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Hughes always kept you on your toes

IT was sad to see that the great Liverpool and England player Emlyn Hughes died this week from a brain tumour. I played against Hughes, who was known as Crazy Horse, for many years. He was a very honest player ? he gave it his all. His name Crazy Horse came from the fact that he ran and ran. He was captain of Liverpool when they won two European Cup titles and four English League titles and no doubt everyone at Liverpool, never mind English football, will be mourning him. I didn't have too much trouble playing against him but he certainly kept you on your toes. He had great enthusiasm and the one thing I will always fondly remember about him is that he had a high-pitched voice.

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The young Brazilian player, Robinho who I have been watching play for Santos over the last few years, is now set to join Real Madrid. He and the other impressive youngster from Santos, Diego, are the future of Brazilian football. Diego is now playing in Portugal and I can see why a great club like Real have been chasing Robinho. He is a class player with immense talent and he is only 20 years old. However Robinho is having to deal with a terrible situation in Brazil right now ? his mother was kidnapped last weekend and there has been no news of her release. That must be horrible for the young man. Kidnapping family members of top players has unfortunately been going on in Argentina for a while now but it looks like it has spread to Brazil. I just hope everything turns out OK for the young player.

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We still haven't heard the end of the last encounter between Arsenal and Manchester United which United won 2-0 late last month ending Arsenal's unbeaten streak. It was also a match which saw tempers flare and ended up with Ruud van Nistelrooy being banned for a few games for a nasty tackle on Ashley Cole. And it was also a match which saw food thrown at Alex Ferguson in the tunnel after the game.

Now it looks like United and Arsenal are set to square up to each other again ? this time in the quarter-finals of the League Cup on December 1.

Arsenal sent out basically an Under-21 team this week to face Everton in the League Cup and came away with an impressive 3-1 victory. That just shows you how good some of the youngsters are who have been signed by Arsene Wenger. United then went out and beat Crystal Palace 2-0 in their League Cup match to set up their eagerly awaited quarter-final. Wenger has said he will basically be sticking with his young side on December 1 and I agree with him. When young players can go out and beat Everton 3-1 you have to stick with them ? and the League Cup is probably not the most important competition for Arsenal this season. No matter how you look at it, the match should be fun to watch.

Last weekend United had a scoreless draw against rivals Manchester City while Arsenal also let points slip with their 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace. Now Chelsea, with their 1-0 win over Everton, lead the tables. But there is still a long way to go yet and I feel that the team which takes the Premiership will be the one which has the less injuries towards the end of the season.

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This weekend will see some good games being played ? a number of them historic rivalries. The biggest rivalry, and I hope it will not have any violence surrounding it ? will be Portsmouth travelling to their hated rivals Southampton. There was a lot of trouble in this match last year and I hope the Police will be out in force. Southampton are having a hard time of it this year ? especially after being beaten by Watford 5-2 in the League Cup this week. The new manager, Steve Wigley, is under the gun and he could be gone if they fail this weekend. It is unfortunate that the manager takes the fall when it really is the players who are at fault. But that's football.

Another promising game looks to be Arsenal making the short trip to Spurs who just lost their French manager. Chelsea have to go to Fulham who they will meet in another League Cup quarter-final while Manchester United travel to Newcastle which is usually a good game with lots of goals. They have had some great games over the years.

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I am still angry about the BFA presidential election ? but in particular about the representative for Somerset voting against his own man Mark Trott for president. And Mark lost the vote by a vote! He was done in by his own club! This person from Somerset must be held accountable and the club needs to take appropriate action. They should show him the door and say "check you later". This is what's wrong with our football in Bermuda and we cannot go forward with people like that. Most of us have more knowledge about the game in our toenail that this man has in his whole body. It was disgraceful.