FA Cup Mayhem

FA CUP

The results on Saturday afternoon were unbelievable, and then watching the highlights even more so, Chelsea were outplayed, and whilst it could be dismissed as a freak result, it does raise an interesting question what will Chelsea do when Terry retires, they obviously missed his leadership, and whilst Cahill is a good centre back he is a number 2 not a lead.

Man City got what they deserved as they only flew back from Dubai the day before, that smacks of arrogance, and probably showed why they dominated the first half but fell away in the second.

Mention for Cambridge on Friday they were very well organised, although Man Utd were woeful, Ryan Donaldson has been a player who has impressed me every time I have seen him.

General Election

Every poll at the moment seems to have a different number, I do think UKIP will implode, as when they move off there one single issue they show themselves to be completely unelectable, not sure who will benefit the most from this though.

Watched PMQS for the first time this week, Cameron completely outclassed Milliband, if they do have a one on one debate it will push the Conservatives forward, a 7 way debate will be to busy and who shouts loudest will win, which plays into Farage's hands.

IPO's

Trainline IPO being cancelled in favour of VC buy out was interesting, good brand but little growth opportunity so they must feel cost can be cut out the business, also Box going public I use them as the free storage is great so wonder in a crowded market how they make any money.

Snooker Loopy

Snooker

One of the benefits of being at home is the chance to do a few different things, last week I made my first visit to the snooker, and saw a great match between Mark Allen and John Higgins, match had everything, a 147 opportunity which Higgins narrowly missed on the yellow, plenty of century breaks and some interesting safety play.

I will be definetly going again, but not sure if the World Championhip appeals with its long session and not being able to see the end to end match.

Cricket

Usual service returned with an easy win for Australia, England have to get Broad & Anderson firing to stand a chance, and need to find a place for Treadwell as we need some variation and know how.

Darts

This week I finally bought my own dartboard, target for the year to get the average past 50 and hit a 180.

Full Backs

Since reading the Secret Footballer guide to modern football, I have to agree with the statement that full back is the hardest place to play, being very impressed with Cresswell at West Ham and think Shaw will be a quality player.

GE 2015

Number of polls coming out make fascinating reading, my feeling at the moment without deep analysis is the Conservatives will get most seats just, but have no where near enough to form a government.

Books read this week

Damian Mcbride- Power Trip interesting insight into how the Brown machine worked.

All about the Darts

Darts

Two great finals in the last week, yes the PDC is a better quality tournament but the drama was immense in both finals, in the BDO I thought Adams was the most consistent but let down on his doubles. Anderson played very well against Taylor and had real belief that he could win it.

Snooker

All being well I will make my first visit to a live snooker match at Alexandra Palace, really intrigued to see what it is like to watch the pros at first hand.

Payments

Every article seems to be talking about ApplePay, I can't see practically how this can be they key thing in this space this year only available on the 6' and not everyone even uses an Apple device. UnionPay is the underestimated player in this space, they issue more cards than anyone else and surely at some stage will use that position to shape the market.

Tesco 

Share price a big up on the review notes from Dave Lewis, it makes perfect business sense to stop building in questionable locations and concentrate on profit, this is far more important than market share.

Books read this read

Secret Footballer guide to football, fantastic read, give some great insight into the game.

Blackout, historical novel, enjoyed the read but not the fact it only took me half way through the story.

4th January 2015

Politics

It is going to be an interesting year with the election wide open, I thought Cameron was good on the Andrew Marr show, and it is clear that the conservatives will push the economy as the key talking point.

Steven Gerrard


So now we are going to have 5 months of Liverpool saying goodbye to Stevie G, a good player, but never delivered a title to Liverpool and rejected the chance of coming out of his comfort zone and going to Chelsea. In Premier League terms, Scholes & Lampard achieved far more.

FA Cup

Competition has been killed by TV why the competition is over 5 days is anyone's guess, this left the traditional Saturday kick off's lacking any interest at all, if Blyth hadn't gone two up against Birmingham there would be no story at all.

I am going against traditional thinking and have looked at a couple of mid table premier league teams, both at 40/1 Stoke and Swansea, hopefully the draw will be kind to me.

Darts

Tonight is the final of the PDC darts and the Lakeside Darts has also started, although the PDC is infinitely better quality, the razzmatazz and the constant breaks do not make viewing a comfortable experience. I take Taylor's experience to see through against Anderson in the final.


Books/movies

My one new year resolution is to read more books and watch films rather than rubbish TV started with a nice easy read, from the presenters of the best quiz programme the world has ever seen.

The 100 most pointless things in the world