Footy art: PETE McKEE

I am big a fan of Sheffield artist Pete McKee.
His cartoons are quite simple and colourful, but beautifully capture the England I know with his depictions of life in a Northern town in England during the 70's and 80's.
He pretty much covers all aspects of life including music, growing up, holidays, parents, pets and much more. I have decided to concentrate on his football pictures for this blog, he is a massive Sheffield Wednesday supporter, but even so does doff his cap to their bitter rivals United, which suggests to me that he is a proper fan.
Enjoy.


Lane Legends.
McKee pays his respects to Blades foursome Tony Currie, Keith Edwards, Jimmy Hagan and 90's goals machine Brian Deane.


Wednesday Legends, Class of 93.
Captured here are SWFC Hirst, Sheridan, Nilsson and Waddle. I love the attention paid to detail, like giving Geordie Chris Waddle a pint of Brown Ale.


Full Time.
A scene familiar to any football fan up and down the UK, the pint after the match, where you would celebrate or drown your sorrows depending upon whether your team was any good or not. I usually drowned my sorrows as Man City tended to be pretty shit back then.


The Lads.
An alternative version of the painting "Full Time" only this time depicting Newcastle United fans instead of Sheff Weds.



Yorkshire Mix.
Simple picture of a dad and his lad, early doors at the match, waiting for the ground to fill up. A common sight.


Wembely.
An intentional miss-spelling of Wembley (As in the stadium) We would play Wembely up north with a group of lads playing against each other in one goal, knocking each other out F.A Cup style until there was only two men standing for the final. Good times.



The Casuals.


Saturday Lads.
A couple of pictures with a nod to the casual culture. Obviously it was big with me, I still fancy myself as a bit of a casual and still wear Adidas, LaCoste and other gear, only now I sport a slaphead instead of a Perry flicker.


Sunday Moaning Football.
As a Sunday league footballer anyone devoted enough to cheer their mates, kids, husband, boyfriend or other loved ones gets my seal of approval, but doing this back home was on another level as the weather was usually awful and made your dedication even more admirable.


Sound of the Crowd.
Captures the exit from your local footy ground in the 80's perfectly. A bit of a crush, all male domain, kid on his dad's shoulders and a geezer smoking a ciggie as he sells the local "Pink Final". I can almost smell dodgy burgers and salt and vinegar coming from the nearby chippy.


Pre-match warm up
Looks like a young lad left sitting at the table in the pub alone while his dad and his mates empty their bladders in the bogs, just before the short walk to the ground.


More Yorkshire Mix
Same as Yorkshire mix only this time featuring Sheffield United instead of Wednesday.


Half Time
Halftime break during a probably epic game on a northern council estate. Jumpers for goalposts, the only thing missing is the bottle of Vimto we would take with us and drink during the middle of the match, Don't remember seeing many 0-0 draws and they were usually settled by a "Next goal wins" shout as we played until it went dark.


Football Highlights.
Possibly boy at the match with his grandad sharing a flask of hot tea or soup before the game. It usually was freezing and it looks like one of those Aladdin flasks that shattered into oblivion is you even glanced at them wrong.


Early Doors.
This was the norm for me and my mates when we first started going to watch City. We'd get into Maine Road as soon as the gates opened and would wander around the Kippax bored out of our heads waiting two or three hours until the ground filled up and the match started.
Just the various sounds and smells you encountered during that time and the sights, which were often violent were fucking magical to my 9 or 10 year old eyes. I can't imagine letting Owen going to the match with a few of his mates these days with a chaperone no older than 12 escorting us, but that's what we did back then.


9-0
Says it all really, I was and still am shit at foosball, and I hate the game as a result. What's the point of playing if you're rubbish?
Exactly.


Oasis - Heaton Park.
A poster McKee did for an Oasis concert in Heaton Park, Manchester.
A couple of kids hanging out in the park (One in a City shirt) waiting for others to show up just so they could start a game.
We'd do this as kids as there was a school at the bottom of our street with football goals. We'd start off with maybe 4 a side and people would see the game from their living room or bedroom windows and come out and join in. Even grown men staggering home quite drunk from the pub were known to join in and sometimes our little game would end up 18 a side. It was beautiful really.
Fights, rain, snow, hail, thunder and lightning or even a rare glimpse of sunshine never stopped play, only a ball popping could do that. And it did happen a couple of time, we hardly ever had a spare with us.
Sigh, life was a lot better and simpler before video games came along.

So City finally lost today.

It had to happen sooner or later.
We have played 15 in the EPL so far, won 12, drew 2 and lost 1.
If you would have offered me that at the start of the season I would have snatched your hand off.
Of course there was a bit of bitterness attached, we should have had a pk and Meireles could and should have been sent off for a nasty looking foul on Zabaleta, but it wasn't to be, we're still two points clear at the top of the league.
No complaints about their pk or the stupid Clichy sending off though, both acts of stupidity that cost us dearly.
And a special message to all those ManUre fans getting excited by tonight's result, I seriously doubt anyone will beat us 6-1 at home this season.

GALAXIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY.

So we Galaxians after much debate on Facebook, settled on December 3rd for our Xmas party.
We held it at El Pescador in Carson (Right by the HDC) and were lucky to have Nicole and Emily from the Miss LA Galaxy court attend along with Aaron who brought the Supporters Shield and the MLS Cup with him.
Let's be honest if it weren't for Aaron bringing the silverware with him the night would have just consisted of dinner.
One of the ladies let it slip that one of the players took the trophy home with him on the night of the final and his dad dropped it and put a small dent in it. She wouldn't say which player it was, but based on Galaxy player's twitter posts I have my theories, but I am obviously too polite to spill the beans.

**cough** Chris **cough** Birchall **cough**



Anyway, we had a great night, it is always nice to see fellow Galaxians.
It was just a shame that some people couldn't make it.
Oh well, me, Kellie, Owen and Mark had a fine time.
It was great to lift the MLS Cup, dinner was lovely and the company was as good as ever.
Owen had a blast as usual hanging out with Marcelo and Mia and I enjoyed chatting with familiar faces. It was just a shame that the band was so loud later on, killing off all hopes of a proper conversation in the process.
A big thank you to all who attended especially the Miss LA Galaxy girls, Aaron, Carlisa for organizing things and to Linda for providing photographs.
Already looking forward to next season.

BLACK FRIDAY.

I went out shopping on "Black Friday", why do they call it that?
Went up to the Camarillo outlet malls and most of the people I saw were Latino or Asian.
Time for a rethink for the guy responsible for naming landmark days in the USA.

LA GALAXY 2011 FULL SEASON REVIEW. Or at least the games Mark and me went to.

We started off the season with a 1-0 win at Seattle Sounders, but seeing me and Mark didn't go to that one we won't bother with it as this blog entry is to concentrate on only the games we attended.

Sun March 20 vs NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION @HDC 1-1 T
We kicked off the home season opener with a monsoon, it rained heavily and steadily all day, we were drenched and watched the G's contest a 1-1 draw. We did have a perfectly good goal disallowed when the Rev's keeper dropped the ball and Juninho poked the ball home. He did score the goal that counted as well, it was definitely a case of 2 points dropped though.
Season opener in the monsoon.

Sat March 26 vs REAL SALT LAKE @Rio Tinto 1-4 L
I did a blog about this trip earlier on in the season, it was a great weekend apart from the game. We got our butt's kicked and the season at this point didn't look too promising. We also froze our arse off up in the top of the stands in mormonland, the best decision was bringing a cooler full of proper beer as the stuff they sell up there is like gnat's piss.
Galaxians in Mormonland


Rio Tinto stadium in Utah, quite nice actually.

Sat April 2 vs PHILADELPHIA UNION @HDC 1-0 W
We brought our friends David, Jessica and Carrie to the game. I made my famous pasties and they were probably better than the match. We won 1-0 though, which is the main thing, with a rare Leonardo goal.
Before the Philadelphia game.

Sat April 23 vs PORTLAND TIMBERS @HDC 3-0 W
This was obviously one of our better performances of the season, we won 3-0 thanks to two Landon Donovan goals and Chad Barrett's first of the season. We pretty much did turn Portland over and it could have been much worse for them, but I'll take a 3-0 win any day of the week.

Fellow Galaxians.

Sat May 7 vs NEW YORK RED BULLS @HDC 1-1 T
To be honest this was probably the right result, it could have gone either way, but I was happy with a draw in the end as NY pressured us right up until the final whistle.
The Galaxy had hardly set the league alight at this point in the season, but we were still top of the Western Conference and only lost one game so far.
Fellow Galaxians

Sat May 14 vs SPORTING KANSAS CITY @HDC 4-1 W
Another one of those rare occasions this season when the Galaxy actually looked likea proper team. Landon grabbed another brace, Beckham scored a cracking free kick and even the normally useless Juan Pablo Angel got one.

Galaxians before the game.

Sat May 21 vs CHIVAS USA @HDC (Away) 1-0 W
It wasn't the best game, but it's always nice to win the derby or the Super Clasico as the natives call it. I love the away game at our home, they stick us in the corner and it is a good laugh taunting Shitvas fans all day.

Before the Shitvas match

After the Shitvas match.

Wed May 25 vs HOUSTON DYNAMO @HDC 1-0 W
Not really much to write about, Landon scored his 8th goal in the last seven games and I made the first leg of the journey via trian as I met Mark in Burbank.

Fri June 3 vs D.C. UNITED @HDC 0-0 T
Another shocker, oh well at least we didn't lose.


Sat June 11 vs TORONTO FC @HDC 2-2 T
We were cruising in this thanks to Birchall's only goal for the Galaxy and an Angel effort, but useless Galaxy reject Alan Gordon picks the wrong time to grab a brace at the HDC and sends us home gutted especially with the one in injury time. This game will be forever remembered for the one I dragged Kellie to on her birthday, she still hasn't forgiven me.

Sat June 25 vs SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES @Buck Shaw "Stadium" 0-0 T
A crap game really, decent piss up for the weekend though. Most notable because we used 3 goalkeepers during the game. Ricketts went off with a broken arm, then Saunders got sent off for a run in with that curly headed twat Leinhart, up steps Mike Magee and keeps the smurfs at bay for over half of the game. Legend!!!
LOL @ San Jose, you'll never beat Magee.

Tues June 28 vs LA BLUES @Cal State Fullerton 2-1 W
It was the open cup, they scored first but goals from Omar and Mike Magee got us the "come from behind" win.

Face in the crowd against the LA Blues in the Open Cup game.

Mon July 4 vs SEATTLE SOUNDERS @HDC 0-0 T
The highlights of this day was the curry I made and brought to the Galaxian pot luck, meeting up with crazy Middlesbrough man Eric Goodall again for a chat and the pk save Brian Perk made on his MLS debut.
Junior Galaxians

Sat July 9 vs CHICAGO FIRE @HDC 2-1 W
After what seemed like an eternity the Galaxy finally recorded a home win in the MLS. It wasn't pretty but goals from Beckham and Donavon were enough for the three points.

Owen drumming up some support.

Sat July 16 vs REAL MADRID @LA Coliseum 1-4 L
I wasn't here thank God, we went up to San Francisco to watch Man City beat Club America instead.
Wed July 20 vs COLUMBUS CREW @HDC 1-0 W
A Sean Franklin goal saw us take the points in yet another 1-0 win. Can't remember much else about the game to be honest.

Sun July 24 vs MANCHESTER CITY @HDC 1-1 T (MCFC win 5-4 on pk's)
Blogged about it earlier, Owen's first City game. A great day out in the blazing sun.

Galaxy v Man City


Sat July 30 vs VANCOUVER WHITECAPS @Vancouver 4-0 W
A great win and well worth the trip up to Canada (See full blog in August archives)


Us with Chris Birchall in Vancouver.

Wed August 3 vs PORTLAND TIMBERS @Portland 0-3 L
If the Vancouver game was an example of the highs of following your team away, then the Portland game was the perfect example of the lows of following your team away. We were terrible and it could have been a hell of a lot worse had it not been for Josh Saunders. Still nice to visit another stadium though.
Outside Jeld Wen stadium in Portland, never let a bad result get in the way of a great week.

Sat August 6 vs FC DALLAS @HDC 3-1 W
The G's put that dreadful Portland game behind them with another decent performance with goals from Omar, Juninho and Magee. We appear to be playing a lot better now with Franklin giving us an extra attacking option on the right of midfield.
Owen and friends

Tues August 16 vs CLUB MOTAGUA @HDC 2-0 W
A good start to our CCL campaign against the Hondurans with goals from Cristman and Landon. The Yanks don't seem to take these games seriously though as the HDC was just about two thirds empty. In other news, we have just signed Robbie Keane and got rid of the useless Juan Pablo Angel in the process, not in time to make his debut tonight though.

Sat August 30 vs SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES @HDC 2-0 W
The hype surrounding this game was all about Robbie Keane's MLS debut, he scored along with Magee to send the smurfs home complaining that they actually deserved to win and that the MLS refs are biased towards the Galaxy and their superstars. I read that on the Big Soccer forum. Refs weren't biased up in San Jose were they? Plus I have lost count of how many times we get dodgy decisions against us at the HDC, certainly more than go in our favour anyway.


The other G's mob.

Thurs August 25 vs LD ALAJUELENSE @HDC 2-0 W
Another win in the CCL, can't remember where this lot are from so I'll say Costa Rico for the sake of arguing. Goal from Omar and Magee again (He's on fire don't you know?)
Errrr......

Fri September 9 vs COLORADO RAPIDS @HDC 1-0 W
Another 1-0 win thanks to a Landon Donovan goal.
It's getting like Chelsea under Mourinho's first season with all these 1-0 victories, not complaining though, still top of the West.
Owen and friends again

Sat September 17 vs VANCOUVER WHITECAPS @HDC 3-0 W
Another great game against the worst team in the west. 7-0 on aggregate for the season, can we play you every week?
Two Magee goals (I told you he was on fire) and and Robbie Keane effort are enough for the 3 points.


With Eric and Mike (Thor)

Wed September 28 vs MONARCAS MORELIA @HDC 2-1 W
After losing our 2 away games in the CCL this was a must win against the Mexicans to stay alive, we gave up a dodgy goals but came back through Magee and Juninho in stoppage time to send the noisy visiting fans home empty handed.

Even the Miss Galaxy court are Galaxians


Sat October 1 vs REAL SALT LAKE @HDC 2-1 W
This was a close one, but the win was enough to give us the supporter shield for the second year in a row. For all my English friends, the supporters shield basically means that you finish with the best record in the league, but it counts for fuck all. You still have to compete in the play offs and win the MLS Cup in order to be crowned champions which means technically the team that is the 10th best on the last day of the season can still go on to be MLS champions. Crazy huh?

Mark and me with the Supporters Shield.

Sun October 16 vs CHIVAS USA @HDC (Home) 1-0 W
Chad Barrett the "goatbuster" struck again as we did the double against our hated rivals and renters and paraded the supporters shield in front of them and Juan Pablo Angel.
I had high hopes for Angel at the start of the season, his goal scoring record in the MLS spoke for itself, but he came to us and didn't fit in. He seemed lazy, slower than me and useless in the air. Don't get me wrong, I bear him no ill will, I was just glad to see the back of him.
Bring on the play offs!!!!!!

Me and Owen with a Miss Galaxy court member.

Western Conference Semi Final:
Thurs November 3 vs NEW YORK RED BULLS @HDC 2-1 W (3-1 on aggregate)
After a ill tempered 1-0 win up in NYC (Magee again), the stage was set for a nervous 90 minutes. We were missing Juninho who was red carded after that dick Marquez threw the ball at Landon after the final whistle in the first leg.
NY scored first when Luke (Mini me) Rogers leveled the tie after 15 minutes.
It was nearly all Galaxy after that and when Magee headed to ball home from a Beckham corner you could see the stuffing knocked out of the Red Bulls.
Beckham was brought down in the NY box late in the second half, Landon converted the pk and we were into the Western Conference Final.

Western Conference Final
Sun November 6 vs REAL SALT LAKE @HDC 3-1 W
I brought along my mate David and fellow Wedding Present guitarist Graeme visiting from Scotland along for this game. I remarked to David that he has probably been to more Galaxy games than Man United matches by now (his third so far), that raised a good chuckle from Graeme.

During the game.

We had a bit of rain, ate chicken curried pasties, drank quite a bit and watched tha Galaxy trounced the normally awkward RSL, to almost make up for losing the final to them 2 years ago. It was nice to avenge our defeat in Utah early in the season though. The Galaxy were pretty rampant in this one and could easily have scored more if it weren't for Nick Rimando making a few good saves and us finishing poorly.
On to the final, the entire season hangs on one game and Houston awaits us.
After the RSL game

MLS CUP 2011:
Sun November 20 vs HOUSTON DYNAMO @HDC 1-0 W
We ended the season as we started it at the Home Depot Center, in the middle of an all day down pour. It was another truly miserable day, only saved by my awesome free Volkswagon poncho and the free flowing beer that we consumed.
Before the final in the Monsoon part deux.

The game itself wasn't much of a spectacle, we were pretty poor and Houston were even worse. I think they only managed one shot on target all day which is pathetic for a cup final. We did have most of the possession and were the better team. Robbie Keane had the ball in the net, but it was harshly ruled offside as TV replays proved he was level when Landon passed him the ball.
10 minutes later though Beckham flicked on a Franklin pass and Keane held off a defender before threading the ball through to Landon who slotted in past Hall and just inside the far post. We went mental and the HDC was rocking at the final whistle as we were crowned champions.
A 1-0 win was a fitting end to our 1-0 win riddled season, we had a great time following the Galaxy home and away this year, roll on next season.
With or without Beckham, I can't help feeling that we'll be a better team next year.

Owen with the "Cup"

Landon Donovan and David Beckham with the MLS Cup.

Coach Bruce Arena with the MLS Cup.