Sam Thompson's blog

Can you imagine losing a cup final and knowing you’re going to be stranded in an unfamiliar city for the night?

Well this could be a genuine reality for Manchester City or Wigan Athletic fans on May 11^th, the date of this year’s FA Cup Final. This is all thanks to a decision made by the 150 year old Football Association, which genuinely claims to have been ‘supporting football since 1863’. Ha!

Having welcomed 2013 in a wet and windy Republic of Ireland, it was hard to avoid posters and radio adverts trying to highlight The Gathering. It all sounded pretty good and exciting from looking at the posters but it doesn’t take too long to realise that this is just a money spinner from the national government.

Chelsea dropped striker Fernando Torres, resulting in Eden Hazard playing as a false nine and Cesar Azpilicueta starting as a right winger. The move failed as they were outplayed by Juventus’ five man midfield, and the Italians recorded a supremely comfortable 3-0 victory…

Now that the group stages are complete, it’s time for the serious stuff, the knockout rounds. Into the quarter finals are Czech Republic, England, France Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Most people suggest that Germany and Portugal should record easy victories over their Group A opponents, the result of many seeing Greece and the Czech Republic as the weakest sides left in the competition.

Upton Park. July 14^th.

We all knew it was coming. From the very moment Derek Chisora’s promoter, Frank Warren, said at a post-fight news conference in Munich last February: “”I’ve got a great idea. If Dereck fights David, the winner fights Vitali”.

But the fight is morally wrong.

There a lot of depressing news stories doing the rounds at the moment from long-term problems like the Euro Zone crisis and fears of recession, to more recent stories like the PIP breast implants and the 16 deaths after the Costa Concordia hit rocks on the shore of Italy.

Having spent the Christmas period back home in Ipswich, I, like many locals watching TV or buying a local newspaper have come across the story of local seven year-old Mason Fountain.