As everyone knows England only win the World Cup with three West Ham players in the team. Our dream of ending 44 years since winning it took a turn for the better today when Robert Green, Matthew Upson and Scott Parker were all named in the 30 man squad.
Congratulations to them all, especially Parker whose performances this season have warranted it. His call up is long overdue. Lets hope they all make the final 23 when the last 7 are culled.
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Zola Sacked
So West Ham have finally done what was on the cards since the takeover and sacked Gianfranco Zola. I for one am not very happy about it.
Yes Zola was inexperienced and yes he sometimes shows tactical deficiencies, but from day 1 you could see what he was trying to do. Every player on the pitch needed to be comfortable receiving the ball wherever he was and most have become so. Even when we were losing there were often good signs.
No-one will ever know if given another season it would be more like last season or the one just finished, but I think Zola will be one who got away. I can see him becoming a very good manager and even leading Italy to the World Cup Finals someday. On top of that he is a true gentleman, unfortunately for him at least one of his employers isn't and he paid the price.
I hope he has success in his career (unless of course he ends up at Chelsea, Spurs or Arsenal) and I hope that West Ham can pick a suitable replacement. Sadly most of the names mentioned so far would be a backward step from where we were this morning. Lets hope the new incumbent quickly wins the support of the players that Zola clearly had.
Yes Zola was inexperienced and yes he sometimes shows tactical deficiencies, but from day 1 you could see what he was trying to do. Every player on the pitch needed to be comfortable receiving the ball wherever he was and most have become so. Even when we were losing there were often good signs.
No-one will ever know if given another season it would be more like last season or the one just finished, but I think Zola will be one who got away. I can see him becoming a very good manager and even leading Italy to the World Cup Finals someday. On top of that he is a true gentleman, unfortunately for him at least one of his employers isn't and he paid the price.
I hope he has success in his career (unless of course he ends up at Chelsea, Spurs or Arsenal) and I hope that West Ham can pick a suitable replacement. Sadly most of the names mentioned so far would be a backward step from where we were this morning. Lets hope the new incumbent quickly wins the support of the players that Zola clearly had.
Sunday 2 May 2010
Proof That I Am An Idiot!
A strange title perhaps? I didn't even realise what an idiot I was until after I'd got home some time later.
Anyway, lets start at the beginning. This morning at archery we had a novelty American shoot. The weather was not good and only 6 turned up to shoot, five of whom shot this round. The American bit is easy enough - 2½ dozen arrows at each of 60, 50 and 40 yards - the novelty bit was that the winner was the nearest person to scoring 627 rather than the highest score. Also misses count as 10 not 0, otherwise scoring is as normal 9, 7, 5, 3 & 1. The best way to get it is apparently 88x7, 1x1 and a miss. 7s were the tie break if needed.
So at 60 yards I shot as normal. Shooting in a rainjacket isn't helpful and the weather was a factor in me scoring just 166 at that distance with only two 9s. At 50 yards it all became much more fun as we were trying to get our scores 'on par' by having a few misses. With two bosses set up, after one particular end one of them had every arrow in it (except one in the green) whilst the other was completely empty.
40 yards was strange, I was cursing myself after the first end which were all in the gold bar one 7. Perhaps I should aim for the 7 in future? I'd got my score into odd values by having an odd number of misses, so I just had to keep an eye on my scoring now to get as close as possible to 627. With a dozen to go I needed 84, so all 7s would do it for me. Two golds didn't help, but I did equalise that by putting two in the blue as well as actually hitting two 7s so in the final end I still needed 7s all the way.
My first two arrows of the final end were gold. Damn! But, the third I scored just a 1 (although aiming at 3). As the second detail shot their first three arrows I worked out that I was going to try and finish with 9,7,7 to hit the target score. With 23 needed the first of my final three arrows went low into the 3. I was really annoyed. Even two golds now would leave me two short. Pleasingly though I did hit those two golds, so finished on 625. Roy and Fliss both finished on 627 and took the spoils. It was something different and despite the poor weather was great fun.
So have you spotted why I am an idiot? I didn't till I was telling my Henry and Fran about it when I got home. For those who haven't, the three I scored with my fourth arrow of the final end left me needing 20. Two misses with the final two arrows would have seen me reach the target score exactly. D'oh! For the record I would still not have won as Roy hit 38 7s to my 28, but still very annoying.
Anyway, lets start at the beginning. This morning at archery we had a novelty American shoot. The weather was not good and only 6 turned up to shoot, five of whom shot this round. The American bit is easy enough - 2½ dozen arrows at each of 60, 50 and 40 yards - the novelty bit was that the winner was the nearest person to scoring 627 rather than the highest score. Also misses count as 10 not 0, otherwise scoring is as normal 9, 7, 5, 3 & 1. The best way to get it is apparently 88x7, 1x1 and a miss. 7s were the tie break if needed.
So at 60 yards I shot as normal. Shooting in a rainjacket isn't helpful and the weather was a factor in me scoring just 166 at that distance with only two 9s. At 50 yards it all became much more fun as we were trying to get our scores 'on par' by having a few misses. With two bosses set up, after one particular end one of them had every arrow in it (except one in the green) whilst the other was completely empty.
40 yards was strange, I was cursing myself after the first end which were all in the gold bar one 7. Perhaps I should aim for the 7 in future? I'd got my score into odd values by having an odd number of misses, so I just had to keep an eye on my scoring now to get as close as possible to 627. With a dozen to go I needed 84, so all 7s would do it for me. Two golds didn't help, but I did equalise that by putting two in the blue as well as actually hitting two 7s so in the final end I still needed 7s all the way.
My first two arrows of the final end were gold. Damn! But, the third I scored just a 1 (although aiming at 3). As the second detail shot their first three arrows I worked out that I was going to try and finish with 9,7,7 to hit the target score. With 23 needed the first of my final three arrows went low into the 3. I was really annoyed. Even two golds now would leave me two short. Pleasingly though I did hit those two golds, so finished on 625. Roy and Fliss both finished on 627 and took the spoils. It was something different and despite the poor weather was great fun.
So have you spotted why I am an idiot? I didn't till I was telling my Henry and Fran about it when I got home. For those who haven't, the three I scored with my fourth arrow of the final end left me needing 20. Two misses with the final two arrows would have seen me reach the target score exactly. D'oh! For the record I would still not have won as Roy hit 38 7s to my 28, but still very annoying.
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