22.02.25 - Another year of Arsenal throwing away and league title challenge.. yet again beaten , West Ham. Go back on the beaches of Dubai lads, because you're sure as fuck not playing football in the Premiership.
09.11.24 OK, so had a colonoscopy today.... and boy was I dreading it! Normally things go very smooth but my worrying put about 55 more years on me. Thankfully everything was fine (though I was in there for over an hour) but I think every man , 50 or over, should get a prostate exam. It only takes less than a minute and in some cases could save your life. The hardest part was the night before when you are given some God awful drinking substance to down which leads to approximately 17 (and I counted) trips to the toilet. Mind you I'm down a few pounds! Can't really eat anything for 24 hours after, but I'm looking forward to a dirty burger tomorrow night!
02.11.24 - Defeat to Newcastle 1-0 and League title hopes gone after ten games. Absolutely woeful from Arsenal. The only thing worse than Arsenal at the moment is my football coupon.
Actually I take that back....Arsenal are far worse then my football coupon.
16.08.24 Successfully completed the transfer of €1000 between our two League of Ireland Mascot charities (Waterford Marine Search & Rescue and Autism Assistance Dogs ireland) with many thanks to our sponsors the PFAI. That time of the season when Arsenal start back their Premier League campaign (and all the heartache that it will probably bring, finishing second to Man City again) but we live in hope. Exeter City started with a win and with the Blues currently sitting in third could us Waterford fans dare dream of Euroe? Lets see.
07.07.24 What a superb day in Naas Racecourse for our 5th annual League of Ireland Mascot Race. All the usual worry, fears and anxiety that comes with having this race was subdued (thank Christ) as I trusted the 10 mascots to show up. We lost out on one but still had nine eager mascots at the start. In the end Larry the Horse from Saint Francis walked away with first prize with Treaty Ted second and a proud Chester the Cat third. Niamh and the staff at Naas are absolutely incredible and I can't thank them enough. We've already made plans for 2025. As much as I enjoyed it, there's also a big sigh of relief when its over and everything has gone to plan. To our wonderful mascots thank you so much. We simply can't do it without you.
28.04.24 Absolutely delighted that my 2007 book on Exeter City "One Flew Over The Crossbar" has made it to number 1! I issued it for free for anyone who had it on Kindle Unlimited and the book came from something like 1225 place to the top spot. It took around 39 copies sold over three days to do that but I'm not complaining. In fact for those without Kindle Unlimited the book was £1.99 and I still got some sales there! Also delighted we have a sponsor again for this years League of Ireland Mascot Race as the Soccer Writers PFAI are going to sponsor the race again. Now if only Arsenal could win their last three games and Man City draw one, the Gunners would be league champions for the first time since the Invincibles of 2003/24. Alas I can't see it :(
8.03.24 Well the book has now gone over 800 copies and still selling. Hoping the sales on Amazon, Book Centre and purchases from me will get it closer to 1,000 by the time I take a well deserved break in Exeter next week. As proud as I am with "Forever Blue" and the 93 year history of the club, I'll think I will leave it to someone else to pen the 100th year anniversary in 2030! Before then will be going to Cian Manning's Book Launch in a couple of weeks - a 100 year history of the Waterford Junior League. Also finding it impossible to get a sponsor for this years Mascot Race but hopefully something will fall into place before July 6th. Early days yet!
12.01.24 - So the book should out three times and is progressively working its way to the 1,000 sales mark with 800 of them sold by early January. Got a new PC (cheers Sam) so primed to go for whatever 2024 holds for me. But until I'm loving my break away from the constant pressure of writing a book. "Forever Blue" took a lot out of me so forgive me if I chill, enjoy a few JD's and see what happens. If you've got an idea then I might just put it into action.
14.11.23 - Oh wow! Just wow! What a superb week we've just had. A book launch in the Park Hotel Dungarvan on Wednesday the 8th that was sold out. Then followed by another sold out launch, this time in the Tower Hotel with over 200 people in attendance! We followed it up on Friday with a Mayoral Reception in City Hall then (after being terrified that nobody would show up) a packed out launch in The Book Centre were the book almost sold out in an hour!
Of course the Blues beating Cork City was the cherry on the top but to sell out well over 300 copies in 4 days was astonishing. Reprint already ordered! And again.. Wow, just wow!
4.11.23 After just over 11 months I got my hands on the new book yesterday. And Jesus H Christ is it big! Obviously I know it's 327 pages but its still massive! I always get nervous checking the book to see if everything its were it should but I'm very proud of how it turned out. I kinda opened the Gentleman Jack a wee bit early to celebrate so I got a bottle of Hennessy VSOP with my last few euro and will crack it open tonight.
Next week will be special with three different book launches and a Mayoral reception. Not to shabby!
29.10.23 To celebrate the soon-to-be-released "Forever Blue; A History of Waterford Football Club 1930-2023" I have made almost all my books available through this site. The fact that I actually sat in front of a computer and worked out how to do this is astonishing. I may have wrote 15 books but I'm a total and utter sap when it comes to technology. Most are Ebooks but you will also find the paperback versions of some books as well, including the extremely hard to get "Just Follow The Floodlights" (which currently costs a fortune on Amazon !). All you have to do is go to the My Books section of this site and click where is says "Buy Book Here" Enjoy!
12.10.23 - Jesus Christ! I didn't think it was a year since I updated my 'News' section! That will tell you how busy I've been writing 'FOREVER BLUE - A HISTORY OF WATERFORD FC 1930-2023. It the definitive (and official) history of the Blues and it nearly put me into the psychiatric ward in WRH trying to finish it! Gone to the printers now with a release date of November 8th. There are FOUR events marking this. On Wednesday November 8th the first book launch will be in the Park Hotel, Dungarvan. The following night the city launch is at the Tower Hotel. On the Friday there is a Mayoral Reception and then the Book Centre Book Launch on Saturday the 11th. Really looking forward to the festivities. I'm aiming to have the book also sold via this website for those outside Waterford that may be interested in purchasing it so I'll keep people informed over time.
22.4.22 I swear to Christ it's the hope that kills you with Arsenal. Looking to go 7 points clear at the top and they go 2-0 down to bottom of the table Southampton after just minutes. Gets worse when it's 3-1 yet get two goals in last three minutes of normal time to draw. No other club in this league will give your at least 57 heart-attacks in a football season!
10.12.22 So haven given myself a year away from writing (well books anyway) I've decided to go ahead with an official book on the Blues. I'm the only one to have written two earlier books on Waterford FC (Singing The Blues and Blue, White & Dynamite, so this will be interesting. I do think there is a market for this, but maybe in the older supporters of the club. They're lots of young people out at the RSC who wouldn't know the nicknames "Snackbox" and "Mock" so it will be that age group the book will appeal to. Thankfully I've got a small consortium of people who are fronting the book, so that's great to know I have their support.
Look out for a Christmas release in 2023!
31.10.22 - Oíche Shamhna shona duit! Yep its my favourite time of the year and my favourite bak holiday. We should celebrate Halloween moreso than any other country as it has it's roots in Celtic history, so is a big part of Irish tradition and history. I'll be watching the all-time classic again for the 152nd time (no seriously) which is of course Halloween, carving Jack o'Lanterns, eating nuts and dealing with the entire population of Ferrybank descending upon my doorstep for the entire night! Book-wise I'm enjoying my extended break but have a few ideas going forward.
25.8.22 - It was lovely popping into the Waterford SPCA offices today to hand over a cheque for €1,000. Michelle, Olivia and the gang do such great work with all of it being voluntary. They went out of their way to highlight the money as well which meant we were both winners. This was following on from the €2500 that I gave to Grow Ireland a week before. They are a superb mental health charity that don't get the funding that those bigger, more well known mental health charities get, so I was delighted to hook up with them. Each year we always change our charities to spread the goodwill around but I have a feeling we might be going with both these charities again next year.
02.07.22 What a day we had for out 2022 Mascot Race. The outright winner......well there could only be one. When I got a look at Frank the Tank for our sponsors Paddy Power I knew we were screwed! In a race not to dissimilar to Rocky the Seagulls romp in 2018, Frank blew the field away to win our third Paddy Power League of Ireland Mascot . In a way I hope it brings them back to sponsor us next year as they are now the trophy holders. But we'll definitely have Frank were cement blocks for shoes next year. Finn Harps kept up their solid reputation in the race by winning the 2nd placed Butler Memorial Trophy (in Roy and Craig's name) and Alex ran his nuts off to finish third with Wexford FC's Mr. Pinky. We had 8 going to post but there really is 14 to choose from so we will push for that next year. Christ I enjoyed the Jack Daniel's after it all!
28.6.22 The last four weeks have been hectic putting together our League of Ireland Mascot Race. I was fearful we wouldn't get anyone but it looks (hopefully) like we will have our biggest entry to date as 10 mascots are going under starters orders for the race on Saturday July 2nd. Once again its at Naas . They have been so kind to us as have Paddy Power who have put €3,500 into the kitty. Our two charities this year are Grow Mental Health and locally Waterford SPCA. Both do superb work without any major funding between both.
Hopefully the weather will stay find. Tell you one thing though, I cannot wait until it's over to get back home to a nice bottle of Jack Daniels!
26.5.22 - So I decided to do a short 5 day promotion on my 2007 Exeter City book "One Flew Over The Crossbar!" - free for a few days. Delighted to find out tonight that the book has gone to No.1 in the Amazon Best Selling Football Book List on Kindle. That makes it my second ever book to hit the Number 1 spot (Just Follow The Floodlights being the other) Great way to start the weekend.
8.4.22 Arsenal 1-2 Brighton . Just Arsenal being Arsenal again sadly.
6.12.21 Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water (well, The Emirates) Arsenal conspire to lose against the worst Manchester United side in recent memory, then try to defend a 1-0 lead with TWENTY MINUTES left against an Everton side without a win in eight games. Predictably we lost both games and the pressure is, 100% rightly, is back on Arteta. Any manager that can give Eddie Nketiah a game of football wants shooting. Christ there might be hardest things in life then supporting Arsenal Football Club, but I can't think of many.
1.12.21; Hi folks! WOW ! What a superb book launch we had in the Tower Hotel on Saturday November 27th. Packed out house. Tons of books sold and a real night of reminiscing and nostalgia which everybody enjoyed! For the first time ever I was a wee bit nervous taking to the microphone as I had no chance to have a quick few JD's
As I speak the first batch of books have sold out in the Book Centre so that's a very good start. The momentum should build from here. I had planned a bit of R&R in England next week but this need to have a professional antigen test to get back into Ireland is utterly ridiculous. Stephen Donnelly couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery.
12.11.21 The new book "Refs, Cheers & Kegs of Beer!" will be in my grateful hands next week. Tomorrow (November 13th) we are kicking it off with a pre-launch effort in the Waterford Crystal Showrooms! Bit upmarket for this Larchville boy, but hopefully it will be the start of what could be a great Book Launch on Saturday November 27th in the Tower Hotel. Hopefully all the hard work will pay off. I've busted my nuts getting it to this point and I've actually avoided Jack Daniels in the run-in. Hopefully I'll put that write on the 27th, though I am banned from drinking Apple Jack Daniels as the last time I drank that I wanted to throw myself in the River Suir. I blamed Arsenal losing to Chelsea, but Sam knew better! Where would I be without her?
2.11.21 .. Well my last text about how awful Arsenal are done the trick. Reverse phycology...works every time. Since that outburst they have won six , draw two and lost none. They play Liverpool next so I better continue in the same vein.. The Gunners are crap! ;)
12.08.21 ..Its taken a lifetime of supporting them but Arsenal under Arteta are absolute fucking dire. Beaten on the first day of the new season with Chelsea & Man City to come. No chance Michel Arteta survives this.
02.07.21; So I've decided to go through with a book detailing the history of the Waterford Referees Society along with the local Factory & Pubs League. There will be a lot of interest in all three categories buy I need to hustle to get this out for Christmas. I've done about 5 months research and kept putting off the actual start of the book because, well surfing the internet is a lot more fun then writing a book that will add even more grey hairs to my head.
That said I've committed to writing five pages a day so by September I should have broken the back of it and hopefully have a late November early December launch. Wish me luck!!!!!!
01.01.20 I am absolutely heartbroken. Liam (Reilly) passed away last night unexpectedly aged just 65. Got the horrible text this morning at around 9am. Its 2 days into 2021 and the year can basically fuck off now. It's a terrible loss to his friends, family and Ken Doyle, now the only surviving member still active in Bagatelle. I haven't the heart to promote or sell the book now (mind you as expected I got a lot of orders on the back of Liam's passing.) That's always been a fucked up. Sn artist you like dies and its like "I better go get their greatest hits as there will be a re-issue now". Its a sad day for music, a said day for Liam's family and a sad day for Bagatelle.
01.21 Happy New Year and good riddance to the year we have all just had. A year never to be forgotten. Boy that Covid 19 sucked bigtime! On the plus side we got "That Summer in Dublin!" out despite the obvious drawbacks . Here's hoping the band get back playing soon....and I can flog a few more books! Take care of you.
08.10.20 Delighted to say that with almost three years of hard graft I release my 13th book -That Summer In Dublin!- this week. Of course its only online at present. The Covid-19 has made a balls of everything so I have to work within that limit at the moment No book launch, no band dates, just selling it online. Still once we are happy , healthy and above ground I'll count my blessingss.
More details will folow here soon.
04.4.20 A couple of weeks ago I was laughing at the Coronavirus but boy has my head been turned! We are living in unprecedented times. For many this will be a defining moment in their lives, like those who remember where they were when JFK was shot or 9/11. All we can do is keep safe, stay at home and hope better times come soon.
12.2.20 Valentines Day... it's a load of bollocks really. I men us guys are the - last minute dash to petrol station for last €2 card, Aidl flowers (we pass off as Interflora) and mangled box of Roses in the hope of a good night in the sack - type of specimens. Storm Dennis in battering my office window as I do my pools coupon whilst reading "My Chinese Experience" a new book by local man Billy Costine - a follow on from his first book "Flight of a Magpie". Best of luck to him.
29.01.20 Been a while in the making but I'm finally almost finished "Rock & Roll Never Forgets" the Bagatelle biography I have been working on. Should have a fancy Dublin launch around April but Jesus Christ I'm not looking forward to the traveling around the country to promote it, mainly because most of the time I haven't a clue where I'm going. I could easily start out for Wexford and end up in Westmeath!
26.12.19 - Very sad to have lost two Waterford legends in the space of 24 hours. First Johnny Matthews passes away aged 73 now just learned of Dick Hayes passing at 74. Both were bona fide Waterford legends. Johnny hit 147 goals in a star studded LOI career while Dick Hayes had started gigging at the tender age of 14 and joining showbands like The Silvertones, The Decca Showband and had a Top 30 UK hit in 1965 with "Hey Schoolgirl". A bed of heaven to both.
02.11.19 Delighted to finally hand over €2500 to the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind today. That of course came from our kind sponsor Paddy Power for the recent Mascot Race. The Irish Heart Foundation received €1000 as well. Check out my social media Facebook/Twitter for more on this.