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25 July 2008 ~

Among the reports on Manchester City's ambitious, and possibly foolish, quest to sign Ronaldinho was an informative item in the Daily Mail, which used a recent photo of the player wearing sunglasses and gold jewellery to bring readers up to date with rap terminology – the brackets are their own: “Hip hop hooray: Ronaldinho looks more rap artist than football maestro in Barcelona this week, but hey man, don't diss the dude cos he's making loadsa scrilla (money) and likes the bling-bling. He says he ain't gonna get ganked (robbed) by the City Doc and won't do auditions – not even as a rapper.” There is no author credited but we don't detect the hand of Jeff Powell.

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Badge of the week
If you're asked to design a club badge and are worried that it may end up being nominated for badge of the week due to its blandness, do what the Iraqi side Al-Sinaa have done and rip off the crest of another club. Motherwell fans may find it familiar, showing as it does the steelworks and fir trees that North Lanarkshire was once known for. I wonder how many fir trees surround Al-Sinaa's ground? Peter Murphy

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Nothing brightens up the day like discovering a goalkeeper with a spectacular name. Among the various summer transfers, a move that stood out was Southampton's acquisition of a Spurs reserve called Tommy Forecast. As a forename and surname combination this is surely the best since the two Dickensian-sounding Perrys of the 1980s, Digweed (of Brighton) and Suckling (Man City and Palace) and possibly a rival for the greatest ever, Steve Death (Reading). Some would add Les Fridge (St Mirren and Inverness) to the pantheon but his name lost some of its allure when it was revealed to be of Nordic origin (“Frid-guh”) and therefore nothing to with a forebear who sold or made refrigerators. Anyhow, Tommy Forecast, look out for an upsurge in national newspaper coverage of Southampton reserve matches this season just so that headline-writers can indulge themselves.

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Historic Football Websites No 14 ~ Greens On Screen
Ten years old and going stronger than ever, this unofficial Plymouth Argyle site is one of the best independent webzines on the net. I just lost myself in the footage and post-match interviews of Argyle’s 6-3 home win over Leeds United in 1987 (count how many times commentator Des Robinson says the word “superb”), one of 64 games on the site with highlights and old press reports. Even better is Argyle’s home win over Santos in front of 37,639 fans in 1973. Watch fans run on to the pitch at half-time, unhindered, to get Pelé’s autograph. As Des would say, superb. Ian Plenderleith

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Wikipedia vandalism has been taken to new heights in a Biblical biography of former Livingston and Celtic keeper Francisco Javier Sanchez Broto (and like the Bible it goes on a bit). Spotted by Alan Burns

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WSC Trivia ~ No 25
The WSC office, 1990. A Honey Bianchi is on the phone. She had taken out a subscription for her employer, Robert Plant, without realising that someone else in her office had done the same thing, so he was now getting two copies a month. One of them needed to be cancelled and the cost refunded. We suggested instead that we could add a year on, so he would save money if subscription prices went up during the following year. “No, darling, he has two subscriptions.” We tried again. There was a silence. “You do realise who we're talking about, don't you?” she said. “This is Robert Plant!” There were no Led Zeppelin fans in the WSC office but it seemed churlish to continue the debate so we duly sent him a refund cheque. He's a Wolves fan, apparently.

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Stickipedia  
A mine of information constructed from sticker cards

Frank Pimblett, Aston Villa Soccer Stars 75-76
The Liverpool suburb of Huyton has produced several well known footballers, including Steven Gerrard, David Nugent and, er, Joey Barton. As 14-year-olds, Frank Pimblett and Peter Reid had been the outstanding players in the Huyton Boys team that won the English Schools Trophy in 1970-71. The team's coach was an English and PE teacher called Alan Bleasdale, who later gained national recognition as a playwright. Peter Reid joined Bolton and Frank Pimblett made his debut for Villa as a 17-year-old in 1975. But he went on to play only another eight matches in their first team plus a further seven on loan at Newport before being released. He then emigrated to Australia where he spent a decade with Brisbane City, retiring as a player in the same year as Peter Reid.

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