Michel Kuipers, Albion Legend.

Michel Kuipers marked a fine 10-year-career at Brighton and Hove Albion with a cameo 15 minute performance against Reading in his testimonial at the AMEX stadium.

Kuipers fittingly wore the number 287 on his shirt, the number of appearances he made for the South Coast side.

Kuipers recieved a great reception

Kuipers, a former Dutch marine, recieved a hero's welcome from the Albion faithful. The Dutch stopper saved well from Pavel Pogrebnyak around the 10th minute mark, before being replaced by Tomasz Kuszczak to a standing ovation from the 8,107 crowd.

The Dutchman first joined the Seasiders from Bristol Rovers in 2000 and soon established himself as a fans favorite from the word go.

8,107 people attended the Testimonial.

A character, he controls his area with marine like commands. 'Kuips' as he's known, was substituted on his debut after a horror 45 minutes at Southend, but he bounced back. 10 years later he left a legend, making key saves and leaving a great impression off the pitch. '

FourFourTwo awarded him "Brighton's greatest ever foreigner' in May this year and not many can complain with the accomplishment that Kuipers has achieved at Albion.

He is rare and one of a kind, a decade of hard-work, great performances and selfless attitude was rewarded tonight. It will be a very rare sight the next time we see a legend stay at a club for 10 years or more.

Early days

"Thoroughly nice guy" as he's described by many on the south coast, Kuipers moved up the road to Sussex rivals Crawley Town and guided them to a promotion in his first season as their number one goalkeeper, including an outing at Old Trafford.

A goalkeeping coaching role may now be on the agenda but the Amsterdam born goalkeeper could still play a key playing role at the Red Devils.

The 38-year-old was withdrawn from tonight's (07-08-12) friendly after reportingly having a slight knock before kick-off.

Kuipers in action at Old Trafford 

Brighton took the lead through Vicente's penalty after 33 minutes but Premier League side Reading equalized in the last minute thanks to a Hal Robson-Kanu header.

The result unimportant, Kuipers was honoured like a hero and deservedly so, his career with BHAFC lasted a decade and will always be remembered as Brighton's greatest ever keeper.

Full Time: Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Reading. Albion Man of the Decade: Michel Kuipers.

Why Germany will end their 16 year wait for a trophy

Composed, Calm and Clinical. Three things that are needed to win any major international tournament. Germany have displayed all three so far two games into Euro 2012 and look like they have a shot at winning their first trophy since England '96. 
Yes two games doesn't decide the tournament but the Germans have looked so comfortable in defeating Holland and Portugal in the so called 'Group of Death'. 


Looking at the line up, it's hard to pick faults. A solid goalkeeper in Manuel Neuer, who is confident and a top class shot stopper. The back four mixed with experience and youth seem resolute, Badstuber is a real emerging talent, matured by Bayern Munich. Hummels looks assured, at the heart of German champions Dortmund and has formed well with Badstuber. Lahm is undoubtedly one of the best German captains ever, he adds class and experience to the back line. Boateng fits the mould well at right back, quick, tall and confident. 

                                                    The Germans saw off rivals Holland 2-1. 


The back five look solid as does the midfield. Schweinsteiger and Khedira modernize the defensive midfielder role to turn into providers, passers and real engines that keep the German midfield ticking over. Podolski, Ozil, Muller and add an attacking threat down the left, centre and right respectively. Gomez is the best striker and finisher in Europe at this current time, and with three goals to his name already in the competition, it's going to take a big effort from elsewhere to stop him scoring and him not winning golden boot. 

                                                                      The German team. 


The Germans have the full package, a midfield that defends and attacks, a defence that is solid and a goalscorer upfront. Joachim Low has got it spot on against two tricky teams. The strength in depth is also very impressive, Gotze, Kroos, Klose three of many who have to watch from the sidelines. They turn up the heat when big occasions rise and unlike previous years, the Germans may finish off what they have started. 

                                                           Germany celebrating a victory


6 points out of 6, Germany barring a miracle will qualify to the quarters and look certain to win their group. Group A runners up will face them should they win, which could be either Greece, Czech Republic or Poland, a winnable tie. Spain, Italy, France, England could cause problems later on in the tournament but Germany will feel confident and why not, they've had a great start.

Crewe's Kids Aren't half bad

Having seen Crewe Alexandra play at The Broadfield, I was incredibly impressed by the way they played, but also the way in which their team is set up.

The Alex Academy has produced some impressive players in the past, Dean Ashton, Robbie Savage, Seth Johnson, David Vaughan, Nicky Maynard and Neil Lennon were all graduates under the Dario Gradi era, which saw Alex rise all the way up to the Championship. But it's the current crop of players that have caught the eye. Crewe have risen from 17th to 8th position in the space of three months, and all thanks to the younger generation of the recent graduates.

Like no other team in the country, Alex give the opportunities to the younger players who are well deserving of the chance. 8 of the 11 players who started against Crawley are from the Academy, and all didn't look out of place. Nick Powell, just turned 18 is tipped to play for England in the future, and Crewe look set to lose him in the summer after Ipswich had a reported £500,000 bid rejected. But like in the past, Crewe will invest the money in the academy and look to bring through even more players.

Dario Gradi stepping down to be academy manager is arguably due as much credit as current manager Steve Davis, who's young crop of players look set to challenge for the League Two play-offs places. The pace of Byron Moore and Nick Powell has given full-backs nightmares up and down the country, and AJ Leitch-Smith has matured as a striker. Murphy and often Clayton pull the strings in the midfield.
Dugdale at the back is accompanied by the experienced captain of David Artell, who's experience to Alex is as important as youth. He commands the back and wins everything in the air, aswell as Phillips in the goal who brings confidence to the young full backs. The style of play was clear to see, get down and pass it, similar to the Barcelona style of play.

With Crewe on an eleven-match-unbeaten run and climbing the table week on week, not many would bet against Steve Davis' forcing their way into the play-offs, I certainly as a Crawley fan would not fancy us to beat them should we play them again.

Di Canio's Style is Working.

When Paolo Di Canio was appointed manager of Swindon Town on 20th May 2011 many eyebrows were raised. Would one of the all-time Premier League greats be able to use his creative playing style on a team that were recently relegated into League Two? The answer mid-february is yes, but not without ruffling some feathers on the way.

After being on the verge of promotion to the Championship back in May 2010, losing to Millwall 1-0 at Wembley, Swindon were relegated the season after. Key players Charlie Austin, Gordon Greer and Billy Painter all left and despite Paul Hart's attempts, Town were down into League Two.
After a season of lows, a suprising high-point came off the field that shocked the football world. Di Canio appointed on a two-year-deal, an all-time legend in charge of a lower league club.

The Italian soon got to work, selling David Prutton and several others to free up the wage budget, which allowed a total of 15 players to be bought in. Ten of these relatively unknown foreign players, Kerrouche signed from the UAE showed Di Canio's ambition. But the new signings took a while to settle in, Swindon losing 6 of their first 13 games.

The Italian's passion for the game is unquestionable and has been a real driving force in Swindon's success this season, but when the passion overspills the FA Stepped in. Di Canio was sent to the stand in their derby defeat to Oxford after disagreeing with an offside call.

'I have a culture and I do not stop my culture, I speak with my body language sometimes and English referees need to respect me.'

The passion and determination from the manager's playing days could be seen on the touchline, Swindon were picking up some momentum. Di Canio's ideologies of playing attractive football was there to be seen, going undefeated in October and November meant that Swindon were climbing up the league table.

Adored by Swindon fans, Di Canio is soon making himself a cult-hero at the County Ground, sent off for running on the pitch and celebrating with the players after Alan McCormack's late winner at Northampton. The Town were buzzing, and having seen off Premier League Wigan Athletic 2-1 in the FA Cup, Paolo and his boys were also rampant in the league.

Luke Rooney was signed after a disagreement with Gillingham after Di Canio publically announced they were trying to sign the 21-year-old.

Once again the former West Ham man found himself in trouble with the FA, sent to the stands yet again after argueing one of his players had been pushed over. A two-game touchline ban in Swindon's most important time of the season.

Toppling promotion rivals Southend 4-1 away from home, Swindon became one of the country's most in-form teams but defeating Crawley Town 3-0 at home signalled the intent of the Robins, anything less then promotion is not acceptable. Di Canio's most controversial moment yet came in the press-conference after the Crawley game:

'I give the FA permission to ban me for the rest of the season, we will win the league anyway'
Shrewsbury, another promotion rival, were swept away 2-1 and after the game Di Canio said:

'Swindon proved that they are far away from other clubs near the top'

The audacity and passion from the Italian is hated by many but undoubtly revered. The bold statement of intent 'We will win the league' is exactly what we expect from a man who's playing career was anything but normal. His playing style of football is techincal and not many will bet against the passionate Di Canio leading Swindon to the League Two title.

No festive cheer for Crawley.

Boxing Day, a day in the calendar every football fan looks forward to; the festive cheer, the high crowds and the socialising on the topic of Christmas, however Gillingham ruined Crawley's Christmas party, ending their 15 match unbeaten run.

Andy Hessenthaler played the perfect role of Scrooge against Crawley by firing up his troops at half-time after a disappointing 45 minutes.

Crawley found themselves down to 10 men after Claude Davis was shown the red card after a terrible pass from Kyle Mcfadzean found Jo Kuffour and Davis' tackle was wayward, 25 minutes gone, advantage Gillingham.

Crawley played the better football before the break, Sergio Torres unfortunately followed in the footsteps of his premier-league name sake by firing wide from a good chance. However the Red Devils found themselves one goal to the good before half-time, Mcfadzean turning from zero to hero winning the penalty, coverted by Matt Tubbs. Short in hair, Short in Height, Short in Name but not short of Goals, Tubbs' 12th of the season.

It wouldn't be a normal Crawley game without the touchline antics of Steve Evans, once against in a disagreement with an opposing manager over a foul. 'Hesso knock him out' was the cry from the away fans, quite surprising he didn't listen to them.

But the Gills roared on by 1301 fans, came out after the break all guns blazing, Jo Kuffour netting his first after the Crawley defence allowed a ferocious cross to be delivered with Kuffour more letting the ball hit him then scoring a volley to give Gills the equaliser.

Town were shocked and soon after Gillingham were ahead. The Pacey Kuffour picking the ball up around 40 yards from goal and running it before finishing at Shearer's front post to leave the Crawley fans behind the goal stunned. 2-1.

The Gills were using the one man advantage effectively, playing down the flanks, the left and right backs stretching the light Crawley midfield after Mcfadzean's drop back into central defence. Not many teams exploit a 10-man team, but the Gills for the first 20 minutes of the second half made it count.

With yet more touchline action and a few tasty tackles, Evans finally introduced Josh Simpson for Michael Doughty, the midfielder worked well to create several chances at the end, Tubbs' last minute shot cleared off the line by the resilient Gills defence. Luke Rooney's last minute red card didn't change the impact the match and the Gills hung on. Full-time and three points for an improving Gillingham, Hessenthaler-Scrooge's half-time words made the difference and ended Crawley's impressive 15 match unbeaten run, but they remain top of top of the league after Southend's game was called off at Aldershot.

Steve Evans' post-match comments are bizarre, I think the best team won. Maybe the last 20 minutes Crawley might have deserved an equaliser but overall the Gills made the one man advantage count.

Offered Danny Kedwell a mince pie, unfortunately for me he eat the whole lot. And finally, an unfortunate injury for Chris Whelpdale, a whole new meaning of winning the ball. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16338426.stm

Follow me on Twitter, @benb556.