Fergie Time Runs Out For David Moyes

I am watching Ryan Giggs first game in charge since the sacking of David Moyes as manager of Manchester United and trying to work out how fair was his dismissal. First thing that crosses my mind is how hard Ferguson has fought to keep him there as he was his choice in the first place. The second thing is whether there has been any dicussion between the two either before or after the dismissal. It would be nice to know that Ferguson gave Moyes a heads up that this was a possibility, providing some advice along the way. It would also be nice to know that Ferguson was apologetic and sympathetic to Moyes privately afterwards, but I guess we will never get to know this until Ferguson writes his next bio.

It is one of the major downsides of being a manager of a top club, is that deserved or not you take the can for things going wrong not the players. The players I believe are responsible for David Moyes's demise. They are largely the same group of overpaid, underperforming individuals that won the Premier League for Alex Ferguson. So what has happened to turn in such a shocking performance by Man Utd standards as this. For me it is clear that the players did not like change and did not like David Moyes. But why? he was Ferguson's choice. You would think that if receptive to anything, the players would be receptive to Ferguson's choice and show some respect and effort for the new manager. No it was all a fairy tale for David Moyes ending unhappily ever after.

Could things have been different, yes of course they could have. The big miss was during the January transfer window where he had the chance to sell of Rooney and get two or three other to bolster the team in the weak areas. Instead I think the money squadered on Juan Matta has weighed heavily on the MU board's mind and probably tipped the balance as result failed to come.

 In this type of scenario no amount of lobbying by Fergie would overcome the business of making money. Remember Manchester United are under different ownership to that when Ferguson was hired. There is no chance in todays football for the honeymoon period he was given. We will never know if Moyes would have eventually got it together. I hope he gets another chance at top club and proves them wrong by getting a basketful of silverware.

I touched on Moyes precarious position earlier in the year in the following posts.

Rooney New Deal

Manchester United End of Season

Moyes Under Pressure

Man Utd Savaged

The Premier League Champions Are?

With only seven or nine matches left for the leaders, it is time for everyone to make their prediction of who will ultimately replace Manchester United as champions. It is clear that even with the unexpected happening that Manchester United cannot win, as cannot Tottenham Hotspur or Everton. The title will go to one of the top four who are separated by only six points.

Arsenal in fourth will be the underdogs, as their form has taken a dip as the climax of the season draws closer. It seems that, like other seasons when they have mounted a challenge early in the season they run out of steam. The momentum just seems to run out, unlike others they have not really suffered from any injury issues. Their fate was really sealed when beaten comprehensively 6 - 0 by Chelsea on Arsene Wenger's 1000th game - what a disaster.

Manchester City are probably favourites even although they are in third. With two games in hand they don't have the points in the bag, but with good form and great scorelines it is difficult to overlook them. The goal difference they have built up could see off Chelsea in the end, but not Liverpool, this could be decided when they meet at Anfield on Sunday 13th April. The run in for Manchester City is probably viewed as the least problematic except for the number of matches.

The peoples choice of champions is for me Liverpool in second behind Chelsea. Their match on Sunday 27th April could be the season decider and if a draw, it is in Liverpools favour with their far superior goal difference. A draw however is unlikely, Liverpool is currently on great form pulling defences apart, Chelsea will be more difficult but possible. You can also be sure the support for Liverpool will be a big advantage.

Chelsea are in the lead, points in the bag and playing well but will their style of play have edge to hold on. They have an excellent defensive record as they hold back letting the other side attack. Once they have exhausted all their attacking ideas Chelsea pounce and get the winner. Mourhino's unbeaten record at the Bridge is testement to his defensive tactics. Not as exciting as Liverpool or Manchester City but effective.

Now my prediction - 

Heart - Liverpool

Points - Chelsea

Potential - Manchester City

Excitement - Liverpool

What is your prediction?

No matter who wins it will have been one of the best Premiership seasons ever.

Rooney new deal - Manchester United

Over 15 million per year, for five years for Rooney's services, they are having a laugh. The record sum that Manchester United are reported to have agreed with Wayne Rooney is madness. Not only is he not worth it, it is going to be the ruin of Man Utd. The club missed the boat in January when they could have sold him to Chelsea and made good money and reduce their players costs in one move. In addition the profits from the sale could have allowed some good new blood to be added to the squad and resolve some of David Moyes's problems.

The record sum dwarfs bankers bonus, and I would wager that Rooney has no performance criteria included in his contract. Even if he does not play he will be still paid, I suspect that only if he commits gross misconduct will he be penalised with a fine, a mere fraction of his salary ( it will probably be tax deductible). I would not mind to much but I am also sure that tax specialist will have worked some way in which Rooney will never pay anywhere never the 50 percent tax rate he should.

This all points to the fact we should do something now to control player costs to stop clubs making these fatal errors of judgement. I know there some small controls in place to minimise wrong doing within football club finances, but I think it should go much further and set caps on salaries. Many will think this will restrict the business side of football, but I believe the money can be better spent on the development of the youth programmes and bringing through new home grown players. Let's face it we don't have many Rooneys in the country.

Winter Olympics Snowboard Cross

Snowboard Cross - now we are talking exciting exhilarating sport, pure racing like athletics, first past the post but with all the thrills and spills of downhill skiing. I have just watched the quarter final through to final races for women's snowboard cross, and was amazed at how exciting this sport is. It is like BMX on snow, the six boarders start form a gate and head down the course of jumps, kicks, knuckles and drop offs and the winner is the first past the post.

None of this judging on style and technique, you have just got to get to the end in one piece. As our competior Zoe Gillings found out what you must do is finish. In her semi final race she just missed out qualifying for the final by a board tip finishing fourth, she was third until the last jump where the Italian overtook her. The amazing part was she had a slow start, and was lying a distant fifth, but with a few mistakes by other boarders, a missed edge, a poor line etc, she moved up to third and had a great chance of making the final. This unpredictability of the outcome makes this the most exciting racing I have seen so far in the Olympics. 

The only negative of this racing is poor TV direction. Unfortunately the Russian TV production was not up to it. Poor camera positions and direction that followed the leaders missing all the action further up the hill. Only three finish where are the other three you ask, yes they fell but were missed by the TV crew, we got good slow mo's of the winners last jump though.

Winter Olympics Sochi 2014

I have just sat down to watch Lizzy Yarnold in her skeleton bob event at the Sochi games. Is this indicative of the importance of the Winter Olympics in our minds with only a small team of less than hopefuls to watch. We have this habit of only watching / supporting our own rather than watch the sport. I have limited my viewing to those sports where you win with a better score or time rather than be judged. My watch list includes curling, downhill and skeleton bob. I am also sure I will watch some ice hockey as the final gets close. 

This of course is not a dig at the athletes but a question of why do we participate in sports where we have no facilites and no snow? If you are fortunate enough to have loads of cash then you can travel to the cold spots and train, but I think it is all over rated and really think the funds could be better directed at traditional sports, where kids can take part in at an early age and still have the opportunity to do it later in life. If you think about the the 30 billion dollars spent by Russia to stage these games it brings into persepctive how good London 2012 was. The Russians have presented great facilities and appear to have organised everything very well but surely the price is too high. I am not sure there will be a legacy for winter sports here once the games have gone. The chances are better with the World Cup and F1 track coming up in the next few years.

I hate to be a kill joy but I think the Olympics for these sports is too much, they already have their own world championships and world cups. It is a bit like football at the Olympics, it is a joke, everyone wants to watch the top pros and not the Tuvalu team.

F1 Season 2014 - Testing in Jerez

You would think that the majority of discussion on the first days of testing for the new season would be about the engines and turbo etc. No its all about noses and how pretty or ugly the cars are. Looks are important however if you are going to win races it is performance and reliablity that counts. My vote for the best looking goes to the Mercedes, uglist to the Caterham, and the most inventive look goes to the Lotus which will not test until the next session in February.

Lewis Hamilton in the new Mercedes

Still before performance and reliabilty is the noise or sound of the new engines. Fans are concerned that without the high reving V8 engines the atmosphere will be downgraded. From what I have heard on Skys coverage I don't think there is anytihng to worry about. The sound is still loud but less of a scream, the exhaust popping is gone but the turbo noise ( I think it must be the turbo) adds a new sound. We will only really be able to tell when a race gets underway with all twenty cars on the grid.

With all the build to the season increasing I personally cannot wait for that first outing in March. Only two days of testing complete my bets for the season are as follows:-

Mercedes - Hamilton

Ferrari - Alonso

Vettel - Red Bull

Mclaren, Lotus, Force India and Williams follow in the bunch.

I will probably be proved wrong but heres hoping.

Murray exits Australian Open

I don't think Andy Murray could have done any better than he did in defeat to Roger Federer in the quarter finals of the Australian Open. After a slow start Andy started to fight back but it became apparent that Roger Federer is a new man and is playing a new style with which he was master of their net battle. It was after a titantic game early on in the fourth set which Andy won, you could easily see he was not able to keep up with Federer, either not totally match fit or still suffering from his back operation. His mobility seemed to be impared, the opposite of Roger who appeared to have gained some speed and agility over the close season. I think it is also safe to say that Stefan Edberg his new coach has also made its mark.

Overall I think Andy must be congratulated for an excellent performance in the tournament as he has shown a lot of progress from his first matches he played after the operation. Perhaps he has a long way to go to get totally match fit but can take inspiration from  Roger Federer who has been rejuvenated and Rafa Nadal who has had an outstanding return from injury over the last twelve months. The next few tournaments will be used for training to get match fit and ready for defence of Wimbledon.