They Think It's All Over - For Palace It Very Nearly Is !

Crystal Palace Football Club are on the brink of being wound-up, but its prospective owners have appealed to new British Prime Minister David Cameron to step in and stop the club's demise.

Consortium 'CPFC 2010,' a group headed by local businessmen who want to buy the Championship club said in a statement today (Monday) that unless they can complete a deal to buy the Club by 3pm on Tuesday, the club would go into liquidation and Agilo, the hedge fund which put Palace into administration in January will sell the players to get their money back.

The sticking point has been over the purchase of Selhurst Park which is under the control of separate administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers, who are selling the ground on behalf of Bank of Scotland.

There is an issue over a clause that would see the bank receive further money if the ground was sold on in the future for something like housing.

Although a deal had appeared to be imminent, a sticking point arose because one set of administrators are working with the consortium, and another are working on behalf of the Government-owned Bank of Scotland, who own the club's Selhurst Park ground, and are its major creditor.

'CPFC 2010' have appealed to the Prime Minister, whose new coalition government is committed to sport, to step in and prevent the Bank of Scotland overseeing its demise.

A statement from 'CPFC 2010' read:

"As we sit today the future of Crystal Palace hangs in the balance and is very much in the hands of a person in a bank whom we have never met and, it seems, we are not allowed to speak to.
We note the new government's commitment to sport, particularly sport in the community. Bank of Scotland is currently government owned.
As such we would urge the new Prime Minister to intervene personally to resolve the situation or see a club supported by many thousands, and with a 100-year history, consigned to the scrapheap."

Palace's administrator Brendan Guilfoyle told Sky Sports News:

"I'm millions of pounds behind, staff weren't paid on Friday and a number were made redundant, others were asked to carry on working for nothing and it's not a situation I can allow to continue for long. So I've got to start selling players, and if I do that the indications are that the consortium 'CPFC 2010' will withdraw.
Since they are the only party willing to acquire the club then there is a distinct possibility that once I've sold the players I'll have to walk away and let the liquidation process continue."

About nothing in particular

Breathe in, breathe out.
Breathe in, breathe out.
May is at an end and it was a doozy.
June is upon us and it's gonna be crazy.
Vodka beer vodka beer,
Some cognac in between but mostly beer.
And some traveling as well to do,
From Bali to Singapore to München and maybe Vienna too.
But first a lot of work to be done,
Some movies to watch and then some.
WORK WORK WORK SLOG SLOG SLOG
No time to waste on this silly thing called a blog
Oh who am I kidding I'll still update anyway,
If not you can follow me as I tweet merrily away.
Excuse me while I get back to work here.
(Hmm, or maybe I'll just go get a beer...)

Congratulations to England's Under-17's - UEFA European Champions 2010.

England skipper Conor Coady lifts the the European Championship trophy

England's Under-17's were today crowned European Football Champions for the first time, after a 2-1 victory over their Spanish counterparts in Liechtenstein.

Spain, Under-17 champions twice in the last three years dominated opening proceedings and took the lead in the 22nd minute at the Rheinpark Stadium.

England rallied and were level just eight minutes later when Liverpool's Andre Wisdom headed Josh McEachran's corner past Spanish keeper Adrian Ortolá.

Ipswich forward Connor Wickham was in outstanding form and gave England the lead after 42 minutes, beating three defenders as he cut into the box before giving Ortolá no chance with a cool finish.

Spain were pushing hard to equalise, but tournament top scorer Paco was frustrated in his attempt to add to his six goals.

Wickham could have put his side even further ahead in the second half, but there were no further goals as England held on for a first age-group title since England hosted and won the UEFA Under-18 European Championships in 1993.

England manager John Peacock said afterwards: "It means a lot to the English game. We've obviously got our critics that we are not producing players. We have produced many, many good players from this tournament, we are producing good players back in England. What is missing was a final where we could put our name to a trophy, hopefully we won't have to wait 17 years for another one."

Now can the England senior squad go on and lift the World Cup in South Africa this summer, and put English football firmly back on the map?

Samantha

Photography by : Mumtaz Maricar
Digital Enhancement : Diamond Fangs

Arse About Face - World Cup Hair To Die For!

A hairdresser is a universal term referring to someone whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair colouring, haircutting and hair texture techniques.
Some barbers prefer to see themselves as hairdressers or hairstylists.
In fact, barbers can cut hair, trim beards, colour, perm, provide facials, and shave. Today, barbers and stylists may be found working side by side in establishments known as male salons. Male salons have afforded the barber the opportunity to remain traditional in all aspects of the term, yet also progressively contemporary as fashion and trends evolve.

In the dock and charged with crimes against football, in this case for attempting and failing to carry off the role of a fashion icon are:

Defendant One: Ronaldo (Brazil) seen at the 2002 World Cup in Japan & South Korea sporting this cataclysmic faux pas.....

Defendant Two: Carles Puyol (Spain) a repeat offender - seen firstly at the 2002 World Cup in Japan & South Korea and again at the 2006 World Cup in Germany sporting this cataclysmic faux pas.....

Defendant Three: Alexis Lalas (USA) seen at the 1994 World Cup in the United States sporting this cataclysmic faux pas.....

Defendant Four: Carlos Valderrama (Columbia) seen at the 1990 World Cup in Italy sporting this cataclysmic faux pas.....

Defendant Five: Roberto Baggio (Italy) seen at the 1994 World Cup of in the United States sporting this cataclysmic faux pas.....

The Shittiest Coffee Liqueur In The World

If you didn't know already, I actually have a column in the paper now about liquor, spirits and beer (basically everything to do with alcohol, EXCEPT for wine); and this week's story was about coffee liqueurs. In that article, I mentioned four brands - Illyquore, Kahlua, Sheridan's and Tia Maria.

What I DID NOT mention was that I also had a FIFTH bottle of coffee liqueur (if you could call it that) at home that I COULD NOT write about in the paper.

Behold.... The one, the only... er.... COFFEE BUCKS coffee 'likeur'!



I spied this on a shelf while shopping for er... fruits in Miri, and was intrigued. A locally-made coffee liqueur? And for only FIVE BUCKS? So I decided to buy a bottle just to see what it was like.

As expected, it was pretty shite.



Claiming to have 20% ABV, this 'Coffee Bucks' thingy tasted more like a mixture of turpentine and really bad tuak. If there was any coffee in it, it was probably made from the residue coffee grounds taken from kopitiams around Miri...

And don't even ask me how it tasted in cocktails or in coffee.. I wasn't gonna spoil my coffee or cocktails with THIS shit. In fact, after that initial sip of it neat, I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth for AGES....

Brilliantly, it was also bottled in a recycled Tsing Tao Beer bottle...



If the price and blatantly ripped-off name didn't warn you off this shit already, that bottle should. Now excuse me while I go use it to clean my toilets...

Warning. Very Bad Sands Within Dagger. Do Not Push This Freakin' Button.

Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
Not a Review.
Saw this like two WEEKS ago.
Now only got time to not review it WTF.
Oh well, better late than never...
Besides, it's only opening this week anyway...




Holy cow, the action actually IS like the video game!
All that jumping here and there,
Climb here climb there,
It's really like a platform game!
And for once, a video game movie doesn't suck!
Now I feel like playing the game.



Ok, it's not great, but still great fun.
Kinda like Pirates of the Caribbean,
But without Jack Sparrow.
The action's pretty good though.
Even if some parts are a bit OTT.
Typical Bruckheimer lah.



Most girls I've spoken to loved this movie.
Why? Because of Jake Gyllenhaal of course.
He spends most of the movie flexing his muscles.
One girl actually gave it extra star just because of him.
Good grief.



Oooh Gemma Arteton.
Cleavage rating 7.5.
Not as annoying here as in Clash Of The Titans.
At least she's actually relevant to the story here.
And I have to say, her chemistry with Jake was not bad.
And she doesn't spend the whole movie wrapped up in a bathrobe.
They even found her a reason to dress up in a gold bikini!
Woot!




BTW, since when did Persians speak in British accents?
(Then again, they never spoke English anyway, so that's alright)
And why got one Persian guy look like Eomer wan?
Another one of them even looks like Gandhi.
Oh wait a minute...


(Use the Force, Jake...)

Hassansins? Really?
That's the worse 'Persianising' of an English word EVER.
And why doesn't that dagger come with a warning?
Like: "DON'T PUSH THE RED BUTTON
OR RISK THE WRATH OF GODS RAINING DOWN UPON YOU"
Then again, people will probably just push the damn button anyway...


("Do.. Not.. Push.. This.. Button..." *pushes button*)

The 2009/10 European Domestic League's Winners and Losers, and the Top Scorers

English Premier League:
Winners: Chelsea
Runners-Up - Manchester United
Relegated - Hull City, Burnley, Portsmouth.
Top scorers: Didier Drogba (Chelsea 29 goals), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd 26), Darren Bent (Sunderland 24).

Italy Serie A :
Winners - Inter Milan
Runners-Up - Roma
Relegated - Atalanta Bergamo, AC Siena, AS Livorno.
Top scorers: Antonio Di Natale (Udinese 29 goals), Diego Milito (Inter 22), Fabrizio Miccoli (Palermo 19), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria 19).

Spanish La Liga:
Winners - Barcelona

Runners-Up - Real Madrid

Relegated - Valladolid, Tenerife, Xerez CD.

Leading scorers: Lionel Messi (Barcelona 34 goals), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid 27), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid 26), David Villa (Barcelona 21).

German Bundesliga:
Winners - Bayern Munich
Runners-Up - Schalke 04
Relegated: Bochum, Hertha Berlin.
Top scorers: Edin Dzeko (Vfl Wolfsburg 22 goals), Stefan Kiessling (Bayern Leverkusen 21), Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund 19).

French Ligue 1 League Table:
Winners - Olympique Marseille
Runners-Up - Lyon
Relegated - Le Mans, Boulogne-Sur-Mer, Grenoble.
Top scorers: Mamadou Niang (O.Marseille 18 goals), Kevin Gameiro (Lorient 17), Lisandro Lopez (Lyon 15), Mevlut Erdinc (PSG 15).

Dutch Eredivisie League Table:
Winners - Twente Enschede
Runners-Up - Ajax Amsterdam
Relegated - Sparta Rotterdam, Willem II Tilburg, Rkc Waalwijk
Top Scorers: Luis Suarez (Ajax 35 goals), Bryan Ruiz (Twente 24),Mads Junker (Roda 21).

Portuguese Liga Sagres League Table:
Winners: Benfica
Runners-Up - Sporting Braga
Relegated - Belenenses Lissabon, Leixoes SC.
Top scorers: Oscar Cardoza (Benfica 26 goals), Radamel Falcao Garcia (Porto 25),Liedson (Sporting CP 13).

Danish SAS Ligaen League Table:
Winners - FC Copenhagen
Runners-Up - Odense BK
Relegated - Aarhus GF, HB Køge.
Top Scorers - Peter Utaka (Odense 18 goals), Tim Janssen (Esbjerg 15), Dame N'Doye (FC Copenhagen 14).

Greek Super League Table:
Winners - Panathinaikos FC
Runners-Up - Olympiakos Pireus
Relegated - Pae Levadeiakos, Pas Giannina, Panthrakikos.
Top Scorers - Djibril Cisse (Panathinaikos 17 goals), Giorgos Barkoglou (Levadiakos 11), Javier Campora (Aris 11), Victoras Lacob (Iraklis 11).

Austrian Bundesliga League Table:
Winners - FC Red Bull Salzburg
Runners-Up - Austria Wien
Relegated - SC Austria Kelag Kärnten
Top scorers: Steffen Hoffman (SK Rapid 20 goals), (Roman Wallner LASK Linz 19), Marco Janko (FC Red Bull Salzburg 18).

Photography by : Mumtaz Maricar
Digital Enhancement : Diamond Fangs

`-` paris hilton in pink `-`

Could the USA really threaten England in South Africa? - 2010 World Cup Betting News with Betfred

V.

With England due to kick-off their 2010 World Cup campaign three weeks today, the hype about this summer's World Cup is well and truly underway, and you can't move for adverts in support of our national team. However one football expert reckons Fabio Capello's side face a tricky task early on in the competition.

England, who are third favourites in the World Cup 2010 betting, face the USA in Rustenburg in their opening game on June 12th. The Three Lions are well-fancied to win this clash at 1/2 with Betfred, while the Americans are 5/1 to cause a shock.

One man who thinks it may not be so easy for England is Sir Alex Ferguson, who thinks the USA have a "very good chance at qualifying", which could see some punters seeing the Americans to win Group C at 5/1 as a reasonable shout.

The Manchester United manager said there are a number of players in Bob Bradley's squad who are more than capable of springing a surprise on opposition defences in South Africa.

"I don't think they're going to be overwhelmed with the atmosphere of the World Cup, the importance of the World Cup, the intensity," Ferguson said.

"I think that will be easy for them. I think they'll be used to that. Those players have that, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey. Dempsey has had a great season in England this year."

He added: "They are very athletic, they apply themselves very well, and are difficult to play against."

England and the USA, the two favourites to progress from Group C, also have to play Slovenia and Algeria. The eastern European nation failed to clock up a point in their only other World Cup appearance in 2002, while the African side also have a poor record in the tournament. They are 15/8 and 10/3 respectively to make it through to the second round, something I can't see happening.

Remember, this is the same USA side that is ranked 14 in the world and made it into the final of the Confederations Cup last summer, beating Spain on the way and giving Brazil a real game in the final. So not only should they make it out of the group, but they could go even further - the online betting makes them 20/1 shots to be knocked out in the semis.


My Opening Tip of the Tournament:

England and USA to qualify from Group C at 4/5 with Betfred, while England at 3/1 to get knocked out in the quarter-finals should also be considered by those punters seeking value.

England v United States - Saturday 12th June, kick-off 7.30pm, live on the ITV.
England v Algeria - Friday 18th June, kick-off 7.30pm, live on the ITV.
England v Slovenia - Wednesday 23rd June, kick-off 3pm, live on the BBC.

By Drew Swainston
(Guest writer from Betfred on behalf of Beer Footy and Birds!)

Close Encounter With The Son Of A Legend

Yesterday, I went for an interview with a couple of actors. I thought it would be a fairly routine interview, with the same old questions "How was it like working on the movie" "What does your character do" "Did you flirt with the lead actress" kinda shit.

Then while I was waiting for the interview outside the room, a frail looking old man came out and sat next to me quietly on the couch. So there we were, sitting quietly there not saying a word. I had no idea who he was, for all I know he was just some random old guy with a bodyguard.

After a few minutes, the PR girl came over and invited BOTH of us into the room. That was when I realized who he was:



See those three people with me? The hot chick's name is Rose Chan, and she's pretty much unknown right now (she was nice and sweet and very talkative - a sure sign she's still new and still not jaded from years of reporters questions). The guy on the far right you might recognise: he's Louis Fan Siu-Wong (樊少皇), that Kam Shan Zhao (金山找) guy from IP MAN 1 and 2 (you know, the dude whom Ip Man beat up with a feather duster...).

And that old guy in front of me? That's Ip Man's REAL LIFE SON Ip Chun (葉準).

All three of them were in town to promote the upcoming movie THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN (葉問前傳), a sort of prequel to the first two movies, starring Ip Chun's real-life Wing Chun student Dennis To as a teenage Ip Man; and will be released on 24 June.

Yes, I know, this movie coming out so soon after Ip Man 2 DOES smack a little of striking the iron while it's hot and milking the franchise dry, but one thing is for sure - the fighting in this new movie should be fucking awesome. Why? Because EVERYBODY is fighting using Wing Chun, and not just Ip Man alone.

Another reason to watch it - Ip Chun (who wasn't even born yet during the period this movie is set in) will be playing one of Ip Man's three Wing Chun teachers. Yup, the real Ip Chun will be playing the master of his father Ip Man, who is played by one of Ip Chun's real students. Geddit?

But more on the movie when I not review it later. For now, Im a little upset that I sat next to Ip Chun all that time and never once tried to talk to him. If I'd known he'd be there, I'd have asked for an individual interview to grill him about his father. Sigh...

Oh well, at least I got that picture....


----------------------
(Update, 11am)

Ooooh, I just found out that I WILL have a chance to interview Ip Chun tomorrow after all. Quick, tell me: If YOU had a chance to talk to the son of the legendary Ip Man, what would YOU ask?

The Latest World Cup News

Italy coach Marcello Lippi has dropped Juventus defender Fabio Grosso and Udinese midfielder Antonio Candreva from his World Cup squad ahead of a training camp this weekend and two warm up matches.
Grosso, 32 was a pivotal player for Italy in their World Cup success four years ago, while Candreva who made his international debut last November also misses out, after failing to shine in a poor Juventus side - ESPN Soccernet

Marcell Jansen remains on course to shake off a foot injury in time to make Germany's World Cup squad.
The Hamburg defender has been named in Joachim Low's 27-man preliminary party and is making is making encouraging progress, despite having been sidelined with the problem since March - Skysports.com

The Ghana Football Association says German midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has been cleared to play for them.
This means the 23-year-old Portsmouth midfielder will be available to line up for the Black Stars at this summer's World Cup in South Africa.
Boateng was named in Black Stars coach Milovan Rajevac's 30-man squad for the finals despite the delay in his application to switch nationality - BBC Sport

Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk has trimmed his provisional World Cup squad from 30 to 27 players.
PSV Eindhoven forward Otman Bakkal and midfielders Wout Brama (FC Twente) and David Mendes Da Silva (AZ Alkmaar) were all omitted.
Earlier in the week, van Marwijk omitted former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy from his 30-man squad admitting he had doubts over his injuries - BBC Sport

Argentina coach Diego Maradona named a 23-man squad on Wednesday ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, dropping seven players from the provisional list named last week.
The seven men cut from the provisional squad are Newcastle defender Fabricio Coloccini, Newell's Old Boys defender Juan Manuel Insaurralde, Jose Sosa of Estudiantes, Olympiakos midfielder Jesus Datolo, Napoli forward Ezequiel Lavezzi, Lanus' Sebastian Blanco and Juan Mercier of Argentinos Juniors - Fifa.com

Brazil midfielder Kaka claims that he will be ready for the start of the World Cup, having struggled with form and fitness throughout the season for Real Madrid.
Kaka endured a groin problem and a thigh injury through parts of the season and he was the subject of criticism for the length of time it took him to get over the injuries, but now maintains he will be in peak condition for the World Cup - ESPN Soccernet

Gordon Banks believes David James should start in goal for England this summer, even though he has not been the most consistent performer in that position. The goalkeeper for England's World Cup-winning side of 1966 said that while Joe Hart had enjoyed the most impressive season and Robert Green had played well in a struggling side, experience would be a vital asset in South Africa - The Guardian

Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen is confident about winning his fitness race for the World Cup.
The Stoke City shot-stopper thought he had blown his chances of featuring in South Africa after dislocating his elbow in the Premier League loss at Chelsea on 25th April.
But the Dane is now 'very optimistic' he will be ready for his country's opening Group E match against Holland on 14th June - Skysports.com

What The Shrek, This Ain't Too Bad!

Shrek Forever After
Not a Review
Aka. Shrek 4
Not too bad actually.
Actually MUCH MUCH MUCH better than the last one
More to the spirit of the first one,
All the way down to the shorty villain.
It's entertaining, but not great.
Looks like Toy Story 3 is DEFINITELY gonna win the smackdown.



Shrek 1 was awesome.
It was fresh, funny, and great fun.
Shrek 2 was not bad,
It was still funny and fun, and there was Puss in Boots!
Shrek 3 was just AWFUL.
Too many tired old spoofs, and recycled jokes.
Like flogging a dead donkey.



Shrek 4? Much better.
Somewhere in between Shrek 1 and 2.
At least this time they didn't overload on the spoofs,
And rely on all those lazy and boring pop culture references.
Oh they still had some here and there,
But it wasn't as lazy and constant as Shrek 3
This time there was actually a decent story!
Can't get over the waffle deux ex machina though WTF.



Even Donkey wasn't as annoying this time around.
Ok, he WAS still annoying sometimes,
But more Shrek 1 annoying than Shrek 3 annoying.
And Puss in Boots is still awesome.
Shrek is still the same though.
He's got to be the hardest-to-like animated lead character EVER.



Overall, not too bad,
I expected it to be bad, but it wasn't
But not as good as How To Train Your Dragon.
Nice touch during the credits though,
Adding scenes from the previous films in it.
Wah quite nostalgic also!
Made me wanna watch Shrek 1 all over again...