Just Another Brick In The Wall

This is a picture of the brick which I bought for inclusion in Burton Albion's new Pirelli Stadium. You can find it (if you are bothered) at what used to be called the Bovril End (It's the end the home supporters stand behind the goal) just to the left of the bar. Worth every penny of £35? You bet it was.

New Zealand

For our honeymoon we travelled to the other side of the world, 26 hours on a plane to New Zealand.

Starting out in Auckland on the North Island we picked-up our hired campervan and made our way in a meandering route through the North down to Wellington, took the ferry over the Cook Straights and then did a figure of 8 in the South Island before finishing in Christchurch.

I have to say this must have been the best three weeks of our lives - the scenery is spectacular, breathtaking and beautiful, the towns and cities sometimes quaint, sometimes vibrant and always freindly and welcoming.

For much of the time we were on our own and never saw a soul, like on the beach Marahau and on our walk through the Abel Tasman Rain Forest. I developed a love of green-lipped mussels and NZ Savvy wine, but didn't miss out on the local brews either!

First Pictures of the wedding

Well, we finally did it and got married! What a beauty (and Joanne doesn't look half bad either.) Shottle Hall in Derbyshire was the venue http://www.shottlehall.co.uk/ and it was great day surrounded by our family and friends - nice venue, great food, great fireworks and of course, great music from your resident DJ Rave On Raven. Was particular nice to see all the rockers (young and old) dominating the dance floor. Well, we are on our way to New Zealand for the honeymoon and hopefully we'll post up some pictures and comments from there. See you all soon.

The New Season Starts

The new football season has started in the Blue Square Premier Division (formerly the Football Conference). Woo hoo, I hear you shout. "Tell us more, Mark". Well since you ask, Mr Clough has assembled what could be one of the best squads ever, with a fair mix of league and conference experience and some quality young players which might just achieve what would have been unthinkable a few years back - promotion to the Football League. It's a long way off still and there are many more teams in this league that think they can do it too, but the fact that popular opinion across the league appears to be that The Brewers will be "there or there abouts" is astonishing progress for a club who were once collecting money in blankets at half time to try and keep the club afloat.

With the new, state-of-the-art, Pirelli Stadium pictured above and a strong and supportive board, chaired by Ben Robinson, a high profile manager in the shape of Nigel Clough and an ever-growing support (if the attendances are anything to do by), despite the little team up the road (Derby) not doing too bad themselves, things are looking rosy in the garden of the Albion.

Not quite so rosy in sunny Histon on the first game of the season. The little village side from just north of Cambridge were promoted at the end of last season and we had the opportunity to visit the friendly, compact but tidy ground for our first match. A couple of pints of Black Sheep Bitter (in excellent nick) in the Railway View in Impington started the day well. We all expected Burton to do well. "We must beat this lot" was a common comment on the sun-soaked terraces of the "Glassworld Area" (rather a grandiose name which conjures up all manner of exciting mental images of how this magnificant structure might look.)

Histon are not a bad team and they were clearly in confident mood, but Burton (albeit without any fit central defenders in the team after captain Tony James goes off injured after only a few minutes play) looked frankly crap. I mean mind-numbingly, groaningly, bash your head on the advertising boards crap. And boring. God it was boring. 45 mins of it. Dreadful. Text message reads "R U here? It's crap". I respond "Yes I am. It is". Tactics were conspicuous by their absence. And then came the second half and it all changed. One goal to us (John McGrath - an excellent midfield signing from our recently relegated Staffordshire neighbours Tamworth) and we are away - this is it - "we'll get a couple more now, you watch." I confidently remarked to the bloke next to me, who nodded as if to say "yes, of course, I know that, I'm an expert too." Then two goals for Histon after defensive blunders and we are in injury time and all looks lost. Once again, we have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Last minute free kick on the edge of the box. Up steps Daryl Clare. He's been wanting one of these for a little while. It's hit hard and straight, overt he wall and smacks into the top corner of the net - the Histon goalkeeper stranded - it's unstoppable. And we are out of jail with a point. We leave as the happiest set of fans, but the Histon lots are amicable and philosphical about it. So not a bad day.