´óÏó´«Ã½

Not a big fan of custard myself.

There's nothing wrong with neat custard hot or cold.

Dan,
Top blogging as always. You've added an extra dimension to FF and the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s football aspects.
However, whats this King of England stuff? The Queen (and any future King) relates to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Please rememeber that your audience stretches across borders.
I can manage cake without custard, but the other way around just isn't quite right.

Sounds like you borrowed my car then...

Dan your wife wont be happy you have banged in quite a few food references here... eating a fry up at half 7 is a bit much for me though..

Sounds like Jimmy Anderson is a bit of an undercover Kids Menu fella.. they guys that order happy meals and kid on its for the children..

Hi Dan, a long overdue response from myself. On the custard issue hot chocolate fudge cake and cold custard is a real winner indulge next time you have the opportunity.

In terms of football, it suprises me a little that Laws is such a well received guy. Two main incidents that come to mind when I think of him are the Aldridge incident in the 1989 Fa cup semi, and the plate of chicken wings that broke the cheekbone of Ivano Bonetti at Grimsby.

When he talks about a lack of characters, maybe it is his duty to generate such people as a manger as i'm sure Clough did with his team which is what I suspect he is referring to.

This is becoming the best blog on this site! Always funny and always hasgood content! And it doesn't always focus on the top four!

Would have been interesting if Jimmy had got the Yorkshire pudding and plopped it in his custard (take that as you will...)

Great Blog Dan, keep them coming

I swear alistair campbell is a poltergeist. he is everywhere - always silently appearing in places behind people. wouldve made a perfect scooby-do baddie. I mean, who just appears... eating a Yorkshire pudding? he might well have had a knife! :o)

and then you have the chairman, of whom people only speak of in 'hushed' tones. but then just maybe I'm getting a little carried away...

cold custard > hot

Did the breakfast land the right way up or the wrong way up? Not suggesting you should have eaten it either way, it just has a great bearing on how much you annoyed that waiter.

I actually quite liked the fact that you were running around everywhere, it was sort of organised chaos. Particularly that bit when you were jogging down the touchline chatting to Lawro who was sat in the dug-out about twenty yards away.

Gutted they've moved the Bluebirds game to an early kick off on Saturday, means I'm going to miss Focus. Although it could be worse, I worried they'd move it to Sunday, wouldn't have gone down well with my girlfriend. Is it worth me setting up a second telly do you reckon Dan? Given that I give us about four and a half minutes before we go behind?

Hi Dan, a great blog as ever! First time posting here, but have read all of your blogs and I find the comments to be equally as entertaining.
Unfortunately, having lived in Canada for almost a decade now, I haven't seen you on FF and wished that it was available over here! Ah well, maybe one day, now that footie is starting to get a little more recognition over in this part of the world.
Love the food talk. It sure reminds me of what I am missing, and oh how I miss it! Regarding the breakfast that you *threw* on the floor ... I'm guessing that black pudding is becoming more of a rarity and it's a bit of a Walker fave? Nothing beats a full English breakfast - bacon, eggs, sausages, black pudding, plum tomatoes, fried toast (you can almost feel the arteries clogging up on that one). While on the topic of food, ever heard of a poutine? Good stuff!

On the subject of yorkshire puddings, a really good option is to make a nice big one, say 8 inches in diametre, then serve the rest of the roast dinner inside it.

And there is nothing wrong with a big bowl of just plain custard for afters.

Dan - loved seeing you out of breath doing that link down behind the goal.

All round a good show. Always facinating to see inside different stadia. When are you next on the road and where?

Is Focus 5 going to make a return, or was that just a flash in the pan the other week?

Dan,
No worries.
Whilst we are talking cross borders, any chance you could take the cameras on a trip round Lennoxtown, chatting to the newest EPL imports on the way?

Dan, slightly off topic but thought you might want to hear of it...

If your going to tour football grounds for Focus you need to come up to Middlesbrough and try the local delicacy now being served around and inside the ground known as 'Parmo in a bun'.

Take a look at a local news article to see exactly what it's all about

I would love to see what you think of the grease feast that is the parmo! I for one love em... well I am from Boro!

diarra and pennant are two.

1. Mark Hughes(man u, chelsea)
2. Nicolas Anelka(arsenal, chelsea)
3. Emmanuel Petit(arsenal, chelsea)
4. Michael Owen(duh!)
5. bolo zenden (liverpool, chelsea)
6. Jermaine Pennant (Liverpool, Arsenal)
7. Can't think of number 7, can't wait to find out though!

More importantly, Custard is a delight on it's own. Easily take it on its own. It's like soup, only sweeter!

The seventh has to be Lassana Diarra

I would happily eat custard on its own, hot or cold. If I had to choose between custard and rice pudding though the latter would win every time.

Dan, I have to say that I thought that the comment about the Chairman's lounge being grand enough for King whoever was a bit facetious. On the telly it looked like a meeting/conference room in a motorway hotel.

Right you are cheeseisthedevilswork, Lass Diarra was the 7th. Cheers for that, should of known it really, custard hot or cold is a gem either way.

Dan,

I thought Focus was excellent from Turf Moor, it was so nice to see a really old fashioned English stadium up close; let's face it, over the next twenty years more and more of them are going to be replaced with spanking new ones and we should explore and document the old ones while we can. Whilst I was reading this latest post there was a ´óÏó´«Ã½ advert on celebrating Eastenders' anniversary and asking 'What is your favourite dum dum, dum-dum dum dum-dum-dum moment' when the end credits roll in, so what is your favourite? I reckon Lawro's is 'Your not my MUVA!...Yes I am!'
Anyway I have a new post up on my football blog at if you ever have a spare second! have a good show on Saturday!

One of the best blogs I've seen on the website in a long while Dan -- top stuff!!
Brian Laws is a great bloke, I'm a Sheff Utd fan, so I had mixed feelings when he was at Wednesday, but now I'm rooting for Burnley to stay up, he's a fantastic guy.
Tony Blair an avid follower, eh? And I bet you were thinking "But I'm only a TV presenter..."

Nice one Dan, but not sure how you can better this next week?

Re the quiz question, what about Maxi Rodriguez?

Best blog yet Dan. How come you cant get forcus on bbc iplayer?

Dan,
Good stuff re Hibs. Yeah, WGS imported half a team to Middlesbrough and I reckon Robson and McDonald will propel them back into the Premiership no bother.

Er - the chairman gave a free reign ? Thought that was part of the crack for Prince Charles when Mum departs to celestial pastures.......

Personally there's no better way to warm yourself up on a cold winter's day than a hot bowl of custard. Go on, brother!

Hi Dan,

If you could...please pose thisone to Phil Brown:

Does he feel that all the turbulation of last season and recovery from the publicity he faced after the half time pitch team talk has made him a better manager? Or did it all knock his confidence? It seems that since he has been distanced from the media, his Hull side appear to be playing a lot more consistently although still struggling they look a lot better and Brown more relaxed

Dan something Ive wondered about for a while.. and you mentioning Phil 'Golden' Brown brought it up.. you see players running to the side to get instructions.. in this day in age with communication technology would it not be possible for say a captain or keeper to wear a small earpiece which is connected to the manager/coach???

Obviously Phil likes his earpiece like Big Sam.. I understand there may be safety issues like the taping of rings and removal of jewellery etc.. but surely a keeper wearing a tiny earpiece wouldn't contravene this??

Hi Dan,

Great blog as always, never fails to entertain.

Onto the important issue - Custurd is amazing, has to boiling hot though and the rule is, if i have a pudding with custurd, there should be so much custurd i can't see the pudding! (unless it's crumble that is...)

hiya Dan, re Cornetto's i'm glad you brought this up as i myself believe they have gotten smaller!

and for custard, well it depends on a host of circumstances to whether or not this delectable delicasy is served hot or cold.

kudos for the large Yorkie pud, i shall attempt this (drools in "Homer" like fashion)

@31 i wouldn't have thought an earpiece would be possible due to the remote posiblity of causing a more serious injury in the event of a clash of heads; American Football quarterback can comunicate in this way with the sidelines as a result of the head protection they wear.

Dan, how come there's pre-post moderation on our blog, but reactive moderation on Robbo's blog (for example)

@ 34, food for thought?

(i'll get me coat)

@ 35, it took them 15 minutes to read yours!

What's going on!?!?

awwww custard creams!!

Thanks Dan, just thought it was odd, that's all, I wouldn't have thought that comments mainly about food choices would be dangerous!

Can I ask the reason behind you signing off as random footballers in some of your comments that I've noticed over the pat few weeks?

HI Dan,
Been snowed under over here in New England, both meterologically and with the work. I read your blogg having committed the cardinal sin of missing a few. Could not help thinking that
(a) If that is your average road gig, then you work relatively hard... rather surprising really.
(b) Take out Prince Charles and the cameo by Al. Campbell and the blogg is not too different from most of your others- food / food incident followed by football-stuff that does not directly relate to an actual game.

Dan, as you know I am a keen Bluebirds fan, but I read today that they cannot even field a full subs bench for their FA clash with Chelsea. Why? because they could not buy during the transfer season. I would love to see CCFC get promoted this year. BUT there is a part of me that says they are not ready for promotion given the poverty of the squad and the bank balance. DO YOU THINK THERE SHOULD BE SOME RULE OR SET OF RULES THAT REQUIRES A TEAM TO BE ABLE TO MEET CERTAIN CRITERIA IF THEY ARE MOVING UP A DIVISION? in other words: if you are going to move up then you have to have the resources to function at the higher more demanding level?
What does nightatthechopra think? If he is going to buy two tellies perhaps he should just give the cash for the second one to Dave Jones?
Also city boy I have reactive moderation on Dan's blog and Robbo's.

Is it this saturday that your doing a feature on hibs? Good to see. Also is the answer to the 8th player in la liga/top 4 in epl Steve McMannaman?

@42 probs not in context to your original question but it would make an awesome pub quiz tie-breaker.

back to food, i actually ate for a dare a BBQ sauce and Banana sandwich, which to my surprise was a tasty little treat.

anyone body else found out weird combos that go really well together?
(Dan Walker i'm looking at you)

Dan,

Great blog. FF was excellent from Burnley. Like all the other contributors above, I really enjoyed seeing a ground like Turf Moor. FF seems more organic (eh?), freer-flowing and very enjoyable. The outside broadcasts and the live feel of the show comes across really well.

Cold custard straight from the fridge. NO MICROWAVE.

Stornoway Black Pudding...Scotlands answer to caviar. It's THAT good.

PS question for Phil Brown - Having had a major slide down the table last season, what solutions did you come up with to solve the situation, as you are now having, I think, a good season.

Dan - you want to sort this out, you've been taken off the front page way too early - how are people expected to read it if it's so hard to find?!?!?

Dan,
Revised count of players that left Celtic - Danny Fox makes it 6 (plus the the five at Middlesbrough). Shouldn't really have forgotten Fox since you gave him a shout above.
On a different note, will you be watching the Olympics and what event would you like try have a go at? I'd go for the Bobsleigh given the chance. I reckon I'd go through more than one pair of trousers if I had a shot at the Luge or Skeleton.

Hey Dan enjoyable read as always,

They hid this blog well this week, shame.

Enjoyed FF again last week, thought all the security standing around in the hallways of Turf Moor a little strange, did that have something to do with Prince Charles or is the Burnley Chairman a security sensitive chap.

Another question regarding Turf Moor, was the doorway to the chairmans office or are you so tall? I was worried you were going to hit your head.

Re Phil Brown.

30. tomefccam, has an excellent question and that´s what I would ask too. If I was in a cheeky mood I would ask him how much he earns on match days working for the call centre, or is he just doing a Madonna/Britney impression with that thing in his ear?

Re 48
Another question regarding Turf Moor, was the doorway to the chairmans office so low or are you so tall? I was worried you were going to hit your head.

Black Pudding should never be mentioned in a blog, How anyone can eat the stuff amazes me haha! I managed to catch last saturday's show on the old Sky Plus and I have to say it was a fantastic watch and I look forward to catching tomorrows later on in the week.

Also intresting to see the old fasioned boot-room, Not quite the one I imagine at Old Trafford where every boot probably has a little house and is cleaned 28 times a day!

Another good blog Dan, Keep up the good work.

Dan, you have to ask Phil Brown a custard-related question. Go-on, you know you want to.

Hi Dan.

I normally enjoy your blog and FF but saw you on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ News Channel earlier this evening where you made the following claim:

'Well, both Celtic and Rangers have no money.

Celtic have had to sell a whole load of their players to their old manager Gordon Strachan at Middlesbrough, while Rangers are in the same sort of mess.'

I'm disappointed that you didn't do any research on Scottish football before making those comments for the following reasons:
1) The players sold to Middlesbrough were either substandard (Killen, Flood, Robson) or had fallen out of favour with the new manager (McManus, McDonald). There was no financial motive for selling them;
2) Celtic made 7 signings in the last window alone, while Rangers have been prohibited by Lloyds Bank from making any signings for the past 18 months;
3) Rangers' financial difficulties have been well documented by your own employer eg:

and other media outlets:

Celtic over the same period recorded pre-tax profits of £2 million:

and have a debt approximately 1/30 the size of Rangers' arrears.
1/30 the size.
Quite simply, the idea that Celtic are suffering the same financial difficulties as Rangers (or as you expressed it, 'Rangers are in the same sort of mess as Celtic,') is laughably ill-informed;
4) If Celtic are so strapped for cash, how can they possibly afford to pay just ONE player (Robbie Keane) more per week than the total earned by the Rangers back four and goalkeeper put together?

I'm sure some readers will dismiss my points as the opinions of a partisan supporter, but Dan's comments this evening were completely unfounded.

Celtic fans are license fee payers too, and deserve the truth to be told about their club.

Are Dan's comments unfounded, or may he have the gift of viewing future bank balances of a club? Could Keane be a expensive and ill-informed publicity stunt to try and get support for Celtic (and future season ticket sales) back on track due to Rangers' pretty healthy lead at the top of the table? Could it be a short-term two-fingered answer to Rangers to say 'Look what we can spend, that you CAN'T' ?

Am I playing Devils Advocate? Tune in next week.....

Dan, for a sports journalist you are getting ALOT of food related comments to your blogs, it's fantastic! the day norwich city's own Delia Smith comments on one of your blogs about the state of custard or pies or cornettos that will be the day you know your blog has really hit the big time.
I have two random questions for you - 1) if on Focus in the next few months you come to talk about which goalkeepers will make it in to Capello's World Cup squad and you are throwing names around in the studio, would you please be able to throw Steve Harper's name in to the discussion? I'm not even a Newcastle fan but it bugs me that he has never even been considered and he is blatantly as good/fitter than alot of the other contenders! Rant over. Question 2) is there any chance your blog uber fuhrer would be able to put a link to my football blog ( on to the list of 'Other football blogs' on the right hand side of the page?? I want to join you in getting sixty comments per blog post!! ta

Dan,

Good read as usual. Judging by what you consumed en route to Hull you apparently did not take me up on my chicken tikka suggestion from last week, but I forgive you.

Question(s) for Phil Brown. Would Jimmy Bullard make a good manager? Why? Why not?

It would be funny if you got a 'tan' before interviewing him. That would be a nice unasked question...

As for your throwing down black pudding, when a colleague visited me in Edinburgh, he did the same thing with a cullen skink. Enthusiasm, I blame.

Incidentally, Dan, this is what I got after posting my comment.

Where's my comment?All new members are pre-moderated initially, which means that there will be a short delay between when you post your comment and when it appears while one of our moderators checks it.

Now, Dan, you can verify that I am no new poster.

Incidentally, have you read Kingsley Amis' Luck Jim? You remind me of Lucky Jim. I mean that as a compliment. Cheero.

See what I mean? How did my comment no. 56 go in for review whilst comment no. 57 went up forthwith?

Yours,
Haggis Avec Kippers

To #46 cityboy - save a favourite/bookmark

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