Not LCFC Anymore

[davieG]

The Ex-Files

The last column of the season, but as it's still far from clear exactly how all the domestic laps of honour and rivers of tears are going to be shared out, it is worth starting with a few Old Boys who actually have playing campaigns in front of them.

Tomi Petrescu, who signed for FC Inter Turku in his Finnish homeland back in February, has been in fine form in preparation for this week's opening round of matches in the Veikkausliiga.

He has also been fairly well-sheltered from the elements: all games until the final of the pre-season Finnish League Cup are actually played indoors!

Tomi figured in all three of Inter's group-game fixtures, and scored in two.

Also awaiting a spring kick-off in thawing northern climes is Arnar Gunnlaugsson who, with his twin brother Bjarki, has been given a further year's contract with Reykjavik club KR as they ready themselves for another term in the Icelandic Urvalsdeild.

On the other side of the world, Steve Corica faces World Club Championship qualifying action in the Oceania group for the newly formed Sydney FC, with still some time to go to kick-off in the new A-League Down Under.

Meanwhile, in the CONCACAF qualifiers for that much-derided FIFA brainchild which once kept Manchester United out of the FA Cup, Steve Guppy made his DC United debut at the quarter-final stage, coming on to make the equaliser as his new team beat Jamaican champions Harbour View.

DC then bowed out to Mexican giants Pumas UNAM in a two-legged semi-final, and have made a fairly muted impact on the new MLS campaign (one win, one draw and two defeats), with Guppy starting all four games.

Back at home, there is contrasting news for two long-term injury victims.

Lee Marshall (pictured), having attempted a reserve-team comeback with West Brom, has been forced into premature retirement from the pro game: a decision that's the legacy of his loan spell with Hull City almost exactly a year ago, when he suffered bad breaks to both tibia and fibula in a game at Kidderminster.

Former City reserve Christian Moore, however, is looking to make a very belated debut for Worcester City before the end of the season.

The now near-veteran striker suffered cruciate damage back in September in a reserve game before he'd had the chance to represent their seniors in the Nationwide North.

Three ex-City strikers and one defender made their scoresheet mark last weekend: as did, utterly unexpectedly, one former keeper.

Julian Joachim's hat-trick for Walsall took the individual honours, condemned Peter Taylor's Hull to second place in League One, and handed the title to Mike Newell's Luton Town.

Emile Heskey finished clinically for Birmingham in their 1-1 Premiership stalemate at Goodison Park; Simon Grayson claimed his second goal of the season to secure Blackpool a 1-0 home win over Chesterfield; Jon Stevenson added to his decent Cambridge City tally in a 2-0 Nationwide South victory at Carshalton; and Eamon Zayed notched his second of the early Eircom League campaign in Bray Wanderers' 2-1 comeback against Waterford United (a fixture which didn't start until 8.45pm on Friday night as a consequence of a floodlight failure).

The keeper with a goal to his name was former reserve Matt Nurse, who claimed one of Quorn's brace in their 3-2 Midland Alliance defeat at Boldmere St Michaels.

On target a few days earlier, in the final of the Northants Senior Cup, had been Lee Quincey, with the last icing-on-the-cake extra-time goal for Rothwell Town in a 4-1 eclipse of Raunds Town, who had led the game until the 87th minute.

As mentioned, a lot of potential congratulations are on hold at the time of writing (Tim McCann may well have been celebrating yesterday a second Irish League title in three years with Glentoran, for instance), but there's space for one particular commiseration.

Paul Reid has enthusiastically prolonged his career in the Welsh Premier since leaving Swansea, but he's hardly found fortune there.

Last Saturday saw him, for the second season running, in a team relegated from that single-division competition, as Afan Lido sadly followed 2004 drop-outs Carmarthen Town through the trapdoor.

[Collymore]

The Ex-Files

The last column of the season, but as it's still far from clear exactly how all the domestic laps of honour and rivers of tears are going to be shared out, it is worth starting with a few Old Boys who actually have playing campaigns in front of them.

Tomi Petrescu, who signed for FC Inter Turku in his Finnish homeland back in February, has been in fine form in preparation for this week's opening round of matches in the Veikkausliiga.

He has also been fairly well-sheltered from the elements: all games until the final of the pre-season Finnish League Cup are actually played indoors!

Tomi figured in all three of Inter's group-game fixtures, and scored in two.

Also awaiting a spring kick-off in thawing northern climes is Arnar Gunnlaugsson who, with his twin brother Bjarki, has been given a further year's contract with Reykjavik club KR as they ready themselves for another term in the Icelandic Urvalsdeild.

On the other side of the world, Steve Corica faces World Club Championship qualifying action in the Oceania group for the newly formed Sydney FC, with still some time to go to kick-off in the new A-League Down Under.

Meanwhile, in the CONCACAF qualifiers for that much-derided FIFA brainchild which once kept Manchester United out of the FA Cup, Steve Guppy made his DC United debut at the quarter-final stage, coming on to make the equaliser as his new team beat Jamaican champions Harbour View.

DC then bowed out to Mexican giants Pumas UNAM  in a two-legged semi-final, and have made a fairly muted impact on the new MLS campaign (one win, one draw and two defeats), with Guppy starting all four games.

Back at home, there is contrasting news for two long-term injury victims.

Lee Marshall (pictured), having attempted a reserve-team comeback with West Brom, has been forced into premature retirement from the pro game: a decision that's the legacy of his loan spell with Hull City almost exactly a year ago, when he suffered bad breaks to both tibia and fibula in a game at Kidderminster.

Former City reserve Christian Moore, however, is looking to make a very belated debut for Worcester City before the end of the season.

The now near-veteran striker suffered cruciate damage back in September in a reserve game before he'd had the chance to represent their seniors in the Nationwide North.

Three ex-City strikers and one defender made their scoresheet mark last weekend: as did, utterly unexpectedly, one former keeper.

Julian Joachim's hat-trick for Walsall took the individual honours, condemned Peter Taylor's Hull to second place in League One, and handed the title to Mike Newell's Luton Town.

Emile Heskey finished clinically for Birmingham in their 1-1 Premiership stalemate at Goodison Park; Simon Grayson claimed his second goal of the season to secure Blackpool a 1-0 home win over Chesterfield; Jon Stevenson added to his decent Cambridge City tally in a 2-0 Nationwide South victory at Carshalton; and Eamon Zayed notched his second of the early Eircom League campaign in Bray Wanderers' 2-1 comeback against Waterford United (a fixture which didn't start until 8.45pm on Friday night as a consequence of a floodlight failure).

The keeper with a goal to his name was former reserve Matt Nurse, who claimed one of Quorn's brace in their 3-2 Midland Alliance defeat at Boldmere St Michaels.

On target a few days earlier, in the final of the Northants Senior Cup, had been Lee Quincey, with the last icing-on-the-cake extra-time goal for Rothwell Town in a 4-1 eclipse of Raunds Town, who had led the game until the 87th minute.

As mentioned, a lot of potential congratulations are on hold at the time of writing (Tim McCann may well have been celebrating yesterday a second Irish League title in three years with Glentoran, for instance), but there's space for one particular commiseration.

Paul Reid has enthusiastically prolonged his career in the Welsh Premier since leaving Swansea, but he's hardly found fortune there.

Last Saturday saw him, for the second season running, in a team relegated from that single-division competition, as Afan Lido sadly followed 2004 drop-outs Carmarthen Town through the trapdoor.

103364[/snapback]

Theyv'e not mentioned what the old kit cleaner from 1973 is up to these days