Celebrate 25 years of Marple Athletic at our Gala Dinner

I'm involved in organising a 25th anniversary dinner for Marple Athletic Junior Football Club.

The basic idea is it's a reunion dinner for players and managers from over the last quarter century in November.
The evening will be a chance for players to get together from over the years, as well as managers and coaches and anyone who has been involved in the club since Alan Rainford and Geoff Ryan started it all in 1985.
One of the players from the first ever line up is Tim Ryan, now the player-assistant manager at Stalybridge Celtic, who has enjoyed a career in professional football.

The guest speaker will be Fred Eyre, local football legend, BBC Manchester broadcaster, manager of many clubs in Greater Manchester grass roots football.

We've also got Justin Moorhouse, star of Phoenix Nights, Key 103 radio and a top stand up comedy performer.

The dinner will be held on Friday the 12th of November 2010 at Stockport County Football Club. Tickets are priced at £35, with discounts for a table of 10.  There will also be a memorabilia auction, a DJ for dancing and hopefully a few other special guests.


You can download a form on the club website.

Three cheers for Jimmy Armfield

I was lucky enough to get an invite to the North West Football Awards on Monday night. It was a long evening for a school night, but came to a lovely conclusion at 11:38 when Jimmy Armfield took the stage. The wise and warm BBC Radio 5 Live summariser was given a lifetime achievement award by Sir Bobby Charlton. Seeing the two of them share stories on stage about overlapping full backs was just amazing. A truly great moment.

I've always liked him. He always talks sense and is always fair minded. I remember him being linked with the Rovers job once and was quite excited, but he packed it in after spells at Bolton and Leeds. The only bad word I ever heard about him was at Bolton, where it was alleged by an ex player that he got rid of old photos as the club was living in the past.

Anyway, I could only find one link to the award as a story, here, in the Blackpool Gazette.

Who Let the Dog Out?

To be completely honest, I wasn't totally sold on getting a puppy. We have a lot to do as it is and she got under my feet to begin with. Today I think was a tipping point in my acceptance and my embrace of Martha, our border terrier. It was a glorious day. Clear sky, sunshine and very still. I just had the youngest two to look after as the older three went on a church trip. Getting our boys to go on even such a modest walk as the one to Mellor Cross from Mellor Golf Club would have been a nightmare three months ago. Today, all I had to say was "let's take Martha out, lads" and they were ready.
So here are the boys and Martha, in the foreground, at one of our local marvels.
What a view, eh?

Real ale, the Lakes and a ramble round Ambleside

There's a cracking blog post from a pal, over here. Just as it says in the header.
And some belting photos...

Downtown - everything's waiting for you

There's a feature on the Downtown Manchester in Business newsletter called Who Are Yer. Anyway, it's my turn this week. Nothing revealing, but it's here.

In praise of Bowers and Wilkins

I think I have discovered the company with the best customer service in the world, Bowers & Wilkins. My speakers were making a humming noise. I tried everything to fix it, but it wouldn't go away. I contacted them and they have made it right. More than that though, they were delightful to deal with. At every stage I've been kept informed and updated. And the speakers are bloody brilliant as well.  I can't account for musical taste, but as I type Tom Petty's Free Fallin; has never sounded so gorgeous.

Nobel prize winners at University of Manchester

Two scientists who discovered graphene at The University of Manchester have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. There's some news here, from Wired, as to why.

Professor Andre Geim and Professor Konstantin Novoselov got the highest accolade in the scientific world for their pioneering work with the world’s thinnest material. Graphene was discovered at the University in 2004. It has rapidly become one of the hottest topics in materials science and solid-state physics.

This is great news. A real boost to this fine institution. I'm just ever so slightly sad that Professor Alan Gilbert didn't live to see this day. He'd have been so proud.

An open letter to...

There is chatter at the Rovers that a new bidder is soon to emerge. This time it's the Mahindra Brothers. I'll polish off that open letter again, but maybe I'll wait until they've actually done a deal. Happily, they won't comment on speculation.

Why local papers are in decline

I buy the Stockport Express most weeks. I believe in local media. I want to support it too.

Now, last week, in Marple there was a festival. No-one got glassed, there wasn't a fire and no animals were harmed in its making. It was just a load of people eating food, listening to music and enjoying a fine community spirit. In fact, the week before the paper got into the mood by plugging it, here.

Would you know this from reading the local weekly paper this week? No, there is no mention. Surely this is a good story, a source of pictures, feel-good district news? The pie competition had a brilliant outcome - the winner was made from crayfish caught in the local canal. That's a good story on lots of levels.

And there is hardly any local junior sports coverage now. I'm beginning to wonder if it even exists in Stockport, and yet I know it is thriving.

Critics from the blogging fraternity will argue that this void will be filled by bloggers and citizen journalists. It won't. I'm a local blogger but I haven't written about it. I was away on a lad's trip to Munich. It has to be part of a systemic, organised and disciplined news organisation with values and priorities. And resources.

There is also a school of thought that says that community organisations, through the internet, will disseminate their own information through their own channels. Well, they haven't done so here. The Marple festival website is a guide to something that has happened. It's over. There are other sites promoting it, but not covering it.

Discuss.

Choked at Stoke

Three times in 18 months I've been to the Britannia Stadium to see Rovers play Stoke. Three times I've seen us fail to score. Three trips, three defeats. If it wasn't for the fact that the hospitality is so good and the trip is a relatively short one, I'd not bother next time.

It was frustrating, again, because I just don't think Stoke are much cop. The margin between victory and defeat can be narrow, yesterday it was too. They were there for the taking and at times Rovers were well on top in the first half. But Sam seems to think we have to compete with teams like this on their terms. So he drops the skillful Kalinic and goes for more hoofball.

Andy Cryer in the Lancashire Telegraph blog talks about the need for investment being crucial. He says the signing of Kenwyne Jones is proof that Stoke have a narrow edge over Rovers. I disagree. It's not about money, it's about tactics and attitude. You could pass around Stoke for fun, a few balls to feet and the likes of Huth and Shawcross would be in knots. Kalinic doesn't play, new Diouf is invisible. Old Diouf is our best threat. He gets taken off. We try more hoofball.

There's also this second half thing going on. Kevin Gallacher was in our lounge before the game and said pretty much the same thing. I don't know if it has anything to do with Sam being in technical area in the second half, but the difference in performance and tactics was noticeable.

Amazingly, it wasn't last on Match of the Day.

EXCLUSIVE: Rose Hill Spar owner speaks out

The owner of the Spar shop in Marple, Mel, has commented exclusively on this blog about the intense competition his family have faced from the Premier shop opening next door. He has responded to comments on his smoking, his treatment of kids and the vicious price cutting by his competitors. More than anything though he has thanked his loyal customers saying his future lies in the hands of the people of Marple.

NB: MT quoted below is not me.

The original blog, with comments, is here.

His comment is here:

As the owner of the Spar store in question, can I first say a huge THANK YOU for your overwhelming support. The last few months has been the most stressful period we have ever been through but your kind comments and words of encouragement have kept us going.

I have been monitoring blogs, forums and people kindly setting up support groups, but I shall limit my response to the comments raised on this blog. I accept my smoking may offend, and as my wife is a non smoker I have always done it outside. Point taken. Feelings have been running quite high with next door trying to accost passing customers, offering to undercut our prices. Me being outside seemed to put a stop to it the outburst that MT witnessed was a result of them taunting and laughing at my wife. My sincere apologies.

As to the outstanding fare,our shop is very small and while we try our best to cater to everybody's needs, space does not allow. Can I take the opportunity to thank you for overlooking our shortcomings and offering your support and rest assured we will do better.
 
I have come across a couple of remarks about us selling wine next to Wine Rack and you're right we never intended to do so. The decision to do so was only taken when we knew that First Quench (the parent company for Wine Rack, Threshers and The Local) was heading for failure and the store closure was imminent.
 
The decision to limit the number of kids into the store was only taken after huge losses through theft, the majority of the kids are great and a credit to their parents. I accept I spend a lot of time outside but it's not to intimidate. I have not only my family, my home and my business to look after but also the jobs of five local people to protect. I need to know what next door are selling, to who and why, to see if we can adapt to survive, this we can only do with the continued support from the local community. As to it being cheaper, you can easily sell at a loss for as long as it takes when you have fifteen other stores to spread the losses, which we can't do. As you can see our fate is in your hands. 

Thank you one and all. 

Kind Regards Mel

An audience with Rod Aldridge

I hosted an event this week at the Digital World Centre opposite the Lowry in Salford Quays. I interviewed Rod Aldridge on stage, a very intriguing character. There's a lot of underlying anger with him, he's perfectly pleasant and warm and funny and I certainly think we had a decent rapport. But his missionary zeal for doing things for young people through his foundation runs deep with him; he says he's "angry" about how he came so close to wasting his life. We talked for a good hour, and took some excellent questions - we covered a fair amount of ground; the Labour party, the Conservatives, his background, Capita, entrepreneurship, public service reforms, the civil service, dance, the arts, the BBC, education and social breakdown. But through it all is a strong sense of purpose. He's a straight up bloke who's done well for himself, but wants to put something back on his terms.

I'll post a link on here when I write it up a bit more in a wider piece I'm putting together on what this "big society" might look like. Is is it a gimmick, or the radical alternative to bloated state?

In the meantime, there's some good things about him here.

Munich, a very smart city

Munich was a very impressive city. Very prosperous, very courteous people. But very busy in the city centre on Saturday evening. I'm too old to queue to get in somewhere for a drink, so much as the Hofbrahaus was a good place to spend time drinking quality ale, that was a pain.

The occasion? Dom Coupes (pictured) had his birthday bash and we visited the celebratory festival of Northern Europe's premier cultural binding pastime - Oktoberfest. Highly recommended.  I even liked the food.

That musical journey

I'm still chipping away at my top 1000 songs, dropping odd bits of dross, adding new gems. The latest burst of brilliance, courtesy of The Word, is CW Stoneking, and a gorgeous rendition of an old calypso track Brave Son of America.

Bandwagon sectors and Manchester's creative ambition

Pumped with excitement from a few different media events about the ambition of Manchester's creative sector, I did a talk to a networking event this morning.organised by the delightful team at Barnardos.

There's plenty of competition for Manchester; places purporting to be great centres of creativity. Like these:

"With its 950,000 inhabitants, the area boasts a high standard of living, a specialised and markedly international production system, qualified human resources and a close-nit and vibrant creative community."

That’s Bologna.

"The partial transformation of the harbor into a modern business and residential district is an important urban planning project to position the city as a center for the creative industries, including advertising, art and media, in Europe."

That’s Dusseldorf.

"Creative industries are one of the fastest growing sectors of our regional economy.  Our council works with our partners on a project called Creativity Works which offers advice, support, information and networking opportunities.  There are annual  Creativity Works awards raising the profile of this valuable economic sector."

That’s Blackburn.



And then there's London. I couldn't help myself, but I ended with this again:

"In the North West it rains and it rains. And yet we managed to produce the industrial revolution, trade union movement, the Communist Manifesto and even the computer. And Joy Division, Oasis, M People, The Smiths, Elbow and the Happy Mondays. Down south, where the sun never sets, you took all our money and what did you produce? Chas and Dave."

Tony Wilson. Gone, but never forgotten.

What have I been up to this week

Don't take my word for it, but our Business of Media Summit was brilliant this week.

Will Bentley, here, has produced an excellent summary. So has Nigel Hughes, here. And then there's the Twitter stream, here.

Spooks is back, Spooks is ace

We really enjoyed the new series of Spooks this week. Sir Harry Pearce, as ever, was the star of the show. His wise counsel, his depths of self doubt, his love for Ruth and his razor sharp judgement completely overshadowed some real shortcomings.

Let's deal with these first. The new girl was wooden, the non-speaking extras made the tense scenes with the Somali terror cell seem calm. The tight shots on the tanker seemed to highlight the constraints of the budget - they never even pretended they were at sea. And the rubbish CGI of the submarines going up the Thames were far inferior to what my 8 year old can create on his Nintendo DS.

But it's still ace. So much action. Contemporary politics, undercurrents of mystery, and how can you fault a programme with a line like this. Asked if an interruption to the internet in the South of England was a price worth paying for interrupting the terrorists Sir Harry said this: "So the country will have to struggle on without pornography and Minesweeper for a couple of hours. Do it."

Or this:

"This is my ‘I want some good news’ face."

Oi ref!

So, yesterday I watched Rovers get a goal that wasn't because that horrible scrote El Hadji Diouf deliberately cheated. Fulham get away with a handball and Rovers concede a free kick the players were still whining about as Clint Dempsey rose to equalise. Seen again from several angles on Match of the Day (last again, I notice), the referee is dismissed as an idiot.

Earlier I watched the eldest son in an Under 12s match. The referee was a 15-year old lad, brightly turned out in his new kit. He was being monitored by one of the local veteran refs from these parts and did well. He will have missed a couple of things, he will have had an obscured view of marginal offside decisions - he doesn't have linesmen for these, just a Dad spotting throw ins - but he did well. Blissfully, the morning went without rancour, but in the future it will. He's one of 40 lads coming through the system, of which most will give it up within two years because of abuse from parents and gobby managers and, depressingly, players. Despite the Respect campaign, and the tabloid press seeming to support initiatives like Ray Winstone's excellent video, the problem is endemic.

The reason lies on the Match of the Day sofa and in the manager's interview. It all feeds a terrible sense of entitlement to appeal each decision a referee makes. So, while I saw a fantastic game in the morning, full of all the drama and endeavour which makes football a beautiful game, by the end of the day the ugliness comes crawling through.

Britain's Got the Pope Factor On Ice

I've been hovering over the keyboard intending to glumly reflect on the Pope's visit to Britain. I did fear the worst, a lot of sniping, defeatism from Catholics and spiteful triumphalism from the Dawkins mob, not that I care. There's also been a wrong headed stubborn trench mentality - like this - which misjudges the deep anger over the cover-up of priestly abuse.

But listening to what the Pope has to say about Britain, tolerance, modern Christianity, reason and aspiration, rather than what the circus has to interpret, is very refreshing. That's all I have to say.

On inspirational leaders

I've been honoured to spend time this week with some towering figures in British life, Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Terry Leahy.

The Tesco boss was speaking at a finance conference in Liverpool this morning, which I chaired. Fergie was the guest at the office opening of Morson's new headquarters in Salford, organised by my good friend Paul Horrocks. There were only business press invited and we kept a respectful distance. I did see the FT man Andy Bounds hovering around him, but that was to get him to sign his son's birthday card. Anyway, the story is here.

I did sit next to Leahy though and introduce his speech. I can't claim that he's my new best mate or anything, in fact I suspect he thought I was a chippy pain in the arse. I asked him, in front of 350 people, about the Everton stadium, which he seemed a bit bored by. He also wasn't that enamoured by one of the other people on the panel talking too much and made a swift exit at the end of the session.

So, one learns from such experiences. One also cannot fail to be impressed by Leahy's observations. Irrespective of his dry delivery, he's inspirational. Despite his position as boss of an all conquering retail brand, he seems empathetic to the issues facing fast growing companies of much smaller size. It might seem obvious, but he says if you want to succeed in business, then you set out to be the best, and if you do, then you get big. That brings its own challenges.

Both men have been successful in their own walk of life. People hang on their every word, what they say matters. What they feel matters too. The good news from Leahy is the recovery seems real. He'd know.

Neither try too hard to play it for laughs either. They don't need to. A mild anecdote brings the house down. Leahy's was that his speech would be like the Everton game v Man United - all the best bits will be at the end.

My biggest laugh of the day came after I introduced the very nice man from the Bank of England, John Young. Insider named him the 100th most powerful man in the North West, which I mentioned. He said he ought to point out that the person at 99 is in fact dead. He is, it's him.