Austria Euro 2008

Euro 2008 Football Kits Group B - To Preview & Buy

2008-05-10T11:56:00.003Z

The Euro 2008 Group B football shirts have a bit more variety than the "all red" Group A football shirts.

Group B

Austria Home Shirt 2008/10
what's going on? Another red shirt and another from Puma with the crappy prancing ponies over the shoulders. I'm still waiting for a shirt that isn't either Puma or Nike, or in red - kit lovers are being seriously disapointed!

Rating: 6/10
Manufacturer: Puma
Buy from: Kitbag for £39.99
UKSoccerShop for £39.99
SubsideSports.com for £39.99

Croatia Home Shirt 2008/10
Another one from Nike but at least this is almost 50% white and has a blue kneckline! Phew! I wish Brazil or Cameroon were playing to add a bit of colour.

Rating: 7/10
Manufacturer: Nike
Buy from: Kitbag for £39.99
JDSports for £39.99
SubsideSports.com for £39.99

Germany Home Shirt 2007/09
At last its moving away from the red of all of the previous Euro 2008 football shirts and now moves in to a bit of white with a pretty cool black, red and yellow stripe. And another good thing is that it's made by Adidas.

Rating: 8/10 (minus 3 points because its Germany)
Manufacturer: Adidas
Buy from: Kitbag for £39.99
UKSoccerShop for £39.99
JDSports for £39.99
SubsideSports.com for £39.99

Poland Home Shirt - 2008/10
We're now fully in white, and despite it being a Puma shirt, they've got rid of the left puma and replaced it with a football logo and move the little creature to the middle. It's now a tad less crap. But its still not great!

Rating: 6.5/10
Manufacturer: Puma
Buy from: Kitbag for £39.99
UKSoccerShop for £39.99
JDSports for £39.99

Play The Football Pools - Euro 2008 Betting

2008-05-05T18:27:00.003Z

The Football Pools don't only do the old Littlewoods Pools but games such as Premier 10 where you use your fantastic football knowledge to predict the outcome, home, draw or away, of the top 10 football fixtures.

They also do Footy Bets which are fixed odds games with prizes up to £2000 for a one off stake. They also do games based on the Lotto, the Spanish Lotto and the Irishs Lotto.

The Lotto is boring these days you want to get playing the English The Football Pools!

O.s. you get a Free £5 too when you register. Here's my picks for next weekend!

So a £1 could win me £9,193?? Giddy up!

Euro 2008 Football Kits Group A - To Preview & Buy

2008-04-27T10:05:00.003Z

Here's a run through of all the kits you'll be seeing at the Euro 2008 tournament this June.

Group A
Czech Republic Home Shirt 2008/10
Puma may be coming back in to fashion (in certain areas of Feltham) but this is one of the most boring kits you'll find gracing a football pitch. It's got three pumas pouncing over the players' shoulders, it's a just a shame that most of the players are so slow they should have turtles emblazened on the shirt instead. There's the blue edging and highly detailed national emblem.

Rating: 6/10
Manufacturer: Puma
Buy from: Kitbag £39.99

Portugal Home 08 Shirt by Nike
Now the Potugal Home Shirt is more stylish in my mind, it's a retro-style football shirt. I don't know if it's just because its got the Nike swoosh on it that makes it look cool, or if its the fact that we'll see Ronaldo knock a few in whilst donning the national attire - but it's one of the best Euro 2008 football kits you'll find.

Rating: 8/10
Manufacturer: Nike
Buy from: £39.99
Kitbag - £39.99

Switzerland Home Shirt - 2008/10
So Puma couldn't be bothered to come up with a new design for Switzerland? It's the same as the Czech Football Shirt! Did they sit there and say "you know guys, I don't think we can improve of that shirt! We'll just copy it and put the Swiss badget on it!" A turd is still a turd! It's dreadful!

Rating: 6/10
Manufacturer: Puma
Buy From: Kitbag - £39.99
UKSoccerShop - £39.99

Turkey Home Shirt 2008/10
We're back in red. Group A is the group of blood. But the Turkish home shirt is a nice stylish shirt. I'm not sure what the white stripe is about, but at least it looks half-decent.

Rating: 7/10
Manufacturer: Nike
Buy From: Kitbag - £39.99
Subside Sports - £39.99

Raul Not In Spanish Squad

2008-04-27T09:58:00.002Z

It looks like Raul won't be playing in Euro 2008 as he was apparently left off the list of 31 players due to be vaccinated to play in the tournament!

Vaccinated? I thought this was Euro 2008, not Back Of Beyond 2008! I thought Austria and Switzerland are two of the most cleanlinist countries on the face of the planet!

Adidas's "EUROPASS" Match Ball

2008-04-07T09:31:00.002Z

Adidas have released the match ball for the Euro 2008 tournament and have called it the "EUROPASS" ball.

But don't you love marketing speak:

The adidas "EUROPASS" combines tradition with modernity. Its classic colouring - a white base colour with black dots - calls to mind the balls of bygone decades, yet its bonding with round dynamic elements in silver and red results in an innovative and very modern design which perfectly suits the host countries.

You've got to chuckle!

You're not going to believe the price though - a whopping £72.99 from JDSports. Buy and compare prices on the EuroPass Match Ball at Find4Me.

Domenech Bemoans Domestic Competition

2008-04-07T09:26:00.002Z

The France Coach Raymond Domenech has said that he can't give a definitive squad list for the Euro 2008 Championships because after the May 18th date there is the Champion League final, the French Cup and the Italian Cup.

My view is that he should get real. Many of my team's players have been injured playing for their countries - including France. So I have absolutely no sympathy!

2.500 Foriegn Police To Aid Tournament Security

2008-04-07T09:17:00.002Z

UEFA may be happy that England aren't playing in the Euro 2008 finals as they feel there'll be less trouble - but they're not taking any chances.

There will be 2,500 foriegn police helping with the tournament security. Germany are sending the vast bulk with 1,700, France 750, Croatia will provide 31, Poland 25, Sweden 15, Greece 12 and Russia and Spain 11 each.

I'm not sure how some of those nations can get away with donating so few! Perhaps it's because France and Germany are so close??

But watching how English fans are treated abroad - expecially in the Champion's League - I would have hoped for the foriegn fans to be protected by English police. I notice that there are no Italian poice going. I think this is because they don't have a clue about crowd safety!

Save 10% Off Football Shirts

2008-04-06T19:03:00.001Z

Right, I know its coming to the end of the season. But if you're lucky enough to have your team in the Euro 2008 finals then a £10 UK Soccer Shop Discount Code is probably what you need!

JVC Euro Ball Football Game

2008-02-18T08:56:00.002Z

These games that sponsors get made for tournaments are normally pants! But the Euro Ball game from JVC is pretty damn good!

The only downside is that we can't play as England. I'm trotting out as Portugal. Its a prety addictive game and my best score is 3-0 after a few plays.

See how you get on at Euroball!

Special Radio Station for Tournament Finals

2008-02-18T08:47:00.002Z

If, for some reason, you're going to the Euro 2008 finals, you may want another source of information. Well the thoughtful people in Switzerland are creating the catchilly titled "Radio 11" to keep you updated with all the news of the tournament.

They'll also be doing a Eurovision as they'll be playing 'a diverse mix of music from the 16 nations' - now I'm part glad we didn't qualify!

Scotland To Host Euro 2012?

2008-02-11T09:38:00.000Z

It looks like UEFA aren't too happy with the current state of things in Poland and Ukraine when it comes to both its organisation and the political situation and may withdraw their support for the two nations to stage the Euro 2012 tournament.

Get it sorted!

The New England Away Shirt Shocker!

2008-02-05T09:24:00.000Z

Now I know what Chris Ronnie of JJB meant when he said that sales of the new England away shirt would disapoint!

Just take a look at it:

What's going on? It looks dreadful!

Kitbag have the kit and so do UKSoccerShop.

But what are your thoughts?

England V Switzerland Squad Wednesday 6th Feb - Capello Gives Robinson The Bird

2008-02-03T10:33:00.000Z

The pruned England squad to play Switzerland this Wednesday has been announced and Fabio Capello gives Robinson the bird*! The hapless former England number one is left out of the squad!

Emile Heskey obviously had to withdraw due to a nerve problem in his back and Ledley King also had to drop out due to injury. But it was the exclusion of Stewart Downing nad Michael Carrick that shocked me the most as they've been playing well.

Also out are Nicky Shorey, Glenn Johnson and Paul Robinson.

Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Scott Carson (Liverpool on loan at Aston Villa), Chris Kirkland (Wigan)

Defenders: Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Joleon Lescott (Everton), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Matthew Upson (West Ham United), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur)

Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham Hotspur), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), David Bentley (Blackburn Rovers)

Forwards: Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Michael Owen (Newcastle United), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Peter Crouch (Liverpool)

But will they be wearing the new England away kit? Nah, they're at home for the launch - daft sods!

* metaphorically of course!

JJB Sports Not Happy With New Shirt Design

2008-02-03T09:02:00.001Z

JJB Sports aren't happy chappies! They've complained about the new Egnland Shirt design and say it'll lead to even lower sales given that England haven't qualified for the Euro 2008 finals.

Chris Ronnie who is JJB's new chief executive, said: "We don't think that Umbro has gone about the design in the right way."

He went on to say that they had to heavily discount the England kit to shift it. But with the new England away shirt being released this week, wouldn't they have to do it anyway? Last year they apparently had record profits, now everthing is so terrible - mmm. Me thinks they bought too many England shirts and now we haven't qualified, they're in the stink.

UKSoccerShop - New England Kit 08-10

2008-02-01T08:49:00.000Z

You may not want the new England 08-09 Away Kit with 'Beckham 7' on the back, but UKSoccerShop have the complete selection due out on 5th Feb.

This is their complete range:

08-09 England away / 08-09 England away (Beckham 7) / 08-09 England away - Kids / 08-09 England away shorts / 08-09 England away shorts - Kids/ 08-09 England away socks/ 08-09 England L/S away/ 08-09 England L/S away - Kids/ 08-09 England Womens away / 07-09 England GK home/ 07-09 England home/ 07-09 England home (+ Your Name) / 07-09 England home (Gerrard 4)/ 07-09 England home (Gerrard 4) - Kids/ 07-09 England home (Lampard 8)/ 07-09 England home (Lampard 8) - Kids/ 07-09 England home (Rooney 9)/ 07-09 England home (Rooney 9) - Kids / 07-09 England home (Terry 6)/07-09 England home (Terry 6) - Kids/07-09 England home - Kids /07-09 England home shorts /07-09 England home shorts - Kids /07-09 England home socks/07-09 England Infant Kit/ 07-09 England L/S home /07-09 England L/S home - Kids /07-09 England Little Boys home / 07-09 England Training shirt / 07-09 England Womens Home

Kitbag Up To 75% Off Football Shirts

2008-01-24T17:23:00.000Z

If you couldn't get enough of hearing about football shirts, Kitbag come out with the announcement that they they're knocking off up to 75% from the prices off some of their football shirts!

Here's some examples, They've got the Celtic Home Shirt 2007/08 for only £9.99
The Brazil Home womens shirt for £9.99
Kids England away shirt - £4.99
England Home shirt 2005/07 - £4.99

yikes!

New England Away Kit 2008 / 10

2008-01-11T18:03:00.000Z

Now I know you can't wait for the New England Away Football Kit (08/10)! They had to bring one out for the Euro 2008's, but wait, we're not there! At least you'll see it for the World Cup qualifying!!

We'll it'll be avaliable to pre-order from 00.05 on the morning of Monday 14th January (i.e. Sunday night). You can get them from Kitbag here. It won't be avaliable in the shops until 5th February -
which is the day before we play Switzerland.

Kitbag have also said they'll be running a special offer.

UKSoccerShop have the complete selection due out on 5th Feb.

For UKSoccerShop - use these discount codes:

Voucher Code: FEB5
Offer Details: 5% of all orders over £50
Offer Ends: 15th FEB

Voucher Code: FEB10
Offer Details: 10% of all orders over £100
Offer Ends: 15th FEB

Let us know what you think of it here!

On the 5th the FA will be launching a range of kits:

08-10 England away | 08-10 Kids England away | 08-10 England away shorts | 08-10 England away shorts - Kids| 08-10 England away socks| 08-10 England L|S away| 08-10 England L|S away - Kids| 08-10 England Womens away | 07-09 England GK home| 07-09 England home| 07-09 England home - Kids |07-09 England home shorts |07-09 England home shorts - Kids |07-09 England home socks|07-09 England Infant Kit| 07-09 England L|S home |07-09 England L|S home - Kids |07-09 England Little Boys home | 07-09 England Training shirt | 07-09 England Womens Home

Capello Begins Work - Yawn!

2008-01-08T09:00:00.000Z

So the guy with the dodgy glasses has started as the England manager now. Apparently he's "wanted the job for a long time" - come on! Who would want to work the fickle, stupid and up their own backside - British press?

Well they've become easily pleased. He attended a couple of games with the fat controller before he officially started his job and they've gone crazy.

Now you won't be able to watch a Premiership game without the inane comments of "XYZ will want to have a good performance to impress the new England manager" - shuit it - I'm bored already!

England manager Fabio Capello begins reign Telegraph.co.uk
Capello gets going BBC Sport
Capello joined by Pearce on first day in office Independent

[Pic: BBC Newsround]

Stadia May Not Be Profitable

2007-12-31T10:13:00.000Z

For fans having the Euro 2008 stadia be profitable isn't a huge concern. But for stadia owners, and the future of the tournament it is essential that they do make at least some money.

The news is it is unlikely that the stadia will make any money at all during the Euro 2008 tournament.

Berne and Basel have said they will be happy just to break even. However, Zurich and Geneva have had public money pumped in, so they're less concerned. But doesn't it raise the question of the viability of these tournaments without public money - just look at the uproar with the funding of the 2008 Olympics?

Fabio Capello For England Job

2007-12-14T08:01:00.000Z

So Fabio Capello looks set to take the England manager's job! And the news is just filled with stories about how much he'll get paid and how long his contract will last - who cares?

Just win the World Cup!

FA Hurry Up Or Take Your Time?

2007-12-08T13:58:00.000Z

I'm getting fed up with all the speculation about who will be the new England manager, but I don't think the FA should rush in to getting a recplacement. They're actively seeking the opinion of the game's elder statsmen and should try and find the right man for the job.

The FA will, however, have to get a new manager by the start of the Euro 2008 tournament so he'll have enough time to get ready for the World Cup Qualification.

So will it be Maureen? Personally I hope so! We need someone to give the press as good as he gets. The English media, in my opinion, excert too much pressure on how the English game is run. So shut it and let the guy get on with the job when he starts!

Finals Fixtures

2007-12-02T12:02:00.000Z

Here's the Euro 2008 Finals fixture list:

1 07/06 Grp - A Switzerland 18:00 Czech Republic - Basel
2 07/06 Grp - A Portugal 20:45 Turkey - Geneva

3 08/06 Grp - B Austria 18:00 Croatia - Vienna
4 08/06 Grp - B Germany 20:45 Poland - Klagenfurt

5 09/06 Grp - C Romania 18:00 France - Zürich
6 09/06 Grp - C Holland 20:45 Italy - Berne

7 10/06 Grp - D Spain 18:00 Russia - Innsbruck
8 10/06 Grp - D Greece 20:45 Sweden - Innsbruck

9 11/06 Grp - A Czech Republic 18:00 Portugal - Geneva
10 11/06 Grp - A Switzerland 20:45 Turkey - Basel

11 12/06 Grp - B Croatia 18:00 Germany - Klagenfurt
12 12/06 Grp - B Austria 20:45 Poland - Vienna

13 13/06 Grp - C Italy 18:00 Romania - Zürich
14 13/06 Grp - C Holland 20:45 France - Berne

15 14/06 Grp - D Sweden 18:00 Spain - Innsbruck
16 14/06 Grp - D Greece 20:45 Russia - Innsbruck

17 15/06 Grp - A Switzerland 20:45 Portugal - Basel
18 15/06 Grp - A Turkey 20:45 Czech Republic - Geneva

19 16/06 Grp - B Austria 20:45 Germany - Vienna
20 16/06 Grp - B Poland 20:45 Croatia - Klagenfurt

21 17/06 Grp - C Holland 20:45 Romania - Berne
22 17/06 Grp - C France 20:45 Italy - Zürich

23 18/06 Grp - D Greece 20:45 Spain - Innsbruck
24 18/06 Grp - D Russia 20:45 Sweden - Innsbruck

25 19/06 QF Winner Grp - A 20:45 Runner-up Grp - B - Basel

26 20/06 QF Winner Grp - B 20:45 Runner-up Grp - A - Vienna

27 21/06 QF Winner Grp - C 20:45 Runner-up Grp - D - Basel

28 22/06 QF Winner Grp - D 20:45 Runner-up Grp - C - Vienna

29 25/06 SF Winner #25 20:45 Winner #26 - Basel

30 26/06 SF Winner #27 20:45 Winner #28 - Vienna

31 29/06 F Winner #29 20:45 Winner #30 - Vienna

Finals Draw Groups

2007-12-02T11:59:00.000Z

Here are the groups for the Euro 2008 finals:

Group A: Switzerland, Turkey, Portugal, Czech Republic

Group B: Austria, Poland, Germany, Croatia

Group C: Holland, France, Romania, Italy

Group D: Greece, Russia, Spain, Sweden

If only they chose Germany instead of Romania in Group C then that would have been an absolute corker!

I'll be adding the fixture list in a sec!

Mclaren Out? Next The Board?

2007-11-22T10:47:00.000Z

So Mclaren has been sacked. He tried too hard in the last game and pandered to the press who were asking for something different given the last keeper's mistakes that cost us points earlier on.

I think Mclaren is a very decent man, a very capable manager but I think he gave in to the media and the fat controller.

Good luck Macca!

England v Croatia Review

2007-11-21T22:14:00.000Z

I'm saying nothing, just speachles! Up and down like a bride's nighty! Fairness doesn't come into it!