St George's Day

Some of you may be aware that it is St George's Day today, 23rd April. St. George is the patron saint of England. And Georgia. And Catalonia. And Ethiopia. And Greece. And Lithuania......and several other countries and cities.
Now the reason I'm writing about this is because I'm Welsh. The patron saint of my country is St David. Every year for as long as I can remember I have celebrated St David's Day on 1st March. While at school this normally involved some form of eisteddfod and art/cultural type competition thing. I'm sure it's a bit more boozey now back home on 1st March but we do still seem to respect the fact that St David was a scholar and teacher.
So it seemed apt/ironic that, while walking through Nottingham City Centre on the way home today, there were dozens and dozens of people dressed up as St George as a knight all getting drunk. Or just pissed up and wearing the cross of St George wrapped round them (most of the flags with a alcoholic drink logo on it). You see St George was effectively a soldier for the Christian faith who went round killing pagans and converting people. I'm not criticising him for this but it annoys me that if you ask any one of these people getting drunk who he was they'll come out with something about him killing a dragon! This of course refers to the legend of George and the Dragon. But these people have no idea about what it means or what else he did. And what's worse they have no intention of ever learning! Now I'm not saying that all the Welsh are St David experts but at least we've been celebrating it since children (well most of us).
These people think that wearing a flag and getting drunk on St George's Day means that you're a true Englishmen and patriotic through and through.
I'm going to stop now because I can feel my anger rising with regard to these louts who pretty much embarass true Englishmen and bring a bad name to the country that I live in.

Anyway, click the links and educate yourself!

County 2 - 1 Forest...Oh dear.....

..Work is going to be fun on Monday!!!  The Sven-Express has started to run!!  Choo-choo!!!

And the No. 1 football team in Nottingham is.....

.....well, strictly speaking it's Nottingham Forest. Playing in the Championship alongside some great footballing teams such as Cardiff City, :-D , as opposed to Notts County, who pretty much only stayed in the football league last year due to several teams going into administration.

Some people may be wondering why I bring this up and start this post with such a statement.  Well Notts County Football Club have recently been bought by investors who are going to be putting a lot of money into the club and have this week employed the former England Manager Sven Goran-Eriksson as Director of Football.  Since this was confirmed on Wednesday there has been constant talk from County fans of getting into the Premiership and quashing those poor losers from across the Trent once and for all.  They have decided that they don't need the money from Nottingham Rugby Club, who were sharing their ground last season (and bringing in nearly as many fans as the football team) and seem to have forgotten that they nearly went bust a season or two ago and received a lot of donations from the people of Nottingham irrelevant of their sporting allegiances.

This is all lining up to be the most embarrassing story in football history.  Falls from grace are nothing new (just look at Leeds United, Southampton and even Nottingham Forest to a certain extent) but tripping over at the bottom of the pile before you've even got to the height where you can even fall from grace is going to be painful to watch.

What makes this even worse is that nationally it is seen as a huge joke.  Sven is a comical figure, renowned for his off field antics and lack of success on the field, and the city of Nottingham is being made a laughing stock in the press ("Svens first job is to find local talent-that shouldn't be too hard!" paraphrased from the BBC website).  Hooters on London Road has never had such great coverage.  If they fail in their bid for success then......I hope Nottingham Tourist board have some good ideas to improve the image!

Don't get me wrong, I really hope that County do well for the sake of the City, and I think that they have started going about it the right way.  But if this constant arrogance (for want of a better word) continues from the fans that I see on a daily basis  without any justification, I think I will be stood on the south side of the Trent laughing my head off when the wheels of the Sven-express fall off.

PS. I'm not a bitter Forest fan or a true 'Pie, so I can be seen as neutral in this debate wanting nothing more than success for the city that I live in.  Feel free to comment and tell your friends!!

PPS.  My wife is a County fan so I hope they do well to keep her happy!!!