This John Terry Situation

The really amazing thing about this is that if John Terry had called Anton Ferdinand a "F*cking Stupid C*nt" , nothing would have been said. Almost every match that is played players verbally abuse others and nothing is done , despite the fact referees can red card players for foul and abusive language.

The insertion of the word black makes it racist abuse meaning that action will be taken , giving ammunition to the anti-PC brigade of Daily Mail readers out there.

All abuse is wrong , and swearing should not be tolerated on a football field. The say swearing shows a lack of vocabulary , which wouldn't be surprising in the case of Mr Terry. 

Ashley Cole isnt much better and his withdrawn tweet against the FA shows a complete lack of respect for his betters (which is most people).

Their club Chelsea say they have a zero tolerance policy towards racist abuse towards players. However they seemed to have made an exception in Mr Terry's case.

Also what about the fact that the FA banned Terry (caucasian) for four matches, yet banned Louis Suarez (South American) of Liverpool for nine games?

These two players are excellent footballers but intellectual and moral vermin. While their behaviour is tolerated not much will change and they will keep on being abusive because their pay justifies what they do.

Premier In?

Last day of the Premiership today and Roberto Mancini thinks it'll be good for another team to win the Premiership (ie Manchester City) It's just a pity that the team that breaks the stranglehold will only do so because they had the biggest sugar daddy.

If you look at the top teams (position wise) in the Premiership the only teams being run on a sound financial basis are Newcastle and Arsenal. New Euro Fair Financial Play rules could see the likes of Manchester City , Manchester United , Chelsea , Tottenham and Liverpool excluded from Europe i the near future.

It's amazing that Swansea (Swanselona as they are known in some circles) and Norwich have fearlessly bedded into the Premiership and that has got to be due to Ian Holloway's attacking Blackpool last season . Yes they were relegated , but were a huge breath of fresh air to the Premiership.

Anyway , I'm sure theres going to be lots of twists and turns , controversy , cat fighting and fun. We still dont know who will win , who will be in The Champions League , who will be the last team relegated. We know the probabilities but favourites can always fall.

It's not long since Wigan were dead and buried , yet Dave Whelan and Roberto Martinez didnt panic , and they are still the only Premiership club who have never been relegated from the top flight.

Anyway here's my favourite football song, enjoy this afternoon:




Oh I'd forgotten about this for all the Man City fans!!

Oh and finally a playlist of my favourite football related songs

Old Typewriters and Football Shirts

It's funny how our magpie like society convinces us that we need to have things . I can't remember why but while perusing Amazon I became aware of a book called "The Olivetti Chronicles" which I thought was about John Peel , for some reason I assumed someone had written another book about him , which is notunexpected given the importance of the guy to modern music.

Today , three months after receiving it as a birthday present I finally started to read the said book , and discovered thatit is actually a collection of John Peel's writings for many publications , unearthed by his family when they finished "Margrave of the Marshes" , the man's autobigraphy.

The title alloudes to the Olivetti typewriter that John produced his articles on , despite the difficulties in procuring ink to allow him to type , , but still his wife Sheila and son William have brought together over four hunderd pages of delightful and insightful prose , including stuff on his beloved Liverpool Football Club , and of course lot's of music .

His son Tom Ravenscroft presents a show on Radio 6 and sounds incredibly like his dad in his manner and taste in music , and sense of humour.

So that's my reading sorted for the next week or two!!

Heart As Big As Liverpool

Just visited Liverpool for the first time in ten years ,and the place is looking very well , though suffering from a dearth of decent record shops.. Probe is still going in a natty location next to the Bluecoat Chambers. This has given me the excuse to include mine and John Peel's two favourite songs about the place. First up is Pete Wylie's "Heart As Big As Liverpool" , this excellent video would have met with Mr Ravenscrofts Approval I'm sure:
Watch it here
Another one:



2nd is Amsterdam's "Does This Train Stop On Merseyside" , and wonderful song and I've included Ian Prowse' solo rendition at The Anglican Cathedral followed by a documentary about the song. The album is well worth buying as is anything by his previous band Pele!!:



And Here's The Documentary:

Mathew Street - L2

Yellow Submarine in Cavern Walks

Beatle Boots For Sale

In the middle of the Mathew Street redevelopment in Liverpool is the Cavern Walks shopping area , which is a lot better than I imagined , with some boutiques , eateries a couple of Yellow Submarines and a Beatles display naturally, I was expecting something quite horrible , but one of the cafes was even serving "scouse", which is good.

Gold Disc Wall

In Mathew (I sure it should have 2 "t"s) Street itself you have the new Cavern Club , the site of the old one , a Beatles shop , more displays and two very good wall installations. The first is a display of all the number ones achieved by Liverpool bands , in the form of gold discs , unfortunately though you get The Beatles and Frankie Goes To Hollywood , you also get Atomic Kitten!!

A section of the name Wall

The Beatles Bit

The second is a very simple idea , but still a brilliant installation , it's a wall and every brick is engraved with the name of a band that's played there , The Beatles themselves receiving individual name checks . A slight sour note on this , they have a gold plaque detail two acts who had their bricks removed , it would have been better to remove the bricks and say nothing. Well worth a visit for anyone with even a cursory interest in pop music history.

Is Ted Baker A Scouser?

Was Probe - Now Ted Baker

Ted Baker Customers aren't that bright

Just visited Liverpool for the first time in 30 years and was a little surprised to see the old Probe Records site was now a Ted Baker shop. This was on top of Littlewoods metamorphosing into Primark!! On further wanderings Ted Baker seemed to be everywhere , shops , concessions , advertising you name it , which begs the question is Ted Baker a scouser.

Obviously the clothes are de riguer for you average charver or scally,

The new Probe

Happily I found Probe were still thriving at a site next to the Bluecoat Chambers , so all was not lost.

Twitter - It's Just For Lazy Verbal Exhibitionists!

This week Ryan Babel of Liverpool football club has been censured for twittering about Howard Webb's handling of their cup tie with Manchester United. To be honest I agree with Mr Babel , though the FA takes a different view.

Also we have Stephen Fry , Dara O' Briain and lots of other high profile tweeters or twitterers , posting their 140 character thoughts via their mobile devices. Babel's sin was compounded by the addition of an image of Howard Webb wearing a Manchester United shirt. What's that about? Twitter with pictures?? It's meant to be a limited text service.

It's like when there was talk of DAB services transmittting enhanced content such as images and video!! Isn't that television?

Anyway still think that Twitter is just for people who cant be bothered to properly socialise , as I say lazy verbal exhibitionists!! If you must tweet or twitter , here's a few devices that may feed your addiction !!!