Wednesday 12 September 2007

Work

July 2007 to present

Having been at West Nott’s College for the past 5 years nearly, I felt it was time for a change and although I felt I wasn’t actively looking for a new job, I came across an ideal position at North Nott’s College in Worksop as co-manager of the Learning Resource Centre there. I didn’t really want to leave West Nott’s as I would be leaving many friends there but the job I was in was getting duller by the day and there weren’t any other opportunities to progress within the next few years so the only way up was out. Having almost completed my HNC in Computing, I wanted to take this opportunity to take a step up so having applied for the job at North Nott’s and being granted an interview, I made every effort to prepare myself for the interview, spending a lot of time speaking to people at West Nott’s including my line manager Sue, who helped me a great deal in my presentation for the interview.

I researched many of the things in the job description to ensure I was either currently able or prepared to learn everything required for the job and was confident I could do it. I purchased a new suit from George and have to say I look damn good in it ;). I went to the interview and blitzed a standard literacy and numeracy assessment that should have taken 45 minutes, but took me less than 10! I then had over an hour to wait for my actual interview and presentation and began to get really nervous. A phone call home to Milly, who was waiting for me and doing some housework for me, bless her, soon calmed my nerves.

I entered the interview room and instantly the nerves returned. I introduced myself to the 3 ladies sat opposite me and then was asked to present my presentation. I thought this would be the hardest part of the interview but actually I was really clear and confident and got through that rather well and was told later that the presentation was near perfect, with everything required contained in it and I showed my knowledge of the subject really well. It was the next part of the interview that knocked me back as I was then asked a series of questions relevant to the job and working at the college. Many of them I answered really well, even some I answered so in depth that I also unknowingly answered questions that they were about to ask. I got quite nervous during this stage as I always seem to and struggled with a couple of questions that I really shouldn’t struggle with. I thought these would cost me the job. I was told I would hear something by the Friday that week but I left the interview disappointed and only expecting to receive bad news later in the week.

It was late on Friday that I was told a member of the decision making panel had been ill so the decision was to be put on hold but was told I had shown a great deal of potential and was in the running for the job! That was very pleasing to hear and boosted my confidence a bit. I should hear something early the following week so I convinced myself not to be too confident as I was now thinking I may get the job and didn’t want to be too disappointed if I didn’t.

My mobile spent the majority of the following Monday, Tuesday and then Wednesday tight in my grasp as I waited to hear the news but by Wednesday evening, I’d still not heard from them. I thought it would be a good idea just to get in touch with them to show my keenness without looking impatient, so I emailed them on Thursday morning to ask if everything was ok and later that day I received a phone call from HR of North Notts. As the position was a managerial one, albeit a new created one, the ideal candidate would have been more qualified and experienced than myself and I was told I had shown potential but lacked confidence. I was then told that they were sure my lack of confidence in the interview was purely down to nerves as my current role at West Nott’s requires a good deal of it so they didn’t want to underestimate me and offered me the position! I was very surprised, especially after I was then told at the great lengths they had gone to to justify employing me. As they did feel I wasn’t quite ready to be a sole manager of the centres, although the job was co-manager but Donna, the other co-manager was leaving for maternity leave within a week, I would be left pretty much on my own, so to help me, they found a temporary cover for Donna, someone who had the experience to help me settle into the job.

I met Donna the following week to discuss the job and it appears not only will I be the co-manager of the Learning Resource Centres but I will be the main ILT Project Leader for the college, where my main duties include speaking to heads of schools and departments in the college to encourage the use of ILT in the classroom. It’s a very scary but also exciting role which I am looking forward to and just hope I can do it and do it well. Another plus side is the money as it’s a fair bit more than I would hope to be earning at West Nott’s and with a greater chance of pushing for more in the same role. There’s a lot to it with me having to get involved in the creation and setting up of a LRC intranet for students and the opportunity to hold student and staff training sessions and I’ll also be required to attend meetings in Northampton College, so it’s a very challenging role and one that I am relishing.

I’ll be very sad to leave West Nott’s after all these years and will leave behind some great friends, all of whom I hope to remain in contact with after leaving. My final day at West Nott’s is Friday the 28th September before starting my new position the next Monday.

AFC Hucknall

August 2007 to present

Having ended my spell as manager of Welbeck juniors and relinquished a few more of the responsibilities that were taking up the majority of my time and energy, I felt I could still remain actively involved in something but with a lot less responsibility and commitment needed. Having played football at work with a lad called Louca for the past few months, we’d become good friends and he’d recently been asked to play for a Sunday league side and had kinda promoted me to the manager too who had asked me to join also.

I really wanted to so went to train with them and my early prediction that the team would be full of the usual arrogant nobheads that fill most football teams up and down the country, especially the successful ones was blown out of the water straight away. My first training session went really well and I got to know many of the lads, all of whom were really cool.

The thing with the team, named AFC Hucknall, was that the season prior to this they had finished third in the top division and had many more lads wanting to play for them so were forming a reserve team as well. I only expected at this stage to be a bit part player for the reserves until my fitness improved and I had settled and was playing with confidence.

My first game was quite local to me in Langworth where I was asked where I like to play. Having not played properly at 11 a side football, other than with friends I was unsure where my best position would be. I know I liked to run with the ball, taking players on and shooting on my right foot so said I could play either up front or on either wing. Surprisingly enough, me and Louca started the match as strike partners. None of the first team from the previous season played so the team was made up of new players who hadn’t had time to get used to each other yet and a few of which were not good players at all. We lost the match 6-1 but I enjoyed setting up our goal. I didn’t have a bad game, playing all of the first 45 minutes up front, creating a few chances for us that weren’t taken before being subbed at half time as expected.

I watched from the sides for the first 15 minutes of the second half before being put on for the final 20 on the left wing. It was a surprise to me to get so much time but I was also pleased that my fitness wasn’t that bad and I came off feeling like I could play for another hour. I’d got involved in the match and made a good few runs with and without the ball but the team wasn’t that strong so we didn’t have much of the play anyway.

I continued to train and form a good bond with many of the lads including a few of the first teamers and was impressed with the attitudes and personalities of them all as they welcomed all the newcomers into their team with open arms. This worked really well for me as it helped me to settle really quickly and it wasn’t long before my performances and attitude was getting credit from the sidelines.

My second game didn’t go so well as it was against a top side, Linby, who were a few divisions above our first team anyway and the majority of last seasons first team turned up for it as well as the reserves and new boys so we turned up with close to 30 players. We started with our strongest possible side and were 4-0 up at half time before changes were made. We went 5-0 up before the majority of the reserves and newcomers were put on and I was one of the last on. We finished with quite a weak side and I came on with 20 minutes to go as Linby had started to pull it back. It was 5-2 when I came on and was surprisingly played in centre midfield. Not my best position or one I thought I could excel in. I played there for 15 minutes before being switched to right wing. The score finished 5-5 and I hadn’t seen much of the ball, just one run that ended with me being brought down for a free kick near the edge of our box that came to nothing.

Our third game came 2 days before I had a really important job interview so I wanted to take it fairly steady and leave the field in one piece. Unfortunately, that didn’t go quite to plan! We played for the first time on our home pitch against a decent Nott’s Trent team; I started on the right wing with Louca on the left. I would’ve preferred it the other way around but soon found that my opposition left back was quite weak so I spent a good while running him ragged whilst on the other flank Louca was finding it difficult to shrug off his man so we switched positions. I noticed every time our keeper took a kick, he was hitting it quite long towards the strikers and often our striker and there centre backs were misreading the length of the kick and it was going over them and into their keepers grasp. I read this once and as the ball sailed over our striker and their defence I was left with one man to beat to go one on one with the keeper for my first real goal scoring opportunity. I had decided to head the bouncing ball over the oncoming defender and go around him towards the goal, only to beat him to the ball by a matter of a second and as I nodded the ball over him, I then proceeded to be nodded by the defender, right in the temple! I was knocked out cold and after a few seconds came around as the manager and assistant were carrying me off the pitch! It took me a while to even realise where I was as Amelia walked me around the pitch. I was in such a daze I was looking at people and not recognising them. I also had a bit of a headache and quite a large bump had already protruded through. Not ideal to say I had the interview in two days time.

I spent the next 20 minutes recovering before looking desperate to return to the pitch in the second half, which surprisingly enough I was, even better still as I was put up front! Unfortunately we were quite outplayed and I saw very little of the ball in the final 20 minutes as we lost 4-0 but the managers had seen enough of me to see I was very committed and was something of a battler on the field. One of the things I had greatly improved in since managing the lads was becoming a very vocal player, constantly barking instructions all over the pitch, encouraging others and keeping our team in check. This had been noticed by the manager of the first team who was very impressed and in a conversation later in the week with him online, he asked me if I wanted to become more involved with the running of the team. I was very flattered to be asked but said I really didn’t need the hassle of any responsibility right now but was always available to give any advice and on match days wouldn’t mind giving my thoughts and opinions but as far as helping with training and setting up on match day, I could really do without it at this time of my life. The manager, Adam, accepted this and said that he was really impressed with how I express myself on and off the pitch and that I set an example that some of the younger lads can follow. He asked if I wouldn’t mind helping to bring the new lads through and helping them to settle and building their confidence by making me reserve team captain. I was thrilled with this offer and jumped at it. I’d only been with the team 3 weeks and was as new as all of them, even more so in fact and here I was being handed the captaincy!

As it happens, my performances on the pitch, combined with the lack of last seasons regulars attending have actually resulted in me being with the first team for every match since then and this doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon as I have been playing really well so am likely to be staying with the first team for the foreseeable future at least. I am still being encouraged to be very vocal on the pitch and give my advice every now and then, even giving a team talk recently, which is pleasing the managers.

After going to a mate of mine’s housewarming party, I bumped into a few old school friends who lived close by, Chris Taylor and Scott Gill and told them about the team. They seemed eager to join so I spoke to the manager about them coming and he said to bring them along. They also had another old mate of ours, Raif Coupe, interested so all of us went to the next match. As that day the first team and reserves had a friendly at the same time, we were separated only by Raif joining the reserves as the first team goalkeeper was present and Raif was to play in goal but Chris and Gilly joined me and Louca in the first team.

We played a tough side but didn’t play too well ourselves but it was to be expected as we’d brought 3 or 4 reserves with us for this game to make up the numbers so we weren’t at any sort of strength. We lost 7-1 but I was pleased to have been asked to play centre midfield, where I lasted the full 90 minutes, as well as having a cracking shot that was arrowing into the top corner before a full stretch keeper tipped it over the bar. I also set our goal up and was pleased for Chris to be on the end of it as we pushed forward, we had a clear penalty shout that wasn’t given but as everyone stopped in expectancy of it, I nipped in to cross for Chris to nod home. He had an excellent game that day and the managers were keen to sign him up. Gilly played well too and did enough to earn himself a recall to the first team the following week. He injured himself and went off after about an hour but he certainly made an impression, especially with his theatrics after he was about to clear a ball with his head but slipped over but still managed to compose himself whilst on the floor to head the ball well over the half way line! The following week we played another tough side, losing 2-1 after taking a quick lead again as Chris poked in a goalmouth scramble in true Alan Shearer style. I started in centre midfield again but although I feel I didn’t play overly bad, didn’t have a fantastic game, with nothing worth remembering from it.

Our first league fixture followed and again we were all called up to the first team, including Raif as our first team keeper, Tom was injured. We played a very strong and physical team from the centre of Nott’s and lost 4-1, having taken the lead early in the first half. I played the full match at left wing but didn’t have the greatest of games. I wasn’t quite prepared that day as I didn’t have breakfast and could feel a severe lack of energy from early in the match. I also pulled my left thigh muscle midway through the first half too so played a large part of the game with a bit of discomfort. I again got the assist as I won the ball in the wide left position and played a through ball in between our two strikers that at one point looked like they were going to leave to each other but Chris took charge and hammered the ball in from the edge of the box for his 3rd goal in 3 games. The game got quite physical and we were unlucky to go in at half time 2-1 down as there left winger cut inside the box and hit the ball into the far bottom corner but Gilly was in line to cut it out before being shoved into the post by the opposition striker. The referee didn’t see it and gave the goal, much to our protests and Gilly’s cry of “Ref, you need fuckin specs!” We failed to recover from this and lost 4-1 to find ourselves in 10th position by the end of play. We needed to drastically improve our game if we are to have a successful season. It does feel good to be a part of the first team though as the reserves were really struggling, losing heavily in most matches, but it is to be expected as a lot of the lads aren’t cut out for it.

Our second league game came away to Sporting Wheelbarrow, interesting name! Having spoken to the manager in the week, I had expected to start in centre midfield again as the previous week I’d ended the match really up for a challenge of the centre midfield slot but when the team sheet was read out, I was surprised to hear that I’d been selected to play at right back! What the…!! Chris was named as striker, unsurprisingly after his excellent start to his Hucknall career and Louca started on the left wing. Gilly was injured from last week’s collision with the post but came for support anyway, as did Amelia . Raif went in goal for the reserves. We started really well and seemed to be in control all over the pitch. Our centre midfield was getting stuck in and the centre backs kept a good solid line. I felt I did really well at right back, making many tackles, winning the ball and often retaining possession well as well as linking up with our right winger Jimmy to offer an extra option going forward. I also got a few good crosses in as well as finding out I could take a long throw in, which gave us another option of getting the ball into the box.

Unfortunately, we lacked something getting the ball to the strikers and I could see Chris was working really hard but was getting frustrated with the scraps he was receiving. The only shot he managed in the first half was a tame effort from outside the box when it would probably have been better getting the ball out wide but I don’t blame him for trying to get his shot off. With just 2 minutes left in the first half, we were hit on the break for the first time and both centre backs misjudged the bounce of the ball and left me alone at the back with a pacey striker who nipped in and made it 1-0 to them. It was disappointing to go in 1-0 down after playing so well but we were all confident we could turn it around in the second half. We kept our heads up and got at them from the start. It wasn’t long before we were level as Jimmy floated a corner in from the right and Deano rose highest and powered in a header. We stayed on top for the remainder of the game but still looked like the points would be shared, it felt as though it would take something special to win this game and that is exactly what we got. Deano had came out of his centre back slot to win the ball in the heart of midfield where he took one touch before hitting a shot from all of 35 yards that flew into the corner. It was a fantastic goal and an early taker for goal of the season. We held on for 2-1 and it probably should have been 3 as one of our centre midfielders was fouled before shooting from 20 yards into the bottom corner but the referee brought it back for the free kick. A great team performance, our first 3 points that lifted us into 7th and we have a few fixtures coming up that we should try and build on this result, including a cup game against these in 3 weeks time. It’s been a great start though and I hope I can put in a similar performance personally like this every week as I was given a 9 out of 10 rating by the manager and was told I may have found a regular position for myself, at right back! Who would’ve believed that, having never played in that role or anywhere along the back four in my life? Will be disappointing not to score all season as I’m itching too but I’d rather not score and contribute to more of the same. The good thing with me playing at right back is I still have an attacking nature about me so I can get forward and help the midfield, I get more time on the ball and have a good eye for the right pass and I’m still quick and fit enough to get back in defence when necessary. I even got a shot off this weekend as a corner was cleared to the edge of the box and I was in a 50-50 race to the ball with an onrushing defender but beat him to it by a split second only to hammer the ball high, wide and handsomely into the car park! I’m sure I’ll stick one in this season. I just hope I keep my head to celebrate it without squealing!

Liverpool FC

March 2007 to present

As anyone who knows me even a little bit would tell you, a major part of my life is my love for Liverpool FC. I don’t think I’ve written too much in the past in this blog about them, other than the odd result every now and then but I hope Liverpool play just as big a part in my future as many of the other things I have written about. I do live for the club and spend any free time I try and find researching the club and keeping up to date with all the latest news etc.

Having enjoyed a couple of excellent seasons culminating in the magnificent Champions League win in 2005, followed by the 2006 FA Cup win, I had high hopes for this season and although we ended the season trophy-less for the first time under Rafa Benitez, it was still a great year culminating in a very enjoyable trip to Athens!

This season saw us invest heavily in new players and we’ve started very brightly, sitting pretty at the top after 4 games, unbeaten so far in all competitions with some games approaching that we should hope to stretch the unbeaten run in. On a personal note I want to make a few visits to Anfield this season, especially having gone to 7 games last year, but I don’t want to sacrifice my finances just to go watch them play live as I can watch every match from home thanks to the wonderful internet! I’ve already been to one game as Milly and I saw us beat Toulouse 4-0 on a Tuesday night. She has got well into it and really enjoyed watching them live and I enjoyed seeing how much she enjoyed it and can’t wait to take her again.

Turning 25 - The 5 year plan!

18th July 2007

On July 18th of this year, I turned 25. Where the hell are all the years going?! Rather than dwell on the years flying by me at an extremely high rate of knots, I decided to look back at a time when things weren’t going too well for me and see how things had improved since.

In 2002, shortly before my 20th birthday, I was concerned at the fact that nearly 5 years after school, I’d achieved very little, whilst others around me were going far. I was still living at home with parents, I’d not even thought of learning to drive, I’d not managed to hold down a job for any longer than 4 months and none of the jobs were at a place I felt I could go far at or even doing what I wanted to do, which at that point I was unsure as to what that even was. I’d been to college for 2 years and got absolutely nothing from both years having done Catering for a year and a half before leaving and joining a late IT course and not managing to catch the work up.

There was also the issue of a bit of a debt ran up whilst living unemployed at home and the girlfriend situation sucked as there’d not been anything serious for a couple of years. Basically, all was not good but even though I feel that was one of the lowest periods of my life, I was determined to change it all so I set myself a goal to improve on every one of the points made above as best I can and look back over them when I was 25.

I’m pleased to say that although not all of them are where I’d ideally like to be at, I’m living a pretty damn happy life. It was only about 5 months after my 20th birthday that I got with Emma and to say we were serious is an understatement. We were engaged within a year, bought our first home together a year or more later and things seemed to be heading in the right direction in that sense. However, things didn’t go so well and we split this year. Looking on the bright side now though I am with Amelia and I have never been more in love than I am now. I see a very bright future for us both so as far as I’m concerned, that’s one point of the plan that’s going in the right direction.

I am also still living in the house owned by myself and Emma but are in the predicament of having to sell it and pretty soon too as it is nearly 6 months since we separated and Emma still pays far more than she should towards running costs, which isn’t ideal for her but is great of her but its my responsibility to sort this out before it begins to get messy. I’m not in a position to cover what she’s paying at present although she’s still obliged to cover half the mortgage and a few other things like payment protection insurance but that only comes to about half of what she gives me. I’m doing my best to resolve the situation and hopefully will be able to make a goodwill gesture of reducing her payments next month, which I hope she takes well and will be surprised and pleased at, especially in the run in to Christmas. Is the best I can do at the minute. So on the house front, I have my own house which is cool but am having to sell, which sucks. There’s a lot of positives still though as I can take a lot of experience from having run the house these past 2 years so my eyes will be a lot more open the next time I look for a place. This probably won’t be too long too as I’m hoping to be in a place with Amelia by this time next year. We’ve discussed it many times already and have a plan of selling this house, moving in either with my parents or into a flat owned by her dad, either of which will see our costs reduced immensely giving us ample time to clear debts and save for a large deposit for a house. So as far as the 5 year plan goes, I currently have a house as well as the knowledge of how it all works, which is great as 5 years ago I dreaded the thought of it all. Now it’s not so scary, other than house prices!

Its also been just over 2 years that I passed my driving test, albeit at the second attempt, but unfortunately I don’t possess the required ‘large pair of tits’ necessary to be granted a first time pass, even after a near-perfect test, not that I’m bitter or anything! I have my own car, a smart Citroen C3 that is a great runner so I’ve succeeded in my task of getting on the road. I should try and keep this point as completed though I seem to be doing a good job of trying to get back to where I started after a couple of driving offences almost cost me my license. Within 4 months of passing my test I was caught doing 37mph in a 30 zone, although I protest to this day I was accelerating into a 50 zone so feel very hard done too that I was caught and handed 3 points and a £60 fine. The second offence I have no such complaints at as I was returning from a nightmare day in Liverpool and missed the roadwork signs on the M1 near Rotherham so passed a temporary speed camera at 86mph and was handed a 28 day suspension and £230 of fee’s and court costs. I’ve now been driving more than 2 years so I’m unsure if another offence would see me re-sit my tests but I’m in no minds to find out!

The work situation is very healthy at the moment. Having completed a Modern Apprenticeship in IT at Mansfield Chamber Training Company between the age of 20-21 before beginning a very successful period working for West Notts College. I began in a local flexible IT Centre that belonged to the college as a trainee IT tutor, where I completed an Advanced Diploma in Software Applications but the work was reduced due to the reduction in demand for flexible IT tuition and I was relocated to the IT Centres in the main college campus’. I began as an IT Assistant and after 2 years was promoted to IT Advisor as I was working towards a HNC in Computing. I enjoyed every minute of working there but I’m currently in my final days there before undergoing a new venture (See North Notts College post). I’ve carved myself a great career path both in IT and Learning Resources in Further Education so there are many opportunities now open to me.

I’m still unsure as to what I’ll end up doing as a long term career but I have never really been someone who will view my career as my ultimate success in life. I am fairly smart (not at all modest) so I will use my head wisely and earn good money and try to reach my potential but at the end of it all, I’ll look back and make a judgement of my success based on my family, my memories and how I was as a person, rather than how much money I made, how far in my career I got or how much ass I kissed to get there. I want to look back and see a happy wife, gorgeous kids that respect me and a lot of friends. Money can’t buy that.

To be honest, I’m proud of where I am right now, I’m proud of how I‘ve busted my ass to get there and I’m pleased about where it can take me from here but I still don’t feel I’m in the career path I see myself doing for the rest of my life. Maybe the next 5 years so I can maybe move forward a little more and give myself enough money to pursue a dream career but firstly I’d have to find out what I want that to be. In the meantime, work is good.

Having entered my 20’s with virtually no qualifications to my name, just a handful of mediocre GCSE results, which at this stage of my life count as much for anything as a bag of Tooti Frooties would. I am now a proud owner of a completed Modern Apprenticeship where I achieved a Level 3 NVQ in IT, Level 2 Literacy and Numeracy Key Skills qualifications and Advanced Diplomas in Software as well as a giant sack full of work experience. I have also completed my HNC in Computing so the next stage is to look at a degree if I chose to take it that far. At present I have decided to take a year away from courses as they are quite demanding and I’ve been doing educational work fairly full time for the past 8 million years so feel I’m far enough ahead in my career to take a year out to enjoy life finally.

The money situation is pretty much the only scenario that is actually worse than it was 5 years ago, but I guess at this stage of my life that’s to be expected. It’s weird to see that I still haven’t totally paid off accrued debts from back then even after all this time but until now I’ve never really been in a position to really do my best to pay everything up. As soon as I sell the house anything made from this will be put into clearing the debts, as will a chunk of my wages next year. I’m determined to at least pay off the £450 owed to my parents, £700 owed to my granddad and the £5000 sitting on two of my credit cards by this time next year. Then it’s just the matter of the £7k car loan, but I’m not too worried about that as I see that more as a long term investment. I have a car good enough car to last me the 4 years remaining on the loan and it should still be at a value to give me a good deposit on my next one. It would be nice however to find a way of reducing the £227 a month I’m forking out for the next 4 years on it!

So that’s it, the last 5 years I have to say have bee pretty damn successful, and there just the things I thought of doing 5 years ago, they don’t even mention the achievements of my hobbies, such as the Welbeck venture, amongst other things. I also feel I’ve very much grown into a new person, one who is very well thought of and highly praised by many people, including family, friends and work associates. I’m no longer that cheeky little scamp of the family or village that gets into trouble all the time but I feel I’m very sensible, have my head screwed on and command a great deal or respect from every angle. That’s a nice feeling!

If I had to now judge how I would like the next 5 years to pan out for me using all the above scenarios as well as other things in my life, I could come up with a great set of pointers to try and achieve from now until I’m 30.

I’d like to think and I’m very positive I would still be with Amelia, as I will be for the rest of my life. We’d most certainly be married and hopefully even have 1 if not 2 little bundle of joys of our own. I can see myself still being in the current career line, maybe 1 or 2 steps up the ladder to now, but it’s not that important if I’ve not gone much further than now as I think it’s an immense achievement to be co-manager in FE at 25. If I do move up then great but then maybe by 30 I will have looked at what I want to do after this and began to look at ways to achieve this. I would think me and my family would be settled in a nice house, that’s not costing us out of being truly happy, in a nice area. The finances will be healthy without any stupid debts such as credit cards and family loans etc. I would also like to have made the most out of any opportunities in my personal life. Maybe I’ll be managing again as I definitely see myself doing this sometime in the future. Maybe I’ll still be playing and if so it would be a great feeling to have achieved something in this. These next 5 years look set to be the most exciting yet and I hope and know I’ll do my best to achieve everything I should and deserve.

Gran Canaria

9th-16th July 2007

Milly’s dad was wanting to take her away over the summer for a week, I think Milly was a bit nervous about it all having only just began to speak again to her dad after a long spell of them not talking, plus me and her were at a period where we couldn’t bare to be apart so she asked if I could join them. I’m not actually sure if it was her or in fact her dad that made the decision to ask me to go but before I knew it I was on the flight tickets and was off to spend a week with my new gorgeous girl in the Canaries.



The holiday was awesome. I wanted to make sure that her dad was really happy on the holiday so made it clear that he could spend as much time with either both of us or just Milly and that I didn’t mind but he was happy having the week to himself in the sun. He seemed to really enjoy it, besides we did meet up a fair bit at like meal times and some evenings for a drink but for the majority, me and Milly were inseparable.

Surprisingly, her dad had given us a room together whilst he was in one a couple of rooms down the hall. We spent a lot of the holiday on the hotel campus as it was a quite large resort and was merged with a few neighbouring hotels that made that area of the island quite entertaining. There was a large outdoor swimming pool that could be used by the hotels around it as well as other sports activities like tennis courts, football pitch and mini golf.



We also spent a few of the days and evenings venturing around the island going shopping, sightseeing, eating, drinking, singing, dancing and cruising as much as we could. On the first morning we had a welcome breakfast where the guide gave us information of different things to do there and as my 25th birthday was coming up, Milly’s dad paid for an all day cruise for the both of us.

The cruise was perfect. We spent the day on a giant yacht circling the island. The weather was perfect, as it was for the duration of the holiday and although we didn’t get talking to anyone on the boat, the company seemed decent enough. We started with an initial cruise out of the harbour and began to circle the island whilst everyone took in the sun. The bar opened shortly afterwards and all drinks had been paid for before hand so the bar soon got busy.



We’d been sailing for about an hour when we decided to go below deck for a drink in the lounge and we had a good chat and a laugh together before the food began to be served. We were one of the first to get our dinner before annoying some woman by sitting where we were actually sat before going to get it. After having a bite to eat we went back above deck for some more sun and the music played was pretty cool. An extraordinary romantic moment occurred when High by the Lighthouse Family was played, which we declared a couple of months ago as our song as it is a really nice song and is rare enough to not be overplayed so when it came on during the cruise that was already romantic enough, it just made the day even more perfect.

After a few hours of sailing, the captain dropped the anchor and allowed everyone to go for a swim. Just before this me and Milly had spent a good while in the Jacuzzi at the back of the boat but Milly fancied joining everyone in the water. I wasn’t too keen as I don’t really like the sea so she went alone and dived in before floating a few yards from the boat by herself. I thought she would prefer some company so I got out the Jacuzzi and dived in to her. Problem being, when she went into it first, she had pretty much dried off from the hot water from the Jacuzzi but I went from one to the other and almost died from the shock as I felt like I’d just dived into a block of ice! We stayed in the sea only for a few minutes before we got out and went back to the sun lounges.



The cruise ended in the late afternoon and it was a really nice day. We were going to stay in the town that the cruise was in for the evening but we didn’t really know our way around having got a taxi to there in the morning so we just caught the free bus back to our hotel and stayed on the resort for the evening.

We had many romantic moments on the holiday, as well as the cruise we spent much of the time walking hand in hand around the resort and on the beach. We also had some really good talks and got to know each other really well and spoke of things that worried us, which is fantastic in the relationship as it lets us know of things that play on each others’ minds, making us stronger as a couple.



The food in the hotel was really nice every day as there was a large variety. I spent most of my time at the large grill as the chef prepared a choice of fresh meat. At one meal I had 11 large pork steaks! They were well nice! We very rarely had any pudding other than melon but on one of the last days we found an absolutely gorgeous cake that has to be the sweetest thing I have ever tasted. I had loads of that over the last couple of days too!

Most evenings were normally spent around the resort (actually most of the evenings were spent waiting for a certain someone to finish getting ready :p ). We often got a few drinks and took them to the large marble hall in the hotel where there were seats and tables and sat and chatted into the early hours of the morning. We would also walk around the hotel outside and have a go on the table football or have a laugh taking photo’s of each other and also try and take decent ones of us together ourselves.



The best day of the holiday was Friday. We planned to go into the largest town on the island, Puerto Buenos, to have a nice meal and then find a karaoke bar. I surprised Milly by buying her a really nice pink dress we had seen earlier in the holiday, as well as treating myself to a new Real Madrid shirt . She spent most of the afternoon getting ready for that night and the three of us caught the bus to Puerto Buenos. We had a walk into the centre of the town and found a nice area where a courtyard playing live music was surrounded by 3 or 4 bars and restaurants, 1 of which was due to have karaoke later in the evening.

We enjoyed a couple of drinks in the courtyard before heading inside the bar that was advertising the karaoke. We had a drink in there and waited for it to start but it was quite empty inside and there didn’t seem to be anyone setting up any sort of singing equipment so we asked the bar staff if it was on and were told that due to staff shortages there was to be no karaoke that night. Another couple next to us said that’s what they were waiting for also so the bar owner said he would let Milly and another guy do a song each but no-one else. They did their songs, which attracted quite a few more people into the place who were then annoyed at not being allowed to join in and soon left. It didn’t make for good business sense at all.



After Milly had sang we had a walk further into the town centre that was full of various cultured bars and restaurants looking for another place for Milly to have a bit of a sing but we couldn’t find one that was starting any time soon so we decided to have a drink in a live piano bar. It was really nice in there and the guy on the piano was really sound, singing really popular songs and getting the audience involved as much as possible. I wanted to request a song so Milly wrote on a sheet ‘In My Life’ by The Beatles or in case he couldn’t play that one wrote ‘or any other Beatles song’ as I had been constantly listening to them and In My Life in particular during the holiday. He couldn’t play that one but began to belt out Ticket To Ride and then I asked Milly to dance, which made her night, especially in front of her dad. After the dance I bought her a pink rose too.

It had been a great night so far but we got the feeling that Milly’s dad would prefer to spend the rest of it by himself as he kept hinting at us going elsewhere so we decided to get him a drink in before heading to a bar around the corner where the karaoke was about to begin.



We got there as it was starting and Milly put her name down for a song. She was one of the first up and got a great reception from the people in the bar, probably because she’s got a voice like an absolute angel. We had a couple of drinks there and by that time we were well in the mood to enjoy the night. We both put our names down to sing and the next few hours were spent in there enjoying a drink and singing. I sang a couple of Beatles songs and then High, which I dedicated to Milly giving her a little tear in her eye. It was a great night and we left at about 3am, we decided to head to the beach and watch the sun come up together.

The beach was about a 20 minutes walk and on the way we passed a McDonalds so decided to grab a bit of a snack and then went on the beach. We had a walk around the sun lounges but they were all really wet for some reason as the sea was miles out and it had been really hot and dry all week so we couldn’t sit on one of them so we headed to the seated outdoor restaurants that were all closed to eat our chicken nuggets. We sat and chatted for about an hour before we saw a security guard heading our way. We ducked for cover and he walked past us and when it was safe we moved to a darker area of the restaurant. We had a really nice talk about many things and before we knew it, it was about 5am and we were both still really awake.

We were spotted sometime shortly by the security guard who came over to us but could see we weren’t doing anything other than sitting and chatting so said it was ok for us to stay. He didn’t speak a word of English so we had a fun ten minute conversation with him attempting to find out the time and when the sun was due to come up. Then he headed off leaving us to talk some more. At about 6am we both really needed a drink and the toilet so we had a walk further down the beach to see if there were any toilets near us. The only ones that were to be used by the public were closed so we found a hotel nearby that was open and strolled in pretending we were residents and went to use their toilets. After this we walked back into the town for a drink and noticed that the sun had begun to come up behind us and behind the mountains so we didn’t get a good view of it. We were a bit disappointed by this as we had visions of a really romantic sunrise on the beach but even if we had stayed on the beach it was coming up in the wrong direction anyway. We got a drink from a café that was still open and then caught a taxi back to the hotel before heading to bed after a perfect night.

Click here to see more photo's from our holiday

Welbeck

March – July 2007

The last time I wrote about the Welbeck junior team, we had just won the Sunday League but were doing fairly poor in the Saturday League. To have guided the boys to their first League Championship in just their 3rd season, on the back of the excellent Cup win last season is a fantastic achievement.



The first season we won only one game and barely scored a goal, but the past 2 seasons have been awesome. Albeit we still should have done better at times but overall 2 excellent pieces of silverware and many memories that will stay with me forever.

After the Sunday League title was won, there was a follow up mini-league where the top 5 teams split from the bottom 5 to form a new competition. It would have been really great to go on to win this and do the double but it wasn’t to be.

Our first game in this came against rivals Ladywood Juniors, who we had beaten heavily in the first two meetings but was destroyed by in the last encounter. I started with the strongest side I could play and the first half we were magnificent. We were 4-0 up at half time and we looked clear favourites for the 3 points, which would coincide with making us absolute favourites for the mini-league. Unfortunately at the same time in the season, our regular keeper Joe was struggling for form, so I was only giving him short runs out. I started Zak in this game but with the score at 4-0 at half time, felt safe to put Joe on for the second half.



The change backfired though as our second half performance was the worst we had played in 3 years and within 15 minutes the score had been pegged back to 4-3 as a determined Ladywood came at us. The goals were all really sloppy so to save face and very much to the relief of many of our parents, I switched back to having Zak in goal. However, this didn’t please Joe’s parents who quickly made their feelings clear to me with a pitch side rant that I was very much expecting and used to. We went back into a two goal lead and breathing room was put between us but still Ladywood chipped away. They got a very dodgy 4th goal when a goal kick taken by Zak was illegally blocked by the Ladywood forward, shortly before he stroked the ball into an empty net. I was fuming as the Ladywood players celebrated the goal as the referee stood shaking his head as not to agree with the goal but failed to bring the play back for the incident. The goal stood, Ladywood went on to equalise near the end for a 5-5 finish, at which point I made headed straight for the referee. On the way to him I was trying to get my head clear on what I was going to say, as calmly as possible but only managed to blurt out “you cheating fuck” before pushing him on his ass.

I then had the Ladywood managers holding me back, whilst the opposition’s parents also had their say. Even worse for my situation was that the incident happened right in front of the league officials who weren’t at all happy at me “assaulting” one of their referees. I then left that situation to be faced with a bunch of my own angry parents, 50% of whom weren’t happy that I took Joe out just because he’d conceded the three goals that got Ladywood right back into the game and the other 50% weren’t happy that I’d put Joe on in the first place. I couldn’t win. At the end of the day, it wasn’t like Joe wasn’t used to playing in goal, he’d played that position for 3 straight seasons and had mostly played it really well. It was also no different to what I had done week in, week out in other matches, giving the two goalkeepers half games each, only this time it resulted in the game being spoiled. Had I foreseen this in my crystal ball I clearly must have somewhere, I wouldn’t made the change, would I? And as for the aggro I was getting at taking Joe off for the poor performance, why should the goalkeeper be any different to an outfield player? Had I brought someone on at half time that’d had an absolute nightmare 15 minutes I would’ve had every right to bring him off so I don’t regret either of the changes I made. At the end of the day, the lads knew we had a good enough advantage to win the game, even at 5-3 but we weren’t strong enough on the day to finish them off. Oh well.

That being said, the title was all but lost as we’d still got a point and held one our closest rivals to a point too so it was still down to what we did in the final 3 games. Our next game would prove to be the key to how the league unfolded as we played our next closest rivals Ripley Town. We didn’t have a great game, Ripley won 2-0 and our title chances slipped away. The last two games, with the title being an all but distant dream, we made a few changes to the usual line up, resting players who’d picked up knocks over the season so we also lost the last 2 against Oak Tree and Ilkeston Town, 2 teams which I’m confident any other day we’d’ve beat. So for that we finished bottom of the pile but the Sunday season on a whole was a success after the league title.



Ripley went on to win the mini league and one fear I had was at the end of season presentation night, I predicted that the mini-league would have been treated as an equal to the earlier league so when the trophies were collected, we wouldn’t be treated as champions. I wasn’t to be mistaken, unfortunately. In fairness, the presentation night was a bit of a shambles. The special guests weren’t great – Steve Hodge and some former Stags player from the 60’s and the presentation was all but rushed through to appease Ladywood who had another event to get to that night. The ideal way I would have wanted the presentation would have been to give all the individual teams’ trophies out in alphabetical order, as they did, then present the cup winners trophy, then the mini-league trophy, followed by the league trophy. But with them trying to rush the presentation, as we were the last team to receive our individual team trophies, we were then told whilst we’re on the stage, we may as well collect the league championship. There were no individual league winner’s trophies or medals for the kids, just the overall league trophy, no fireworks, no ticker tape, nothing to determine that we’d won the best trophy of the season. I was also a little disappointed with the way we celebrated, the kids were all a bit muted whereas I had visions of us bouncing the crap out of the stage but we’ve never really been a team that gloat or anything – or at least the kids aren’t!

The presentation was topped off with Ripley lifting the mini-league trophy to more applause than ourselves, which was annoying. Then 2 surprises followed as the Ladywood manager picked up the Manager of the Year, having won nothing this season and Ripley picked up the Fair Play award. Now, had those two won them the other way around I wouldn’t say much. Ladywood were quite a fair team and the Ripley manager was a sound guy but the Ladywood manager was a twat but obviously has his fingers in the right pies! I admit I was disappointed both for myself and the lads that we didn’t pick up one of the two but I guess its no real surprise, you can’t go around flattening referee’s and pick up those prestigious awards can you?!

The Saturday season finished with a mix of good and bad as we dropped points against teams we should be getting something from and picked up points against teams we’d never beat before. The commitment of the players ad parents waned quite a lot near the end of the season too so at times when I was planning the match with the 9 or 10 players expected, I was having to make do with a scratch 7 or even a couple of times just 6 players. One of the times we played Mansfield Athletic, who were just a point and a position above us and we’d come off the back of a good win at Shirebrook so I fancied our chances but we had just 6 players come and our striker Joe T was then injured in the first half so had to go in goal. We battled really hard and it was clear to see had we had 1 or 2 more of our regulars for the game, we would’ve picked up points there but instead we lost 6-0. Our run in was quite difficult too as we had to play the top 3 teams in 5 of our final 8 games so as expected 0 points were picked up in them but some performances were pleasing.



In our final game of the season, we played away at local rivals Robin Hood, a team we’d never beaten but always had fairly good games against. It was at this time also that team moral was at its lowest, lads were beginning to look at other teams for a fresh start and even I was having doubts as to whether to continue into the next season. I gave a good talk about finishing the season in style, whether all the lads were returning after the summer or not. We took the game to Robin Hood from the start and won 3-1. It was very pleasing performance but also one that makes you think, ‘if only they played like that every match!’ That win lifted us off the foot of the table for the first time all season but relegation to division 3 was inevitable. If the team did remain in tact for the following season, just a few additions would be needed to make us a major contender for the division 3 titles. The teams that were relegated with us we could more than hold our own against and the teams in division 3 didn’t offer much of a threat so we could surely make it 3 trophies in 3 seasons.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be. After a lot of consideration I decided to resign from the team during June. Reason being I had given it my all for 4 solid years and couldn’t offer the lads enough of my time and commitment over the coming summer as I had a lot of other issues to deal with, namely the separation with Emma and the selling of the house to deal with. I also needed to knuckle down at work more and also get my HNC completed over the forthcoming months so the time and effort needed to be put into the team over the summer to get them ready for their first year at 11 a side, I couldn’t offer them. New players were needed, training would need to be more extensive and friendlies would need to be played regularly. It was all too much for me so I stepped down hoping the club would find a successor quickly so the team could get sorted asap. I hadn’t put in my notice that I would actually be prepared to stay as assistant to a new manager but I made that clear to the club. They took too long though finding a replacement for me and after word had spread that I had stepped down, lads started looking for new teams. I was disappointed this was going to be the case as I would’ve really enjoyed going to watch them tear teams to pieces in division 3 and maybe even still being as involved as before but minds were made up.

I spoke with many of the parents and offered my help and guidance in the search of a new club as I felt it wouldn’t be right to split them all up and take them to teams well below the players ability as many of them were great players, hard workers and pleasant lads to know so would be a credit to any side. We looked at our options and in the end opted for Walesby. They were in need of quality players for the new season as most sides were, but they were already a good side with the players they had so with the inclusion of our best players they would have been a real force. They also were being run by a couple of parents who were new to it after the manager of the season prior had stepped down but was still taking training. The parents were quite clueless to how to run a team so it would have been a good opportunity for me to lend my expertise and get back into the managing side of it too, once my situation had improved.



Unfortunately, I went on holiday and whilst I was away, the parents had made their minds up to take the lads to Market Warsop, a newly formed club right on our doorsteps. It was understandable to go to a close club but with them only just being formed, they didn’t have the quality the other teams possessed so will inevitably struggle their way through next season. It’s going to be even harder for them now as they applied for a position in the league after the enrolment date and have been put in division 1 of 3. To be polite, there going to get slaughtered! It’s unfortunate and also very petty as I believe there’s more politics involved in the true reason that they’ve been put into the top flight. The given reason was that the fixtures were easier to be made up if they were put there but coincidentally, the league secretary who I assume would be very much in the decision making process also happens to be the Welbeck club secretary who was very upset our players decided to leave Welbeck, thus leaving them without a team. The said club secretary also happens to be my uncle, by marriage, and is an absolute fuck up.

I’m still glad however that the lads are all playing together at Warsop, at present there are 9 of my lads from last season there so you never know, they might have a good season after all and I can still go and watch them when I get the chance. I recently did watch a friendly of there’s and it appears there manager is a bit of a clueless bonehead. He’d arranged a friendly – bearing in mind it was all the lads’ first crack at 11-a-side and were a new team where some lads were only just getting involved in competitive football – but the opposition this day were an age group older. Not a bright decision by any means. I believe the score ended about 8-2 but it was good to see my old skipper James notch the 2 for them. Looking at them on the day, they’d have had an excellent shout for the division 3 title had they been put in it. I just hope they don’t get hit too hard in the top flight and aren’t left smiling at the end of the day. May I just say once more, Graham Hall, you’re an absolute cock.

Click here for more Welbeck photo's from over the years

Athens

21st-25th May 2007

The end of the 2006/07 football season saw Liverpool once again beat the odds and make the European Champions League Final in Athens. After knocking out Barcelona in the second round, the draw was made that very much favoured us from the quarter finals onwards. PSV away then at home, followed by Chelsea in the semi finals, at the Bridge first and then at Anfield. It was never going to be easy but I was confident that the Anfield factor in both second legs would be the key to us making the final. So after seeing the draw, I booked flights and a hotel room for two between Monday 21st May and Friday 25th. I was determined to be there and make a week of it. At the time of booking I was with Emma but made it clear to her I wouldn’t be taking her as this was no ordinary match and needed hardcore supporters to be present, plus we couldn’t really afford to pay for the two of us to go, even myself was a stretch.

Speaking to Martin online, he really wanted to go and persuaded me to get the tickets for him too. The flights and hotel came to just £150 each so he was happy enough with that so then I kept my eyes peeled for tickets. Just a couple of days after booking the flights, 2 tickets came up on eBay Australia that had enough to convince me they were legitimate and at £500 each, I snapped them up. It was a lot to pay for a football ticket you may say but I was ok with that price as in Istanbul 2 years earlier, tickets were sold at an average of £1k each. I told Martin of the tickets and he was surprised at the price but still said he was ok to go. We still had to see of PSV and Chelsea at this stage as well as wait for the tickets to arrive but I was confident in it all and if we didn’t qualify I would’ve got more than my money back for them, selling them to Chav’s probably.

In the end we destroyed PSV and edged past Chelsea in another one of those memorable matches that will live with all reds forever. I’ll always remember my reaction to Dirk Kuyt's winning penalty as I was at the local with Milly and Stu and as soon as he rippled the net, I did a full lap – of the gents! How strange. It was the closest door to me and I just felt I had to burst through something before running back into the pub screaming “I’m going to Greece!”



The next day was even funnier as I went to the same outlet to watch the Man United v AC Milan semi final to determine who we would be facing in Athens. I bravely wore my Milan shirt (under my jacket) as I thought the pub wouldn’t be full of Manc's. How wrong could I be? It was standing room only as the pub was rammed with the filth so I kept the shirt well out of view until the end when it was clear United would be going out and a few guys were stood next to me were winding up the United fans so I joined in showing my shirt only to receive daggers from every possible angle. I suddenly didn’t feel safe, especially when the other guys left leaving me to face the wrath. Surprisingly, no-one in the pub said anything and most of them left soon after. I had a feeling they expected me to be leaving sometime soon but I thought I’d play it safe and have another drink to give them enough time to forgive and forget. It didn’t work. I left the pub about half an hour later and noticed a large gathering to the left of the door. I didn’t need to be told twice who they were and sprinted across the road in the direction of my car, hurdling a 3 foot barrier on the way. A few bricks and stones hurtled past me, as did a glass bottle which smashed a yard away from my feet and a stray trainer whizzed past my head. I was lucky not to be hit by anything but I didn’t look back to see if anyone was gaining on me and ran half the way across the town before I felt safe enough to stop. I’d gone well past my car as I thought I would be caught if I’d’ve stopped to get into it so ran past it. I waited a while longer and then hid in the shadows up to my car before getting out of there, luckily in one piece!

So it was Liverpool v Milan again in a repeat of the 2005 final. I was very much looking forward to it. Martin soon made it clear that he would be letting me down with the tickets. I’d be surprised if he had any intention of coming at all. Why I was surprised is beyond me, that lad constantly lets me down. I advertised the tickets on unofficial Liverpool websites and had many takers for them. I really wanted to go with someone I knew but no-one could get the time off or afford what I was prepared to pay.

I was emailed and had numerous conversations with a guy called Steve Brown from Liverpool who I eventually met and sold the tickets too. He drove to mine on the eve of the flight and stayed over so it cut his journey down by a third the following day so he didn’t need to go from Liverpool – Gatwick all at once. I drove us to the airport first thing Monday and the flight got us to Greece by about 9pm Greek time. At the airport, whilst attempting to find someone to take us to our hotel we bumped into a fellow scouser by the name of Graham Osborne, who just happened to be staying in a hotel yards from ours so we split the cab fare and booked into the hotel.



It was only a small room but it would do us for the week. We then got Graham booked into his hotel before going to sample the local ale. It was fairly late when we were ready for our first drink and we’d already said we would probably only stay in the vicinity of the hotels on the first night as we were some way out of the centre of Athens, where we had planned to spend the majority of the week. We were then told by an old drunk Ozzie by the name of Pete Farmer, who insisted on buying all our drinks that night that the night was still young and Greek nightlife tended to go on until the very early hours of the morning. When the bar we were in closed at 12:30, we were well in the mood for a good night out so we jumped back into a taxi and headed for the town centre.

Steve and Graham knew of Syntagma Square where all the reds fans would be meeting up on the days before and after the match so we headed for their in the hope that there would already be a few fellow reds there. We weren’t disappointed as just a few hundred yards before we saw them, we certainly heard them. The noise I thought was quite deafening as Liverpool songs echoed around the city but there were only about 500 fans there that night, which was nothing compared to the 15,000 that would occupy that patch of concrete over the next 4 days. We had a couple of beers before joining in with the singing. I even joined in on a 20 v 20 football match on the concrete, as did some madhead scouser who played in bare feet and then wondered why his feet were cut as he was running over a ton of broken glass. It didn’t stop him though!

We stayed at Syntagma Square until about 5am and were in fact the very last ones to leave. We’d sung ourselves stupid and I certainly suffered the next day as my voice was well gone. My head wasn’t feeling too clever either thanks to the €5 a pint official UEFA beer. They could do one if they thought we were paying that for the rest of the week. The following nights we found a place to buy cans for €1 each although for the rest of the week I didn’t drink an awful lot. Graham was similar to me in that he didn’t drink much too for the rest of the week but it was ok as Steve drank enough for the 3 of us!



The second day we got up and met Graham at an outdoor restaurant for breakfast. Had a slap up meal of kebabs. I had to get used to eating them very quickly! It was pretty much the only thing I ate over there. We then headed straight back into Athens city centre and found Syntagma Square once again. I’d taken my banner in the hope of finding a good spec but was surprised to see the mass of red already there. There wasn’t an inch for me to hang my banner up. We stood around singing and drinking for a while and then the heavens opened. It hammered it down constantly for well over an hour. It was funny to see all the fans diving for cover and every inch of shade was taken up by scousers, all standing on top of each other. There was also the hardcore element who decided this was the perfect opportunity for a bit of half naked rain dancing, which is always fun to see! We also enjoyed the game of ‘tip the gallons of water collating on the roof covers on top of the posh twats doing there best to stay dry!’ Many of the reactions were really funny as they thought they were under the covers enough to be safe from the rain so let their brollies down, only to be hit by a huge truckload of water from above. Most were on good spirits about it but some were really angry, but what were they going to say to a few thousand scousers?

When it dried up I found a place to hang my banner, between 2 trees in the open and then we had a walk around the city. Near the end of the day we decided to have a walk up to the Acropolis but it was closed for spectators but we still got a good sight of it from the bottom of the hill. We went back to Syntagma Square for a good few hours of singing and beer swilling, it was cool to see the passion amongst the crowd and the large banners being hung left right and centre. It was a laugh to see a huge banner attempting to be hung across the main steps on the square as it took a few guys over an hour to get it hung across, only to find out they’d hung it upside down and had to start again! It was well worth the wait as the word “Carraghercules” was hung above the fans to a huge roar and lots more singing.

After a while we decided to venture a little further into the town when we heard a great deal of singing coming from a side street. I initially thought it may have been the Milan supporters but it was another few thousand reds fans outside of a bar. The singing was extremely loud and constant so we stayed there until the early hours of the morning. It was a great night and the spirits were high ready for the final. We stayed in Athens until quite late before heading back to the hotel ready for the big day.



On Wednesday morning, we woke eager for the day to hastily go by ready for the action to start tonight. After a kebab breakfast we headed to Syntagma Square once more for a day of constant singing and drinking. We met up with a few of Graham’s friends who had arrived that morning hoping find a ticket for the game at some point during the day. The weather was glorious although there was a brief spell of heavy rain which was soon forgotten about once the intense heat from the sun arrived. The tension in the air was clear and at one point the mass crowd who had been very well behaved throughout the week looked to be getting out of control at one point when one drunk fan climbed a giant plant pot only to be greeted with a heavy barrage of glass bottles and near-full cans being hurtled his way. Not just his way but as this plant pot was in the middle of the crowd, those bottles and cans that didn’t hit him as well as many that did found there way into the crowd and it wasn’t a pretty scene at all. A few fists were thrown and it got quite scary but it lasted only about ten minutes before everything calmed down and the songs got underway again.

Graham’s mates were up on the steps that looked down on the sea of red and this was where the majority of the more vocal support was standing. We made our way up the steps to Graham’s mates and had a bit of a sing and drink with them whilst we waited for the clock to tick down. It was at this point that one of the funniest things I have ever seen occurred. Syntagma Square is surrounded by large hotels, up to 12 or more stories high, as well as being below ground level to the hotels itself and on the square was huge trees that towered above the hotels, so were at least 300 feet high. As the Liverpool fans sang, drank and chatted amongst themselves in the square, all of a sudden there was a great deal of laughs and pointing to the tops of one of the trees where a crazy Liverpool fan had climbed to the very peak of the highest tree in the square. He stayed up there for a good half an hour, swaying around; singing and receiving many songs aimed his way. It was pretty hilarious.

We had a walk to a different section of the town centre, famously called Plaka, where there were many little streets with many restaurants all together trying there best for the custom. We went into one for a nice meal but the atmosphere in this section of the crowd felt different to closer to Syntagma Square and it was soon apparent that we weren’t alone in that a good portion of the people around us were Milanese. I say the atmosphere around us was different wasn’t a bad thing, it was actually quite exciting and fun to see the two sets of fans mix, eating together, singing and talking with each other. There wasn’t any trouble whatsoever.



During the day, my beliefs on how the match was going to pan out went from very confident at our chances to lesser so as the numbers of Milan fans seemed higher than expected and they were all in very buoyant mood. Something about what I was feeling made it feel like it was going to be their day. Had 2005 not happened, I’d probably be more confident in the reds but with us having stole the trophy from their clutches just 2 years ago, they would certainly be up for revenge and would’ve learned from the mistakes made in Istanbul.

The best part of the day and the week for me came when we began to make our way to the stadium, via the tube. We left quite early, a good few hours before kick off but we weren’t the only ones as hundreds, if not thousands of reds began to make the journey to the ground. The atmosphere was electric as sound bounced off every marble tiled wall underground and the songs echoed down every tunnel. The first half of the walk to the first train mainly consisted of reds fans but as we approached the desired platform, we were joined suddenly by a mass of Italians so the banter really began there as song after song were sang at high voice aimed at the rivals, it was a great sight.

We got to the ground early and it wasn’t busy at all. The first thing we noticed was the heavy armed forces present to eradicate any trouble early as it was expected many fans were turning up without tickets hoping to find a way into the ground. From what we went through to get inside the stadiums perimeter it felt impossible as we went through numerous checkpoints, most well marshalled by the Greek army and police force. All tickets were scanned, punched and scanned again to check for forgeries and we were excited once we’d managed to get past all the checks and we could relax knowing we were in and the tickets were real etc.



We had a walk around the outside of the stadium before we went through the final checks that segregated each section and as Graham was in a different section to us, we arranged to meet on the other side of the check, just before we entered the stadium. There was still a good few hours until kick off and although we were stood with reds fans in the Liverpool end, I could hear the Milan fans already inside the ground. This added to the feeling that a defeat seamed like the only outcome of today’s match. I was still determined to enjoy it though and who knows what will happen on the night. After meeting Graham on the other side of the final checkpoint and queuing up for a long time for an expensive coke, Graham decided to go and take his banner and get it hung over the railings before coming back out to us so we could walk around to our section for me to hang mine up. Whilst Graham was in the stadium, we noticed the large amount of reds fans that had begun to arrive and their seemed a sense of urgency about the police and more and more began to arrive. Suddenly a gate was pushed aside and thousands of ticket-less fans surged inside bursting every gate to get inside the ground and get seated as soon as possible. I made sure my ticket was well out of sight as the crowd flew past me and Steve.

There were hundreds if not a couple of thousands that had got into the stadium for nothing and this resulted in the closure of many of the gates, including the one Graham had just came out from so he was stuck outside the ground. He walked around to our gate with us which were further round the ground than the masses had gone so our gate was still open so Graham decided to find a seat to sit next to us for the match. I was surprised to see just how far from the Liverpool end we were sat, in fact we were very close to the Milan end and even our section had quite a lot of Milanese in it. We got my banner hung right underneath a TV camera, so there was no chance it was getting spotted unfortunately and made our way back to the seats. The noise from the Milan fans was booming whilst we could barely make out what the reds fans were singing as they were quite far away and the openness of the stadium meant the noise didn’t travel well. Graham decided he was going to find a way back to the Liverpool end by hurdling the mediocre 2 foot section barriers all the way around the ground.

The action began finally after a long wait and Liverpool were by far the better team in the first half. The line up was confusing as I was looking forward to Steve Gerrard squaring up against Rene Gattusso in the centre of midfield but Gerrard was being played as a striker alongside Kuyt which made no sense to me. Pennant had a belter on the right wing and the defence was solid, as was Mascherano in centre midfield. Our weakest player was Bolo Zenden at left midfield who seemed to lose the ball every time he got it. The crowd were screaming for us to get Kewell on, which makes a change! Had Kewell started, I believe we would’ve won that match as their back four seamed weak and were being run ragged by Pennant, Kuyt and Gerrard. Had Zenden been on form I’m positive we’d be 2 goals up by half time.



It was however Milan who went a goal up right on the stroke of half time as Alonso gave away a sloppy free kick on the edge of the box that Pirlo took. Inzaghi ran across the goalkeepers’ line when the free kick was taken and a lucky deflection off his arm put Milan 1-0 up. Heads were down at half time but the songs were still sung in the Liverpool end but where we sat it was the Milanese that was making all the noise.

Changes were eventually made in the second half and we had chances to get back on level terms but we failed to take them. A second Inzaghi goal seemed to kill us off and although a Dirk Kuyt header two minutes from time gave us some hope, the match soon ended and the cup was lost. We applauded the Milan and Liverpool players and stopped for the presentation and a short while after as the reds gave us a lap of honour but it was disappointing as we were more than capable of winning on the day, we just didn’t take our chances and made too many mistakes. We left the ground and met back up with Graham and spoke about what might have been. Graham was still in high spirits and did his best to gee us up by saying at least we’re in Greece and we’ve just been to a Champions League final whilst everyone back at home watched it on TV and have to get up for work in the morning.

We got the tube back to the city centre, whilst a Greek citizen did his best to get his head pounded by winding up every scouser in sight. Brave or stupid?! Either way he got off the train in one piece. We headed back to the side street where we’d spent the previous night hoping there be a big gathering again but it wasn’t to be as most people returning did so with there heads dragging along the floor. Graham thought it was a good idea to jump in a cab and get us all to a strip club. I wasn’t best impressed with that idea as I’d just got with Milly and we were pretty serious and it’s certainly not something I’d consider doing for fun but I was dragged along basically cos the other two were well up for it. Oh well, I didn’t have to get involved, I could just think of it as a bar. We went into one and found a table but there were no girls on the stage. That was fine by me but clearly not Graham or Steve who had just paid €30 to get us all in and a drink. Graham was well kicking off at everyone in sight, he wanted to see some dancers, whilst Steve tried his luck with every prosy in sight. We were in there between 2 to 3 hours and Steve spent the whole time trying it on with 3 different ladies – having no luck with any of them. Graham spent the first hour finding out where all the dancers were whilst I sat chatting to a few fellow scousers. After it was clear that there would be no dancing, I chucked Graham my banner and took over the strip club! The other reds joined Graham and Steve on the stage and we sang a few Liverpool songs and made a good night of it before we left for the hotel, but not before Graham had pretty much gave the owner of the bar a piece of his mind for the lack of action!



Thursday and Friday seemed pretty dull in comparison to the previous 3 days as Syntagma Square remained almost empty other than a mass of crushed cans and broken glass bottles scattered on the floor. We decided to make the last full day more of a sight seeing day and headed to different areas of the city, closer to our hotel. As we were having breakfast, Pete Farmer, the drunken Ozzie came and sat with us and told us of good venues so we invited him along with us. We hopped on a bus and went to the village just down the road from us where we found a really nice, quiet bar and sat around chatting and having a few beers there, all on Pete who had had a good win on the Ozzie Football that night. He was a professional gambler and apparently had made quite a success of it, spending 6 months a year in Greece with his winnings. Nice work if you can get it! We then found a pleasant restaurant where Pete treated us to a few more beers and a nice Greek salad. A few beers later and Pete was well on his way so we headed back to the hotel in the early evening and decided to spend that night in the main town next to the hotel. It had begun to rain quite heavily and Pete was going to join us for some drinks in the next town but on the bus on the way he changed his mind and jumped off the bus in the pouring rain, right into a knee-high puddle before walking in the opposite direction to the hotel. He was totally hammered and we never saw him again. I worry to this day what happened to him and hope he’s ok!

We got off the bus in Voula and due to the heavy rain jumped into the nearest bar but after reading the prices of drinks, soon bailed to find another. We found a quiet bar that still looked fairly expensive but opted to go in for one, mainly as Graham and Steve both needed the toilet. I ordered a round of beers for us and we also got some free shot and free crisps. Graham got talking to a couple of reds fans from Brighton on the table next to us whilst I watched some of the footage I had taken on the video camera I borrowed from work. I showed the tree-boy clips to the Brighton guys before it went to the clips I took of Steve trying to pull the prozy’s. He wasn’t impressed after watching it, probably through embarrassment and he asked me to delete it. I said no but he got a bit stroppy so I pretended to delete it and he noticed and wanted to delete it himself. He tried to snatch the camera off me so I pulled it away from him and because he was being a total arse about it; he grabbed me by the scruff of my top and told me to delete it. I pushed his hands off my top and shoved him off his stool and was very close to kicking the prick in the chest but kept my cool and just told him if he touched me again I’d cave his skull in!

I kept my distance from him from the rest of the time there and stayed with Graham, who was sound and I’m really glad he was over there and that we’d met him. We had another drink in that bar before going to another one where there were a few more reds fans. One of them, a guy called Tony, was an ex military man who was telling us of his stories from the match. He’d managed to blag his way into the ground by printing his own ticket and even his own steward’s jacket and pretended to be a steward! He’d not only got into the ground but managed to watch the entire final from just 10 yards behind one of the goals at the Liverpool end! Classic! We had an awesome time in that bar, talking to Tony as well as reminiscing about our memories of the club. It was well past 7am when we left for the bus back to the hotel. That was a fun journey as we were all smartened up after a night out and we were all quite wide awake whilst the rest of the bus was filled with knackered people just on their way to work.



I slept till well after midday on the last day before getting up and packing all my stuff up and meeting Steve and Graham at the outdoor restaurant for some lunch before heading back to the hotel to get Steve’s gear all packed up. As we were leaving the hotel, the guy on the counter claimed because we had stayed past the 12pm checking out time, we owed him €20 but the day before we asked if we could keep the room until 6pm as our flights weren’t until late in the evening and had paid an extra €40 to keep it, so if it was supposed to only be €20, we asked for the other half back. The guy went to speak to the owner, who we had paid the money to before coming back over 20 minutes later claiming it should be €60 and we still owed them €20. We weren’t having that, they were out for every penny they could get so we stormed out, throwing the keys at them and giving them a few choice words to remember us by!

Things were still a little awkward between me and Steve after the incident the night before and became even more so when Graham left us at the airport to catch his flight, about an hour before ours was due. We sat in silence for a while so I went and bought a paper. Then we checked onto the flight and it wasn’t until we sat down on the plane that we got talking again and in fact the 4 hour flight whizzed past as we talked about allsorts, from football to politics. Then on the drive up from Gatwick airport the talk continued all the way home as we discussed gathering all the footage from the trip together to make a decent video of our time there. I still have to do this but I’m sure I’ll get around to it at some stage. Steve grabbed a few hours’ kip when we got home but as it was 7am I thought I’d stay up so I could see Milly asap.

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Amelia Faith Kirk

May 2007 to Forever

The reason I am so happy these days is that I have been seeing the most gorgeous girl on the planet. Her name is Amelia Kirk and we met at college. She was a student and I worked in the IT Centre. It’s quite funny to think that initially she liked Stu before me and they got quite close at one point but we got to know each other really well soon after me and Emma had split up and she was great with me throughout it. We spent a lot of time chatting both online and in person and going out for drinks etc and seemed to hit it off really early. The problem was that with me working at the college and her being a student, nothing could happen between us.



We continued to see each other and get to know more and more about each other and the more I knew about her the more my feelings for her began to grow until we both couldn’t control it any more and we began to date. I was really worried about work as I didn’t want to jeopardise my career but Milly quickly became the best thing in my life so I was prepared to find a way to be with both. It got more difficult as more and more people, many in college began to learn about us being together but no-one let it get any higher or to anyone that could put my job under threat.



Another issue I thought people would have a problem with was the age gap as at the time we started seeing each other, I was 24, almost 25 and Milly was only 17. As far as we were concerned that wasn’t a problem as we were perfect for each other and we enjoyed every second we had together. We have such a laugh and in the few months we have been together have got to like so much about each other. We have got to know each others families and we all get on really well with them. We have the most amazing conversations with each other about every subject possible, some very personal and it is amazing how open we are with each other as well as how supportive. We have both been through so much in our lives and it was good to learn about her as much as it was good to talk to her about myself.



Milly has achieved so much in her life and it has been amazing learning about all the things she has done so far. Her biggest passion is music as she has been involved with singing and dancing etc all her life. She was part of the Cantamus girls’ choir for 7 years, where she achieved probably her biggest achievement in life in the summer of 2006 when she won 2 Gold medals in China in the Choir Olympics. That must have been one hell of a time, I just wish I could’ve been involved with her at that time as I would have been so proud of her, I know that I would have been as I am now. She also dances and I love going to watch her at her lessons. She used to compete often in dance competitions and has been really successful but her ex boyfriend was her partner and their not really on speaking terms since they separated so she dances solo now. She wanted me to become her dance partner but I’ve got about as much rhythm as a curtain pole!



Since me and Milly have been together, we’ve already done so much and it feels like we’ve been together forever. We often look after my two cousins Devon and Harry and she is an absolute natural with them. She really enjoys being around children, as do I so when we do it always goes really well and we have such a good time. It feels like we have both learned so much from past relationships so we’re both making sure this time around is perfect, and it is. It’s amazing to hear so many people tell us how good we are together and how either of us have never looked so happy. I feel so much happier too.



Its weird to think about us only having been together for a few months yet so many plans have been discussed and we feel like a couple that’s been together years. We have plans to move in together properly shortly after Christmas although we’re spending most of the time at mine already. We’ve discussed things like marriage and children and it doesn’t feel weird doing that this early, although we won’t be rushing into anything ad at this stage its just discussions, we’ve got no immediate plans to jump into it all. It’s just good to know we’re both on the same wavelength when it comes to all that. There’s nothing about her that I don’t like and how much time we have spent together so far and every second we’ve enjoyed just shows how good we are for each other.



She certainly brings out the best in me. Never before have I done half the stuff I’ve done with her before. I’ve got up on the karaoke, requested a song for her at a piano bar and danced with her to it in front of her dad. I even sing her to sleep sometimes, but whether that’s a good thing or not I’ll leave to her to say! I think it’s more than fair to say I would do absolutely anything for her. She’s my absolute princess!