Common Sense And Idiocy

Common sense: The FA sort out the ridiculous points penalty previously attached to AFC Wimbledon for their fielding of the ineligible Jermaine 'Man' Darlington. Well done the FA (not often one hears that).

Idiocy: Steve McClaren continues his perplexing love-in with Frank Lampard, meaning Aaron Lennon and Steven Gerrard have to play out of position against Israel. What will the tabloids say after yet another soul-destroying draw against Andorra this week?

Also: friend of Yellow Fever Mr Simon Harriyott has used guile, cunning and voodoo to create an RSS feed for the the official website. If you know what to do with it (clue: not for internal use), click here.

Balls Of Steel II

The expected draw came off without a hitch, with Fat Frank & The Heavyweights all set to meet Man Ure in the showpiece final that - according to those in the know - New Wembley™ clearly deserves. The BBC must have been over the moon with that draw, as they left Trevor Brooking looking blankly around the room for 15 seconds before getting any reaction.

Balls Of Steel

So: one resilient (ie lucky, and shit) performance later, and the semi-final draw is coming up. Release those big money balls:

1. Boro or Manchester Utd
2. Blackburn
3. Chelsea or Spurs
   last... and least
4. Watford

Surely Man Utd and Chelsea will be kept apart? What with the new Wembley, and all that?

Jermaine Beckford

Oh, and sticking with YouTube, here's what former transfer target Jermaine Beckford (signed by the hilarious Leeds, on loan at Scunthorpe) is up to.

A Wednesday Round-Up

Evening Feverettes.

Aidy's newsletter today helped explain (if explanation were necessary) the recent change in style and the introductions of Gareth Williams and Tamas Priskin:

Many of you will have perhaps noticed our slightly different approach to the game with Charlton on Saturday. I know that many people have been pushing for a change in personnel and possibly a change in the system.

We’re still finding out about ourselves and what we can do but the inclusion of Gareth Williams on Saturday made us look more capable of keeping the ball. I was delighted with [faint praise alert] parts of his performance.

Tamas Priskin was also a massive plus for us which will, no doubt, beg the question as to why I didn’t get him involved in the first team earlier this season.

My experience of working with young players taught me that they are very erratic in their development at that stage – the kind of situation that Tamas has found himself in where he’s been in and out of the first team is notoriously difficult for young professionals to deal with.

Williams, along with Lee Williamson and Will Hoskins, are cup-tied for Sunday's Plymouth game, meaning Monday's reserve victory over Tottenham gave a few squad players a chance to impress. The win was presided over by Alec Chamberlain and, for the first time, Malky Mackay. The article refers to Alec as 'reserve team boss', something possibly not officially confirmed before. Also not confirmed so far by the official site: they don't own a dictionary or spell-checker; Keith Burkinshaw is nothing but a reanimated corpse; Clarke Carlisle and Matthew Spring are undercover agents helping to bring about the downfall of that lot down the road.

Elsewhere on the official site Jordan Parkes reflects on his season so far - making his debut, signing a pro contract and getting the call-up for England U18s. Unfortunately, the title of the article is 'Parkes Life'; a pun so rubbish that even this blog would dismiss it out of hand. Also, our Hameur has been called up again by Algeria, this time for the game against the mighty Cape Verde Islands (who are almost certainly better than Wales).

Watford ought to watch out for the pace and trickery of Plymouth's Scott Sinclair, a winger/striker on loan from Chelsea. See the clip below for his exploits in a previous round - about the four minute mark.

Reserves Win At Spurs

Well, at Stevenage Borough actually. But you know what I mean.

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/reservesvwatford050307.html

Rinaldi scored the only goal after 38 mins. Report to follow on the Watford site.

Tamas is great, bloke is penis

Well then, bloke-who-sat-next-to-me-against-Wigan, how d'you like them apples? When I suggested Aidy introduce Tamas Priskin in place of a clearly out-of-sorts Steve Kabba, you scoffed and giggled like schoolboy whose Mum had just mentioned sex. Well, a cracking performance and a half later and young Tamas is hoping to cement a place in the starting line-up for the rest of the season. Says Aidy of the young Magyar:

It was a big, big step for Tamas today, and that sort of performance shows that there is progress being made at the club.

He's a very good player who has taken his time to settle into things, but now he looks as though he's arrived and I'm very pleased for him.

He's very, very fast, has a great deal of ability and I think he's got a great future ahead of him.

So 'ave that, matey boy. Tamas is here to stay.

Obviously disappointing to draw yesterday after leading 2-0. But lots of positives to come out of the game (Christ, I sound like Aidy), not least the change in style and the performances of Francis and Williams. It's all of a fabric; when Aidy signed Williams it was as a 'catalyst to change the way we play'. And he certainly did that.

Meanwhile, more woe for the Unhappy Hammers as they lose hilariously to Tottenham in the last minute of stoppage time. Next season we will win the league. West Ham will get relegated for the second season in a row. Mark my words.

Actually, don't. I predicted we'd finish in the top half this year.

Just When We Thought They Were Down...

...Luton have taken Clarke Carlisle on a month's loan.

Good luck to Clarke. Let's hope he excels for the Hatters, but the rest of their defence implodes to send them down. Don't fancy going to Kenilworth Road next season.

Ding Ding Ding!

That bell signals the start of the Aidy Boothroyd vs all-comers fight.

Round One: Aidy uppercuts that moaning fan. KAPOW!

Round Two: A quick right hook floors those people that have been moaning about Tamas Priskin's non-selection. BOOF!

Round Three: A running headbutt takes out Alex Ferguson for thinking that Edwin van der Sar is better than Ben Foster. CRUNK!