Results tagged “Champions League Final” from Birmingham Mail - Couch Potato

AS PER my previous blog, I'm about to sit down to watch the Champions League Final more than an hour after it kicked off.

There's something lovely about being able to put your children to bed in relaxed fashion knowing you can enjoy the match in style later as if it's live.

Meanwhile, I've been thinking...

There have been a lot of unfortunate images on our screens in the past ten days.

These have frequently been introduced by the newsreaders saying: 'You may find some of the images disturbing'. Too right.

There would have to be something wrong with you if you didn't find the pictures of floating corpses in Burma distressing.

Or the plight of the earthquake victims in China.

But what I found really galling was the footage of Rangers' so-called fans going on the rampage after last week's UEFA Cup Final.

Instead of celebrating their team's achievement in reaching the final, and the fact they were in good health to be able to enjoy it, some of them had nothing better to do than to cause serious trouble, including kicking a policeman when he was on the ground.

What would these people do if a burglar broke into their house while they were asleep? Not call the police because they are so tough?

What if one of their children or relatives was kidnapped? Would they not want the police to help them then? Or if they had broken down on the M6 and were stranded?

As I sit down to watch Man United v Chelsea, memories come flooding back of the night I prepared to watch the 1985 final between Liverpool and Juventus at Heysel, a game which went ahead in a vacuum after 39 fans were killed.

I was living in Kings Heath at the time and I'll never forget that night. Twenty three years ago... unbelievable.

Whatever happens in the match tonight I just hope it's a good game.

I don't care whether Chelsea or Manchester United win.

And neither, really, should fans of either team as long as they enjoy the experience and return home safely after seeing their boys give their best in a sporting manner.

There were just two arrests at the Portsmouth v Cardiff City FA Cup Final which is great news.

All that matters tonight is that English football does itself justice and puts on a game to entertain the world, so fingers crossed.

Here we go....

SKY Television is celebrating the seventh anniversary of its amazing Sky+ programme recording system with a major new ad campaign shot by leading filmmaker Nick Broomfield.

Incredibly, 12 million viewers now use it to organise their viewing and Wednesday night's Champions League final between Man Utd and Chelsea is the perfect example of a good reason why so many people now have it,

Did you know that Sky+ enables you to record, pause and instantly rewind live TV?

It's so simple even grandparents instinctively know how to use it so... gone are the days when they would have to fumble around on their knees looking for an old video tape.

You can also automatically record every episode of a series thanks to Series Link so you can keep right up to date with Coronation Street or EastEnders.

And you can even use a mobile phone or go on line at sky.com to tell your system what to do - even if you are on the other side of the world and are desperate to make sure you record something for when you get back.

Sky+ is available from just £99 to all Sky TV customers, no matter what package level you're on.

And there's no longer any extra monthly charge so you really can have your TV cake and eat it.

But, and this is a big BUT, there's a secret way of getting even more out of it than you might think at first glance.

Keep on reading and I'll tell you more about a horror story of mine which made me change my ways for ever....