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All the latest news straight from the Bluesman's mouth.

Monday 25th November

Somehow we managed to fit 10 pubs into Friday's cupping, leaving us only 5 ties left, no drop outs this time so Golden Lion goes throug, but the Red Lion doesn't. The pub that the Red Lion beat in the first round, the reprieved Hogshead, made it through against the sand bar. Other than that, Roayl Oak gets through along with the Uni SU, highest score so far in the cup.

Tuesday 19th November

The 1st round is over now and the second round has begun. Recent shocks include the stupid Police rules after the Derby. They advised all pubs that they did not have the man power to respond to trouble after the match so advised not to open in that time. Golden Lion opened in the evening as did Paramount & Crown & Anchor, Old Wellington had bouncers on the door and all was fine. White Lion promised us that they would be open later but had closed by 9pm. Moon under water refused us entry because we were not a couple, frankly bizarre and wrong. Peveril wasn't open at all. There was no trouble anywhere but a huge amount of drinking on the streets because no where was open.

As a result of neither White Lion or Moon Under Water being open/seeing sense the highest placed 1st round looser is put back in, that being Hogshead Uni

On the other hand last weekend we saw a flying ashtray that put pay to the Scholar, but otherwise Flecher Moss, Hogshead (Didsbury), Temple, Sailsbury & Fab fought out some tough ties.

Monday 14th October

4 more rounds killed off. Fab cafe was finally visited on Friday night, letting us complete the top half of the draw, then in a small quest we took on Grafton Arms and Friendship, then ito the city for Yates, Shakespeare, Rising Sun, Paramount and Overdraught. Judging again were Jon and Neil, with Andy G on the wrong side of the Peaks, Ali in d'pool and Robbo about to set off for the mystical East. Details of the 2nd round and the remainign ties will be published when I return from France

Monday 1st September

A massive 8 pubs were tackled at the weekend. 4 winners through to the next round, all from the city centre. Both didsbury pubs carshed and burnt. Is this the end for Manchester's trendiest area with only Royal Oak and Dog & Partridge to come, Didsbury has 3 into the next round. Hopefully the second round draw will take place after the next set of ties

Monday 26th August

Just seen how long it has been since I posted up here. Anyway, cup is in full swing with the aim to have finished the 1st round by mid September. We are currently missing a number of judges: Ali has gone to search for a spirtual guru in Usbekistan, Andy has run off to Croatia, taking newly recuited judge Laura with him and for medical reasons Robbo can't participate for the remainder of the round. We wish him all the best. Anyway, a glut of ties have been posted up, the plan has been drawn up for the rest of the round and hopefully we can provide the second round drawn pretty soon

Monday 6th May

A double header before exams in honour of the football FA cup. Firstly Red Lion withington beet Hogshead by 1 judges mark with Jon, Neil and Ali in attendance. Ali was seemlessly replaced by Andy for Sinclair's dominant win over Grand Central. More after exams.... But to keep you going here's the best & worst pubs by judge so far....

BEST: JON - Sinclairs (62%), Copper Face Jacks & Lass O'Gowrie (58%)
NEIL - Piccadilly Tavern (60%), Red Lion (56%), Big Hands & Hogshead (54%)
ALI - Piccadilly Tavern (66%), Temple (60%), Red Lion (58%)
ANDY - Sand Bar (62%), Temple (60%), Sinclairs (56%)
ROBBO - Piccaddilly Tavern (66%), Manchester Uni SU (56%), The Famous Crown (52%)

WORST: JON - Piccadilly Tavern (0%), Vine Inn (38%), Kro Bar (42%), Solomon Grundy's (44%)
NEIL - Solomon Grundies & Vine Inn (38%), Grand Central & Rain Bar (40%)
ALI - Vine Inn (48%), Rampant Lion & Forgery (50%),
ANDY - Piccadilly Tavern (-10%), OP Bar & Rampant Lion (36%), Copper Face Jacks (40%)
ROBBO - Rain Bar (28%), Solomon Grundies (30%), O'Neills (36%)

Red in worse denotes a tie winner, in best denotes a tie looser. Piccadilly Taven included in worst even through marks weren't counted in the cup because webmaster still wants history to show the underhand tactics of the Tavern.

Sunday 28th April

A double header but only 3 pubs. Granby saw it fit to ask for cash just past nine and see saw it equally fit to throw them out the competition. However we managed to get 4 judges together for it. Only three managed to judge to preceding tie at Vine & Forgery, but all in all it went well

Sunday 21st April

A quick derby tie got the cup back into full swing. Andy was busy buttering the sandwiches for his birthday, and Ali was undergoing a medical for becoming Man City's new reserve goalkeeper (overweight alcholic, Nicky Weaver II). Anyway, we had 2 hours, and came out with a result. Nice one.

Next up for Friday is Ali's bithday, Grandy V Temple the clash of the classless and probably a reschedule to allow Vine to take on Forgery + Firkin in a double header from history

Sunday 24th March

The double header produced surprises and disappointment. Apparently the Aliens still hadn't released Ali and are still interrogating him thinking he is the ruler of the planet. Andy was lost in transit on the way to the Student's Union bar, after questioning the baggage handlers in Manchester Airport, we think we has last seen heading to Oslo. There will be no ties till after Easter will we can arrange transport back for them. Thanks to Robbo for standing in.

We have encountered possibly the world's smelliest pub toilets in Didsbury and also some great views in the SU bar. The cup is in full swing and lets hope the Easter Break won't kill the momentum.

Lets see how our pundits predictions have fared so far:

The occasional pundits (Andy and Laura) are doing far better, Jon however has more right and the less said about Neil, resident of the south Manchester for 21+ years, the better!

Sunday 17th March

Redid the marking page for Lass O'Gowrie V OP Tie since I was rather drunk the first time round. Aplogise to those who were misled. Ali was the unfortunate victim of a case of mistaken identity in an alien abduction but we hope to have him with us soon enough.

To finish of the university term, we are having a bumper double header round on Friday 22nd March. The fist tie begins in Manchester Uni SU bar at 5pm, then onwards to O'Neills in Didsbury. Then onto The Famous Crown before heading onto the Rain Bar.

Photos added to results pages.

Thursday 14th March
Owens Park Bar V Lass O'Gowrie

At last, a tie that put the honour back into the cup. It went off without a hitch. Lass O'Gowrie had its faults, but OP Bar could not compete on the day. Well done to both, Next round will be a double header.

Saturday 9th March
Piccadilly Tavern V Solomon Grundy's

To me, I'm still waiting for the real drinking to kick off, lick the early ties of the football cup, we are not getting any real consistency, and are having scrappy, controversial ties. On a day when the football FA cup (sponsored by Axa) help its quarter finals, sadly no 3pm kickoff, our 3pm kick off gave a relaxing if cold start in Withington. By the time we had arrived in the city centre, apes in coats had graced the doors of the tavern, throwing me out for wearing trainers like most of the drinkers in there, not letting Andy G in, but letting Robbo in who was also wearing trainers. The two suggestions of disqualification and of letting Jon's & Andy's marks (0s) stand were rejected, however, an official warning has been issued.

From the next tie onwards, any pub that refuses entry to a member of the judging team for reasons of race, clothing, footwear, religion, accent, occupation / lack of or sexual orientation will be disqualified from the competition.

Saturday 2nd March
Sand Bar V Copper Face Jacks

After a lackluster first tie, this has provided more than its fair share of surprices, controversy and talking points. Firstly on arriving at CFJs @ 3pm we found it closed, it was decided that Sand Bar would be visited first, and CFJs be marked down.
Sand Bar was also closed, it was decided that the tie would resume at 7pm in Sand Bar and CFJs would not be marked down. This is perhaps where the trouble began. Ali decided that he could continue past Sand Bar, so his marks were discounted. After comparing marks these points were raised in discussion:

1) 5 mins after marking the music at CFJs vastly improved but as Neil said "We could alter our marks but that would lower the trueness of the cup"

2) Andy "Russian Linesman" Gilday informed us that 3 beers were off at the bar in CFJs, leading Neil to mark down the range as 1. On investigation, it was found that 2 of the pubs were Stella, son in reality it was only 2 beers and perhaps 1 mark was cheated out of CFJs.

3) My marking pen was nicked by one of Andy "Marradonna didn't use his hand" Gilday's housemates

4) Bar Maid attractiveness at Sand Bar was rated better than average, CJFs as average by Andy "French Iceskating Judge". I would put up photos of the of the Sand Bar staff to demonstrate why the other two judges gave them low marks, but it was suggested they would put off the readers. Besides Knowsley Safari Park wouldn't give me release to take pictures of them.

5) Even though they poured him the wrong pint, Andy "Sand Bar" Gilday still gave Sand Bar's staff a better than average efficiency mark. However even though Copper Face Jacks has table football, TVs over every booth & a late license, he only gave it one MISC mark.

In the end this led to a one point margin of victory by Sand Bar, Cooper Face Jacks is apparently in financial problems and will this be the last nail in the coffin. To make matters worse, Andy was reported to have said "I had to make sure Sand Bar won". We could have covered it up and attempt to gloss over the differences in marks, however we decided to make everything above board, so here's the scoop. We can only wish CFJs good luck in the future & hope to see it back next year. Sand bar may well surprise us again.

Tuesday 26th Feb
John Willie Lees V The Rampant Lion

In the end this was an easy decision, after the Rampant scored above average from the judges, JWL confronted us with locked metal doors and gates.