Bye, bye Stevie G

Obviously the the biggest story of the weekend was Steven Gerrard's last hurrah at Anfield on Saturday night.

It didn't end the way the Liverpool legend would have wanted it to as Alan Pardew and his Eagles decided to throw a spanner in the works by inflicting a humbling 3-1 defeat on the Reds.  I suppose we shouldn't be to surprised as it was against Palace last year that Liverpool's title challenge ultimately came to an end.

As for Pardew,  he has previous when it comes to pissing on the Scousers chips ever since he scored the winner for the Eagles against them in the cup semi final of 1990.

Although it wasn't the winning finish the iconic former England man would have wanted to bow out with, at the end of it all it was all about him saying goodbye, which I suppose was how it should have been.

Try telling Brendan Rodgers this.  His face at the end before Gerrard went out on the pitch again to receive his ovation told you everything you needed to know about how he was feeling about things.

If there is one thing that I reckon Rodgers hates and that is the fact that he had to compromise his team selection in order to give Gerrard his swansong.  If however Liverpool had won their wouldn't have been a problem, but you could just see that Rodgers was almost resenting the whole circus/Stevie G sideshow.  If there was any chance that he wouldn't have been immediately sacked on the final whistle if he had left Gerrard out he would have done.   The mantra that is always repeated in all press conferences and interviews involving the Liverpool boss is "we always do what I think is best for this football club" and for once he wasn't able to follow his own words on Saturday and fuck me did the hurt show on his face.

Although the game started well enough for the Reds after taking the lead in the first half the second half as far as Liverpool were concerned was played out like some sort of testimonial.

One thing is for sure and that is that Rodgers will be so relieved that game is over and now he can get back to business and try to get a win against Stoke this weekend, don't be too surprised if Stevie G doesn't start this game as I reckon as far as Rodgers is concerned he has had his bit of fun and now its all about "what is best for this football club".

Whilst all the goodbye party was going on and don't get me wrong it is all well deserved for a player who has done so much for his club, I was getting really pissed off with the pundits and their constant excuses for Liverpool's poor performances this season.  It isn't just the pundits it was Gerrard himself and his manager who are also offenders for making excuses.  They all blame the reason for not replicating last years title challenge on losing Louis Suarez and his goals, as well as losing Daniel Sturridge and his goals to injury.  Two things.  Firstly even with all those goals last season they still didn't win the league and secondly they made a lot of money on the sale of Suarez but decided to buy Rickie Lambert and Mario Ballotelli instead of trying to buy someone who was in the same mould as Suarez,granted it would have been difficult and near on impossible to replace him but surely Ballotelli wasn't the answer.  The reason Liverpool didn't win the title last year was more to do with their defence and the fact that they have great trouble defending set pieces.  Gone are the days of old when Liverpool didn't concede, they glory days of the 70's and 80's when Hansen, Lawrenson, Thompson, Hughes, Smith and the like were tight as arseholes at the back.

 In recent years defending has been terrible at Liverpool the likes of Sakho (shit), Skrtel, Kolo Toure, and Lovren would never have got a game in the past but now they are the best they can offer.  I think the last best pairing they had was back in the early 2000's when they had Hyppia and Henchoz, maybe with the exception of Carragher since then but I would struggle to name a class defender Liverpool have had in the last 15 years.

Until Brendan Rodgers addresses this problem his team will never win a Premier League title.  He may bang on about doing "what is best for this football club" but until he brings in two or three decent defenders and teaches his team to defend at corners and free-kicks Liverpool will continue to be one of the also rans for some time to come and the only cheer their passionate supporters may get will be the odd appearance in a cup final or the chance of qualifying for the big European competitions.  Looking at the team now though even that seems a long way off.

Liverpool have been too far away from the top table of English football for far too long and unfortunately for them and their supporters it doesn't look like that is going to change any time soon.

I used to love watching the mighty Reds in the 80's and I think it is ludicrous that one time record league title holders and kings of England and Europe haven't won a title this Century.  That means that people who were born in the 90's and later have never seen Liverpool win the title, I find that so weird as when I was young it was all Liverpool.

Years ago there wouldn't have been excuses, when Liverpool sold a big player they brought someone else in, it was never a problem and that is why I don't get the how do you replace Suarez thing.  They had qualified for the Champions League and finished as runners up, they also got a shit load of money so why was it so hard to find another striker.

Anyway next season is going to be even tougher as now they will have to try and replace Steven Gerrard as well who incidentally is their highest goalscorer this season.  So good luck with all that Brendan Rodgers and I look forward to listening to your feeble excuses next season as you finish in the top 8 and in your 4th  season in charge fail to improve on anything your predecessors have done before you.

Daggers season review

Another season over and another season of league football awaits the Daggers next year.

There were times  last season when even the most positive of supporter feared for our continued participation in the fourth tier of English football, but although the team spluttered a bit at times and struggled and underperformed in certain points of the season, the Daggers managed to defy the odds again and stay up.  And in the end stay up with quite a lot to spare.

Looking at our final position of 14th and our tally of 59 points it seems to me that we are very close to being a team who can challenge for the play off's.  If only we had not made those unforced errors in certain games, if only we could have improved our home form slightly, especially at the start of the season and if only we had put 3 wins together during the campaign, you never know we may well have been sitting here now looking forward to a play off semi final.

For me although there has been some disappointments I have seen plenty this season that has given me reasons to be positive.

Jamie Cureton has been a revelation this season and his 20 league goals are one of the main reasons we have finished the season where we have.  This season Jamie has been fantastic in front of goal, he has been an absolute pain in the arse to opposing teams defences.  The fact he has scored as many goals as he has at the ripe old age of 39, and the fact that he has played as many games as he has at this time in his career is an amazing achievement and the best thing of all is that he has signed a new contract and will be leading the line next year as a 40 year old.  Cureton in my opinion totally deserved his player of the year award again because goals at this level are so important.

Mark Cousins was so close to winning player of the year this season but had to settle for runner up.  Mark has been great between the sticks this year and some of his saves in certain games have been as , if not more important than Jamie Cureton's goals at the other end.  Since Tony Roberts retired in 2011 it has been very difficult to find someone to fill the popular Welshman's boots, but I think in Cousins we have found a very talented keeper.   Injury at the start of the season meant Cousins had to wait patiently for his chance, after getting his opportunity though he has stepped up to the plate and cemented his place as the Daggers rightful number 1.

For me this has been one of the best seasons performance wise for Scott Doe.  I really think the 26 year old has come of age this season.  With an injury to club captain Abu Ogogo earlier in the season Doey eventually got the armband that I personally would have given him about two seasons ago.  For me Scotty epitomises everything that is good about this club.  He has been here since was a youngster, he has vast experience, he lifts other players around him,  he has good pace, he doesn't panic on the ball but most of all when he walks off the pitch he leaves everything out there.  I think Doey has been colossal at the back for us this season and I think for us to keep progressing as a team it is absolutely imperative that we get him signed as soon as possible for at least another season or two.  With the inevitable departure of Abu Ogogo the need for Does experience is more important than ever.  Hopefully he will stay with us and be our skipper next season.

The emergence of some of the youngsters this season has also been pleasing.  Jodi Jones obviously gets most of the plaudits and at only 17 became our youngest ever player and our youngest ever scorer when he netted against Accrington Stanley in the 4-0 drubbing at Vicky Road in what was our last home game of the season.  I saw Jodi play in a couple of the Essex Senior cup games and straight away you could see he had something about him, he scored in both those games but his goal against Concord Rangers was one of the best goals I have ever seen at any level.  I have said it before when your good at whatever level your good.  If the boy has got his head screwed on right he can very, very far in this game.  He is only a kid and has lots to learn but the fact he will continue to learn from the likes of Cureton and have a coach like Darren Currie helping him next season I can only see good things from him next term.

It is also nice to see Frankie Raymond get his chance in the team, he really impressed me with his performance against Accrington on his home debut and I think he could be an important part of our midfield next season.  This will all depend on who stays and who goes of course but if we were to play a 3 in midfield I think he could fit in nicely alongside Bingham and Boucaud if of course they both stay.  Frankie certainly had a memorable home debut, assisting two goals and scoring an unstoppable free kick to open his goal scoring account for the club.  Hopefully he gets a chance next season and hopefully he can push on.  He has already given us another option at set pieces so lets hope we will see what other attributes the young midfielder has in his locker next time round.

Another young man who has not really featured yet for us is Bradley Goldberg.  Bradley had a great season out on loan at Bromley last season and has been out on loan again this year.  I have seen him only fleetingly in pre-season games and Essex senior cup games but whenever I have seen him he has looked like he has got some potential.  I think he is out of contract in the Summer and it will be interesting to see if Wayne has seen enough improvement in the lad to give him a new contract and ultimately give him a run in the side.  I think if he hadn't been on loan for the whole season he could well have played some part at the end of this campaign.  I could see him playing in a wider position alongside Cureton with either Hemmings or Jones on the other side.  It is obviuos that the boy can score goals because he did at Bromley and if I am not mistaken that was the sort of position he played.  Again we will have to wait and see, for me though it would be a shame if he went without us seeing what he could do.

Of course there has been negatives this season as every season has its ups and downs, but for me I am pleased to see it end with us in pretty good form, granted we lost our final game away to Exeter and we failed to put three wins together again, but I really think if Wayne and his team can keep the spine of this team and maybe add a few again who will improve the squad then who knows where we can go next season.

I think Wayne and his management team deserve credit for the turn around they have produced at the back end of this season.  The disappointment of going out of the FA cup to Southport may have been the catalyst for this change in form.  Burnett was lambasted from some quarters of our fan-base, I could understand peoples frustrations at the time but like some others I could see what he was trying to achieve at the club and was hopeful there wouldn't be a knee jerk reaction that would trigger his dismissal.  Don't get me wrong there were times in the season when I didn't agree with some things that he did or said, but on the other hand there where times when I was pleasantly surprised by some of the things he did, for example his decision to change to playing wing backs.  Wayne is still learning as a manager and in many ways that suits our club because at the moment we have a group of players and staff who have youth and experience in equal amounts.  I was very pleased that Burnett signed a new deal and I look forward to seeing him take our club forward in the future.

My prediction for next year is that we will win more games at home, we will eventually break that hoodoo of 3 wins in a row and we will better our overall finishing position in the league.

I can't wait for the season to start already.

Come on you Daggers!!

Up the Daggers!!

Is Jamie Cureton the best Daggers have ever had?

When I first began going over to Victoria Road in the 1984/85 season when little Dagenham were just a small team competing in the Alliance Premier League.  Back then our main strikers were Terry Sullivan and Dwight's dad Devon Gayle.  Later came Dave Pearce, George Dolarto and Billy Lansdowne, who used to pop up on loan every now and again and score a few goals to keep us from relegation by the skin of our teeth.

Dave Pearce in his Margate days.

All of our strikers through the years had been of a certain standard and that seemed to continue until the merger in 1992.  Then came the likes of Paul Cavell, Vinnie John,  Miguel Da Silva and Leo West(before his lottery win).

Then we began to become a little bit spoilt under the reign of Garry Hill.  Paul Cobb, Danny Shipp, Junior, Charlery and of course Mark Stein.

Steino, Legend!!

I really believe that if that whole race debacle hadn't happened Hill had the players at his disposal to get us promoted.  When Stein and Mark Smith our two best players left the club it left a massive hole in our squad, unfortunately the players he brought in, who I would say were great conference players just didn't gel together.  I will never know how we didn't  succeed with players like Lenny Piper, Leon Braithwaite and Alex Meechan.

Just way couldn't Braithwaite and Meechan work for Garry Hill?

After Garry Hill left, John Still came back and then we were spoilt with strikers yet again, Chris Moore, Craig Mackail-Smith, Tresor Kandol, Ben Strevens, Dwight Gayle and Paul Benson, who I would say was the best we have ever had, until now.

Benno, Legend!!

As I walked away from the ground yesterday having witnessed a master-class of finishing from our number 7 after he scored his first hat-trick in 7 years in a 4-0 demolition of  AFC Wimbledon at the age of 39.  I came to the conclusion there and then that Jamie Cureton is without doubt the best we have ever had.

I saw Dwight Gayle play in a pre-season friendly for us against a West Ham 11 a few seasons ago and I thought his movement as a striker was the best I had seen at this club and when he got into the first team we all knew if he was one on one with the keeper he would score, but watching JC this season I really don't think I have seen a better forward at our club.

What amazes me the most is his tenacity and constant running.  After playing a full 90 minutes on Good Friday with over an hour gone yesterday he was chasing every ball and shutting down defenders, like a 20 year old.

Cureton celebrates his first Daggers hat-trick.

In a time where Premier league managers are constantly bemoaning their tough schedules and worrying about their players being too tired and burning out, I would suggest that the next time a sprightly young attitude wearing kid who his only in the game for money turns to his manager and says he is tired, show him a DVD of Jamie Cureton's performance yesterday and pretty much all of this season and say stop fucking moaning you spoilt little shit, this bloke has played 42 times this season, finishing most of the games he has played in and has scored 18 times and he is old enough to be your Dad.

Is Cureton the best we have ever had?

I and I suspect most Daggers fans would love Jamie to extend his contract for another season.  I am hoping he has a clause in his contract that triggers an extension after he plays so many games but if not then the club need to get him on board for next season.  It is not just his goals that are imperative to our club but his experience, just imagine what our young players can learn from him, the likes of Jodi Jones, Christian Doidge and Ade Yussuf.  It would also be great to get him on board in a coaching capacity.

For me Cureton's arrival has been the signing of the season, and I think Wayne Burnett deserves a bit of credit not for just bringing him to the club but for the way he has managed him.  He may have played 42 games this season but I think he has been rested at the right times.

Normally I would do a bit of stuff about the last few games and how our performances are going, but now safety is pretty much secured for this season I thought I would just write about Cureton instead.

This season has had it's up's and downs but I hope we finish it off with a nice unbeaten run, this would put us in a good place for next season and with a few good additions and maybe a few good subtractions lets say, who knows what may happen next term.

Unfortunately for me Jamie Cureton's performances this season have forced me to change my all time Daggers XI and as much as Mark Stein is a legend at this club he has now been demoted to the bench as Cureton takes his place alongside Benno in my front two.

Keep up the good work Jamie and I hope you break the 20 goals barrier this season.

Up the Daggers!!

Review and preview

At last the international break is over, and what have we learned about our national team.  Well we learned that Phil Jones can't play as a defensive midfielder, we learned that Theo Walcott isn't an out and out striker and we learned that when England get to the European championships we will be relying on 33 year old Michael Carrick as the our only holding midfielder as Roy Hodgson will never call up someone who plays consistently well for their club side week in week out up as cover in that position.  Overall we have learned that unless we play our very best players come the tournament in the summer we will be leaving early again after only playing 3 games.

So Steptoe how do you feel about playing as a defensive midfielder?

I have to say that I was one of the only people who thought it was a good idea to play Steptoe in a holding midfield role, as if it came off at least we would have had some back up.  Unfortunately backfired, but fair play to Roy for trying it out.  My personal preference would have been though to call up someone like Lee Cattermole or Mark Noble in that position just to see if they could cut it.  Roy doesn't like to try those sort of things though as he likes to run his team a bit like a club side, although he did also state that for Theo Walcott to get into his side he would have to be playing regularly for Arsenal, he hasn't and yet he was still called up and started against Italy.

Just one England cap would be nice Roy!!

Andros Townsend took the plaudits for his equalising strike against the Italians and then decided to go on social media and dig out Paul Merson after the former Arsenal man had said that due to his and Kyle Walkers performances against Manchester United where both players were torn apart by Ashley Young that they shouldn't based on that performance be anywhere near the squad.  I agree with Merson, and the fact that Hodgson was at that game and decided to call those two players up and not Ashley Young is just downright stupid.  Fair play to Townsend for scoring the goal but what if Young had been called up he may have put a decent cross in and ran at the defenders on the wing, something that didn't happen at all in the first half against Italy.  Maybe if Young had started we might have won that game and Harry Kane might have scored a hat-trick from Ashley Young crosses.

Show us your medals Townsend!!

Don't get me wrong Townsend scored a very good goal, but for me the best performances in the second half came from Ross Barkley and Michael Carrick.   Just a thought Andros but before you start flipping the bird at well respected former professionals like Paul Merson and telling them I told you so, why not take the criticism on board and try improving your performances for your club and learn to keep your mouth shut.  Actions speak louder than words and one swallow a summer does not make.


Anyway enough about the International stuff, this weekend sees the return of the premier league.  The biggest of the games this week is without doubt Saturday's lunchtime game between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates.

For me this game brings back many memories as this was the very first proper game I ever went to.

The year was 1987,  it was my mates 14th birthday, he had got tickets to see his team Arsenal play my team Liverpool at Highbury in the first game of the 1987/88 season and he asked me to go with him.  My mate was a bit more experienced when it came to going to football matches and although 10 months younger than me he was a junior Gunner and had been to North London on many occasions in the past to see his heroes.  The only games I had been to before this were over Victoria Road to watch Dagenham my local team so for me this was going to be an amazing experience, the only thing was of course was that I would have to keep my mouth shout if Liverpool scored as I would be in the Arsenal end of the ground or in the junior Gunners enclosure.

We met up with another mate on the way to the game and on the train journey there was a discussion of whether we would stay in the North Bank with all the real supporters or were we going to go into the junior Gunners enclosure with all the kids, when asked my opinion I decided to just go with the flow.  On exiting the station and heading towards the ground the thing that struck me most was not just the thousands of people that were all in one place at what time but this was the first time I had ever seen a copper on a horse, not only that it was the first time I ever smelt that unmistakable smell of hot dogs/ burgers and horse shit.

When we got to the ground we went in via the back North Bank, I will never forget the moment at the top of the North Bank as I walked up the steps and saw what seemed to me to be a massive stadium, I was in awe, we had turned up with only minutes to go before kick off and the place was already packed, nevertheless we started to make our way down North Bank we had made up our mind that we weren't going to see much in there and we tried to make our way to the side gate and gain access to the junior Gunners enclosure.  At least I think that was the plan, unfortunately that plan quickly went out of the window as all of a sudden we had hardly any control of what we were doing, people were still coming in and the North bank was packed so people started to push and surges started to happen, it began to get a bit scary.  For me though I thought it was all just what happened at football as I had never been to a game before, I looked at my mate and I could tell he wasn't enjoying it.  The game kicked off and it got worse and worse, Liverpool scored in the 9th minute and that caused another surge, I remember thinking I hope Arsenal don't equalise otherwise this is gonna go seriously wrong.  Arsenal scored and my worse fears were realised as the surge almost took me of my feet and propelled me forward, I managed to keep my feet luckily, as only being a small lad I dread to think what would have happened if I had gone down.  I looked around me and couldn't see my mates anywhere, another surge began and suddenly I felt someone grab my hand, I looked up to see this woman probably in her mid 20's, as I looked to her she apologised but didn't let go of my hand I could see the fear in her eyes and no doubt she could see the fear in mine.  It wasn't long after that I found my mates and we were eventually removed from the North Bank along with a load of other kids.  After being removed we had to sit on the edge of the pitch as there was not enough room in the other areas of the pitch, I think we sat there up until at least half time before we eventually took our place in the junior Gunners enclosure.

And there it was my first steps into watching big boys football will always be remembered for nearly not making it out alive.  Although the brighter side to it was that I was at one point only about 2 inches away from John Barnes as I sat on the touchline.  In football terms it will be remembered for the day that Peter Beardsley, John Barnes and John Aldridge all made their debut's for Liverpool and I think Alan Smith made his bow for Arsenal.  Liverpool won the game 2-1 and I remember saying to all the junior Gunners around me, that they had to admit it was a great winning goal from Steve Nicol.  It was also the first time Liverpool wore that grey away kit, which was met with great derision from the home fans as they shouted "who's the crumpet in the pink" it was a very hot day and the sun was bright, so it was an easy mistake to make.

Although at times the day had been a bit scary, it all ended with no mishaps.  One thing for sure though is that since that day I have never been scared at a football match ever since.

What a baptism of fire.

https://youtu.be/RK4SDrf5JjA Arsenal v Liverpool 15/08/87

Liverpool went on to romp the league that season and only just missed out on a second double when they were famously  beaten by Wimbledon in the FA cup that year.

This weekend's game will obviously be overshadowed by the Raheem Sterling business and the fact that he doesn't want to sign a new contract because he wants to win trophies.  The bloke is 20 years old, some people who have been in the game for years have walked away from the game without winning a single trophy.  What gives him the right to win trophies?  Sterling is just a spoilt little kid, even if it has nothing to do with money he is playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world, it's about time he sat down and stopped shouting his mouth off and got on with his job instead of moaning.  People wonder what the problem is with English football is, there it is right there, jumped up little shits who think they are owed some sort of living when they have done absolutely nothing to earn it.  I hope he does go and I hope he goes somewhere where he sits on the bench.  If he really wants trophies why don't he knuckle down and try and help his current team win a trophy, how about that for a novel idea.  Alternatively why not pack up full time football get a proper job and play part time for a Sunday league team and with his ability that Sunday league team will win every trophy on offer.

I want trophies!!

Lazy, spoilt greedy little bastard, who do you think you are Pele?!

Weekend review

Its been a busy old weekend of football, with many talking points and stand out action.  Here is my take on just a bit of it.

All the talk leading up to this weekend was all about the "biggest rivalry" in English football history the big match between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield.

Brendan Rodgers

Liverpool were coming into this game unbeaten this year, their opponents had been on a decent run of form themselves so it had all the makings of an absolute classic, lets face it the Liverpool fans were up for it, the Man Utd fans were up for it, even the Sky sports presenters couldn't contain their excitement but probably the person who was most up for it more than any other person was Steven Gerrard.  Unfortunately for Stevie G his manager Brendan Rodgers wasn't as up for it and decided that in such a big game, which undoubtedly would have suited a player like Gerrard, Rodger's however decided that a better option would be Joe Allen,  Joe Allen that amazing midfielder that has waved his magic wand in so many crucial games in the past, Joe Allen who has scored so many important goals in so many big games in the past.  So in his last ever game against Manchester United for Liverpool Stevie G starts on the bench.  After trailing by a goal to nil at half time and being bullied at home as they were by their arch rivals Rodgers realised he needed another leader on the pitch and at half time he decided to release his skipper.  Now whether it was the frustration of being dropped or whether it was just the  pent up disappointment of being dropped Gerrard cam on the pitch at the restart and promptly lasted less than a minute after he decided to stamp on Ander Herrera's leg in front of the ref and got himself sent off..  Gerrard came out after the game and apologised for his actions, Liverpool went down 2-1 and the game was won by a fantastic scissor kick effort by Juan Mata.  The thing is even if Gerarrd had started the game there is no guarantee that Liverpool would have won but I reckon the whole reason The reds had to play with 10 men for basically a whole half is down to the poor decision making of the manager more sop than the poor decision making of his high profile skipper, don't get me wrong what Stevie G did was awful but I think Brendan Rodgers should shoulder at least half the blame.

Stevie G is dismissed after less than 60 seconds

Just before the other Super Sunday game between Hull and Chelsea, Mr charisma Steve Bruce said in his interview that he was looking forward to the game and that it was great to play against the big teams and that at the moment Chelsea were one of the best in Europe.  Yep that's right Steve Bruce only just behind the last eight left in the Champions league.

Steve "Mr Charisma" Bruce

In the game between Spurs and Leicester this weekend something cropped up that my mate has been saying is wrong for many a year with the offside rule.  My mate has always said that if your offside you should be offside or one day somebody, more than likely a goalkeeper will get injured because he will come out for a ball that he didn't need to come for.  Saturday afternoon at White Hart Lane this warning that wasn't headed came true when Hugo Lloris came out and got injured  whilst closing down a Leicester striker who wasn't flagged offside until he touched the ball, the FA will say the rule was brought in to make sure there are more goals, for me it's bollocks more goals is one thing but more injuries? is that really a good thing.  It looks as though the Spurs keeper could be out for upto 6 weeks now, it's great news for reserve keeper Michel Vorm but what if Lloris's injury costs Spurs a Champions league place, oh well at least there is more goals.

Lloris should have just let it in!!

After the game Nigel Pearson the Leicester boss described the referee of this game Mike Dean as one of the most arrogant men he had ever met, and in a weekend when so many refereeing decisions were made wrong again and when there has been an outcry from all quarters about help from referee's it was interesting to hear a manager talking about how unapproachable and non- human some of these officials really are.  It has to be saiud though that Dean's decision to give a penalty for a coming together in the area between David Nugent and Danny Rose was laughable and although Pearson does like a moan I have a lot of sympathy with him after his team put in such a hard working performance and came away with nothing.

The best refereeing cock up though has to be Neil Swarbrick's mistaken identity when he sent off Gareth McAuley instead of Craig Dawson for West Brom against Man City, it was an easy mistake to make as one of the players has 23 on his shirt and one had 25.  The thing is couldn't somebody have told him.  Unlucky Mr Smallbridge.

A case of mistaken identity for referee Oliver Smallbridge.

https://youtu.be/963rvvmHdtg Nigel Pearson describes Mike Dean as arrogant.

Talking of Danny Rose, the former under 21 international has been drafted in to the England squad for their upcoming games between Lithuania and Italy due to injury to Manchester United's Luke Shaw.  I have said it before that we ate going to qualify for the European championships ayt a canter and it would have been a perfect time to try out new players who maybe haven't had a call up before and are in form for their club at the moment, instead Hodgson decides to pick the same old names so when we get to the major tournaments and we get an injury to a first choice player in a certain position we replace with someone who has either not played much for his club or has played pretty poorly for his club when he could have used the opportunity to blood in a better option in qualifying.  In the end it will be the same story we will qualify with ease and then come home after the group stages, and the FA will be scratching their heads about what is wrong with the English national team.  This is what is wrong the fact that you wont hire a manager with a pair of bollocks, and instead settle for a yes man who is a safe choice.  The FA might say well he picked Harry Kane, that was quite brave, A deaf, dumb and blind person couldn't have failed to notice what Harry Kane has done this season so he shouldn't get the credit for that.  The fact that he refuses to call up players in form like Aaron Cresswel and Ryan Bertrand, and to continue to pick the likes of  Andros Townsend and Kyle Walker and to call up Danny Rose shows his lack of ambition as an England coach.  England will not win a major tournament as long as they keep picking managers like this, this country needs a Venables type or even better a Cloughie type and until that happens we are just going to be shit.

Even Danny Rose was shocked at getting called up for England

Saturday saw what would have been Brian Clough's 80th birthaday.

This man was an absolute master when it came to management and he should have been given the England job after winning the European cup with Nottingham Forrest for the second time in 1980.  Alas he wasn't and yet still today we wonder why we haven't won anything since 1966.  In a time when it is ok apparantly to crowd referees and put pressure on them, Brian Clough will be turning in his grave.  Clough was a manager who wanted to win things the right way and within the rules of the game, unfortunately the game nowadays is more about winning at any cost, and anything goes, grown men throwing themselves to the floor and international team-mates trying to get one another sent off, football is becoming a laughing stock all round the world and it is such a shame that as a football fan I have to endure the game I love lose it's dignity.  It's such a shame that the world of football has too many overpaid, mollycoddled, spoilt, cheating players, arrogant referees and one dimensional managers.

Legend!

Even the governing bodies don't give a shit about the football, the FA do nothing too improve the game in this country because they can't, because money talks and the Premier League are what rule football in this country.  The FA don't give a fuck about grass roots football either, if they did they wouldn't have suggested such rubbish as Premier league B teams playing in the lower leagues.  The FA remind me of a business that was once run by a family and then taken over by someone who has no clue about the business they are walking into, all they have is money making ideas, when the ideas fail some other money man comes in and so it continues on and on.  The more clueless people who take over the further away becomes the solution.

The FA should be run by football people, who have been successful in the game, people who care about the sport and who want English football to succeed at all levels of the game.

The game has gone and I don't see it getting any better anytime soon.

RIP Brian Clough!!

RIP English football!!  

Abu inspires sharp Daggers!!

Two great wins against Tranmere away and Plymouth at home last night sandwiched a slightly disappointing defeat at Victoria Road  to Southend on Saturday.

Not that I was expecting the Daggers to really get anything against their high flying Essex rivals, but it was just the manner in which we lost the game that left a bad taste in the mouth.

The truth is we were always in the game on Saturday until that fateful moment in the second half when Damien Batt decided he would forget everything he learned and was taught as a kid and blatantly handle the ball in the area and give away a stupid spot kick.  The penalty was converted and the game was basically dead and gone from that moment.

Handball!!

It's so true what people say in the game about thin margins and big decisions changing games, well Saturday's game was certainly proof of that fact.  Even though we conceded on the verge of half time to trail 2-1, I still believed we could get back into the game second half, mainly because the last thing that Southend needed was the break after scoring so late in the half.  If we had come out and scored in the second half,  Batt hadn't decided to to become a cross between a kung fu fighter and a fucking ballerina and if Wayne had decided to put Jodi Jones on about 15 minutes earlier, we may have salvaged something from this game.

Don't mess with Damien Batt's Tutu!!

At the end of the day there is a lot of if's and but's in that last paragraph but as I stated at the start I wasn't expecting anything from this game anyway but the disappointment stems from seeing how it all could have been so much different.  Oh well Southend were good value for their win and did what teams at the top of the league have to do to give themselves a chance of automatic promotion and that is to come to places like ours and get a win.

Last night however we were up against a team just outside the play-off places who came to our gaff hoping to not get beaten, Plymouth although they are in good form at the moment were always coming to Victoria Road to get a point or try and knick a 1-0 win but unfortunately for the Pilgrims they came up against a Daggers side who were hungry for victory.

Last night the Daggers did themselves justice and put in a dominant performance in a game they controlled for the majority of the 90+ minutes against a team who it had to be said didn't offer much of a threat in the attacking third, and any danger they did pose was dealt with professionally by our boys in red.  It was a very pleasing performance all round, it was also very pleasing to see captain Abu Ogogo back and showing everyone what a fantastic right back he is, I have said it so many times not only is he the best right back this club has ever had, he is without doubt the best right sided full back in the league, in that position he is good enough to play in the championship.  Abs was rightly given man of the match last night and he showed fantastic awareness and desire to get on the end of the chance in the first half to claim his 4th goal of the season.

Abs, best right back in the league

I would also like to give a mention to Luke Howell who I think after a shakey start has started to get used to his role in the team, he put in a good shift last night and even started taking up wide positions to support his team mates.  Whilst I am given players credit I must mention the legend that is Jamie Cureton, you just knew last night after he missed that chance when he took the ball down so well, that if he was to get another chance he was going to bury it.  Absolute class from this years player of the season elect, I really hope he has a contract extension clause that will keep him here for another year, the fact he has scored 15 goals this term at the age of 39 is incredible, long may it continue and hopefully he will reach 20 goals mark.

 Dr Monkatron and I were discussing Cureton last night at the  game and we likened his capture in the summer to that of the signing of Mark Stein, in a way though the signing of Jamie may have been a better signing as Steino was slightly younger and scored his goals in the conference, JC is still doing it in the league.

The only downside to last night in my opinion was the performance of Ashley Chambers, don't get me wrong I am not one to pick on our players but really, what was he doing last night.  If he only he had the impact that he did at the start of the season in the number 10 role I wouldn't mind, but too many times last night he was hiding.  When I was a kid and playing football with the school or whatever I remember there were games where I was just not up for it and would literally go hiding behind the opposition, Chambers was never showing for the ball and never supporting his team mates, the only time he looked threatening was when he somehow managed to pick the ball up and run at people, if he could have only made a decision instead of holding the ball for far too long and then losing  it or playing a pass to nobody we may have won last nights game by a lot more.  Even for Abu's goal he should have scored himself but he decided to come over all Forrest Gump and keep running, as for his attempt (and I use that term loosely) at goal in the second half it was so poor, but maybe we shouldn't be too surprised given his appalling miss against Stevenage on Boxing Day I think it was.  I hope Ashley can turn it round and re-learn and recapture the way he played in the role of number 10 in the early part of the season, he does have pace and he does have control of the ball when he is running with it, I just wish he would do fucking something with it, we would be such a better team if he could.

It was also nice to see Jodi Jones sign his first professional contract on Saturday and I really hope we confirm our safety soon so that boy can get a proper go at it, he is gonna scare the life out of defenders in the future.

Last night also so the return of the alternative stadium announcer, although his claims of liquid football may have been a bit far fetched it was a breathe of fresh air to have someone who is positive about things and really gets into the whole thing, fair play to you mate and I hope you are more of a regular fixture over Viccy Road in the future.  And whilst we are on the subject I wonder if the Daggers player commentator at the weekend is the Northern one who always seems to put a positive spin on the game and how we are playing and paints a picture so you don't have to think too hard about what is happening.  No offence to Stuart Smith who is a well respected commentator in his own right but I just find his commentary so negative and it seems that he always just wants to offer his opinion, don't get me wrong I know he is a fan of the club but sometimes I wish he would just give me the details of the game so I can just make my own mind up about things instead of being told we are shit all the time.

Anyway on to the next one and it is Stevenage away it is obviously going to be another toughy but hopefully it will be back to back wins and another step toward safety, although I would take a draw right now.

Come on you Daggers!!

Up the Daggers!!