Monday 11 July 2016

10 questions I have after Euro 2016...

1. Has the Ronaldo / Messi debate been put to bed? They've traded La Liga titles and Ballond'Ors but now Ronaldo has an International tournament win to Messi's Olympic gold medal.

2. What next for Italy now that Antonio Conte has left for Chelsea? This maybe the weakest generation of Italian players in the history of forever and Conte had them playing like world beaters in a tight system. Can the next manager keep them anywhere near this level of play let alone better it?

3.Whats eating Paul Pogba? After his amazing domestic season viewers and fans were queueing up to see Paul Pogba dominate this final, but it didn't happen...

4. Where will Robson-Kanu be playing next season? He let his contract at Reading wind down, he scored the goal of tournament, is that enough to get a new club interested in him?

5. Will England continue fooling themselves into thinking Wayne Rooney is a world class midfielder? All through the tournament England had many faults but the worst was this joke of an experiment in midfield, surely they wont persist with it for another tournament?

6. Is Will Grigg still on fire?

7. Have Belgium morphed into Holland? Belgium, full of skillful players like Kevin De Bruyne, Jan Vertonghen and Eden Hazard but played like strangers and full of infighting rumours. Do we become our worst enemies?

8. What next for the underdogs? Iceland getting to the knockout stage, Wales to the semi finals and Hungary taking the lead against Portugal three times - it was a tournament for underdogs but attention turns to the World Cup qualifiers and with less places up for grabs will they even qualify let alone bring the tournament to life again?

9. Where next for Antoine Griezmann? The winner of the golden hoof/boot/slingback and after a magnificent two years for Aletico Madrid, surely the worlds his oyster?

10. Is finishing runners up enough to bring the people of France together? Bombings, murders we all know what happened in France and this tournament was seen as the ideal opportunity to bring the countries people back together. Ladies and gentle readers it is the firm hope of this blogger that it was enough.

Sunday 3 July 2016

The Big Finish Catch-Up: December 2015

For those of you new to this section of the blog, I started listening to the Big Finish Doctor Who releases when they started back in 1999, getting them as they were released up to mid 2002 and release No 33 Neverland. At that time I left Uni and due to being a bit busy with life and what not I only heard one or two releases over the next few years. I started getting back into them around 2008 and was 6 years behind at that point. Due to wondering off into the Lost Doctor range and a relaxed listening pace I fell further behind. In order to catch up I'm listening to two releases a month (or more when its a 60 min single disc release, plus without seeing the cover or knowing anything about the story) and my mission to catch up continues;



My final audio session of 2015 started with 'The Last Post' from the 'companion chronicle' range starring Caroline John in her final performance as Liz before her passing. Its a bit of a belter and Caroline performs the other UNIT regulars with gusto. Some fannish moments and another story that shows this range isn't to be ignored.




The moment I found out that Big Finish had the War Doctor I knew I couldn't wait eight years to catch up. This feels like something different from the norm, more tragic than anything I've ever heard and John Hurt gives a war/universe weary performance. It feels both epic and intimate, the story throws you off kilter - just as you think a typical 'Whoish' thing is going to happen the rug is tugged from under the listeners feet and you realise this is going to be a range unlike any other. The War Doctors relationship with the Time Lords also isn't what I expected but it suits the Doctors renegade nature. It has an odd end but its an odd story with what I suspect included a lot of set up. In short 'The Innocent' is a very interesting story and feels like it could be the start of a special journey.