Sporting Heaven

Weekends like these that restore people’s faith in sport. The weekend came to a breathtaking climax yesterday with Sergio Aguero smashing Manchester City to the top of the table to see them crowned as champions for the first time since 1968. The race for the title was a glorious ingredient in a day of Premier League drama which eventually saw Botlon Wanderers relegated to the Championship along with Blackburn Rovers & Wolves.


This meant Mark Hughes, who was appointed manager in place of Neil Warnock back in January, completed his mission of keeping Queens Park Rangers in the top flight of English football. This morning, Rangers’ owner Tony Fernandes said that we can expect a big announcement from the club in the coming days. This coupled with Hughes’ defiant post-match interview promising the club won’t be fighting relegation under his watch again leads us to assume that they’ll be a busy club in the transfer market this summer.

The other triumphant teams on grand slam Sunday were Arsenal and Tottenham, who secured vital top four finishes. Arsenal finished third which means they qualify automatically for the Champions League, bypassing a qualifying trip to Poland in mid-August. It was a perfect send-off for Pat Rice who leaves Arsenal’s coaching staff having been involved since 1984 and given the turbulent start to the campaign which saw 72% of fans calling for Arsene Wenger to be sacked; it’s not turned out to be a bad campaign at all for the Frenchman. He’s already signalled his intent for next season by signing Lukas Podolski from Cologne as well as being in talks with a handful of other big names, but the true test for him will be getting their talismanic leader, Robin Van Persie, to sign a new contract at the club. After receiving the golden boot award for an incredible 37 goals this year, he hinted that a move was likely, stating,

"I have been playing here for eight years and I love this club. Whatever happens that will never change."

If they can acquire the services of some of the big names, it will show the ambition that Arsenal have been lacking in the transfer window for the past few years. This may encourage the Dutchman to put pen to paper, but with every club in Europe willing to offer him a contract, you couldn’t begrudge him a move elsewhere.

Their North London rivals have a very different situation and they must play the waiting game to find out their fate. Harry Redknapp has already expressed where his allegiances lie and he’ll be hoping that Byern Munich can confirm their position as favourites and beat Chelsea in the Champions League final next week. If Chelsea manage to defy the odds again in the final and win, they earn the right to defend their title, which would mean Spurs drop into the Europa League.

Liverpool finished the season in a familiarly unremarkable fashion as they failed to score away at Swansea to finish 8th in the Premier League. A word of congratulations must be in order for Brendan Rogers’ men who treated 12,000 Elvis look-a-likes to a 1-0 over the Merseyside team. The reason for the mass fancy dress was a quote by the bookmakers at the start of the season who gave better odds for Elvis to play another live gig than for Swansea to be playing in the premier league next season. They’ve finished 11th and have played some wonderful football claiming the scalp champions Manchester City along the way. Kenny Dalglish may have all Liverpool fans under a spell, but the rest of us know he’s got so much work to do and at the moment, he’s simply not coming up with the goods. His recruitment has been diabolical and he’s got into a terrible habit of paying over the odds for distinctly average footballers. Rumours in Merseyside are that he’s in talks with West Brom for a potential £18m move for their reserve keeper Marton Fulop who endured the most torturous afternoon a professional sportsman can experience. He was completely to blame for all three of Arsenal’s goals and if ever there was a man who needed a hug, it was the Hungarian and it’s safe to say that everyone watching would have happily provided a shoulder for the keeper to cry on.

With all these winners, it means of course that there must be losers and no-one lost more this weekend than Bolton Wanderers who took the plunge in the most desperate fashion. They could only manage a 2-2 draw at the Britannia Stadium but both Stoke goals came directly from shocking decisions from Chris Foy. The first goal was nothing short of a farce, Adam Bodgan had the ball firmly in to hands about two yards from goal when Jonathan Walters bundled into him and the impact was such that the keeper and the ball ended up in the back of the net. Foy deemed this to be a perfectly legal act and despite the Stoke striker never making contact with the ball, he was on the score-sheet. The referee’s second blunder came with the score at 2-1 to the visitors when he deemed that Peter Crouch had been brought down by the man Bogdan again. In Foy’s defence, from his angle it looked like there might have been contact, but on closer inspection, Crouch merely fell over leaving who else but Walters to drill home the penalty. Owen Coyle was very gracious in defeat considering the rough ride his team had with the officials and although he explained that the decisions didn’t help, many managers would have been much more forthright in voicing their disapproval of the officiating. He expressed his belief that the side could bounce straight back up given the calibre of the Bolton squad, although, holding onto players such as Martin Petrov may prove a stiff challenge.

The other losers on the day were Manchester United and Newcastle United, though comparable to Bolton’s loss, theirs is like Chris Moyles losing two pounds. Newcastle have had an unbelievable season considering they were promoted last year and Alan Pardew has done remarkably well in sustaining such a consistent season. He’s made two of the best signings of the season by some way in Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba’a and if he can fend off the circling vultures in the summer, it’s a strike-force that can only go from strength to strength. If the Toon Army were offered 5th place at the start of the season, they’d have snapped it up but the way the faded away in the last couple of weeks was a shame, though 5th is the least they deserve.

Manchester United missed out on their 20th title by goal difference and five minutes of injury time. Sir Alex Ferguson was as bullish as ever in his post-match interview as he welcomed the challenge of Manchester City in the years to come and that they’d have to wait 100 years until they reached United’s level of 19 titles. Love him or hate him, you must respect Fergie’s Olympic stamina to keep gong year on year and producing the goods. If there’s one thing the Scotsman knows, it’s winning titles. Fergie said in his bebrief that there’s one thing about the Premier League, if you finish at the top come the end of it, you deserve to lift the trophy.

Whether you agree or not with how Manchester City have won the league given their multi-millionaire investors; they undoubtedly deserve it. They beat their nearest rivals twice including the 6-1 demolition job at Old Trafford and despite being without Carlos Tevez for much of the year; they scored more goals than anyone else in the league and conceded fewer. The weekend, rightfully, belongs to them.

In the euphoria of Sunday’s football, the rest of the weekend’s action was somewhat swept aside. In Swansea on Friday night, we were treated to one of the best Celtic League matches ever to have been played when the Ospreys trounced Munster 45-10 in a game of outstanding quality. On Saturday the Aviva Premiership final was decided as Leicester triumphed at home to Saracens and the Harlequins came out on top against Northampton at the Stoop. Sunday was an epic day, but behind all the football there was an unlikely first-place finish for the Williams team out in Barcelona at the Spanish Grand Prix in F1. Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado registered his first ever F1 win as he took the chequered flag from pole despite heavy competition by runner-up, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. This had the lot, with Lewis Hamilton being dropped from pole to back of the grid for running out of fuel in qualifying, Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna crashing and blaming each other for their early retirements, a malfunctioning pit stop where a driver had to drive over a spare tyre and a raging garage fire in the Williams paddock where thankfully no-one was severely injured. On top of all that, Roger Federer won the Spanish Open tennis on the hotly debated blue clay of Madrid, Matt Kuchar won the Players Championship golf and Penarth CC beat Abergavenny CC in their first league match of the season.

Of course, in every pantomime there is a villain and this week it’s been duly accepted by Joey Barton. His embarrassing antics on the field were laughable and his ongoing feuds on twitter reflect him not only as a sportsman, but a man. The reason for the red card may be questionable as it seemed both he and Carlos Tevez were in the wrong, however, his actions after being shown the red card are completely indefensible. He’s publicly admitted on twitter that as soon as he knew he was sent off, he deliberately tried to get a reaction from one of the Manchester Ctiy players so that they would be walking down the tunnel with him. After striking out at Sergio Aguero, he then attempted a feeble head-butt on Vincent Kompany before being escorted from the putch by none other than opposition fullback Micah Richards. This was only the beginning of the fracas as he became entangled in a war of words on twitter with Robbie Savage and Gary Linekar regarding the BBC broadcast of Match of the Day, claiming he was being personally victimised. Mark Hughes is a good manager and seems like a good bloke, the best thing he could do for football and for humanity is sack Joey Barton and send him to the streets where he’ll inevitably end up where he belongs; prison.

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. All that’s left to do now is keep an eye out Mario Balotteli’s picture on the front of the tabloid papers, because surely his celebration antics are going to be deliciously entertaining.

Redbirds Don't Fly

Football may not lead the way in prostituting itself for money, but this week, Cardiff City Football Club’s owners have managed to top the whore class. Malaysian owners, headed by the main investor Vincent Tan, have decided that red is a more dynamic colour for marketing in Asia, is more significant to Wales and will help bring in more sponsors and funding from overseas. Therefore they intend to change the bluebirds’ shirt colour from blue to red with talks of a re-name and a(nother) brand new club crest


The way that money rules most sports now is beyond recovery. The sheer size of the contracts on offer from television companies for the rights to broadcast games is unimaginable and the new way that football clubs are run seems to always involve a foreign investor. In the premier league, the first high-profile case was that of Roman Obramovich nearly a decade ago when he entered the fray at Chelsea Football Club. He was met with detestation by other clubs when he appeared to be throwing money into the club and paying preposterous amounts of money for players such as £30m for Andriy Shevchenko, then a British record signing. His spending has gradually reduced since his early days, yet last season he funded the ludicrous £50m signing of Fernando Torres. This has led to people coming in and buying clubs that are struggling financially out of their debt and having sole ownership of the club. Not only is this unsustainable for business, it’s a completely unethical way of running a football club. The two Spanish giants, Barcelona and Real Madrid reported last year that their debts as football clubs are €483m and €244m respectively. This gets overlooked by the bigger teams because it’s viewed as a manageable debt because of the value of the club, players and stadiums etc. Though for other teams to be able to compete, the first thing they have to be able to match is money. This is where foreign investors come into play with truckloads of cash to spend on players, training facilities and new stadiums.

One could argue that it’s acceptable for this to happen at the top level of the game. Manchester City have all but proven that you indeed can buy Premiership titles and even if they do slip up at QPR this weekend, they’ve still had a pretty decent season. It’s accepted now that teams will be bought and transformed overnight to achieve any goal that their egotistical owners should want to achieve. But we need only look at Blackburn Rovers for an example of a team that have been the creators of their own downfall. In November 2010, the Indian company V H Group bought the club with a mission statement of winning the premier league once more. They sacked the then manager Sam Allardyce and brought in his replacement in Steve Kean. In the previous season, Allardyce guided a limited squad to a very respectable 10th place finish and reached the semi-final of the league cup. Blackburn Rovers have now been relegated from the Premier League and Sam Allardyce’s West Ham United are poised to replace them if they can beat Blackpool in the play-off final.

It’s a tragic situation when this attitude filters into the lower leagues, and this is exactly the situation that Cardiff City find themselves in. They’ve had a turbulent time financially since Andy Campbell propelled them into the Championship back in 2003. It’s not the first time that Cardiff City fans have had to endure the talks of a club re-brand. When Hammam bought Cardiff City for a fee thought to be in the region of £11m after leaving the crazy gang at Wimbledon, his vision was to get the whole Welsh population to support Cardiff by renaming the club The Cardiff Celts and changing the colour of the kit to red, white and green. The flamboyant owner also tried to legally change the Welsh flag to the St David’s Cross, claiming the Welsh dragon bore no significance to the country at all. It eventually ended in Cardiff City adopting the cross as its own and changing their club crest. He then took out a loan under the club’s name in 2004, only for him to walk away from the club without spending a penny and claiming it as his own as he sold it as part of the club’s assets. He left the club leaving a foul stench of betrayal when he sold it to Peter Ridsdale for £23.7m with all the money that was promised to be spent on players ending up in his pocket. This left a crippling £40m debt in the incapable hands of Ridsdale which has lead to the eventual takeover from the Malaysian money-men.

A £40m debt would be nothing to a big club, but that’s just the issue, Cardiff City are not a big club. At championship level, yes, they are up there with the best; but it’s the second tier of British football. Despite attracting names like Robbie Fowler, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Craig Bellamy, they are not a massive team. This is what makes the state of affairs all the more disastrous, because the Cardiff fans follow their team because they are Cardiff people. Ask most Cardiff fans, and they’ll tell you they’d rather play in Blue in League 2 than in red in the Premier League. They don’t want to be Manchester United, Barcelona or Real Madrid with fans from all over the world. They couldn’t care less if their fan base in Asia is growing and shirt sales around the world are at an all-time high.

There’s something really sad about listening to a radio phone in and hearing the presenter announce “Brian is a Manchester United fan, hello Brian,” only for Brian to have the harshest cockney accent you’ve ever heard. If people are aroused by being a big-club follower when they live no-where near the where the team play and no affiliation to the club whatsoever, they haven’t lived. How fun can it actually be being a Barcelona fan? If they don’t win every competition they enter, it’s a failure and if they don’t beat the majority of the sides in La Liga by four goals it’s been a poor night. They might have a local football team within 10 miles of their house, but because they don’t win things, they can’t get the following of the fickle football world.

There’s nothing quite like walking from a dingy Grange End Stand with a pie in hand dissecting a 3-0 home drubbing at the hands of Plymouth Argyle, picking out the positives of a Richard Langley, Andy Lee, Darren Purse or a Leo Fortune West et al’s performance on the train home. It’s an art that the smaller clubs have mastered and it brings with it a sense of togetherness that bonds the people of the city. For 90 minutes, the world stops. The smallest club can reduce the biggest man in the ground to tears and there’s something eerily beautiful about that. For that 90 minutes; children, teachers, bankers, factory workers, toilet cleaners, bus drivers and every other title in the ground are in unity for one reason, the football team that’s on the pitch. People may be holding onto their 42nd consecutive season ticket or coming through the turnstiles for the first time, it doesn’t matter, they’re there and their goal is a collective one; to see their team win. These people may never actually meet, but they’ll be bound for life by that football club, shirt and crest. Be it Doncaster, Scunthorpe, Aldershot, Wolves, Stoke or Motherwell; it’s the same up and down the country.

You can find yourself in a city anywhere in Britain and the aesthetics of each high street in Britain is quintessentially the same. You have the same shops, you’ll stop for a Starbucks and have a look out the window at HMV with a Topshop bag at your feet thinking about when’s best to avoid the queue at Nandos. The placelessness of Britain’s cities makes identity all the more difficult, but two things you can rely on are accents and football supporters. When you hear your accent anywhere else in the world, it’s an unwritten law that you can go over to them and talk about your football team. Football teams give people an identity and a sense of belonging which the owners of Cardiff City are in danger of putting through the shredder.

For these reasons and so many more, football should be better than this. What gives a group of Malaysians the right to come into a football club and decide to change a club’s name, the colour of their shirt, their club badge and throwing away the tradition and history that many fans hold dear to their hearts. Unfortunately, the answer is money. One of Cardiff City’s directors was quotes as saying,

“You can’t take our history away but our history won’t raise dollars in the Far East.”

It’s difficult to even comprehend that the directors of the club seem to think that the solution to their crippling debt is selling shirts in Asia. Even the worst economists in the world (like the ones that run the country) will tell you that this isn’t the answer.

If this change is permitted, not only will there be two teams called The Dragons playing in Wales, but more importantly it will give these people unlimited power as to what they can change. Should someone want to purchase the Cardiff City Stadium in the future and there was a 50,000-seater stadium available in Newport or Bridgend, would they up sticks and move out of Cardiff? If a lucrative multi-million pound offer came in, would the board decide to rename the club in a sponsorship deal? The club we once knew as Cardiff City Football Club could become the Tesco Dragons, their home matches would be played on the outskirts of Bridgend at the Cilit Bang Arena and they’d play in lime green and magenta with a tribal design because it’ll increase shirt prices in Outer Mongolia. As we do so many times, we must wait on the powers that be in hope that their brains haven’t been strangled by corporate greed and come to their senses. The wait begins.

I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues

In a way that only sport can, yesterday the city of Cardiff saw rugby finally see common sense while their footballing counterparts self-destructed into a ludicrous red, Malaysian mess. On the same afternoon that the Cardiff Blues announced that they’d be leaving the Cardiff City Stadium and returning to their city-centre home of the Arms Park, Cardiff City’s investors also announced that a re-brand of the club was imminent; which would see the club ditch their traditional blue shirts for red ones.

The supporters of the Cardiff Blues have been calling for the switch ever since the move back in 2009. Many fans have never even seen a game in the new stadium, and they’re not missing much. The droning, non-atmospheric, blue shell has got progressively worse game after game; to the extent that even the hardiest of supporters have given up. This was epitomised by the final game (hopefully) to ever be played at the ground, where just over 3,500 turned up to bid farewell to their departing stars such as Martyn Williams, Richie Rees, Gethin Jenkins and Xavier Rush among others. It summed up the Blues’ season, an enormous sense of ‘who cares?’.

The circumstances surrounding the Blues’ eventual departure the old Leckwith ground are slightly dubious to say the least. Richard Holland took over as Chief Executive and the fans hoped that the new man would see sense, but in January, when he was questioned regarding a possible move back the Arms Park he said,

“My brief is to make it work at the Cardiff City Stadium, full stop.”

“Whilst people aren’t coming, it’s people that make the atmosphere. So perhaps they need to take a look at themselves and come down and create the atmosphere.”

However yesterday, a matter of four months later he expressed,

“This move is important for our future sustainability,”

“Having listened to the supporters, sponsors and reviewed the financial position of the business, the board and I believe the Cardiff Blues should be playing back at the Arms Park.”

Quite a drastic change of opinion and commitment for a man of such stature, don’t you think? More likely than ‘listening to the supporters’, it’s very probable that Cardiff City’s owners were losing so much money that they asked them to terminate their contract. Because so few people were making their way through the turnstiles, they must’ve been making a net loss. In the first year, when the Blues were averaging 10,000-11,000 attendances for every home game, all was well. But now, with as little as 2,000 coming in, it can’t possibly cover the costs of maintaining the stadium with such things as catering, hospitality, pitch maintenance, licensing, safety stewards, policing etc. With that in mind, if Cardiff City were making a loss, it’s anyone’s guess how much money Cardiff Blues were losing. In business terms therefore, it’s a no-brainer. Although both clubs will portray it as a mutual separation, the likelihood is that the Cardiff Blues were shown the door by their landlords because they weren’t holding up their end of the bargain. It makes the Blues look like they're moving for the fans and it makes the Bluebirds’ owners look like compassionate businessmen for possible future partners; everyone’s a winner.

Let’s break it down further, everyone involved at Cardiff City are happy. The fans don’t have to share a stadium with rugby fans who share an already hostile relationship, the players don’t have to play on a pitch trampled by front rowers, the owners are free to expand and make changes for their own benefit and the club have their name and only their name on the lease. The same can be said of the Blues. As a club, they’ll have their own ground and a reinvented sense of identity, the players will get to play in a stadium with atmosphere, the fans will finally get what they wanted years ago and the owners aren’t restricted as to what they can or can’t do with their ground. Everyone’s happy? Not quite.

The problem is, because of the shoddy way the Cardiff Blues has been run in the past few years, it’s now probably got its weakest playing staff in the region’s history. With the loss of so many players and no-one coming in to replace them, they are threadbare in so many positions.

This is probably the best match day squad the Cardiff Blues could put out onto the field next year:

15. Leigh Halfpenny
14. Alex Cuthbert
13. Dafydd Hewitt
12. Jamie Roberts
11. Tom James
10. Jason Tovey
9. Lloyd Williams
8. Andries Pretorius
7. Sam Warburton
6. Josh Navidi
5. Bradley Davies
4. Lou Reed
3. Scott Andrews
2. Rhys Thomas
1. Sam Hobbs

16. Ryan Tyrrell
17. Tau Filise
18. Ryan Harford
19. James Down
20. Michael Paterson
21. Rhys Downes
22. Ceri Sweeney
23. Chris Czekaj

Who’s left? A few young, overweight props, Dan Fish, Gavin Evans and Richard Mustoe. It’s doubtful that the European elite are quaking in their boots looking at this line-up. The three best players in that squad are Sam Warburton, Leigh Halfpenny and Jamie Roberts who between them managed 23 appearances between them all season (Warburton 8, Halfpenny 10 & Roberts 5). This means that they’ll be reliant on their squad players who frankly aren’t good enough.

Before they moved to the outskirts in 2009, they reached the semi-final of the Heineken Cup, attracting 42,000 to the Millennium Stadium to see them miss out on the final by an inhumane penalty shootout. This in undoubtedly the region’s biggest success and that’s including the EDF and Amlin Challenge Cup trophies that are being packed away ready for a move into the city centre. Since then, the board has been under the illusion that the region has been developing because of the move to the stadium and their flash new training facility. Not only has the region not been developing, it’s moved backwards.

Many Cardiff fans will remember the evening that over 20,000 crammed into the Arms Park to see the Blues’ star signing Jonah Lomu. Who have the same fans been treated to since rugby’s biggest global name donned the baby blue shirt? The worst overseas signing in the history of sport in Sam Norton-Knight and the most negative rugby player on the planet in Dan Parks. They made one fantastic signing in Gavin Henson because he’s a player that people will pay to come and watch and rightly or wrongly, he was hung out to dry for having a beer with other members of the team and management. They were given the opportunity of some sort of input by Graham Henry who has indicated his desire to be affiliated with the Blues in an advisory role, a decision they turned down and opted instead for a horrifying double-act of mediocrity in Justin Burnell and Gareth Baber.

The region cannot afford to spend the summer patting themselves on the back for getting it right for the fans, they must be proactive. Phil Davies has the hardest job of all in getting the best out of an average set of players with little or no money to bring his own men in. If the club really want to make this move for the fans, surely a few games should be played up at Sardis Road to at least try and change the minds of their valleys population. This shouldn’t be a token gesture of a Connacht or Aironi fixture but a slightly more illustrious game.

The honeymoon period won’t last long for the Blues unless they can make the Arms Park the fortress it once was. Many of us will travel the short distance from a Cardiff bar to the Arms Park in the first few weeks of the season, but they must sustain some form in order to pull the people back in. Given the weakness of their squad this is a monumental task, though at least we’ll all be in the right place to watch it all unfold; stood on terrace with an SA Brains in hand.

The Olympic Debate

Team Great Britain has already tasted its first taste of defeat ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games when earlier this week it was announced that the lifetime Olympic ban imposed on drug cheats by the British Olympic Association (BOA) has been over-turned. The BOA lost its battle with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which now sees formerly banned athletes eligible for Olympic selection.

The most high profile case is that of Dwain Chambers who tested positive for the banned substance THG back in October 2003. He served a two year ban from athletics, a time he spent attempting a career in American football for the Hamburg Sea Devils and rugby league for the Castleford Tigers; both extremely unsuccessfully. He’s since re-established himself as Britain’s finest sprinter with a personal best of 9.97s. Although he’s been able to compete at the World and European Championships as well as the Diamond League and Indoor Circuits; he’s faced Olympic exile since the Sydney 2000 Olympics where he recorded a season’s best 10.08, though it was only worthy of fourth place.


Unfortunately for him, his name will be brought up every time this topic is discussed. Despite many other drug cheats being in the same boat as Chambers, his case is the one that will be debated given its well-documented nature. Other athletes that are now eligible for selection to represent Team GB include; David Millar (cycling), Carl Myerscough (shot put), Peter Meakin (canoeing), Jade Mellor (boxing), Callum Priestley (hurdling), Dan Staite (cycling) and Jamie Stevenson (shot put).


It’s an area of the sport that is frequently being argued and there’s a huge difference of opinion that’s split straight down the middle. There are those that are of the opinion that he should be given another chance and others that are completely against him pulling on the Great Britain vest.


Among those that believe Chambers should be involved in the Olympic team is former Olympic bottler Colin Jackson who said,

“Dwain is in the top tier of sprinters in our country,”


“There is no doubt that he will be at the Olympics.”


Jackson added, “Fans are used to him being in the team so already he has been accepted and it has no relevance to the other athletes.”


One could assume that the environment of Team GB would be compromised if Chambers were to be included, though this is not the opinion of British sprinter Tyrone Edgar who tweeted,


“Good news we can now have D. Chambers in our 4x100m for Olympic Games,”


“We need all our big guns running if we gonna win a medal in London.”


From a purely competitive outlook, Dwain Chambers would undoubtedly feature in the sprint team, but surely the Olympic Games are bigger than that? For so many reasons, he shouldn’t be pulling on the Olympic vest. This is the opinion of James Cracknell who gave a riveting interview to Richard Bacon on BBC Radio 5live. The double-Olympic gold medallist said,


“I have no respect for him on any level.”


“Especially as he was cheating and he still didn't win. He made the decision to cheat, therefore there is not going to be a level of respect from someone who hasn't.”


Cracknell, who won his rowing medals at Sydney and Athens in 2000 and 2004 added, "From a personal point of view, when Dwain Chambers tested positive he, as most cheats do, said 'I didn't take anything, it was my supplements.”

“It turns out Dwain was busy injecting himself with all sorts of stuff. It wasn't his supplements. He affected the performances of other people. He lost his team-mates relay medals. He cheated his opposition.”


When it was put to him that everybody deserves a chance for redemption by Bacon, using the analogy that if someone is arrested for burgling a house, surely they shouldn’t be locked up forever; Cracknell’s reply was rather indisputable,


“If someone is about to rob a house, they know that if they get caught that they will face time in prison. Dwain Chambers knew if he took drugs and got caught, the rule stated that he’d never run at the Olympics again, but he did it anyway.”


Plenty of current and former athletes have echoed Cracknell’s views including Sir Chris Hoy, Lord Sebastian Coe, Dai Greene and Roger Black. The former had the following to say in the wake of the announcement,

“It's a sad day. It's hard to cheer someone on who's purposefully tried to cheat other athletes. I'm not going to boo him, I'm just going to be indifferent.”


He added: “I like Dwain. I think he's remorseful, but it's easy to be remorseful when you're caught out. He didn't have to do it in the first place, because most of us didn't.”


The one caught in the centre of the whole hullabaloo will now wait patiently and carry on training to see if he is to be selected for the sprint team. Earlier this year, he admitted that he’d been training to peak for the Olympics in London. He said,


“Ultimately, what I’ve always wanted to do is be able to perform in front of the home crowd. I haven’t been able to do that for a long time.


“I realise I’ve made mistakes but I just want to finish my career on a high. Every time I get the opportunity to compete for my country it is an honour and I threw that away. I never want to throw it away again.”


His manager Siza Agha said: “Dwain and I will take time to digest the decision. What we have seen by the BOA has been a crude and defiant display fuelled by misguided statements suggesting that we have standards and the rest of the world doesn’t.”


Agha has made an extremely valid point, the BOA have indeed excelled themselves in terms of trying their utmost to eradicate drug cheats from their sport. The reason that the by-law got overturned by CAS is that it wasn’t in compliance with WADA. The BOA had signed to comply with WADA and by attempting to implement the doping by-law of lifetime Olympic bans to athletes who proved positive to illegal performance enhancing substances; it was an extra sanction that was non-compliant to the World Anti-Doping Code.


CAS have almost urged the rest of the world to follow in the footsteps of the BOA in signing a new treaty that will impose lifetime Olympic bans for drug cheats across the board. The agreement as it stands is far too lenient in the eyes of many and the case of Dwain Chambers in particular is more than fair. He served a two year ban from athletics whilst still being able to earn money through playing sport and then he returned to the sport of athletics earning money and representing Great Britain in every event barring the Olympics. Hardly a deterrent is it?

The Olympics is seen as the pinnacle of an athlete’s career. It’s not comparable to anything else in their sport. It bears a resemblance to Wimbledon in the tennis world and the Masters for golfers; although it’s essentially just another major, there’s something a bit extra special about it. It should be a privilege to be a part of and a privilege that shouldn’t be handed to those who have blatantly cheated other athletes, their team-mates, the thousands of people who have paid obscene amounts of money to attend the event and the millions watching around the world. It could be argued that there’s a case for a total ban from athletics, though the powers that be would never agree to such a terminal indictment.

The British are regularly accused of being too nice and not taking a firm enough stance when it comes to punishment. Here, the BOA are front runners in trying to clean up the sport but have unfortunately shot themselves in the foot by being signed up to an agreement that sees their punishment rendered unenforceable. Hopefully, other nations around the world take the same stance; so that drug cheats are never given the Olympic stage.

The Manchester Derby

Local derbies, crunch matches, cup finals and league deciders very rarely live up to expectation. Effectively, this evening’s game between the two Manchester giants is all four of these scenarios rolled into one with all of their season’s work hinging on the three points on offer.

Currently, Manchester United are ahead of their rivals by three points, but with an inferior goal difference. This season, the league could well be decided on this very differentiator given how closely they are matched.
The possible scenarios have been rammed down the throats of every television-watcher and radio-listener, and as if you needed reminding, here’s a recap.

If United win, they go six points clear at the top of the Premier League where a point from their remaining two fixtures would secure the championship.

If the two teams draw this evening, United will remain three points clear of their rivals and providing they take four points from the final two games (if City win their two), they will be crowned champions.

 If City manage to win tonight, they will be equal on points, have a superior goal difference and their destiny will be in their own hands. Their first title will be theirs providing they can produce wins at Newcastle on the road and QPR at the Etihad Stadium (assuming United win their two last games against Swansea at home and Sunderland away).

 It sounds more complicated than it is, but the wonderful and transparent fact is that whoever wins tonight will have the Premier League title in their own hands and providing they win their remaining fixtures, it will be in their club’s trophy cabinet come the end of the season.

Manchester United have taken the opportunity to get out of Manchester and escape at least the immediate furore of the city. They spent the week at The Vale Hotel resort, using the training facilities of Cardiff City, Cardiff Blues and the Welsh National Rugby Team. This left the Cardiff Blues playing staff a little less than impressed by their change in training schedules as Casey Laulala and Jamie Roberts announced on twitter, though the blow was softened by the photo opportunities with their illustrious guest. It’s dubbed the jail of Glamorgan by Welsh players and the media because of the isolated nature of the location, but it would have been the ideal tonic for the Manchester United squad given the scrutiny they are under in Lancashire. It also gave Sir Alex Ferguson the chance to pop down the M4 to watch Swansea’s entertaining 4-4 draw with the already-relegated Wolves. Brendan Rogers’ team will be the Red Devils’ next opponents following tonight’s derby and Ferguson will be hoping that it’s only one point his team will require to clinch the title.

Meanwhile, Mancini has been up to his usual antics of playing down his team’s pedigree by hoisting his rivals up on a pedestal claiming,

“If we win, they are favourites (for the title)."

He continued to play the role of the underdog stating,

“My opinion is always the same - I think they have more chance than us.”
"We play the derby and then Newcastle, that will be a very tough game, then after that QPR," he said. "United will play against Swansea and Sunderland and I think they will be two easy games."

This is despite Mancini watching his side get beat 1-0 by Swansea at the Liberty Stadium in March and to Sunderland by the same score line at Eastlands on New Years Day. It’s all added fuel to the already raging fire and it will one of the two teams will effectively be extinguished at the Etihad Stadium. It makes a nice change from the norm because in recent years, games between two hotly contested rivals are usually appalling spectacles.

The Old Firm derby may be seen as a big game, but the truth is, they play each other so often that the fixture has all but lost its romance. Given Rangers’ current financial situation, this isn’t likely to reignite one of Britain’s fiercest rivalries. The neutral won’t want to watch the game simply because it’s ‘just another Old Firm derby’ and if we’re honest, there’s more talk after the game about the dugouts of Rangers and Celtic than the field of play.

It’s got to a stage now that every time Barcelona and Real Madrid lock horns you’d much rather be talking about the dugouts than the embarrassing playacting that happens on the field. These two giants of football play some of the most attractive football the world has ever seen and they boast the richest squads in the game. However, for 90 minutes, El Classico is a diving contest. The game doesn’t seem to be about who wins or loses but who gets more of the opposition team booked or sent off. The fixture has taken such a nosedive that many British viewers won’t even bother watching the game because they are so frustrated by what they see. Every decision that’s made is followed by the referee being mobbed by players pleading for the opposition to be reprimanded. It is horrible viewing and a terrible example of professional sportsmen’s behaviour that leaves many viewers cringing at their screens.

Similar to the old firm derby, the Derby Della Capitale contested between Roma and Lazio is mainly remembered for the amount of arrests around Rome on the day and night of the match. That and Francesco Totti’s unbelievable ability of dragging out his career longer than Bruce Forsyth.

Cup finals in general are poor, with both teams usually adopting the uber-negative mentality of not wanting to lose rather than going out to win. However, with this evening’s clash dubbed as a cup final for Manchester City, there is one significant difference. It’s a game that they simply must win. Manchester United know that if they win tonight, they’ll be 6 points clear and the title race will be all but over. On top of that, Fergie and his players must still be hurting from the humiliating defeat Mancini’s men gave them at Old Trafford when they were demolished 6-1 back in October. Coincidently, they were five points clear following this game and as Mario Ballotelli was driving around Manchester handing out high-fives and twenty pound notes, they were favourites for the title.

United aren’t seen as a negative side and Ferguson insists that they are thinking about nothing but taking three points home with them,

 "If we draw we'll be strong favourites but we will be trying to win."

In terms of form, Manchester City have won 21 of their last 22 home Premier League games claiming 77 points from a possible 81. The last time someone walked away from the Etihad with three points was, ironically, David Moyes’ Everton back in 2010. Their recent surge has seen the controversial Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero partnered in four Premier League games in which City have scored 15 goals, Aguero and Tevez have netted 12 of these. It’s been a mixed season for the Argentine following his antics on the subs bench at Munich, but statistically, he scores or assists a goal every 55 minutes of a Premier League game. They’ll be desperate to win tonight and no one more so that Roberto Mancini who knows that if he doesn’t deliver any silverware this season; it could be the end of his managerial stint at City, especially given Pep Guardiola’s imminent departure from Barcelona.

With United’s 4-4 draw at home to Everton last week, they have now dropped five points in their last three games. This is as many as they dropped in the whole first three months of 2012. However, they have Wayne Rooney back firing who has scored 16 goals in his last 14 appearances for United.

The great thing about tonight’s game is that the actual football is a means to an end, the end being who will have the ascendancy going into the final two weekends of the season. Even if it’s a terrible game, the outcome will still be interesting, regardless of the result. Yet, with both teams seeking the all-important three points, it’s hopefully going to be a barnstormer. Thankfully, it’s not our job to produce the goods, it’s our job to sit back and watch it all unfold.

Bad Hair Days

With the unfortunate Joleon Lescott getting far too much coverage over the past couple of days that has been necessary it’s a wonder that the money football players earn isn’t spent on their hair maintenance.

Lescott is somewhat of an anomaly because his tragic hairline is the result of a car accident he was involved in when he was five as well as being the victim in a boiling kettle escapade where he suffered third degree burns. However, with the money that he’s being paid, there is no way he should still be sporting the half-fro. There are hair designers all around the world that would offer their services to Lescott and the countless other footballers for half an hour’s wages. If they could fix Wayne Rooney, they can fix anyone.

Football leads the way in preposterous hair-do’s and it’s not a recent phenomenon. The 1980’s was a sublime era of mullets, perms and erroneous facial hair encapsulated by the one and only Rudi Voller. There were others about in the eighties, but Voller ticked every box; the perm was perfection, the mullet was magnificent and the ‘tache was tremendous. Of course, there were others; Kevin Keegan, Chris Waddle and Ruud Gullit were all wholeheartedly dedicated to their mullets, perms and taches, but Voller was in a league of his own.



Thinking that these questionable barnets would be isolated to the eighties was a foolish assumption. The nineties carried on in the same vein with some truly outstanding fashion statements. Roberto Baggio’s head during Euro 96 looked like a bad haircut from the front, no problem; maybe he changed his regular barbers. We’ve all been there, a change from the norm has resulted in a hair-dresser seeing your hair as their own little project and completely wrecking it. This can be excused, however the platypus’ tail growing from the back of Baggio’s cranium is completely unforgivable. Jason Lee raised a couple of eyebrows with his infamous pineapple-head look during his time at Nottingham Forest. Surely every time a ‘sports top 10 worst haircuts’ is published, he sits at home and wonders what he was thinking. Other names that shine during this period were Peter Beardsley and his school-boy bowl cut, Karel Poborsky’s feminine locks although admirable were absolutely shocking and Gerry Francis’ way of combating his thumb-head with a grey mullet (which he still sports today) was and is appalling. Those still persevearing with the haircuts of yesteryear include geordie striker and full-time Emile Heskey impersponator, Andy Carrol and the football manager who looks like the lovechild of Gordon Brown and Mrs Doubtfire, Steve Bruce. Here's a collection of terrible footballing barnets enough to make you want to stab your eyes out:

Going into the new millennium brought a new dimension of bad hair, a chemical substance that would change the world of hairdressing forever; peroxide. The first high-profile hair dying was the Romanian world cup squad as they bleached their hair during the 1998 football world cup and it’s acted as a catalyst for the more frivolous players around the globe. Abel Xavier’s peroxide addiction is the one that heads the class (excuse the pun) but these pictured monstrosities prove that he’s not alone in the weird and wonderful world of colourful creations.

This constant colouring of the hair isn’t the healthiest thing for your roots and will probably result in hair loss. It’s something that many men have trouble with and it’s a tragic sight seeing a man hopelessly clinging onto their hair. Some deal with it graciously and on the first sight of balding will embrace their loss and sport a shaved head. It’s an awkward transition, but once it’s done, hair maintenance becomes a whole lot easier and there is a sense of respect for those who get the clippers out in the early stages. For those who can afford it, such as Wayne Rooney, Michael Vaughan and Shane Warne, by all means save your hair follicles. There are some men, however, that take it upon themselves to ignore their obvious lack of volume and attempt a hair style to masks their baldness. They’re kidding no-one but themselves and they’d be far better off stepping into the light and taking a razor to their scalps. Nevertheless, they're a strange breed of man, and their stubbornness only extracts more attention to the hair they haven’t got in their ridiculous attempts to fool the hair gods. Here’s a collection of hangers-on:

The world of the catastrophic haircut isn’t restricted to the footballers. There are many sportsmen in all sorts of different fields who have competed with horrendous hairdos. From cricket to darts, there are a whole host of monstrosities in the wider world of sport.

Cricket has had its fair share of critics for the boring nature of the game and the pomposity of the supporters and players. Therefore when creatures like Kevin Pietersen sport the skunk look, it changes people’s perceptions. Yet, some perceptions are best left as they are. During the cricket world cup in 2011, Ireland made a big impact on the world stage. One man in particular was the star of the show when the Irish minnows defeated their illustrious rivals England and that was Kevin O’Brien. Unfortunately for him, his proudest moment will forever be overshadowed by the most drastic of peroxide disasters (pictured).

The world of darts is not one of high-end fashion, but even by their standards, Andy Fordham’s mane is disgraceful.

Golf is a world where money is absolutely not an issue. There have been many showmen in the sport but for those who simply aren’t good enough to make the headlines for their play, they make up for it in other ways such as outrageous clothing and matching hair. Ian Poulter is a man that not only falls into this category, but he epitomises it. The highlights that he sports today were the most in thing on the planet a decade and a half ago. Today, they really are tragically un-cool.

Rugby union has its fair share of bad barnets, but the emergence of one player in particular has sky rocketed the sport and in particular the front row into hair superstardom. This area has been dominated in recent times by the Welsh duo of Adam and Duncan Jones and their wild hair has developed the nickname ‘The Hair Bear Bunch’. Commonly mistaken for brothers, their curly locks either side of the scrum is a glorious sight, but there’s a new boy on the block. Harlequins’ Joe Marler already has an extensive repertoire of shocking cuts and here’s a selected portfolio.

On the other side of the coin, however, there are men that deliver great hair time and again. They are saint-like figures who manage to maintain their style whilst engaged in battle of their respective sports. Us mere mortals will take photographs of these men to hairdressers, smile at the underpaid hairdresser and say “I want a Jamie Redknapp.”. These men should be hailed for their dedication. Anything David Beckham does with his hair is magnificent, while the Gavin Henson of 2005 (minus the red lions hair) was exemplary. While Morgan Parra and Morten Gamst Pedersen are playing, their flawless hairdos remain unscathed regardless of the instensity of the match and it's a skill that one is simply born with. Moving back through time, in the nineties, Ian Walker was the envy of every teenage boy with his flawless curtain hairstyle and David Ginola’s locks weren’t only the envy of men but many women.

With so many men out there having the option of maintaining a decent hairstyle or going bald gracefully, take a moment to think about this poor chap. His task is made impossible and while he looks around his team-mates in envy of the latest hair trends, he merely picks a number on his clippers and shaves off the copper strands in the hope that one day soon, alopecia sets in. Ladies and Gentlemen, Steve Sidwell.

ITV: International Television Violation

In the light of the ITV’s recent FA Cup (sponsored by Budweiser, apparently) coverage, they have propelled themselves way out on their own as the worst sports broadcasters on offer.

The problem starts at the top with the commissioners showing a complete lack of understanding and proving time and again how out of touch they are with sport. As ITV own the viewing rights to the FA Cup, they had the choice of which game to televise this week. Due to draws in the first leg, struggling Championship side Brighton travelled to the Racecourse to face non-league Wrexham while Birmingham and Wolves replayed their 0-0 stalemate at Molineux. The early rounds of the FA Cup are all about the exposure of teams that don’t usually make the headlines. Being that Wrexham were the only remaining non-league club in the competition, it should have shone a bright light in the eyes of the decision makers. Their game was scheduled for Tuesday, however due to a frozen pitch; the match was postponed by 24 hours. It should have meant that for one cold Wednesday night, the dragons would act as a curtain raiser for El Classico. Added to this the fact that they had managed an away goal and pushed their superior opponents all the way at the Amex Stadium, it should have been a no-brainer. Instead, the hierarchy at ITV decided that it was more favourable to show yet another West Midlands Derby and the nature of the two legs were summed up quite neatly on twitter by BBC radio 5 live’s football commentator and presenter Darren Fletcher,

“This game is so dull – Wolves 0 Birmingham 0.

“Commentated on the first game and in all honesty it's close which one was worse!!!!”

Meanwhile on S4C, for those that could bare the aggressive commentary of the strident Malcolm Allen, there was a fantastic game of football that encapsulated everything good about a cup fixture. The underdogs took the lead through a stunning first half strike from player-manager Andy Morrell. The 37-year-old’s goal held Wrexham’s lead until late in the second half when Ashley Barnes headed home to equalise. Wrexham had the better of the exchanges but when extra-time didn’t produce any goals, Brighton’s supremacy finally shone through with a 100% success rate and some truly brilliant spot kicks to take the match 5-4 on penalties. It was a cup classic and ITV had blundered once more.

Anyone who witnessed the 3rd round highlights show fronted by Matt Smith were forced to endure a level of broadcasting where even Adrian Durham would have been made to feel at home. Smith’s guests were Paul Ince and Gordon Strachan but his incompetence as a presenter meant that the entertaining Strachan was forced to sit on the sofa and look sombre while the other two in the studio discussed Paul Ince’s son’s career at Blackpool. Sadly, this is commonplace on channel 103 and a similarly droning experience awaits the audience on champions league nights. These are evenings that are meant to be the pinnacle European football and a showcase for some of the greatest talents football has to offer. The skill of Lionel Messi, the flair of Cristiano Ronaldo, the frosty atmosphere of the San Siro and the fearlessness of Carlos Puyol are all on show in these midweek fixtures. Who brings these scenes alive to our living rooms but Adrian Chiles, Gareth Southgate and Andy Townsend; a boring baggies supporter, a man whose career highlight was missing a penalty and a cockney Irishman.

For those who can bear to think back to the rugby world cup, you’ll remember the appalling level of match commentary given by Nick Mullins, Simon Ward and Martin Gillingham. To add to this, their so-called ‘expert’ co-commentators were Andy Gomarsall, Alan Quinlan, Scott Hastings and Phil Vickery. The only decent ringers they brought in were stuck in the studio in the form of Michael Lynagh, Sean Fitzpatrick and Francois Pienaar. Another wise move from ITV as they barely had time to comment because of the constant stream of Americanized commercial breaks. In case you didn’t know that there was an ad break coming up, you needn’t have feared, because ITV will run a black and white line in the corner of the screen for five minutes prior to the break to indicate the impending three minutes of aggravation.

Their most recent gig is the African Cup of Nations. It may not be a headline act in the football calendar, but the entertainment value is superb with an atmosphere of carnival football. ITV’s answer to this? Put it on ITV 4. The mind boggles as to how it’s going to be produced given the shabby way the production team go about delivering the sport on their prime channel. It’s bound to be a cacophony of clichés, puns and generally bad broadcasting.

Thankfully, the BBC have held firmly onto the six nations rugby while sky deliver fantastic coverage of cricket and football. The BBC’s coverage of the six nations tournament, athletics events and of course the iconic events of Wimbledon and The Masters is second to none. Their premier league highlights show Match of the Day has justifiably won countless awards and Alan Shearer aside, it’s a fantastic show. Sky’s power in sports broadcasting speaks for itself and delivers time and again. Their football coverage is the best around and even despite losing front-men Andy Gray and Richard Keys they’ve carried on their seamless coverage of the premier league. Cricket, American Football, Golf, Rugby League and Rugby Union are expertly produced with the finest panellists and presenters. Even channel 5’s cricket highlights package is a brilliant adaptation of the customary channel 4 programme of yesteryear using commentators from the legendary Channel 9 team in Australia. The show is fronted by arguably the finest presenter in world sport, Mark Nicholas, and it’s a great shame that he’s not given the exposure he was once given in Britain through channel 4. New-comers ESPN have upped their game and their coverage of the Premier League and the Aviva Premiership is very watchable.

This just leaves ITV battling it out with Eurosport for relegation. There’s a horrid sinking feeling when a sporting event that the nation is excited about is announced to be covered by ITV. It’s a great shame that they possess so much pulling power, but essentially, it comes down to money. For now we’ll have to make do with their inferior skills in the hope that one day they just stop bidding for events and really hope that Matt Smith reads this and retires.