Toronto FC

What a great day.Like following a proper footy team before the advent of russian oil money, American investors and clinical new stadia with no atmosphere. Iam talking about the birth of Toronto FC (TFC).

Under an appropriately grey threatening sky, a sellout crowd of $20,000 sang swore and consumed overpriced beer at the 1st match at the brand new Canadian National Soccer Stadium (BMO Field).

In section 115, right behind the goal,most of the fans seemed to be English/Scottish,as we got to know eachother, joined in the apparant dislike of a team from Manchester (or nearby at least) that wear red...hmm. Scousers, Scots and Mancs plus the ethnic mix of TO all singing themselves hoarse - standing throughout the match- and consuming vast amounts of lager from 11.30 am onwards! There's the Red Patch Boys, U Sector and a great Jamaican drum band beating the rhythm out all match long.

It was just like I used to on the old Kippax terraces at City. Adding to the authenticity was the fact that TFC has not scored in their 1st four matches.

Mr Beckham, take note. When Kansas scored the winner, their scorer (US international Eddie Johnson) did his little dance in front of the South stand(the rowdy one we are in)....to be met with a shower of objects including pints thrown at him! Class.

Coach Mo Johnson desribed the event as a "European atmosphere" while the Kansas coach remarked that with the intimidating atmosphere (not witnessed elsewhere in the MLS),TFC would win lots of home games.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this ain't no corporate hockey arena, or dull baseball library...Nope. Tronna FC is the best and most raucous ticket in town - beer shampoos n' all.

Back from the UK trip

Hi all.We had a great trip over to England and we'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to all those who managed to find time in their busy lives to meet up for a pint. We had a breakneck schedule- meeting with Perry and his kids, Paul and Val in Sheffield, Caz n Daz, Stu and Helen and her kids (even tho they brought mufc scarves -which Andrew kindly did not flush down the bog ).Deep breath...Julie, Maurad and the kids, plus Julian Claire and Harry who we met up with at the City match,Dave and Liz, Paul Nil and their kids...

Many bevvys were consumed in catching up on news as you can imagine. We had the fine dining of chips, more chips, chips n gravy and Gregg's pasties....andrew had reheated chips n gravy for breakfast...

My folks had a great time with Andrew and Sean - Sean's front tooth came out over there - the Toothfairy and Easter Bunny colliding on the same night.

One thing that will stay with me for life is the look on Andrew's face as we walked into the City of Manchester Stadium...his jaw dropped and eyes were out on stalks. Everyone remembers their first trip to see their team( I recall the 2-3 defeat to Crystal Palace in 1973 like yesterday..Lee scored twice) and this is one of those Father/Son experiences. Sean was a bit unsure of what the matchday experience entailed, but enjoyed the chance to yell and scream without being told off so he had fun. The match was a disappointing 0 0 game but the words Manchester City and Entertainment have not been associated with each other this year.

I had arranged for the kids to have their photos taken with Moonchester and Moonbeam on the pitch.We kept this as a compelte surprise to the kids as we weren't sure if we'd make it there in time to do it, but we raced from the Academy (where the boys had a 2 hour training session by the Youth Team Coaches at City as part of the fabulous Live4City programme for U16s.

We visited the biggest ever Dr Who exhibition in Manchester, went 140 metres underground at the National Coal Museum in Wakefield (and we all turned out our lamps for a few scary seconds).The kids played football in the ruins of the 11th century castle in Pontefract(where King Richard II was murdered), we went into Liverpool to the Maritime Museum ( Liverpool was having another litter festival with the added theme of broken galss) , visited a village in Derbyshire decimated by the plague.Oh...and it didn't rain! We had 14-18c sunny days every day, and came back to grey skies, flurries and bare trees here....let's hope it warms up here soon.

Here are a few pics from the trip!

Cheers...and it's back to the gym and salads for a few weeks...