“From a Celtic fan….

In 2003, our UFFA Cup final year, I went on a bus from Shawlands to the Celtic v Blackburn game at Ewood Park.

We won 2-0 and wanted to celebrate after the match, so we asked the driver to take us to Blackpool. At first he refused and after we had a whip round and gave him 80 quid he agreed to take us for a few hours.

I can’t remember the name of the pub, but we were in there a few hours, got a wee lock in and bevied the night away. Anyway, the driver came into the pub and told us to get ready to leave for Glasgow, we had five minutes.

We were well pished and slowly and drunkenly made our way to the bus. On the bus we were all getting comfy for a wee kip on the way home when someone from the pub came running out shouting that we’d left one of the boys behind. We were all ignoring the driver’s pleas to go and get him so the driver and a few of the bar staff brought this 20 stone bear of a guy out of the pub. He was pish and well asleep. They huffed and puffed him onto the bus and laid him on the floor in the aisle between the seats. We didn’t really take much notice as we were pish ourselves and trying to get a kip.

Thing is, the guy was snoring like a f*cking train and about 10 miles north of Gretna my cousin Brian woke up asking what the f*ck that noise was.
As a few more of us woke up we looked at the lump of a guy on the floor. Some of the guys tried to wake him up but had no luck, then oor Brian said that the guy wasnae on the bus coming up to Blackburn.

I was laughing ma tits off and said that I hope he doesnae stay in Blackpool. Anyway, one of the guys had a look for the guy’s wallet to see if he had some ID on him. He found a driving license and it had an address in Hamilton on it. So we told the driver to drop him off.

When we got to the guy’s house we had to drag him off the bus as he still wouldn’t wake up. We managed to get his keys out his pocket and open his front door. We laid him on his couch and left his keys on the mantlepiece and left.

We closed the front door behind us and as we were walking down his drive one of his neighbours was coming in from the nightshift and she said…

‘If you’re looking for big Tam, he’s away to Blackpool with the wife and kids for a fortnight.”

—-

Happy holidays!

At Golbox we’ve come to learn that there are many bloggers who are looking for that extra bit of control over the way their football blog looks.

On WordPress itself, you can use a wide range of different themes and Golbox likewise. However we’ve always felt that for those of you looking for that extra control of exactly how your theme looks and feels there needs to be more options.

So I’m now genuinely chuffed to offer The Canvas theme as part of our PRO offering.

It’s completely and utterly blank…you can then drag, drop, select and resize to your hearts’ content, until you finally land with the theme only your imagination could previously offer.

In addition to this superb custom theme, as a PRO blogger you’re also able to use your very own domain name, and have access to additional premium plugins to help your blog do more. And it’s just £2 per month (existing Golbox bloggers get a free year’s domain registration too)

Delicious.

For what it’s worth, we also have strict regulations blocking Arsenal fans who wish death on their own players after a loss.

Despicable.

Obviously it’s going to be a great occasion, but more importantly Golbox’s very own Kay Murray will be cohosting the evening with Ruud Gullit.

Such and exciting opportunity. I, and Golbox, wish you all the best Kay.

One of the very first people to bring their blog over to Golbox (or FootballUnited as  it was known then), was Kay Murray. Her blog, FootballBarbie, was immediately popular, offering great insights into her role as a presenter at Real Madrid TV and life behind the scenes at a football club.

That was in 2009. Today, she’s just been announced as the co-presenter for this years’ Ballon D’or.

What an achievement! I am so proud to have been able to host her blog over the years and work with her to get the best out of it.

Kay even popped into the office for an interview. My first and I’m grateful to Kay for carrying me through it!

The show will be aired at 6pm, Monday on Eurosport (in the UK)

As a big fan of fantasy football, I thought this year we’d try something a bit different. So, in partnership with TotelFootball, I’d like to introduce Golbox Fantasy Football…fantasy football with a twist.

In picking a team, it’s exactly the same as fantasy football. But here’s where it’s different…you can pick a new team every week, based on the fixtures, and place a small wager based on how successful you think your team will do.

So, for example, let’s say Newcastle are at home to Manchester United. You’re rightly thinking, this is probably going to be a bit of a thrashing. So you sling Demba Ba up front, bring Cabaye in and definitely drop Phil Jones and Lindegaard from last week’s team. You pick the rest of your team, and because you’re so confident Man U are going to get battered you stick a fiver on your team.

Once all the fixtures for that week have been played out, the teams with the winning points totals get their winnings dished out based on their original stake.

It’s simple, it’s a lot of fun and we’d love for you to try it out.

Existing Golbox bloggers, you’ll have a tenner arriving in your inbox soon in order to give the game a try and see how you like it.

You can also play other top European Leagues, so don’t worry about having to wait till next week for the next Premier League fixtures…play Golbox fantasy football now!

I’m pleased to say however that the one I settled on generated its 200,000th impression this week.

It will continue to grow as more and more people get involved, but I’m very proud with what it’s achieved in its short lifespan.

If displaying ads on your blog, or across the network is something you’d be interested in then please do drop me a tweet @golbox (or alternatively fill in a the Golbox AdNetwork form)

Sam

And to all those of you who currently blog with us, your Christmas present should be in your inbox. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but it may involve free domain registration for a year

Enjoy!

Sam

In addition to the FREE-FIVE-TWO introductory offer that we currently have running, we’d also like to offer you lovely lot FOUR-FOR-TWO on whatever you order.

So if you wanted you could get four months hosting for just a tenner! You literally will not beat that price for quality hosting space anywhere on the internet*

Your discount code: NOPA442

Signup and redeem against a 4 month subscription here

 

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*probably

Last year, one of our former bloggers Sian won Young Blogger of the Year with her I Believe in Arsenal blog. We were delighted that Golbox were able to assist her during the beginning years of her career as a footy blogger…and I bright future she continues to have!

Not only will I be attending the awards tonight, I will also be armed with a special discount just for attendees – come and find me tonight for your discount code!

I look forward to updating with some great photos from the evening, which is hosted by Picklive; a real time fantasy football game that I’m particularly fond of. They’ve done a great job organising this again, thank you!