It's time again for the long-awaited blog posting of sPh3r3r3r 3ff3ct, and I must say it's been awhile since the last such posting, considering what allure the World Cup had on me - catching hold of me for a month and allowing me to be the "coverted sports journalist" i always wanted to be(STILL wanna be)...

But without further ado, let's get on to updates that people, like a certain Lane Tan, wanna see and gossip about....

1) The World Cup may be over, but the footballing community is gearing itself up for another season of domestic football which, in this case, is the Premiership. Newcastle wrapped a good Saturday by firstly qualifying for the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds, via the Inter-Toto Cup, after an emphatic 3-0 victory over Norwegian opponents Lillestrom SK. Shola Ameobi, passed fit for this game after sustaining an ankle injury on Thursday, scored 2 goals - 1 a chance after the Lillestrom keeper parried an Emre free-kick out to Ameobi, another a tap-in after great work from Scotty Parker from the right flank. But the biggest news was the signing of Chelsea's Irish winger Damian Duff for a now-confirmed GBP5 million. Pacy and free-scoring, the ability to play anywhere across the park as either a winger, attacking forward or a playmaker tempted Glenn Roeder to shell out the quids for his first signing of the season. More faces are expected at Newcastle, though the 1 face everyone wants to see is the face of an established striker who is able to score 30-goals-a-season and wear the number 9 shirt with pride and honour. Howay the Lads - but the battle is on to sign the elusive firepower.

2) A little bit of comical relief here, as sang by my new TPSU Honorary General Secretary Sarah Lois Yong Si Hui, here are the UPDATED lyrics for the all-time classic - The End Of The World by Sylvia Dee & Arthur Kent:

3) Haha, moving on...Had a ALMOST-FULL football match with my Newcastle Singapore football team last Saturday. Played 80 minutes of a mostly-one sided game, where i excelled at the left-back role, but flopped as a left-winger. Put in a few good crosses as well...I even had time to miss a shot when the ball rolled out to me after Zaid tried to get a shot within the penalty area. Could have been better myself, but a efficient team performance ensured we ran out 8-1 winners. Keegan Morales Gan scored a hat-trick, Tim - our version of Michael Owen, and Khairul Dyer grabbed a brace each while Jake Torres got 1. Though it was a good result, we were playing against arguably-mediocre opponents and we have to slowly step up our tempo and quality.

With all of that said, the next posting will hopefully have more tidbits of juicier contents.


Terence...OUT!