They think it's all over… it is now...

Well this is it then. We appear to have reached the end of the road as far as Some People Are On The Pitch is concerned. After four years and around 1,300 posts, it's time for us to go.

As I mentioned last week, this isn't so much a 'goodbye' as a 'bye for now'. As from next season, I'll be writing on an occasional basis for Football Fairground along with Terry Duffelen, Graham Sibley, Chris Nee and anyone else that gets roped in. It'll give me more time to go off and do other things, and for that I must wholeheartedly thank Terry  and Graham for their support and understanding.

I never thought when I first created this blog that it'd be quite such a fulfilling experience, but that it most certainly has been. It's given me a sense of purpose, an engrossing pastime and an opportunity to get to know some fantastic people. Perhaps it's this last point that's given me the greatest satisfaction – interacting with visitors to SPAOTP, many of whom have great football blogs of their own, and generally having a lot of fun.

I'd love to list everyone that falls into that category, but there's simply too many of you. Just know that if at any time you've sent me a message, left a comment on a post or just visited our website, I've been incredibly grateful to you for being so considerate. Writing for and maintaining a blog is one thing, but knowing there's someone out there showing an interest in what you say or do really makes it all worthwhile, so thank you.

My final thanks are reserved for Terry, Graham and Martin Lewis who helped me get Some People Are On The Pitch off the ground and keep it there. I couldn't have done it without you all, and if this site has been in any way successful, it's as much down to your efforts as anyone else's. Thanks for your friendship and all your hard work.

If you'll now excuse me, it's time I was off. Don't forget to join us at FootballFairground.com sometime soon, but for now it's goodbye, good luck and thanks for visiting Some People Are On The Pitch.

Best wishes,
Chris O.

SPAOTP: Nearly time to go...

With a week to go before the 2010 World Cup comes to an end, it's time to tell you that next Sunday will also, sadly, see the end of Some People Are On The Pitch.

After four years of blogging about football and all its interesting facets, I've decided that the time is right to bring an end to this humble little project of ours.

And I say 'ours' because although I was the one that created this website back in 2006, it's been my great good fortune to share the writing duties over the last two years with a couple of outstanding friends – Terry Duffelen and Graham Sibley. Without them, SPAOTP would have foundered back in the early part of 2008. As it is, they came along at exactly the right time to help reinvent the site and give it a fresh sense of purpose.

The fact that SPAOTP has become a well-known football blog among the many thousands on the web is, I'd like to think, a testament to the efforts each of us have made in writing articles that have gone on to be read by many, many people around the world.

Unfortunately for me, an ever decreasing amount of free time has left me frustratingly unable to write more and do more to improve the popularity of the website. As a husband and father, my life has become ever more busy with the everyday work required just to support my own family. With that in mind, I must concede that there's nothing else I can do to help Some People Are On The Pitch compete against so many excellent football blogs.

I've therefore decided, in consultation with Terry and Graham, to bring an end to SPAOTP on the day of the World Cup Final, one week from today. But before you ask, I won't be strolling off into the sunset never to be seen again. Nor, for that matter, will SPAOTP's flame be completely extinguished.

Terry and Graham have kindly given me the opportunity to contribute on an occasional basis to a new website that's been created called Football Fairground. On it, some old familiar features like the TV Previews, Bundesbag and Football Americana will combine with our other web projects such as The Onion Bag and The Sound of Football to provide a wide range of wonderful content all under one roof.

We hope you like the new site and we hope, too, that you enjoy the final week of Some People Are On The Pitch. The time for handing out thanks and getting all nostalgic will come later, but for now it's back to the blog…

Best wishes,
Chris O.

SPAOTP's 1,000th Post

And now, a moment of self-regarding nonsense on our part, if you don't mind.

What you are reading now may seem fairly ordinary by our standards (and indeed it is), but this is in fact a very special post. Put simply, this is Some People Are On The Pitch's 1,000th post.

We appreciate the sentiment and sense of achievement might be lost on most of you but when this humble little football blogsite started out in 2006, it was difficult to believe that one day we might end up with 1,000 articles to our name.

And by jove we've certainly covered a great many subjects in those articles. We've delved into the deepest recesses of football's history (pausing occasionally for a spot of nostalgia), we've written about the present-day goings-on not just in England but also across Europe and in the US and we've written guides and match reports on everything from the World Cup to the African Nations Cup.

Oh and let's not forget the 137 Friday Lists of Little or No Consequence to date, our twice-weekly TV Previews that have appeared on the site since April 2008 and countless other regular features that have led The Guardian and The Telegraph to single us out for a special mention, bless them.

Yes, we've covered a lot of ground in reaching this milestone and we hope you've enjoyed what you've read on this or any prior visit to the site. It goes without saying that we shall go on for at least another 1,000 posts and beyond (health and sanity permitting) so it just remains to say thank you for your continuing support and from me personally, thanks to everyone that's contributed on the writing side over the last two-and-a-half years. You know who you are and be aware that you're loved in a very special way.

Oh well, can't stop. Post 1,001 is waiting to be published and I believe there's another Sound of Football Podcast to tell you about...

Best wishes,
Chris O.

Now we are Three

A brief moment of self-congratulation now as we pause to acknowledge our third birthday here at Some People Are On The Pitch.

In doing so, I'd particularly like to thank my two co-bloggers, Duffman and Sp3ktor for the new lease of life they've breathed into this site since April 2008. This time last year, SPAOTP was about to close down for all kinds of reasons but it was my good fortune that our paths crossed when they did for since then Some People Are On The Pitch has undboutedly gone on from strength to strength.

The time and effort they've put into producing much of the text you read is worthy of all our thanks, and the same can be said of our latest recruit to the writing team, Seb. The one thing I've learnt since SPAOTP began is that there are some genuinely decent people out there who are a delight to 'meet' and work with and Seb, like Duffman and Sp3ktor, certainly fits into that category.

Finally, my thanks as ever go to you, our visitors, for all your support and interest. Without you, there's frankly no point in doing what we do. We hope you enjoy the articles we write and that you'll stay with us as we enter our fourth year.

All the best and bye for now,
Chris O.

A new look for SPAOTP...

Hello folks...

Before our next post, we thought we'd just say a few words about our brand new redesign.

As you can see, we've been busy with our felt-tip pens and our poster paints to come up with this bright, fresh, zingy new look for Some People Are On The Pitch. We hope you like it.

Naturally it's always a bit of a shock to the system when something you've come to rely upon suddenly looks different as Joan Rivers' husband will testify. We also concede that change is not always for the better, but in this new design we hope you'll get even more pleasure from SPAOTP than you already were.

There's much for the keen-eyed enthusiast to take in. We're now using an even wider column down the middle of the screen so we can fit more in, plus there's a new banner, new menus and a little bit of extra business near the bottom for stuff we couldn't fit in anywhere else.

All in all, we hope you find everything rather more visually appealing than with the old design. And before you say it, we know - it's not quite perfect yet, but we're working hard to iron out the last remaining glitches. Please bear with us while we do so, and thanks in advance for your patience.

And that's about it, really. If you'd like to send us any comments or thoughts about the redesign, even if it's to say what you particularly like or dislike, please feel free to do so - we'd love to hear from you. Just send us an email to info [at] spaotp [dot] com and tell us what you think.

Right then - on with the show, as they say...

Self-regarding moment of congratulation

A brief pause to acknowledge two landmarks in the history of this little blogsite...

Apology to all our visitors

I'd like to extend a personal apology to all of you who were unable to access our website yesterday. It seems Webfusion, the company that looks after our domain name (www.spaotp.com) suffered from some sort of service downtime which was entirely out of my control. I had no warning of it, no time to make alternative arrangements and therefore we were all left high and dry.

NOT impressed, I have to say, but I shall be taking issue with them over the matter. Meantime, here below is an article I wrote yesterday which was meant to be topical - sadly now it isn't, but you get the drift...

The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #30

Isn't the Internet a wonderful thing?
20 Things That People Typed Into Their Search Engines Which Resulted In A Visit To 'Some People Are On The Pitch'

1. dartford fc fans in america
2. alan hansen scar
3. you're only as good as your last game
4. alan hansen scar on face
5. andy gray take a bow son
6. hotshot hamish
7. how do i choose when to ejaculate
8. southampton football pitch streaker
9. what does a football pitch look like ?
10. tiger woods or micah richards
11. 5 points on what happened on 27 july 1996 in ilford
12. alan hanson scar face
13. andy gray likes spurs
14. alan hansens facial scar how did he get it
15. blackburn rovers crap
16. hamish hotshot
17. how to pronounce van nistelrooy
18. mark hughes of baboon
19. metal tipped goalie gloves in scotland
20. number of chips consumed during the european football world cup, 2007

The SPAOTP Awards 2007 : Disappointment of the Season

There were several contenders for this award, but we've decided to give it to the brutal challenge made by Ben Thatcher (then of Manchester City) on Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes back in August 2006.

For those that don't remember, Thatcher and Mendes were running for a loose ball during the 0-0 draw at the City of Manchester Stadium when Thatcher inexplicably elbowed Mendes in the face while running at full speed. Despite leaving the Portuguese international concussed (causing a seizure later) and needing oxygen treatment, Thatcher walked away from the incident claiming he hadn't done anything wrong.



A slow-motion replay of the incident proved he couldn't have been further from the truth. Ben Thatcher was given a yellow card while Pedro Mendes headed for an overnight stay in hospital.

Manchester City saw fit to ban him for six games while the FA instigated its own eight-game ban. Thatcher later sent a written apology to Mendes who, two weeks later, returned to the game under medical supervision.

We think it's despicable that one player should want to impart so much pain on a fellow professional. A bad tackle is one thing, but to leave another player needing hospital treatment is totally uncalled for. To see what amounts to a physical assault during a game of football is something no-one would ever want to witness. It was without question our low-point of the season - one that we hope is never repeated.

Happy Birthday to us!

It's difficult to believe, but this little blog site of ours started life exactly one year ago today. How time flies...

Back then, we were building up to the 2006 World Cup, wondering what fate lay ahead for the 32 competing teams. We had no idea who Theo Walcott was, no faith in Sven Goran Eriksson and no idea that Italy were on the verge of being crowned world champions.

To pass the time away, we selected our best players of the tournament, played Spot the Ball and asked you to vote for your favourite TV pundits and commentators. 'Big Bluffer' proved hugely popular and helped attract a wider audience of friends new and old through our first big interactive feature.

When the World Cup was over and the excitement had died down, we gave our site a sparkly new look and turned our attention to the upcoming Premiership season. We surveyed the new kits on show, predicted the outcome of the league and watched the drama unfold before us.

As ever, there was time to look back through football history and our series 'England In The 70's' gave an in-depth account of one of the most interesting and most overlooked periods the national team has known.

Nostalgia has always been one of our favourite themes and this was apparent as we looked back to our Subbuteo-playing days and started a new series looking at Obscure Kits From British Football History.

Back in the here and now, the European Championship qualifiers were underway as were the UEFA Cup and Champions League competitions. We looked at the chances of the British teams involved and put everything into context in our own distinctive fashion.

To provide a tangible sense of light and shade, we began an occasional series called 'Seven Shades of...' where two well-known figures in football were connected in a spurious fashion via five people inbetween.

Even our regular contributor, Kedge, decided to write a 'Seven Shades of...' item and this prompted us to create an email address for anyone else that wanted to write for us too. If you want to do the same, you still can by contacting us at write4us[at]spaotp[dot]com. Many of you already have and we remain incredibly grateful for all your efforts.

By November 2006, it was time to start another interactive series – You Bet. Over 10 weeks, we invited you, our loyal public, to help us raise as much money as possible for Great Ormond Street Hospital by selecting a football-related bet that we could spend our £1 on. By the new year, we'd tripled our money and most importantly, had fun generating some much-needed cash for charity.

An SPAOTP trend began with the first of our analytical articles – 'Does Your Club Hit the Net on the Web?' It focused on the good, bad and in some cases awful Premiership club websites and compared their many and varied features. This was followed by a look at how countries with large populations often fail to live up to their potential in world football in 'The India Equation.'

By now, you, our visitors, were discovering us from all over the world. Be it the United States, Romania, Singapore or New Zealand, we've been staggered by how far the word has spread about SPAOTP. To this day, we feel humble at having such a wide-spread audience and are grateful for the sense of purpose you've given us.

Most recently, another of our light-hearted series has begun – 'The Friday List of Little or No Consequence.' It's fast turning out to be our most popular feature and somehow manages to raise a smile amongst many of you despite its utter futility and lack of significance.

Fortunately our site isn't based entirely on futility. We've always aimed to entertain, educate and give a refuge for those that want more than just football news, and that's exactly what we intend to do in the future.

We've been stockpiling lots of new material which you'll be seeing on the site in the coming months looking at all possible aspects of 'the beautiful game.' Future items include our second 'Kit Legend' vote, a look at the impact foreign players make on the game plus a special European 'You Bet' for the Champions League and UEFA Cup finals.

We hope you continue to enjoy Some People Are On The Pitch as much as we enjoy putting it together. It just remains for us to give a huge thank you to everyone that's visited, left comments, written articles, linked to our site and given us all the motivation we've ever needed to carry on. You continue to inspire us to bigger and better things.

And now, as this is a day of celebration and reflection for us, why not let us know your thoughts and ideas about SPAOTP? What are your favourite bits of the site? What would you like to see more or less of? How can we make things better? Leave us a comment and let us know! Your feedback is much appreciated.

Oh, and one other thing - to celebrate our first birthday we're trying to organise a special event so that those of you within spitting distance of London can join us in person by way of a football-related get-together. Watch this space for more details...

For now though, as we head off at the start of our second year, thanks for visiting and make sure you come back soon. We are Some People On The Pitch and it's a pleasure to be of service to you.

Write For 'Some People Are On The Pitch' !

Here at SPAOTP, we love writing about football. It's a way of informing, educating and amusing people like you who so graciously come and visit our site. But we don't just like to write - we love reading what other people have written too.

To that end, your wonderful comments and feedback have been such a pleasure to read over the last few months that we're convinced you could all be budding writers in the making! So how about this for an offer: why not have a go at writing an article for Some People Are On The Pitch?

You must have read one of our posts in the past and thought "I could do that" or "I know what I'd write about if I had the chance"? Well if you have, why not show us the fruits of your burgeoning talent? It's dead easy - all we ask is that you write about some aspect of football (the choice is entirely yours) - and send it to us here at write4us [at] spaotp [dot] com. We'll give it the once over and if we like what we see, you can expect to have your article published forthwith.

Please note: your articles may be subject to editing - nothing too drastic, we hope - but nevertheless anything that's deemed too long or too unsuitable may require amendment on our part.

We look forward to publishing your material!

Best wishes,
Chris.

The 100th Post

Ladies and gents, may I have your attention for a brief moment, please...

I'd like you all to raise a glass with us to Some People Are On The Pitch which today celebrates its 100th post.

Over the last 148 days, we've written and talked about all kinds of football-related things from the World Cup and the Premiership through to quirky football kits and the annoying nature of TV pundits.

But for those of you that thought we must be starting to run out of things to talk about, I have some bad news. We're nowhere near finished yet! In the coming weeks, we'll be covering loads more stuff be it serious, silly, analytical or nostalgic.

But we've not just been beavering away at our computer keyboards writing though, oh no. We've also been trying to raise awareness in our happy little blogsite by promoting it in various places, the result of which is that we're getting new people visiting all the time.

So as we push on with the next 100 posts, we'd like to thank all of you that have read what we've had to say and left comments of your own. The site gets better and better all the time thanks to your feedback and participation in everything we do.

And now, on with the show...

Welcome to the new-look 'Some People Are On The Pitch'!

Yes, we're back and ready for the 2006/2007 domestic football season with a brand-new look and lots of great stuff to talk about!

As ever, we'll be keeping you entertained and amused as we deal with all things 'football,' whether it's the latest transfers, the latest news or the latest rumour heard down the pub - it'll be here, and it'll be treated with disdain as is entirely appropriate.

When it comes to features, some of your old favourites will be making a welcome return but we'll also have some new stuff to keep you interested in the beautiful game from the pre-season friendlies right up to the moment when Watford lift the Champions League trophy. Yes, we really have got that much to talk about.

So without further ado, why not settle down, forget all about Zidane and his wayward head and get yourselves ready for another season of top quality club footy. This is Some People Are On The Pitch, and you are invited to join us.