The following pictures will highlight a selection of the beautiful rural scenery which County Durham can offer, most notably the High Force Waterfall.
Thursday 29 May 2014
Is County Durham a hidden English treasure?
Since one of my brothers moved to County Durham a decade ago, I have been a fairly regular visitor to the county. I have slowly come to realise that there is much more to the Land of the Prince Bishops than the quaint City that is Durham.
The following pictures will highlight a selection of the beautiful rural scenery which County Durham can offer, most notably the High Force Waterfall.
The following pictures will highlight a selection of the beautiful rural scenery which County Durham can offer, most notably the High Force Waterfall.
Wednesday 7 May 2014
"You can't go from 7th to 1st in a season!" But...
I was travelling on a train in December, heading into Liverpool to watch the Reds' home match against Norwich City. I got talking to a fellow Red on various Liverpool FC related stuff, past and present.
The conversation moved to the expectation levels of sections of our support, who put it this way, had expectations we both felt to be unrealistic. The guy stated, "You can't go from 7th to 1st in a season!"
By looking more closely at the Reds' fortunes prior to this season, it is not so much that Liverpool finished 7th the previous campaign, the first season under the Management of Brendan Rodgers. The average league position of Liverpool's three campaigns prior to Rodgers' tenure was in fact also 7th!
The match against Norwich saw a memorable performance, best remembered for Luis Suarez scoring 4 goals in a 5-1 win, most notably the Uruguayan's 40 yard lob which started the scoring. That night for me also marked the moment when the SAS became SASAS. Suarez had formed an almost telepathic relationship on the field with Daniel Sturridge, who was injured that night.
Raheem Sterling meanwhile was simply showing few signs of the promise he had shown on breaking into the first team just over a year ago, and there had been rumours circulating that he may be going out on loan to a Championship side in January. He certainly finished this match on a high, getting the Reds' fifth in a comprehensive win, and has been in excellent form throughout the second half of the season.
I always said at the start of the season that a good progression would be to be within a mathematical chance of finishing in the top four going into the final couple of games of the season, or breaking through the 70 point mark. Ironically that was a feat achieved by our neighbours across Stanley Park.
The excellent run we have been on, which has seen comprehensive victories over the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, put Liverpool FC in a position I am sure very few would have expected. The dropped points against Chelsea and Crystal Palace, highlight just how brutal a game football can be.
After the collapse against Palace, my wife hardly got a word out of me for best part of the next hour. I noticed the usual silly remarks on various social network sites from some fans of rival clubs lapping it up, thinking in their anti-Liverpool bias that our season is a disaster, and that we will not challenge for the title again for many years. Well that is their affair.
The reality is that Liverpool have finished runners-up on three occasions since last being crowned English Champions in 1990. On not one of those occasions did we enter the final game of the season with a mathematical chance of winning the league. I consider being in the position we are in, to be a huge step forward.
So on the point of not going from 7th to 1st in a season, the big BUT is the worst that can now happen is we finish 5 points behind the champions. If someone had told me this could happen at the start of the season, I just don't think I could have taken that person seriously.
With the lure of Champions League football next season, I am hopeful there will be no repeats of the recent transfer sagas which have seen us fail to secure the likes of Diego Costa, and that Ukrainian fella in January. If Brendan Rodgers can now get his real targets over the line, the future could be very bright indeed.
The conversation moved to the expectation levels of sections of our support, who put it this way, had expectations we both felt to be unrealistic. The guy stated, "You can't go from 7th to 1st in a season!"
By looking more closely at the Reds' fortunes prior to this season, it is not so much that Liverpool finished 7th the previous campaign, the first season under the Management of Brendan Rodgers. The average league position of Liverpool's three campaigns prior to Rodgers' tenure was in fact also 7th!
The match against Norwich saw a memorable performance, best remembered for Luis Suarez scoring 4 goals in a 5-1 win, most notably the Uruguayan's 40 yard lob which started the scoring. That night for me also marked the moment when the SAS became SASAS. Suarez had formed an almost telepathic relationship on the field with Daniel Sturridge, who was injured that night.
Raheem Sterling meanwhile was simply showing few signs of the promise he had shown on breaking into the first team just over a year ago, and there had been rumours circulating that he may be going out on loan to a Championship side in January. He certainly finished this match on a high, getting the Reds' fifth in a comprehensive win, and has been in excellent form throughout the second half of the season.
I always said at the start of the season that a good progression would be to be within a mathematical chance of finishing in the top four going into the final couple of games of the season, or breaking through the 70 point mark. Ironically that was a feat achieved by our neighbours across Stanley Park.
The excellent run we have been on, which has seen comprehensive victories over the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, put Liverpool FC in a position I am sure very few would have expected. The dropped points against Chelsea and Crystal Palace, highlight just how brutal a game football can be.
After the collapse against Palace, my wife hardly got a word out of me for best part of the next hour. I noticed the usual silly remarks on various social network sites from some fans of rival clubs lapping it up, thinking in their anti-Liverpool bias that our season is a disaster, and that we will not challenge for the title again for many years. Well that is their affair.
The reality is that Liverpool have finished runners-up on three occasions since last being crowned English Champions in 1990. On not one of those occasions did we enter the final game of the season with a mathematical chance of winning the league. I consider being in the position we are in, to be a huge step forward.
So on the point of not going from 7th to 1st in a season, the big BUT is the worst that can now happen is we finish 5 points behind the champions. If someone had told me this could happen at the start of the season, I just don't think I could have taken that person seriously.
With the lure of Champions League football next season, I am hopeful there will be no repeats of the recent transfer sagas which have seen us fail to secure the likes of Diego Costa, and that Ukrainian fella in January. If Brendan Rodgers can now get his real targets over the line, the future could be very bright indeed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)