I Won't Miss The Footy, But I Will Miss Corrie Anytime On The Hub!

It's Coming Home, Ingerland, Sweet Caroline, etc etc...

During the last 3-weeks, I have made no bones about my distaste for the national sport. The machismo, beer-swilling, lazy tabloid press, and the repetitive awful strains of 1996 novelty song ' Three Lions' makes me want to vomit nationalism out of my eyes. Aside from that, and whatever happens tonight (good luck lads!) there is one thing I will miss about these past 3-weeks of European football - current Corrie episodes available anytime on the ITV Hub!

What a treat that has been for me. I know spoilers are a polarising subject amongst us soap fans, but personally, I love them. I devour any I can find online ( mainly on this blog, of course). Because I do the occasional press day, I tend to find juicy gossip weeks in advance! (embargoed, of course, I don't tell a soul) so you can imagine my delight at being able to watch the show ahead of traditional TV screening!

Here is how I've watched the show, over the past 21 days; 

Week One - I immediately thought about missing the live-tweeting, following the Corrie fans tweeting out during the show, so I watched it live on TV only. 

Week Two - I'm at a loose end at the minute and reviewing Wednesday episodes, so I decided to take a sneaky look at the week's action on the hub. I'd watched the whole week by Wednesday morning! 

At this point, I’d got into Classic Corrie on the hub as well, ( I started religiously watching the show in 1997) which brought back a flush of memories and the early days of my Corrie romance. Happy honeymoon period memories of my late teenage Corrie crushes; Fiona Middleton, Toyah Battersby, Maxine, and laughing at Jack, Vera, and Alec at The Rovers! The classics have now reached late 1998 when Kev and Sally have an acrimonious split, and Hayley's secret is about to be exposed - brilliant stuff! 

Week Three - In light of that, and as we got into last week, I devoured all of the current episodes in about 2 days so I could catch up on the classics. 

How have you found it? Would you like it to become a permanent thing or do you prefer watching it live and following the social media buzz, as it happens? I wonder whether we've witnessed Corrie history in how the show's viewed in future? 

I've also signed up on ITV HUB for £4 a month so I don't have to watch the adverts. A goal for ITV, surely! 

Let us know your thoughts! 

@rybazoxo your Corrie pundit 

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The other David Platt

After a tough few days on the cobbles, we get a rest tonight because of the football: England’s first Euro 2020 qualifier at home to the Czech Republic.

With next year's European Championship coming 30 years after the 1990 World Cup (the first major tournament I can remember), I’ve been getting nostalgic about football recently. It’s been a welcome distraction from the British political system collapsing in on itself like the roof of a Weatherfield knicker factory.

My reminiscing has also been driven by this week’s brilliant ITV two-parter, ‘Harry's Heroes: The Full English’ which featured some absolute football legends from the ’90s, but unfortunately no David Platt (62 caps, 1989–1996).

Nevertheless, I have often wondered if Weatherfield’s hipster hairdresser and/or England’s magic midfielder have ever stopped to think about ‘the other David Platt’. 

Here are both David Platts in their England kits, back in the day:

Corrie’s David was born in December 1990, a few months after England’s heroic performance in Italia ’90. David was initially registered a Tilsley (I still don’t get that) but Martin Platt may have been playing the long game. In hospital, Martin joked to Gail that they should call him Gazza, so football was clearly on his mind.

Anyway, I enjoyed this scene on ITV3 the other week. It was originally broadcast on 1 November 1991, when Nicky was mad on football and Martin had arranged a trial with Ferndale Street under-11s. There is a nice David Platt reference:

Nicky was right – it wasn’t a header that the other David Platt scored in extra time against Belgium to clinch England’s place in the quarter-finals. It was a volley and what a fantastic goal it was:

David Platt (the footballer) was as clinical in front of goal as David Platt (the stylist) is with a pair of scissors. Happy memories and all thanks to Classic Coronation Street! 

We don’t get many real life footy references in Corrie these days but it is nice to see some Weatherfield County supporters on the street and Kirk as the club mascot, Buzzer the Bee.

And perhaps it was Nick’s playing career at Ferndale Street that secured Tommy Orpington's attendance at the ‘Trim Up North’ launch earlier this month.

The launch went OK in the end. But now that the roof has caved in, I can’t see Tommy O agreeing to be Brand Ambassador for that new range of Underworld pants. I reckon it’ll be a ‘Tommy NO!’ for Nick.

I hope England are better on the pitch tonight than Nick Tilsley is at table football. When will Tommy Orpington be called up to the squad? All together now... “He's fast! He's mean! He likes a fruit machine! He's Tommy O! He's Tommy O!”

By Martin Leay

Twitter @mpleay

Corrie Blogs @ bit.ly/corriemartin

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Colson Smith on Soccer AM tomorrow

Colson Smith, who plays Craig Tinker in Coronation Street, will be appearing on Sky's Soccer AM, tomorrow - Saturday 13th May.

Colson is a huge football fan and supports Leeds United football club. He's also an official ambassador for Leeds United Foundation. It's a programme that brings together young people aged 16 and 17 years old from different backgrounds on an outward bounds residential programme to help them develop greater confidence, self-awareness and responsibility.

On the sofa with Colson on Soccer AM will be Eidur Gudjohnsen and Joe Hart. Brighton band The Kooks will be performing live in the studio.

Soccer AM is on at 9.45am on Saturday 13 May on Sky Sports 1.  You can find out more here.

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Sunderland football boss says he's missing Corrie

Picture Copyright: SunSport Graphics

Sam Allardyce, the manager of Sunderland football club, says he can’t wait for the the transfer window to close so he can get back to watching his favourite telly shows.

He said in an interview with The Sun this week: “You’re never calm in the transfer window, it’s a horrid time for everybody, but even worse when you’re in the position we’re in,” said the Sunderland boss.

“I can’t even watch my favourites on TV. No EastEnders, Coronation Street, no Emmerdale either. I’m not bothered about missing Hollyoaks though!”

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Burnley football club strip to get exclusive preview on Corrie

 

Burnley football club's new strip will get an exclusive preview on Coronation Street says the Lancashire Telegraph.

The club received a request earlier in the summer from Corrie for a junior Clarets kit.

Sneak previews of an episode to be aired on Friday show Amy McDonald wearing the new Puma shirt. Amy, played by Elle Mulvaney, is pictured crouched over her mother, Tracy, after her health takes a dramatic turn for the worse.

A spokesman for Burnley FC said: “We received a request from Coronation Street to provide a kit for the actress who plays Amy to wear. I believe the context is that she’s taking part in a summer soccer skills course. We were only too glad to provide the strip and are glad that the character of Amy has the good sense to be a Clarets fan.”

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Coronation Street vs Euro 2012

As we're having our Coronation Street schedule messed around for the Euro 2012 football, I thought it was time we took a look back at the golden age of football in Corrie. They had their own football team - Weatherfield County FC.  Alas, along with Delphines, The Clock, The Square Dealers, The Weatherfield Area Retail Traders Society (WARTS) and the Licensed Victuallers Association, they're not mentioned anymore. Ain't it a shame?

So let's look back at Weatherfield's own footy team.

Weatherfield County FC has appeared in scripts since 1961. It's been referred to as playing in the Nationwide Conference in the English non-league and the team strip is green and white.

Cockney bookie and Weatherfield bad lad Dave Smith owned the football club in the 70s and he also had a bit of a thing for Blanche Hunt.  Ken Barlow's brother David used to play for the team in the 60s until he was injured and couldn't play any more.

In the 90s, Racquel Wolstenhulme went out with Weatherfield County press secretary Gordon Blinkhorn and then through him she met and started dating striker Wayne Farrell.

Warren Baldwin was signed for the team in 2004 with girlfriend Candice Stowe becoming the Street's first WAG before she swapped WAGs for WIGs and went off on tour as a hairdresser to Status Quo.

And in 2005 Martin Platt became the football club mascot, dressing up as rooster. He got himself into a race against a rival team's mascot, dressed as a fox and they raced against each other. The fox pulled Martin’s tail feathers and he stumbled and fell, leaving the cheating fox to win the race.

Another obvious football link to Coronation Street was Chesney's dog being named after former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, the Great Dane himself.  Peter Schmeichel also had a walk-on part as a Corrie extra but if you blinked you might have missed him. 

See also: Here's Stan and Hilda Ogden ready for action in a football game against the Flying Horse. 
See also: Carlos Tevez learns English watching Coronation Street
See also: Reece Dinsdale (Joe McIntyre) presented Huddersfield Town FC video

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Roy weighs in on today's football

For the record I don't follow football or support any teams in general, I just thought this funny picture from last night's Corrie deserved to be posted.

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Corrie men playing at Trafford on Saturday 8th May

Ryan Thomas (Jason Grimshaw) and Alan Halsall (Tyrone Dobbs) from Coronation Street are playing in the All Stars footy team are playing at Trafford FC’s ground in Flixton on Satuday 8th May in a game that kicks-off at 1pm.

The celebrated All Stars football team – actors from Corrie, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, Shameless and the Royle Family – are swapping their scripts for the pitch to be in action against Trafford Legends from the past 20 years, as well as FC United manager, Karl Marginson.

Proceeds will be donated to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity. Entry is £5 at the gate for adults, and FREE for kids. Gates open at 12 noon. The afternoon includes a half-time raffle with great prizes, celebrity autograph opportunities, refreshment stalls and clubhouse bar.