4-5-1 doesn't work! Healy needs a partner!

Shit results against mediocre opposition are a major let down for a side that has come so far over the past couple of campaigns.

To be fair Northern Ireland played well for the first ten minutes and the last ten. But for the rest of the match they defended, and Northern Ireland are not consistent enough at doing that to employ it as a tactic for long periods of a match. There's always someone who will make a silly mistake and give away a goal.

Slovakia were nothing to fear, so going with a tentative, negative formation and defensive tactics was a mistake. Everyone knew this before the match... except, apparently, Nigel Worthington.

The Belfast Telegraph reported on Monday that DCAL minister Gregory Campbell is about to scrap the Maze stadium plans. Amongst all the boring and spectacularly un-newsworthy talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein, apparently the DUPes and the Sinners have done a deal that will see the Sinners get the terrorist shrine built at the Maze along with housing as well as retail and leisure facilities, but the development will go ahead without the stadium.

Instead, Windsor Park will be upgraded, beginning with a demolition/rebuild of the Railway Stand.

It's win-win to me. While I wouldn't fancy living next to a shrine to Bobby Sands and his suicide cult, if people think they can build and sell houses there then go for it. I can't see it having a positive effect on retail either, but I suppose if there are bargains to be had people will come. As long as I don't have to go anywhere near the f**king abomination I'm happy with getting a stadium in Belfast capable of hosting Northern Ireland football matches.

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As Chekov alluded to in a comment earlier, Crusaders FC and junior side Newington FC are planning to work together on a new stadium. Despite a meeting this morning to launch the proposals, which will include a 4,000 capacity (that's more than Deez! ) stadium to be shared between the 2 clubs and a "Sports Educational Village", whatever the hell that is.

The Crues' web site is pretty lacklustre both aesthetically and in terms of usability so there isn't much info on the plans (it seems old news just disappears instead of being retained in any kind of archive), however they have uploaded a video on YouTube. The BBC suggests they've yet to decide between the Grove and the Valley, though I was under the impression the Grove was the preferred option as of a couple of months back.

And I've no idea what that all means for the plans to upgrade Seaview.

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Balrog doesn't get any better
.

Celtic fans are not, never were and never will be sectarian.

Really?

Nuff said really.

Seems harassment actions taken by English folk claiming victimisation is on the up. Following the successful case brought by a pipe-fitter in Dublin, Irish FA Chief Executive Howard Wells has filed a grievance concerning his treatment by two colleagues, including IFA president Raymond Kennedy. The news comes a day before 5,000 Green And White soldiers are due to descend on Hampden Park for Northern Ireland's friendly with Scotland.

There don't seem to be any serious details about the grievance at this stage, but given that the fans want Wells out (I don't think he can put that one down to being English) this will be one to watch.

Reacting to stories that David Beckham will be the star of London 2012's part of the Beijing Olympics' closing ceremony on 24th August, where the hosts of the next games get the opportunity to offer a preview of coming attractions.

After China's amazing display that took us back through thousands of years of their history, the best we can come up with to represent British culture is a dried-up football star?
shanghaiexpat

Celtic fans visiting Belfast Zoo have complained to councillors after they were the victims of vicious, provocative sectarian taunts. Everything Ulster contacted the fans who rubbished claims that it was in fact they who instigated the altercation with sectarian chants.

Anti-sectarianism charity Nil By Mouth have called on the zoo to take action following the incident. The Zoo's chief executive has said he will investigate.

Hun Ping has apologised for any offence caused after mimicking playing the flute.

Celtic fan and renowned academic Leaich Spiedal posted his views on an internet forum, claiming the action was "typical of the bigotry entrenched in NI zoology" before continuing "Anyway, i'd rather be a Paki than a Hun!!!"

Santa will boycott Northern Ireland this year leaving hundreds of thousands of children without presents and all because greedy football fans want a new stadium built in Belfast and not the Maze. There have also been warnings that the sky 'may' fall and unconfirmed sightings of the four horsemen.

OK, Christmas is still on but according to what passes for the local "media" Northern Ireland will lose out on 10,000 jobs and the 4-Nations/Celtic Cup will have to be cancelled.

If you'd rather see the stadium in Belfast than the Maze then you must be a communist who hates jobs and children and fluffy bunnies. You don't hate bunnies do you?

You see the tournament will have to be scrapped because the plan was to host all the matches in the same country in any given year and Northern Ireland's current facilities just aren't up to the job. I know what you're thinking: with the tournament starting in 2011 and running biannually, if Northern Ireland was to go last of the 4 nations, we wouldn't be hosting it until 2017 (that's 9 years, just in case whoever penned that BBC story is unable to do challenging mental arithmetic like that).

Added to the above disaster, Northern Ireland will lose out on 10,000 (yes, they said ten-thousand) jobs because, you see, if we don't agree to the blackmail proposals for the Maze, there are no other sites where we could build a stadium and those hundreds of millions of pounds will evaporate into thin air.

Won't someone think of the children?!

He's already Sir David to Northern Ireland fans but David Healy's one step closer to that knighthood he so obviously deserves after receiving a well-deserved MBE for "services to football and the community" in the Queen's birthday honours list.

The timing of the award couldn't be more fitting as Healy is today hosting the 2008 David Healy Fitba Day, a free kids football coaching session in Cookstown which is, according to the IFA, the biggest event of its kind ever known to to take place in the British Isles.

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"Citizen journalism", as it's been dubbed, is not perfect and nor is it always presented in an appealing format. There are numerous outlets for news both in print media and online, so why bother blogging?

The answer to this question is illustrated perfectly by Ed Curran, editor of the NIO rag, the Belfast Telegraph (which, I believe, is Northern Ireland's biggest-selling daily). While the Tele is making big noises about how it's holding Stormont to account (which, to some degree, is a fair claim), Curran's newspaper has not only ignored potentially the biggest waste of money in local politics recently, but actively participated in it as a cheerleader.

This is a trend that Curran continued on Monday when he penned a cringe-worthy Won't Somebody Think of the Children style "letter", ostensibly to David Healy, in Monday's paper bemoaning the death throes of the Maze stadium as if they were a bad thing instead of the reprieve we've been waiting for. This column was so bad it could only appear in a paper where the author is the editor (then again it's nothing new, he has form in that regard).

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