Year in Review 2011 (Part 2): Royal Weddings, Scandal & The Worlds Most Wanted Man

Posted by Jeff in Opinion

Year in review 2011 (part 2): More incredible stories from the second quarter of 2011 emerge.

Year in Review 2011: April

April was all about a Royal Wedding between Prince William and commoner Kate Middleton. She apparently had posters of Prince William on her wall when she was younger, we don’t know if that is true or not but it goes nicely with the dream Princess story. Although some may say she was upstaged by her sister, Pippa Middleton, who had a facebook page dedicated to her derrière.

Sony faced one of the biggest problems in its history when the playstation network was hacked and millions of users details stolen.

Barcelona and Real Madrid seemed to be playing each other every week at this point in the year with Mourninho turning up the heat.

We lost the controversial Indian spiritual leader Sai Baba in this month and also on the controversial front, did we finally see proof of Aliens at Roswell crash? I’ll leave you to decide.

We also took a look at some cool iPhone apps and at a show jumping cow…. yes we did.

Year in Review 2011: May

This month Microsoft took the plunge and bought Skype for $8.5 billion and Google launched the Chromebook, while over on Twitter Lady Gaga made history by reaching 10 million followers.

Both Barcelona and Sebastian Vettel carried on winning everything while Sepp Blatter started to feel the heat over some dubious goings on over at FIFA.

We looked at whether cell phones were dangerous and we were promised that the world would end on the 21st May. That didn’t happen, unless I am now living in a parallel universe (well you never know), my guess is we might see a few more of those predictions in 2012.

We saw Ratko Mladic finally arrested in Serbia after years in hiding and the then IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrested over sexual assault, charges that were later dropped.

Charlie Sheen went a bit, shall we say ‘off kilter’, and was replaced on ‘two and a half men‘ by Ashton Kutcher.

Golfing legend Seve Ballesteros passed away and President Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden was killed when US forces stormed his hiding place right under the noses of the Pakistan police.

Barcelona took the Spanish La Liga trophy and the Champions League while Manchester United sealed the English Premiership title. Chelsea sack their manager (again) and Azerbaijan won the Eurovision Song Contest.

It was a very busy month of May.

Year in Review 2011: June

While Apple unveiled their iCloud service, Nintendo announced the Wii U in Los Angeles. MySpace was off loaded by News Corp for a fraction of what they paid for it.

Rafael Nadal was winning the French Tennis Open and Li Na made history as the first Chinese winner of a Grand Slam. Later in the month Wimbledon got underway and Germany prepared for the Womens World Cup. Chelsea also got their new manager, Andre Villas-Boas.

There were all sorts of goings on at the X Factor USA as Cheryl Cole was effectively sacked as a judge and replaced by Nicole Scherzinger. Beyonce closed Glastonbury in style but not before U2 and Coldplay had rocked the stage.

The Lunar eclipse seemed to foretell the up and down lunacy of the markets as Greece came close to defaulting on its debts while child vaccination got a massive boost in the arm by GAVI and the Gay Marriage Rights Bill was passed in New York.

There was Weinergate and JK Rowling teased us with the pottermore website. A Picasso painting fetched $20 million, Marilyn Monroe’s white dress sold for $4.6 million and a rare Billy the Kid portrait reached $2.3 million.

Read more in Year in Review 2011 (Part 3) here.

English Premier League: Man Utd 3 – Chelsea 1

Posted by James in Football, Sports

Man Utd 3 Chelsea 1 was the final score in this pulsating English Premier League encounter yesterday.

It was end to end stuff with barely a chance to get your breath back before some other moment of drama.

Admittedly, alot of the drama came from both teams throwing caution to the wind and playing all out attack with mistakes littered through out the game.

Alex Ferguson told the BBC in an interview after the match that it was like watching a basketball game and was agony for him to watch.

In truth it could have been 7 or 8 goals for each team.

Rooney missed a penalty when his standing foot went from under him as he attempted to kick the ball. Torres missed an open goal after doing the hard bit and rounding the goalkeeper. A moment that he will be unlikely to forget easily.

It could have been 1-0 to Chelsea inside the first few minutes if it wasn’t for a great save with his foot by Man Utd‘s goalkeeper, David De Gea, from Ramires.

But it was Man Utd that struck first with a header from Chris Smalling after Chelsea rather fell asleep while defending.

Man Utd were then 2-0 up just after the 1/2 hour mark when a lovely cross field ball found Nani on the right side.

Instant control and pace allowed Nani to come infield and head towards the penalty box. When 3 Chelsea players looked like they would close him off, Nani took the initiative to unleash a shot that zoomed into the top corner giving Petr Cech no chance.

Nani increasingly looks like he has the makings of another Christiano Ronaldo when he is on his game. He lost favour last season after a great start and again in his interview, Alex Ferguson hinted at a lack of consistency.

Far be it for me to disagree with Sir Alex Ferguson, but whenever I have seen Nani play he always caused the opposition problems, even last season. I believe that Nani has suffered from a perception of inconsistency rather than a reality. A hangover from his earlier career when perhaps it was true.

Maybe this season is the season that he finally sheds that image. Ronaldo had the same problem at Man Utd for a time and look at the heights that he hit.

Phil Jones has been one of the outstanding newcomers in the Man Utd team this season and he was at the heart of the 3rd goal. Playing give and go, he rampaged into the box and fought for a loose ball with John Terry.

The ball was hit against Nani and conveniently landed at the feet of Rooney in front of the goal, he promptly passed it into the net.

In the second half Anelka came on for Lampard and immediately made an impact with a perfect pass for Torres, he calmly lifted the ball over the Man Utd goalkeeper. With no time to think and working on instinct it seems Torres can still look like a player worth £50 million.

Man Utd then got a penalty when Nani was fouled in the box after following up his own shot, another scorcher that hit the bar and bounced back.

Rooney stepped up but as he was about to strike the ball his standing foot slipped and the ball screwed horribly wide. Rooney landed on his backside to jeers from the Chelsea fans.

Memories of David Beckham in Euro 2004 and John Terry against Man Utd in the Champions League Final both came to mind.

Rooney had another chance to score not long later but he didn’t get a clean strike of the ball and turned Patrice Evra’s cross onto the post.

The follow up saw Ashley Cole lunging at the ball and only succeeding in catching Javier Hernandez full on the shin. The full force of his body weight then twisting the unfortunate strikers leg. Hernandez winced in agony, had to be taken off and Cole got a yellow card.

It would have been a penalty but the referee ruled that the ball had already gone out of play. It looks like Hernandez will now be out for a while and is a blow for Man Utd as his partnership with Rooney is one of the reasons they have been so successful this season and last.

There was still time for Torres to produce his awful miss, perhaps too much thinking time was available and with low confidence, strange things can happen to the best players.

Substitute Berbatov also had a chance at the very end, but had his effort cleared off the line by Cole. A better ball from Rooney and it would have been a certain goal.

In fact it would have been wiser for Rooney to have a go himself, but when you are scoring for fun you don’t mind sharing the opportunities around so much.

Photo: gordonflood.com

Romeu Signs For Chelsea

Posted by James in Football, Sports

Romeu has signed a four year deal with Chelsea football club for £4.35 million and will leave Barcelona immediately.

Oriol Romeu is currently playing for Spain in the under 20 World Cup in Colombia and has played all their matches so far.

At 19 years old Romeu is just one of the many Barcelona stars coming through their youth academy and he played for the Barcelona first team twice last season.

It seems that he became a target after Chelsea learned that Michael Essien would be out of action for a while after an another injury pre-season.

Barcelona have played safe however and opted to add a buy back clause into his contract meaning that Romeu could return to his former club as early as next year.

Romeu is a midfielder but is versatile enough to also play in a defensive role allowing Chelsea some flexibility if they start picking up more injuries.

Romeu & Other Signings in the English Premiership

Apart from Romeu, Chelsea have also signed goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois so far this summer.

Arsenal have Gervinho from Lille for a reputed £11 million.

Aston Villa bought Shay Given from Manchester City for £3.5 million.

Liverpool have been spending big again, Stewart Downing arrives for £20 million, Jordan Henderson also for £20 million and Charlie Adam for £9 million from Blackpool.

Money bags Manchester City have secured Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid for £38 million, Clichy from Arsenal for £7 million and Savic From Belgrade at £7 million. Big spending but they also offloaded over £20 million worth of players.

Manchester United also bought big, Phil Jones from Blackburn for £16.5 million and Ashley Young from Aston Villa at £20 million. With Van der Sar retiring they brought in David De Gea from Madrid for £20 million.

The transfer window is not closed yet so it will change I am sure over the coming weeks.

Andre Villas-Boas Is The New Chelsea FC Manager

Posted by James in Football, Sports

Andre Villas-Boas has officially become the new manager of Chelsea FC after signing a three year contract.

Andre Villas-Boas joins CFC from Porto echoing the same route that his former boss, Jose Mourinho, took. At only 33 he will be one of the youngest managers in the game and the same age as some of his Chelsea team in what is an ageing squad.

Chelsea had to pay a compensation clause to Porto in order to release Andre Villas-Boas from his contract after they sacked their previous manager, Carlo Ancelotti.

Many see the appointment as a gamble by Roman Abramovich to appoint Andre Villas-Boas, but a fresh approach could be just what Chelsea need after another near-miss season.

Last season Andre Villas-Boas, in his first year in charge, took Porto to the Portuguese League title by 21 points, without losing a game and drawing only 3. They also won the Portuguese Cup, the Europa League and the Portuguese Supercup.

Impressive stuff, although some football observers say that such was the dominance of the Porto team that Andre Villas-Boas rarely had to make those dramatic decisions to turn games around.

Something that he will surely have todo with Chelsea as they face the tough competition in the Premier League from football clubs such as Arsenal, Man. Utd and Man. City. Not to mention the ultimate goal of Chelsea owner Abramovich for Andre Villas-Boas, winning the Champions League.

Andre Villas-Boas was mentored in his early years by Bobby Robson during his time at Porto, just as Mourinho was, and also spent time working for Mourinho as a scout preparing the incredibly detailed dossiers that he demanded.

Andre Villas-Boas is a highly rated people person and speaks several languages fluently, Chelsea fans will hope that this is the 2nd coming of a ‘special one’.

Andre Villas-Boas Interviewed on Chelsea TV

Photo: sekimura

Chelsea Sack Manager Carlo Ancelotti

Posted by James in Football, Sports

Another bare cupboard in the Chelsea trophy room this season means manager Carlo Ancelotti pays the price and is dismissed by the owner, Roman Abramovich.

Another season without a trophy; especially the one Roman Abramovich really wants, the Champions League, means that the 51 year old manager loses his job with a year still left on his contract.

Coming 2nd in the premier league is just not good enough return on an investment of £100′s of millions that the Chelsea owner has made. This includes the high profile signing mid-season of Fernando Torres from Liverpool for £50 million. It is unclear whether Ancelotti ever had any say in that decision.

Ancelotti was brought to Chelsea after 8 years in charge of AC Milan which included winning the coveted Champions League title twice.

In his first season at Chelsea he guided the club to the Premier League title and won the FA Cup.

Chelsea were top of the league this season until a bad run of footballing form followed the exit of assistant manager Ray Wilkins. The departure seemed to temporarily destabilise the club.

Now speculation is mounting that a former Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, will return but he still has time left to run on his contract at Real Madrid.

A close associate of Abramovich is Guus Hiddink who has worked with the Russian before, managing the Russian team and also serving as a temporary manager of Chelsea in 2009. Abramovich failed to convince Hiddink to stay on at the time, perhaps he will have better luck in 2011.

Photo: sekimura

Man. Utd Claim English Premier League Title

Posted by Clive in Football, Sports

Manchester United today claimed the English Premier League football title in a draw 1-1 with Blackburn.

Wayne Rooney scored from the penalty spot in the 73rd minute to secure for Man. Utd a 19th English League title.

A point was all Alex Ferguson and Manchester United needed to put them out of reach of Chelsea and cement their place at the top of the Premier League.

It was a tense game for the Man. Utd fans though after Blackburn had taken a first half lead, with Brett Emerton pouncing on a mistake in the United defence to slot home.

It was looking likely that Blackburn would hold on to get the victory when the Blackburn keeper Paul Robinson was judged to have brought down Javier Hernandez in the penalty box.

Rooney calmly scored the subsequent penalty and sparked celebrations in the Manchester end, after the equaliser came it seemed as though the result and the title was a mere formality.

Winning the title early would have been a high priority for Sir Alex Ferguson with the Champions League Final coming up on the 28th May against Barcelona, it gives him a chance to rest some of his players to make sure that they are refreshed and ready for one of the biggest games of their lives.

Photo: jubiz

Man Utd 2 – Chelsea 1. Manchester United 1 Point Away From Premiership Title

Posted by James in Football, Sports

Man Utd beat Chelsea at the weekend 2-1 to go within 1 point of clinching a record 19th title. With only 1 point needed from the last 2 games, all bets are off as Manchester Utd are almost certain to lift the English Premiership trophy.

Right from the start Man Utd came at Chelsea all guns blazing, with their home support roaring them on they tore into Chelsea from the first whistle.

Sir Alex Ferguson had obviously drilled into his players that if they win this, the title could be theirs, and they got their reward as they piled forward and had the ball into the back of the net in 36 seconds.

The outstanding Park Ji-Sung fed, possibly the buy of the season Hernandez, who ran clear and coolly fired past Petr Cech.

This brought Hernandez his 20th goal of the season and has cemented an outstanding 1st season for the striker. His partnership with Rooney has meant leading scorer Berbatov has had to sit warming the bench for most of the second half of the season.

Chelsea were in danger of being overrun in the early exchanges with shots peppering Cech’s goal consistently and they got their 2nd goal on 23 minutes.

After a short corner, a cross came in and another of the seasons outstanding players, Vidic, was on the end of it to head past Cech.

Chelsea had some shots of their own, Van Der Sar saving smartly from both Kalou and Drogba. They managed to scramble a goal back after Lampard turned in a knock on from Ivanovic from close range.

The comeback was not to be for Chelsea though, and Man Utd won a deserved victory. Now only a point away from claiming a record 19th title (surpassing Liverpool’s record) it surely must be theirs.

Photo: americanistadechiapas

Cheryl Cole (Tweedy) Biography

Posted by Sam in Biographies, Celebrity

Cheryl Cole was born 30th June 1983 as Cheryl Ann Tweedy in Newcastle, North East England. Here is a short biography of her life so far.

One of 5 children, Cheryl Cole always seemed to know that she wanted to be in showbiz, from an early age she was involved in dancing schools, commercials and modelling competitions.

She left school at 16 with little in the way of academic qualifications but as with earlier in her life, it was obvious that her priorities were in a different place.

Blessed with model looks, as well as the ability to dance and sing, she auditioned for the UK pop reality show ‘Popstars – The Rivals’. The programme was the pre-curser to the American Idol and X Factor shows that we have today.

In this version ten girls and ten boys were selected as finalists, Cheryl Cole (Cheryl Tweedy as she was back then) being one of them, and then they would sing live every Saturday night and wait for the public to vote. The one with the fewest votes was eliminated.

They were voted down to 4 girls and 4 guys, a girl group called Girls Aloud and a rival boy band were formed. Both would release singles at the same time and go head to head. Girls Aloud released ‘Sound of the Underground’ and the die was cast. We never heard of the boy band again.

Girls Aloud, Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts, went on to have 20 top ten singles and 4 UK number 1′s. Their 5 albums all went platinum and they received 5 BRIT award nominations to date. In 2009 they all decided to take a year long break to concentrate on their other interests. That year has since extended to two years and beyond.

During her Girls Aloud career, she met and fell in love with the Chelsea and England footballer Ashley Cole in 2004. They were married in a lavish ceremony in 2006 in London, but news of Ashley’s extramarital affairs were to dog their marriage until they finally divorced in 2010 after more lurid reports of his dalliances were reported in UK newspapers.

In 2008 she was given the job of replacing the X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne after Sharon walked off the show, mainly because of repeated bust up’s with fellow judge Danni Minogue.

Cheryl was given control of the girls in her first series by producers of the show and subsequently came out on top after Alexandra Burke was crowned the X Factor winner.

She also took the crown in the following year, 2009 when her charge, Joe McElderry became the sixth winner of the title and record contract with Simon Cowell.

She also took the opportunity in 2009 of working on and releasing her first solo album, ’3 Words’, using her X Factor high profile to push the album to the number one spot.

In 2011 she was confirmed as the judge on Simon Cowells new American version of the X Factor. It is unclear at the time of writing whether this will mean that she follows Simon away from the UK version or if it is possible that she will maintain both shows.

It would surprise me if she still continued with her UK X Factor work, it appears that she would like to move her career onto bigger and better things and that means the US market. To win over the US market it is likely that there will be no time for anything else.

Photo: rustyallie

Manchester United Crush Chelsea’s European Dream

Posted by James in Football, Sports

Javier Hernandez and Park Ji-sung sealed Manchester Uniteds place in the Champions League semi-finals with a convincing win over English rivals Chelsea.

Having secured a 1-0 away win in the first leg, Manchester Utd were always going to be favourites at home. So it proved as they took the lead just before half-time, Hernandez blasting the football into the roof of the net from a few yards out after a great cross from the ever youthful Ryan Giggs.

Hernandez seems to have sealed his starting place in the Utd. side thanks to his ability to be in the right place at the right time and his growing relationship with Rooney.

For now, the imperious Berbatov has to be content with a seat on the bench even though he is vying for the Premier Leagues top scorer award.

The Chelsea manager, Ancelotti, decided that a change was needed at half-time and brought on Didier Drogba for the ineffectual Fernando Torres.

Drogba instantly upped the standard of Chelsea’s performance with several efforts that forced drastic action from the impressive Van der Sar. How Utd will miss him when he retires at the end of the season.

It looked like the night would be over for Chelsea when Ramires brought down Nani from behind as he was on a run, inevitably the referee had to show a yellow card, his second, and Ramires had to go leaving Chelsea with 10 men.

But Drogba wasn’t giving up and he gave Chelsea a lifeline on 77 minutes as he controlled the ball on his chest and struck it with force under Van der Sar’s body to go 1-1.

It was not to be however, less than a minute later the ball was in the back of Chelsea’s net. Again Giggs was the provider as he found Park with space on the edge of the box, he hit a low shot comfortably beating Petr Cech and sent Old Trafford into wild celebrations as they once again march to the semi-finals.

Photo: Gordonflood.com