Yes, this was meant to close 6 weeks ago, but our site crashed and we’ve only found our poll again.
So why not give the punters another chance to vote featuring our fancier new look poll to the right.
Can’t remember what the hell we’re talking about, and why you should or shouldn’t care, or who is nominated, the why not visit our nominations page – HERE.
Vote late, vote often.
The Champions League is back, providing us with a fantastic midweek dose of the best football teams in Europe and arguably the most expensive array of footballers of all time.
All your favourite stars remain as we head into the knockout stages, with the exception of Ariaga II and Manchester United.
Three English Teams remain with Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City representing the EPL, equalling the representation of Spain featuring heavyweight super spenders Real Madrid and Barcelona and their poorer cousin Atletico. However the title of most represented goes to the Bayern Munich League who have Bayern Munich and three others. Ukraine, France, Italy, Switzerland and Portugal all have a team or two in the last 16.
The first knockout round will be staged over 4 of the next 5 weeks to stretch out the interest of the punter. Here’s the line up of games this week.
THIS WEEK
Tuesday Night/Wed Morning
PSG v CHELSEA – SBS TV for Australian viewers
SHAKHTAR DONETSK v BAYERN MUNICH
Wednesday Night/Thursday Morning
FC BASEL v PORTO
SCHALKE v REAL MADRID – SBS TV for Australian viewers
NEXT WEEK
Tuesday Night/Wed Morning
MAN CITY v BARCELONA – likely for SBS TV for Australian viewers
JUVENTUS v BORUSSIA DORTMUND
Wednesday Night/Thursday Morning
ARSNEAL v MONACO
BAYER LEVERKUSEN v ATL MADRID
WEEK 1 MULTI – $18
DRAW – PSG v CHELSEA
DRAW – BASEL v PORTO
BAYERN MUNICH to beat SH. DONETSK
REAL MADRID to beat SCHALKE
WEEK 2 MULTI – $26
BARCELONA to beat MAN CITY
DRAW – Juventus v Dortmund
ARSENAL to beat Monaco
AT MADRID to beat Leverkusen
————————
Not to forget the Garfunkel of European Football – The Europa League.
Sure it is still successful in it’s own right, and it has some golden times, if one is honest it doesn’t excite as much as it’s Paul Simon equivalent – The Champions League. Most of the teams involed have either missed Qualification to or have been not quite good enough to make the knockout stages of the Champions League. Others appears just happy to make it, given their league’s coefficient, their team’s current form or resources.
As ever, less attention bordering on ignorance will not stop us deciding that we’ll have a go at tipping a plethora of winner.
So here’s the fixture list, followed by plenty of multi goodness.
| Aalborg BK | v | Club Brugge |
| BSC Young Boys | v | Everton |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | v | Olympiakos |
| PSV | v | Zenit St P |
| Roma | v | Feyenoord |
| Torino | v | Ath Bilbao |
| Trabzonspor | v | Napoli |
| Wolfsburg | v | Sporting |
| Ajax | v | Legia Warsaw |
| Celtic | v | Inter Milan |
| Guingamp | v | Dynamo Kiev |
| Liverpool | v | Besiktas |
| Anderlecht | v | Dinamo Moscow |
| Sevilla | v | Borussia Mönchengladbach |
| Tottenham | v | Fiorentina |
| Villarreal | v | FC Red Bull Salzburg |
MULTI pays $143.
SPURS to beat Fiorentina
LIVERPOOL to beat Besiktas
OLYMPIAKOS to beat Dnipro
AJAX to beat Legia Warsaw
WOLFSBURG to beat Sporting
GUINGAMP to beat Dynamo Kyiv
CLUB BRUGGE to beat A Aalborg
Having completely missed the long awaited House of Hancock telemovie on Channel 9 due to lack of interest not potential legal action, we argued with ourselves who would make an interesting enough subject for us to make us watch a similar dramatization.
Not that the Hancock-Rinehart story isn’t interesting, or were interesting people (please don’t sue), we just prefer our subjects a little more obscure.
So here’s our usual 6 of he best (read worst).
1. HEY HEY IT’S THE REAL STORY
A dramatic behind the scenes look at the 80’s TV juggernaut, with many of the stories that the public never saw. From the off-on rehabilitation of Dickey Knee from his Nikko addiction, to the use of actual orphaned children for the Ossie the Ostrich costume, to the fallout between Daryl and John Blackman which ended in the voiceover artist being chained to the booth for the recording of all shows from 1985, to the Ken Morgan Toyota era.
Featuring the sad first ending, and the even sadder comeback, to the controversy of the Michael Jackson Five-Harry Connick Jnr showdown, this 6 part series is the must see event of 2015.
Starring Eden Gaha as Daryl Somers and Brooke Mikey Anderson as Jackie McDonald.
2. EVERYBODY’S GOOD NEIGHBOURS – THE MINOGUE-DONOVAN STORY
From Ramsay Street to Oxford Street, follow the lives of the former Neighbours stars, and to a lesser extent Home & Away for Dannii Minogue, as their lives and careers intertwine and move in different directions.
Starring Brooke Mikey Anderson as Kylie, Lincoln Lewis as Jason, and Jemima from Play School as Dannii.
3. THE NYXONS
TV has been crying out for a modern day Sylvania Waters, so dry your eyes and rub them in anticipation.
The modern day family from the heart of the suburbia of northern Brisbane suffer trials and tribulations each day on their daily travels. Disagreements over breakfast, clothing, family dinners, are the norm, and the long suffering Ozzie the dog takes the full brunt of the tension.
Mr Nyxon’s turn as the local Santa provides one of the lighter moments of this gritty modern day reality-drama.
Stars Robert Grubb as My Nyxon, Rhonda from the AAMI ads as part of her Channel 9 contract as Mrs Nyxons, and BMA as the daughter.
4. THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE – THE SILENT WAR
The story that hasn’t been told but should have been by now has finally been given the green light for the new drama line up.
Watch in amazement as the battle for children’s hearts and minds through Channel 9’s Humphrey B Bear and Channel 7’s Fat Cat heats up on and off screen.
As both meet their untimely but predictable end, see the different paths to oblivion as Fat Cat takes to the bottle and becomes addiction to Lipeze and Humphrey B Bear find solace in his demise with the religious cult who believe that the world will end in 2030 by the return of dinosaurs on comets.
Stars Christopher Trusswell as Fat Cat and Dirk Wellham as H.B.Bear.
5. 45 GLORIOUS MINUTES OF THE DOUG MULRAY AUSTRALIA’S NAUGHTIEST HOME VIDEOS SHOW
The story of the most infamous short TV show will delight and amaze over 4 one hour episodes, as the real story behind the scenes is told.
Told from the viewpoint of Kerry Packer, The Director, The Camerman, The Editor and Doug Mulray you’ll wonder how they packed so much incident and TV history into a 45 minute session.
Stars Craig McLachlan as Doug Mulray, Brett Climo as the Director and Melbourne Cup winner Green Moon as Kerry Packer.
6. THE MEANING OF L – THE LEO MULLER TOYOTA
In the tradition of Glengarry Glen Ross, we delve behind the scenes of the fierce car market in Brisbane, with the focus on the war between John Zupp and Leo Muller.
The six part series is a feast of dirty tricks, salesmanship and Toyota Tarago sales.
Starring Alan Dale and Leo Muller and Alan Dale as John Zupp.
Following on from the tremendous success of Gogglebox, we’ve added the name box at the end of our usual FTA TV preview.
Talking about Gogglebox, the occasional glimpse of someone bagging the TV show showed too small a view on what real people would say about the TV they were put through. Some of it looked as scripted as a Neighbours episode, and maybe I’ve just grown up in a hostile family setting in the ghettos of South East Qld, but not since the era of Tony Danza and Kirk Cameron in prime time have I seen any family sitting so lovingly in their lounge room. Nary a mobile phone in sight.
A cynical person who think that some of them are actors, or under such instruction to be passed off as actors. Either way, I’ve done my one shift, and can’t see it going past 5 episode before being moved to a Special New Time. And then to Channel 11.
Here’s this week’s shows that would be better talked about than 60 minutes or some bloke playing with Lions.
MONDAY
9:30pm – CH1 – THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER
TUESDAY
8:30pm – SBS – 50 WAYS TO KILL YOUR MAMMY
9:30pm – GO! – ROBOCOP
WEDNESDAY
7:30pm – 7MATE – MAN V FOOD
7:30pm – SIMPSONS + FUTURAMA
8:00pm – MICALLEF’S MAD AS HELL
THURSDAY
7:30pm – 7MATE – MORE MAN V FOOD
8:30pm – SBS2 – SOUTH PARK
SATURDAY
7MATE ANTI CRICKET MOVIE TRIPLE HEADER
5:00pm – GROUNDHOG DAY
7:00pm – TOP GUN
9:30pm – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
SUNDAY
2:30pm – CH7 – SENNA
8:30pm – SBS2 – SOUTH PARK/DANGER 5
FREE TO AIR SPORT HIGHLIGHTS
WEDNESDAY
5:30am – SBS – CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – PSG V CHELSEA
THURSDAY
5:30am – SBS – CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – REAL MADRID V SCHALKE
FRIDAY
6:30pm – SBS – ALEAGUE – BRISBANE V MELBOURNE VICTORY
6:35pm – SBS2 – EUROPE LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS
SATURDAY
12:30pm – CH9 – ICC WORLD CUP – AUST V BANGALDESH
It’s late, and instead of the usual tripe that no one reads, we offer just the tips that you follow or avoid at your own peril.
[ultimatetables 5 /]
The UK Football Weekly for the weekend is here after a midweek round of fixtures. This week the EPL takes another break for the FA Cup – fifth round this time – but there’s still a full round of fixtures from the Football League.
– Aston Villa finally parted ways with Paul Lambert during the week in one of the most overdue sackings in recent football history. Not only do Aston Villa not win at home or anywhere, they don’t score many goals, less than 1 every two this season to be the worst in the top four divisions.
After a fans revolt, the club were left with no option but dispose of the manager. Not that the replacement will probably do too much more after the initial new manager, but given the amount of weak teams at the foot of the table, it may only require a small good run to remain in the top flight and await riches.
– Talking of riches the new 3 year TV rights were handed out during the week in the UK, meaning the 10 million pound per game from the total spend of 5.13 billion will ensure underachieving EPL teams will take over 100M pounds on their way out from 2016 or stay and receive more riches.
– QPR won away from home for the first time this year with a caretaker manager whose reward is to hold onto the job long enough for someone more important to get it.
Anyway, here are some of the results from last week.
[soccer-info id=’2′ type=’results’ style=’blue_light’ limit=’20’ /]
[soccer-info id=’20’ type=’results’ style=’green_light’ title=’Championship Results’ limit=’24’ /]
[soccer-info id=’22’ type=’results’ style=’red_light’ title=’League One Results’ limit=’24’ /]
[soccer-info id=’22’ type=’results’ style=’red_light’ title=’League Two Results’ limit=’24’ /]
Here’s the line up of games.
[soccer-info id=’20’ type=’fixtures’ style=’blue_light’ title=’Championship Fixtures’ limit=’10’ /]
[soccer-info id=’21’ type=’fixtures’ style=’green_light’ title=’L1 Fixtures’ limit=’12’ /]
[soccer-info id=’22’ type=’fixtures’ title=’L2 Fixtures’ limit=’12’ /]
[ultimatetables 9 /]
[ultimatetables 2 /]
[ultimatetables 3 /]
[ultimatetables 4 /]
The Cricket showpiece is here, and The Gurgler is somewhat interested in it, somewhere below the Football World Cup and miles ahead of the r**** u**** world cup. But armed with Foxtel who are showing every match, no matter the minnow status or New Zealand ground, we’ll probably care than a lot of others
Unlike the Football World Cup, Australia gets a fair chance to host a World Cup tournament, not that the ICC are much better than FIFA. And unlike most of the other World Cups, Australia has good chance to win it.
The games are spread across both Australia and New Zealand, and looking for a winner it must be considered that the kiwis will play their games in New Zealand, similar to the 1992 World Cup where they were very competitive. From memory, Australia weren’t on that occasion. From the same memory I picture David Boon as wicket keeper for some reason. Ah, those were the days.
Australia’s lead up has been all about Michael Clarke and his hamstring. Hopefully he will be found fit and ready to play for the first few games so we can hear less about him and more about the actual team. The team itself has been impressive in warm up games, and that’s on the back of some good one day form in the summer. A real bonus of late is the modern day Andrew Symonds – Glenn Maxwell – showing the good, leaving the bad and ugly back in the pavilion, and looking the goods, for now.
With Michael Clarke going to be a day by day prospect, the selectors could do worse than keep Brad Hogg fit. On the back of another successful Big Bash, the Sultan of Wrongun took eight wickets in Perth grade cricket just to show that he would still be a useful addition in addition to fan’s favourite tag.
Enough about Australia though, as there are another 13 teams. Out of those are a bunch of minnows who won’t win and the usual West indies politics which will ensure they won’t either. That leaves the usual suspects – who we have borrowed the odds from Centrebet to highlight their chances.Visit our partners,shoes – leaders in fashionable footwear!
| AUSTRALIA | $ 2.85 |
| SOUTH AFRICA | $ 3.75 |
| NEW ZEALAND | $ 6.00 |
| INDIA | $ 10.00 |
| ENGLAND | $ 12.00 |
| SRI LANKA | $ 13.00 |
| PAKISTAN | $ 21.00 |
For the record, we think the final four will be Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sri Lanka, however the ultimate dark horse are the always unpredictable Pakistan highlighted by case in point Shahid Afridi,
From there South Africa will more than likely choke, as they always seem to do, it will be interesting to see the new and exciting way to disappoint this tournament. And whether New Zealand will be as effective on Australian soil remains to be seen. So, that leaves Sri Lanka and Australia to make the final, and why wouldn’t Australia channel the Socceroos and win the big prize at home.
Here’s a range of our best tips…
WIN – AUSTRALIA – $2.85
FINAL FOUR – SOUTH AFRICA – $1.42
MOST RUNS – BRENDON MCCALLUM – $15.00
MOST RUNS – KUMAR SANGAKARRA – $19.00
MOST WICKETS – MORNE MORKEL – $17.00
MOST WICKETS – LASITH MALINGA – $17.00
FIRST6 GAMES SUPER MULTI $23.00
AUSTRALIA to win, v England
NEW ZEALAND to win, v Sri Lanka
PAKISTAN to win, v India
SOUTH AFRICA to win, v Zimbabwe
WEST INDIES to win, v Ireland
AFGHANISTAN to win, v Bangladesh
Stay tuned for our sort-of daily catch up for our future super multis.
There’s also the chance of a David v Goliath upset like Ireland pulling England’s pants down in the last World Cup or Pakistan loss to the same side that cost the life of Bob Woolmer. And with Zimbabwe comfortably beating Sri Lanka in a lead up game, anything could be possible.
Here’s our thoughts on the potential giant killings.
AFGHANISTAN to beat Bangladesh
BANGLADESH to beat England
UAE to beat West indies
ZIMBABWE to beat South Africa
The games are split into two groups for the initial stages from 14th Feb to 15th March. The knockout stages begin with Quarter finals from 18th of March to the 21st. Semi arrive on 24th March and 26th of March, with the big blast off on the 29th March.
Here’s our list of highlights for you to keep an eye out for during the pool stages.
SAT 14th Feb
AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND
SUN 15th Feb
INDIA v PAKISTAN
WED 18th Feb
BANGLADESH v AFGHANISTAN
MON 23rd Feb
ENGLAND v SCOTLAND
WED 25th Feb
IRELAND v UAE
SAT 28th Feb
AUSTRALIA v NEW ZEALAND
FRI 6th March
INDIA v WEST INDIES
MON 8th March
AUSTRALIA v SRI LANKA
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Well that will do nicely for now, don’t want to get too bogged down in the details.
We will leave you with a players to watch for each team in a nice gallery below.
Stay tuned for our daily catch up.
Why not check out the official World Cup site from the ICC. That’s where the below pcitures are borrowed from.
[huge_it_gallery id=”11″]
Welcome to the Gurgler’s UK Football Weekly. We discuss things UK Football, and it doesn’t begin in Manchester and finish in London. We care about all four leagues and below if we have time. All your favourite stars are here too with the exception of Ariaga II. Enjoy the finest.
Fallout continues from another big weekend of football, and we’re given a full midweek round of four divisions to recover with. Some of the sins can be quickly forgiven, whilst a small bad run can become a major blip with another loss.
The biggest fallout come from an unlikely location in Leicester, where manager Nigel Pearson’s attempt to help Crystal Palace’s McCarthy up from the ground by his neck, and then hold onto him long enough to give him the night’s lottery numbers has increased interest in a team whose last place usually gets an occasional small paragraph in a newspaper.
Pearson was apparently sacked and reinstated after the Thai owners took advice from Leeds United’s owner Cellini on how to deal with managers, since Cellini is currently on leave from Leeds after being suspended by the Football League for questionable practices in Italy.
The two big EPL derbies on the weekend were poles apart in entertainment. The pride of Liverpool will take another episode to decide after a yawn inducing 0-0 draw. Thank goodness for the ability to record on Foxtel so sleep isn’t sacrificed for that one.
Thankfully, in the earlier slot Arsenal’s loss to Spurs was at least entertaining for the neutral and Spurs fans. Unfortunately for Harry Kane, he will be the new England football saviour that will be hyped up beyond belief until the pressure to perform drags him down like so many others before him. Let’s not forget that Ipswich Town’s Marcus Stewart has the highest English striker in their first season of promotion. Whatever the hype, it’s still a good news story that a young up and coming Englishman is scoring plenty more than higher paid, higher transferred, lower performing big names.
After Manchester City choked against previously busted arse Hull at home and Chelsea beat Aston Villa, the EPL title race is out to 7 points. But with Yaya Toure due home after the African Cup of Nations victory with Ivory Coast, and new signing Bony too, the title race may not be done and dusted yet.
[soccer-info id=’2′ type=’results’ style=’blue_light’ title=’EPL RESULTS’ limit=’10’ /]
[soccer-info id=’20’ type=’results’ title=’CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS’ limit=’12’ /]
[soccer-info id=’21’ type=’results’ title=’L1 RESULTS’ limit=’12’ /]
[soccer-info id=’22’ type=’results’ title=’L2 RESULTS’ limit=’12’ /]
Here’s the best of the upcoming fixtures in the Football League and EPL.
EPL – LIVERPOOL v SPURS
EPL – CRYSTAL PALACE v NEWCASTLE
EPL – SOUTHAMPTON v WEST HAM
CHAMP – BOURNEMOUTH v DERBY
CHAMP – BRENTFORD v WATFORD
And here’s the rest of the matches.
[soccer-info id=’2′ type=’fixtures’ title=’EPL FIXTURES’ limit=’10’ /]
[soccer-info id=’20’ type=’fixtures’ title=’CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES’ limit=’12’ /]
[soccer-info id=’21’ type=’fixtures’ title=’L1 FIXTURES’ limit=’12’ /]
[soccer-info id=’22’ type=’fixtures’ title=’L2 FIXTURES’ limit=’12’ /]
Here’s our best bets for the weekend in UK Football. Why don’t you spoil yourself, spoil yourself.
[ultimatetables 1 /]
[ultimatetables 2 /]
[ultimatetables 3 /]
[ultimatetables 4 /]
[ultimatetables 9 /]
So the first wave of TV Ratings has set in. Realty Shows…Blockisms and Cook + Cry…Check. Neighbours and Home and Away back…check. Checkbook Journalism Showdown…Check.
Now it’s onto the second wave of promised gold from the big channels. Nine are unveiling the Gina Rinehart and co telemovie, Channel 7 something or other, and Channel 10 saving the best until now, Gogglebox, the show about people watching TV show.
It is based on exactly the same show that was successful in the UK, but we should be reminded that just because something works in the UK, it doesn’t mean it will here (like TV Burp, Freddie Flintoff, Rolf Harris). You get the feeling that this one will be like so many other shows that arrive in Australia with the number 1 tag and disappear quicker than Yasmin before she got married.
So, we’ve decided to comment on this TV Show, and leave a comment section so someone can comment on our comment. Then someone else can comment on the comment, and more comments until it goes viral, then makes the newspaper, and then the afternoon TV news yakfest where they need filler, then The Project, and then people waytch The Project as part of Gogglebox and then people watch Gogglebox completing the cycle. This provides the only interest in the TV show, to see how far around or how many times around the cycle you can get.
It shows on Thursday night on Channel 10, and a day earlier if you have Foxtel on Lifestyle. Neither are convenient for me, nor interesting, and will more than likely end up the same way as most Channel 10 shows, onto Channel 11.
Here’s the rest of the FTA Gold we think for this week.
TUESDAY – SBS2 – 8:30
50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy
WEDNESDAY – CH11 – 7:30
THE SIMPSONS / FUTURAMA NIGHT
WEDNESDAY – ABC – 8:30
SHAUN MICALLEF’s MAD AS HELL
WEDNESDAY – GO – 10:15
ZOOLANDER
THURSDAY – 7MATE – 10:45
BAD SANTA
SATURDAY – CH9 – 12:30
CRICKET WORLD CUP – AUST v ENG
SUNDAY – CH11 – 8:30
FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF
SUNDAY – SBS2 – 8:30
SOUTH PARK + DANGER 5
WORST OF THE WEEK
ICC WORLD CUP OPENING CEREMONY
FRIDAY – 2:30 – GEM
