It was announced this morning that the manager of Macclesfield Town, Keith Alexander, had passed away during the night. One of only two black managers in the football league, he had took charge of his team against high flying Notts County, had apparently been in high spirits despite defeat as he drove one of his players back to their home town of Lincoln.

Mike Rance, the chairman of his club, commented on how he had spoken to Keith on the evening of the match at around 11pm regarding an upcoming FA hearing where the manager would be representing himself against a charge due to a row with an official during the game at Bournemouth earlier in the season.

It seems and rightly so that the tributes pouring in show that Keith Alexander wasn’t just a football manager, but a man that was trying to change perceptions of black players within a profession where racism seems an massive issue.  He was a regular speaker on the ‘Kick It Out’ tour which aimed to try and eradicate racism from the game.  He was well respected and gave something that little bit different to the many people he spoke to.

He will be greatly missed and will be long remembered for the good he brought to the game.

This year is coming to an end and we all are trying to finish everything that have been put on our shoulders before Christmas time. But in this moment of overload we should not forget about our friends and families who deserve a bit of time. For some people Christmas dinner might be the only time during the year when they see their relatives, so sending out few Christmas cards to those we love is a really good way to tell them that you care about them.

Today we can choose from thousands of ready-made cards, not only for Christmas, but also for the New Year’s Eve. Using online editors we can customise and develop our own unique design, embed a photo, or just throw few fancy words. Choosing one from thousands may be a problem, but if you know what you are looking for you can narrow the search by browsing for a specific category, or maybe look for tags that could help you describe the perfect card.

Once you have chosen one be creative. A nice cover does not mean anything unless you have some good content. Skip the standard greeting and wishes line, write something from yourself, anybody can do it, don’t leave it until last minute, as the more effort you put into it, the more happiness you will deliver.

Even though their last album Dark Horse came out November 2008, the Canadian quartet is still touring the world. Yesterday few new dates were announced proving that the boys are still in play and are enjoying themselves travelling around the globe. Also few special guests have been mentioned, featuring Shinedown and Breaking Benjamin as opening acts.

First date was scheduled for April 6 next year in London (all those of you who missed Nickelback playing at Manchester MEN Arena this year can now start preparing for the trip to London), but then the band will concentrate on the eastern side of the US: Washington, DC (13th April), Orlando (19th April) and Atlanta (21th April). The current version states that the tour will finish in Tulsa, OK (24th April), but according to the press release more dates will be added so I suggest you to book some time in your calendar.

The latest album follows 2005’s release “All The Right Reasons”. The newest single “Never Gonna Be Alone” is currently hitting airwaves and its video is available to view from the bands official website.

Just to mention: “Dark Horse” is the sixth studio album, which has started as number two on US Billboard 200.

A UK rapper who has burst onto the scene in 2009 but how did he do it? Well i don’t know him so i cant ask him but i have a theory!

I have never been a fan of Dizzee Rascal and i don’t really like rap music. Jaz-Z singing in front of me would be the worst day of my life! (no offence meant Mr Z). I can tell you what i do like though and that’s dance music, radio 1 and cooking!

Over the last 12 months or so Dizzee has got himself in my face from all three angles, Ok he hasn’t got his own cooking show but he was on the F word with Gordon Ramsey which was good.

He has had massive support from the BBC over the last year or so, I don’t know how the BBC pick who to support but it seems like they pick him cause he is popular yet he is popular because he is getting on the BBC so much. He has performed on the Jools Holland show and he recently performed at the electric proms.

The final angle he has come in from is with his latest album, For Dizzee and his popularity the new album could not have been any better, he has collaborated with people such as Calvin Harris who is a man of the moment as well as Armin Van Helden who has done tracks that give his album a more dance music edge, Dizzee has filled in gaps and i think he has broken way from the traditional rap image and sound with an amazing success. He also toured with the Prodigy playing before them in their arena tour. Add all these factors together as well the fact he seems to be a genuinely nice guy and you have a winning formula!

Every year the music industry congregate in Miami and decide what is going to be the hot new thing for that year, its a tradition that has gone on for many years and it attracts all the best Dj’s and record labels from around the world to show of their talent and ability to throw a party.

The Winter music conference will throw parties and have talks and conferences with the industry leaders and major players, Some of the seminars may cover things such as the impact of the internet on the recording industry or different online marketing methods that can be used for an artist or record label. On the flip side there are the parties with the most famous one being the Ultra Music Festival. This is a two day festival in Miami which WILL sell out and will usually have the cream of the dance music industry performing.

Cheryl Cole is a household name to everybody, she has been in one of the countries most successful girl bands and she is on one of the countries favourite programs week in and week out. She has recently stormed the charts with her debut solo single. She has recently done a news feature for the BBC which has prompted me to write about her as she is stunningly good looking yet its hard to look at her the way many people would look at say Jordan or other famous girls that have come from the glamour side of the fame industry.

This i think is more appealing because she has worked hard keeping her clothes on and still kicking arse in the looks department from the glamour girls.

Simon Cowel was criticised for bringing in Danni Minougue which i agree with, Cheryl on the other hand was a stroke of genius from Simon and from Cheryl! she has boosted her career (her bank balance!) and her popularity, lets just hope she remembers her band mates with all this success!

Its two days ago and i still have some beef with the recent game between Manchester United and Liverpool at the weekend,

My first complaint is that United didn’t win, This means the last 3 meetings between united and Liverpool has gone Liverpool’s way and for me living with a scouser is a bad thing indeed.

United started the game like a team of scared people who hadn’t played in a game against rivals before, Valencia got stuck in as did Vidic and Evra. Scholes got muscled of the ball which surprised me and the rest of the defence seemed nervous.

In contrast, Liverpool started the game in full sprint, they passed well and the attacked with venom. I’m surprised united lasted so long without conceding.

The last 20 minutes of the game was when united came to life, like all games they don’t really get started till the second half and in this game it was the second half of the second half!

Carragher brought down Owen and there was no way on this planet that wasn’t a straight red, he was the last person on the pitch that could has challenged him and he was in a goal scoring position.

Then Vidic took one for the team bringing down a Liverpool player on the half way line, he knew he was getting sent of before he even made the challenge but maybe that’s why United fans love Vidic!

It was the MTV awards last night and as usually the headlines were not made by the people who won or lost the accolades but by the performers who acted the most outrageously

This years winners of the idiot at MTV awards went to a combination of Kanye West and Lady Gaga, Kanye interrupted the acceptance speech of Taylor Swift, a young 17yr old artist accepting her first award, to launch into a tirade  about how Beyonce should have won the best video award. Classy Kanye. He was asked to leave the award ceremony after being booed off stage.

Lady gaga however managed to steal the show with a act which involved the simulation of her own suicide… twice on stage, firstly by pretending to stab herself, she then went on to pretend to hang herself, Her date, Kermit the Frog was said to be beside himself with worry.

The act has been admonished as irresponsible behaviour infront of a world wide audience of impressionable children.

It’d been an interesting weekend of football, Manchester united cam back from 1-0 down a minute in the first half to beat Tottenham 3-1. Chelsea beat stoke 2-1 soring both thier goals in extra time. One int he first half and then, devastatingly they scored in the 95 th minute to deny stoke an historic draw..

But the headlines have been entirely hogged by The ex Arsenal player Adebayor, having suffered a tirade of abuse from the fans who’s club he played for last season, both before and during the match its seemed that the pressure got two him with two acts of seemingly reckless behavior.

Firstly he seems to have intentionally raked Van Persie in the head after an innocuous challenge, leaving Van Persie Bleeding profusely from the face. This instigated Van Persie to release the following statement directly following the match.:-

“I am sad and disappointed by my former team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor’s mindless and malicious stamp on me during today’s match.”

“We are both professional footballers and I know that the game is physical, I too have made hard and sometimes mis-timed challenges but never with the intention of hurting an opponent. He set out to hurt me today.”

It did seem from an independant point of view that the incident was intentional, and he really does deserve some action being taken against him.

The second act of craziness came when he scored a late goal against his former club. Instead of celebrating in front of his own fans, he ran the full length of the pitch to celebrate and seemingly goad the Arsenal Fans.

The took it none to lightly, Bottles, coins sandwiches  and even a plastic chair were hurled in his general direction, and in the scuffle that followed a steward was actually knocked clean out.

There is talk of a 3 match ban for each of the incidents, and to be honest I think he should get that as a bare minimum.

Eight Turkish girls aged between 16-24 have been rescued after being duped into taking part in what they thought was a Big Brother style TV show.

The girls replied to an advert on the internet that stated hey would recieve £20,000 each if they managed to stay in the house for up to two months.

The girls were initially very happy and excited by the prospect and even more happy when they saw the house they would be staying, a luxury villa complete with swimming pool, However they soon became suspicious when no evictions or Tasks were asked of them.  The reality TV show which was appropriatley named  “somebody’s watching you”  was a compete scam, the Girls were filmed around the clock and video images of them sold on pornography websites.

When the girls asked to leave the house, they were told they woulsd have to pay the £20,000 fee themselves to the producer of the program. As none of the girls could afford to pay, they stayed the full two months in the house. The Scam was brought to light when a concerned parent contacted the police.

One Turkish man was arrested after the girls were released on Sunday.

The investigation continues.

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