Curb Your Enthusiasm Back For A 6th Season!

HBO has officially confirmed that there will be a sixth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The new episodes will air beginning on September 9. This is a surprise to me as originally the show was only going to last for 5 seasons and the last episode in series 5 was called The End. However this is good news for all CYE fans and Cheryl is trying to convince creator Larry David to make more series beyond this current one which is pretty pretty pretty good!

Wimbledon!

Weather permitting today sees the start of Wimbledon. For the next 13 days the best men and woman competitors will be in action. Unfortunelty Andy Murray will not be taking part as he hasn't recovered from his wrist injury so I can't see Britain having anyone left in either draw by the weekend.

My favourites for the title this year are Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. Federer is virtually unbeatable on grass and will be trying to equal the great Bjorn Borg record of winning 5 straight Wimbledon titles. The Womans draw is alot more open with Justine Henin the top seed but I think Maria has the power to beat her and crucially Maria has experience of winning Wimbledon at the tender age of 17 and this is the only slam that Henin hasn't won which could play on her mind. Maria also got to the final of the Nottingham tournament last week on grass and I watch every match she plays and she is looking as good as I have seen her for a while.

Bye Bye Thierry

I woke this morning to read that my hero had decided to move to Barcelona. I don't hold any grudges against him as he wants to win trophies and play on the highest stage he can and Arsenal's lack of ambition in the transfer market along with boardroom scuffles has cost us the best player we have ever had and the world have ever seen.

Arsenal have shown last year they can cope without him at we still finished 4th despite him being out for most of the season and we got some good results against the big teams and when he is not in the side Arsenal do tend to play more of a team game rather than looking for one man all of the time but we will still miss his undoubted class, his first touches and his pace.

The thing that pisses me of most about this deal though is the £16m price tag. Last year Chelsea and Barcelona were prepared to pay £50m for him but I think they would have given us a blank cheque, signed it and say write your own price down but we rejected so why accept £34m less for him a year later its stupid. Charlton are getting £17m for Darren Bent so how can the best player the world as ever seen be worth £16m he has 3 years left on his contract so he can't go anywhere so just hold out for more or say he can't go anywhere. It was the same with Vieria when he left the priced halved within a year when we didn't sell him but I think the tie was right to sell Vieria as he wasn't as good as he had been and we had Cesc Fabregas coming through the ranks but Henry is still the best player in the world right in the middle of his prime so this is a big blow as Arsenal will probably buy an 8 year old kid for a fiver to replace him.

So why did Thierry decide to leave now after all only 12 months ago he committed his future to Arsenal and said I have never played in Spain and I never will do this is my last contract? This is what he had to say

"David Dein is no longer there and there is no denying the fact this has de-stabilised the team and the manager. Arsene Wenger has said that at this moment he will not commit to the club past the expiration of his current deal, which finishes at the end of this coming season. I respect his decision and honesty but I will be 31 at the end of next season and I cannot take the chance to be there without Arsene Wenger and David Dein"

So it looks to me like Arsene Wenger will be leaving next summer otherwise why didn't he say to Henry no I will be here which would have made him stay and if Wenger does leave next summer how many of the players that he bought in will want to leave with him? - that's my main concern

Anyway Arsenal are now going to need a new captain and the obvious choice will be Gilberto has he was Henry's vice captain, he is the most experienced player and he was captain for most of last season whilst Henry was injured but I would like to give it to Kolo Toure who has all the attributes to be a good Arsenal captain and I think one day will be. Cesc Fabregas is also an option I would like.

I'm not bitter towards Henry he gave us 8 years of wonderful service and its not his fault the bored can't get their fingers out of their arses and sort all the crap out that is happening at boardroom level maybe now they will realise they need to work together for the good of Arsenal rather than squabbling like school children its just a shame this had to happen to make them realise it. Had David Dein not had been forceds to quit non of this would have happened Dein loves Arsenal and just wanted to moved the club forward is that so bad? - You can see what the manager and players thought of him and how influential he was so for god sake may him a member of the board again. I hope Thierry enjoys the rest of his career and maybe he will come back in a coaching role when he finishes playing. One thing that is certain to happen now next season is I bet Arsenal will play Barcelona at some stage in the Champions League.

Ronnie Irani Calls It A Day

Essex captain Ronnie Irani has annouced his retirement from first class cricket with immediate effect. Ronnie had planned to retire at the end of the current county season but due to a consultation with his Dr. it was discovered that his knee injury is more serious that first feared.

Muller-Wolfahrt's (Ronnie's Doctor) expert opinion is that to carry on any form of professional sport at this point would serverly affect Ronnie’s lifestyle and health and that his career should therefore end immediately.

This is what Ronnie had to say when he commented on his injury "I'm naturally disappointted things are ending this way. I was hoping to swallow this bitter pill at the end of season but unfortunetly my playing career has come earlier than anticipated."

"I feel that I still have a duty to finish off the season on the sidelines with Essex and hopefully have a small part to play in helping the team during the remainder of the campaign."

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved with Essex County Cricket Club from the Committee to the members and supporters and to the players."

Ronnie's playing career stats

3 Test Match Appearances

86 runs @ 17.20

3 wickets @ 37.33

31 ODI Appearances

360 runs @ 14.40

24 wickets @ 41.20

232 First-Class Appearances

13472 runs @ 41.58

339 wickets @ 29.51

315 ‘List A’ Appearances

7733 runs @ 30.93

309 wickets @ 25.22

27 Twenty20 Cup Appearances

651 runs @ 28.30

England U21's VS Slovakia!

Last night I went to Carrow Road in Norwich to watch an Under 21 International Friendly between England and Slovakia.

In truth there was only ever gonna be one winner and before Ashley Young was tripped inside the area which resulted in Keiron Richardson scoring from the spot David Nugent had already hit the post and Nedum Onuoha forced a good save from the Slovakian Keeper. England then should have had another penalty when Ashley Young was fouled again but it was to soon after the 1st one so the referee bottled it.

England ran riot in the 2nd half and it was one way traffic as Nigel Reo Coker's drive was deflected in to make it 2-0. Newcastle defender Steven Taylor headed England's third from a good cross by Ashley Young from the left wing. The best goal of the night came from Tom Huddlestone who curled a peach from outside the box into the top left hand corner. Reading's Leroy Lita the pounced on a loose ball and calmly slotted home to complete the rout six minutes from time.

After the 90 minutes there was a penalty shoot out arranged by England manager Stuart Pearce to help his players practise in case they needed to take them in the forthcoming championships. England won the shootout 4-3 with Leighton Baines the only England player to miss.

All in all this was a useful exercise for England who will now head to the U21 championships full of confidence and no doubt believing the can win it.

Cunts XI

I was listening to a podcast on a website the other day and they asked you to submit your Premiership Cunts XI - roughly translated as players you hate or have done something to annoy the Gooners. Here is what I came up with!

GK - People who aren’t Arsenal fans will probably say Jens Lehmann but being an Arsenal fan I won’t, as it was his run of clean sheets that got us to the Champions League final. Instead my vote goes to Peter Schemical for his racist remarks to Ian Wright! Wright! Wright! and for being the keeper in Man Us treble winning season.

RB - Gary Neville – Smarmy git so overrated and excessive celebrations. – Crap for England.

CB – Alpay – Biggest cheat of all. Anyone remember the Turkey Vs England game? Of course you do!

CB - Stephane Henchoz- Handballed 3 times in the FA Cup final in 2000 and got away with everyone of them. A game in which Arsenal eventually lost 2-1 despite dominating the match because of two late Liverpool goals in the 83rd and 88th minutes – Liverpool all over though.

LB - Hmm that’s a tricky one where on earth could we start how about the money grabbing cock Ashley Cole. It was Maurico Tarrico from Spuds until last summer.

RM - Lee Bowyer – Hated so much even his own teammates starts fights with him. Only in the game for money not a true fan. Though you can say this about a lot of players. Best incident involving Bowyer was when Dennis Bergkamp elbowed him and the Dyer sending off.

CM - Robbie Savage – Biggest moaner by far, always tackles late. Mark Hughes says he is the type of player everyone wants, everyone else says he’s a knob.

CM - Ryan Giggs – I will never forget that goal in the 1999 semi final god knows I’ve tried but it doesn’t matter how much Guinness I drink it wont go away. That hairy chest will haunt me forever.

LM - Christiano Ronaldo bags of talent undoubtedly the reason Man U won the league but he still dives far too much and he will always be hated in England. Man Utd fans would feel the same if he wasn’t there player and he wasn’t so good.

ST - Nicolas Anelka - Arsenal made £18 million on him what a barging but could have been a world star at Arsenal before heading for sunnier climates and more money but look where he is now chasing long balls punted up field at Bolton. Ponder between El Hadji Diouf for his spitting antics but never done any harm.

ST - Ruud Van Nistlerooy – Scored the penalty that wasn’t to end Arsenal’s 49 unbeaten record. Where’s Martin Keown when you need him! – I didn’t even mention the diving.

Manager - David Bleat (Pleat) – Not only the worst football commentator on TV, he loves Spurs and successfully avoided the drop when appointed caretaker manager of them.