By Jamie Young

Hey everyone, and thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Jamie Young blog. Before we get started I'd like to answer some questions that have been handed in over the last week:

Gerri0: I always take interest in the warm-up sessions prior to the game. The keepers and coaches all have their own ideas on how they should warm up, and last year you had an emphasis on saving shots at an angle. Is this to benefit the goalkeeper or the striker hitting it?

Gerri - great question. For a keeper, the manager and assistant coach have little bearing on what I do for a warm-up. The only person who does is our goalkeeping coach, and even then I often tell him what I want to do depending on how I feel on the day; it can vary. In terms of having a shot at an angle, I do it because there are times in the games where I'll be having to face that situation, so it just gives me a familiarity.

Also, anything I do in my warm-up is specifically for me, because as a goalkeeper you need to prepare differently and I prefer not to go anywhere near any of the outfield players as I'm trying to prepare for my own task at hand.

gra132: In training, are there any outfield players that try their hand in goal and do any of you 'keepers try playing outfield as well to try to show off your technique?

This is a bit of a grey area I think. All outfield players think they can play in goal because us goalies make it look so simple, but that couldn't be further from the truth! The only guy I know who would is Scott McGleish. He's told me numerous times how he has played in goal in the past and it wouldn't bother him one bit if he had to do so for the team.

In terms of me playing out on the field, I have done so in training in the past, and I wish I could do it more often. It can really help a keeper to become better at distribution and it also helps me understand an outfield player's perspective.

So now let's get onto some more relevant issues. The game on Friday night against Morecambe was a tough one, not only in terms of the opposition but because of our previous results. We've had it pretty tough in previous weeks so we had to show our bouncebackability, and boy did we! This was also the first game I have seen since my injury so I didn't know what to expect.

I've stayed away from the matches since my injury because I felt I had to distance myself from the team. It's hard being stuck in the treatment room and the last thing you need is to be reminded of it. I thought we were awesome against Morecambe and if we keep playing like that, I think we'll be there in the end.

It was awesome to see the lads play and I'm so glad they produced the goods, especially in adversity, and hopefully we can continue in the same vein.

I don't know what has been said around the club but I got the feeling that we were under a bit of pressure coming into the game and it's never easy when you're under that pressure, but now we're just out of the top 7 and all in the space of a week everything has turned around again.

That's football for you: one moment you are up and the next thing you are not. That's why I think it's a marathon and not a sprint, and the teams who get promoted are the ones who keep doing it throughout so hopefully we can keep that pace up. I should know, having been involved at a club with two promotions when I was at Reading...

Anyway, I don't always like talking about football, so here's something for you completely different. As it is Christmas I'm sure you all have Christmas parties and functions that you are committed to and we are no different.

It's hard as a footballer sometimes to go out and have fun because if something happens it's usually bad publicity, but nonetheless we organised our party and it all went smoothly. I'm sure everyone in the team thoroughly enjoyed it as I did, and I think as a team I'd like to do more team bonding activities - not necessarily going out, but things like paintball and go-karting etc.

So the party was basically paid by our team fines. When you fall out of line, such as turning up late for training, you usually get fined. I'll say it now: I hate fines! I always bite when I get fined. In my head, I think: "This wasn't written in my contract when I signed here!"

But the problem is that when you have a fine system, people don't know when to draw the line. First you get fined for being late, and the next time it's for leaving a fork lying in the canteen, and all of a sudden I'm afraid to talk because Big Tel says it's a fine!

I like Big Tel though. He tries to act big and tough but deep down but he is a gentle giant and he's not hard to get on with. Except sometimes I don't know what he is saying as he has a very dry sense of humour - he must think I'm thick but half the time I don't say anything because I don't what he is saying!

Anyway, this is why I hate fines, and sometimes I just feel like saying "Oh kiss my butt!". Not only that, but it's always the same people getting fined, which is usually me. I swear I have a direct debit in the fine system!

So with all this in mind we have organised the party, the venue and we have a whip round from the players' fines (mostly mine). Footballers are competitive in everything we do. We're always trying to out-do each other and this time it was fashion.

I got battered - naturally - for wearing a hoodie, but I don't know why - at least I looked like I wanted to look. Everyone else was wearing the same old thing: either waistcoats and ties or button-up G-star shirts. Do me a favour guys, you're sheep in my eyes! Baa!

We had Sam Stockley and Shears fighting over who had the best tattoos and why they were the best. We had Matt "Bloomsie" Bloomfield and Gary "Holty" Holt looking like they had dressed in uniform. For those who don't know, Bloomsie is Holty's love child and will follow Holty around and do anything he wants so he can one day play in the Premiership for Norwich as Holty did. Blooms, aren't you an Ipswich supporter?

But the best one of all was my good mate Russell Martin. He outdid us all when we found someone dressed exactly the same as him. It was so funny that I just had to get a picture of it. Russ thinks he has great fashion sense, and he always comes in trying to look great.

But the problem is that Russ always wears stripes and it reminds me of the hamburglar off the McDonald's commercials and I am quick to remind him of this. So when this happened I was over the moon and that was the highlight for me!

Well we've come to the end once again for this week but I hope you've enjoyed it. Don't forget to send in your questions to the club, or leave them on the official message board. They don't have to be about football they can be about anything like music, movies, computer games (preferably XBOX!), etc. Thanks once again and catch you all soon!

Keep it real!

Jamie.