positivepete

Best by a long way!

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/feb/22/brentford-mathematical-modelling-denmark http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/27/how-fc-midtjylland-analytical-route-champions-league-brentford-matthew-benham Articles about the club from a few weeks back

They have made some good signings. The guy from PSV is a very good attacking midfielder, and they are planning to play the excellent Sissoko further upfield, so it is likely to be a tough day for our defence and midfield. Newcastle are however pretty weak at the back, so it could be a high scoring game. I really have no idea how this will go, but I am hoping that our two competitive games will give us the edge in preparation.

Second that. I have been lucky enough to travel the world watching football and had great times watching the World Cup in fan zones in Cape Town and Rio, but the welcome from everyone from train and bus staff to the bar staff and the club shop staff at Arnhem was outstanding. The atmosphere in the square with fans mixing, footballs being kicked around, music, beer and food was a delight, probably the best I have experienced.

Phil did. He said you asked for one!

Travel booked for a cultural visit to Copenhagen to coincide with the match. If I cannot get a ticket then plan to just find a bar to watch the game, trip to the Carlsberg brewery etc.

Elia to sign for Feyenoord

It is going to be interesting to see how Bournemouth meet the challenge of deciding what to spend on the structure of the club and what to spend on players to keep them in the top flight. Burnley were up front in treating last year as a bonus and using the money to build the club structure rather than gambling on players in the manner of QPR. We were fortunate that we had a newish ground and a decent training facility when we came up, and we have chosen to invest in the training facility as well as investing in players that mostly have a resale value. Mind you the sound system in the ground is still in need of an upgrade!

Plus Dortmund and we can have a real party....

Ajax next round then so we can complete the Dutch odyssey.

Damn, I had planned to see him play against Washington in October when I am over there.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/football-league-blog/2015/aug/04/league-two-2015-16-preview-portsmouth-promotion Update on squad changes. Brought in a load from oop North by the look of it. Will it be the hope that kills them?

I thought we only worked in $longs!

The offer came from Saudi, I am not sure that is the favoured destination.

He played (started from) the left of a front three with Lambert and lallana under Poch, so not much difference yesterday.

Judging from the line-up and playing minutes today I cannot see many changes from last Thursday. No one who played 80 or 90 minutes today will play Thursday.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/aug/01/manchester-city-thomas-agyepong-twente-enschede One of the RTD former graduates is at Man City and has just been loaned out to Twente....

Be handy if we could reach that this season!

Same flight for me and my son.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/31/maarten-stekelenburg-southampton-holland Stekelenberg very impressed with the attitude at the club.

A link with Birmingham might be a sound move, Gary Rowett is a coach we are tracking.

Very enjoyable night. Great performance from the Vitesse fans. A foreign team playing at Southampton and fielding more Englishmen than we did. Who would have thought it? Some good early season performances. Just a word in defence of Clasie. He is at least two weeks training behind the rest of the team, but tonight although he did not get a chance to get his passing game going he did show his positional play covering a lot of gaps and frequently forcing the opposition into blind alleys or diverting them straight into big Vic. If the season continues like this it is going to be a great journey.

Critical season for him then. Will probably go a long way to deciding his future career path. Good luck Sam.

Les Reed was pretty adamant in a recent interview that we line up our targets a long time in advance and do not react to players who come available as a result of relegation, so I suspect the links to Caulker and Chester were either press speculation or agent stirring.

Got my ticket, but still need one for my son who only has 4 always from last season.