Sky has a lot to answer for, because they make their coverage all about the winners (or teams that Uncle Rupert has a 9.9% stake in...) while failing to understand that losers are just as important If there was a league where every single team had a 50/50 chance of winning games, Sky simply could not comprehend how to promote that league as they can't base their programming around a select handful of teams to present as the teams to follow, they have just as much a chance of stuffing their pundit's sofas with former players of teams in the relegation zone as they are teams fighting for the title, and there's no way they could crowbar Sky Bet into their coverage with some tempting odds to bleed the punters who are already paying for a subscription package dry Remember that pic from their SPL coverage a few years ago? I can't find it, but it looked something like this RANGERS vs Motherwell Ross County vs CELTIC That sums up Sky better than anything else
Nothing new with doctored test wickets, been going on for years , UK swing, Australia and SA pace ,India and sri Lanka spin, what ever the bookies ordered in Pakistan
It seems that Peter Lorimer is in a hospice, so he must be presumed to be gravely ill. There's very few of the 'Dirty Leeds' team who I have much regard for. Certainly Eddie Gray, who was a joy to watch...and mainly for reasons that I can't recall, Peter Lorimer. The one that I do recall was that in the mid-80's, at an age when most players are retiring, Lorimer is reported to have converted to Judaism, changed his name to Alon Ben Avraham and had his foreskin removed, all so that he could play for Hapoel Haifa. Even if it isn't true....I still love him for it.
My 1st cup final 50 yrs ago tomorrow, I turned up at Wembly with my mate JB with a banner and 2 bamboo canes , JBs dad was a graphic artist and he painted it for us , a cockerel either side of " COME ON SPURS IT'S DOUBLE TIME AGAIN " it didn't make it to the end of the game though as it got in the way and a bunch of old gits ( 25 yrs old ) nicked it
I was not yet 9 when I went to that game and even sat on a crash barrier, the view was utter **** (it was Wembley, after all). It was a pretty dull game but we were up the right end to see the winning goals. In retrospect, it was a great day!
That Leeds team seems to be departing very quickly..... Cherry, Hunter and Charlton in very recent times.
I'd been to a couple school boy internationals and the London 5 aside at the empire pool along with the skol track cycle racing but this was the 1st time I had been in with the Spurs end , I remember ending up about 20ft away from my mate when we scored and meeting the old man in the pub back in Watford, he brought us out a pint of Double Diamond to celebrate the win in the garden of the pub
Sky's biggest crime is continuing to deny the existence of football before 1992. Modern day flat earthers.
Technically I'd go for insider trading, as that's effectively what the relationship between Sky Sports News and Sky Bet is during transfer windows
I grew up in Wembley and we went to just about everything there - speedway, schoolboy internationals, full internationals, ice hockey at the Empire Pool. The only thing the old man turned his back on was the show jumping...and England v Scotland. please log in to view this image
Speedway, just reminded me of Bert Harkins , the Wembley Lions , stand down the front to get showered in grit and that noise and smell of Castrol R oil
Somewhere, I've got a Bert Harkins rosette. Captain of The Wembley Lions. please log in to view this image He was no Bruce Penhall...
I've got his autograph on a couple of programmes, just looked him up and he was only at Wembley for a couple of seasons , still alive age 80
The schoolboy internationals were pretty high pitched but that must have been excruciating! On that subject...I saw ex-Gooner and Palace player, David Price, play against Holland schools in 1970. Twenty eight years later, I told him about it as he drove me in a cab to a funeral. He told me that the toughest player he ever played against was Ricky Villa. He said that marking him was like repeatedly running into a brick wall.
Posh folks then (us commoners would have had to go home and hope yer dad cracked open a barrel of Watneys) .
Just had a flashback to Wembley in the 70s , my aunt worked at a local Spar and used to " borrow" Green Shield stamps , I travelled from Watford with a massive bag of books , the store was the nearest to home to ge my 1st proper fishing rod and reel , I loved them
