johnh

I struck a bet yesterday, before England started their innings, that we would score less than 250. I think I was being overly optimistic. If ever a player needs to be told to go away and find some form it is Bell. Not only is his batting dire but he can't hold a catch - and he's a slip fielder! The odds are, though, that he will take his poor form into the Ashes against the Aussies.

Blatter is finished. Being the arrogant sod he is, he will cling on for a short time but he will be forced out.

If we ever played the three B's Barry, Besic, Barton in the same game the chances of ending the game with eleven men would be zero.

Mike, I am in the same boat and it doesn't get any better with age. Even if I knew what I had done I probably couldn't remember anyway. :dont know:

Disappointed that Wycombe lost. Their ground is only 10 miles from where I live. I played against Wycombe Wanderers back in the 1970's when they were a top 'amateur' team. Their old ground, Loakes Park had a big slope from side to side. The first time I played there when a cross came in from the high side and I went to head it, I went under the ball. The first time I went for a header from the low side it hit me in the chin! Took some getting used to. They always got good crowds. We played them in the mid-week floodlit league, it was freezing cold and snowing and there were nearly 3,000 there.

Southend equalised 15 seconds from the end of added-on time in extra-time.

The most important thing for FIFA to do is ban clubs from paying agents. Agents represent players and should be paid by them. Recently, there was a table published of Premiership clubs payments to agents. The sums were incredible. At the top end, £10m/£12m per club. Arsenal and Man U were at the bottom with only a few hundred thousand paid. Everton were about middle (from memory £5m or £6m). This is all money going out of the game.

I cringe when I remember that I used to moan if a putt lipped out. Just imagine pushing yourself over 10ft in the air if you can't see the landing area!

The polling companies who forecast the election results have completed a poll which asked the public how well the polling companies performed. 110% said they did well. Acknowledgements to Private Eye.

According to Telegraph Sport today, Sterling's problems, as defined by his Agent, are: He has been made to play out of position. Endured 'bullying' at the hands of his club because he was 'only' offered £90k per week instead of the £100k he wanted. He has had former players expressing an opinion about him even though they are from Liverpool and don't have a clue what kids from London think. Poor little luvee. Liverpool would be better off without him.

Lao-Tzu the Philosopher said: If you see a mosquito land on your testicles, you realise that problems can be solved without resorting to violence.

There is an article in the current edition of Private Eye which states that - 'Roman Abramovich has passed the £1billion mark in the amount of money he has put into Chelsea Football Club. This is on the basis on 'interest free loans' which require 18 months notice of repayment. What are the FFP rules on this? I also wonder what will happen if Abramovich (or someone else) ever asks for the money back. Talk about buying success!

I think Hafnia's 'Frank Bruno' analogy is apt. Rom looks the part, everyone wants him to do well but he just keeps coming up short. Occasional flashes of brilliance keep us interested but then he regresses into being ordinary, which is more often than not. Continuing with the boxing analogy - he doesn't punch his weight.

When the grass is sticky its also difficult to light-up - so I'm told.

Two old dears in their eighties sat outside the pearly gates. Lady 1 says to Lady 2 'what did you die from?' Lady 2 says 'I froze to death'. Lady 1 says 'that must have been terrible'. 'Not really' says Lady 2 'Once I had stopped shivering I became all drowsy and warm until I died'. What did you die from?' Lady 1 says 'I suspected my husband was having an affair so I went home unexpectedly and found him watching TV. I raced upstairs and searched all over, in wardrobes, under the beds everywhere. I raced downstairs to check there and that's when I had my heart attack'. Lady 2 says 'If you'd checked the freezer first we might still be alive'.

Apparently, the problem is between Pietersen and Cook. Strauss is Cook's mate, end of.

Any £20m+ ( ) striker should be getting at least 19 goals per season. In the league that is only one goal every two games. The only thing I would say in his favour is that in some of the games I have seen (TV only) he has been isolated for large parts of the game (usually while the back four pass the ball about) and he may improve his target with better support.

I think Gerrard must have a relative working for the Daily Telegraph. So far this year, there have been several front page photo's of Gerrard in the Sports section. Today, there is a double page spread on Gerrard with big headline 'Gerrard already planning his Liverpool comeback'. I'm thinking of changing to the Sun - only joking.

Really sad news. When I played, about half a dozen times a season, I used to get mega heart palpitations in the middle of a game. Never went to the doc's in case they stopped me playing. Played till I was 40. I am now on medication for irregular heart beat but at 79 I reckon I have been very lucky. Recently had a thorough medical check on my heart and the consultant said it was good for another 30 years! Good news for me but you poor sods will have to put up with my posts for a while yet. (I hope).

No one mentioned Real Tennis or Croquet, funny that.

My Sunday paper has an 'after match quote' from Martinez - 'But the technical aspect of the performance was very, very good'. Er, we lost 2 - 0 at home to a struggling side. There are plenty of relegated sides who were capable of good technical performances but went down because they didn't score enough goals.

According to Telegraph Sport today, Fellaini said he cried when Moyes was sacked by Man U.

The big winners in the current structure are Labour, which is why the Tories want 'boundary changes'. Taking that into account, Labour were even bigger losers than appears. The Lib Dems vetoed the proposed boundary changes when in coalition so they may not come out of it too well. But it is almost certain to go ahead now.

I read this morning that UKIP got more total votes for 1 seat than the SNP and Liberal Democrats added together got for 60 odd seats.

No, the reason the pollsters got it wrong is that most Brits like to take the piss and don't tell the pollsters the truth.