5-4-Friday… 5 Wigan FA cup ties
Tomorrow is FA Cup 3rd round day, the day when the big clubs from the top two divisions of English football join the oldest and most famous knockout cup competition in world football . Although the competition has been underway since September, the first Saturday...
5-4-Friday… 5 dead shops
Given the ease with which almost any kind of shopping can be done online these days, the need to physically trog around shops is nowhere near the necessary evil that it used to be. Which is a good thing, because I hate shopping – unless I am buying for myself, of...
As Thick As A Carrot : Avoiding Football Clichés, by Jonny Fairclough
Footballers, pundits and fans do like a good cliché or three. It probably arises from the fact that they can’t make up or simply can’t be bothered making up their own phrases, and I bet there’s a good number who don’t know what a cliché is, other than that ex Arsenal...
5-4-Friday… 70’s Christmas toys and games
With Christmas just around the corner, and the plethora of Facebook pages pushing nostalgic images of growing up in the 70s/80s/90s (delete as appropriate), I cast my mind back to recall various toys and games from dim and distant Christmases past. I don’t know who...
A.R.S.E.D! Out now!!!
A.R.S.E.D! is my second book and is now available to buy. Ostensibly, it is about my obsession with football and my attempts to balance that with the responsibilities of my real, grown-up life. It deals with my attempts to avoid as many chores and domestic duties as I...
A.R.S.E.D! – The Foreword, by Matt Jackson
Matt Jackson, an FA Cup winning captain at Everton yet less successful centre-back at Wigan Athletic, has kindly agreed to assassinate my character in my new book, A.R.S.E.D!, which will go on sale later this week. Here is Matt's kind contribution for the foreword,...
5-4-Friday… 5 notable boozers
Where would we be without the great British Boozer? Well, we had better start thinking about it soon because the traditional British pub is vanishing quicker than a 1970’s TV personality acquaintance of Jimmy Savile. Last week, the Thursday Night Football lads...
5-4-Friday… 5 alternative SPOTY
The BBC Sports Personality of The Year (SPOTY) nominations were announced earlier this week and were as predictable as Merseyrail trains being delayed or cancelled because it was a bit nippy this morning. Olympians, Paralympians, tennis players who won a trophy after...
5-4-Friday… 5 memorable records
What’s your favourite ever song or what song means the most to you? We’ve all been asked that question a thousand times, I suppose. The following are not necessarily my all-time favourite songs, not by a long chalk. That would bore the life out of everybody. The five...
5-4-Friday… 5 football kits
I stumbled across some old football photographs the other day which got me thinking about nostalgic, and in some cases tragic, football kits and accessories that hold some poignancy for me specifically. I know for a fact that a number of people reading this blog will...
For as long as I can remember, certainly since the advent of email, the end of the working week has always been marked by someone circulating a joke, or an amusing picture or article – the Friday Funny, as it became known. I have now evolved this into a regular blog that I call 5-4-Friday, a light-hearted list of 5 favourite things or 5 pet hates ideally related to some burning issue of the day or week.
View From the West is a regular football-based blog with the subject matter normally focusing on events at the club I support, Wigan Athletic, as I see them unfold from my vantage point in the West Stand of the DW Stadium. For non-Wigan fans, wider football issues and talking points will also be given an airing. For a bit of fun, I will scour social and digital media and various fan forums to identify a Hit of the Week, a Miss of the Week and a Pic of the Week.
54T is an occasional variation on 5-4-Friday in which a friend of the site, a minor celebrity (or, god-willing, if it takes off, a not-so-minor celebrity) will tell us which four famous people they would invite round to share a Friday evening chippy tea. We will learn what they would feed them, what drinks would be chilling in the fridge and, when the stimulating conversation dries up, what music they would listen to, what films would they stick in the DVD player and what entertaining games they would play.
3in! is a friendly football prediction competition that has been running for around twelve years now. Participants have to predict the outcome of just three fixtures from the weekend’s football programme with bigger rewards available the more off-the-wall you are prepared to go. It’s my type of gambling – all hypothetical, no real money involved. All the news for the 3in! players can be found on Chris Griffin Says…
Dream League is now beyond its 30th year. It is a fantasy football competition with a difference. Each of the 16 Owners (who should be old enough to know better) buys a squad of players and pits their team against the other 15 Owners in a traditional, home and away league season. Goals your players score are netted off against goals your defenders concede. Out-perform your opponent in the week and you win. Simples! Again, all the up to date news can be found here.
I hope you enjoy the site.
Griff
October, 2012
Suggested Reads
Suggested Reads
Sam Plank’s Disco
By Cris Griffin & Jonny Fairclough
A.R.S.E.D
By Chris Griffin
Virgin Parents
By Chris Griffin