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Sunday, March 6, 2011
Poze din "Chuck"
Saturday, March 5, 2011
My Matchday - 275 Vale Park
Port Vale 2v1 Macclesfield Town
League Two
Saturday 5th March 2011
Vale Park is a ground that should have been ticked off years ago. Newcastle visited the potteries in two consecutive seasons at the start of the 1990’s, but for one reason or another, I twice missed out seeing United win 1-0.
The explanation being… well, I honestly don’t know, because even back then without fail, I would jump at the chance to watch United at an uncharted ground. Looking back I have a vague idea why I wasn’t available circa 1990-92, but I’ll keep my ink dry on that for the time being until my autobiography is published.
Port Vale are one of a few clubs not to be named after a city or town, playing in Burslem, one of the six towns which forms the city of Stoke-on-Trent.
The Staffordshire town has the proud title of the "mother of the potteries." In the early 17th century Burslem was at the forefront of the production of the best classes of pottery made in this country. The town was the birthplace of the greatest exponent of the potters' art - Josiah Wedgwood, who was born in Burslem in July 1730.
The club name is believed to derive from Port Vale House where the club were formed and various landmarks called Port Vale around the Longford area of the Potteries.
Vale played on various grounds after their formation in 1876, including a site close to Burslem Station on Moorland Park, when they were known as Burslem Port Vale, becoming a professional outfit in 1885.
The following year they moved to Corbridge Athletics Ground, where Vale joined the Football League, only to resign, before rejoining two years later before completely going out of business in 1907.
A church team took over the ground and the Port Vale name before moving to the Old Recreation Ground in the centre of Hanley in 1913, where they settled for just over 30 years until plans to relocate in 1944 on the site of a former clay pit on Hamil Road.
The new super stadium was to be the Wembley of the North an ambitious 70,000 capacity ground built on 14 acres of land. The ground took six years to build at a cost of £50,000, a lack of funds meant only two stands were originally build with two sides of open terracing, giving a reduced capacity of 40,000.
The first match took place on 24th August 1950, a crowd of 30,042 witnessed a 1-0 victory over Newport County.
The ground developed over the next decade, a new playing surface the most expensive ever laid at the time cured the troublesome drainage system. The seating capacity was raised and floodlights erected at a cost of £17,000, switched on before a 5-3 victory over West Brom on 24th September 1958.
The capacity increased to 50,000 by 1959 as Vale Park reached its peak with a record attendance of 49,768 for an FA Cup Round tie against Aston Villa on the 20th February 1960.
The Railway Stand was originally a large open terrace when the ground opened in 1950, with 600 seats installed the following year. The stand was rebuilt in 1954 at a cost of £25,000 split between 4,500 seats with a standing paddock at the front.
The stand is now all seated, the two tiers split by a brick wall. The top tier has white seats and is reached by a long steep path with turnstile access at the back of the stand, the bottom tier has a separate entrance next to the car park.
The Bycars Road End was the other original stand, built with only 350 seats at the rear. In 1959 new terracing increased the capacity to 6,500, the traditional 'home' end stood until 1989 when declared unsafe following the Taylor report.
The present stand was built in 1992 and is a bank of seats decked out in amber with black lettering.
In between in the corner section is the Family Stand, which was fenced off and unused from 1973 until 1989. The stand has two tiers, the top blue seated section is used while the bottom section looks closed.
When built, the Hamil Road End was a vast open terrace and highest part of the ground before the top point was levelled off in 1978. An electronic scoreboard costing £20,000 was installed in 1988 and cover finally added in 1992. The stand was fully seated in 1995 and is currently known as The Sneyd Stand for away spectators.
Lorne Street Stand originally consisted of two separate terraces either side of the players tunnel with the unique feature of the Directors Box perched on top.
The new Lorne Street Stand still isn’t finished after work initially started in 1998. Building work on the £3m stand came to a halt due to lack of funds with one half of the terrace still to be filled with seats. There’s two rows of executive boxes with the directors seats central. The stand also contains sponsors lounges, club offices, dressing rooms and the club shop. One corner has a disabled stand next to the Hamil End opened in 1989, believed to be the first of its kind in the League. The current overall capacity is just short of 19,000.
Port Vale maintained their position in the play off places after making hard work of what should have been a convincing victory over struggling Macclesfield.
Vale took the lead when a Kris Taylor corner missed everyone and fell nicely to Lee Collins with a diving header at the back post.
The home side were twice denied by the woodwork, Taylor hitting the post with a free-kick and Adam Yates saw a close-range shot rattle the crossbar.
Louis Dodds curled in a wonderful shot from 20 yards to seal it three minutes from time before Tyrone Barnett pulled one back in injury time, which was too little too late for Macc.
My recent trips haven’t gone according to plan, it’s getting to the point where I’m getting really sick of rushing to catch trains. Even a fixture at York City last Tuesday night, saw yours truly so rat arsed that I got myself lost, meaning I had to run like Seb Coe in his prime, catching the train with only seconds to spare.
So for my latest venture to Port Vale I allowed myself plenty of time. I departed Newcastle on the 0733 Cross Country service to Manchester, where I met up with my old indie pal Pete - the Too-Too driver from Crewe. We did a mini Wetherspoons tour of Manc before I caught the 1315 Virgin Train to Stoke-on-Trent.
Once I arrived in the Potteries it was a case of simply catching the 21 bus, just around the corner from the station, which according to FGG takes around 15 minutes. But as my travel luck would have it, my bus journey took nigh on three quarters of an hour, crawling through the lowlights and low points of which must be the scruffiest city within our green and pleasant land. I alighted the bus just as the players were lined up awaiting the referee’s whistle to kick off the League Two fixture, so yet again, I had to run like buggery to the ground only missing the first two minutes of the action.
There was no problems returning, the 21 bus seemed to be waiting for me after I took some photos and visited the club shop after the match.
I was back in the city which has so much to answer for at 6.30pm, which gave a good hour to return to The Manchester & County on Piccadilly to use up the remainder of my Wetherspoons vouchers before my 1942 rattler back to the Toon.
A good day out was spoilt with football news from elsewhere. Newcastle lost at home which wasn’t a surprise as we haven’t won a 3pm game in the Prem at SJP since August 2008. The Heed only drew at Alty, but my biggest disappointment was Dunston going out of the Vase, so my dream of a Wembley double is now diminished.
On the whole a pleasant day, good to see Peter the Engine again and finally ticking off Vale Park (be it 20 years late) which has been redeveloped into a smashing little stadium.
PVFC 2(Colins 28, Dodds 87) MTFC 1(Barnett 90+1)
League Two
Saturday 5th March 2011
Vale Park is a ground that should have been ticked off years ago. Newcastle visited the potteries in two consecutive seasons at the start of the 1990’s, but for one reason or another, I twice missed out seeing United win 1-0.The explanation being… well, I honestly don’t know, because even back then without fail, I would jump at the chance to watch United at an uncharted ground. Looking back I have a vague idea why I wasn’t available circa 1990-92, but I’ll keep my ink dry on that for the time being until my autobiography is published.
Port Vale are one of a few clubs not to be named after a city or town, playing in Burslem, one of the six towns which forms the city of Stoke-on-Trent.
The Staffordshire town has the proud title of the "mother of the potteries." In the early 17th century Burslem was at the forefront of the production of the best classes of pottery made in this country. The town was the birthplace of the greatest exponent of the potters' art - Josiah Wedgwood, who was born in Burslem in July 1730.
The club name is believed to derive from Port Vale House where the club were formed and various landmarks called Port Vale around the Longford area of the Potteries.
Vale played on various grounds after their formation in 1876, including a site close to Burslem Station on Moorland Park, when they were known as Burslem Port Vale, becoming a professional outfit in 1885.The following year they moved to Corbridge Athletics Ground, where Vale joined the Football League, only to resign, before rejoining two years later before completely going out of business in 1907.
A church team took over the ground and the Port Vale name before moving to the Old Recreation Ground in the centre of Hanley in 1913, where they settled for just over 30 years until plans to relocate in 1944 on the site of a former clay pit on Hamil Road.
The new super stadium was to be the Wembley of the North an ambitious 70,000 capacity ground built on 14 acres of land. The ground took six years to build at a cost of £50,000, a lack of funds meant only two stands were originally build with two sides of open terracing, giving a reduced capacity of 40,000.
The first match took place on 24th August 1950, a crowd of 30,042 witnessed a 1-0 victory over Newport County.
The ground developed over the next decade, a new playing surface the most expensive ever laid at the time cured the troublesome drainage system. The seating capacity was raised and floodlights erected at a cost of £17,000, switched on before a 5-3 victory over West Brom on 24th September 1958.
The capacity increased to 50,000 by 1959 as Vale Park reached its peak with a record attendance of 49,768 for an FA Cup Round tie against Aston Villa on the 20th February 1960.
The Railway Stand was originally a large open terrace when the ground opened in 1950, with 600 seats installed the following year. The stand was rebuilt in 1954 at a cost of £25,000 split between 4,500 seats with a standing paddock at the front.The stand is now all seated, the two tiers split by a brick wall. The top tier has white seats and is reached by a long steep path with turnstile access at the back of the stand, the bottom tier has a separate entrance next to the car park.
The Bycars Road End was the other original stand, built with only 350 seats at the rear. In 1959 new terracing increased the capacity to 6,500, the traditional 'home' end stood until 1989 when declared unsafe following the Taylor report.
The present stand was built in 1992 and is a bank of seats decked out in amber with black lettering.
In between in the corner section is the Family Stand, which was fenced off and unused from 1973 until 1989. The stand has two tiers, the top blue seated section is used while the bottom section looks closed.
When built, the Hamil Road End was a vast open terrace and highest part of the ground before the top point was levelled off in 1978. An electronic scoreboard costing £20,000 was installed in 1988 and cover finally added in 1992. The stand was fully seated in 1995 and is currently known as The Sneyd Stand for away spectators.
Lorne Street Stand originally consisted of two separate terraces either side of the players tunnel with the unique feature of the Directors Box perched on top.
The new Lorne Street Stand still isn’t finished after work initially started in 1998. Building work on the £3m stand came to a halt due to lack of funds with one half of the terrace still to be filled with seats. There’s two rows of executive boxes with the directors seats central. The stand also contains sponsors lounges, club offices, dressing rooms and the club shop. One corner has a disabled stand next to the Hamil End opened in 1989, believed to be the first of its kind in the League. The current overall capacity is just short of 19,000.
Port Vale maintained their position in the play off places after making hard work of what should have been a convincing victory over struggling Macclesfield.
Vale took the lead when a Kris Taylor corner missed everyone and fell nicely to Lee Collins with a diving header at the back post.
The home side were twice denied by the woodwork, Taylor hitting the post with a free-kick and Adam Yates saw a close-range shot rattle the crossbar.
Louis Dodds curled in a wonderful shot from 20 yards to seal it three minutes from time before Tyrone Barnett pulled one back in injury time, which was too little too late for Macc.
My recent trips haven’t gone according to plan, it’s getting to the point where I’m getting really sick of rushing to catch trains. Even a fixture at York City last Tuesday night, saw yours truly so rat arsed that I got myself lost, meaning I had to run like Seb Coe in his prime, catching the train with only seconds to spare.So for my latest venture to Port Vale I allowed myself plenty of time. I departed Newcastle on the 0733 Cross Country service to Manchester, where I met up with my old indie pal Pete - the Too-Too driver from Crewe. We did a mini Wetherspoons tour of Manc before I caught the 1315 Virgin Train to Stoke-on-Trent.
Once I arrived in the Potteries it was a case of simply catching the 21 bus, just around the corner from the station, which according to FGG takes around 15 minutes. But as my travel luck would have it, my bus journey took nigh on three quarters of an hour, crawling through the lowlights and low points of which must be the scruffiest city within our green and pleasant land. I alighted the bus just as the players were lined up awaiting the referee’s whistle to kick off the League Two fixture, so yet again, I had to run like buggery to the ground only missing the first two minutes of the action.
There was no problems returning, the 21 bus seemed to be waiting for me after I took some photos and visited the club shop after the match.
I was back in the city which has so much to answer for at 6.30pm, which gave a good hour to return to The Manchester & County on Piccadilly to use up the remainder of my Wetherspoons vouchers before my 1942 rattler back to the Toon.
A good day out was spoilt with football news from elsewhere. Newcastle lost at home which wasn’t a surprise as we haven’t won a 3pm game in the Prem at SJP since August 2008. The Heed only drew at Alty, but my biggest disappointment was Dunston going out of the Vase, so my dream of a Wembley double is now diminished.
On the whole a pleasant day, good to see Peter the Engine again and finally ticking off Vale Park (be it 20 years late) which has been redeveloped into a smashing little stadium.
PVFC 2(Colins 28, Dodds 87) MTFC 1(Barnett 90+1)Ground no.275 Vale Park - Matchday Web album (14 pictures)
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Adventures in Embroidery
If you had come to me a year ago and said, "In one year's time, you will be an embroiderer," I probably would've replied, "Pssh, naw, not me." Oh, how minds change! Not only do I cross-stitch, but I embroider now, too! I've always been one for cute handmade things, and I've been knitting on and off for years, but the recent renewal of embroidery and cross-stitch has made me realize that I, too, can stitch fun and awesome things. And so can you!
There are now countless sites/blogs/books that show how versatile embroidery and cross-stitch can be.
The most famous is probably Sublime Stitching, which has been active since 2001 and has patterns for all sorts of kitschy embroidery such as tattoos, sushi, and... vital organs? You can find Sublime Stitching books and kits in the craft section of most bookstores, too!
A little more on the other side of nerdy things are the Sprite Stitch forums, dedicated to all video-game related stitching. From Pokemon to Zelda, Mario to Okami, you can find all sorts of patterns and projects in the various message boards. Some of my favorites include an Okami bookmark and this awesomely detailed "Home Sweet Home" Mario cross-stitch.
When my husband and I were back in Sydney to celebrate Chinese New Year with his family, I finally picked up a copy of this Japanese embroidery book I have been coveting ever since I saw a few scans of it online. Even with the jacked up prices of Sydney's Kinokuniya, the purchase was totally worth every cent!
I swoon over this book. It has so many adorable patterns, all arranged into sections such as "fruits," "animals," and "celebrations." I've been having so much fun looking at it, but difficulty deciding what I can embroider with all of these cute things!
I picked up a couple of tote bags from the local craft store for only $1.50 each the other day, and thought they'd be perfect to practice some of the designs on. Right now I'm working on a fruit and vegetable-themed tote, to be used for groceries, of course!
I've also been dabbling in making my own designs for various projects, as I have all of these ideas for things I'd maybe, possibly, theoretically like to make a little pocket money off of in the future. Maybe an Etsy shop? I think my skills need to improve a little more before I dive into that, though. I did make this business card holder for my husband entirely from scratch, though, except for the cursive "b," design, which I got from the aforementioned Japanese book.
Unfortunately my poor planning skills mean that this "card holder" is actually too small to hold any normal-sized business cards, so it's back to the drawing board... He'll just have to use his imagination and put it to some other use, I guess! Silly me.
Long story short, I'm loving embroidery! Today I head into the city and will definitely be picking up some more colors so I can add some more fruits and veggies to my tote. Expect more pictures soon!
In other news, I've changed the layout already! I'm pretty finicky, I guess. Tell me what you think? I'm trying to go for something simple yet eye-catching.
Till next time!
There are now countless sites/blogs/books that show how versatile embroidery and cross-stitch can be.
The most famous is probably Sublime Stitching, which has been active since 2001 and has patterns for all sorts of kitschy embroidery such as tattoos, sushi, and... vital organs? You can find Sublime Stitching books and kits in the craft section of most bookstores, too!
A little more on the other side of nerdy things are the Sprite Stitch forums, dedicated to all video-game related stitching. From Pokemon to Zelda, Mario to Okami, you can find all sorts of patterns and projects in the various message boards. Some of my favorites include an Okami bookmark and this awesomely detailed "Home Sweet Home" Mario cross-stitch.
 | |
| Okami bookmark by awenmir |
 | |
| That's right, it's got 500 patterns! |
I picked up a couple of tote bags from the local craft store for only $1.50 each the other day, and thought they'd be perfect to practice some of the designs on. Right now I'm working on a fruit and vegetable-themed tote, to be used for groceries, of course!
 | |
| Beetroot and strawberries! |
Long story short, I'm loving embroidery! Today I head into the city and will definitely be picking up some more colors so I can add some more fruits and veggies to my tote. Expect more pictures soon!
In other news, I've changed the layout already! I'm pretty finicky, I guess. Tell me what you think? I'm trying to go for something simple yet eye-catching.
Till next time!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sabemos que no siempre se gana...PERO HAY FORMAS DE PERDER...
La salida de Ruben Omar Romano de la institución, a todos, absolutamente a todos ( aficionados y prensa en general ) nos tomó con sorpresa , tanto así , que muchos ni siquiera supimos que decir ante esta eventualidad ¿programada?.
Es cierto, los resultados se estaban agolpando y la irregularidad DEL TORNEO MEXICANO ( no solo del equipo ) estaba haciendo mella en una afición ávida de REVANCHA sobre todo, desde la final perdida ante el odiado rival regio.
Ruben Omar Romano había gastado sus bonos en UN SOLO JUEGO en el cual, el equipo salió con un planteamiento medroso, timorato y cobarde, desde ahí, y como dice una ñoña canción...todo cambió.
La gente no tiene memoria, y es cierto, pero también es cierto que con una racha positiva y con un equipo jugando con pasión, entrega y sudando la camiseta serían motivos suficientes para que la gente de nueva cuenta se enganchara con sus guerreros.
Pero en lugar de eso, vimos APATÍA, vinieron los reclamos de arriba hacia abajo y la falta de manejo de los reclamos de abajo hacia arriba al responder a un grupo de cabrones que --desde el antiguo Corona-- se sienten con el derecho de estar jodiendo, reventando y madreando a quien se encuentre en el banquillo ( es de todos conocido, hasta en los medios nacionales se sabe de ese "grupito" ) ¿es justo soportar sin responder? está cabrón yo creo que hasta el monje mas tranquilo tiene sus límites.
 |
| Lo preocupante es...que es el cuadro titular el que está jugando de forma irregular. |
Por si eso fuera poco, luego de poner al técnico en la calle, salen mensajes en Twitter echándole la culpa a la afición de la medida tomada por la directiva: "Fuera Romano del equipo, tal y como ustedes lo querían", ¡¡Tócate los cojones, mandilón!! ahora resulta que nosotros somos los que tomamos las decisiones si eso fuera, muchos de los que están ya se hubieran ido desde hace MUCHO TIEMPO y otros que no están --y se les extraña-- no andarían fuera del equipo.
A veces habría que decirles que "en boca callada no entran moscas" porque si somos sinceros y con el "sueldito" que reciben que den gracias que están en un equipo que paga a tiempo y sobre todo que tiene una afición QUE EXIGE EN TODO MOMENTO, porque ya sufrimos de pobreza, de vacas flacas, de peligros de descenso, de humillaciones de otras aficiones por nuestro estadio y por nuestro equipo cuando eran humildes, PERO QUE TENÍAN UN GRAN CORAZÓN y que dejaban en cada cancha, el sudor, la sangre y el cansancio con tal de mantener esta institución a flote.
 |
HOY, LOS MILLONES EN SANTOS NO ESTÁN FUNCIONANDO, probablemente sea un bache, es cierto, nada de que alarmarse, todos los equipos sufren por esto, pero cuando nosotros como afición les pedimos que DESPIERTEN es porque no queremos volver a sufrir las penurias de tiempos pasados, con jugadores aburguesados, malos torneos que a la postre nos pusieron a tiro de piedra del precipicio y que OJO no nos salvamos por méritos propios, sino porque OTROS dejaron de hacer lo que debían.
Lo que hemos visto en estos juegos, nos dice a nosotros como aficionados que ustedes, jugadores, no tienen ganas de estar, que parece que es una carga salir a la cancha, si es así, ¿por qué no lo dicen así como nos aventaron la culpa de la salida de Romano? Digo, para estar parejos.
Sabemos que este plantel, tiene gente para salir de este bache de 3 derrotas consecutivas, 5 goles en contra, ninguno a favor, pocas acciones de gol generadas y mucha, mucha apatía.
La afición quiere volver a congratularse con el equipo, pero por favor, también den avisos de que quieren lograrlo pues lo que uno ve, lo deja con mal sabor de boca y hasta con una mentada en la punta de la lengua.
La mistica de este equipo se ha dicho hasta el cansancio, aplíquenla y demuéstrennos que aún tienen ganas por rescatar el concachampions, y de resurgir en la liga, ya con otra persona en el banco, desafortunadamente para el tecnico anterior.
Ruben Omar Romano se fué, y sin embargo la apatía a seguido, entonces eso nos dice que él no era el problema, entonces señores ¿ cuál es?.
Santos ahora, enfrenta el miercoles de esta semana al Cruz Azul, en lo que es el juego de vuelta en Concachampions, con una desventaja de 2 goles que parecen una losa muy pesada sobre todo viendo la forma en que se está jugando. Esperemos que a partir de este juego, se vea nuevamente la mística, las ganas y la pasión que se deben sentir sobre estos colores, hay plantel y gente para lograrlo, ojalá también se de el deseo de todos por levantar el barco que ahorita en estos momentos, zozobra aún teniendo en el mando a un técnico que si bien, no tiene experiencia alguna, necesitamos verle el lado bueno ( pues que mas nos queda ) y decir que es alguien joven, con ganas de hacer bien las cosas para crearse un cartel en México en esta nueva faceta.
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| Diego Cocca tiene ante sí un reto ENORME que esperemos sepa controlar. |
La verdad, deseo de todo corazón ver nuevamente a mi equipo jugar bien y alegre como en sus mejores momentos, sé que Benitez viene saliendo de una lesión y que a jugadores como Morales, Arce, Ludueña y el mismo Chato se les nota de mas el malestar por el cambio de técnico, pero vamos que lo que ahora está en juego es su propio trabajo, pues con la llegada de Cocca al banco sin duda se abre la posibilidad del regreso de unos y la salida de otros.
La Laguna requiere de al menos una buena distracción después de los lamentables hechos que se han sucitado en la semana, necesitamos algo positivo y el Santos Laguna lo es, ojalá los jugadores se den cuenta de ello y que es conocido que cuando el equipo levanta, gana y anda bien, el ciudadano que gusta del futbol, vé con mas positivismo la semana, y eso ahora nos hace mucha falta.
¡Sale!
Pd. 1 Los dejo, con un GRAN VIDEO, cortesía de René Espinoza, donde se ven, lo que hoy nos falta, ¡goles!, pero sobre todo, para ver cómo se gritaban los goles en aquel viejo Corona y cómo se veía REPLETO DE BANDERAS, hay que volver a hacerlo vivir al Corona, y este Miercoles, se tienen grandes promociones para llenarlo e ir a disfrutar, gritar y apoyar a nuestro equipo, hoy que mas lo necesita, démosle el beneficio de la duda a los diversos mensajes donde han dicho que están comprometidos,
HOY, LO QUE SE REQUIERE ES APOYO, NO REVENTARLO.
PD2. Mil disculpas, por la ausencia, he tenido algunos
problemas de índole personal que han mermado algunas ideas.
No abandonaré el blog, ni mucho menos, pero espero su
comprensión al respecto al ser el único que escribe, diseña
y crea esta comunidad que poco a poco se ha convertido en
una parada obligada para todo santista.
Gracias a todos, aquí andamos y no nos rajamos.
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