A tribute to Dan Wheldon

Dan Wheldon, father of two, died of injuries sustained in the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship after a fatal crash that involved 15 cars lead to many people questioning the safety of the track.
This shocking news has brought the World of Motor racing to a complete stand still and has also highlighted the many dangers of the Indy Car organisation. Many drivers, including Indy Champion Wheldon, voiced their concerns at the problems that this track would throw at the drivers days before the race took part. They claimed that the narrow width of the track (60% shorter than the Las Vegas track used for Indy-33) would not be able to withstand the fierce competition and aggressive driving of 34 cars and that the circuit would become cramped, resulting in a crash. Wheldon's fellow driver spoke after the race was abandoned about the ruthlessness of the drivers, "I could see within five laps people were starting to do crazy stuff". 
However, there is a huge story hiding inside this gut wrenching news. Dan Wheldon had accepted a challenge before the race, knowing full well that the track was unpredictable and also discovering problems within his car, that would have seen him pocket a massive $5 million. All he had to do was start at the back of the grid (34th place) and finish in first place after racing the treturous 300-mile race. The protagonist and main area that I am trying to portray is the amount of pressure these professionals find themselves in. Even though Dan knew his car had problems he still released a blog earlier that week promising pure entertainment. 
It was a combination of many things that killed Dan Wheldon. It was his own conscious of wanting to provide that thrilling entrainment for his fans in order to secure the luxurious prize at the end, it was his desire for wanting to be known as one of the best drivers ever to grace the sport of Motor Racing, and it was the despicable organisation that lead to a narrow circuit being over crowded by 34 cars that where willing to break the 225MPH mark. Is it fair how much pressure we put athletes under? With mouth watering insentives from money deals, sponsorship deals and our thrive, as the spectators, for pure sporting entertainment.

It has been clear how much of an inspiration and close friend Mr Wheldon has been to such successful drivers as Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. It is also a joy to see that the social networking website, Twitter, being put to good use with some amazing messages for Dan and his family. 

Racing honours: 

Years Teams Races Poles Wins 10 5 133 5 16

	Podiums  (Non-win)**    Top 10s (Non-podium)***   Indianapolis 500    Wins Championships        27         50   2 (2005, 2011)     1 (2005)

The Sun shines yet again

Saturday 16th April to Sunday 17th April 2011 was a great day weekend for most top British Sport, but surprise surprise the UK's most popular newspaper " The Sun" picked up on a much different headline. 

Amir Khan was successful in defending his WBA light-welterweight title against Paul McCloskey; least to say in a controversial points decisions. But you would have had to turn four pages in from the back to read any news involving this extraordinary bout. 

Lewis Hamilton put in a fantastic performance at the Chinese Grand Prix to see off the challenge of Sebastian Vettel's Red Ball in an exhilarating final five laps; not to mention as well the superb driving skills shown by Mark Webber to climb from 18th on the grid to finish on the podium in third place. However, despite a small image and a few words at the bottom of the back page, it took a while to find the story.

Stoke City reached their first FA Cup final in all of its clubs history on Sunday against an extremely tough Bolton side. Not only did they succeed in securing the win but they demolished Owen Coyle's team with some Barcelonaesque passing and movement to face Manchester City at Wembley for one of English football most prestigious awards. 
Of course there was the massive Manchester derby that was watched by nearly every football fan as well.

And finally Arsenal V Liverpool; a game that outlined the excitement and heartbreak that is football. It was a game that summed up just how unpredictable football can be with two very late minute penalties after a highly competitive contest.

So the UK's number one selling tabloid had a chance to show just how the Uk's brightest sportsmen had shown on this sport-filled weekend, but just like Liverpool manager, Kenny Dagliesh, had predicted they chose otherwise. 

The leading headline and the main picture of the back page sport illustrated the war of words between Arsene Wenger and his Liverpool counter partner after Dagliesh had told Wenger to "Piss off".

Yet again we say thank you to this Pessimistic "Comic" that is The Sun, they make us feel so proud of our sport in this country.   

 

Unbeatable?

Barcelona entered the record books the other night with an impressive 3-0 win over a helpless Atletico Madrid in order to stretch their run of straight wins to 16.

The win saw them overtake a previous best of 15 wins-in-a-row from the 1960/61 team of Real Madrid, thanks to a superb performance and hat-trick from on-form Lionel Messi.

The La Liga leaders currently sit top of the Spanish league with a vital 7-point lead over challenges Madrid and after they demolished Jose Mourinho's team early on in the season (5-0) the question on everyone's lips is; "Are Barcelona unstoppable?"

Now we all understand that the Spanish League has it's own certain quality to it like the English Premiership, but does it have that sense of competition? We saw a team with the overall second worst form in the Premier league, Wolves, beat Manchester United and put a halt to their 29-match unbeaten run; does La Liga offer such teams that are so riddled with determination that they can overturn a team of Barcelona's stature?

Well the answer is no.

Sure you have your teams like Atletico Madrid and Villarael that all pose some quality talents in their team, but is there truthfully any other team that can cause an upset against the two leading giants in the league?

But then I would have to contradict myself; Monday 31st January - Osasuna 1-0 Real Madrid; Now by my records that is a massive upset.

Some people have their comparisons with the Spanish League and the Scottish league which, in some way, is right; two teams fighting over the title and the domestic cup. And then these people ring around the same argument week in and week out; "A team like Celtic or Barcelona need a real challenge, stick them in the Premiership and see how they handle themselves in a game like an away trip to Stoke on a rainy Tuesday night".

People also have an simular arguement when it comes to comapring the skillful talents of Messi and Christiano Ronaldo; "Well Ronaldo has proved that he can perform in the hardest League in the world, The Premier League, so he must be the better player of the two?".

Unfortunatly we will probably never see the day when Messi comes over to England so that is an argument that just can not be settled at this time.

As much as I enjoy watching the delights of Spanish football I still have a sense of pride that I follow the toughest and most challenging league in the world, The English Premiership(My opinion of most likely a lot of other peoples as well).

So when Arsenal entertain Barcelona next week in a Champions League game, that will be watched by a huge percentage of the public, it will be interesting to see if  Barcelona can hold out for a win on English soil when they are currently in the best form of the clubs history.

Money, money and more money

The total January transfer spending for the season of 2009-2010 was just under the sum of £30 million, a year on and it has rocketed to over six times that amount to a staggering £201 million.

Now, there were five major transfers that stood out for me.

I'm going to try and stay away from making obvious points to how much money was spent and if these players were really worth what each club paid for them; all I'm going to do is analyse which club got the best deal.

However, before we begin this discussion you have to remember that this is the English transfer market we are talking about; you'll be getting high prices for players that haven't proved themselves on big stages.

An example of how over-rated the English market is, compared to any other European market, would be the David Villa transfer in the summer. He was captured by Barcelona for £34 million; Villa being a part of a World Cup winning team and scoring a staggering 43 goals in 53 games in his 2009-2010 season.

Some may argue that David Villa is as good as his Spanish striking partner Fernando Torres or maybe even better when comparing their scoring tally in the 2009-2010 season; though Torres scored an impressive 22 goals in 32 appearances in an injury hit year. But what makes Torres worth £16 million more than his Spaniard friend? (Torres moving to Chelsea for a whopping £50 million)

Two of the first January signings in the Premier League were Bosnian and English strikers Edin Dzeko and Darren Bent.

After the 2009-2010 season Dzeko became Wolfburg's all-time leading league goal scorer with a record of 59 goals in 96 games; this impressive strike rate saw the big bucks of Manchester City swoop him away from the German league for £27 million.

The latter of the two, Bent, turned his attention to Aston Villa in a switch worth £18 million that could eventually rise to £24 million. Now, there is one thing that the Englishman can promise as a player and that is goals. He isn't any trouble on or off the pitch and he just plays for the satisfaction of proving his striking talent to the fans; he is someone that can prove his worth and live up to his price tag.

The thing is we all know Bent can score goals in the English league, but it is a huge risk when it comes to clubs spending mass amounts on a foreign player not knowing how long it will take for them to find their feet in the Premier League.

With the transfer window ticking away there was still many deals that were to stun the top flight of English football on Monday night, all involving the red side of Merseyside.

With the loss of their number 9 Liverpool went searching for a replacement striker; but instead of just one replacement, they settled with two.

The first front man that Kenny Dagliesh secured was the Uruguayan talent of Luis Suarez from Ajax in a deal worth £22.8 million; a deal that is very much appreciated considering his outstanding goal record. Suarez scored a staggering 49 goals in all competitions in the 2009-2010 season and was named as the Dutch footballer of the year. He also performed on the big stage at last years 2010 World Cup; even though he was accused with an act of cheating to help his team progress further in the competition.

It seemed to be the best piece of business in the January transfer window and it concluded that Liverpool had completed a sensible deal for a superstar of a player, but then they decided one new striker wasn't enough.

The reds had been in a bidding war with Newcastle throughout January for the signature of Andy Carroll but they had failed in many attempts; this was until The Toon held out for a staggering £35 million.

Now remember that David Villa moved for £34 million and Suarez moved for £22.8 million; both cheaper than the 22 year-old Jordy. The question is, will Carroll be able to replace the goals that Torres would have scored for such an astonishing amount of money?

An interesting fact that Liverpool may want to take into consideration; they are getting a player (Carroll) who was outscored in the Championship last season by Peter Whittingham, Nicky Maynard, Gary Hooper, Michael Chopra and Charlie Adam.

But like I stated at the beginning, I have tried to steer clear of any arguments and just state what the best deal was; Luis Suarez with out a shadow of a doubt.

Should he stay or should he go?

Fernando Torres.

This is a player blessed with the natural talents of a world class striker and when he arrived at Anfield in the summer of 2007 it was a major step forward in the reds bid to land their first ever Premier League Title.

But despite scoring 65 goals in 101 appearances for Liverpool the Spaniard has seen no success in his time in the top flight of English football.

Some people argue that a player of his status if too good to not be winning trophies and that he should move to a club that suits his young thirst for championship silver; Que the knock on the door from Chelsea.

The champions failed in an attempt to sign Torres just before the start of this current season with a reported £30million bid. This time they have challenged the pockets of the Liverpool owners by increasing their bid by an extra £10million.

Chelsea have started to find the form that helped them seal the title last year with recent wins over Bolton and Ipswich, but they feel that an extra dimension is missing in their team and it would be filled nicely with the boots of Torres.

One thing is for certain that this move won't be about the amount of money that Chelsea will be willing to offer; it's all about getting his hands on a trophy and making a name for himself outside of Mersey side.

The new revelation with this story is that Torres has now told Liverpool to at least consider the offer.

It would be a terrifying thought for the challenges of the Premier League title if The blues were to secure the signature of Tor as they would then be in possession of two of the most lethal strikers in the world.

Henson puts personel life ahead of work

Gavin Henson confirms that he will leave his Welsh rugby team Ospreys in the near future.

But what is the reason for Gavin to come out with this statement? The first being that he wants to be closer to his children in London; which is fair enough. But his second excuse, and i highlight the word excuse, is because of the "banter" he'll receive from his team mates about his recent divorce.

Now that is a tad pathetic, yes he's recently gone through the whole divorce with ex-wife Charlotte Church, but to claim he can't face the friendly banter is like a little boy running to his parents about being bullied at school.

Currently he is at Ospreys but hasn't played since March 2009 due to an ankle injury.

Henson will be on our television sets soon when Strictly come dancing begins but it might be a while until we see him back on the pitch.

He claimed that he would be ready and in time to make an impact at the 2011 six nations and that Wales have desperately missed his presence; tad big headed perhaps?

But it is certain that unless legal advisers order him to play, he will be leaving Ospreys and finding a club closer to London.

Sir Freddy Flintoff ?

The time has come for England to wave bye to another sporting hero; Andrew Flintoff.
It was released today that with much "disappointment and sadness" Freddie had to bring his cricketing career to an end after long talks with medical advisers.
Flintoff vowed to be the best one-day player ever after retiring from test cricket in 2009, but his on-going knee problems denied him that achievement.
He became an English icon after his finest moments in the 2005 Ashes test as he guided England to an emphatic victory.
He has been sorely missed in the world of cricket for over a year now but the all-rounder has had no choice but to call his career to an end; we all take our hats off to you Freddie, thank you.
However, On the upside, he can now fulfill his dream of owning a pub by the beach with easy access to all the pedalos he can imagine.

England v switzerland

It was supposed to be the hardest game of our European qualifying group, away to Switzerland, but we managed to make it look easy with a comfortable 3-1 win.
It just had to be the man of the moment Wayne Rooney that fired England in front with a cool finish at the near post and following up with a very subdued celebration. It was good to see that Capello's decision to start Wayne after all the paper allegations was the right choice.
Again Adam Johnson came on from the bench, replacing the injured Theo Walcott early in the first half, and played a stormer; scoring England's second goal of the match.
After a bullet of a strike that shot past the helpless Joe Hart; Switzerland saw a way back into the game, even though they were reduced to 10 men moments before the goal.
But substitute Darren bent finally broke his goal scoring duck for his country to make it 3- 1 and secure victory; proving he is, after all, starting to look like an international player.
Two people that were not missed, and certainly weren't even given a second though after Fridays victory, were john terry and frank Lampard. Both the Chelsea players played over 70 minutes, terry the full game, against stoke a week before international duty. Chelsea then released information saying that they were "injured" and unavailable to represent their country. But shock horror, they have been declared fit to play on Saturday - Chelsea's first game back since international duty.
With Gerrard and Barry now controlling the middle of midfield and allowing the young English wingers to cause damage against opponents there is no need for Lampard to jump back into the team; no one wants to see Gerrard, the England captain, out of place on that right hand side again.

Battle of the bulldogs

David Haye has started training for his second defence of his WBA world heavyweight title against old pal Audley Harrison.
The two used to spar together and had a fond relationship with one another, but emotions were lost along the way to this fight as they both tore into each other with some colourful banter.
"fans want me to close the curtain on the joke that is the Audley Harrison show".
Haye won the heavyweight championship by defeating giant boxer Nikolai Valuev, and recently defended his title successfully against John Ruiz; now Harrison reckons he has what it takes to take down his heavyweight opponent.
The two Brits will lock horns at The MEN arena in Manchester on November 13th.

Wayne Rooney

So it went public that united haven't secured the future of Rooney.
A contract was drawn up months ago about a proposed £140,000 a week wage Bill for Wayne, but would Fergie really consider this now ?
Yes Wayne is one of Fergies best signings at the united and obviously one of his most valuable players, especially after his storming season last year, but you'll just have to look at what Fergie has said and done in the past.
He wasn't afraid to let a Manchester united hero, David Beckham, go after continuous confrontations with the midfielder. But it was Beckham's fame that threatened Fergie as he believed that David was become bigger than the club and the manager - we all remember the famous boot kicking incident that left David with stitches above his eye. One of the acts that Beckham proceeded in was what that of trend for most English footballers; doing the dirty behind his wife's back.
Another united player that possessed great potential was a forgotten boy called lee Sharpe. Sharpe, along with Ryan Giggs, was a party animal when he first started at united and wasn't going to change this life style of money , booze and girls. As both he and Giggs progressed through the ranks and finally hit the first team in stepped Fergie. He "calmly" told them to pipe down and concentrate on a life of football and no party's, but Sharpe thought otherwise and was sold straight away under sir Alex's instructions - where as Giggs went onto be one of the most successful players ever to play for united.
As well as Beckham and Sharpe, Fergie hasn't thought twice before kicking out trouble makers and big named players; Paul Ince, Jaap Stam, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Christiano Ronaldo and Roy Keane; but surely Wayne Rooney won't be added to that list ?
You also have to look back to last week when tony Blair mention d in his book that he assisted aid from Ferguson. "how do i deal with a problem team player" asked Blair.
Fergie answered "I'd kick him out, without a doubt" - we'll have to see what treatment he has planned for Wayne then.