Wigan win big and football managers head for merry-go-round
Wembley winners Wigan goalscorer Ben Watson and manager Roberto Mart nez celebrate winning the FA Cup.
Photograph: Alex Morton/Action Images A wonderful week for Wigan Athletic, who won their first major trophy, beating Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final thanks to a last-minute headed goal from Ben Watson.
They’ll be spinning on their knees in the streets of Wigan all summer provided the cup winners don’t also get relegated.
Their manager, Roberto Mart nez, is also the bookies’ favourite to replace David Moyes at Everton.
Spare a thought too for Roberto Mancini as rumours from Spain suggest last year’s Premier League champion manager will be sacked and replaced by Manuel Pellegrini, 59, a Chilean who has never won a trophy outside South America.
What could possibly go wrong? Alonso slouches to victory The Spanish Grand Prix: a race where brakes squeal, gears crunch, an entire ecosystem-worth of fossil fuel, balaclava helmets and high-end vol-au-vent fillings is consumed and then Fernando Alonso wins.
Actually, last week’s victory at the Circuit de Catalunya was only Alonso’s second, but don’t tell that to the adoringly triumphalist Spanish crowd that cheered him home ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel, who leads the championship by four points.
Thanks to the current obsession with preserving tyres, it was a slightly dull race once again, essentially a battle to see who can go least slow.
“When I see a car behind I let it past because I don’t want to damage my tyres,” Jenson Button said after trundling home in eighth place, but still retaining reasonable hopes of picking up the Shiniest Tyres rosette.
New Root to Ashes England’s cricketers began their warm-up for the impending endless Ashes summer with an opening skirmish against the touring New Zealand team at Leicester.
Captain Joe Root scored 179 as England Lions had the better of a three-day draw, raising a vague possibility of England’s up-and-coming Yorkshireman passing 1,000 runs before the end of May.
There was more good news for England as Graeme Swann and Kevin Pietersen both look on target for an early Test return.
Pietersen might yet play for Surrey on 12 June.
The ECB have denied it.
But we have, let’s face it, been here before.
Back on top at tennis Rafael Nadal continued his swagger back towards the peak of men’s tennis with his fifth title of 2013, swatting aside Stanislas Wawrinka in the final of the Madrid Open.
The women’s tournament was won by the enduringly invincible Serena Williams, who beat Maria Sharapova for the 13th time in 15 matches to retain her title, her world No 1 spot, and her characteristic sense of swagger.
Bradley Wiggins looks for open road in bid to beat Giro d’Italia yips
Bradley Wiggins is fourth in the Giro d’Italia, 1min and 16sec behind the race leader Vincenzo Nibali.
Photograph: Gian Mattia D’Alberto/AP The final phase of the 2013 Giro d’Italia was always going to take Bradley Wiggins into new territory: new climbs, new roads, new challenges.
That is what Wiggins was looking for when he targeted the second most important stage race of the cycling year, but his attacks of the downhill yips in the last seven days bring an old adage to mind: be careful what you wish for.
It has made enthralling viewing but there has been more novelty than he would have wished.
Defining precisely why a professional cyclist might lose his touch on descents is as difficult as explaining a golfer’s yips or a striker’s sudden inability to find the net.
It happens rarely, most famously in the early 1990s; the double world champion Gianni Bugno suffered from it and only rediscovered his “flow” after being made to listen to Mozart to calm his nerves.
Descending a mountain on a bike looks simple to a television viewer when done well, but anyone who has tried it knows the opposite.
The margins are extremely fine.
It takes only a fractional over-application of the brakes on a rainy corner for disaster to strike.
It is a weakness that can be readily exploited.
One champion who attacked his rivals on descents to great effect was Eddy Merckx.
It is also a weakness that, once exposed, is hard to cure overnight.
Wiggins is an experienced downhiller, with 10 years mountain riding behind him and the ability in “reading” the road that brings.
Assuming his tyres are at the pressure they should be and his bike is of the correct design, two variables come into play; physical fitness which affects reaction time and confidence.
Physically Wiggins insists he is in better shape than last year, and he has avoided disaster in the first week to emerge in fourth place, only 1min 16sec behind the race leader Vincenzo Nibali.
He can still win the Giro, but Tuesday’s first really tough mountain-top stage finish and the stages that follow will give an accurate picture of his physical condition.
Here too the margins are fine, and, on top of the cumulative effects of extra kilometres spent chasing the peloton this week, there are a couple of subtle differences compared to last July.
Wiggins’s trainer, Tim Kerrison, has said that squeezing his preparation for the Giro into two months less than he had for last year’s Tour has not been simple.
In addition, Wiggins opted to miss his last altitude training camp in favour of staying in Majorca with his family.
Also, Wiggins went into the 2012 Tour having won three major races.
The Giro, on the other hand, could be his only chance for a major win this year.
That pressure cannot be underestimated and, compared to last year, Wiggins is without several experienced figures who were close to him.
He built a winning relationship with Sky’s former lead directeur sportif Sean Yates, but he has moved on, so too their road captain at the Tour, Michael Rogers.
The abrasive Shane Sutton, his long-time mentor, is no longer a full-time member of Sky, while Mark Cavendish, who left last year, has also had a galvanising influence in the past.
The principle of aggregating marginal gains has brought much to British Cycling and Sky, but it can also apply in reverse: take away a fraction of a per cent or more here and there and it begins to add up.
Wiggins’s Tour de France win was seamless he did not register a single puncture or crash, but it was a close-run thing.
He was not far from getting caught up in both the major pile-ups at Boulogne and Metz which dictated the tone of the first week.
His verdict on the Boulogne stage, in his memoir My Time, makes interesting reading in the light of what he has been through in recent days.
The stage, he wrote, was “a complete scramble” due to crashes and small roads.
He got cold and he did not manage to eat enough due to the stress.
“I had nothing left when we hit the finale.
Without doubt I would have lost time on the others on the climb to the finish …
luckily I was caught behind a crash.” which meant he was credited automatically with the same time as the winner.
That could sum up several days at the 2013 Giro, so it is not surprising it has not suited Wiggins.
He is a cyclist who likes to be in control, who craves what he terms “open road”, where he can forget outside factors and focus on the physical side.
He found his open road, all of a sudden, in the second half of Saturday’s time trial, and there he shone.
Whether the Italian roads will open for him in the next 10 days is a fascinating sporting conundrum.
Tuesday Stage 4: loses 17sec at the finish in wet, cold conditions Thursday Stage 6: gets stuck behind a crash with 32km to go; he and his team chase for 10 kilometres to regain the peloton Friday Stage 7: crashes with 5km to go and loses 1min 24sec on rivals Nibali and Evans Saturday Stage 8: has an early puncture in the time-trial stage; he still finishes second, but gains only 11sec on Nibali and 29sec on Evans Sunday Stage 9: loses about a minute on a lengthy descent; his team have to chase for some 20km to bring him back to the front of the race
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Audi’s Andr Lotterer, Beno t Tr luyer and Marcel F ssler win at Spa
The winning Audi No1 at the Spa 6 Hours, driven by Andr Lotterer, Beno t Tr luyer and Marcel F ssler.
Photograph: Richard White That Audi are fond of numbers seems indisputable.
Indeed as the dominant force in endurance racing for over a decade, it is that most singular and most superior of digits, the number one the win that has become synonymous with the team.
Students of numerology then, may read ominous signs into their comprehensive victory here at the Spa 6 Hours on Saturday, where not only did the marque take a 1-2-3 podium lock-out but did so with their cars in the order: No1, No2, No3.
Yet even disregarding the more ethereal conclusions, as portents go this one was pretty empirical, one might say, even, by the numbers.
As the second round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) this race at Spa is a standalone challenge but also represents the final competitive outing before the season’s highlight, the Le Mans 24 hours in June.
It is of import then, as the final shakedown ahead of the race, as test bed for Le Mans setups and as the final chance for drivers to take bragging rights and confidence into the big race at La Sarthe.
The win then, for the No1 Audi R18 of Andr Lotterer, Beno t Tr luyer and Marcel F ssler, may equally intrigue the number-crunchers as much as anyone studying the form guide.
They were steered to the flag by the race engineer Leena Gade, who has seen this trio of drivers to victory at Le Mans for the past two years.
With this win she and they, had the best possible preparation for bidding to become only the second squad ever to take a back-to-back hat-trick in the 24, Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen having done so, in an Audi of course the class of its generation, R8, between 2000 and 2002.
Here at Spa, the win was achieved through adversity as well, something else that will not be lost on rivals as the 24 looms.
Having started from the front row of the grid, Lotterer, in the cockpit for the first stint, lost position going wide at La Source and was forced to fight back against both sister cars and this year’s iteration of the Toyota TS030 making its season debut.
Yet more was to come however, as the No1 car then also sustained a slow puncture during a safety car period that necessitated an early pit stop, putting it out of sync and a minute behind the lead at that point contested by Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Lo c Duval (who won the first WEC round at Silverstone), in the No2 R18 and the new No7 Toyota of Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima and Alex Wurz, running in Le Mans spec.
Disappointing practice times had led to concern over the raw speed of the 2013 TS030 but in race pace it proved a match for its rivals that augurs well for a tough battle at the 24.
Reliability may be the focus for the Japanese squad before then, however, as although the 2012 Toyota of Anthony Davidson,’s bastien Buemi and St phane Sarrazin did finish in fourth it was well off the pace and a lap down, the No7 had to retire in the fourth hour after its hybrid system failed causing the brakes to overheat.
The team will be pleased the new car can match the Audis but will be looking to ensure at least a finish in the 24 after not making the flag last year.
Lotterer and his co-drivers, meanwhile, were putting in quick lap after quick lap and with a set up that offered more during the second stint of used rubber than the No2 Minces, Kristensen and Duval car, reeled them in and went past.
By the end they had a 1min 5sec lead over the No2 and 1:54 on the No3 Audi of Marc Gene, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis, who were running a “long-tail’ low downforce spec R18 in preparation for the 24.
“What a race!” Lotterer said.
“I didn’t have a good start but quickly managed to gain an advantage, but then we lost it again due to the safety car period and the puncture.
After that, it was only full throttle for us.
Marcel and Beno t drove brilliantly.
We recovered the loss.
It was one of the nicest victories because it was a hard-fought one.” The win puts the double Le Mans-winning trio just one point ahead of the McNish partnership in the drivers’ world championship going into Le Mans.
“The car was pretty fast in qualifying and in the race.
Unfortunately, for our driver squad, the result was a bit disappointing,” said McNish.
“We weren’t as quick as we’d been at Silverstone, so we’ve got to analyse where we lost time.” Which means looking at the numbers again, something his team appears to revel in on every level.
The Rebellion Racing Lola of Nick Heidfeld, Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost took the leading LMP1 privateer spot; Pecom’s Nicolas Minassian, Lu’s P rez Companc and Pierre Kaffer won in LMP2 and the AF Corse Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella triumphed in a hard-fought battle with Aston Martin in GTE Pro.
UCI hits back over claims it helped cover up Lance Armstrong’s doping
Lance Armstrong is being sued by the US government following his admission of doping.
Photograph: Thao Nguyen/AP Cycling’s world governing body the UCI has strongly refuted claims made by the man who led the investigation into Lance Armstrong that it was complicit in a cover-up of the disgraced cyclist’s doping.
United States Anti-doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart alleges Armstrong has evidence pointing to a cover-up which, if proven, would heap further pressure on the UCI’s embattled leadership of president Pat McQuaid and his predecessor and now honorary president Hein Verbruggen.
The UCI responded in a statement, rejecting the claims and reiterating that it has nothing to hide, while also attacking Tygart.
“The fact is that Mr Tygart has no evidence of any wrongdoing and has chosen to make headlines on a convenient interpretation of a conversation he had with Lance Armstrong,” a spokesperson for cycling’s world governing body said.
“He should establish the facts before jumping to conclusions.
The UCI welcomes any assistance and clarification that Lance Armstrong may wish to give Mr Tygart on the matter.” The UCI disbanded an independent commission it established to investigate the contents of the USADA dossier which led to Armstrong’s downfall.
He was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, handed a life ban and subsequently admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs.
Tygart expressed hope the UCI would continue to investigate historical claims of a cover-up and failings regarding Armstrong.
The UCI reminded Tygart that the independent commission was disbanded after USADA and the World Anti-doping Agency withdrew co-operation over the subject of an amnesty for witnesses, which cycling’s world governing body, initially at least, did not want to allow.
“It’s all very well Mr Tygart talking about co-operation, but let’s not forget that the independent commission was only disbanded because of USADA’s and WADA’s point-blank refusal to co-operate with it,” the UCI spokesperson added.
“Simply, the UCI was left with no choice but to close it down; it made no sense to go forward without the participation of these two bodies.
“One can only assume that their refusal to co-operate with the independent commission was due to their fear that their own shortcomings would be exposed.
“After all, USADA and WADA also tested Armstrong over many years and also failed to catch him.
It was only with the benefit of the US federal investigation that USADA was finally able to gain evidence of Armstrong’s doping.
“No attempt by Travis Tygart to rewrite history will change the fact that USADA failed to catch Lance Armstrong having tested him just 49 times during his career.
The UCI by comparison tested Armstrong 189 times.
“As Mr Tygart himself admitted Thursday in other media reports, it was the UCI in its campaign against doping, not WADA or USADA, which caught Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton.
“And it was the UCI catching these two high-profile riders which ended up with them confessing and so enabled the investigation to move against Armstrong.”
The Joy of Six: outfield players in goal
1) Lucas Radebe, Manchester United v Leeds United, April 1996 Not everyone remembers Lucas Radebe’s goalkeeping performance against Manchester United in 1996, but everyone remembers what it led to.
The South African had played in goal as a junior before making a career shoring up various defences and midfields, and had first pulled on the gloves in Leeds colours the previous month in a match against Middlesbrough, when John Lukic had been concussed in a collision with Martin Pemberton.
Radebe, while still playing as a defender, had conceded the fifth-minute penalty from which Boro took the lead, but that proved the only goal of the game as he kept half a clean sheet in impressive style.
“He did a very good job,” said Bryan Robson, the Middlesbrough manager.
By the time Leeds visited Old Trafford in April, on a run of six defeats in seven games, Lukic had been dropped not only from Howard Wilkinson’s first team Mark Beeney taking his place but from the entire matchday squad.
In the 17th minute Steve Bruce pinged a long ball forward pulling his hamstring in the process and as Andy Cole raced towards goal Beeney ran from his area and handled.
Keith Cooper waved his red card, and with Lukic putting his feet up at home Radebe was forced back in goal.
What followed was a virtuoso display of the stand-in goalkeeper’s arts, including impressive saves from Cole, Ryan Giggs and Brian McClair, while at the other end Andy Gray forced Peter Schmeichel into an even better stop.
Old Trafford grew tense and frustrated, until finally Eric Cantona flicked the ball to Roy Keane on the edge of the penalty area and with 17 minutes to go the midfielder slammed the ball into the net.
The game finished 1-0, but one person left distinctly unimpressed by the excellent away display was Sir Alex Ferguson.
“I can’t understand Leeds United,” he said.
“Their manager doesn’t deserve to have his players playing like that only when they come to Manchester United.
No wonder managers get the sack.
He has done a great job for that club, it’s pathetic the way his team have been playing.
If they had played every week like they did tonight it would be a different story.
I think we can accept any club coming here and trying their hardest so long as they do it every week.” The manager of Leeds’ next opponents wasn’t best pleased that Ferguson was simultaneously criticising and motivating them.
As it happens, their next opponents were Newcastle, who were at the time engaged in a ding-dong battle with Manchester United for the league title.
Kevin Keegan’s side won that game, also 1-0, but after it the future England manager told Sky what he thought of Ferguson’s remarks: “When you do that with footballers like he said about Leeds I’ve kept really quiet but I’ll tell you something, he went down in my estimations when he said that.
We have not resorted to that.
You can tell him now, we’re still fighting for this title and he’s got to go to Middlesbrough and get something.
And I’ll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them.
Love it.
It really has got to me.
The battle is still on and Man United have not won this yet.” And that’s how Lucas Radebe was responsible for possibly the greatest post-match interview in the history of post-match interviews.
For a story to make its way from the Brazilian third division to these distant shores it needs to be quite special, and this one certainly is.
A promotion six-pointer in’s o Paolo’s third division, Juventus had to win to keep alive their hopes of going up, while Palmeiras would seal their own ascent if they won.
The home side took the lead after only 53 seconds, extended it in the 36th minute and went into the break in apparent control.
But in the second half the Palmeiras striker Diogo Acosta turned the match on its head, scoring in the 60th minute and again in the 69th to bring the scores level.
And that is how they stayed until extra-time, when Rafael Borges, the Palmeiras goalkeeper, was spotted throwing a punch inside a crowded area and sent off.
As the match entered a third minute of stoppage time and with the home side preparing to take a corner, Acosta volunteered to go in goal.
He donned Borges’s shirt and sweaty gloves as Juventus threw everyone, even their own goalkeeper, forward in search of the goal that would prolong their search for glory.
It didn’t come: Acosta caught a half-hearted header, gathered his thoughts and launched a long kick forward.
“After I caught the ball I tried to get it back into play quickly, because we needed to win to go up.
I saw their goalkeeper running back to goal, after trying to get his head on the corner.
I know the pitch at the Rua Javari is small, so I decided to try a shot.” His clearance sailed over the rapidly retreating Juventus goalkeeper, bounced a couple of times and settled in the corner of the home goal.
Palmeiras were up, and Acosta had completed his hat-trick in the most bizarre and extraordinarily dramatic circumstances imaginable.
3) Alex Dawson, Manchester United v Tottenham, January 1961 Tottenham were on their way to the first ever double, and had an air of near-invincibility about them as they arrived at Old Trafford.
They had lost only once all season, and had scored in every single game.
There was little sign of the drama to come as they started this match in commanding style, but in the 13th minute Bill Brown pushed away Albert Quixall’s shot, Nobby Stiles pounced on the rebound and United, for the first time, were confronted with the possibility of an upset.
Midway through the first half, though, Harry Gregg hurt his shoulder saving John Smith’s stinging shot.
He continued after treatment, but just before half-time Les Allen shot, Gregg saved and an almighty scramble ended with Bobby Smith’s close-range header being disallowed and Gregg’s shoulder taking a bit of a kicking in the pile-up.
He left the pitch for further treatment, and Dawson took his place in goal.
Throughout the half-time interval United worked on patching up Gregg’s shoulder, and sure enough he emerged for the second half heavily bandaged.
With one arm essentially out of action, though, he couldn’t possibly go back in goal so Dawson continued at the back, with Gregg taking his place at centre-forward.
Spurs continued to attack, but Dawson excelled when called upon, at one point performing, according to the Guardian’s match report, “a save from Allen that Gregg himself could not have improved upon”.
In the 74th minute United broke forward.
Quixall passed to Gregg, wide of the penalty area, and the makeshift forward produced a backheeled centre that’s right, a backheeled centre from which Mark Pearson scored.
“The back-heeled pass would have done credit to the most polished centre-forward,” wrote the Times, “and if it took Tottenham by surprise certainly Pearson was not caught napping.
In a twinkle he had it in the net and the crowd thundered his applause.” Tottenham’s attempts to get back into the game came to naught and Dawson, a Scottish forward, achieved what no genuine goalkeeper had all season: keep out Tottenham’s champions-elect.
In the end there were only two games all season in which Spurs failed to score, and this was one of them.
Hoddle played in goal for Spurs on three occasions, and never finished on the losing side.
On the first occasion he took over when Barry Daines went off injured in the 12th minute of a match at Leeds, but despite that handicap and Paul Miller’s red card 10-man Spurs won 2-1.
“I enjoyed it,” he said.
“I had a very easy afternoon.” He’s not the only one who enjoyed it: Alan Thompson in the Express said the match “will go down in my book as one of the great victories of all time not just a win it was a super triumph.” That match was decided by a lovely goal from Ossie Ardiles, who the Leeds manager Jimmy Adamson described, pleasingly, as “a player with a chuckle in his boots”.
And so was Hoddle’s second as a goalkeeper, and it’s lucky Thompson wasn’t there for that one or he might very well have expired from excitement.
This time Milija “Elastic” Aleksic started in goal, but had his jaw broken in a collision with Joe Jordan and Hoddle donned his green jersey.
Time and again United’s attacks were repelled, and with the score stuck at 0-0 the game went to extra-time.
Still no goal came, and with two minutes remaining the teams seemed certain to be forced into another replay it would have been a ninth fixture between the sides in the space of a year, after a replayed FA Cup quarter-final the previous season and a League Cup double-header the previous September until the ball fell to Ardiles just inside the penalty area and he curled a delicate shot into the far corner.
He immediately ran to celebrate with Hoddle, the game’s decisive figures.
5) David Webb, Chelsea v Ipswich, December 1971 There have been countless occasions when outfield players have been forced to take over from an injured or expelled goalkeeper for part of a match, but very few in which the outfield player started the game in goal.
One came when Hearts visited Aberdeen in April 1993, and their goalkeeper, Nicky Walker, pulled a calf muscle in the warm-up.
With no other keeper in the squad, their manager Joe Jordan asked for a volunteer to play in goal.
“I stupidly put my hand up,” said the striker Ian Baird.
“I regretted it straight away.
I played in goal for 20 minutes at Leeds once and I didn’t enjoy it at all.” Hearts lost 3-2.
Neil McBain, a former wing-half, was Brighton manager in 1947 when an injury crisis left him with no fit goalkeepers for a game against Hartlepool, so he played himself, becoming at 51 years and 120 days the oldest man ever to play league football (a record that stood until 2003).
Brighton were soundly beaten 3-0.
In December 1971 Chelsea’s goalkeeper Peter Bonetti was injured during a match against Coventry, and David Webb played the rest of the match in his place.
He did so well that he started the next game.
It was not an entirely free choice John Phillips, Bonetti’s regular understudy, was also injured and when at the last minute they called on Steve Sherwood, the one other keeper on the club’s books, who was in Yorkshire spending Christmas with his family, he promptly got stuck in traffic on the M1.
“The pitch was a mudbath,” Peter Osgood recalled in his autobiography.
“At the beginning of the game Webby dropped to his knees in the goalmouth, placed his palms together and feigned praying.
It was a very funny moment, but he need not have worried.” Webb kept a clean sheet in a 2-0 win, and the match helped him to an unusual distinction: a defender by trade, during his time at Chelsea Webb wore every shirt from one to 12 bar No11 and Ipswich witnessed his versatility at close hand over the 1970-71 season not only did he play in goal and keep a clean sheet in their first meeting, when Chelsea visited Portman Road the following April, he started up front and scored both goals in a 2-1 win.
Stoke’s first ever visit to Wembley was earned by a thrilling, even ludicrous 3-2 semi-final win over West Ham at Old Trafford in a tie that needed four meetings and 420 minutes to settle.
“If some of us live to be 100 in weather like we endured on this occasion such an eventuality is not to be contemplated we shall not witness such wholehearted endeavour by two sides in the most appalling conditions imaginable,” wrote Eric Todd in the Guardian.
“Pouring rain, a treacherous pitch and a bitterly cold wind.
Who could be expected to play football in that? Stoke and West Ham could and did and we shall never surely see its like again.
Heaven inspire me to find some new superlatives.” Bobby Ferguson, the West Ham goalkeeper, injured his head saving from Terry Conroy in the first half, and was treated on the pitch for seven minutes and off it for a further 19, having been led away unsteadily to the dressing room.
“I tried to pull up but I couldn’t,” said Conroy.
“Ferguson came sliding towards me and hit my shin.
The referee told me not to blame myself.” West Ham had a substitute, Peter Eustace, but decided to wait and see if Ferguson could return, and Moore took the gloves while he did.
Within minutes he saw Mike Bernard’s shot cannon back from the foot of his left-hand post.
He could have done without John McDowell’s attempted backpass getting stuck in the mud; John Ritchie took the ball, McDowell took his legs and the referee pointed to the spot.
Stand-in goalkeepers have performed many penalty saves, from Niall Quinn for Manchester City against Derby County in 1991 to Felipe Melo for Galatasaray last year, via the more brilliant and more obscure Eric Viscaal, who saved a penalty in the 89th minute and scored one in the 90th while playing for Gent at Cercle Brugge in 1993.
Moore is also on that list, though only just having excelled in keeping out Mike Bernard’s spot-kick, the Stoke player slammed in the rebound.
“I wouldn’t like to endure this again,” Moore said later.
“There I was, stand-in goalkeeper, trembling and who doesn’t? in the face of a penalty.
It flashed across my mind I was another Gordon Banks when I beat out the penalty kick.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt so sick in my life when the ball came back over my head.
I know now about the ups and downs of life.
I was very much up and very deeply down.
I think from now on I will just carry on as sweeper Moore, and leave the goalkeeping to somebody else.” Against all logic West Ham equalised four minutes later, Billy Bonds scoring from 30 yards via a deflection, Harry Redknapp with the assist, and they went ahead in the 39th minute through Trevor Brooking, which our report called “a magnificent goal”.
Ferguson then returned, and conceded an equaliser in first-half stoppage time from Peter Dobing.
“It’s all a big blank,” Ferguson recalled later.
“I’m told Bobby Charlton came and saw me at half-time and I didn’t even know who he was.
That’s the state I was in.” Stoke went ahead five minutes after the break, Conroy scoring “with a magnificent shot into the left hand corner of the net”.
West Ham tried to equalise, and Redknapp hit a post while Moore was just too high with a lob, but Stoke held out.
“If you paid me, I couldn’t tell you about being taken off the pitch and then coming back into the game,” said Ferguson.
“All I hope is that they show some action replays of the match on television so that I can see what really happened.
I suppose it is something that will live with me forever.
I shall always be wondering what would have happened had I not been knocked out.
I only wish I could turn the clock back and start all over again.”
David Cameron defends Luis Su rez comments after Liverpool criticism
Link to video: Luis Su rez gets 10-game FA ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic David Cameron has said Luis Su rez’s punishment for biting is a matter for the Football Association and his own intervention in the matter was merely that of a concerned father.
The Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers, on Thursday reacted angrily to his striker’s 10-match ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, claiming that remarks from both the FA and prime minister had affected the impartiality of the independent panel hearing the case.
The FA stated the standard three-match ban for violent conduct was “clearly insufficient” when announcing Su rez had been charged on Monday, while Cameron said earlier this week: “I think it would be very understandable if the panel took into account the fact that high-profile players are often role models.” The prime minister told BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday morning: “I made my own views clear just as a dad watching the game.
I’ve got a seven-year-old son who just loves watching football and when players behave like this it just sets the most appalling example to young people in our country.” Pressed on whether a 10-match ban was appropriate for the offence, he added: “That’s up to the FA, it’s not my decision.
The FA make the decision, they’re entirely independent and that is the way it should work.
“I’m going to leave it entirely to the FA.
But if you’re asking me as a dad and as a human being, do I think we should have tough penalties when players behave like this, yes I think we should.
“There are people, I’ve read in some newspapers, who think somehow this isn’t serious.
I think it is serious, when we’re trying to bring up our children properly, they do see football players as role models.
“Bringing up children is one of the toughest things we do but you can’t wrap them in cotton wool and hide them away from the world, they do see these real-life examples and they repeat them back to you.”
Football transfer rumours: Dirk Kuyt to Cardiff City?
Will Cardiff City be able to lure Fenerbahce striker Dirk Kuyt away from the banks of the Bosphorus? Photograph: Osman Orsal/Reuters Having secured first place in the Championship and the promotion to the top flight that comes with it, Cardiff City will begin their summer recruitment drive on the banks of the Bosphorous, where they will attempt to persuade Dirk Kuyt to join them from Fenerbah e, where the likeable Dutch grafter has been playing since joining from Liverpool last season.
With the striker less than 12 months into a three year deal, the Bluebirds or Dragons or whatever they’re calling themselves this week, would have to pay 1m to prise the Dutchman away from the Turkish side who he helped to a 1-0 win over Benfica in the two sides’ Europa League semi-final first leg last night.
However, the Daily Mail claims Kuyt is happy in Turkey and will reject the opportunity to join the Welsh club.
Assorted news outlets claim Arsenal are “edging closer” to signing Fiorentina striker Stefan Jovetic for a fee somewhere in the region of 20m, despite interest from Manchester City and Juventus.
The Gunners are also in the market for a new goalkeeper, but having decided that the 15m they’ve been quoted for Sunderland’s Simon Mignolet and Stoke’s Asmir Begovich , they may opt for the cut-price option of Hamburg’s Ren Adler .
Nobody seems to have a clue where Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski will be playing his football next season, but depending on which newspaper you take with your morning tea, it’ll be Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United or Bayern Munich.
With Lewandowski’s team-mate Mario G tze definitely on his way to Bavaria, Sven Bender is the latest young talent being linked with a move away from Dortmund.
Both Manchester City and Manchester United are reported to be interested in the impressive midfielder, even if sales of replica shirts bearing his surname might not be as brisk in this country as either club would hope.
With so many of their players on the verge of leaving this summer, Borussia Dortmund have begun eyeing up new recruits and, according to Kicker, are sounding out Schalke Bond villain Julian Draxler as a potential replacement for G tze.
Those loud pinging noises you can hear emanating from the north-east of England are the sound of Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy crossing Newcastle United’s radar.
Despite not being French, the 23-year-old from Guildford is wanted by a Magpies side who are, to quote Bananarama, facing a cruel Krul summer, with incumbent shot-stopper Tim likely to leave them there on their own.
Liverpool are also interested.
Meanwhile in Wales, Swansea manager Michael Laudrup hopes to secure the scrawl of Sevilla striker and Rumour Mill staple lvaro Negredo , one of those Spanish footballers who’s constantly being linked with a move to the Premier League despite never showing much inclination to bother doing so.
Sevilla want 13m for the 27-year-old, but Swansea aren’t willing to pay that much.
The name ” Arjen Robben ” is conspicuous by its absence from Pep Guardiola’s dossier entitled My Plans For Bayern Munich, which could herald a move to Juventus for the Dutch winger, who was so shocked to have a ball thrown in his face by Barcelona’s Jordi Alba on Tuesday night that he forget to fling himself to the ground and writhe around in agony.
Elsewhere in Italy, Inter Milan are plotting to bring Benfica winger Nico Gait n to the San Siro but will have to fend off interest from Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, who are also interested in the 24-year-old Argentinian with the sweet left foot.
And finally, Birmingham City will hawk their 19-year-old winger Nathan Redmond in a bid to raise some much-needed cash, with West Brom, Fulham and Norwich looking to be the most likely participants in a Bargain Hunt style auction for the promising England U19 international.
Rafael Ben tez: penalty injustice spurred Chelsea to victory over Basel
Rafael Ben tez warned his Chelsea players against complacency in the Europa League second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images Rafael Ben tez said Chelsea’s sense of injustice at the award of Basel’s late penalty spurred his team on to an eye-catching win, though the London club’s interim manager was quick to guard his victorious players against complacency ahead of next week’s return.
The European Cup holders carry a narrow advantage, and two away goals, into next Thursday’s game at Stamford Bridge as they seek to become the first team to follow Champions League success by securing the Europa League.
David Luiz’s free-kick deep into stoppage time defeated Basel, with the only concern from the evening a caution for Ashley Cole that rules the England international out of the second leg.
“It’s true that we had this feeling that we didn’t deserve to concede this goal, this penalty, which was an extra motivation,” said Ben tez, who was baffled by the Czech referee’s decision to penalise C sar Azpilicueta for a perceived foul on Valentin Stocker despite no contact having been made.
“It was not a penalty and we were surprised it was awarded.
To give one, it has to be very, very clear, and no one around me felt it was a foul.
I was worried when that went against us.
But, in the end, though, everyone would say the win was fair.
“The feeling was that we deserved to score a second goal, and sometimes you have some good luck as a result.
It was a deserved win.
But we have the experience of what Basel did to Tottenham Hotspur in the quarter-final, so we know they’re a good team who can score goals home and away, so we have to be sure to concentrate next week.
We can’t be overconfident in the next game.
We have to do our job, even if we know that, if we play well, we can beat anyone.” Ben tez bemoaned the yellow card for Cole for time-wasting as “too quick” and admitted his side would miss the England full-back in the return as they attempt to reach the final at the Amsterdam ArenA on 15 May, where they would meet Fenerbahce or Benfica, with the Turkish team 1-0 up after Thursday night’s first leg.
The interim manager was less critical of the official for only booking David Luiz, employed in central midfield, for a foul on Philipp Degen which might have warranted a dismissal.
“They were pressing him a lot of time, and he didn’t get the fouls,” he said.
“The foul for his yellow card was maybe right because he was a little bit late, but that’s it.
“This was a very intense game played at a high tempo and we had to do our job, but we did very well.
I hope this is a boost.
We’re working so hard, so if you can win this kind of games the mood is much better.
Sunday will be a different competition against Swansea but we have to take the positives and try to keep the momentum.”
Brendan Rodgers would understand if Luis Su rez wants to quit Liverpool
The Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, left, said he hoped Luis Su rez’s anger and disillusionment would fade.
Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images Brendan Rodgers has said he would understand “100%” if Luis Su rez wanted to quit English football this summer having been given a 10-match ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic.
The Liverpool striker is considering his future not only at Anfield but in the English game having been left distraught by the penalty issued by an independent regulatory commission.
Su rez feels he has been victimised by the Football Association and, for the first time in a Liverpool career plagued by controversy, there is concern inside the club that the Uruguay international will be open to offers from clubs such as Bayern Munich, Atl tico Madrid and Juventus.
Worryingly for Liverpool, Rodgers was unable to allay those fears at a remarkable press conference on Thursday when he insisted Su rez’s persecution complex was justified.
The club’s manager has spoken to the 26-year-old since the 10-match suspension was announced and insisted he is as close to Su rez “as probably anyone at the football club”.
But, while hopeful that Su rez’s anger and disillusionment are an emotional reaction to the punishment and will fade “once reality kicks in”, Rodgers admitted he would empathise if the striker felt he could not continue his career in England.
“Yes, I do understand, 100%,” Rodgers said.
“This is a guy who I see on a daily basis trying very hard.
His two passions in life are his family and Liverpool Football Club.
He throws his life into that.
It is part of his make-up you can’t change that but I genuinely think he is trying to adapt those traits he has grown up with as a kid to life and the culture here.
Each time he makes a step forward we find ways to beat him with a stick and beat him down.
I can understand if he felt like that wanting to quit England in a moment of reflection.” Su rez had stated a desire to stay with Liverpool, even in the absence of European football next season, before Wednesday’s decision.
Rodgers said: “He loves this country and being here.
If I’m Luis Su rez sitting at home with my wife and family, who absolutely love it here they love life in Liverpool and learning the language it’s arguable I will ever have a better season than he has had this.
Yet he has still come under this scrutiny and criticism.
“That will make you think, no question.
But in a couple of days’ time when he is more reflective, because there is a shock and anger at the moment, a sense of reality will set in.
Once he feels the support he has from the management and the club it will make him think differently.
But at this moment he will feel really low because of the sanctions on his action.” Rodgers has been in regular contact with Su rez’s agent, Pere Guardiola, brother of the impending Bayern Munich coach Pep, since the striker bit the Chelsea defender at Anfield on Sunday.
Liverpool rebuked their leading goalscorer for the incident but Rodgers said that support for the striker, publicly and psychologically, was the priority.
“I’ve had a lot of discussions with Pere Guardiola over the last few days that have been very strong,” he said.
“They have been very happy and pleased with what the club has done not only to protect the player but to support the player.
But also to understand that he needs help.” Su rez’s decision will have a huge impact on Liverpool’s transfer strategy this summer but, despite the uncertainty, Rodgers insists he has given no consideration to the 30-goal striker leaving.
“We will plan with Luis being here.
There is no other thought in my mind.
The plans for the summer are very simple: we need to improve the quality in our team and will be looking to bring in players that can add to what we’ve already got.
And Luis is very much a player I believe will be here.
“I’m not thinking of that Su rez asking to leave.
I’ve got a relationship with Luis that is probably as close as with anyone at the club.
We speak on a daily basis.
He knows that my door is open first and foremost to help him as a human being.
I can guide him, like I’ve done this year, and will tell him when he’s done wrong.
And I’ll encourage him when he’s shown the willingness to improve.
I can’t worry about that.
I can only worry about keeping us improving.”
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