Libertad Leaked

Velvet Revolver’s new album Libertad has leaked, in it’s entirety, onto the internet. Probably intentionally.

First impressions? Excellent! Sounds like they’ve taken Contraband and stepped up a gear -  “Let It Roll”, “”She Mine” “The Last Fight” and “She Builds Quick Machines” are all awesome. What has surprised me the most is their cover of ELO’s “Can’t Get It Out of My Head”. I loved the original and VR have done a mighty fine job of covering.

I’ve tried burning the mp3’s onto disc, but it aint happening - no surprise that you aren’t able to do that, seeing as the album is out this coming Monday. I’ll be there in HMV with my credit card handy!

I didn’t go to Brighton today, Iain’s flight isn’t until tommorow. Probably just as well we didn’t go, as we’d had looked utter tits had we gone down there and realised we’d come on the wrong day!

Also don’t fancy going down to the picket line either, so shall stay at home and watch the telly instead…

Bugger Bognor!

I’ve been pre-occupied of late, Championship Manager 01/02 has well and truly taken hold. The game has a loyal following, with a patch available that brings all the games data right up to date - April 2007 to be exact!

I installed it a while back but it wasn’t until I took Hucknall Town to the Premiership that I started to get addicted. I’m now in the process of taking Lincoln to the top of the tree, after having a unreal season at Arsenal where I won absolutely everything. That’s probably what I love most about the game - it isn’t the slightest bit realistic!

Royal Mail are striking next week. On Friday, we’re all out on a 24 hour strike. I don’t know of anyone who’s coming into work that day, and word is that they’re bringing in some agency staff to attempt to do some sorting. We’ll probably bear the brunt of it on the Saturday, but as for the Friday - I won’t be anywhere near Notts.

Iain is in Bulgaria (met a girl, got invited to her country, you know the story ) and I’m accompanying my dad on the long drive down to Gatwick to pick him up on Friday night. He wants someone with him in the car to keep him company, as the 4/5 hour trip down south is quite a bastard. He pointed out that as the flight isn’t until 11pm at night, we could make a day of it ‘dahn sahth’ and go just 30 miles down the road to Brighton. Two men taking a day trip to Brighton might seen a little strange had we not been father and son.

He also offered me a lift to work the next day, as it is very likely that we won’t be back in Notts until 4am at the latest, and I tend to be up early on Saturdays for my 2pm start at RM. Having my dad give me lift means I can sleep in till midday. Hooray!

The Brian Clough Arena?

Nottingham Forest today announce plans to move home! Apparently re-developing the City Ground is far too expensive, opening a new stadium south of Clifton is the answer!

It’s a long term plan, 2014 is the earliest possible date it’ll be completed, but it’s certainly refreshing to see a signal of intent from the club that they want to be playing with the big boys - the stadium would be part of a 2018 World Cup bid.

A 40,000 capacity stadium may seem a bit crazy for our club in it’s current status - and it certainly provides ammunition for our near neighbours - but for the long term I can see it only being good news for the city. Of course the City Ground will be missed, but we move on! Progress and all that!!

When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads…

I’ve just got caught short in the abysmal ’summer’ weather we’re having. The thunder sounded like a bomb had just gone off, and the rain has flooded half of Nottingham, but I got out alive!

Forest have signed Neil Lennon, a guy who only last year was playing in the Champions League, winning the SPL and the Scottish cup. So to see him sign a deal to be playing his football at the City Ground next year is quite a coup, despite him being 36 years old. I imagine that this transfer was the one designed to get supporters back on the club’s side. It can’t have been easy for anyone witnessing our capitulation versus Yeovil, so to sign somebody of this stature - on the day that Season Ticket renewal packs get sent out - is a shrewd move by the club.

No-one else has yet signed up at the CG. There had been talk of Jason Crowe joining us from Northampton, linking up with his former manager. He signed a two-year deal at the Cobblers yesterday, thus killing any chance of a deal. The Northampton chairman speaks about the ambition of the club to have held onto a talent such as his, but in all honesty, if a player of his age (2 had any ambition, it’d be to play at clubs such as Forest. We’re the bigger fish in this small League One pond, so to be staying at Northampton shows how little ambition he must have. Either that or he’s settled at the club, which is probably the real reason.

The boring, drawn out, yawn inducing circus that is Kris Commons and his new contract shows no signs of coming to an end. Kris Commons is a player of decent quality, he’s said as he isn’t getting any older he’d like to test himself at a higher level of football. He’s also said, just the other week, that the pain of the playoff defeat is still fresh and that he isn’t happy at the prospect of another year in this league. It’s obvious he isn’t going to sign a new deal at the club, and is waiting for any club to show an interest in signing him. So why the Nottingham Evening Post and indeed the club’s website constantly give us ’stories’ about why Commons should sign up is as pointless as it is frustrating.

The signing of Neil Lennon had given hope that the Reds might still hold onto Commons, says Colin Calderwood. I’m sorry, but why delude yourself that this is the case Colin, when you’ve gone out and bought a player who’ll do everything in midfield that Kris himself didn’t do last season? Lennon is very vocal, captain material and a strong midfield presence that we missed last year. If anything, the signing of Lennon should be the green light for Commons to get his dream move away from the club.

We need players focused on the task ahead, not players dragging their feet, waiting for a mid-table championship midlands club to pick them up and take them away from the hell of League One. If Kris feels this way, then he should leave - right now. We don’t need players with his attitude here, we need more like Mr Lennon.

I could of course be totally wrong, and Kris will sign a new deal, leaving me looking rather stupid. Let’s hope that isn’t the case…

This Summer

Spent the day entertaining guests at my mum’s 47th birthday barbecue. Had a few beers, plenty of meat, and made the bold decision to wear shorts. This of course meant everyone seeing my scrawny white legs, but it’s all okay now. You can view photo’s of it all here.

Had a bit of trouble with my pay, as Royal Mail have given me no wage this week, something to do with the day I phoned up and the days I had off. Not sure how it all works out, but apparently I’ll be getting only 3 days pay for that week (instead of five) and it’ll be added to next weeks pay. As long as it gets sorted out and I can buy my Nottingham-Bournemouth ticket, I don’t care!