David Artell / David Artell / 28 February 2008 / Leave a comment

Morecambe's non-nonsense defender David Artell on post-match celebrations, the best cheerleaders in Division Two and being jealous about Ryan Giggs

It was refreshing to see a team other than one of the 'big four' win the first trophy of the season and I think that Tottenham fully deserved their Carling Cup success. Juande Ramos has really galvanised Tottenham and instilled a winning mentality that Martin Jol failed to. After adopting a strict dietary regime that has seen the squad lose 50kg (and another reported 50kg to go) it must have been refreshing for the players to see that Ramos gave them the green light to go out and enjoy themselves after their win at Wembley.

I'm not sure the players would have stayed in if Ramos wouldn't have said anything though! Hopefully our gaffer will be able to tell us to go and enjoy ourselves after a Wembley win this season one way or another. I know the lads certainly enjoyed themselves after the play-off final last year.

On a more serious note, Eduardo's injury is something nobody wants to see on a football pitch. It was a horrific injury but not the worst I've ever seen. The worst injury I've ever seen was to our goalkeeper Joe Lewis earlier this year after clashing heads with an opponent. He had an inch wide gap running from the bridge of his nose into his hairline. I've seen many a bad clash of heads but this one was horrific.

You could actually see his skull until our physic literally pushed his forehead back together. Thankfully Joe made a good recovery and was only out for a few weeks and now plays in a Petr Cech style head-guard. Eduardo though, will be out for much longer and he will have both a physical and psychological battle. It's never easy being injured. One of our players, Frazer McLachlan, broke his leg in the second game of the season and is only now returning to training. He is a keen golfer but you can't do that with a broken leg so for the last six months he has thrown himself into his studies (to be an accountant) which has helped him pass the time. I'm not sure Eduardo will study to become an accountant but he will have to take up some hobby, even if it's just playing computer games, to pass the time and stop him going insane.

On a much lighter note, I'm going to put my neck on the line and claim that Morecambe must have one of the best cheerleading troupes in League 2. The 'Shrimpets' are distinctly better than your average football clubs half-time entertainment as they can actually dance in time! We haven't gone as far as getting a club mascot which is probably a good thing because I'm not sure a small prawn walking round the edge of the pitch would raise the atmosphere.

Going back to the real entertainers (as opposed to the half-time entertainers) and you cannot help being jealous of Ryan Giggs. Most people would be happy to complete 100 games at a professional level but to compete in 100 European games is extraordinary. To be at the top of the game for so long with one club in this day and age is almost unheard of. I'm not sure how he's done it (especially since you consider that the early part of his career was blighted with hamstring injuries). I believe he got told that his hamstring injuries could have been down to the driving position in his supercars. He was putting that much stress on his susceptible hamstrings on his way to training/matches that as soon as he started running they would tear. There's plenty of time after football for him to drive fast cars so if think you've seen Ryan Giggs in a banger of a car you probably have!

His Manchester United side are in the capital this weekend taking on Fulham at Craven Cottage. Manchester United must have been buoyed by Arsenal's result last week and I think they won't slip up against a struggling Fulham side. I think a free-scoring Manchester United side could easily score four goals themselves but Fulham may even chip in with one of their own so I'm confident that between them they can conjure up over 3.5 goals, which is a [3.15] shot on Betfair.

David Artell plays for Morecambe FC:

http://www.morecambefc.com/

Tags: Carling Cup final, David artell, Eduardo injury, Morecambe FC