I covered a kids football tournament yesterday for the local newspaper. It was great to see the kids enjoying football, what was disturbing however was some of the so-called coaches. I heard phrases bellowed out to 8 and 9 year olds like "pass and move" "cover midfield" and "lets defend in numbers". I played a lot of football and most of the players I played with would have ignored such rubbish, I am glad to say that the kids did also. I wanted to photograph a team of under 11's who were really having a good time when i approached a coach to ask to capture the joy he asked me to come back later as he was doing an after match de-brief!!! Could this be one of the reasons England are not in Euro 2008?

I decided to get to work on the website. The original reason for having it was to promote my exhibition but I feel I have so many pieces of work to show that I ought to make use of the site. Over the next week or so the site and galleries will be re-worked for visitors to enjoy.

My exhibition has now closed and I am extremely pleased with the success of it. Many people have seen it and some made comments in a visitor book some good some quite funny. I will publish some of them on this site shortly. I did a visitor survey into which three pictures were favourites nearly everyone of the pictures got a vote except one, strangely that was one of my particular favourites!!

I had a great day yesterday at Curzon, unfortunately the scoreline was against Leamington a 1-4 defeat. The Brakes fans were disappointed but felt they were probably beaten by a good performance from the home side. The pleasure for me is that the Brakes officials wished Curzon good luck and told them to go on and win the Vase.

Today I have decided to cover Leamington FC's FA Vase Quarter final match at Curzon (Manchester). It will be a tough match as both teams look strong. There should be a large contingent of Leamington supporters travelling and a good day is in prospect.

I have just been informed that more than 6000 people have visited my Crump Is Better Than Yashin exhibtion. The Gallery have issued a press release to announce the fantastic figure. I would like to sincerely thank everyone   who have made the effort to support it. The original idea was for people to enjoy my work and i feel i have definately achieved that.  

Fantastic day of photography yesterday at Leamington. The people made me very welcome and the supporters were superb. There was no bad language just people (families) who wanted to enjoy a afternoon's football. Leamington had a record crowd for their FA Vase 5th Round tie coming out 5-1 winners against Retford United. The Leamington supporters very sportingly applauded the Retford players off the pitch and i felt it was genuine. I have been invited back and i hope to take up the offer. My pictures from the game will appear shortly on this site.

I have a different venue for today's photography, family friendly club Leamington Spa are playing in the 5th round of the FA Vase against Retford United. The club are doing really well and are working in the right direction to succeed. They are expecting a record crowd. Here's to a great day!! 

I met up with an old friend and his family who had travelled a good distance to support my exhibition i really appreciated this gesture, thanks Steve. I also noticed that another ex colleague had also signed the visitor book i wished i had known he was coming, anyway thank you also Dave H.

Due to the snow that has fallen here in Warwickshire todays game with Hyde has been postponed. I have not photographed a match for some time now so i may have to travel to Harrogate next week to gie myself a 'fix'.

Called in the exhibition to see how it was going and there are some really kind comments thank you. The museum are really pleased as the pictures are creating a great deal of interest.

Mort birch did a great two page spread on the exhibition. I plan to re-create it in electronic format for people who did not see it to read from the website.

I am now working on some more ideas to expand the football project and to push myself to the next level. I need that challenge particularly in my photographic work and that is what i intend to do. I feel that fans at this level are more in tune with their football and not carried away with all the hype of the Premiership. There is a huge passionate following of Non-league football long may it continue. I think that is one of my challenges.

In todays edition of the Coventry Telegraph reporter Steve Evans did a great two page spread on the exhibition. Once i saw it i went out and increased sales of copies to give to my family and friends. It was great meeting Steve last week and i felt we had a lot in common, he also had some wonderful stories to tell of his time as a sports reporter.

The exhibition opened today and i was there to chat to anyone who wanted to know more details about the pictures or just to chat. There has been a terrific response to it and i hope people enjoy the pictures. No action for me today as the team travelled to Leeds.

Today Nuneaton Boro' Striker came to preview and promote on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire radio my "Crump is better than Yashin" exhibition. It was a fantastic gesture from Gez to take time to come and do this and i am very grateful. He gave a great insight to his time with the Boro' and told some stories about the photographs. The exhibition seems to have captured the imagination of people as the local press were also there and are going to do a feature on it.

Good day i made contact with the legendary local reporter Mort Birch and chatted about Boro' players from the past and where some of them are now. Mort is going to investigate the whereabouts of Fred Crump the goalkeeper whose name is mentioned in the title of the exhibition. Wouldn't it be great if he could visit it? I used to read Mort's reports on the Boro' when i was young and his name will be forever linked with Nuneaton Boro'.   

Tonights game with Gainsborough has been called off due to a frozen pitch. Shame as i was looking forward to an evenings entertainment. The publicity machine has moved into gear as BBC Coventry & Warwickshire radio have said they will broadcast a piece on my exhibition probably on Friday 26th January. I am very grateful to them for the publicity but even more so to Nuneaton Boro' striker Gez Murphy who has taken time out to help, that is a really kind gesture.

After weeks of selection headaches i finally handed in my 24 exhibition pictures. I am very pleased with them but my aim is for visitors to enjoy the work.

Happy New Year!

Today sees the 'home leg' of the holiday games against Hinckley. It is a bright sunny day and i will be wishing that the rain stays away. I would estimate that the ground will be heavy due to the rain yesterday, i think that will make for a good game of football.

I didn't make it to the game at Kettering yesterday as I took the family to Nottingham to see the Blue Planet Live. This is a show of sequences from the award winning BBC series on a large screen with the music being played by a live orchestra and choir. It was fantastic the effort that went into making the series was remarkable.

I enjoyed the game at Hinckley yesterday. The team were full of passion and worked hard to gain their share of the points. Is it me or do the team seem more comfortable away from home? They are certainly finding the net more.

Today i shall shake off the Christmas lethargy by going to see Nuneaton play Hinckley away. I will not be taking my camera i will just enjoy the game. Hopefully the Boro' can get a much needed victory over their local rivals.

Happy days, my son Jack is 16 today. He is working hard on exams and i find that is a little unfair as i believe everyone should be given their birthday off. It is incredible that time has moved on so quickly, i remember a couple of weeks before he was born was the last real snow we had here, in fact Jack hasn't really seen snow in any quantity. In contrast when i was his age the canals used to freeze hard enough for people to walk on them (is this global warming?).

Fog has descended upon the great town making it quite miserable. Things are winding down for Christmas it seems to start earlier and earlier. I always like Christmas eve and this year it is my turn to provide the evening buffet, the family are looking forward to that.

My exhibition prints arrived today thus putting my mind at ease. Finally completed my christmas shopping and so easing my stress levels even further.

Today the Boro' manager, Roger Ashby resigned. He was cruelly jeered on Saturday by frustrated supporters who demand better from their team. I personally liked Roger who always had time for a brief chat and really did want to be successful and he was, remember less than a year ago the team   pulled out one of the shocks of the FA Cup. Funny game football - McClaren (Middlesboro') could have lost his job if they had been defeated by Nuneaton but in less than 6 months lands the biggest job in football as England manager.  

Oh dear the game yesterday was not what i had hoped for at all. A 3-0 defeat at home, a depleated team strikers in short supply, very sad.

Today i will be at Manor Park taking some pictures of the Boro's FA Trophy game against Redditch. I will be hoping for a good cup run and visiting different grounds. The weather is good and the pies are hot.

Great to see the Boro' win on Saturday they seem to be more confident away from home - scoring plenty of goals. What a fantastic series that Life on Earth has been, the dedication of all those involved in the making of the programmes is outstanding. Final plans now for the exhibition with the labeling of the exhibits and finalising the leaflet design taking place.

Didn't envy the Boro' team last night as the training ground is very exposed. When i left the rain was driving across the pitch and the lads were working hard. Yesterdays meeting at the gallery went very well and they have been very helpful and we all want the exhibition to be a success. In addition to the 25-30 framed pictures on display there will also be a 'rolling' slideshow of some of the many pictures taken that didn't make the final prints.

Good day in prospect, due to meet the gallery over plans for the exhibition talking mainly publicity and advertising. Later i am meeting up with the Boro' players to complete the shoot for this years calendar, this has been a little delayed due to mid-week fixtures for the team.  

It's a nice sunny start to the day here in Warwickshire, but i read an article this morning that ruffled me slightly.

The shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the year has been published, included are Jenson Button, Joe Calzaghe, Darren Clarke, Nichole Cooke, Ricky Hatton, Andrew Murray, Monty Panesar, Zara Phillips Phil Taylor and Beth Tweddle. Some of these names are not what you would call well known by the British public let alone be "personalities". I am sure that they are all very talented in what they do but they are hardly in the same frame of the past six winners (Andrew Flintoff, Kelly Holmes, Paula Radcliffe, Steve Redgrave, Jonny Wilkinson and David Beckham) and for my money Darts and Sport / personality just don't go together, and does anyone still take an interest in boxing these days?.

I feel better for that!  

Had a good day yesterday at the Boro' met with Craig and Joe of a Company called Websoft who are working on a new website for the club. I don't comment publicly about games but lets say i didn't get many picture's still we move on to Alfreton next week with optimism.

Today I will be at Manor Park as the Boro' are playing Harrogate Town. I will as usual be looking for unusual pictures. The weather is a bit bright but it is dry (you can't please snappers).  

I am busy working on my exhibition pictures and support material it's proving more involved than i envisaged still I will gain lots of pleasure from people seeing my work. The website needs more images and they will be added very soon.