totalsport magazine

Total Sport | June 2010 | 1

Plus...

2012 Olympics - The low-down

The financial state of football

Can England retain the Ashes?

Is 3D the future of watching sport?A lower league fanzine

Sir Bobby’s Legacy - 2010 Ryder Cup - The Damned Utd - Life of a cricket writer - Andy Murray

TOTAL SPORTTHE ULTIMATE SPORTS MAGAZINE

25 greatest footballers on the planet

Mayweather VS Pacquiao - the verdict

Issue One - June 2010 - £2.50

Who will be crowned king?

Total Sport | June 2010 | 3Total Sport | June 2010 2

From the engine room

Hello and welcome to TotalSport Magazine!

It’s been an exciting and challenging journey to bring the magazine to production, but it’s been more than worth it to finally see the first edition come to print. If you enjoy reading it half as much as I’ve enjoyed producing it then we’ll do alright!

I simply could not understand the lack of a mainstream sports magazine on the UK market, it just baffled me. So I decided to do something about it, and bring the drought to an end. Some serious hard work later and here it is, I hope you have as much fun reading as I did making it.

Sport is all about opinions; one man’s champion is another man’s fraud after all! Your thoughts and comments from are more than welcome. There are so many ways of getting in touch. So get emailing, texting, tweeting and forumming!Enjoy the magazine.

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In this month’s issue...

Pages 8-13

2012 London Olympics - the complete run-down plus an A-Z of all things Olympic.

Pages 4-7

The financial state of the beautiful game.

Pages 24-25

Rory McIlroy, the man behind the endless talent.

Pages 14-15

Mayweather VS Pacquiao, the verdict on the biggest fight ever.

Pages 42-43

The first entry into the TotalSport Hall of Fame.

Page 32

3D - the future of watching sport?

6-31

TotalSport’s Top 25 footballers on the planet.

Contents


Seconds from disaster: The real financial state of the beautiful game

In February this year, Portsmouth became the first ever Premier

League club to go into administration.

Manchester United and Liverpool have also

made no secret of their huge debt laden against

the club, and with the country on its knees

financially, surely it won’t be long before a second club follows Pompey into the dark depths of financial

ruin. TotalSport delves deeper into the financial

world of football and hopes to make sense of

the current mess that is slowly consuming the modern game...

Opener



“The state of the finance of football is frightening, that’s all I can say,” said David Sullivan as he and fellow well-heeled businessman David Gold took control of West Ham United in January. “I think there’s a possibility one Premier League club could go and I think probably odds-on one club will go. There are several Championship sides absolutely on the line at the moment. It’s a question of whether they can sell players for sufficient money to stay alive.”

Indeed finances in football are habitually a delicate and often blurred subject. Most fans know little about the state of their club’s bank balance other than what is reported in the media. But it’s become widely known that over 90% of profes-sional clubs in England are in some sort of debt and greatly dependent on the abundant income stream that is television money.In the lower leagues we have seen team after team plunged into receiver-ship after poor economic management; Crystal Palace and Stockport have taken their turns to call in the debt experts this season and Chester City actually went bankrupt. It is widely accepted that football is in dire straits, no longer can success-hungry chairmen spend beyond their budgets looking for that juicy cup run or assault on the play-offs.When we look down the leagues, plenty of clubs are struggling massively to even pay their players, or

water the pitch, but this has been the case for a num-ber of years now. Since the collapse of ITV Digital back in 2002, 99% of Football League teams have had to make huge cut-backs simply to remain in existence. Some have been lucky enough to see a wealthy backer throw blank cheques their way, Notts County and Peter-borough most notably, but the rest have been forced to cut their cloths accord-ingly. Now that the shadowy hands of administration have finally made their way into the Premier League, the clubs there have begun to take note of Portsmouth’s plight and cut back them-selves.

Most League One and Two clubs make little in terms of profit and often it is thanks to a wealthy fan in control of the club that they exist at all. The voices of football constantly talk of these vital cogs diminishing into the fi-nancial abyss. Just last year,

departing Football League Chairman Lord Mawhinney said: “Could we lose a club? Yes, we could. Am I expect-ing to lose a club? I don’t know because they don’t tell us what their finances are.”The current climate of a global recession only adds to make things worse, with advertising being with-drawn and the average fan cutting back on the non-essentials such as paying inflated prices to watch their club their club. Though the top level Premier League clubs are far less reliant on gate receipts of their lower league counterparts, even they have felt the force of a country in recession with supporters purchas-ing much less memora-bilia. Early in the season an article in The Independent predicted that five League Two clubs would enter administration during the campaign. Despite this hypothesis not coming to fruition, it shows the concern within the media about the financial state of

the game. Then-Darlington manager Dave Penney told The Independent: “I know a lot of clubs that are close to administration. From talk-ing to people, we might be the first but we won’t be the last. I’d say five will go this year.” Last season, in League Two, three clubs began the season in administration and were hit with heavy points deductions as a result. Although Rotherham and Bournemouth over-came their 15 and 17 point respective deficits, Luton were hit with a more severe 30 point penalty and were relegated to the Blue Square Premier

The average attendance at a League Two game is 4047 compared with the Premier League’s 35548. This shows the massive gulf between the top and bot-tom of football in England, with sponsorship and prize money also showing a huge difference. In the Premier League, each club receives just over £22 million in

Abyss

“But clubs always seem to survive; they often sail close to the edge but come through in the end. It appears that there is no one correct answer to explain how a lower division club should be run.”

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Portsmouth’s famous bell ringer, but for how much longer? Television revenue at the

beginning of each season and £14m for finishing top. In League Two each team receives only around £1m each season which must fund them for 12 months. This leaves around £20,000 per week on top of around £60,000 in gate receipts (for a club with 3,000 fans at £15 a ticket) to effectively run the clubs who often have wage bills of around £40,000 per week as well to add to other expenditures.Clubs in the lower leagues face a constant struggle to survive, although in recent times only three clubs have ceased to exist; Wimbledon, Scarborough and of course Chester City. Although this would point to a huge finan-cial problem in the game, we have seen teams on the brink of vanishing rebuild to become successful clubs, Hull City and Doncaster Rovers most notably. Al-though, ironically, Hull City look set to be the next team to enter administration after being relegated from the Premier League.

Many in the game have called for Leagues One and Two to be regionalised, so travelling costs can be cut massively. Brian Keen is the Chairman of Conference side Barrow, a club with one of the longest travel bills in England, their closest game this season was 103 miles away at Altrincham. He told The Non-League League

Paper: “Sooner or later the gulf will get so wide that the Football League would say thanks but no thanks and we’d be scraping just to get one club promoted again. There’s also the question of how, if it [the regionalisa-tion] was carried out, the reorganisation would be done and what football would look like afterwards.” But Keen also added that it is the same for each club and they are responsible for themselves financially. He said: “If somebody goes out and signs four new strikers, they can’t complain that they can’t afford to travel to Barrow!” BBC Sport’s football writer Paul Fletcher believes the clubs in question do have a future, but only if they are run properly. “It’s a difficult question,” he told TotalSport magazine. “If you look at Exeter City and their man-ager Paul Tisdale, they won successive promotions on a small budget by backing a bright young manager with fresh ideas, despite strug-gling in League One now.”“Former Football League Chairman Lord Mawhin-ney said that he thought a club might go to the wall in the near future. But clubs always seem to survive; they often sail close to the edge but come through in the end. It appears that there is no one correct answer to explain how a lower division club should be run,” Paul added.And Middlesbrough Chair-

man Steve Gibson, famed for his prudence and patience also accepts that there are problems in the game which desperately need to be ad-dressed. “There is a lot of fi-

Regionalised

“If somebody goes out and signs four new strikers, they can’t complain that they can’t afford to travel to Barrow!”

“There is a lot of financial pressure on clubs, but it’s self-inflicted; we all have free will and we all make our own decisions. If you go chasing the dream, it has to be achievable”

nancial pressure on clubs, but it’s self-inflicted; we all have free will and we all make our own decisions,” said Gibson. “If you go chasing the dream, it has to be achievable.“For us, things had to change. We got to a European final and still lost £12 million that year. We studied it and said, ‘Football can’t continue like this.’ Agents’ fees, wages, transfers were all inflating at an incredible rate, debts were going up and there was always going to come a day of accountability. “Although we never thought we’d get relegated, every single season we had to plan for relegation and when we were relegated that gave us the best chance of securing financial stability and a long-term future. “

It seems then that the financial future of our great national game is yet to be decided; the answers contin-ue to differ according to who you ask. Those at the higher end of the game are adamant that football clubs will start to disappear, but those stalwart lower league owners and fans will insist that their clubs are going nowhere. We have seen, on a number of occasions fan groups rescuing clubs when literally minutes from bankruptcy, and it might we wise to say that we haven’t seen the last of these ‘Great Escape’ style rescues. Despite the ongoing troubles within the Premier League, it is clear that there are increased problems the further down the leagues you look. But something desperately needs to be done to bridge the ever widening gap between the top and bottom levels of foot-ball to prevent clubs going under before it’s too late.

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Departing Football League Chairman Lord Mawhinney

Problems£3.5 billion -The overall sum of debt in the Premier League

Opener


Yes, just two years from now the eyes of the world will

focus on Britain, London to be exact. The Olympic Games will capture the imagination of the en-tire planet, and we’re all expecting things to start falling apart in the months before. Just how well equipped is London to host such an event? This question and many more will be answered over the next couple of pages.The Olympic Games are simply massive, and to host such an event is a logistical nightmare on a number of levels. We will see 12,500 athletes representing 205 nations take part in over 300 events over 16 days. Sporting fans from around the globe will flock to the different venues to see the greatest athletes on the planet bid to be the best in their field, it is sure to be some spectacle. The cost of holding the

games sits at around a cool £8 billion, and in a time of economic crisis, it has to be worth it. But what do the games mean for the ordi-nary Briton like you and me, how will we benefit from hosting the games? Where will our hard earned taxes be spent, and will it be worth the massive cost?

Sports fans will remem-ber where they were the moment the games were announced to be coming to London, and the mass celebrations throughout the capital will live long in the memory. The sterling work of Sebastian Coe amongst

others won the rights to host the games over France who were the favourites going into the bid. In the end London beat Paris by just four votes with 54, and the bitter French leader Jacques Chirac famously said: “We can’t trust people [the British] who have such bad food. After Finland, it’s the country with the worst food.” Finance£8 billion is such a vast figure; it means nothing to the average person, so let’s try to break it down. Although 63% of the cost of the games is being paid for by the public, the final 37% comes from contributions from the National Lottery and the Mayor of London. The biggest costs include the construction of the venues and the general in-frastructure which of course will be the backbone of the operation. Around £5 billion is being set aside for this which includes:

London 2012, the factsOn 27th July 2012, just over two years from now, London will host the Olympic Games for the third time. It beat off competition from Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid and will be the biggest single sporting event in Britain since the 1966 World Cup. Yet we know very little about

what to expect. Hopefully that’s not for much longer, TotalSport went to clear things up...

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• Site preparation and land redevelopment.• Construction of the sta-dia and facilities (includ-ing the Olympic village)• Transport• SecurityThe biggest single cost within the budget will be for the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, which is already well on the way to being built. The impressive look-ing 80,000 seater stadium (pictured, below) will house the track and field events. Other stadiums already in existence will house vari-ous other events; Wembley Stadium will host much of the football, Wimbledon will host the tennis, the archery will be at Lord’s and the 02 arena will play host to the gymnastics and basketball events. A brand new aquat-ics centre as well as a plush velodrome will also be built.Money has also been plunged into the London transport systems, mainly the Underground system which is now over 140 years old. The aim is that 80% of the athletes will have to travel no further than 20 minutes to get to their respective venues from the Olympic Village. It will be supported by ten dedicated London Underground tube lines, with an capacity of 240,000 made up of fans

and players per hour. FacilitiesThe Olympic village will be host to 17,320 beds for the athletes providing each with a 16m² floor space as well as access to TV, internet and a private courtyard for each apartment. The dining hall will cater for 5,500 athletes at any one time. The Olym-pic Stadium will cost £469 million and is expected to be completed by the middle of 2011. There are gentle ru-mours around the sporting world that the outer surface of the stadium will be made into a giant video screen for fans to watch the games from outside the arena, although this hasn’t been confirmed and no costing has been attributed to it. It would certainly be a first in terms of stadium de-sign, only Bayern Munich’s 70,000 capacity Allianz Arena can boast a similar design with its outer surface which can change colour to suit the colours of the home team on that particular day.2012 LogoThe logo for the games was unveiled in July 2007 at a cost of a staggering £400,000. The design was made by Wolff Olins, a Lon-don based Design Company, features the 2012 numbers as well as the five Olympic

Rings and represents both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games, the first time this has been the case. 80% of fans who voted on the BBC website gave the logo the lowest possible rating. It has been suggested that the logo resembles car-toon character Lisa Simpson

performing a certain sexual act, as well as a swastika. BroadcastingThe BBC have the full rights to the games in the UK, pledging to broadcast every single event live via the means of the interactive red button, the internet, their network of channels, and BBC Radio Five Live. In America NBC have pur-chased the rights, RTE will show the rights in Ireland and Eurosport will have

coverage of the events to viewers in Europe through their satellite television channels. What does it mean for you and me?The short answer is a huge hole in our pockets, but the longer answer is a memory that will live on for years to come. The organisers have spoken of a ‘legacy after the games’ which includes the use of stadiums long after the events have finished. West Ham United FC have made an offer to move into the Olympic Stadium when the games have finished, reducing the capacity to 50,000 to use it as a foot-ball stadium. The British Government will find it dif-ficult to turn down, after all, who can justify knocking an 80,000 seater stadium down to 25,000 to be hardly used? London Mayor Boris John-son has backed the idea.The chances of British medals?After the success in Beijing in 2008, hopes are high for another strong finish in the medals table? Much of Britain’s hopes lie with the cycling and sailing events, but you can find British hopefuls in most events.There is new hope in the track and field events too, with a number of up and

Medal hope - Phillips Idowu

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The Bid


The A-Z of all things Olympic

A is for... Athletes. The athletes are the heart and soul of any Olympic games, some are world class competitors and others are completely unheard of. But that’s the beauty of the games, the David versus Go-liath battles that take place in every event are what makes the events so magical and inspiring.B is for... Bolt, Usain Bolt. The 23 year old Ja-maican sprinter burst onto the scene in May 2008 when he broke the 100 metre

world record in only his fifth senior outing. He went on to break his own record in the Olympics of 2008 as well as the 200 metre record days later. He caught the eye in the 100 metre semi-finals where he sprinted far ahead of the pack, and slowed down to a jogging pace at the end, pumping his fists and slapping his chest. C is for... Cycling. The British cyclists are undoubt-edly the best in the world, which was proven beyond doubt in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Britain claimed 12 cycling medals (seven gold, three silver and two bronze) in a devastating display of perfection. Chris Hoy became the most suc-cessful Scottish Olympian ever and the first Briton to win three golds at the same games since 1908.

D is for... Drugs. The dark side of the games. Drug cheats have been the bane of the Olympics since as early as 1904, when American athlete Thomas Hicks was given strychnine and brandy by his coach to improve his performance. Perhaps to most famous case was that of American sprinter Ben Johnson who won the 100m final in Seoul 1988 but tested positive af-terwards for stanozolol. He was stripped of the medal soon after and it was given to second placed Carl Lewis, a former drug user, who went on to win nine golds in an incredible career.E is for... Edwards. Johna-than Edward, the retired British triple jumper, still

holds the world record of 18.29 metres some six years after he left the sport. The Londoner’s religious beliefs meant he refused to train on Sundays up until 1993 when he changed his mind. This was timed to perfection, as soon after he went on to win a bronze medal at the World Championships of that year on which the qualifying was held on a Sunday.F is for... Fish and Chips. The traditional British cuisine became popular as a cheap meal for the work-

ing classes in around 1860 when the fishing industry flourished. Whether or not

the Olympians choose to tuck into a tray of fish and chips remains to be seen, but the fans most certainly will be. G is for... Gold medals. The real reason thousands of athletes from around the world flock to the games every four years is to get their hands on a medal. To be more precise, gold med-

als. Before 1904, the winner received a silver medal and the runner-up also silver medal. Then the gold medal was introduced, the oth-ers were forced to step aside. The greatest prize in athletics is without doubt to win gold at the Olympics, and the most famous of all include Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps, Sir Steve Redgrave and Moham-med Ali.H is for... High Jump. We’ve all seen it, we’ve all attempted it, but few have mastered it in the way that the very best have. At school we might have looked upon a three or four foot jump

with fondness, and rightly we should, but the current world record stands at a staggering 2.45 metres. That record is held by Cuban Javier Sotomayor and was set in 1993; some say it will never be beaten...I is for... Idowu, Phillips Idowu. The British triple jumper is heir to the throne of Johnathan Edwards. He

has unrivalled potential and is a lovely bloke to boot, but we all know he choked in the finals of 2008. He domi-nated the trials before the Beijing games, and strolled through the heats, but was oddly pipped to the gold medal by Portuguese jump-er Nelson Évora. He will be 33 by the time the 2010 games come around, and it will be his final chance to achieve greatness.J is for... Johnson, Boris Johnson. The giddy London mayor was at the forefront of the British element at

It’s been what seems like an age since that brilliant victory over Paris in winning the right to host the games. It’s time to start looking ahead to what we can expect, and what the host na-tion will bring to the greatest sporting festival on the planet. So for those needing a brush up on their knowledge or wanting a quick fix on what to expect, here’s an A-Z of all things Olympic...

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the 2008 Beijing clos-ing ceremony where the games were ‘handed over.’ A Chinese blogger branded him “rude, arrogant and disrespectful” for having his hands in his pockets and not buttoning up his jacket when holding the Olympic flag. At the ensuing hando-ver party Johnson made a speech where he claimed London was the sporting capital of the world, and then uttered the immortal words ‘ping pong is coming home.’K is for... Kelly Hol-mes. The British runner achieved immortality in Athens 2004 when she won not one, but two medals.

Firstly she claimed gold in the 800 metres, beating rival and World Champion Maria de Lurdes Mutola. Just days later she ran the final of her preferred event, the 1500 metres.. Again she sat at the back of the field, and towards the end began to pick off the other runners, finally overtaking Russian World Champion Tatyana Tomashova on the final straight. Her face was captured on camera and has become synonymous with British Olympics ever since. Holmes was a key member of the team that brought the 2010 games to London. L is for... Londoners. Although British people from around the country will be flocking southward for the games, Londoners will either be enjoying or

enduring having the games on their doorstep. Competi-tors and fans from overseas will have to get to grips with both the accent and the rhyming slang if they are to get the most from their trip. Famous Londoners include Samuel Pepys, David Beckham, David Jason and The Queen.M is for... medals table. The league table of the na-tions is often either a source of national pride or an over-powering feeling of failure. In times gone by, Britain has struggled for golds and have been overshadowed

by the colonials of America and Australia. But in 2008, Britain finished in 4th place, behind only China (the home Nation), USA (home of Michael Phelps who won eight medals in Beijing) and Russia (population double that of Great Britain). It was an incredible feat, and one which turned the medallists into national icons. Britain finished ahead of great ri-vals Australia and Germany, as well as other internation-al powerhouses Japan, Italy and France in a thoroughly successful games.N is for... National Pride. We felt it in 2008; we felt it by the bucket load. The na-

tional pride gained by a gold medal or two can improve people’s happiness in every corner of the world, such is the reach of the Olympic Games. For the athletes, of-ten the pressure of a nation weighs heavily, while other simply thrive off it, Michael

Phelps anyone? Patriot-ism without doubt lifts the spirits of a country, and it is felt nowhere stronger than at the Olympic Games.O is for... Owens. Jesse Owens, the man who de-feated Adolf Hitler, in a way. The American sprinter ran in the 1934 Berlin games, the home of the emerg-ing German leader Hitler who attended much of the games. Hitler wanted to use the event to show the world that Germany was a force, and his policies were built on race and ethnicity, telling the world that non-whites were inferior. Jesse Owens was black, and he destroyed the field to win four gold medals.P is for... Phelps. Ameri-can swimmer Michael Phelps is without doubt one of the greatest Olympians of all time. He has so far

broken 37 world records in the pool, has won 16 Olympic medals and won the World Swimmer of the Year five times, and he’s only 24. Phelps will be best remembered for his exploits in 2008, where he simply blew away his competitors and romped home in all eight of his events both as an individual and as part of the USA swimming team.Q is for... The Queen. She’s been heavily in-trigued into the progress of the building work for the Olympic Games in 2012 and is expected to be a keen spectator for most of the main events. In a recent visit to the main stadium, she walked the 100 metre

running track with other associated. It’ safe to say however, that Usain Bolt’s

world record 9.58 seconds is safe for now...R is for... Redgrave. Pos-sibly the most impressive Olympian from any coun-try, Sir Steve is a thorough

legend. Five medals rowing for Britain in five successive Games between 1984 and 2000 and was knighted in 2001 by her majesty. The moment he won the fifth and final medal in Sydney 2000 ranks up there with the 1966 World Cup win for British fans, a true sporting legend.S is for... Sebastian Coe. The two-time British gold medal runner fronted the campaign to bring the 2012 games for London, and most

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of the success of bringing the games to Britain can be attributed to him. In his prime, he won golds in the 1500 metre finals in Mos-cow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984. Since then he has worked tirelessly to improve both funding and facilities for British athletes, as well as encouraging British peo-ple to take up all manner of different Olympic Sports.T is for... The track. Without doubt the most

entertaining and hotly an-ticipated sports take place on the track within the main stadium. Although all of the sports are engaging in their own way, the sprinting and middle distance running are always the favourites for the neutral. Millions watched as Kelly Holmes stormed to victory twice in 2004, as well as Usain Bolt’s shows of sporting brilliance in Beijing. The 100 metre final is no doubt the pinnacle of the finals, and we can expect a mammoth battle between Bolt and his fellow sprinters in 2012.U is for... USA. In 25 Olympic Games, they’ve won a staggering 2,298 medals, and 738 of those have come on the track. They’ve hosted the Games on eight differ-

ent occasions, and they are by far the most successful Olympic Nation in history. To put that into perspective, they’ve won over double the amount of medals that Rus-sia in second place have, and over four times that of third placed Great Britain. We can expect more of the same

with Michael Phelps and co in town in 2012.V is for... Velodrome. The 2012 ‘Velopark’ is where Britain’s main medal hopes will lie. The stadium will be host to 6,000 spectators, and will stage the main cy-cling events, as well as BMX

events, a mountain bike course and a road cycling circuit which will be built after the games for the pub-lic. British cyclist Chris Hoy will be 36 when the 2012 games come around, and he says he intends to compete in the games. Interestingly, the velodrome for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland will be named in his honour.W is for... Walking Race. We’ve all seen it, and we all

love it. The walking race is an event of pure comedy as well as being tremen-dously exciting event. The fact that you will never see a walker practicing around the streets make the event

seem somewhat strange, but the mammoth 31 mile circuit has thrown up some epic finales in its time. Cur-rent 50 mile World Record holder Denis Nizhegorodov took the title in 2008 when he set a blistering time of 3:34:13, smashing the previ-ous record by over a minute and a half.X is for... Xiang. Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang’s 2004 gold medal in Athens was the first track and field gold

China have ever won. He is currently owner of the Triple Crown, holding the Olympic gold, World Cham-pionship and World Record all at the same time. Injury prevented him from com-peting in Beijing 2008 but the 26 year old will be rar-ing to go in London 2012. At 6 feet 2, Xiang powers over most of his rivals, but he has been forced to overcome the issue of his long stride affecting the normal ‘three–step’ pattern between hurdles. Bad news for his female fans though, Xiang has ruled out the possibility of love. Not one to mince his words, he said: “There is no girlfriend. No time.”Y is for... Yelena Isin-bayeva. The female Rus-sian pole vaulter has set the world alight during her ten years as an athlete. She be-came the first woman ever to break the 5 metre barrier when she cleared it in 2005, and has won two gold med-als in the finals of Athens and Beijing. The 27 year

old’s technique has been touted as being better than most of the men on the cir-

cuit, and she will be in her peak when the 2012 London Games come around. Fellow female pole vaulters will be quaking in their boots.Z is for... Zara Phillips. What better way to end the list than with a Royal Olympian. Zara Phillips is the 28 year old niece of the Queen and reigning Euro-pean Champion equestrian.

The was voted 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ahead of golfer Darren Clarke and gymnast Beth Tweddle. Many criticised her winning of the award, questioning its integrity and validity, but her World and European titles at the time left no doubt to her eques-trian abilities.

So there’s your A-Z, and for once the most difficult letters to fill weren’t X and Z! Indeed! Hopefully you’ve found some new and exciting knowledge in the alphabet encyclo-paedia we’ve put together for you, and now you can impress your friends with inane facts about the great Olympics Games.

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Action ShotJamaica’s Usain Bolt romps home to win the 100m sprint in Beijing 2008.

Total Sport | June 2010 | 13


Showdown!Mayweather VS Pacquiao

The Verdict

SpeedMayweather - Supreme-ly quick, possibly one of the quickest fight-ers ever in terms of hand speed, and no one he has fought before has been able to match it. 10Pacquiao - Pacman is no slouch either, and was too quick for Clot-tey, Cotto, Hatton, Marquez and a heap of other boxers before those. But not in the same league as Mayweather here. 9

Tale of the TapeFloyd MayweatherAges 33, Height 5feet 8inches, Reach 72 inches.

Manny PacquiaoAge 31, Height 5feet 6½inches , Reach 67 inches.

RecordsFloyd MayweatherFights - 40 Wins - 40 (25 by K.O)

Manny PacquiaoFights - 56 Wins - 51 (38 by K.O) Losses - 3 Draws - 2

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PowerMayweather - Floyd isn’t as strong as he is quick, but again he’s been stronger than anyone else he’s faced in his career. For a man of his small stature, Mayweath-er is certainly not feeble. 8Pacquiao - Perhaps stronger than Floyd, although slightly smaller. Pac-man had too much power for Joshua Clottey this March and clouted Hat-ton around the ring in May last year. 9

DefenceMayweatherIn the past he’s simply

been too quick for other boxers to hit him, and

Floyd has led many fighters a merry dance around the ring. His defence is his lightning hand speed, as well as his at-

tacking jabs with that brutal right hand. 10

PacquiaoHis defences have not

been tested as much as he might have been in the past, and may be shown

up as a weakness by Floyd. Hav-ing said that, his speed has been more than a match for anyone in the past. 7

HeartMayweatherIf and when the fight happens Mayweather will be coming out of retirement, and not for the first time. Although he his bank bal-ance of $250 million dictates he’s not in it for the money, his famous arrogance means his spirit may be in question. 6PacquiaoWithout doubt the most determined and dogged boxer around, his heart and the hopes of his country resting on his shoulders means in a similar manner to Ricky Hatton. Pacman wins this round hands down. 10

ClassMayweather - Mayweather is cer-tainly a class act; the way he dances around the ring is likened to the great Muhammad Ali, and no one doubts Floyd’s ability to make boxers look foolish. 9Pacquiao - Pacquiao doesn’t have

the class and egotism of Mayweather, but endears

himself to his fans more because of this. And

his charisma comes through, he may not

have the all out technical ability of Floyd, but he has the attitude and fitness to plug the gap. 8

RecordMayweather - Unlike Pacman, Mayweather is undefeated, and will want things to remain that way. 40 wins and zero losses, of which 25 have come by knockout is a terrifying record for anyone to come up against. Mayweather’s impeccable past performances rank up with the best. 10Pacquiao - It might come as a surprise, but Pacquiao has lost three times in a 51 fights to date. The defeats came against Rustico Tor-recampo, Medgoen Singsurat and Erik Morales in, and 38 knock-outs for Pacman. 8

DecisionMayweather 61/70Pacquiao 60/70Mayweather shades is by just a point, simply because of his ten ratings in speed, defence and record. Pacman is just a whisker behind though, and it adds up to a perilously close fight and a probable points win for either boxer. It’s the bout the whole world wants to see, and we all hope and pray the promoters can find a way of making it go ahead.

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ChinMayweather Difficult to say as

he’s never really had to take much

punishment. Took a huge right hand

from Mosley in May, but hung on until the

end of the round and boxed comfortably from then on. 8PacquiaoAgain, not been the subject of many punches throughout his career, such is his speed around the ring. His famed ‘granite chin’ from early in his career wins the points here though. 9


France – 1998 winners struggled past Ireland to qualify, but should be a safe bet to get to at least the quarter-finals with the likes of Henry, Ribery and Benzema all in the staring eleven. – Prediction – Quarter Final - Key Man – Thierry Henry (Barcelona)

South Africa – The hosts are ranked 81st in the world and may well be exiting the tournament at the earliest stage, despite having the backing of the home crowds Pienaar and McCarthy are their best hopes. Prediction – Group Stage - Key Man – Steven Pienaar (Everton)

Mexico – Ranked as high as 17th in the FIFA World Rankings and will fancy their chances of reaching the knock-out stage, but lack of star players will probably hinder any further progress. – Prediction – Group Stage Key man - Carlos Vela (Arsenal)

Uruguay – Two-time winners should battle with Mexico for second place, and the likes of Forlan and Suarez could be key to qualification. A great World Cup pedigree and should be able to qualify. Prediction – Second Round - Key man – Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid)

Group A

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Argentina – Twice winners and a brilliant squad on paper, but struggled through qualification. If Maradona can get things together we may have a tournament challenger here. Prediction – Semi-final Key man – Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Greece – The Euro 2004 winners have found things extremely tough since that win and may exit at the first stage. An aging squad, most players will see their last tournament. Prediction – Group Stage - Key man – Georgios Karagounis (Panathinaikos)

Nigeria – Ranked 22nd but with the likes of Yakubu, Mikel and Yobo should be a safe bet to go through the group stage, but missed out on 2006 World Cup and bowed out in first round in 2002. Prediction – Second Round - Key man – Yakubu (Everton)

South Korea – Qualified strongly and did brilliantly to reach the semi-final stage in 2002 under Guus Hiddink, will look to challenge Nigeria for the second qualifying place. Prediction – Group Stage - Key man – Park Ji-Sung (Manchester United)

England – Very strong qualification and the form of Rooney alone should see a good run, may meet Brazil in semi-final which could be a stage too far for a team heavily reliant on Rooney. Prediction – Semi-Final Key Man – Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

USA – Probably the fastest improving side in world football and the amount of Premier League players should prove this, reaching second round would be a great achievement. Prediction – Second Round - Key Man – Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)

Slovenia - Ranked 29th and lack of quality players will prove the downfall, although they enjoyed a very good qualification campaign and have a handful of decent youngsters. Prediction – Group Stage - Key Man – Robert Koren (West Brom)

Algeria – Qualified at the expense of a strong Egypt side but had a poor Cup of Nations tournament in early 2010, it will prove beyond them to qualify but they’ll take heart from just being at the World Cup. Prediction – Group Stage - Key Man – Karim Ziani (Wolfsberg)

Group C

Group B

Germany – Always come good in major tournaments, but an aging Ballack can’t carry the team as in the past. Will do well to reach quarter-finals form an extremely tough group. Prediction – Quarter-Final - Key Man – Phillip Lahm (Bayern Munich)

Australia – Ranked 19th but lots of top level experience and good recent World Cup showings, a ‘group of death’ scenario could point to an unfortunate early exit this time around. Prediction – Group Stage Key Man - Tim Cahill (Everton)

Serbia – Ranked as high as 15th and some fine players in Vidic, Liverpool-bound Jovanovic and Inter’s Stankovic. May prove a dark horse for a good run in this competition. Prediction – Second Round - Key Man – Milan Jovanic (Standard Liege)

Ghana – A very strong outfit on paper and reached the second round in the 2006 World Cup, but heavily reliant on an injury-hit Michael Essien may prove their downfall. Prediction – Group Stage - Key man – Michael Essien (Chelsea)

Group D

Netherlands – Robben, Sneijder, Van der Vaart and friends are world class on their day, and the third ranked side will take some beating, although their ranking might be a shade too high. Prediction – Quarter-Final Key Man – Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)

Denmark – Some very average players, and only a few top level players. Too few to really threaten to claim the trophy. Should qualify however, and occasionally turn it on to beat the top sides. Prediction – Quarter-Final - Key Man – Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal)

Japan – Surely just here to make up the numbers, ranked 46th and will struggle to gain any points in a tough group. Will take heart from South Korea’s epic 2002 run under Guus Hiddink however. Prediction – Group Stage Key Man – Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama)

Cameroon – Very reliant on captain Samuel Eto’o, and as good as striker Eto’o is he won’t be able to carry them through this difficult group. Should finish third over Japan, however. Prediction – Group Stage - Key Man – Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan)

Group E2010 South Africa World Cup - TotalSport’s full preview and verdict

Italy – Four time winners and ranked 5th, the holders are tactically spot on and an experience side will see them push hard for the trophy once again, although they may exit in the Semi Finals’s. Prediction – Semi-Final Key Man – Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan)

Paraguay – The South Americans have a strong side although they’ve got little World Cup pedigree, Santa Cruz and Santana could be the difference between qualification and an early exit. Prediction – Second Round Key Man – Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City)

Slovakia – Ranked 33rd and in only their second World Cup, a great achievement simply to have qualified. A good side will take heart from being here, and may be more of a force in the future. Prediction – Group Stage - Key Man – Marek Mintal (Nuremburg)

New Zealand – Defied all the odds just to get to the World Cup but ranked 79th for a reason, their side’s best player now plays in the English League One, will struggle to pick up any points. Prediction – Group Stage - Key Man – Rory Fallon (Plymouth Argyle)

Brazil – Five time winners and ranked 2nd in the world, Brazil have a great chance but may be overrun by Spain if the sides meet in the final. The likes of Maicon and Kaka will be vital. Prediction – Runner-up Key Man – Luis Fabiano (Sevilla)

Portugal – Rely on captain Cristiano Ronaldo far too much, and stumbled through the qualification campaign. May meet Spain in Second Round and could come unstuck. Prediction – Second Round - Key Man – Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

Ivory Coast – Very unlucky to be drawn with Brazil and Portugal, as the African side look strong on paper. Could well exit at the first stage, would be a disappointment for African football. Prediction – Group Stage - Key Man – Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

North Korea – Lowest ranked side in the competition at 105 and will be simply delighted to be there, won’t trouble the other three sides in the group however and should exit at the first stage. Prediction – Group Stage - Key Man – Kim Yong-Jun (Chengdu Blades)

Spain – European Champions and deservedly the top ranked side, if things click they will take the trophy home. One of the great International sides of the modern age. Prediction – Winners Key Man – Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)

Honduras – Second World Cup campaign for the South American’s and some good players in Palacios and Figueroa, but will have a big job to qualify even from a kind group draw. Prediction – Group Stage - Key Man – Wilson Palacio (Tottenham)

Switzerland – Currently ranked 20th and in their eighth World Cup finals, an experienced squad should see them through to the Second Round but they won’t get much further than that. Prediction – Second Round - Key Man – Gokhan Inler (Udinese)

Chile – 13th ranked side have a decent World Cup history but a distinct lack of quality may ensure an early exit here, the likes of Fernandez and Paredes will be key to any progress. Prediction – Group Stage - Key Man – Matias Fernandez (Sporting Lisbon)

Group F

Group G

Group H

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TotalSport’s guide to the World Cup - Fact style

1Rory McIlroy: The 20 year old is already into the world’s top

ten and his stats bear a striking resemblance to Seve Ballesteros’ in 1976. Only Lee Westwood denied McIlroy the Race to Dubai crown and the teenager will have learned plenty from such a successful rise. Tiger Woods and Ernie Els have both praised McIlroy’s seemingly endless talent. 2010 could prove the mak-ing of the young Irishman.

Golf

Reasons why Europe WILL win the 2010 Ryder Cup10

2An off colour Tiger Woods: There’s huge doubt that Tiger will

immediately capture the wonderful form of his past few years and the media circus that follows him cer-tainly doesn’t help things. It’s very likely he’ll come in for some serious stick from the crowd amidst the pas-sion of the Ryder Cup.

3Home Soil: We know how important home advantage is in any

sport, and golf is certainly

4 Monty: Colin Mont-gomerie, captain and highly respected

figure in the golfing world. Monty boldly predicted a European win in January, with the help of an in-form team and the backing of the home crowd. Monty’s experience and know-how on such a stage will be cru-cial; as long as he can keep things together his predic-tion should come true.

5Ian Poulter is now the most success-ful European in the

history of the event, and top-scored in the last Ryder Cup. Poulter is currently ranked fifth in the world and is in the form of his life,

6 Europe are desper-ate to regain the trophy after a poor

showing in Kentucky 2008. They only won four singles matches on the Sunday, and just four overall in the two days before. Monty shouldn’t have a difficult job in motivating his players to go one better than that showing.

7 Lee Westwood: Europe’s number one is in fine form and

won the Race to Dubai after accumulating over €4 mil-lion in 2009. The one thing he hasn’t won is majors and Westwood will be throwing everything he has at win-ning one in the final years of his career, he is now ready to do exactly that. West-wood’s power will be a huge plus for Europe.

8Experience. The Eu-ropean side is packed with natural leaders

9 Team Spirit: The fact is that when the USA players go out for tea

they need 12 taxis, while the Europeans are much more together and the team spirit is fantastic. The players like each other, they like playing for each other and they love winning for each other.

10Talent; this European team is really, re-

ally talented. In most Ryder Cups in the past it’s been said that the Americans are better on paper, and the Europeans have the team spirit, but this simply isn’t the case this year. West-wood, McIlroy, and co are in great form and the USA will be heavily reliant on a returning Tiger Woods.

no different. The USA have won just one of the past six tournaments held in Europe and that came way back in 1993 under Bernard Gal-lacher. The course will suit the styles of the home side and of course the weather will always play its role.

no American will want to face him in the singles.

- the players who have the know-how who will step up when it really matters. Montgomerie, Westwood, Poulter, Garcia and Har-rington are the men with the clout to bring the trophy home.

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Previews Previews

Previous Winners1930 - Uruguay1934 – Italy1938 – Italy1950 – Uruguay1954 – Germany1958 – Brazil1962 – Brazil1966 – England1970 – Brazil1974 – Germany1978 – Argentina1982 – Italy1986 – Argentina1990 – Germany1994 – Brazil1998 – France2002 – Brazil2006 – Italy

All-time Top Scorers15 - Ronaldo (Brazil)14 - Gerd Muller (Germany)

13 - Juste Fontaine (France)12 - Pele (Brazil)11 - Jurgen Klinsmann (Ger-

many)11 - Sandor Kocsis (Hungary)10 - Gabriel Batistuta (Argen-tina)10 - Teofilio Cubillas (Peru)10 - Grzegorz Lato (Poland)World Cup AppearancesLothar Matthäus (Germany) -

25Paolo Maldini (Italy) - 23Diego Maradona (Argentina) - 21Wladislav Zmuda (Poland) - 21Uwe Seeler (Germany) - 21Grzegorz Lato (Poland) - 20Cafu (Brazil) - 20Berti Vogts (Germany) - 19

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Ger-many) - 19

2010 Outright OddsBrazil 5/1England 11/2Argentina 7/1Holland 12/1Germany 14/1Italy 14/1France 16/1Portugal 20/1

Top Goalscorer Odds D.Villa 8/1 F.Torres 8/1 W.Rooney 9/1 L.Messi 10/1 Fabiano 12/1 G.Higuain 16/1 Ronaldo 16/1 L.Lopez 25/1 N.Anelka 25/1 Nilmar 25/1 S.Aguero 25/1 D.Drogba 28/1 K-J.Huntelaar 28/1 M.Klose 28/1

Strange but trueEngland manager Alf Ramsey ran onto the field straight af-ter a 1-0 Quarter Final win over Argentina 1966, but it wasn’t to celebrate. Ramsey wanted to prevent his team swapping shirts with their Ar-gentine counterparts after a fiery game. “We do not swap shirts with animals,” he said.

Strange but trueDuring the 1990 Semi-Final between Italy and

Argentina, French referee Michel Vautrot added

a staggering eight minutes of added time in the

first half of extra time. Vautrot later admitted

he’d forgotten to blow for the end of the half..

Most red cardsArgentina – 10Brazil - 9Cameroon & Italy - 7Uruguay, Germany, Netherlands, &Mexico - 6

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Total Sport | June 2010 18


Vaughan, who presided over the famous 2005 win over the Aussies, reckons the current team have the spirit to upset the odds. Favourites Australia can be backed to win the series at 8/15 while England are as high as 11/4 to win a second series in two years. Vaughan said: “The England side has a good vibrancy about them and they have a good amount of confidence. Maybe one area we’ll prob-ably have to work hard on and get right is our batting. Getting big first innings runs in Australia will be key,” he added.England will, of course, be without all-rounder and talisman Andrew Flintoff (left) for the 2010 Ashes series. The big Lancastrian retired from international Test Cricket after the Ashes win last summer, but could be around for the one-day series. In days gone by, England have struggled massively to plug the huge gap left by ‘Freddie’, espe-cially in terms of his bowl-ing. But with the likes of Tim Bresnan, Steven Finn and

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2010 Ashes:Can England bring them home?

After the brilliant 2-1 win last summer, England again go down under looking to keep the urn. Last time, they were trounced 5-0. Will we see a different result this time?

Many have tipped this young, vibrant England side go and avenge that disastrous tour in 2006 which saw Andrew Flint-off’s depleted side battered around for five successive tests. Whether an England win is a real possibility is a difficult call to make, but former England captain Michael Vaughan has backed his old team mates to bring the Ashes home and become the first English side to win back-to-back series since that famous team in the mid 1980s did just that.“It’s probably the first time an England side will go Down Under for many years

with a real good chance,” Vaughan said.

“We’ve nev-er really

competed Down Under since 1987.”

in par-ticu-lar Stu-art

Broad all impressing after coming through the ranks, perhaps the all-rounder won’t be missed so much after all.Current England skip-per Andrew Strauss, who controversially dropped out of England’s recent tour of Bangladesh, believes the whole squad will be eager to get the tour underway as the series becomes ever closer. He said: “I’m chomping at the bit now and can’t wait to get out there and play. I’m going into the season re-freshed and, come the Ashes in the winter, we’re going to need as much energy and enthusiasm as we can muster. It has been the right decision as far as the long-term interest of the England team are concerned.”The series in full: First Test: 25-29 Novem-ber, 2010 (Brisbane)Second Test: 3-7 Decem-ber, 2010 (Adelaide)Third Test: 16-20 Decem-ber, 2010 (Perth)Fourth Test: 26-30 Decem-ber, 2010 (Melbourne)Fifth Test: 3-7 January, 2011 (Sydney)

On November of this year, England will walk out onto the Gabba pitch in Bris-

bane looking to earn revenge for the 5-0 drubbing they received on their last visit in 2006. Andrews Strauss’ men seized back the urn in 2009 with a dramatic 2-1 win over their oldest foe, and will be desperate to become the first England side to win down under since the 1986-7 tour.

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Back in February Danny Cipriani shocked the world by announcing that

he will head down under and join Australian Super 15 side Melbourne Rebels in a lucrative move next season. This was more than just a bolt from the blue to English fans; it was a complete and utter shock. The London-born fly half has been overlooked in recent times by England coach Martin Johnson, despite his good form for Wasps and the England Saxons. But Johnson has showed more faith in fel-low youngsters Toby Flood and Shane Geraghty for the prized number 10 role. Yet despite the recent omission from the England setup, he is still highly rated by Johnson and would strongly compete for a place in in most international sides around the world, such is his talent and capabil-ity. England however have Johnny Wilkinson, one of the finest fly-halves ever seen, fit and in fine form once again for his country. The 22 year old Wasps player remains one of Eng-land’s brightest talents, and the move to the Australian side will do little to help his chances of return to Martin Johnson’s plans at least in

the short term. There are rumours of a fractitious relation-ship between Cip-riani and the Eng-land set up, indeed he did not even make the 2009 Argenti-na tour despite several players being away with the British and Irish Lions. The reasons behind his move are not terribly clear; but there may just be an element of acumen within them.Just last year, Johnny Wilkin-son moved to French side Tou-lon. Since then he has broken back

into the England side, and re-established himself on the world stage. The move to France moved him away from the spotlight of the

British media, who would analyse his

every move, questioning his fitness on a daily basis. Cipriani

said: “I have been given no

indication that I am pushing

for a place with England at the

moment, so it is up to me to ensure I

am in contention in the future by chal-

lenging myself in new realms. I

have some of the best

coaches and play-ers in the game

around me at

Wasps, which is

why it has

been so hard to make my decision, but I am still young enough to go away and experience something completely different.” He added: “I want to be the best player I can be, and this is a huge challenge and oppor-tunity to test myself, on and off the pitch, because it will be changing everything I know.”Despite Cipriani’s confi-dence in the judgment of his move, England head coach Martin Johnson confirmed it would be impossible to pick the explosive fly-half in the 2011 Six Nations. Johnson said: “It’s his choice if he wants to do that because it would be impossible for him to play for England during the Six Nations over there.”Perhaps the move will be the best decision Cipriani ever makes. If he comes back from Australia a better player in two to three years, he’ll still be a couple of years ahead of his natural peak of 28 or 29. Three years down the line Johnny Wilkinson will be 33, and may be look-ing at retirement such are the injuries that his body has been through. Cipriani may look to come back to England around this time, and Wilkinson’s natural heir may just be ready to step into the boots of the great-est kicker of all time.

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2009/10 Premier League end of term reportArsenal B+ The Gunners did well to mount some sort of title challenge, especially after being trounced by Man Utd and Chelsea home and away. But in the end the lack of a decent goalkeeper and ball-winning midfielder cost them dear.Aston Villa A- A fine effort by Martin O’Neill’s men to finish 6th, with Spurs and Man City spending so heavily it was going to be tough to finish in the European places but they did just that.Birmingham A+

The Blues had a fantastic season to finish in the top half, I’m sure they would have taken 17th before the start of the season but Joe Hart (above) and Lee Bowyer have been sensational throughout.Bolton C- A strange season for Bolton, Owen Coyle might have hoped for a better campaign after he took over in January.But they’ve begun to play some good football, and a summer of rebuilding might take them to the next step.Burnley E They started so well, beating Man Utd and Everton in the opening weeks, and looked safe. But the departure of Owen Coyle and their away form has cost them dear.Chelsea A-

The blues won the title, but were unconvincing throughout. Without Drogba (pictured) things might have been so different, and the failure in the Champions League was a huge blow.

Everton A A poor start meant they had far too much ground to make up in order to reach Europe, but good draws at Arsenal and Chelsea and home wins against the latter and Manchester United will keep the Everton faithful happy.Fulham B+ Roy Hodgson might have hoped for better in the league, but their epic Europa League run means his job is more than safe. Bobby Zamora’s rise in form this season has been nothing short of brilliant.Hull City D The Tigers never looked like being strong enough to stay up, and the sacking of Phil Brown in March did little to help their cause. Too many poor players and a huge lack of a goalscorer upfront.Liverpool D The Reds have struggled massively with injuries and the reliance on Gerrard and an unfit Torres has cost them. Put your money on either Mourinho or O’Neill being in charge for the 2010-11 season.Manchester City B+

A massive blow to miss out on 4th place to Tottenham, after leading the race for so long. Tevez has had a wonderful season, and a few more players in the summer will see them challenge even further next year.Manchester United AA late rally to finish 2nd will be seen as a failure by the Old Trafford faithful, and the Champions League exit to Bayern Munich means a League Cup trophy will have to suffice. A new striker in the summer and they’ll be strong next season.Portsmouth FFelt the force of massive financial problems and the points deduction

killed them. But a run to the FA Cup final means it hasn’t been all doom and gloom. Stoke City A+

Did brilliantly well to finish mid-table once again, after ‘second season syndrome’ lingered early on. Tony Pulis (above) continues to build, and a few key signings will see them do the same next year.Sunderland B- Impressive at the start and end of the campaign, but an awful run over winter cost them a top-half finish. Even so, Bruce has done a fine job and with money to spend in the summer they continue to grow.Tottenham A+ Finally earned Champions League football after finishing 4th, and deservedly so. The extra money could see them really establish themselves as title contenders next season.West Ham D Stayed up by default over poor Hull and Burnley teams. Zola has a tough job on his hands to rebuild in the summer with little to spend. And with big clubs coming back up, it could be a long season next time out.Wigan C- Martinez has done a decent job to keep them up again with little in the way of funds. N’Zogbia and Rodallega could leave for pastures new in the summer and the club will have a tough job of replacing the pair. But a good crop of young players mean they should be safe again next season.Wolves A Mick McCarthy was desperate to keep the club up, and he did. Good home form and some fine away results have been the key. With money to spend they should consolidate next term.

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On the moveImagine, if you will, that young England footballer Theo Walcott opted to quit the Premier League altogether and surprised everyone by signing for an Australian side. Walcott would be potentially throwing his England chances and would be moving completely out of the media picture. Well, flick over to Rugby Union and this is exactly what Wasps fly-half Danny Cipriani has opted to do. Let us explain...

“I want to be the best player I can be, and this is a huge challenge and opportunity to test myself, on and off the pitch, because it will be changing everything I know”

Features Features


The boy who would be king

“I walk down the street and people stop me and

say things like, ‘I know

you. You’re that wee golfer, aren’t you?’ I say, ‘Yeah, that’s me.’ They say, ‘Keep it up,

wee man”

The date was October 2007, the setting was the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and an 18 year old was setting out onto the path to stardom. A fresh faced Northern Irishman was beginning his assault on the golfing world, few knew his name but it wouldn’t be long before they did. That man was Rory McIlroy, and here’s what happened next...

Rory McIlroy finished the tourna-ment just

three shots away from eventual winner Nick Dougherty. The young Irishman became the youngest ever golfer on the European Tour to earn a tour card, history was made that day.Fast forward just 30 months, and McIlroy is already one of the most talented golfers on the planet. Acclaimed by the likes of Tiger Woods, Colin Montgomerie and Nick Faldo, he is nailed on for a Ryder Cup place and is brushing shoulders, and tour cards, with the very best players around. Despite his seemingly end-less golfing talent, McIlroy remains a man of simple pleasures. “It’s almost as if I’ve got two different lives,” he told The Guardian af-ter his Masters debut. The 20-year-old, widely touted as the future World Number 1 and the heir to the throne

of Woods himself, is also referring to his enjoyment of an eventful night on the town, and the fun he had on St Patrick’s Night.“I walk down the street

and people stop me and say things like, ‘I know you. You’re that wee golfer, aren’t you?’ I say, ‘Yeah, that’s me.’ They say, ‘Keep it up, wee man.’ It’s very funny and that’s why I want to stay here as long as possible,” says McIlroy. Tiger is amazing but

look at the things he can’t do. He can’t go to the cinema or walk to the shops. I don’t know if I’d want to give that up to be like him.”The young Irishman, already a mil- lionaire, won his first pro tourna-ment and rose to world number 15 in Dubai’s Desert Classic in February 2009. Ameri-can Mark O’Meara boldly stat-ed that McIl-roy is better than Tiger Woods was when he was 19, no pressure then. But what of his relationship with the media? “I’ve sort of grown up with the media,” he explains. “I suppose. I’ve learned how to deal with it. I think I have been getting interviewed since I was about seven or eight years old. I’m pretty

good at this talking thing.”

Fortunate“I enjoy it to be perfectly honest. It would be nice to get a little bit of time to myself but I’m very fortunate to be in the position I’m in. I see friends of mine that are in uni and having to work and trying to make ends meet and I’m travelling the world playing golf, it’s a bit of an easy life com-pared to some people. I’m very fortunate to be what I’m doing, definitely.”Just last year, before his break from the game, Tiger Woods claimed McIlroy had all the com-ponents to be the World Number One in the coming years. McIlroy remains cool on the subject: “It just gives me goose bumps. For Tiger to say that about me, you can’t get a higher compliment than that but I can’t let it get into my head, but it gives you a lot of confidence and a lot of motiva-tion that you, that if you do work hard, you can get to that level and for someone of Tiger Woods’ cali-bre to say that I can, it’s a pretty cool feeling.”

TalentWhether or not young Irishman McIlroy can truly fulfil his

incredible golfing talent remains is yet to be seen,

the delicate bal-ance of his twin lives will become more and more difficult to main-tain and his relationship with the press might not always be as amicable as he claims it to be at present. But nothing is certain, McIlroy carries the aroma of a man simply enjoying the extraor-dinary golfing ability he has been blessed with. “I think that, in any given week, if I play my best, I’m able to beat the best players in the world. It would be great if I played my best at Augusta (April’s Masters Tournament),” adds McIlroy. “And if I did win it, I’d probably even wear a green on a Saturday night in Belfast.”

“I’m very fortunate to be in the position I’m in. I see friends of mine that are in uni and having to work and trying to make ends meet and I’m travelling the world playing golf”

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Features


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TOTALSPORT’s

Top 25 footballers

on the planet...

We’ve compiled a list of the greatest players in the world, so the arguing can stop.

Total Sport | June 2010 26 Total Sport | June 2010 | 27


25 - Xabi Alonso - Real MadridThe Spanish passing machine edges onto the list ahead of the likes of Cech and Anelka, but is more than worthy of his place, a fine midfielder.

21 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic - BarcelonaThe giant Swedish striker joined Barcelona in 2009 in the swap deal that saw Samuel Eto’o go the other way. The pressure was on him straight away after being traded for such a quality player in Eto’o, and although he hasn’t hit the heights of the past in his first season in Spain, the Swede is still a quality player. He has 60 International caps to his name and five Serie A titles with Ju-ventus and Inter and a Spanish title with Barecelona. Although he won’t be at the World Cup... Mourinho said he is the best player in the world, some compliment. The frontman is a scorer of great goals, remember the overhead kick against Italy in Euro 2004? He’s also a man of great quotes, after a spat with fellow Scandinavian John Carew, Ibrahi-movic said ‘What he can do with a football, I can do with an orange.” The spat ended there, and he isn’t joking about his skills with the fruit, check them out on Youtube.

24 - Samuel Eto’o - Inter MilanEto’o moved to Inter in July 2009 and is one of the most feared frontmen in the world. He scored over 100 goals for Bar-celona in a five year spell.

23 - Phillip Lahm - Bayern MunichThe German full back scored the winning goal in the Euro 2008 semi-final against Turkey and has been in fine form for Bayern this season.

22 - Maicon - Inter MilanThe attacking Brazilian wing-back has really come to the fore this season for Inter, and is one of the first names on the team sheet for his country.

20 - Andrey Ar-shavin - ArsenalThe little Rus-sian winger wowed everyone with his Euro 2008 perfor-mances for his country, and moved to Arse-nal in January 2009.

19 - Ashley Cole - ChelseaCole has become the greatest left-back in the world since moving from Arsenal, and has earned 77 England caps since his debut in 2001.

18 - Daniel Alves - BarcelonaThe most com-plete full-back in football, his runs from the back and his defensive ability saw him named Best Defender in the 2008/9 La Liga Season.

17 - Nemanja Vidic - Man UtdThe big Serb was brought to Old Trafford in 2006, and has become the rock at the heart of a defence that won three suc-cessive Premier League titles.

16 - Carlos Tevez (Man City)Sir Alex Ferguson must be kick-ing himself that he didn’t sign the Argentine striker last summer. He’s been in sensational form for City, and is well on course for reaching 30 goals in his first season. Along-side Mess, Argentina could be a real force in the World Cup this summer.

15 - Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)French winger Ribery was touted as the next Zinedine Zidane as he burst onto the international scene in 2006. The 26-year-old is currently with Bayern Munich, where he won the German Player of the Year in 2008 as Bayern won the title by ten points in the same campaign.

13 - Iker Casillas - Real MadridThe Spanish number one is already past the 100 cap mark for his country, despite only being 28. He’s cemented his place as the best ‘keeper around.

14 - Cesc Fabregas - Arsenal

Arsenal skipper Fabregas has really stepped up the mark this season, leading his side to an improbable title challenge despite missing the end of the campaign through injury. There is constant talk of him mov-ing back to Barcelona to win titles, but so far the young midfielder has brushed off any talks of a move.We saw Fabregas bravely lead Ar-senal to a 2-2 draw against Barce-lona in early April, when they were 2-0 down and as good as out of the Champions League. Arsene Wenger brought Fabregas to Arsenal to replace Patrick Vieira in 2003, and the little Spaniard has been every bit as good as the big Frenchman. After his move in 2003 he famously said: “I don’t like it when people say, ‘You are the new Patrick Vieira’. I’m not. I’m Cesc Fabregas.” It’s a testa-ment to the strengh of the Spanish national team, or at least their mid-field, that Fabregas struggles to hold down a place on a regular basis, although he’ll be key this summer.

12 - Andres Iniesta - BarcelonaMidfielder Ini-esta has formed an incredible midfield part-nership with Xavi for club and country and the pair can make any midfield look silly.

11 - David Villa - ValenciaThe Spaniard is considered every bit as good as international partner Torres by fans in Spain. Constantly linked with moves to the Premier League.

10 - Steven Gerrard - LiverpoolGerrard has made over 500 appearances for Liverpool and has 77 England cap. May leave this summer however to fulfil his title dreams in England.

9 - Frank Lampard - ChelseaLampard has scored countless goals for Chelsea and England. The former West Ham midfielder is now 31, and will be key for England this summer.

8 - Michael Essien - ChelseaMidfielder Es-sien might be higher if not for his injuries. The Ghanaian is simply the driv-ing force behind Chelsea and has been sorely missed this year.

7 - Kaka - Real MadridKaka won the World Player of the Year 2007. The Brazilian midfielder is a genius, scor-ing incredible goals for club and country on a regular basis.

6 - Xavi - Barce-lonaPass master Xavi was the glue that held together Barca’s brilliant side last season. The 30 year old is one of the great passers of the modern game.

5 - Didier Drogba - ChelseaThe 32 year old Ivorian frontman was said to be overpriced in his early Chelsea days, after a £24m move from Marseille in 2004. 113 goals later Drogba is seen as one of the greatest strikerson the planet. Drogba also has 43 goals so far for the Ivory Coast where he is captain.

4 - Fernando Torres - LiverpoolTorres’ transfer to Liverpool was the worst kept secret in football until it finally happened in 2007. He bagged 24 league goals in his first season at Anfield. Torres is lightening quick, deadly in the box and his finishing is bettered by no-one. Could leave Anfield this summer however.

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Cristiano Ronaldo Real MadridNow the most expensive footballer of all time,

Ronaldo is extremely unlucky to only be second on the list. The flying Portuguese winger

was spotted by Sir Alex Ferguson in a friendly game against Manchester United and he snapped him up for £12million in 2003. He went on to play 196 games for the club, scoring 84 league goals and winning the Champions League and three Premier League medals on the way. Johann Cruyff said he was better than George Best and Denis Law, some praise. During his time at Old Trafford, Ronaldo crashed in stunning goal after stunning goal, including a number of incredible free kicks most notably THAT goal against Portsmouth in January 2008. Ronaldo was tempted by the sunnier climes of Madrid in the summer of 2009, after two years of being touted for moves to the Galacticos. Although the 2009/10 season has not quite lived up to expectations for Madrid, they were surprisingly knocked out of the Champions League by Lyon, Ronaldo still scored nearly at a rate of nearly a goal a game. The winger was made captain of his country of Portugal in 2007 for a friendly with Brazil, and has held the armband ever since. His goalscoring record for Portugal isn’t too bad either, 22 goals in 69 games including at least one goal in every major international tournament he has played in.

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Wayne Rooney Manchester UnitedRooney has become the greatest out and out striker in the world in the last year, stepping into the huge goalscoring void left by winger Cristiano Ronaldo (#2). He’s scored 26 league goals at the time of writing, and although injury has hampered the back end of his season, he’s still looking odds on to finish with the Premier League golden boot. What he has improved most is perhaps his heading, he’s scored header after header to fire Manchester United to victories both in the league as well as important headers

in the Carling Cup Final and in the Champions League First Knockout game against AC Milan in the San Siro.

Rooney has so far scored 25 goals for England in 58 games, and looks a sure bet to beat Bobby Charlton’s

all time record of 49 which has stood for 40 years now. If he can get his fitness back in time for the

World Cup, then the 24 year old is the one man who can fire England to glory. He is crucial to

England’s hopes this summer; he truly is a world class striker and is now rightly places

alongside Ronaldo and Messi at the top of the football

ladder.

Congratulations Lionel Messi, already the Ballon

d’Or winner, now he’s got the big one, TotalSport’s greatest player on the planet! Messi continues to tear defences apart in Spain, surging in from the right wing and scoring goal after goal with that trusty left foot. He’s said he’ll never leave Barcelona, and who can blame him, all those fantastic players that he plays with week in, week out. Messi won six competitions with Barca in 2009, and swept the board with all the individual accolades. 22 year old Messi has played 123 games for Barca, scoring 66 goals including the winner in the Champions League final. Despite Messi’s wonderful form for Barca, he has struggled somewhat to replicate that form for his country, though many

put that down to the ‘one man team’ approach that Maradona often uses where each player seems to just pass to Messi and then stand and watch... though don’t bet against him dragging Argentina to World Cup Glory.Messi’s upbringing was a modest one, living on the mean streets of Rosario, Argentina to a factory

worker father and his mother a part-time cleaner. Messi did little other than simply play football, and at one point attracted the interest of Argentine side River Plate, though the little winger’s growth hormone deficiency put them off making a move. He joined Newell’s Old Boys, another side in his homeland, aged just eight years old and

joined Barcelona nine years later. A quick season playing for Barca’s B side got him used to the Spanish way, before he burst into the first team just a year later and began to strike up a thrilling partnership with Brazilian trickster Ronaldinho, although the latter left for AC Milan a couple of years later.He went on to play 26 times in the following campaign, scoring 14 league goals and added another ten in the 2006-7 season. It was last year where Messi’s talent really began to bear fruit, as he scored 38 goals in all competitions and Barca won simply everything. The famous three pronged strike partnership of Messi, Eto’o and Henry scored over 100 goals between them and no defence in the world could compete with that. Messi is sure to go down as one of the best ever And the best thing is, he’s still only 22!

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Lionel MessiBarcelona

Lionel MessiAge: 22Club: BarcelonaSquad Number: 10Country: ArgentinaClub Appearances: 209Club Goals: 120International Appear-ances: 43International Goals: 13Former Clubs: Newell’s Old BoysHeight: 1.69mHonours: Spanish League: 2004-05, 2005-06, 2008-09Spanish Cup: 2008-09

Spanish Supercup: 2005, 2006, 2009UEFA Champions League: 2005-06, 2008-09UEFA Super Cup: 2009FIFA Club World Cup: 2009FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2005Olympic Gold Medal: 2008U-21 European Footballer of the Year: 2007FIFA World Player of the Year: 2009FIFA Team of the Year: 2008, 2009European Footballer of the Year: 2009

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Broadcasting giant bSkyb has an-nounced that it will launch Europe’s

first dedicated 3D television channel this year.A number of previews took place in the final stages of last year’s football season, with games such as Arsenal VS Manchester United and the latter up against Chelsea in April. Only a select few pubs showed the games in three dimensions, and a fortunate handful of fans were lucky enough to see the games in all their glory.I myself have seen a number of Sky 3D previews in the form of advertisements be-fore films at the cinema, and the whole experience looked utterly fantastic. It was almost as if I was stood on the touchline with players shooting past one another, at one point I was fearful of

Everton’s Marouane Fellaini climbing into me with a two footed lunge.Sky have announced that as the technology is further developed, more pubs will receive the equip-ment to screen games in 3D, before a Sky 3D box is sold later in the year to the pub-lic. Football fans will then be able to watch matches in 3D in the comfort of their own living rooms, and watch-ing the beautiful game will never be the same again.And it’s not just football that can be enjoyed, Sky are planning to bring in channels devoted to other sports, as well as movies, documentaries, entertain-ment and the arts. There is one catch however; to watch the games in 3D with Sky3D

you’ll need a 3D television. The starting price for the most basic start at around £2,000, better get saving.

Sony, Samsung, LG and Pana-sonic have all announced

plans to release 3D televisions in the next year.Specially engineered 3D camera rigs will be home to Sky’s brilliantly success-ful high definition cam-eras, which aim to provide coverage from all angles of the pitch. So we can expect more of Andy Gray tediously scrutinising each and every refereeing decision

InnovativeIn December 2008 Sky became the first ever UK broadcaster to display 3D through a domestic TV and then went on to broadcast an exclusive demonstration

of English band Keane’s gig in 3D live over its satellite platform in April.Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s Chief Executive, is full of praise for the company’s newest venture: “3D is without doubt one of the most talked-about developments in television for many years.Sky has always innovated to bring customers the best possible viewing experi-ence, so we fully intend to take the lead in bringing the spectacle of 3D to the UK.”Barney Francis, Manag-ing Director of Sky Sports, added: “Sky Sports has a proud history of innovation, from the simple clock and scoreline in the comer of the screen through to high definition.”The sports fans, whose views you can read below, seem less impressed with the new 3D technology.

Future, or farce?

Liam Wood (21) is a jour-nalism student: “I’ve been watching football in 3D for many years now - it’s called real life - and the guys at sky are wasting their money!”

Nick Jennings (21) also isn’t convinced by the idea: “I re-fuse to pay £2000 when I can experience the same values of 3D by going to watch a match live, it won’t work.”

Zac Markham (20) says: “It’s obscene amount of money for something which doesn’t look a whole lot better. Plus when you watch 3D you have to watch it in a certain way.”

Carl MacDonald (21) is also sceptical: “I can see the at-traction of 3D, but I think it’s just another money maker for Sky. It’s just another perk for the armchair fan.”

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Broadcasting giant Sky has announced plans to launch Europe’s first dedicated 3D sports channel later this year, TotalSport magazine looks at the pros and cons of such a move, as well as what the fans think

“We fully intend to take the lead in bringing the spectacle of 3D to the UK and Ireland”

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Fans eye view...

Features Opinionit’s just an...

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DIARY MAYMay was quite an odd month in the sporting world. The

Premier League came to an un-spectacular end,

the 2010 For-mula One

season mean-dering

along its opening

chapter and Rafael Nadal won a lacklustre Masters Tournament.The world of football was not entirely shocked to hear Harry Redknapp’s remarks that Man-chester City threatened to sign Wilson Palacios from under Spurs’ noses last summer if Tottenham didn’t pull out of the deal to sign Craig Bellamy (left) from West Ham. Such are

the regularity of such Manchester City’s alleged wrongs that they are quickly be-

coming everyone’s most insuffer-able team. The World Snooker Champion-ship failed

to offer any meaningful ex-citement as Neil Robertson (left) triumphed in a dreadful final

against Graeme Dott. We want the old Ronnie O’Sullivan back, the exciting and overconfident character of the past, come

back Ronnie, all is forgiven!England hit some wel-

come early form in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies. Eoin

Morgan, Kevin Pietersen and Craig

Kieswetter (left) smashed the op-position all parts. Though there is a recurring theme with those three players though;

I just wish I could remember what it is!

Another Premier League season is over, and some things just

don’t change. Once again Rafael Benitez has failed miserably in his at-tempts to bring the title to Liverpool, and after the Reds ran Manchester United so close last time around you have to ask why the fall from grace?

Well, I’m afraid Benitez has had his chance. The last matches of the season saw the Spaniard ambling around the touchline, a dead man walking. His interviews have become increasingly strange and sarcastic, and he continues to not want to rule out a move to Juventus.Juventus move or not though it’s time the Liver-pool board saw sense and sacked him. The money he has spent at Anfield is simply staggering, he’s outspent Sir Alex Ferguson in the past five years by £80 million. His Liverpool side in those five years have won just the Champi-ons League (2005) and the FA Cup (2006), both games where on another day the Liverpool faithful would have been going home disappointed.Benitez has built a squad where the reliance on two players is just incredible, when Torres and Gerrard are injured or not firing, the team is little better than most of the mid-table outfits in the league. Last season Rafa was fortunate that the pair stayed injury free, and they scored 44

opinion

“Benitez has built a squad where the reliance on two players is just incredible, when Torres and Gerrard are injured or not firing, the team is little better than most of the mid-table outfits in the league”

Dead man walking - Benitez

goals between them. This campaign, they’re ten worse off. Too many ordinary players are asked to plug the huge gaps in the team, Aquilani would never have been a successful replace-ment for Alonso in his first season, N’Gog and Babel are nowhere near good enough to play the Torres role, and the full-backs of Insua and Johnson have too often been caught out on the break this season. Both seem too eager to fly up the pitch to support the attacks, and the amount of goals Liverpool have conceded on the counter at-tack this season shows that. Manchester City, Manches-ter United and Aston Villa all exploited the gaps the full-backs left behind them, and each scored goals against the weak Anfield backline. Carragher has been very

poor this season, too often his pace has been found wanting, and Lucas Leiva, despite having two good games against Manchester United, has failed to add the bite that Mascherano requires in a trusty sidekick. Benitez has also failed the fans with his tactics, taking Reading too lightly in the FA Cup and again showing himself to have no respect for the League Cup. His substitutions have also baf-fled, he took Torres off at Birmingham with the game poised at 1-1, and the array of odd selections in the 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth tell the story of a season of missed opportunities.Benitez failed to ride the wave that last season cre-ated, and frankly Liverpool deserve better. W

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The World Number Three reached the

final of the US Open in January before being beaten by a superb Roger Federer, who won his 16th Grand Slam title in the pro-cess. A fine run up to the final included mightily impressive wins over Rafael Nadal and Jo Wilfried Tsonga who were both in good form at the time, although Nadal was essentially playing on one leg. But the final was one way traffic, Federer simply destroyed Murray with a flurry of brilliant strokes and fitness levels which are yet to be surpassed. Few doubted the deserved manner of Federer’s victory, and even Murray himself ad-mitted the Swiss legend was on a different level: “To keep doing it year af-

ter year is pretty special. He (Federer) was much better than me tonight so well done to him for that.” Murray’s victor replied in typical grace, tipping the Scot for future glory: “Andy, well done for your incredible tournament. You’re too good a player not to win a Grand Slam so don’t worry about it.”

FortunateDespite Murray’s relative Australian Open success, Wimbledon 2010 will be a different proposition altogether. His run to the final saw him defeat a crocked Rafael Nadal, win sandwiched be-tween other opponents he was expected to beat comfortably, his Wimble-don run could see much tougher assessments. He was perhaps fortunate to avoid the likes of Del Potro and Djokovic, two world-class players he may be forced to face in earlier stages of the

world’s oldest tennis tournament. The pressure will also be a factor; the expect-ant home crowd saw Tim Henman’s numer-ous failings on the big stage. He will be forced to carry with him the hopes of a nation that has gone 75 years without a major winner, as well as the media hype constantly scrutinising his chances and writ-ing him off at the first dropped point.Even at this early stage, bookmakers have Murray as short as 3/1 to win the tourna-ment, ahead of Nadal (4/1), Del Potro (8/1), Djokovic (9/1) and Roddick (12/1). Federer heads the board at an ominous looking (11/8).

ImprovedMurray’s game has improved vastly over the past two to three years; his ever maturing

“Andy Murray

does have the mental toughness

to win a Grand Slam, or more” -

Boris Becker

Is 2010 Murray’s year?

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attitude has brought with it added popularity and the respect of his peers and the tennis world as a whole. His fitness lev-els are first-rate and his strokeplay improves with each coming tournament. Rafael Nadal’s disappoint-ing year have meant Mur-ray is now deservedly con-sidered the Spanish star’s equal, but even the Scot’s staunchest supporter would have a difficult time justifying the idea that Murray were anywhere near the same level as Federer. Murray’s record against the Swiss luminary shows six wins to five, and this is something he will look fondly upon. German star Boris Becker, who won Wimbledon aged just 17 in 1985, stated his belief that Murray would win a major, despite Federer’s presence: “Andy Murray does have the mental toughness to win a Grand Slam - or more,” he told BBC Sport.

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Pete Green is an editor and contributor of the popular Grimsby Town FC online fanzine CodAlmighty.com, which is frequently championed as one of the finest football fansites in the country. It lives by the simple set-up of ‘by the fans, for the fans’. Its strap line? ‘Daily

independent coverage of Grimsby Town FC.’ We caught up with Pete to find out his views on the site, why it exists and just how important fanzines are to clubs like League Two Grimsby

In a world of protesting fans, massive merchandise

stores and money-spinning tours of Asia, there is still the odd lower league supporter knocking about. In fact there are lots of them, and they deserve the respect of every football fan in England. It’s easy to support a team top of the Premier League, with a huge stadium and an enormous fan base, but it’s less straightforward to support clubs with 3 or 4,000 fans, a rotting stadium and tormenting financial problems.

Cod Almighty was born in 2002 and it was Grimsby fan Simon Wilson who toiled away setting up the site and along with a num-ber of Mariners supporters began to build the fanzine. Pete explains: “Simon had been involved with building the club’s first official site and an early version of the Electronic Fishcake (a pop- u-

lar GTFC fansite), and

this time he wanted to do something he had more control over. He and I and a few other mates seemed to share an idea of what a new GTFC site could and should offer, so we all collaborated on writing and editing Cod Almighty.”

SimpleThe site uses an appetiz-ingly simple set-up, adver-

tising is non-existant and the editors seem uncon-cerned about shouting its virtues from the rooftops, the mantra is simple ‘If it’s any good the fans will come.’ The site offers every-thing from match previews and reports, fan columns, blasts from the past, and a hugely enter-taining daily diary which has become synony-mous with most Grimsby fans’ daytime rou-tines. Such is the welcoming and humor-ous tone of the website that it is also commonly read by fans from other clubs as well. The laid back approach to things also adds to the affable tone of the place. In fact, the site

was once re-

ferred to by a fan of bitter rivals Lincoln

City as follows: “Grimsby fans are certainly a spoilt bunch when it comes to fan sites: they have the luxury of being served by the sick-eningly good Cod Almighty fanzine.”

The daily diary at the time of writ-ing bellows: “’Be

There or Blue Square’ asks the (Grimsby) Telegraph, probably in the build up to a campaign I can’t find the details on. Sadly, your Idle Diarist won’t be at Blundell

Park this Saturday, as the rigors of his day job have spilled into the weekend. A shame as the match had been pencilled into my diary a month back as an intrigu-

ing encounter.” “We try and of-

fer some-thing you

can’t get else-where,”

says Pete. “We’re lucky enough to have a team of very good writers, so it’s partly about stand-ards and the

actual quality

of the writing, but it’s also about origi-nality. There are

too many sites

that just look and feel interchangeable, with

no character, no imagina-tion, and in a lot of cases no idea why they even exist. Unless it’s to make 0.0002p every time someone clicks a banner ad. Ideally, nothing goes on Cod Almighty if you could find the same thing somewhere else.”Commonly fansites repre-senting the same club fall into rivalry, but Cod Al-mighty offers a cool stance on such issues. The site presents links to each and every other website or blog related to the club, carrying references to stories other sites have published and generally trying to be as jovial as possible. Pete says:

“We don’t really perceive a rivalry. But there’ve been times when other people have. The fan who runs the Electronic Fishcake used to delete posts from his mes-sage board if they contained links to Cod Almighty. This seemed to us to miss the whole point of what the web was for. So we’ve always car-ried links to the other sites. It’s not like we’re competing for readers; I think most fans who are online will have a look at most sites, rather than pick and choose between them. The more the merrier, as far as we’re con-cerned.”“It’s also

impor-tant for us that

Cod Almighty offers an alternative to the hyper commercialised environ-ment of professional foot-ball in 2010,” Pete says. “On one level it’s quite simple: we don’t carry adverts. But it runs deeper than that: we edit out the names ofCorporate Sponsors, so that we always talk about, for instance, the League Cup instead of the Carling Cup or whatever rubbish product is attached to it this week. We don’t bother to report some of the more ridicu-lous things that originate from corporate sponsors. Yes, those companies put money into the game - but who does it benefit? Not me and you. All that cash goes straight through to player wage inflation. The fans are still paying 20 quid a shake to watch rubbish fourth division football. So don’t

John Mcdermott, who played 754 games for the club is celebrated with a special t-shirt

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kid yourself for a minute that it’s worth having sponsors’ names making everything ugly because of the benefits to the game, there aren’t any.”

Despite Cod Al-mighty’s regular mocking of the

club’s latest ‘put bums on seats’ campaign, Pete reckons it works well with the club. “We have a fairly good relationship with the club really, partly be-cause of Simon’s contacts, but also because we’ve done a bit for the club in terms of raising cash and I think they appreciate that. There’s been the odd time we’ve upset them - they once cancelled an inter-view we had lined up with Alan Buckley because of the Diary’s criticism of the club’s official website - but it’s no big deal. If anything, we’re quite of-fended that the Chairman John Fenty hasn’t started a public argument with us about our criticisms of the club.”

Personal“The most recent of these was with a fan called Jon Spurr, who ran a cam-paign on a website about the club’s communica-tions being rubbish. It was basically the same thing that Cod Almighty had been saying for six years, except it was quite personal and vitriolic, so Fenty responded to that,

he’s never responded to us!”

But why does Pete devote so much time to running a

website which, after all, makes no profit and gets little acknowledgment from readers who, as much as they enjoy the site, simply read through and resume their ‘surfing adventure’. Pete admits to sometimes questioning his own sanity: “I often ask myself the same ques-tion. It’s because we love the club, but as well as that, I think we all believe quite passionately in what we’re doing with the site. I’ve recently started a family and have so many demands on my time that it’s started to affect my health, so I’ve had to give up part of what I do for Cod Almighty, and it feels really hard to let it go.” Pete adds: “Fortunately we don’t have to put in

Norwegian fan Jostein Jensen sporting one of the site’s t-shirts

“It’s because we love the club, but as well as that, I think we all believe quite passionately in what we’re doing with the site”

money as well as time, as the site pays for itself through our t-shirt sales, but the amount of time we put into it is frighten-ing. Between us all it must be 20 hours a week at an absolute minimum.” “Although clubs can get by perfectly well without online fanzines, I think if there’s a good fanzine out there it can strengthen the community of fans and do something to keep people interested in the club,” Pete muses. “On the flipside, you’ve got the message board culture, which seems to encourage kneejerk rage and lunatic impatience. Every time broadband speeds double, attention spans seem to halve. 15 years ago, no one talked about sacking a manager eight weeks into the job but today it’s seen by many as perfectly reasonable.”

ProudBut Grimsby fans clearly have something to cel-ebrate and to be proud of with their fanzine. Cod Almighty makes no bones about its forthright views on Grimsby Town FC as well as the footballing world beyond, and nor would a single reader expect it to. It offers the real things that the essence of lower league football is all about; honesty, simplic-ity and most importantly a great slice of enjoyment.

Bradford City’s massively successful ‘City Gent’ fanzine

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Getting your voice heard

“Ideally, nothing goes on Cod Almighty if you could find the same thing somewhere else.”

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England’s Greatest Test team?

3. Michael Vaughan (captain)Vaughan led England to their first Ashes triumph for 18 years in 2005. He retired from Test Cricket in 2008 with an average of 44.44 and was the scorer of 18 Test hundreds in a nine year career. Despite a huge loss of form towards the end of his career, Vaughan was still untouchable as captain.

2. Jack HobbsOpener Hobbs is perhaps the greatest English batsman of all time, scoring 5,000 Test runs in just 61 matches. He and went on to score 61,760 First Class runs in a glittering career. Hobbs has been revered by English cricket fans, and was named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century.

1. Graham GoochGooch is one of only 25 batsmen to have scored 100 First Class centuries, and racked up 118 Test Matches. He went on to score a staggering 8,900 Test runs and still holds the highest individual score for an Englishman in a Test, 333. Gooch was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2009.

4. Geoffrey BoycottBoycott can now be found commentat-ing on the BBC, but he made his name as a stubborn middle order batsman in the 1960s and 70s. The Yorkshire-man scored over 8,000 Test runs for England at an average of 47.72 during an 18 year career which saw him earn 108 caps, an immovable batsman.

5. Graham Thorpe

Thorpe earned 100 Test caps for England in a 12 year career. Despite the national team struggling massively during his career, he shone through as a beacon of hope with 16 Test centu-ries at an average of 44.66. He also encountered off field problems, but did little to affect his game. a slow scoring.

6. David GowerThis is turning out to be some team, with a man who scored over 8,000 Test runs coming in to bat at six. Gower scored 18 Test hundreds for England, most coming in the 1980s where that great England side defeated Australia in the 1985 Ashes series where he led his side to a 3-1 win.

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9. Darren GoughGough, another Yorkshireman who makes the side, took 229 Test wickets during a nine year career which saw him become a crowd favourite all over the world. The cheeky chappy of English cricket earned both the respect and love of his fans thanks to his lov-able persona and big heart. He was the king of the yorker delivery at the end of the innings, and also chipped in with some 855 Test runs in his 58 Tests. Gough now fronts a radio show for Talksport and made an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing in order to keep fit, Gough ended up winning the event.

8. Fred TruemanYorkshire born pace bowler Trueman sadly died in 2006, but few have a better record with the ball for England at Test level. His 307 wickets over 67 Tests leaves him third it the all time list of English wicket takers, behind Ian Botham and Bob Willis. Trueman averaged just 21 with the ball for his country, and also took an incredible 2,304 First Class wickets during a 20 year career. Trueman was also an aspiring actor, making cameo appear-ances in both Dad’s Army and Emmerd-ale and had a bronze statue unveiled in Skipton, Yorkshire after his death.

7. Ian BothamPerhaps the greatest all-rounder the game of cricket has ever seen. Botham had it all, fast bowling, aggressive batting and an ability to lead from the front when the team most needed it. Botham was run close by Andrew Flintoff for the number seven position, but the former wins the place thanks to his more consistent batting over his career. The all rounder scored 5,200 Test runs and took 383 wickets during a career which saw him almost single handedly defeat Australia during the famous 1981 Ashes series with a spell of five wickets for just one run at

11. Bob Willis

The final spot in Eng-land’s greatest Test team goes to Sunder-land-born fast bowler Bob Willis. Willis claimed 325 Test wickets at an average of 25.20 in a 90 Test career. The paceman carried England’s at-tack for many a series and took a career best 8-43 in the ‘Botham Test’ of 1981. Botham said Willis was the “only world-class fast bowler in my time as an England player.”

The editor of Wisden wrote of him: “His indomitable service to England is handsomely reflected in his great collection of Test wickets. Although often beset with aches and pains, he never spared himself when bowling for his country.”

10. Jim LakerLaker takes the spin-ner’s spot in the team thanks to his unbeliev-able 19-90 against Australia in 1956 at Old Trafford, a match re-named ‘Laker’s Test’ in his honour. The Brad-ford-born bowler took 193 wickets in an 11 year Test career as well as 1,944 in the domestic game. Laker, a left-arm orthodox spinner, remains one of only two bowlers to have taken ten wickets in a Test Match innings, the other being Anil Kumble for

India in 1999. The publication his 1960 autobiography, saw him lose his MCC and Surrey lifetime memberships. Laker severely criticised Surrey and England captain Peter May, they were restored but he never played for either again.

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Is the excitement over?The opening weekend of the 2010 Formula One season was all set for the climax of a turbulent summer, and the prospect of it looked absolutely thrilling. Yet the Bahrain race in March was dubbed ‘Bore-rain’, it was a procession, Fernando Alonso simply drove from start to finish untroubled, unfazed and without a single threat to his first place from the rest of the field. The normally stirring moments since have been few and far between, save a bit of fun in the rain in Shanghai. Does this mean F1 is in trouble, will it continue to be able to earn its billions from advertising if no one is watching, and just how can they bring back the gripping races of old?

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The processional nature of most of the opening races of the 2010 Formula One season is unquestionably a con-cern, the rain in China aside, there has

been little in the way if incident towards the top of the grid. Only Sebastian Vettel’s engine failure in Australia has seen the race change hands dramatically.The lack of drama in the opening races has largely been put down to the new regulation preventing fuel stops during races. The cars are much heavier in the opening stages, although the initial laps have been some of the most exciting. This is probably down to the difficulty drivers have had in overtak-ing, most noticeably the faster cars trying to pass those at the opposite ends of the grid after tyre changes and running repairs. Indeed, the theatre of the early laps can often be attributed to the drivers giving eve-rything to make early inroads immediately off the grid, as overtaking af-terwards has been near impossible. Whether or not the sport’s bosses will admit to the mis-take of banning re-fuelling, if indeed it is a mistake, remains to be seen. The powers that be have been keen for the re-fuelling ban to be introduced for the past few years, such is their commitment for the sport to become ‘greener’ and more carbon efficient in the future. But at what cost?

become more content with the tweaks and updates they are constantly adding. But the slow start to the season could have a knock on effect, For-mula One relies heavily on its excitement factor to bring in the money. The sheer amount of advertising allows the sport to be such a wealthy one, a decrease in the number of viewers could lead to dimin-ished marketing and the value of the product actually falling as a direct result.Returning seven-time Cham-pion Michael Schumacher doesn’t subscribe to the cur-rent jibes aimed to Formula One, stating his belief in the current regulations as well as the values of the sport itself. Despite the German struggling

in the early part of the season, he argues that patience is required by the fans. He said: “It is not motorcycle racing, it has always had less overtaking - the excitement is still there for fans. There are very clever people always thinking how to improve, make things better, it’s not so easy. Fellow driver Fernando Alonso is also defi-ant regarding the recent criti-cism, pleading for fans to give the sport more time to adjust to its recent changes. “We have to wait and see different races and check the situation, without being emotional,” said the Spaniard. Something that confuses the fans is changing the rules all the time.” So the current drivers seem content with the current situa-tion, but former Minardi chief

It’s important to say that not everyone agrees that the races have been as tedious as some

have made out. BBC commentator Johna-than Legard has been a staunch defender of the new regulations, pointing to the number of different race winners and the fact that the new points system has made things so close at the top of the driver’s rankings. “There have been three dif-ferent winners (in the first four races), eight different drivers on the podium and the leading five champion-ship contenders are covered by just four points,” he ex-plained. “Expectations were set so high for the year for all sorts of reasons that criti-cism was perhaps inevitable unless there was a series of hi-tech Wacky Races. For all the interest generated by Mi-chael Schumacher’s return after three years in retire-ment, how much of a field day would the critics have had if he had simply picked up winning like he had never been away?”The Schumacher return has, as Legard eluded to, domi-nated most of the winter headlines as the teams desperately scurried around looking for parts, publicity, and of course drivers. Some drivers were forced to wait until a handful of weeks before the season to finally secure their seats, others waited to see whether the cars would last even one race (Virgin and Hispania, anyone?) and the season is still settling into its usual rhythm.If Legard’s argument that the driver rankings is more exciting than the races them-selves rings true then it’s not clear whether the ‘floating’ fans will last the pace of the season. Most agree that things will become more stimulating later in the season when drivers are fully at ease with their new cars and the manufacturers

Paul Stoddart believes changes are needed in order for the sport to fulfil its mighty ability. “At certain tracks, the racing will be very boring,” Stoddart said. “That’s not good for For-mula One or the business of Formula One. In Monaco, cars will be able to run the full dis-tance without stopping. That’s not good. Something needs to be done.“The ban on re-fuelling this season has had a significant impact, yet could be re-intro-duced if all the teams were in agreement. I think it would be very easy to fix it up. They just need to take the brakes off and leave it up to the teams.”Whether those involved in the sport agree with the current system or not, the debate will ultimately be decided in the stands and in the front rooms around the world. The sport’s bosses need to decide whether or not to stick with the new regulations, but nothing will happen until at least the winter. Whether they decide to go back on the sweeping regulation changes remains to be seen, but ulti-mately the decision will decide the future of the sport. It is vital that Formula One gets the decision right this time, the rest of the season and the winter will be key to decid-ing whether it can return to thrilling racing, or whether the excitement will only be wit-nessed on the driver rankings.

“At certain tracks, the racing will be very boring. That’s not good

for Formula One. Something needs

to be done, the ban on re-fuelling

this season has had a significant

impact”

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Profile

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s profile time! The first ever

inductee into the TotalSport Hall of Fame will be Sweden’s former Celtic, Barcelona and Manchester United striker Henrik Larsson. A man who scored over 400 career goals in nearly 800 appearances for club and country, won the European Golden Boot in 2001 and is one of Scottish Football’s greatest ever imports. We’ll enlighten you with things you didn’t know about him, and some things you probably did.

Learn, and enjoy.

Henrik Ed-ward Larsson was born in Helsingborg,

South West Sweden on 20 September 1971 to a Cape Verdean father and a Swedish mother and began to play football aged just 16 months. His natural goalscoring ability as a youngster didn’t go unrecognised and he signed for local side Högaborg when he was just six years old in 1977, and would stay with them up until he was 21. Larsson admits to being the subject of dis-crimination

through-out his youth:

“I experienced some racism,” he said. “Because back then it was unu-sual to have a black kid at school, I was one of the few.”The young striker was signed by Helsingborg from Högaborg in 1992, after showing an impres-

enjoy possibly the greatest season of his career in 2000/1 under new manager Martin O’Neill at Celtic Park. Lars-son forged a captivating strike partnership with Chris Sutton and the pair shot Celtic to a domestic treble. The Swede scored 38 goals in the season and 44 in all competitions, a haul which earned him the European Golden Boot. The 2001/2 season was also a successful one, with Larsson scoring 35 goals including a hat-trick in a thrilling 4-3 Champions League win over Juventus.But it was the 2002/3 season where the striker really made his name. He fired Celtic to their first ever UEFA Cup final where they lost 3-2 to Porto in Seville, Larsson scored twice and commented after the game that the pain of defeat was worse than his leg break. 2003 saw the striker voted as the Greatest Swedish Foot-baller of the Last 50 Years and he again finished the season as the Top SPL goalscorer with 28 goals.The 2003/4 season would be Larsson’s last with Celtic; he scored 41 goals in 57 games as the Bhoys lifted the SPL title and reached the Quarter Final of the Champions League only to be knocked out by Barcelo-na. And it was Barcelona who would be the striker’s next club, for Larsson had agreed to move on a free transfer at the end of the campaign. After the final home game, he offered a teary farewell to his beloved fans, he had scored 242 goals for Celtic in 315 matches and left the club as the SPL’s All-Time Leading Goalscorer with 158 goals, a record that stood until 2009. He was also voted Swedish Footballer of the Year for the second time. On his departure, Larsson said: “I have adored every minute I have been here. I love the fans, I love the club. But I have al-ready made my decision with my family and nothing will change that.”Larsson originally chose to re-tire from international football

sive goalscoring knack at youth level. He carried on this great form with Hels-ingborg, netting 50 times in just 56 appearances for his new club and already talk of this Swedish goal machine was spreading across Europe.Despite the widespread interest, Dutch side Fey-enoord were the only club to show tangible interest and offered £295,000 in 1993 for Larsson. Helsingborg duly

ac-cepted

the cash and the frontman upped and

left for Holland for the next stage of his career. Larsson stalled in his first season in Dutch football, scoring just six goals. But manager Willem van Hanegem showed faith in his young protégé and in the next two seasons he scored a total of 28 goals, firing the club to succes-sive KNVB Cup trophies in 1994 and 1995. The 24 year old’s following two

seasons saw him net just 18 times in a frustrat-ing time and in 1997 he turned down the offer of a new contract and moved to Celtic for £650,000.He immediately hit form in Scotland, and began to thrive under manager Wim

Jans-en. Larsson

hit 16 goals in his first season and an incredible 35 in his next, earning the Scottish Pre-mier League top scorer award as well as SPFA Players’ Player of the

Year, SFWA Footballer of the Year and Swedish Footballer of the Year awards in 1999. He was rapidly becom-ing a Celtic Park favourite, but

the Swede’s

progress came to a shuddering halt in the fol-

lowing campaign under new manager John Barnes, when a horrific double leg break looked to have ended his season, if not his career. But Larsson incredibly battled back to return on the final day against Dundee United.With a full pre-season under his belt the striker would

after the 2002 World Cup, but he opted to return for Euro 2004. He scored three goals in four matches including a stunning diving header against Bulgaria which was voted Goal of the Tournament. He led Sweden to the Quarter Finals, where they were defeated in a penalty shootout by Holland. In his new club surroundings at Barcelona’s Nou Camp, Larsson was forced to play only a bit-part role in coming off the bench late in games. In November 2004 against Real Madrid, Larsson tore a cruciate knee ligament and would miss the rest of the season. But in the next campaign he scored ten goals as Barcelona won La Liga for a second consecutive year. He announced that he would leave the Nou Camp for pastures new at the end of his second season, and his final game would be the Champions League final against Arsenal in Paris. In that final, Lars-son came off the bench to set up two late goals as Barca came from behind to win 2-1. Team-mate Ronaldinho said of losing his team mate: “With Henrik leaving us at the end of the season this club is losing a great scorer, no question. But I am also losing a great friend. Henrik was my idol and now that I am playing next to him it is fantastic.” Arsenal striker Thierry Henry was also full of praise for Larsson after the final, he said: “People always talk about Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Giuly and everything, but I didn’t see them today, I saw Henrik Lars-son. He came on, he changed the game, that is what killed the game. Sometimes you talk about Ronaldinho and Eto’o and people like that; you need to talk about the proper footballer who made the dif-ference, and that was Henrik Larsson tonight.”After the 2006 World Cup, in which Sweden exited to Germany in the Second Round, Larsson signed for former club Helsingborg on a one-year contract. “It was time for me to return home,” he said. Larsson

scored 12 goals as Di Röe went on to win the Swedish Cup.In the following campaign Larsson announced that he would move on loan to Man-chester United from January to ease the Red’s striking problems. The striker scored his only Premier League goal, a wonderful finish after a slick passing move, against Watford and also scored in a 2-0 Cham-pions League win over Lille. Sir Alex Ferguson tried and failed to sign Larsson until the end of the season, such was the chord he had struck with the club. “He’s been fantastic for us,” said Ferguson. “We tried everything we could to get him to stay longer, but he made a promise and you have to respect that.”Larsson returned to Helsing-borg for the final three years of his career, where he scored 42 goals. In June 2009, Larsson’s younger brother Robert was tragically found dead. But the striker fought back from the heartbreak with true resilience to score twice on his return.After retiring from interna-tional football for a second time in 2006, Larsson was again tempted back. On 13 May 2008, the Swedish FA declared that Larsson would return as captain for Euro 2008. But the skipper couldn’t inspire Sweden further than the group stage, where they bowed out after defeats to Russia and Spain. On 11 October Larsson decided to retire from Sweden duty for the final time.At the end of the 2009 Swedish season, Larsson retired from the game aged 37. His career had spanned 21 years and had seen him score goal after goal for his clubs. His international record was also exceptional, 37 goals in 106 games. He played in four World Cups, had won seven domestic league titles and earned an OBE in 2006.On 14 December 2009 Larsson began his managerial career with Swedish Second Division side Landskrona BoIS.A true legend of the modern game, Henrik, welcome to the Hall of Fame.

“He came on, he changed the game, that is what killed

the game. Sometimes

you talk about Ronaldinho

and Eto’o and people like

that; you need to talk about

the proper footballer

who made the difference,

and that was Henrik

Larsson tonight”

The man himself

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“I have adored every minute I have been here. I l

ove the fans, I love the club”

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You can forget the simple ‘bit of fun’ put-downable, pass the time foot-ball management games of the past, FM10 is an all or nothing affair.The game is simply awash with tweak-able tactics, training sessions, player interaction and the general fine-tuning of a football club that makes the saying ‘God is in the detail’ ring shatteringly true. The mantra is simple, if you put in the man hours and pay attention to the finest details, the success will come.New features include a long-awaited 3D match engine (which has already become tedious and I’ve switched back to 2D), manager touchline ‘shouts’, and fully editable English league pyramid system (yes, you can play the Essex Senior League!) amongst other obscure but strangely lovable low-level English competitions. Media interviews become mercilessly boring, and the odd bug here and there tends to cause the odd bout of irrita-tion, but overall the game is a mas-terpiece. It’s the perfect place to lose yourself in a career, bringing success to England’s run down and trophy-starved towns and cities.It is entirely possible to sit down for a couple of hours session after tea, and look up at the clock to find yourself sat in your boxers at 5am willing your team onto another vital away point and downing another instant coffee. I’ve done all of those, more than once.The game is endlessly entertaining and brilliantly addictive, entirely engross-ing and outrageously detailed, it truly is your WAG’s worst nightmare.

YESThe IPL brings a mas-sive finan-

cial boost to cricket, and an un-told level of excitement. The com-petition gives players equal pay with Premier League footballers, for a few weeks at least, something they will feel they deserve after endless touring and providing entertainment for fans everywhere. It’s unpredictable, it’s thrilling and it fills stadiums. It’s a scaled down version for fans who don’t want five days of constant

blocking. The IPL glorifies cricket to a new audience, kids want to start

playing and that can only be good for unearthing the next Tendulkar or Pietersen. When

you compare the avid crowds in India to the ‘one man

and his dog’ at English County games, there is no comparison between the two. Excitement, money, fun, fans, how

can the IPL be anything but brilliant for every single

person involved?

The Big Debate

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NO Fans of the Test’ Match must hate the thought of bandwagon

fans, impatient batting, and players throwing techniques out of the window in the name of Twenty20. The IPL bring financial gains to players alone, the clubs in Eng-land don’t see a penny. Bowlers are smacked to all parts of the ground, confidence is dashed and young players can see their careers fly high into the stands with the batsman’s latest hook, pull or ‘scoop shot.’ Players are constantly looking to be the hero, to hit that mas-sive six to win the game or to bowl that yorker that shatters an

off stump and earns the win, team-work goes the same way as patience. If you look at football, and how the money situation has priced fans out of

the game, players earn huge sums every week and the fans are treat-ed more like customers than sup-

porters. If the IPL continues on its way to dominating cricket

as a whole we could lose one of the greatest British exports, the Test Match. Those battles of wit be-

tween Atherton and Donald, Flintoff and Ponting would be

over, the spirit of the game dashed in favour of money, power and greed. The IPL is a bit like a microwave meal, easy to make, convenient, quick, but at the end of the day it pales in compari-son to a home cooked steak and chips.

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Is the IPL good for cricket?

The 2000s, a decade of great sport

The numbers game1 The number of FA cups won by any team outside of the ‘big four’ during the decade, Portsmouth in 2008.

2 The number of pole positions won by Fernando Alonso in the 2007 F1 season, he still amassed 109 points.

3 The number of Grand Slam semi-finals lost by Roger Federer out of the 19 he’s competed in during the decade.

7 The number of league titles won by Swedish women’s footballer Hannah Ljungberg during the 2000’s.

9 100m world record has been broken nine times during the decade, firstly Tim Montgomery in 2002.

10 The number of ranking tournaments won by snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan between 2000 and 2009.

11 The number of domestic trophies won by French side Lyon during the decade, including seven league titles.

12 The number of major tournaments won by American golfing legend Tiger Woods between 2000 and 2009.

13 Nicolas Anelka cost Manchester City £13m in 2002, the frontman has cost various clubs a total of £84.8m.

14 The number of Olympic Golds won by American swimmer Michael Phelps, more than anyone else.

15 The number of transfers involving striker Steve Claridge during the decade, he played for 15 league clubs.

16 The number of league goals scored by Frank Lampard during the 2004-5 season, a record for a midfielder.

17 Number of runs scored by Paul Collingwood during the 2005 Ashes series, he was swiftly awarded an MBE..

18 The number of days Kaka held the world transfer record before it was broken by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

19 The average age of Arsenal’s youthful side who played Sheffield United in the 2008-9 League Cup.

20 Wayne Rooney became the most expensive Under-20 player ever signed at £30m in 2004.

21 The number of finals reached by Andy Murray, he won 14 although none have been a Grand Slam title.

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4 The number of Wimbledon finals reached by American tennis doubles pair Bob and Mike Bryan.

5 The number of F1 title wins by Michael Schumacher, all of which came in succession between 2000 and 2004.

6 The number of Premier League titles won by Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the decade.

8 The number of Premier League hat tricks scored by Thierry Henry, more than any other player.


“I’d lost contact with the club and the team; I guess this was my way of reconnecting. Some people have suggested there might be easier means of doing so and they may well be right, but I’m willing to bet they’d be less fun!”

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Total Sport | June 2010 46 Total Sport | May 2010 | 46 46

RIGHT BEHIND YOU, FELLAS!

InterviewsFo

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How do you travel to your club’s games? Car, bus, train? Probably. Bike? Didn’t think so. Well York City fan Simon

Simon hood has spent the entire season following his side around

the country on, wait for it, his push bike. How’s that for dedication?

Total Sport | June 2010 46 Total Sport | June 2010 | 47

You might think he’s a tiny bit mad for doing such a thing, but for Simon it’s been the journey of a lifetime. “I’ve always wanted to

write about, and I love cycling. I ped-alled down to the game at Crawley last season and I thought ‘why not do this for every match?’” he explains. “Un-fortunately, the idea stuck and quite soon I had told too many people about it and could not back out of it. It just turned out to be a ludicrous enough proposition to intrigue people outside of York“I’ve always wanted to write about, and I love cycling. I pedalled down to the game at Crawley last season and I thought ‘why not do this for every match?’” he explains. “Unfortunately, the idea stuck and quite soon I had told too many people about it and could not back out of it. It just turned out to be a ludicrous enough proposi-tion to intrigue people outside of York.”But Simon isn’t cycling thousands of miles for personal glory or a sense of wellbeing; he’s actually raised nearly £5,000 for the Alzheimer’s Society, a charity particularly close to his heart. The York fan completed the punishing challenge to raise funds for the Society after two of his grandparents suffered from the disease. Simon is a 33-year-old in search of work in Oxford after giving up his job as a theatre production assistant to follow his dream. He moved away from the York area for University and found he lost touch with his beloved Minstermen Simon was desperate for a way back into supporting the club he followed throughout his youth. “I’d lost contact with the club and the team; I guess this was my way of reconnect-ing. Some people have suggested there

might be easier means of doing so and they may well be right, but I’m willing to bet they’d be less fun!”“I’ve covered 10,000 miles so far, and the number increased thanks to our play-off game at Oxford and then reaching the final at Wembley. I’ll be cycling to Wembley; I just need to sort somewhere to store it during the match!” He adds.“I think I’ve become more emotion-ally involved due to having seen every match and also as there was more and more riding on each game as the momentum of the season built. It’s the first time I’ve been to every game in a season and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. At the start of the season I lost loads of weight due to the hot weather and also I’d just walked the GR20 in Corsica so my metabolism was great. I put weight on over the winter due to B&B’s and full English breakfasts. I’m much, much fitter though, legs in good shape, but I still have my beer belly!”The particularly harsh winter of 2009/10 meant there were hundreds of Football League and Blue Square Premier matches postponed at short notice. Simon admits that the post-ponements were unwelcome distrac-tions, especially after cycling to game on four occasions only to be turned away at the gates due to matches being called off. “I had to get a little creative around the re-arranged home Wimbledon match,” Simon explains. “The Worst bits have been getting to matches to find them called off on the day of the match due to bad weather. The bike frame snapped in the first week too but this quickly became one of the best bits as I got it fixed up by a handy welder and Ridgeback offered me a replacement, despite the fact that I was riding a Kona. I got to meet Sir Tom Finney whose wife suffered from

Alzheimer’s towards the end of her life.It is an incredible opportunity to meet a man who, to use an overused and consequently devalued word, truly is a legend of the game.I rode beautiful routes I took and the unexpected success on the pitch has made it so worthwhile.”“One of the nicest trips was just after Christmas,” he adds. “Riding over the snow-capped Pennines to Altrincham was a stunning couple of days’ ride. It was just a shame the match was called off when I got there! But I’ve ridden some beautiful routes I took and the unexpected success on the pitch has made it so worthwhile.”“People have been so supportive; York City sorted my tickets for all the home games and allowed me to have collection buckets at the home play-off match. Other clubs have been very welcoming. More often than not they’ve given me a free match ticket, allowed me to store my bike inside the ground and often invited me onto the pitch to publicise the fundraising.So what of next season, will Simon carry on with his ventures? “With York I’ll maybe cycle to the occasional one, plenty of friends have joined in over the course of the season so we might be able to get a weekend away some-where together. Let’s hope it’s to Lin-coln or Hereford rather than Crawley!” Indeed York City go into their play-off final with Oxford United on May 16th with every chance of climbing back into the Football League for the first time since 2004, and few would doubt that Simon is deserving of seeing his adored Minstermen playing at that higher level next season. To donate to the Alzheimer’s Society, or to read more about Simon’s current and future journeys, visit his website at www.bicyclekicks.co.uk.

Simon (right) being presented with a signed Hayes & Yeading FC shirt in the match at Church Road back in August, the game finished 1-1


Gary, how did you first get into the women’s game?Completely by accident! I was setting up an agency with a friend and the club was looking for sponsor-ship. Then it turned out they didn’t have a web site, which was one of the services our agency was offering. The agency folded, but I’m still running the site, writing previews and match reports.

What do you think of the current state of the women’s game in relation to the men’s game in this country?Given that no club owns its own ground or facilities, it’s doing amazingly well. If the amount of money, effort and media coverage went into the women’s game as the men’s, it would have a much broader reach.

Do you see ever see the women’s game reaching the stature of the men’s?No. And I think the men’s game is the wrong sport to compare it to. For me, it’s more like rugby league, much more family oriented and with fans who are less tribal. But women’s sport in general is getting more exposure, especially as they keep winning things (cricket, rugby union), so it would be wrong to think of women’s football in a lesser light; it’s got just as many skilful, talented players around.

How close is the English women’s game coming to reaching the standard of the American League?I think we’re almost there now, to be honest. It’s a mat-ter of turning that belief into trophies, which is what we

did here at Leeds with the Premier League Cup. We’ve got a great set of players playing at the moment, and better ones coming through.

What sort of relationship do Leeds Ladies have with the Leeds men’s team and the club as a whole?None. Leeds United cut us adrift four seasons ago when they had their own cash crisis and Leeds Met-ropolitan University have just done the same, so we’re now totally self-funded. Unfunded, if we’re being honest. In theory, we could win the League Cup, win the league, qualify for Europe and fold all in the same sea-son. Beat that, Portsmouth.

Is it becoming easier to get into women’s football?I think it’s always been easy; what they now have are the opportunities to progress, which weren’t there before. Clubs (mostly) act more professionally now, with good coaching staff willing to give up their time for the love of the game. And play-

ers thrive on that – Leeds again is a good example, we’ve an ‘A’ Licence man-ager with a fully qualified coaching and physio setup, and the Centre of Excellence as a starting point. More and more women’s clubs are being formed as well, so the combination of teams to play for with bigger teams to aim for is a big attraction for younger players.

What is the next step for women’s football? I think we’re on the cusp of a bright, new dawn. I would love to see women’s clubs become fully independent in my lifetime (bear in mind I’ve just turned 43!) with more professional people working behind the scenes as well as the enthusias-tic amateurs. What I do with Leeds I do for a living anyway, as do the rest of the staff. I do think play-ers should be paid in some capacity, so that they don’t have to work when they could be training or recover-ing, but we don’t need the silly money of the men’s

Premier League, unless it can be properly invested into grassroots and securing the game’s future.

Which young stars should we be watching out for?Mel Sutcliffe, our best kept secret! Rachel Daly (England under 17 World Cup player). Gemma Bonner (under 19 European champion). All three came through our Centre of Excellence, just like Jess Clarke. Add in Jules Draycott, Sophie Walton, Sophie Bradley, Remi Allen and Jade Moore and the fu-ture’s bright. We’ve a young, almost whole new team in the reserves this season, and a couple have already made appearances for the first team which shows we’re do-ing the right things.

What are your hopes for the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany?Five outfield players from Leeds would be nice, but I’d settle for England getting as far as the semi finals, at least. We know we’re capa-ble, it’s time to deliver. You could say much the same about the men’s team.

On a personal note, what have been the highlights of your career so far work-ing within the women’s game?This year’s League Cup Final and the FA Cup Final in 2007, plus the awards we’ve won over the past few years. But if I’m being honest, I work with one of the best clubs, with one of the best sets of players, and they way they’ve played this season – before and after the Super League bid was pulled – I think that this whole season will be one we can all look back on with pride.

ONE-ON-ONE...with Gary Taylor, head of online media for Leeds Carnegie Ladies Football Club

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Being released as a young-ster by your local side is never an easy thing to deal with for player or boss;

indeed managers often declare re-leasing young players as the hardest part of their job.

Skegness-born defender Wes Parker was released by Grimsby in 2004 aged just 20 after nine promising appear-ances for the club, he decided his foot-ball career wasn’t over and searched for a new club in the professional game. He explains what happened: “First of all my intention was to get back into football as soon as possible but I was turned down from a major-ity of the professional teams. I didn’t write to any non-league clubs

because I wanted to stay in the profes-

sional game. But I received a phone

call from Gains-borough to go down for train-ing and I was surprised with

the standard of things. There wasn’t a huge difference in terms

of quality but the professional players are far sharper and fitter.”26-year-old Parker joined Conference

North outfit Gainsbor-ough Trinity in 2004 after an unsuccessful trial with

Scarborough, and was soon joined at the club by younger brother Liam. During a four-year stint with Trinity he experienced FA Cup football on three occasions as the club met league opposition. Parker established himself as a key member of the team as they challenged for promotion to the Con-ference Premier. Wes also enjoyed two successful

seasons with Grimsby Town, despite them being relegated from the Cham-pionship in 2003. Wes was part of a side that famously thumped Derby County 3-1 at Pride Park, where his performance against Georgi Kinkladze drew numerous plaudits. He explains: “I enjoyed every minute of it. Who wouldn’t? I was 19 and playing in front of 28,000 people and man marking a player who at his peak was one of the best play-ers to play in the Premier League. Plus we won 3-1 which capped it all off. I was shocked at being released at first, but I didn’t have any com-plaints. I had passed out a couple of times during training and they didn’t want to take a risk on me if I was car-rying health problems. I was disap-pointed with the club because I had been with them since the age of ten, I thought they could have stood by me. I learnt a valuable lesson from that in to never trust anyone in football.”After four years with Gainsborough,

Wes joined Unibond outfit Boston United in 2008. At the end of the season he was released and returned to Gainsborough for a second stint. Trinity had appointed experienced league manager Brian Little and had signed a number of ex-league players as a mark of their ambition. “It really is a great club”, Wes explains. “I’m in my fifth season now and have lots of friends in the club, in non-league you get to know the fans aswell. I’ve en-joyed working with the gaffer; he’s got a completely different outlook on the game compared with other non-league managers. Mark Greaves, Sam Aiston and Luke Beckett still show great pro-fessionalism in training and matches and they still love the banter!”Looking back on his football career, Wes believes he was lucky to have experienced league football at such a young age. “Not many people get that chance and I feel lucky to be given a shot. I was obviously disappointed to be released and being relegated from the championship with Grimsby was

tough to take.”“We’ve massively undera-

chieved this season but we need to dig in and make sure we stay in the division. Personally I need to get my-self 100% fit and try to play my way back into the team.

I’ve struggled with injuries; I had a hernia operation in the summer and never had a pre season to get ready

for the new season,” Wes explains.“I’m doing my ac-counting exams as

well as a business de-gree. I work as a management accountant now and I’m looking at the possibility of setting up a business. The decision to study outside of his football life immediately seems both a wise and a prudent one, as we know too well that injuries can end a career in an instant.

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ONE-ON-ONE...with Gainsborough Trinity FC defender Wes Parker

Interviews Interviews

“I feel lucky to be given a shot. I was obviously disappointed to be released and being relegated from the championship was tough to take”


Living the high life?We’ve all dreamt of being a sporting hero. Scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final, hitting the winning runs at Lord’s, smashing a cross-court volley to win Wimbledon, or holing a five yarder to win the Open. Most never get the chance to experience any of those, but some decide that the next best thing is to report on them. BBC Cricket writer Ollie Brett did just that, and Sam Kinnaird caught up with him to find out if he really does live the dream...

The chance to travel the world watching sport and to portray

the action to millions of fans is something Ollie Brett couldn’t resist as he began to write from the age of ten, scrawl-ing match reports onto school notebooks and exam papers. But what is life really like as a cricket writer, is it one of fasci-nating interviews with the game’s legends, or an endless trawl through the England County circuit?“I used to irritate my English teachers because I almost always turned any essay question into some fictional drama featuring cricket,” Ollie explains. “Writing about cricket for the BBC website was a circuitous path. It is rare for journalists to be recruited directly into sports writing so I spent two years as a lo-cal newspaper club reporter before turning up in London with a CV, and working for various people until I set-tled at a now-defunct sports website. I joined the BBC in 2001 when our internet operation was growing fast.”For any cricket lover, Ollie’s job would be a dream. Writing about each fascinating day of a Test Match, or interviewing

the star players. Ollie agrees: “I have been to

Australia and South Africa, dream holiday

destinations for many people, to

write about

“I have been to Australia and South Africa, dream holiday destinations for many people, to write about cricket”

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cricket. Any exclusive face-to-face interview with a really big name is enjoy-able. I spend much less time than some cricket writers out and about at matches so I really make the most it. Although cricket dominates what I do, sometimes I have to write about other sports like Rugby League, Moto GP and swimming which are not favourites of mine - but I guess it beats selling double-glazing!”Ollie has some great memo-ries as both a fan and a writer; he has been to Ashes Tests, World Cup matches and One-Day finals and has

seen some fantastic

cricket. He explains: “Being at The Oval for the last day of the Ashes Test in 2005 was quite extraordinary. I don’t believe there has ever been a crowd as loud as that at a Test in England, and it may be a while before we ever see something like it again.” He added: “Flintoff’s bowling on the last day at Lord’s last year was every bit as special while the best one-day innings I saw was Ricky Ponting’s in the 2003 World Cup Final.”But how does he go about his reports? “Assuming I am doing it at the ground - quite often I am in the office using a live video feed if the

match is in Chittagong or

BBC Cricket Writer Ollie Brett

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something. I just settle down into watching the match. Until about the tea interval I won’t do much writing, just make a few notes about statistics or observations. Cricket writers spend a lot of time pontificat-ing just like casual viewers - and that’s good because it gives you ideas about what to write about. In the last two hours I am writing away furiously, as soon as the final ball is bowled I send over my match report, then I’ll start on a blog.” Oliver’s most recent blogs include ‘Six cricketers to follow in 2010’, and ‘The rise of the English South Africans.’In terms of the cricketing greats Ollie has met, he is refreshingly genuine about his relationship with them. “I have to be honest here. I don’t know any cricketers particu-larly well, though there was a period when I spent quite a lot of time on the phone to Paul Collingwood. He is incredibly courteous and pa-tient - and has even replied to text messages in the middle of a Test,” Ollie explains.“From chatting to people you sometimes pick up a vibe about the person behind the public facade. Jonty Rhodes was one of the most intelli-gent I’ve met, Graeme Fowler the funniest, while if there was one person you would want to go down to the pub with and share a few pints while watching a game it would certainly be Andrew Flintoff.” Few English fans would argue with that final comment!Fans can read Ollie’s blogs and reports on the BBC Cricket website at www.bbc.co.uk/cricket.


A young promoter is hoping to give the Lincolnshire boxing scene a

much-needed boost with the help of a new website, which he believes can save local boxing.37 year old Abdul Mannan (pictured above), an ex-professional boxer himself, set up the website boxclev-ertv.co.uk earlier this year in the hope of promoting the fights that struggle to gain the publicity they need and hopefully boosting the ail-ing local boxing scene.Mannan, who aspires to be famous American promoter Don King, (pictured right) reckons his website can do wonders for the heaps of highly talented young box-ers in the UK who are being ignored. “I feel I’m on a mission,” Mannan explains. “I’ve been looking at the concept of a site like this where I can promote fights on a smaller scale, but at the moment I don’t have the right funds to promote the big fights like Pacquiao and Mayweather.”

VisionMannan’s vision is for a

website which not only cov-ers boxing, but all sports, and he also wants to make and screen documentaries which highlight the prob-lems faced in countries around the world. The Manchester-born promoter, whose parents hail from Bangladesh, feels that sport

and education can help to heal he issues that these counties face on a daily basis. “I’m a film maker, and I’ve got stories to tell, I want to educate people, after all the first words in the Koran are ‘educate yourself,’” says Mannan, a Muslim him-self. Mannan is beginning

his promoting career by supporting fights from the Lincolnshire area before spreading further afield. He feels his links and contacts within the boxing world can bring the desired funds and publicity to the smaller fights, in order to supply boxers with the chance to totally fulfil their talent.

Publicity“It ‘s great to give local fights the publicity they need to make money, after all boxing is a business.It’s a shame really that it’s taken until now for some-thing like this to happen to boost things. In other sports there’s so much publicity from companies like Skysports, and boxing, espe-cially in smaller fights, often gets ignored.”

Mannan’s website will stream live footage from both

local bouts and from afar as well as being a base from which to promote them in the weeks before, and fans can watch subscription-based fights straight away from Mannan’s website which can be at www.box-clevertv.co.uk.

Boxin

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A fighting chance

“I feel I’m on a mission. I want to educate people, after all the first words in the

Koran are ‘educate yourself’”

“It ‘s great to give local fights the publicity they need to make money, after all boxing is a business”

The Sir Bobby Robson Founda-tion was officially launched in March

2008 by Sir Bobby along with his oncologist Dr Ruth Plummer, and the man himself(right) dedicated the final months of his life to setting up and publicising it. It funds a number of of revo-lutionary cancer treatments that people otherwise don’t have access to through the NHS and has so far treated 560 patients in the North East. The charity began its work by funding a new research centre in Newcastle Hospi-tal’s £80 million Freeman Centre before turning its attentions to funding other cancer research projects around the North East. So far over £2 million has been raised, coming directly from events organised by the foundation and endorsed by many of football’s top names includ-ing Alan Shearer, Steve Harper, Fabio Capello and Sir Alex Ferguson.Just five days before Sir Bobby sadly passed away last year, a celeb-rity match between England and Ger-many took place at St James’ Park 2009. The former England manager was there in person to witness the game, which raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the cause. Liz explains: “We’ve had so much support from people within

football, but what Sir Bobby would really appreciate is the support from the ‘man in the street’ who he could relate to. People like Alan Shearer and Steve Gibson who also support the foun-dation, have been incredible. The work the foundation does means people in the North East are getting ac-cess to the new treatments.” She added: “People who also have cancer are constantly working to raise more money for the foundation, perhaps it gives them some power back over this ter-rible disease and it’s a privi-lege for me to be involved.”Alan Shearer, who played under Robson at Newcastle, was asked by Sir Bobby’s wife Elsie to become a patron of the foundation. “I’ve got a lot to be grateful to Sir Bobby for,” said the

former England captain. “He was just an unbelievable man. I can’t begin to tell you what a great honour it was to be asked by Lady Elsie to become a patron of the Foundation.”County Durham-born Robson won trophies in England, Spain, Portugal and Holland during a glittering 36 year managerial career and earned 20 England caps as a player. He also man-aged his beloved Newcastle United where he steered the club to third place in the Premier League.Amongst other fundrais-ing activities, a DVD was produced in 2009 entitled A Knight to Remember which profiled Sir Bobby’s life and included interviews with the great man and his closest friends. Added to that, the football shirts (below) laid

down at football grounds,

most notably St James’ Park and Portman Road, after Sir Bobby’s death, have been shipped over to poorer countries around the globe, so footy mad kids can wear the colours of their favourite English clubs whilst playing

the game they love. Mark Rob-son, Sir Bobby’s son said: “It’s amazing to hear how much a sim-ple piece of foot-ball kit means to these children. I’m sure my dad would be very happy knowing that they are enjoying playing football because they have a shirt of their own.” Readers can donate to the foundation at sirbobbyrob-sonfoundation.org.uk.

A lasting legacy for Sir BobbyHe was one of the greatest respected personalities in football, adored by fans, players and managers alike, and one of the nicest people in sport. Sir Bobby Robson managed the likes of England, Barcelona and his beloved Newcastle United, and battled with cancer on five occasions. He beat it four times, before it finally took his life in July 2009. He may no longer be with us but his legacy very much is. Liz Luff of Sir Bobby Robson Foundation speaks exlusively to TotalSport magazine to tell us more about Sir Bobby’s gift....

“Perhaps it gives them some power back over this terrible disease and it’s a privilege for me to be involved”

Lasting Legacy - Sir Bobby

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FIFA 10 (PS3/Xbox/Wii/PSP/DS/PC)The king of the football simulator goes one better and the new 360 dribbling system a joy to behold.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 (PS3/Xbox/Wii/PSP/PC)Lagging behind FIFA for the past three editions, but the new game has started to bridge the gulf again.

Football Manager 2010 (PC/PSP)As addictive as ever, some brilliant tweaks but the 3D engine isn’t great. (See page 46 for rapid review).

Moto GP 09/10 (PS3/Xbox)The 2010 version offers even more official circuits, free content updates from the internet and a brilliant career mode. Endless driving fun both in single player or as a multiplayer either locally or online.

NHL 10 (PS3/Xbox)Brilliantly addictive and sharp gameplay, the career mode is as detailed and engrossing as ever. Even if you’re not an avid NHL fan, the game is still rather enjoyable as a single or multiplayer.

Fight Night Round 4 (PS3/Xbox)The finest boxing simulator around has now added the ‘legacy mode’ to it’s armour, take on Ali at your peril. The new ‘physics animation’ system is a fine addition, and the fatigue levels are super realistic.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (PS3/Xbox/Wii/PSP)Despite his off-course problems, Tiger still fronts a fantastic golf game, the US Open is now playable.

2010 FIFA World Cup: South Africa (PS3/Xbox/Wii)EA have used the FIFA 10 engine and as a short-term fix you couldn’t hope for much more. The stadiums are fantastic and the qualifying mode takes you into the heart of the world’s greatest football tournament.

NBA Live 10 (PS3/Xbox/PSP)‘Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay’ is the slogan, fine graphics and indeed gameplay, another quality offering from EA who continue to plough money into their array of sport’s titles. Keep them coming!

UFC 2009 (PS3/Xbox)UFA 2009 is very good fun as a multiplayer, but the career mode isn’t much to shout about and the graphics aren’t up to scratch. But get your friends round, and you can soon lose yourselves in some bloody bouts.

Ten of the best......Sports games on the market

Reviews

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Books

The Referee’s A W****r Alex Shaw£4.99

Throw a bunch of football fans into a cowshed and the rubbish that spouts from their mouths is often one of the funnier parts of attending football matches. Individually they’re as mad as a box of frogs, but collectively, well they can quite skilfully adopt a de-sired tune and turn it into a

funny, irate or even poign-ant song which is mouthed by the entire ground. Football fan Alex Shaw has collected together his favourite terrace chants into this oddly engaging book for fellow supporters to enjoy. It includes some of the most famed such as the book title, You’ll Never Walk Alone, and Goodnight Irene as well as some bril-liant one off’s like Ten men went to lift Frank Lampard and Two Andy Gorams.The compilation also touches on chants heard at some of the greatest derby matches in Britain; Arsenal V Tottenham, Rangers V Celtic, Manchester United V Manchester City, Liverpool V Everton and Aston Villa V Birmingham.Shaw has drawn on his pre-ferred chants from all types of matches, with the songs coming thick and fast and a good mixture of laughs and some hard-hitting affairs. This assortment or chants is as good a record as you’ll find, and well worth a look.

Trautmann’s Journey: From Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend Catrine Clay£10.99

Every football fan is famil-iar with the legend of the goalkeeper that played in the FA Cup final with a bro-ken neck, Bert Trautmann, but few know much more about the man himself. The German was a truly brilliant goalkeeper in his day, earn-ing the praise and respect or his fellow footballers through of course the FA

Cup final incident as well as his successful career and agreeable persona. “He was the best goalkeeper I ever played against,” said Bobby Charlton. The book carries the reader through the epic journey that Bernhardt Trautmann took towards his football career. Brought up in the shadow of the Nazi Party in Germany, the goalkeeper joined the Hitler Youth aged ten and fought wholeheart-edly in the army when he was 17. He became endeared with the British when offered a cup of tea when in a POW camp in Chester and found his way into football soon after. He then became Bert in order to fully immerse himself in the British way after the war, before playing over 500 games for Manchester City between 1949 and 1964 and becoming a national icon in the process.The book is a fine account of a fascinating man, it is so much more than just a football autobiography.

Touching the Void Joe Simpson£6.99

Touching the Void is the hard-hitting and rous-ing story of Joe Simpson’s terrifying escapades in the Peruvian Andes. He and climbing partner Simon Yates successfully reached

the summit of the Siula Grande in June 1995 but on their journey home the pair were separated after a disastrous climbing ma-noeuvre.Simon staggered back to base camp believing his partner was dead. Joe had indeed fallen, and was barely conscious after a 100 feet fall had broken his leg. He spent three days without food and water but crawled back to base camp moments before Simon left. The story is an epic tale of friendship and struggle, it was made into a successful documentary film in 2003 and it did the tale plenty of justice. The book however takes the reader through a journey that film could not, and is a splendidly vivid and bloody account of what really happened.

Hoggy: Welcome To My World Matthew Hoggard£4.99

Barking-mad Yorkshire and England fast bowler Mat-thew ‘Hoggy’ Hoggard’s record-breaking swing bowling earned him the respect of the cricketing

world, but his humour-ous and oddball approach earned him the love of fans from all corners. His now infamous commentating alongside Geoffrey Boycott on BBC Radio 4 means he has now more than earned his place on Test Match Spe-cial. The book is more than the memoirs of your average pace bowler, the stories and anecdotes contained are as gripping as they are side-splitting. ‘Hoggy’ offers us a rare insight into the world of one of cricket’s great characters. From alcohol to going out to bat in the Ashes, Hoggy takes us on a journey through the mind of a dogged night watchman and a lethal wicket-taker. If you’re as eager as I was to delve deep into the dressing room of the England Test team, this book is for you.

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Fact or fiction?

Described by Yorkshire-born author David Peace

as a ‘fiction based on fact’, the book is one that is rather impos-sible to put down.

The first person perspective of The Damned Utd puts you smack bang into the mind of Brian Clough, warts and all. From the opening page the story is as gripping as it is funny, a rollercoaster of emotions from beginning to end. No one questions the quality of the writing, indeed it was described by The Times as ‘the best novel ever written about sport.’ Yet there are those who do take issue with the valid-ity of the story, whether Peace’s representation is actually anywhere near the truth.The book tells the story of Clough’s fated spell in charge of Leeds United, where he had taken over from great nemesis Don Re-vie who had left to manage England in 1974. Flicking between Clough’s other spells at Hartlepool and Derby before Leeds, the plot twists and turns and is at times a test to keep up with. Despite this, the story never fails to be anything but en-thralling although at times cheerless as it becomes clear that Clough would never win over the Leeds dressing room. The mind of the man is truly fascinating, the thoughts that provoke his outspoken behaviour truly come to life.Admittedly, some of the con-tent of the book comes from rumour and ‘old pub tales’,

dressed up with pieces of fact and the odd slice of evidence to make even the most outlandish anecdotes seem probable. Peace also admits to speaking to very few people involved in the heart of the story; Clough, the players or the staff yet the story brings the sense of a ‘fly on the wall’ docu-mentary at times feels as real as the paper bound within this tour de force that has given the world of sports books a thorough shake-up.

OutrageousThe most prominent voice against the book comes from Leeds legend Johnny Giles, the driving force behind one

of the most successful sides in English football history. Giles claimed the book was ‘outrageous and wrong’ and ‘far from the truth.’ The Irishman also won a libel case against the book some

“We’re from the north, Pete. What do we care about Brighton? Bloody southerners. Look where we are, we’re almost in France!”

time after the August 2006 release.

Despite the book’s often

positive light of

Clough, it also

delved into the darker

areas of his personal-

ity, touching on his heavy

drinking habits, chain smoking

and constant swearing. It was

this that distressed Clough’s family and

friends to the extent that many spoke out

about the ‘wrongs’ of the book.

Clough’s family, includ-ing his wife Barbara chose to ignore the book, which was later made into a successful film. Friend of the family Don Shaw, a TV producer, told the world: “They absolutely loathe the idea. Nigel (Clough’s son) tried to read The Damned Utd but gave up because he was so shocked by it. Barbara read one page before she had to stop.” But there is no doubt that it is thoroughly de-serving of its praise. The book is gripping from start to finish, and pro-vokes so much thought on all things football and offers a rare insight into the Clough’s mind, ‘fiction based on fact’ or no ‘fiction based on fact.’ Pick it up, and you won’t be able to put it back down again.

Clough’s statue in Nottingham City Centre

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Brian Clough was undoubtedly one of Britain’s finest ever football managers, as well as one of the game’s great characters. Four years ago the novel The Damned Utd was released, and it caused endless controversy. The book centred on Clough’s infamous 44-day stint in charge of the all-conquering Leeds United.

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The page to end all sports magazine pagesWho are ya? - Team Sky They said what?•A professional road cycling team which competes in major interna-tional bike races.•They are sponsored by Satellite TV giant BSkyB, as well as Adidas Jaguar.•Team members include British cycling greats Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, and they aim to produce the first British Tour De France champion by 2014.•Their first tour event was the ‘Tour Down Under’ in Australia (obviously) where New Zealander Greg Henderson was Team Sky’s best placed rider, finishing third.•They are expected to compete in both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia in 2010.•The team’s General Manager is David Brailsford (above) who won the BBC Coach of the Year award in 2008 at the Sports Personality of the Year Awards.•The team’s official launch statement also claimed it wanted to inspire people of all ages and abilities to get on their bikes, through the team’s positive profile, attitude and success.• General Manager Brailsford said on launch: “We want to make heroes, persuade a genera-tion to pull on Team Sky colours and inspire people to ride. This will be an epic story.”

“He’s (Shearer) always in there looking to miss. By that I mean he’s always looking to score, but if he misses he’s not afraid of go-ing in there again.” Sir Bobby Robson“I want to eat your heart. I want to eat your children. I want to rip out his heart and feed it to him.” Mike Tyson on Lennox Lewis“I may be older than Rubens Barrichello, but I will never be as ugly.” Eddie Irvine“I threw the kitchen sink at him but he went to the bathroom and threw back the tub!” Andy Roddick“I’m going to say hello to two friends I’ve shut out of my life for the past ten weeks. So welcome back Mr Guinness and Mr Dom Perignon.” Ricky Hatton“Over the years whilst fielding at first slip. Dravid almost seems to have de-veloped an ability to stick Kumble’s balls to his hands.” ABC Cricket Commentator“Knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.” Brian O’Driscoll“He’s a big unit – and if he’s Junior Agogo, I certainly wouldn’t like to meet Senior Agogo.” Simon Hill“I woke up yesterday morn-ing face down on my bed still wearing my cricket whites and stinking of sweat and champagne. So I think it’s fair to say it was a lively night!” Graeme Swann after Eng-land’s 2009 Ashes victory over Australia.“It will be a game of football, no question.”Mick McCarthy

Well I never!Golf balls can reach speeds of 170 miles per hour.Track athletes are most likely to break records later in the day, when their body temperatures are highest.A bowling pin only needs to tilt 7.5 degrees to fall down.Aussie Rules football was originally designed to give cricketers something to play during the off season.More than 100 million

people hold hunting licenses.Fishing is the biggest par-ticipant sport in the world.The 2006 Spanish Winter Olympics team had every piece of its luggage lost by an airline en route to Turin, Italy including all their ski’s and snow boards.Ferenc Szisz from Romania, driving a Renault, won the first Formula One Grand Prix held at France’s Le

Mans circuit in 1906.Bhagwat Chandrashekhar was the only cricketer to have scored fewer runs in his Test career than the number of wickets he took (242 wickets and 177 runs).Manchester United FC do not hold the attendance record for their Old Trafford home, instead the crowd of 76,962 is the record, a 1939 FA Cup semi-final between Wolves and Grimsby.

The top sporting books that money can buy1. Jelleyman’s Thrown A Wobbly: Saturday After-noons in Front of the TellyJeff Stelling (Football)

2. OpenAndre Agassi (Tennis)

3. Beware of the DogBrian Moore (Rugby Union)

4. It’s Not About the BikeLance Armstrong (Cycling)

5. KeaneRoy Keane (Football)

6. The Damned UnitedDavid Peace (Football)

7. Torres: El Nino – My StoryFernando Torres (Football)

8. Massive AttackTrevor Tanner (Football)

9. The Referee’s a W*****r

Alex Shaw (Football)

10. The New Encyclopae-dia of Modern Bodybuild-ingBill Dobbins (Bodybuilding)

11. Clough: The Autobiog-raphyBrian Clough (Football)

12. Coming Back to MeMarcus Trescothick (Cricket)

Spor

tLet’s get quizzicalThere are 42 English Football League clubs hidden in this picture, can you find them?

Sporting Quiz1. Who was the youngest golfer to compete in the 2002 Ryder Cup?2. Who was the first boxer to receive a knighthood?3. Which is the only country to host a Summer Olympic Games in consecutive dec-

ades of the 20th century?4. In which sport must the water must be a minimum of 1m deep?5. Which team were the opponents of Manchester United when Eric Cantona launched a kung fu assault on a fan?

6. How old was Tiger Woods when he won his first major?7. Who is the youngest driver to win the Formula 1 World Championship?8. Who is the only player to win the Premier League with two different clubs?

9. I have won the European Cup, UEFA Cup, Super Cup, Premier League, and FA Cup. I have been relegated twice but never played in a lower division. Who am I?10. How many Grand Slam singles titles did Martina Navratilova win?

Name that sporting venue

Answers42 teams Millwall, Aston Villa, Nor-wich, Newcastle, Wigan, Preston North End, Leices-ter Stockport, Sheffield Wednesday, Brighton, West Ham, Charlton, Portsmouth, West Brom, Chelsea, Stoke,

Blackburn, Bolton, Cardiff, Everton, Manchester United, Sunderland, Hull Derby, Crystal Palace, Burnley, Ip-swich, Liverpool, Crewe, Sheffield United, Birming-ham Middlesbrough, Read-ing, Wolves, QPR, Arsenal, Plymouth Argyle, Leeds,

Southampton, Fulham, Wat-ford, and Manchester City.

Quiz Answers 1. Sergio Garcia 2. Henry Cooper 3. The USA in the 80s and 90s 4. Water polo 5. Crystal Palace 6. 21 7. Lewis Hamilton 8. Henning Berg

(Blackburn and Manchester United) 9. Nwankwo Kanu, 10. 18.

Stadiums 1. Pride Park (Derby County) 2. Melbourne Cricket Ground 3. Bird’s Nest Stadium, Beijing.

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