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Can't beat a mince pie this time of year.

Nice blog Dan, but I have to disagree with you on the nuts. What happened to the mighty macadamia? And almonds in second? Outrageous.

Great blog Dan, How was Robinho to interview? I'm not too sure we will be seeing him at City for 5 years.

Pigs in Blankets!!! Oh yes.

Come to think of it i enjoy them so much why do i only have them at Christmas time????

Nice blog Dan, no mention of you testing your bowling skills against some of the Prem elite so I guess it was just work based.

As for snacks - how could you forget the honey roasted peanut or the honey roasted peanut and cashew combo for that matter?

Talking of combos... not sure if this comes under 'nuts' or 'other snacks' but a mate recently introduced me to salted peanuts mixed with a bag of cheese and onion crisps. If you have never tried it, give it a go... it will rock your world.

As a Brazilian, I want to see him where he can do something good(Barcelona) not playing for a coach that has nothing to do with him(Mark Hughes)

I don't dislike Man City, in fact, I want them to win the premier soon. But I really dislike Mark Hughes way to coach.

Hi Dan.

You're a busy man. One week án interview with a Brazilian in Manchester, and now you're off to see Rio.

Was a good interview with the Merc City boys, Adebayor trying (and failing) to come over as a genuine guy that regretted his recent transgressions.

Maybe it's just me, but I felt that Robinho's "statement of intent", that he would be at City for the next 5/10 years was as believeable as the dreaded "vote of confidence" statement you always hear from the chairmen right up until a few hours before their poor manager gets the sack.

Christmas goodies, MMmmmmmmmmm, too many to list, I previously posted on the joys of an alcohol soaked Christmas Pud' but not being in the U.K, everything I get to hear or see remotely to do with the holiday seasons munchies gets my mouth watering.

Switcheroo24 makes a very good point...how on earth was the Macademia overlooked?

If Robinho is at City this time next year I'll eat a whole one of those mini cheese things where the plastic is probably the tasty bit.

Surely Robinho will now be signing for either MK Dons or Plymouth? GUARANTEED WORLD CUP VENUE, BAYBEE!

Great report Dan .... again.

2 interviews for the price of one, very good. Great to see the footballers doing this sor tof thing (bowling) for the kids.

Congratulations to Ryan Giggs - I can't go past that one. If no one has ever seen his DVD - Ryan Giggs, True Red - well worth a watch.

As with any footy fan with a bit of wit, there's no chance Robinho will be playing for city in 5 - 10 years time. He needs to improve.

Christmas Nibbles: Hard to beat putting a heap of cocktail sausages into the oven at 180 for 30 minutes soaked in honey and sprinled with Chilli flakes. "O taste and see ... you know the rest.

MB

Good post. Its good to read what happens behind the scenes.

But I would be surprised to see Robinho at City in five years time unless City establishes itself as a team that can stay in the top four and also become stable.
City has so far had just two losses which is good but then it has had 8 draws - the highest of any team at the moment and if those draws can be converted to wins then maybe Robinho will stay for longer. Just my thoughts.

Turkey, stuffing and black pepper sandwich christmas day night after a good few pints in your local. I find that pretty hard to beat.

Hi Dan, interesting blog about the city players...strange the way they did not plump for the likes of Gareth Barry as a back up interviewee! Nevermind

Christmas nibbles - I do not think you can look further than the humble yet reliable Pig in blanket

Very nicely done Dan, bit of a brucey bonus getting to interview Robinho! Was it a bit of a nuisance having to communicate via an interpreter? I have to say I too am very skeptical as to how long Robinho will actually stay at Eastlands......

I'm made up that the mighty Cashew made the top spot in the nut rankings, awesome piece of snacky goodness.

As far as the Pig in Blanket goes, I think that has to be the best food invention ever, they should be available all year round!

Dan,
Do you eat meals or just live on snack food? Go for the jelly beans.

Interesting blog. I'd love top see the interviews on F.F. but that has gone the way of mincepies and christmas pudding. Just one question: how much of the day spent SITTING CHATTING with footballers and PLAYING ten pin bowling counts as good honest hard work?

Bit disapointed with the Gooners result last night. What can I say- win at Anfield but draw at Turf Moor. Was it a real penalty?
Perhaps Arsene should have followed MM's example and fielded ten kids, we might have won then. No offense to Turf Moor guys out there.
Cardiff did well though; which is grand. Be good to see them promoted this year after so many end of season flops.

By the way went out this morning to admire the whitetails and it was -13 centigrade. That has nothing to do with footie but I thought I would throw it out there.
Press on.

I must admit that, as much as I enjoyed both the Adebayor and Robinho interviews, whenever I saw the headline 'Robinho commits to Man City' in the days afterwards, I simply read it as 'Robinho says foolish thing'.

Dan, was your pride in these interviews shaken by the way Lawro mercilessly took apart those stats about potential England strikers' penalty success? He seemed a bit grumpy, did someone forget to bring him his cup of tea on Saturday or something?

My mum used to put chocolates on the Christmas tree, they were a good nibble. Although one year she did accuse me of eating the last one without asking and sent me to bed without any tea, when actually it had fallen behind the curtains. Bad times.

Hi Dan

Enjoying your blogs and focus work. It'll be interesting to see how Hughes keeps all his offensive players happy, despite the mega-bucks. Maybe Robinho's hoping Mourinho will come in?

Dry roasted peanuts rule for me, followed by the hazelnut, then pistachio, then the walnut.....I'd quite like some now thinking about it....

Didn't SkySports interview Robinho which was shown on Wednesday before the Spurs game?

If Robinho is still at City by the end of Jan I will eat my hat !
Against Spurs he went AWOL (again) One of his main jobs against Spurs
was to help Silvinho and ensure the avenues for Lennon would be
stopped. And looked what happened ! For the money he is a complete
joke. You can bet Hughes will ship him out in Jan (Barcelona?)

Chocolate Raisins!!

This reads like a kid's diary. Did the Beeb actually pay you to write this?

#25, Your post reads like a jealous man's bitterness. Does your Mum actually pay for your computer? That is all.

Dan, my mum did forgive me, in fact she presented me with a whole new box of chocs by way of an apology. It was fifteen years ago and the scars remain. The next year I hid the money in her purse behind the curtains, hoping for a similar result, but to no avail.

Also, the fact is that any striker going into a shootout, regardless of their domestic record, is going to be thinking about famous faces from the past that have fluffed it, whether they want to or not. Neither you, they, Lawro, or Mr Capello can stop this (although I'm not suggesting you yourself are trying).

Probably the most stomach churning sycophantic rubbish i've ever had the misfortune to read.

Hi Joey Barton. Still bitter?

hello dan,

nice blog!! .. however, i disagree with the nut list!!....when you were a kid were you never told " if it tastes of almonds, dont eat it!" so what is it doing in the top five!! noooooooo!! just to point out Cyanide apparently tastes of almonds..!!! and for some reason they put them in the nut and raisin tubs you get at christmas..!

.. oh and surely cold turkey leftovers is the best bit...!!!

David #25,
If you do not like the blog why not simply scowl to yourself and change web pages? Why did you feel the need to scorn and belittle the blog master and those of us who like the blog? I guess those were your two options: change blogs -after all it is a free country, or go to the trouble of loging in just to scorn. Of those two option which would you say is the adult option and which the 'kids diary' option?

Anightatthechopra, do you think there are those strikers who approach the penalty spot with just one thing on their mind and they could not give a 'proverbial' about old faces from the past.
Three possibles here fellow CCFC-er : (a)they are paid a ton of money and their ego is weighs a ton so that all they focus on is themselves and their job, and / or (b) their professionalism is such that all they focus on is themselves and their job. and / or (c) The Aryton Senna perspective "Fate detirmined I am the team player with this responsibility / privilege, fate has detirmined the outcome and no one else is relevant." I would prefer to call this last one the 'Providence Perspective' but you know what I mean:- I do my duty and leave the consequences up to God.

Dan,
You need to improve on your ornithology old chap! As it happens I did not get out to see the whitetails, but thanks for asking. I was called out late last night to deal with a matter and I got home at midnight, then could not get to sleep coz my mind was in gear. My alarm woke me up at 4AM and the computer said the current temperature where I was traveling to was NEGATIVE 21centigrade (inc wind chill) I just got back into bed. Then woke up at a civil hour to read David's pejorative.

robinho is an idiot...end of and all the tricks in the world dont make you a good plater compare robinho to cristiano and your pretty much done there!!!!!

(#25)

How it "reads" depends on the person actually perusing the article. To me I find Dan's blogs not only a bit of light hearted banter, but also an interesting look on how a show like FF is actually produced. Plenty of interesting revelations have appeared within this Blog in recent months.

What can also be appreciated is the interraction Dan has on his blog, always willing to opffer and address opinion...his comical "polls" point to his personable approach to this blog. I'm guessing that as he does not get paid he is happy to offer his interactive blog as a means of receiving feedback to how he as a person is received which is in the most part highly favorable.

Cheers

dear sir Walker,

this blog of yours makes me intensely happy. it's always a joy when I find a new interweb posting from you, and the happy banter it inspires. having awoken to a late start, I am now earnestly resolved to comandeer for myself a pig-in-a-blanket for lunch later. this should make up for missing the earlier championsleague draw.

woul it be remiss of me to suggest a bit of on-screen fig roll eating on focus - a sort of festive Christmas sharing for the boys and you? you could even decorate the platter with a bit of ivy lest ye olde ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ viewers become perplexed as to whether ready steady cook has changed broadcast slots with ainsley harriot being mysteriously replaced. I think this would make for wonderful viewing!

ps. where is the snow? London has had so little : (

Why all the fuss over Robinho? What has he actually achieved in the game so far?
Like many on here, I am also very sceptical as to how long he will stay at City. Until the World Cup is my guess - which is perhaps slightly longer than Hughes.
Had to laugh about him turning up late. Still, it's better than when he goes away from home with City; then, he doesn't turn up at all!

blaenorynyclwyd (#30), I just think that in every tournament the media plays clips of Pearce, Waddle, Southgate, Ince, Batty and all the others that missed last time out, and no one wants to be that guy in the musical montage of crushing penalty despair that gets played out before every game in the knockout stages. I suggest that perhaps the fact that everyone always bemoans their massive wages contributes heavily to the pressure not to make a dog's breakfast of what is, in theory if not in practice, the relatively simple task of scoring from 12 yards.

34# no real snow in Manchester to speak of either, just a little dusting. I don't want any though, bah humbug, I'm supposed to be on a plane on Sunday.

Also, just feel the need to say that I was woken up just now by the Duel in the Pool which is happening within touching distance of my window in my Halls of Residence. Everyone sounds awfully excited, thinking of popping over and asking them to keep the noise down.

Having so clearly demonstrated in your blog that you consider Adebayor very much the booby prize, I wouldn't give much for chances of a second interview any time soon.

Trevor4491,(#37)
Adebayor is in the same category as another one time Arsenal player, the notorious left back Cashley Hole. Also known as Mr. "I do not feel loved... poor me... so I am going to the blue shirts in the pursuit of greenbacks."

I did not pick up any suggestion that Adebayor was the booby prize. I'm sure the Beeb were delighted to interview the man, especially as he wasn't charging an appearance fee.

Great blog. very interesting to read. well written.

Hey Dan - great blog for the snackaholic!

Well over here (Ukraine) the fave Christmas snack might be something like pickled fish or probably the humble pickled Gherkin! They can be quite tasty when soaked for a winter or so in the cellar in a vinegar laced with chili, garlic, & wild horseradish!

By the way, seeing as the 4 cities in Ukraine have now been confirmed by UEFA as venues for EURO 2012 - here's hoping the FF crew will get a road trip out here to cover England in the tournament. If so - we can show you the ropes (and provide Gherkins!) The refurbed Metallist stadium here is quite impressive.