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15th May 2009
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29th March 2009 I made good progress with my training last week and got to a point where I was even working with the ball, which is amazing given that it was only a week before I was having surgery. But all credit for that goes to the doctor in Munich who has refined her technique to allow such quick come-back times - and that's why she's getting sports people from all over the world going to her now. Today I continued to build on last week's successful work and had my first full session with team, so I'm now hoping I can carry that through for the rest of the week without any bad reactions, which should mean I'm in contention for selection for the sqaud from now on. I actually ended up at Craven Cottage on Sunday, although a bit unexpectedly. I went out for a jog in Fulham with a friend and by the time we got to the park next to the stadium we realised it was Boat Race day, which always coincides with an Oxford-Cambridge football match at the Cottage. So we decided to stop in and have a look and caught most of the second half. It wasn't a sell-out or anything but it was a really friendly atmosphere with plenty of banter going on between supporters of both universities. I found it particularly amusing to see that one of the Oxford strikers, a Mikael Forssell look-a-like wearing green Nike boots, was called "Toogood" -well, at least that's what it said on the back of his shirt...that's got to be tough one to live up to if it was for real! I looked out for my ex-Fulham team mate Andy Melville who told me he was going to be doing a bit of coaching with the Oxford team when I bumped into him a couple of weeks ago, although I didn't see him. But all in all it was an afternoon of unexpected fun at the Cottage - oh, and I reckon I'd be a safe bet for a football scholarship for Oxford or Cambridge. Maybe that's one to consider?! More soon... |
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19th March 2009 I'm back from Munich having had my operation. According to the surgeon it all went really well. Obviously Saturday's game will come too soon for me but I'll be able to do some light jogging over the weekend and then hopefully join in with some ball work next week, depending on how it's feeling. The international break that's coming up will also give me a bit of extra time to get back in shape so that I can hopefully play out the rest of the season without any further complications. It's never nice to have surgery but in my case it wasn't too unwelcome as it gives me hope that the injury trouble I've had on and off for the past weeks has been finally sorted out once and for all now. The operation was done under local anaesthetic but they gave me some sleeping gas too, just to get me snoozing. It only took about 45 minutes but needless to say, I was fairly spaced out for a few hours after. Back in my room I was in a world of my own and apparently coming out with some fairly random stuff - and all in English too, even though I was in the motherland! But it soon wore off and by the evening I was back to myself and tucking into a nice bit of suckling pig and dumplings - when in Rome and all that! More soon... |
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16th March 2009 .I'm writing this update from Munich. Last week was a long one, having to wait as I did to see my specialist. Unfortunately the injury came at the wrong time as the specialist was away on holiday, hence the wait. But I'm here now and keen to see what the outcome is and whether I'll need surgery or not. It's been diagnosed as a hernia, which kind of makes sense given the pain symptoms. The week's rest has certainly allowed it to settle but I'm eager to find out what the doctor here thinks and, more importantly, how long I'll be out for. I really like Munich but it's just a shame that most of the time I come here is to see the doctor. It's great to see friends and relatives while I'm in town and the ice cream shop that sells 50 different flavours will certainly be getting a visit! And when I was looking to get on the train from the airport I was having so much trouble purchasing my ticket I had to get help from an English woman! How ironic is that?? More soon... |
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3rd March 2009 I was really happy to be back from injury on Saturday and starting a game for the first time since Sheffield Wednesday in early January. Despite conceeding two really annoying first half goals – including a penalty in the sixth minute – it was a great game to be involved in and we were actually playing really well. Having got three reserve games under my belt I was feeling really good from a physical perspective too – in fact I was probably feeling even better than before I even got the injury. A minute before half time we got a corner. The ball was cleared by the first man and it came to me as I'm one of the defenders who stays back for corners. As I went to play it back to our keeper I felt a little tweak in my groin - the same area that had just recovered after keeping me out all this time. I got into the dressing room but it was pretty obvious I wouldn't be able to play the second half so I came off. And since then I haven't been able to do much as the medical people are still assessing what I've done and what action needs to be taken. I'm hoping for the best and that it's just a temporary set-back that will sort itself out pretty soon, but beyond that I can't really say a lot more. The first five days after an injury like this are always about waiting for it to settle and then it's about seeing exacty what the problem is and how we go about sorting it. But as I'm sure you can imagine I'm majorly down given that I thought I was back. And I was really enjoying the game too. It was a great match to be involved in even though we lost - very competitive, plenty of goals, plenty of chances. You could see that both teams were really going for it. It was just a shame things turned out how they did, both in terms of the result and for me personally. Another great game I was involved in – albeit as a spectator – was Fulham's FA Cup replay against Swansea last week. It was great to go back to the Cottage and it made me realise what a genuinely unique and special place Craven Cottage is. I loved my time at Fulham and will always look back on it very fondly. It was great to be in among the supporters in the Hammersmih End, too. Fan Anthropology is a book that's waiting to be written – and it could include a whole chapter on the two blokes in front of me that went from starting on each other to hugging within the space of about 30 seconds! I really hope Fulham get a result against Hull and go on to beat Man U at the weekend. With United's Champions League game against Inter just a couple of days later it's as good a time to play them as any. I'm writing this sat in the foyer of the cinema but Grand Torino is about to start and I have a lot of pop corn to eat so that's all for now. More soon.... More soon...
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12th February 2009 We did managed to get a reserve game going on, despite the weather. It wasn't Luton away as we'd thought though. In fact it wasn't even Luton at home – it ended up being Colchester at the training gound. It was tricky conditions – strong, cold winds, at times there were even hailstones. But the pitch took the water pretty well and was more than playable. Colchester bought a very young team whereas we had a few first teamers out. Alongside me were Ben Thatcher, Dean Bowditch, our new signing Luca Civelli. I lost count of the score after a while but I think it endd up something like 9-2 to us. But even that wasn't enough goals for me to get on the scoresheet. The closest I got was being fifth in line to take one of our two first half penalties! But I got through the whole 90 minutes and so by the weekend I'll have had a full week of training and a game under my belt which should put me in contention for the squad for Blackpool on Saturday and Nottingham Forest in midweek. To be honest I can't wait to get back into action so hopefully I'll get to make my return soon. More soon... |
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10th February 2009 . Even though I was given the ok to train last week, due to the weather my comeback at the weekend was postponed as I couldn't get enough sessions under my belt. So that meant another weekend working on my fitness. I was in Saturday morning for a heavy top-up session which was enough to make me want to do little else but chill for the rest of the weekend as it was a tough workout. But it's what I needed in order to throw myself back into things this week. Depening on the weather there is hopefully going to be a reserve game I can play in which will be a good indicator of where I stand physically so I really hope it goes ahead. It was a disappointment to hear the Swansea result on Saturday afternoon. Given our strong away record of late, the guys went into that game really hoping for a positive outcome even though we knew that Swansea were always going to be a very dangerous team. But they showed their quality once again on Saturday. The early goal gave them a lot of confidence and meant we were chasing all the way, and that situation only heightened when the second went in. Despite the post-training tiredness, I did still manage to muster the energy to take part in an After Eight eating challenge on Sunday. If you've never experienced this before it basically involves balancing an After Eight mint on your forehead and then, by moving various facial muscles, you have to try and get it into your mouth - as opposed to on the floor. My first attempt failed, but the second one I nailed, even if I did end up with chocolate smeared all over my face...! More soon...
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2nd February 2009 It had to happen. My return to training coincided with the biggest snow fall in twenty years. As soon as I woke up in London, I knew that even getting to Ipswich was going to be a struggle, let alone being able to actually train. It took me about four hours to get to Ipswich on some very slow trains but the fact that my injury was brought on by hard frozen pitches in the first place meant that I ended up doing a gym session just like I've been doing for the last three weeks. But it was the only sensible thing to do as training with the lads on the astroturf in the dome could have easily flared up my symptoms again and delayed my return. But hopefully I'll be able to train properly tomorrow. That said, it's always nice to see the snow, especially when it's proper snow - not that horrible stuff that just turns to slush in a couple of hours. It was so scenic when I got up in the dark this morning and I have to say, I didn't really mind walking to two different stations trying to find a train that was actually going somewhere! But I'm not surprised it's snowed given how cold it was at the weekend. I went to the Plymouth game on Saturday and I don't know why but whenever I'm not involved and sat in the stands it's always the coldest day in living history. The wind didn't help either – both for my cold feet and for the guys playing on the pitch as it played into Plymouth's hands. They were set-up very apprehensively and apart from a few break-aways in the second half they didn't really contribute much. We had plenty of possession, lots of good passing and balls into the box, but what we really lacked was the creation of clear goal-scoring opportunities and the longer the game went on, the harder it became to open them up. A disappointing home result on the back of our solid away form but we still remained unbeated in January which is something we can certainly take into the next games. It's going to be a challenging game away at Swansea at the weekend, not to mention another very long trip. I hope to be fit for that one – that's the aim anyway. When we played them earlier in the season it was 2-2 but I remember them being a decent team that pass and move well. They've been on a really good run too, stretching some 13, 14 games now. They've also knocked two Premier League sides out of the FA Cup too, so their confidence will be high. It's Fulham for them in the next round so I'll be testing the water and reporting back to everyone at the Cottage on what to expect... Keep warm!
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30th January 2009 Since the beginning of the week, I've been doing more and more each day in my rehab and have progressed from the bike and swimming up to light jogging and functional movements. Today I even kicked some balls for the first time! Next is to move up to long range kicking and some sprints so I'll be working away over the weekend to give myself the best chance of being able to join in training next week. We've got Plymouth at home tomorrow. We've already played them at their place earlier in the season - one of the longest away trips we have to do. We flew down so I don't know if they'll be doing the same? Either way it's quite a trek! Our form has been really good of late and on the back of our last league results, everyone is really looking forward to the games we've got coming up. Plymouth are desperate for points as they've slipped down a bit and are now in with a lot of clubs towards the bottom who are starting to look over their shoulders. So they'll be looking for a result but as far as we're concerned it's a game we've got to win. Unfortunately our home match against Nottingham Forest which was meant to be next week has had to be moved because they've got a Cup replay so no midweek action for us. I've started to do a bit of country walking in the last week. I got given a list of about 12 walks from the people at the hotel where I stay when I'm up in Ipswich so I've decided to do one a week. The first one was around the Woodbridge are but rather naively, I did it in my nice white trainers. I was expecting roads and paths but I ended up trudging through a load of mud down by a river bed. Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing walk with beautiful, scenic views. But it certainly took it's toll on the footwear. I'll have the wellies out next time... More soon...
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27th January 2009 Once I'd got over the groin injection, my birthday turned out to be a great day last Wednesday, even though my anaesthetised leg gave me a bit of a comedy walk. But I didn't let that stop me having a bit of lunch up in town (see picture...) before rustling up a nice stew in the evening for a few friends, courtesy of Jamie's new book. A games night then followed, thanks to the fact that I got Yahtzee as a present. I was on such a roll I did the impossible and got three Yatzee's in a row. For anyone not familiar with the game, that means five threes, five fours, five fives and five sixes with the dice. That's got to be a world record. Understandably, I was so psyched about my luck after that I decided to play the lottery for the first time as I was convinced it was destined to be my day. Unfortunately I couldn't get a ticket from any of the petrol stations at that time of night so I went for five of those scratch card things . And guess what? On two of them I won! With a nifty profit of four pounds in my pocket I then invested in some proper lottery tickets the next day but that's where plan came unstuck. No numbers, no jackpot, game over. With my temporary infatuation with gambling behind me, I went to the Chelsea game with a few friends on Saturday. Even though I'm injured I wouldn't have missed that one, especially as Stamford Bridge is on my doorstep. One of the people who came with me was my old mate Sylvain Legwinski who I know from Fulham days and who then went on to play for Ipswich for two seasons until he retired last summer. It was great to see him again and compare our Suffolk experiences. It was a really good Cup tie and I felt we were certainly in the game for the best part of it. It took a German to come up with something a bit special to make the difference, but fair play to Ballack as that was a great free kick that could only have been topped by a bit of Lampard magic. It was really weird going to Stamford Bridge as a spectator though. The last time I went there was as pundit for German TV when they were covering a Champions League game. So in that case, you're obviously having to be totally neutral, whereas on Saturday – for the sake of Ipswich and Fulham – there was only one way I wanted the result to go. Unfortunately it didn't go the right way but at least I had the luxury of being able to walk home - didn't even need to get out the folding bike! So the injection has worked in as far as it's settled down the pain a touch and now I've got to ease my way back into training. I've started with some stretching and swimming and hopefully I can step that up to running, and then if everything goes really well I might be back in training at the end of the week. That obviously means I'll miss the trip to Barnsley this weekend but I'm hoping the boys will get another win. Having won two on the bounce away from home, it'll be great to keep that going and edge a bit closer to the play-offs.
More soon...
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21st January 2009 I'm still not able to train at the moment due to my injury. It's an inflammation of the pubic bone and is a recurrence of a problem I've had before, but in this case I think it was brought about by the frosty conditions we've had recently. It's been pretty sore so this morning I was up in London for an injection into my groin in the hope it'll settle it down so I can get back into training as soon as possible - hopefully by the beginning of next week. The injection was pretty painful to say the least - not really the kind of present I was looking for on my birthday morning! But hopefully it'll do the trick. It's rest for me over the weekend so I'll be missing the Chelsea game unfortunately, and I'm obviously gutted about that. I was already disappointed to have missed out on the win over Palace at the weekend. It was another good result for us though. Unbeaten in five, two away wins on the bounce - that's good form in my book and puts us in good shape for the next three Championship games, not to mention the weekend's trip to Stamford Bridge. It's always great when you get to test yourselves against one of the best in Europe at their ground. And I'm sure it'll be provide a big incentive for some of our players because it will give them a taste of what life in the top flight can be like. So we'll certainly be looking to cause an upset, and even though I'm not playing I'll certainly be at the game - it is on my doorstep after all! With my Fulham background, and obviously being an Ipswich player, there's only one team I want to see lose. I went to see Cirque de Soleil at the Albert Hall last week - my favourite London venue. I've been to Cirque de Soleil before but they have different themes and this was a show I hadn't seen before. As with last time, I was absolutely astonished by what I was witnessing - it really is inspiring to see people pushing the limits of what they can do with their bodies. Amazing stuff! More soon...
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12 January 2009 Since I last wrote the boys put in a good graft to get us to the next round of the FA Cup. Well done lads - glad we got through and can't wait to chip in myself. We're up against the winner of the Chelski-Southend replay which is on Wednesday, but either way you look at it, it's a great draw. Stamford Bridge is right on my porch for starters, and last time I played there I scored the Premier League's 15,000th goal so I'll be up for a bit of that kind of action again – would certainly make the Fulham fans happy, as well as the Ipswich fans! That's if we win of course. And could just as easily be at Southend – which is technically another local derby, not that it is any closer than Norwich!!!
More soon...
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31st December 2008 Christmas has been and gone, and apart from our result on Boxing Day, it was a good one on many fronts. We trained in the morning on Christmas Eve but I managed to get back home in time to get to the kids’ service at our local church – where I ended up on stage as the little donkey! The kids were a bit shy which meant that some of the older folks had to get involved and when the donkey opportunity arose I grabbed it with both hands and did the business. Unfortunately they forgot to bring any ears but I did my best nonetheless. Later on we had some friends over and cooked up a lovely dinner, German style. Red cabbage, potato dumplings and a nice piece of roast meat with red wine gravy, and then stuffed baked apples to finish – lovely! It was an early start on Christmas morning to get to Ipswich for training but the roads were clear – if only they were like that every day. We started off well against Birmingham on Boxing Day – we had a lot of the ball in the first half an hour and although we didn’t create too many clear chances, they were there for the taking. In fact, Birmingham hadn’t really got anywhere near our goal before they went one up and the manner of the goal was a real disappointment for me. When a cross came in from the left I tried to get my head to it but just missed and it bounced on my arm. The ref was quick to point to the spot even though it was utterly unintentional but he couldn't have known. It spoiled what had otherwise been a good game for me and it obviously hurts when it feels like you’ve cost your team mates a good result. The next day we traveled up to Derby to prepare for our next game in what is always a busytime of year in the fixture list. We didn't play particularly well and it wasn’t pretty. But after getting an early lead we defended with courage, put our bodies on the line on more than one occasion and ground out a big result and clean sheet too. My legs are heavy now and deserve a rest after two games in the space of three days.... Happy New Year! |
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23rd December 2008 Storage containers for my kitchen. That’s top of my Christmas list this year. And some socks, striped ones of course. Oh, and three points on Boxing Day, too. So if you’re reading this Santa, I’ve been a good boy this year and I’d appreciate it if you could sort me out. It’s not difficult to write the script for the stuff most football players say at this time of year – “just another day’s work” and all that. But the reason those clichés get rolled out is because they’re actually true. This is one of the only countries in Europe where there’s no winter break, and the time-honoured tradition of games on Boxing Day means anyone involved in my line of work will be grafting away while everyone else is getting stuck in to the turkey. We’ve got Birmingham on Boxing Day (or “Birm-u-num” as they should always be referred to, thanks to Trevor Brookin’). Fortunately we’re at home, which means we won’t be stuck in some hotel. There are a lot of great things about playing football for a living but that is most definitely not one of them. Either way, as has been the case on every Christmas day of my professional career, I’ll be training. And even when we’re done, the rest of the day is still a write-off as I’ll be getting into pre-match mode. Being German, Christmas Eve is a big day chez Volz, so I usually allow myself to eat some decent stuff then. But after that it’s back on the brown rice and pasta. But before you start feeling too sorry for us players there is some fun to be had in any football club’s festive calendar. One of my favourites is the customary afternoon of carols from the Academy boys. They hate doing it but that’s part of the fun. It’s a right of passage and I certainly had to do it at Arsenal. I can’t remember what I sang but I do know it wouldn’t have been a patch on the two Ghanaian kids who got up at Fulham last season and threw a bit of dancing into the mix! But if you’re feeling a tinge of sympathy at the humiliation of these stars of the future, forget it. The young fellers certainly know how to work Christmas to their advantage too. At Ipswich the scholars still clean the first team players’ boots and, well, put it this way, you don’t need a calendar to know when Christmas – and therefore the chance of a bonus - is coming. You just have to look at the immaculate shine on your boots that seems to coincide with this time of year before the normal patchy service is resumed in January! Talking of boots, having recently examined them at length in my Times column, it did occur to me that a bit of festive foot decoration wouldn’t go amiss. If someone can get away with pinks ones there’s no reason why I can’t pull on a pair on Boxing Day with some little bells and reindeer sewn in to them. Maybe that’s one for next year. By the way, Puma, if you’re reading, thanks for taking pity after that particular column and sending me those boots. Very kind. Think I might write about Ferraris next... Happy Christmas! |
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21st December 2008 A 2-2 draw against Coventry - we went behind twice but managed to come back both times. Massive pitch so lots of running but a result that doesn't get us up the table unfortunately. It as good to catch up with Cookie, although I only saw him very briefly. Went to see Stereophonics at the O2 Arena afterwards. They absolutely rocked and have got so many great songs - I love their music. And what a good use of what was once London's biggest waste of money - the Millennium Dome. I knew about footie grounds getting more comfortable than peoples' sitting rooms but rock venues?? I had a big moment today reading at my local church, St Matthew's. It was the first time I've actively taken part in a service and I was super nervous. Playing in front of 70,000 at Old Trafford was nothing compared to this - a weird but wonderful experience. The Christmas carrols were great too.... More soon...
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17th December 2008 The weekend’s result against Cardiff has seen us continuing with our pattern of winning one, losing one. It’s frustrating because we jump a few places one week and end up playing catch-up the next. It certainly wasn’t our best performance of the season though. We gave away cheap goals which put us on the back foot and in the second half the rescue was made even more difficult on a heavy pitch in testing conditions when we ended up a man down once again. But fair play to Cardiff – they’re a decent team who showed some quality, especially going forward. We did the customary Christmas hospital visits yesterday afternoon. It’s a big tradition and pretty much all clubs do it. But with the size of squads these days, if you split up into groups of four or five like we did, you can get around a few places. So we weren’t just in Ipswich - my group went to a hospital in Colchester, and some of the other guys went to places as far away as Bury St Edmunds. We all chipped in to buy presents. Some go to individual kids, but the wards also put up a wish list of things they could use throughout the year that will then stay at the hospital, so we got some of those things covered off too. Being in hospital isn’t nice at the best of times, let alone at Christmas when everyone else is busy enjoying themselves. So if we can cheer a few of the kids up by dropping in to say hello, having a chat and giving them a present, well, that’s the least we can do. We’ve got Coventry away this weekend so I’ll get to see my former manager, Chris Coleman. As I mentioned last time, it was nice to have a quick catch up with Lee Clark after the Norwich game – it was just a shame I’d been on the losing side. So when I speak to Cookie I'm hoping I’ll be the one with the three points! More soon…
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11th December 2008 Unfortunately, the latest chapter of the “Old Farm Derby” last weekend didn’t turn out quite the way we’d have liked and was a bit of a downer for anyone on the Ipswich side of the fence. It’s a shame because it was a great atmosphere on the day. You could really see just how up for it our traveling fans were. I noticed the buzz about the place as early as when we came out for the warm-up. It was almost as if the game had already started because the noise was overwhelming. I think it was the best Norwich have played in a long time and we just didn’t cope with them very well. The goals we gave away were unnecessary so from our perspective it was a very disappointing afternoon. It was good to catch up with Lee Clark afterwards though – his last game as Norwich Number Two before being appointed manager at Huddersfield yesterday. After Sunday’s result it was important that we bounced back at home to Bristol City last night, although that game couldn’t have started any worse for us after we conceded a bad early goal. The fans weren’t too pleased from the weekend and that start didn’t help matters. But we played well, showed good movement and created plenty of chances. By the time we came out second half, I don’t think City knew how to handle us at all and within a few minutes we’d not only equalized but had gone 3-1 up. It was a really pleasing performance all round, especially given that we had to play the last half hour with ten men.
I got a dead leg with 20 minutes to go too – caught a beauty, knee-cap right in the thigh muscle. I played on but I can certainly feel it today. But I’ve got a couple of days to have plenty of treatment so I can get myself fit for Cardiff at the weekend. It’s the 23rd game which is the exact half-way point of the season and if we can play with the same spirit and rhythm as we showed last night there’s no reason why we can’t get a result and keep on track with pushing for a play off place…
More soon…
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2nd December 2008 Saturday’s game against Sheffield United was certainly a great opportunity for us. With two minutes to go we were a goal up against a team in the Play Off places but by the end of the game it was 1-1 after we conceded a late penalty. So it ended up being one point rather than three, which was a real shame as we could have pushed up towards the top six had we held on until the end. It was a game we certainly could have won as we had some chances to extend our lead but we didn’t take them. So with 20 games gone we’re now approaching the half way mark of the season, and while we’re not quite where we want to be, we’re still in touching distance, which makes Sunday’s game against Norwich even more significant. The East Anglia derby is a game I’ve heard a lot about since I first signed for Ipswich. I’ve played in a few fierce games against Norwich in my time but I’m eager to experience this one as from what I’ve heard it can be pretty wild! But that means it’s our job as players to stay settled and keep our focus on getting a result. By the way, I might challenge Delia to a bake-off if I see her - although I’ll have to keep an eye on her given that her last cook-book was all about cheating! My former youth team coach at Arsenal, the legend that is Don Howe, came down to take our training today. Now this is a man who likes nothing more than being out on a field with a bunch of footballers and putting on a session, which probably explains why they go on for so long! But it was a really nice change and a great privilege to have him at the club and it was a very enjoyable morning. Unfortunately, me and three of my team mates had to break away a little early to head off to Portman Road but we had a decent excuse bearing in mind we had to meet Prince Charles, no less! His Royal Highness had come to thank Ipswich Town for the work it does for the Princes Trust. All football clubs support the Trust in one way or another but we’re actually the first and the only club to have an actual Princes Trust team. It was great to have him there and a privilege to meet him and we gave him a shirt with HRH 1 on the back – so you never know, you might see him in goal on Sunday! I’d actually met him once before because of my work with the Princes Trust but I don’t think he remembered me. He’s probably met millions of people since then. But we had a brief chat which was good. And a few of the people I deal with on a regular basis through my Princes Trust work were there too, so it was good to see everyone. A great day all round! Oh, and I made my first visit to the German Christmas Market at Hyde Park on my day off earlier in the week. Even though it’s a long way from being like an actual Christmas Market back in Germany, it is worth a visit - if only for the grilled sausages! |
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28th November 2008
I missed the Derby game last weekend because I was serving a suspension for yellow cards, but it gave me the opportunity to watch a game from the stands. It was seriously cold though – not a day when you wanted to be sitting still. Give me running around in shorts over that any day. It was a great game and a very positive performance from us. We deserved to win it, no question and it gave our spirits a big boost, putting us back in touching distance of the play-offs once again. After that we were in a confident frame of mind going up to Birmingham on Tuesday night but things didn’t quite go they way we’d hoped. I’ve got to say, in the first half hour of the game Birmingham played some of the best football I’ve seen in this League. They pressed very effectively and in the right areas and when they had the ball they always seemed to have options. At times it was almost like they had an extra two players on the pitch. They made it really tough for us so full credit to Birmingham for a great display but another set-back for us. We seem to be bouncing between 8th and 10th at the moment – every time we win we get within touching distance of a play-off place, but every time we lose the gap opens up again. It’s Sheffield United at home on Saturday which will be another really good test as they’ve had some form of late and are in a play-off place at the moment. They’re a strong, physical side who are dangerous at set-pieces but like us they had a good result last weekend but a disappointing one mid-week. It’ll be a very competitive game but one we can certainly win. I had a nice chat to a couple of very pleasant guys on the train back from the Birmingham game So if you’re reading guys, hello, and thanks for the company. And the Christmas decorations have started to go up in my hotel in Ipswich which is nice to see. It’s almost December now so I guess we’re allowed to officially start getting in the mood! More soon…
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21st November 2008
I went to Wembley when England played the Motherland the summer before last. I sat with the England fans and got shed loads of abuse. Probably something to do with the fact I was wearing one of my Under 21 shirts and a German flag afro wig. And that we won. So rather than volunteer myself for another night of German-bashing, I decided to join my own for Wednesday night’s game. No, I didn’t hot-foot it over to Berlin. Instead I went to Fest, which is a German bar on the Fulham Road. Unfortunately the wig seems to have gone walk-about, but seeing as it was a big occasion I dug out the shirt from my one senior appearance for the Motherland and wore that. You know, the shirt with the three stars above the badge. Not one. THREE. Got that? The place is done out a bit like a bierkeller – long wooden tables, all in nice orderly straight lines (the German equivalent of feng shui) and staff dressed up like the cast of the Sound of Music. I was intrigued to see how many actual Germans would be in there, and I have to say I was quite impressed. Not long after we arrived, a whole gang invaded our table (some things never change…) and were all chatting away in the mother tongue. I tried to go for a bit of bonding and join in which was all well and good until this one girl, who we’ll call Helga for the sake of convenience, told me my German was “actually pretty good.” Great. Even my own countrymen think I’m English. What has become of me? The combination of “Fulham” and “bar” naturally meant there were a few antipodeans thrown into the mix too. It’s not often you see Auzzie men drinking from smaller glasses than women, but there’s no stopping our frauleins when they get patriotic. With the two-pint steins out in force, I decided to follow suit. I can tell you now it takes exactly three bottles of J20 and one bottle of fizzy water to fill one. I’m not sure anyone noticed it wasn’t beer. It just looked like some obscure Bavarian home brew. And more importantly, it still had maximum clink-ability. Prost! Keen to get in the spirit of things, we got the food order in sharpish. Currywurst sausages, pork knuckle and schnitzel. And lots of potatoes. I’m telling you, those tables must have been reinforced with girders to take the weight of all that meat. It was pretty good stuff but the tinned sauerkraut was as soft and sloppy as England’s opening goal. Which obviously went down like Zeppelin’s air balloon – and I mean the bad sauerkraut as much the goal. I was hoping to see Jimmy Bullard get a run-out but Capello had obviously decided against it – probably on the grounds that Bully’s grandma is German. One of my mates said you could tell that by his barnet, but I’m not having that. I’ll take a lot - the ‘Hoff, bad taches, socks and sandals. But no way am I taking responsibility for Bully’s hair. That’s way beyond German. A bridge too far you might say… Talking of fashion I was a bit disappointed not to see any sleeveless denim on show – or sweatbands and luminous socks. I thought it would all be out in force, especially amongst a football crowd but it was actually quite civilized. Either that or it had all been confiscated at customs. So, the game. Here are my thoughts. Do David James and Glen Johnson call each other up beforehand and to ask who’s going cornrows and who’s going ‘fro? Has there ever been a player as small as Piotr Trochowski? His head was actually below the linked arms of the players either side of him during the anthems. How can someone called Jermaine Jones be German? Good shout on getting a Swiss ref - that’s the only neutrality acceptable when England and Germany get going. And finally, is German efficiency catching? I think it must be because Defoe was barely off the pitch before he was sat back on the bench in his suit. Maybe Jermaine is a German name after all? Oh and full marks to the two blokes behind us who were cheering for England, in German. Not quite sure what that was all about but it was very funny. You’re both obviously as messed up as me. And who cares about the result. It’s all about the stars. 3-1.
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19th November 2008
Am sat on a train from Ipswich back to London so I’m filling my time writing as there is no buffet car on this train, much to my annoyance! I’ve been doing a fair bit of traveling around the country over the past few days. We were up at Doncaster on Saturday – losing 1-0 was a very disappointing result and must have come as a bit of a shock result for the bookies given that they’re bottom and we’ve been on a decent run of late. I think it was one of the few games this season where we didn’t manage to score which says a lot about the kind of match it was. Once Doncaster went ahead they just made life really difficult for us and stopped us from playing and creating clear cut chances. We had a few opportunities but we just didn’t take them. But I’m not taking anything away from Doncaster – they played really well, were very competitive and managed to stop our run. We have three big games before the month is out so we’ll be looking to get things back on track against Derby at the weekend. To make matters worse, not only did we lose but I also picked up my fifth booking on Saturday which means I’m suspended for Derby – bit of a problem given that my brother is coming over to watch me play. It happens every time. Whenever he plans I trip, I end up out of action for some reason. Maybe I should just ban him from coming! After the Doncaster game I headed straight to Manchester for two days of meetings with the PFA. I’m now on the PFA’s Management Committee which is composed of eight or nine players from across the leagues. The meetings involved reports from each of the departments and then a series of discussions about various issues. It was the first time I’ve attended since I joined the Committee as I missed the first two get-togethers so I was glad to be there at last. But it was a long weekend and it was good to get home. Am really looking forward to the big game tonight. I wouldn’t normally be that bothered about watching a friendly international but I’m not going to miss the Motherland beating England! More soon…
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12th November 2008 It’s been back-to-back wins for us since the last update – the first back-to-back League wins we’ve had this season, in fact, which is great. But we deserved them as we played really well in both games. Against QPR it was chucking it down – rain like I’ve never seen before which made the pitch really heavy. It was a competitive game but we kept a clean sheet and followed it up with an away victory at Blackpool at the weekend – another demanding match which was very satisfying to win. It meant a lot to us to get six points from those two fixtures as it’s been our priority to get ourselves established in the top half of the table. As I’ve mentioned before, the Championship is such a tight league and it only takes a couple of decent results to be right up there. But now we’ve climbed the table a bit, the next priority is to get a bit of a gap between us and the teams below us as we try to edge into a play-off position. We’ve won three out of the last four so we’re on a decent run. We have four more games this month which are all going to be tough. But they’re all winnable too, as long as we keep our focus and concentration, and it’ll be great if we can keep the run going. In fact it was a good weekend for football all round because Fulham beat Newcastle and the mighty Arsenal beat United. I actually went to the Fulham game on Sunday. It was really weird to be back at the Cottage as a guest and not part of it all but it was a great win – and crazy how many League places Fulham jumped! The build-up to Christmas seems to have got into full swing already – much to my annoyance. It winds me up every year when people start talking about Christmas in October and November. It’s just a big commercial opportunity which totally detracts from what it’s all about. As far as I’m concerned, the only justification for mentioning Christmas in November is if you have small kids and you’re trying to get them to do something they don’t want to do! Don’t get me wrong, I love the whole festive season. But I can tell you now I’ll be staying far, far away from all the shops! I’ve been hanging out with my friend’s four year old daughter this week. We went down to this place in Fulham where you can paint pottery. It was great fun and really woke up the creative Volzy. Stars, sheep, trees – you name it, I was painting it on to bowls, plates and all sorts. Although I probably should have done, I didn’t get as far as a tractor though. If you’d have seen my sheep, you’d understand why trying to pull off a tractor might be a step too far! More soon…
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28th October 2008 Last week was national baking week which is all about encouraging people to get the cookbooks out and get a few cakes on the go. As you can probably imagine, it’s something I normally take very seriously. But this time around I couldn’t really get as stuck in as I’d have liked, due to two far flung away games which kept me away from my kitchen at home. But four points on the road made up for it. Drawing away at Forest last week might have seemed like a bit of a disappointment at the time given that they’re bottom. Obviously we went there looking for a win but just didn’t create many clear cut chances on the night. But the fact that it was followed by the win at Plymouth at the weekend meant four points from two away games, which isn’t bad by anyone’s standards. It was a long old trip down to Devon, but I think we succeeded in taking the positive aspects from the Forest game – things like building up play, being in control of the ball – and really built on them against Plymouth. In fact the only disappointing aspect of the game was that we didn’t manage to keep a clean sheet and gave away another silly goal. But points matter more at this stage. Next up we’ve got two successive home games, both against London clubs. We played Charlton not long ago and it was a challenging game and I don’t expect it to be any different this week. And I’ll be up against my former Fulham team mate Hameur Bouazza again who is always a handful. Then, at the weekend, we’ve got QPR who’ve just got rid of Ian Dowie. The guy in charge now, Gareth Ainsworth, I used to play with when I was on loan at Wimbledon a few years back and at that time I could never have imagined he’d be a manager. We used to call him “The Wild Thing!” I’m sure it’ll be another tough game, but both of these matches both give us the opportunity to get back in contention for a promotion place which is where we want to be. Oh, and I’ve finally had my first ride on a tractor. The hotel where I’m staying let me get theirs out when Natalie Pinkham from Virgin Media Sport came to interview me. You can see the clip here - http://www.football.virginmedia.com/page/VMSportFeatures It was great fun to be at the wheel and I suppose that makes me a bona fide Tractor Boy now. Although I didn’t do a very good job of cutting the grass so I’m not sure the hotel will be letting me out on it again…. More soon….
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16th October 2008
Thanks to the international break we’ve had a weekend off since the Charlton game a couple of weeks ago, which provided a good opportunity to time to get over any niggling injuries that were lurking. That afternoon at Charlton was really very disappointing on a lot of levels. For starters we lost a game that we should have drawn at the very least. And whereas a win would have really kicked our season off, the defeat did the exact opposite. And then there was my own goal too, which I know was just one of those things that can happen but it was still a gutter. But I just want to reassure Ipswich fans that there’s nothing to be worried about - I spent most of my time at Fulham with a goal scoring statistic of minus one! In all seriousness though, it’s time to kick on and get on with things now.The injuries I’ve had to take care of lately have meant I’ve missed quite a bit of training and that hasn’t been ideal. Before those injuries occurred I was steadily improving on all my levels and getting into a bit of a flow. But the fact that I couldn’t train for periods has set me back a bit so now it’s all about getting those levels up again. But I’m really looking forward to the games we’ve got coming up. We’ve got two successive weeks with midweek games ahead of us now, starting with Swansea at home on Saturday. And while that means a lot of matches, it also means plenty of opportunities to make up ground on the teams above us which can only be a good thing. Away from football, I went to the Comedy Store in Piccadilly last night. A friend was heading down there to do some research for a book he’s writing so I thought I’d tag along. I wasn’t expecting a lot, but I have to admit, we had a really good night in the end and saw some great acts. It got me thinking that doing stand-up is a bit like being a footballer. You can prepare yourself all you like for the big game but you can never really tell what’s going to get thrown at you on the night because you’re right there under the spotlight in front of a whole load of people waiting to abuse you at the first opportunity! It was great fun though. I was expecting a bit of German abuse to come my way but the comedians seemed to have it in for the Americans so I got off the hook. Funnily enough, comedy clubs aren’t massive in Germany. But then being a comedian in Germany is a bit of a lonely life in general. If they were to make a Little Germany TV series they could have a whole sketch about being the only comedian in the village! More soon…
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23rd September 2008 Whether the last two results can be looked at as positive or negative all comes down to how we do against Palace on Saturday. Last week at Southampton I think we all feltwe should have won. They have got a young side but play very good football, but with our superior experience and the way the game went we felt should have taken maximum points. We should have taken our chances and defended better for the goals. The major disappointment was that we basically invited them to score when they did. For a team away from home, to have dominated the second half like we did, it was disappointing not to come away with more than we did. The games come thick and fast in the Championship. After Southampton we had a post-match recovery session and then headed up to Hillsborough. It was my first game there, and being such a historic place, I’m glad to have been there now. It would have been nice to have played in front of a full house, but even so, Wednesday get great support for a team that’s had some rough years recently. Again it was a frustrating result because we dominated the game and created the better chances. But they’d also just been beaten 6-0 by Reading and were therefore eager not to concede which made them unusually defensive for a home team – a situation I hadn’t faced for many years. There were positives from our perspective too though. We were solid at the back and defended well, and a clean sheet away from home is never to be scoffed at. But it was still disappointing not to capitalise on our possession and come away with all the points. So all in all it was a mixed few days in as far as we didn’t lose at all, but we still feel like we dropped unnecessary points. And when you draw games, it’s really the next result which determines whether it’s viewed as a good or a bad draw. So if we beat Palace on Saturday, we’ll look upon two away points as positive, but if we lose to Palace those results will seem a lot worse. But between now and the Palace game we’ve got a break from the League - Wigan at home in the Carling Cup. It’ll be good to be up against Premier League opposition again, and Wigan have signed some decent players so they’ll be a tough nut to crack. But we’ll be playing with our strongest team and it’s a great challenge to look forward to. I’ve not played my part in this competition so far but the team has given us two decent results already and I’m really hoping we can carry that on and get a good cup run going.
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15th September 2008
Thank goodness for the international break! I really felt the effects of that first Ipswich game against Watford a couple of weeks back so it was fortunate that I had an extra week to recover. But I’ve got much fitter since and felt a lot better after the weekend’s game against Reading. And we got a big win on my home debut too which was fantastic. In fact as far as results are concerned last weekend was perfect because we won, the Arsenal won, and so did Fulham - can’t ask for more than that! Hopefully there’ll be many more weekends like that to come. It wasn’t my first time playing at Portman Road. If my memory serves me right, I played there years ago in an FA Youth Cup Semi Final when guys like Darren Ambrose and Darren Bent were in the Ipswich youth team. But it was my first match there as a bona fide Tractor Boy so it was great to mark it with a win – especially against a team like Reading. They’ve pretty much got an unchanged squad from their time in the top flight and like us they’re well capable of going for promotion this season. Understandably, the win gave everyone a big lift. We hadn’t really started the season too well so there was already a bit of pressure on us due to our own high expectations. But what’s more important is following it up against Southampton on Wednesday night as getting a decent run together early on can be a major stepping stone towards a successful season. I’ve got to say, the game continued to prove to me what a competitive league the Championship is. And it’s much more open than the Premiership - it’s nowhere near as easy to predict who’ll be fighting for the title and who’ll be scrapping for relegation at the end of the season. There are so many teams in with a chance of doing something that it must be a lot more thrilling for the fans in many ways. I feel I’ve really started to settle in now and am thoroughly enjoying life up here in Ipswich. It’s great to be playing competitive football again, and as part of a good team too. And everything surrounding the football has been great as well. I’ve met so many friendly people and the overall atmosphere and friendliness has been second to none – and that goes for everyone from the staff at the hotel where I’m staying down to all the people at the club. Everyone has made things so easy for me. I’ve called Stacey’s Sally and Derek’s Darren, but there have been so many new names to learn that I’m bound to get it wrong at some stage. If I’ve got your name wrong, please forgive me but I am trying! The last thing I want to walk around the place calling everyone either “mate” or “love” for the rest of the season! I must admit, I’ve been a bit lazy in exploring the town so far – mostly because I’ve been coming up by train a lot. But the one thing I have noticed is that you tend bump into people and that just doesn’t happen in London. I’d only been at the club a week and I bumped into a team mate and our physio in the same night at the cinema! Oh, and I don’t think it’ll be too long before I start getting my apron on and getting stuck in down in the kitchen of the hotel where I’m staying either. The food is great so I reckon I might be able to learn a few tricks. I’ve already warned them – not sure they know what’s coming though…
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5th September 2008 I played my first game for Ipswich last Saturday and I’ve got to say, I’m really looking forward to being part of a dressing room again on Saturday afternoons rather than watching from the stands or sweating over results on the radio. And I’ve got lots of games to look forward to – in the Championship they come thick and fast because there are so many teams in the League. I really like playing midweek as well as Saturdays so I think it’s going to suit me. My debut at Watford on Saturday was a bit of a shock to the system though. I played the full 90 without having played competitive first team football in a while so my body took a bit longer to recover than usual. I’m lucky that we’ve got the international break as it gives me a bit more time to adjust to everything. Everything is very new to me at the moment. In the last week or so I’ve had 50-odd new people to get to know and that means as many names to memorise. So as much as it’s an exciting time it’s also very exhausting. But roll on the next game!
28th August 2008
This time it’s actually true – I’ve agreed to a year’s loan at Ipswich Town. I’m really looking forward to competing for first team football at Portman Road and hopefully pushing for a promotion place with what is a very good Championship team. I like what I’ve seen of the club so far and think Ipswich certainly have the potential to be a Premier League club once again. They have a good stadium and good facilities, and with the new owners there is a lot of ambition here with regard to trying to achieve that. So I feel I’m in a good place where I can progress my career and improve my football. All that remains for me to do is to swap my folding bike for a tractor! |
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20th August 2008
The season’s up and running although it was a disappointing result to kick things off up at Hull last weekend, especially after going into the lead so early on. But while we’re disappointed we’re not dwelling on it and even though a lot of the players have been away on international duty this week, training’s been going really well ahead of Saturday’s London derby at home to Arsenal. It’s always good to get the first home game under your belts and I’m sure the Cottage will be buzzing – and given my history with the club I always look forward to games against the Arsenal.
I’ve been trying to keep up with the Olympics where possible, although I’ve got to say, I’m really disturbed by the fact that Great Britain have won more medals than Germany so far. Surely that can’t be right! On the same subject I heard a funny quote from Arsene Wenger the other day. “I didn’t know the British were good at swimming,” he said. “I have been in this country for twelve years and haven’t seen a swimming pool.” Classic. Mind you there have been a lot of things Arsene hasn’t seen in his time over here!
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14th August 2008 So what’s new? Well, as we all know the season kick’s off this weekend – which is good news for all us players as it means that the hard graft of pre-season is finally over! Training always slows down once the games start as you’ve built up your fitness and it’s more about maintaining the levels than building them up. But on a more important note I bought a new cook book the other day. It’s by this catering group called Ottolenghi. They have a few places around London and it’s right up my strasse. But they charge ridiculous prices and because I’m too tight to pay for it I decided I’d buy the book make the dishes myself – and it’s working a treat. Healthy food cooked in a healthy way, but really tasty. There’s a big Middle Eastern / Mediterranean influence in there recipes – one of the first dishes I rustled up was something called Kosheri, which is an Arabic rice dish with lentils and onions in it. But its special kick comes from the cinnamon which makes it slightly sweet – it works a treat. Ottolenghi are also famous for their cakes too, so I’ll be looking to improve on my pre-match cake-baking this season too. I actually spent a lot of time over the summer perfecting my cup cakes. In fact, while on holiday in New York this summer I went to the famous Magnolia Bakery which is in the meat-packing district and has been on shows like Sex in the City. I bought a book from there and that really got me going on the cup cakes – they’re great fun to make. Although I’m not sure cup cakes are what we’ll need ahead of our opening game against Hull at the weekend. I’m thinking more along the lines of a rock cake for that one! Another new favourite pastime of mine – reading the local papers. The stories are hilarious! Things like a lift not working is enough to get some serious column inches. But the best one was about this guy who was going to hike up to Scotland to see his childhood sweetheart, but the rucksack he’d just bought got nicked. So there was a whole story about it pleading for the rucksack’s return – and that made page three!!! Oh, and apparently a modelling agency voted Fulham fans as the second best looking supporters in the Premier League which is all very flattering. The fact that I spent more time in the stands than usual last season is obviously no coincidence...But before you get too excited, it’s worth bearing in mind that Liverpool came top, so I’ll leave that open your own interpretation! |
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17th July 2008
We’ve got a couple of friendlies under our belt now. The first was at the training ground against Team Bath. We put out a different side in each half and won 4-0. And then we played away at Southend on Tuesday night, which was a good test against a decent League One side, so winning 2-0 was a good result. I played the full game in that one (see the pic!), but I could still feel that we’re only just getting back to full fitness. You’re not as bright and sharp as you’d want to be when the season starts but that’s normal at this stage. Celtic come to the Cottage on Saturday. It used to be a regular fixture for us each summer but after a bit of a break it’s good to see that the Fulham-Celtic pre-season trophy is back on. It’s always a good game and they always bring a massive crowd – it’s like playing an away game for us! And then we’re off to Korea on Sunday – to stay at Seol’s place. Apparently he owns a whole village! Just kidding. I think it’s Korea because of something to do with our sponsors, and also to try and get a few more Korean fans on board. And finally, a special mention to one of the secretaries at Fulham who is leaving after seven years at the club. Corine, we’ll miss you! Another one of the old guard gone – soon I’ll not only be the longest serving player but the longest serving member of staff over all. Good luck Corine! |
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