Liverpool under the guidance of stand-in manager Kenny Dalglsh have been knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United by a single goal. And that goal came from the penalty spot in the second minute after Daniel Agger was adjudged to have fouled Dimitar Berbatov. United stalwart Ryan Giggs dispatched the spot kick with ease to score the only and winning goal! Liverpool looked like making a strong comback before Steven Gerrard was given a straight red for a rash challenge on Michael Carrick on the 30 minute mark. A reasonable showing for Dalglish’s first game in charge; not the best result but at least it allows Dalglish to now concentrate on reviving the Reds fortunes in the league and dragging Liverpool away from the relegation zone to safety.
Plymouth Argyle have paid off their initial debt to the Inland Revenue but have been hit with a further £500,000 tax bill. Will that mean more players will be sold, not that there are many saleable players left and my prophecy of Peter Reid (if he doesn’t get a better offer from another club) fielding a schoolboy XI before the season is out! My question is why was all this allowed to happen? The constant mismanagement of club funds. Players on championship wages; the players should have been asked to take a pay cut or look for alternative employment instead of draining the Argyle coffers when they were underperforming. Championship wages but not a championship performance in my opinion, Argyle should bring back performance related pay, basic wage with bonuses for goals scored! So again; despite being stripped bare of all it’s biggest assets; Plymouth are deep in the shit with no decent players to sell to clear this latest tax bill!
Hispania have decided to leave (or have been expelled as some suggest) FOTA. Team principle Colin Kolles has suggested that FOTA is geared towards the top teams and have little interest in helping smaller teams like HRT and the other new teams. I have believed that is the case since the 2009 FOTA Vs FIA spat when Williams were expelled from the organisation when it didn’t side with the manufacturer teams. These comments from Colin Kolles just reinforces my belief! It has become apparent that promises made to HRT, Virgin and Lotus have not been kept, the supposed budget cuts have not happened and the help for the new teams haven’t been forthcoming. Not to mention the €100,000 annual fee that members have to pay; for a struggling team like HRT; €100k is a lot of money that could be used more effectively elsewhere!
Here in Kansas; I woke up to three inches of snow this morning which of course meant three inches of snow on my car. I certainly didn’t miss having to brush snow off the car in the morning in the freezing cold and dragging snow into the car and over the clean carpets during the summer months. I have just come back from Walmart where I bought a set of four rubber/carpet hybrid floor mats so the carpet in our new car doesn’t get ruined! On the brightside; I got a chance to test out the systems on the Saturn which were supposed to help with driving in the snow and they work well, the traction control worked as expected; gave it some gas and the traction limited revs to stop the wheelspin and the ABS worked perfectly, no more pumping of the brakes for me!