The revolving door never stops.

Saturday was one of those days you were proud to support Charlton Athletic. Yesterday was one of those days you are proud to have a soft spot for AFC Wimbledon in your heart. Everybody's favourite second team (except possibly Sutton and Crawley fans) have, as Chicago Addick said so wonderfully, their own Thierry Henry moment.

Jason Euell has signed on loan with the south London club for five weeks and is expected to be in the squad to face Port Vale on Saturday.
Unlike the supporters of everybody's least favourite neutral club up in Buckinghamshire, these fans will remember seeing him turn out for the Dons first time around.  How lovely would it be to see him do what the Frenchman did on Monday night and wear his scoring boots to mark his homecoming.
It's fair to say those die hard Wimbledon supporters will see a different footballer than they did last time he wore the blue shirt. He is a shadow of his former self in match day performance although he still has a fantastic footballing brain. Similar in some ways to the great John Barnes during his stint in SE7.

As the season progresses for Wimbledon it has become obvious to us all that their honeymoon period has finished. Financially worse off than many of their opponents, it is this gritty part of the season where his experience will benefit the young players in the dressing room and give their fans a renewed sense of hope. With the rich kids down the road in West Sussex blossoming it would be an absolute delight to see their poorer compatriots doing the same.

Speaking of AFC Wimbledon a local paper, the Wimbledon Guardian, is running an on-line petition to get Milton Keynes to drop the 'Dons' from their name. Whether any good will come from it i don't know, but it's got my support. Football heritage is important and hard earned. The real Dons work harder than most!

We've seen the Paul Benson, Leon Clarke deal go through recently, today it was announced Leon Cort had signed permanently.
With six appearances for the addicks so far this season on loan, the defender has made it permanent after being let go by Burnley earlier in the week.
Cort has proved he is great cover at the heart of the defense, especially in Charlton's last outing at The Valley against Brentford and is a welcomed addition by all except perhaps the ginger Pele, Gary Doherty!

Charlton's official twitter page stated today that there hadn't been any breaking news for a while. Of course with transfer windows these days players all seem to move at once but the backroom staff keep that door spinning all year round. Look at Tony Jimenez.
I think we could see more 'breaking' news this week if the rumours are to be believed.  Jeffrey Schlupp's name has once again been on people's lips as it was pre season but it's Danny Haynes that seems the more likely.
Haynes is currently with Barnsley and word is the Yorkshire club have agreed a fee with Charlton. Others were interested in the former Ipswich striker including Millwall, but they just wanted the player on a short term loan deal.
Nothing is cemented until the club announce it and these days we've all read it on twitter and the like a long time before it's 'official', but it shows Chris Powell is still keen to add to his forward options during this window.
Onwards and upwards, I'm not sure but i think he'll be number twenty four?

The magic of the third round

The FA cup. It's always special whether you're watching a combined counties league side in the preliminary round or the worlds finest at Wembley in the competitions showcase.

The third round is probably the most special round of all. The non league survivors get their chance of national limelight whilst the big boys are worried of humiliation. The fact that the third round always falls on the weekend closest to my birthday adds to the magic as well.

The greatest third round memory has to be Sutton's defeat of Coventry City at Gander Green Lane, three days before my eighteenth birthday. That however is a story for another day, but yesterdays experience is definitely going to be a cup memory which will stand out for years to come.

With over 7000 addicks descending upon SW6, all of whom in party mode, this London derby match was always going to have an electric atmosphere in the Putney end stand.
I arrived in Putney early as for once i didn't have to work the morning. I was making the most of this and was determined to have a good day on the beer.
Walking down Putney High Street at half eleven i was struck by the number of Charlton fans already there. It seemed that i wasn't the only one making a day of it.
Another reason it was special for me was Putney being an old stomping ground from my twenties. I saw many a band in The Half Moon amongst other pubs, myself and my friend Jim reminisced on how you used to get stuck to the carpet in there. Many a good pair of shoes ruined! One such old haunt was The Dukes Head, a Youngs pub by the river. This was my first stop yesterday but we moved on to The Bricklayers Arms which is a highly awarded real ale pub, well loved by large men with beards who like to chew their beer. We were spoilt for choice and tried many different ales although i was partial to the Pressed Rat & Warthog!
Myself and Marco were a little concerned for our mate Jim who ordered a pint of some lethal draught cider just before we left, but I'm glad to say he survived it and went back for more afterwards!

So we crossed the river and went for a stroll through the park en route to Craven Cottage. Last time i went we had terracing to stand on, this time a new stand which had a very temporary feel to it, especially when 7000 addicks started bouncing.
Charlton were in great voice and no matter how Fulham tried to drown us out with their music over the tannoy, we could still clearly be heard. Unlike the Fulham support. I can't honestly recall hearing one song come from the home areas. I appreciate they must get a lot of rich upper class fans in Fulham, but there must be a section of them from the Roehampton council estates. I expected a little more from them, very poor support.
One thing i will say about our fans is the content of the songs. At a time when racism is raising it's ugly head again and reports of a SMALL section of Charlton fans singing racist songs to Kevin Lisbie at Orient, i can honestly say i heard nothing like that at Fulham. Valley Floyd Road was awesome, the others songs good natured. Obviously Danny Murphy got booed but nothing untoward.

Fulhams performance on the pitch was a lot better than their performance in the stands. In the middle of the park they showed some of the quality you expect to see in top flight football but for all their moments of flair, Charlton equalled it with grit and determination.
Bradley Pritchard, who only a year ago was playing non league football, looked well worthy of his starting place and Chris Solly was immense again winning balls full backs from a higher level would have struggled to win.

4-0 definitely flattered Fulham. Two goals which took deflections and a penalty that was very dubious meant Fulham and Clint Dempsey had their stroke of luck. At half time at only one goal down, i really felt we still had a good shout on the game. For twenty minutes at the start of the second period we really threw everything at them and on another day Bradley Wright-Phillips would have done a lot better than he did with his finish when he was through on their keeper. If we had clawed it back to 1-1 i think we could have gone on to get another but it wasn't to be. Fulham got their second though and after that it was really all over. It's a shame that in years to come people will see the stats and forget how well Charlton actually played.

The support was fantastic at Fulham, if those travelling to Sheffield Wednesday next Saturday can get behind the team to within a small percentage of what we did yesterday, we will once again have the twelfth man and have to raise our chances. It was definitely a proud day to be Charlton.

Another point of interest for all addicks was Paul Benson scoring the winner, and his first goal, for Swindon in their giant killing at the hands of Wigan. We all wished this well loved addick the best of luck at Swindon and that is a great way to start his account there.

Back to the Bricklayers for a few post match beers rounded off the day nicely. The result didn't really matter, the performance was what counted and everybody had a great day out. It will stay in the minds of fans and players alike. The magic of the third round!

It's the Sheffield sides now. This is a big big test for Charlton and the promotion push. Hopefully Sheffield Wednesday won't have come back down to earth after their cup win over West Ham. Far more important than the FA cup, thank goodness we didn't get a draw at Fulham and have to have a replay in between them!

Come on you reds!

The good, the bad, and the ugly (and that's just us!)

Today was no ordinary Valley matchday experience. Bank holiday's are notorious for disruption, but in all honesty i only expected it on the trains.

The trains certainly lived up to expectation with an extra change required both ways compared to a regular Saturday service, and i gave myself plenty of time with the added bonus of not having to work a few hours beforehand.
It transpired that every connection was as smooth as a Danny Hollands pass and i actually walked into the Rose of Denmark in record time. Even the journey home was very acceptable.

A pleasant couple of hours in the rub-a-dub catching up on Christmas and new year tales with plenty of the twitter crew was a perfect prelude to Charlton's first match of 2012. Many thanks to the miserable ol' git you know why matey!

Queuing at the turnstiles and still nothing out of the ordinary when, out of the corner of my eye, i saw a flapping steward. Seconds later every turnstile to the upper north was shut. No announcement, just puzzled faces. There were only five people in front of me at the time, i was that close. Five minutes later there was a queue down the road, police everywhere and still no one any the wiser.
Eventually an explanation. A power cut in the whole of the upper north stand and we are told are tickets will be valid in the west. Oh how i momentarily felt for the stewards!
What followed was literally a stampede around the corner to the west stand turnstiles. Kick off had been delayed by fifteen minutes but it didn't appear any supporters were taking a chance and rushed to get inside for kick off.
I plumped for the upper stand on the basis that there were probably less season ticket holders and less chance of having to keep moving out of people's seats.

The teams came out and Brentford, the visitors, were resplendent in black and yellow stripes living up to their 'bees' nickname.
The home side saw a couple of changes with Leon Cort partnering Michael Morrison at the heart of the defense, the very deserving Bradley Pritchard getting a start in the middle of the park with Danny Green recalled out wide.

I wish for many reasons that the game itself could have been the main talking point here but unfortunately, for my matchday experience, it wasn't.
There was nothing wrong with the game other than it being quite obvious it was at the end of a hectic period. Charlton took the lead on the half hour with Morrison heading it past the keeper after the ball seemed to hang around the six yard box for an age.
Brentford could feel hard done by a little as they had defended well up to that point. Charlton's defense was just as good though with the new partnership looking strong and Solly and Wiggins both on form.
A second goal however was always needed as Brentford sensed there was an opportunity to claw something back.

The temperature rose in the second half with Yann Kermorgant hitting the post and, much to the disgust of Chris Powell, Rhoys Wiggins getting booked for time wasting whilst waiting to take a free kick.
Danny Green finally put the game beyond reach on ninety minutes when he came inside his man and slotted the ball home. As you'll read in a second, i was glad to see him get on the score sheet.
Another note was Leon Clarke getting a 10 minute run out for a debut, he got a better reception in real life than he did on the Charlton forums!

In the Rose of Denmark i saw the good side of our support. Great people with hearts of gold that I'm proud to call friends. Every single one of them would go out of their way to help another addick, no matter what their dress, accent or general mannerisms.
In the upper west i saw the bad and the ugly.
Behind me were a family of three, mother father and daughter. To give you a clearer picture, the daughter was older than me and the mother looked like she was chewing a wasp. Throughout the whole game they moaned. Danny Green couldn't do a thing right in their eyes and i got the feeling this wasn't a one off with him being their regular recipient of disgust. During the whole game they never had a good word to say grumbling about every pass and every set play Charlton attempted. Not once did i hear them get behind the team!

Although irritating, i can put up with what i call 'bad' support. The ugly however is another matter.
One upper north vagrant chose to sit next to me second half. He came over on his own (not surprisingly) and used the foulest of language for forty five minutes. In the heat of the moment it's forgivable to let the odd word slip, it is of course a working class game. When it's constant it becomes quite offensive.
In front of me were a middle aged, middle class couple, real stereotypical west standers. These people pay their money and enjoy their football like we do. They may show it differently but they have every right to enjoy it in a comfortable atmosphere.
So when they asked this monkey to tone it down a little, the verbal assault they received was horrific. I tried to help and got a mouthful myself. I wanted to move but felt compelled to stand my ground in case this couple got more of the same and needed some support.

On leaving the stand, he started again at this poor couple giving them the impression they weren't worthy of being there. Pot kettle and black eh?
I personally don't believe in evolution, being a creationist, but if I'm wrong and evolution was the way, this character was left well behind. He wasn't even a kid either, this man was my age and definitely old enough to have learnt how to behave in public.
On my journey home i was wracking my brains to think of an occasion when I've been this embarrassed about a Charlton 'supporter'. I couldn't think of one, not to this extent.

Upon leaving the stand i caught up with this couple and had a chat with them. I felt the need to apologise for the monkey and explain how not all north stand supporters are this mentally disabled. I explained how the majority of fans who travel home and away are decent folk and full of respect for all football enthusiasts.
I should NOT have to stand on the steps of The Valley telling Charlton supporters that Charlton supporters are nice people. It was, for me, a sad day.

Hopefully that will all be water under the bridge (poor poor pun, sorry) as we look forward to a journey down the Thames and a break from the important stuff and enjoy a day out at Premier league Fulham in the FA cup on Saturday. With 7000 Charlton fans going it's going to have a real party atmosphere and a day out to remember.

Come on you reds!!!

Festive travels

Boxing day and new year. Great days in the football calendar whoever you support. For the Addicks it was a couple of away games and the chance to improve on our already impressive record on the road.

Yeovil on Boxing day was always a blip in the fixture computer. The road was the only option for hardened travellers, but how they were rewarded. Twice coming from behind, Charlton stole the points in injury time thanks to the very deserving Danny Green.
I was spending Christmas in Tunbridge Wells with family in a house that has possibly the worst wi-fi I've ever used. For me even the twitter updates were few and far between.
Unavailable for that one, i knew the next fixture was one i would have to see from home on the bench, Leyton Orient new years eve. At least the start of 2012 would see me available for the first two outings of the year!

Before the trip to East London though, we had transfer rumours appearing from every source regarding Paul Benson. It would appear that in January he will be heading west to Swindon Town in a deal that sees Paulo Di Canio's best buddy Leon Clarke coming our way.
I wish Benno the world of luck at Swindon, he's a real 'heart on the sleeve' player who has done Charlton a great service. He is not though a championship striker and I'm guessing Chris Powell is thinking long term with his efforts to unload the former Dagger.
Leon Clarke is now famous for that bust up. He is experienced though and is certainly on form with his recent displays at Chesterfield, who are of course bottom of the league.
It's still a possibility that Bradley Wright-Phillips could be off to pastures new in January and the gaffer needs to bolster that area just in case, but i doubt many scouts will have the greatest review of our number 10 if based solely on recent outings!

Brisbane Road then and Leyton Orient. I've always had a little soft spot for the Orient going back to the days of John Chiedozie and the 'braces' kit. Living in the shadow of another East London side, I've always had the impression of a hard working club both on and off the pitch.

New years eve 2011 wasn't however going to be one Ben Hamer and Charlton Athletic will want to remember.
I thought with the Huddersfield win that the TV camera jinx was over but Sky had other ideas. I should have known better with so many former Charlton faces on display that someone was going to come back and haunt us! At least it wasn't Mooney!
Kevin Lisbie, Matthew Spring, (both of whom i have great respect for) and the very odd looking Dave Mooney (spit) all started against an addicks side that saw the welcomed return of skipper Johnnie Jackson.

I've poured the first of many beers for the night settled down comfortably and I'm ready for a display of quality football. Five minutes later and the night is in disarray.
Ben Hamer has come charging out his area and made contact with the ball on his chest. It was close to his arm, close enough for the ref to give him a straight red, but it seemed to me to be panic goalkeeping very early on. I expect us to start a little more assured than that.
So John Sullivan got 85 minutes more than he expected, and you had to feel for Scott Wagstaff who made way for him. A rare start nipped very much in the bud.
Sullivan didn't have the best of performances. it's got to be hard to come on after five as i would expect you're not mentally quite prepared for it. Even so, there were a couple of occasions where he seemed to flap a little.

Orient, it's fair to say, dominated the first half. In many respects we could think ourselves lucky to only be one goal behind at the break.
Matthew Spring scored it after a deflection from Matt Talyor leaving Sullivan, off his line, no chance.
The very impressive Jimmy Smith could have made it two later had his effort not be ruled off side. Very harsh, yes, but then so was the sending off!

And that was it really. For the last ten minutes Charlton looked like they may have been able to snatch something from the game but it never materialised. The twelve, sorry, eleven men of Leyton Orient were too much for the ten of Charlton. It's our second defeat of the season (both 0-1 away), and a boost for the Sheffield clubs who have us now back in their sights.

Monday however is another day (and another year) and Brentford at The Valley is the opportunity to send a message out to anyone thinking we've taken our foot off the gas.

Happy new year, come on you reds!!!

Day Tripper

We all know how busy Christmas time is. A hectic twenty four days of planning, shopping and drinking before one day of total excess, not to mention a packed festive season of sport.

Like everybody else, my pre Christmas run-in is no different. A church carol service and nativity, three family birthday parties, a church group Christmas meal, whilst not forgetting the busiest time of year for delivering people's groceries. How i managed to book a day off amongst this for a real 'old school' booze cruise to Calais still baffles me, but book it (and enjoy it) i did.

The P&O ferry was a real bargain price, and surprise, costing only a pony (£25) for a return ticket for the car. Heidi's parents booked the trip and took us along with my sister in law. That's five pound a head, you don't need to buy much beer to save that!
As it turned out the beer was actually cheaper on the boat although wine, (and more importantly) port were stupidly cheap in the supermarkets.
I saved more than my fiver in one swoop with the lack of VAT on a bottle of perfume for the wife. At twenty percent nowadays, that's almost a tenner to put towards some liquid refreshment.

We didn't go just for the beer though. Arriving in France mid morning and not leaving until the evening, we did get to make a day of it, explore the town and enjoy the local cuisine.
By local cuisine, read French steak house chain. Buffalo Grill is as American as you can imagine in all but location and language, but man they serve a beautiful steak. They cater for your ears as well by playing both kinds of music inside. Country AND Western. For all i know, The Good 'Ol Boys may well be the house band!

I'd forgotten how much fun a booze cruise could be and didn't realize that, this day and age, it was still a financially worthwhile option. Looking in the fridge at some gorgeous cheeses and meats though, and I'd happily make this a regular festive event on our calendar.
I did suffer the following day with a stomach upset but i believe that bug was there beforehand and the details of which are not for describing here!

So now we are ready for Christmas. I finished work today, Heidi finished the present wrapping, and the coffee table is full of boxes of chocolate. The only thing missing is a boxing day football ticket.
In fairness, even if it wasn't Yeovil away, I'd still struggle to get away from a large family gathering to attend a game. For me it will have to be Brentford on the second followed by the trip to Craven Cottage.

In between this we do of course have that trip to Leyton Orient on New Years Eve. How wonderful would it be to have six more points on the board before the year ends, especially after the 'dissapointment' of two draws on the spin!
Oldham Athletic's visit to The Valley on the 17th coincided with my boss having the day off to attend one of his Christmas functions, resulting in me having to work all day and missing out on the Rose of Denmark and the CAFC twitter crowds Christmas drink. I'm reliably informed it had it's fair share of casualties!

The game itself won't be remembered for much. In short, the ref was once again awful, Darel Russell scored his first goal for the club and Yann Kermorgant cut his head and played with bandages wrapped around it.
The Frenchmans injury reminded me not of Terry Butcher, like most, but of Stuart Balmer. An almost iconic vision of 'Sweaty' wearing (what i have to admit to being one of my favourites), at Fratton Park, the white green and purple away shirt we wore whilst borrowing the colours of Wimbledon Lawn Tennis club. That was of course in the days before you had to change your shirt if you had the smallest drop of blood on it.

It just leaves me then to bid you all a very merry Christmas and to leave you with a question. Below is a Feyenoord sticker i spotted on the homeward leg in the loo of the ferry. Those decent chaps on twitter have translated it to 'bastions of censorship'. Does anybody know the relevance of this? I'm guessing the supporters feel the club have kept something quiet!

Have a very happy and peaceful Christmas! God bless.

We'll saddle for a draw

If any of you had seen my tweets from this morning concerning events happening outside my place of work, you'll understand that today was never going to be a straight forward day.
In fact it had been quite a couple of days really.

After my previous post about Gary Speed, we were privileged enough to read in The Daily Mail (if we waited long enough there had to be something worth reading in there) an article by former Addick Leon McKenzie on his battles with depression. A very brave piece by another true Gentleman of the game.
McKenzie is currently with Kettering Town of the Conference Premier division and is about to retire. I believe next Saturday is his last game of football. May i wish him all the best for the future.

Another highlight of the past couple of days has been the double honours picked up by the club. The gaffer, Chris Powell was awarded the nPower league one manager of the month award for November whilst our awesome (and i don't use that word freely) centre half, Michael Morrison, received the players equivalent. Both very justifiable and both very much deserved. Such a shame the former comes with it's attached stigma. Some would say curse.

On then to an away day that, in the current light, many would have expected to win. Walsall (that's in the West Midlands not Poland by the way) and the Bescot stadium isn't however the simplest of places to go when the home side are desperate for points. And believe me, they are always desperate for points.
Last season we faced them on our final away day of the season and had a certain Julian Gray to contend with!

Back to a strong side after the exploits of the FA cup last weekend, the travelling Addicks faithful were in great voice at kick off and were anticipating another goal fest. Tuning in on CAFC player, we were led to believe that there were over two thousand Charlton supporters in the ground. This did truthfully turn into a far more conservative 1065 but that is still fantastic support for two weeks before Christmas, especially considering the current financial climate we live in.

Last season the ageing Jon Macken (ageing, like i can talk...) caused our defense all kinds of problems and it was to be the experienced striker who opened the scoring today. In fairness it came against the run of play. After an initial shot  from a corner hit one of their own, Macken was there to slot the ball home. Charlton weren't happy but the goal stood. Like i say, some would call it a curse.

Walsall weren't going into the break ahead though. Yann Kermorgant headed home from a cross from loanee Hogan Ephraim just before the interval. On the radio they jested about Chris Powell's ferocious half time team talks and how the players were scared of them. I think the Frenchman proved these BBC commentators right.

With the radio mics left on during the interval, us listeners were treated to the directions to the toilets and how these masters of football commentary all took their coffee. Make a cup of tea yourself and you risked missing a genius piece of broadcasting!

The second half saw goal line clearances, the woodwork hit and a good penalty claim dismissed by the referee. Another day could have seen plenty more goals for both sides but it ended 1-1. And a fair result it was too, even if the Saddlers did finish the game with only ten men.
A point away from home is always a point gained in my book and although Sheffield Wednesday won and closed the gap slightly, we are still five points clear at the top. I can think of twenty three teams in our division who would swap places with us.

It was a good winning streak, six in the league and eight in all competitions, but it had to come to an end at some point. Perhaps we can start another winning run next Saturday when we entertain Oldham.

Come on you reds!

Cup fever

If one of our South London rivals can win at Old Trafford, there is no reason why a team that plays far more attractive flowing football (most of the time) can't have a little cup run themselves.

An opportunity to treat a young family member to a rare trip to SE7 also gave rise to my own chance of a little FA cup action yesterday which earlier in the week i didn't think was going to happen.

Carlisle United was one of the least attractive cup ties i can remember in recent years, but after a four nil drubbing in the league back in October, at least goals were on the cards and my young companions 100% Charlton record wasn't in danger.
Even at half time i was still confident of both of these facts.

Little Harry, who will be nine in a couple of weeks time, was introduced to some of the crew in the Rose Of Denmark prior to kick off. Here he was dutifully fed plenty of E numbers opening many a opportunist door for showing off and the chance to behave like a right little geezer. Just like i did at the football at his age!
The quickest of trips into the club shop, just to tantalize him before his birthday, ensued and the conformation that it's the red home shirt (luckily as it's already bought and screen printed) that's top of the birthday present list.

We bought tickets for the west stand as the upper north was closed. In all the years I've been going to Charlton, i don't think I've ever been in the west before, and i admit it was one of the deciding factors. It's now just the north west corner that hasn't hosted my matchday experience, as Harry's last visit saw us in the family stand. Never again.
It is every kids right of passage to experience the atmosphere of a packed upper north in full voice. Next time Harry i promise.

A first half of very little note did nothing to dampen our spirits. For Harry everything was big and colourful, and an almost silent seven thousand odd crowd is still huge if you know no better. I say odd, mainly due to the bloke in front of me who didn't think December warranted long trousers. I was of course tempted to offer him an ice cream, if only you could buy such a thing.

The second half picked up and we got that chance to go crazy when Michael Morrison (i really like this lad) netted at the second attempt after Leon Cort's initial header.
Substitute Jason Euell cemented the win with a very popular goal in stoppage time meaning the number 64 ball in the hat had our name, and our name alone on it.

As far as the team went, Chris Powell picked a stronger side than most sat around me had expected. Cedric Evina and Bradley Pritchard grabbed the chance of a start and showed that we already have the makings of a championship squad with plenty of talent further down the pecking order.

The Carlisle players, staff and fans had a long journey home but the supporters we met were in good spirits on the train back to London Bridge. Early December for a second round cup tie you're expected to lose, and i think four hundred is great support for Carlisle, even if they didn't have any songs to sing!
Whilst we're on the subject of the visitors, they wore yellow for the second time at The Valley this season. Obviously blue clashes with red in these modern days of colour film.

Harry and I returned to the outback here in Surrey in time for a visit to the Laser Hub in honour of his sisters birthday. I gallantly played the part of Carlisle and lost.

Fulham away then in the third round. It's a couple of days before my birthday, so with a little bit of luck I'll be able to get my grubby hands on a ticket and make a day of it.
I feel it's a great draw and the perfect opportunity to see just how far Chris Powell's red and white army have come. A winnable game and an away day London derby. Heaven.

The only downer of the weekend was Sutton United losing at home to Notts County. Again! A decent crowd and the TV cameras of ESPN meant some well deserved cash coming in and from what I've read, Sutton certainly deserved to be on the same pitch as their more illustrious visitors.
The third round draw produced it's normal amount of gems today and once Christmas is out of the way we get to do it all over again.

The FA cup, i love it. Que sera sera............