to thank Man Utd for providing you with some great football this season. You have all had the pleasure of watching the best player seen in the premiership for sometime, delighting you with some fantastic goals. Just in case you are unsure who I am talking about it is Ronaldo, not Torres or Gareth Barry who are not quite in his league, I cannot even think of a Chelsea player to mention. I know you will all like to add good luck messages for Utd to win the Champions League:o)

Bring It On

After a wonder strike by Paul Scholes it was a very tense 75 minutes before Man Utd booked their place in the CL final. Barca put on a good performance but could not break Utd down. Now we have a very big night at Phil's to decide who will meet their demise in the final. The room will be packed with very excited Liverpool and Chelsea fans to see which team will go through. I am just looking forward to seeing the tears at the end of the game.

Its pies,booze and testosterone again for the big football night at Phil's DTV.

There is still cheap booze out there

Cheap booze in the UK may now be a thing of the past but 26 miles over the English Channel in Calais the situation is different.

If you ever fancied picking up top quality wine for bargain prices then this is the place for you. There you’ll find it possible to try before you buy and this allows you to try anything from a £2.00 bottle of wine to a £60 bottle of champagne.

On Saturday Steph and I travelled over to France to shop for wine for the wedding and I can confirm it is certainly somewhere we will go back later in the year because it will be the perfect place to stock up on booze for Christmas.

This blog posting is to suggest that if anyone else later in the year fancies a trip over the Channel to stock up on cheap booze then this is something that can be looked into. I was looking at going over again in around October time so if you do fancy it then let me know and possible travel options can be looked into.

Wednesday 23rd April

Tuesdays Champions League semi final at Anfield did end up with an unfortunate result for Liverpool with the own goal by Riise in injury time, but this will only add to the excitement for the 2nd leg on Wednesday.

Manchester United may see themselves as unlucky for not getting an away goal but with Old Trafford being such a fortress in Europe it will require the Barcelona of old to turn up and walk away with a victory on Tuesday night that will put them through to the final in Moscow.

Last Wednesday as we all know was Saint Georges day, but more important than that it was also Phil’s birthday, the evening was spent in the usual Wednesday night spirit of watching football, drinking and sharing the usual banter. As usual the food served was fantastic and credit must go to the chefs, thanks.

Next Wednesday the venture goes to Phil’s in what is bound to be an emotional / tense night of football for the Liverpool and Chelsea supporters who turn up!

Big Week Ahead

With one of the greatest own goals seen for sometime in the Champions league, Riise manage to let a very very poor Chelsea side back into the two leg semi. Will the mighty kings of europe(not my words) be able to overcome Chelsea at Stanford Bridge? Pesonnelly I would like them both to loose:o)

Man Utd also have it all to do with a 0-0 at Barca. A missed pen by one of the best players in the world was a big let off for the home side. Ronaldo has said that he will make up for his miss with a goal at Old Trafford. So all to play for in the week ahead, sure there will be tears but hopefully not from utd fans .

Big Phil had a birthday this week which was celebrated round Brin's with several cans of beer a large portion of pie and chips and slice of birthday cake. Pic's to follow from Darren

Wednesday 16th April

As Wednesday night passes the first thing that needs reporting is the heating was working and the requirement for wearing an extra jumper was not needed.

There wasn’t really any interest in the football playing on Sky which saw Manchester City beat Chelsea 3-1 at the City of Manchester stadium meaning they won the FA youth cup 4-2 on aggregate.

The only interest in the FA youth cup was from Phil saying Liverpool were not the current holders and that Aston Villa had in recent years always been there or there about in winning the competition. A call was made to Steph to look this up on the Internet and she confirmed Phil’s remarks were incorrect and Liverpool was the previous winners.

However Phil disagreed with this so please use the link below that shows previous winners of the FA youth cup.

http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/TheFAYouthCup/History/Postings/2002/07/15018.htm

With regards to the darts the wall was hit only 5 times, twice by Brin and Lewis and once by Phil. Darren and Phil joined as a team to take on Brin and Lewis in a pairs competition that ended up being one sided as Darren and Phil won 3-0 in sets.
There was controversy in one of the legs when Phil hit a winning double, because Brin claimed Phil’s foot was over the line and he was to close to the board. No one else actually saw this so the leg was won. Maybe the red fruit based drink Brin was drinking affected his eyes?

Is your boiler broken?

So as Wednesday is with us it means tonight it will be the usual weekly get together, and tonight’s host is Lewis. The last time he hosted the evening there was reports of froze bite by certain people because the all-important boiler had broken down.

Reports from Lewis himself are he took it upon himself to fix the boiler and it is all working fine, but the advice would be to take an extra jumper and pair of socks just in case!

There are no particular big games on tonight unless you’re a jock or have Setanta TV, because the live game on there tonight sees Rangers play Celtic in a game that if Rangers win, the Scottish title will all but be over like it seems with the English premiership heading back to Old Trafford, because with Chelsea only drawing 1-1 with Wigan on Monday night Manchester United all but have the English Premiership back in the their trophy cabinet.

The live game on Sky tonight sees the 2nd leg of the youth cup final between Chelsea and Manchester City. The 1st leg at Stamford Bridge finished 1-1, so the 2nd leg at the City of Manchester Stadium should be a close match.

As there is no important football on it is bound to be a night of darts, so after last time the odds have been altered to reflect previous wall hitting performances.

Place your bets –

Brin: 2/5
Phil: 4/5
Andy: Evens
Lewis: 2/1

Colin: 10/3

Darren: 5/1

As the season long bet finally comes to an end

As Aston Villa wins 6-0 away at Derby, and with Tottenham only managing a 1-1 draw against Middlesborough, the season long bet between Brin and Phil finally comes to an end, because there is no way possible for Tottenham bettering Villa’s points this season.

If you were convert £5 with a foreign currency what would that get you?

Euro: 5.95 euros
Australia: 10 dollars
Thailand: 277.50 baht
USA: 9.4 dollars

However, tomorrow Manchester United play Arsenal at Old Trafford and maybe Brin’s disappointment in losing the bet may be overcome with a victory in what would most certainly put Arsenal’s title challenge to an end and increase Manchester United’s hopes of winning a 17th top flight title.

(But may I still remind all that Liverpool have won the top flight a total of 18 times!)

Wednesday 9th April

Today it has been announced that the bank of England has cut interest rates to 5%, which is the third cut since last December. But if that wasn’t the main talking point, then last night the Wednesday night get together met at Phil’s to watch Manchester United book their place in the semi final of the European cup where they will play the only non English team remaining in the competition Barcelona.

The other semi final will see Liverpool play Chelsea, for what will be the third meeting in fours years at the semi final stage of the European Cup.

Tuesday 22nd April – Liverpool v Chelsea
Wednesday 23rd April – Barcelona v Manchester United
Tuesday 29th April – Manchester United v Barcelona
Wednesday 30th April – Chelsea v Liverpool

This year’s semi final will see English teams make up three of the four places for the second year in succession. This is the fourth time that three teams from the same league have made it through to the semi finals.

2000 – Spain - Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia.
2003 – Italy – AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus.
2007 – England – Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea.
2008 - England – Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea.

After watching Manchester United play Roma, the Apprentice was put on which saw Renaissance project manager Ian Stringer get fired in the third week of the show.

The timing of preparing the food resulted in a late serving being delivered, it wasn’t the latest but at one point it looked like it could have been. Of course when the food was served the usual banter was given that included comments such as the sausages are still frozen.

And finally the bet between Brin and Phil could be over this weekend, Aston Villa are currently 12 points ahead of Tottenham, and with only 15 points to play for it is looking most certainly likely that Aston Villa will finish ahead of Tottenham. If Aston Villa have a better result then Tottenham in their next game then it will be pay up time.

The Mighty Reds go marching on...

Rafa showed his superiority on the European stage yet again as the Reds eased past Arsenal who were not able to beat them in any of the 3 games played over the 6 days.

Torres was fairly quiet until he unleashed a beauty in the second half.

Bring on the Chelsea!

Get Well Blogger

From all who enjoy Big Fat Wednesdays here is a Big Get Well soon for one of our top bloggers Darren. Many think his illness may have been caused but the 3 - 0 thrashing of Liverpool by the mighty Utd. A hospital spokesman said that due to the fact that Liverpool had not beaten Utd for sometime it was unlikely to be the cause. We will all be keeping an eye on Phil this week after Villa got an even bigger drubbing from the future champions. The only good thing for Villa was that Utd took it easy and did not score 10:o)

Wednesday 19th March

On this day in 1920 American senators reject the Treaty of Versailles, ensuring the US will not join the League of Nations. If that was important news then, then 88 years on the big talking point is the Wednesday night get together will be venturing to Phil’s via the Wessex for what is bound to be a night of the usual football, banter and drinking.

The live game showing will see Manchester United host Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford in a game that is vital for both teams for different reasons. Manchester United need to the points to continue their quest for the premiership title and Bolton need them for premiership survival. Last night Aberdeen shocked Celtic by beating them at Celtic Park to reach the Semi Final of the Scottish Cup, and if Bolton can win at Old Trafford tonight it would currently be two results that on paper you wouldn’t expect to happen.

Unlike recent weeks where there has been odds placed on certain things happening; today it’s a couple of football questions that need answering. You could use Google to find the answers which would be cheating, but one of the questions will be difficult to find on Google.

1 - What player scored on his debut for England and never played for his country again?
2- What 4 teams out of the 92 league teams start and end with the same letter?

Wednesday 12th March

Last night started with PSV v Tottenham being shown, but when it was decided it would be more interesting to watch paint dry the game was changed to Everton v Fiorentina. At this point Everton were leading 2-0 and the game was heading into extra time before the dreaded shootout which seems to be not only a curse for the England national side but also the English club teams as well.

A joyful cheer was made when news came through that Middlesbrough was leading 1-0 against Aston Villa at Villa Park. The only person who didn’t find this at all amusing was Phil, who when half time came he was on the phone phoning into the Villa boys for a more informed analysis of Villa’s performance. Villa did manage to draw 1-1 but they are now 7 points adrift of 5th place and European football for next season is slowly fading away.

Brin mentioned yesterday that he would take the odds of 4/1 and the food would be served between 21:01 & 21:15, however he would have lost his money because as Joe quite rightly said it would be served between 20:46 & 21:00, and it was on the table at 20:50. Everyone who had the pleasure of eating last nights food will say it was absolutely fantastic, the pies were from the farm shop and there is no better pie around! High regards goes to both Brin and Joe for what was a fantastic meal.

Next week we venture to Phil’s and the game being shown on Sky will see Manchester United challenge Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford. Apart from the question of will Manchester United keep their hopes alive of retaining the Premiership or will Lewis or Gary make an appearance, but will Phil return his RSVP wedding invite?

Special Guest Star

Special guest this week........ RAYMONDO!

For the second time in a week English football's finest turned the San Siro into a killing field for Italian dreams in the Champions League

As Liverpool became the fourth English side to make it into Friday's Champions League quarter-final draw, this has shown the quality and standard of football played in the English Barclays Premier league. One week ago in the same stadium Arsenal beat the holders AC Milan and last night Liverpool ended Inters European dream thanks to another fine goal by Fernando Torres’.

Comments may have been made yesterday afternoon with Phil saying “Who is supporting the mighty Inter tonight then? And Gary saying this morning “12 against 10 was a bit unfair”. But if the truth is told, not only was last night’s performance by Liverpool exceptional, but the fine performance in the first leg at Anfield made last night’s task at lot easier.

Andy’s comment this morning says it all “The Reds go marching on...! I hope all you 'Inter fans' enjoyed another master class from the Kings of Europe!”

Tonight the Wednesday night get together will be hosted by Brin and Joe, and the game that will be showing will the second leg of the UEFA Cup last 16 tie between PSV and Tottenham in the Philips Stadium Eindhoven. PSV currently have a 1-0 lead and with Tottenham having nothing to lose it will be a game they will need to be on the attack from the first minute. The question is apart from will Tottenham get through, will the game go ahead with no crowd trouble considering there currently is a strike by Dutch police.

Andy has said he will be round tonight, but will he make it considering he has alerted us of the feet problem he is currently having due to the new pair of shoes that he has been wearing in Sweden.

Last week Lewis pulled all the stops out to serve the food at what has to be the earliest in a long while, what time will the food be served tonight?

Place your bets –

20:30 - 20:45 – 10/1
20:46 – 21:00 – 6/1
21:01 – 21:15 – 4/1
21:16 – 21:30 – 2/1
21:31 onwards – 4/5

Ever needed a 180, then ask Colin - Wednesday 5th March

Last nights get together was certainly a very interseting one, the odds on who would hit the wall the most times will have to be amended for next time. Brin had odds of 2/1 and if anyone placed a bet on him then they would have cashed in because he hit the wall a total of 6 times! Lewis came a close second with 5 and then Phil, Andy and Colin were not far behind.

A big well done has to said to Colin for hitting the first ever 180 with 3 darts on Lou’s dart board, and lets be honest it probably will be a long time until the next one is done! Although the 180 was hit, this still resulted in the leg being lost because it was the all important double that caused the problem.

Although there was not much interest in the football, Chelsea did manage to cruise into the last eight of the Champions League with a 3-0 victory over Olympiakos at Stamford Bridge. With Liverpool taking a 2-0 lead to Milan next week, will they become the fourth English side into the last eight, proving that the English Premiership is the strongest league in Europe?

As another Wednesday night is upon us

So another Wednesday is with us, last nights Champions league football was certainly a good night for the two English clubs involved but not for the one Scottish team remaining in the competition.

Last night Arsenal made history in Milan by becoming the first English team to beat AC Milan in the San Siro with two late goals from Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor which ensured they progressed into the last eight of the Champions League. Although Phil may have sent a text saying “come on you frogs”, this wasn’t enough to stop Manchester United becoming the second English team through to the last eight with a 1-0 win at Old Trafford meaning they beat French side Lyon 2-1 on aggregate.

Tonight we go to Black Dam and Lou’s house where Chelsea will be the game shown because Liverpool are not playing their second leg against Inter Milan until next Wednesday due to AC Milan being at home last night and the police not allowing the fixture to take place.

As Lou’s has become the venue of darts it can be guaranteed that a few legs will be played! Again certain questions will be answered, will Brin continue his fine form from a few weeks ago and beat anyone who steps up to the challenge, will the phantom toilet pisser return who is unable to aim downwards into the toilet pan, and the final question being one of not who will get the highest checkout of the night but who will hit the wall with their darts the most times!

Please see odds below -

Andy – 2/5
Phil - 4/5

Colin - Evens

Keanie - 5/4
Brin – 2/1
Lewis – 3/1
Darren – 8/1

As the Premiership hots up

As the Saturday 3 o’clock kick off’s finish if you were betting on the away teams winning then four of your bets came in.

As the top of the Premiership is turning into what will be a grandstand finish, and the bottom being a battle for survival, today’s results have only added to the excitement for what will be a fantastic run in to the end of the season.

As the four away team managers enjoyed their days out to opposing teams, King Kev as he was labelled when he took over at Newcastle was on the receiving end of a Mark Hughes’s away Blackburn team beating them 1-0 at St James Park. Reading managed to put their losing streak behind them with their first away win of the season by beating Middlesborough 1-0 at the Riverside, and the defending champions Manchester United enjoyed their day out in the capital with a 3-0 away win at Fulham. Controversy over the red card shown to West Ham old boy Frank Lampard may take some of the shine off what was an impressive 4-0 away London derby win at West Ham.

Derby and Sunderland played out a 0-0 draw in a result that has to be said was not unexpected considering Derby have the worst home team record in the Premiership and Sunderland the away.

A late consolation goal from Jermaine Jenas wasn’t enough to take any gloss off what was an impressive home performance by Birmingham City by beating Carling Cup winners Tottenham 4-1 at St Andrews.

With Birmingham beating Tottenham today, today was the day when Phil and Brin’s bet could have been over, at the start of the season Brin said Tottenham would finish above Aston Villa come end of the season and Phil was not one to take that easily so the bet was on! However a late late goal by Bendtner saw Phil’s dreams of an away win at Arsenal come crashing down around him and the bet continuing for another week.

The remaining weekend Premiership fixtures sees Manchester City play Wigan in the late Saturday kick off, whilst on Sunday Liverpool travel to Bolton in an away fixture that they always seem to have difficulties in winning, and Everton welcome Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth side to Goodison.

Ever wanted a wine rack, then this is the one for you

Unlike Wednesday morning the country wasn’t awoken this morning to the news that the largest earthquake in British history had hit the country in the early hours of morning. Instead it was up to the news that the England cricket teams preparations for next week's first Test with New Zealand were hit by a woeful batting collapse on day one of a three-day tour fixture with a New Zealand select XI as England were bowled out for a below par 131.

Last nights get together was as previously mentioned around Brin’s and although the turn out was not that large the usual jokes and banter was given by the people who did make it. At one point somehow the mention of Dolly the cloned sheep was said? With regards to answering the questions mentioned in the last blog posting, the saying of Villa are going places was said twice, Colin was drinking white grape water and unfortunately Andy M was unable to make it so we’ll have to wait and see where his work will next take him?

The game showing saw Middlesbrough go through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup following an extra-time win over Sheffield United in their fifth-round replay last night. The game was boring to watch and the only hope of getting through watching it was the hope of the arrival of something to eat. Although the menu only consisted of sausages and spicy potato wedges the run of late servings continued, when the food was finally served it was as always a pleasure to eat, many thanks to chef Brin.

Next week get the Polly filler out because Lewis has said it is around his and with the rumour going around that he is doing ribs will the late night food servings continue? As next week is the second leg of the champions league fixtures there are 3 games playing on the Wednesday and one of those includes Chelsea who are playing Olympiakos at Stamford Bridge. As this will be the game shown, how many Chelsea fans will make an appearance?

Wine rack in picture is Brin’s brand new one.

So today as it is announced that Everton will be entering next season’s Intertoto cup along with fellow English Premier League teams Aston Villa, Blackburn and Manchester City who have also applied for entry into the competition, or that it’s the day when Middlesbrough have accused the Football Association of double standards after losing their appeal against Jeremie Aliadiere's red card at Liverpool.

But the important talking point for today is the Wednesday night venture is coming to Soper Grove tonight with the hosts for the evening being Brinny and Joe. What will come of the evening? Certain questions will be answered such as, how many times will the phrase of “Villa are going places” be said? What type of drink will Colin be drinking tonight and where in the country will Andy’s work next take him, will it be Rochdale, will it be Sheffield?

The football match on BBC 1 tonight isn’t the most appealing game but it will decide who takes the last place in the quarter final of the FA cup. Will Sheffield United send another premiership team in Middlesbrough crashing out of the cup tonight or will Middlesbrough be only the fourth premiership team to make into the last 8?

As the cricket season approaches

Although some mornings you may be awakening having to scrape the ice off the car (unless your Phil and by the time he awakens the ice has defrosted on its own accord) but the cricket season is quickly approaching. Last year the Wednesday night get together ventured down to the Rose Bowl, Southampton to watch Hampshire play Sussex in a Twenty 20 game.

This year it would be good if more people could make the night because last year quite a few people said they would go and then pulled out for various reasons. Those who did make the trip down to the Rose Bowl will say it was certainly a good night out even though Hampshire did end up losing to Sussex by 9 wickets in a rain affected match that didn’t get underway until 8:30pm.

The fair ground rides there were certainly enjoyed by Steph, Joe, Andy Cook and JP but Brin’s work colleague, Mike, couldn’t handle going on any ride because of the excessive amounts of Stella that he drunk led him to being absolutely smashed he couldn’t even stay awake on the bus journey home. If it could be arranged for a trip down to the Rose Bowl again this year hopefully with the early notice that is being given here something could be arranged with more numbers turning out.

Hampshire home Twenty 20 fixtures for the following season are as follows –

Saturday 14th June – Hampshire v Kent
Friday 20th June – Hampshire v Sussex
Monday 23rd June – Hampshire v Surrey

Wednesday 25th June – Hampshire v Essex

Wednesday 20 February

So as another eventful Wednesday evening passes the top talking point of the evening was Phil will shortly be breaking into the property market of Southsea, the costal town won’t know what will hit them.

The selected game to watch was not a popular choice at the start of the evening but as the game progressed the watching crowd became more involved as Lyon were leading through a goal from Karim Benzema but only to have their hopes of seeing Utd beaten taken away from them when Carlos Tevez late goal ensured Utd head back to Old Trafford on level terms.

The second English club playing on Wednesday evening were Arsenal and it has to be said that it is lucky this game was not the preferred match choice because the reports from the match suggest a lack of composure in front of goal was to blame for their failure to beat AC Milan. Has the affect on losing to Utd in the FA Cup had a knock on affect?

Tuesday night saw a more eventful evening of football when as it seemed Liverpool’s love affair with the competition was about to hit the rocks, Rafael Benítez and his Liverpool team again found salvation in the Champions League. Two goals in the final five minutes, from Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard, enabled them to inflict Inter Milan’s first defeat since September and take a giant step towards the quarter-finals.

Chelsea the other English team playing on Tuesday scrapped their way to a scratchy goalless draw away to Olympiacos.

Regarding the food served there now seems to be a tendency when the food is being served later and later each week, but again even though the food was served later than normal it has to be said what was on offer was top quality, nothing like a good meat pie! Regards to Chef Phil.

Next week Brin has accepted the offer of his being the venue for the evening, what will come of that? One thing will be guaranteed “Phil will still believe Villa is going places”! But we all know the truth.

Liverpool 2 - 0 Inter Milan

OK he might struggle against the might of Barnsley but when it comes to the Champions League Rafa has no competition!

Another memorable European night at Anfield.

We've won it FIVE times! Bring on number six.

Champions League returns to show its worth

After the long waited break the business end of the Champions league has arrived with four English teams looking to expose their talents in a competition they crave with several mouth watering clashes at the ready.

On Tuesday Liverpool have what seems the toughest tie of the four English clubs by having to face serie A champions Inter who are currently 11 points clear and unbeaten in their domestic league this season. After the embarrassing shock defeat to Barnsley at the weekend Darren and Andy M will certainly be hoping for a turn in fortune which Liverpool seem to have when it comes to playing in Europe.

The other clash on Tuesday sees Chelsea and there more direct approach travel to Greece where many English clubs and fans dread going to play Olympiakos, Keany and Colin must hope the hostile atmosphere in the stadium won’t affect the performance of the money spinning Chelsea side.

On Wednesday as the venture is made to Phil’s via the Wessex English champions Man United visit French counterparts Lyon. Lyon have a tendency in recent years to do well in this competition but with the talent United have over two legs it may seem a challenge to hard for even the onion smelling snail eating French to achieve.

The last tie that involves an English side sees holders AC Milan travelling to Premier League leaders Arsenal, and with Arsenal’s crushing FA Cup defeat at the weekend it is vital they return to winning ways.

Let the games commence!

Lews Birhtday

We went over to Lews for his birthday and when we got there we watched England beat Switzerland 2-1 for Cappellos first game in charge. We then held our own darts competition once Lew had constructed his own "Oche"

As you can see Brin was the expert - he did finally manage to get some darts on the board !!! He was not too happy with his technique and so stayed till nearly midnight trying to polish up his technique. The quote of the night was " just one more" and amazingly it was referring to another throw of the darts and not another beer!!! I was in the winning team although it must be said we were heavily indepted to Darren who managed to get a few of our points and finishing doubles. Now Lew has his dart board set up, his house will always be used for our darts practise. This will ensure the local DIY stores will always be selling plenty of Pollyfiller - to fix the holes in the wall !!

Phil singing solo

Classic