Melanie Slade rejects the WAG lifestyle

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Melanie Slade rejects the WAG lifestyle Melanie Slade has been known to shy away from the publicity that comes with being a WAG, which is why it should be no surprise that she rejected a flashy birthday present from her Arsenal boyfriend Theo Walcott.

Slade who will be 21 this January turned away a £140,000 Ferrari California from Walcott that came complete with personalized nameplates.  She told him that she was still satisfied and happy to drive the £20,000 VW Beetle that he gave her when she turned 18.

Her decision was based around the fact that she is studying at London’s St. George’s Hospital and thought that the Ferrari would be too much to be seen driving around campus in.

She also told her friends that at times she wishes Walcott was less “showy” about how much money he makes, a whopping £60,000 per week.

One of her friends stated that Slade considered the car and gave it a test drive but is now back to driving her Beetle because she considers the Ferrari a waste of money.  The friend went on to state that Slade is trying hard not to get pinned as living the WAG lifestyle on campus.

Walcott and Slade met in 2006 at the WestQuay shopping centre in Southampton, and have been dating ever since, although she did not become part of the media focus until she travelled to see him play in the World Cup.

Although Slade has had promotional offers, she is determined to finish her coursework and pursue a career as a physiotherapist.

Win a World Cup Shirt signed by Pele in Burton Score Draw competition

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Win a World Cup Shirt signed by Pele in Burton Score Draw competition

Burton menswear has announced the launch of its Score Draw competition. The Score Draw collection is a retro collection of football shirts to celebrate the great years of footballing champions and cool shirts.

There are 20 shirts available in the collection, covering 10 English clubs: Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, West Ham United, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Manchester City, plus 4 Scotland shirts soon to be available.

The Score Draw brand is the leading supplier of official retro football shirts in the World.  Score Draw football shirts are officially licensed and endorsed by more than 40 football clubs and national associations accommodating over 600 styles from over five decades. Every Score Draw football shirt is meticulously researched and designed to represent the original garment worn by momentous old teams and players – football shirts fit for heroes – that are widely accepted by football clubs, players and supporters as the definitive reproduction.

To celebrate this collection Burton is giving the chance to win a T-shirt – a Brazil 1970 World Cup Final shirt signed by the world’s greatest ever player, Pele.

This authentic reproduction Score Draw shirt represents the all-time football shirt design classic. Worn by the famous Brazil team of the 1970 Mexico World Cup Final in the 4-1 victory over Italy, the top epitomises the classic encounter of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object as the Brazilian force prevailed and secured a record third World Cup triumph (1958, 1962, 1970).

This Score Draw shirt has been autographed by Edison Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, who played in 92 internationals (scoring 77 goals) for Brazil – including two World Cup Finals.

For a chance to win this signed collectible retro Brazil shirt signed by Pele, entrants just need to fill out a competition entry form on the Burton site. The closing date for this competition is 12 February.

For more information – click here.

Win a World Cup Shirt signed by Pele in Burton Score Draw competition

The History of Football Kit

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The History of Football Kit Considered to be the most popular sport in the UK and pretty much across the world, football has a legion of follows who claim support of their local or favourite team by wearing their football shirts. In the early days of football there were no uniform kits instead players would wear what they had and distinguished themselves by wearing coloured caps, scarves or sashes.

The first uniform kits began to appear around 1870 just before the creation of the FA, back then most teams came from public schools or officers serving in the army so the team colours were distinguished by their colours.  It wasn’t until the late 1870’s that working people in Scotland formed their own teams that the sport became more widespread, once more working class people wanted to form teams it caused a departure from footballs upper class roots. With the formation of more teams came the first manufacturer of sportswear in the UK by a company called Bukta which was established in 1879.

The player’s tops known as ‘jersey’ became popular and featured many designs, a lot of the early era of organised English football began to disappear and football kits became more distinguished for each team. Many of the kits worn today still feature the clubs trademarks from the early 1900s in particular Manchester United’s most recent strip which features a bold V design, which was a new design first worn by them in the 1909 FA Cup.

Many fans now like to emulate their favourite player by wearing the kit which features their name on or creating their own replica t-shirt from a prominent time in the clubs history which can be custom to any design. Numbers and names are often applied to the back of Replica kits via a method of t-shirt printing.

The Fashion of Football: From Best to Beckham – The Book

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The Fashion of Football: From Best to Beckham - The Book The Fashion of Football, by Paolo Hewitt and mark Baxter, is a groundbreaking work that examines for the first time the link between football and fashion. Voted one of the 50 best football books by Four Four Two magainzine, it features a selection of rare photographs which enliven the text, the book divides itself into a work of two halves – the first depicting how fashion has influenced the players and the second showing how it has been represented in the stands. We begin in 1962, when restrictions limiting earnings from professional football were lifted and footballers started to splash out on looking good. First we visit George Best’s boutique in Manchester, try on the Terry Venables wig and reveal how the 1970s Chelsea team used flamboyant King’s Road boutiques to gain the upper hand in psychological battles with fierce rivals Leeds. We then move on to the ’80s to consider the influence British black footballers brought to bear on fashion, leaving room to mention the hairdressers and the mullet. Into the ’90s and, well, we’re confronted with Liverpool FC in white suits and David Beckham in a skirt…Back in the stands for the second half, The Fashion of Football describes how football fashion has been influenced by the world around it – from the ’60s working-class Mod look to ski.

Paolo Hewitt is also author of The Sharper Word: A Mod Anthology, The Soul Stylists, Alan McGee and the Story of Creation Records and The Looked After Kid. Mark Baxter is a former shop and club owner with a love of ’60s clothing and Millwall Football Club.

‘Hewitt and Baxter go in for a mix-and-match style…to create a colourful, colloquial history of British football fashions’ The Independent on Sunday



Speech Soccer Online Voice Activated Football Game

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Speech Soccer is the first voice only activated online football game and the fans are going wild for it at www.speechsoccer.com. It’s the brainchild of automatic speech recognition specialist and football fan Nick Wilkinson PhD of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire whose love of the game inspired him to create Speech Soccer.

Speech Soccer is an addictive game where the players respond to your voice to pass the ball, tackle and shoot in fast flowing football action. It is the game for the football purist that wants to recreate the art that was Brazil 1970, Liverpool 1988 or Arsenal 2004. The speech interface liberates you from focusing on the individual players giving you the freedom to play as a team . There’s a formation editor too, which allows you to develop your own tactics for attacking and defending.

Once you’ve trained the speech recogniser you’re ready to play. To score goals you must move the ball quickly about the pitch to create space for shooting. When your team has the ball, say the number of your player you wish to pass to. Or, if you keep saying the number of the player who already has the ball, he will run with it. When you are in range of the goal simply say “shoot”. When the opposition has the ball you need to win it back. Say the number of one of your players and he will start moving towards the ball. When you get close say “tackle” to challenge for the ball.

Beware though, tackling from behind results in a yellow card and if that player commits another foul then a red card is given and the player is removed from the pitch!

The real fun of Speech Soccer is playing against other people online. Registration to play online is £5 for six months access and if you’re one of the first 1000 people to register you’ll be in with a chance to win a football shirt personally signed by England Captain John Terry.

Here’s a demonstration video:


To join in the fun download your FREE copy of Speech Soccer at www.speechsoccer.com.