Guardian Premier League Awards

The Guardian for me is the gold standard when it comes to Premier League football writing. Smart, correct, relevant and fun. Recently their football writers offered up their opinions for their own awards for the recently concluded campaign. The best bit comes a la Scott Murray

"Best goal: Against Blackburn, Dimitar Berbatov set off a move in the left-back position with an insouciant flick of his boot, ambled upfield stopping only to run his fingers through his hair and stimp out a cigarette, then bashed the ball home like a film-noir private dick slugging the bad guy. The soundtrack was of ambient crowd noises, but you can bet this was playing in his head."

Read them all here

Top 25 Summer Transfer Targets

Caught Offside presents us with a nice look at some of the potential big-name transfers in the upcoming summer window. While I'm excited to see a handful of players linked to Arsenal, I will be sadly pessimistic until I see the face in the jersey. Scott Parker, Drogba, and Ashley Young are all players I would be pleased to see sporting the new Gunners kit by the end of the fall, but it should be an interesting summer around the league as all of the top 6 teams will be likely to make some big moves.

Via Caught Offside

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The Lord Our Dave: Still got it, duh!

Another week, another bit of Beckham-love from yours truly!


Becks finished off a 4-1 rout of the mighty Sporting Kansas City, so it wasn't exactly the fabled clutch kick against Greece a few years back. However, I'm sure you'll all agree, there is nothing better than watching The Lord Our Dave roll back the years...
-JRW

the dave wilson school

Last week was the final installment of what must have been the thirteenth 'El Classico' to be played this season. After watching all of the pathetic antics that came with the matches from the likes of Busquets, Mascherano and the infamous Pedro, it's clear that none of them came from the famed Barcelona academy. Rather, they must have found their way into the Catalan based outfit by way of the Dave Wilson School.

Gastown F.C. 2 — 0 V-88 F.C.

It was a long April as G.F.C. was left rueing missed chances and wondering where it went wrong in the Fall playoffs. They used the transfer window well though and made some good additions to the side in lieu of having a few familiar faces depart. Needless to say it was a slightly new look G.F.C. side that took the field on Sunday when the skies opened up for the Summer campaign against perennial Ultra League rivals V-88 F.C...

Click to read more ...

Groundsman of the Year: Lee Jackson

It is the endless battle of man vs. grass that can only be imagined for most of us. Each season the Barclay's Premier League hands out the award to the groundsman who kept his yard in especially good shape. This year, edging out Paul Ashcroft (Arsenal), Darren Baldwin (Tottenham), Jonathan Calderwood (Aston Villa), Lee Jackson took claim for Manchester City's tidy presentation. Aside from keeping the grass green and the lines straight, dealing with the past winter's harsh elements proved little problem for his masterful skills.

How did you become a groundsman?
It was purely by accident to be honest. I did a school project where I had to meet the groundsman at the time, and ask him a few questions. Unfortunately for him, he said that if I was interested in a job, I should stay in touch, I think he just said it out of courtesy and didn’t expect me to get in touch though! As I’m a City fan, I mithered and mithered him until eventually they got sick of me asking them, so they took me on. That was around August 1991. I started as a YTS placement, I was at the bottom of a line of about eight or nine people, and now I’m the Head Groundsman here. We have three Head Groundsmen – one at each training ground as well, and we work under Roy Rigby who’s the Grounds Manager. But we’re all accountable for our own sites, I have a couple of lads here Craig and Gary who help me out with the pitch.

Click to read more ...

Arsenal 2012 'Magic' Kits

Kits that recycle and end trophy droughts sound pretty good to me. I'm still warming up to the new crest, but I like the idea of the heat transfer technology and the classic design reference again. There's no real surprises with it, I'm just hoping we get some interesting new players wearing them by the end of the summer.
[rw]

Nike: The Chance

Videos like this definitely make me realize how old I am, and how slow I am. I never really had the dream of being a professional footballer, but I can imagine the commitment these kids have put into their game. It's not only great that Nike is doing their Academy program, but the way they have documented it and beautifully shot the whole process is brilliant.
[rw]