INTERACTION

Just sent mine!

_________________
http://darrengallagher.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/DarrenGallagherAuthor

Good stuff. just Lynda and Jim Hawkins I don't know about now.

_________________
Neil Williamson
www.neilwilliamson.org.uk

Bursts into room waving money, throws it on the table. Sorry for the hold up! All square now.

_________________
http://lyndaerucker.wordpress.com

>Bursts into room waving money, throws it on the table

Seems to me that's the exact *opposite* of a hold-up!

_________________
Neil Williamson
www.neilwilliamson.org.uk

Well, that will teach me to try a life of crime before the first cup of coffee.

_________________
http://lyndaerucker.wordpress.com

We're just waiting on Jim, then. Assuming he wants to play. I'm happy to make the draw on the assumption that he's going to join us before the first match. If that turns out not to be the case, someone else can take over his slot.

The draw will be on Monday evening. The celebrities have been booked. There will be pictures.

_________________
Neil Williamson
www.neilwilliamson.org.uk

Spoke to Jim the other day via PM, pretty sure he does want to play. I'll give him another nudge.

Thanks, Andy. We're all set then.

Expect to see the draw here some time late on Monday.

_________________
Neil Williamson
www.neilwilliamson.org.uk

I'm in and hoping I don't get England!

_________________
Jim

With you there Jim, getting England would probably mean an early bath. The match on June 15 will be a nightmare for my brother-in-law: he has a scrapyard in Halmstad and undergoes a horrific ordeal at the hands of his customers very time Sweden humiliate England. One win over Sweden in 44 years - 1-0 in a friendly at Wembley. And Hodgson says they will struggle to beat France. Dear oh dear.

Good man, Jim!

There are, of course, no promises or guarantees with the draw**. I don't think the gentlemen I've booked to conduct the draw itself are even from a part of Europe that plays football, so they're virtually impossible to influence.

Strange to see England so unfancied this year. They qualified well, but they're not in the best shape in terms of form or squad harmony. They also seem to be on a mission to break all of their influential players, leaving them with a team consisting largely of young, fit, gifted, unjaded players with reputations to make and absolutely nothing to lose...

If you can club together to get someone to break Terry's legs and keep Hart and Gerrard fit, I fancy them to do very, very well.

(**Rumours that I had a BEGGING letter from one of our number pleading not to draw England against their name can neither be confirmed nor denied. But I think that party's reasons had little to do with the actual football, and everything to do with their ability to get behind the team in a meaningful and supportive way.)

_________________
Neil Williamson
www.neilwilliamson.org.uk

I was surprised that some commentators said England defended well. If trying hard not to get closer than six feet to an attacker and waiting until they kicked the ball is defending, then I guess they did! I've actually seen Hull City defend better than that!

_________________
Jim

I've not seen any of England's warm up games, but given the shortage of defensive cover they now have I don't think it's a surprise that they weren't exactly charging into tackles. They way things have been going you might find that in the third group game you're looking at Rooney coming in to partner Jagielka at centre half.

As long as they kept a clean sheet the other night, then all you can really say is they defended well enough.

Looking forward to seeing how they look in an actual competitive game.

_________________
Neil Williamson
www.neilwilliamson.org.uk

Well the draw was made tonight in Glasgow's ritzy Rio Cafe. Local cabaret celebrities, The Creative Martyrs, shared the drawing duties and we ended up with quite a few surprises. Basically, no-one's going to be happy, except for Chris Murdoch.

Here it is in all its glory:

Vaughan Stanger - CZECH REPUBLIC
Ross Warren - POLAND
Des Lewis - PORTUGAL
Chris Murdoch - SPAIN (for the second time in a row!)
Roy Gray - GERMANY
Darren Gallagher - SWEDEN
Bob Lock - DENMARK
Andy Cox - RUSSIA
Andy Hedgecock - UKRAINE
Max Hedgecock - GREECE
Mike Alexander - NETHERLANDS
Lynda Rucker - ENGLAND
Jim Steel - ITALY (or whoever replaces them if they pull out)
Stephen Theaker - CROATIA
Ian Hunter - REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Jim Hawkins - FRANCE

Good luck to everyone!

_________________
Neil Williamson
www.neilwilliamson.org.uk

Plenty of scope for weeping here:

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/internationals/euro-2012/winner

_________________
Jim