Robert
Robert was a loving father, brother and friend to all who knew him.
Robert born and raised in Speke, Liverpool, with his mother Estella and father Philip, his sister Margaret and brothers Raymond and Kenneth.
Robert spent time living in Runcorn, before moving to Wigan due to work commitments. He had two children in Martyn and Rachael during his time in Wigan, before moving back to Liverpool, this time in the village of Melling.
Robert was an intelligent man who owned his own window and conservatory manufacturing company. He had a passion for DIY, and took great care and pride in moulding and furnishing his own house.
Robert also had a natural talent for mechanics. He worked in a car garage as a young adult. Robert enjoyed mechanics as a recreational activity, and enjoyed working with cars. He built his own kit car, rallied minis and even owned his own Porsche during his younger years! He even taught his son Martyn to drive.
Robert enjoyed tending to his garden on a sunny Sunday afternoon. He would spend hours getting the garden just right, he also took delight in buying broken petrol lawnmowers and fixing them in his spare time before selling them on.
Robert was not a fan of many sports. Albeit being a Liverpool supporter when questioned, Robert managed to evade becoming an avid follower of football during his life, a big achievement considering Liverpool is an eccentric football city.
However, Robert was a big fan of Formula 1, a passion for the sport was brought on by his love for cars. He followed the sport for many years, and some of his favourite drivers included Ayrton Senna and Damon Hill. He used to enjoy cooking a family dinner on a Sunday afternoon before sitting down to watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Robert also took joy in building and putting together computers. He played a big part in instilling a passion for computers in his son Martyn, who is now studying Computer Science at University.
Rachael spent a lot of time with her father, and regularly used to help him tend to the garden as well as other general household activities. Robert was a man who enjoyed spending time with his children, and passing on knowledge to them.
Robert was also a lover of pet birds; he kept several budgies as well as a parrot through the years. He was a patient individual with all animals, and always made sure they were cared for and loved. Freddie was Robert’s favourite budgie, and he invested hours of his time giving attention to his little feathery friend. Freddie is a talking budgie and is now somewhat of a YouTube sensation, all due to Robert.
He will be greatly missed by all those who loved and cared for him.
Hello 2010
A New Year, as well as a new decade, is upon us.
As we leave behind the annoyingly so-called ‘noughties’, perhaps now is a good time for reflection on the last ten years.
For me, the last decade has been a big one, as I transformed from a 10 year old kid to the most amazing man in the world now at the age of 20. The growth of my first pube and Liverpool’s European Cup win were particular highlights. A big decade indeed.
For me, 2010 will be a year that will shape my future. If I cross my fingers and toes and bury myself in a deep book from now until the end of June, I may come out of Lancaster University with a 2:1 degree classification in Computer Science to my name. Hopefully.
During the four week Christmas break from University I have been dividing much of my time between Lancaster and Liverpool, something made much easier now I have my lovely car.
With it being my last year in Lancaster, I thought it would nice to spend a bit more time up there. I also find I can get more work done up in Lancaster, with the added bonus that I can go to the gym or on a cheeky run down the canal. Some of my friends stuck around in Lancs, so there was also some good craic to be shared.
My last term at University has been fun. Everything is just great. I’ve met new people, I’m enjoying where I live, and life just seems to be going well. Maybe I have even met someone special.
All it remains for me to say is, Happy New Decade!
A New Decade
The Verve – A New Decade
It’s Snow Joke
It is a day after Christmas, we are halfway through the season, and Liverpool Football Club are sitting seventh in the Premier League after 19 games.
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With pre-season hopes of a first title win since 1990 on the back of last seasons refreshing title challenge now in tatters, as well as a premature exit from the European Cup, many fans are calling for Rafa Benitez to be given the boot from Liverpool.
The way I see it, there are three options open to us at the moment. The first option would be to give Rafa time with the current playing squad in order to hopefully propel us up the league and into a European Cup place.
The second, the much preferred and sadly most unlikely option, would be for the Yank twats to realise that the squad needs investment and back Rafa in the transfer market come January.
The final option would be to relieve Rafa of his position. Many modern Liverpool fans are impatient, uneducated beings from Southern England who have never been to Anfield and simply sit in their comfy armchairs watching Liverpool on the tele. Sacking Rafa is their preferred option. However, I ask those people, if Benitez were to be sacked, whom would you replace him with?
Jose Mourinho is one name put forward as a potential new manager of Liverpool. However, how could we attract Mourinho to Anfield? Imagine the following: ‘Hey Jose, do you fancy leaving Inter Milan to manage Liverpool. We can offer you 50p a season for a transfer budget, as well as many broken promises. Oh, and you have to service our £30 million a year interest by selling your best players. Up for it?’
Rafa is, in my opinion, our modern day Bill Shankly. In the five years he has been at the club he has turned us from a club on the decline, battling for 4th place, into one of the best teams in the world.
This season may not have been very successful so far, and I realise at the moment we are actually battling for 4th place, but Rafa has revolutionised almost every aspect of our club, and in a way he has been a victim of his own success at Liverpool. By winning the European Cup in his first season at Anfield, many fans expected a similar instant success in the league.
To win the league, you need a quality squad and not just quality players. Rafa has slowly been building up a quality squad over the last five years, and it is working. Working on limited funds, Benitez has bought numerous players for comparatively small amounts. Some of these signings have worked out well, others have not, but Rafa has not been afraid to ship them on and slowly, but surely, our squad is improving.
Most people point to players like Voronin and Degen still holding a squad number and warming the bench. Do you think Benitez wants players of such quality in the squad? The sad truth is that these players were signed on free transfers in order to boost squad depth, simply because Hicks and Gillett treat Liverpool Football Club like a franchise, sucking up all it’s profits without investing in the playing squad. Instead, if Rafa wants any form of transfer budget, he has to sell players. Make no mistake; the Yanks are the cancer of Liverpool Football Club.
Our form this season has been poor. Confidence is low and the players just do not look arsed. We lost Hyypia, Alonso and Arbeloa during the summer, and even though we brought in Glen Johnson and Alberto Aquilani, our squad is not as strong as last year. Johnson is a good player, although defensively suspect at times. Aquilani is still not completely match fit, however, his time will come.
Last season, finishing 2nd in the league with a club record number of Premier League points was a massive achievement. Many people thought that we could make a step up and win the title this season.
For Liverpool to progress and win the title this season, a number of things were needed. Stability at the club would be vital, Rafa would need to be backed in the transfer market, and finally, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres would need to remain injury free. None of which happened.
Injuries to key players have hit us hard, confidence is low, the turmoil at the club is still occurring and our dirty laundry is being aired in public. Bill Shankly must be turning in his grave, as every blade of glass he built when creating the Liverpool way is being slowly destroyed.
What now for Liverpool Football Club, Rafa Benitez and the cancer in the form of George Gillett and Tom Hicks? The story of our season is not over yet, and I’m sure there is a rocky road still to walk down… but we will never walk alone.
Merry Christmas
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Merry Christmas to all 
Bill Shankly
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December 1st 1959, the day Liverpool Football Club was changed forever as a new era began.
Future Thoughts
Among leaflets about depression, letters about fire safety and other general crappy bits of paper Lancaster University crammed into my hands during Freshers Week over two years ago, I remember receiving a giant A3 poster.
The poster outlined a three year plan, and thinking back it told me (it was a talking poster) that around about this time in our third year of Uni we should be applying for graduate jobs, so we can walk into a nice shiny career after graduation and boost the University’s all important stats.
Have I started applying for graduate jobs? No. Do I know anyone else who has started applying for graduate jobs? No. Maybe the poster deserved its place in my bin with all the other freshers spam rather than on my wall.
I am thinking about my future though. What I originally thought was a pretty straight path is now turning into a pretty wonky path with lots of different tempting avenues I could wonder down.
Before I started University, I quite fancied doing a masters degree. Then, I actually did start Uni and quickly learned that I’m a lazy git who likes to get drunk. Now however, I am feeling kind of sad that my time at University is coming to an end, and if I do well enough in my summer exams then I may just apply to study a masters. After all, there is not a massive abundance of great graduate jobs around in the current economic climate is there?
When I was younger I harboured the ambition of joining the Royal Air Force, although my Dad kind of pushed me in that direction. I joined the Air Training Corps when I was 13, which was a decent laugh with my mates, but I felt that military life was again something I could not be arsed with. Over the last few weeks though, the RAF has kind of rebooted itself inside my mind and it may very well be something I look into and consider in more detail.
Traveling is also another option. I would quite like to see a bit of the world and maybe even a bit of sun (a rare site in England) before I am an old fart. Something like Camp America might be an idea, and living in Spain for a few years during the future is something I have had on my mind for a while now… ahhh!
Knowing me though I will probably end up with a career in Lidl.
Now I suppose I should crack on with some Uni work…
Injured
The last 5 days have been pretty damn shitty for me compared to my usually perfect life and I feel like a good moan.
Last weekend I had a cracking time in Carlisle whilst staying at a friends house, a cracking time that was added to further by Liverpool’s fantastic 2-0 victory over Man Utd. I was buzzing.
University work and worrying about my future in general has contributed to my mood sliding downhill since Monday. My mind has also been fucked around by snakes with tits this week, but I guess that is an obligatory part of life.
Then yesterday, 5 miles into a 10 mile run (nothing better than a good run when you are pissed off), I fell arse over tit down the canal after my ankle buckled over a loose stone.
Cuts, bruises, a sore arse and a severely sprained ankle was the result, and I had to to limp the remaining 5 miles home.
I’m doubly pissed off with this injury because I planned to run the Lancaster Half Marathon on Sunday 8th November, and I have been making great gains in training over the last few weeks. It would have been my first half marathon, and something I would have been proud to complete. Now all my hard work has gone out the window… I can’t walk and I’m on crutches.
Whoopdy do.
Still, I am an expert on crutches having broken the same ankle a few years ago, and I am going to Alton Towers tomorrow for the Halloween celebrations on those wonderful crutches, so hopefully I have reached the bottom of the trough.