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I have to admit I'm a massive FC Bayern Munich fan. It's all I can do to suppress my urge to jump up and down and generally behave like a heartless winner. I know I'm supposed to feel sorry for BVB Dortmund, but.... well I don't.
Having spent the week listening to journalists trot out this ridiculous rich club / poor club, working men's football club versus superstar team argument it's enough to make me want to cry into my champagne. Of course Dortmund are never shy about referring to their tradition and working class background, but hey, these guys were first to the stock market. Jurgen Klopp, the mouthpiece / trainer of Dortmund earns more from advertising than any other trainer. The point is this club has no more claims to be a "working-mans" team than any other club which has grown from community roots, as most football clubs have. Anyway you're probably wondering why I am so animated about football. Well let me tell you it's the perfect study of human behaviour and the boss always says that's the key to winning, Knowing your team and being able to inspire them and motivate them to perform a job to the highest standard and still have fun doing it. When I told the boss that he reminded me of  Jupp Heynkes , he looked at me with that detached look he loves and and said "yup what?"  I have to admit he is not a real football fan, which has always a big disappointment to me. He prefers the egg shaped ball. The thugs game played by gentlemen. "Mr. Crab" , he continued (with that mixture of seriousness, sarcasm and scorn with which he has withered many a lesser man)  "how about writing about real winners for a change such as Petrogas winning the AIM CRM Award last week eh"?
Well he drew himself up to his full height and beaming like a trainer who'd just won the champions league final,  turned on his heels muttering "now there's a story worth telling. ... yup? yup indeed...  "

Petrogas won the CRM Customer Service Award at the AIM Awards last week. One factor was the Applegreen loyalty system. Applegreen Rewards launched in November 2011, the first of its kind in the Irish forecourt industry.  At its foundation was a collector mentality points based platform. One point per litre of fuel and four points per euro spent in the shop.

Petrogas' brand, Applegreen has created a two way communications platform with customers.  Over 500 calls and 300 emails are received and dealt with weekly, the vast majority are positive. It has also increased communication between site staff and their customers. Loyal customers were rewarded at sign up and across the year. The first 70,000 received a free experiential reward of a spa treatment or golf day.  

Congratulations to  Petrogas ( Lto R: Jean O'Donnell, Siobhan Grimes, Director Joe Barrett, Dermot Hassett and Olwyn Halligan) on winning the AIM  CRM award. Special congratulations to Olwyn  who is getting married in less than a week.

It's a very European time of the year, May. What with the Eurovision Song Contest and the Champions League final, citizens across Europe have a couple of opportunities to gather round the Telly and cheer on their favourites. Unfortunately it is also a time fraught with self doubt and  worry. Does the rest of Europe really hate us that much that they would completely ignore Ryan Dolan's brave effort and give us no votes? The Germans are wondering the same thing. They want to know if  Europe hates Angela Merkel enough to banish them to twenty something place in Europe's premier song contest.

 Of course the answer is no. Europe doesn't hate us, or the Germans. The main reason nobody voted for Ireland and almost nobody voted for Germany was of course that they could see that both countries were simply trying too hard. Now there are a lot of things that could stop you winning the champions league final, missed penalties, missed goal opportunities, biased refereeing, red cards, rain stopping play, injuries and so on and so on... but the single biggest reasons for not doing well in the Eurovision  are; trying too hard or sending a turkey!!
Attempting to second guess the Eurovision  public and catering to what we think they want to see and hear,  is a definite no-no. People see fake tan, fake leather, fake tatoos on fake Riverdance style drummers,  by the time they finally get to the song, it's over. Ryan gave it everything, but as a Eurovision entry it simply had nothing to hang on to when all the glamour and glitz disappeared.
Lets cut quickly to Denmark. No bells, just one whistle, straight to a melody, she didn't even bother to put on her socks. But she could sing the catchy chorus. Come to think of it, are we not the tin whistle experts? , Take Holland. They sent a perfectly normal looking mother of 4, looking like she had just dropped off her kids at the local creche and then popped in to sing us a rather non-commercial but interestingly constructed and altogether memorable little song. No dancers, no explosions, no flashing lights, yet Holland ended up in a very respectable position somewhere about halfway up the side of the scoreboard that matters.

Keep it simple, the boss is forever saying that. The Irish and German Eurovision organizers would do well to take that advice. Don't over-think it. and most importantly of all put the initial choice of songs back into the hands of the public. At the moment it seems we are generally presented with the final ten contenders in a totally non -transparent manner.  Here's a possible scenario...create a website. Allow songwriters to upload entries themselves in whatever state of production they can manage. From the beginning the public votes the most popular songs in a transparent manner until the final 10 are arrived at. Then and only then, get the professional industry types, expert pundits, producers, radio presenters involved. Together with the songwriter they can decide on how the song should be produced and it should be sung by the writer(s) or if it would be better served by some other performer. This way also the public make the ultimate choice and are not expected to get behind a song they may not even like.
One guy who certainly isn't over-thinking his charity work is Mantas, manager of Applegreen  MSA Castlebellingham Sth. Even before you can say Eurovision Song Contest, while the rest of us are talking about it, up he jumps on his bike, (while at work) and does a static cycle raising 550- for Console, while he still keeps an eye on his station. That surely deserves our 12 point vote!

By now you have probably given up on the weather as anything other than a topic of discussion. Planning an outdoor event is for the birds, and even they don't know what's coming next. You would still be inclined to thank your lucky stars that the most likely thing our weather will bring is rain, a bit of snow and the odd storm. Not so if you inhabit the US mid-west's most tornado battered state. Every year around this time, "Okies"  face a level of weather uncertainty we have never known and hopefully never will on this side of the world. Our sympathy goes to all  folks who have suffered loss of family,  friends,  property. A friend of mine whose father lives in Moore, Oklahoma , told me his father's house is one of three left standing in his neighbourhood.. Thankfully his father escaped injury and is currently so caught up in helping friends and neighbours who fared much worse, that he hasn't had time to assess his own misfortune. There does seem to be an unusually high level of neighbourliness and general caring in that particular part of the world.

Speaking of caring I have to mention the Petrogas / Applegreen  people who took off for higher ground in Snowdonia last weekend to do their bit for charity.  Led by the company directors this tireless group proved again that there ain't no mountain high enough when it comes to raising money for the Applegreen charity fund. In true Applegreen spirit they proved that there is room at the top if you try hard enough. Congratulations and hats off to all who took part.  I'm already in training for next year...