I'm With You...

This morning, something special landed on my doorstep (and no I haven't got a dog). It was the long-awaited, pre-ordered new album of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (see previous blogs for the excitedness of being able to see them and the admiration for them..blah,blah,blah). Now I have to say after hearing the single I was hesitant to say the least, and with no John Frusciate you can never be too careful at what they are going to deliver. Now I am no critically acclaimed music reviewer, but I have to say that I was disappointed is summing it up to say the least. Now this  album (I'm with You) doesn't really sound chili-ish and does have a completely different sound. After one listen through I can safely say there are no under the bridge's, californication's or dani california's. On second listen though it does seem to click a bit more and become more enjoyable, and I would say it is definitely a grower. Tracks such as Monarchy of Roses and Ethiopia stand out in particular, although it does give the impression of being a bit samey if I was being completely ruthless. I would by no means write it off though, but excuse me whilst I sit in a room with a cd player on repeat until I love it.

Now in other news, it has also been the long-awaited return of the football season, and what can be a greater start for my team's first game to be called off because of the riots. Let's be honest it was probably a blessing in disguise, although it would of been better if Spurs could have recorded a win against notorious slow starters Everton. However, you really could not argue with a 5-0 drubbing of Hearts in the Europa League as a bad start to the season, but you could be aggrieved at getting a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Man. Utd. and 0-0 draw with Hearts in the second leg. If i was to use a word to describe the opening gambit for the season it would be meh... There is definitely room for improvement, although we did look pretty awesome in the 5-0 drubbing of Hearts, you could argue we are playing the scottish alternative to a Barnsley/Doncaster but that's an issue for another day. A particular highlight of this week for me has been the loan signing of a completely un-confronational and clean-cut player in Emmanuel Adebayor. Now somehow I do not think this will go down well with the Spurs faithful, mainly because he played for the Arseholes (sorry Arsenal) the other side of North London. The hatred for him previously can perhaps be summed up by the chanting of "Adebayor, his dad cleans elephants and his mums a whore" which would be understandable if he was on the opposition, but this was occurring in a UEFA cup qualifier against some Eastern European opposition (AK47 or something). Now despite this, I believe he brings something that we cannot get from the beanpole that is Crouch and the sulky Russian that is Pavlyuchenko and that is GOALS, which we definitely need.

Now despite being snubbed by many real clubs, I have managed to forge a further successful career on FM11, this time as sleeping giant's Bradford City in league 2. After 2 seasons and 2 successive promotions, they are sitting comfortably in the championship, so now tell me why does no-one take my amazing managerial record seriously?  Nightmare...

Might as well make this a regular feature, so my song of the week is No Church In The Wild by Jay-Z, Kanye West and featuring Frank Ocean:

Hope you enjoy it, and as usual it's been emotional.

Oh dear Oh dear Oh Dear.....

Well it's finally happened and you can't say we haven't been warned....the sun came out ( a little bit), oh and also there's been this stuff about riots? Don't know if you've heard about it? Well we can't surely be surprised that it happened seeing that the Kaiser Chiefs predicted it in 2004. On the plus side of these riots, it means people are going to be able to get cut price goods off ebay as well as the fact that the job centre queue is going to be considerably less, however there are the terrible effects left behind by these thugs who, for the most part, are on their school holidays. It should be the parents that should be addressed as they are just sitting back watching their offspring destroy property and lives for no reason other than greed and mindless stupidity.
Now I understand that it is a bit drastic but the British Army is there to protect Britain and its allies, so why can we not have the army as a presence on the streets to stop these mindless attacks as at the moment there is no end in sight, other than when these dickheads have filled out their living rooms with new gear. A positive aspect to have arisen from an otherwise horrible situation is that of the old British community spirit which has developed in aid of the mass clear up, and shows that we still have such a community which will work together and help each other through such torrid times.
It is still worth mentioning the quality of work the emergency services have put in throughout these tough times and in particular the way of which the Police service has reacted and dealt with the situation at hand, despite them being the apparent "cause".

Now on a lighter note the football league finally kicked off on Saturday, which means as usual West Ham lost (lovely) and I lost money on my weekly accumulator (standard). The premier league kicks off on Saturday with Spurs handed a tricky first game at home to Everton which should be challenging, although it is most likely to be postponed based on this week's event. I'm hoping for a decent season for spurs although there has been a distinct lack of action in the transfer market, I can still see us getting a cheeky top-6 finish, which coupled with the continued downfall of Arsenal would be a successful campaign in my eyes.

Now in the world of fm11, I have just become somewhat of a Hearts legend after securing the Scottish double, winning the SPL and the Scottish cup and would of made it a treble had it not been for defeat to Celtic in the semi-final. I should have definitely applied for the vacant Hearts job in real life last week as I should have been odds-on favourite for it had they seen my amazing record.

Ah well...the hunt for a real career continues and if only I had gone in to the bandana business last week I would be laughing. Now as to leave it on a more cheery note, my song of the week is by Maverick Sabre and is a quality little tune so have a listen:

Now rugby training awaits so for now it's been emotional.

The Last Month of "Summer"....

So as we draw into August, the last month of summer (although this year I'm not actually sure when the first month was) and the sun has actually decided to make an appearance, although it still appears rather shy hiding behind the clouds and poking out so often for a breather. Its a sad fact that we are now only 5 months away from Christmas and a bit more until 2012 and our apparent downfall. Oh well, something for me to look forward to this week was being able to get tickets to go see Red Hot Chili Peppers in Manchester, which resulted in running around the room like a little child and then realising that Manchester was actually quite a distance from Essex, although 3 hours in a car is nothing compared to the the fact that I will be in the same room (albeit a big one) as my boyhood idols, thus fulfilling my dream. Now the countdown to Monday 14th November begins (104 days and counting).

In other August-related news, it is unfortunately the month that my car has decided it needs tax and insurance, meaning the wallet ammunition earnt from countless overtime at Voldemort's palace goes straight into the pocket of both the taxman and after going through the constant cycle of looking at car insurance comparison sites (including ones advertised by a dickhead with a dodgy moustache, a meerkat and an annoying song by a scottish lass), most likely Admiral , although after endless comparisons I still have to fork out quite a lot. Freedom definitely has its price.

In other news, I have recently discovered a work of genius by a now deceased country and western legend by the name of Johnny Cash. Now this song isn't exactly going to cheer you up after the horrible weather we're having, but it definitely sends a powerful message which is sent across by the beautiful, gravelly tones of the iconic Cash.

If you are/have listening/listened to that song, you might be feeling a bit more depressed than when you started so why not cheer yourself up with the song made by the almighty douche that is Joey Essex

Or not. It's really not as reem as he makes it out to be to be honest.

Oh and as usual the round up of my football manager game, Hearts are on target for a treble winning season and for the first time in about 20 years get Rangers and Celtic off the top of the league winners list. Definitely worth putting on the CV I think.

Now as it is quite nice outside, I'm going to go find some stupid trousers and a Michael Jackson glove and go play Golf, so for now
It's been emotional.