Only a day to go until the English summer officially begins. Forget the lack of sunshine and deluge from the skies, tomorrow marks a significant moment in the calendar as the First Test gets underway at Lord’s.

It’s usually a happy hunting ground for England to begin, too, and perhaps the ideal place to reconvene after a difficult winter of Test cricket. The side haven’t lost at the home of cricket in nearly seven years – the opening game of that 2005 Ashes series – and won five of the last six there…

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/cricket/test-matches/england-v-west-indies-history-835831

While Gillingham’s season officially came to an end this time last week, and mathematically the week before, you could argue with the benefit of hindsight that it was actually much sooner. Perhaps the seeds were sown even before the beginning of the season.

Why? Because the biggest catalyst to our disappointing season was the fitness – or lack of – in the players.

Andy Hessenthaler built a decent squad and added some excellent loan signings during the season with the help of a wage budget that other lower-league managers would be delighted to have…

http://gills365.clubfans.co.uk/2012/05/12/gills-end-of-term-report-by-ben-curtis/

Gills365 – the 100% independent Gillingham FC fan blog featuring the latest news, comment and updates from Priestfield Stadium. Follow on Twitter @Gills365

While the country’s newspapers continue to give the less-than-subtle hint about who they – and the rest of the nation – believe will be England manager, the FA’s suited hierarchy continue to dither about making a decision.

Fabio Capello resigned on February 8th, yet with every day that passes, Stuart Pearce appears to be even closer to leading England into Euro 2012. Nearly two months down the line from the Italian’s resignation, the FA continue to give the impression that appointing a manager should be a patient process and that they are exploring every option, but equally unaware of the time constraints.

For me, they have two choices. Approach Harry Redknapp and ask whether he will be willing to lead England’s lions into Poland and the Ukraine this summer, or go with Pearce. Simple.

Whichever they do go for, it has to be done quickly. Preparations are going to be rushed anyway, yet all of this waiting around cannot be doing England’s chances any good. The players will want to know who is in charge and who they should turn to for advice.

Take Darren Bent, for example. The Aston Villa striker he had ankle surgery earlier this month and is a doubt for Euro 2012 and would benefit from a quiet word from the England manager. Some reassurance that he is still a part of summer plans if he can prove his fitness. Without an England manager to turn to, he’s in limbo.

Same with players on the cusp of a call-up. Who are they trying to impress? Will the younger players be given a chance, or will the manager stick to older faces?

Too many questions, nobody to provide the answers.

But whatever happens and whoever is appointed, it is important that both fans and the media lower their expectations. Even with two years to prepare, any future England manager to have a near-impossible task when it comes to succeeding in a major tournament. With little more than two months to go until Euro 2012 and nobody appointed to do the job, it would be unfair to expect a semi-final appearance, or maybe even getting out of the group stages.

No doubt the media will whip the country up into a frenzy, what with the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics to come, too. But for this year, we should be focussing on success in Brazil in a couple of years’ time.

That preparation begins now, though. Time for the FA to get on with the job of appointing a new manager – and fast.

Otherwise, it won’t be only one tournament where we struggle.

The victories of Harry Redknapp and Milan Mandaric in court and the resignation of Fabio Capello as England manager have rightly dominated the news agenda this week. Both were five-year sagas that finally drew to a close, though Redknapp is likely to be the overall winner as his now untarnished reputation is sought after by the public, players and probably the FA to replace £6 million-per-year Capello.

Shadowed by these stories, but equally as significant, was the release of the Deloitte Football Money League, showing the incomes of the top teams of Europe for 2010-11.

Unsurprisingly Real Madrid and Barcelona topped the chart with £433 million and £407 million respectively as they continue to dominate the Spanish television revenue stream. Manchester United, with their worldwide appeal, were third (£331.4 million) and Bayern Munich followed in fourth (£290.3 million).

However, there are three other surprises that contrast how money is affecting the game.

Manchester City continued to lead the way in the Premier League, largely thanks to their rich owner Sheikh Mansour, but only find themselves 12th in Europe for income last year (£153.2 million).

Liverpool remained ninth with £183.6 million despite not being able to qualify for the Champions League.

Furthermore, Arsenal continue to qualify for Europe’s big event every season with very little transfer spending, yet generate the fifth highest income in the continent of £226.8 million.

What do we take from these? Manchester City’s reliance on their owner’s wealth is staggering. Liverpool continue to generate a reasonable income but cannot even make the top four in the Premier League, while Arsenal are showing how it should be done with a strong income but little in the way of spending.

Uefa is looking to bring in financial fair play rules in the next couple of years, forcing clubs to improve their finances, and it looks as though they will need to enforce it to make sure Europe’s top clubs are not put in danger in the future.

While the money they are receiving is strong now, is it sustainable? Deloitte’s report may have not got the coverage it probably deserved this week, but it may need to be the focus of attention in the coming years as clubs flirt with financial danger.

Never judge a book by its cover and never judge the speed of a Formula 1 car by its looks. That’s how the old saying goes, doesn’t it? Something like that, anyway.

Which brings us to the annual cover-throwing, bulb-flashing cricus of pre-season car launches. McLaren were the first major team to unveil their 2012 car today, and with it a first glimpse of what we can expect in terms of aesthetics from the front runners. One that they hope will bring with it the constructors’ title and another drivers’ crown for either Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button.

Thankfully, it turns out the car is not quite as bulky and ugly as the Caterham, which was launched last week to a few groans, and appears more in the mould of the 2011 model. Changes have been made to the side pods because of this year’s blown diffuser ban, but apart from a few other exterior minor tweaks, that’s about it.

Disappointed? People shouldn’t be, according to McLaren’s technical director Paddy Lowe, because the more notable changes cannot be seen from the outside.

“This car in many ways looks quite similar but underneath [there is] a great deal of change.  Every single part has been assessed, optimised for weight, stiffness, performance in any other respect,” he said at the launch.

“And when you add all of that up you get a car that’s net quicker, that’s the name of the game. So in every area the teams are tasked to find that one per cent, two per cent because we’re looking for that total.”

For the moment, then, all we can do is judge it by looks. And if you compare it to the Caterham, which has a front nose more akin to Steve Bruce, McLaren’s latest number is an  Angelina Jolie.

Red Bull and Ferrari are to unveil theirs over the next week ahead of testing as we get an early idea as to who is going to be the team to beat in 2012.

While it is about beauty now, we’ll soon see who has the brains as well. And because of that, March cannot come around soon enough.

His cynicism that David Beckham and Ryan Giggs could be included in the Olympics football squad just to help bump up ticket sales may be, of course, very well placed. But does the country really care that two footballing heroes could step out for Great Britain just because of their footballing history?

Surely not. Though Giggs’ private life became one of the off-field talking points of 2011 – even surpassing some of the tripe that Fifa president Sepp Blatter came out with – his on-pitch reputation remains unblemished. A wizardry winger and one of the greatest of his generation who became the most decorated British footballer of all time, thrown in with more than two decades of service to one club.

Yes, it is a shame that Giggs has never played in an international tournament, so in a competition that few care too much about (it’s not the Euros or World Cup), why can’t he be thrown in?

He still plays Premier League football at one of the country’s top clubs. I’m sure there are better players that could be used now, but he is not so far off the radar that he should be immediately discounted.

And the same goes for Beckham, England’s most capped outfield player ever. While many will argue just where he ranks in the list of great Premier League and international midfielders (not near the top of either), the man is a footballing icon who deserves to bow out of British football on a high.

Of course, cynicism points in the direction of Golden Balls’ role as an Olympic ambassador – somebody who can bring in crowds (and therefore money) in what would otherwise be a semi-watched football tournament.

But whether this is true or not, Great Britain could do far worse than give these two footballers one final international competition (the last in the case of Beckham, first and last for Giggs) to almost wave goodbye.

Barclay may be right about the motives, but who cares? Both should have their moment for Great Britain. Euro 2012 is the competition to take seriously this summer.

Football is having one of its worst seasons of controversy, with allegations of on and off-field racial remarks and alarming use of hand gestures by the crowd for any opponent daring to, for example, go and take a corner or a throw in. Of course, this kind of thing has happened in the past. It’s nothing new. Yet it is a great shame, especially in the case of alleged racism, that behaviour such as this has returned as great progress has been made in football over the last couple of decades.

Why on Earth does it take place on the terraces, though? My memories of standing on the concrete steps of football grounds as a youngster are filled with humour, pickled onions and people having a good time regardless of the result. Maybe it was worse than that and time has erased any thoughts of abuse, though I suspect this isn’t the case.

But generally, getting under the skin of opponents – both in the terraces and the players lined up against yours – was done through wit. How can I make fun of somebody in good jest? Targeting, for example, Jason Lee’s haircut (who remembers “he’s got a pineapple, on his head”?) instead of aiming a mouth full of expletives in his direction.

Now, though, abuse is commonplace. Apparently, there’s nothing like getting at an opponent by shaking a first or waving a couple of fingers at them.

So it was with great delight that I was given a copy of Who are ya? Football’s best ever chants compiled by Gershon Portnoi. Some 175 pages of wit and good humour, a bible for some of the best-written chants and songs from up and down the country over the years.

A reminder, too, that football does not need to resort to some of the ridiculous comments thrown the way of players these days.

Take this one, for example, about the inadequacy of Djimi Traore sung to the tune of Blame it on the Boogie by The Jackson Five:

Don’t blame it on the Biscan,

Don’t blame it on the Hamann,

Don’t blame it on the Finnan,

Blame it on Traore.

He just can’t, he just can’t, he just can’t control his feet.

Or perhaps this tongue-in-cheek look of Alex Hleb from Arsenal fans:

Alex Hleb, woah-oh,

Alex Hleb, woah-oh,

He came from Belarus,

To sell cheap fags and booze.

Many, many more examples – indeed, from around the world – are featured in the book and display football in a slightly better light.

These current problems are snowballing. Players have a responsibility as well to improve their own on-field behaviour, but it does not give fans the right to say or do what they want. Let’s hope we’re not closing in on another Eric Cantona outburst, but could instead still return towards the glory days of wit on our terraces.

As this book shows, British football fans can be among the best at it.

Follow me – @benjamin_curtis

Team GB is in safe hands for next year’s Olympic Games after Stuart Pearce and Hope Powell were named head coaches for the men’s and women’s football teams respectively by the Football Association.

In a tournament that will see all-bar-three of the Great Britain players under the age of 23, it is right that Pearce is in charge.

Four reasonable years as England’s under-21 boss, which – this summer aside – has seen tournament success and only five defeats in 41 games. Additionally, he represented his country 78 times and was a part of the Euro ’96 tournament held in England.

Speaking about his appointment, Pearce said he is “extremely proud to have this opportunity”.

“I was fortunate to be part of Euro ’96, so I know how special it can be to play for your country on home soil at a major tournament,” he explained.

“I’m sure this group of players will relish being part of not only a huge tournament in this country, but a unique one competing together and representing the UK.”

Just as deserving is Powell, who has led England’s women team for a remarkable 13 years and continues to play a huge part in promoting the sport. She believes rightly that exposure from the London 2012 Olympics can help boost the popularity of the women’s game like it did in Euro 2005.

With both managers having knowledge of tournaments hosted in England – and their years of coaching experience – Great Britain certainly has a good chance of success.

Now, all eyes turn to team selection. Who will Pearce pick from the other Great Britain football associations?

And, biggest of all, will David Beckham be given a chance to end his international career in style? A gold medal for golden balls would be a fitting end for England’s most-capped outfield player of all time.

Follow me @benjamin_curtis

Many will point to the excellent car he’s had as the main reason for triumph. Clearly it is important, but Vettel has this incredible talent that puts him ahead of the rest of the field. His obsession with picking up pole positions and even fastest laps drives him to a higher level. The daring move against Button at the beginning of last weekend’s Japan Grand Prix shows a sign of ruthlessness.

Crucially, his ability to pull out a faster lap under pressure – almost at the click of a finger – is mesmiring. He has dominated from start to finish in a fashion not seen since Michael Schumacher and pulls away from the pack with so much ease it is as if he is racing a series of milk floats. While Damon Hill argues that Vettel will struggle to beat his fellow countryman’s record of seven world titles, I believe he can.

Despite all this, Button has been quite exceptional himself this season. He is driving even better than at any point in his career – including that 2009 title win – and appears to be getting the better of teammate Lewis Hamilton.

And while this season may be over in terms of winning the championship, the silver medal is very much up for grabs. When you’re battling it out against someone of Vettel’s ability, there’s very little shame in a second-place finish.

Onto South Korea we go. Vettel will look to finish the season as he started it. Button will be looking for momentum ahead of next season. If anyone believes this season is heading for a quiet finish, think again.