Recently I needed a new Bible, and at my favourite Christian bookstore I noticed advertising that said: “The perfect gift for any occasion”

And that got me thinking… Is the Bible really the perfect gift for every occasion?

A Bible is an appropriate gift for weddings, funerals, birthdays, graduations, new haircuts, new jobs, new pets, new hats, first date, first house, first football, first reading lesson, last murder, last breath, last drink, last hiccup… I’m sure the list goes on.

The Bible is a very versatile gift, but I thought of a situation where it isn’t appropriate.

“Hey <insert friends name>, congratulations on memorising the whole bible! I got you a Bible!”

I don’t have one single moment to call my favourite, there were so many. But all those moments were witnessed by the fans, and they made my Russia 2018 experience so memorable.

Everyday I saw fans of all nationalities coming together and supporting their team. Through them I felt every emotion of football, and the overwhelming emotion was joy.

– Mexican fans celebrating like they had won the whole tournament after they beat Germany. And then celebrating with South Koreans a week later.

– Japanese and Senegalese fans staying behind and cleaning the stadium, even after they lost.

– English fans re-engagement with their team bringing it home.

– Argentinean fans and their roller-coaster of emotion in the group stage.

– Croatian pyro parties throughout their run to the final.

– Russian fans finding pride in their team when they feared embarrassment.

They’re the main ones I remember, and that was all at Russia. Before the tournament I saw unfancied Peru qualify for the first time since 1982, Panama and Iceland qualify for the first time, and Australia breathe a huge sigh of relief when they finally booked their ticket.

Of course another huge emotion was despair, surprisingly felt by a number of bigger sides, but still the simple joy of football was always just beneath the tears.

The World Cup is big for football brands, particularly adidas and Nike, and marketing in general.

As official supplier of the World Cup, adidas are always highly visible. The ball, the referees kit, the kids boots, they’re all adidas. Adidas also supply a fair share of the countries kits and boots for the players, their Predator, X and Nemisis stand out and grab attention. Adidas are always front and centre at a World Cup. But all this exposure for one brand, magnifies the lack of advertising from Nike.

Nike are largely muted this World Cup. Usually they release a top quality football film, but they haven’t. Even their most visible products of the World Cup are underwhelming. Their kits haven’t enthused me, the copy and paste template doesn’t show enough respect. And then their ‘Just Do It’ pack of boots is predominately white. You need a second look to know they’re Nike. Certainly not the star of the pitch Nike usually are.

But neither adidas or Nike are my stand-out advertisers. My favourite advertisements come from Wish, with their Time on Your Hands campaign. They got World Class footballers who aren’t in Russia to learn a new skill with all the time they have on their hands. It’s been my highlight of the half-time viewing.

Please, please, please do not ask me, because I always get it wrong.

Here are a few of my World Cup tips:
Germany to win the tournament.
Germany to advance after a first-up defeat.
Peru to beat France.
Serbia to beat Switzerland.
Senegal to go far, Quater Finals and beyond.
Nigeria to beat Argentina.
Spain to comfortably beat Russia.
Mexico to knock out Brazil.

They were all wrong, but it’s still one of the reason I love football.

I am against VAR. I always have been, and this World Cup is not changing my mind.

I’ve seen it used well this World Cup and I’ve been shocked when it hasn’t been used for essentially the same incident. But you probably disagree… And that’s always been one of my main objections to VAR. Everyone can have a different view of the same incident. That will not change, so an extra four referees looking at the same incident will only use four more differing opinions for a decision.

It only takes time and disrupts the flow of the game. You need momentum and pressure to score. It keeps the crowd engaged and on the edge of their seat. I struggle to be on the edge of my seat waiting a minute for an off-the-ball incident to be replayed twenty times.

Some people say now we’ve got cameras looking everything simulation and exaggeration will go from the game, but I disagree. If players know things will be looked at and it will take a minute to judge, slowing down the game and relieving pressure, won’t it get worse?

These are just a couple of issues I have with VAR, and I don’t think they’re going away.

Germany on the attack with Brandt. The substitute with a nice ball to Reus. Gomez is in there. Pulls it back. Over everyone and Germany can’t win it, but it drops to BRANDT!!!

That is one of the cleanest strikes you are ever likely to see! He caught that perfectly and it arrowed into the top corner, Ochoa had no chance!

For all Mexico’s resistance today they’ve been undone by one of the great World Cup goals. The man from Bayern Leverkusen has really made his presence felt since coming on only moments ago. That is the reason why they left Leroy Sane at home.

Brandt was involved in the build up, playing a nice ball to Reus, who moved it on to Gomez. His pull back was over everyone and Kimmich failed to win it on the edge of the area. But it fell to Brandt and he let fly with one of the goals of the tournament! We’ve already seen some worldies, but that one will be talked about for ages.

I hope the scratch on my arm leaves a scar, because then I can tell this story…

A washing basket attacked me!

I was walking around my apartment block when someone yelled, “Look out!” I looked up just in time to see a washing basket falling straight towards me! I manged to get my arm in front of my face just in time.

As I lay on the ground the owner of the washing basket came to my aid and explained. She was hanging out her clothes on the balcony and placed the full basket on the railing, she bumped it and sent it flying towards me.

She took me to the hospital. The doctors were more worried about the bump on my head than the gash on my arm. But after a lot of stitches, many concussion tests and skull x-rays I was allowed to return home.

And that’s how I got this scar.

I just finished reading a book. And until the World Cup starts there is very little to do, so I need to start reading another book.

But what type of book. Another fantasy? I’ve just read three fantasy novels in a row, I’ll definitely read another, but not now. I have plenty of other genre’s to enjoy. Biography? Murder Mystery? Teaching? Football?

I can’t choose a single book to read from my hundreds of books. Instead I narrow it down by the process of elimination. Let’s go through the options.

Football: A football book may lift my excitement for the World Cup. But I doubt it considering I’ve been waiting four years and now IT’S SOO CLOSE!

Teaching: I have a number of unread books about writing sitting on my shelf, and I should read them… But if I read them now I won’t be able to put any of it into practice because IT’S SOOO CLOSE!

Murder Mystery: I love a good murder mystery, I read them straight away. The only unread murder mysteries I have, I’m not sure about. There’s a body, but are the people investigating interesting? I’ve read a few where they’re not. I won’t gamble when IT’S SOOOO CLOSE!

Which leaves only one genre.

Biography: Learning about someone, how they think and what they think is enlightening. I love getting inside someone’s head.

Now, which one? IT’S SOOOOO CLOSE! Eliminate the thick ones, then the football ones. And after that there are only a few options. And the final step is ennie, minnie, minnee, moe. I’ll read that book.

And then… IT’s SOOOOOO CLOSE!

I, like many others, struggle to answer this question. But generally I find the best way to answer this is by trial and error. Let me show you my technique…

To follow along at home you’ll need a knife and a tender surface. I always use my own thigh, that way if the object in question is indeed sharp, the point should impale my thigh. But you can use use someone else’s thigh if you’re unsure.

A knife is the most common sharp object, but I never know where the point is. Here’s how I find out, once you do it yourself you’ll see it’s very simple.

Firstly, grab your knife, it doesn’t matter what end. Grip it firmly and plunge it towards your thigh. If it goes through your flesh and deep into your thigh, then congratulations, you’ve found the point! If not, you probably tried to plunge the wrong end into your thigh. Don’t worry. Turn the knife around and try again!

You can use this technique to find the pointy end on other things too! Like forks, arrows, needles, pins, pencils, letter openers, teeth, scissors, nails… the list goes on.

We’re back!

After 38 games it feels hollow to say we deserved it, even with the opening three months of the season. But the difference this victory makes, means it’s only the beginning.

The players are there to challenge on one front, we know that from the big matches. But now we must invest so we can challenge on all three, and in doing so our league challenge strengthens.

It’s too early to set goals for next season. But a title challenge next season is a minimum requirement.

And a final in Madrid this time next year would be nice.