SchalkeUK

Vera was part of my childhood - going to sleep before and during the air raids with her songs 'Up The Wooden Hill To Bedfordshire' and 'Little Man You've Had A Busy Day'. As for 'If Only I Had Wings' it shows the level of ignorance and incompetence in the modern researchers that they cannot even get the title correct when they are re-writing history. I remember her programme when she first sang it and thanked Geraldo for playing it to her, but it was never one of 'her songs'. My own favourite will always be the song we played at my mother's funeral 'There'll Come Another Day' because that summed up the real wartime feeling in the North of England more that the far away Cliffs which to us were almost 'abroad'. Sitting in the Air Raid Shelter and playing a 78 on a wind-up gramophone and joining in as she asked us to 'Be Like The Kettle And Sing' was fun to us kids and she became a sort of second mum on 't radio. Despite her 'very posh' voice we always waited for the programme- her diction was down to a guy named Charles Smart aka Harold . When I interviewed her for BFBS in 1961 she told me that Charles played the Organ on many of her early recordings and insisted that she lost her London accent as the BBC would not broadcast her songs unless she changed the 'vowerls' - only Gracie Fields could get away with that sort of thing.... Her sense of humour was not always recognised, but she could be a very funny - and occasionally - near to the mark with some of her stories from Burma during the War - 'those boys in the Jungle had a lot to answer for' she said! Dear, dear Vera!

Fulham will be smarting after the local defeat so do not underestimate them - they still want to be in the play-offs. Happily the game will also be on TV - my Croatian friend sent a sad message after the game, but was more than happy that there was still a promotion to be had!

Yes! The young Irishman has been watched for some time now and with our present problems in goal he will have a good chance to progress even from the U-19 side at first, but it might not be too long before his ability gets him higher! Sad for all the local girls who are 04 fans - the rumour was that we were signing a refugee from Love Island - turned out to be another Dan! I also find it difficult to u here have not had the usual go at 04 for the disaster in the Tonnies factory - not the 04 factory which he pre3sides over with total disgraceful behaviour - can't understand why he did not object to the latest support running through the PL and the BL for the BLM movement - but hopefully this might force him out once and for all and we can get back to decent, honest behaviour which will stop folk like DDW making those sort of comments which a few years ago would have got him thrown out of here! Not sure if I should continue at the moment! We lost a lot of young TFF supporters when the language got out of hand then and it seems to be getting that way now - sure there will be calls for me to shut the X up but that will only make the point more relevant. Not sure if I am now in the minority in this or are we losing the respect which we always tried to engender here?

After the long wait it seems that the Leeds boys have not yet woken up - Cardiff played well and deserved their win. but towards the end there were signs that the Elland Road gang were beginning to realise this was reality returning - I really do hope this was just a blip and not the end of season start of deterioration as usual - fingers crossed Lucas!

I have some friends in Tucepi who tell me their TV (Sportsklub) will be televising the game on Sunday - there are more fans in places you can't always know about who are waiting for the promotion back up again! Keep the faith young Lucas! If you get the chance to listen to what they did this week - the sound in the ground is both awesome and awful but those on the pitch seemed to like it!

Ask Caac John about the times I used to get the kids to collect branches and pretend to be Dunsinane - not exactly a battle in a forest, but a well-known ploy to upset even the best generals - and sometimes even their mad women!

My 31 was great and 32 totally garbage - hope the odd weeks are OK! Bayern - Freiburg 5-1 Leipzig - Dortmund 3-1 Hoffenheim - Union 1-2 Düsseldorf - Augsburg 2-1 Hertha BSC - Leverkusen 1-3 Mainz - Bremen 0-2 Schalke - Wolfsburg 0-2 Köln - Frankfurt 1-3 Paderborn - Gladbach 0-4

Just reliving Gary Puckett's time in the 60's and the group (Union Gap) are due here in September - hope to be able to get to see them and take my 'Young Girl' with me

Saturday 20th June, 2020 Fulham vs Brentford, 2-2 Espanyol vs Levante, 1-4 CSKA Moscow vs Zenit, 1-2 Xamax vs Thun, 3-1 Torino vs Parma, 1-2 Sunday 21st June, 2020 Incheon vs Busan, 2-2 Cardiff vs Leeds, 1-3 Brondby vs Copenhagen, 0-2 Atalanta vs Sassuolo, 3-1 Sturm Graz vs LASK, 1-3

Gladbach - Wolfsburg 2-2 Bremen - Bayern 1-3 Freiburg - Hertha BSC 1-1 Union - Paderborn 2-2 Frankfurt - Schalke 1-2 Dortmund - Mainz 4-1 Leipzig - Düsseldorf 3-2 Leverkusen - Köln 3-0 Augsburg - Hoffenheim 2-2

The kids are alright!

Benfica - Pizzi

Saturday 13th June, 2020 Celta Vigo 1-3 Villarreal SV Mattersburg 1-2 Austria Vienna Besiktas 4-1 Antalyaspor Panathinaikos 2-1 PAOK Napoli 1-2 Inter Milan Sporting Braga 5-1 Boavista Sunday 14th June, 2020 Daegu 2-2 FC Seoul Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Atletico Madrid RB Salzburg 2-0 LASK Real Sociedad 3-0 Osasuna

Hoffenheim - Leipzig 1-3 Wolfsburg - Freiburg 2-2 Düsseldorf - Dortmund 0-4 Hertha BSC - Frankfurt 3-1 Köln - Union 1-2 Paderborn - Bremen 1-2 Bayern - Gladbach 4-1 Mainz - Augsburg 0-2 Schalke - Leverkusen 0-4 (sorry nudge, but can't see where the 1 will come from)

Liverpool supporters will be very happy that Timo is talking to Chelsea. he will not have a happy time in the PL - he is too soft and his International games have been poor when facing tough opposition. When the going gets tough he always drifts out of the picture and although my guys in the BL tell me what a nice guy he really is on and off the pitch, he lacks the sort of hardness the PL will need. Joel was a really tough kid, but he has struggled at times at Anfield and only Sead and Kristian of our others have been able to put up with the English game - even young Leroy has suffered from the attention he got and will be away in a few months time. I really hope I'm wrong this time, but Timo should stay in Germany where his fans will always accept the sort of in/out game he plays.