Cole’s To Chelsea

‘JOE Cole, the West Ham captain with the vacant look and slack jaw, is on his way to Chelsea for £6.6m.

‘I’ve got the Blues, they’re multiplying’

As the Telegraph says, Cole will now join former Hammers Frank Lampard and Glen Johnson at the club, showing West Ham to be a sort of feeder club to the Chelsea Blue.

And with Freddie Kanoute already moved to Spurs and Trevor Sinclair to Manchester City, the smart move for any boy in the east London area would be to buy some boots and a West Ham replica kit and get down to Upton Park. Chances are high that you’ll get a game.

If only the Hammers could hang onto their local youth – and that goes for Leytonstone’s finest, David Beckham.

The big news in the Guardian is that Beckham has just scored his first goal for Real Madrid. The paper looks on as the pony-tailed one curls in a free-kick against the mighty FC Tokyo.

Anyone still labouring under the impression that goals scored in pre-season matches do not really count should remember that Manchester United have spent the summer telling us how important such games are. Which means that they are.

But as football grows ever more important, cricket slowly slips from the main news.

And that’s a great shame since Darren Gough, one the sport’s most charismatic players, has decided to retire from Test cricket.

The Times buries the story of Gough’s departure after the football chatter, highlighting the ‘Highs And ‘Lows’ of a career that has reaped for the Yorkshireman 229 wickets from 58 Tests.

That puts him eighth on the all-time list of England Test bowlers, behind the likes of Ian Botham (first), Bob Willis (second) and Derek Underwood (fourth).

But Gough was more than just a wicket taker, giving England a spark of charm at a time when the team was peopled with a bunch of non-entities.

‘I hope that they [supporters] don’t feel that after 229 Test wickets and a body in bits, I’ve let them down,’ says Gough.

No-one does. The real concern is that with Gough gone, the team lacks a bowler with the drive and energy to lift them from their slough of despondency.

‘

Posted: 6th, August 2003 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink