1. Blossoms – Your Girlfriend
2. Liam Gallagher – The River
3. Sam Fender – Hypersonic Missiles
4. Kaiser Chiefs – People Know How To Love One Another
5. Of Monsters And Men – Alligator
Liam Gallagher’s tour in November doesn’t include Belfast. I really hope it’s not because he’s being lined up for Belsonic 2020. Flip sake.
It’s the League Cup Final, and this is reflected with both Everton and Liverpool being represented on the cover. Both teams are looking to make history. Liverpool by winning the trophy in four successive seasons, and Everton to win it for the first time.
The match gets a four page preview, with a series of top flight stars being canvassed for their opinion, and the consensus is that Everton will win.
There is a profile of Matchman Of The month, Davie Cooper of Rangers.
Also getting profiled is new Aston Villa signing Steve Foster, who is happy with the move as it means he won’t have to play against Peter Withe, who he rates as his toughest opponent.
Match assesses form of Liverpool and Everton in this season’s League Cup, based on the player ratings in Match Facts, with Everton edging out Liverpool by a score of 6.81 to 6.77.
Plymouth Argyle get profiled as they dream of a trip to Wembley after putting Derby County out of the FA Cup, with a Semi-Final against Watford at Villa Park standing in the way.
It’s also the League Cup Final in Scotland, with the game between Rangers and Celtic getting a double page preview. There is also a poster of Robert Prytz of Rangers.
Ratings seem to be a theme in this magazine, as Glenn Hoddle gets a go at rating Everton and Liverpool’s players.
The magazine ends with a profile of Mark Lawrenson, who says he wants to be a Commentator when he retires.
Some new Street Art in Belfast, I spotted on Instagram, so I decided to go out on my bike and see it in person.
It is of the path beside Red Barn Gallery, which has previously featured on this blog.
As a bonus, some new pieces have appeared as part of Belfast Canvas, a project which began as part of last month’s Hit The North, aimed at covering utility boxes in the city in artwork, inspired by a similar project in Dublin.
Those three images were taken at Dunbar Link, the street where you turned left before going into Virgin Megastore (Bit of an old school reference there) and at Kelly’s Bingo, next to where Atletic Stores was once (another old school reference for you)
Another bonus was that I found out where Strange Victory is, which will be handy as i’ll be heading there in September to see Edwin Collins do an instore gig.
Between now and then, i’ll be keeping an eye out for any utility boxes being painted.
Red Barn Gallery Street Art Photo Album
1. Liam Gallagher – Shockwave
2. Two Door Cinema Club – Talk
3. Of Monsters And Men – Alligator
4. Keane – The Way I Feel
5. Billie Eilish – Bury A Friend
It’s the first Cup Final of the 1980s, as Wolves take on Nottingham Forest in the League Cup Final, and Shoot commemorates this by having Emlyn Hughes and John Robertson on the cover.
The match gets six pages, with Emlyn Hughes and John McGovern discussing the effect of their respective managers. It is a cup final which sees Nottingham Forest aiming to win the trophy for the 3rd successive season.
In Scotland, Derek Johnstone uses his column to welcome Ian Redford to Ibrox, having signed from Dundee for a Scottish record of £210,000.
Terry Venables uses his column to express his delight at George Best’s return to football with Hibernian, and wishes Alan Ball good luck in his role as Player/Manager at Blackpool.
Talking of Hibs, there is a feature on Peter Cormack, as he returns to the club where he started his career, after leaving for Nottingham Forest in the early 1970s.
Martin Thomas of Bristol Rovers gets a profile, as he is described as Wales next goalkeeper.
Norwich City are the subject of a Club Spotlight, and readers got a free poster.
There is a feature called Soccer’s Wasted Talent, looking at the players who are sitting on the bench for their club, such as Duncan McKenzie, Peter Barnes and Tony Currie.
Chris Hughton talks to Shoot about being happy at Spurs, and Steve Coppell issues a warning to Liverpool that Manchester United will fight until the very end for the title.
AKA, Tower Street Art, a post that took two weeks.
They can’t seem to keep their paintbrushes down in East Belfast, following on from the mural along the Connswater Greenway in April.
A new spot this, and i’m frustrated that I missed this live at the start of the month.
The former BIFHE campus in Tower Street has now become an arts hub, known as Vault Studios.
If you’re looking to find it, there is still a signpost for a Belfast Metropolitan College (which BIFHE later became known as) campus if you are driving to the City Centre from East Belfast.
If you aren’t good with street signs, just keep an eye out for the Linenopolis mural painted last year, you can’t miss it.
At the beginning of June, there was an event held there called Vault Fringe, and part of it was live Street Art painting.
So, I decided to head down the following week to have a look, making a cameraless trip to check it out.
Impressed with what I saw, I returned on the Friday to get some photos.
To my frustration, one of the pieces, a series of hearts had a food van parked in front of it, so I had to go back and get photos of that at a later date.
I was starting to worry that it was going to be a repeat of the time I took two months to get a picture of a Linfield mural in 2011 because there was always a car parked in front of it when I went to get a photo.
Eventually, two weeks later, the food van moved so I made my move to get the final piece, a series of hearts, the best piece of all.
I got drenched cycling home, but it was worth it.
You may recognise some of the artists, who have featured regularly on this blog.
Bryan Robson is the cover star of the first World Soccer of 1986, a year he hopes will bring him glory for club and country, neither of which have celebrated glory since the 1960s.
The draw for the 1986 World Cup has taken place, the first World Cup where final group games are played simultaneously, amid complaints of travelling between stadiums.
This draw gets plenty of coverage. The group stages sees Italy and Argentina paired together, the 4th successive World Cup they would meet each other.
There is a feature on Canada captain Bruce Wilson, who finds himself without a club six months before the tournament, while Morocco get a profile.
There is a double page report on Juventus, who have just won the World Club after beating Argentinos Juniors on penalties.
There is a feature on European Cup Quarter-Finalists Steau Bucharest.
In Austria, Bruno Pezzey has been appointed captain of the national side, as they aim to qualify for Euro 88.
In England, it looked like Manchester United were going to run away with the title, but have been pulled back by Liverpool after a series of bad results.
Malcolm Allison has the World Cup on his mind, but the 1990 one, having been appointed manager of Kuwait.
In Turkey, there is unrest at Fenerbache, with players protesting at bonuses that were promised to the squad not being paid.
Caught out by an earlier draw date this year, it’s time to look at what members of the UEFA 102 Club might cross my path over the next twelve months.
You need to ask what it is? Well, 102 clubs have played in the Final of a European Club competition and this is my progress trying to see them all. Not very well might I add.
There were no new members this year, so we stay at 102.
Linfield are unseeded in the European Cup and can draw Celtic (already got), Red Star Belgrade (yes please, crap from a chance of progressing point of view, but from a seeing Red Star Belgrade point of view, bloody brilliant) or Slovan Bratislava.
Dundalk are seeded and can be drawn against a member club in Ferencvaros.
If wither of them progress to the 2nd Round, a potential tie against Dinamo Zagreb (already got) could await.
If either get to the 3rd Round, Ajax (already got) could await.
There are unsurprisingly lots of member clubs already in the group stages, too many for me to list. I might do an updated post if Linfield get that far.
In the UEFA Cup, Ballymena United and Cliftonville have to go into a Preliminary Round. Now assuming they both get through, they will be unseeded in the 1st Round draw, as will St Patrick’s Athletic and Shamrock Rovers.
I’ll be in Dublin on the night of the 1st Leg, so this will have an interest for me.
Possible opponents include : Steaua Bucharest, Malmo, Aberdeen (got), Rangers (got) and Dinamo Tblisi.
Cork City and Crusaders will be seeded and won’t face a member club.
It gets fun in the 2nd Round with AS Roma (got), Eintracht Frankfurt, Espanyol (got), Wolves (got) and AZ joining in.
In Round 3, Braga (got), Feyenoord (got), Austria Vienna and Royal Antwerp could await.
2018-2019 saw me not add a single member to my pitiful total of 36.
The full list of clubs is below. Clubs I have seen are in bold with the year first seen in brackets.
1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig
1. FC Magdeburg
1860 Munich
Aberdeen (2011)
Ajax (2012)
Anderlecht
Arsenal (2003)
AS Monaco
Aston Villa (1993)
Athletic Bilbao
Atlético Madrid (2011)
Austria Wien
AZ Alkmar
Barcelona (2011)
Bastia
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayern Munich
Benfica (2000)
Birmingham City (2010)
Bordeaux
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Braga (2011)
Carl Zeiss Jena
Casino Salzburg
Celtic (2009)
Chelsea (1997)
Club Brugge
CSKA Moscow
Deportivo Alavés
Dinamo Tbilisi
Dinamo Zagreb (2008)
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Dundee United (2013)
Dynamo Kyiv
Dynamo Moscow
Eintracht Frankfurt
Espanyol (2015)
Everton (2014)
Ferencváros
Feyenoord (1999)
Fiorentina
Fortuna Düsseldorf
Fulham (2001)
Galatasaray
Górnik Zabrze
Hamburg
IFK Göteborg
Internazionale
Ipswich Town
Juventus
Köln
KV Mechelen
Lazio
Leeds United (1999)
Liverpool (1994)
Malmö FF
Manchester City (2000)
Manchester United (1993)
Marseille (1992)
Mechelen
Middlesbrough (1995)
AC Milan
MTK Hungária
Napoli
Newcastle United (1993)
Nottingham Forest (1996)
Panathinaikos
Paris Saint-Germain
Parma
Partizan Belgrade
Porto (2011)
PSV Eindhoven (2015)
Rangers (2002)
Rapid Wien
Real Madrid (2003)
Real Mallorca
Real Zaragoza
Red Star Belgrade
Roma (2007)
Royal Antwerp
Saint-Étienne
Sampdoria (2017)
Schalke 04
Sevilla (2014)
Shakhtar Donetsk
Slovan Bratislava
Sporting CP
Stade de Reims
Standard Liège
Steaua București
Torino
Tottenham Hotspur (2010)
Twente
Újpest
Valencia (2015)
VfB Stuttgart
Videoton
Werder Bremen
West Ham United (1997)
Wolverhampton Wanderers (2010)
Zenit Saint Petersburg
With my football season over, I decided to make the most of my free Saturdays by heading Foyleside.
It wasn’t primarily a Street Art trip, but it would be rude not to take my camera with me and see what I can snap,
I hadn’t properly visited the city since 2007 though I have made working visits since.
Those visits were usually getting off the bus and heading to the office not seeing much. Apart from one, where I managed to cram a whole day into a lunch hour, and managed to get some photos.
For this visit, I decided I would be heading by train. For the sake of twenty minutes extra, I preferred the comfort and having a table seat to myself, setting off at 8.10am armed with my Bradshaw’s Guide*
*Not strictly true, just a couple of freesheets and the new copy of Q, because when they put a Gallagher on the cover, I give them my money and don’t ask any questions.
As I walked onto the platform at Great Victoria Street, you’ll never guess who I saw.
If you can’t work it out, you can phone a friend to see if they know.
Under any other circumstances, walking past Chris Tarrant would be quite cool, but it felt disappointing that it wasn’t Michael Portillo.
In case you are wondering what he was doing, he was filming for Extreme Railway Journeys on Channel Five.
I know Translink have a bit of a reputation, but describing them as “Extreme railway journeys” seems a bit much.
And there was me thinking I was making a scenic railway journey.
Whenever I make the journey by bus, one of the things that is hard to miss when you approach the City Centre is a giant mural on Glendermott Street. Being close to the Train Station, this was my first place to visit, getting some photos of that mural.
As well as I could try, as it was hard to get decent backlift for photos as you would be standing in the middle of the road, which is generally frowned upon.
From there, I walked along the Peace Bridge into the City Centre, having a nosey in the Guidhall.
As with any city I visit, I like to wander about and stumble into things. One piece of Street Art I stumbled upon was a mural of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights.
From there, I stumbled upon some absolute hidden gems such as Smart Swag, which has a Derry Girls painting done in the style of a comic book, amongst the art and random stuff they supply.
I’ve got a house move coming up soon, so if you’re stuck for an idea for a gift, nudge nudge.
I also stumbled upon a fantastic vintage shop called Bedlam. The highlight was following the signage advertising a shop called The Yellow Yard which captured my curiosity. It was worth it.
Second hand football shirts, CDs, records, posters, pillows with artwork on them. You have to see for yourself how wonderful a shop it is.
Other highlights included a trip to the Craft Village just off Shipquay Street and a browse through a shop called The Warehouse.
But back to the Street Art. As I said earlier, I wasn’t going specifically for Street Art, but it would have been remiss of me not to get a photo of the Derry Girls mural.
Painted to promote the second series of the show, i’m not usually a fan of advertising mural, but it’s done in a way, like the John Lydon mural in Bangor, that it doesn’t say it’s an advert, and therefore won’t date.
Located in Orchard Street, it is very easy to find. It’s on a hill, so you can get to experiment with angles when taking photos of it.
Be warned though, there may be queues of people wanting to photograph it. As well as that, it is at the side of a pub, so you may have people sitting at a table featuring in your shot.
That mural was organised by UV Arts, an arts organisation based in the city.
I wondered why Gerry Quinn from Derry Girls didn’t have a mural, but I think it might be because he’s a useless shite.
Because I only had a day there, I would be confined to the City Centre, so I wouldn’t get to travel too far.
That meant I didn’t get to see a new piece called Stag With A Bag in the Rosemount area of the city.
That was done by Irony, who is a regular visitor to Belfast and has featured on this blog. He also did another piece in Derry with his leftover paint where Praxis is based, but I didn’t get a chance to see that either. Maybe next time.
If I did have more time on my hands, I might have also taken a trip to see Drumahoe, the abandoned football stadium which has become a morbid tourist attraction, albeit not quite on Chernobyl type levels due to it being abandoned since a flood in August 2017.
I didn’t get a chance when I waited at the Park and Ride beside the ground last November due to time constraints, so I plan to have a look around there when Linfield are away to Institute next season.
Abandonment was a theme of the weekend, with a talk by Abandoned NI (you should check out their rather excellent Facebook page) at Vault Studios as part of Belfast Photo Festival.
Unfortunately, I faffed about and it sold out before I could get a ticket. My bad.
Talking of Vault Studios, i’m planning to get some photos of the Street Art outside it, so watch this space.
Back to my visit Foyleside, it was an enjoyable day out, saw some Street Art, visited some decent independent shops and got sore feet from lots of walking about.
And I got a celeb spot.
It’s such an easy city to navigate around, you can pick up where is where very quickly. I’ll definitely plan on making a return visit. I might even make it a June thing with there being no football one.
There’s also a lot of spare wallspace. Hopefully, if I do come back, it will be filled up with more Street Art.
Stroke City Street Art October 2015
1. Billie Eilish – Bury A Friend
2. Liam Gallagher – Shockwave
3. Lewis Capaldi – Grace
4. Feeder – Save Us
5. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Rattling Rose
So, are you all excited? Tonight is The Story Of 1988 on BBC Four. So, to get you in the mood ahead of that and the next year of Top Of The Pops repeats, here’s a chart for you.
FIVE SONGS FROM 1988
1. Jane Weidlin – Rush Hour
2. U2 – Angel Of Harlem
3. Ofra Haza – Im Nin Alu
4. Desireless – Voyage Voyage
5. Kylie Minogue – I Should Be Lucky
It appears that yesterday was Sweden’s National Day. I only found out after their promotional bus was packing up outside Belfast City Hall. So here’s some Swedish songs for you
FIVE SONGS BY SWEDISH ACTS
1. Europe – The Final Countdown
2. Roxette – Joyride
3. The Cardigans – Lovefool
4. Ace Of Base – The Sign
5. Emilia – Big Big World
Analogue Boy In A Digital World 