Joseph Redmonds Blogging area!

The forgotten Mersyside Club

joered — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:15:55 +0000

When football and Merseyside are mentioned in the same sentence, you may find yourself thinking about a certain two illustrious clubs from Liverpool.

But you must remember that there are three big clubs on Mersyside.

With enough silverware between them to put the royal family to shame, its fair to say that Liverpool and Everton have had their moments throughout the years.

However following the third club on Mersyside is something the most loyal and dedicated football fans would struggle with.

Despite their latest win at Gillingham, Tranmere Rovers haven’t had the best season so far. Currently third from bottom of the league and five points off safety, and also the not so proud owners of the worst defensive record in League One.

The problems don’t end there either, Tranmere have been without an out and out manager since they sacked John Barnes on 9th October, leaving the club Physio in charge of all managerial proceedings since.

Bemused

Paul Ricci, a long life fan and season ticket holder believes the finger should be pointed at current chairman Peter Johnson for the current situation.

“You’ve got to be looking at the chairman” he said. “Last season we were minutes away from the playoffs, then he sacked the manager and appointed a former high profile player in John Barnes, which left a lot fans bemused.”

“We’ve since sacked Barnes which was the right decision, but we’ve taken too long in appointing a new manager and placed the club physio in an impossible position.”

“Unless we appoint a long term manager soon I can’t see the problem changing.”

However Tranmere chairman Peter Johnson assures the fans that he is working hard in trying to bring in a new manager.

“I do appreciate the concern but these things take a lot of time” he said. “The days are very busy here at Tranmere, we are still looking for the right man for the job to come in and help the club move forward.”

The situation doesn’t currently look like improving anytime soon for Tranmere Rovers and the chairman Mr Johnson clearly looks to have put his club in big mess. The club should really look to appoint a manager soon or risk falling into League two and remain the forgotten club on Mersyside.

Watch the video for the interview by clicking here.

Preston waves bye to one of its oldest residents

joered — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:54:34 +0000

After weeks of speculation it was finally decided that the National Football Museum will be leaving Preston.

Museum bosses decided earlier this month that the museum, and all its exhibits, will be moving to Manchester’s Urbis centre in the middle of the city.

The proposed new home of the museum - The Manchester Urbis

Museum bosses believe that the move will bring a lot more visitors to the museum and believe that these are ‘exciting times’.

It has been predicted that the museum will have four times as many visitors after its move to Manchester jumping from 100,000 to 400,000 guests per year.

However Preston city council leader Ken Hudson has accused museum bosses of being ‘spineless’ and is threatening legal action to stop the plans.

“Well obviously I’m massively against the plans” he said

“The museum bosses have totally betrayed the people of Preston by moving to Manchester, and also betrayed the people of Lancashire and everybody associated with football”

Mr Hudson was the leader of a rival bid by Preston City Council, Lancashire County Council, and The University of Central Lancashire to fund the museum. It was hoped that the funding on offer would help persuade the bosses to keep it in Preston.

Mr Hudson also claims that the bid from Preston City Council is the only one that secures the financial future of the museum.

The new plans for the £8 million shake up of the museum does state that the museum will leave some things in Preston, but it is thought the exhibits that remain in Preston will just be the things Manchester leaves behind.

The people of Preston were also as aggrieved by the decision as Mr Hudson “I think its wrong” one women said “It’s always been here, Preston has got just as much as Manchester has got”

One man questioned the theory of some exhibits will remain in Preston ” I think basically Manchester will take all the best stuff with them, they could have left something else besides the stuff they don’t want”.

Despite there being uproar in Preston, the tourism statistics of the two cities cannot be ignored, with Manchester welcoming more than 20 times the amount of tourists than Preston. The Urbis itself is currently attracting over 250,000 visitors per year, without the help of the National Football Museum.

Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Lees is delighted that Manchester’s offer has been accepted. “Manchester is the most visited English city outside London, so it can only be a good thing for the museum and the City of Manchester

Interview with Preston residents.

The forgotten Mersyside club.

joered — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:08:59 +0000

Under fire Tranmere chairman Peter Johnson

When football and Mersyside are mentioned in the same sentence, you may find yourself thinking about a certain two illustrious clubs from Liverpool.

But you must remember that there are three big clubs on Merseyside.

With enough silverware between them to put the royal family to shame, its fair to say that Liverpool and Everton have had their moments throughout the years.However following the third club on Mersyside is something the most loyal and dedicated fans might have trouble with.

Tranmere Rovers haven’t had the best season so far, bottom of the league, five points off safety, and currently boasting the worst defensive record in League One.

The problems extend off the pitch too. Tranmere have been without a manager since they sacked John Barnes on 9th October and all talks of the next manager seemed to have dried up, leaving the club physio in charge of all managerial proceedings at Prenton Park.

Tranmere Rovers – season 09/10 timeline.

I caught up with massive Tranmere Rovers fan Paul Ricci to discuss how he and other Tranmere fans feel about the season so far and the mess the club currently finds itself in.

“To be honest you’ve got to point the finger at the chairman for the reason were in this mess. Last season we were a couple of minutes away from getting into the playoffs, but then he suddenly took the decision to sack the manager which bemused a lot of fans and went down the route of appointing a high profile player in John Barnes”

“We’ve since sacked Barnes which was the right decision at the time but we’ve taken far too long to appoint a new manager and placed the physio in an impossible position. So unless we appoint a long term manager soon i cant see the situation changing”

However Tranmere chairmen Peter Johnson assures the fans that he is doing his utmost to help the club and is still looking for an experienced man to take the helm at Prenton Park.

“I appreciate the concern but these things do take a lot of time, we are just making sure that we appoint the best possible candidate for the job to help the club move forward.”

“The days are very busy here at Tranmere. We are still desperately looking for a man to come in as manager so were working hard on that, plus theres all the day-to-day running of a football club that we have to do too”

If the chairman wants to put Tranmere back on the Mersyside footballing map he should look to get them out of the mess that they are in very soon, or Tranmere could sink down into League Two and remain the forgotten Mersyside club.

Watch the full interview below.

Video Skills test video clip.

joered — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:43:49 +0000

British Applications

joered — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:05:51 +0000

Around 27,000 people have applied to be British, and thats just since the beginning of this month.

In this post i have supplied a chart which displays the top ten nationalities which have applied to be British since the beginning of November, based upon the countries of birth of the applicants.

The chart shows the top ten countries and their number of applicants.

Another Story idea!

joered — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:16:01 +0000

I came up with another story idea the other day, im getting good at this! (Hopefully :-s)

Its a pretty simple one to be honest, nothing special, and its probably something every local newspaper in the country will be doing in the football section. I’ll keep mine local to Preston asif i was working for the LEP, therefore the article will be about Preston North End.

Football has had several cases of swine flu this weekend, with Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers both confirming that they had cases of the desease confirmed, Blackburn striker Jason Roberts was in isolation this weekend due to contracting the disease and was unable to play against Manchester United.

So with this bit of news fresh in mind, as a journalist for the LEP, i would set up an interview with PNE chief Alan Irvine. Then i would ask him whether PNE whether PNE had the disease, and if not i’d try and find out if they were taking any precautions against the disease.

Now i admit that this story would probably not be the main story in the sports section of the LEP, but i believe it would make a good little story afew pages in!

To gym or not to gym?

joered — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:52:49 +0000

I can feel my arteries slowly clogging up as I type away.

I have kinda let myself go in recent months. I’m not saying I’ve suddenly become fat, and I’m not saying that a hear attack is imminent, but i should have been a lot more active in recent weeks and months.

As I said in a previous blog I was a little late for one of my lectures today, and because of this I had to get a slight jog on to try and reduce my lateness. After my jog i was knackered, could barely breathe, and I hadn’t even run that far for god sake.

Back in my heyday, or even 6 months ago, I would barely have broken a sweat during that jog. So as I was puffing and panting in lecture I decided enough was enough, and i was going to go to the gym. I used to go to the gym all the time, but recently I just haven’t bothered.

McDonalds followed by Subway and the occasional Burger King obviously hasn’t helped either. Nor has suddenly becoming addicted to my Playstation again.

The alarm is on for tomorrow morning at 8. The plan is to get up, and get to the gym for 9, stay there till like 11. Then get home and shower and everything and then set off to Preston in time for my lecture. Although i have said that many times, but never do it. Why? I need more motivation within myself.

Like i said the alarm is on, but whether i will actually get up or just sleep through the alarm again remains to be seen.

I despise half term

joered — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:27:19 +0000

This time ten years ago, half term was one of the special things in the world to me.

Time off school, time which i would use to do nothing except lie in bed and play on the mega drive until i fell asleep. Good times.

But now, in a bizarre u-turn, it is one of the most despised things to me in the world. Half term made me late for my lecture today, because there was approximately 50 million more cars on the road in Burnley and Preston alone. So i hit traffic jams at every turn, making my tutor less than impressed!

Also, kids arent like they used to be! Why are the kids on my street sat on the grass verge across from my house drinkin cider and looking genrally threatening. Why? I didnt even know how to spell threatening when i was their age. Whats wrong with them being at home on the Playstation? Pfft – kids these days.

I cant even wear what i want in half term. This morning I unwilly put on my Burnley shirt not thinking anything of it, as it is a natural thing to do. Then when i get to Preston i remember the half term situation, and quickly change my top. Last time i wore my Burnley shirt around Preston was the Christmas holidays last year, and it wasn’t exactly a monumental day in the life of Joseph Redmond, which is something i want to avoid happening to me again. The Burnley shirt will have to unfortunately remian in the cupboard until half term is over.

Half Term means the hallowed shirt will unfortunately collect dust.

So if there any kids on half term reading this (doubtful – i presume their all either drunk or commiting some sort of crime somewhere), i urge you to get dust down your games console. Its alot better than being outside in the rain, freezing, sharing a two litre bottle of white lightning bewtween six of you.

Go insdie, into the warmth, away from me!

Blog images test.

joered — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:45:25 +0000

Full Size image

WordPress has automatically resized this image when I put it into my blog. The image was originally 1000 x 600 pixels

Thumbnail 100x100

400x300

200x500

Dont worry: You can read me

joered — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:12:24 +0000

This is not another boring blog about the BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question time.

As topical as that subject may be, I am truly fed up of reading blogs on it. Every time I look at a blog website 95% of the blogs on the homepage (in the UK) are on it!

However, this is still a blog with someone having a random rant, so if you don’t like reading blobs written by a miserable sod who is in a blatant mood about something, then click the ‘x’ in the top right corner.

I however love reading them. Maybe it’s because I also am a miserable sod. I am willing to admit however that I am in a mood, thanks to Burnley FC (second week running).

I knew when we got promoted that we’d lose games. I also knew that it would be a massive struggle to stay in the league. But I don’t care how hard the league is, or the opponent, i just hate losing at home. Even if we played Real Madrid at Turf Moor id be annoyed if we lost (I’d expect it, but still be annoyed).

I just hate watching the away fans going mental when they score, at the place I worship every week. I hate seeing the players celebrate, especially when they celebrate in front of my stand. Then you get taunted by the away fans, chants such as ‘easy’ and ‘can we play you every week’, just really get to me!

When we go away and the home fans sing things like that to me, it barely bothers me, even in games were expected to win!

It’s like welcoming a colleague you barley know into your house because you have to due to work commitments, who then proceeds to dirty your carpet, change the channel to his liking, and flirt with your wife!

Very annoying indeed.

Hopefully Coyle was thinking "I'll never play 4-5-1 at home again"

I think the reason why we lost tonight is because Coyle decided to change the tactics for no reason apparent to anyone else. The 4-4-2 which has served Burnley so well at home had vanished into nothingness and along came his annoying cousin the 4-5-1.

Even though we scored first we never really flooded forward like we have done in our previous premiership games at Turf Moor, and that has to be down to us playing a more negative formation.

Wigan looked a lot more threatening on the attack, and because of our laughable defence they got their rewards, and were rightful winners of the match.

The game turned into abit of a stalemate after Wigan got the second. Coyle noticed the game was desperate for a change if Burnley were to get back into it, and finally changed it to 4-4-2, and brought Nugent on. Immediately Burnley looked brighter, and got in behind the Wigan defence and had several chances to equalise.

Unfortunately Wigan hit us on the break and secured the game. But surely there were enough positive signs of attacking football to urge Coyle to go 4-4-2 at home to Hull next week.

I would also urge the club to sign a defender or 5 in January.

Rant over. For now.