SPAOTP's Advent Calendar: Day 22

For Day 22 of our Advent Calendar, we take you back to the mid-1970's for one of the biggest football matches of the decade.

Not the European Cup Final, not even the World Cup Final, but something of far more significance - live from the Olympic Stadium, Munich.

And so now we take you over to our commentator for the match - the BBC's Michael Palin...



Answers to Day 21 Quiz:

1) Hamburg
2) "of the ticket."
3) The Road Runner
4) Gary Lineker
5) Scotland

12 Days of Football Christmas #12

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

12 Derby 'Drubbings'

We return to where we started - with a Derby County related post - this time for the 12 biggest defeats for Derby County this Premier League season.

Liverpool 0-6 (A)
West Ham United 0-5 (H)
Arsenal 0-5 (A)
Tottenham Hotspur 0-4 (A)
Manchester United 1-4 (A)
Aston Villa 0-2 (A)
Everton 0-2 (H)
Chelsea 0-2 (H)
Birmingham City 1-2 (H)
Reading 0-1 (A)
Sunderland 0-1 (A)
Manchester City 0-1 (A)

"And that's a wrap" as they say. Not quite sure who 'they' are nor where 'they' say it but say it they do.

Which just leaves us to wish you all a Merry Christmas and if we don't see you beforehand, a Happy New Year too.

Anyone for stuffing?!??

Chris and Smart

12 Days of Football Christmas #11

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me

11 Players 'Piping'

Smoking related player names

Matt Piper [Southampton]
Ashley Cole [Chelsea]
Nicky Butt [Manchester United]
Alan Stubbs [Everton]
Craig Fagan [Derby]
Dmitar Berbatov [Tottenham Hotspur]
Paul Benson [Dagenham & Redbridge]
Ian Hedges [Forest Green]
Paul Lambert [Celtic]
Thomas Butler [Swansea City]
Russell Coughlin [Torquay]

12 Days of Football Christmas #10

On the 10th Day of Football Christmas my true love gave to me

10 Managers Managing

Managers who havent seen the axe wielding Chairman for quiet a while...

Dario Gradi, Crewe Alexandra, 24 years, 187 days
Alex Ferguson, Manchester United, 21 years, 44 days
Graham Turner, Hereford United, 12 years, 141 days
Arsène Wenger, Arsenal, 11 years, 80 days
John Coleman, Accrington Stanley, 8 years, 132 days
David Moyes, Everton, 5 years, 280 days
Martin Ling, Leyton Orient, 4 years, 84 days
Steve Coppell, Reading, 4 years, 72 days
Steve Tilson, Southend United, 4 years, 31 days
Paul Fairclough, Barnet, 3 years, 265 days

12 Days of Football Christmas #9

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

9 Players Dancing

Our top nine players who can dance... our at least they think they can dance...

1. Roger 'The Legend' Milla (Cameroon)




2. Bas Savage (Brighton)




3. Peter Crouch (England)




4. Kevin Prince Boateng (Hertha Berlin)




5. Jerzy Dudek (Liverpool)




6. Didier 'Dosey-doe' Drogba




7. Ronaldo (Real Madrid)




8. Ronaldinho (Brazil)




9. Adebayor (Arsenal)




It could be worse... it could be the American Footballer Chad Johnson




Sol Campbell eat your heart out.

12 Days of Football Christmas #8

On the eigth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

8 Players 'Milking it'

Players who 'Milk it' for varying reasons, though most are due to a lack of shame and pride.

Warning : The following footage is rather embarrassing especially when you consider how much they earn for their 'Sportsmanship'

1. Rivaldo
Oooo my face...


2. Henry
Oooo my face... - part deux


3. Steven Gerrard
Penalty... not!


4. Winston Bogarde
After a severe lack of first-team action Winston Bogarde decided to stay at Chelsea honouring his contract to the letter as he could not get a similar salary anwhere else. During his four year contract for Chelsea he only appeared eleven times reportedly earning £40,000 a week during this period.

You wont be suprised to hear Winston hasn't found a club to play for and if you want to know what Winston isn't upto these days, check out http://www.icons.com/WB/

5. Cristiano Ronaldo
Don't cry - you've been given plenty of penalties before.


6. Didier Drogba
Classy...


7. Didier Zokora
Ere, is that Lee Harvey Oswald is in seat 138..?


8. Fabregas
Enjoy the trip...

12 Days of Football Christmas #7

On the seventh Day of Christmas my true love gave to me...


7 Swansea Legends
Just over half a dozen players that wore the white shirt with pride for Swansea City...

Ivor Allchurch, 1947-1958, 1965-68
164 goals from 445 games

Wilfe Milne, 1920-37
586 league games

Reg Weston, 1946-52
229 league games

Alan Curtis, 1972-1979, 1980-1983, 1989-90
95 goals from 359 league games

Mel Charles, 1952-59
66 goals from 233 league games

Bob Latchford, 1981-84
35 goals from 87 league games

Joe Allen, 2007-?
17-year old Welsh Under-21 International

12 Days of Football Christmas #6

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me...


6 Geezers Saying
A small selection of ill-thought out utterances from football commentators, pundits and players

"Playing with wingers is more effective against European sides like Brazil than English sides like Wales"
Ron Greenwood

"Bobby Gould thinks I'm trying to stab him in the back. In fact I'm right behind him"
Stuart Pearson

"I wouldn't be surprised if this game went all the way to the finish"
Ian St John

"A tremendous strike which hit the defender full on the arm - and it nearly came off"
Kevin Keegan

"He dribbles a lot and the opposition don't like it - you can see it all over their faces"
Ron Atkinson

"....and the news from Guadalajara where the temperature is 96 degrees, is that Falcao is warming up."
Brian Moore

12 Days of Football Christmas #5

On the fifth day of Christmas, etc etc...

5 Gold Kits

Barnet
A classic off the shoulder number as worn by... some bloke.


Arsenal
The Gunners change strip as worn by Barcelona star Terry Henry.


Spurs
Berbatov in action, wearing the Spurs Old Gold kit. Do not adjust your set...


Wolves
The classic Wolves kit as modelled by 'The Headless Man of the Black Country'. My wife takes holiday snaps like this too... (and is available for Weddings and Funerals at reasonable rates)


Australia
The Amber Nectar kit, which has the letters 'POHM' across the back. He's a good player apparently.


Just a quick poll. Put your circle in the box, click vote and watch what happens!

My favourite Gold kit from the festive selection really and truly is...
	Barnet
	Arsenal
	Spurs
	Wolves
	Australia
Free polls from Pollhost.com

12 Days of Football Christmas #4

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...

4 Scoring Birds

Marta (Brazil)
Despite being on the losing side in the Womens World Cup Final 2007, 21 year old Marta had plenty of consolation in collecting the Golden Ball and adidas Golden Shoe awards as the tournament's best player and top goalscorer respectively.


Birgit Prinz (Germany)
A hat-trick against Argentina, on the score-sheet against Japan and a goal in the World Cup final against Brazil proved to be a good tournament for Birgit, who has scored 115 goals for her country making her one of the greatest markswomen the world has ever seen.


Abby Wambach (USA)
Athletic Abby, seen here scoring a cracker against Sweden, also scored against Korea DPR, England and twice against Norway in the 2007 World Cup third place play-off. The No20 picked up the 'Silver Shoe' award for her six goals and one assist.



Ragnhild Gulbrandsen (Norway)
30 year old Ragnhild opened Norway's tournament account against Canada, and was on target again the 1-1 draw with Australia before bagging a fine hat-trick in the 7-2 win over Ghana

12 Days of Football Christmas #3

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...

3 French '10's'

Arguably the most prestigous shirt number a player can wear has to be the number 10. With the French National team, however, there is no arguement - it's a fact.

According to Monsieur Platini, "The street is the best way to become a good footballer." Well, if the video evidence below is anything to go by perhaps more footballers should start off as prostitutes.

Until then, we leave you in the more than capable 'feet' of Sidney Govou, Zinadine Zidane and of course Michel Platini.

Pick the bones out of this christmas footballing feast...

12 Days of Football Christmas #2

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...

2 Fertile Gloves
OK folks, here's the rub: There are twenty teams in the Premier League and each one has a regularly playing goalkeeper. Some are better than others, but most are likely to trigger off a reaction with you, be it good, bad or bewildering.

So here's what we need to establish. Which one is the best in the Premier League and what do you think of the others?

To tackle the first part of that equation, we'd like you to use the following online voting facility to tell us the goalkeeper you think's best. At this stage we're loathe to remind you that we don't want you to automatically pick the goalkeeper of the team you support, as that achieves nothing. Choose the one you like most, then check the results page to see how many other people agree with you.

Who do you think is the best Premier League goalkeeper?
	Almunia (Arsenal)
	Carson (Aston Villa)
	Taylor (Birmingham)
	Friedel (Blackburn)
	Jaaskelainen (Bolton)
	Cech (Chelsea)
	Bywater (Derby)
	Howard (Everton)
	Niemi (Fulham)
	Reina (Liverpool)
	Isaksson (Man City)
	Van Der Sar (Man United)
	Schwarzer (Middlesbro)
	Given (Newcastle)
	James (Portsmouth)
	Hahnemann (Reading)
	Gordon (Sunderland)
	Robinson (Tottenham)
	Green (West Ham)
	Kirkland (Wigan)
Free polls from Pollhost.com

With regard to the second part, we want you to give your opinion of any of the goalkeepers listed but in no more than three words. So for instance, if you wanted to express your view on Jens Lehmann, you might leave us a comment that says 'German bench warmer' or 'Highly capable player.' The choice is yours.

Right, that's it. Consider yourself briefed. Off you go and the very best of luck to you...

12 Days of Football Christmas #1

With Christmas starting to appear on the horizon, Some People Are On The Pitch would like to ease you into the festive season with our very own 12 Days of Football Christmas. Each day we'll be presenting you with a little seasonal gift in the form of something quirky, fun and interesting - in fact all the things that your childhood Christmas presents weren't, more than likely.

So let's begin, then, shall we? Clear your throats now... ahem... "On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me..."

A Sturridge in a Pear Tree
Your essential profile of five interesting facts about former Premiership footballer, Dean Sturridge.

Fact 1:
Dean Strurridge reached the peak of his fame while playing for Derby between 1991 and 2001.

Fact 2:
As well as Derby County, our Dean has also played for Torquay United, Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sheffield United, Queens Park Rangers and Kiddeminster Harriers.

Fact 3:
Our Dean scored 59 goals in his 214 appearances for the Rams.

Fact 4:
Our Dean's middle name is 'Constantine'. Dean Constantine Sturridge. Nice.

Fact 5:
The best anagram of 'Dean Sturridge', in our opinion is 'Retained Drugs'

Tomorrow, yes you've guessed it, will be our 2nd day of Football Christmas.

Same time tomorrow then? Marvellous...