This post would have been put on this blog Sunday night but the internet is not being kind to me at the moment. If I could be bothered I would edit the part in the original post where I talk about Matthew Upson as news has come out today that he will be out for up to three weeks only.

Relegation? Well West Ham took another step closer on Saturday with defeat to Aston Villa. A massively disappointing season is quickly coming to an end with the inevitable conclusion of dropping down to the Fizz Pop league. The spate of injuries we have suffered and the injury during the match of Matthew Upson just says something very clearly to me. That is we are just like Birmingham last season. Injury list as long as your arm, lack of quality all through out the squad and bad luck. All that with bad performances and strife on and off the field and we are heading the same way as the side from the 2nd city. As typed in my last post, if we are to be relegated then we would be the strongest side financially in the Championship, just like Birmingham are at the moment.

In other news, a police officer was killed during clashes between Catiania and a certain team from Scilly called Palermo. The Police officer was killed after being struck in the face with an explosive device of some sort. Look up on youtube and you will see movies of West Ham fans being held back after the game and having these similar devices being thrown at them from a distance. Of course it’s the English disease and the “Menacing” West Ham fans that attended the game who are at fault for everything that happened. To be totally honest I was not surprised in the slightest that this has happened as all through out the Italian footballing scene there is lawlessness and as I was there in Palermo for the UEFA Cup game I feel I can give an honest opinion of the events. From leaving the plane and getting to the hotel, the events of the Wednesday night had soured an already threatening mood and skirmishes and fights were rumours flying about the group I was with (which later was proven to be correct). When day turned to night, that’s when things started to get really hairy. People were having debris thrown at them from above and stories were going round of more attacks so people started to walk in a convoy. Getting to the game was a hassle as well and getting the coach into the car park was difficult as no police were there to stop the Palermo fans from throwing things and getting up close to the coach. Over here you get a police escort, over there you are left to defend yourself. All throughout the match police dogs were stationed in front of the West Ham fans but these very same policemen were no where top be seen after the game. At full time we were held back in the ground and very slowly the Palermo fans were being moved from the ground and then was then the volume of explosions thrown increased and these were coming from the group of people being moved on by stewards and being totally honest, you could not see anyone getting arrested or detained! These days over here coughing might get you thrown out while in Italy you get moved on. After the gates were opened coaches were there to drive people back to the town centre. Once again people were left to defend themselves and nothing was done by the police to break up any of the human barricades the Palermo fans had set up on all the main roads, just waiting for anyone to walk down the wrong way. The death of the policeman must be a wake up call as from what I personally saw the policing are totally inadequate and non-existent in places.