Gary Speed 1969-2011

Hello everyone, just wanted to post a quick note to say how shocked and sad I was to hear of the news of the death of Wales manager Gary Speed. He always seemed to be one of the game's gentleman and he was ceratinly a very classy midfielder, and had progressed on to become a promising manager who has turned the fortunes of the Welsh team around. May you rest in peace, Gary. The thoughts of the football family are with your family and friends.

Wonderful Wimbledon

Apologies for the long absence - sometimes real life has to take priority :-) So, what have we missed in the meantime? Well, congratulations have to go to Manchester Utd (Premiership), Manchester City (FA Cup), Barcelona (Champions League), Porto (Europa League), Pour Moi (The Derby), John Higgins(Snooker World Champion), Rory McIlroy(US Open), Petra Kvitova(Wimbledon Ladies Singles Champion) and many others as the trophy season hits top gear.

I write this post as I am watching the Men’s Singles Final at Wimbledon. The match started off like it was going to be a walkover for Novak Djokovic but Rafa Nadal is not the champion he is for no reason, and after losing the first 2 sets he has pulled one back to make a real match of it. It is looking like it will be a fitting climax to another wonderful Wimbledon fortnight.

Dori and I were lucky to get tickets for No.1 court on the second Monday of The Championships, in the public ballot. It was just our second time attending the event after our visit there 3 years ago. I have to say that Wimbledon is one of those venues that absolutely lives up to your expectations when you get to visit in person. I love the event, and I love the place. I thought I would share just a few of the photos that Dori took whilst we were there this year.

For the record we saw Marion Bartoli defeat Serena Williams, Djokovich beat Michael Llodra and Roger Federer overcome Mikhail Youzhny in three very entertaining matches on what was a VERY hot ‘n’ humid summer’s day. We also wandered the grounds taking in small fragments of the games being played on the outside courts, whilst soaking up the atmosphere of this magnificent event. We will certainly be having another punt in the ballot again for next year!

PS Novak Djokovich has just secured his first Wimbledon victory. Many congratulations to him!

And the Rollercoaster Moves On Again

I should probably be talking today about the Champions League semi-finals, or the spat between Guardiola and Mourinho, or the Snooker World Championships nearing their end, or whatever. But, to me this last week has meant only one sporting story - the relegation of Swindon Town to the fourth tier of English football.

Just 11 short months ago, Swindon were facing Millwall in the final of the League One play-offs to determine who would claim the final promotion place to the (ridiculously named) Championship. I don't think anybody who was watching that day would have thought that we would be looking at relegation down to the basement of league football less than a year later.

There are a number of reasons why this has come about, all of which I know every Town fan is sick of hearing. Sold a number of the best players, never properly replaced, board dithered over changing manager, poor tactics, ..... I could go on for hours. The fact is we are where we are because the players that were put out onto the pitch did not perform to the expected level. A lot of them are now out of contract and a big rebuilding job is clearly needed. The current stop-gap manager, Paul Hart, is not in my opinion the man to carry out that rebuilding process. His reign has seen little change from that which went before at a time when a big change in attitude, if nothing else, was needed. Very negative tactics and some bizarre substitutions, together with an extremely haughty manner when dealing with the media (and through them the fans) has destroyed any semblance of credibility he had with the Town faithful. The team are not inspired and the fans are merely agitated. A change is needed.

And a change did come today - the resignation of chairman Andrew Fitton. He is the man who, three years ago, led a consortium that saved the club from the brink of bankruptcy and liquidation and I will be forever grateful to him for that. But, whilst the club is now immeasurably better off away from the pitch, the same can obviously not be said for the playing side. Some poor decisions on managerial appointments, and a busy work schedule that took him away from the County Ground on a very regular basis, have contributed to the failure of the team this season. I feel that a change will be welcomed by most supporters, and I hope that new chairman Jeremy Wray's first decision will be to point Mr Hart in the direction of the exit and look to bring in a new, enthusiastic and inspirational manager to revive the team and get us moving back up the league.

Things are never boring at the County Ground. The rollercoaster moves on again.

It's More Important Than That

One of my favourite sporting quotations is one attributed to the famous old manager of Liverpool, Bill Shankly. He said, or is alleged to have said that "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."

Bill Shankly

It is a great line and succinctly sums up the feeling that a lot of sports fans have for their chosen game. But then, sometimes, real matters of life and death impinge on sport and you realize all over again that at the end of the day, sport is a leisure activity, a piece of entertainment, a release from the daily grind but that is all. Two events over the last week have reminded me of that very fact.

Firstly, last Friday was the 22nd anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster, where 96 people lost their lives whilst attending the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. I can still vividly remember that day. I was at the County Ground, watching Swindon take on Watford in a Division 2 game. I switched on my radio at half-time to see how the other games were going, only to hear that there had been “some disturbance” at the semi-final, and that a number of fans were injured and they believed that there was a possibility that 1 or maybe 2 people had even been killed. Obviously, that information just got worse and worse as the afternoon and evening wore on. It struck me to the core that these were fellow football fans, doing the exact same thing as I was on a Saturday afternoon, and they had lost their lives because of it. It was a seminal moment in English football, and years later resulted in the enforcement that every major football ground in the country should be an all-seater stadium. The ultimate sacrifice of The 96 will never be forgotten.

The other episode that brought the importance or otherwise of sport into proper focus was reported on the news bulletins last night. Neil Lennon, manager of Celtic, and 2 – possibly now 3 – other renowned Celtic supporters have apparently been sent parcel bombs in the post. Somebody has seemingly seen fit to try to take the lives of these people because of their football affiliations. I know that there is also a religious element to the rivalry between the 2 Glasgow clubs, but ultimately we are talking about sport here. People are dying all over the world because of real problems and real issues; let us not start killing each other because some are wearing a different replica top. Strikes me that some people need to grow up, open their eyes and see the world for how it really is.

Some people believe that football is a matter of life and death – it isn’t, and it never should be.

Tee and Sympathy

Congratulations to Charl Schwartzel for his victory on Sunday at Augusta National in the first major of the golfing year. It was an amazing climax to the competition with as many as 10 players having a very real chance of walking away with the green jacket as they played the final 9 holes. The lead swung from one player to another with alarming regularity and I would have defied anyone to pick the winner with any degree of certainty with just 45 minutes of play remaining. It was a nail-biting conclusion to the tournament, and as unpredictable as sport should always be.

Sadly, that last round on Sunday also saw the leader at the start of play, Rory McIlroy, explode in spectacular fashion on the back 9. Still leading as he entered those final 9 holes, despite a bit of a wobble on the opening 9, things just went from bad to worse to cataclysmic for Rory as he shot 43 coming home. That included a triple bogey 7 on the 10th hole, followed by 3 putts on the 11th green and an even worse 4 putts on the short 12th hole. The collapse of his game was painful to watch at times, and you had to feel for the lad who at just 21 years of age still has a wonderful future ahead of him. And, I believe, that future will also include major wins if he can harness the brutal experience of Sunday evening and turn it around to his advantage the next time that he finds himself at the sharp end of a Major Sunday. I have every confidence that he will do just that.

The other major event of the weekend was the Grand National, which was won by Ballabriggs on a glorious Saturday afternoon at Aintree. Sadly, his win meant that I lost in the family flutter as my mum somehow managed to pick him out as one of her two selections. I did manage to choose the fourth placed horse, but that’s little consolation when you are being fleeced by your own mum!! :-)

It’s back to the Champions League this week as the semi-final line-up is decided, and it’s looking like there will be 2 Spanish teams, 1 English and 1 German – but maybe an upset will still occur. As always, you never know until the final whistle.

Til next time!

Sporting Spring

So, here we are in April and the sporting season really cranks up a gear now. Congratulations today go to India on securing their second cricket World Cup win over the weekend. The pre-tournament favourites certainly lived up to that billing and were worthy winners of the trophy, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in Saturday’s final. Over the course of the last 6 weeks there have been a number of memorable matches, most notably Ireland’s triumph over England during the group stage. England’s progress was stilted at best, and they were eventually eliminated at the quarter-final stage after squeezing their way out of their group. A thorough rethink needs to be carried out in the corridors of power if the home of cricket is ever to see a World Cup victory.

Elsewhere, as I said, the sporting season is now really kicking in. Having enjoyed the start of the F1 season a week ago, and the culmination of the cricket World Cup this last weekend, the next few weeks are crammed full with major sporting events. This coming week we have the US Masters at Augusta, Georgia – the first major golf tournament of the year. With 5 of the world’s top 6 players coming from this side of the pond, will we be seeing the first European victory at the Augusta National since Jose Maria Olazabal triumphed back in 1999? I have my doubts, but I will certainly be glued to the BBC’s much-truncated coverage over the weekend. Quite why they have chosen to only have live coverage for the last two days I don’t know – maybe budget cuts? Whatever the reason, it is another kick in the teeth for us non-Sky Sports subscribers. Sport is so becoming the pastime of the rich – or at least of the more well off.

This weekend will also see the 164th running of the Grand National, and hence my yearly flutter! Not that I will be risking large sums of money on my non-existent horsey knowledge. Rather I will be randomly picking 2 horses out of the list of runners, and along with other members of my family, I will put a massive 40p into the pot, with the person whose horse finishes nearest the front taking the whole darned lot home with them! Back in the day we used to get our dog to pick out a horse (by stepping on the list of horses) and he had a remarkably good record of choosing winners, or at least top 3 finishers. In other words, this race really is a lottery and I guess that is why it is the nation’s favourite.

The National is one of those events by which I mark the passing of the year. And another one will be coming along the following weekend, when the London Marathon takes place in the capital. That weekend London will also host both FA Cup semi-finals, which as I have discussed before, is geographically perverse (given this year’s participants) but financially understandable. That we have reached the penultimate stage of the premier cup competition in the country shows us that the end of the football season is very nearly upon us – although for some we are pretty much there already (I’m looking at you Swindon Town!). Then the great summer of sport will be upon us – one event of which I will be attending in person – but I will talk about all of that at a later date. Until then, just enjoy the feast of sporting fun that awaits us over these coming few weeks.

Til next time.

Up, Down and Round and Round

The last few days have been quite eventful sports-wise. We have seen the quarter-finals of the cricket World Cup, the start of the 2011 Formula 1 season, another round of European Championship qualifiers and the always anachronistic Boat Race!  Add to that another depressingly familiar defeat for Swindon Town and you have a weekend packed full of ups and downs.

Saturday was the busiest day, with the last of the cricket quarter-finals taking place, along with a host of international football matches and the aforementioned Boat Race. It was a day of mixed fortunes for England, as the cricket team were soundly beaten by Sri Lanka to exit from the competition, whilst the football team performed well for 20 minutes in their qualifying match in Wales, which was enough to secure the 2-0 victory. That means that England are now back on top of their qualifying group, and seem to be stumbling their way towards making it into next year’s tournament.

 John Terry, Photo by John Dobson

Talking of the football team, did you see the mess that Fabio Capello made of reinstating John Terry as the national team captain? Whichever way you look at it, it was poor management from Capello. You can argue whether the actual decision was correct, whether John Terry should be captain at all, but whatever you think the handover of the armband was a farce from start to finish. It does seem to be a trait of the Italian’s though. David Beckham was dropped via an ITV interview after many years outstanding service for the England team, and now Rio Ferdinand finds out he has been dumped as the latest England captain also via the media. Mind you, he also apparently found that he had been appointed as captain in the first place via watching TV, so maybe he shouldn’t have expected anything else!

I do have respect for Capello as a coach, but his man-management skills leave a lot to be desired, and let’s face it, the England manager/coach/whatever doesn’t actually need to do a lot of coaching. Good interpersonal skiils and motivation are his priorities and it is exactly here where Capello appears to fall down. Of course, none of us know exactly what goes on behind the scenes, and the media have a vested interest in playing up any story of this kind. But hopefully this will be the last such controversy and both “coach” and players will be able to concentrate on matters on the pitch for the remainder of the qualifying campaign.

Elsewhere, the F1 season finally got under way in Australia after the postponement of the Grand Prix in Bahrain. A convincing victory for current champ Sebastian Vettel will have been very ominous for his rivals in this year’s championship. The F1 roadshow now moves out to the Far East with Grand Prix in Malaysia and China before heading back towards Europe in May. If this year’s battle for the Championship is anywhere near as close as last season then motorheads everywhere will be very happy.

Oh, and Cambridge didn’t win the Boat Race. And Swindon are hurtling fast towards League 2 with no apparent prospect of even winning one match, let alone winning enough games to stay up. Ho hum. Sport – it enthrals and appals in equal measure.

Up for the Cup!

So, here we are midway through March and the football season is starting to build towards its climax. This last week saw the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and the culmination of the “round of 16” in the Champions League. The finals of both competitions will take place at Wembley Stadium, London in May.

Wembley Stadium, London, England

In the European matches most games went the way you would expect, and the quarter-final line-up will include 3 English teams, 2 Spanish, 1 Italian, 1 German and 1 Ukrainian team. The draw for that next round will take place tomorrow (Friday) and could see some interesting match-ups. From what I have seen so far, Barcelona stand head and shoulders above the other teams left in the competition and everyone will be hoping to avoid them if at all possible.

The surprise team of this season has been Tottenham, who have gone one better than their North London rivals Arsenal in this year’s competition. Who is to say that they won’t go even further? Under Harry Redknapp’s expert direction, they have entertained hugely throughout their campaign, and goals and comebacks have been in plentiful supply. It would be a refreshing change to see a different team in this year’s semi-finals, and I would not bet against Spurs being that side.

Domestically, the FA Cup is one stage further on than the Champions League, with the semi-final line-up already decided. There were some very entertaining matches in the quarter-finals, especially those games involving the less fancied teams. The semi-finals will take place on the weekend of 16th/17th April at their new home of Wembley Stadium, despite the fact that all 4 competing teams come from north of Nottingham. I understand that finances dictate that the FA needs to use Wembley Stadium as much as possible, but the finances of the cash-strapped supporter never seem to be taken into account – or don’t matter!

Back in the day, both of these matches would have taken place at a neutral club venue – maybe Hillsborough for the Manchester derby and Villa Park for the Stoke/Bolton game. But now, because the FA overspent on rebuilding Wembley, all of the fans of those clubs will have to traipse their way down to London for the semis – and, for 2 sets of supporters, back again for the final in May. Once again, the fan in the street is the last person to be considered amongst the high finance of modern-day football.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Without The Good!)

I step away from my blog for a few days and all hell seems to break out!

First off there was the Rooney incident at Wigan when he ambushed James McCarthy – flooring the Wigan midfielder with an elbow to the head. Somehow Rooney managed to escape without any punishment at all. The referee gave a free-kick but handed out no cards – which means there is no way he could have actually seen the incident because, if he had, then Rooney would have played no further part in the game. Then Alex Ferguson, who won’t speak to the BBC because one of their reporters looked at him funny one time, or something, sent out assistant Mike Phelan who whimpered that “we can’t dispute the referee’s decision”.

This farce was then made worse when the FA kowtowed to the “mighty Man Utd” and refused to apply any subsequent punishment on Rooney because, they say, the referee saw the incident and dealt with it at the time. I have to suspect that if it had been a different player, playing for a different team that a different outcome would have occurred somewhere along the line. Either the referee would have sent the player off, or admitted afterwards that he did not see the offence, or the authorities would have seen fit to apply a more proper and appropriate punishment after the fact.

Ironically it was Manchester United who were moaning about the officials in their very next game, when they slipped to defeat against Chelsea. No talk now about respecting the match officials’ decisions. Ferguson was angry that the ref failed to send off Davd Luiz and commented that he had “feared the worst” when he saw who the referee was to be. He also said that “you want a fair referee .... and we didn’t get that”. The irony couldn’t really get any thicker. Ferguson has a habit of disrespecting match officials when he doesn’t get his own way, and has a suspended 2-match touchline ban from last season for a similar offence. The FA has charged him again with improper conduct, but they seem incapable of applying any suitable and effective penalty. I don’t expect a different outcome this time either.

And further disciplinary controversy was to follow in midweek, this time north of the border. A very fiery Old Firm clash resulted in 3 Rangers players being sent off, 13 bookings, a series of touchline flare-ups and a very angry confrontation between Celtic manager Neil Lennon and Rangers assistant Ally McCoist. So bad was the atmosphere and behaviour at this match that the Scottish Government have intervened and announced that they will be holding a summit meeting between the two clubs, the Scottish FA, the police and themselves. 34 arrests were made inside the stadium, with plenty more outside. I am all for a bit of passion in football, but I think things may have gotten a teensy bit out of control up there. Wish I’d seen the game, mind!

Don't Bet on This GG!

As always it has been a busy and eventful week in the world of sport. This weekend saw the start of the cricket World Cup, taking place in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. The opening game took place on Saturday in Bangladesh where the hosts were beaten convincingly by India. Predictable wins followed on Sunday for New Zealand and Sri Lanka against Kenya and Canada respectively.

In all there will be a total of 49 one-day games played over the next 6 weeks, with the final being played in Mumbai on April 2nd. England have yet to win a World Cup, despite hosting 4 of the 9 tournaments so far. Even though they performed heroics in the recent Ashes Test series in Australia, it looks like that wait for the trophy may have some way to go yet. The following One Day International series against the Aussies was far less successful, and although the team has certainly improved over the last few years, this tournament may have come a little too early for them. India look to be the favourites this time around.

In the world of football, this last week has also been mainly about cup action. The 5th round of the FA Cup, or some of it at least, took place over the weekend with Leyton Orient grabbing a draw against the mighty Arsenal to force a replay. Other notable results were the narrow 1-0 defeat of non-league Crawley Town by world superpower Man Utd, and the deposing of the cup-winners of the last 2 seasons, Chelsea, by Everton in a penalty shoot-out – although I should point out that that game was actually a 4th round replay.

The real fireworks though occurred in the Champions League, which returned from its winter hiatus last week. Sadly those fireworks had little to do with the actual football though. AC Milan captain Gennaro Gattuso seemed to lose the plot and bizarrely lashed out at renowned former hard-man Joe Jordan, now assistant boss at Spurs. Anybody who chooses to headbutt Joe Jordan may need to re-examine their thought processes – there is a reason why he has 2 front teeth missing!

What would have been really interesting is if everybody else there had just taken a step back and let Gattuso and Jordan go at it. Gattuso may be a sportsman still playing at the peak of the game, and Jordan may be 59 years old, but I know which one my money would be on!

On Your Marks.......

The London Olympics may be just under 18 months away, but things are starting to crank up a gear in preparation for the greatest multi-sport event on the globe.

Today sees the release of the final event schedule for the games, along with the all-important ticket prices. The tickets themselves will go on sale a month from today, with the organizers operating a ballot system for those events/sessions that are oversubscribed. It hardly seems like 5 minutes ago when I was glued to the TV waiting anxiously to see the announcement on whether the games would be awarded to Paris (the favourites) or London. That was actually the best part of 6 years ago – yes, “6 (six)” ,as the old Grandstand teleprinter would say! And now we are at the point where we can say that the Olympics will be taking place here next year.

The athletics – most people’s flagship sport of the Olympics – will begin on August 3rd, running through to the last day of the games on August 12th. The blue riband event of the men’s 100m race will take place on August 5th. The full schedule of events for all 26 sports can be found on the London 2012 website.

In other Olympic related news, the decision was made last week to confer “preferred bidder” status on West Ham United to take over the Olympic stadium once the Paralympics have been completed in September 2012. West Ham were up against Tottenham Hotspur in the battle for the stadium, or the stadium site to be more accurate as Spurs intended to knock down the stadium itself and build their own in its place. Neither bid was 100% perfect, and by all accounts the fans of both clubs were not too enthusiastic about moving to the Stratford site.

To my mind the West Ham proposal was the more honourable – the club already have a home in the same borough and intend to keep the athletics track in place, whereas Spurs intend to move away from their traditional North London base, bulldoze the stadium, and remove the athletics track although they would renovate the Crystal Palace athletics stadium as a compensation. Part of the bid to host the games was the promise that athletics would have a legacy from London 2012 at the Olympic Park. Spurs proposals would obviously go against this promise. So it is understandable that the Olympic Park Legacy Company chose the West Ham bid as preferable.

However, as a football fan, I have to say that I hate watching games that are played in athletics stadia. The action is taking place too far away from the crowd and the atmosphere is completely lost. So, whilst I believe that the correct decision was made, I can’t say I am looking forward to the resultant compromise venue that will be West Ham’s new home. Sometimes, I guess, there really is no correct answer.

What A Weekend!

Well, that was quite a weekend for top sporting action. The big event was Super Bowl XLV and the game certainly lived up to the hype - so much so, in fact, that I stayed up to gone 3:00 a.m. to see the climax of the whole thing.

The Vince Lombardi Trophy, Uploaded on flickr.com by user "pkeleher" [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Congratulations must go to the Green Bay Packers for a tremendous 31-25 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. But, as with most sports, the result doesn’t even begin to tell the story of the match, which ebbed and flowed throughout. The Packers led 21-3 at one stage early in the game, but a tremendous comeback from the Steelers got them to within 3 points of their opponents, and with the momentum on their side the Championship was definitely there for the taking. But, the Packers regrouped and found the determination to score again and deny the Steelers a third Super Bowl victory in six years. For me, it was an excellent contest and the destination of the Lombardi Trophy was up for grabs right until the dying seconds. Sport at its best.

Elsewhere, the Premiership did their best to try to outshine the showpiece occasion on the other side of the pond. A breathtaking weekend of action, with some amazing scorelines, produced the greatest total of goals on one day – 41 from the 8 games played on Saturday. A stunning comeback by Newcastle Utd saw them recover from 0-4 down after 26 minutes to grab an unlikely 4-4 draw in the last few minutes. That is the first time a team has recovered from a 4 goal deficit in the history of the Premiership. And that was by no means the only sensation of the day, with previously unbeaten Manchester Utd succumbing to bottom of the table Wolves and slipping to a 2-1 defeat.

There were also 8 goals at Everton, in a game that swung one way and then the other, and back again. 7 goals at Wigan, 5 at Stoke and 4 at Aston Villa all managed to push up that record total. The expected titanic clash of Chelsea and Liverpool on Sunday was very mild in comparison and Fernando Torres was kept extremely quiet by his ex-teammates before being substituted in the second half. A 1-0 victory for the visiting side has now realistically ended any hopes that Chelsea may have had of winning the title this year. In fact, they may well be looking over their shoulders at Tottenham and Liverpool themselves in the battle for a Champions League place.

As I mentioned on Saturday, this weekend was also the start of the Six Nations and there were victories for England, Ireland and France. Those latter two teams will meet each other at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on this coming Saturday, whilst England will play Italy, and Scotland will host Wales.

All in all, it was a very eventful and exciting sporting weekend. May there be many more like it ahead of us.

An Oval Ball Weekend

It is another landmark weekend in the sporting calendar, as the Six Nations kicks off on this side of the Atlantic and the Super Bowl takes place tomorrow on the other.

The first match of the Six Nations took place last night and saw England win at the Millennium Stadium for the first time since 2003. The 26-19 victory gave the favourites the start they needed in this year’s tournament, but was a major setback for their hosts. Wales have now gone 8 games without a win and will face a trip up to Scotland next week in a game they have to be looking to win to prevent their season from spiralling out of control already. Elsewhere this weekend, Ireland travel to Italy and France will be looking to start their campaign with a victory over the Scots. I don’t pretend to be a rugby union expert, but if recent past seasons are anything of a guide then expect a French or English victory lap come March 19th.

The major sporting occasion of the weekend is, of course, Super Bowl XLV taking place in Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas. Now, I know even less about the NFL than I do of rugby matters, but I will be sitting down tomorrow evening to watch the Green Bay Packers take on Pittsburgh Steelers – or the start of it at least. Due to the time difference the game is likely to go on to something like 4:00 a.m. on Monday morning, so I may have to bail out at half-time – or rather after watching the half-time show by the Black Eyed Peas. Even as a non-follower of the sport, the Super Bowl is still clearly a great occasion and a wonderful spectacle. I know that the English FA, not to mention UEFA and FIFA, could learn a thing or two about putting on a show from the NFL.

Back in the domain of the round ball the main interest may be the contest between Chelsea and Liverpool in the EPL – not, for once, because of any realistic title challenges but because the fixture computer has thrown up this match in the very same week that Fernando Torres moves from Merseyside to the Blues. I suspect things may get a little tasty at the Bridge tomorrow!

All of this, of course, pales in comparison to events down at the County Ground, Swindon where the Town are taking on Rochdale as I write these notes. Firmly ensconced in the bottom 4 at the start of the day, Swindon will be hoping to get something out of this game in an effort to revitalize what has been a very disappointing season to date. Elliot Benyon is making his Swindon debut after his deadline day signing from Torquay United, and goals are most certainly needed at the CG. Come on You Reds!

Whatever sport you follow, I hope you have a winning weekend!

Deadline Day Drama

The January transfer window slammed shut last night and, in a mad last-minute scramble, several hundred millions of pounds changed hands as players flitted across the country and continent to find homes in pastures new. Whilst it was exciting to watch, is it actually good for the game?

This year saw a lot more business conducted compared to the previous January window, and apparently also saw some clubs completely lose any sense of reality. Huge sums of money were paid for players either without any real pedigree, or who are currently playing way below their best form. The English Premiership alone splashed out over £200million, including £50million for Fernando Torres and £35million for Andy Carroll. That’s the same Andy Carroll who has yet to complete a full Premiership season and who has played just once for England – in a friendly. Yes he may have great potential, but £35million is an awful lot of dosh to dole out in the hope that one day he will become the next Alan Shearer.

The current economic climate doesn’t appear to have filtered through to some football club chairmen, or should I say owners. Since the arrival of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea the gap between the EPL and the rest of English football, and even to some extent the rest of European football, has grown increasingly wide. And, a gap has also developed within the Premiership itself with just a handful of clubs in with any kind of shout of making it into Europe, and in reality just 4 teams with a realistic chance of taking the title. Can it really be good for the wider game to have so much power residing in the hands of so few clubs? And will the money men hang around forever? Only one club can be Premiership champions in a season – everyone else are losers. For how long will the owners put up with pouring millions of pounds into those clubs without any real silverware in return?

The economic bubble burst in 2008 with devastating worldwide effect. I can only hope that the football bubble doesn’t follow the same path. I have my fears.

Murray Mania Still On Hold

Another final, another straight sets defeat. Will Andy Murray ever take that one extra step and become a Grand Slam tournament champion? It’s been 75 years since Britain last had a male winner of a Grand Slam tournament and that long wait shows no sign of ending anytime soon.

Image: Andy Murray, French Open 2009, by Yann Caradec via Wikimedia Commons

Yesterday’s final of the Australian Open was Murray’s third appearance in a major final, following the ’08 US Open and last year’s Aussie Open. Each time he has been swept aside without winning a set, by Roger Federer in his previous 2 finals, and by Novak Djokovic this time around. The question has to be asked – is it a step too far for the man from Dunblane?

Well, I certainly hope not, and I do feel that Murray has what it takes to end several generations of hurt for British tennis fans. No other Brit has played in more than two Grand Slam finals since Fred Perry’s victory at the US Open in 1936, and none have reached more than one final in the Open era. The much vaunted Tim Henman never made it into a major final, and his great rival Greg Rusedski (quasi British) achieved just one appearance – at Flushing Meadows in 1997. So, Murray has certainly shown himself to be in a class of his own compared to other recent (and not-so-recent) British players.

In yesterday’s final, Murray looked tired and weary and after an initial blistering start to the first set, that tiredness seemed to grow exponentially. That may have had something to do with the fact that Djokovic had had the benefit of an extra day’s rest from the semis, and that Murray was pushed to the limit in his semi-final against David Ferrer, and may well have been carrying an injury sustained in that match too. But, every player has to contend with the battle scars of tournament tennis. Djokovic himself was heavily strapped both at the shoulder and on his knee during the final. Champions find a way to rise above the physical pain and still produce their best tennis on the court when it matters. Murray himself has done that at other tournaments on the circuit, but has blatantly failed to do so in the majors.

He has beaten every top player in the world at some point, and has quite a good win/lose ratio against most of them – Federer included. So, the implication has to be that the problem is more mental rather than technical. It is often difficult to read Murray’s body language, but to me he looked nervous and downbeat before the final even started in Melbourne. In order to become a true champion I believe that it is the mentality of winning under the most intense of pressure that Andy Murray has to take on. Without that, Britain may be waiting another 75 years.

Full Disclosure

Welcome to The Sports Ground. As I have found with my other blog, there is no telling where this journey will lead us or what I will end up blogging about and sharing with you here. What I do know is that sport in all of its forms is my passion, and I hope to share some of that enthusiasm with all of you who are kind enough to visit this little corner of the web.

As the title of this post suggests, I feel a need to let you all know where I am coming from before I get started with this blog. First of all, I fully expect the majority of my posts to concern football - or soccer if you have wandered in from some foreign parts :) Football has always been, and always will be, my main sporting interest. I currently live in Wiltshire, and I am a Swindon Town and an England supporter, so don't be surprised if a bias towards those quarters appears from time to time. That's not to say that I won't be talking about other teams or other sports - because I most definitely will.  This is, after all, The Sports Ground and not The Football Ground!

As with my football interests, my other sporting posts are likely to be a little English- or British-centric, but I am first and foremost a sports fan and I hope to cover sports, teams and atheletes from across the globe. I don't pretend to be an expert in every sport, but I always feel that you don't need to be an expert to appreciate the competition and drama that sport so often generates. When the Olympics come round I will often find myself watching archery, or volleyball, or judo, or .... well, the list goes on. Sports that don't normally register on the radar of most of us, but all of which have the power to enthral and interest the passing sports fan. That is exactly what I hope to convey here. A love of sport and the power it has to excite and beguile.

So, please join me and feel free to comment and contribute to the debate as it develops. Welcome once again to The Sports Ground - where the turnstiles are always open!