City boss takes another pop at the fans

I can believe Cardiff City boss Dave Jones is blaming Cardiff fans for the losing out on Bolton defender Andy 0’Brien. There was never anything official from the club but rumours, and there are always lots of rumours.

Dave Jones said, “There are always possibilities, but it is difficult at the moment because what I’m looking at, everyone else is looking at.

“That is why we moved so quickly for big Parky, because there was a lot of interest.

“I probably lost Andy O’Brien because the famous message boards and everything else alerted Leeds that we were talking to him. We probably could have signed him on the day, but they stepped in and took him away from us. But we’ll just keep looking.”

O’Brien was at Leeds on loan at the time and Leeds wanted to extend the loan to the end of the season anyway. Bolton would have told Leeds of the interest from Cardiff. Jones himself said there were our clubs interested and they would have talking to Bolton probably. O’Brien must be about the only player at the top end of the football tree without an agent.

Far from the being outed by Cardiff City fans on message boards maybe the Cardiff boss should look to the player maybe. From a interview he gave to Sky,

"I got the impression Cardiff liked that I had the guts to do everything myself without an agent.

"What I wanted to do was be up front all the way through and not mess about behind anyone's back. I like to think I did that.

"Cardiff came in with an offer and the first thing I did was ring Leeds and telling them exactly what the deal was.

"There was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing and then I said to Ken Bates 'If you offer me what Cardiff have offered then I'll sign.'

"That is what happened. Personally, it's a relief to have sorted things out. Two months ago, I was scratching my head as to where my future would lie.”

 It looks like the deal was never going to be an exclusive, Leeds were always going to be in there with a shout.

Beat Stoke City and it's Doncaster or Wolves away FA Cup

A win over Stoke City will see a fourth round tie with Doncaster or Wolves not the most exciting of ties. However, I have had a change of heart from yesterday were I was thing along the lines of concentrate on the league.

Stoke City at home is winnable and could see Cardiff into the last sixteen to face championship rivals Doncaster or Premiership bottom dwellers Wolves. We beat Doncaster 4-0 earlier in the season at the CCS and with Wolves scraping for every point, they are like to put out there under 10's.

A victory on the 29/30 January would mean a Quarter Final spot, worth a push I reckon. If it was to go along those lines City would be close to another Wembley shot.

Three members of the Armed Forces made the draw today.

Rifleman David Etale pull the balls in and his a Manchester United fan Manchester
Senior Aircraftsman (SAC) Neil Thomas was drawing the home teams and is a Cardiff City fan
Ableseaman Leon Cashman drew the away games and is an Arsenal.

Parkin looking to make his debut

The Beast in all his glory

Cardiff City new boy Jon Parkin has a dream that day he will watch himself on Match of the Day and he join Cardiff because it was his best chance of achieving his ambition. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror he said,

“I want to watch myself on Match of the Day.
“I watch it every Saturday night and think: ‘I’d love to be on there’. I feel I could do it in the Premier League.
“Defenders there haven’t seen to many strikers like me. They might scratch their heads a little bit!”

Cardiff fans have yet to see the striker known has ‘The Beast’ in action he missed yesterdays FA Cup clash with Stoke because of injury, however he is expected for Norwich. Manager Dave Jones reckons Parkin’s has a lot to offer on just is size, he can move about and with ball at feet hard to stop.

He has been close to his goal of Premiership football he was with Hull City but sold before they reached the Premier League. He help Stoke City to promotion to the Premiership only to be sold to Preston and missing out again.

“I’ve seen the facilities here and I feel this club is better equipped to get up than Stoke were. It’s a good career move for me.
“I’m under no illusions it will be tough for me. Cardiff home some great strikers – the likes of Craig Bellamy, Jay Bothroyd and Michael Chopra.”

He could get his chance next Saturday at Norwich with Bothroyd expected to miss the game and Michael Chopra picked up is fifth yellow card against Bristol City, played against Leeds a few days later and is yet to serve his mandatory one match ban. Hell of a game for a debut, a top of the table clash with the possibility of the two top strikers out will put a lot of pressure on the new signing.

If they are both out that would only leave Parkin and Andy Keogh with youngest Nathaniel Jarvis for the game. Craig Bellamy can play in a central role but he has been playing his best football out on the wing.

He is not fazed is nickname ‘The Beast’ explaining it came out of him scoring goals not out of looks or size.

“I got my nickname from my time at Macclesfield when I scored 26 goals in one season. The manager Brian Horton said I was like a beast devouring the opposition. It just stuck with me.
“It doesn’t bother me- I’ve got used to it now and I could be call a lot worse! But just because you’re a big lad doesn’t mean you can’t add more to your game.
“Look at Grant Holt at Norwich. He’s built like me and doing a hell of a job.”

A replay for Cardiff

Cardiff City will be in the draw for the fourth round of the FA Cup by default after a 1-1 draw at Stoke City.

So it a replay, an extra game I would think most managers could do without. Why can the game be finish on the day? Today it could have got to extra-time and penalties if need be, time to end replays.

After the win over Leeds mid-week the Cardiff team showed fortitude up against Premiership Stoke City. Cardiff were without key players again but the Stoke boss Tony Pulis made seven changes to his team for the team that lost to Manchester United mid-week.

It was Cardiff striker Michael Chopra who opened the scoring with an early goal. From a dangerous cross into the box Chopra who had found space against a post, but Chopra was alert enough put the rebound in the back of the net.

The Cardiff defence stood up to firm under pressure for the rest of the half as the Premier League club looked to get beck into the game. They say the worst time to concede a goal is just before half-time, and low and behold Blackpool levelled the game. All square at half time sounded to be a fair outcome over the 45minutes

Stoke came out for the second-half with a vengeance and proceeded to lay siege to the Cardiff half for the rest of the game. They (Stoke) could have run away with the game with there in ability to score. So it’s back to the Cardiff City Stadium for a rerun soon.

After the match the Cardiff boss Dave Jones was a draw was a fair result, "I think so” and when on to say,

"We fell asleep in the first half (for Stoke's goal) with the long ball down the middle and got caught, but we stood and had to be counted today.
"There were a lot of balls into our box from all over the place and I thought we stood up to it, and when we could get out and play, we tried to do that.
"I've got nothing but praise for the lads, certainly when you look at our bench, which was full of kids.
"They have come here and earned it. I'm disappointed we didn't win it having got our noses in front, but this is a hard place to come."

Dave Jones was asked the call for in to go,

"Everyone has an opinion - everyone wants you out of a job because you lose a couple of games," Jones said.
"I think a lot of them who have been talking have probably got another agenda somewhere along the line.
"It's the people that seem to know a lot about it, but let's talk about today's performance.
"That is all history at the end of the day. We just get on with trying to do what we do best, which is playing football and trying to get the results.
"The fans demand a performance and I think they got that from the lads today."

Stoke manager Tony Pulis said after the game,

"We started the first half very tepid and gave them a goal," Pulis said.
"Then we stepped it up a little bit and Tunny scores a good goal just before half-time.
"I felt as though that was coming and then in the second half it was just wave after wave after wave, but we couldn't score.
"But there we are - you can't fault the players for their effort and commitment.

"It's not ideal for us because the replay falls between two tough Premier League matcges, but we can't blame anyone but ourselves for that."

Reserves Rover and out.

On what is usually a magical weekend for English football, QPR travelled up to Blackburn looking to win an FA Cup tie for the first time since 2001. The Lofty Heights crew braved the journey despite prior warning that Neil Warnock would be fielding a weakened side.

With Lofty at the wheel we took to the road after he picked up PK, Jenson and finally myself as we took to the longish journey up to Lancashire. The mood in the camp was one that we were going to just enjoy our day out and have a laugh along the way and if we got a draw or maybe more then we would've been more than happy.
With there being plenty of FA Cup ties today we saw the return of the away day predictuion competition. With over 51 games to try and call from the FA Cup, League 1, League 2 and the Blue Square Premier it was anyones game to try and take the money and try to take the crown from previous champion PK.
The journey up the M40, M42, M6 and M65 took us just in excess of two hours and 45minutes, was a smooth one with no traffic issues at all, a nice change to our previous trips up north!
We arrived at the Fernhurst pub just outside of Ewood Park at 1.15 and went straight to the hog roast van that as directly outside the pub. Two of us opted for beef and two went for pork rolls, for about 10 minutes you couldn't hear a word from any of us, the food must've been good to shut all four of us up!
We made our way into the pub to get two beers and two cokes, it made a nice change to get change from £10 yet there was one northerner in the pub that moaned that he had to pay £1.90 for a pint because he usually pays £1.60............. he needs to try living down south, he'll realise how lucky he is that we pay his benefits.
Whilst we were in the pub we met Lorna and had a good laugh with her as Jenson, Lofty and Lorna tried their hardest to get the attention of a person on facebook called Malcolm and put up attention seeking statuses and seeing how long it would take for him to reply, it was all quite funny at the time, you had to be there!
Just before we left the pub Lorna shared a great blonde moment when Lofty asked how long there was left of the Arsenal game she replied "about half an hour" thinking that he was asking how long there was until our kick off, probably another 'you had to be there' moment but it made us laugh for quite a while!
We were then joined by Steve and Phil as we made our way into the ground. Somehow Steve, who is about 7foot tall, managed to get himself in on a young adult ticket, well done that man!

Neil Warnock made changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Bristol City on Monday. Gary Borrowdale, Petter Vaagen Moen, Leon Clarke came into the side that was missing Matt Connolly through suspension, Patrick Agyemang, Martin Rowlands through injury, Adel Taarabt and Heidar Helguson were rested whilst losing Kyle Walker after his loan spell ended on Monday, with him joining Aston Villa, Rangers looked slightly depleted in their starting line up and the left hand side especially looked weak with Borrowdale and Clarke providing the width down there, hardly an encouragement for the travelling support.



Rovers started off the better of the sides in the first half and enjoyed plenty of success when putting balls over the top down our left hand side, if it wasn't for some wasteful finshing by Mama Diouf then Rangers' could've easily found themselves one or two down in the opening 10 minutes.
Paddy Kenny was soon brought into action as Mama Diouf had a free header just outside the 6 yard box that was destined for the back of the net but somehow Kenny threw himself across his goal line and tipped the ball wide for a corner.
Minutes later Kenny was once again the saviour as he saved a header from point blank range when it seemed certain that Blackburn would score.
From the resulting corner Clint Hill cleared off the line and somehow Rangers' were able to keep their clean sheet in tact.
Disaster struck for the R's as half time was approaching when Jamie Mackie made a reckless challenge on Gael Givet both players were left in a heap on the floor and after about 5 minutes of treatment to both of them they were both stretchered off and replaced. Early news rumoured that Mackie had broken his leg.
Rangers' nearly took the lead on the stroke of half time when Petter Vaagen Moen's bullet free kick which looked destined for the top corner was superbly saved by Bunn in the Blackburn goal.



At half time we made our way down to the concourse to check out the latest scores and knock back a cheeky beer. We were joined by Michael as we discussed the first half and how the R's looked like they were gaining in confidence the more the half went on and were unlucky when Moen's free kick was saved.

In the second half Rangers' continued the press on the counter attack with Bruno Andrade looking very dangerous having come on for the injured Mackie. Andrade's pace was troubling the Blackburn defence and when Rob Hulse headed wide you just wondered if the R's were going to be able to break the deadlock and sneak a goal.
With 15 minutes to go Blackburn took the lead. El Hadji Diouf cut in from the right hand side unchallenged as he laid the ball off to the advancing Holliet and he sidefooted the ball into the bottom corner past the outstretched hand of Paddy Kenny.
Rangers' never really looked like getting the equaliser but one positive from the second half was a substitute appearance from Lee Cook having seen the winger out of action for such a long period of time.



I think the general opinion is that none of us are really bothered about being out of the FA Cup and that the League is the clubs priority.
The news that Jamie Mackie has suffered a double fracture to his tibia and fibia really soured the day and we all wish him a speedy recovery. I hope this drives our players on to win promotion for him.

Having lost two strikers to injury this week I feel that now we need to strengthen the front line with a decent poacher then can nick us ten goals in this second half of the season and one more defender that can provide good competition for those that have done so well this season.


The Lofty Heights Man of the Match has a few contenders. Bruno Andrade was impressive in his substitutes appearance, Rob Hulse once again battled well up front and held the ball up well for the supporting players. Clint Hill was superb at centre back, winning plenty of headers and proving to be very difficult to get past. However our Man of the Match is Paddy Kenny for his superb performance between the sticks and making some fantastic saves, keeping Rangers' in the game a lot longer than maybe we deserved.

On the way home I started to get through our prediction competition, which was a closely fought contest with PK getting off to a flier in the FA Cup games but as we went into the final league, the Blue Square Premier, the scores were tied at 23 each between PK and myself. With it going into the final game, Wrexham vs Grimsby, it was PK that claimed victory and retained his title and picked us the winnings off the rest of us. Well done PK!
The journey was made as we entered the service station in Warwick on the way home as the Wycombe Wanderers squad walked in and Lofty, PK and Jenson managed to grab a few words with Gary Waddock at first and then thelegend that is Gareth Ainsworth stopped to talk to everyone and give our day a great ending.

Ashton Kutcher & Natalie Portman Have Nude Sex Scene In 'No Strings Attached' Trailer

Maybe they should call it 'No Clothes Attached.'

After a more or less innocuous, public audience trailer advertising what seemed like a run of the mill romantic comedy, Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman go risque in the new red band trailer for their new film, 'No Strings Attached.'

Portman and Kutcher play best friends that begin to sleep with each other... to predictable, yet potentially surprisingly funny results. One thing's for sure: those results are racy.

The film co-stars Mindy Kalig of 'The Office,' Jake M. Johnson of 'Paper Heart,' Greta Gerwig of 'Greenberg,' and Ludacris. It hits theaters January 21st.

Bothroyd wanted at Cardiff

A wanted man??

Cardiff City striker Jay Bothroyd has express his desire to stay with the Bluebirds until the summer. That should close a few cheque books and make manager Dave Jones happy has he sees Bothroyd as an integral part of his promotion push.

So the die is cast, Bothroyd will go free if Cardiff fail to win promotion. Dave Jones would like to resign him but I don’t thing there is a Cardiff fan who expects him to sign for another season if it happens to be the Championship again. It has been his goals that have help Cardiff stay at the top of the table. There would be no guarantee he would sign anyway if Cardiff were to win promotion. It could be the last chance for the 28-year-old striker  Bothroyd to play in the Premiership and have one last big payday.

A lot of teams will be knocking at his door for sure in the summer, that is if no-one puts a bid in over the next few weeks at tempts the Cardiff board into a sale. A club interested in the City striker could try to agree a pre-contract deal which could be beneficial to Cardiff City because it would put an end to all the speculation there is bound to be until the end of the season.

Bothroyd is rumoured not to be fit to return to the starting line-up for the visit to Stoke on Saturday in the FA Cup 3rd round fixture. The next league game is the foollowing Saturday Norwich away, a massive game with second place (Cardiff) v Third place (Norwich) and it is hoped Bothroyd will be fit for that game.