october 14th
There was mixed news on the injury front yesterday with Arsene Wenger in positive mood about Sol Campbell and Thierry Henry. Sol could be back on Tuesday for the game in Prague but will definitely miss the West Brom game on Saturday. According to AW “Campbell’s absence will be shorter than expected. He could be fit for Tuesday”, while “Thierry’s progress is remarkable but I want to be cautious with him and see how his body responds to training. The signs are very positive.”
However, Ashley Cole is confirmed as being out for 6-8 weeks with a stress fracture while Alexander Hleb is out for an unspecified length of time after picking up a knee injury on international duty. We’ll be without Gilberto too as he only gets back from Brazil today so will be jet-lagged and stuff.
Transfer speculation links us with young Southampton player Theo Walcott, according to his agent, and he is somebody whose name has cropped up before. At 16 though he’s probably best staying where he is for the time-being.
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The winners of the Football Manager 2006 prize packs will be announced in about 5 lines time.
The question was: If Arsene Wenger is AW, Terry Neill was TN, Bruce Rioch was BR, who was SH?
Naturally I wasn’t thinking back before 1900 and Stewart Houston was the answer I was looking for but so many people replied with the answer ‘Sam Hollis’ who was Arsenal’s first recorded manager from August 1894 – July 1897 that I had to accept that too. Can’t imagine he had a monogrammed tracksuit though. And I know Stewart Houston was only a caretaker manager but still. Anyone know what he’s doing now? Last I remember he was at QPR and Bruce Rioch was his assistant. Football really is a funny game. It’s amazing how many people guessed Stephen Hughes as well.
Anyway, the Random Number Generator did its thing and the winners are Steve Mitchell, David Nolan and James Whitfield. I’ll be in touch with you lads soon to get your details.
For the rest of the you the game comes out on October 21st. Go buy.
And that’s it. Another week over and real football starts again tomorrow.
After suffering so much international football only a 43-0 victory will suffice. No pressure though, lads.
