NUFC Blog review

http://www.nufcblog.org/2010/09/around-the-grounds-by-chris-nelson/

Amber Nectar

Heads up on a comprehensive review on the Hull City website Amber Nectar. Read what the fans think of the fan’s guide!

http://www.ambernectar.org/blog/2010/09/book-review-competition-around-the-grounds/

Review on the Republik

Review of Around The Grounds on top website Republik of Mancunia.

http://therepublikofmancunia.com/around-the-grounds/

Sneaky look

Here’s a sneaky look inside the new book – she’s out now and available from all good blah de blah. To be honest Amazon is by far the cheapest.

http://view.vcab.com/?vcabid=gjrSegnagScggelp&coun

Raging

So how long does that lovely warm, euphoric feeling of promotion last? The hang-over, the pre-season and the first fixture back in the Football League. Oxford United won the Blue Square play-off final last season beating York City 3-1 in front of over 30,000 fans. Are they still raging?

http://www.rageonline.co.uk/

The blogs dollocks

If you’re a Liverpool fan or have a clash coming up at Anfield and want to get the honest lowdown on how they’re shaping up under Hodgson, be sure to check out Gerry Ormonde’s Kop Blog for what’s going on. And there’s a lot going on. Again.

www.thisisanfield.com/kopblog/

Stripping

We all have our favourite footie strips. Yet, for every 1974 Dutch World Cup jerseys, 1960′s Celtic hoops or 1970′s Coventry City brown ‘egg-timer’ away strip there is a whole raft of fashion crimes designed by the colour blind, for the colour blind.

True Colours is an excellent site that delves into the wonderful world of football strips – the good, the bad and the downright ugly! They are wonderfully illustrated and explores not only the very latest 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice kits from today, but also some of the most obscure offerings that have graced the field of play. What about the Leeds United 1970-71 third kit in orange? Check it out…

http://www.truecoloursfootballkits.com/articles/leeds-united-third-kit-1970-71

Around the Sites

One of the great things about writing ATG was not just getting ‘around the grounds’ themselves, but exploring the wonderful and varied world of the football websites – the ones outside our usual suspects we check on a daily basis.

I’ll be flagging up a few of my favourites, so check them out.

First up HTFC World, the brilliant Huddersfield Town site. It features an array of clever and humorous animated match reports.

http://www.htfc-world.com/

A New Hope

We approach a new season with such high hopes. Fresh signings for all, new managers for some – a clean slate. Before the first ball is kicked, before the first whistle is blown – we are all the same, we are all equal. On paper, we are all contenders!

Today it’s raining. One game in – played one, lost one. We used a formation that doesn’t seem to work, have three new, equally immobile centre backs and no penetration. Welcome to the new season.

Still I hear Martin O’Neill is looking for a new club…

Grimsby gives you wings.

Every coach and manager wrestles with the best way to motivate players, after all, each player responds in a different way. Subtle psychology needs to be employed. There’s the patented ‘hairdryer©’ for wayward, creative midfield players, or the Glenn Hoddle spiritualist approach where defensive hard men are helped to channel their emotions with coloured crystals. But what to do if you’ve scooped the rest of the League and signed a former Juventus winger, who then happens to have an off night? If all else fails, why not try throwing a plate of chicken wings at him? These were the tactics employed by Brian Laws on his star player Ivano Bonetti in February 1996. And, while Fergie’s boot at Beckham resulted in a mere gash, the bone china and poultry projectile that the Italian fell fowl of, left him hospitalised with a broken cheekbone. Did this motivational technique have the desired effect? Amazingly, no. The player left at the end of the season and Laws was gone not long after. Bonetti is still a firm favourite with the fans at Blundell Park. Not only was he one of the first Italians to make the jump to English football, his stylish play came part financed by the fans, with the player making up the rest of the fee himself.
Grimsby have seen some highs and lows over recent years. As Pat Bell of Cod Almighty points out, “Bill Shankly, Grimsby manager between 1951 and 1954, later described in his autobiography the side he assembled as ‘pound for pound and class for class the best football team I have seen in England since the war.’” The club has since enjoyed long stints in the second flight, but over the last few years has struggled in the bottom tier, before being relegated to non-league football at the end of 2009/10. The Blundell Park faithful are looking for a manager who can come in and lift the team, by whatever methods, back to the Championship where many feel they belong. One question though – just what was a plate of chicken wings doing in the changing rooms?