God it’s been a slow week, and looking like a bit of a slow weekend, too wet to go out on the bike, Rossi’s already done his party piece in Assen, an Assen it must be said that is not the track it once was, the usual F1 suspects in the frame again. A few things to mull over from the past week, Tony Brown taking over from Gordon Blair and thrashing around trying to distance himself from the past ten years whilst hoping no one had noticed he was Chancellor during every single day of that time, how is the weekend weather going to treat those who have been affected by the flooding earlier in the week, London is once again an attempted target for indiscriminate bombing and it seems someone has driven a burning car into the main terminal at Glasgow airport?! And ‘Henmania’ has been put to bed for a further 51 weeks.

But enough of this trivia, the real question from the week is this; who is going to stop Ginster’s? This dreck is spreading through our trunk road network like some culinary form of arterial sclerosis; you cannot stop anywhere without this overpriced crud being the only available take away nourishment. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a huge motorway service area or a tiny filling station, this Cornish pox is in there with it’s offering of overpriced sandwiches and lard pasties in various claimed, but in reality unrecognisable, flavours. I can remember going on holiday to Cornwall many times as a child and enjoying Ginsters pasties, er what happened? I know that Cornwall has been looking for economic development to move away from the dependency on tourism but is employing everyone in the county to stir tubs of lard a sustainable policy? Maybe Cornwall is no longer looking just for independence but is intent taking over the rest of the country once Ginsters induced cardiac arrest is at epidemic proportions through the land, except Cornwall of course where I’m sure they have more sense than to consume this muck.

Just shut up already, I don’t want to hear this word again until, at the very earliest, this time next week. I have no particular axe to grind with Henman, this bullshit pseudo-hysteria is outside his control, but just who are these ‘fans’ who get their underwear in an uproar when he beats a player who’s further on the downside of his career than even Henman and was always a clay court specialist? Henman has been a very good player, the length of time he spent in the top ten was considerable and his performances have done more to generate interest in tennis in this country than LTA and it’s coffers have managed during the same period. But let’s have a little perspective, a little detachment, he’s not going to win, not going to make the final, not even the semi’s and probably not the quarters, he’ll do well to win through to the round of 16 which should see him gainfully employed to the weekend and that’s as good as it’s getting, sorry.

I’ve had an opportunity to watch a fair bit of baseball during the past week or so and it’s been hugely enjoyable. However almost every night I’ve gone onto MLBTV.com to choose the games I’m going to watch it’s not quite been the usual routine. First and foremost I’m a baseball fan, I’ll watch just about anyone play the game, but the matchup I look for first is the Oakland Athletics, after that I’m looking for intra division rivalries and then for teams that I have a couple of players on in my fantasy baseball team. The A’s are a West Coast team so in addition to their 81 home games a season, their division games against Seattle and The Angels are late starts being PCT, not sure about Texas, but the gist of it is that often I looking at the intra division games to watch. But I was wondering earlier this week why it was that I was discarding so many games before settling on one to watch and, of course, the answer is Interleague play. I was ambivalent on Interleague play until now but now I think it’s time to put it back in the box or at least modify the structure. There are rivalries that have now built up to the point that the fans of the teams concerned would be reluctant to let them go, Yankees/Mets, Dodgers/Giants, A’s/Giants & White Sox/Cubs, but tonight do we really need to see Rockies/Blue Jays, Brewers/Royals, Indians/Nationals, Twins/Marlins and what the hell are the A’s doing playing the Mets? I think it’s time to make changes, maybe not scrap it altogether but reduce the number of games played to just three or four series, down from the current six I believe, why play them all at the same time, why not scatter them through the schedule during May & June with, say, 4 matchups per night Interleague? I’m sure MLB has some rationale for doing it the way they do but I think it’s worn out it’s welcome in the present form. If MLB really does want it in it’s present form, with the current number of Interleague games, then just don’t do it every year, only put it in the schedule every other year or even less frequently.

For anyone who has bought one of these devices recently and is unhappy with the age of the mapping, it is possible to get an update out of Tom Tom without cost if my recent experience is anything to go by. I imagine this is a one off but for my purposes it was important. But it was also quite long winded. I raised the query with the age of the mapping online and batted it back and forth for quite a while, explaining that I am an H.G.V. driver and have to go to unknown, to me, places on a daily basis and that as the age of the mapping in the box is not evident prior to purchase, then this represented a hidden cost and spoiled the ‘experience’. The support people didn’t bite on this and in the end I spelt it out for them, ‘give me, at worst, a discounted update or tell me how to escalate in their customer complaints system’. They gave me an address in The Netherlands. At this stage I wondered if it was going to be worth the effort but I punted out a letter, referring them to the log of the online support case, no new arguments outlined as I had put it all in the online case. I fully expected a ‘fuck you very much for wasting the time writing to us but we don’t feel the slightest inclination to accommodate you’. However they rolled over straight away and I’m now in the process of downloading 1.7Gb of updated maps buckshee.

I did suggest that they put a voucher in the box offering a free or discounted upgrade to the latest mapping, to be used within a set period of purchase but no indication that this is a course that they are going to follow.

In the event that someone is in the same position and would like the details of the arguments I put to Tom Tom, let me know and I’ll provide the info.

Really surprised to learn that the A’s had cut bait on Bradley. I’m sure his contract is significant and he has had his problems in the past but, to the best of my knowledge, he had been a model citizen whilst with the A’s and seemed to have turned the corner with regard to his behaviour. Whilst he has made a number of trips to the DL during his time in Oakland he remains a considerable talent and adds pop to an outfield, which if Swisher plays 1st, consists of Stewart, Kotsay & Buck; not a line up that causes many sleepless nights amongst the pitching fraternity. Maybe Bradley’s mouth ran him out of town behind the scenes as it seems he was not happy being made to wait for his return from the DL, but this is the sort of response you want isn’t it, eager to be back making a contribution? If there was still concern about his health then he could have been eased back in as the 5th outfielder but as it is now his place has been taken on the roster by an infielder who looks likely to warm the bench when he could be playing at AAA. Triple A stats indicate that Melillo has some power but not many dingers are hit whilst riding the pine.

The A’s seem likely to get squat for a player who was probably the best all round player in the outfield. Got to be load off Shannon Stewart's mind! I don’t particularly like the way Beane often goes about his business, but his record bears comparison with any GM in the league, though I have to wonder if this isn’t a move just to make people sit up and take notice of Billy Beane again?

I will accept no argument on this matter, these devices are the spawn of Beelzebub. Made the mistake of hiring one of these abominations today and it has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have been living in a latrine. This is so embarrassing. Having just spend a couple of hours with this contraption running it back and forth over a piece of carpet no more than 16 square metres, that was cleaned with a Vax machine less than 12 months ago, it has extracted at least 700 tonnes of shit from it. How can this have happened, why did we not notice the whole of our neighbourhood using the dining room as a lavatory? I’m almost sure that the doors get locked most nights. The last lot of dilute sewerage was the same colour as the first. I’m sorely tempted to take the thing apart to check if the damn thing contains a reservoir of brown dye which it injected into the output tank to ensure that you keep using up the usuriously overpriced detergent you’re obliged to keep feeding it.

If it’s not the above then maybe it’s just too efficient and it’s in the process of sucking the floorboards through the carpet?

give it your absolute best shot when you have the example of Shivnarine Chanderpaul at the other end sweating cobs for the cause? A rhetorical question I guess as we saw it all unravel for the West Indies again this afternoon. Bravo toughed it out for a while but gave it away in the end and the rest just pissed it up the wall in a manner that suggested that they have no respect for the game as a whole, West Indies cricket in general and Chanderpaul, and themselves, in particular. It was going to be a challenge from the start, with the match being a dead rubber, but if they couldn’t do it for themselves, then the coaching staff must have shown them the difference between the effort and the outcome at the last Test Match where virtually everyone of them had to prized out and they threatened a remarkable victory for quite a while. Certainly it was not easy with a hostile Harmison and Panesar getting a decent amount of turn from not the most helpful wicket, but clearly the batsmen who joined Chanderpaul found his effort less deserving of a response than I did. Fidel Edwards was the only one who redeemed himself a little with a fiery effort in the England 2nd innings. Many of the WI players of recent years, who toiled away, not surrounded by a wealth of talent and not enjoying a great deal of success, must be particularly disappointed by the effort seen today.

There are problems with WI cricket off the pitch, Tony Cozier went on for some time on Radio Four about the administrative issues that are playing out behind the scenes which were absolutely dire and resulted in a respected Jamaican newspaper calling for West Indies to withdraw from Test cricket for three years?! But be that as it may, if it’s affecting the players then the place you get away from it is on the field, yet with the signal exception of Chanderpaul, no one seemed to want to be out there batting or fielding. These guys seem to need to be lit up by someone, it seems like they are unable to do it for themselves, the coaching staff haven’t managed it so far and maybe, if they are not in the dressing room now then the likes of Viv Richards, Jimmy Adams, Michael Holding, Colin Croft need to be called in, not just to talk to them about pride in performance and personal responsibility but to remind them that they are not a bunch of stiffs, there is talent there. WI were not favourites for the tests but the ODIs are more suited to their game and they need to show it.

I’m think of myself as a fairly omnivorous sports fan, busy trying to watch Le Mans (had three hours sleep and missed just about all the significant action the occurred overnight with the leading Audi going all Reliant Robin on Capello and the GT1 class getting shuffled), the Superbikes from San Marino and the Test Match right at this moment. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it. And during the Sky blackout yesterday I also watched some of the tennis from Queens Club and, needless to say, the debate about British tennis players came up, as it had done before the French Open and before that on Radio Five. Why is it that anyone cares about this? I admit that my nationalistic interest is tweaked a little when the Davis Cup comes around but otherwise I watch tennis to see good tennis played, who it’s played by is of very little consequence to me. This is an individual sport, with very low participation levels amongst the general public but, thanks to Wimbledon, with a huge budget. It’s a peripheral Olympic sport at best and there are many more deserving candidates to whom an Olympic medal would mean so much more. Even if Murray won a Grand Slam or Olympic Gold, would there be the same response from the public as there was to winning the Ashes or the Rugby Union World Cup? I would suggest not, so why is there all the hand wringing and angst about the country’s inability to produce a slew of world class tennis players? Is this just a opportunity for the media to crank out a little easy journalism, let’s face it they regurgitate the same hackneyed arguments on a regular basis, dust off the same statistics which continue to show that tennis remains, largely, the preserve of hoorays in search of social acceptance and not the home for athletes at the elite level.

So let’s just leave the LTA alone to bimble along, organise Wimbledon in a media vacuum for 50 weeks of the year, setting aside a contingency budget for the rare occasions when a world class athlete, somewhat perversely, decides that tennis is his/her game.

Got myself some sleep, get up, still no satellite signal but a clear blue sky, hardly a cloud to be seen but still a clear blue screen on Sky, ‘no satellite signal being received’! Power off the set top box, fire it up again-no change, go into the signal test and it tells me it has useable signal strength, but no quality, I guess that pretty much defines Sky but that’s a discussion for another occasion. So if the box is working OK it’s time to look at the other end, get out the step stool to try to get up the dish, only a little thing, with small feet and as I start to climb up I find that I’m not getting any higher, the feet are sinking into the sodden earth so have to start climbing up the fence that runs next to the piece of wall where the dish is mounted. The battering that it’s taken seems to have loosened the connection to the LNB and, voila, back in business!

Audi seem to be having it much as they want it with Peugeot still just about close enough to keep them honest and a Pescarolo splitting the pair of Total runners. The beautiful Aston DBR9s are walking all over the dowdy Corvettes; excellent but a bit surprising.

Still not half way yet, plenty more coffee to be consumed before the night’s done.

Just as well this race will be going on until 14.00 tomorrow, hardly seen a thing since the get go. A thunder storm has inconsiderately parked it’s self between my dish and the Astra satellite so I have nothing at all on Sky. Did have a few jerky pictures for the first 10-15 minutes and things happened exactly as I had thought they would. Er….not. I thought that Peugeot would look to make a statement with the early pace and Audi would be content to play the long game, after all that’s what it is. But Dindo Capello pulled steadily away from Minassian in the Peugeot and Biela has passed the 2nd Peugeot and was chewing on the gearbox of Minassian when it all went blue screen.

Perhaps now would be a good time to get some sleep?

Just an hour to go to the start of the greatest, four wheeled, motorsport event in the calendar, and no, I don’t want to hear from the proponents of Indianapolis 500, Monte Carlo GP or the Daytona 500, I understand your arguments but just shut up and watch, catch it all on Motors TV, get the supplies sorted out, the food, the drink and in my case the ciggys as well and take in the whole 24 hour spectacle. It looks like the conditions are going to be variable through the full 24 hours which will only add to the fun.

I’m mainly a bike fan but if there were just one event that I could go to, then this would be it. I love the smell of diesel in the morning, it smells like victory; unless Pescarolo pulls one out the bag?

Don’t usually take a lot on notice of these gongs being dished out on, what often appears, to be an arbitrary basis, but I note that a lady by the name of Margaret Borley has received an award. Who is she, well up until 5 minutes ago I had no idea, never heard of her, don’t know her or what she does or how long she has been doing what it is that she does, or how well she does it. And I still don’t care about any of the above. The reason I have an interest is that she is a baseball coach and has been for many years and I am just wondering if this is an indication that the profile of the game in this country is just starting to rise a little outside of the tight knit community of hardcore fans and impinging on the mainstream as there must have been a recommendation forthcoming from some organisation in respect of her work. Time will tell, but congrats to Mrs Borley anyway.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/6757153.stm

Had an email sitting around in my inbox for quite a while and finally got around to following the link it contained. The email was from PC Magazine and had URL for their page on getting a bit more out of Vista, a few just relate to Business and Ultimate versions but I found them very useful.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2123834,00.asp

Looks like it won't display the link correctly so it's cut & paste time.

Well that was a cracking day’s cricket, everyone’s a winner to one degree or another. England win the test match and the series, ‘Harmison; not at his best’ recedes a little in the memory, Panesar turns in a top notch performance and will have taken away an experience that should make him even better in similar conditions in the future. The punters have had their monies worth of entertainment from a series which was looking moribund on Saturday evening. Maybe the biggest winners were the West Indies, although that may be over egging the pudding a little, but they performed much more to expectations with bat and ball. Chanderpaul’s example seemed to inspire everyone else at the crease and no one gave it away in the face of Harmison’s hostility, some probing from Sidebottom and some really spiteful deliveries from Panesar. Haven’t seen a ball from a spinner go past a batsman’s head like that since Phil Edmonds decided to test his end of the pitch with a couple of balls to Richard Hadlee in the late eighties or early nineties, the difference being that Panesar got the ball to explode out of the footholds with sheer r.p.m. and not by banging it in around his own toes.

No one mailed it in and there was all the pride expected on show but there is another challenge ahead. The test at the Riverside starts on Friday and it’s a dead rubber, if there isn’t a performance, such as Chanderpaul’s today, to coalesce around, will WI be able to threaten again? Harmison, on his home ground, will still be wanting to show that his doppelganger has been despatched into the outer darkness and the return of Hoggard, in place of Plunkett, will strengthen the bowling attack. I still expect an England victory but they know that their focus will need to be that much sharper than they may have thought would be required a few days ago.

Congrats to Lewis Hamilton on his first F1 victory, it looks like there should be many more to follow. As virtual flag to flag victories go this must have been one of the more challenging, Alonso, after taking to the countryside on the first corner, flying across his nose in only partial control, three or four restarts after the safety car had been towing the field around and he nailed ever one of them, making Heidfeld look a little silly on a couple and maybe most problematic of all having to drive past the wreckage of Kubica’s, by that time, unrecognisable BMW. Surely that sort of image must give anyone pause for thought?

In another era we would surely be anticipating a legend in the making but in this day and age, with the level of technology in F1 blurring the line between a racing driver and an onboard systems manager, the accolade of legend, should he remain just in F1, will be harder to ascribe no matter what his results. Even for someone who’s career has been meticulously planned, after less than half a season in F1 it’s too early to be thinking about moving on, his next contract will surely be a huge one over four or five years, taking him up to the age of 28/29 but as the end of that contract comes into view, unless he has palpably failed to fulfil the potential he is showing right now, he should be scrambling around getting his hands on every piece of four wheeled racing machinery he can persuade someone to let him test with a view to carving out a career in another formula whilst still being at the height of his abilities.

I want England to win this test match but the performance of the West Indies in the field is getting very hard to watch. I was popping in and out during the course of the morning and watched all of the last 20 minutes. During that time Sky showed a catalogue of misdemeanours from earlier in the day, and they made pretty grim viewing, but during the twenty minutes I watched, either 4 or 5 overs, a fairly difficult catch was grassed, a catch that is probably taken less than 5 in 10 times but Colleymore didn’t even manage to lay a hand on it, went for four. A decent chance a t a run out didn’t even come close, fielder did slip but hadn’t attacked the ball and got nothing on the throw. A drive from Pietersen when as straight as a die to the fielder at long off, didn’t need to move to get behind the ball but just spreads his legs, bends his back and signally fails to get a hand, or anything else, on the ball. Four more. A push in to the covers, a walked single, the batsman is already standing in his ground at the time the ball leaves the fielders hand, and then it proceeds to sail over Ramdin’s head, it was backed up but any professional cricketer, and plenty of club cricketers I played with, would have been disappointed with any of these incidents. If it were England putting it to the W.I. by smacking it to all parts of the ground to rack up quick runs with a view to a declaration and two days to roll up the W.I. 2nd innings, I would be loving it but I’m really not comfortable watching players who I don’t doubt are proud to be wearing the purple cap embarrassing themselves, hearing the crowd jeering every unsuccessful and successful piece of fielding. The body language looks horrible and you have to wonder if England declared now, would the W.I. be capable of making a fist of it?

Unlike some, English, cricket pundits I do not long for the return of the time when the West Indies could put out four quicks capable of getting it down the other end at 90 m.p.h. or thereabouts and often a couple of them bringing it down from a considerable height. And if you wanted anything to drive whilst in the Caribbean, then you had to hire yourself a car because there weren’t going to be many deliveries appearing in your half of the pitch. But this team is poor, it’s coming off a disappointing World Cup and it’s total continues to be less than the sum of the parts, which must lead to even further frustration within the camp when they can see that two of England’s bowlers continue to struggle. ‘Harmison; not at his best’ continues in full effect and the ‘manufactured’ action of Plunkett looks in need of a trip to the workshop yet the W.I. remain unable to exploit advantageous positions with either bat or ball. The fielding has been the worst I have seen, over a sustained period, by a test playing team and must gnaw at the confidence of the bowlers when they cannot assume that even the simplest of chances is going to result in a wicket against their name or that a shot played directly at a fielder is not going to result in runs. Ganga’s captaincy has been mediocre, he failed to get Edwards back into the attack to blow away the tail this morning, he could have gone to him, when Panesar came in, and said ‘give me three overs, straight and fast and you can put your feet up for the rest of the day’. That’s not quite how it would have worked out but it would have been a reasonable offer to make. It seems there was a considerable body of opinion to the effect that Ganga should have been captain from the get go, he’s been successful in domestic West Indies cricket and didn’t seem to be backwards at coming forward when Sarwen went down and a decision had yet to be made about who would be in charge for the remainder of the tour. With a couple of 30s and three single figure scores, he’s not leading from the front and his dismissal today was pretty abject, no test class opener should be getting out to ‘the straight one’ bowled in the low 80s, unless it suddenly appears from the hand of Panesar!

I don’t think this match is done and dusted yet, but maybe the West Indies do, the more so after being sawn off on the Cook ‘dismissal’ this evening.

Was out last night so didn’t see the match but listened to it on the radio, sounded a capable performance, scoreline looked good, points looked better and the result in Zagreb put a little extra shine on the evening’s game. But the bad news for WhackLaren is that this game was never capable of increasing the number, which remains at 180 mins, only of decreasing it. A loss or a draw against Croatia in September would reduce it to 90 mins and a further loss or draw against Russia a month later will reduce it to zero. I don’t see WhackLaren treading the tactical road to Damascus during the summer and all the performances since he has taken hold of the reins are redolent of Eriksson’s reign and we are now saddled with Sven-Lite.

The man simply does not have the stature or nous of an international manager, it really is that simple.

And that will be the sound of Michael Vaughan vainly attempting to shove the toothpaste back in the tube. At least his bat seems to be working, a little, better than his brain. Having deposited Flintoff firmly under the wheels of the omnibus, he then starts bleating, in time honoured fashion, about being ‘misquoted’ by The Grauniad. Now my hearing may not be what it was in my youth but the sound file that they have released definitely seemed to include the word F-R-E-D-A-L-O. So if that was not the ‘single word’ that was misquoted, as per Vaughan’s interview with Jonathan Agnew, then what was? Now Vaughan is usually very media friendly and savvy and as such it is a given that he lies and it’s not, to a large extent, that he lied on this occasion that is such a surprise. The surprise is that he was proved to be a liar so very easily. Now today’s hip journalista don’t cart around a freaking great reel-to-reel tape recorder, but this was not an off the cuff remark, so Vaughan must have been fully aware that his interview was being recorded so how could he possibly imagine that his claim of being misquoted would not be instantly shown to be a complete fabrication?

Time to let your bat do the talking Michael?

I believe that was the sound of Freddie Flintoff being chucked under the bus by Michael Vaughan. Really not sure what Vaughan is up to here, if he thinks he’s playing mind games with Freddie at a time when Freddie is going to be laid up for 2 months then he has wasted his time and if this was the plan then it could have been done far more constructively and quietly over the coming weeks. Freddie has had his slap, and had it witnessed by the media. Fletcher took care of that-end of. Vaughan claims that the incident affected the team’s performance at the World Cup! Say what? I’m afraid this only calls into question Vaughan’s eyesight or cricket acumen. I didn’t see a team that threatened to overachieve versus the pre-tournament ranking either before, during or after any pedalo excursions. So what was Vaughan about? Was the rest of the article so crushingly dull that he felt he needed to jazz it up a little to justify the fee? Or with a view to a career in sports journalism in the not too distant future? Either of these seem out of character for the cool and controlled Vaughan. I heard it suggested that it was some sort of power play aimed in the direction of Moores, but if that was the plan, i.e. by showing who knows how to pull the right strings, then it couldn’t have gone more wrong; he picked the wrong target and the media response makes it look to Moores like Vaughan is the one in need of controlling.

This appears to be an utterly divisive move which, unless Vaughan has every man in the team and every man on a central contract deep in his pocket, could blow up spectacularly in Vaughan’s face, the more so if Flintoff cuts up rough over the matter.

Roll on Thursday, when the back page will feature a scorecard and not a blow hard.

Visit london2012.com and make your own 2012 design

Somebody plaese go and have a crack at this, really can't be looking this dog's dinner for the next 5 years.

The Ottawa Senators have finally understood my predicament and are making the effort to extend the series to the point where I may get to see another game live!! Well, live on the TV that is. Some momentum going into Game 4 for the Senators and the possibility of Pronger being absent through suspension after a chicken-shit hit on McAmmond. Not an outstanding night for either goaltender but I still think that Giguere is the one most likely to stand on his head and steal one for the Ducks, don’t think you can say the same for Emery but would be delighted to be proved wrong.

Go Sens!!

Having had a problem or two with my Mio 269 sat nav and a bit of an issue with Mio with regard to the delay in updating the mapping for my model, and when they eventually did make an update available, the cost E119, I looked around for another system. I decided on the Tom Tom GO 910. This is a very flexible and powerful piece of kit and the management software to control the system is very good, although using the ‘limited speed’ profile seems to throw up a few routing issues, but I was somewhat distressed to find that, having made the purchase in the middle of last month, the date of the mapping included dated from May 2006! I understand that such products have a considerable shelf life but Tom Tom updated their mapping late last year and have done so again this year and if I want the latest version, for the UK only, it will cost me a further E59. I have pointed out to Tom Tom that this represents a significant hidden cost as there was no way of telling, pre-purchase, of the date of the installed maps, nor was there any offer of free or discounted, one off, upgrade to the latest version. I am of the opinion that this is bollocks and have told Tom Tom this, albeit in slightly more circular terms and we will see how far we get.

Off now to watch Game 3 of the Stanley Cup and see if Ottawa can make home ice count, go Sens!

As many will know is the President of the Professional Footballers Association, and a hazard to all road users. I was driving back from Chester earlier this week, I admit it had been a long day, but some presenter on Radio Five announces he’s about to speak to Taylor and before I can hit the mute button this fuck-wit's somnolent voice starts leaking from the speakers. As soon as this happens I can feel my brain start searching for the DNA that was junked millennia ago that allows mammals to hibernate. Fortunately for the road accident statistics, whilst his voice would render a serious amphetamine user comatose within seconds, he also provides the solution to this potential motoring Armageddon by perpetually spouting such dreck that your brain springs back to life and screams, ‘what the fuck are you talking about?!?!’. This man, reputedly the highest paid union official in the world, will defend any member of the PFA against any charge but without providing a scintilla of rational argument to support his position. If a member of the PFA told this intellectual vacuum that black was white he would be unable to cross the road ever again as he would never be able to find a zebra crossing. Maybe he’s worth the money, the sort of brass neck he demonstrates is remarkably rare.

Violence, drunk driving, verbal abuse of match officials and any other transgression of natural justice undertaken, particularly by any of his Premiership members, can never be their fault. They are all so pure that the driven snow looks decidedly grey whenever they walk by. We can only hope that sometime soon he’ll shut his mouth and give his arse a chance thereby offering the possibility of a slightly more intelligent conversation taking place.