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!