Saturday, 18 December 2010

Everything's A-Changin'

New name. New template. New start.

I got bored, already. So let's see how this all works.

From January, we'll be launching 'General Musings of an Idiot' - all a bit of a giggle and a joke, but let's see what we can create.

Fancy it? Because, let's face it, everyone can be an idiot.

Friday, 10 December 2010

Deadlines - Who'd Have 'Em?!

For the third time in as many posts, I apologise profusely for the length of time between posts. All shall become apparent mind you.

As you can tell by what's written in blue at the top of all this, this is all about deadlines. So, naturally, I've got one right now - I have to have this written, typed, checked and uploaded by 10:35 to make sure I can watch the telly. Amazing.

This week has just been a week of deadlines though - have had loads. And you forget how big a drain that is. You may think you have loads of time - as I have been, but bloody hell, it must play on your sub-conscience. I had the HBS newspaper to finish by Monday, the primary school newspaper I've organised to build and complete for Wednesday, my Media coursework is all due in next Friday. I've also had homework, and have been doing 12-hour days from leaving the house to getting home for the past 6 days. It's been tough.

But we got there. I personally think I have a great skill with time management - I can always manage to get things handed in on time, or done by a specific point, at a standard that I find acceptable. This week, though, it's just got more and more difficult. I know I'm exhausted and worn-out, and I've also been diagnosed with stress - cheers doctors. But everything has been sorted.

But why do we have to have deadlines? I know it's all about time-management, but surely if you're given a deadline, you get it done for that point, rather than have constant checks along the way and then have someone breathing down your neck until it's done? Or am I missing something?

Been like that all week - if I say it will be done for the deadline, it will be. I'm a man who prides himself on his word, not someone who will tell you one thing then just do the polar opposite.

I know I've just had an anonymous rant - you'll realise that actually, that tends to happen in my life. But hey, life's not all flowers and roses.....

Saturday, 4 December 2010

FIFA Beef

I've meant to blog about this for a wee while. It was all announced on Thursday, but now it's all sunk in, I think it's about time I wrote a little something.

As we all know now, it's ended up with Russia 2018, and Qatar 2022. There's been a hell of a lot of uproar over all of this, but I'm actually quite happy with the result. It sticks to FIFA's plans of revitalising football-deprived areas. And Qatar's plan of demolishing parts of the stadia and donating them to third world countries is brilliant.

But, as a member of the British public, I've been inundated with the press and the media slagging off all the bids, complaining that we didn't win, and all that jazz. This is what we always do. Had we not won the 2012 Olympics, we'd have probably withdrawn from the IOC. It's just what we do.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of Sepp Blatter in the world - he does a lot of stuff for himself, rather than for the good of football. Yeah, he's probably been promised a lot of stuff to push through Russia and Qatar, but so what? If they believe it is the best bid, then fine by me. If it goes wrong, on his head be it.

But is that what has lost us the bid in the first place? Yeah, we had all the stadia in place, and the best transport links and stuff, but it's everything else that comes with it. The media in the UK just don't leave you alone. Look at the Panorama programme from earlier in the week.

We out some of the FIFA Executive Committee members as cheats - taking bungs and a shedload of money for their bid votes. We whine and moan, and try and woo them back over by sending Wills, Dave and Becks. It doesn't work, so we start resigning our positions at the FA and say we won't big again until FIFA is reformed. We're just stupid sometimes.

We should be embracing football. Investing in grassroots to ensure we still have the best players in the world in 10 years time. Not paying foreign managers £6m a year to manage a bunch of egotistical idiots for 10 games a year, at best.

We, as a footballing nation, need to have a good look at ourselves before criticising the big guys. Get a decent, and more importantly, stable infrastructure there to make sure that when we bid again, we walk in. And then, when we hold the World Cup, we prove that the inventors of the game truly are the greatest in the world.