Staying Put
‘THE votes were counted and the results of the contest to find the FIFA World Player of the Year revealed that Zinedine Zidane is No.1.
| A Real possibility? |
The Mail ignores a picture of that Real Madrid star to lead with a shot of another, Ronaldo, the worlds third best player, sharing a few words with Arsenals Thierry Henry, the second best.
The papers suggest that the gist of the conflab was that the Brazilian wants the French striker to join the happy band of galaticos at Madrid.
But, as the Sun finds, Thierry is not for moving. Im here in front of so many people only because of Arsenal, says the likeable Frenchman.
Thats great news for Gunners fans – they know how important Henry is in their pursuit of the games top honours.
And staying with talk of strikers, the Express hears that Hernan Crespo, Chelseas man in an Alice band, says that he can get better.
Which is more than can be said of Michael Owen, for whom things seem to be going from bad to worse.
The Express says that the Liverpool striker is, through injury, out until the New Year.
And if thats not bad enough, the club will have to make do with Emile Heskey and Sinama Pongolle in his absence.
But while Liverpool fans clutch their heads in their hands, the Sun ensures that they do not despair alone.
The back page leads with the news that Rio Ferdinand might not be found guilty of skipping a drugs test because – get this – Sven Goran Eriksson says the defender is an honest man.
So thats it. Rio Ferdinand escapes a lengthy ban because hes a nice bloke.
If this defence works, all drugs takers will have to do in future is leg it, deny any deliberate wrongdoing and then get someone bigger to fight their corner.
Ferdinand may well not be guilty of taking a banned substance but, if unpunished, his actions will leave the door wide open for flagrant cheating.
The course of action for the FA is clear-cut: its time to throw the book at him.’
Posted: 16th, December 2003 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
