29th Dec 05. Dungannon game - Life goes on ... Ballymac's bus leaves for Dungannon this Saturday at 1.30pm folks, and if yor heart's still in it all visitors are welcome to travel. Failing that you're all still welcome to Wilgar Street later on that evening to drown your sorrows! The Ballymac Clubrooms will be open to welcome in the New Year (we get a lie-in with no game next day ;-) Entertainment on the night is from the excellent 'Electric Avenue', it's £10 a head and you can pay at the door! Doors open 7.30pm. Early betting: Dungannon 5/2, Glentoran 1/1, and a draw 11/5. All odds by TOALS .I think TOALS must friggin know something I don't!
By the way - are you all aware that if Portadown defeat Larne by 3 goals or more tonight at Shambles Park, the Glens drop back to 3rd? Now there's a sobering thought for Hogmanay!!! Results and League Table pages now updated ... reluctantly!
28th Dec 05. Leeper for the knife - You may be interested to learn that Paul Leeman has a date with an MRI scanner on January 29th of the new year, before going under the knife on February 10th to have a steel pin fitted into his shoulder.
27th Dec 05. CHAMPIONS? YER HAVIN A ******* LAUGH ROY!!
Manager-bashin is not something I readily do Roy, but I'll tell you what chum, in all my years of following this football club, that 90 minutes yesterday has got to be the most shocking I've ever witnessed! To be perfectly honest pal I think most fans would put their hands on their hearts this morning and ask you to walk away - The buck stops at you doesn't it? And it's not as if it's just yesterday either Roy is it? Let's be honest we've been absolute shite all year. ALL eleven of them can't have had an off day - either they've ALL become crap players overnight mate or you have lost their respect ... I suspect the latter. That display yesterday was absolutely unforgivable. I have NEVER felt so ashamed in my life.
I'm sorry Roy, you talked the talk this week in the press, WE believed in you and turned out.
I think the very least you owe the fans is an explanation!
24th Dec 05. Boxing Day Betting: Glentoran 2/1, linfield 6/5, and a draw 11/5. All odds supplied by TOALS bookmakers DON'T FORGET IT'S A 2 O'CLOCK KICK-OFF!!
22nd Dec 05. Parky out for derby - Stephen Parkhouse will be missing from the Glens side on Boxing Day after picking up a 1 match ban at this week's IFA Disciplinary Committee meeting. Somewhat surprisingly Mark Glendinning escaped!
Some terrace tickets for the game are still available by the way, priced £6 at the following outlets ...
Souvenir Shop, Connswater Shopping Centre
Dawsons Newsagency, Belmont Road
Westbourne Glentoran Supporters Club
The Spar, opposite My Lady's Road, Ravenhill Road
Maxol Filling Station, Frances Street, Newtownards
and in case you were wonderin ... Halfers winners ...
v Larne - Marion Smith 5319 - £300
v Distillery - Sarah Magill 5895 - £140
v Loughgall - Geordie Knowles 0302 - £180
v Ballymena - Maurice Stevenson 0889 - £170
20th Dec 05. No Roche as Seconds lose - Lee Roche didn't make it due to work commitments tonight as the Second eleven lost 2-0 to Loughgall United. Our other new face Drew Rea made his second appearance in a green shirt, alongside Chris Walker at centre-half. Chris came through another 90 minute run-out.
19th Dec 05, 11.30am. Irish Cup Draw - Ards v Glentoran, 14th January
*Update - the game has been switched to the Oval due to Bangor v H & W Welders switching to Clandyboye Park
17th Dec 05. Portydoon 0 Glentoran 0
BTW, Lee Roche ... Played the full 90 minutes for the Seconds today. Bear in mind the lad hasn't kicked a ball since the Eircom League play-offs nearly a month ago, but by all accounts looked the part and can play a wee bit of football (err, despite missing a penalty kick!)
You might be interested to know big Chris also came through the full 90 today. Second's drew 2-2 with Portydoon's Reserves.
15th Dec 05. Portadown game - Only 2 games after this one and we're at the half-way stage of the Title race. Things aren't desperate yet, but a loss here and Portadown are back breathing down our necks again only 3 points adrift, never mind we could be 8 points off the pace at the top! We really need to dig deep these next two matches ... what the hell is it about Glentoran and Christmas! Ballymac's bus leaves at 1.30pm, all visitors are welcome. Others at the link above. Match betting: Portadown 6/4, Glentoran 13/8, and a draw 11/5. All odds supplied by TOALS.
14th Dec 05. Yez can stop searchin ... the £400 Halfers draw carried over from Saturday was claimed on Tuesday night by Geordie Lecky ... lucky *$^"*&%)!
13th Dec 05. ** Can't get to the Ballymena United game at the Oval tonight, so if anyone wants to look in for the goal updates I'll be putting them online :-) Betting: Glentoran 1/2, Ballymena 11/2, and a draw 13/5. All odds by TOALS.
7.45: Browne & Halliday up front, Parkhouse in midfield and Morgan on the bench ...
12 mins: Glentoran 0 Ballymena 1 ... Sweeney
17 mins: Glentoran 1 Ballymena 1 ... Halliday
86 mins: Glentoran 1 Ballymena 2 ... Kevin Kelbie!
Full Time: Glentoran 1 Ballymena 2 - Results and League Table pages now updated
12th Dec 05. Setanta Cup draw ... my wee friend tells me is being made at the National Museum of Ireland, (Collins Barracks if you will), Benburb Street, Dublin, at 5.30pm today :-)
6.00pm - Update: Shelbourne, Derry City & linfield, first game away to Shels on Feb 20th!!
... also a very strong rumour 18 year old Shamrock Rovers striker Lee Roche is on his way to the Oval.
** Update - Roche has signed til the end of the season!
(from William Cameron, Secretary Chris Walker benefit committee) - DVD ON SALE The Chris Walker (Big Chris, Local Hero) DVD will be on sale at our match against Ballymena on Tues night at the Oval. The DVD contains an in depth interview with Chris that includes a few surprises, along with an enormous amount of photo's chronicling his career. The DVD is of a completely different format to previously made video's or dvd's of the Glens and is very professionally put together by Mark (Forza Glens) and Sam Robinson. Having seen it myself I can honestly say that I found it very entertaining and well worth watching. Priced at a very reasonable £8, I would have no hesitation in recommending you buy it for either yourself or for a xmas present for a friend or family member. It will be on sale from committee members just inside the turnstiles and also from the souvenir shop and thereafter from the cart in connswater shopping centre.
Halfers Draw at Windsor - On a day that all Glens fans will want to forget, one lucky fan can gain some comfort from the fact that he or she has won £400. The winning ticket number is 2171. The prize of £400 which is still unclaimed can be done so by bringing the winning ticket to Tommy McKee at Tuesday nights match and thereafter by contacting myself on 07886337857. If not claimed by the end of our match on Boxing Day the prize will be donated to Chris's Benefit Fund
200 CLUB - There will be 3 draws of the 200 club in the premier lounge after Tues night match.
The winners of the last draws were as follows
Draw 7 £70 Elliott Morris, £20 D. Moorhead, £10 D. McKnight
Draw 8 £70 Gil Irvine, £20 Ken Moody (Sen), £10 R. Morrison (Sen)
11th Dec 05. Bring yer boots on Tuesday - Bad enough as it was losing OUR League Cup yesterday at the swamp, it gets even worse ... Darren Lockhart will now be out of action for 4 - 6 weeks ... or more! The clash of heads in the first half with w*nkie Murphy left Darren with a broken cheekbone. Hopes are that he can go in for an Op this coming Thursday, but even if that goes well, dont expect the Glens midfield workhorse to be back in action again before next February at best! (Could I make a personal appeal right now for anyone below 45 years of age and can still fill their Orangefield 'Old Boys' boots to turn up at the Oval bout half 7 on Tuesday night ;-)
9th Dec 05. How to make friends and influence people ... NOT! Been talking to one or two members of the local Paparazzi today, and they tell me the Football Writers Association have had just about enough of Glentoran Football Club. They say relations with a certain individual have now reached an all-time low, and that despite numerous verbal and written attempts to arrange an informative meeting with the club, they have been continually ignored (sounds familiar actually). Seems though they haven't taken too kindly to yet another muted snub to their latest request, and at their meeting on Wednesday afternoon decided to write to all Glentoran FC sponsors (Danepak included) to inform them of the situation, and that consequently they will no longer be 'plugging' their products. I'm sure they will be delighted to hear that!
Now no matter what you may think of the local press, and whatever the reason for the snub, it doesn't seem too clever an idea to me to get their humps up! I mean like, it's not exactly as if we're tripping over our friends at the minute is it?
Anyway's, immediate upshot for you and I is folks, I wouldn't expect too much back-slapping for the Glens in the weekend press, no matter what the result tomorrow :-( Honest to God, you couldn't friggin make it up!
Update - The plot thickens ... it would seem that amongst other things, one of the major gripes for our journalistic friends is the removal of a number of free parking spaces in the Oval car park. Wouldn't mind one of those free spaces myself actually ... the stand-off continues.
League Cup Final - Another day, another final, been there done that many times before, bags of T shirts! Matter of fact we've lost only once in this competition in the last 6 years, and beat this shower on their own patch in our last 2 Finals ... so what's all the friggin fuss about! Oh aye, and we're the holders ;-) Kick-off's 2.30pm folks don't forget, and no replay - extra-time and penalties if required. It's even LIVE on BBC1 Northern Ireland if you can't get out of wrappin the presents! Ballymac have 2 buses leaving Wilgar Street at 1.15 if any of you fancy a lift, get there early for a few trips down memory lane on our big screen before departure time. Looking forward to it ... yip, another day, another final ;-)
8th Dec 05. Special Half n' Half for Big Chris - Tommy McKee will be doing a Halfers draw just inside the turnstiles at Whinger Park before Saturday's CIS Cup Final, with all profits going to Chris Walkers Benefit. The winning number will be displayed at half time (hopefully from a board at pitchside) and big Tommy will be available at the back of the stand after the game to pay the winner out. Failing that it can be claimed at the next home game with Ballymena on Tuesday night :-)
Early Cup Final betting: Glentoran 15/8, linfield 5/4, and a draw 11/5. All odds supplied by TOALS
7th Dec 05. Enjoy it while you can ... a crowd of 10,000 at the Oval that is, coz it'll soon be reduced to around half that! Was down at the Northern Ireland Sports Council Offices today on RIE/Glentoran Community Trust related business, and happened upon a high-proifile meeting of all the 'big-wigs' involved in running football here, Howard Wells et al - and wait'll ya hear this! Fact - from next February/March, safety legislation already governing stadia on the mainland for the last 10 years is going to be phased into the Irish League, and should be implemented by the middle of season 2006/07. I was told today, the Oval as it sits will then be reduced to some of the existing stand seating, with only around 500 terracing tickets issued for either end! And just before our old friends from across the shuck start to snigger, under existing guidelines the swamp would be cut to around a 6,000 capacity! It seems the moats fronting both North and West stands at our err ...
'National' Stadium will render both lower decks unsafe, the South stand capacity will be decimated due to it's mostly wooden structure, and the Railway stand closed completely! Only the upper decks of the North and West stands would satisfy current legislation. Of course there still remains the possibility of clubs getting a 'Safer Stadia' grant from the Sports Council of up to £800,000 a touch, they've been available for years. You know, the likes of which Portadown and Cliftonville got to build the new stands at Shamrock Park and Solitude. And then there's the new 'Hat-Trick' fund of up to £80,000 available from the IFA ... happy days eh :-)
But then of course, to avail of all those grants you would finally have to apply for them ... wouldn't you Glens!!!!
Big Two Semi-Final Shield Draw - ... Tues 24th Jan, and it'll be at the swamp! Sounds about right eh ...
... and it's confirmed there'll be 10,000 in the Oval on Boxing Day - 6,000 of them Glenmen :-) 8 quid a seat, 6 to stand.
6th Dec 05. Buses for Saturday - Ballymac are running two buses to the swamp on Saturday for the League Cup Final. NO booking of seats is required for this one, and all visitors are welcome to travel to the game with us. Please remember Saturday's final is a 2.30pm kick off, be sure you're at the Wilgar Street clubrooms in good time for the 1.15pm departure.
4th Dec 05. Has everybody dried out yet? He who laughs last eh ... Cheers Geordie!
2nd Dec 05. Glentoran 1 Loughgall 0 - We are gonna be in serious trouble when we meet a team who can finish! Three points tonight maybe, but it was absolutely shocking! After all the nice things I said below too. Dear oh dear :-(
Loughgall game - Like Glenavon last week, we take on another team who made an awful start to the new season, also losing all 6 of their League Cup group fixtures ... that despite being in the same section as Limavady United and Ards! Also like Glenavon though they have fared much better in the League. Out of 10 games played Loughgall have managed to win 4, all coming in their first 6 outings. Their last 4 contests however have seen them slip back to the bad old days, gaining only a solitary point at lowly Larne ... and most recently a 3-0 defeat last week at home to Newry. As for us, well it's same again isn't it, another 3 points required ... and expected! You really do have to give credit to the Glens at the moment, I know there have been one or two 'iffy' performances of late, but a lot of us seem to be losing sight of the fact that after 20 games played we still haven't lost a match yet! Think about it, Paul Leeman, Chris Walker, Jody Tolan, Scott Young ... ALL out for the long term, and ALL would walk into any team in the League. Add to that long spells on the sidelines this season for Peter McCann, Pat McGibbon, and to a lesser degree Darren Lockhart, it's amazing to think we're sitting second in the League table, the Final of the League Cup to come next Saturday, and on Tuesday night reached the Semi-Final of the County Antrim Shield! Yes it's been hard to watch at times, but only because we're used to watching the best, under the circumstances I don't reckon we doin too bad don't you think ;-) A third of the way through the season and already it looks like the rest are battling it out for third spot - be thankful it isn't us. Anyway, they say you set your own standards don't they, so fraid that means another 3 points required tonight Glens. Kick off for this one's a quarter to eight folks, and would you believe it the upstairs bar's open again :-) Do ya think they'd let me use my own plastic cup!
Match betting: Glentoran 2/7, Loughgall 9/1, and a draw 7/2. All odds supplied by TOALS bookmakers
1st Dec 05. Stormont breakfast - Only 23 seats remain for breakfast at the Stormont Hotel before George Best's funeral on Saturday morning. Remember, admission to La Scala restaurant will be by ticket only priced at £10.00, and must be purchased in advance. You can still order them from me directly here at the site via email, info@ballymacgsc.com leaving a contact phone number. Any left will be sold from the 1923 Committee clubrooms at the Oval during half-time at tomorrow night's Premier League game v Loughgall. Numbers are strictly limited, 1st come - 1st served.
