Tokyo Nerdy`s Black and White Army!!! Can`t be doing with crimson.....

Verdy had a bye this week so we`ve had a little look at the bottom of J1 and it`s going to the last week and if  Vissel Kobe can win and FC Tokyo draw or lose then FC Tokyo are down. Ho, ho, ho!! Merry Christmas!!  On paper FC Tokyo have the easier game away to already relegated Kyoto as Kobe have to go to Urawa. However, Urawa have been absolutely average this year and Kobe have picked up a few results recently including beating S-Pulse yesterday. I predict that FC Tokyo will be more nervous than Kobe as they`ll be "expected" to win. Pressure is all on them and I will piss my pants and look forward to some great derbys next season if they go down!! The Tokyo Derby is a quality ocassion and we need a marquee game to get excited about!!

(Sch)Mick Jagger`s Big Balls....Verdy 1 - 0 Ehime

Mick Jagger all round annoying twat.....interestingly has massive balls but tiny cock according to bandmate Keith Richards. Jagger`ll` ve thanked him for putting that in his autobiography I`m sure.

Can`t be doing with the Rolling Stones. OK they made some great records 45 years ago but does anybody give a toss about any "new" album they`ve done in the last 30 years?? No didn`t think so....the early stuff of almost any band your care to mention is the best. They then get tired, stale, run out of ideas, dropped by the record label, become alcoholics and spend the rest of their days playing hits from their one or (maximum) two hit albums at wedding parties or Butlins remembering the goood old days. Seemingly what is good for shit old bands is also good for Tokyo Verdy.........
25,000 turned out to watch the game against JEF the other week and how many were at Ehime?? 2,500!! As I came to the JEF game I noticed a number of fans leaving before the game even kicked off, people who had obviously come to see the old farts trotting about with the "comedians" as pre match "entertainment. These guys seemingly revel in the old days of the club but fail to connect the old with the new.  FOOTBALL IS NOT MUSIC!! Just because the team is shit now doesn`t mean they can`t be great again. Tokyo Verdy may have been initially decent and shit now. But that doesn`t mean to say they will ALWAYS be shit and if people support then they have more of a chance of being less shit.
Hats off to the 2,500 other people who bothered but where were the other 9 out of 10? OK it was a BIT cold being an evening kick off, that would be enough to turn away some families with little kids. Ehime is miles away on a work night so that would count for a good deal of the away fans. But what about the rest?? If Mr. Xebio was licking is lips with the Dollar signs in his eyes against JEF then he will be have been sorely dissapointed on Tuesday night. Oh well, hopefully the cash is in the bank already.
On to the game, we played for 89 minutes against Ehime being pretty much second best throughout. The bright spots being the debut of Japan U-19 Yuki Kobayashi and an 89th minute penalty drilled home by Yoshiaki Takagi following a handball on his shot which would have probably splattered the defenders nose 3 foot across his face had he not put his hands up to block it. One game to go, it`s Mito, let`s batter them again and wrap up for Christmas!!

What Goes Around and Celebrity Dipshits Verdy 2 - 3 Avispa

You have to wonder what`s going in football sometimes. Verdy were to dominate the game but were never in front. After the comeback of the season against Toyama, Verdy got a taste of their own medicine in more traditional Green style. Avispa were nervous as hell and if they play like that in J1 next season they will finish dead last (again). The game kicked off with the Boys passing it around crisply enough though not really threatening the Avispa goal. Avispa themselves were without top scorer and ex Verdy wide man Genki Nagasato and struggled to find any kind of rythmn for the first 20 minutes.
The opening goal came on 20 minutes with Shohei Takahashi giving away the penalty following a trip which probably WAS just inside the box despite the vehement protests. Veteran Kudo made no mistake from the spot, twice slamming past Doi after the first penalty had to be re-taken for encroaching.
Verdy continued to press without succes and probably at the this point the neutral fan would have changed channel to watch some celebrity no marks eat stuff, do the monkey clap/laugh thing, say eeeehhhhh!!! nodding their heads in endless agreement. I personally would love it if one day someone on Japanese TV would say "Actually mate that`s complete bollocks, this food tastes like arse!! I`m off to Mcdonalds"
And what a treat they would have missed!!! The second half was another ding dong battle starting off with Avispa extending their lead with Jogo tearing Tomisawa and Tuschiya to pieces through the middle sprinting from the half way line to slot past Doi. The Verdy backline has been superb at times this season but recently has looked very shaky leaking seven in three games.
However Verdy were to come back into it with a superb strike and contender for Goal of The Month from Kazunori Iio. He was on the edge of the D surrounded by markers, he turned and fired straight into the top corner. Boom!
After this Verdy were to really lay siege to the Avispa goal and it wasn`t long before Goal Machine got us back to 2-2 with a first time header running at full pelt on a looping cross from Shibasaki. Two spectacular goals and a superb comeback. At this point it looked like there would only be one winner with Avispa more than a little shellshocked. Tsuchiya found himself clean through about 10 yards out and in traditional centre half style blasted hopelessly over the bar. Kawano fired wide and deep into injury time these misses came back to haunt Verdy. Free kick 25 yards out.......and I`m sure you can guess the rest.

Roundabouts..Traffic entering the roundabout yields to traffic already on the roundabout."Eeeeeeh!!! Aaah so desu ka? Sugoi ne!!! Ne!! Ne! Shiranakatta!! KA-BOOM!! TV fades to black to the sound of semi automatic gunfire...

Anyway a great game, superb entertainment but unfortunately no points. Avispa will have to up their game considerably if they are to avoid coming straight back down next season and seemingly so will JEF if they make it after struggling to overcome the comically bad Giravanz.

Over The Hill With the Swords Of 25,000 Men, Women and Children!! Verdy 25,000 (1) - 2 JEF United

Thump!! Outside the box and in!!!

Jesus Christ , Mary Mother of Jesus, Joseph, All the Disciples, Noah and The Animals, The Monkees, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Mary Mary and all other God/Jesus/Music related beings. What was that all about?? THERE WERE 25,000 PEOPLE AT AJINOMOTO STADIUM WATCHING TOKYO VERDY LAST NIGHT. 25,000 people!! 25,000!!! Tonight was simply a great night to be a Verdy supporter, a night that will be remembered as one of the great days of the club. Todays match was the first to recognise the new owners offically, with the team taking to the field for the first time with the new sponsors name on their shirts.
The match started off with Verdy in the ascendancy; unsurprising given the backing they had and they had already hit the bar before Goal Machine opened the scoring after seven minutes lashing home from outside the box following great build up from Kikuoka and then Shibasaki. 1-0 and the roof nearly came off with the cheer that went up when Hiramoto scored!! The game then descended into a bit of a midfield stalemate with neither side offering too much going forward. There was an air of inevitability about Alex` equaliser coming on 60 minutes, JEF had been threatening and Doi had already made one excellent save pushing away an overhead kick from inside the box. One point soon became no points as Yuto Sato was left in acres of space to finish in-off the post. Verdy tried in vain to force an equaliser but to be honest they never really looked like getting anything, an effort from Tsuchiya headed wide in the dying minutes was the best the Boys could muster.

As a specatacle the game itself was pretty poor but the atmosphere generated in the barn that is Ajinomoto was something to behold for the long suffering Verdy faithfull. Probably everyone who has ever been to a Verdy game in the past turned out in what was a remarkable show of support for the club. To get such a huge turnout was amazing and the organisers of the Save Our Verdy campaign should be congratulated on the fanstastic event that was put on last night. Yeah, we lost, but Verdy are alive and kicking like a MULE!! Onwards and Upwards The Boys March On!!

Verdy`s 12th Man...and The Flag Bitch

Speaking of insanity, the last post got me thinking about another odd character you will ocassionally see at Verdy games. I`ve no idea what this guys name is and I`d forgotten he even existed until bumping into him again yesterday. It must be 6 or 7 years ago since me and  Mrs Nerdy went to a game and noticed a rather odd guy at the back of the stand pacing around,hopping on one foot, then the other nervously and smiling to himself. He had a Verdy uniform on but the unusual thing was that he had the rest of the kit too....now as kid I had my fair share of football kits which I would never take off and wear anywhere. But that stopped as with most other people as I got older. Seemingly not with this guy, all those years ago he would have been in his early 20`s with his top tucked unto his Verdy shorts, pulled up to his nipples, his socks pulled up to his knees with football trainers on. Myself and Mrs Nerdy laughed and thought  he must be a bit strange.....and that thought was reconfirmed yesterday. We were sitting on the grass bank at Toyama and the same hopping around nervously guy came into view. Same Verdy uniform but this time he had seemingly adjusted his attire to reflect the modern game. The top was now outside the shorts and he had his socks rolled down, this time sporting post match flip flops. Not TOO mad I thought but then I noticed the strips of plaster material that players strap to their calves for whatever reason. He was stripped up to the nines, he hopped around for a bit and went and stood with the people with the drums for 10 minutes then went off got changed and sat down with his friend.

The Flag Bitch and Mrs Insanity chatting.......

Yeah just like what Ice-T said...

The Flag Bitches are an interesting phenomenom and (I imagine) are  present at each and every J League stadium in the country. Tokyo Verdy have their very own Flag Bitch who did a sterling job of carrying 8 or 9 flags and poles strapped to various parts of his body.  A typical Flag Bitch will be a young member of a supporters club and will be easily recognisable as he will be completely obscured from view due to the sheer number of flags he is carrying. The Verdy Flag Bitch yesterday, directed us to the stadium delivered all his flags stood a good 10 metres away from the main supporters groups with the drums. Jumped up and down for 90 minutes, collected his flags and was last seen dashing for the sation presumably on some flag related emergency. The job of the Flag Bitch is probably the most important job in J2. If the team is playing at a far away stadium, it is The Flag Bitch`s job to carry as many flags as is humanly possible to the ground, forgoing all thoughts of hunger, expense and concept of time until his flags have been safely delivered to their wavers or tied to the stadium walls. A team with only 25 away supports but with 377 flags and banners tied behind the away end?? All due to the endless energy of The Flag Bitch. All hail The Flag Bitch!!

Kitty chan v Tulio?? Endo v Cinamon?? How about Yanagisawa?? Verdy 3- 2 Toyama!!

Shibasaki mobbed at the end!! 94th minute!!

So in a hamburger eating tabehodai (all you can eat) battle, would a team of Sanrio characters or a team of past and present Japan internationals prevail?? A tough question indeed and one of many questions put to myself and my two friends by an absolutely bark raving insane lady on the bus on the way back to the station from Toyama Stadium yesterday. You know how it is, somebody says "hello" and not wanting to be rude you say "hello" back and then when the person starts talking, you quickly realise the person is actually mad. There are two ways to react in this situation; humour the mentalist or move away slowly. On a packed bus, option two was unavailable. So for 25 minutes the four of us weighed up the pros and cons of Yanagisawa`s meat consuming aptitude (not good as he is older so eats less hamburgers these days). Kitty-chan is young so of course eats more but then is female so eats less. She was actually very knowledgeable about the stats side of things, knowing all the heights and weights of the players, but to be honest her hamburger eating ability judgements were clearly subjective....This truly bizzare bus ride was just another part of a superb trip which came with a fantastic game, glorious sunshine, a brush with the "stars" a few beers and a stay in a what turned out to be a decent, cheap ryokan.
The ride out into the countryside was pleasent as it always is when you get out of the city, buildings and factories soon giving way to rice fields and unconcreted rivers. Toyama is a beautiful, mountainous part of the country and is currently spectacular with the forest leaves changing colour. We arrived at a stadium bathed in sunshine and were pleased to find that three sides of the ground had a grass bank to sit on which on a day like yesterday was superb and even better with little kids in tow. The Toyama supporters were in good voice after celebrating their first win in eleven games last weekend over the uber-shite that is Giravanz.
The game kicked off and Verdy were to absolutely dominate the opening twenty minutes with Doi hardly touching the ball. Yoshiaki Takagi and Kawano had been put in as strikers with Goal Machine dropping to the bench. The attack was VERY lightweight in the first half as even though  Verdy had all the possesion it was Toyama who took the lead slicing through the Verdy rearguard all too easily on a breakaway. Ex Japan forward Kurobe made it two with another breakaway goal and great finish to leave Verdy with a mountain to climb.  Verdy were to pull one back on the stroke of half time through an own goal which I couldn`t see as it was miles away...Right so half time and Kawakatsu brought on Goal Machine to add a bit of weight to the forward line and his introduction had the desired effect. Hiramoto offers a target to the midfielders, he can hold the ball up and when he gets the ball it sticks.
Unfortunately, Kurobe then scored another breakaway goal to make it 3-1 Toyama.......or so I thought for about 15 minutes. He had the ball in the net, the stadium announcer did his GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL!!! shout and when I looked again the ball was back around the centre circle. Iio got another back with a short range finish in the box and I thought maybe we have a chance here at 3-2, get back to 3-3 maybe. Kikuoka also "scored" but had it rightly called for offside. Anyway the confusion ended when my friends came back from the bar and said the Toyama "goal" had been called for offside.....Nice one!! Felt like I`d found a tenner in my pocket that I didn`t know was there. For the last 25 minutes Verdy pressed and pressed but couldn`t seem to find the decisive opening. Until the 94th minute when after a scramble in the box, Kosei Shibasaki poked the ball home to cap a thrilling comeback. Seconds later the ref whistled for full time, the Toyama players flopped to the ground and the Verdy travelling support went wild!! Well as wild as 50 or so middle age oddballs can go anyway.....
Sometimes J-League footballers get reputations for being ponces, stuck up arrogant toss pots,  unworthy of anything aside from derision from amateur, arm chair supporters (like me...) who reckon they could do better with their eyes closed. Sometimes this is absolutely deserved but usually probably not. When we were on the train on the way back last night it turned out that the Verdy squad was on the same train. I was with my son and thought I`d go and ask very politely if it would be OK if I could get his picture taken with them. I`m sure they`ll never read this but I`d like to say thankyou to Iio, "Goal Machine" Hiramoto and Tsuchiya for making the effort and being so friendly. Nice one boys!!

Get stuck in Kitty!!

Post game celebrations...

An absolutely superb weekend of entertainment and something that will be done again next season!! Gotta love football in Japan!!

Toyama Here We Come!!

HOLY SHIT!!!??? Apparently this is Toyama.....

That`s right folks, match tickets bought, Shinkansen booked, hotel (probable rat infested hovel considering the price) paid for, Tokyo Nerdy 1969 will be off to Toyama next weekend for the bash up with Kataller. Not been to a distant away game for far too long so away we go!! Nothing better than travelling in style to a new place for a game. New stadium, new scenery, new atmosphere. Like many other sad bastards I`d love to be able to have been to every stadium in the league. Love a game of footy me and there is nothing better than going to a new ground. I used to love it as a kid, getting away from an empty Molienuex,  running up the steps that used to lead to the top of one of the stands at St. Andrews. I had the excitement of going to Villa once or twice and standing on the Holte End. Hearing the mighty Boothen End in full voice at Stoke City`s old Vic. 2-2 Cup game against Arsenal.. . A day at Port Vale in January was probably one of the coldest experiences I have ever had in my life. A 2-0 Wolves victory completely numbed by spending 90 minutes standing on an open terrace with horizontal rain lashing into my face. Probably the oddest away ground is Cowdenbeath FC who have always been pure shite in Scotland. I could be mistaken but I wouldn`t be surprised if they are the only club in the world to have a hot rod track round their pitch!! Football on the Saturdy and Hot Rod racing  complete with a Demolition Derby on the Sunday won by a Hillman Imp!! Funny the things you remember......Anyway, well excited about next weekend, it`s been T-O-O long!!