And Here's A Word From Our Sponsor...Buy More Beer, Our Profits Depend On It

Football ? What's that. There doesn't seem to be any of yer actual football related stories today, so you'll have to make do with this. Alright ?

Anyway, Scottish & Newcastle, the brewer of Foster's, Kronenbourg 1664, Strongbow cider and Newcastle Brown Ale seem to be pinning most of their 2006 sales strategy on the World Cup. Chief Executive Tony Froggatt said: "It depends on how far England go."

So, if England do well and sell lots of their terrible lager, Scottish and Newcastle will have a great year. Be patriotic, then and drink Foster's (isn't this Australian ?) or Kronenbourg 1664 (isn't this Swiss or Belgian or something ?) and help Scottish and Newcastle to a bumper year.

You could always drink Newcastle Brown Ale of course. But consider this: wasn't it Scottish and Newcastle who repackaged the drink into smaller bottles and sold it to the Americans as a premium chilled ale ? Yup. Sure was.

It does seem funny that a Chief Executive of a major company is defining success by how far England can get in a World Cup. S&N shares fell 6½p to close at 507p.