Scott Dann: Have Birmingham Finally Found a Player With 'Sell On Value'?

As a Birmingham City fan I have had to put up with a lot of disappointment over the years.

When I first started taking football seriously, the Gold Brothers and Mr Sullivan were the owners of my club and although they did improve the team to an extent, there was always something to moan about.

One of the biggest gripes was always that they weren't very ambitious in the transfer market and as a result, we suffered two Premiership relegations under their watchful eye.

When I think back over some of the players we've bought in, I really can't remember a single time we made a significant profit on anyone.

As Birmingham fans, as things are right now, we need to accept that players capable of taking us to the next level are likely to move on if a big club comes in for them. As much as loyalty is a big deal to fans, if one of the top four or five teams in England comes in for you, you don't turn them down.

Time after time I see teams around us pick up players on the cheap and then two years later sell them on for a significant profit. Why can't it ever be us?

As far as I know, the best profit we've ever made on a player was Jermaine Pennant. Signed for £3m and sold for £6.25million. Hardly a record breaker.

The most frustrating example was Wilson Palacios. The Honduran was on loan to Blues when Steve Bruce was in charge and when he left for Wigan, Alex Mcleish had the first option to buy the combative midfielder for just £1million.

The Scot decided he wasn't worth it and let him go. Steve Bruce paid the £1million to take Palacios to Wigan and a year later sold him to Tottenham for £12million. Cue teeth grinding at St Andrews.

Andrew Johnson was another one. We gave him away to bring in Clinton Morrison, who flopped. Two years later Johnson joined Everton for around £9million.



However, according to recent form and subsequent speculation, it looks like Birmingham finally have the man that can create a substantial profit when he inevitably moves on.

Scott Dann has been a revelation since his £2million move from Coventry last summer and has formed a rock solid partnership in the Blues defence, which spearheaded the side's excellent season in the Premier League last time out.

After another magnificent display against Liverpool at the weekend, Dann has been linked with a January move to Manchester United.

Now although it may well just be media fabrication based on Manchester United's poor defensive display against Everton, but the figures that have been suggested are around the £8million mark. Happy Days.

The likelyhood is that Big Eck will do his best to hold on to Dann and £8million is unlikely to be enough to tempt Birmingham into selling. This is excellent news.

Considering the failings of the English defence of late, Dann looks like he could soon come into consideration for a place in the squad and at just 23, he is only going to improve. If he does win an England cap, then his price will continue to rise.

Blues may finally have a player on there hands that could command a £10million plus profit.

What does Brett Pitman saga say about Blackpool?

Brett Pitman has signed for Bristol City on a three-year deal, having passed a medical on Monday afternoon.

The young striker had been one of the hottest prospects in the lower divisions of late, having plundered 26 league goals for Bournemouth last season and been the subject of recent bids from Premier League new boys Blackpool.

Last Thursday, Pitman was in Blackpool discussing personal terms after a bid of around £600,000 was accepted. However, talks broke down late on Thursday and the striker returned to the south coast.

Those surprised by the decision to reject a chance to play Premier League football would have been even more confused when, a day later, a bid was lodged by Bristol City and Pitman agreed to personal terms without a hitch.



He will now go straight into the squad for Saturday's trip to Roy Keane's Ipswich Town, and according to an interview on the club's website, he can't wait to get started.

The question on everyone's lips, though, is why turn down the lure of the Premier League for the Championship?

Well, Pitman is giving nothing away. In his first interview since joining the Robins he said, "There are a number of reasons why I made the choice. I know them reasons, the manager knows them reasons, but I've chosen this club."

He also went on to say he had chosen Bristol over Blackpool and not the Championship over the Premier League. The question still remains: why?

It is reasonable to assume in most cases that if two clubs come in for you, one being a league higher than the other, then the logical choice is to choose the better side. Not only that, Blackpool would have broken their transfer record with the signing, which leads me to believe he would have gone straight into the starting 11 alongside Marlon Harewood.

Obviously, something went on when Pitman went up to Blackpool that put him off. Was it the city? Was it the club? Was it the manager?

Ian Holloway commented last week that he felt young players were becoming "monsters," as they were being given far too much money too young. Maybe this was enough to put Pitman off the manager, but Holloway's positive comments about the youngster suggest otherwise.

What about club stature? Even if Blackpool are relegated this season, they would still be a Championship club, meaning Pitman will still see himself in a better position than he if he had stayed at Bournemouth. Also, Bristol's poor start sees them considered far from promotion hopefuls as things stand. Maybe it was the ambition of the club that attracted him to Bristol—the new chairman having already signed goalkeeper David James this summer.

If this is true though, then Blackpool fans should be very worried. If their Premier League side don't have the same ambitious outlook as Bristol City, then it would seem they are using the Premier League to make a bit of money and have already accepted relegation.

If that were my team, I would be asking serious questions as to why a League One player said no to my Premier League club and yes to a team currently in the bottom five in the Championship.

Has Craig Bellamy made a big mistake?

Mercurial bad boy Craig Bellamy has today completed a shock loan move to home town club Cardiff City.

Cast out by Manchester City, has the welshman made a heroic return to his boyhood club or is he simply giving up the ghost on his career?

The 31-year-old has had his fair share of clubs in a career that has seen £47 million spent on him in little over 14 years. None of his moves though have been quite as surprising as this one.

Bellamy joined money bags Manchester City in January 2009 following a £14 million from West Ham. He hit the ground running, scoring in his debut against former club Newcastle United, making him the only player to score top flight goals for six different sides.

He then went on to have one of the most impressive seasons of his career, remaining in exceptional form for City during the 09/10 season, leading them to the brink of Champions League qualification.

Despite his impressive form, Bellamy always seemed in the bad books at City and you always had the feeling that he was not a favourite with manager Roberto Mancini. This stemmed from reports of unrest after the sacking of Mark Hughes with a revolt apparently lead by Bellamy and Carlos Tevez.

Things got worse this summer when Mancini, funded by Sheikh Mansour, brought in Mario Balotelli from Inter Milan and told Bellamy that he would not be named in the 25-man squad for the season.

As a result Bellamy can be forgiven for wanting out but was joining Cardiff the right move?

Coming off the back of a fantastic season and still only 31, it would seem that Cardiff City is a major step down.

No disrespect to the Welsh club - who are one of the top Championship sides and were 90 minutes away from promotion last season - but Bellamy has more to give and could easily have earned a move elsewhere in the Premiership.

Harry Redknapp for one was a big admirer of the forward and had recently spoken of his desire to bring him to Tottenham Hotspur to bolster his attacking options.

It can be argued that by moving to Cardiff he will guarantee a starting berth, which he will, but it is a great shame to see a great talent with so much more to give being wasted in the second tier of English football.

Time will tell whether he has made the right choice, but all signs point to GIANT ERROR.

He could have got himself a gig playing Champions League football with Tottenham tonight. Instead he will be heading to Doncaster on Saturday to make his Cardiff City bow.

Cardiff manager Dave Jones has said he is delighted and Bellamy seems happy, but you have to wonder whether such a big fish in a small pond will cause unrest, especially a personality as volatile as this one.

If you ask me, he has brought an excellent career to a premature end and may never get the chance to play at the top again.

NFL to London? Might be sooner than you think...

Over the last few years I have become addicted to a sport that is somewhat foreign to most members of the British public.

On February 4th 2007, I was sat in a very cramped hotel room in Kent with two good friends of mine, Daniel Smith and Ian Purvis. Their names are somewhat irrelevant to the story but it’s nice to metion your friends.

Anyway, we flicked on the television that night to find that Super Bowl 41 was preparing for kick off. Between the three of us we had watched about 10 minutes of American Football in our lives, which mainly consisted of flicking through the sports channels during the advert break of something else we were watching. Despite this, there was nothing else on and we decided to watch it.

Prior to this occasion I saw American Football as a dull, stop start game that was built around advertising breaks. I also assumed it was only popular in America because of the high scores, which Americans can’t seem to live without. However, a mere 20 seconds into the game, my entire perception was transformed.

I remember it vividly, it was the Indianapolis Colts against the Chicago Bears in torrential rain in Miami. At the time I had no idea which team was better and who was likely to win. The Colts kicked off, long down the pitch and it was caught by a Bears player who I thought was called Heston. Turns out his name was Devin Hester and he was the best kick returner in the league. That of course meant nothing to me. Nevertheless, Hester proceeded to run 92 yards for a touchdown to give the Bears the lead, which is apparently the earliest first score in Super Bowl history.

This amazing moment hooked me in instantly. Being British, forever the fan of the underdog, I choose to go to bat for the Indianapolis Colts. As it turned out, the Colts went on to win the game comfortably by a score of 29-17. Unbeknown to me at the time, the Colts were in fact the favourites and their Quarterback Peyton Manning is considered one of, if not THE best player in the entire NFL. Despite finding out that rather than an underdog supporter I had in fact gone down a potential glory hunter route, I started my love affair with the Colts that has continued to grow.
Peyton Manning holds the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl trophy in 2007

Through watching games and playing countless hours of Madden NFL on the PlayStation and the Wii with my younger brother, I developed an understanding of the rules to a point where the stop start nature of the game ceased to bother me and the tactical plotting of a team driving up the field became enthralling. I also began to realise why the sport was so popular. The fact that it lasts so long with a number of breaks makes it ideal for a social gathering. While Association Football (I call it that as I refuse to say Soccer and so use any method, however long to avoid this) requires full attention for 90 minutes, with American Football you can engage in conversation between plays and it becomes a social day out.

Anyway, my love of the sport is causing me to digress.

The point of this article is to look at the growing popularity of the NFL in Britain.

Since 2007, Wembley stadium has hosted one regular season NFL game every year, all of which have sold out extremely quickly. This alone shows that appreciation for the game is increasing in these hallowed lands.

Due to the success of these games, murmurs are being made over the Atlantic Ocean that not only could there be more regular season games in London every season, but Wembley may even play host to probably the greatest sporting spectacle after the World Cup, the Super Bowl. Not only that, there are rumours arising that in the not too distance future, a London based franchise may emerge and compete in the NFL.

Pipedreams you may think, but in recent weeks the NFL have hired Lord Brian Mawhinney as a special advisor to NFL International. Now us Brits will know Mawhinney as a former Chairman of the Football League, stepping down this year after seven years at the helm.

This is a significant move for the globalisation of the NFL and with Mawhinney’s ream of contacts in British sport, it seems that this appointment surely pushes us ever closer to a London link with the NFL.


Speaking to NFL.com, Lord Mawhinney said:

‘I would be disappointed if there weren’t some things I have learned in the alst seven or eight years being the executive chairman of the Football League in this country that would be beneficial to NFL International as we build a solid foundation for the future. We’re at the very beginning of the relationship and I’ve had just one long in-depth meeting and another one is planned in a couple of weeks’ time and we will build on that in the future.’

It seems that there is real positivity in this move and you have to feel that with a Brit with Mawhinney’s level of standing in British sport, there has to be some level of thinking towards a London franchise, or at the very least a London Super Bowl.

If you ask me, the popularity of the Wembley matches so far shows that the stadium will easily sell out the Super Bowl and a crowd of 90,000 would go into the top five attendances in the history of the event. Not a statistic to be sniffed at.

American sports journalist Jason la Canforna is convinced that 2025 Wembley will have hosted at least one Super Bowl and he is certainly not the only one. San Francisco 49ers owner John York, whose team will take part in October’s Wembley match said ‘I’m not sure what till happen first, a Super Bowl over here or and NFL team, but they both seem likely to happen.’

Given the fact that in the next ten years London will have hosted an Olympics and maybe even a World Cup, the infrastructure for hosting such an event will be firmly in place and hopefully by then, proven to be successful. Not only that, if American Football continues to grow as it is currently, it will become almost impossible to ignore a London Super Bowl.

Could Wembley be a future Super Bowl venue? Don't rule it out.

I for one would welcome it with open arms as the opportunities for us Brits who share a love for the game to go to a Super Bowl in the current system are almost non-existant. What does remain to be seen however is if I would feel obliged to switch my allegiance to a London franchise if it was ever formed.

What it might do is give Brits a first hand example of the advantages of a salary cap, the mandatory University education of players and a far more fair and balanced trading system.

Oh also, while your at it America, can you send Wrestlemania our way? Cheers.

Paul the Psychic Octopus

I wasn't going to do another blog this week, but I had so much fun with this topic that I thought I'd share it.
Here is an article I submitted for the JERSEY EVENING POST ahead of the Germany v Spain semi-final.

Move over Nostradamus and make way Mystic Meg, there’s a new psychic in town and he’s got the track record to back it up.

I have to be honest; even I am considering throwing the towel. Sometimes something happens that forces you to take a look at yourself and consider your ability in your profession. This has never been clearer than being put to shame by an Octopus.
Paul the Octopus or Paul Oktopus as he is known at home is a two-year-old with penchant for correctly predicting the results of German football matches.
Despite being born in Weymouth, England, Paul decided the grass was greener, packed up his bags and headed for Oberhausen, Germany, where he now resides at the city’s Sea Life Aquarium.

Allegedly, when Paul was captured, his captors attempted to boil him. Not taking too kindly to this, Paul reached out and turned the gas off. It was this that got people thinking that he could be special. Although quite why it was decided to test him on his football predictions above all things is still a mystery.
For reasons unknown, at the start of the European Championships in 2008, Paul’s keepers decided to test the cephalopod mollusk was presented with food in identical containers, one marked with the German flag, the other with their opponents on that day, Poland. Paul opted for the German box and the nation chuckled as Germany ran out 2-0 winners.

Paul succesfully predicts that Germany will get past Diego Maradona's Argentina

In the second game, Paul decided on a change and treated himself to the contents of the box marked with the flag of Croatia. Later that evening, Croatia recorded a 2-1 victory against their German counterparts. People began to take notice.
Paul went on to successfully predict five out of the six German results during the tournament and became a national treasure. The only result he got wrong? He plumped for his adopted homeland to beat Spain in the final. Fernando Torres proved him wrong.

Two years on, the prediction machine is at it again. Paul has now impressively correctly picked the winner in all five of Germany’s games in the World Cup so far, including the unexpected loss to Serbia.
In the second round, despite hailing from Weymouth, Paul backed Germany to beat England in the last 16. Irritatingly he was proved right. That’s right, even an octopus foresaw our demise.

The eight-legged oracle breaks English hearts ahead of the crucnh Last 16 encounter

If you had entrusted your hard earned cash with Paul and backed each of his predictions with a crisp £20 note, you would now be enjoying a profit of £213.60.
On Monday, photos were released of Mr Oktopus choosing to claim his meal from the Spanish box, ahead of Germany’s semi-final clash with Spain. However it was yesterday revealed that the photo was a hoax and was in fact the image of Paul choosing Serbia earlier in the tournament, with a Spanish flag replacing that of the Baltic nation.

The real prediction was made this morning and the mock-up artists were proved right as Paul did in fact opt for Spain to be victorious in the quest for a Final berth. If Paul's performance in making his prediction is a sign of what is to come on the pitch then we’re in for an end-to-end thriller. He teased the crowd by lingering at the German flag before heading for the Spanish box, much to the despair of the watching German media.

After fake photos emerge on the internet, Paul makes his real prediction and chooses Spain

Only time will tell whether the eight-legged oracle will continue his winning streak, but it seems as if Die Mannschaft will be hoping to utilise his talents for many tournaments to come. However, with a life expectancy of less than five years, it looks like this particular clairvoyant may have to hang up his crystal ball following the closing ceremony.

Turns out gambling really is for suckers...(*sigh*)

The English Rose Rediscovers Pride

In a week where English hearts were broken by our woeful footballers, a local boy and his golf clubs have been making their mark on America.

Justin Rose, the 29-year-old who was raised in Hampshire, last night won the AT&T National hosted by World Number One Tiger Woods. Despite a late wobble, the North Hants boy done good captured his second PGA Tour title in a month while the host languished 14 shots behind, labouring to a tie for 46th place.

What makes the victory that little bit sweeter is that the event is held traditionally on the 4th of July weekend, celebrating America’s independence. There was no home celebrations as the man from little old England ambushed the event and lead from day two to the finish.

It’s been a rollercoaster career for Justin Rose since he burst onto the seen at Royal Birkdale in 1998, when, as a 17-year-old amateur, he finished in a tie for fourth place after holing out from 80 yards at the final hole.

Teenage Rose soaks in the atmosphere after holing out on the 18th in 1998


From there he turned professional almost immediately and proceeded to miss his first 21 cuts on the European Tour. Things could only get better and they eventually did, as the young man earned victories four victories during 2002/2003 to move into the World’s top 35. In 2004 it started to go wrong again and he slipped out of the top fifty and by mid 2005 he wasn’t even in the top 100.

In 2006 Rose started to find some form and ultimately won the Australian masters, his first title for four years. He continued to improve and despite lost in a playoff at the 2007 BMW PGA Championship he moved into the top twenty of the World Rankings for the first time, and by October had reached a new career high of 12 and became the top ranked British golfer.
In his biggest achievement to date Rose won the European Tour Order of Merit title in 2007 after a nailbiting end to the Volvo Masters, which he claimed in a playoff. By now he was the World number 6 and the top-ranked European golfer.

After excelling in his first Ryder Cup, Justin’s form deserted him once more and he has spent the last year trying to recapture his spark and finally find some consistency in his game that would keep him in contention regularly rather than yo-yoing up and down the rankings.

Rose had not won on the PGA tour in 161 starts before the first week of June this year, when he stormed to victory in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, when he held off the charge of youngster Rickie Fowler to pop his American cherry. Then, in his next appearance only a matter of weeks later, Rose worked his way into a third round lead of the Travelers Championship at TPC Riverside, before self destructing to finish ninth.

After the holing the winning putt at last month's Memorial


I am more than willing to let him off the hook on this one though. His final round began two hours after England were bitch slapped into submission by Germany at the World Cup. If he is anything like the rest of England, he’d have nervously put away four or five pints during the game and then spent a good portion of his time before hitting the range shouting and swearing, working himself into a mood far removed from the calm and confident golfer that he is.

So a week later, when he set off on his final round at the National with a four shot lead, he was determined to make amends and see this one out. By the turn everything looked Rosey (ha…..) as a superb iron shot left him with a tap in eagle at the ninth hole to lead by five. It was his first eagle of the year, quite a surprising statistic really for someone in the World’s top fifty.

What followed was a typical display of an Englishman giving his supporters palpitations. Rose had not registered a three putt in 275 holes as he walked onto the tenth green, but proceeded to do so at both ten and eleven – like buses ey – as his nearest challenger Charlie Wi closed the gap to just two strokes. For those of you who can’t appreciate the three putt fact, it’s similar to a football team going ten games without conceding and then getting five put passed them in consecutive games.

Anyway, a late surge from Ryan Moore meant that Rose had to make a par at the last to claim his prize and he duly did, tapping in from two feet for the victory. Two wins in three starts after going so long without winning – what did I tell you, buses – he will surely now be spurred on to a great season.

Rose claims his second title in a month at the AT&T National


The hottest form golfer on the planet at the moment, Rose is intending to return to Europe for the rest of the summer to stake his claim for a place in Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor in September, who will be looking to wrestle the trophy back from their American counterparts. Rose was one of the top Europeans at the last Ryder Cup at Valhalla, chalking up three points, including a win against World Number 2 Phil Mickelson in the singles.

Time will tell whether Rose decides to experience another car crash season that sends him plummeting out of the top fifty again, but for the time being he is bang on form, just in time for this month’s Open Championship at St Andrews. Is it time for Justin to capture a major?

If he keeps this up it just might be.

England, It's time to wake up and smell the failure

England have once again failed to live up to expectations at a major tournament. Is anyone really surprised?

I’ve allowed myself a full 24 hours to contemplate Sunday’s defeat to Germany before I reached for my keyboard. My intention was to try and get away from the fallout from the game, which consisted of repeatedly being shown replays of English ineptitude. Unfortunately I work for a newspaper and have spent most of my time over the last fortnight helping to write the World Cup updates. Within an hour of the full time whistle I had to write a report for the paper. Then I get to work Monday morning and am asked to write an opinion piece on the game. So it wasn’t until around lunchtime that I was able to get some respite from discussing how bad we are.

Now here I am again.

So, England are out of the World Cup. It’s as simple as that. The Three Lions could barely conjure up a purr let alone a roar as a team of German kids outclassed them. Five of the Germans on show yesterday played in the U21s team that lifted the European Championship last year. Only one of the members of the England team they beat in the final was there yesterday; James Milner – Joe Hart missed the final and was only a squad member here.

That could be taken in two ways. You could say that it shows the depth of talent that Germany have coming through the ranks, and it does. However it also shows that England’s squad of supposed World Class experience players like Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney etc were beaten by inexperienced kids, and beaten well.

It’s about time we accepted that we’re not as good as we think we are, even though we clearly should be. The individuals that we have are some of the best the World has to offer, but for some reason they can’t do it when it matters for their country.

It’s also obvious why. They just don’t care anymore.

The players will tell you differently. Lampard has gone on about how insulting it is to have that accusation made towards him, so why at the final whistle was he sharing a joke with Bastian Schweinstieger and now sat on the pitch, devastated and inconsolable? You only had to look at the bench and see the reaction of David Beckham to see what someone who cares feels like when England lose.

The campaign was doomed from the 40th minute of the first game in Rustenburg when Robert Green’s catastrophic error set the tone for what would turn out to be an utterly disappointing two weeks.
A dismal performance against Algeria reaffirmed the worry of the Barmy Army, but an overrated win against Slovenia gave fans a glimmer of hope. You just got that feeling that maybe they could turn it round. They were unbeaten and had conceded one goal, maybe its not all bad. That feeling didn’t last long, they were embarrassing and abysmal in the manner of their defeat on Sunday.



What disappointed me more than anything was the fact that during the game I didn’t feel nerves. Usually when England are playing an important game I am a nervous wreck and can barely sit still on my seat. I guzzle my beer at a rate of knots to try and calm myself. This time was different, I was oddly calm. In retrospect, I am convinced I felt this way because subconsciously I knew we’d lose. There was no point getting worked up because we’d set the tone for the tournament in the group stage, and it was a pretty negative one. The fact that our best player on Sunday night was a 39 year old who conceded four goals really speaks volumes about our national team.

David James made some excellent saves on Sunday and is probably the only man to come out of the defeat with any level of pride but he’s too old now and it’s time for Joe Hart to take over and make the position his own.

Glen Johnson continues to be a liability at right back. He can’t defend and too often puts the team in trouble. Gets in the way of the right winger and has a lot of learning to do.

John Terry was awful on Sunday and apart from the Slovenia game he wasn’t much better in the group stage. Too slow now and it was clear that without Ferdinand next to him he is no good at this level any more.

Matthew Upson scored a goal but played like a Sunday footballer. Was so far out of position for every German goal that you’d think he had an issue with John Terry and refused to stand near him! Not good enough at this level.

Ashley Cole had a decent tournament but was unnoticeable against Germany and got caught out of position far too often. One of the biggest prima donna culprits in the squad.

James Milner was class against Slovenia but ineffective in the second round. He’s one for the next World Cup.

Frank Lampard was once again a useless (insert swear words). This has become a regular thing for Frank. Brilliant for Chelsea, wears his heart on his sleeve but when he throws on an England shirt he ceases to care! Seeing him laughing at the end made me feel physically sick.

Steven Gerrard was admirable in his role as captain, but is wasted out on the left. Not his fault, but still wasn’t good enough. A shadow of the player he is on Merseyside.

Jermaine Defoe came in and did a job against Slovenia but was nowhere to be seen in this one. I don’t think you can class him as a non-carer though. I think he’s one of the few whose proud to be there.

Wayne Rooney was simply dreadful all tournament. I get the feeling he was still carrying an injury because he looked so far off the pace. This was meant to be the tournament that defined his career, instead he was largely anonymous and wasteful. The team needs to be built to suit him at the next World Cup.

Fabio Capello showed in qualifying that he is a fantastic manager who could get the best out of his players. Unfortunately he showed he has no idea how to manage a team in tournament mode. He was unwilling to admit defeat and change his tactics and ultimately it cost England. I am Heskey's biggest fan, but why he brought him on for Defoe when we needed goals beggars belief



As always England limp out of a tournament trying to blame everyone except themselves and wondering what if. What if Landon Donovan hadn’t scored in the last minute of USA versus Algeria? What if we’d topped the group and played Ghana to set up a quarter final clash with Uruguay? What if Lampard’s goal had rightly stood?

Unfortunately the really question is ‘what if England were actually any good?’

The only way things are going to improve is if we stop ignoring the fact that the FA too often ignores the national team. More needs to be done to improve the youth system to ensure a bright future for the English game. While we’re at it, lets stop paying them obscene money to kick a ball around. It’s the reason they don’t care anymore, because they don’t need to. At the moment, they think that as long as they play well for the club that pays them, they don’t need to worry about anything else.

Oh and one more thing ‘We’ve had a long season and we’re tired, we need a mid season break’. These players are at peak physical fitness. England’s squad played an average of 60 games last year, that’s 90 hours of football over a period of eight months. There are 2916 hours in eight months. So they play football for 3% of their time in that period.

You’re tired? Pull the other one. Just accept the fact you’re not the players you think you are and that you didn’t give this tournament your all. Admit that much and then maybe we can start fresh.

Failing that, we could just make Gazza the manager....it worked for Argentina

Talking to a Trickster

It's not often Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho are likely to be jealous of the talents of their peers, but they haven't met the UK finest - Woody.

From an early age it was obvious that Paul ‘Woody’ Wood was talented with a football at his feet. He always dreamed of playing professional football like his idol Diego Maradona and knew that to get there he was going to have to hone his skills.

As a kid, Woody didn’t always have a football to hand and so spent his time practising his tricks with oranges as he watched videos of Maradona.

The hard work paid off as Woody played for Wimbledon and Watford in his early days but an unfortunate injury ended his playing days prematurely.

Fortunately he had built up a back catalogue of tricks that would later see him succeed as one of the World’s Best freestylers.

“I fell into freestyle to be honest, I played for Wimbledon then Watford and got a bad injury which stopped me from playing. I entered the Nike freestyle competition at Earls Court in 2003 and got to the semi finals out of 32,000 tricksters and realised all the hours I spent practising kick ups for my ball control in the garden could be used for something else!”

From here one job became two, two became three and eventually Woody was on the books of a number of agencies who were looking to get him work. It was only a matter of time before he had his own personal agent and website.

“Before I knew it the bar just kept on rising on to bigger things.”

Woody has got a mouth watering portfolio including being UEFA’s official skill expert, performing in adverts for Nike, appearing on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009. However his biggest achievement to date was documentary film ‘In the Hands of the Gods’ which was released in around 100 cinemas nationwide including a Leicester Square premier as well as a screening at the Cannes film festival.

“It was an idea I came up with. Basically I wanted to do it to prove to the world what you can achieve with just a talent and a dream. Our talent was football freestyle and our dream was Diego. We were prepared to put our talent to the test and busk our way for food, accommodation and travel to Argentina to show what can be achieved starting with absolutely nothing!”

(Woody - centre - with Hands of the Gods cast)

The documentary followed Woody and fellow freestylers Sami Hall, Danny Robinson, Jeremy Lynch and Mikey Fisher as they journeyed across North and Central America before reaching South America and eventually Argentina in the hope of meeting their hero, Diego Maradona. For them, Maradona epitomised everything they love about football; the creator of their art and their inspiration during hard times in their lives. The feature was described as ‘a voyage of adventure and self-discovery that will take these boys far from their homes, on a trip that will change their lives forever.’

“It was an amazing experience; I loved the raw country of Guatemala and the contrast of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro"

Since then Woody has continued to go from strength to strength but staying at the top doesn’t come easy though and the talented trickster admits he keeps up a regular training schedule.

“Some weeks I train one hour a day, five days a week. Other weeks I’ll train two to three hours a day, three to four days a week. I definitely needed a bit of natural talent to get me started but, like anything in life, hard work is what it took to get to the top of my game! So practice, practice, practice is honestly the key!”

Of the many tricks in his armoury, Woody will always have his favourite and it is one he has created himself: ‘It’s called the Woody! It’s my signature move so I had to name it after me.’

The Woody requires the freestyler to catch the ball between the bum and heel then roll the ball over the head to carry on performing.
“I first used it for a Sky advert for the Copa America many years back and it went down well.”

This was one of Woody’s first TV appearances, where the freestyler – in Argentina colours – takes part in a freestyle battle with opposing South American nations.


“The ad was great fun and probably the start of what I saw as big things to come. We got a lot of exposure from that advert and it all came around from us being casted in house at the Sky head quarters.”

It isn’t the only time Woody has graced Sky television however, also appearing on Sky One football drama Dream Team where he took shots at goalkeeper Jamie Parker and came on as substitute in a Harchester United game. He also appeared on Soccer AM, with his fellow ‘Hands of the Gods’ team to promote the film and show off some skills.

As an Arsenal fan, Woody will always appreciate flair footballers and this was evident when he I asked him to name his favourites to watch.
“I love players with great technical ability and good awareness like Cesc Fabregas, [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo. They are always my favourites to watch!”



After a number of exciting years for Woody he is now more settled. After completing a three year traineeship with Arsenal Football Club, Woody created his own skills school, which he now runs: ‘Woody’s Football Freestyle Academy.’
“It’s great to run. I do it mostly because I provide something that I didn't have the chance to be a part of when I was a kid. I suppose it’s my way of giving a bit back.”

It would be wrong to talk to someone so in tune with the footballing world without getting his opinion on the showpiece that is gracing television screens across the world right now. World Cup 2010. However, the football mad freestyler has not been able to watch as much as he would have wanted.
“The World Cup it probably the busiest time for a freestyle footballer, everyone wants a piece of you as everything is football themed. I'm looking forward to it, but I hope I manage to see a bit of it as I work most games!”
Woody is keeping patriotic but think’s his idol might hold the key to World Cup glory. “I hope England can go all the way but in all honesty I’ve got a funny feeling about Maradona’s Argentina and also Spain.”

Pressure? Give me a break!

There seems to be a bit of a trend surfacing of late. Professional sportsmen are being excused poor performances due to the pressure of the situation. I don’t like it.

I think it’s only right to admit from the start that this article is being fuelled by anger towards someone I had a bet on that didn’t win. This is the journalistic equivalent of having an argument with your significant other whilst drunk or more trivially, going food shopping whilst hungry. Nevertheless I feel it’s a topic that many people will be able to relate to in light of our National Football team’s latest shortcomings.

Let me address the fuel for my fire – Dustin Johnson. For those of you who don’t know, Johnson is a professional golfer who, at the close of play on Saturday, held a three shot lead at 6-under par in the US Open with just one round to go. As it turned out, the eventual champion, Graham McDowell finished the tournament on level par, meaning that Johnson could have carded a final round 76 (his worst round so far was 71) and still won the tournament.

Congratulations though to McDowell, who becomes Britain’s first major winner since Paul Lawrie in 1999, and the first European to claim the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970.

Now, despite being an outsider at the start of the week, some excellent golf put Johnson first in contention and then in the lead after a superb round of golf on Saturday. It is also worth noting that Johnson had won the previous two PGA Tour tournaments at Pebble Beach, where this year’s US Open was held, so he had been in this position before and done the business.

Not this time though.

Johnson started with a solid par which should have settled any nerves he had on the first tee and put him in a good mindset to go and win the tournament. However, he then produced a short game display akin to a one armed gopher as he first duffed a backhanded chip and then fluffed an outrageous attempted flop shot before missing a short putt. He literally imploded in the space of about two minutes. If you hit pause on your Sky + remote at the right time you could actually see the moment his rectum inverted.



Despite this monumental disaster he still held a share of the lead. Breathe, regroup, calm, fairway is what you would expect to happen in the mindset of someone capable of leading the US Open. What we got was: Breathe, regroup, swipe, hit in the bushes about 100 yards left of target. A lost ball, a double bogey and tournament over? Not yet. There were still 15 holes to play and only two shots off the lead, the pressure of leading from the front is now gone, surely its time to settle. Just hit the fairway, and….beach; Ok now it’s over. Johnson went on to shoot 82, the second worst score of the day and finished five shots behind.

Now time for the seamless link. Dustin sounds like Justin, which is the first name of Justin Rose; the Rose is the symbol of England Rugby; Jonny Wilkinson came on against Australia for England at the weekend and scored the winning points; Points are what I am now going to make about English footballers.

Told you, seamless.

England have now suffered two bore draws to open a World Cup in which people believed they would go all the way to the final and maybe even win the thing! However we keep hearing that there is too much pressure on the players making them nervous and so they can’t kick a ball properly anymore.

Yes I know that nerves play a part in all sport, but I don’t buy for a second the fact that nerves have the capabilities to rob professional sportsmen of all talent they had before. Fabio Capello recently said: ‘It is simply the fear that stops the legs, that stops the mind; that stops everything. I'm not criticising them for that. I know the problem, it happens sometimes in important matches, this pressure.’ What a load of cack.

These players play their football at the highest level for their clubs on a weekly basis. Out of the starting eleven against Algeria, four of them have won Premier League titles, six have appeared in Champions league Finals and nine of them have won the FA Cup. In these situations they didn’t buckle under the pressure, in fact on the whole they excelled and relished the opportunity. Due to this I feel there can be no excuse for letting ‘nerves’ take over during the World Cup.

I’m actually pretty pleased that John Terry came out with the retort: ‘That's a little bit insulting, because we are not.’ At least he’s not shipping the blame to us lot for wanting them to win! Making this point is the first good thing he’s done since Vanessa Perroncel, and unfortunately it may have similar devastating consequences as I can’t imagine Fabio appreciating those comments.

It just seems that professionals are too easily forgiven for letting the nerves take over. Dustin Johnson should have been able to shoot a half decent score and win the US Open last night, there’s no you can be excused for such deterioration just because there’s a few people watching and a big shiny trophy’s at stake. The man hit some shots that would have sent me into ‘Snap Club Mode’ in my club’s Monthly Medal competitions.

As for Steven Gerrard and the boys, it does not bode well that the ‘pressure’ has affected them in the last two games, when there is more than likely going to be more of it on their shoulders in a must win game against the group leaders. For once it would be nice to see them revel in it and rise to the occasion like they do for their club.



Pressure is forgetting your significant other’s birthday and trying to stall, go to work, buy a present, card and arrange dinner for that night all in one morning. It’s killing your kid’s pet and trying to find an indentical replacement before the end of school. It’s not trying to win a tournament. The examples used in this article don’t need to win these tournaments for financial gain, they secure in their lifestyle and more money is trivial. What should matter is the enjoyment and pride you get from excelling in your sport. So nerves should not come into it.

Maybe I’m wrong, I haven’t been there, but it just seems silly to me that players who get put in these situations on a regular basis can all of a sudden get overwhelmed by a situation.

As it stands, the accusations during the Silver Swede era in the National team that the players are a bunch of overpaid primadonnas who don’t care about the country as they aren’t paid for it, ring true.

It was announced before the tournament that any winning bonuses the players get would go to charity. Maybe the only way to get them to try and win this thing is if we tell the charities in question to forget it. I’d like to think not.

US Open Preview - Britain's Time?

After ten years away from the hustle and bustle of the major championships, it’s time for the return of a true golfing monster.

Don’t panic, its still 2010, Tiger has only been gone a month or so, he hasn’t shagged you into a coma; I’m not talking about him. It’s time for golf’s finest to return to Pebble Beach for this year’s US Open.

As the World focuses on South Africa and the World Cup, the golfing population carry on business as usual and so I felt it was time to take a break from blogging about the football and dedicate some time to my other passion; golf.

The United States’ oldest golf tournament returns to the Californian shores ten years after a certain 24-year-old superstar tore the course apart, winning the US Open by 15 shots, to kick off a run that would see him claim all four majors in a row. Back then Tiger was a force to be reckoned with and was pretty much unstoppable.



Fast-forward ten years and the great man seems a shell of his former self. Still only 34-years-old, the mischievous Californian has seen his form diminish after revelations of his private wrongdoings turned his life upside down, ruining his marriage and forcing him to take an indefinite break from golf.

Now he’s back and raring to go, but recent performances suggest that a once safe bet is now unlikely to reclaim the title he won in 2008. Back then he was a hero, competing on one leg, holing a superb putt on the last and then seeing off a strong fight from Rocco Mediate in the play-off to claim his 14th major title.

Now he is a broken individual who has lost hoards of fans along with numerous sponsorship deals, not to mention his family. So as much as Tiger will believe he can win, and as much as fans will want to see resurgence to his former greatness, I just can’t see it happening. Much like with his return at the Masters, I think the pressure will get to him and your money is safer elsewhere.

So let’s have a look at some of the contenders this week.

Phil Mickelson

Lefty is currently the World Number 2 and has the chance to usurp his long time nemesis Mr Woods this week as World Number 1 for the first time. The following scenarios will see the housewives’ favourite claim the coveted spot:
- Phil wins he’s the new number 1
- Phil is 2nd alone then he’s number 1 if Tiger is outside the Top 4
- Phil is 3rd alone then he’s number 1 if Tiger is outside the Top 18

Considering the current form of Mickelson and Woods’ lack of it, there is a good chance that this could happen and we could have a new top dog for the first time for over five years.
The big man is desperate to win a US Open to go with his Masters and USPGA titles after narrowly missing out more than once in recent years.


Lee Westwood

The man from Worksop has been in inspired form over the last two years. You would be hard pushed to find someone in better form than Lee at the moment. Two years ago he missed out on the playoff with Woods and Mediate by a shot. Then last year he came agonisingly close at the Open before finishing third at the USPGA. HE followed that this year with a second place finish at the Masters, leading into Sunday, only a phenomenal display from Mickelson prevented him winning his first major.
Add to that the fact that Westwood is coming off a win at the St Jude classic last week and he looks a promising contender at Pebble Beach. The only problem is he has nerves akin to an England goalkeeper when it comes to the crunch.

Could we finally be seeing a British winner of a major for the first time since Paul Lawrie’s surprise Carnoustie victory in 1999? It looks like there could be every chance, with five of the top ten golfers hailing from these shores, outnumbering Americans in the top ten for the first time ever. Not too shabby if I do say so myself, and I will. Look out for Rory Mcilroy whose had a great season so far, Luke Donald whose recaptured the form of old and the fiery Ian Poulter - he won't win but he’ll no doubt be wearing some rather fetching unmissable pantaloons.

It’s now been forty years since a Brit won the US Open. Not since Tony Jacklin’s heroics at Hazeltine has one of us made an impression on the yanks biggest stage.
Monty came close in 2006, when a par at the last would have won him the trophy. Unfortunately he decided he hadn’t got his money’s worth and took an extra chip and putt to feel customer satisfaction.
Miguel Angel Jiminez came agonizingly close back in 2000 at Pebble Beach when he finished second, just a mere 15 strokes behind Tiger. Nailbiting!

If I’m perfectly honest I’m not holding high hopes. This is the time of year that I’m supposed to believe England will win, but know deep down that there’s no chance. I’ve come to accept that its just not going to happen, but I will still, as I do in the world cup, go down the bookies and stick a tenner on the English (I’ll go with Lee Westwood, like I have for the last 3 years – I tell you what, if he didn’t have a twitchy bum he’d have made me a fortune) and once again be disappointed. But hey, I’m English, that’s what life’s about.

If you fancy a flutter this weekend I advise you to check out the PGA website rather than listen to me: http://www.pgatour.com/2010/r/06/15/picks-usopen/index.html

Howler sees England stutter to opening draw

So yet another World Cup campaign kicks off with an English anti climax.

It was always going to happen. We were up against a side who are definitely no mugs but for some reason all us fans expected an easy victory. In fairness, a draw is not the end of the world. The likelihood is that we will go and win the next two games and top the group. However it was the circumstances that made the final result last night all the harder to swallow.

I don’t even know where to start! Actually yes I do. Robert Green. The latest England goalkeeper to suffer a calamity of epic proportions is the man from Chertsey. The West Ham United goalkeeper won the race to start England’s opening game after a week of
guessing games in which all three of England’s men in green were tipped to start.



I have a bias towards Joe Hart due to my allegiance to Birmingham City, but facts are facts, he conceded less goals than the other two, kept more clean sheets and his team finished highest in the league by some stretch. I don’t accept the argument that he’s too young, he’s only a year younger than Rooney and he’s had a superb season. Even if you decide against Hart, the next choice is James, NOT Green, as he proved in spectacularly damaging fashion last night.

For those of you who inexplicably missed the game last night (shame on you), the three lions started brightly, taking the lead inside five minutes when a neat little through ball by Emile Heskey was tucked away by our scouse skipper Steven Gerrard. After that it seemed to go a bit flat with few chances being created, but England never looked in danger of conceding.



That was until Rob Green decided the opening game of the World Cup was the perfect time to whip out the Scott Carson impression he’s been working on in his hotel room. Clint Dempsey had a shot from 30 yards. To describe it as speculative would be giving him too much credit. It looked as if Green would calmly collect the shot and England could regroup. However he decided to make it harder for himself by using just the thumb of his right hand to save the shot. Inevitably the ball squirmed over his gloves and we could only watch as the hapless goalkeeper tried in vain to scoop the ball back and then press his face into the turf.

It’s a good job he didn’t look up at that point as he would have seen ten Englishmen with their heads in their hands, probably thinking: “even Emilie would have had that one”. I think what I enjoyed most was the slow motion replay of David Beckham’s reaction. It looked like when The Rock used to stare out his opponents in the WWF with a stonking People’s Eyebrow. I half expected Becks to run on and deliver the people’s elbow to our red faced goalie.



So we went into half-time dejected, with the score at 1-1. No problem we thought, just a blip, we’ll still win.

Well things got worse as Ledley King had to be substituted with an injury, replaced by Jamie Carragher who looked off the pace but did OK. King joined James Milner who somewhat embarrassingly was substituted after just half an hour after an ineffectual start, which gained him a yellow card. To be honest, Shaun Wright-Phillips played far better when he came on.

The second half seemed to drift by without much happening. None of our stars made much of an impact, with Rooney not really appearing until the last ten minutes. Frank Lampard was quiet, I imagine he had a pie on the go. John Terry looked a little bit shaky, although my sources tell me he was on edge after getting wind that one of the other players found out what he got up to on his recent late night at the office finishing a project with their missus.

Rob Green then clawed back some of the respect he’d lost with the error, by tipping Jozy Alitdore’s shot onto the post. Although I do still think he should have been able to make a more solid save on that and the post saved him from being burnt at the stake. I had to put my Robert Green effigy on the back burner for a moment.

Ultimately England whimpered in with a draw and after Slovenia’s win over Algeria, they lie second in the group. Watching the game this morning I have no worries about us taking six points from our remaining fixtures and then in the knock outs it’s a different ball game. Unfortunately still not one we’re very good at. Maybe if we changed it to Petanque? Nah, France would have our number on that one.

So young Robert will have to face facts that he’s not cut out for this level and Fabio will now have to make a big decision on who to start in the next game. Green seems like a strong fellow, but it’s never going to be easy to come back from a moment like that.



In all I think we played well enough to just about deserve a win, and probably would have had we not been undone by the rasping left foot of Clint Dempsey, but it did nothing to quell the worries that England fans have that our national heroes will let us down once again.

Throughout the World Cup I will be giving my bets of the day via my twitter page, so if you fancy a flutter then check it out! I’ll be putting a tenner on all the bets I suggest and so far it’s proving lucrative!

Captain's Curse

And so the Captain’s curse has struck again. It’s beginning to seem like wearing that armband is a poison chalice in a World Cup year.

The biggest example from my three world cups as an England fan was memorably the David Beckham saga of 2002, when we had every witch doctor’s remedy being suggested, and resident crackpot Uri Gellar taking time out from manipulating the appearance of cutlery to send positive messages to Mr Beckham. As we all know, he did indeed make the tournament, setting up Sol Campbell’s header in the opening fixture against Sweden before crushing Argentinian dreams and banishing all memory of his misdemeanours in Saint Etienne at the previous World Cup. Despite these heroics, Goldenballs was a shell of his former self and the image of Becks jumping out of a soft tackle in the build up to Rivaldo’s equaliser for Brazil in the quarter-final that year still leaves a sour taste. Then you remember in Germany in 2006, Beckham was injured to the point of tears in the crucial game with Portugal. Having already lost Rooney to a red card and Michael Owen to injury earlier in the tournament it certainly didn’t exactly help our cause.

That was not the only time England has been hampered by the curse. Remember Bryan Robson and Kevin Keegan? Well I don’t as I wasn’t here, but I’ve definitely read about it somewhere and it was more of the same. Bryan Robson had a bit of a nightmare, being ruled out halfway through the campaign in 1986, missing the infamous Hand of God game, in a year which he was widely regarded as England’s best player. Then four years later at Italia 90, Captain Marvel could only play a limited role as England bowed out in that emotional semi-final with Germany.
Similarly Keegan was to miss out due to injury in 1982. Having not played in 1974 or 1978 due to England’s failure to qualify, Super Kev finally had the chance to lead his country out in the World Cup in 1982 in Spain. Lo and behold, just 21 minutes into the opening game, Keegan was struck down, ending his World Cup experience. He made a miraculous recovery in the final group game with Spain when he came on as a late substitute, just in time to miss a bread and butter header that would have seen England through.



Now it’s another World Cup year and so time for the curse to strike up once again. It seems shedding the armband wasn’t enough to help Becks as he will miss out through an achilles injury (maybe he still wears the armband round the house due to withdrawal? If so, it’s his own fault.) We also had John Terry go on a sexual rampage - ok one woman, that we know of - which resulted in him being stripped of the captaincy just months before he was set to lead his country out on the biggest stage for the first and probably last time. But, rightly or wrongly Capello saw fit to remove the red band from JT's wandering arms.

And now Rio Ferdinand. In only took one training session but it was enough time for the calamitous Emile Heskey to rule our captain out of the World Cup. Now, I stick up for big Emile every time people put him down and claim he doesn’t deserve his place. I am well aware of the important role he plays in making space for Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard to score our goals. However, I need to make a personal plea to the man. Emile, please, I want to defend you but you keep making it harder for me. He was our captain for god’s sake.

Here’s the controversial part. Could this injury actually be a bit of a blessing in disguise? We all know Rio is a fantastic footballer and has proved at Manchester United that he is a great leader and one of, if not the best defenders of his generation. However, he’s barely played this term and when he has it’s been mediocre at best. There’s also the harsh assessment that if we are going to lose a star in any position then centre back is probably the preferred choice. If we lost Gerrard or Lampard in midfield we would lose a big part of our team and if we lost Rooney… well you might as well tell the boys to hop back on the plane and come home. However in defence Rio has very capable deputies.


Ledley King is held in very high regard and if it weren’t for injury problems I am of the belief he’d be the main man wearing the armband and we’d all be wondering whether it would be Terry or Ferdinand playing alongside him. Past Ledley we’ve got Jamie Carragher who has been at the top forever and after him we have Upson (although I don’t rate him) and then Dawson, who has been the best centre back in England this year. So all is not lost and I think in a months time we could all be revelling in how Ledley King has lead us to the World Cup final.

Another potential revelation in the aftermath of Riogate (Can someone please tell me where all this –gate business came from?) is the selection of Steven Gerrard as captain. The marauding scouser has failed to make an impact in major tournaments so far considering how he single handedly wins major fixtures for Liverpool on a regular basis. I think there’s a good chance that Gerrard will now get that lift to produce the same form for the national side and his appointment could prove the making of the man.



England go into their final warm up match before the tournament starts, where they will play South African Premier League side Platinum Stars. I fancy Hart to start and England to win 3-0. They will be hoping for no more fresh injuries, but the next few weeks could show that the biggest ‘blow’ to the squad so far, could become the making of heros.

Phil "Sports Personality of the Year" Taylor

I love how the internet allows me a platform to have a bit of a rant about something. So, here it goes!

I’m not a massive follower of the darts world, but I do feel that something needs to be said about Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor’s phenomenal display of accuracy and dominance last night at Wembley Arena.

The greatest player to ever play the sport took centre stage last night as he claimed his fifth Premier League darts title with a compelling 10-8 victory over James Wade.

What made the match even more special was the Sir Phil (only a matter of time surely) became the first player in the history of the sport to score TWO nine-darters in one match. Unbelievable Geoff.


The remarkable thing about it all is that the match was supposed to be played on Sunday night but due to a power cut at Wembley Arena, the semis and the final were moved to Monday. Had this not happened, we may never have had a chance to witness this historic moment.

Phil Taylor had won the first four Premier League titles, but his dominance of the event ended last year, when Mervyn King stopped Taylor in the semi-finals. The two met again in this year’s semi, with Taylor gaining a measure of revenge as he dispatched King and gave himself the chance to regain his title, his fifth in six years. What a fantastic achievement by a man often underrated by Britain’s sporting enthusiasts.

The thing that bugs me about the Phil Taylor situation is that he is quite clearly one of the most successful British sportsmen ever. In a 22 year career, Taylor has won 15 World Championships including 8 in a row between 1995 and 2002. He has won 10 World Matchplay Championships, 9 World Grand Prix Titles, the list goes on! On top of this he has won over 150 other tournaments, more than double anyone else EVER. He has spent a total of 56 months as World Number 1 during his career, a position which he currently holds and has done since June 2008.

Last year, he achieved a match record of 192–4–11 whilst amassing £769,725 in prize money. This total smashed the record prize money gained in a season by over £200,000. Incidentally, that was Taylor’s record as well. At the end of last year he had won 47 of his last 60 tournaments.

Then at the start of this year, on winning his 15th World Championship, he took his Order of Merit prize money over £1 million, the first player ever to do so.

Here’s a stat that I was impressed with: In 2006, Taylor went two major tournaments without winning one. That was the first time that had happened to him in THIRTEEN years. That’s simply incredible.


The legendary Taylor will turn 50 this year, and yet he continues to dominate the sport, with no signs of letting up any time soon. He is the classic example of the everyman professional. He gives you that belief that anyone can become a sporting icon. You don’t have to be some lean and athletic wannabe model to make a lot of money and break a lot of records. He gives hope to those who don’t think they can cope with the rigorous demands of fitness and healthy eating required by football, rugby etc.

Not taking anything away from the man, obviously he has worked hard and practiced for an excruciating number of hours to get to the level he is. But it just gives you that hope.

It is reasons like this that make it difficult for me to understand why he has never been named Sports Personality of the Year. When you look at the past winners, they all have staked a decent claim. Ryan Giggs has played at the top level since he was 17 and continues to win trophies with Manchester United. Chris Hoy won three gold medals at the Olympics. Joe Calzaghe is possibly the greatest British boxer ever.
Then you get people like Zara Phillips. This is the one that annoys me the most. Not because she was undeserving, but how can she get awarded for excellence in “eventing” and yet a darts player who has broken every record, won everything there is to win, more than once, not even get a nomination? It’s disgraceful.

In a week where our footballers have perennially underachieved, it is good to see Phil Taylor joining our heroic cricketers in putting England at the top of their respective sports.

Bookies currently have Phil Taylor at 40/1 outsider for the BBC award. An obscene price when you consider his credentials, but I get the feeling the bookies will feel safe with any money that punters put on the big man’s shoulders.

I think I might start a Facebook petition…

Can we win it!? - Probably not, but believe!!

I need to start this entry with an apology! Not sure how many of you have noticed (I like to think loads of you) but I haven't submitted a blog in over a month.

This is partly due to laziness, but also down to the fact that I was gearing myself up to leave my beloved Bournemouth and return to my homeland of Jersey. I have landed myself a job writing real news stories would you believe! Not quite as much freedom as I have here but its work!

Anyway, now that I’m settled, I’m back to writing my blog and hopefully in it for the long haul.

Where better to start than the trials and tribulations of the World Cup build up? It’s that time again when everyone in England goes doolally (sic??) about our country’s chances of lifting the famous trophy. I must admit I’m guilty of over-patriotism every time we enter a major tournament. It gets to the point where you just can’t see anyway England can lose. A bit like the feeling you get looking at your Saturday afternoon bet slip, where your ten game accumulator can pocket you £15,000 off of the single nugget you handed over the counter ‘it can’t lose’. With those bets there is always an anomaly and in terms of the World Cup, that’s us.


I remember once putting one of these mammoth accumulators on during the qualification process for Euro 2008. I attempted to predict the outcome of eight international games for a return of about £2,000. Much to my delight the first seven games came in without a blemish, it came down to the last game, a late afternoon kick-off between England and the almighty Israelis. Money in the bank I thought. Au contraire, this is England, and lo and behold, 90 minutes and no goals later I was left crying into my Strongbow as my beloved lions had let me down. (I’ll probably still stick a tenner on an England victory this year though…or should I say I’ll probably still give Mr Ladbroke a tenner and tell him to spend it wiser than I did.)

Anyway, the build up this year has been tumultuous. We’ve had the John Terry scandal and his subsequent loss of captaincy, which has raised question marks about the effect it will have on team spirit, we’ve had our Wayne Rooney, our only hope of glory, wounded in recent weeks and looking a shadow of what he was from August till April, there’s niggling injuries to key players like Rio Ferdinand, and the inclusion of Gareth Barry in the preliminary squad despite looking like he’ll never be fit in time. We even had Signor Capello prising the ageing Jamie Carragher out of retirement, stories of his failed attempts to lure back Paul Scholes – who hasn’t pulled on the national shirt for 6 years – and the near inclusion of Owen Hargreaves who had played one minute of football in 18 months. For a man we have given so much credit to in the last two years, these desperate stories hardly tell us he has confidence in every member of his 30 man squad. One shining light in the selection however was Adam Johnson, a revelation since joining Manchester City in January, the boy has gone from Championship to England squad in 5 months, and he certainly deserves it.


Training camp began this week with the squad taking to the Austrian Alps for a spot of high altitude training, before Capello narrows his 30 man. I think it’s pretty safe to assume who won’t be flying to South Africa. My thoughts are that Baines, Warnock, Parker, Huddlestone and Bent will be left out. As much as I feel both those central midfielders deserve to go over Carrick and Barry, Capello does have his favourites, even if he suggests otherwise. Then I think the other two removals could be a bit more tricky. If I was pushed I’d say no Gareth Barry due to his injury issue and if I had my way then Theo Walcott would stay at home, but his ability to play up front if needed might see him considered useful.

So we’re on the home straight now, two friendlies left and then its business time. Let’s forget all the crap that the FA has subjected us to this week with the whole Lord Triesman debacle, that saga will continue for a while yet, we can pick it up in August. Let’s forget the past 44 years of heartache that the national team have subjected us to. Let’s forget the fact that John Terry would probably bag your missus without a second thought. Let's also forget that Wayne Rooney - the great english hope - hasn't scored a goal since March 21st (yep, it's been that long). But most importantly, let’s f!@*ing pray.

And as the only World Cup themed advert I have so far enjoyed says ‘It’s time to join the immortals.’

Pompey's Plight and Saints Fight!

I’ve decided this week to have a look at a topic that is ruling the world of English football right now. In the words of Abba….money, money, money!

Even though it’s not the most exciting of topics it is one that is having a huge impact on the state of our beloved game in this country.

Some of those eagle eyed amongst you might have noticed the plight of Portsmouth FC this year. Since gaining promotion to the Premier League in 2003, Pompey had established themselves as a top flight side, secured a wealthy investor and enjoyed a spell in Europe. Everything looked rosy, but this season everything has fallen apart.

They’ve had more owners than Tiger Wood’s has had porn stars and wasted more money than a John Terry cover up. They are now facing insurmountable debts and for a while the future of the club looked bleak. Pompey are now all but certainly relegated and will have to start rebuilding from scratch in the Championship next year. It wouldn’t surprise many if they go the way of their biggest rivals and end up another division lower soon after.

Speaking of the Saints, how their fortunes have turned around. In 2005 Southampton were relegated from the top flight after 27 years and its gone slowly downhill since. Last season was their second consecutive relegation battle in the Championship, and unfortunately they could not replicate the heroics they showed the year before. Add to that the fact they went into administration, causing them to start life in League 1 with minus ten points and right there you’ve got yourself a ……. Situation!

There was the very real possibility that Southampton, like Portsmouth, could have folded and ceased to exist. That was until Swiss billionaire Markus Liebherr came along last summer and bought the club. He was an instant hit with Saints fans as he brought in Alan Pardew as manager, a man who has had previous Premier League experience. Not a bad little coup there my boy!

Then came probably the most astute piece of business that outside of the club probably went unnoticed. Liebherr hired Nicola Cortese as chairman. Tweleve months ago, Mr Cortese was managing billionaire’s finances for Banque Heritage in the Swiss capital of Geneva. During his short tenure, Saints have overcome their 10-point deduction, still have a chance of reaching the playoffs and have won their first trophy since they picked up the FA Cup in 1976.

The club took 44,000 fans to Wembley at the weekend for the Johnstone’s Paint final on Sunday to see their boys ease past League Two’s Carlisle United in a 4-1 win. This is evidence enough that the club are a Premier League club in waiting and with the right backing financially they can make it back there.

Cortese is no mug, he has seen from an outsider’s financial view that club’s are spending more than they have. In an interview with the Times he said
“They spend next year’s income. They spend money that will not arrive for two years and say, ‘But we’ll have some success and bring in more cash to cover the shortfall.’ It cannot be sustained.
“In good times you need to be saving money for the bad times. If we reach the Premier League, I would like to be in a position where we did not need parachute payments. In good years you should put money away for the bad years.”

Exhibit A, Portsmouth. This is a method that can maybe be justified for the top teams like Manchester United, who are in lots of debt, but keep winning the Premier League and keep reaching European finals. They know that the money will be streaming in on a regular basis. Portsmouth spent a lot of money they didn’t have in forming the team that won the FA Cup, expecting more success to follow. But it didn’t. A poor showing in Europe and the loss of Harry Redknapp to Tottenham disillusioned players, causing the top guys to leave (mainly for Spurs it seems), sent them spiraling down the table and all but into the Championship.

Something major needs to happen at Portsmouth in the summer to stop them from freefalling through the football league. As much as it will pain every Pompey fan to say this, they need to take a leaf out the ‘scummers’ book and think finances before they think football. Southampton have a five year plan to become self sustainable which they are currently well on course to do. The hope in that time is to also return to the Premier League, which if they sneak into the playoffs and back into the second tier this summer, will become a very realistic possibility.