Search results

It's the best part of sixty years since I attended the game between Villa and Arsenal in December 1964. The game was noteworthy in that it was selected to be shown later that evening on "Match of the Day", a programme that had only begun in August of the same year. Villa won 3-1. A similar...

It starts this evening with a game between the hosts, France, and New Zealand. Much of the commentary so far has been on the imbalance between the two sides of the draw. Of the current ranked top five countries, Ireland, France, South Africa (the holders), Scotland and New Zealand, one cannot...

Meanwhile Penny Mordaunt mangles her metaphors.

Aston Villa will win the FA Cup and Mayo will finally break the curse and bring the Sam Maguire Cup home. Fear will get the knighthood he's been lobbying for. In other news, pigs will be seen flying to celebrate the reopening of Stormont and Boris Johnson will actually pay for a round of drinks...

This article by Paul McGrath was in yesterday's "Irish Independent". Aston Villa – the football club, the fans, the city of Birmingham and, the saintly Graham Taylor – saved my life. If that sounds a little dramatic, it speaks of how my move from Villa steered me away from a darkness that...

Unless this turns into a "Roy of the Rovers" game, this is likely to be a chastening afternoon. Our record against the Abba Dabbadoos at the Ethiad is deplorable. According to the "Irish Times" this morning, it's played 10, lost 10, for 4, against 34. It'd be great to deprive them of winning the...

There is a very interesting article in the "Sunday Times" today. Alas, there's no point giving you a link as it's behind a paywall nor can I give direct quotes as that might result in my being banned by Lord Fear or Baron Field. The premise though is that we may be witnessing the demise of the...

We've done something like this before but it's been a while and we've quite a few "new" (or "newish") members. So - my own story to kick off. In the mid 1950s, like many other Irishmen of his generation, my Dad moved to England to work. After a while my Mum and sister went over (which is why our...

Today is National Poetry Day in the UK. (I know, I don’t live in the UK now but I was born there and have spent around half my life in various parts of Northern Ireland and England.) Here’s one from the great Belfast-born poet, John Hewitt. An Irishman in Coventry A full year since, I took...

I saw this article in today's IRISH INDEPENDENT. He'd certainly get into the all-time best ever Villa team but might Paul McGrath be our best ever player? It is one of the great regrets of a lifetime in football that I never got to manage Paul McGrath. He left St Patrick’s Athletic a couple of...

Hope springs eternal - it's been 1996 since we last won this - and the journey starts at Gresty Road on Tuesday night. Surely we'll win this one? It's a chance for some of those who warmed the bench on Friday evening to shine - I'd like to see both Hourihane and Lansbury in action.

It all starts rumbling on Friday evening in Paris with France taking on Wales. And then there's the BIG one - Ireland v England at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. Ireland are favourites both for that game and the Championship. That's probably about right but, on a given day, anyone of five teams can...

I hadn't ever heard of him till six minutes and fifteen seconds ago. Welcome to the Villa, young fellow.

Well, they've certainly stolen the soul of football in England so I thought you might be interested to get a sense of what's happening on this side of the Irish Sea. Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp was one of my favourite Liverpool players as a young girl, but he won't be featuring on my list...

Now this is THE BIG ONE! If we were to win, not only would be keep up the pressure on both Cardiff and Fulham, it would start to put doubts in the minds of our Black Country neighbours. As of now, they are just 3 points ahead of Cardiff (might be 6 after tomorrow of course). But why shouldn't...

A Dublin father-of-three is set to marry his 85-year-old friend of almost 30 years after the pair agreed that it was the best way for a house to be passed on without incurring a hefty inheritance tax bill. Both men spoke to Liveline on RTE1 Radio today, explaining that while they were not gay...

You know, I think we might nick this one 1-0 or 2-1.

I'll start the ball rolling. When at school, I appeared in a film made with my classmates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CkJoh6xz0Q I'm the schoolteacher.

Imagine my astonished surprise when sitting down to dinner the other evening with a group of assorted clerics to find myself seated opposite our great leader! Yes, the amazing truth can now be told that Jonathan Fear has another life. He is also Doctor Laurence Graham, the President of the...

Jack is our 21 year old grandson, he has autism and he has written his first book. I've read it and it's excellent (in my totally unbiased opinion). A quick plot summary - "Dr Chapeau de Guerre’s Institute for Special Robotics is a summer school for teenagers with autism. But there’s something...