Brill, Baby!!

My beloved Nicky had another brilliant game for England today, his vision setting up the first goal--Butty to Owen to L******--his unstinting tenacity and ability to hold off Wales winning back the ball he calmly flipped to Beckham for the second. An amazing outing. All 90 minutes, all action, a hand (metaphorically speaking) in both goals, and no injury. He was everywhere, laying down the tackles, winning the ball, passing well, and keeping the middle of the park ticking over. And keeping Wales at bay. He even had time to give Bellars, his Welsh teammate at Newcastle, a friendly little Geordie love thump in the second half!!

One of many favorite moments: Nicky shielding Giggsy with his hand to avoid hurting him after Beckham had felled Giggs just as Nicky was flying in with the tackle.

Favorite moment of all and a lasting memory: Nicky coming off the pitch wearing Giggsy's Wales shirt. Nicky rarely swaps shirts and I've never seen him put one on after swapping. Knowing what this match meant to Giggsy, it was a very touching tribute to his best mate, especially as Giggs was apparently also wearing Nicky's shirt but inside out, perhaps so as not to leave the pitch with the Three Lions on his chest. This match meant so much to Giggsy and he was obviously gutted at the loss. Top class, Nicky. You're a good friend.

(pics and player ratings to follow...if they're any good.)

Good Luck on Saturday, Lads!!

Final training 08Oct04

There's just nothing in the world cuter than Nicky with his sleeves pulled down over his hands...cold in Manchester today, is it?

Wonderful Nicky Interview

A rare treat, they're talking to our boy!!

England press conference pre-Wales WC Qualifier

EXCERPTS and LINKS:
BUTT BACK AT 'HOME'
08Oct2004
Nicky Butt returns to Old Trafford on Saturday admitting he expected to spend his entire career with Manchester United...
...It is also a return to the World Cup scene Butt graced with such distinction two years ago. So impressive were the midfielder's performances during England's run to the quarter-finals in Japan that Brazilian legend Pele picked Butt out as one of the players of the tournament...

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.dor?STORY_NAME=soccer/04/10/08/SOCCER_England_Butt.html

Same interview but with a Geordie slant, warmly illustrating how much it means to Newcastle that he signed for them (which means a lot to us, too)...

http://newcastleunited.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=893&p=2&stid=8362024

A somewhat odd take on the same interview, saying Nicky's return to OT is "tinged with regret..." which of course Nicky doesn't say at ALL and never will...in fact, Nicky clearly states, "I don't feel any bitterness at all." Pretty unequivocal, that.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2004/10/08/sfnbut08.xml

Butt: I can't wait for duel with Speed...bombastic headline but great little article about Nicky meeting up with Speedo and Bellars this weekend...http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/

It's just wonderful to have so much good Nicky material out right now!!

England v Wales

England's pre-Wales press conference
07October2004 (empics)

Darling boy! Look who got to go to today's press conference!

Lots of great photos up on Getty and Yahoo of England training. Nicky is obviously yanking the young lads in one, and PNev is just as obviously glad to be back with one of his best mates in another.

Still can't get used to phrases like "...Newcastle man Nicky Butt..." and "...Nicky Butt will have his Newcastle teammate Craig Bellamy on the Wales squad..."...it just seems like that should be Giggsy...

I suppose I'm still under the illusion that Nicky's just gone to visit in Geordie land for a while and will be home any day now.

HE DID IT!!

Glorious Nicky!! I knew he would!! A brilliant, lovely, fast-paced bicycle kick right down the ole pipeline and past another-player-I'm-not-supposed-to-like-because-he's-not-a-Geordie-but-I-like-him-anyway, keeper Maik Taylor. Dropped just past Goldilocks on the way in, which was also beautiful, sniff, Goldi just sprawled on the ground in frustration and all. That makes 22 goals in league play, 27 overall. And a beauty at that.

Brucey's post-match comments were adorable as he wasn't thrilled that his team saw a lead become a draw at the hands (foot) of Nicky, a former teammate and one he tried to sign last season. But he had to be wrong when he said he'd never seen Nicky score a goal like that. Nicky has at least one other very famous bicycle kick goal and Brucey had to be there at the time, so maybe he was injured or something. I'll have to check the dates, now that I'm curious.

So congratulations, Nicky, you beautiful boy! You're on the score sheet for your new squad after only 7 matches in the northeast, made Team of the Week on both SkySports and ESPN and howaythetoon named you their Man of the Match for the second time in 7 outings!!

Can't wait to see what you do to Wales on the weekend!! Show Lampwick how it's done, lad. And why you've consistently been England's first-choice cmf for three years and counting.