Last week I scored a couple of points, as we have to do in relationships, by taking the missus to watch Ed Sheeran at the Cape Town Stadium.
He’s a proper charmer and a talented musician, but not the sort of gig I wanna be hanging out for the equivalent of one-and-a-half football matches, listening to (mainly) songs I’ve never heard.
Besides all that, a few kilometres of walking and a 45-minute queue to grab a beer!
Saying all that, like some of you, I occasionally travel halfway around the globe to catch 90 minutes of football, so I shouldn’t complain really.
Barring him standing on a stage three metres up off the pitch, you would have thought the kid would have no reason to ever go to a stadium - well, maybe to watch rugby - but it turns out he’s a bit of a football fan.
His ol’ man has been a Chelsea supporter all his life and used to take lil’ Ed to the Bridge.
But his local side and place he can often be found is Ipswich Town.
Being the £300m-a-year-plus global star that he is, of course, many doors open up into situations he would never have dreamt about.
I was quite intrigued to learn that Ronaldo (the original Brazilian) is a huge fan of his.
Sheeran said: “I met Ronaldo and he came to my concert and invited us to his house, which has a club in it.
“We went there and he showed me my dance routine from the Thinking Out Loud video.
“He had learned it with his girlfriend, which was amazing.”
Wow, the sight of it, Ronaldo, Ed and their respective partners doing a dance routine in tubby’s house?
After wasting 10 minutes Googling other icons and the teams they support, I was surprised to see that Dr. Dre supports Liverpool, Justin Timberlake Man United, Jay-Z Arsenal, and Snoop Dog, well, he’s been seen donning a number of football shirts but is claimed by Ajax Amsterdam (which makes sense considering the great coffee available in those parts!).
My cynical side says: support a club like United and open up another huge market.
I mean, what can these guys really care about when it comes to soccer?
Anyway, back to the weekend and another “told you so” moment as Watford took it to United, but somehow came away with nothing.
They dominated the middle of the park and had countless attempts.
BLUE BLOOD: Ed Sheeran. Photo: Supplied.
On another day they could have scored three or four times.
The dominance in midfield was so telling that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said Paul Pogba might need to be switched to a deeper role in future (as he does with France) to balance it out.
I was happy that Solskjaer got the nod, for a couple of reasons.
One, it gives me a bit of faith in the game again.
He’s come from nowhere, with regards to coaching experience, to manage one of the biggest clubs in the world.
He was k** at Cardiff and his last job, coach of Molde (who play in the same league as clubs called Viking and Odd) was far from spectacular.
The second reason is that I simply don’t think he’s equipped to mix it with the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola.
I can hear you all shouting “he’s got the best stats of any starting manager in United’s history”, but honestly, are YOU happy?
He’s notched up an impressive start, but I don’t see great football (as with Jose Mourinho) and they look tactically naïve.
In fact, it all looks a bit "Mouldy".
It was a massive weekend I lost my rag watching Chelsea.
It was so k**.
Maurizio Sarri dropped N’Golo Kante and Eden Hazard to the bench, he then made three substitutions in a desperate bid to get back into the game after going 1-0 down but left a visibly pissed off Callum Hudson-Odoi out.
We needed to break down a bus, it needed a spark of flair and there he was, bum to seat, staring into the ground, not sure what the hell was going on.
How can the kid be starting (and starring) for England and not for his club?
The substitutions appeared to work, however, they were only needed because his opening selection struggled against one of the league’s worst sides.
We were lucky to win, which might keep the Italian in his job a bit longer, but with chants of “Sarri Out” emanating from the frustrated away end, it’s unlikely he’ll last much longer.
City, meanwhile, are purring towards the title, despite mad drama at Anfield as the Scousers took an unlikely three points.
Credit to Spurs who came back so well in the second half. Pep should grab another win tomorrow night at home to Cardiff and then on Friday, Liverpool travel to Southampton.
It’s a brilliant season and with the next four battling for Europe everything to play for!