Posted by James Cranford

Hello everyone,

My name is James Cranford, and I am one of the Assistant Producer's here at World Football Daily. I am sure many of you are familiar with my name and some of you have been in contact with me at some point during my five months thus far at WFD. I am writing this to introduce myself further, so you may have a better understanding of who I am as a person, and a football supporter.

Firstly, I would like to tell the tale of how I came to work at World Football Daily and my experiences that have subsequently followed during my short tenure.

As all of you are, I am a premium subscriber to the only daily English language football pod cast. One day in December (I can't remember which), Kenny stated that they are looking for interns to help Rafa with work in the studio; as I recall, his statement said,"We need a body." Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to work in the sports business in anyway possible (I will be majoring in Broadcast Journalism when I go back to school in August: more on that later) whether that be playing, managing, or working in the press. The easy route has always been the press. So when I heard Kenny's statement, I thought about e-mailing Rafa. I did so the next day and immediately heard back from Rafa that he was interested in having me come in, and I thought to myself, this is a great opportunity for my future (not to mention I was stoked about meeting the gang at WFD). I must say that the last five months of my life have been difficult, fun, and a great experience -- what more could you want from life?

I remember during my first full week working at WFD, Rafa got me started by calling the guests on the show and getting them ready to talk with Steven and Kenny for their interview. That first week I remember I was suddenly talking to Phil Brown, then manager of Hull City, and thinking to myself, how many kids my age would love to be doing what I am right now? But since then, calling people we see everyday in the football world has become the norm in my life, and all in the blink of an eye.

Now I am privileged to sit in the press box at MLS games, go to the away teams' practice the day before the match, and even talk to professional footballers in person on occasion. I have had many unforgettable experiences all ready while working at WFD and I plan to keep my post at this show for as long as I can. I have always wanted to have a job where I can get up in the morning and not complain about going to work -- I have that at WFD.

I am currently taking this semester off of school, which was always the plan even before i started working at WFD, but will be back as a Junior at California State University of Fullerton, as a Broadcast Journalism major. I plan to use what I will learn pursuing this degree and apply that to my work at WFD to make the show better, and your dollar worth the full price of subscription. Doing both will be difficult, but I have planned and prepared myself for two hard-working years that I know will be well worth the struggle.

Now what about me as a football fan?

Well, I support the great club of Chelsea FC and attended my first game at Stamford Bridge in January (the 7-2 victory over Sunderland). I started becoming interested in this game when I was thirteen during the 2002 World Cup. Of course the help of the US team reaching the quarterfinal peeked my interest. But for two years after that I could never find the game on television and so I was lost on the game during that span. I rediscovered the game thanks to my brother who got me into it during the European Championships in 2004, and I thought to myself, why not give soccer a try? So I did. I fell in love with the game straight away. I became a Chelsea fan for the simple reason that they were playing in Seattle in the summer of 2004 and I heard the announcer say that they were based in London; I picked them straight away because London was the only city I have ever heard of in England (hey, I was 15 and didn't care much for European geography) and I thought football was like American sports where every city only has one team(I was always going to pick an English team because my family heritage originates from there). So Chelsea it was, and I came to find out quickly that they weren't half bad, which has never been anything more than a bonus.

This has been one great year.

As a Chelsea fan, at the start of the year I told myself that winning the Premier League this season has to be the goal, the Champions League seems as though it is cursed for us to win it. What a year it was indeed. Going through all the ups-and-downs during this season with Chelsea has made the double they won all the sweeter. I have had a smile on my face for the last two weeks, and nothing seems to be able to rid myself from that happiness. Although we were once again eliminated in the Champions League, by our former manager and Didier Drogba getting a red card, winning the double gives all of us, as Chelsea fans, the bragging rights that we need. By my calculations we should win the Champions League next year because Carlo wins it every four years, in 2003 and 2007, and next year is 2011, four years after he won his last. Haha I hope I am right but what I do know is, if we get knocked out again, I am sure we will make another headline exit.

As for the rest of the European season, I was thrilled to see all the races go to the last day in four of the five major leagues in Europe, because sport is all about competitive competition. I found myself seized into the excitement of how close the French League was, until Marseille ran away with it. Inter and Barca won again and good to see Bayern Munich back on top in Germany. For the Champions League final, I am going to be rooting for the Bayern in this one, for the simple reason that I hate when my team gets knocked out of a competition by the eventual winner, because that means we most likely would have won it. C'mon Bayern. Oh, and no hard feelings to Jose.

Ah, yes, the World Cup.

I am really looking forward to the World Cup this year. I think that playing the tournament on African soil will create the ultimate neutral affect on the European and South American giants, which will lead us to seeing some remarkable games. I cannot wait! My pick to win has to be Brazil. They are simply the best. But I hope I am wrong and we see a new team win it this year. The USA perhaps? That would make my year. I don't think they have the horses to go all the way but I expect them to get out of the group, because if they don't, that could damage the popularity of the game in this country because I feel it has some momentum towards gaining that popularity (not to mention they are the second best team talent wise in their group).

That was a little bit about me. I hope you feel you may know me better as a football fan and how I started working at WFD. If you have any questions or comments, you can always reach out to me at james@worldfootballdaily.com, and I will try to answer back to you as fast as I can. Thank you all for reading for this.

James Cranford, Assistant Producer, World Football Daily.