Paul’s blog

It was inevitable but now it’s official, following Forest Green Rovers losing to Morecombe we are now relegated. Here is to a quick return to the Conference.

A sad day indeed.

I follow Forest Green Rovers, and even attend the odd game when I am home, however I must admire the dedication of Chris Barrett who travelled all the way from North Carolina to watch the Rovers in action after years of saving up the required funds for his journey.

However to his dismay the game had been cancelled!.

Barrett, a 36-year-old American school teacher, was putting on a brave face on Saturday, saying he had enjoyed the trip nonetheless, despite not getting to see Forest Green Rovers take to the pitch.

“They have given me signed shirts and a scarf and all sorts of memorabilia. They’ve put me up and me and the vice-chairman are best chums now,” Barrett said.

Source: www.iol.co.za

His love of Rovers grew from playing the computer game Championship Manager, where he chose Forest Green Rovers. Here he aimed to guide them from the lowly Conference to the high reaches of league football. If only Rovers could climb those lofty heights, instead of being embroiled in a regulation battle.

After picking Forest Green Rovers, Barrett soon developed a genuine attachment for the team.

“From there I started to look at the club website at the time when they were trying to stay up (in the same division) at the end of the 1999-2000 season. It was a really fun time and from there I was hooked.”

After gradually saving up, he booked the flight to England and made his way to ‘The Lawn’, the club’s home in Gloucestershire to watch them play regional rivals Hereford, only to find out just before leaving that the game had been called off.

He decided to go anyway, and was well looked after by the committee and fans alike. He now plans to make the journey again in a few years when he has saved up for the journey. A bit of advice though, it’s best to visit in the summer. The English weather can be notoriously unpredictable!

I had the pleasure of watching the Chelsea vs Barcelona game last night. OK I was not there in person, but watched the game on TV, but boy - what a game. Chelsea going 3-0 up in 20 minutes, then Barcelona to hit back with two goals - thus drawing the tie but going through on the away goal rule. I must admit the penalty decision seemed very harsh. Yes the ball did hit Paulo Ferreira hand, but he had his back to the ball and was purely accidental. Also I must admit I missed Ronaldinho’s second goal which I have been told was something a bit special. Was the Barcelona goalkeeper held when John Terry scored Chelsea’s fourth? To be honest - Yes.

Mourinho got the tactics spot on. He was also very clever diverting the focus away from his players whilst the build up to the game occurred.

Now Barcelona, and Samuel Eto’o in particular, are claiming all sorts of injustices were against them. Hopefully the racial abuse which Samuel Eto’o claims, did not occur. I should imagine IF it did occur, he has received 10 times as worse back in La Liga. But he went on to blame the referee (has he forgotten the shameless dismissal of Drogba in the first leg?) and Mourinho. It seems that Barcelona were so confident of winning the tie, they were not mentally prepared for losing. Now they play the blame game.

Happy Mothers day Mum! sorry I cannot be there in person this year.

I see Swindon Town were jinxed by Andy King being awarded the ‘Manager of the Month’. Typical, losing 3-0 at home to Bournemouth. To make matters worse I have relatives down that way…

… at least Forest Green faired a little better, gaining at a draw at highly placed Accrington Stanley. Still they need to start winning if they are to avoid the drop.

I have been trying to install Wp-plugin-mgr but have run into a brick wall due to an error which only my host can rectify. I have sent a couple of e-mails to them but they have not even polite enough to acknowledge my problem.

I woke up this morning to find a blanket of snow covering Walters Ash. This was not strange in itself as it has been snowing on and off for the last week or so, but the layer was deeper than usual. My first thought was that it would be a nightmare to get to work as I commute daily to Halton, which is a 20-minute drive. So I left the house earlier than usual to clear the snow off my car and in anticipation of a slow journey. Luckily the snow had not frozen to the car so it was easy to clear. I drove cautiously through the village on the snow-covered roads as bad as I had feared. I got to a notoriously bad bend to find a car had crashed. It must have been unable to steer and had careered into the opposite verge, I did not stop as the AA were there and in the process of rescuing the stranded vehicle. The strange thing happened a few yards past the accident – the snow disappeared! The snow had only landed on the hilltop, which I reside on, from there on the roads were clear. Bizarre.

Last night I played 5-a-side football. I had played the night previous as well; it is all part of my efforts to lose weight before jetting off the Goa in April. I played quite well, but the only problem I have is my lack of vision without the aid of my glasses. This problem was exacerbated last night as I forgot to take off my glasses an hour before playing so my eyes could adjust. It gets quite embarrassing passing to the opponents for the first 20 minutes or so.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to wish my old friend David Large a Happy Birthday. It has been too long since we last met, and I still got your Medina wine.