The Roman Empire
‘HANG the fact that had he walked away hed have, most likely, forgone a large chunk of his pay off, and just know that Claudio Ranieri has left Chelsea with his head held high.
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| And he can keep the scarf |
And thats no easy thing, especially, as the Sun says, hes got many millions of heavy pounds stuffed into his breast pocket.
Not that hes got the money yet, since the now ex-Chelsea boss is in dispute with the Roman Abramovich administration.
The paper says that while the club is prepared to give the Italian £6m for the three years he had left on his contract, he wants another £2m for bonuses he could have had.
At another time, many would argue that £6m represents a sizeable hail to carry away for a club with whom the manager won precisely nothing.
But since the club in question is Chelsea, and they have treated the Italian abysmally, we hope he takes them to the cleaners.
Meanwhile, moving into the hot seat is Jose Mourinho. The Guardian is right when it says that the confident Portuguese manager has yet to sign on the dotted line, but its surely only a matter of time before he does.
And the paper is just as right when it opines that given the treatment dished out to Ranieri – who led Chelsea to their highest league position for almost 50 years and the semi-finals of the Champions League Mourinho may only get one season to do better.
Time is a precious commodity when winning is everything. And so it is for Tim Henman, who now aged 29, has few chances left of winning a Grand Slam title.
But, as the Telegraph reports, the man, who is Britains best tennis player by some margin, has made a stride towards achieving greatness by making it into the last eight of the French Open.
This is the furthest Henman has ever been at Roland Garros, and having come back from the dead to beat local hero Michael Llodra in a thriller, now faces Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.
My game has improved dramatically I think, says Henman, certainly on this surface. Against Chela, Im going to have to play very well for a long period of time. But I think Im capable of doing that.
Although, for some reason, the paper says that pessimists claim that Henmans clay-court tennis can only damage his chances at Wimbledon.
This is, of course, bunkum. Pete Sampras is right when he says winning breeds winning.
Indeed, rid of the ludicrous Henmaniacs and the cloying Henman Hill, the player may yet become a winner.
And to do so in France, would surely be a very sweet victory…’
Posted: 1st, June 2004 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
