Our correspondent has angled all over the world but says an English trout stream in June takes some beating.
One of the perks of writing about fishing is that, from time to time, the opportunity to travel bobs up. This travel, over many years, has taken me to most of the world's great fishing experiences, Montana and New Zealand notably excepted.
It has enabled me to catch, among others, salmon in the Russian Arctic, sea trout in Tierra del Fuego, rainbow trout in Alaska, bonefish in the central Pacific, marlin from the Indian Ocean, tiger fish from southern Africa and shark from the Great Barrier Reef.
A result is that I have often been asked which experience I most enjoyed and which would I recommend to someone seeking the experience of a lifetime. A linked but rather different question is: which fishing experience would I opt for, if I could choose only one? The problem in attempting such choices is that they are all so unlike one another. How does one compare a 7lb Arctic char to a 70lb sailfish, the lushness of tropical Africa and its Garden-of-Eden wildlife with the empty, honey-coloured plains of southern Patagonia where condors make silence against the backdrop of the Andes?
There are other complications. What might thrill me might not thrill the person asking the question - one man's meat is another man's poisson, so to speak. Also, there are cautions that need to be injected. First, much of the fishing offered on the international market is hyped in terms of consistency, fish sizes and fish numbers: always, one seems to need rods that will stop an ocean liner, lines of several tonnes' breaking-strain and backing that would go twice around the earth.
Second, no matter how great a location's track record, results can never be guaranteed. Rivers can be high when they need to be low, low when they fish best with plenty of water. There may be freak tides or winds.
Migratory fish may run early or late. On a trip to Minnesota, I smashed my two favourites rods in a truck door on the day after arrival and ended up fishing with borrowed tackle that took the edge off the whole trip. The chance of disappointment and a willingness to accept it, no matter how high the expectation or the cost, has to be built in, every time.
There is a last point before I take the questioner's bait. Often, the quality of a fishing experience depends less on fish than on the specific circumstances in which it occurs and the company in which it is enjoyed. Indeed, some of the most vivid memories I have brought home have hinged on something else entirely.
My warmest memory of a trip to northern Russia - indeed, the warmest memory I hold of any trip - was not of the wonderful salmon there, but of a meeting with a remarkable old woman. Babashula, a dignified, eightysomething widow in a desperately poor village, invited me in for a cup of tea. She gave me a cup and my interpreter a cup, which exhausted her supply: she talked vividly of a life of unbelievable hardship and drama, all the while sipping from a saucer held aloft on her finger-tips like an offered chalice.
A highlight of one African trip was when my accompanying photographer tried his hand with a rod and got a crocodile tangled in his line. In a small boat off the coast of Newfoundland, a humpback whale rose through the surface 20 yards away, seeming to shut out the light and black out the sky. In Alaska, while wading down a river, I rounded a bend and found myself face to face with a grizzly sow and her three cubs wading upstream - a situation that effortlessly held my attention for minutes that seemed hours.
But enough. Which fishing would I recommend for that one-off trip? Well, it would have to be for a species that can be caught on a fly, because, though I coarse-fish as well, I prefer fly-fishing above all else. I would narrow the options farther by excluding the monsters - shark, full-grown tarpon and the like - because success with them can depend on brute strength and stamina.
Which leaves the manageable fish. For consistency, drama, involvement and delicacy my choices, in descending order, would be for bonefish off somewhere such as Christmas Island in the Pacific, for sea trout in Tierra del Fuego and for wild rainbows in Alaska. Bonefish are the hardest-fighting fish I know. They are so iridescently silver that they reflect all light, becoming almost invisible. Often it is a case of stalking the shadows they cast, while wading far from land beneath an unblinking sun, as manta rays waft by and frigate birds dive. The sea trout on rivers such as the Rio Grande consistently deliver salmon-sized fish, on single-handed rods - sometimes to dry flies and nymphs. The big rainbows also can be individually stalked as they range about like pack animals, hunting for spawned salmon eggs after winter's long hunger.
Now the second question. If I had to choose a place and a time to fish above all others, it would be none of these. It would - yes - be England. It would, if I could get it, be fishing for sizeable wild brown trout on a chalk stream in the last two weeks in May and the first two weeks in June. In other words, right here, right now. The cuckoo would be calling and the swifts and swallows would be sculpting the sky. The water crowfoot and its flowers would be sweeping the currents like drowned hair. The mayflies would be hatching, the fish would be up and the surface would be punctuated with slow, oiling rings.
Then, God would be in his heaven and I would be in mine - transported, I'd like to think, metaphorically.
- Brian Clarke's fishing column appears on the first Monday of each month.
Source:The times
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Lance Armstrong, a self-proclaimed old dog, gets back to his old tricks in Giro
Denis Menchov managed to defend his lead through the last stage of the Giro d'Italia yesterday, a time-trial through the streets of Rome in which Bradley Wiggins, of Britain, came a mere second from winning. Yet while the Russian was claiming the overall honours, the race in his wake featured the rise and rise of Lance Armstrong.
Armstrong's twelfth place overall may not have threatened Menchov, but his riding in the past week has confounded expectation. When he crashed and broke his collarbone in late March, it seemed reasonable to rule him out of Tour de France contention. After the Giro, he must be firmly ruled back in.
After one of his stronger rides, in the climb up to Blockhaus on Wednesday, Armstrong reported on his Twitter feed: “I feel my condition is improving OK considering I drank beer for four years, crashed hard last month and am an old dog.”
It is hard to disagree with that assessment, although not many Italians will have read his words because the Italian media had long been boycotting the infamous twitterer. As Armstrong returns to the United States today, the twofold conclusion is a mirror image of so much of his past: that the race just completed was a great success in the saddle and a disaster in the media.
Armstrong long ago fell out of love with the French press, but when he arrived in Venice for the Giro's start three weeks ago, it seemed that he had won a new set of admirers. This affection, though, did not make it into the Giro's final week when his riding, at least, would have justified it.
Armstrong was never going to challenge for the podium in the Giro; it was impressive enough, after collarbone surgery, that he even got to the start-line. In the early stages of the race, it seemed he was at worst suffering and at best content just to hang in and work for Levi Leipheimer, his team leader. But in the second week, stage ten in the Italian Alps, some of the old strength was back in his legs and he finished equal sixth, 29 seconds behind Danilo Di Luca, the winner and race leader.
There was more of this the next Monday, when he stayed with the race leaders up the final ascent before dropping back to help Leipheimer.
After that, Johan Bruyneel, Armstrong's team manager, put words to his achievements. “It's exactly what I hoped for,” he said. “I didn't hope for a great result in the Giro. But I hoped that he could be progressing or be close to the favourites in the last week and that's a little bit what's happening. That's actually a lot better than we expected. I would like to see if we can continue this progression, or at least stay at the same level.”
Progress did continue. By Wednesday, Armstrong was significantly stronger than Leipheimer, attacked on his own, did not quite have the strength to catch the leaders but did enough to draw the following endorsement from Gilberto Simoni, a two-time Giro winner: “Armstrong is improving every day. You can see how competitive he is by the way he's pedalling. It's the same style from his seven Tour de France wins. He's going to have a great Tour de France.”
Yet this admiration in the peloton was not mirrored off it. On the tenth stage, in Milan, the riders staged a protest against what they saw as a dangerous race set-up and, with Armstrong standing near the front of the protest, he was perceived to be one of the shop stewards. This sparked off a wave of antipathy that he did little to quell.
The response from Angelo Zomegnan, the race director, was withering. He said that the race “required riders to get their backsides up off the seats of their bikes, and some riders who are not so young any more apparently don't feel like doing that. Instead, it seems like their legs have become shorter and their tongues longer.”
Armstrong did make a formal apology, but the Italian press jumped to the defence of their race, with one newspaper describing him as “an old-age pensioner who's clearly come to Italy for a holiday”.
Thereafter, the love had died. Armstrong refused to speak to the media for the second half of the race, which meant that their only access to him was through his Twitter feed or the occasional piece of hand-held video posted on his website. Not wishing to have his soundbites controlled in such a way, the Italian press then united in boycotting these soundbites altogether.
Armstrong even earned himself a nickname among some of Italian press - “Osama”, because, like bin Laden, the only time they get to hear from him is via his own video messages.
What's next for Lance Armstrong?
He will fly home to the United States today, where his girlfriend, Anna Hansen, is expecting their first baby. He has three children from his previous marriage. He is not expected to ride again in Europe before the Tour de France, which starts on July 4.
He needs to sort out ownership of his cycling team. Astana are owned by the cycling federation of Kazakhstan and funded by Kazakh businesses. Those businesses have been in default of payment, which could lead to Astana having their licence withdrawn before the Tour.
He also needs to practise politics with Alberto Contador. Armstrong may now be a contender for the Tour de France but his biggest rival is Contador, his team-mate, who did not ride on the Giro. Contador and Armstrong will both want to lead their team in France.
Source: The times
Armstrong's twelfth place overall may not have threatened Menchov, but his riding in the past week has confounded expectation. When he crashed and broke his collarbone in late March, it seemed reasonable to rule him out of Tour de France contention. After the Giro, he must be firmly ruled back in.
After one of his stronger rides, in the climb up to Blockhaus on Wednesday, Armstrong reported on his Twitter feed: “I feel my condition is improving OK considering I drank beer for four years, crashed hard last month and am an old dog.”
It is hard to disagree with that assessment, although not many Italians will have read his words because the Italian media had long been boycotting the infamous twitterer. As Armstrong returns to the United States today, the twofold conclusion is a mirror image of so much of his past: that the race just completed was a great success in the saddle and a disaster in the media.
Armstrong long ago fell out of love with the French press, but when he arrived in Venice for the Giro's start three weeks ago, it seemed that he had won a new set of admirers. This affection, though, did not make it into the Giro's final week when his riding, at least, would have justified it.
Armstrong was never going to challenge for the podium in the Giro; it was impressive enough, after collarbone surgery, that he even got to the start-line. In the early stages of the race, it seemed he was at worst suffering and at best content just to hang in and work for Levi Leipheimer, his team leader. But in the second week, stage ten in the Italian Alps, some of the old strength was back in his legs and he finished equal sixth, 29 seconds behind Danilo Di Luca, the winner and race leader.
There was more of this the next Monday, when he stayed with the race leaders up the final ascent before dropping back to help Leipheimer.
After that, Johan Bruyneel, Armstrong's team manager, put words to his achievements. “It's exactly what I hoped for,” he said. “I didn't hope for a great result in the Giro. But I hoped that he could be progressing or be close to the favourites in the last week and that's a little bit what's happening. That's actually a lot better than we expected. I would like to see if we can continue this progression, or at least stay at the same level.”
Progress did continue. By Wednesday, Armstrong was significantly stronger than Leipheimer, attacked on his own, did not quite have the strength to catch the leaders but did enough to draw the following endorsement from Gilberto Simoni, a two-time Giro winner: “Armstrong is improving every day. You can see how competitive he is by the way he's pedalling. It's the same style from his seven Tour de France wins. He's going to have a great Tour de France.”
Yet this admiration in the peloton was not mirrored off it. On the tenth stage, in Milan, the riders staged a protest against what they saw as a dangerous race set-up and, with Armstrong standing near the front of the protest, he was perceived to be one of the shop stewards. This sparked off a wave of antipathy that he did little to quell.
The response from Angelo Zomegnan, the race director, was withering. He said that the race “required riders to get their backsides up off the seats of their bikes, and some riders who are not so young any more apparently don't feel like doing that. Instead, it seems like their legs have become shorter and their tongues longer.”
Armstrong did make a formal apology, but the Italian press jumped to the defence of their race, with one newspaper describing him as “an old-age pensioner who's clearly come to Italy for a holiday”.
Thereafter, the love had died. Armstrong refused to speak to the media for the second half of the race, which meant that their only access to him was through his Twitter feed or the occasional piece of hand-held video posted on his website. Not wishing to have his soundbites controlled in such a way, the Italian press then united in boycotting these soundbites altogether.
Armstrong even earned himself a nickname among some of Italian press - “Osama”, because, like bin Laden, the only time they get to hear from him is via his own video messages.
What's next for Lance Armstrong?
He will fly home to the United States today, where his girlfriend, Anna Hansen, is expecting their first baby. He has three children from his previous marriage. He is not expected to ride again in Europe before the Tour de France, which starts on July 4.
He needs to sort out ownership of his cycling team. Astana are owned by the cycling federation of Kazakhstan and funded by Kazakh businesses. Those businesses have been in default of payment, which could lead to Astana having their licence withdrawn before the Tour.
He also needs to practise politics with Alberto Contador. Armstrong may now be a contender for the Tour de France but his biggest rival is Contador, his team-mate, who did not ride on the Giro. Contador and Armstrong will both want to lead their team in France.
Source: The times
Andy Murray finds himself out but not down in Paris
There have been so many peculiar goings-on at Roland Garros in the past few days that the arrival of a second British male semi-finalist in five years would have been considered run-of-the-mill. That Andy Murray could not match Tim Henman's bravura form of 2004 owed more to the relentless brilliance of his opponent than anything over which he should bear lasting recrimination.
Fernando González, of Chile, the junior champion here 11 years ago and the oldest player left in the field at 28, reached his first semi-final at the French Open because he chose this day to perform in the manner of the champion he may well become this weekend. Murray, in his past four defeats at these “majors”, has found himself on the wrong end of four men - Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, Roger Federer at the US Open, Fernando Verdasco in Australia and González yesterday - in shuddering form.
He was yesterday's hollow-eyed press room inhabitant, beaten 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 and following a distinguished line of players asked to assimilate matches they must have thought they would win, only to have that pleasure ripped from them. Commendably, he did not seek excuses, as neither did his fellow top-ten occupants Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga nor Gilles Simon before him. Defeats are torture, made worse when you cannot accept them in the proper spirit.
Murray tipped his hat to González, rightly so. The Chilean had reached the last eight without dropping a set; he has now forfeited only one and if he can maintain this form on Friday against Robin Söderling, the Swede who picked up against Davydenko where he left off against Nadal, a second grand-slam final beckons.
Those who believed him to be a one-trick pony, all forehand and fluff, now know better. Having seen much of him down the years, I cannot recall an afternoon when González has sliced his backhand to better effect, returned with such assuredness - again largely off the backhand - served so well, caused so much anguish with the drop shot and, yes, kept that forehand up his sleeve to unleash when it was required. His mis-hits could be counted on the fingers of one hand, which, against a player of Murray's renowned precision, is laudable.
What was difficult to fathom from a British perspective is why Murray went to sleep at the start of the third set having hauled himself so patiently back into the match by taking the second. He had two points for 1-1 and played sloppily, finally outdone by a rasping forehand winner up the line on break point as González once again remained patient in a groundstroke exchange and won it with a flourish. Before we knew it, the man in canary yellow had flown away with the set, for the loss of seven points.
Murray swallowed that and hung in. He earned a standing ovation on the first point of the fifth game in the fourth set when he slid from one side to the other, returning overheads and smashes from improbable positions, hoping he might draw something reckless from someone who does reckless pretty well. There was a sense, when he lost that point, that the Chilean would not buckle. Each game he won was completed with a dream shot, likesuch as the forehand winner in the eighth game when Murray had saved two break points with a couple ofequally glorious backhands down the line.
For the first time, González let rip with a throaty roar, only for it to diein the back of his throat when he immediately lost his serve to love. Could Murray mount the rearguard action to beat all rearguard actions? It was not to be, as he lost his next service game and the match, also to love, during which he played one of his poorest forehand drop shots, the mark of a dispirited man.
“His forehand is the biggest, he can hit winners from anywhere on the court,” Murray said. “He hits it great on the run, he can hit it from anywhere on the court. Even if you try to hit a ball to his backhand, he makes his mind up that he wants to hit a forehand on the shot, he runs around and spanks a winner. You can't do a whole lot with it. It's not like he wore me down. Physically there weren't any issues there. I just got myself back into the match in the fourth set and didn't take my opportunities when I had them.
“It's been a very good clay-court season, though, a lot better than in previous years. I stayed injury-free. I thought that I moved better. I had good results. Next year it would be good to improve a round or so each tournament, not have one early loss, and consistently get to the end of the tournaments.” It is asking much, but he can do it.
Söderling proved that his defeat of Nadal was no flash in the pan. It is hard to think of anyone you would less like to meet the round after Nadal than Davydenko, but the Swede lost only five games as he completed a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victory in an hour and 41 minutes.
He has now won eight matches in a row, better than anything in his career. The last Swede to reach the final here, Magnus Norman in 2000, is his coach. Norman was dating Martina Hingis at the time, which meant he was a bit distracted, but he still kept Gustavo Kuerten waiting until his eleventh championship point to secure victory. Söderling has an attractive lady on his arm. They know how to relax and enjoy themselves, do the Swedes.
Source:The times
Fernando González, of Chile, the junior champion here 11 years ago and the oldest player left in the field at 28, reached his first semi-final at the French Open because he chose this day to perform in the manner of the champion he may well become this weekend. Murray, in his past four defeats at these “majors”, has found himself on the wrong end of four men - Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, Roger Federer at the US Open, Fernando Verdasco in Australia and González yesterday - in shuddering form.
He was yesterday's hollow-eyed press room inhabitant, beaten 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 and following a distinguished line of players asked to assimilate matches they must have thought they would win, only to have that pleasure ripped from them. Commendably, he did not seek excuses, as neither did his fellow top-ten occupants Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga nor Gilles Simon before him. Defeats are torture, made worse when you cannot accept them in the proper spirit.
Murray tipped his hat to González, rightly so. The Chilean had reached the last eight without dropping a set; he has now forfeited only one and if he can maintain this form on Friday against Robin Söderling, the Swede who picked up against Davydenko where he left off against Nadal, a second grand-slam final beckons.
Those who believed him to be a one-trick pony, all forehand and fluff, now know better. Having seen much of him down the years, I cannot recall an afternoon when González has sliced his backhand to better effect, returned with such assuredness - again largely off the backhand - served so well, caused so much anguish with the drop shot and, yes, kept that forehand up his sleeve to unleash when it was required. His mis-hits could be counted on the fingers of one hand, which, against a player of Murray's renowned precision, is laudable.
What was difficult to fathom from a British perspective is why Murray went to sleep at the start of the third set having hauled himself so patiently back into the match by taking the second. He had two points for 1-1 and played sloppily, finally outdone by a rasping forehand winner up the line on break point as González once again remained patient in a groundstroke exchange and won it with a flourish. Before we knew it, the man in canary yellow had flown away with the set, for the loss of seven points.
Murray swallowed that and hung in. He earned a standing ovation on the first point of the fifth game in the fourth set when he slid from one side to the other, returning overheads and smashes from improbable positions, hoping he might draw something reckless from someone who does reckless pretty well. There was a sense, when he lost that point, that the Chilean would not buckle. Each game he won was completed with a dream shot, likesuch as the forehand winner in the eighth game when Murray had saved two break points with a couple ofequally glorious backhands down the line.
For the first time, González let rip with a throaty roar, only for it to diein the back of his throat when he immediately lost his serve to love. Could Murray mount the rearguard action to beat all rearguard actions? It was not to be, as he lost his next service game and the match, also to love, during which he played one of his poorest forehand drop shots, the mark of a dispirited man.
“His forehand is the biggest, he can hit winners from anywhere on the court,” Murray said. “He hits it great on the run, he can hit it from anywhere on the court. Even if you try to hit a ball to his backhand, he makes his mind up that he wants to hit a forehand on the shot, he runs around and spanks a winner. You can't do a whole lot with it. It's not like he wore me down. Physically there weren't any issues there. I just got myself back into the match in the fourth set and didn't take my opportunities when I had them.
“It's been a very good clay-court season, though, a lot better than in previous years. I stayed injury-free. I thought that I moved better. I had good results. Next year it would be good to improve a round or so each tournament, not have one early loss, and consistently get to the end of the tournaments.” It is asking much, but he can do it.
Söderling proved that his defeat of Nadal was no flash in the pan. It is hard to think of anyone you would less like to meet the round after Nadal than Davydenko, but the Swede lost only five games as he completed a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victory in an hour and 41 minutes.
He has now won eight matches in a row, better than anything in his career. The last Swede to reach the final here, Magnus Norman in 2000, is his coach. Norman was dating Martina Hingis at the time, which meant he was a bit distracted, but he still kept Gustavo Kuerten waiting until his eleventh championship point to secure victory. Söderling has an attractive lady on his arm. They know how to relax and enjoy themselves, do the Swedes.
Source:The times
Tony Smith makes sweeping changes for England
Tony Smith, the England head coach, made sweeping changes in drafting the uncapped Scott Moore, Sam Tomkins and Ryan Hall into the squad to face France on Saturday week.
Moore, the Huddersfield Giants hooker who is on a season-long loan from St Helens, is the biggest surprise in the 19-man party for the game in Paris.
Tomkins, the Wigan Warriors stand-off, has made a big impression in his first full senior season and Hall's 13 tries on the wing for Leeds Rhinos have made him the league's joint-leading tryscorer.
Last night's announcement was brought forward from today after it mistakenly appeared on the RFL's website, but confirmed Smith's thinking that new blood is required after last year's World Cup disappointment.
Only Jamie Peacock, the captain, James Graham, Danny McGuire, Adrian Morley, James Roby, Gareth Hock and Ben Westwood have kept their places, while Sam Burgess and Sean O'Loughlin return after missing the World Cup through injury.
Shaun Briscoe and Peter Fox, who controversially missed out on the initial England elite squad last month, are included, along with Richard Myler, Tony Clubb and Michael Shenton who played against Wales last year. Eorl Crabtree, the Huddersfield prop, has earned his first senior call up after nine second-string England appearances.
“The players are chosen from a number of clubs on form and reflects just how competitive Super League is. We'll be looking at a number of new faces to see how they perform, with one eye on this autumn's Four Nations,” Smith said.
Smith, in his other capacity as Warrington Wolves head of coaching, pulled off another surprise yesterday by signing Brian Carney, the former Great Britain wing, who switched codes after the 2006 Tri-Nations series but made only 19 appearances for Munster and four more for Ireland.
Carney, 33 next month, will link up with Warrington once his contract with the Irish Rugby Union expires at the end of the month. Because he was registered before last week's Challenge Cup deadline, he will be available for the semi-final against Wigan Warriors, Carney's former club, in Widnes on August 8.
England squad (v France, Paris, June 13): R Atkins (Wakefield), S Burgess (Bradford), S Briscoe (Hull KR), T Clubb (Harlequins), E Crabtree (Huddersfield), P Fox (Hull KR), J Graham (St Helens), R Hall (Leeds), G Hock (Wigan), D McGuire (Leeds), S Moore (Huddersfield), A Morley (Warrington), R Myler (Salford), S O'Loughlin (Wigan), J Peacock (Leeds, captain), J Roby (St Helens), M Shenton (Castleford), S Tomkins (Wigan), B Westwood (Warrington).
Source:The times
Moore, the Huddersfield Giants hooker who is on a season-long loan from St Helens, is the biggest surprise in the 19-man party for the game in Paris.
Tomkins, the Wigan Warriors stand-off, has made a big impression in his first full senior season and Hall's 13 tries on the wing for Leeds Rhinos have made him the league's joint-leading tryscorer.
Last night's announcement was brought forward from today after it mistakenly appeared on the RFL's website, but confirmed Smith's thinking that new blood is required after last year's World Cup disappointment.
Only Jamie Peacock, the captain, James Graham, Danny McGuire, Adrian Morley, James Roby, Gareth Hock and Ben Westwood have kept their places, while Sam Burgess and Sean O'Loughlin return after missing the World Cup through injury.
Shaun Briscoe and Peter Fox, who controversially missed out on the initial England elite squad last month, are included, along with Richard Myler, Tony Clubb and Michael Shenton who played against Wales last year. Eorl Crabtree, the Huddersfield prop, has earned his first senior call up after nine second-string England appearances.
“The players are chosen from a number of clubs on form and reflects just how competitive Super League is. We'll be looking at a number of new faces to see how they perform, with one eye on this autumn's Four Nations,” Smith said.
Smith, in his other capacity as Warrington Wolves head of coaching, pulled off another surprise yesterday by signing Brian Carney, the former Great Britain wing, who switched codes after the 2006 Tri-Nations series but made only 19 appearances for Munster and four more for Ireland.
Carney, 33 next month, will link up with Warrington once his contract with the Irish Rugby Union expires at the end of the month. Because he was registered before last week's Challenge Cup deadline, he will be available for the semi-final against Wigan Warriors, Carney's former club, in Widnes on August 8.
England squad (v France, Paris, June 13): R Atkins (Wakefield), S Burgess (Bradford), S Briscoe (Hull KR), T Clubb (Harlequins), E Crabtree (Huddersfield), P Fox (Hull KR), J Graham (St Helens), R Hall (Leeds), G Hock (Wigan), D McGuire (Leeds), S Moore (Huddersfield), A Morley (Warrington), R Myler (Salford), S O'Loughlin (Wigan), J Peacock (Leeds, captain), J Roby (St Helens), M Shenton (Castleford), S Tomkins (Wigan), B Westwood (Warrington).
Source:The times
Gordon D'Arcy drafted into Lions squad
Gordon D'Arcy, the Ireland and Leinster centre, has been called up to the British and Irish Lions squad. One of the stars of his country's Six Nations triumph, D'Arcy will join the tour on Thursday with a chance of facing the Cheetahs on Saturday.
The Lions lost Tom Shanklin, the Wales centre, to a shoulder injury before the tour started and have several players nursing minor problems. "Due to the short nature of this tour we have to be prepared for every eventuality," Ian McGeechan, the Lions head coach, said.
"An extra back will provide the extra depth to cover the existing injuries plus any further injuries."
D'Arcy, who has 41 Ireland caps, went on the 2005 Lions tour of New Zealand. "Gordon showed in the European Rugby Cup final and the recent Barbarians match against England that he is back to his best," McGeechan said.
"He was on our reserve list and we had no hesitation in calling him up to the squad as he is an extremely experienced player."
The Lions beat a Royal XV 37-24 in their opening game on Saturday after trailing by 12 points. They face South Africa in three Tests at Durban (June 20), Pretoria (June 27) and Johannesburg (July 4).
Source:The times
The Lions lost Tom Shanklin, the Wales centre, to a shoulder injury before the tour started and have several players nursing minor problems. "Due to the short nature of this tour we have to be prepared for every eventuality," Ian McGeechan, the Lions head coach, said.
"An extra back will provide the extra depth to cover the existing injuries plus any further injuries."
D'Arcy, who has 41 Ireland caps, went on the 2005 Lions tour of New Zealand. "Gordon showed in the European Rugby Cup final and the recent Barbarians match against England that he is back to his best," McGeechan said.
"He was on our reserve list and we had no hesitation in calling him up to the squad as he is an extremely experienced player."
The Lions beat a Royal XV 37-24 in their opening game on Saturday after trailing by 12 points. They face South Africa in three Tests at Durban (June 20), Pretoria (June 27) and Johannesburg (July 4).
Source:The times
Sean Long faces up to end of an era at St Helens
Sean Long had said that it would “kill him” to leave St Helens after 12 glory-laden seasons, but the 32-year-old former Great Britain scrum half believes that a move to Hull next season will “revitalise” his career. The East Yorkshire club came up yesterday with the two-year deal that St Helens were not prepared to offer a player described by Eamonn McManus, the chairman, as a club legend.
Long will face his future employers in Friday's engage Super League encounter at the KC Stadium, after a frenetic few days sealed his move from west to east - the length of the M62. Huddersfield Giants and Wakefield Wildcats are understood to have been in the running. What persuaded Long was the vision set out by Richard Agar, the Hull coach, once St Helens had made it clear that they were willing to offer him only a 12-month extension.
Although he will be looking to contribute to his sixth league title and fifth Carnegie Challenge Cup success with St Helens this year, Long said: “I'm really buzzing. A few clubs offered two-year deals, but when Hull made an approach, and after I'd spoken to Richard, I knew where my future was.”
Long's value to St Helens since signing from Widnes in 1997 has been priceless - he has scored 2,592 points in 320 appearances, making him the second-leading scorer in club history, behind Kel Coslett - but McManus remained adamant that he would not offer him more than a year-long extension.
“We fully respect Sean's decision,” McManus said. “He's secured a two-year deal on very good terms and we wish him well. We have a number of very exciting young players who next season will be commanding regular, first-choice selection and they must be given every opportunity in the club's long-term interests.”
Source:The times
Long will face his future employers in Friday's engage Super League encounter at the KC Stadium, after a frenetic few days sealed his move from west to east - the length of the M62. Huddersfield Giants and Wakefield Wildcats are understood to have been in the running. What persuaded Long was the vision set out by Richard Agar, the Hull coach, once St Helens had made it clear that they were willing to offer him only a 12-month extension.
Although he will be looking to contribute to his sixth league title and fifth Carnegie Challenge Cup success with St Helens this year, Long said: “I'm really buzzing. A few clubs offered two-year deals, but when Hull made an approach, and after I'd spoken to Richard, I knew where my future was.”
Long's value to St Helens since signing from Widnes in 1997 has been priceless - he has scored 2,592 points in 320 appearances, making him the second-leading scorer in club history, behind Kel Coslett - but McManus remained adamant that he would not offer him more than a year-long extension.
“We fully respect Sean's decision,” McManus said. “He's secured a two-year deal on very good terms and we wish him well. We have a number of very exciting young players who next season will be commanding regular, first-choice selection and they must be given every opportunity in the club's long-term interests.”
Source:The times
Johnny Murtagh opts to partner Rip Van Winkle in Investec Derby
Stable jockey has stayed faithful to his instincts and rejected the ride on the favourite, Fame And Glory.
Johnny Murtagh has stayed faithful to his instincts and rejected the ride on the Derby favourite, Fame And Glory. Instead, he will partner Rip Van Winkle in pursuit of a third Derby victory.
Theoretically, as stable jockey to Aidan O'Brien, Murtagh had the pick of six intended runners from Ballydoyle. In practice, his choice only ever concerned two and he had long intimated his “soft spot” for the son of Galileo, despite him finishing only fourth behind Sea The Stars in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.
Fame And Glory will be a privileged mount for Seamie Heffernan, who was on board when he won the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial by five lengths, and Colm O'Donoghue will attempt a repeat of his Chester Vase upset on the outsider, Golden Sword.
Pat Smullen partners Age Of Aquarius, with Richard Hughes taking the ride on Masterofthehorse and Ryan Moore seeking his first classic success on Black Bear Island.
All jockeys in the Derby will wear black armbands in memory of Vincent O'Brien, who died on Monday. Flags at the racecourse will fly at half-mast.
Investec Derby: William Hill 3-1 Sea The Stars, 7-2 Fame And Glory, 4-1 Rip Van Winkle, 7-1 Gan Amhras, 8-1 Black Bear Island, 14-1 Masterofthehorse, 25-1 Age Of Aquarius, Kite Wood, 28-1 Crowded House, 33-1 South Easter, Golden Sword, 50-1 Debussy, Montaff.
Source:The times
Johnny Murtagh has stayed faithful to his instincts and rejected the ride on the Derby favourite, Fame And Glory. Instead, he will partner Rip Van Winkle in pursuit of a third Derby victory.
Theoretically, as stable jockey to Aidan O'Brien, Murtagh had the pick of six intended runners from Ballydoyle. In practice, his choice only ever concerned two and he had long intimated his “soft spot” for the son of Galileo, despite him finishing only fourth behind Sea The Stars in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.
Fame And Glory will be a privileged mount for Seamie Heffernan, who was on board when he won the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial by five lengths, and Colm O'Donoghue will attempt a repeat of his Chester Vase upset on the outsider, Golden Sword.
Pat Smullen partners Age Of Aquarius, with Richard Hughes taking the ride on Masterofthehorse and Ryan Moore seeking his first classic success on Black Bear Island.
All jockeys in the Derby will wear black armbands in memory of Vincent O'Brien, who died on Monday. Flags at the racecourse will fly at half-mast.
Investec Derby: William Hill 3-1 Sea The Stars, 7-2 Fame And Glory, 4-1 Rip Van Winkle, 7-1 Gan Amhras, 8-1 Black Bear Island, 14-1 Masterofthehorse, 25-1 Age Of Aquarius, Kite Wood, 28-1 Crowded House, 33-1 South Easter, Golden Sword, 50-1 Debussy, Montaff.
Source:The times
England prepare to stand alone at 2012 Olympics
A young English manager could be given the opportunity to lead an Olympic football team on home soil after the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish said that they would play no part in the 2012 campaign.
An all-England line-up agreed yesterday under a compromise deal between the four home nations opens the way for Stuart Pearce, the England Under-21 head coach, or an up-and-coming coach seeking international management experience to step into the role.
Fabio Capello, the England manager, has expressed an interest and is a frontrunner. But Pearce's chances would be strengthened if Fifa, the world governing body, reduces the age limit of Olympic footballers from under-23 plus three over-age players to under-21 across the board.
Fifa members could do this next week at their congress in the Bahamas in a move that would dash the hopes of David Beckham captaining an Olympic team and would keep Theo Walcott out of the side.
Hopes for a fully represented Team GB collapsed when the Scottish FA, the chief intransigent, made it clear this week that it remained “resolutely opposed” to the idea because it threatened Scotland's independent future at international level.
But, with the 2012 Games taking part largely in England, the other home nations agreed that they could not stand in the way of both men's and women's teams being fielded. The indecision risked hurting England's 2018 World Cup bid.
Fifa set a deadline of May 31 for a resolution. It could ratify the deal at its congress next week which will be attended by Lord Triesman, the FA chairman, and Lord Coe, a director of the 2018 bid. The Olympic football competition will be held in stadiums around the UK, including Old Trafford and Hampden Park. The final will take place at Wembley Stadium.
Source:The times
An all-England line-up agreed yesterday under a compromise deal between the four home nations opens the way for Stuart Pearce, the England Under-21 head coach, or an up-and-coming coach seeking international management experience to step into the role.
Fabio Capello, the England manager, has expressed an interest and is a frontrunner. But Pearce's chances would be strengthened if Fifa, the world governing body, reduces the age limit of Olympic footballers from under-23 plus three over-age players to under-21 across the board.
Fifa members could do this next week at their congress in the Bahamas in a move that would dash the hopes of David Beckham captaining an Olympic team and would keep Theo Walcott out of the side.
Hopes for a fully represented Team GB collapsed when the Scottish FA, the chief intransigent, made it clear this week that it remained “resolutely opposed” to the idea because it threatened Scotland's independent future at international level.
But, with the 2012 Games taking part largely in England, the other home nations agreed that they could not stand in the way of both men's and women's teams being fielded. The indecision risked hurting England's 2018 World Cup bid.
Fifa set a deadline of May 31 for a resolution. It could ratify the deal at its congress next week which will be attended by Lord Triesman, the FA chairman, and Lord Coe, a director of the 2018 bid. The Olympic football competition will be held in stadiums around the UK, including Old Trafford and Hampden Park. The final will take place at Wembley Stadium.
Source:The times
Christian Cévaër lands European Open title
It was the tournament that nobody wanted to win. But in the end, Christian Cévaër did just enough yesterday to claim the European Open crown in front of 30,000 spectators at the sun-drenched London Club, near Ash, in Kent.
The 39-year-old Frenchman, who had started the final day as joint leader with Jeev Milkha Singh, had a round of 74 for a seven-under-par total of 281 and victory by one stroke from Steve Webster, Álvaro Quirós and Gary Orr. Among those one shot farther back was Chris Wood, who finished equal fifth as an amateur at the Open Championship last year and who came admirably close to registering his maiden victory in his rookie season on tour.
It says everything about the final day that nobody seemed capable of pulling away from the pack. Each of those within two strokes of the winner got themselves into contention only to drop shots at key moments. In truth, it was a desultory procession made up mainly of journeymen golfers unable, or unwilling, to seize the day.
By the time Cévaër arrived at the final tee he was surprised to find that he needed only a par for his second victory on tour and his first win since the Spanish Open in 2004. The 18th had been one of the most difficult holes all week - putting paid yesterday to Webster and Quirós, who bogeyed it - but Cévaër had played it as well as anybody, with pars there on the first two days and a birdie in the third round.
This time he steered his drive down the middle of the fairway and used a utility club for a 185-yard approach shot that finished in the fringe at the back of the green, from where he took two to get down after rolling his first shot to within a foot. “I'm proud of the way I played the hole,” Cévaër said. “I knew that as long as I hit the fairway, I could attack the green.”
He is not long off the tee, but one of his strengths is a skilful short game and excellent putting. He used both to good effect here. After reaching the turn in 39, he did not drop a shot on the back nine and came home in 35.
Cévaër's victory was a triumph of hope over adversity. His health has suffered recently because of the stress of a falling-out with his management company and the imminent birth of his second child, made all the more difficult because his wife, Fabienne, has miscarried three times. “It's amazing what choosing to be happy can do,” he said. He won £300,000 and playing rights on tour until 2014. “Wow, what a gift,” he said.
Wood briefly shared the lead on eight under par after seven holes, but dropped strokes at the 8th and 9th and thereafter was unable to make much headway. Rory McIlroy, his playing partner, had a 75 and also fell away. He will take a two-week break in a bid to rest a strained lower back before the US Open.
With the recession beginning to bite in professional golf - the prize fund for the European Open, for instance, was considerably down on the previous year, the winner alone receiving £100,000 less - George O'Grady, the head of the European Tour, warned yesterday that he expects more commitment from his leading players.
It follows on the heels of the BMWPGA Championship at Wentworth last week, billed as the tour's flagship event but one that was unable to attract the likes of Padraig Harrington, Sergio García, Ian Poulter, Geoff Ogilvy and Trevor Immelman.
While not wishing to be too critical, O'Grady gave the impression that without a full commitment to such tournaments from the players, it would be increasingly difficult to keep the likes of BMW on board. And with doubts also being raised as to the amount of money the tour can expect from its Dubai backers, there could be shaky times ahead. “We have to get back to a situation with our PGA Championship where every player who is a member of the tour wants to play in it,” O'Grady said.
Source:The times
The 39-year-old Frenchman, who had started the final day as joint leader with Jeev Milkha Singh, had a round of 74 for a seven-under-par total of 281 and victory by one stroke from Steve Webster, Álvaro Quirós and Gary Orr. Among those one shot farther back was Chris Wood, who finished equal fifth as an amateur at the Open Championship last year and who came admirably close to registering his maiden victory in his rookie season on tour.
It says everything about the final day that nobody seemed capable of pulling away from the pack. Each of those within two strokes of the winner got themselves into contention only to drop shots at key moments. In truth, it was a desultory procession made up mainly of journeymen golfers unable, or unwilling, to seize the day.
By the time Cévaër arrived at the final tee he was surprised to find that he needed only a par for his second victory on tour and his first win since the Spanish Open in 2004. The 18th had been one of the most difficult holes all week - putting paid yesterday to Webster and Quirós, who bogeyed it - but Cévaër had played it as well as anybody, with pars there on the first two days and a birdie in the third round.
This time he steered his drive down the middle of the fairway and used a utility club for a 185-yard approach shot that finished in the fringe at the back of the green, from where he took two to get down after rolling his first shot to within a foot. “I'm proud of the way I played the hole,” Cévaër said. “I knew that as long as I hit the fairway, I could attack the green.”
He is not long off the tee, but one of his strengths is a skilful short game and excellent putting. He used both to good effect here. After reaching the turn in 39, he did not drop a shot on the back nine and came home in 35.
Cévaër's victory was a triumph of hope over adversity. His health has suffered recently because of the stress of a falling-out with his management company and the imminent birth of his second child, made all the more difficult because his wife, Fabienne, has miscarried three times. “It's amazing what choosing to be happy can do,” he said. He won £300,000 and playing rights on tour until 2014. “Wow, what a gift,” he said.
Wood briefly shared the lead on eight under par after seven holes, but dropped strokes at the 8th and 9th and thereafter was unable to make much headway. Rory McIlroy, his playing partner, had a 75 and also fell away. He will take a two-week break in a bid to rest a strained lower back before the US Open.
With the recession beginning to bite in professional golf - the prize fund for the European Open, for instance, was considerably down on the previous year, the winner alone receiving £100,000 less - George O'Grady, the head of the European Tour, warned yesterday that he expects more commitment from his leading players.
It follows on the heels of the BMWPGA Championship at Wentworth last week, billed as the tour's flagship event but one that was unable to attract the likes of Padraig Harrington, Sergio García, Ian Poulter, Geoff Ogilvy and Trevor Immelman.
While not wishing to be too critical, O'Grady gave the impression that without a full commitment to such tournaments from the players, it would be increasingly difficult to keep the likes of BMW on board. And with doubts also being raised as to the amount of money the tour can expect from its Dubai backers, there could be shaky times ahead. “We have to get back to a situation with our PGA Championship where every player who is a member of the tour wants to play in it,” O'Grady said.
Source:The times
SFA had no choice in Olympics row
Few should really be surprised that, at the end of quite an almighty fuss, football’s Team GB at the 2012 Olympics will consist of just English players, with no Scots, Northern Irish or Welsh taking part.
It has been quite a political rammy, all this, with the SFA, like the Welsh FA and the Irish FA, beginning to feel like an endangered species during the debate. And all because Gordon Brown wanted the Scots to play their “British” card for the sake of the London Olympics.
The facts remained pretty clear. The SFA may have looked insular and parochial in their desire not to take part, but they had good reason for their cold pragmatism. There is resentment across the 200-strong Fifa family of nations over the otherwise paltry SFA’s influence at international football’s top table, and it would take any excuse to have them wiping Scottish football’s governing body off the map. A Team GB at the Olympics would have been just such an excuse.
The resentful nations in parts of Europe, Africa and CONCACAF ask this: how come a singular, sovereign state like the United Kingdom gets to wear four different hats in world football? And how come they get to boss the rest of us around on the International Football Association Board (IFAB), where the FA, the SFA, the WAF and IFA have a vote each, while the rest of Fifa — the other 200 nations — rotate the remaining four votes among them?
You can see from this it is not a democracy. And you can see also why the SFA has had to tread extremely carefully over Team GB.
The calls yesterday for the head of Gordon Smith, chief executive of the SFA, over the whole debacle, sounded absurd. The SNP MSP, Christine Grahame, who chairs the Scottish Parliament’s health and sport committee, and who has hollered for Smith’s head, evidently doesn’t know what she is talking about.
Smith has no hang-ups one way or another about Scottish footballers playing for a Team GB in the Olympics. Indeed, personally, he might even fancy the idea. But other Scots who have walked the corridors of power in football — David Will at Fifa and David Taylor, presently at Uefa — have both warned him and the SFA about such a deal. They have both said that the SFA would be compromised on the world stage.
Taylor, indeed, went so far as to tell the SFA: “Don’t touch it with a barge pole.” Is Smith really supposed to ignore such advice from someone who is in touch with the international politics of football every day of his life?
It is a great pity, and it looks bad, but has the SFA had any other choice in this matter?
Source:The times
It has been quite a political rammy, all this, with the SFA, like the Welsh FA and the Irish FA, beginning to feel like an endangered species during the debate. And all because Gordon Brown wanted the Scots to play their “British” card for the sake of the London Olympics.
The facts remained pretty clear. The SFA may have looked insular and parochial in their desire not to take part, but they had good reason for their cold pragmatism. There is resentment across the 200-strong Fifa family of nations over the otherwise paltry SFA’s influence at international football’s top table, and it would take any excuse to have them wiping Scottish football’s governing body off the map. A Team GB at the Olympics would have been just such an excuse.
The resentful nations in parts of Europe, Africa and CONCACAF ask this: how come a singular, sovereign state like the United Kingdom gets to wear four different hats in world football? And how come they get to boss the rest of us around on the International Football Association Board (IFAB), where the FA, the SFA, the WAF and IFA have a vote each, while the rest of Fifa — the other 200 nations — rotate the remaining four votes among them?
You can see from this it is not a democracy. And you can see also why the SFA has had to tread extremely carefully over Team GB.
The calls yesterday for the head of Gordon Smith, chief executive of the SFA, over the whole debacle, sounded absurd. The SNP MSP, Christine Grahame, who chairs the Scottish Parliament’s health and sport committee, and who has hollered for Smith’s head, evidently doesn’t know what she is talking about.
Smith has no hang-ups one way or another about Scottish footballers playing for a Team GB in the Olympics. Indeed, personally, he might even fancy the idea. But other Scots who have walked the corridors of power in football — David Will at Fifa and David Taylor, presently at Uefa — have both warned him and the SFA about such a deal. They have both said that the SFA would be compromised on the world stage.
Taylor, indeed, went so far as to tell the SFA: “Don’t touch it with a barge pole.” Is Smith really supposed to ignore such advice from someone who is in touch with the international politics of football every day of his life?
It is a great pity, and it looks bad, but has the SFA had any other choice in this matter?
Source:The times
Ernie Els champions green issues
Just eight days after Paul Casey won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the diggers will be moving on to the West Course today and ripping up all 18 of its greens. It may seem like sacrilege, but it will be the start of a £4million project designed to bring an old masterpiece into the 21st century and to quieten the critics among the professionals, who have argued that the putting surfaces no longer come up to scratch.
The work, which should be completed by the end of August, will be overseen by Ernie Els, who has a house on the Wentworth estate and knows the course intimately, having won the World Match Play Championship there seven times in all.
But while the rebuilding of the greens will capture most of the imagination, the former Open champion is also remodelling what is one of the finest inland courses in Europe.
His ambitions, like his golf, are of the lofty variety. “This could be Europe's Augusta National,” Els said. “When Harry Colt designed the course, there were no sprinkler systems, so the greens needed to be able to hold water in the winter to provide moisture for the summer.
“So they put a layer of clay underneath [the topsoil]. But with sprinklers, and with the rain we get early in the year, the water is unable to go anywhere and it comes towards the surface. And that creates sponginess and an inconsistent roll.”
The answer is to rebuild all the greens to a standard developed in the United States, and that allows for good drainage all year round. In profile, the construction will look like a layer cake. On top of a firm base, there will be a series of drainage pipes, a layer of gravel, and what gardeners would think of as topsoil, made up of a mixture of sand (up to 60 per cent), soil and peat. And on top of that will be a specially grown layer of turf.
“You can't do a green here, a green there,” Els said. “We've got to do this job properly and in one go. That said, we're not making dramatic changes to the shape and size of the greens. We're going to take out the tiers on the 3rd green and we want to make the green at the 8th a bit smaller and bring the water in front of it into play. But for the rest of the course, we will try to leave the slopes as they are.”
When it is required, the turf - 20,000 square metres of which is being grown in Lincolnshire - will be cut, transported to Surrey and laid within 24 hours.
Els has already been responsible for a number of changes to the West Course in recent years. He has lengthened a number of the holes and added 37 bunkers, some of which are about to be removed.
“What Ernie does not want to produce is a course that has no respect for Harry Colt,” Julian Small, the chief executive of Wentworth, said. “What we are trying to do is restore and modernise, not create something new.
“The greatest compliment we could get is if somebody comes back and says the playability is fabulous but in some ways it is hard to see what the changes are.”
Source:The times
The work, which should be completed by the end of August, will be overseen by Ernie Els, who has a house on the Wentworth estate and knows the course intimately, having won the World Match Play Championship there seven times in all.
But while the rebuilding of the greens will capture most of the imagination, the former Open champion is also remodelling what is one of the finest inland courses in Europe.
His ambitions, like his golf, are of the lofty variety. “This could be Europe's Augusta National,” Els said. “When Harry Colt designed the course, there were no sprinkler systems, so the greens needed to be able to hold water in the winter to provide moisture for the summer.
“So they put a layer of clay underneath [the topsoil]. But with sprinklers, and with the rain we get early in the year, the water is unable to go anywhere and it comes towards the surface. And that creates sponginess and an inconsistent roll.”
The answer is to rebuild all the greens to a standard developed in the United States, and that allows for good drainage all year round. In profile, the construction will look like a layer cake. On top of a firm base, there will be a series of drainage pipes, a layer of gravel, and what gardeners would think of as topsoil, made up of a mixture of sand (up to 60 per cent), soil and peat. And on top of that will be a specially grown layer of turf.
“You can't do a green here, a green there,” Els said. “We've got to do this job properly and in one go. That said, we're not making dramatic changes to the shape and size of the greens. We're going to take out the tiers on the 3rd green and we want to make the green at the 8th a bit smaller and bring the water in front of it into play. But for the rest of the course, we will try to leave the slopes as they are.”
When it is required, the turf - 20,000 square metres of which is being grown in Lincolnshire - will be cut, transported to Surrey and laid within 24 hours.
Els has already been responsible for a number of changes to the West Course in recent years. He has lengthened a number of the holes and added 37 bunkers, some of which are about to be removed.
“What Ernie does not want to produce is a course that has no respect for Harry Colt,” Julian Small, the chief executive of Wentworth, said. “What we are trying to do is restore and modernise, not create something new.
“The greatest compliment we could get is if somebody comes back and says the playability is fabulous but in some ways it is hard to see what the changes are.”
Source:The times
Cold Turkey: Bernie Ecclestone's white elephant
Sahin Boz prods his cows with his hand as he looks at the vast edifice of the Istanbul Park racetrack, planted five years ago in the middle of what he had considered to be prime grazing land. “Didn't do me any good,” he said of the state-of-the-art facility that will host the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday. “All the people who owned land made profits, but the races don't mean anything to us ... just a lot of noise.”
Istanbul Park has been bleeding money and has failed to attract the punters in its first four years on the Formula One circuit, with the fifth year on course for its lowest attendance.
The track, believed to have cost about $250 million (now about £150 million), is one of the most testing, but its future is uncertain. After three years of “double-digit million-dollar losses”, Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One's commercial rights-holder, stepped in last year to run it, taking over from a messy coalition of Turkish trade bodies and state-linked organisations. It is still making a loss and it is not certain that Ecclestone will renew his contract to hold races beyond 2011.
“This is the worst deal I have done to date,” he said when he initially signed up to run Istanbul Park. “People think I'm mad, but I thought in the long term and I really believe in Turkey.”
Ecclestone reportedly even complained to President Abdullah Gül about sparse attendances. Ticket sales have been low and falling - according to the organisers, about 40,000 people attended the Sunday last year and sales for this year are much worse for the 130,000-capacity facility.
“We were completely disgraced before the world last year - the stadium looked so empty,” said Baris Kuyucu, sports commentator and editor at CNN Türk, which had the television rights until TRT, the state television channel, took over this year. “I reckon there were no more than 5,000 Turks there.” Petrol Ofisi, a Turkish sponsor, also decided against renewing its contract and has been replaced by ING, the financial institution.
“People went there in the first year to have a look and now they have moved on,” Kuyucu said. “Turkey doesn't have the necessary sports culture to make this work. Nobody would dream of making a day out of the races, going for a picnic and socialising like they do in other countries.”
Motorcycling enthusiasts say that the MotoGP, run for three years at Istanbul Park, was taken off the calendar after the 2007 race not only because of commercial losses but because of a lack of custom. Turkey is a football country, with other sports getting short shrift. So at least the Formula One drivers' football match at Istanbul's Ali Sami Yen football stadium might generate some interest.
Ticket prices do not help. The Istanbul Park administration maintains that prices between 90 and 700 lira (about £36 to £280) are cheap by Formula One standards and will not be reduced. But many people questioned by The Times were aghast at the idea of paying so much, especially when they will have to travel for two hours or more from congested central Istanbul to get there.
Koray Muratoglu, a former World Rally Championship driver, who edits Autocar magazine, criticised the costs of hiring the track - €70,000 (about £60,000) a day compared with €16,000 for Silverstone. Although the Istanbul Park administration disputes these figures, Turkish amateur drivers and even big companies wishing to stage events are being put off.
“We had a big tyre company interested in staging a promotional event, but they were shocked by the price and went to Thailand instead,” Muratoglu said. “They threw in a holiday in Phuket and still did the whole thing cheaper.”
Answering criticism that the track is padlocked to outsiders for 362 days a year, Can Güçlü, the Istanbul Park general manager, says the previous administration took on more than it could handle at the start and the new regime is trying to bring about changes. “In the first year [2005], there was the MotoGP, DTM [German Touring Car Masters], WTCC [World Touring Car Championship], Le Mans endurance races, and it all lost a lot of money,” Güçlü said. “Now we have to draw a line, reorganise and start looking at new projects - we are doing Rock'n Coke [a music festival] here, for instance.”
He believes that the race has nevertheless made a significant contribution to the Turkish economy - about $50million a year in terms of hotel rooms, food, travel and shopping.
Critics and supporters agree that interest would rocket with the emergence of a Turkish Formula One driver. But that is a long way off, with go-karting only an embryonic sport in Turkey. Perhaps there are no Turks on the track because they are all already practising on the roads. After all, Jenson Button, the World Championship leader, reportedly said that he would not dare drive in Istanbul ... and hired a chauffeur instead.
Tracks of my tears
Istanbul Park is not the only Formula One racetrack in troubleMagny-Cours Cancelled (too expensive, poor location)Montreal Cancelled (expense)Indianapolis Cancelled (expense)Silverstone Cancelled after this year (failure to upgrade/expense)Spa-Francorchamps, Hockenheim, Budapest All struggling to make ends meetMount Fuji Cancelled (strategic decision by Toyota)Shanghai In danger (lack of interest)Words by Edward Gorman .
Source:The times
Istanbul Park has been bleeding money and has failed to attract the punters in its first four years on the Formula One circuit, with the fifth year on course for its lowest attendance.
The track, believed to have cost about $250 million (now about £150 million), is one of the most testing, but its future is uncertain. After three years of “double-digit million-dollar losses”, Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One's commercial rights-holder, stepped in last year to run it, taking over from a messy coalition of Turkish trade bodies and state-linked organisations. It is still making a loss and it is not certain that Ecclestone will renew his contract to hold races beyond 2011.
“This is the worst deal I have done to date,” he said when he initially signed up to run Istanbul Park. “People think I'm mad, but I thought in the long term and I really believe in Turkey.”
Ecclestone reportedly even complained to President Abdullah Gül about sparse attendances. Ticket sales have been low and falling - according to the organisers, about 40,000 people attended the Sunday last year and sales for this year are much worse for the 130,000-capacity facility.
“We were completely disgraced before the world last year - the stadium looked so empty,” said Baris Kuyucu, sports commentator and editor at CNN Türk, which had the television rights until TRT, the state television channel, took over this year. “I reckon there were no more than 5,000 Turks there.” Petrol Ofisi, a Turkish sponsor, also decided against renewing its contract and has been replaced by ING, the financial institution.
“People went there in the first year to have a look and now they have moved on,” Kuyucu said. “Turkey doesn't have the necessary sports culture to make this work. Nobody would dream of making a day out of the races, going for a picnic and socialising like they do in other countries.”
Motorcycling enthusiasts say that the MotoGP, run for three years at Istanbul Park, was taken off the calendar after the 2007 race not only because of commercial losses but because of a lack of custom. Turkey is a football country, with other sports getting short shrift. So at least the Formula One drivers' football match at Istanbul's Ali Sami Yen football stadium might generate some interest.
Ticket prices do not help. The Istanbul Park administration maintains that prices between 90 and 700 lira (about £36 to £280) are cheap by Formula One standards and will not be reduced. But many people questioned by The Times were aghast at the idea of paying so much, especially when they will have to travel for two hours or more from congested central Istanbul to get there.
Koray Muratoglu, a former World Rally Championship driver, who edits Autocar magazine, criticised the costs of hiring the track - €70,000 (about £60,000) a day compared with €16,000 for Silverstone. Although the Istanbul Park administration disputes these figures, Turkish amateur drivers and even big companies wishing to stage events are being put off.
“We had a big tyre company interested in staging a promotional event, but they were shocked by the price and went to Thailand instead,” Muratoglu said. “They threw in a holiday in Phuket and still did the whole thing cheaper.”
Answering criticism that the track is padlocked to outsiders for 362 days a year, Can Güçlü, the Istanbul Park general manager, says the previous administration took on more than it could handle at the start and the new regime is trying to bring about changes. “In the first year [2005], there was the MotoGP, DTM [German Touring Car Masters], WTCC [World Touring Car Championship], Le Mans endurance races, and it all lost a lot of money,” Güçlü said. “Now we have to draw a line, reorganise and start looking at new projects - we are doing Rock'n Coke [a music festival] here, for instance.”
He believes that the race has nevertheless made a significant contribution to the Turkish economy - about $50million a year in terms of hotel rooms, food, travel and shopping.
Critics and supporters agree that interest would rocket with the emergence of a Turkish Formula One driver. But that is a long way off, with go-karting only an embryonic sport in Turkey. Perhaps there are no Turks on the track because they are all already practising on the roads. After all, Jenson Button, the World Championship leader, reportedly said that he would not dare drive in Istanbul ... and hired a chauffeur instead.
Tracks of my tears
Istanbul Park is not the only Formula One racetrack in troubleMagny-Cours Cancelled (too expensive, poor location)Montreal Cancelled (expense)Indianapolis Cancelled (expense)Silverstone Cancelled after this year (failure to upgrade/expense)Spa-Francorchamps, Hockenheim, Budapest All struggling to make ends meetMount Fuji Cancelled (strategic decision by Toyota)Shanghai In danger (lack of interest)Words by Edward Gorman .
Source:The times
Kevin Pietersen ensures England avoid embarrassment
England v Scotland: Trent Bridge (Scotland won toss): England beat Scotland by six wickets
England declared most of their hand for the World Twenty20 last night and if Kevin Pietersen was the only ace on display then at least a joker did not upset their pack. They were ultimately too strong for Scotland but, on this evidence, their status down the list of favourites is about right.
Having played his part in an energetic all-round fielding display, Pietersen completed victory with a pulled six to reach his fifty from 39 balls. But he went a bit far in describing England as “on fire”. Paul Collingwood was nearer the mark. “We were satisfactory,” the captain said.
Collingwood believes that a short build-up permits few opportunities to experiment, bad news for Robert Key if he is omitted again for the warm-up against West Indies at Lord's today. A team spokesman said that Graeme Swann is close to recovery from a back problem and that James Anderson's absence, to continuing ankle trouble, was precautionary.
The declared intention to be brave, which has to be the approach for a team with no pedigree in Twenty20, showed itself in the recall and promotion of Luke Wright to open alongside Ravi Bopara, the selection of the bold Eoin Morgan and, in a more subtle way, the choice of Dimitri Mascarenhas rather than Stuart Broad to take the new ball.
England would have preferred to bat first, challenging themselves to estimate and then set a formidable target rather than chase 137 to win. Anything more than 160 would have been challenging on a surface that Gavin Hamilton, the Scotland captain, described as “a semi-decent club pitch with no pace in it”. In that light it came as a scare for England when Bopara and Owais Shah holed out to Majid Haq's off spin from successive balls in the ninth over.
Here were the makings of comic embarrassment: the bulky Haq is a part-time player who works at his father's takeaway restaurant, surprising first-time customers with a thick Glaswegian accent. Scotland were ahead at the 17-over stage before Pietersen, who may not be fully fit but is certainly fit enough, made his quality tell.
Scotland might have struggled to reach three figures but for a stand of 62 in 20 minutes between Colin Smith and Kyle Coetzer. They took a shine to spin and although Adil Rashid turned both leg break and googly, his struggle for length showed how much England need Swann to recover.
Pietersen apart, the best performance came from James Foster, who will be the ninth wicketkeeper used by England in 16 full Twenty20 internationals come Friday. He made a leg-side take standing up to Collingwood appear effortless and was denied a stumping and a run-out by erroneous (though tight) decisions from Amiesh Saheba, the umpire.
Scotland were surprised at the early introduction of Mascarenhas and Broad's strategy in the final over of going around the wicket and creating a sharp angle by aiming outside off stump. Those innovations have now been telegraphed to the opposition but, as Collingwood said, they had to be tested to make sure they work.
“Obviously there are areas where we could have played a bit better,” Collingwood said. “The way that Pietersen took the lead was excellent because it is easy to panic in those situations. We are very much dark horses for the tournament, but I hope that gives the boys more of a licence and freedom.”
Scotland*G M Hamilton c Wright b Rashid 20 D F Watts b Mascarenhas 8 K J Coetzer c Pietersen b Collingwood 34 †C J O Smith c and b Collingwood 45 N F I McCallum run out 16 R R Watson not out 7 J H Stander not out 0 Extras (lb 1, w 5) 6 Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 136 C M Wright, R M Haq, G D Drummond and C S MacLeod did not bat. Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-41, 3-103, 4-118, 5-136. Bowling: Mascarenhas 4-0-24-1; Sidebottom 4-0-19-0; Broad 4-0-23-0; Rashid 3-0-31-1; Pietersen 2-0-20-0; Collingwood 3-0-18-2. EnglandR S Bopara c Stander b Haq 32 L J Wright c Haq b Stander 19 K P Pietersen not out 53 O A Shah c MacLeod b Haq 0 *P D Collingwood c Watts b Drummond 9 E J G Morgan not out 23 Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 1) 5 Total (4 wkts, 19 overs) 141 A D Mascarenhas, †J S Foster, A U Rashid, S C J Broad and R J Sidebottom did not bat. Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-57, 3-57, 4-92. Bowling: MacLeod 4-0-34-0; Drummond 4-0-24-1; Stander 3-0-24-1; Wright 2-0-17-0; Haq 4-0-19-2; Watson 2-0-19-0. Umpires: N J Llong and A M Saheba (India).
Source:The times
England declared most of their hand for the World Twenty20 last night and if Kevin Pietersen was the only ace on display then at least a joker did not upset their pack. They were ultimately too strong for Scotland but, on this evidence, their status down the list of favourites is about right.
Having played his part in an energetic all-round fielding display, Pietersen completed victory with a pulled six to reach his fifty from 39 balls. But he went a bit far in describing England as “on fire”. Paul Collingwood was nearer the mark. “We were satisfactory,” the captain said.
Collingwood believes that a short build-up permits few opportunities to experiment, bad news for Robert Key if he is omitted again for the warm-up against West Indies at Lord's today. A team spokesman said that Graeme Swann is close to recovery from a back problem and that James Anderson's absence, to continuing ankle trouble, was precautionary.
The declared intention to be brave, which has to be the approach for a team with no pedigree in Twenty20, showed itself in the recall and promotion of Luke Wright to open alongside Ravi Bopara, the selection of the bold Eoin Morgan and, in a more subtle way, the choice of Dimitri Mascarenhas rather than Stuart Broad to take the new ball.
England would have preferred to bat first, challenging themselves to estimate and then set a formidable target rather than chase 137 to win. Anything more than 160 would have been challenging on a surface that Gavin Hamilton, the Scotland captain, described as “a semi-decent club pitch with no pace in it”. In that light it came as a scare for England when Bopara and Owais Shah holed out to Majid Haq's off spin from successive balls in the ninth over.
Here were the makings of comic embarrassment: the bulky Haq is a part-time player who works at his father's takeaway restaurant, surprising first-time customers with a thick Glaswegian accent. Scotland were ahead at the 17-over stage before Pietersen, who may not be fully fit but is certainly fit enough, made his quality tell.
Scotland might have struggled to reach three figures but for a stand of 62 in 20 minutes between Colin Smith and Kyle Coetzer. They took a shine to spin and although Adil Rashid turned both leg break and googly, his struggle for length showed how much England need Swann to recover.
Pietersen apart, the best performance came from James Foster, who will be the ninth wicketkeeper used by England in 16 full Twenty20 internationals come Friday. He made a leg-side take standing up to Collingwood appear effortless and was denied a stumping and a run-out by erroneous (though tight) decisions from Amiesh Saheba, the umpire.
Scotland were surprised at the early introduction of Mascarenhas and Broad's strategy in the final over of going around the wicket and creating a sharp angle by aiming outside off stump. Those innovations have now been telegraphed to the opposition but, as Collingwood said, they had to be tested to make sure they work.
“Obviously there are areas where we could have played a bit better,” Collingwood said. “The way that Pietersen took the lead was excellent because it is easy to panic in those situations. We are very much dark horses for the tournament, but I hope that gives the boys more of a licence and freedom.”
Scotland*G M Hamilton c Wright b Rashid 20 D F Watts b Mascarenhas 8 K J Coetzer c Pietersen b Collingwood 34 †C J O Smith c and b Collingwood 45 N F I McCallum run out 16 R R Watson not out 7 J H Stander not out 0 Extras (lb 1, w 5) 6 Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 136 C M Wright, R M Haq, G D Drummond and C S MacLeod did not bat. Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-41, 3-103, 4-118, 5-136. Bowling: Mascarenhas 4-0-24-1; Sidebottom 4-0-19-0; Broad 4-0-23-0; Rashid 3-0-31-1; Pietersen 2-0-20-0; Collingwood 3-0-18-2. EnglandR S Bopara c Stander b Haq 32 L J Wright c Haq b Stander 19 K P Pietersen not out 53 O A Shah c MacLeod b Haq 0 *P D Collingwood c Watts b Drummond 9 E J G Morgan not out 23 Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 1) 5 Total (4 wkts, 19 overs) 141 A D Mascarenhas, †J S Foster, A U Rashid, S C J Broad and R J Sidebottom did not bat. Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-57, 3-57, 4-92. Bowling: MacLeod 4-0-34-0; Drummond 4-0-24-1; Stander 3-0-24-1; Wright 2-0-17-0; Haq 4-0-19-2; Watson 2-0-19-0. Umpires: N J Llong and A M Saheba (India).
Source:The times
Chelsea bid to hijack Kaká deal
Chelsea blew the summer transfer window wide open last night with a last-ditch attempt to lure Kaká away from a move to Real Madrid.
The Spanish club have an agreement in place with AC Milan to sign the Brazil forward for a staggering €65 million (£56.2 million). Real had offered the player a five-year contract on a salary of £150,000 a week after tax. However, sources in Milan said that Chelsea — who were also targeting Andrea Pirlo — had offered the player “extraordinary” personal terms after they were advised that there was a hitch in the Kaká deal.
The news of the tense negotiations came only hours after Gareth Barry, the England midfield player, left Aston Villa to join Manchester City for a fee of £12 million.
Chelsea will try to persuade Kaká to come to Stamford Bridge and join up with Carlo Ancelotti, his former coach at the San Siro who is now in charge at the Barclays Premier League club.
Kaká, who is on international duty, is believed to favour Real, but, in a further twist last night, Bosco Leite, the player’s agent and father, halted talks with the Spanish club after the interest shown by Chelsea and disagreements over his agent’s commission.
The transfer had earlier been thrashed out by Leite, Florentino Pérez, the newly returned Madrid president, and Adriano Galliani, the Milan vice-president. The Italian club, however, claimed last night that Galliani was in Spain purely as a guest at Pérez’s inauguration dinner.
The dramatic events come after Kaká had reiterated his desire to stay in Italy. “I say it for the last time: I don’t want to leave Milan,” he insisted.
Pérez seems determined, however, to recreate his infamous galácticos regime at the Bernabéu. He is expected to follow up the move for Kaká with a ¤45 million swoop for Franck Ribéry, the Bayern Munich winger, although, incredibly, that may still not be enough to end Pérez’s interest in Cristiano Ronaldo, the Manchester United forward.
Pérez risked incurring the wrath of United by claiming that he would have no hesitation paying more than ¤80 million for the Portugal player.
“I have not seen anything about him [Ronaldo] that would prohibit him from playing at Real Madrid,” Pérez said. “What I am sure of is that which seems expensive is the cheapest. Without knowing who we can get, there will be a massive effort for the great players of the world because that is the Real Madrid model.”
The events on the Continent served to overshadow City’s capture of Barry, who reneged on his very public claims that he wanted to leave Villa for a club offering Champions League football by shunning Liverpool and signing a five-year deal with City worth close to £100,000 a week.
“It didn’t take much persuasion from Mark Hughes,” Barry, 28, said after passing a medical. “They are heading in the direction I want to go.”
The news brought a humiliating end to Rafael Benítez’s tortuous year-long pursuit of the England midfield player and the Liverpool manager’s misery is expected to be compounded by the likely departure from Anfield of Xabi Alonso, the Spain midfield player, this summer. He, too, may join Real, whose spending could end up surpassing the ¤200 million mark.
City’s summer spree will also continue as Hughes seeks to secure deals for Joleon Lescott, the Everton defender, and Carlos Tévez, the Manchester United forward. “I was looking to get a number of deals done as soon as possible and we have had a great start with Gareth joining us,” Hughes said. “I hope we can conclude some more so that when we come back for pre-season training, we have everybody fit and well and set for a successful campaign.”
Tévez’s future is likely to be resolved today during talks with David Gill, the United chief executive, and Kia Joorabchian, who owns the Argentina player’s economic rights.
United have so far balked at meeting the £25.5 million fee agreed with Joorabchian two years ago and, barring a surprise about-turn from the Premier League champions, City are likely to beat Liverpool to the player’s signature in a deal that would cost almost £54 million over four years.
Hughes is expected to make an opening bid of about £12 million for Lescott, but David Moyes, the Everton manager, is fiercely opposed to selling the England defender and is unlikely to consider accepting a bid of anything less than £20 million.
Source:The times
The Spanish club have an agreement in place with AC Milan to sign the Brazil forward for a staggering €65 million (£56.2 million). Real had offered the player a five-year contract on a salary of £150,000 a week after tax. However, sources in Milan said that Chelsea — who were also targeting Andrea Pirlo — had offered the player “extraordinary” personal terms after they were advised that there was a hitch in the Kaká deal.
The news of the tense negotiations came only hours after Gareth Barry, the England midfield player, left Aston Villa to join Manchester City for a fee of £12 million.
Chelsea will try to persuade Kaká to come to Stamford Bridge and join up with Carlo Ancelotti, his former coach at the San Siro who is now in charge at the Barclays Premier League club.
Kaká, who is on international duty, is believed to favour Real, but, in a further twist last night, Bosco Leite, the player’s agent and father, halted talks with the Spanish club after the interest shown by Chelsea and disagreements over his agent’s commission.
The transfer had earlier been thrashed out by Leite, Florentino Pérez, the newly returned Madrid president, and Adriano Galliani, the Milan vice-president. The Italian club, however, claimed last night that Galliani was in Spain purely as a guest at Pérez’s inauguration dinner.
The dramatic events come after Kaká had reiterated his desire to stay in Italy. “I say it for the last time: I don’t want to leave Milan,” he insisted.
Pérez seems determined, however, to recreate his infamous galácticos regime at the Bernabéu. He is expected to follow up the move for Kaká with a ¤45 million swoop for Franck Ribéry, the Bayern Munich winger, although, incredibly, that may still not be enough to end Pérez’s interest in Cristiano Ronaldo, the Manchester United forward.
Pérez risked incurring the wrath of United by claiming that he would have no hesitation paying more than ¤80 million for the Portugal player.
“I have not seen anything about him [Ronaldo] that would prohibit him from playing at Real Madrid,” Pérez said. “What I am sure of is that which seems expensive is the cheapest. Without knowing who we can get, there will be a massive effort for the great players of the world because that is the Real Madrid model.”
The events on the Continent served to overshadow City’s capture of Barry, who reneged on his very public claims that he wanted to leave Villa for a club offering Champions League football by shunning Liverpool and signing a five-year deal with City worth close to £100,000 a week.
“It didn’t take much persuasion from Mark Hughes,” Barry, 28, said after passing a medical. “They are heading in the direction I want to go.”
The news brought a humiliating end to Rafael Benítez’s tortuous year-long pursuit of the England midfield player and the Liverpool manager’s misery is expected to be compounded by the likely departure from Anfield of Xabi Alonso, the Spain midfield player, this summer. He, too, may join Real, whose spending could end up surpassing the ¤200 million mark.
City’s summer spree will also continue as Hughes seeks to secure deals for Joleon Lescott, the Everton defender, and Carlos Tévez, the Manchester United forward. “I was looking to get a number of deals done as soon as possible and we have had a great start with Gareth joining us,” Hughes said. “I hope we can conclude some more so that when we come back for pre-season training, we have everybody fit and well and set for a successful campaign.”
Tévez’s future is likely to be resolved today during talks with David Gill, the United chief executive, and Kia Joorabchian, who owns the Argentina player’s economic rights.
United have so far balked at meeting the £25.5 million fee agreed with Joorabchian two years ago and, barring a surprise about-turn from the Premier League champions, City are likely to beat Liverpool to the player’s signature in a deal that would cost almost £54 million over four years.
Hughes is expected to make an opening bid of about £12 million for Lescott, but David Moyes, the Everton manager, is fiercely opposed to selling the England defender and is unlikely to consider accepting a bid of anything less than £20 million.
Source:The times
Manchester United to announce £80 million sponsorship deal with Aon
Manchester United are expected to announce the biggest shirt sponsorship deal in football history in the next few hours after agreeing an £80million partnership with Aon Corp, the American financial giant.
Current sponsors AIG, the American insurance firm, said in January that it would not be renewing its £14m-per-year contract after it suffered massive losses during the global economic downturn.
United always maintained they were confident of securing an improved deal when their current contract ends in May 2010 and The Wall Street Journal claim the contract with Aon is worth £20m per year over four seasons.
AIG will continue to have its name on the club's shirts next season, before the Chicago-based financial services company take over the sponsorship in June 2010.
A number of companies had been linked with the United shirt deal, including electronics giants Samsung and Saudi Telecom and Indian firms Sahara and Tata.
However, Aon now appear to have agreed one of the most prestigious advertising deals in sport.
Top shirt sponsorship deals
1. Bayern Munich (T-Home) £17.03m per year
2. Real Madrid (Bwin) £12.78m
3. Chelsea (Samsung Mobile) £10.73m
4=. Schalke '04 (Gazprom) £10.22m
AC Milan (Bwin) £10.22m
Source: The times
Current sponsors AIG, the American insurance firm, said in January that it would not be renewing its £14m-per-year contract after it suffered massive losses during the global economic downturn.
United always maintained they were confident of securing an improved deal when their current contract ends in May 2010 and The Wall Street Journal claim the contract with Aon is worth £20m per year over four seasons.
AIG will continue to have its name on the club's shirts next season, before the Chicago-based financial services company take over the sponsorship in June 2010.
A number of companies had been linked with the United shirt deal, including electronics giants Samsung and Saudi Telecom and Indian firms Sahara and Tata.
However, Aon now appear to have agreed one of the most prestigious advertising deals in sport.
Top shirt sponsorship deals
1. Bayern Munich (T-Home) £17.03m per year
2. Real Madrid (Bwin) £12.78m
3. Chelsea (Samsung Mobile) £10.73m
4=. Schalke '04 (Gazprom) £10.22m
AC Milan (Bwin) £10.22m
Source: The times
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