The day began soberly with the focus on the Sunday Football Supplement programme with informed and balanced discussions about Newcastle, West Ham, Man City and the transfer window.
Several things which were stated or hinted at elsewhere were confirmed. The Abu Dhabi group had approached Newcastle first but Ashley had rejected because they wanted overall control. This alone will finish Ashley and his cronies in this region. Apparently he is ready to sell up but not for the £135 which he bought the club but the £232 million which he has put in the club. He has also hired ex SAS men and others to protect him, presumably from the media which will follow him until he makes some kind of public statement. Apparently the Indian entrepreneur has 20 billion and would bring Kevin back so the end of this story remains to be written.
While the new European approach of separating the role of Manger from the person who recruits can be successful, l if one is an elder statesman rooted in the club and its traditions and has the same outlook, approach and ambitions as the manager, it has not at Newcastle, West Ham or Tottenham and has not been needed to bring success at Manchester United or Arsenal. It led to the departure of Murinho at Chelsea over the recruitment of the Russian player now elsewhere. There were also pointed comments on the behaviour of the Tottenham chairman who is said to have briefed the media throughout the day against the behaviour of Manchester United over Berbatov but then agreed to withdraw any complaints for roughly an additional £5 million payment. It is to the credit of the player that he resisted more money at man City because he believed his future would be better as part of the United Team.
Yet another information technology scandal hangs over the future of the government as the names and addresses of prison governors have gone astray and could involve the relocation of officers and their families if the information falls into the hands of the criminal underworld. There is also why it took a couple of months for the information to passed to the Home Secretary/Minister of Justice.
Not only had the rain stopped when I awoke but there were moments of sunshine so around midday I rang Durham cricket Club to learn that the ground conditions were such that the game was cancelled.
It had rained in Belgium too and these conditions suited Louis Hamilton but early when the race commenced he spun and had to settle for second position from then until the final laps when he undertook a manoeuvre which led to him being penalised by twenty five seconds with the consequence that he was placed third instead of the winner. Later the Racing Team announced they would be appealing against this decision.
I missed the final laps having switched over to the BBC 1 for their review of the first day of events at the Para Olympics where over the past decade the level of competition and performance together with the assessment has significantly improved. The coverage also included mini films about the backgrounds of those who had previously won medals or whose story merited bringing to the attention of the public in general. Welshman Simon Richardson aged 41 attending his first Olympics won a gold in 1 K time trial for those with impairment in their legs, and Aileen McGlynn from Scotland who has a severe visual handicap only being able to see shapes and shadows won the Tandem time trial with her lead cycle from Wales Ellen Hunter, both setting world records. Darren Kenny 38 then smashed his world record in the semi final of the 3000m pursuit and in the final caught his opponent after only 1000 metres which meant the race immediately end and he became the gold medal winner. Kenny who is from Dorset suffers from cerebral palsy after an accident from which he was not expected to survive. The British Swimmer Sascha Kindred who won four medals in Athens won his first event today bringing the total 4 and Britain equal first in the medal table after Day 1. The sight of some swimmers using their arms and upper bodies without the ability to control their legs, or using their legs and upper bodies with one or more arms and hands disabled was truly inspiring as the cyclists with severe damage to legs who use lightweight and strong special artificial legs.
After the evening stir fry I enjoyed Soccer Aid at Wembley in which a team of legendary footballers and celebrities played the rest of the world. Each team had a former professional goal keeper in the first half and a celebrity in the second. And they were allowed to have four out of their five former professional other players on the pitch, throughout the game if they wished. England had a forward lime of Alan Shearer who scored a penalty and a class one header and Terry Sheringham who scored first. Other ex professionals included David Seaman, Graham Le Saux and Jamie Rednapp, Harry's son whose pregnant wife did the pitch side interviews, included her father in law who managed the team with Bryan Robson. The game had mass appeal from several viewpoints. The celebrities acquitted themselves and of course had their fans from their day jobs. There was the opportunity seeing some former world class players with De Canio, Figo and Romaro in the rest of the world with Jaap Stam. They showed their skill and the 4.3 win to England just about reflected the play although no one would have complained if there had been a full time draw and the game gone to extra time/penalties.
It was then time to for Andrew Murray in the adjourned semi final against the brilliant Nadal who had won Wimbledon and just about everything else and had the world at his feet. Contrary to the BBC news Nadal did not quickly win the third set. There was one extraordinary game where Murray had seven break points and then also fought back to level twice after Nadal had gained the advantage point. This appeared to be the turning point in the match as Murray failed to win the game and collapsed to lose his serve game with Nadal taking the set. When Nadal broke Murray's service early on in the fourth it looked as if worst fears were to be realised but Murray's not just held nerve but went to the offensive playing some amazing shots of power and also of skilled accuracy and one had the sense that it was going to be his day to become first Brit to reach a semi final of a major tennis tournament in a decade and the first ever Scot/ he has alienated English support in the pat emphasing his pro Scots anti Englishness rivalry and last night further created problems by emphasising that he was playing for himself and family and that Britishness was along way on his list of priorities and interests.
Because of the sporting interests little project work was accomplished but I went to bed content
Several things which were stated or hinted at elsewhere were confirmed. The Abu Dhabi group had approached Newcastle first but Ashley had rejected because they wanted overall control. This alone will finish Ashley and his cronies in this region. Apparently he is ready to sell up but not for the £135 which he bought the club but the £232 million which he has put in the club. He has also hired ex SAS men and others to protect him, presumably from the media which will follow him until he makes some kind of public statement. Apparently the Indian entrepreneur has 20 billion and would bring Kevin back so the end of this story remains to be written.
While the new European approach of separating the role of Manger from the person who recruits can be successful, l if one is an elder statesman rooted in the club and its traditions and has the same outlook, approach and ambitions as the manager, it has not at Newcastle, West Ham or Tottenham and has not been needed to bring success at Manchester United or Arsenal. It led to the departure of Murinho at Chelsea over the recruitment of the Russian player now elsewhere. There were also pointed comments on the behaviour of the Tottenham chairman who is said to have briefed the media throughout the day against the behaviour of Manchester United over Berbatov but then agreed to withdraw any complaints for roughly an additional £5 million payment. It is to the credit of the player that he resisted more money at man City because he believed his future would be better as part of the United Team.
Yet another information technology scandal hangs over the future of the government as the names and addresses of prison governors have gone astray and could involve the relocation of officers and their families if the information falls into the hands of the criminal underworld. There is also why it took a couple of months for the information to passed to the Home Secretary/Minister of Justice.
Not only had the rain stopped when I awoke but there were moments of sunshine so around midday I rang Durham cricket Club to learn that the ground conditions were such that the game was cancelled.
It had rained in Belgium too and these conditions suited Louis Hamilton but early when the race commenced he spun and had to settle for second position from then until the final laps when he undertook a manoeuvre which led to him being penalised by twenty five seconds with the consequence that he was placed third instead of the winner. Later the Racing Team announced they would be appealing against this decision.
I missed the final laps having switched over to the BBC 1 for their review of the first day of events at the Para Olympics where over the past decade the level of competition and performance together with the assessment has significantly improved. The coverage also included mini films about the backgrounds of those who had previously won medals or whose story merited bringing to the attention of the public in general. Welshman Simon Richardson aged 41 attending his first Olympics won a gold in 1 K time trial for those with impairment in their legs, and Aileen McGlynn from Scotland who has a severe visual handicap only being able to see shapes and shadows won the Tandem time trial with her lead cycle from Wales Ellen Hunter, both setting world records. Darren Kenny 38 then smashed his world record in the semi final of the 3000m pursuit and in the final caught his opponent after only 1000 metres which meant the race immediately end and he became the gold medal winner. Kenny who is from Dorset suffers from cerebral palsy after an accident from which he was not expected to survive. The British Swimmer Sascha Kindred who won four medals in Athens won his first event today bringing the total 4 and Britain equal first in the medal table after Day 1. The sight of some swimmers using their arms and upper bodies without the ability to control their legs, or using their legs and upper bodies with one or more arms and hands disabled was truly inspiring as the cyclists with severe damage to legs who use lightweight and strong special artificial legs.
After the evening stir fry I enjoyed Soccer Aid at Wembley in which a team of legendary footballers and celebrities played the rest of the world. Each team had a former professional goal keeper in the first half and a celebrity in the second. And they were allowed to have four out of their five former professional other players on the pitch, throughout the game if they wished. England had a forward lime of Alan Shearer who scored a penalty and a class one header and Terry Sheringham who scored first. Other ex professionals included David Seaman, Graham Le Saux and Jamie Rednapp, Harry's son whose pregnant wife did the pitch side interviews, included her father in law who managed the team with Bryan Robson. The game had mass appeal from several viewpoints. The celebrities acquitted themselves and of course had their fans from their day jobs. There was the opportunity seeing some former world class players with De Canio, Figo and Romaro in the rest of the world with Jaap Stam. They showed their skill and the 4.3 win to England just about reflected the play although no one would have complained if there had been a full time draw and the game gone to extra time/penalties.
It was then time to for Andrew Murray in the adjourned semi final against the brilliant Nadal who had won Wimbledon and just about everything else and had the world at his feet. Contrary to the BBC news Nadal did not quickly win the third set. There was one extraordinary game where Murray had seven break points and then also fought back to level twice after Nadal had gained the advantage point. This appeared to be the turning point in the match as Murray failed to win the game and collapsed to lose his serve game with Nadal taking the set. When Nadal broke Murray's service early on in the fourth it looked as if worst fears were to be realised but Murray's not just held nerve but went to the offensive playing some amazing shots of power and also of skilled accuracy and one had the sense that it was going to be his day to become first Brit to reach a semi final of a major tennis tournament in a decade and the first ever Scot/ he has alienated English support in the pat emphasing his pro Scots anti Englishness rivalry and last night further created problems by emphasising that he was playing for himself and family and that Britishness was along way on his list of priorities and interests.
Because of the sporting interests little project work was accomplished but I went to bed content
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