They don’t make footballers like Roy Race any more
It has become a weary cliché to say that a book’s publication is eagerly awaited, but when an event is…
Those ‘traditions of English football’ in full
That excitable but likeable hombre, Everton manager Roberto Martinez, took it upon himself to give a stern lecture to the…
Putting Fletcher in the shades
Some years ago, when the last Conservative government was limping towards defeat, someone published a book called 101 Uses for…
Squash hits
Thank god for the Commonwealth Games: at least they gave us a brief respite from football transfer stories. Instead of…
Why the crusade against Alastair Cook?
A jaw-dropping moment on the front page of Her Majesty’s Daily Telegraph the other day: ‘How to fix England’, read…
England’s World Cup: the post mortem
Iran, eh: who knew? Last time I checked it was the great Satan, locking up its own people, stamping out…
A new England
A revealing handwritten letter emerged at the weekend from the England scrum half Danny Care, who wasn’t playing in the…
Team games
Ah teamwork! There’s no me in team, as David Brent used to observe sagely, but there are often plenty of…
A real winner
Sport is all about streaks, winning and losing, though whether one of the gloomiest runs in world sport — England’s…
What’s right with Saracens– and José’s Chelsea
It’s hard to love Saracens rugby club — their centre is called Bosch, a word that also describes their bulldozing…
A sporting chance
The brotherhood of cricket, as we know, transcends race, creed, class and nationality. It can also be a big help…
In defence of the Boat Race
It’s Boat Race time again and as soon as the BBC starts its broadcast on Sunday there will be those…
Whisper it, but could England win the next Rugby World Cup?
There are many eternal questions. Why do all aircraft, no matter how much your ticket cost, where you’ve come from,…
A Victor for the future
Just do it. The people who make trainers have been telling us to ‘Just do it’ for 25 years now.…
Flying boards and killer moustaches
You can trust the BBC to behave like a leaf blown by any breeze, but even that spineless leviathan (if…
Death of a team
Englishmen used to be deported to Australia as a punishment. Now they get sent back to England as an act…
Winter warmers
James Cook’s third voyage as an English captain ended in disaster, stabbed to death and disembowelled by a pack of…
Sir Viv and me
Sir Vivian Richards came to watch me play cricket the other day. That’s the sort of sentence you wait a…
One of the best years on record
British sport used to be dead. You only have to look down the list of past winners of the Sports…
England learn their lesson
My friend Miles was bowling in a festival of wandering cricket clubs in Oxford the other day. First wicket down…
All change at the top
In sport, as in life, you just don’t know where you stand any more. Look at the Premier League: no…
The best of times, the worst of times
The comic book Asterix in Switzerland is full of joys, not least the many jokes about Swiss obsessions with tidiness…
Lighting up with King Jack
The more you see of Jack Wilshere, the more admirable he becomes. He seems to have taken wholeheartedly to fatherhood,…
Who’s really down under?
This weekend is the final round of the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship, the best tournament outside the World Cup and…
$10 million nobodies
Golf has reached the eye-watering end of the season in the United States. By Sunday night, one man in a…
