I had some time to kill yesterday evening before I could leave work so I've built a wee team picker. You can drag and drop the players you want into the teams you want. You can also add new players to the squad though these will only last until the page is reloaded.
It only works in Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox - give it a shot.
Well fought by everyone last night - both teams kept battling away till the bitter end and bitter indeed was the end (for the Mince men anyway). Not much else to say other than it good to see so many of the Hardcore back on the pitch. MOTM is up.
This weekend sees a number of us take part in the Ian Younger Sixes again. Martie, myself, Stuart and Gordo all play in our third tournament, Kyle and Craig in their second and making their début are Si, Scott and Steven. The first year we didn't score one goal but still got through to the semi of the plate. Last year we actually scored and got through to the semis (or the quarters - can't quite remember) of the cup. Hopefully we can go one better again this year - 'Mon the Gers!
Alan's ankle is all better, William's knee is also fixed and Si & Stu are back from Norway. Gordo's thigh is still knackered and he's going to go get that checked out and Kyle has hurt his knee somehow over the weekend so is going to rest it this week. Craigo will be the tenth man making this week's game practically an all-hardcore affair (what with Craig being ex-hardcore).
I've not heard back from everyone regarding the new payment system and everyone is happy enough to set up a weekly standing order which will make life nice and easy for everyone so thanks all. I've also going to go with a once a year payout at Christmas for the refunds unless anyone strongly objects - think of it as your Fitbaw Christmas Bonus.
The account is almost set up but I don't have the card through yet. As soon as I do, I'll get the details out to you all. At the moment we've already paid for for following week's game so until the winter break, we'll always be £51 down. The good news is we'll get that cash back in time for night out.
Teams will be up tomorrow.
After full time it was all square, just like Moscow. After ten minutes in, I thought it was just going to stay with Chelsea three up for the rest of the game - every time we pulled one back, Ross, Foxy or Gordo would restore the margin to three.
That was until Scott manage to poke away two in a row without reply to get us back into the game. After that it became more like a war of attrition with bodies lying all over the place. I would say a draw was a fair result and it also avoided any debating whether certain goals, penalties, etc. should have counted.
Next week sees the return of William, Si and Stuart. Kyle's foot seems OK and Alan's ankle should be better. We'll wait and see how Gordo's thigh is.
With regards to the cash situation, you'll notice on the stats that the kitty is £51 down - that because we're having to pay one week's in advance. Everyone I've heard from seems OK with the standing order idea - I've still to hear back from Si and Stu as their own holiday but I don't imagine there will be a problem. As for "dividends", unless anyone objects, I'm only going to pay out once a year at the end of the season - think of it as your Fitbaw Xmas Bonus.
I thought we'd go for a Champions League themed game tonight so no Mince and Tatties for one week. You also have you're own CL persona - please don't take them too seriously.
Martie is still London based on Wednesdays but William will be back next week. Si and Stu are holidaying together in Norway and Alan has a sore ankle.
Remember and give me your feedback if you've not already on the Powerleague situation.
I got a letter yesterday from Powerleague Glasgow telling us that all bookings must now be paid for at the time of booking. That means that we have to pay by card when we (Foxy, normally) phones up to book the pitch. We've discussed other ways and tried to see if we could pay in cash up front the week before but nothing seems to be excepted by them other than a card payment over the phone.
We reckon the reason is that some cash is going missing up there, either into pockets of staff or folk are saying they've paid for a pitch when they've not. What ever the reason, it's a real pain in the arse and I personally think that Powerleague have shot themselves in the foot over this one - if it were possible we'd look to move the venue but no where else is central enough for everyone to get to and from.
Now it's not really fair of us all to expect Foxy to use his own card and then have to get the cash from me and then go the bank on a weekly basis to pay the money in, blah, blah, blah. So, to that end, I've opened a Fitbaw Account at the RBS which we can use to book the pitch on a weekly basis.
All that remains is for each of us to get our cash into that account on a weekly basis. There is the option of everyone paying up as usual and then me just going to the bank every week but that's not really convenient and is a bit of a waste of time. What I propose is that all the hardcore set up a weekly standing order of £6 to the new account. If you don't play that week then the mighty spreadsheet will know and I can issue a refund on a quarterly, biannually or yearly basis depending on what you want to do (it'll have to be the same for everyone though). Think of it as a Fitbaw Savings Fund - at the end of the year you'll have all your £6 saved up ready for all the Xmas nights out that you'll have. It also has the benefit of avoiding folk forgetting money, not having the right change and so on. Ringers will just pay cash and this will go into the kitty as normal and then deposited into the account when it's built up. It could also be used to issue refunds though I'd like to make the refunds paid out as infrequently as possible.
So that's the proposed solution to the ridiculous problem that Powerleague have dropped on us. I really hope everyone will be OK with this because it will be a complete pain to run and organise of some folk don't want to set up the standing order. Please let me know your thoughts on this: Are you OK with it? How often do you want to get your "dividends" (refunds for games not played)? Do you have better idea?
When I've gathered everyone's responses, I'll let you all know the plan and also the account details to set up the weekly standing order.
Sorry the game ended up in a kicking last night - maybe not the best team selection. Anyone know what the score was?
No game next week so I hope you all enjoy the final and best of luck to Rangers. See you all on the 21st.
Another week where we've been struggling for players. Foxy and Si are on holiday, my ankle's still not working properly, Stuart's at Ibrox, Martie's in London and Wills is still injured (I think as I've not heard from him in ages - hello William?)
Craigo, as usual, and new guy Ross is back again. Mr Ponto makes his return to Fitbaw for the first time in ages and brings along his brother in law, Andy T.
Andy's been out for a while and so may struggle with fitness but Gordo played an hour and half of tennis last night, followed by an hour of fives, in the heat, so he's told me not to count him as a full Gordo so hopefully, Andy T and Gordo should balance each other out on the team sheets.
Next week, there is no game due to the Might Gers bid for European glory in Manchester. It looks as though Martie, Neil, Kyle, Stuart and maybe Scott will all be in Manchester for the final. I'll be in a pub in Majorca so trying to get ten would have been impossible.
I'm still waiting on everyone getting back to me regarding the Summer Fitbaw Drinking Extravaganza, but at the moment, the weight seems to be in favour of a Saturday (maybe with a game before hand?).
Finally, if you want to play in the Ian Younger Sixes and haven't yet told me, please do ASAP.
I got a text message last night from Si that was along the lines of "Well that was a sound beating" but at that point I had no ideas of the teams. My initial thought was that the Mince team seemed a bit string but then I looked at the Tatties and saw that they boasted the talents of Foxy and Stuart up front and Big Al at the back so it did look as though it would have been tight. Unfortunately, Ringers Law came into full effect and Ross was apparently quite handy up front which gave the Mince team an attacking force of Kyle, Gordo and Ross which was just too strong in the end. Ah well, never mind.
Next week Foxy is on holiday and I think my ankle will still be busted. Martie and Wills are still AWOL. Craigo and A. N. Other to make up the ten.