Weather Looks Good for Football Tomorrow ...

... not ... could end up anywhere (as long as I'm back for Alice in Chains tomorrow night !) - we shall see ...
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Quick Post 2 - The Damage that Non-League Football can Cause ..

... following their defeat by Bath City in't'FA Cup last weekend ... an open letter to the team from a "slightly miffed" Grimsby Town fan ...

If easily offended - please stay away !!

Ouch !
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Quick Post 1 - Train Rant

...on the way to Stalybridge last night ... went for the 1755 from Mossley - the nice new screens showed "Expected 1805" - then the nice new screens showed "Expected 1809" ...

... then a bloody express flew through the station - and the nice new screens immediately updated to "Expected 1820" ...

Yep you can have all the technology you like - doesn't mean that it's useful mind ...
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Stalybridge Celtic v Chester City ...

... in the Cheshire Senior Cup. Pix at

Stalybridge Celtic 1 Chester City 2

... felt that some Celtic "minds" were more interested in the Droylsden game this coming Saturday rather than getting stuck in this evening - at times it did look like a training session for both sides ... some lovely one touch stuff going absolutely nowhere !! With Chester having a league match last night one assumes this was pretty much a second string tonight - they looked a useful side mind.

One point that has been raised elsewhere is the "full price" option tonight, which I know for a fact has kept a few away. Looking around, I note that a good many clubs do actually drop their prices for County Cup games (latest example I've spotted is Ilkeston, knocking it down to £3 for their Derbyshire Senior Cup game against Pinxton next midweek). One area to look at for the future - might have helped to create a better atmosphere as well .

Now have a quandary for Saturday as in "where to go" - needs thought - but not now ...
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Recycling Revisited ...

... a quick follow-up to last Thursday's tale of Tameside Council's "Two Fingers to Recycling" in Mossley. I was walking up to the Co-op yesterday (it's what unemployed people do y'know !) and took this picture for posterity ...



Surely it should say at the bottom "Lots of Love, Your Caring, Sharing Faux-Socialist Council" rather than "Leave a Fag End here and Tough-Talking Tameside will Tw*t You" ... I guess the next step is fortnightly refuse collections - ho ho ! Even this week our Monday collection ... finally happened on Tuesday - ha !

Enough of this frivolity - I now have to write 300+ words on why I want a job with the GMC (that's Medical not Manchester !!). I also have to revise my Alice in Chains in prep for the Academy on Saturday night. Only then am I allowed out to the football at Bower Fold tonight !
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SmiffyPix in "Non-League Paper" !!!

... no credit though, that's the bugger !

Yep, on page 7 of today's NLP, there's an article by Woodley Sports Chairman Tony Whiteside regarding the swine flu outbreak at the club and on measures taken and measures needed, should this re-occur. The article is beautifully complemented (!!) by one of my pix taken at the Stockport Senior Cup Final twixt Woodley Sports Ressies and Cheadle Heath Nomads way back in May 2007 (picture features a heavily bandaged Sam Walker - now with Mossley of course !)

Every little helps though !

Football next week is somewhat limited - unavailable - I think - on Monday night - so Curzon Ashton v Prescot Cables is a non-starter. Its not in the NLP but the only other real option is Stalybridge Celtic v Chester City on Wednesday night (Cheshire Senior Cup)... that will do nicely I guess ...
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Mossley v Wakefield

Another p*ssy wet rainy day in Mossley - thank heavens that the Canon EOS 20D appears to be "indestructable" - still needs drying out mind as does lenses, filters, hoods and all the kerfuffle - all drying out as we speak - still you don't care about all this - you want product ... so ... here's product ...

Mossley 1 Wakefield 1

This "giving the other team a start and coming back" is starting to get a bit "samey" - but the beauty is that it's great to see a team playing for the full 90 - in years gone by we've watched Mossley go 3 down, give up or just maybe get one in the last ten ... we've now got a team (plus substitutions) that give us the full 90 + time added on, and for the fans it's a refreshing change - because we the fans are giving it for the full 90 - so it's great to see that attitude on the pitch as well. OK this game should have been wrapped up in the first half - but I'm tempted to give the "B of the D" following the efforts over 120 minutes on a wet Tuesday night against a team from a division above. Let's not forget that Wakefield were (and still are) above us in the table as well ...

Now we (Mossley) have a midweek off - but my search for football begins tomorrow with a trip to Rajas for a "Non League Paper".
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Game On !

Mossley v Wakefield that is ... after some seriously wet weather most of the week - and the game on Tuesday night - it looks as though the groundsman has waved his magic wand (oo-err !), and the pitch got the OK at 1030 this morning ... and now the sun is out !

Looking at the Unibond site, nowt has been postponed as yet (1200), but as Confucius always said before heading off to see his hometown team (Qufu Ramblers FC - remember their keeper Rick Shaw ?) - "Ring First !"

First Round of the FA Cup as well today - best wishes of course to all the non-league sides - starting of course with Paulton v Norwich in about 30 minutes - and Bromley v Colchester in 45 minutes !
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Christmas is full of Blunder ..

... Thursday it was Tameside Council - today it's Oldham Council who "get one in the neck" !!

When the free paper arrives - it arrives laden with flyers (because that is how the delivery person gets paid) - amongst the pile this week was a jolly flyer from Oldham viz ...



.. detailing all the events twixt now and Crimbo ... the back page contained some useful website links and information about travelling to Oldham ... some of you "locals" may well have guessed what comes next ...



For those "not in the know" ... the Oldham Loop railway line closed down at the beginning of October as part of the expansion work to the Manchester Metrolink Tram System. It will be closed until at least 2011 ..... (tumbleweed moment) .....

Do you get the feeling that Oldham Council "recycled" last year's brochure design and changed a few bits 'inside' - whilst failing to change a few bits 'outside' ??

BONG !
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Tameside Council give up on Recycling ??

... recycling ... we do our best at Smiffy Towers - our kitchen contains three "big buggers" entitled "Plastic", "Glass" and "Cans" ... upstairs is the "paper" bag. Over the last few months we've noticed a big big change both in Mossley and at the "big place" in Stalybridge - in Mossley the "recycling centre" up in the Market Place has slowly shrunk and shrunk and shrunk - so much has disappeared and people have ended up just "dumping" bags of stuff as there's been no information as to what to do. I'm now told there is a sign saying something like "No recycling here - anything dumped here = flytipping" - so it now appears the end of recycling has arrived in Mossley. Moving to Stalybridge - to the "main" recycling centre in Tamesides ... our trusty three "separated" boxes now end up in ONE BLOODY CONTAINER - yes - plastic, glass and cans all go into one box.

I reckon Tameside have either
a) given up on the important areas of recycling;
b) found a way of "keeping up their recycling quotas" whilst doing less work locally;
c)just don't give a toss about Mossley.

Whilst on the recycling rant ... I could give Amber Valley Council a "good slapping" as well - the nearest refuse tip to Belper is at Loscoe .. about 7 miles away !!! OK there are basic recycling facilities in Belper for your plastic,glass, cans and paper ... but 7 miles ???? Here in Mossley the "big tip" is only 3 miles away at 'Bridge .... but it looks like we've lost our "basic" options/stuff in town.

Shame on you Tameside ... no communication received to tell us what is going on - no reduction in poll tax if money is being saved ... would love to know what's going on ......
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Mossley v Brackley - the Pix

... are now up in the usual place (not sure what happened with them pix last night - all seem to have been chopped in half for some reason - tweaked it now though !) - anyway enjoy the full set in glorious "wet-o-vision" - it was a grim night indeed, weather-wise !

Mossley 3 Brackley Town 1

Take nowt away from Brackley - although it was a deserved win for Mossley, they didn't stop trying to play football, even when down to 10 men - you can see why they're doing so well in the Zammo Prem. However - to coin another cliche "That's the beauty of Cup football" - the cliche that eventually replaced the "They may well regret that penalty miss" ...

Onward to Ilkeston Town in the next round ... it gets no easier ... but look out Nosmo, Sean, Mi Owd, "Citizen Smith" (Robert Lindsay) and the rest of the crew - we're on a roll at the moment !!
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Mossley 3 Brackley Town 1

Too late for too much .. some "rough and ready" pix of the goals ... (UPDATED Wednesday a.m. to allow viewing of the whole bloody picture !!!)

0-1



1-1



2-1



3-1


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