Everton through 2009..

Here is a quick midseason review on Everton. After a lackluster start, going out of the UEFA Cup to Liege and the Carling Cup, we managed to play decent .500 footie. It has only been in the last 2 months where we have been close to the standard that we set last year. What has been the biggest surprise is that our defence has been allowing a lot of goals, and bad ones at that. All three goals at Villa should have been avoided. I attribute that loss to Carsley not being re-signed. I am all of bringing up young players, but Rodwell has not looked ready to stepup and we need someone who will thump the ball into row Z. Overall, with the lack of players we have brought in, I feel that we are doing well to be sitting in 6th overall and poised to move up one spot.

The recent wins have coincided with a lack of fit strikers with Vaughan and Yak out for the season and Saha and Anichebe sidelined. This has led to 4 out of five 1-0 wins with Cahill and Fellaini grinding up front. There is a strong need to purchase a striker in the window and I would love to see us get a winger that can be beat people down the line and get a cross in. It seems like that is the only goal we can score, so we need the production down the line.

The Macclesfield game was dissapointing but not unexpected. A 1-0 win flattered us, although we had good possession on a bumpy field. Howard had a key save at the end and save us an embarrassing replay at home.

My halfseason grades are as follows out of 10:
Howard- 9- has been spectacular all year
Nash-NA
Hibbert 3- occassionally shows he is a solid defender but time and time again his crossing is poor
Lescott-6 seemingly back on form, scoring a bit but should have tackled A.Cole against Villa and taken the booking to save the draw. Getting beaten a lot 1v1
Yobo-7 solid this year, making less mistakes
Jags- 8 one terrible mistake otherwise great
Baines-5 -ok in the team, has his last chance to impress now, can get forward well
Neville 7- love him at right back, starting to play well as a stopper, he is what he is
Arteta- 8- best player centrally this year, we can keep the ball with him- DO NOT SELL
Fellaini-8 Another surprise, I think he will end up almost justifying 15 million
Osman-9 - for me the player of the year so far, scores, can play, defends well, love him!
Castill- looks ok, not enough to prove he can play here yet
Gosling- 3 games under belt and three wins...
Pienaar 7- his injury really hurt us early.. showing his stripes now
VDMayde- sell please for the million we will get
Rodwell-5 looks ok, needs more time
Cahill- 8- scoring, defending and working his ass off, great work Tim..
Saha-6- ok when he plays, same old story
Yak-6 -played ok this year
Vaughan 5- out again, could be his career
Anichebe 4- he needs to score sometime, should get some minutes now.

All for now.. I am hoping for a good second half finish although we may lose in the next round to the Pool who are playing well! Hopefully gerard goes to jail and we have a chance..

It's been a while

A lot has happened since I have been off. I won the HRSB School Board Seat for District 7 beating the nearest competitor by 1500 votes. It was a lot of work and much door knocking. It was very exciting. We have been hard at work for two months now and expect the next three months to be busy.

Everton has been off to a weird start to the season. A terrible beginning and then they have slowly climbed back to respectability in 6th place and should end 5th or 6th at worst this year. I will write about that more in the next posting, but I am loving the arteta move to central midfield and feel this is a great spot for him in our club.

I will alss be throwing down about the Rainmen in this blog. I am loving the intensity that we saw in the 4th quarter of the last exhibition game. I am looking forward to this year, first game Jan 9. Good to be back..

Enough thought, time for action

I am in. The ways in which young leaders can help shape an amazing future for HRM are many. The reasons to run again centre around RESPECT. Respect will cover some main themes:
Diversity
Teacher/Student/ Family relationships
The environment
The future of the students, teaching them to live and work in the community, not just learn from textbooks
For the hard work of teachers and administrators and staff to make the system better
New ideas, leadership development positive reinforcement
Generational differences
Other students

I am working out campaign themes right now and getting ready for a fun 3 months of campaigning. Love to hear from you.

One more day in the thought process

I have had lots of time to think about running for school board. There are many pluses and minuses to running. I actually broke down by hour my week and if I can keep the board time down to 4 hours per week, then this is a manageable commitment. Of course, this is based on winning.

Here are some of the key issues I think would need to be addressed within the new board agenda: Bullying/ school violence, RESPECT for kids and teachers, diversity, greening of the economy, empowering family and teachers, technology, generational changes in learning and personality (attitudes), ways of learning and how students get ready for the job market and careers.

The biggest issue arises around time. If there is a commitment to educate people as to the what the school board's mandate is, then this is very manageable. I know I can make a big difference in the city and this seems like a great position to help influence the city and its' direction. I will make a decision today.

Halifax School Board- running?

It has been a few weeks since I have been on. Since I have been on, I have almost finalized my decision to run for the HRM School Board. I have been very impressed with staff at the Board and the current Board- Howard Windsor- seems to be an amazing leader. There are some key traits that he brings to his role that I see could translate into a new board. Decisive, broad thinking, energetic, intelligent and forthright will be key elements in the new board.

Halifax is screaming for new leaders and I feel that I can bring a lot to the table to help the School board grow. Some of my key elements I bring to this role will be strength, strategy background, negotiation, marketing and relationship development. The board needs leaders and there are reasons pro and con for running. If I make a final decision soon, it is going to be a fun ride.

Euro Final

This was a sight I was excited to see. After screwing England, and now working on ManU, it was great to see Portugal go out. I can't stand Ronaldo as an athlete, although I respect his talent immensely. Me first players don't lose all the time but they should!

My predictions for round two were way off. With the exception of Spain over Italy in penalties which I predicted, my picks went downhill. I was surprised at the Holland result, but they have been chronic underachievers for years. So my Spain v Holland matchup spectacular could never have happened. But the German team have been surprising with their attacking flair. Schweinstieger, Podolski and Klose have been working very well together. Two suspect defences in the Final may make for a better than expected final.

My prediction will have to be Germany to win. I can't see Spain shutting down their counterattack and Iniesta has been very disappointing. However, Torres could be the wild card if Spain can play to his strengths of attacking at pace. Germany is better equipped mentally for the occassion and I would expect a 3-2 or 2-1 game in their favour. PS, I would have predicted both semifinals correct if anyone was counting.

Euro 2008

Never one to toot my own horn.. I just want to draw attention to my picks for the Euro quarterfinals. 100% accuracy guaranteed, including my darkhorses the Russians and the surprise Turks who upset the Czechs in an amazing game. I usually can't get one game correct. The odds must have been ridiculous. Here are my picks for the next round:
Portugal in overtime against Germany. Should be fun watching them mass defend Ronaldo.
Holland over Russia 2-1.
Croats over turks in what will be a discipline free game.
Lastly, Spain over Italy in penalties..