Total football

Posted on May 27, 2009 by Gary Andrews

When Brian Clough brought the phrase ‘the beautiful game’ into common usage, he would have probably rarely applied it to many Champions League games of recent years. Tense, defensively-minded tactics and meaningless group games have long been the order of the day, but this season has been different, and crowned by one of the most complete displays from a team in a modern major final.

Barcelona perhaps needed a little bit of help from the referee to get to the final, but there was no doubting their class in Rome. Fans are used to leaving games speechless, but rarely because they struggle to find superlatives that do the winning team justice. Tonight, Barcelona turned in one of those performances.

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More Gary stuff elsewhere

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Gary Andrews

You know what? I can be complementary about Exeter’s rivals. Over at Soccerlens, I’ve done a bit of a ‘well done’ to Torquay for getting promotion [1] out of the Blue Square Premier. I’m actually quite happy to see them back in the league, and chuffed for their centre-half, Chris Todd. He’s one of the nicest men in football and has battled back against Leukaemia this year to become a Wembley winner.

Then there’s the twofootedtackle podcast, with myself, Chris Nee and Kate Clarke, where we pick our Premier League team of the year, predict who’ll drop down to the Championship, chat MLS, share tips for poaching eggs, and have a quick chinwag with Bobby Zamora.

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12 seconds to sell yourself

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Gary Andrews

Here’s an interesting way to get a rung on the PR ladder – sell yourself in a little over half the time the So Solid Crew spent bigging up themselves.

The deal: getting PR graduates (plus anybody else who fancies a go) to sell themselves in what may possibility the world’s shortest job interview via micro-vlogging site 12Seconds.tv. The prize: a month’s paid PR internship with the Big Yellow Self Storage Company.

Essentially, the candidate has 12 seconds to sell themselves in their job interview and even tough there’s only one internship up for grabs, all the entries will be shown around the industry.

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Gary elsewhere x3

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Gary Andrews

Not one, not two, but three pieces of football odds and sods from me today.

First off, Soccerlens, where I have a brief look at the crisis clubs of the summer, namely Southampton, Darlington, and Stockport.

I won’t be including Fisher Athletic in the list as they were wound up today. There’s a quick obituary from me at twofootedtackle.

On a more cheerful note, Guardian scribe Will Dean joined Chris and I in the studio for a very entertaining twofootedtackle podcast. Among the topics discussed were: The most intelligent discussion you’re hear all year concerning Manchester City, the Champions League, UEFA Cup, the Premier League, MLS, Boca Junior ultras and why Whitley Bay has some of the nicest toilets in Britain.

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And another bit on why Twitter is so essential to my life

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Gary Andrews

In the old days, a train delay on the morning commute would leave me sitting in the carriage like a lemon wondering whether or not to chance it on the buses. Today, when the train was halted at Clapham Junction due to a ‘major security alert’ my first thought was to get my BlackBerry out and leap on Twitter.

It’s perhaps understandable to be a little concerned and jumpy when you get announcements like that. Then you also start mentally working out how the hell you’re going to make it into work and which other routes were crowded.

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Our survey says…

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Gary Andrews

… or why you should take Twitter lists with a pinch of salt.

There’s nothing a geek likes more than a good list and as Twitter is full of geeks, there’s nothing us geeks like more than a good list about Twitter. It’s pretty common to see lists of top Twitterers on certain topics or locations.

Of course the lists also can provide a useful guide to who’s who and who’s getting it right, especially where brands are concerned, especially as more and more companies realise it’s worth being on Twitter.

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Social media and the soapbox

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Gary Andrews

Gosh, there’s nothing like a few well placed words for kicking off a party political crisis. Or, rather, there’s nothing like a slightly weird video that presents the Prime Minister of this country looking like a strange gurning alien for kicking off a party political crisis.

Earlier this week, Hazel Blears, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, wrote in the Observer:

“YouTube if you want to. But it’s no substitute for knocking on doors or setting up a stall in the town centre.”

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Mission accomplished: League One here we come

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Gary Andrews

We can get back to normal now, the football season is over and Exeter City have secured a fantastic back-to-back promotion to League One. When you consider six years ago we were days away from liquidation, it’s an amazing achievement.

It’s not something I EVER thought I’d witness as a City fan and I’m still pinching myself as I look at the teams we’ll be playing next season. Norwich, Charlton, Southampton and possibly Leeds, plus a couple of great local derbies against Yeovil and Bristol Rovers.

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Nearly there

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Gary Andrews

Yes, the football season it getting very close to the end, for me at least. Exeter travel to Rotherham (technically Sheffield) tomorrow and I’ll be Tweeting and goalpostring as the Grecians chase promotion. Pray that we go up, so I can get back to writing proper stuff on here. Also, it means I might have to go to Gillingham for the playoffs. I like Gillingham’s fans, but the place itself…

Anyway, there’s plenty of footballing stuff I’ve done this week. To whet your appetite for the final day of the Football league tomorrow, I’ve rounded up everything that’s going on at Soccerlens.

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