Howard’s End?
‘AFTER Chelseas victory over Manchester United in the Carling Cup semi-final last night, Alex Fergusons claim that it would be impossible for the Blues to win all four trophies this season is looking more hopeful than assured.
| ”Who wants a go at Bosnich first?” |
In Chelsea Keep Dream Alive, the Times leads with news of the match that saw Chelsea owner Roman Abramovichs playthings pass a stern test.
An away victory at Old Trafford is never a thing to be taken lightly, but Chelsea, for all their endeavour and graft, needed a slice for fortune to settle the tie 2-1.
In DUFFED UP, the Sun looks on with a gaping jaw as Damien Duff strikes a free kick from wide on the right.
It sails over the massed United defence, leaves Uniteds hapless American goalkeeper Tim Howard motionless and bounces untouched by another body into the net.
TIMS A BIT DIM, says another Sun headline, which is a bit harsh since the paper says later in the piece how the goalie made some fine saves which kept United in the hunt until that 85th minute howler.
As it is, the money spent on bringing Howard in to stand between Uniteds posts looks like money not all that well spent.
For £100,000 more than the £2.3m United paid to import Howard from Major League Soccer, Great Britain could have bought an Olympic gold medal.
The Times reports that a total of £92m was spent under the countrys World Class Performance Programme over the four years leading up to the Athens Games to prepare Team GB for the summer and winter Olympics and the Paralympics.
And that means the cost of each medal won in Athens was £2.4m.
While we can argue about whether or not this is a good return on the investment or not and given the paucity of gold used in Olympic gongs, can it ever be? a report by the National Audit Office says that tough decisions must be made over which Olympic sports now deserve lottery money over the next four years.
Finally, it gives us no hint of any pleasure whatsoever to report, as the Sun does, that disgraced footballer Mark Bosnich is in line to be punched in the jaw.
In a made-for-TV fight, the ex-Chelsea goalkeeper – who was banned from the game for nine months for failing a drugs test and who oh-so innocently offered a Nazi salute to Spurs fans a few years back – is to step into the ring in a celebrity bout.
On the canvas, he will take on singing bad-boy Mark The Mack Morrison.
And here is the peoples champion. Im looking forward to this, says Morrison. Im gonna take Bosnich on and Im gonna beat him up.
Set the video, sit back and enjoy…’
Posted: 27th, January 2005 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
