Andy Roddick saw the punch-line and its havoc-forming possibilities coming long before the person with the microphone had formed the question himself. On June 12, England will play the United States in the opening game of Group C in the World Cup finals and Roddick, well, he did not want to be lured into saying something he may later regret. Andy Murray has been there and it is not a nice place.
“I’ve got the British crowd on my side right now,” Roddick said, a reference to the reception he was given at the end of last year’s Wimbledon final and its tumultuous concluding set. “I’ve built up a lot of goodwill over the last couple of years and I don’t want to ruin that. I’m going to enjoy my sudden popularity in London and leave it at that.”
The American knows he will never quite form the affinity with the French that has become part-and-parcel of his relationships with those in Britain who admire him both for his sporting prowess and the fact that he has treated all of the deep frustration at losing three Wimbledon finals to Roger Federer with such open-hearted equanimity.
Once more, his excursion to Paris lasted but for a brief few days. At the first changeover yesterday he complained that the backstop tarpaulins were so wet that any ball that landed in them was bound to grow heavier - “I’ve complained about this for the last ten years,” he muttered. At the next, he plucked two polythene-wrapped rackets from his bag and threw them across the dirt suggesting that their string tensions were all wrong.
Thus, when the world No.8 and No.6 seed was defeated in straight sets, the levels of surprise were not that high. That he lost to Teimuraz Gabashvili, a qualifier from Georgia, though, was a little less credible.
Gabashvili had never been beyond the second round of a grand slam tournament before – now he is into the fourth round of the men’s championship, the last of the qualifiers whose 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory was the best of his career and maintained his record of not dropping a set in the championships to date.
Roddick could point to the fact that he had not had one match on clay before landing in Paris as reason for his sub-standard performance. After his victory in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, he chose to celebrate his first wedding anniversary rather than playing in either Monte Carlo or Rome (Hawaii was not a bad substitute, especially as his wife is one of the world’s most photographed swim-suit models). Roddick did arrive in Madrid, only to fall victim to food poisoning.
It would be unfair to describe him as a fish out of water on clay, for he has only swum in the shallows of this event. For him, the French Open is a means of getting a few miles on the clock, fine tune his game, work himself into form and prepare to strike on the grass where his form and fortunes in the past few summers has been prodigious.
Larry Stefanki, his coach, has described Court Suzanne Lenglen as a sandpit and he is not far wrong. “It’s the slowest one here,” Roddick said. “It’s a fun court as far as the people viewing but the way it plays just doesn’t help me out much. That’s all. That’s fine. It’s just my personal preference is all. I have to deal with it and play through it.”
Gabashvili will meet Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the last 16, not a match that many would have envisioned when the draw was made. Gabashvili was still involved in the qualifying competition then he eschewed the suggestion that it couldn’t get any better than beating a top ten player. “My best match was the second round of qualifying against Thierry Ascione (of France). It was unbelievable, I won 6-2, 6-0, I made 31 winners and only seven errors, so it was a crazy match. Today was very good – but not the best.”
Neither was Novak Djokovic purring but the world No.3, still clearly suffering from the allergies that seem to affect him most severely on the clay, secured a place in the fourth round when he defeated Romania’s Victor Hanescu 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 38 minutes of tennis played in intermittent drizzle.
Source:The Times
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Main Aim primed to hit target
Sir Michael Stoute-trained five-year-old has yet to win since landing this Haydock prize last year but has done little wrong.
Main Aim developed into a top-class performer for Sir Michael Stoute last season and is strongly fancied to stage a repeat success in the Timeform Jury Stakes (3.30) at Haydock Park today.
He failed to win another race after landing this contest in emphatic fashion 12 months ago, but showed improved form nonetheless, notably when chasing home Fleeting Spirit in the group one July Cup at Newmarket.
Main Aim showed that he retains all of his ability when a close third in group two company on his reappearance at York, staying on strongly but just finding six furlongs on that sharp track too much of a test of speed. This return to farther looks sure to suit, while it will not be a problem for this versatile performer if the forecast rain materialises.
Lord Shanakill travelled strongly for a long way before fading into third behind Paco Boy in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury and has good form claims, but he has run his best races on a fast surface and the main threat may come from Mia’s Boy, who can reverse recent course-and-distance form with Lovelace if the ground eases.
Becqu Adoree, a French import, can make a winning debut in Britain in the EBF Joan Westbrook Pinnacle Stakes (3.00). Successful in four of her eight starts in her native country, she ran a cracker when beaten 2½ lengths into sixth in the group one Prix Vermeille at Longchamp in October. A repeat of that form would make her hard to beat.
Inxile can bounce back to his best to land the sports360.co.uk Achilles Stakes (2.00). He showed good speed to beat Prime Defender at Doncaster in March before disappointing when sixth behind the same rival at York. This drop back to the minimum trip should suit and he will be hard to pass if allowed to dominate early on.
David Nicholls, his trainer, will have high hopes of a quick double through Mister Manannan in the J W Lees Sandy Lane Stakes (2.30). However, his best form has come over five furlongs and at this longer trip Layla’s Hero, a former stablemate, can come out on top. The latter won five times for Nicholls last season and appeared not to handle the all-weather surface when below par on his reappearance. Subsequently switched to David Simcock, the up-and-coming Newmarket trainer, Layla’s Hero can get off the mark for the year.
The best bet of the day is Raincoat in the Sports 360 Sports Advertising Specialists Handicap (4.45). He has shaped better than the result suggests on both starts this season, staying on strongly to take fifth in listed company at Nottingham on his reappearance and then never able to land a blow having been held up last in the Chester Cup. He made good progress in the latter race before finding his path blocked on the home turn and was far from disgraced in a race where those up with the early pace dominated throughout. Classy in his younger days, he retains enough ability to take advantage of a slipping handicap mark.
At Newmarket, the in-form Jack My Boy can take the coral.co.uk Sprint (3.20). He has been much sharper since fitted with blinkers on his past two starts and beat Bagamoyo with something in reserve in a similar race over course and distance last time. He rates a fair bet at 12-1 with William Hill.
Source:The Times
Main Aim developed into a top-class performer for Sir Michael Stoute last season and is strongly fancied to stage a repeat success in the Timeform Jury Stakes (3.30) at Haydock Park today.
He failed to win another race after landing this contest in emphatic fashion 12 months ago, but showed improved form nonetheless, notably when chasing home Fleeting Spirit in the group one July Cup at Newmarket.
Main Aim showed that he retains all of his ability when a close third in group two company on his reappearance at York, staying on strongly but just finding six furlongs on that sharp track too much of a test of speed. This return to farther looks sure to suit, while it will not be a problem for this versatile performer if the forecast rain materialises.
Lord Shanakill travelled strongly for a long way before fading into third behind Paco Boy in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury and has good form claims, but he has run his best races on a fast surface and the main threat may come from Mia’s Boy, who can reverse recent course-and-distance form with Lovelace if the ground eases.
Becqu Adoree, a French import, can make a winning debut in Britain in the EBF Joan Westbrook Pinnacle Stakes (3.00). Successful in four of her eight starts in her native country, she ran a cracker when beaten 2½ lengths into sixth in the group one Prix Vermeille at Longchamp in October. A repeat of that form would make her hard to beat.
Inxile can bounce back to his best to land the sports360.co.uk Achilles Stakes (2.00). He showed good speed to beat Prime Defender at Doncaster in March before disappointing when sixth behind the same rival at York. This drop back to the minimum trip should suit and he will be hard to pass if allowed to dominate early on.
David Nicholls, his trainer, will have high hopes of a quick double through Mister Manannan in the J W Lees Sandy Lane Stakes (2.30). However, his best form has come over five furlongs and at this longer trip Layla’s Hero, a former stablemate, can come out on top. The latter won five times for Nicholls last season and appeared not to handle the all-weather surface when below par on his reappearance. Subsequently switched to David Simcock, the up-and-coming Newmarket trainer, Layla’s Hero can get off the mark for the year.
The best bet of the day is Raincoat in the Sports 360 Sports Advertising Specialists Handicap (4.45). He has shaped better than the result suggests on both starts this season, staying on strongly to take fifth in listed company at Nottingham on his reappearance and then never able to land a blow having been held up last in the Chester Cup. He made good progress in the latter race before finding his path blocked on the home turn and was far from disgraced in a race where those up with the early pace dominated throughout. Classy in his younger days, he retains enough ability to take advantage of a slipping handicap mark.
At Newmarket, the in-form Jack My Boy can take the coral.co.uk Sprint (3.20). He has been much sharper since fitted with blinkers on his past two starts and beat Bagamoyo with something in reserve in a similar race over course and distance last time. He rates a fair bet at 12-1 with William Hill.
Source:The Times
Colin Montgomerie pins faith in Sergio García to get back on course for Ryder Cup
Colin Montgomerie has moved to assure Sergio García that despite his poor form, he expects the Spaniard to be a part of his Ryder Cup team when Europe take on the United States at Celtic Manor, Newport, in October.
A dispirited García, who has fallen from No 2 in the world 18 months ago to No 32, said last week that he was playing so poorly that if he were the captain, he would not pick himself.
Montgomerie, speaking yesterday at Gleneagles — which will host the Johnnie Walker Championship in August, the final event in which players can qualify automatically for the 12-man team — said he was surprised to hear García’s words, but was unconcerned for a such a top player.
“Any team without Sergio is a weaker one and, conversely, any team with him in it is a stronger one,” Montgomerie said of a player who has often been a thorn in the side of the Americans and who, by common consent, has brought the locker room alive.
Under Nick Faldo’s captaincy at Valhalla, Kentucky, in 2008, García was a shadow of his former self. He claimed to have been unwell in the immediate build-up, but might have responded to better captaincy. Most surprising was the way in which he was taken apart in the opening singles match by Anthony Kim, who outswaggered Europe’s own king of swagger.
Montgomerie used to raise his own game to exalted levels in the Ryder Cup. But it was clever captaincy from such as Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam that drew the best out of him. Each told him they were relying on him to lead the team to victory and he revelled in the role. He seems ready to use the same technique to bring on García.
“I feel that Sergio’s form will turn around,” he said. “There are three major championships to go before selection and I am not concerned about his lack of form at this stage — although I am glad that he is.
“You can see his passion for the event. I have not spoken to him yet, but I shall be going over to the US Open [at Pebble Beach, California, in three weeks’ time] and I shall see him then.”
Montgomerie will have three captain’s picks and will announce them after the Johnnie Walker Championship. He said he hoped that all players who were in with a chance of qualifying automatically for the team would play in the event. “I expect potential team members to be here,” he said. “It would not be a black mark against them, but it is in their interest to come. There is always the risk that players at six, seven or eight in the standings could get knocked out.”
Asked if he would leave his three selections until the last moment, Montgomerie gave the impression that he would know whom he would be choosing, but added that he would leave a couple of picks until the end of the final round at Gleneagles.
“It’s not right to pick anyone until qualifying is finished,” he said. An oblique reference, perhaps, to the fact that Faldo chose Ian Poulter in 2008 even though the Englishman decided not to play at Gleneagles for the final event in which he could have qualified automatically. Many asked whether Poulter had been given the nod by Faldo and felt, therefore, that he did not need to travel to Scotland from his home in Florida. In the event, he was Europe’s most successful player and fully justified his selection.
On the American side, some are wondering whether Tiger Woods will play. His form is so scratchy that he could, like García, conceivably require a captain’s pick. Montgomerie, for one, wants him to play. “I do hope that he is in the team for the sake of the Ryder Cup,” he said. “Any win — be it a tournament or the Ryder Cup — is bigger and better when he has been playing.”
And what of Montgomerie when it is all over? “I shall return to the back benches and try to get into shape for the 2012 Ryder Cup,” he said in all seriousness. “No one has ever played in the Ryder Cup after captaining the side. I would like to do it. It’s just a matter of focusing on my game.”
Source:The times
A dispirited García, who has fallen from No 2 in the world 18 months ago to No 32, said last week that he was playing so poorly that if he were the captain, he would not pick himself.
Montgomerie, speaking yesterday at Gleneagles — which will host the Johnnie Walker Championship in August, the final event in which players can qualify automatically for the 12-man team — said he was surprised to hear García’s words, but was unconcerned for a such a top player.
“Any team without Sergio is a weaker one and, conversely, any team with him in it is a stronger one,” Montgomerie said of a player who has often been a thorn in the side of the Americans and who, by common consent, has brought the locker room alive.
Under Nick Faldo’s captaincy at Valhalla, Kentucky, in 2008, García was a shadow of his former self. He claimed to have been unwell in the immediate build-up, but might have responded to better captaincy. Most surprising was the way in which he was taken apart in the opening singles match by Anthony Kim, who outswaggered Europe’s own king of swagger.
Montgomerie used to raise his own game to exalted levels in the Ryder Cup. But it was clever captaincy from such as Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam that drew the best out of him. Each told him they were relying on him to lead the team to victory and he revelled in the role. He seems ready to use the same technique to bring on García.
“I feel that Sergio’s form will turn around,” he said. “There are three major championships to go before selection and I am not concerned about his lack of form at this stage — although I am glad that he is.
“You can see his passion for the event. I have not spoken to him yet, but I shall be going over to the US Open [at Pebble Beach, California, in three weeks’ time] and I shall see him then.”
Montgomerie will have three captain’s picks and will announce them after the Johnnie Walker Championship. He said he hoped that all players who were in with a chance of qualifying automatically for the team would play in the event. “I expect potential team members to be here,” he said. “It would not be a black mark against them, but it is in their interest to come. There is always the risk that players at six, seven or eight in the standings could get knocked out.”
Asked if he would leave his three selections until the last moment, Montgomerie gave the impression that he would know whom he would be choosing, but added that he would leave a couple of picks until the end of the final round at Gleneagles.
“It’s not right to pick anyone until qualifying is finished,” he said. An oblique reference, perhaps, to the fact that Faldo chose Ian Poulter in 2008 even though the Englishman decided not to play at Gleneagles for the final event in which he could have qualified automatically. Many asked whether Poulter had been given the nod by Faldo and felt, therefore, that he did not need to travel to Scotland from his home in Florida. In the event, he was Europe’s most successful player and fully justified his selection.
On the American side, some are wondering whether Tiger Woods will play. His form is so scratchy that he could, like García, conceivably require a captain’s pick. Montgomerie, for one, wants him to play. “I do hope that he is in the team for the sake of the Ryder Cup,” he said. “Any win — be it a tournament or the Ryder Cup — is bigger and better when he has been playing.”
And what of Montgomerie when it is all over? “I shall return to the back benches and try to get into shape for the 2012 Ryder Cup,” he said in all seriousness. “No one has ever played in the Ryder Cup after captaining the side. I would like to do it. It’s just a matter of focusing on my game.”
Source:The times
Lewis Hamilton acclaims McLaren progress
Two cars in the front four on the Istanbul grid represents a serious improvement for the British motor-racing team
It was more in hope than expectation that McLaren claimed to be getting closer to Red Bull this weekend, but two cars in the top four - including Lewis Hamilton on the front row - represented a serious step forward.
While Mark Webber achieved the seventh successive pole position for Red Bull this season, Hamilton made the front row for the first time, recording a time of 1:26.433, 0.327sec ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the other Red Bull.
“I was very, very happy with that lap I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Hamilton said. “These guys (Red Bull) have been untouchable in terms of pure pace, but this puts us in a strong position.”
McLaren’s improvements included a new rear wing, which had been brought forward after being expected to be ready for the Candian Grand Prix in a fortnight.
Jenson Button took fourth position, his final flying lap scuppered when he was forced to slow after Michael Schumacher crashed. But he fears the set-up of the car may cause problems on the bumpy track with a full load of fuel.
“Being the last car is sometimes a good thing but Michael went off in front me, I saw the yellow flag and decided to come in,” said Button, who is in fourth place in the driver standings. We are a lot closer to Red Bull than I expected. I was hitting the ground a lot through turn eight and I think we’ve run the car too low. With a lot of fuel on board for tomorrow, it will be tough on turn eight.”
It was more in hope than expectation that McLaren claimed to be getting closer to Red Bull this weekend, but two cars in the top four - including Lewis Hamilton on the front row - represented a serious step forward.
While Mark Webber achieved the seventh successive pole position for Red Bull this season, Hamilton made the front row for the first time, recording a time of 1:26.433, 0.327sec ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the other Red Bull.
“I was very, very happy with that lap I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Hamilton said. “These guys (Red Bull) have been untouchable in terms of pure pace, but this puts us in a strong position.”
McLaren’s improvements included a new rear wing, which had been brought forward after being expected to be ready for the Candian Grand Prix in a fortnight.
Jenson Button took fourth position, his final flying lap scuppered when he was forced to slow after Michael Schumacher crashed. But he fears the set-up of the car may cause problems on the bumpy track with a full load of fuel.
“Being the last car is sometimes a good thing but Michael went off in front me, I saw the yellow flag and decided to come in,” said Button, who is in fourth place in the driver standings. We are a lot closer to Red Bull than I expected. I was hitting the ground a lot through turn eight and I think we’ve run the car too low. With a lot of fuel on board for tomorrow, it will be tough on turn eight.”
Paul Robinson breaks deadlock for Millwall
No-one, allegedly, likes them, but tonight they won’t care. For at long last Millwall have won through the play-offs. Five previous attempts to progress through the end-of-season lottery have ended in failure, but a goal after 38 minutes from Paul Robinson, the captain and central defender, finally ended the sequence.
A year after Kenny Jacketts team lost the League One play-off final to Scunthorpe United on a sweltering afternoon, they went one better in cool, rainy conditions today and are back in the Championship after four seasons in League One.
Robinson, who came up through the club’s youth ranks, had said that to lead the team out after failing to start last season’s play-off final through injury would be a dream come true, but scoring the winner and being voted man of the match would have seemed even more far-fetched.
Swindon, at Wembley for the first time since beating Leicester City 4-3 to reach the Premier League in 1993 and bidding for a return to the second tier after a decade, never really got going and could have been more than a goal down at half-time. But stubborn resistance kept them in the match and Charlie Austin, the former Poole Town forward who scored 20 League goals after making his full debut in November, had an excellent chance to draw the sides level in the second half. However, he shot wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Around 40,000 Millwall supporters made the short journey from Bermondsey and New Cross hoping to see their team win at Wembley for the first time. Swindon’s decision to wear all white in order to counter the effects of the Wembley heat - pitchside temperatures reached 41C in the Blackpool v Cardiff City match a week ago - were mocked by cool, drizzly conditions.
They struggled to impose their passing game as Millwall threatened first. Steve Morison did well to stay just onside as Danny Schofield played the ball through and then floated a clever chip just over the crossbar - proving that he is not just a battering-ram centre forward.
And Swindon were breathing another sigh of relief when Kevin Amankwaah headed powerfully into his own net but were relieved to see a flag raised because Liam Trotter had strayed offside when the ball was played in from the right.
Amankwaah, jeered by the Millwall fans for criticizing local hero Neil Harris earlier in the season, could not have done more to win them over than score an own goal - it was not his fault it was disallowed.
But Millwall did not have to wait long for a legitimate goal to cheer. It came in the 38th minute as Schofield’s corner kick from the left soared over attackers and defenders and dropped to Robinson, who chested the ball down and poked it in. It was the simplest of goals and the sort to drive the managers of defending teams to distraction.
While Neil Harris and Morison had been in the thick of the action, very little had been seen of Austin and Billy Paynter, the usually prolific Swindon forward pairing.
Danny Wilson, the Swindon manager, needed to give the sort of inspirational team talk that he had delivered at The Valley when his team trailed 2-0 in the semi-final second leg. On that occasion they went down to ten men before forcing extra time, so he and they knew that they had come back before.
But Millwall continued to press. Scott Cuthbert made a last ditch clearance as Shaun Batt looked to force his way through, and David Lucas saved with his feet as Schofield was played in by Harris. Then Harris’s shot rebounded off Lucas’s chest as Batt ran across the goalkeeper’s line of sight.
Morison also missed chances to add to his 21 goals since coming out of non-League football at Stevenage Borough. He had scored and won at Wembley twice before with his previous club, but was less than sharp today.
You felt that Millwall might regret not making certain of victory and that Swindon must get a chance and it came on 72 minutes as Robinson committed his only error of the match. Attempting to head a low-bouncing ball away, he only nodded it straight to Austin.
The Swindon forward raced away with only David Forde to beat and Robinson surely wondering whether to attempt to atone for his error with a foul and inevitable red card. It looked a stonewall chance for the former bricklayer, but to the relief of Robinson and the 40,000 Millwall fans, he curled his shot a yard wide.
Danny Wilson held his head in his hands, and did so again when Austin’s deflected shot in injury time was fingertipped to safety by Forde. The whistle blew seconds later, and the years of hurt were over for Millwall.
Millwall (4-3-3): D Forde S Barron, P Robinson, D Ward, T Craig (sub: A Frampton 44min) S Batt (sub: C Hackett 70), L Trotter, N Abdou, D Schofield N Harris, S Morison. Substitutes not used: J Sullivan, G Alexander, A Fuseini, M Laird, J Obika.
Swindon Town (4-4-2): D Lucas K Amankwaah, S Cuthbert, L Jean-Francois, A Sheehan (sub: S Darby 67mins) J-P McGovern (sub: A OBrien 73), J Dougles, S Ferry, D Ward C Austin, W Paynter (sub: V Pericard 81). Substitutes not used: P Smith, C Easton, M Timlin, S Morrison. Booked: Jean-Francois.
Referee: C Webster.
A year after Kenny Jacketts team lost the League One play-off final to Scunthorpe United on a sweltering afternoon, they went one better in cool, rainy conditions today and are back in the Championship after four seasons in League One.
Robinson, who came up through the club’s youth ranks, had said that to lead the team out after failing to start last season’s play-off final through injury would be a dream come true, but scoring the winner and being voted man of the match would have seemed even more far-fetched.
Swindon, at Wembley for the first time since beating Leicester City 4-3 to reach the Premier League in 1993 and bidding for a return to the second tier after a decade, never really got going and could have been more than a goal down at half-time. But stubborn resistance kept them in the match and Charlie Austin, the former Poole Town forward who scored 20 League goals after making his full debut in November, had an excellent chance to draw the sides level in the second half. However, he shot wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Around 40,000 Millwall supporters made the short journey from Bermondsey and New Cross hoping to see their team win at Wembley for the first time. Swindon’s decision to wear all white in order to counter the effects of the Wembley heat - pitchside temperatures reached 41C in the Blackpool v Cardiff City match a week ago - were mocked by cool, drizzly conditions.
They struggled to impose their passing game as Millwall threatened first. Steve Morison did well to stay just onside as Danny Schofield played the ball through and then floated a clever chip just over the crossbar - proving that he is not just a battering-ram centre forward.
And Swindon were breathing another sigh of relief when Kevin Amankwaah headed powerfully into his own net but were relieved to see a flag raised because Liam Trotter had strayed offside when the ball was played in from the right.
Amankwaah, jeered by the Millwall fans for criticizing local hero Neil Harris earlier in the season, could not have done more to win them over than score an own goal - it was not his fault it was disallowed.
But Millwall did not have to wait long for a legitimate goal to cheer. It came in the 38th minute as Schofield’s corner kick from the left soared over attackers and defenders and dropped to Robinson, who chested the ball down and poked it in. It was the simplest of goals and the sort to drive the managers of defending teams to distraction.
While Neil Harris and Morison had been in the thick of the action, very little had been seen of Austin and Billy Paynter, the usually prolific Swindon forward pairing.
Danny Wilson, the Swindon manager, needed to give the sort of inspirational team talk that he had delivered at The Valley when his team trailed 2-0 in the semi-final second leg. On that occasion they went down to ten men before forcing extra time, so he and they knew that they had come back before.
But Millwall continued to press. Scott Cuthbert made a last ditch clearance as Shaun Batt looked to force his way through, and David Lucas saved with his feet as Schofield was played in by Harris. Then Harris’s shot rebounded off Lucas’s chest as Batt ran across the goalkeeper’s line of sight.
Morison also missed chances to add to his 21 goals since coming out of non-League football at Stevenage Borough. He had scored and won at Wembley twice before with his previous club, but was less than sharp today.
You felt that Millwall might regret not making certain of victory and that Swindon must get a chance and it came on 72 minutes as Robinson committed his only error of the match. Attempting to head a low-bouncing ball away, he only nodded it straight to Austin.
The Swindon forward raced away with only David Forde to beat and Robinson surely wondering whether to attempt to atone for his error with a foul and inevitable red card. It looked a stonewall chance for the former bricklayer, but to the relief of Robinson and the 40,000 Millwall fans, he curled his shot a yard wide.
Danny Wilson held his head in his hands, and did so again when Austin’s deflected shot in injury time was fingertipped to safety by Forde. The whistle blew seconds later, and the years of hurt were over for Millwall.
Millwall (4-3-3): D Forde S Barron, P Robinson, D Ward, T Craig (sub: A Frampton 44min) S Batt (sub: C Hackett 70), L Trotter, N Abdou, D Schofield N Harris, S Morison. Substitutes not used: J Sullivan, G Alexander, A Fuseini, M Laird, J Obika.
Swindon Town (4-4-2): D Lucas K Amankwaah, S Cuthbert, L Jean-Francois, A Sheehan (sub: S Darby 67mins) J-P McGovern (sub: A OBrien 73), J Dougles, S Ferry, D Ward C Austin, W Paynter (sub: V Pericard 81). Substitutes not used: P Smith, C Easton, M Timlin, S Morrison. Booked: Jean-Francois.
Referee: C Webster.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Tiger Woods cut adrift as swing coach Hank Haney quits
With open speculation that he was about to be sacked as Tiger Woods’s swing coach, Hank Haney got his retaliation in first by resigning from the role. The question now being asked is: who will replace him?
After Woods had hung his coach of six years out to dry last week at The Players Championship at Sawgrass, Florida, it came as little surprise that the two had finally split. But few expected Haney to be the one to end the relationship — announcing it, as is often the way these days, on his website.
“Tiger Woods and I will always be friends, but I believe that there is a time and place for everything, and I feel at this time in my life I want to move forward in other areas,” Haney, 54, said.
“As we all know, Tiger has been through a lot in the last six months and I really believe that given the chance, mind-free and injury-free, we will all see [him] play once again like we all know he can.”
With Woods struggling to find any semblance of a working swing since returning after five months in exile, Haney’s role was openly questioned. He was nowhere to be seen at Sawgrass and Woods made no attempt to quell the inevitable speculation surrounding his absence. A curt “I’m still working with him” was all he would say.
It must also have hurt Haney that before Woods pulled out with a neck injury in his final round, his swing was taken apart frame by frame by television analysts.
Not only that, but Haney became the butt of a locker-room joke. On the back of his association with Woods, he has been working on the swing of Ray Romano, the comedian, for a television series. At The Players, it was being suggested that if Woods stayed with him much longer, then he would end up with a swing like Romano’s.
Haney, who had worked with Woods since 2004, had much to prove in the early days when the world No 1 attempted to change his swing away from the one honed by Butch Harmon — who had worked with him for nine years until 2002 and had been his coach when, after the Masters in 2001, he held all four majors.
Inevitably comparisons were made between Harmon and Haney, and at first it looked as if Woods had made a mistake in switching coaches. But from 2005, he turned his game around and Haney can make note that his star pupil won six major championships in the time they were together.
Some have suggested that Woods would do well to go back to Harmon, but it is hard to imagine that the world No 1 would surrender that particular moral high ground after initiating the split.
More significantly, Harmon now works closely with Phil Mickelson, the world No 2, who would not countenance such an arrangement.
It could leave the way clear for Sean Foley, a coach with a growing reputation, who works with, among others, Hunter Mahan, Sean O’Hair and Justin Rose. You could argue that such a role would be a poisoned chalice. But with Woods’s game at its lowest point, there is only one way that it can go. And who would turn down such an opportunity to take the credit?
After Woods had hung his coach of six years out to dry last week at The Players Championship at Sawgrass, Florida, it came as little surprise that the two had finally split. But few expected Haney to be the one to end the relationship — announcing it, as is often the way these days, on his website.
“Tiger Woods and I will always be friends, but I believe that there is a time and place for everything, and I feel at this time in my life I want to move forward in other areas,” Haney, 54, said.
“As we all know, Tiger has been through a lot in the last six months and I really believe that given the chance, mind-free and injury-free, we will all see [him] play once again like we all know he can.”
With Woods struggling to find any semblance of a working swing since returning after five months in exile, Haney’s role was openly questioned. He was nowhere to be seen at Sawgrass and Woods made no attempt to quell the inevitable speculation surrounding his absence. A curt “I’m still working with him” was all he would say.
It must also have hurt Haney that before Woods pulled out with a neck injury in his final round, his swing was taken apart frame by frame by television analysts.
Not only that, but Haney became the butt of a locker-room joke. On the back of his association with Woods, he has been working on the swing of Ray Romano, the comedian, for a television series. At The Players, it was being suggested that if Woods stayed with him much longer, then he would end up with a swing like Romano’s.
Haney, who had worked with Woods since 2004, had much to prove in the early days when the world No 1 attempted to change his swing away from the one honed by Butch Harmon — who had worked with him for nine years until 2002 and had been his coach when, after the Masters in 2001, he held all four majors.
Inevitably comparisons were made between Harmon and Haney, and at first it looked as if Woods had made a mistake in switching coaches. But from 2005, he turned his game around and Haney can make note that his star pupil won six major championships in the time they were together.
Some have suggested that Woods would do well to go back to Harmon, but it is hard to imagine that the world No 1 would surrender that particular moral high ground after initiating the split.
More significantly, Harmon now works closely with Phil Mickelson, the world No 2, who would not countenance such an arrangement.
It could leave the way clear for Sean Foley, a coach with a growing reputation, who works with, among others, Hunter Mahan, Sean O’Hair and Justin Rose. You could argue that such a role would be a poisoned chalice. But with Woods’s game at its lowest point, there is only one way that it can go. And who would turn down such an opportunity to take the credit?
Beware the backmarkers in battle for pole position
Six cars in a race of their own. A very slow race. A shiver has run through the motorhomes of the top teams here before qualifying today for the Monaco Grand Prix, because they are facing the same hurdles on the way to fighting for pole position.
Or six hurdles, if you count the twin cars from Lotus, Virgin Racing and HRT. Formula One’s new teams have discovered how hard life is at the sharp end of the world’s fastest form of motor racing and the twists and turns of Monte Carlo emphasise the problems.
For the leading teams in the sport, though, it will be a desperate race in the first qualifying session to avoid arriving on the exhaust pipes of one of the new boys.
Overtaking is tough at the best of times around here and none of that gaggle of drivers fighting for the World Championship can afford to be ejected early from qualifying because he got stuck behind a backmarker.
The new teams are doing their level best and Lotus, certainly, and Virgin, to some extent, are gradually attaching themselves to the midfield pack.
Poor, cash-strapped and seemingly hopeless HRT, though, are in for an almighty struggle. They have two Monaco Grand Prix virgins in the shape of Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok, who will spend as much time looking in their rearview mirrors as they do straight ahead.
To illustrate how far off the pace they are, Senna set a time of 1.22.148sec in the second practice session here, 7.22sec off the fastest time, by Fernando Alonso for Ferrari. But Senna’s time was also slower than the practice times set by the top eight cars in the junior GP2 series that supports Formula One. Maybe the Brazilian with the illustrious name was in the wrong series.
Even at that speed, Senna will have his own qualifying battle ahead today. The top drivers just have to hope that it does not impinge on theirs.
Source:The Times
Or six hurdles, if you count the twin cars from Lotus, Virgin Racing and HRT. Formula One’s new teams have discovered how hard life is at the sharp end of the world’s fastest form of motor racing and the twists and turns of Monte Carlo emphasise the problems.
For the leading teams in the sport, though, it will be a desperate race in the first qualifying session to avoid arriving on the exhaust pipes of one of the new boys.
Overtaking is tough at the best of times around here and none of that gaggle of drivers fighting for the World Championship can afford to be ejected early from qualifying because he got stuck behind a backmarker.
The new teams are doing their level best and Lotus, certainly, and Virgin, to some extent, are gradually attaching themselves to the midfield pack.
Poor, cash-strapped and seemingly hopeless HRT, though, are in for an almighty struggle. They have two Monaco Grand Prix virgins in the shape of Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok, who will spend as much time looking in their rearview mirrors as they do straight ahead.
To illustrate how far off the pace they are, Senna set a time of 1.22.148sec in the second practice session here, 7.22sec off the fastest time, by Fernando Alonso for Ferrari. But Senna’s time was also slower than the practice times set by the top eight cars in the junior GP2 series that supports Formula One. Maybe the Brazilian with the illustrious name was in the wrong series.
Even at that speed, Senna will have his own qualifying battle ahead today. The top drivers just have to hope that it does not impinge on theirs.
Source:The Times
Mike Hussey’s big blows ensure improbable Australia win
Beausejour Stadium (Australia won toss): Australia beat Pakistan by three wickets
Michael Hussey engineered a near-impossible fightback to carry Australia into the final of the World Twenty20 tomorrow.
England will need to end the only unbeaten record of the tournament to secure the title.
Australia needed 125 from ten overs and 18 from the last six balls from Saeed Ajmal, but the requirement came down quickly as Hussey swung successive sixes over square leg and long-on to finish 60 not out from 24 balls.
Monitoring the game in Barbados after a morning flight, Paul Collingwood, the England one-day captain, and his colleagues must have thought that Pakistan would form the opposition. England beat Shahid Afridi’s side in Bridgetown nine days ago, but must now take on Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes on the fastest pitch in the tournament.
“That is one of the best wins I have been involved in across any form of the game,” Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, said. “Mike Hussey is an absolute freak. You look forward to any opportunity to beat England, but they have some match-winners as well, so it will be a great final.”
Play in the Beausejour Stadium began 30 minutes late because of rain and Australia gradually lost control in the field. The Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar, hit fifties and the addition of 69 runs from the last 26 balls took the total to 191, which Clarke thought was about 20 runs too many. The hitting looked sensational until it was trumped by Hussey.
Clarke’s concern proved justified when David Warner cut the second ball of the reply to backward point and Shane Watson forced to long-on. Cameron White injected stability to the innings and, with 43 needed at one point from 15 balls and heads in hands in the Australia dugout, Hussey timed the recovery perfectly.Pakistan †Kamran Akmal c Warner b Johnson 50 (34 balls) Salman Butt c Warner b Smith 32 (30) Umar Akmal not out 57 (35) *Shahid Afridi c Haddin b Hussey 8 (9) Khalid Latif c Warner b Nannes13 (6) Abdul Razzaq run out11 (7) Misbah-ul-Haq run out 0 (0)Extras (b 10, lb 1, w 9) 20Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) 192Mohammad Hafeez, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Aamer and Saeed Ajmal did not bat.Fall of wickets: 1-82, 2-89, 3-114, 4-145, 5-190, 6-192.Bowling: Nannes 4-1-32-1; Tait 4-0-25-0; Johnson 4-0-37-1; Watson 2-0-26-0; Smith 2-0-23-1; Hussey 3-0-24-1; Clarke 1-0-13-0.
AustraliaD A Warner c U Akmal b Aamer 0 (2) S R Watson c Rehman b Aamer 16 (9) †B J Haddin st K Akmal b Rehman 25 (20) *M J Clarke st K Akmal b Afridi17 (19) D J Hussey c and b Rehman13 (9) C L White c Hafeez b Aamer 43 (31) M E K Hussey not out 60 (24) S P D Smith st K Akmal b Ajmal5 (4) M G Johnson not out5 (3)Extras (lb 7, w 5, nb 1)13Total (7 wkts, 19.5 overs) 197S W Tait and D P Nannes did not bat.Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-26, 3-58, 4-62, 5-105, 6-139, 7-144.Bowling: Aamer 4-0-35-3; Razzaq 2-0-22-0; Rehman 4-0-33-2; Ajmal 3.5-0-46-1; Afridi 4-0-34-1; Hafeez 2-0-20-0.
Umpires: B R Doctrove and I J Gould (England).
Michael Hussey engineered a near-impossible fightback to carry Australia into the final of the World Twenty20 tomorrow.
England will need to end the only unbeaten record of the tournament to secure the title.
Australia needed 125 from ten overs and 18 from the last six balls from Saeed Ajmal, but the requirement came down quickly as Hussey swung successive sixes over square leg and long-on to finish 60 not out from 24 balls.
Monitoring the game in Barbados after a morning flight, Paul Collingwood, the England one-day captain, and his colleagues must have thought that Pakistan would form the opposition. England beat Shahid Afridi’s side in Bridgetown nine days ago, but must now take on Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes on the fastest pitch in the tournament.
“That is one of the best wins I have been involved in across any form of the game,” Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, said. “Mike Hussey is an absolute freak. You look forward to any opportunity to beat England, but they have some match-winners as well, so it will be a great final.”
Play in the Beausejour Stadium began 30 minutes late because of rain and Australia gradually lost control in the field. The Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar, hit fifties and the addition of 69 runs from the last 26 balls took the total to 191, which Clarke thought was about 20 runs too many. The hitting looked sensational until it was trumped by Hussey.
Clarke’s concern proved justified when David Warner cut the second ball of the reply to backward point and Shane Watson forced to long-on. Cameron White injected stability to the innings and, with 43 needed at one point from 15 balls and heads in hands in the Australia dugout, Hussey timed the recovery perfectly.Pakistan †Kamran Akmal c Warner b Johnson 50 (34 balls) Salman Butt c Warner b Smith 32 (30) Umar Akmal not out 57 (35) *Shahid Afridi c Haddin b Hussey 8 (9) Khalid Latif c Warner b Nannes13 (6) Abdul Razzaq run out11 (7) Misbah-ul-Haq run out 0 (0)Extras (b 10, lb 1, w 9) 20Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) 192Mohammad Hafeez, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Aamer and Saeed Ajmal did not bat.Fall of wickets: 1-82, 2-89, 3-114, 4-145, 5-190, 6-192.Bowling: Nannes 4-1-32-1; Tait 4-0-25-0; Johnson 4-0-37-1; Watson 2-0-26-0; Smith 2-0-23-1; Hussey 3-0-24-1; Clarke 1-0-13-0.
AustraliaD A Warner c U Akmal b Aamer 0 (2) S R Watson c Rehman b Aamer 16 (9) †B J Haddin st K Akmal b Rehman 25 (20) *M J Clarke st K Akmal b Afridi17 (19) D J Hussey c and b Rehman13 (9) C L White c Hafeez b Aamer 43 (31) M E K Hussey not out 60 (24) S P D Smith st K Akmal b Ajmal5 (4) M G Johnson not out5 (3)Extras (lb 7, w 5, nb 1)13Total (7 wkts, 19.5 overs) 197S W Tait and D P Nannes did not bat.Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-26, 3-58, 4-62, 5-105, 6-139, 7-144.Bowling: Aamer 4-0-35-3; Razzaq 2-0-22-0; Rehman 4-0-33-2; Ajmal 3.5-0-46-1; Afridi 4-0-34-1; Hafeez 2-0-20-0.
Umpires: B R Doctrove and I J Gould (England).
Pride that came after the fall at Portsmouth
Portsmouth take on Chelsea in the FA Cup Final today hoping to end a traumatic campaign on a high note. Four owners, two managers, a winding-up petition, forced player sales, administration, a nine-point deduction and relegation — few teams have been through so much. This is their story of the season.
July 2009. Sulaiman al-Fahim undertakes due diligence on a possible buyout of Alexandre Gaydamak as players still under contract report back from their summer break.
Paul Hart, manager: We returned for pre-season training on July 9. I had 14 players and four of them were goalkeepers. I had to lie to the media, tell them we had a squad of 20, because the truth was just too shocking.
David James, England goalkeeper: The August transfer window was sad because as a group of players it was like: “Who’s going to be here tomorrow morning?” Niko [Kranjcar] said he was going up to talk to Spurs, but he didn’t think he was going to sign. Then he texted me to say: “I’ve signed.” I didn’t see that one coming and it was that transfer that encapsulated the state of the club.
August 26. Al-Fahim finally completes his takeover just before the transfer window closes and Hart is given the green light to sign eight players in five days, mostly on loans or free transfers, including Michael Brown and Jamie O’Hara
Brown: Paul Hart rang me up and said: “We’ve got a battle on our hands and it’s not going to be pretty, but I think we’ve got a chance.” I like a challenge and I thought I’d give it a go. But none of the lads coming in thought it could possibly be as bad as it eventually became.
September 24. The wages are late, paid eventually thanks to a loan from Ali al-Faraj, who becomes the third owner of the season.
Brown: We were told that it would be just the one month. But then it was another one, and another one, and another one, and different things happening in the club all the time, until the bubble burst.
November 24. Hart is sacked, replaced by Avram Grant, who is promised money to buy in January. Instead, he is forced to sell two players.
Brown: It was so disappointing to see more go when we were supposed to be signing four. So we were six down from where we thought we’d be. I still think we could have done better and we had enough to avoid relegation. Then someone might have taken us over and we might have avoided administration. But some bad results and the writing was on the wall, and these “investors” just disappeared.
February 4. Al-Faraj defaults on loan payments to Balram Chainrai, who becomes the fourth owner of the season.
Brown: It was always “the next takeover”. Even as we were signing, there was another potential sheikh taking over the club. Generally when a takeover happens, a club starts to head in a healthier direction, but eventually that takeover didn’t seem to be happening, so there was another takeover and we all thought the worries would be over. But it seemed to go from bad to worse by the week and obviously it got much worse.
February 10. Portsmouth narrowly avoid a winding-up in the High Court after Revenue & Customs presents a petition over a tax bill of more than £11 million.
Linvoy Primus, retired defender and mentor to young players: It wasn’t until it got to court that we thought: “Wow, there is a possibility this could really happen.” I think that was when it really hit home how serious it all was. We weren’t hearing anything from the club. No one seemed to know the final outcome of anything. We heard about Mr al-Faraj, but that was as far as it went. We never met him.
February 26. Portsmouth become the first Premier League club to enter administration. A nine-point penalty makes relegation almost inevitable and 85 employees are made redundant. The players fund the wages of seven members of training-ground staff.
Brown: You could see as the weeks were ticking by that the writing was on the wall. They were saying for so long: “It has never happened before and it never will.” But you were thinking: “They’ve got no chance.” Footballers are generally lucky, we do very well. It brings you back to earth when you see other people in the club losing their jobs and it’s a big, big thing — they can’t make payments for their houses. It didn’t make us feel too good when friends and work colleagues were being laid off. Even people who were still here were taking wage deferrals.
O’Hara: When people started losing their jobs, a lot of the lads tried to stand up and say something, because there were people that we still needed around the place, but we couldn’t help everyone. I was still getting paid by Spurs, but only the basic salary. After that, there were bonuses that I haven’t received and I think most of the team has got money owed to them, but that’s something that is just going to have to be sorted out in future.
Brown: Our aim was to get enough points to prove that we would have succeeded in getting out of the bottom three but for the points deduction. Amazingly, after what’s gone on, we’ve come up only six points short ... and I still think we should have got them.
April 11. FA Cup semi-final: Portsmouth 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0
Brown: Tottenham was a big performance for us. That was how we needed to play in a lot of the games that we lost. I think someone quoted us at 11-1, so it just shows you what the achievement was. A lot of people were saying that it was a better day than winning the Cup in 2008.
April 21. The administrator’s report reveals that Portsmouth owe more than £4.3 million to charities and other creditors, including Primus’s Faith In Football.
Primus: Compared to the amounts out there that they owe, it was small, but for their own reputation we believed that we would get it and it was just a question of when. And it’s not as if they could hide from me, because I’m here every day.
Steve Finnan, defender: It wasn’t a shock when the administrator’s report came out, because we’d heard about similar things before that. The internet bill hadn’t been paid earlier in the season and they cut the office internet off. There was no money for anyone really, which is a shame because local businesses needed it.
Brown: They actually missed quite a few things off there, to be honest, I know that for a fact. But it was such a lot of debt and I can’t see how they can sort it out. Something went wrong and a club with the revenue this one was producing couldn’t pull it back. You see these people who have worked very hard for Portsmouth who are not going to get paid and it’s very difficult.
May 15. Chelsea v Portsmouth, FA Cup Final.
Brown: The Cup run has saved our season, because three months of the situation we were in would have been a disaster. But we have achieved something. It will be a special season even though we are relegated. It has even been funny at times, but when people lose their livelihoods, it becomes serious.
Hayden Mullins, defender: I was at Crystal Palace when they were in and out of administration but this has been unbelievable, with one thing after another, and I’ve never seen anything like it in football. You think it couldn’t get any worse: nine points, then administration, no money, then the debt is getting bigger every week. You have to have a sense of humour to get through it, you have to look at it and laugh, because it’s such a bad situation that the club finds itself in. Hopefully this is the end of it and we can build next year.
July 2009. Sulaiman al-Fahim undertakes due diligence on a possible buyout of Alexandre Gaydamak as players still under contract report back from their summer break.
Paul Hart, manager: We returned for pre-season training on July 9. I had 14 players and four of them were goalkeepers. I had to lie to the media, tell them we had a squad of 20, because the truth was just too shocking.
David James, England goalkeeper: The August transfer window was sad because as a group of players it was like: “Who’s going to be here tomorrow morning?” Niko [Kranjcar] said he was going up to talk to Spurs, but he didn’t think he was going to sign. Then he texted me to say: “I’ve signed.” I didn’t see that one coming and it was that transfer that encapsulated the state of the club.
August 26. Al-Fahim finally completes his takeover just before the transfer window closes and Hart is given the green light to sign eight players in five days, mostly on loans or free transfers, including Michael Brown and Jamie O’Hara
Brown: Paul Hart rang me up and said: “We’ve got a battle on our hands and it’s not going to be pretty, but I think we’ve got a chance.” I like a challenge and I thought I’d give it a go. But none of the lads coming in thought it could possibly be as bad as it eventually became.
September 24. The wages are late, paid eventually thanks to a loan from Ali al-Faraj, who becomes the third owner of the season.
Brown: We were told that it would be just the one month. But then it was another one, and another one, and another one, and different things happening in the club all the time, until the bubble burst.
November 24. Hart is sacked, replaced by Avram Grant, who is promised money to buy in January. Instead, he is forced to sell two players.
Brown: It was so disappointing to see more go when we were supposed to be signing four. So we were six down from where we thought we’d be. I still think we could have done better and we had enough to avoid relegation. Then someone might have taken us over and we might have avoided administration. But some bad results and the writing was on the wall, and these “investors” just disappeared.
February 4. Al-Faraj defaults on loan payments to Balram Chainrai, who becomes the fourth owner of the season.
Brown: It was always “the next takeover”. Even as we were signing, there was another potential sheikh taking over the club. Generally when a takeover happens, a club starts to head in a healthier direction, but eventually that takeover didn’t seem to be happening, so there was another takeover and we all thought the worries would be over. But it seemed to go from bad to worse by the week and obviously it got much worse.
February 10. Portsmouth narrowly avoid a winding-up in the High Court after Revenue & Customs presents a petition over a tax bill of more than £11 million.
Linvoy Primus, retired defender and mentor to young players: It wasn’t until it got to court that we thought: “Wow, there is a possibility this could really happen.” I think that was when it really hit home how serious it all was. We weren’t hearing anything from the club. No one seemed to know the final outcome of anything. We heard about Mr al-Faraj, but that was as far as it went. We never met him.
February 26. Portsmouth become the first Premier League club to enter administration. A nine-point penalty makes relegation almost inevitable and 85 employees are made redundant. The players fund the wages of seven members of training-ground staff.
Brown: You could see as the weeks were ticking by that the writing was on the wall. They were saying for so long: “It has never happened before and it never will.” But you were thinking: “They’ve got no chance.” Footballers are generally lucky, we do very well. It brings you back to earth when you see other people in the club losing their jobs and it’s a big, big thing — they can’t make payments for their houses. It didn’t make us feel too good when friends and work colleagues were being laid off. Even people who were still here were taking wage deferrals.
O’Hara: When people started losing their jobs, a lot of the lads tried to stand up and say something, because there were people that we still needed around the place, but we couldn’t help everyone. I was still getting paid by Spurs, but only the basic salary. After that, there were bonuses that I haven’t received and I think most of the team has got money owed to them, but that’s something that is just going to have to be sorted out in future.
Brown: Our aim was to get enough points to prove that we would have succeeded in getting out of the bottom three but for the points deduction. Amazingly, after what’s gone on, we’ve come up only six points short ... and I still think we should have got them.
April 11. FA Cup semi-final: Portsmouth 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0
Brown: Tottenham was a big performance for us. That was how we needed to play in a lot of the games that we lost. I think someone quoted us at 11-1, so it just shows you what the achievement was. A lot of people were saying that it was a better day than winning the Cup in 2008.
April 21. The administrator’s report reveals that Portsmouth owe more than £4.3 million to charities and other creditors, including Primus’s Faith In Football.
Primus: Compared to the amounts out there that they owe, it was small, but for their own reputation we believed that we would get it and it was just a question of when. And it’s not as if they could hide from me, because I’m here every day.
Steve Finnan, defender: It wasn’t a shock when the administrator’s report came out, because we’d heard about similar things before that. The internet bill hadn’t been paid earlier in the season and they cut the office internet off. There was no money for anyone really, which is a shame because local businesses needed it.
Brown: They actually missed quite a few things off there, to be honest, I know that for a fact. But it was such a lot of debt and I can’t see how they can sort it out. Something went wrong and a club with the revenue this one was producing couldn’t pull it back. You see these people who have worked very hard for Portsmouth who are not going to get paid and it’s very difficult.
May 15. Chelsea v Portsmouth, FA Cup Final.
Brown: The Cup run has saved our season, because three months of the situation we were in would have been a disaster. But we have achieved something. It will be a special season even though we are relegated. It has even been funny at times, but when people lose their livelihoods, it becomes serious.
Hayden Mullins, defender: I was at Crystal Palace when they were in and out of administration but this has been unbelievable, with one thing after another, and I’ve never seen anything like it in football. You think it couldn’t get any worse: nine points, then administration, no money, then the debt is getting bigger every week. You have to have a sense of humour to get through it, you have to look at it and laugh, because it’s such a bad situation that the club finds itself in. Hopefully this is the end of it and we can build next year.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Relaxed Andy Murray still believes he can look forward to a summer of success
There is still the best part of five weeks of the clay-court season to endure, but behind Andy Murray yesterday the temporary stands at Queen’s Club were being constructed to welcome its most powerful collection of tennis stars yet. The AEGON Championship trophy he defends next month was placed in front of him, a portent of polished times ahead, he believes.
Tomorrow, having planted his cross on a voting slip in a General Election for the first time — “The political debates have had me pretty much hooked,” he said — Murray heads off to the first of four tournaments where success for the British No 1 would help tennis to win a share of newsprint and air time during the nation’s fixation with the football World Cup.
The Mutua Madrileña Masters opens in Madrid next week, there are a few days’ rest before the French Open, back to Queen’s Club for his first grass-court defence, enduring the intensity of Wimbledon preliminaries that can exhaust a British prospect, and then it is time for the Championships themselves. It is a punishing schedule, particularly if he decides to play in the Davis Cup for Great Britain against Turkey the next weekend.
Honed and toned, Murray looked and acted yesterday as if he had not a care in the world. Those who follow him may be fretting at his lack of tournament endurance since reaching the Australian Open final in January, but his words had the effect of balm.“I’m not worried at all,” he said. “I’d rather have played more recently, but there were eight weeks between the tour finals last year and the Australian Open and I reached the final. I took five weeks off after Wimbledon last year and won Montreal. The year before that I took five weeks after the US Open and won Madrid and St Petersburg. It’s all about practising and training properly, and being in the best shape, because that’s what gives me confidence, by hitting thousands of balls. I am a good player, I know that.
“Since I was young I’ve known how to win and the right way for me to play, which has worked against the top players. I have a winning record against Federer, although the grand slams haven’t gone my way, I’ve won the last three times against Djokovic and against Nadal. I didn’t start very well [against Nadal] when I was younger, but since going 5-0 down, in the last five matches it’s been 3-2 to me.
“I will stick to the way I play because that’s the way I enjoy tennis. I recall being told by a coach at around 13 that, though people were saying I needed to be more aggressive, I should keep doing what I was doing but get stronger because then I would hit the ball harder. I need to improve my service speed and get bigger and therefore my ground strokes will be heavier with the same amount of effort I put in.”
The subject turned to football, and the World Cup and England. Murray, mindful of being trapped the last time he was asked about their prospects, answered in a manner that suggested the Scot may have a future in politics. “When England play in the World Cup and concede a goal, I’m not jumping up in front of the TV because I’m happy they are losing,” he said. “If one of my English friends is watching and England score, he’ll be on his feet yelling and screaming and, though I’m happy, it’s not the same sort of passion.
“If England lost, my friends will be deflated and disappointed and I will be, too. But I’m not cheering whoever England’s opponents are. That’s absolute ****.” Subject closed.
Second chance drives Ian Poulter to fight for the ‘fifth major’
Ian Poulter had a good chance of winning The Players Championship at Sawgrass last year, but ran into Henrik Stenson playing the best golf of his life.
Poulter eventually finished as a runner-up behind his Swedish Ryder Cup team-mate, but he is determined to go one better this year at a tournament regarded by the American players at least as the “fifth major”.
The Englishman has now established himself in the world’s top ten after his victory at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship and does not look out of place in such exalted company. When he says he is here to win, people have to sit up and listen. In the past, some would have scoffed.
After it was suggested yesterday that the world No 6 would have accepted a top-ten finish at The Players Championship ten years ago, Poulter was quick to dismiss such a notion. “I wouldn’t have taken that,” he said. “I’m here to win, it’s as simple as that.“If you asked me that question every single week of the year, I’m going to give you the same answer. Yes I finished runner-up last year, but I want to win golf tournaments. I feel my game is good enough to win them.”
Poulter, who has recovered from a knee injury he suffered while playing basketball at home, goes into the first round today in the company of Tiger Woods and Hunter Mahan. The circus surrounding Woods can be a distraction but he is taking it in his stride. “To be honest, I don’t pay too much attention to my playing partners,” he said. “I try not to get engrossed in how they are swinging or how they are hitting the ball. Whether they are two over par, five under, seven under, I’m just out there to do my job.”
Poulter admitted he was surprised at how poorly Woods had played at Quail Hollow last week — when the world No 1 missed only his sixth halfway cut in 14 years as a professional — but suggested he would still be a threat.
“I think everybody was a little shocked last week,” he said. “But you can never write off the world No 1 at any stage. You need two shots, or an hour on the range, to find a swing thought which will get you through the week and all of a sudden you are out there winning tournaments. Whether it’s Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson, those world No 1 and No 2 guys can turn it on quicker than anybody.”
Poulter also confirmed that he would not be playing at the Wales Open at Celtic Manor — venue of the Ryder Cup this year — next month because of his commitment to the PGA Tour in the United States. “I’d like to be there, but it doesn’t fit into my schedule,” he said. “I need to play a minimum of 15 events to keep my card here.”
About 50 players, agents and caddies helped Rory McIlroy celebrate his 21st birthday (and his first win on US soil) at a surprise party on Tuesday evening. Among them were Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington, Sergio García, Martin Kaymer and Álvaro Quirós. Now that’s friends in high places!
The Sunday Times Sport Rich List: Racing drivers have formula to build fortunes
Footballers dominate the first Sport Rich List but the big money is made behind the wheel of an F1 car
You might expect the the richest sports people in the country to be footballers followed by golfers. Wrong.
The first definitive list of the wealthiest sporting stars in Britain and Ireland, published in the Sunday Times today, shows that motor racing dominates the top 15 places. If you want to get seriously rich in sport, get driving, preferably fast cars not little white balls.
True, top of the first Sunday Times Sport Rich List are two men who kick, or used to kick, a leather ball about the park. Dave Whelan has come a long way since he broke his leg while playing for Blackburn Rovers in the 1960 FA Cup final. Though Rovers lost 3-0 and the injury put Whelan’s career into decline, he used the £400 compensation he received to start a discount store. He went on to make a £190m fortune from the JJB chain of sports shops.
In second place is a footballer who manages to combine business with playing in a way no other British star can rival: David Beckham. His many sponsorships outstrip his earnings as a player to take his fortune to £125m.
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Source:The Times
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