Arcticterntalk.org

The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world

A Brentford Revival? Maybe or maybe not 


At the end of the day Bees hung on to beat a fairly poor Burton side 2-1. Certainly compared with late this was a better performance but emphasised yet again the critical importance of Scott Hogan to the team. Without him would Brentford have lost 1-0? Who knows. 

The early tempo was much better from Bees against a Burton side that was well organised but lacked a fair bit of basic skill. Their wide players produced some crosses that better teams would have scored from. 

Bees scored following a good pass from Sawyers who had a decent game but in general the midfield fails to protect the defence and win many of the second balls. Yennaris was unconvincing and Bees cry out for a physically dominant midfield player and a few crunching tackles. Hogan was superb and in reality should have had a hat trick and possibly four. 

The failings however came back to haunt Brentford giving away a very soft goal that possibly Bentley might have done better. Barbet looked uncomfortable at left back and it will be no surprise to see Tom Field starting there soon. 

Without pondering on the negatives this was an important 3 points against a Burton team that I expect to be in or near the bottom 3 come end of season. 

Bees need to improve more. To stop giving the ball away cheaply and for the midfield to do a whole lot more including score some goals. But three points are ours and hopefully now we can push on and get something from the next two difficult away games. 

Credit to the small but supportive bunch of Burton fans. They know that their championship road may get closed come end of season 

Differing perceptions of the River Thames at Brentford 


While arriving for a football match at Brentford I was struck by how the views of the excellent street artist saw The Thames at Brentford contrasted with the photos I just took. 

Ciabbata Bread Loaf Ready To Hang on the Wall from Panetteria Italiana Merton


Food sometimes comes in unpredicatable shapes and even an experienced baker was surprised his routine ciabbata came with a picture frame hook ready for hanging on the wall. The best baker in the UK is found at Panetteria Italiana in Merton 6 Merton Hall Rd, Merton, London SW19 3NT0000676200006765

Lunch Menu At The Funeral Directors? 


Not yet convinced about this one 

Basingstoke Football Club for sale on EBay … is it worth only 100 burgers? 


One of the more bizarre football stories this last week. Basingstoke need new investment as the chairman and investor is stepping down at the season end. The club who play in the Southern Premier division have debts of 2 million pounds. To enlighten the world about their being on sale they have placed an advert on EBay. Worryingly after 9 bids the highest offer is £285. Valueing the club at around 100 burgers. Apparently Tranmere did this a while back. ebay

 

My question is not relating to the sanity of selling a football club on eBay but more to how they have got 2 million in debt? This seems fairly poor planning. This equates roughly to needing £4000 from each of their 500 supporters who make up the usual crowd size . 

Gander Green Lane . The Sutton United Football Experience 


As a regular watcher of nonleague football to watch Sutton v Cheltenham in the FA cup second round seemed a reasonable option. Did I enjoy the whole experience? Not really. What went wrong?


Admission was a reasonable £15 and £2.50 bought a fairly average programme mostly full of adverts. 


Sitting in the main stand was not an option as seems all the seats quite reasonably had been ticketed. 


On first sight the ground is an attractive one tucked away about a mile from the town centre and seemingly inserted between park lands on one side and residential housing on the other.  To some extent the ground is covered on each of the four sides. So what went wrong? 


Firstly the standard of the game was poor with one hardly realising that Cheltenham were a professional league two side managed by Gary Johnson who once very successfully managed Latvia. 

Secondly there are huge gaps between the stands and the pitch edge, although some could stand pitchside, but again a huge gap between the pitch side and the actual pitch. This all contributed to far less of an atmosphere than when fans are close to the action. Some of these photographs might convey this large gap. 


Thirdly there were such limited catering and toilet facilities for the crowd of 2200 that if either were needed a long queue was mandatory. I counted around 30 people queuing around 10 minutes before half time at each of the outlets in the Sutton fans section. Without doubt more outlets were needed and Sutton missed out on greater takings. 

Perhaps the most worrying aspect were many of the young fans not even watching the game in the second half and kicking balloons to each other and on benches outside the closed club shop. 

All in all this is a ground I would not rush to return to. 

Football in Black and White. 


Images of football especially of the terraces. When viewed in black and white they can give the impression of football 100 years ago.

Football Photographs From Sutton United 2 Cheltenham 1 . Second round FA cup 2016


Sutton United and Venus 


A moment from Sutton v Cheltenham in the FA cup where Venus can be clearly seen under the crescent moon 

Sundsvall in Sweden. SJ trains. Comfortable and cheap way to travel.


Sundsvall is a small coastal town with a population of around 100,000 in what is described as mid-sweden. 

By train it is about three and a half hours from Stockholm on a comfortable direct SJ express train . With the return journey costing only £90 in first class making it somewhat cheaper than for example an equivalent UK train journey. Curiously when booking online around two weeks previously first class was significantly cheaper than second class. 


The booking process online took minutes and the ticket is sent as a PDF almost immediately. In the first class carriage there was free wifi with high speed for the first 200 mb. Free coffee and cakes . 

Was there anything not to like? Maybe two things that might be improved on. Sweden is hardly a warm country and in early December temperatures generally are around freezing all day. So why make travellers wait until 10 minutes before departure on a freezing cold platform to be allowed to board the train? Secondly the platforms at Sundsvall were badly gritted with patches of black ice widespread. Better gritting or salting would be something to consider. 


On the positive side the stations have superb catering facilities and even the small Sundsvall station had an American style restaurant serving an all you can eat pizza buffet for around £9 with good salads too. An additional £1 gave unlimited soft drinks. 

Train travel in Sweden is well organised and there are always information screens with departure times and platforms. Train for me was not only significantly cheaper but a more pleasant way to get to Sundsvall from Stockholm than by air. And in reality took only a little longer if at all. 

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