The Weekend That Was !

First of all , I would like to thank Peter Donovan of Vodafone for sending me , a 'state of the art' mobile phone. All free gifts are greatly accepted and very much appreciated. It was to my surprise that the first caller was no other than Peter Donovan. He apologized for not answering my questions at the Manchester United press conference and went on to explain the concept of watching football on mobile phones. It would be ideal for travelling fans he told me. Like  Man Utd  supporters  going to a home game I replied, and what a great bit of marketing because there are so many !!! I thanked him for his gift, unfortunately , I already have a mobile phone and as I explained my One 2 One tariff was considerably cheaper than Vodafones. Not  to worry , before he could retort, I had informed him that the mobile was going to be a gift for my good friend and sadly misunderstood footballer , Stanley Collymore. The signal  must have faded as the line , suddenly , went dead.

Stanley was overjoyed with the present and would be in touch when in Spain. Having doubts about his ability to use the phone , I decided to ring him in La Manga. There was a lot of noise in the background when he answered, the Leicester boys  where having a bit of a rowdy drink in the hotel bar. He asked what had been happening in the world of football. Over the noise , I shouted John Barnes was fired and Ian Wright was going to Burnley. I remember , distinctly , hearing the extinguisher go off and Stanley shouting at the top of his voice " Someone's on fire and 'Walsh' is going  to 'Burn' me ! " Well the rest you can read in your Daily Newspaper , but I must thank Stanley for not mentioning my name.

I could of made a tidy sum of money of Friday , as I was one of the first people to find out about the bust up between Ferguson and Beckham. David had rang me in a somewhat distraught manner ." Infamy ! Infamy ! " he cried down the phone. I tried to calm him down and told him not to get his knickers in a twist or should I say wife's !!!! He was not a notorious person but in fact a very famous star, a bit like myself , I informed him. A bemused Beckham retorted and asked me what I was talking about? " All I said Otis was Ferguson's got it IN FOR ME !!" I should have known , that David would not know of such a word.....

I shall start my review on Sunday where Leeds entertained Manchester United . Beckham had been dropped after the Friday incident and was replaced by Nicky Butt. The game was a full blooded English affair , and it took a superb individual goal by Andy Cole to win the match for Manchester. It will take a lot from the chasing pack  to deny United the Premiership  this season. On Saturday , Middlesborough ended their  wretched luck by beating Coventry 2-0 at the Riverside Stadium with goals from Festa and Ricard.

It was the FA Cup this weekend , and all the ties had winners. Bolton ended Charlton's winning streak  by beating them 1-0. The plucky Tranmere nearly  had a second visit to Wembley but Newcastle ran out victors 3-2. Chelsea had an easy 5-0 victory  over 2nd Division Gillingham. Aston Villa beat Everton 2-1 with Carbona being sent off , for what can only be described as a complete brainstorm. Having been booked for kicking the ball away , he then proceeded to stop a free kick from being taken quickly. The referee had no option.

The draw for the semi's are Bolton v Aston Villa  and Newcastle v Chelsea. I do not have any favourites in the last four, but I hope Newcastle get to the final as I utterly detest the way Chelsea have tried to buy success.

I thank You

Now dear readers, I am a great one for sayings,( As you all know ) and the one that springs to mind right now is " It isn't over till the Fat Lady Sings "

Contrary  to Sunday Newspapers and Arsene Wenger , Manchester Utd haven't won the league yet ! Although this weekend has certainly put a few nails in the coffin. Where shall I start.....

United beat Coventry 3-2 with the highlight being Andy Cole's superb chip. Leeds were thumped 3-1 by those horrible scousers  Liverpool ,not Everton I might add. Arsenal were totally embarrassed by Bradford , losing 2-1 ,. and the game that everyone totally ignored was the 1-0 victory for Chelsea v Spurs. Now in my youth this was one of the matches of the day, how times have changed. The other derby which had a lot more profile was , I must admit , a more exciting affair a 2-2 draw Sunderland v Newcastle.

Now, game of the day had to be Derby v Sheffield Wednesday a thrilling 3-3 draw with Wednesday 3-1 up going into injury. What must Danny Wilson be thinking as his team are sure to be relegated , I do hope they stay up , though.

On Sunday, Wimbledon played Everton( Everton winning 3-1) . As you all know , I am a bit of a gambler( slaps on the wrist if you don't read my betting column ) and the previous day was not a very productive one . Reading my fellow tipsters columns I noticed everyone was plumping for a home win or draw. Now regular readers of my column would know that I think Wimbledon are susceptible to pace, and with Campbell , Max-Moore and Cadamateri playing I thought Everton were a good bet 7/4 the win. To make things exciting I made a double and put Campbell down to score first goal 6/1 . Well the rest is history and for £5.00 you would have got a £96.00 return.

I thank you 

Otis B. Driftwood                         Last Updated 07/02/00

Glad to be back after that awful flu, Hello there ! dear readers.

Now where to begin? This weekend was more about the bottom end than the top end of the premiership.

Bradford really helped their Premiership survival hopes with a 3-2 win of fellow strugglers Watford. Sheffield Wednesday finally vacated the bottom spot with a well deserved win at Spurs 1-0 , their first away win of the season! Southampton, having lost five out of last six , managed a 2-0 win over the ever improving Everton, who had to change keepers during the first half. Newcastle who where on a roll , succumbed to the inconsistent Wimbledon 2-0 with goals from Robbie Earl and Marcus Gayle. West Ham beat Leicester 3-1 at Filbert Street , with Paulo Wanchope scoring twice to record his first goals since November. Surprisingly , there where three 0-0 draws  at Liverpool , Aston Villa and Derby . I do not recall that happening on a weekend this season. On Sunday Leeds beat Sunderland 2-1 to breathe a little air into the title race. Let's hope Arsenal get a result tonight at Old Trafford and make run in a bit more exciting..

Hopefully next week I will back to full Health..

Otis B. Driftwood                        Last Updated 24/01/00

Hello there Chaps! Otis B. Driftwood here giving you my review of the weekends football.

I will start off on Sunday , I thought it was going to be a some what of weird day as I was tucking into my Sunday roast I suddenly started to choke . I had swallowed a bit gristle which my body was violently opposed to, and subsequently ejected from my orifice with great force . Weird ! I hear you ask, well sitting in front of the television the same day  I watched Chelsea vs Leeds and saw another piece of useless beef being ejected.... now that is weird.

Anyway , back to the match. Now if Chelsea could have converted their possession into chances and thus goals if would have been a completely different story, but my hat is off to those White Rose youngsters. Having tipped them to lose , they showed  great team spirit and determination and well deserved their victory. I must question Vialli's tactics though, having seen Leeds in midweek deal with a big , strong centre forward. Why play Sutton and Flo together? surely the trickery of Zola would caused them more problems .

There where many talking points during the match, but I have to say ( as Andy Gray would put it ) Frank LeBoeuf is a complete idiot , what was he thinking of ? If Kewell was baiting him he fell hook line and sinker for it . A , supposed , international player getting wound up like that is beyond belief . I would wager his team mates had some strong words to say in the dressing afterwards.

Well, back to Saturday  and the Red Machine goes marching on . Destroying West Ham's unbeaten home record and Dwight Yorke notching up his 100th league goal. The Hammers staged a pretty impressive fight back , but United  where too good and as I predicted ran out winners. 

Sunderland eased into 3rd place with two goals from Philips ( who else ) While Arsenal could only manage a 1-1 draw with Wimbledon. Aston Villa got more penalty practice against  Sheffield Wednesday and still missed ! but managed to win with Dion Dublin breaking his neck in the process. Watford look destined to be in the bottom three all season after losing 3-1 to Everton at home. Middlesborough got back to winning ways after two cup exits beating Spurs 2-1 , and Michael Own ended his teenage years by scoring in a 2-0 victory over Coventry.....

Next week might be late as I am off to warmer climbs, to be free from all this Christmas and New Year Hype.

Otis B. Driftwood

Last Updated 20/12/99

Greetings ! Otis B. Driftwood here , now as you all know it was the FA Cup 3rd round last weekend . Yes , and what a fine 3rd round it was with a nice lot of premiership teams falling at the first hurdle..

First shock for me was Tranmere turning over the Hammers , now if you had read my betting guide I was adamant that the Irons would win .( Well an expert like me can sometimes be wrong) The biggest shock has to belong to those Lancashire Lads  Burnley who by all accounts thoroughly dominated the match and should have scored more than the one goal against the luckless Derby. Wrexham were another giant killer disposing of Bryan Robson's Middlesborough by two goals to one , and as you all know a certain Ferguson scored whose dad managers a team who have decided to have eighteen days  off because of fixture congestion!!! poor old Manchester United.

Leicester and Everton drew in early afternoon kick offs , but should win their replays. Chelsea cruised passed Hull 6-1 , Huddersfield would have won if they had converted any of their numerous chances , but Liverpool showed their class and won 2-0. Tottenham drew with Newcastle 1-1  but I still fancy the Toon to win the replay. Good news for John Gregory as his team Aston Villa finally won a match 2-1 against Darlington.

On Monday night , as I predicted , Southampton showed their premiership credentials and beat a very lack luster Ipswich side 1-0. Also that night Arsenal got a bit of a scar off Blackpool but eventually went on to win 3-1.

Now that the 3rd round is over, if you want an outside tip to win the cup look no further than Coventry City. You heard it hear folks......

Otis B. Driftwood

Last Updated 14/12/99

Hello there sports fans , Otis B. Driftwood  here, accoutant to the Stars and after having a very good weekend in the gambling field . Into the Net's resident betting correspondant.

Now I have been ask to do a weekly review on the past weekends football...

After jumping for joy on hearing that Sunderland had trounced the Foreign Legion of Chelsea 4-1 . I suddenly came back down to reality with a thud as I stupidly backed Everton to draw against Manchester United  ,the score line in case you where on Mars at the weekend, 5-1. Not to  worry I had a superb treble come up on the Foreign Football.

What annoyed me most over the weekend  was the inane fact that most commentators were picking up on was that the Lead changed three times over the course . Well it would do if the top three played at different times, but they seemed to think it was some kind of strange phenomenon....

Anyway I digress , it must  have been sweet revenge for the Wearsiders who as you might recalled where hammered 4-0 on the opening day of the season by Chelsea. Manchester United showed no ill effects from their trip to Japan, and to add insult to injury to Evertonians left Beckham, Yorke and Cole on the bench and still annihilated them.

Arsenal strolled passed Leicester 3-0 as though it was a Saturday morning stroll in the park . Come to think of it , it was!

Duncan Ferguson scored the winner against Aston Villa, after coming off the bench ( Now that was a phenomenon) . Coventry played out a goalless draw at the Dell against Southampton. Bradford scored a goal to equalize against Middlesborough , but the saddest reports were of Gazza's decline as a Premiership footballer.

On Monday , West Ham fought out a well earned draw with Spurs , aided with some inconstant refereeing decisions which saw Steve Lomas sent off and Chris Perry stay on after causing similar offences

And at last but by no means least Wimbledon swept aside Watford 5-0 .

That's it until next week.......

Otis B. Driftwood.

Last Updated 7/12/99

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