Mihir Bose

The Spitrit of the Game – The Spectator review

mihir — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:00:28 +0000

The Spectator by Ed Smith There was a time when sportsmen fretted about the morality of being paid to play. Now the question is whether you are taking money to win, or taking money to lose. Mervyn Westfield, the Essex fast bowler, was only 20 when he accepted £6,000 to bowl deliberately badly in a county match. Three Pakistani cricketers, of course, are in prison for the same offence. How quaint the old distinction between the amateur who plays for love and the pro who toils to make ends meet now appears. How did sport become so morally complicated? It was the Victorians, as Mihir Bose explores in The Spirit of the Game, who decided that sport had to be good for you. The Georgians, in contrast, had been content with sport’s more obvious pleasures of gambling, blood-letting and licentiousness. The Victorians, with an empire to run, wanted sport to educate the officer class. No matter that Thomas Arnold, allegedly the founder of ‘muscular Christianity’, didn’t even like organised games. With Tom Brown’s Schooldays, the idea that Britain became great by playing sport hardened into folklore....Read the full review Click here for more information about The Spirit of the Game

The Spirit of the Game – Evening Standard review

mihir — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:38:28 +0000

Evening Standard by Michael Prodger The infiltration of sport is such that the 2010 football World Cup final was watched by 700 million people. Amazonian Indians and Kalahari Bushmen notwithstanding, that is one in 10 of the world's population. What they saw was a match of minimal finesse and maximum thuggery as Holland and Spain forsook the laughably titled beautiful game and reverted to what Philip Stubbes in his 1583 tract Anatomie of Abuses called "this murthering play". Kicking an opponent's shins was only banned from the sport in the 1860s but it looked as though the rule - on shins and other body parts - had never been passed....Read the full review Click here for more details about The Spirit of the Game

India really has outgrown the need for UK aid

mihir — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:33:00 +0000

Evening Standard British aid to India was once an admirable, benevolent gesture. But to carry on giving aid is a colossal failure to understand how the country has changed. Just consider the new India. The ninth largest economy in the world by GDP, it is growing at over seven per cent and is predicted to overtake the UK by 2022. There are more billionaires in India than in this country. Since India gained independence in 1947, Indians have squirrelled away more than £900 billion in Swiss bank accounts, more than the rest of the world combined. India also gives £3.5 billion of aid to Africa and is spending £2 billion to put Indians into space.

Tony Livesey – interview

mihir — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:05:37 +0000

BBC Radio 5Live – Tony Livesey Show Breaking news that more than 70 people have died during riots at a football stadium in the Egyptian city of Port Said. We talk to people in Egypt. Tony gets reaction from one of the club’s spokespeople, as well as fans and journalists in Egypt and the UK. The Government [...]

Ajmal has England stuck in their crease

mihir — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:19:50 +0000

PlayUpCricket What makes Saeed Ajmal so dangerous and how can the English batsmen counter Ajmal? Mihir Bose shares his views. England need to be more positive against Pakistan’s spinners.

Let us not exaggerate how tweeting affects media coverage

mihir — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:25:19 +0000

PlayUp Barton’s tweeting may have given him power but not many footballers can follow his example It is not often that you read an article by a football player that makes you sit up and say, now this is something that is new, maybe I need to change my long settled opinion. But this morning, having read Joey Barton in the Times, I must confess I did a double take. Like most of the world, I have, until this moment, taken the view that Joey Barton is one of those bad boys of football almost beyond redemption. I did meet him once at the paddock in Ascot where he came over as very knowledgeable about racing, but beyond that my knowledge about him is what I have learnt from the media.

Refereeing gaffes are making a mockery of football

mihir — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:08:11 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz Michel Platini's Financial Fair Play may finally deal with the financial doping the UEFA President feels is ruining the game. But there is an equally serious crisis confronting the game which Platini and other football administrators refuse to address. This is the failure by football's bosses to deal with the events on the pitch where almost every game is blighted by incidents the referees do not spot. These then become the subject of calls for disciplinary inquiries by frustrated managers, and often lead to heavy penalties for the players concerned. But these are imposed long after the match is history and the whole thing is making a mockery of the game. Take the two incidents that have marred two otherwise very good football matches in recent weeks. The first was the match last Sunday week, when Manchester City beat Tottenham 3-2, probably ending the north London's club hopes of winning the League for the first time since 1961, a time which must seem like prehistory to most football fans.

Phil Taylor’s fearless ’son’, Adrian Lewis, has him in his sights

mihir — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:54:29 +0000

Evening Standard For a man who has become world darts champion for the second year running, Adrian Lewis could be forgiven for resting on his laurels. But, as we meet in a pub near the Bank of England, the 27-year-old exudes the hunger that Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank, would like to see in this country's entrepreneurs. "I want to help England win the World Cup and be No 1 by the end of the year," he says. "I have won two world titles and I want to win many, many more. I've got respect for everybody I play but I don't fear anybody. Nobody causes me sleepless nights."

Monty’s dance is England’s only high point

mihir — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:14:27 +0000

PlayUpCricket England are having a torrid Test series against Pakistan in Dubai. The return of Monty and his excitable celebrations are England’s most encouraging feature. Mihir Bose talks about Monty Panesar’s charismatic celebrations.

The World Today Weekend interview

mihir — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:07:28 +0000

BBC World Service - The World Today Weekend Join the World Today Weekend each Saturday and Sunday morning for a breakfast news show with a difference. Every programme one of our presenters is joined by two distinguished guests. Politicians and diplomats, writers, journalists, scientists, philosophers and comedians have all been on our panel. We dig behind the headlines to ask the questions that are missed in the daily rush to deadlines. Whether it's an important newsmaking interview, the latest insights from the worlds of business and sport, or a bit of music and poetry, we find a different way to bring you the weekend's news. Mihir discusses the loss of the original Corinthian spirit in sport with presenter, Fergus Nichol; Kate Crawford, deputy director, Journalism and Media Research, University of New South Wales; and sports correspondent Seth Bennett. Click here to listen to the programme

Football’s still a cottage industry

mihir — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:36:23 +0000

Football needs to reform to become a real business PlayUp The Harry Rednapp case, whatever the final verdict, has illustrated what we all knew: for all the talk of football being a business, it is still essentially a cottage industry. It has not moved on from the early twentieth century world when it first came into prominence. That football is big business can hardly be doubted. Look at the financial figures that UEFA has released about the profits and losses made by the clubs and the huge debts they have. In 2010, total revenues for top-flight clubs reached a record €12.8bn, but the increase in revenues was accompanied by record aggregate net losses of €1,641,000,000.

English season is baffling, says Springbok Pienaar

mihir — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:55:07 +0000

Evening Standard England have broken with the old guard following their poor World Cup but Francois Pienaar says the team will only progress if the game in this country is overhauled from top to bottom. The flanker, who captained South Africa to their epic 1995 World Cup triumph, played for and coached Saracens and believes the disjointed nature of the fixture list is harming the development of talent.

Mihir Bose plays Two Ronnie’s mastermind

mihir — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:12:34 +0000

PlayUpCricket Mihir Bose has to answer the question before last each time in the theme of the Two ronnie’s sketch. These are cricket related questions.

Have England taken Pakistan for granted?

mihir — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:11:49 +0000

PlayUpCricket Was England’s preparation sufficient, coming into the series against Pakistan? They played against poor opposition and weren’t convincing.

Lets Talk Sport LIVE – Town Hall Birmingham

mihir — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:58:42 +0000

Date: 19th April 2012 Time: 7.30pm Venue: Town Hall, Birmingham Tickets: £22.50 (£15 concession) Book tickets here Box office: 0121 780 3333 Join sporting celebrities for an entertaining evening of insight, lively debate and behind-the-scenes sporting knowledge and throw your own questions into the ring. Hosted by award-winning journalist and author Mihir Bose, the BBC’s first Sports Editor and known for [...]

Let’s Talk Sport LIVE – Cadogan Hall

mihir — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:46:36 +0000

Date: 15th April 2012 Time: 7pm Venue: Cadogan Hall, London Tickets: £22.50 (£15 concession) Book tickets here Box office: 020 7730 4500 Join sporting celebrities for an entertaining evening of insight, lively debate and behind-the-scenes sporting knowledge and throw your own questions into the ring. Hosted by award-winning journalist and author Mihir Bose, the BBC’s first Sports Editor and known for [...]

Tendulkar’s 100th is much more than just a number

mihir — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:51:23 +0000

PlayUpCricket The painfully long wait for Sachin’s next ton must end so India can be liberated. Mihir thinks the pressure of waiting for Tendulkar to score his 100th hundred is impacting on the performance of the Indian team.

Mouritz Botha: There’s no stopping me now

mihir — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:26:05 +0000

Evening Standard Mouritz Botha is so relaxed about his South African origins that he can even joke about his name. "Be sure to spell my name correctly," he says. "Mouritz, not Maurice, otherwise I would sound really English. Then I might even have to be called Maurice Botham." There's no danger of confusing the lock born in Vryheid, KwaZulu Natal, with Beefy. But the 29-year-old likely to face Scotland in the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield on Saturday week will wear the England shirt with just as much pride as England's most celebrated all-rounder. "There is no extra pressure on me because I was not born in England," he insists. "I enjoy living here and am very proud to represent this country. England has a unique and renowned culture that had a massive influence on South Africa. I adapted to the culture. I find it wrong when people move to a country and cling to all the things from their country of origin."

Indians hit rock bottom

mihir — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:47:32 +0000

PlayUpCricket Mihir Bose says IPL is not the reason for India’s demise in Test cricket. India should have implemented a process to blood young players so they don’t get stuck with a team of aging batsmen. Bowling attack is under par.

Two games for the price of one? Football madness

mihir — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:38:10 +0000

PlayUp Lack of video technology is making a mockery of the game We can debate forever whether Manchester City deserved to win or Tottenham lose. Tottenham, after what happened at the Ethiad, may now feel the gods are against them. Their previous defeat against Stoke was also attended by a referee making decisions which did not stand up to scrutiny. Yet the really interesting question is why does football continue to shoot itself in the foot?

Broadcasting House – paper review

mihir — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:38:28 +0000

BBC Radio 4 - Broadcasting House The Sunday morning magazine programme with a fresh approach to the news and discussion about the big stories of the week. With Paddy O'Connell. News, views and discussion ... with a difference. Click here to listen to the programme (Note: The paper review with Mihir starts at 0:37:50. This interview will be available until 28th Jan 2012) Click here to find out more about The Spirit of the Game

The Spirit of the Game – The Independent review

mihir — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:11:42 +0000

The Independent - Book Reviews by Chris Maume One day, during the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Japan, the American player Glenn Cowan missed his team bus back to the hotel. A Chinese player invited him to theirs. They gave him as a gift a silk-screen print of the Huangshan mountains; the next day he gave them a T-shirt with the words to "Let It Be". Within months Henry Kissinger was in Beijing, and inside a year Richard Nixon was meeting Mao Zedong. As Vladimir Putin could tell you, sport has many functions beyond personal fulfilment. The Russian leader's camera-friendly embrace of such rugged pursuits as judo, skiing, canoeing and ice hockey helps cement him in the minds of the people as the hard man to guide them through tough times. His sporting zeal might have found approval with Thomas Hughes, whose Tom Brown's Schooldays Mihir Bose credits as organised sport's big bang...read the full review

The Week with George Galloway – interview

mihir — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:06:02 +0000

talkSPORT - The Week with George Galloway This week George Galloway discusses short-staffed A&E departments, crimes of passion and smacking children. Renowned sports journalist Mihir Bose joins George in the studio to talk about his new book ‘The Spirit of the Game: How Sport Made the Modern World’ while guests on the phone include the Sun's Dr. Carol Cooper and former Republican senator John Leboutillier. Click here to listen to the programme (Note: The interview with Mihir begins at 1:03:50) Click here to find out more about The Spirit of the Game

At home: Lord Bell

mihir — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:46:09 +0000

Financial Times The PR guru on working with Thatcher and Murdoch and moving to the centre – geographically at least Tim Bell has been moving to the centre all his life. For a man who was Lady Thatcher’s PR guru, this would be sensational news except that the movement has been geographic rather than political. “As my [...]

English football will do itself no good by continuing to rubbish the Europa League

mihir — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:21:45 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz The amount of muck poured on this competition reminds me of the words Kelvin MacKenzie said to John Major after he had taken Britain out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). As MacKenzie recounted to the Leveson inquiry on the press, as the hapless Prime Minister rang to ask the then Sun editor how he would treat the news, he replied, "Prime Minister, I have a bucket of shit by my desk and I am about to pour it on you." Some English managers, like Harry Redknapp, seem to have a similar view about the UEFA Europa League (UEL).

Midori House interview

mihir — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:46:54 +0000

Monocle 24 Radio - Midori House Midori House talks urban investment with the finance minister for Rio, visits the watch fair in Geneva and meets sports book author Mihir Bose. Click here to listen again, or download the programme Click here to read more about The Spirit of the Game

Night Waves

mihir — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:00:58 +0000

BBC Radio 3 - Night Waves Radio 3's flagship arts and ideas programme, featuring discussions, debates, interviews and reviews with leading academics and artists. Mihir discusses his new book, The Spirit of the Game with Anne McElvoy. Click here to listen to the programme (Note: Section with Mihir starts at 0:25:30)

Robert Elms Show

mihir — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:29:45 +0000

BBC London Radio With Jason Solomons, Michael Smiley, Mihir Bose, ‘Cover To Cover’ and Seal. The Robert Elms show is a celebration of every aspect of London. Three hours a day, revel in the stories and characters, memories and aspirations which make London such a great place to live and work. Art, architecture, history, movies, shopping, drinking and dining all carried out to a soundtrack of music for grown ups. The Robert Elms Show is tailor-made for you, dear Londoner. Click here to listen to the programme (Note: Section with Mihir starts at 1:36:40. This programme will only be available until the 26th January)

Super Sunday: City vs Spurs slug it out for pride & praise

mihir — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:51:55 +0000

PlayUp Mihir Bose talks about Super Sunday and the change in power in the Premier League as Man City vs Tottenham becomes a more important match than Manchester United vs Arsenal.

Meet David Collier, the England cricket chief on Australia’s side

mihir — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:30:56 +0000

Evening Standard When David Collier moved in to Lord's in 2004, Australia were ruling cricket while England were among the chasing pack. Now the roles are reversed, with Andrew Strauss's men looking to cement their place at the top of the rankings during the three-Test series against Pakistan which began in Dubai today. Australia claimed a series victory over India on Sunday, a result the Baggy Greens could not have envisaged a month ago when their first home Test defeat to New Zealand in more than a quarter of a century sparked headlines such as 'Aussie cricket crisis' and 'Lowest of the low'.

England’s desert test

mihir — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:38:49 +0000

PlayUp Mihir Bose discusses the England vs Pakistan Test series in Dubai in January 2012 and how Pakistan will struggle to bowl England out twice!

The Spirit of the Game – FT review

mihir — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:52:10 +0000

Financial Times by Simon Kuper A story of the evolution of modern sport reminds us that there was once a time when winning and making money was not everything In 1886 the young French nobleman Pierre de Coubertin made his customary pilgrimage to Rugby School in England. He wandered around the playing fields, and ended up in the chapel where Rugby’s famous headmaster Thomas Arnold is buried. Quite wrongly, Coubertin imagined that Arnold had invented the “sporting spirit”: the notion that sport turns athletes into gentlemen who believe in fair play. Coubertin eventually created the modern Olympic Games in the hope of spreading this spirit around the world. Today the sporting spirit is almost as dead as Arnold. Sport is popular as never before but at the top level the talk is now of victories and profits. Mihir Bose has covered the sports-politics-business nexus for almost 30 years. His hugely ambitious new book examines “not only how sport has become big business but also how this change has altered the original concept of sporting spirit”....Read the full review Click here for more details about The Spirit of the Game

Block At The Heart of Indian Cricket

mihir — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:44:34 +0000

Outlook - Opinion A wealthy Board, wealthy players, but a poverty of strategy and ambition—and a ‘cool’ captain who’s clueless Indian cricket is in the classic position of the rich man who finds that money does not bring success, let alone happiness. To anyone brought up on Bollywood films, that is hardly a surprising script, but it’s the grim reality that stares Indian cricket in the face. What makes it worse is its predictability. The easy thing would be to fault the IPL. It is more than that. The sad situation is the result of years of mismanagement and any lack of strategic thinking. This is a problem that goes beyond cricket to what may be called the national psyche. I was made aware of this back in 2002. India had just won a Test in Trinidad—the first Test they had won in the West Indies since that epic victory, also at Trinidad, back in 1976. After the victory, captain Sourav Ganguly kissed the turf of the Queen’s Park Oval; I felt it epitomised the new India. Yet the next Test in Barbados saw Ganguly run out Rahul Dravid and an abysmal batting collapse. Far from looking like victors, Indians looked a deflated team waiting to go home. A perceptive critic defined it as the poverty of ambition. India had won one Test in the Caribbean; what more was required? Indian cricket has always suffered from this syndrome.

Spurs title talk still a year too early

mihir — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:40:50 +0000

PlayUp One more year of promise could see Harry's men claim the ultimate prize Much has been made of whether Tottenham can win the Premiership. The talk of Tottenham as champions has made me revisit an interview I did almost exactly a year ago with Heurelho Gomes. Remember him? He was then Tottenham’s No. 1 goalkeeper

FA Cup pays the price again as the transfer window dominates football

mihir — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:36:43 +0000

PlayUp Romance and drama buried beneath specualtion and sackings Changes in football, as in life, are not easy to pinpoint. Nobody could have predicted the success of the Premier League and it was some years after it was launched that, through a whole series of events, it developed into the huge beast it has now become. But, if you want to pinpoint the decline of the FA Cup, then I suggest that you look at Sky Sports News over the next few weeks. They are running a regular feature on football transfers. This is being done in classical television style. A presenter stands before a big board which lists players likely to move. It is compete with pointers and charts and we are told what is happening and what might happen.

Liverpool’s American owners need to step in and take control of the Suárez affair before it’s too late

mihir — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:59:14 +0000

Insideworldfootball Liverpool should be very careful that the club does not allow its handling of the Luis Suárez affair to get out of control. It is one thing playing the victim card as it has been on this issue. But situations like these acquire a momentum that makes what seems like a carefully planned journey to get sympathy turn into a train crash. Liverpool is perilously close to that and the events in the match against Oldham on Friday are a further warning of the consequences of the present Liverpool behaviour. It is intriguing to consider who at Anfield has been driving the 'Suárez is the victim' bandwagon. It is hard to believe that it could be anybody other than Kenny Dalglish. I come to that conclusion because it is seems unlikely that the American owner, John Henry, who is used to operating in a very different sporting world, would have been tempted down this path if Dalglish had not taken the helm and set sail. In their American world, coaches do not go public on disputes with sports bodies in the way managers in Britain do every time they feel their team or players have been victimised.

Greatly misunderstood Warnock will be football’s loss

mihir — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:22:03 +0000

PlayUp The business of results claims another victim Football managers live and die by results and given QPR’s perilous state, Neil Warnock’s departure is no surprise. Yet I feel an intense sadness at seeing this Yorkshireman lose his job. Warnock may be one of the most controversial managers in the English game with a career littered with clashes with opposing players, managers and referees, but there is something intensely sweet and human about him. Eighteen months ago, I went to his house in Richmond to interview him, and he made me a cup of tea, explaining that his tea making involved just dipping one tea bag and then recycling it for his wife to use. And then he provided this wonderful explanation of the contradictions in his own personality: “I tell my children they must have good manners. I’m okay except between five to three, and ten to five during a game. Then somebody else takes over. People say, why don’t you change? But it’s difficult to at my age. To be successful, I have to be what I am.”

I couldn’t get a ‘real’ job after my time with Leeds, says Peter Ridsdale

mihir — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:37:31 +0000

Evening Standard Peter Ridsdale will not be at Emirates Stadium tonight to see Leeds play Arsenal in the FA Cup. Just as well for Leeds given that, since leaving the club in March 2003, his record is: watched five, lost five. "I'm not sure whether I'm good for Leeds these days," says Ridsdale. Leeds fans concluded long ago that Ridsdale was never any good for their team, holding him responsible for the disastrous slide from Champions League heights to League One anonymity. But, since leaving Leeds nearly nine years ago with the club £79million in debt, the former Elland Road chairman has reinvented himself as the man clubs in trouble turn to.

Debate: World’s most tired captain?

mihir — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:09:49 +0000

Times Now In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists — Mihir Bose, former Sports Editor, BBC and Author; Boria Majumdar, Cricket Historian; Kunal Pradhan, Deputy Editor, Mumbai Mirror; Arun Lal, former Test Cricketer; and Atul Wasan, former Indian Test Cricketer — discuss the issue of India’s cricket team being humbled by Australia [...]

Football’s attitude to racism is improving, but there is a long way to go

mihir — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:16:49 +0000

PlayUp Suarez case highlights problems with the family values of football Nothing that has happened in the Luis Suarez affair should obscure the fact that English football has come a long way from the dark days of the 80s. But while that is no small thing, Liverpool’s reaction shows that football still has some way to go before it is in step with the rest of society. I can speak with some authority on how racist English football was and how it pretended that racism had nothing to do with the game. I was then a football reporter for the Sunday Times, often the only brown face, not just in the press box, but often in the entire stadium, apart from a few black players on the park. The racist abuse that was hurled at me by football supporters was much worse than what Suarez said to Patrice Evra. I have written about this at length in the past, but let me recall one occasion when I was chased down a train by football supporters shouting, “Hit the coon over the head with a baseball bat.” This was then a popular football song. On another occasion I was very lucky not to be badly beaten because of the colour of my skin.

Lord Coe: I can’t let the athletes down…that would be a cardinal sin

mihir — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:26:28 +0000

Evening Standard There is much that Lord Coe can feel satisfied about but for all his considerable achievements on and off the track, none would match London having a successful Olympics. I am talking to Coe in his office in Canary Wharf just as he has come back from Moscow, where he returned to the scene of the first of his two Olympic golds. While standing in the Luzhniki Stadium he could not help but reflect on that moment in 1980 when he beat Steve Ovett in the 1,500metres just six days after losing to his British team-mate and great rival over his favoured 800m. "That moment was massive for me," says the chairman of London 2012. "It defined the way I think about the world, the way I do things. But I don't kid myself that this is a more profound moment. This collective effort to deliver the Games will inspire people long after they have forgotten I was a runner. Most people do not even know I ran. They think I am an event organiser."

Blatter’s turn towards Europe shows him at his best as he attempts FIFA clean up

mihir — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:09:18 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz Could 2012 be the year when football finally begins to accept that it can longer disregard the wider world? 2011 has been the year of the great "no". The game tried hard to carry on with the fiction that all of football's problems can be solved behind the front door of the family mansion irrespective of what the outside world may expect. It has always been curious that the world's most popular game is so conservative and resistant to change. Witness its enduring hostility to using technology for controversial decisions. This is despite the fact that it brings the game into disrepute. The result is that millions, who watch the game at home or in pubs, often know a referee has made a mistake, even a game changing mistake, while the referee is blissfully unaware.

Venkys find Blackburn a tougher egg to crack

mihir — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:27:38 +0000

PlayUp Reputation potentially in ruins if Ewood Park mess is not cleared up Things are moving at Blackburn although not in the way that will please their less than happy supporters. It seems Jerome Andersen, the football agent, who was constantly at the side of Venkys when they bought the club a year ago is no longer the supreme adviser the Indian owners always consult. Indeed they have extended their net of advisers to also talk quite often to Pini Zahavi, the Israeli who is always described as the world’s most important football agent. A simple reading of this would suggest that this must mean a change of manager. Surely with Zahavi, imparting his particular football wisdom, and all the many friends he can offer as managers, this must mean change is inevitable. Steve Kean’s days are surely numbered.

Snooker’s ‘naughty boy’ Judd Trump has nothing to fear any more

mihir — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:12:23 +0000

Evening Standard Judd Trump's success at the UK Championship has seen him portrayed as the man to recreate snooker's glory days, a winner who is also a character in the mould of Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan. Indeed, just before his first match at York a couple of weeks ago he decided to use his Twitter account - where he bills himself as "part-time snooker player, full-time international playboy" - to reveal that he was going to play some "naughty snooker" during the Championship.

The gulf that separates the American and British sporting model has yet to be bridged

mihir — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:17:52 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz In the last few weeks, readers of the sports pages of British newspapers may have been forgiven for thinking we are facing another American revolution. Having given the distinct impression that they had joined a new order of sporting Trappist monks on crossing the pond, American owners of English clubs have suddenly become as voluble as teenagers let out of school. Or at least two very prominent owners have. Yet what they have said shows that there is still a vast gulf between the old world and the new when it comes to sport. These American owners may own English clubs but they do not understand the particular culture of English football.

Although more famous for cricket, India looks set to become football’s new golden goose

mihir — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:20:00 +0000

PlayUp Emerging market targeted as growth at home stagnates India may not seem the place where you go to learn new things about football. Cricket, yes. But football? Surely this is one part of the world where the most popular game just does not work. That rather clichéd view needs to be revised. Indeed, India could prove the new frontier of the game. No, not in terms of what Indian football will do on the field of play. There, India remains a desperately underachieving country, despite the popularity of the game.

Meet AP McCoy, the champion jockey searching for another 396 winners

mihir — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:06:21 +0000

Evening Standard The good news for those trying to be champion jump jockey is that AP McCoy, who has held the crown since 1996, is thinking of retirement. The bad news is that the Northern Irishman will not quit until he has ridden 3,930 winners. As he is on 3,534 before the start of racing today, that could be some time away. McCoy has set this target because that would pass the number of British jump winners Martin Pipe, for whom he rode for seven years, trained. Targets matter to McCoy. For all his achievements, the one he rates most highly is riding more winners than Sir Gordon Richards in one season, setting the new mark of 289 in 2002.

Does sport still embody a notion of fair play and Corinthian spirit?

mihir — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:56:07 +0000

BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week On Start the Week Andrew Marr asks if sport still embodies a notion of fair play and Corinthian spirit, or whether it has become mired in corruption, money and celebrity. Mihir Bose argues that sport is no longer just a game, but has become one of the most powerful political tools in the world. The social historian Janie Hampton looks back to a time when amateur wasn't a dirty word, while Brian Moore the 'pitbull' of the scrum, looks back at a disastrous year for the professionalism of English rugby. The philosopher Julian Savulescu believes the nostalgia for the age of the amateur is blinding people to the reality of today, and that far from penalising those who take performance enhancing drugs, we should merely set a safe limit and allow free rein. Click here to listen to the program

On Start the Week Andrew Marr asks if sport still embodies a notion of fair play and Corinthian spirit, or whether it has become mired in corruption, money and celebrity. Mihir Bose argues that sport is no longer just a game, but has become one of the most powerful political tools in the world. The social historian Janie Hampton looks back to a time when amateur wasn't a dirty word, while Brian Moore the 'pitbull' of the scrum, looks back at a disastrous year for the professionalism of English rugby. The philosopher Julian Savulescu believes the nostalgia for the age of the amateur is blinding people to the reality of today, and that far from penalising those who take performance enhancing drugs, we should merely set a safe limit and allow free rein.

FIFA should fear new mood after International Olympic Committee investigation

mihir — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:37:20 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz The wider impact of the investigation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Ethics Commission into Joao Havelange, Issa Hayatou, Lamine Diack, three of the most powerful men in world sport, cannot be overestimated. The treatment of the three men may not appear all that drastic. But there is a message here about the way the IOC is prepared to react to the demands that the administrators of world sport and, in particular, football must become more accountable and transparent.

Daley Thompson: Olympics can inspire our computer kids

mihir — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:18:16 +0000

Evening Standard You would not expect Daley Thompson to advise anyone to stay away from the London Games but he tells me he did exactly that to the doorman at the Dorchester hotel. "He told me he's going to watch Greco-Roman wrestling. And I said to him, 'I wouldn't.'" The doorman's response finally convinced Britain's double Olympic decathlon champion that London 2012 will be special.

As football becomes more of a business, moving jobs for money is no longer a sin

mihir — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:19:06 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz We may have reached an historic moment with modern, highly paid footballers. They may finally be ready to tell the truth when they move club. The truth is that what motivates them is not the glory of the club they are going to, nor its wonderful supporters, nor even the honours they might win, but how much money the new club will put in their bank account. I have long believed that the refrain of modern footballers, talking of a club's ambition during transfers, has been misinterpreted by the supporters and media. It does not mean that the player is keen to know what honours the club seeks to win and how it plans to go about achieving its objectives. When a player talks of a "club's ambition" he means the club chairman's ambition to add noughts to his contract, even at the risk of putting the club in financial trouble as so many have done in recent years.

Race isn’t a black and white issue in grassroots football

mihir — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:06:24 +0000

Evening Standard Sepp Blatter has probably never seen a match in the Essex Senior League, but if he did it might give him some insight into racism in football. The match between London APSA and Bowers & Pitsea, just up the road from Upton Park, starts off well. The match programme has a full-page advertisement: "Let's kick racism out of football." And the two teams appear to be doing just that. London APSA, largely Asian, have a white goalkeeper. The visiting team from Basildon have several black players, and the referee is black.

Highlights from Names Not Numbers Mumbai 2011

mihir — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 11:39:07 +0000

Editorial Intelligence Names Not Numbers Mumbai is part of an annual series of invitation-only ideas conferences for 100 key players and thinkers across politics, business, media, culture, academia and technology to discuss and debate what individuality in a mass age means. Names Not Numbers Mumbai took place on Saturday 26th November 2011 in the south of the [...]

Blatter’s outrageous racism comments have done untold damage to him and FIFA

mihir — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:14:30 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz Sepp Blatter may believe the furore he provoked by his comments on racism in football is behind him. He could not be more mistaken. He will have to live with the consequences of his absurd comment that if there is racism on the field of play it can be got rid of by a post-match hand shake. Worse still, the damage he has done to FIFA, when the organisation is already so beleaguered, cannot be overestimated.

Vinnie Jones: I’ve proved anybody can turn a corner

mihir — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:26:00 +0000

Evening Standard Vinnie Jones being asked to help tackle anti-social behaviour among the nation's youth is the sort of script that might stretch credibility even in Hollywood. During his playing career he delighted in causing outrage. His video, Soccer's Hard Men, was considered to bring the game into such disrepute that he was fined £20,000 and handed a suspended six-month ban by the Football Association. Worse still, he then bit the nose of a reporter after an England international. But here we are in a smart London hotel where Jones is the guest of the Football League and is telling me how the game can help get kids off the street.

The Russian and the Sheikh

mihir — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:33:08 +0000

PlayUp Abramovich must learn from Manchester City if Chelsea are to achieve success Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, may not need lessons on making money, but he could profitably learn from Sheikh Mansour on how to manage football. The particular lesson he needs to learn is the crucial relationship between owner and manager, always a key to success in the game. Both Mansour and Abramovich inherited coaches when they bought their respective clubs. Mansour inherited Mark Hughes, Abramovich, Claudio Ranieri. The Emirati made one change and was much criticised for bringing in Roberto Mancini. At first it did not seem to make much of a difference, but two years down the line, we can see what a new world the Italian has ushered in at Eastlands, and how well he has used the Sheikh’s money.

Debate: Fact or fiction?

mihir — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:09:14 +0000

Times Now Can Kambli's hint about possible match-fixing be taken at face value? Former cricketer Vinod Kambli raised suspicion on the 1996 World Cup semi-final between India and Sri Lanka and said he found "something amiss" in the game, a claim which came in for sharp criticism from Sourav ganguly. Kambli, who scored 1084 runs in 17 Tests and 2477 runs in 104 ODIs for India, said he was suspicious of then captain Mohammed Azharuddin's decision to field first in the semi-final which was eventually awarded to Sri Lanka because of crowd problem. However, Ganguly said just because India batted second in the match doesn't mean that it was fixed and Kambli should back up his claims with solid proof.

Blatter and race

mihir — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:50:29 +0000

PlayUp Power is key in the fight against racism Yes, Sepp Blatter is a 75-year old Swiss who does not know what he is talking about and it is high time he spend more time with the grandchildren rather than run world football. Such a reaction to his grotesque remarks that there is no racism in football and it can all be dealt with by a gentlemanly handshake, is wholly understandable. A conclusion all the more tempting as these interviews came about as Blatter, rocked by Fifa’s corruption scandal, was trying to rehabilitate himself. He has just acquired a new head of PR and the interviews were clearly part of a plan to promote the new Blatter cleaning up Fifa. With the re-launch now going so badly wrong, you must doubt if the product is worth bothering about. But to think Blatter’s departure, which I don’t think is likely, will help deal with the enormous problems of racism in the game is almost as absurd as his remarks.

Blatter backlash over racism remarks

mihir — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:54:14 +0000

CNN International Mihir discusses a call for Sepp Blatter to quit FIFA over his remarks on racism.

It’s time European sports administrators studied US model to combat match fixing

mihir — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:03:29 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz Britain and Europe have never been easy bedfellows and the turmoil of the eurozone may lead to a further, even permanent, alienation. Yet, ironically, in sport Britain is not on the periphery of Europe, but leading the way. Nothing illustrates this better than the vote on Tuesday (November 15) in the European Parliament about match fixing. This, as UEFA President Michel Platini keeps repeating, is, "the biggest threat facing the future of sport in Europe".

Lord Condon: Every country has fixed matches, not just Pakistan

mihir — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:00:38 +0000

Evening Standard There can have been few observers of cricket's spot-fixing trial who have a better knowledge of the threat the issue poses to the game than Lord Condon. After all, in 2000 he set up the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit, which he chaired for a decade. We meet in the wake of the convictions of the three Pakistan cricketers, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, who conspired to bowl deliberate no-balls during the Fourth Test with England last year.

Steve Redgrave: I’d swap all my medals just for the chance to row at London 2012

mihir — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:21:41 +0000

Evening Standard Sir Steve Redgrave may be the bookies favourite to light the 2012 Olympic flame but his advice is to not to put any money on him. Given that he has kept the opening night free from TV work the assumption is that on July 27 Britain's only Olympian to win five golds will enter the Olympic Stadium with the flame? "Of course, I'd like the honour but, if you look through the history of the Games, they always try to have somebody who's a little bit more unexpected," he says. "So being favourite is not the best place to be. I think LOCOG [the 2012 organising committee] will do something a little bit different."

The scourge that threatens the ‘birthright of British boys’

mihir — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 10:34:52 +0000

FT Cricket, said the writer J. M. Barrie, is a gift of the gods. Had Mr Barrie been at London’s Southwark Crown Court these last few weeks, listening to the evidence that led to the jailing of three Pakistani cricketers for deliberately bowling no balls, he would have had to accept that the game is now controlled by the devil. So damming were some of the real life tales of cricketers lured by money that the creator of the magical Peter Pan books might have found them difficult to believe....Read more.

Cricket needs to show that it can clean up its act

mihir — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:06:37 +0000

talkSPORT The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast – Sports journalist Mihir Bose tells the Breakfast boys why Pakistan sport-fixing trial is important for the game. Click here to listen to the interview

RFU need clean sweep, says Francis Baron

mihir — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:11:37 +0000

Evening Standard As Francis Baron, the former chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, arrives for our meeting, he receives a text: "Dear Francis, If my information is correct, you are now back in charge again at Twickenham which is marvellous news. Everyone at Wellington wishes you every success." Dr Anthony Seldon, the Master of Wellington College who had sent the text, was not joking. But, as Baron scrolls through his mobile, he smiles, saying: "It's amazing the number of people that have been telling me, 'You've got to go back'. People like Dr Seldon even assume I've gone back. It is all very funny."

Football must stop looking to the past to resolve the issues of today

mihir — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:58:35 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz The Carlos Tévez and John Terry affairs could not be more different. One is a case of an employee allegedly not wanting to do his job; the other is about an employee allegedly behaving badly while at work. They both illustrate the behaviour problems of today's footballers, more so during high profile matches which are subjected to unprecedented public scrutiny through the internet and social media. They also illustrate that those involved in running football including the players union, the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), have not moved with the times.

Qatar leads Silverstone race

mihir — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:51:03 +0000

Sunday Times Emergence of a new mystery Middle Eastern bidder for the British racetrack has alarmed former F1 stars, including Nigel Mansell by Mihir Bose and David Leppard Silverstone, historic home of the British Grand Prix, is set to be handed to a mystery bidder from the Gulf state of Qatar in a deal that will give it control of the circuit for the next 150 years. The Alpha Group, a consortium that is funded through Qatar, the world’s richest country, has moved ahead of four other bidders to sign a deal with the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), which has owned Silverstone for nearly 60 years....Read more.

Torch-bearer

mihir — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:43:48 +0000

FT The man who will be welcoming the world to the London Olympics opens his house in a little Kent village Sir Keith Mills does not look as though he has been partying until 1am at the Olympic Ball as he welcomes me to his home in a little Kent village, a few miles from Tonbridge. He is dressed in jeans and a sweater and his eyes do not betray any strain from an evening with Stephen Fry, Princess Anne, a raucous auctioneer, the singing of Tom Jones and the champagne that flowed in London’s Olympia the previous night....Read more.

Sachin and I have the best figures but we’re not the greatest

mihir — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:22:19 +0000

Evening Standard Muttiah Muralitharan should have every reason to believe he is the best bowler in the history of cricket. By the time he retired, after this year's World Cup Final defeat against India, the off‑spinner had 800 Test wickets and 534 one-day international scalps. But, when we meet at Grosvenor House where the 39-year-old Sri Lankan is receiving the Outstanding Achievement in Sport honour at the Asian Awards, he insists the facts and figures do not equate to greatness. "I never really feel that I'm the greatest bowler in the game," he tells me. "Statistics-wise I may be the greatest but I have seen so many great bowlers, great spinners over the years. Shane Warne is one of the greats and it's good for the game that he took a lot of wickets [708 in Tests, 293 in one-day internationals] and was part of the winning Australian sides. He was a great ambassador for world cricket."

Judges Process (BASA)

mihir — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:13:15 +0000

BASA The work and behind the scenes footage of the judging process at the British Asian Sports Awards with BASA judges Mihir Bose, Denise Lewis, Manish Bhasin, Mark Ramprakash, Lorraine Dechamps and Neeraj Arora.

Marcel Schmid bravely predicts women’s football will influence the male game

mihir — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:56:11 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz The theme of this year's International Football Arena (IFA) conference, Football: from craze to madness, may suggest we face a sporting Armageddon. But Marcel Schmid, the man whose brainchild the conference is, refuses to take a pessimistic view of the state of the game. "The football world is upside down, but the world is upside down, isn't it?," he says. "It is not only football in a state of chaos, the world is in a state of chaos. We are mirroring what is happening in the rest of our society. A lot of textile companies, car makers, banks are struggling. There aren't many areas where there is not a huge fight going on."

We’ve found our bite, says Andrew Strauss

mihir — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:14:08 +0000

Evening Standard Animals have occupied more time than cricket for Andrew Strauss recently as he enjoys a well-earned - and rare - break from the sport with his family at his farm near Marlow. England's Test captain has acquired a dog to complement the sheep given to him by Alastair Cook's girlfriend. But, in the six weeks since leading England to No1 in the Test rankings, he has thought long and hard about what the team must do to remain the top dogs of cricket. In the process, the 34-year-old has also banished thoughts of retirement which he had entertained at the beginning of the season.

Stadium mystery could have an ending even Agatha Christie could not have plotted

mihir — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:22:28 +0000

Insideworldfootball The debate about the future of the Olympic Stadium illustrates a very simple sporting truth about this country. The one sport that makes money is football, but only at the highest level. All other sports, including lower league football, struggle. Any attempt to make money and market a sport other than football, particularly athletics, is extremely difficult and can result in failure. The Government forgot this sporting truth and the result is that the future of the Olympic Stadium is uncertain and the taxpayer may end up paying for its maintenance.

Debate: BCCI gets its way on DRS

mihir — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:10:51 +0000

TimesNow Is the BCCI victory on the DRS issue proof of India’s clout in world cricket? In what came as a shot in the arm for the BCCI, on Tuesday (October 11) the ICC reversed its earlier decision of making the controverial Decision Review System mandatory by leaving its use subject to bilateral agreements between the participating [...]

John Gosden: Racing has got its cup final now, but on the wrong day

mihir — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:33:39 +0000

Evening Standard Saturday's new-look British Champions Day at Ascot has been hyped by racing bosses as a day like no other in the history of the Flat in this country. With £3million in prize money, it is the richest raceday in Britain, attracting the best horses on the level, and the Queen will be in attendance. However, its real significance lies in racing finally getting what other sports have always had. As trainer John Gosden put it: "A grand finale to the Flat season."

Sky may not be the limit with Murphy’s law

mihir — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:02:54 +0000

Insideworldfootball Karen Murphy's victory in the European Court over showing live matches in her pub without paying Sky's charges should not be overestimated. It will have consequences, particularly in the lower reaches of the game, but it should not be seen as televised football's equivalent of the Bosman ruling. It is not. Bosman has proved such a far-reaching, even revolutionary, judgement, that its effects are still being felt more than a decade and a half later. Belgian player Bosman could hardly have imagined the consequences when he sought to change clubs after his contract had expired.

Peter Moores: I do think what might have been with England

mihir — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:50:43 +0000

Evening Standard Given the way Peter Moores's England reign ended, it is hardly surprising Kevin Pietersen has not been among the well‑wishers offering their congratulations following Lancashire's first County Championship title in 77 years. After all, it was Pietersen's "he goes or I go" ultimatum which led to Moores being sacked as England coach and his own axing as national skipper in January 2009. Just one month later, Moores was appointed Lancashire coach and it has taken him only two years to end the county's title drought.

Segregating fans has helped foster climate of hatred

mihir — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:14:12 +0000

Insideworldfootball.biz English football fans are be capable of much humour, no little inventiveness and a warmth and goodness that can be truly uplifting, but the capacity for some fans to be vile should not be underestimated. Events at some recent matches have once again demonstrated that. So during their Carling Cup encounter, Manchester United fans were taunted by chants from Leeds fans about the Munich air crash and United fans, in turn, retaliated with chants of Istanbul, a city where Leeds fans were killed. Fans of other clubs have also indulged in such behaviour and in the past, clashes between Manchester United and Liverpool have seen extremely disgraceful references to Munich and the death of Bill Shankly.

TEDxEastEnd – The story of my father, the story of myself

mihir — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:03:43 +0000

TEDxEastEnd On the 8th September 2011, Mihir spoke at TEDxEastEnd, which focused on exploring ideas and various perspectives on migration. The goal was to look at the role innovation can have in addressing the challenges it presents, while also considering the opportunities and benefits that arise from migration. The event brought together a wide [...]

QPR’s new owner won’t splash the cash like Roman Abramovich

mihir — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:01:59 +0000

Evening Standard Tony Fernandes has been a West Ham fan since he was eight but the new owner of Queen Park Rangers is glad that his failure to buy the Hammers led him to Loftus Road. We are in his elegant town house in the capital and the 47-year-old owner of AirAsia is telling me of his many efforts to take over West Ham stretching back five years. "I tried before the Icelandic guys bought it," he says. "Then, when they had all their problems, I was in a bidding war with David Sullivan and David Gold but the Icelandic banks went for them. We approached them again when they got relegated in May and I upset Sullivan.

At the heart of The Valley is a City slicker

mihir — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:32:15 +0000

Evening Standard There is much that Michael Slater, the Charlton chairman, will not disclose. Ask him how much he and his partner Tony Jimenez paid for the League One club when they completed the take over last December and he says: "It was a nominal amount to take responsibility for not insignificant debts." In fact, with debts of £14million and Charlton facing administration, the nominal figure was just £1. Or ask Slater how much Charlton have spent on transfers this summer and he replies: "That is not something I would like to say."

Can India restore some pride on the remainder of their England tour?

mihir — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:30:26 +0000

PlayUpCricket Mihir Bose discusses the England vs India 2011 series and how the Indian team can improve their game.

After Bin Hammam’s race claim, Blatter needs to prove he really is a citizen of the world

mihir — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:48:25 +0000

Insideworldfootball Mihir BoseMohammed Bin Hammam may have been self-serving in accusing FIFA of racism and alleging that, had he been an European, he would not have suffered the punishment he has - banished for life from world football for having been found guilty of vote buying during the FIFA presidential race. He could not have put it more clearly in a letter to Petrus Damaseb, the deputy chairman of the Ethics Committee: "Were I a European, or were the Caribbean part of Europe, neither [Sepp] Blatter nor [Jérôme] Valcke will dare lay a finger on us. Were we Europeans, you [a reference to Damaseb] would have never been given the opportunity to chair this ethics committee panel and slaughter people left and right, as you have done."

Michel D’Hooghe: ‘It’s totally untrue that my vote was influenced’

mihir — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:14:50 +0000

Evening Standard 6 Sep 2011 Michel D'Hooghe, for all his quarter of a century on the FIFA executive, has never courted publicity, unlike his soundbite-savvy president Sepp Blatter. But now the 66-year-old retired Belgian doctor, who has shaped FIFA's medical department and is proud of their doping controls, is upset about the slur on his reputation. We are in Monaco and D'Hooghe, having just emerged from a swim at his hotel, wants to talk about a painting he received from the Russians before his fellow executive members chose them as hosts for the 2018 World Cup.

Foreign stars have made the English game suffer, says Uwe Rösler

mihir — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:17:17 +0000

Evening Standard Uwe Rösler grew up on the other side of the Iron Curtain but his football beliefs are very much made in England. He played five times for East Germany and his formative years in the game were in the communist state but it was the lessons learned at Manchester City that he's now putting into practice at Brentford. The west London club's new manager recalls how he was forced to change after arriving at City from Nuremburg in 1994.

The rise of celebrity culture is changing the face of our beautiful game

mihir — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:21:52 +0000

Insideworldfootball The cult of the manager may have been developing since the 1960s, but football now faces a situation that not many could have imagined. This is the age of the manager as a celebrity, with his every action judged to be as important and worthy of highlight, at times even more so, than the players he manages. This marks a fundamental change in the how the game is perceived. When Pelé described football as the beautiful game, he meant the show put on by the likes of him and his fellow players. We now have the extraordinary spectacle of not one football event, but two simultaneous ones, where the off-field action surrounding managers, be it Jose Mourinho or Arsène Wenger, attracts as much attention, if not more, than Lionel Messi's performance on the field.

Roy Hodgson: I’d like England job but it’s important everyone looks at the big picture

mihir — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:55:44 +0000

Evening Standard Nothing much surprises Roy Hodgson. "I am fatalistic," he says. "So many things happen in football that, if you have a long career like I have, they are going to happen to you sometime." The West Brom manager takes another sip of beer when we meet in the Park Lane hotel, where his team stayed for last weekend's game at Chelsea. But, for all his acceptance of football fate, he is surprised by how things have turned out since he was sacked by Liverpool. "I'm back at a club similar to the one I left for Liverpool: Fulham." As with Fulham, he was called in to save the Baggies from relegation. Last season's rescue lacked the drama of keeping Fulham up in 2008 when the winner against Portsmouth came in the 76th minute of their last match but, says Hodgson: "It still was a close escape. We weren't fooled that we finished mid-table [11th]. I was no more confident than we were at Fulham."

How England bowled out India on a budget

mihir — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:26:39 +0000

FT Sport and business may often be uncomfortable bedfellows. The recent problems at Fifa, the world football’s governing body, have demonstrated how difficult it is for sport to be run as a business. However, the cricket Test series between England and India demonstrates that sport can provide instructive lessons about how to use money to maximise resources and produce a winning formula. This series saw England not only become the top Test nation in the world but also humiliate India, winning all four matches. Not even the most optimistic of English fans could have hoped for such a result. Bookmakers, who always have a shrewd idea about such things, were so convinced this was unlikely that, at the beginning of the series, they were offering odds of 25-1 against such an outcome. The English triumph, and more so the scale of the victory, is remarkable given that India has been the number one Test country since 2009. Only three months previously, India also won the 50-over World Cup, something England has never achieved. The triumph is all the more remarkable because, as has been well-documented, India is the money bags of world cricket. Click here to read this article in full

The Olympic super brands take over London

mihir — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:33:39 +0000

Evening Standard London 2012 will be a new experience for one volunteer. Urvasi Naidu, who has been a volunteer for every Olympics since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, always carries some masking tape in her handbag. "What I am usually looking out for," says Urvais, a lawyer by profession, "are groups of people wearing T-shirts advertising rival products to the official sponsors. If they are, I first try to get them to wear the T-shirts inside out. If that doesn't work, I use masking tape to cover up the advertisement so it's not visible on television." It may seem extreme but Urvasi, who has contributed to a book on the subject, says: "Sponsors pay a lot of money, they have a right to protect their investment - other brands are not entitled to advertise.

Money doesn’t always guarantee sporting success

mihir — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:33:51 +0000

Insideworldfootball The beginning of the football season always turns to talk of money and how much clubs have spent on the transfer market. Yet what this misses is the age-old truth that money does not buy sporting success. Spending money can keep the fans happy and raise their expectations for the season, but is no guarantee of silverware at the end of the season. This is something that Manchester City fans might well discover this season as they finally strive to wrest back some glory from their more famous city rivals. Managers under pressure always talk of how much the opposition has spent, but it is management more than money that matters in the end.

ECB Cricket Podcast: England are number one

mihir — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:35:55 +0000

ECB Cricket Podcast - Episode 56 England take top spot in the world Test rankings after victory over India at Edgbaston - latest from the npower Test Series with both captains, plus Alastair Cook, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Hugh Morris, Mihir Bose and Podcast Pundit Mike Gatting. Mihir and Stephen Lamb discuss India's loss against England in the Series. (Note: the relevent section starts at 20:00) Click here to listen or download the podcast in full

I lie in bed and think Jonny Wilkinson has done very well, says Toby Flood

mihir — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:02:48 +0000

Evening Standard Toby Flood may give the impression he was made for rugby but he never really saw it as a career - it happened by accident. In the opinion of many rugby experts, England's performance in the 19-9 defeat to Wales last Saturday was not so much an accident as a car crash waiting to happen. But the 26-year-old England fly-half is taking me on a more reflective journey as he talks of why he became a rugby player not an actor. The stage or screen would have been the obvious career choice. Both his grandfathers were actors, one of them, Albert Lieven, played a German general in The Guns of Navarone and his parents are still involved in the theatre. But Flood says: "It just never appealed to me."

England become the number one Test team

mihir — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 14:25:07 +0000

BBC World Service – Newshour Mihir and James Menendez discuss how England has become the number one Test team in the World. Click here to listen to the programme. (Note: Relevent section begins at 0:44:00)

Riots are elsewhere: so thought Britain, till the hoods came out in London and beyond

mihir — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 11:57:57 +0000

Outlook The riots in Britain, the worst for over a century, have come as a rude shock to the British. Until this week, the British had a cosy, self-satisfied feeling that things in their ‘right little, tight little island’ were in many ways much better than in other parts of the developed world. The economic downturn may have seen America’s AAA credit status downgraded and several European countries in turmoil—this may yet befall Italy and France—but not Britain. The government has imposed painful cuts, but British political leaders have been confident that, in the face of the worst downturn since the 1930s, the country has avoided real trauma. Now that illusion lies shattered like so many shards of glass littering Britain’s streets.

The silence of the world’s football players in FIFA crisis is deafening

mihir — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:23:23 +0000

Insideworldfootball Like the dog that did not bark in the night in the Sherlock Holmes mystery,The Hound of the Baskervilles, one of the most fascinating aspects of the FIFA crisis is that one group has said nothing: the players. It is astonishing to consider, given all that has been written about the problems of FIFA, that there is very little about what the players think. Their silence has been stunning. Without the players, there can be no game and the fact that they have had nothing to say about this, the greatest crisis to face the governing body of the world game, shows how sport, for all the talk that it is a business, is not really a business. And why it may prove so difficult to restructure an organisation like FIFA and make sure it is fit for purpose.

Riots have raised security concerns about the Olympics

mihir — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:45:55 +0000

talkSPORT London Evening Standard columnist Mihir Bose says recent scenes of rioting and looting in the capital and beyond may put people off coming to next year's Olympics. He also says it raises new security concerns about the country's ability to host a safe Games. Click here to listen to the full interview.

England can win the Rugby World Cup, says Schalk Brits

mihir — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:55:00 +0000

Evening Standard You would expect Schalk Brits to pretend that the Rugby World Cup is not taking place. Voted Players' Player of the Year in the Premiership two seasons ago, he was man of the match in the Grand Final in May when Saracens became champions for the first time. Despite this, the Springbok hooker will not be in New Zealand as his country excludes players who ply their trade overseas. "To play in the World Cup is the greatest thing for a player and I've never been to one," he says ruefully. "But there's more to life than just that. I've got a family and friends who are way more important than rugby, a club who love me and who I love. I made my peace about not going to New Zealand quite a while ago."

“Why India is a fat man getting out of a thin man”

mihir — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:30:25 +0000

PlayUp Cricket Mihir Bose talking on how India is taking over World cricket due to television and commercial rights resulting in large pay cheques for the players.

It’s time for Blatter to use the power he does have to clean up FIFA

mihir — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 09:48:36 +0000

Insideworldfootball Sepp Blatter always complains that he is a leader who is not as powerful as his title of FIFA President may suggest. For a start, he is in the odd position that he cannot choose his own cabinet, something that Barack Obama or David Cameron would find intolerable. So Blatter's cabinet, the FIFA Executive Committee, are elected by the Confederations and foisted on him. There is nothing Blatter can do about that. He has to live with their choices.

Lee Westwood: I’ve learned the hard way that I must not panic

mihir — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:43:41 +0000

Evening Standard Lee Westwood would be entirely justified in feeling that the wheels of time are remorselessly grinding against him. The 38-year-old is still waiting to win his first Major. He lost his No1 ranking to Luke Donald in May and, at the US Open three weeks later, a tied third place was small consolation when the victor, Rory McIlroy, was only 22. Yet, as he prepares to take a tilt at the season's final Major, the US PGA Championship in Atlanta starting a week on Thursday, Westwood has no fears that the young guns are threatening him.