Translate

Tuesday 31 July 2012

Back to reality....

Well it was back to work on Monday for the first time since the Pre-Season Tour of Devon & Cornwall....It has been more than a day and a half and I am still quite depressed were back!!

The weather is a bit crappy here in Yorkshire at the moment too, so I am really missing the wall to wall sunshine we had!! I wil get over it....In time.

Luckily this week is only a 4 dayer for me as it is my birthday on Friday - I don't do working birthdays, I think if it wasn't for this I would be completley manic depressive.

Another Pre-Season Friendly gets underway tonight in Scandinavia when we play Sandefjord, kick off 6pm (UK Time).

Paddy Kenny will not be playing in this match after picking up an injury in Cornwall - though he looks likely to be fit for the game against Preston at the weekend.

No full team news at the moment other than David Norris has travelled with the squad and is expected to play a part in tonights game.

MOT xx <3 xx

Saturday 28 July 2012

Pre-Season Tour - Home Time!!!!

Worst nights sleep, ever. Must have had about an hour if that, watching sodding Emmerdale omnibus at 3am is not cool when you're up early to go home!!

Breakfast time & we were already packed and so ready to go from the shoebox. Set off at around 9.30am and arrived home at just after 3pm.

What an amazing week, the weather, the fans, being back at Football, just everything. So amazing & I'm so sad it's all over.

Massive thanks to Jamie though we've clocked up almost a thousand miles since we left last Saturday and he's driven every one of them.

So that's it!! We are in Norway on Tuesday night, clearly I'm not going to that one, pushing the boat out a tad, but the day after my birthday, next Saturday, we play Preston away which should be great :-)

Here are some pictures of Torquay yesterday, the apartment in Plymouth and general holiday randomness.

What a week :-)

MOT xx <3 xx

Pre-Season Tour Day 7

Jamie asked me over breakfast this morning how I slept, I replied 'like a dog - Hold on, do dogs sleep really well?!' he said he didn't know what to say so I never really did find out!! Anyway I slept really well but in honesty I think I passed out due to the heat!!

Full breakfast this morning which is probably the best part of the whole stay here, well that and the entertainment provided from the cleaner who cleaned the rooms this morning whilst singing Katy Perry.

Chilled out all morning in order to go out for a few Pre-Match drinkies, can't actually believe this our last day.

We were sat in the sunshine drinking copious amounts of alcohol with the rest of the Leeds lot, some dressed as Arabs haha hilarious.

Got far too drunk for our own good on a balcony in Wetherspoons, singing, shouting, dancing it was amazing. Favourite song of the day:
'Paddy Kenny, having a party, bring ya vodka and ya charlie' hahaha. Made our way to the ground, blind drunk, no idea where we were going, that was amusing, thankfully we found a bus which took us pretty much right outside the ground.

Got to the ground, god knows how, and had many arguments with the ground staff because no matter where we stood, they moved us along, then Jamie said, 'you take us where you want us to sit' so they did....next to Paddy Kenny, Ramon Nunez and Luciano Becchio. Oh god. Oh my god. I wasn't even prepared, I'd not even lip glossed - I just had to hope I didn't look like a hot mess. Before I even had chance to panic, Jamie shouted 'Luci!! Becchio's number one fan right here' and pointed at me!! Luci put his hand on my shoulder haha, I almost died haha!! I sobered up very quickly!!!!

The game finished 2-1, this one was a bit more of a game than the others had been but we played well enough.
I can't tell you what the match was like to watch because sadly the sun was in my eyes all match, we were being moved on by the police, very distracted and we were quite drunk so I will refer you the the official site for info haha I fail at today's blog.

Went out for more drinkies when the match finished, not sure if that was a great idea as we ended up quite merry again but had a little walk around the marina and then back to the horrible little room ughhhh!!

MOT xx <3 xx

Thursday 26 July 2012

Pre-Season Tour Day 6

Didn't sleep a wink last night thanks to being evacuated at 1am as the fire alarm went off, that was fun.

Got up at 7am to make sure everything was clean/tidy & packed up ready to go. Absolutely gutted to leave that apartment, genuinely....gutted. So we left and I said bye to everything, bye kettle, bye dishwasher, BYE BALCONY, but then it was hello Paignton!!

Wetherspoons for Breakfast mmmm, and then a sit on the beach, after a paddle we decided to go to the model village in Torquay before checking in, it's a great place to go if you want to feel like the giant on the side of the sweetcorn tin ;-) It was fun to see though!!

The B&B we are staying in is, erm, a bit of a reality check!!!! It's nice enough, just small lol. It is also like a GREENHOUSE!! So SO warm.
We had a bit of a walk around Torquay and realised that Leeds United have taken over haha we were everywhere!!!!
We keep walking around and suddenly hearing 'WE ARE LEEDS, WE ARE LEEDS, WE ARE LEEDS' hahha #LUFCInvasion ;-)
It's great to see though.

Really looking forward to the match tomorrow but will miss the tiny grounds where you are so upclose and personal to the players, it's so nice to see the laughs and banter we very rarely ever get to see. I am a nosy cow too, I like to know what Neil is saying to the players and to listen to what the players are saying to each other.

As I write this, the Snodgrass deal has been announced officially - Smashing, I'll wait for the whole speech about how Leeds is a massive club that deserves to be in the Premier League shall I. Yet another captain sold to Norwich. Yellow....Wankers.

Just come back from a right nice night out, went for some food and then onto the Marina for a drink, lovely :-)

Back in the B&B, the room seems to be getting smaller, maybe the intense heat shrank it in the 3 hours we were out - uncomfortable nights sleep ahead :-( booooooo.

MOT xx <3 xx

Goodbye Plymouth - Hello Torquay!!!!

Well that's it, we have officially left Plymouth, here is a few pictures so that you will realise why were going to miss it haha.

To Torquay now though BOOM, let's go :-)

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Pre-Season Tour Day 5

Torquay better hope it's as beautiful as this, I am getting so attached to this place lol. Probably because the weather is so beautiful along with the fact I'm not working. Jamie is probably going to have to drag me off this balcony tomorrow haha. If I could pick up Leeds United and my family and move them, this place would be perfect :-)
Had a walk along the sea this morning as Jay went for petrol, 10am and the sun was so hot!! We are so blessed to have this weather. Still obsessed with the Palm Trees I may bring one home.

Decided to go for a bit of a sunbathe in the afternoon instead of spending the day indoors, it doesn't quite seem right when the weather is this good. Jamie disappeared for 10 mins though and I wondered where he'd gone, when he came back, he came back with beer, what a guy.

We have realised though, we are doing the Cornish accent down here probably more often than our actual accent....Without actually knowing we are doing it as well, that could get annoying lol.

By now you'll have all read the news that Snoddy's pretty much out the door and into Norwich. At first I was gutted, but stewing on it all day has made me mad. I sincerely hope Norwich get relegated.
Snoddy always said he'd assess the situation and choose what was best for his family, well I'm pretty sure the lad doesn't struggle for money at Leeds, but on the other hand, If we had the chance would we leave our job to get more money elsewhere? Yeah!! We more than likely would!!
Ugh, I don't know, as long as we replace him then fine but it's frustrating to lose another player to those yellow tossers.

Long drive to Bodmin anyway as there was a match to think about, as Zac Thompson rightly stated on Twitter 'No name on the back of the shirt is bigger than the one on the front'.
Parked for free about 5 mins walk from the ground....I say ground lol it was one stand and a field to be honest. They did put a beer tent up by the side of the club house though and three were roughly about 3000 in the crowd - great support yet again!!
Now, I have pee'd in some places in my time following Leeds but these toilets were something to behold. Half a shed door keeping my dignity shielded from the rest of the crowd, the seat didn't look too sturdy....good job us women have 'that talent' ;-) haha.

We watched the lads go into the changing rooms, well all apart from Ross who went in the wrong one haha!! Then we had a walk to try an get somewhere decent to stand. We were near the dug-outs to try and get all the action ;-)
Lots of annoying people around us asking the players if Snoddy had gone....GET A GRIP!!!!
The best line though came from one girl WITH A LEEDS SHIRT ON, who said 'Is that Nani?!' when Ramon Nunez came past. This is why women supporters get a bad name.

We won the match 4-0 and it was another good run out for the lads.
Jason Pearce commanded the back line well, it's nice to see a defender that actually shouts to people to tell them what to do rather than them all standing about like idiots.
Aidy White showed his blistering pace yet again and will be deadly, but in my opinion he needs to learn to pass the ball when he gets in to a good position, usually he does all the leg work and that is brilliant, but he over does it and it ends up out or he gets tackled.
Goals came from Varney, Gray, McCormack and White and were all pretty good goals (McCormak pen). Varney played well when he was on the pitch.
Becchio was there but is still injured at the moment, he came like within touching distance but I was too chicken to ask for a photo. I regret this now lol. I think its because I can see rude people barging in and throwing stuff in their faces for them to sign and I don't want to be one of those people!! They annoy me lol!!

So, I'm sat on the balcony for the last time writing this, looking out to the sea, stars shining, still really warm, bliss. Setting off early in the morning Torquay bound. Plymouth, you have been awesome :-)

MOT xx <3 xx

Breaking News on Sky Sports....

Leeds United agree deal with Norwich City for Robert Snodgrass.

We've all seen this coming for some time now haven't we. Still it's another captain sold to the same club in under 12 months.
You can't make a player want to stay, or deny them Prem football and that is something we can't guarantee we're going to get so I understand why he would want to go.
So frustrating though as the supposed 'takeover' is still ongoing, and he did say if he saw ambition he would stay....Does he not see us as a club with ambition?!
Sad to see him go but you could kind of tell at the open training session yesterday, he ran straight off with Warnock the second the session ended, fuelling speculation between the people that were there.

Thanks for everything Snoddy.

MOT xx <3 xx

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Pre-Season Tour Day 4

On today's agenda was an early start as we trekked to Stoke Climsland to watch the open training session at Dutchy College.

Hot, does not even come close to the weather they had to train in today, I was exhausted standing there watching them!! I had the sun cream slapped right on I tell you!! I'm not moaning though as this weather, is effing BEAUT!!!!

Saw a lot of the training drills today which was really interesting for a Football geek like myself, usually you only get to see the half an hour a so Pre-Match warm up but this was more of a session for the lads who dealt with it well.
There were a tonne of supporters there which shocked a few people I think, a few hundred if not more. The players were more than happy to stand and have photo's and sign autographs but I don't even think they expected the amount of us that came to watch!!

We left the College at about half 12 and went back to the apartment for a while.

We could hear the Marina and the beer calling our names though and by 4.30pm we were back out to enjoy the weather.
Not as much of a sesh this time though as we treated ourselves to a Dominos and headed back for some beers at the apartment.

Another belting day, Bodmin tomorrow!!!!

MOT xx <3 xx

Monday 23 July 2012

Pre-Season Tour Day 3

Match Day!!!!

The sun greeted us again this morning when we woke up, hangover free!! (Surprisingly)
We went for a walk around the shopping centre and the town centre today which was really bloody nice.
There was some interesting fashion going on today too, one that really interested me was a middle aged guy with a red mowhawk, white t-shirt, REALLY short swimming type trunks, Diadora socks and Jesus Creeper sandals. Sexy.

We ventured back to the apartment for a bit to have some lunch and a chill out before we set off for Tavistock.
We were supposed to be parking in some sort of School/College, not far from the ground tonight, so we SatNav'd that as we have no idea where anything is down here. When the SatNav said we'd arrived we were in some sort of estate and we almost steamrollered a cat, so we thought we might google the college postcode and put it into Waze on my iPhone....Seemed like a good idea until we ended up on Private Land. Luckily a nice old lady told us which way we needed to go and we parked up - for free!! In Tavistock College, the guys doing the car marshalling there were really nice, cracking job to say we didn't have to pay!!!!

The ground was only about 5-10 mins walk away from the car park and we got there in good time with about 2hrs until kick off. There were loads of people there already, I will be surprised if a lot of them can remember the game actually as it looked like they'd had a whole day on the pop, and why not.

We decided to go into the ground, have a walk, talk to some of our friends, get a decent spot and watch the players warm up :-)
What a brilliant feeling it was to be back talking to friends and seeing my boys, lovely :-)

The first half squad looked decent, Aidy White tore it up with his pace and skill - showing us why we should all be glad he's putting pen to paper with a new contract.
Talking of new contracts, we signed FOUR new players today....FOUR!!!!
Jamie Ashdown, Keeper from Portsmouth, Andy Gray, Free Agent, Rodolph Austin, SK Brann and Luke Varney from Portsmouth. These signings were all confirmed at the match. Austin's contract is subject to whether he gets a working Visa so might take a while to go through!!

First half goals from White and Green made it 2-0 when the half time whistle blew. Becchio went off with an injury just prior to half time & was replaced by Andy Gray.
Warnock kept most of the squad out for the start of the second half probably to give them all a better run out and we were a lot sharper in the second half.
Another four goals (one of them an own goal) went in and we won the match 6-0 in total, Rodgers, Poleon and Thompson all bagging a goal each.
It was a good run out for the lads, Green, White, Pearce, Poleon all
Impressed me & the new signings, well they speak for theirselves. Really good day :-)
Thought the traffic would be a pain in the arse on the way home but it wasn't too bad, the stewards/police did well.

I was told though that the bar run out of beer at half time hahah!! They should know how much us Northeners sup!!

Callington tomorrow for the open training session, really looking forward to that one :-)

MOT xx <3 xx

Pre-Season Tour Day 2

Woke up to beautiful sunshine, I could really get used to this weather!!

Hit Morrisons again this morning for a 'big shop' though the Morrisons here isn't like the ones back home, they are a bit of a joke, it's the size of a small continent and NOTHING is where it should be, stressful times I tell you, but we found the beer offers and that's the main thing really.

By the time we'd finished and got back to relax on the balcony for a while, the sea mist had rolled in!! I thought that was it for the day!!!! But the mist knew who was boss and cleared within half an hour to reveal BEAUTIFUL sunshine for the rest of the day.

We decided to check out the marina and go on a bit of a pub crawl at around half 3. Started off in a nice little bar, people watching, someone had a bog brush for a hairdo, that entertained. The lady in the first bar greeted us with an 'Ouright'!! This seems to be the most used word down here, used for absolutely everything!! It's also how me and the lad keep greeting each other, it seems we can't actually say 'Alright' anymore.
Anyway, after a few beers and a few bars, we were quite pissed and when I say quite pissed I mean frigging hammered and we ended up in an Irish Bar with a singer who I absolutely adored, he sang songs about muff diving, I want him at my actual wedding. We Irish jigged well into the night before we decided we should go home before we forgot where home was.
I even managed to cook when I got back, SKILL!!

So that was the end of our eventful day!!!! Can not wait for the football tonight, so ridiculously excited!!!!
#TavistockHereWeCome aaaaah!!!!

MOT xx <3 xx

Sunday 22 July 2012

Pre-Season Tour Day 1

As I write this at 10 to 11pm on our first day here in Devon, my other half is at the side of me snoring his little head off, bless.
It's been a pretty long day starting at 4am this morning when we woke up!! You'd think I'd be shattered, well, I kind of am, but just can't sleep!!!!

The journey was alright, got stuck in an hours worth of traffic as a caravan jackknifed on the M5 Southbound, the hour was however quite productive as we realised my Bear Grylls impression is actually pretty special.

We got into Devon at around 1.00pm and ventured to the nearest Morrisons for beer and pizza, got the real important stuff out of the way.

Jamie did well driving all that way without getting agitated, I think we have discovered, he drives, I shout at idiots, that's my job, OH and finding a radio station when the signal goes, pretty pivotal right?!

No idea what tomorrow will bring but can not wait to see some football though on Monday. It's been a long 'summer'.

MOT xx <3 xx