Headlines

Who’d have thought the biggest, nastiest and most drawn out transfer saga of the summer would involve Gareth Barry, supposedly one of football’s nice guys?

But it does, because Liverpool’s attempts to sign Aston Villa’s captain have been going on since the end of the Premier League season, and they’re still going on. No-one’s talking about Ronaldo to Real anymore – if you want bitterness and bullying and moaning and stubborn stand-offs, the Barry to Liverpool story is where it’s at.

Here where we are so far. Liverpool offer £10million for Barry, Villa say no, we want £18m. Liverpool up it £1m. Villa say no. Liverpool up it another £1m. Villa say no, again. Barry returns from England duty to tell his …

continue reading

In the world of print media the months of July and August are sometimes known as silly season. As governments go into recess and their elected representatives join normal people and take a summer holiday, half-empty newspaper offices feature pasty-faced hacks trying dredge up human interest stories.

In Britain, these tend to feature the weather, dog-shows or the latest humiliation for the England cricket team.

One man who has a long history of subjecting England’s cricketers to a dejected shuffle back to the pavilion is Australia’s Shane Warne.

The Sheikh of Tweak intends to exhibit his characteristic style of bowling and grooming in Las Vegas today. He is playing in a celebrity match with the Las Vegas cricket team, a …

continue reading

That age old phrase among golfers "driving´s for show, putting´s for dough" springs to mind as a cracking field that includes Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington gathers in Kent this week.

A Bodog insider played the Ash course just two weeks ago and declared it a very easy test for professional golfers from tee-to-green. Which means we can expect to see an absolute birdie barrage from Europe´s elite, or in other words a "putting contest".

Titled the European Open, the event sees the current Players´s Champion Garcia and reigning Open Champion Harrington lock horns for the first time on British soil since their nerve-jangling Carnoustie duel. But we don´t fancy either of them to win this.

Instead have a squint at a couple …

continue reading

And just like that, the media has turned on Lewis Hamilton. Here in the UK we often talk about the ‘build ‘em up to knock ‘em down’ mentality of the press, and now Hamilton is getting a taste of it. The F1 golden boy could do no wrong in his debut season – but now it’s open season in 2007-08. In the last two weeks, Hamilton has driven like a disaster zone. And the press haven’t held back in their criticism. Even so, the normally ice-cool kid from Stevenage has started to sound as if he’s losing the plot.

“There’s nothing you can do that can distract me,” he ranted last week. “You can keep on giving me penalties, whatever you …

continue reading