Sports Category
Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.
Manchester United: Gloomy Fans Sing Up For Moyes’ ‘Fergie’s Boys’
HOW was Manchester United’s match at Old Trafford last night? Well, the Red Devils won their Champions’ League match. Shakhtar Donetsk
United’s supporters continue to give Moyes their full backing, both vocally and with banners such as the one that read: “Believe in yourself Moyes, the rest will follow.” The manager was also backed by a rendition of “Come on David Moyes, play like Fergie’s boys” and “David Moyes’s red and white army”. He can at least count on the fans as he attempts to arrest United’s slump.
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Posted: 11th, December 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Chelsea Balls: John Terry’s Poundland Christmas Toys
WHY was Chelsea’s John Terry shopping in Poundland?
JT is not with Oscar, the Brazilian wonder, but 17-year-old Knaphill Atheltic winger and Chelsea fan Jack Jeffrey, who tells Get Surrey:
“My mate asked him if it was OK to have a picture. He was happy to let us. It was weird just walking in there and seeing him. He had a lot of stuff in his basket but I didn’t really see what it was. When I told my friends they were shocked and wished they had met him as well. He’s probably one of my favourite players.”
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Posted: 11th, December 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (2)
Transfer Balls: Manchester United And The Bruno Gomes ‘Snub’
TRANSFER Balls: Did Manchester Untied get snubbed by Brazilian wonderkid (it says here) Bruno Gomes? The Daily Mail seems to think so. Hell, it says so:
He’s met Fergie and the players, taken a tour of Old Trafford and posed wearing the shirt… but Brazilian teenager Bruno Gomes is the latest star to snub United move
The silly sod. United are huge. Adam Crafton (as in craft on a story to a headline or photo) adds:
Manchester United have missed out on signing long-term target Bruno Gomes, after the striker declared that he has agreed to join Internacional.
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Posted: 10th, December 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Robbie Savage Says Manchester United Have Improved And Got Worse
ROBBIE Savage writes on the BBC “How David Moyes can save Man Utd’s season”. Before going on, we should notes that, as TV’s Tess Daly put it following Savage’s outing on pro-celebrity’s Strictly Come Dancing, “You came here a footballer and you’re leaving a dancer.”
Savage’s response was to tell us what to think of him: “I was not a nice person on the football pitch. Hopefully I changed people’s perception. I’m just an ordinary decent guy.”
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Chelsea Balls: Jose Mourinho Works Miracles (Says Jose Mourinho)
JOSE Mourinho is doing a masterful job of talking down his team and talking up his own abilities. Limit expectations and when glory returns to the Bridge, claim credit. Says Jose:
“My team in the last two or three years in December was 15 to 20 points behind the leaders.”
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Manchester United and Chelsea Balls: BBC And The Sun Portray Mourinho And Moyes As Blithering Idiots
FOOTBALL reporting is all about conjuring a story from pretty much nothing. In certain hands it’s all about extremes.
On Saturday, the BBC reported on Manchester United’s home defeat to Newcastle United. News was that Man United’s David Moyes was saying his team could still win the Premier League:
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Posted: 9th, December 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
A Manchester United Defeat Still Leads The Sports Pages
MANCHESTER United were beaten by Newcastle Untied in the Premier League on the same day that Liverpool moved into second spot, Stoke scored three to beat Chelsea and an injury ravaged Southampton draw with big-spending Manchester City.
And all the papers lead with Manchester United and their manager David Moyes. It’s not all over for United, who continue to set the news agenda. The club’s fans will know the game’s up when defeats are no longer the nations’s lead football story:
The Sunday People leads with a picture of Moyes and news that Luis Suarez plays for Uruguay.
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Posted: 8th, December 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
When World Cup Draws Go Bad – In 1982 Football Was A Tatty Affair
THE World Cup is a glamorous, slick affair these days… but that wasn’t always the case. Back in 1982, the World Cup draw was an absolute shambles.
The draw for the 1982 World Cup in Spain suffered from a numerous cock-ups and technical problems while small boys in capes waddled around nonplussed.
And overseeing it all? A young Sepp Blatter, now president of FIFA, but at the time, merely the general secretary. It’s not like Blatter to make a hash of something surrounding football, is it?
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Liverpool Balls: Luis Suarez Isn’t That Good Because He Hasn’t Won Anything At Anfield
JAMIE Redknapp uses his Daily Mail column to contemplate Liverpool’s Luis Suarez:
I’m not a big fan of comparing players from different generations.
So…
Kenny Dalglish was an icon in that No 7 shirt, he was tough and he had everything in his game. Luis Suarez has been breath-taking at times this season but he has a way to go because of the trophies Kenny won.
Maybe in King Kenny had played in this Liverpool team, he’d not have won quite so much.
Posted: 6th, December 2013 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (10)
World Cup 2014: Vicente del Bosque Photobombs Fabio Capello
IN which Spain manager Vicente del Bosque photobombs Fabio Capello at the World Cup 2014 shindig:
Manchester United And Everton Balls: Moyes Says He Created Martinez’s ‘Managerless’ Everton
BEFORE Everton defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford, David Moyes said this about the Toffees’ new manger Roberto Martinez:
“He is doing a very good job..
He is.
“He has very good players there.”
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Posted: 5th, December 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Bisexual Tom Daley Inspires Nation To Go Searching For 120 Gay Footballers
TOM Daley is gay. You might have read the news that Olympic diver Tom Daley is gay on the front pages of the national Press, or heard it on the national news bulletins.
Daley made his announcement because the caring Sun was about to out him as being a hypocrite or in denial, or whatever a 19-year-old can be when he’s growing up.
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Posted: 4th, December 2013 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Arsenal & Manchester United Balls: Wise Garth Crooks’ Puts His Champagne On Ice
GARTH Crooks, the most earnest man in sport, for whom every comment is weighed with the wisdom of Solomon and the pressed palms of a Saint contemplating the spiritual meaning of a John Terry header. And then he pauses. As if deep in thought. And then speaks slowly in short sentences, so that scribes may best be able to jot down his words exactly. He picks. His team. Of the week. For the BBC. It’s not a team, of course. It’s just XI names who have done well over the previous Premier League weekend. This week he made his choices.
Garth gaze upon Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey:
I don’t think there can be any greater accolade than when a former player acknowledges respect for his former club by not celebrating a goal.
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Posted: 4th, December 2013 | In: Arsenal, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Spurs Fan Sexually Assaults Manchester United’s Partrice Evra
IN this video a Spurs fans frots Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, who is doing his infamous impression of a lap-dancer:
Posted: 3rd, December 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports, Spurs | Comment
Gay Tom Daley Scooped The Tabloids
TOM Daley the London 2012 bronze-medal winning diver is gay. Yep, finally, Tom has cottoned on to the news that everyone else new. Keeping it a secret from him was getting hard.
The Sun, leads with the news, as do most papers. And the pretty much explains why Daley chose to come out of the closet on YouTube last night.
Tom’s big night OUT – Olympic diving star at gay club hours before coming out on YouTube
He spiked the newspaper’s scoop.
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Manchester United Balls:Paul Scholes – 40 Years Old and Still Got Goals
PAUL Scholes misses the old days when he used to amble about on a football pitch, scoring some goals and scything other humans down who wanted to have a go with the ball.
He misses them so much that he still likes a kickabout. Of course, while all his Man Utd mates are doing really exciting things – The Neville Brothers and Nicky Butt are all coaching, David Beckham is stupidly famous and Ryan Giggs is [comment redacted thanks to injunction] – leaving ol’ Scholesy to wander around Oldham like he’s on the dole.
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The Top Ten Purveyors of Embarrassing And Offensive Public Jokes
SIR Bradley Wiggins has apologised after cracking an unfortunate joke at the Firecracker Ball in aid of Barnado’s.
Wiggo had donated a signed shirt and when his face appeared on the giant screen he turned to auctioneer Jon Hammond, and said: “You’ve got a posh voice, I like posh voices. Suck me off.”
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Posted: 3rd, December 2013 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, Sports | Comment
Spurs Balls: AVB V Harry Redknapp’s Ghost Writer Martin Samuel And Neil Ashton
DOES Andre Villas-Boas read Anorak? Maybe. The Spurs manager used part of his post-match press conference to criticise Daily Mail journalist Neil Ashton. Following a lively 2-2 draw with Manchester United – in which Spurs gave away two soft goals – AVB eyed Aston. He said: “A couple of people insult my integrity, my human values, my professionalism and one of these people is sitting over here. It insults the success that I have achieved in other clubs and I don’t think it’s fair. I think it’s a lack of respect and an attack on a person’s integrity.”
Ashton asked what he though was “personal” about the recent criticism of his team.
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Match Fixing: Matthew Le Tissier Admitted Playing To Win A Bet
THERE has been alleged match-fixing in English football. Singapore national Chann Sankaran, 33, and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, 43, a UK national from Singapore, have been charged with conspiracy to “defraud bookmakers by influencing the course of football matches and placing bets thereon” between 1 November and 26 November this year.
The maximum sentence for this offence is 10 years in prison, the National Crime Agency said. Four other arrest have been made. They are three former lower-league footballers plus a former Premier League player who is now an agent. None have been charged.
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Spurs Balls: Is Graeme Souness The World’s Worst Pundit?
GRAEME Souness is still talking about Spurs in his dire Sunday Times column. This is the same Souness who opined on August 31:
Spurs raise stakes and shame Wenger
WE HAVE had two ends of the spectrum on summer transfers over the past few months from Tottenham and Arsenal: how to do it and how not to. The difference could prove the key to deciding which of them finishes fourth this season to secure the coveted pathway to Champions League football.
He now writes:
Spurs must wish they could borrow some creative midfielders from Arsenal…
Andre Villas-Boas lacks such range and quality….
Their central midfielders are too similar…
And on he goes.until eventually he arrives at Manchester United:
If they want to see how quickly and simply a ball can be fed through midfield to make chances and goals, then I refer them to the masterclass Ryan Giggs gave against a woeful Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday…
You may recall that Souness used his expertise to tell us before United’s tonked Bayer 5-0:
“They will go to Germany with the mindset of not getting beat – and that’s a strange attitude for Manchester United because their approach under Sir Alex Ferguson was to try to win every game…”
He adds:
Would a 40-year-old get in Barcelona’s midfield? In Bayern Munich’s? In Real Madrid’s? No, no and no.
Is he saying those clubs are ageist because they don’t have the remarkable Giggs? Dunno. But soon he’s back to talking down Spurs:
Bale does get in Real’s midfield and he has a star quality Tottenham’s recruits don’t possess.
Or as he said at the season’s star:
…Spurs have raised the stakes with their signings and I think the challenge to finish fourth will be greater than it was last season.
Adding today:
Tottenham are not going to make fourth this time…
And asking, as all pundit must:
Are they stronger group than they were with Harry?
Spurs Balls: Harry Redknapp Never Did Know Madrid’s Mighty Gareth Bale
COMPARE and contrast the world of Gareth Bale, formerly of Spurs and now knocking them in for Real Madrid:
When the final whistle went Bale collected the match ball and took it to the centre circle, holding it aloft to salute the Madrid supporter. – Sunday Times, December 1, 2013
“He’s not an over-ambitious lad” – Harry Redknapp, June 9, 2013
”I think he’s a little bit young to go abroad. I doubt he’d find it easy” – David Pleat, July 30, 2013
“I don’t think Gareth Bale wants to leave yet – unless it was to one of the Manchester clubs. He’s had a new baby and I’m not sure if he’s ready for a move abroad. You have to be settled off the pitch before you get your form on it” – Glenn Hoddle, June 16, 2013
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Arsenal Balls: Flamini and Gunnersaurus Are Fit To Wear The Shirt
SO. Arsenal’s feisty midfield Mathieu Flamini will abide by the club’s shirt-sleeve rule that states all players must wear the same shirt as the captain – long sleeves or shot sleeves. Flamini, a Frenchman, is not cut from the same satin-lined cloth as compatriot and former Gunner Samir Nasri who has favoured the snood and gloves ensemble.
Flamini is a man for short sleeves in all weathers. Before Arsenal’s games against Manchester United and his native Marseilles, Flamini broke the club rule by cutting the long sleeves off (see above).
Today he went with the rule book and opted for long sleeves rolled up. And he duly scored against Cardiff City.
Were the sleeves lucky for Flamini? Maybe. What is certain is that this Arsenal tradition is bunkum. Gunnersaurus wears short sleeves. And he’s 120million years old. Short sleeves it is and should be. Always.
Daily Mirror And William Hill Say Women In Sport Need To More Shaggable
THE Daily Mirror’s Derek McGovern has moved on from the gays in sport to focus his appraising eye on women in sport.
William Hill bookmakers sticks its logo on that sexist bilge.
And this is the same Mirror – now self-billed as “the intelligent tabloid” – that castigates David Cameron for “The streak of sexism running through the Conservative party”.
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Manchester United: In 1992 David Beckham Tossed Off Over Clayton Blackmore
PST! Fancy seeing the Class of ’92, the film about Fergie’s Fledglings at Manchester United? The kids will soon be aping Scholsey, Giggsy and Butt as they go on jinking runs to the ice-cream stand. They might even do a Beckham and jizz on a photo of Manchester United’s Clayton Blackmore (pictured with shaggy perm above).
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Posted: 29th, November 2013 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Spurs Balls: Robbie Savage Is Upset That AVB Is Not Harry Redknapp
AND on it goes, the daily tabloid grind blaming Andre Villas-Boas for not being Harry Redknapp, the great Spurs manger who won NOTHING at Spurs and presided over a spectacular Champions’ League collapse. Today Robbie Savage has to-deadline thoughts he wants to share with his Mirror readers:
Boring, boring Tottenham. There you go – someone needed to say it, so it might as well be me.
Actually, lots of Spurs face have been saying it. Maybe you’re just following them, Robbie?
If Andre Villas-Boas wants to know why his job suddenly came under such heavy scrutiny this week, it wasn’t just about the six-goal hammering Spurs took at Manchester City.
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