Sunday Sun Blog

Gym kits and reporter rifts... But don't forget the real issues at St James' Park

2013-05-03T10:41:40Z

SO the week when Newcastle United's Premier League survival prospects moved from comfortable to critical ends with us talking about Hatem Ben Arfa's gym habits, whether a lack of fight is deeply ingrained in Gallic DNA and a banned reporter.

Maybe I'm missing something, but surely the agenda should have been shaped by issues a mite more meaty? You know, like whether Alan Pardew and his lieutenants can conjure a tactical master-plan to counter West Ham's likely aerial assault? Or even how Newcastle will reverse the run of heavy defeats that has already relegated them to the division's worst defenders?

Personnel and approach, that is all that matters over the next 18 days. Everything else is just window dressing.

All the talk has been about character and conspiracy but this misses the immediacy of Newcastle's dire predicament. They aren't heading in the wrong direction because they've got too much French players in the dressing room: it's fairly and squarely down to the fact that no-one at the club has delivered as they should this season.

The bad news is there has been no sign of a major uplift in the performances of the players in this developing black and white tragedy so far. The good news is that they still have time to stave off disaster - but only if everyone re-focuses on what matters.

Banning a good journalist for writing a story that he is standing by won't really help. It won't surprise you to read here that my personal feeling is that stopping any independent voice in the media from going to the ground is a retrograde step. When it is someone that used to work with distinction for this very newspaper it is an even darker day for North East football journalism.

I find it difficult to believe that the French players are to blame for United's malaise, mind. Gary Neville is usually a fantastic watch but his Monday Night Football editorial about Newcastle, while entertaining, was mis-informed.

It is impossible not to agree that it would be better if more English players were playing in the Premier League. It would be brilliant to be writing about a Newcastle United team brimming with local talent and several English players on the verge of the national team.

But for various reasons that Neville ignored - not least the skewering effect of the Sky money that he now gratefully banks every week - bona fide English talent is no longer available to Newcastle at a decent price.

When it is, there is no guarantee that it will serve United particularly well. The last time I checked, Nile Ranger's birthplace was Wood Green not Walbourg. He was young and English - and the most unprofessional footballer in Newcastle's squad until patience finally snapped. Neville advocates United being underpinned by English talent but maybe the problem is that too many of our native footballers lack the discipline to make the jump Moussa Sissoko and Massaido Haidara have made. Those that do make it allow themselves to be swallowed up by hangers-on who make it financially impossible for clubs like Newcastle to sign them - or are hampered by English clubs desperate to wring every last penny out of them (think Adrian Mariappa).

If Newcastle are being let down by individual agitators in the dressing room it is a matter of mental fortitude rather than flags. Yohan Cabaye is not proving to be a poor captain because he's from France, it's because he's not got the necessary tools to lead men.
It looks to me like Newcastle's new arrivals - who were always going to need time to settle - have simply run out of steam. United needed to stretch their honeymoon period - which yielded wins over Chelsea and Aston Villa - for a bit longer but failed for some reason.

All roads lead to the manager's office here. This is a team and collection of players good enough to beat Chelsea, Anzhi and Metallist since the turn of the year, so it should have four more points in it. They've also got the manager of the year in their dug-out - we must hope that while the rest of us have been feasting on the easy meat of gossip and scandal, he's been proving just why he won that honour on the training ground. The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

Di Canio's right to reply... And the questions he must answer

2013-04-01T15:12:18Z

SO here is one of the problems with covering Premier League football.

Demand for words to fill a mushrooming number of web pages, newspapers, rolling news TV stations and radio channels has never been greater. Access to the subject, however, dwindles with every passing year.

The result is often plenty of heat with precious little light. Take Sunderland's appointment of Paolo Di Canio, for example. Everyone is an expert at deciphering Di Canio's deeply-held political beliefs before the man himself has even had the chance to open his mouth on the subject.

Now you could argue that the club have hardly helped their new man by choosing to delay his press conference until his second working day at the Stadium of Light. The club's argument will be that they want to give him time to address the squad before he talks to journalists, no doubt.

But whether you agree or don't, it has allowed the debate about Di Canio to veer sharply out of Sunderland's control. David Milliband's resignation kick-started discussions about the suitability of the new Black Cats' boss to hold the position and as of 11.30am this morning, the Press Association wire carried three stories focused not on Di Canio's ability to lead Sunderland out of the mire but instead on fans opinions of his political sympathies.

It is a valid debate. Di Canio has questions to answer and so does Ellis Short, who has been the driving force behind one of the most surprising appointments in Sunderland's history.

The statement released by the club this afternoon attempted to clarify the situation and then added a bit at the bottom saying Di Canio will not talk again on the subject. If that is the case, he is doing himself no favours. Sunderland aren't helping him either, for this is a boil that needs to be addressed. When it is, everyone will move on.

So here's where I'd start. Does Di Canio stick by his 2005 assertion that he is a fascist? Can he expand on previous quotes which expressed admiration for Benito Mussolini, a violent murderer who oversaw the creation of a brutal dictatorship that allied Hitler in the Second World War? How does he feel when he hears that members of Sunderland's mostly left-leaning population threatening to tear up their season tickets?

And for Ellis: how does his new appointment stack up with the club's adoption of the Nelson Mandela foundation? Had he done his homework on the new man's political philosophy before he appointed him?

For those who say Di Canio's politics are immaterial I say poppycock. By openly discussing them, he has made them fair game. It is part of the Di Canio package and while Sunderland hope to get the rub from their new manager's inspirational approach, they must also share the burden of his baggage. That's modern football.

However some of the rush to condemn him strikes a bum note with me too. There is an interview with Di Canio that was published in the Independent less than a year ago that fills in some of the ideological gaps with the Italian and it bridles that he hasn't been given a right to reply to some of the colder criticisms.

In that piece he talks of his admiration for the Samurai of Japan, his previous panic attack episodes and even the startling admission that he used to wet the bed until the age of 11. The author says in the piece that there is no a racist bone in his subject's body, and includes a quote condemning the sectarianism of the Old Firm.

He comes over as a deep thinker and as a fascinating character. Most of all there is the impression of someone who will be capable of expanding on the quotes that have caused the furore. When he gets the chance to do that (and he should), I will revisit this piece and give a verdict - as everyone should.

There will be other subjects to talk about, though. The topics I'd like to hear Di Canio on are how he intends to tackle Sunderland's endemic culture of malaise - about how he will correct the club's awful recruitment record when his agent was appointed head of recruitment at Swindon. And most importantly, how he intends to get Sunderland out of the mess Martin O'Neill left them in.

After all the conjecture, most of all I'm just looking forward to hearing him speak.

Requiem for a dream: how the Martin O'Neill revolution went horribly wrong at the Stadium of Light

2013-03-30T23:26:02Z

AN old friend from the Midlands told me about the day Martin O'Neill invited all of the Second City press pack to an end of season dinner.

It was in 2009 - just after he had been roundly criticised for deciding to prioritise the chase for the top four by sending a weakened team to Moscow in the latter stages of the UEFA Cup. Relations had grown icy with supporters and his local media.

Yet he was charm personified right up until he stood up from the table and thanked everyone for their attendance. Then came the pay-off: "And don't ever, ever doubt me again."

We waited and waited to see that sort of snarling determination but it never got to that round here. In truth, O'Neill worried, fretted and squirmed his way through an anxious 15 months at the Stadium of Light. It is a great frustration for me - and probably for the Sunderland fans - that the whole darn thing has felt so flat for so long.

Perhaps that is being kind of a man who leaves behind little legacy at the Stadium of Light. After the first four months, it has been pretty awful.

There were moments: a stirring win at Wigan, his first game against Blackburn. The fact that the supporters had a man they truly believed in for a while. He discovered James McClean too, and took the club into the latter stages of the FA Cup.

But so much of it was unsatisfactory considering the pedigree of the manager who replaced Steve Bruce. Tactics, PR, lamentable recruitment (he never did pluck up the courage to pick Kader Mangane, who has been so poor in training that eyebrows have been raised), press conference performances... None of them were right. Something was rotten in the court of O'Neill and it was clear change was required.

No-one for a minute suspected that change would be the manager - and certainly not before April. Yet this decision reveals plenty about Ellis Short, who has wielded the axe for the second time in 13 months as chairman, owner and omnipotent red and white leader.

He keeps his counsel, does Mr Short, but he is clearly not someone to be messed with. Over a year since Niall Quinn's exit, the club's hierarchy has changed beyond all recognition - with O'Neill following the long-serving Lesley Callaghan and Steve Walton out of the door.

Given his low opinion of the recruitment - a huge bugbear on O'Neill's part - I suspect that Pop Robson's position might be under similar scrutiny. He is not a man who has much time for failure.

But this decision seems extraordinarily daring. Sunderland have seven games left and today's defeat - while gnawing and frustrating - was to be expected, along with the resilience of their relegation rivals. We knew it would get worse before it got better.

A new man must inject instant impetus into the club, and must work with the same pool of underperforming players that O'Neill did. There are not many candidates out there who will take the supporters with them instantly and Steve McClaren - the bookies favourite - would encounter some hostility from Sunderland supporters. It is a difficult job and to assume that a change means improvement is ignoring Newcastle's experience with Alan Shearer in 2008 - and that of Hull with Iain Dowie and any number of others.

I suspect it will be an interim appointment for a Red Adair-style figure. That leaves me feeling uneasy. Where is the planning, where is the thought for the long-term? We always assumed these were important to Short, the man who plunged money into the Academy and spoke so warmly of O'Neill in the close season. Perhaps not as important as the £60million TV money that Sunderland stand to lose out on.

Whatever happens, there will have to be an almighty inquest on Wearside this summer. However uncertain Sunderland fans might have felt about the future at 3pm, you can bet it feels a heck of lot more fragile now.

Even if Sunderland win their relegation fight, questions must be asked

2013-03-15T16:59:07Z

IT goes without saying that Sunday's game is of huge significance to a Sunderland side in danger of being sucked into a bitter relegation fight.

The most important of Martin O'Neill's time at the club? Probably. As critical as any game since 2009's last day decider? Quite possibly. With the proceeds of a bumper TV deal set to filter into Premier League bank accounts over the summer, it has never been more important to preserve top flight status than it is this season. It has the ability to change the destiny of every elite club, and so much of Sunderland's future planning has been done with that massive pay day in mind.

Black Cats know this. They will report for duty on Sunday, shelve the aching disappointment of a desperate campaign and seek to shake the inertia out of their squad in time to secure a critical three points against poor travellers Norwich.

But if we are to be brutally honest, it must not end there. Even if the Canaries have their wings clipped and Sunderland go on to secure their Premier League status with something to spare there has to be a reckoning at the end of this season. Wherever the Wearsiders finish bruising questions need to be raised and, quite possibly, the culture of the club needs to dissected.

It is not that Sunderland fans do not have anything to cheer them. Compared to the craziness unfolding at crisis clubs like Blackburn, Chelsea, Rangers or Portsmouth they are a model Premier League pupil with an ever-patient owner seemingly sent from the Gods. Texan Ellis Short manages to pull off the glory double of throwing money at the club while nurturing its soul: supporting the club's superlative Academy and their fantastic Foundation, which continues to go from strength-to-strength. Add to that the fact they have one of the top five managers in Premier League history in the studious Martin O'Neill, who has a CV brimming with achievement and excellence. As a Sunderland supporter with a keen sense of history, he also 'gets it'.

None of this should blur the fact that Sunderland's season has been miserable, however. None of this should encourage us to ignore the slow and agonising slog that this campaign has become - or to question why the Black Cats are involved in another relegation battle when the summer promised better.

O'Neill talks of patience and of things not happening overnight but we know that ambition burns beneath that furrowed brow. He is not a man who settles for second best otherwise he would have taken any number of jobs that became available to him during his managerial hiatus, yet something is not right at the Stadium of Light. We have spent the season wondering precisely what that is.

Has O'Neill been affected by that phrase that Roy Keane once spat out in disdain, that idea of this mediocrity being "Typical Sunderland"? Is it a mind-set among the players that excuses them when they bob along in about 12th place, winning one, drawing one and losing a couple?

Steve Bruce used to trot out that stat about leading Sunderland to only their third top ten finish in 59 years but it was nothing to be proud of. Turn that fact on its head and wonder why a club with such a proud tradition and such fantastic backing (on and off the pitch of late) has not achieved more? In recent years their Cup record has been particularly galling. In the nine years since their last FA Cup semi-final Bradford, Wigan, Cardiff, Birmingham and Millwall have managed to make a run into a major final - is it asking too much for Sunderland to construct a similar Cup run? It feels like underachievement for a club of their size.

Should the current manager shoulder some of the blame? I declare now that I am an O'Neill believer who is certain that he is the right man for the job but I will acknowledge to being baffled by one or two recent calls. Why Connor Wickham was allowed to leave, for example - or why the apparently unfit Kader Mangane was signed when Sunderland needed players who can make an immediate improvement. Was there no money there or - as has been suggested by the club - did O'Neill decide against investing despite having money available? Whatever happened, Sunderland seem to have ended January with a weaker squad than they had before the crucial transfer window.

There have been changes of system and personnel but none appear to address the real issue of getting their best player more involved. When Stephane Sessegnon clicks, so do Sunderland so why not look to him rather than the disappointing Adam Johnson or James McClean for their creative catalyst?

No wonder Black Cats supporters feel so uninspired at the moment. Even if they can raise themselves for the serious business of winning the huge games ahead, another summer of change beckons. Sunderland need five or six senior additions - two full-backs at least and please can we have a creative midfielder - but it has been this way since Keane departed and they've always ended up disappointed. Can supporters really get excited about another summer where much-needed recruitment promises to be a tortuous waiting game?

If Sunderland supporters are ready for a relegation battle, it must be said that there appears to be little appetite for what's ahead. They need something to cling on to - be it a run of results, one or two new signings or even a different voice like Ellis Short to reassure them.

At the moment there are only difficult questions that need to be tackled head-on. The sense of drift is impossible to escape at the moment. Something needs to change: let's just hope it isn't their much-cherished Premier League status.

WSBK: Laverty wins to take joint lead in championship

2013-02-24T05:27:45Z

EUGENE Laverty got his own back in Race Two at Phillip Island when he stole the win from team-mate Sylvain Guintoli.

After finishing second behind Guintoli in the opening FIM World Superbike Championship race, Laverty turned the tables as he led his team-mate over the line.

Third man home was GoldBet BMW's Marco Melandri, with the Red Devils Roma Aprilia of Michel Fabrizio fourth.

After today's earlier race, the Australian track's second of the day proved to be much less eventful.

With Checa missing from the grid after his crash in Race One, Laverty inherited pole ahead of Fabrizio and Kawasaki's Tom Sykes.

At the green light it was Sykes who made the best start, taking the lead ahead of Melandri and Laverty. Behind, Guintoli was storming through and was up to P2 by the end of the lap.

As the pack crossed the line to start Lap Two, Laverty took the lead as Guintoli settled in to second behind him, and Melandri soon settled into third.

From here the top three remained the same all the way to the flag, with just a couple of switches between them.

Guintoli seared past Laverty on the fourth lap but was unable to pull out a gap as the other two stuck with him.

The three stayed as they were until Lap 16 when Melandri finally made a move on Laverty to take second.

But Laverty was far from finished, and on Lap 20 he took the spot back and quickly closed up on Guintoli, passing him a lap later and leading into the final lap.

Guintoli looked close as the pair rounded the track for the last time, but never got near enough and Laverty was able to take the win without a final challenge.

As a result of today's races, Laverty and Guintoli are tied at the top of the championship on 45 points each.

FIM World Superbike Championship Phillip Island Race Two result:

1. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 33'45.938
2. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 33'46.356
3. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 33'47.320
4. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 33'48.220
5. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 33'57.483
6. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 33'58.446
7. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 34'03.268
8. Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 34'03.277
9. Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 34'05.824
10. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 34'05.934
11. Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing) Ducati Panigale 1199 34'13.567
12. Glen Allerton (Next Gen Motorsports) BMW S1000 RR 34'28.747
13. Jamie Stauffer (Team Honda Racing) Honda CBR1000RR 34'28.831
14. Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34'30.837
15. Alexander Lundh (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34'43.762
16. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 35'08.512
17. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 34'08.663
RT. Ivan Clementi (HTM Racing) BMW S1000 RR 17'14.862
RT. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R

Guintoli wins while Checa crashes out

2013-02-24T02:30:04Z

SYLVAIN Guintoli announced his arrival in the Aprilia Racing Team by winning the first race of the 2013 World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island.

The UK-based Frenchman led an Aprilia 1-2-3 over the line in today's opening race from the Australian track, with team-mate Eugene Laverty beating the Red Devils Roma Aprilia of Michel Fabrizio in a photo-finish for second.

But the race was marred by a heavy crash involving polesitter Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri on Lap 13. The Spaniard is believed to have been knocked unconscious and latest reports say he has been taken to Melbourne Hospital for further checks.

At the green light it was Laverty who got the best start, leading the pack into the opening corner as Checa dropped backwards and found himself jostling for position with Melandri's GoldBet BMW and the PATA Honda of Leon Haslam.

Laverty set about edging himself a bit of a gap over the first few laps while behind most of the pack were swapping spots.

He led the Tom Sykes until Lap Six when the battling Checa, Haslam and Guintoli all caught and passed the Kawasaki with another battle between BMW team-mates Melandri and Chaz Davies and Loris Baz heating up close behind.

Checa had settled himself into second place, but by the ninth lap he was under pressure from a flying Guintoli, who made the move a lap later.

Behind, Melandri was on a charge, moving passed Haslam into fourth on Lap 12, and passing Checa at the start of Lap 13.

But moments later Checa's Alstare Ducati clipped the rear of Melandri's BMW as the pair headed into Honda Corner, sending them both crashing out.

Up at the front, Guintoli was right on the back of Laverty, making the inevitable move a lap later. The departure of Checa and Melandri had played particularly well into the hands of Fabrizio, who had been flying up the order and soon found himself in third.

As Guintoli cleared-off into the distance, the final battle was to be between Laverty and Fabrizio. The pair traded places for a couple of laps, leading to a last lap scrap.

It was Fabrizio who had the place as they started their final lap, but Laverty was close behind. Laverty made a move and took the spot back, leaving Fabrizio with nothing left but to try a pass over the line, resulting in a near photo-finish which was won by Laverty.

A delighted Guintoli took the win, and said it was the perfect way to start a season with a new team. "I feel great, this is my first in full dry conditions which for me is very important," he said.

"This bike is so fast around here, it's incredible. I really enjoyed it. I had a terrible start but then picked it up and it was really good. I'm going to do it again in the second race."

FIM World Superbike Championship Phillip Island Race One result:

1. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 33'47.109
2. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 33'48.461
3. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 33'48.468
4. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 33'52.811
5. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 33'52.862
6. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 33'53.878
7. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 33'53.939
8. Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 34'05.053
9. Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 34'06.261
10. Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing) Ducati Panigale 1199 34'13.666
11. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 34'17.414
12. Ivan Clementi (HTM Racing) BMW S1000 RR 34'17.520
13. Alexander Lundh (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 34'32.294
14. Glen Allerton (Next Gen Motorsports) BMW S1000 RR 34'35.741
15. Jamie Stauffer (Team Honda Racing) Honda CBR1000RR 34'40.562
16. Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 35'09.839
17. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 35'20.483
RT. Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati Panigale 1199 18'28.459
RT. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 18'28.468
RT. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 3'10.979

Carlos keeps the rest in check with Superpole in Australia

2013-02-23T13:01:31Z

CARLOS Checa was back at the top this morning after winning the first Tissot-Superpole of the 2013 season at Phillip Island.

As the FIM World Superbike Championship fired up for the new season, it was the Spaniard who emerged man to beat as he took the new Ducati Team Alstare Panigale to the top of the timesheets with a hot lap of 1.30:234.

Eugene Laverty was second fastest as he kicked off his second season with Aprilia factory squad, while third on the grid for Sunday's races is Michel Fabrizio on the Red Devils Roma Aprilia.

The opening Superpole of the season brought with it a host of changes to the format. Under the new regulations 15 machines now take part in Superpole One, with three dropping out at the end of the session and 12 going into SP2.

From SP2 the top nine now go through to fight it out for the top spot, and as of this season the races will follow their MotoGP counterparts with grids of three bikes on each row instead of the traditional four.

With the final nine all desperate to land one of the three coveted front row spots, it was to be a last minute dash as Checa headed out with just a few minutes to run on a new Superpole tyre.

Putting a massive Friday crash behind him, Checa's fast lap took him straight to pole, and it was time to play the waiting game to see if anyone else could better it as the flag fell.

With most of the big names still on track, each one crossed the line well under Checa's time, and it was only last man home Laverty who got within shouting distance as he clocked the second fastest lap, just 0.195 seconds adrift of the Spaniard's time.

"Winning Superpole was a great surprise for me and is down to all the hard work put in by
my mechanics, the physiotherapists and the rest of the Clinica Mobile medical staff," he said.

"This morning, I felt pain in both my shoulder and foot and I really didn't think I'd be competitive in qualifying and Superpole. The mechanics did a great job and made the bike easier for me to ride and by the time Superpole started this afternoon, I felt pretty good really - better than I thought I would!

"Today was good, but we'll have to see how the bike is in race conditions and also how the tyres perform after a lot of laps. Hopefully we'll be competitive tomorrow and can be in the mix at the end of the race."

Meanwhile in World Supersport qualifying, it was Brit Sam Lowes who powered himself to the top spot.

The Lincolnshire rider clocked a 1.32: 545 on his Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha to take the top spot.

He will be joined on the front row by the Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki duo of Kenan Sofuoglu and Fabien Foret.

Silverstone MotoGP pit move best news for a long time

2013-02-16T11:52:48Z

THE news this week that MotoGP at Silverstone is to revert to the old pits has raised a few eyebrows.

Not two years on since the Wing opened its doors, motorcycle racing's premier series will abandon it this year and instead head back to the National paddock for the British Grand Prix in August.

According to Silverstone, the reason for the move is that customer feedback has revealed two-wheel fans prefer to get closer to the action while also being able to experience the entertainment, retail stands and manufacturer displays.

And Dorna Sports, commercial rights holder for MotoGP is supportive of the move

The fans appear to be split - let's face it, the dyed-in-the-wool two-wheel lovers have never really liked Silverstone anyway, they've always deemed it 'a boring car racing track' so this news probably hasn't gone down too well.

However for me personally, I couldn't be happier.

Now, don't get me wrong, the Wing is pretty impressive. I remember watching it being built and thinking this was going to be something pretty special, and yes, when it opened it was.

In 2011, MotoGP was one of the first events to run from the new complex, and this was my first taste of it.

And I hated it.

Let me explain. The Wing is fantastic. It looks amazing and the pit complex is by far and away much better than anything we've seen so far here in the UK.

The media centre is huge (if not a bit clinical) there's a fantastic cafe with incredible food and it is like being at any of the newer, larger international circuits.

But, and it's a big but for me, getting to it is a complete and utter nightmare. Due to its location, there's no room near it for anything more than the main paddock.

This means there are no car parks so the only way in and out is by bus.

Many of you are thinking 'so?' at this point, but for a small girl (5ft and three quarters of an inch) carrying laptops, cameras and other equipment this is a nightmare, particularly given that as national media at MotoGP, I have to park outside the circuit opposite the old pit complex and walk in.

This is much harder and longer than it was when the old bridge was there. Now you have to hoof it up to the Copse tunnel to get into the infield, and once there, you have to wait for a bus (you've got to find the bus stop first)

My first visit was almost my last after I waited by the designated bus stop only to watch four buses come nowhere near, and was forced to trek even further to find a place to board. Had I not just done a four hour drive I'd have turned around and gone home.

The result is, by the time I get to the wing I'm knackered. I arrive tired and grumpy and then have two more flights of stairs to reach the media centre and by then, I find myself wondering why I do this job!

In fact, it's the only time I don't like motor racing.

Twice a year I do return to the old National pits for British Superbikes and BTCC and yes, it is tired and in need of a few coats of paint here and there but there's something warm and welcoming about it.

And best of all, I'm not ready for a sleep when I get there.

I'm also pretty excited that Copse corner will once again be the first corner of the race.

Perhaps I'm in the minority - but for me fancy media centres and gorgeous grub are all well and good, but the ability to turn up to work and do my job without extra hassles of buses and long, long walks is far more important.

Let's hope the fans think the same when they get there in August.

The news no-one wanted to read. Gazza is in a familiar place again: staring into the abyss

2013-02-04T12:34:05Z

EVERY week, football is full of catastrophe, disaster and tragedy.

It is the nature of the sport that events that unfold over 90 minutes on a patch of grass are framed in those kind of terms. Some times, though, things happen in the football world that jar all of us connected with the game out of the trance and bring us back to reality.

The greatest anxiety that the North East football scene has is that the next time that will happen for us is the death of Paul Gascoigne.

The latest pictures of Gascoigne from a charity talk-in were harrowing: the portrait of a man in a desperate state. His anecdotes were all present and correct but the banshee laughter coming from the audience is that of pity. He looks in trouble and the admission of his agent Terry Baker that he is in need of help and his life is in danger is worrying.

It is surprising, too, for the last time Gascoigne was in the public eye he seemed to be getting better. His message was hope - a hope underlined by the usual brand of Gazza chaos, in all fairness - and it felt like he was approaching the foot hills of salvation at last.

It would be a lie to say that interviewing Paul Gascoigne for the Journal last year was an entirely edifying experience.

The idea was put to me and a colleague from another regional title to promote a forthcoming charity talk-in appearance that the promoter was desperate to shift tickets for. Although sales for Gazza's events in the rest of the country were brisk, the North East seemed less ready to flock to see one of their most famous sons.

The theory was that many didn't want to book tickets because they thought he wouldn't turn up, so it was arranged that Gascoigne would ring and chat - frankly - about his alcoholism, football and any other issue to prove that he could be trusted.

Only Gascoigne didn't ring either of us for weeks. I didn't push it in case something had happened but eventually a call to one of the promoters saw a message relayed to Gascoigne and the phone rang.

"It's Gazza," he said. There followed 40 minutes of a pretty chaotic interview which saw the phone passed around the car he was driving in once, a pretty liberal sprinkling of swear-words, a smattering of unprintable stuff and a whole heap of anecdotes.

But underneath it all, Gascoigne remained absolutely riveting. He does not possess much eloquence but his story was affecting - as was his brutal and at times withering critique of those ready to write him off.

"I'm nearly 45 years of age. For 42 of those years I've had a brilliant life. I am better than I've ever been," he said. But then came the kicker.

"Can I promise I won't drink again? I can't make that promise because none of us know what's going to happen in the future."

This weekend saw football's wider family once again question whether there is more we can do for him. The problem is that many don't seem to realise is that, by his own admission, he is a man with serious and complex mental health issues that lie behind the alcoholism.

They cannot be easily salved, and it appears to be a problem with Gascoigne's strategies when he is at a low that are bringing him so many set-backs. Unless football assigns him someone to look over him 24/7, it is impossible for him to be saved without the man himself finding inner peace.

In the meantime, his thousands of well-wishers in the North East can only hope. The Gascoigne I spoke to was full of life, dreams and blustering defiance - and as he candidly admitted he'd drawn himself back from the edge of the abyss.

That is the only message of hope you can deliver when you see someone in that state: that if he has done it once, he can summon the energy and courage to do so again.

Don't say we didn't warn you... How QPR's window madness raised eyebrows in the North East

2013-02-02T10:42:53Z

THERE were 10,276 people at Fratton Park on Tuesday to see the latest act in the tragic comedy unfolding on the South Coast.

Desperation has long given way to defiance at Portsmouth FC, the club that won the FA Cup in 2008. Their team, made up of a rag tag bunch of desperado free transfers and greenhorn kids, lost 2-0 to Notts County and seem destined to start next season alongside Hartlepool United in the bottom tier.

If you consider this shell of a football club to be anything like the Pompey that have been around for more than a century, that is. To the few faithful fans still dutifully turning up in spite of everything, it probably doesn't feel much like that at all.

48 hours later Harry Redknapp leant out of a car window, blinking into the sun, to announce that Christopher Samba had signed for QPR in a deal that will see him bank an estimated £100,000-a-week. Samba, whose release clause was £12.5million, is 28 years old.

Samba joins Loic Remy, lured by a contract offer that Newcastle insiders feared would distort the entire transfer market for years to come, on a wage bill that apparently accounts for some 175 per cent of the club's weekly turnover.

Whichever way you spin them, the numbers simply don't stack up. Loftus Road is the poorest stadium in the Premier League, with an capacity of less than most in the Championship. It would take an extended run in the Champions League to redress the wage/turnover balance and even that might not be enough with their limited potential for expansion.

The Portsmouth parallels are alarming, right down to the presence of Redknapp running the ship. When it was put to the then Tottenham boss in 2010 that he might have had a role to play in Pompey's demise, he said he was just an employee. It was, he asserted, nothing to do with him that Portsmouth were haemeorraghing money having signed players that he had recommended on long, lucrative contracts.

"I had no control over the financial well being there and how it was run. I was an employee and it was my job to manage the team and make it a success," he said.
Even allowing for this abdication of responsibility - and to be fair to Redknapp, he was incredibly successful with the players expensively hired - it seems strange that at a club of similar size, he is allowing it all to happen again.

What seems even more bizarre is that the wider football community is completely complicit in it. On Sky Sports News, where the transfer window lives these days, they wheeled out Iain Dowie and Alan Smith to praise Redknapp for pulling off a coup by signing Samba.

"They needed players," Smith said. Perhaps they did, but why is no-one inside the game questioning the financial logic that underpins the desperate recruitment of the last couple of years at Loftus Road?

The sport's authorities have swept Portsmouth under the carpet. Their demise was met by some mealy mouthed talk of financial sustainability but everyone can see the mess that is about to engulf QPR if they do go down. Hell, even that might be enough. Pompey won the FA Cup and played in Europe but it wasn't enough to save them.

Rangers' business plan - if there is one - makes no sense. In these pages on Tuesday, Newcastle Eagles owner Paul Blake talked of limiting wages to turnover ratio to around 50 per cent, saying it was the only way a club could remain viable going forward. Why is Blake's model considered so unfashionable for Premier League clubs?

The January transfer window doesn't help. The sport spends the month allowing shady agents, desperate clubs and self-interested players to lead the agenda: contorting the truth and flagrantly bending the rules in a mad dash to try and alter the course of a season of mismanagement.

Redknapp likened it to the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars in a move of breathtaking hypocrisy. His insistence on going 'on-the-record' with his interest in players is a clear breach of Premier League rules yet it constantly goes unpunished.

To be fair, he's hardly alone in bending the regulations. Most agents are decent professionals trying to make a living but some operate as close to the edge of the rules as they can, and it is unedifying - especially when supporters are smarting at paying up to £62 for away games.

In the North East, disquiet will be muted by the way both clubs have come away from the window in credit. They recruited sensibly and to a budget, so more power to their elbow.
Just because Newcastle and Sunderland have cracked it, it shouldn't dilute opposition to this lunacy. It is time this unproductive window - and everything it stands for - is smashed.

Why arming the police is a bad idea

2012-09-20T09:48:08Z

One of the most enduring news images on television recently was at the G2 protests.

Innocent passer-by Ian Tomlinson died after he was hit by PC Simon Harwood.

Harwood was sacked for gross misconduct after he was found to have used unreasonable force.

What would have happened if Harwood had been armed?

There have been calls for police to be given guns as a matter of routine following the deaths of women PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone.

The Americans do it, the argument goes, so why can't we?

I tell you why: Guns, in the hands of the wrong people, cause many more problems than they solve.

Harwood should never have been allowed a truncheon. Much less a gun.

There are other potential Harwoods out there, in uniform, patrolling the streets, right now.

To arm police more often would be the first step to another Ian Tomlinson.

Murderball; And the result is...

2012-09-10T10:35:27Z

THERE was much to admire in the Paralympics but much to be annoyed in the TV coverage.

On top of the ad breaks, on top of the studio presenters starring at each other for prompts. we had...

Channel 4 cutting away from the last few minutes of a Murderball match between USA and Canada.

It was touch and go, it was neck and neck, it was high and dry as coverage switched to the swimming.

There was no apology, no contrition for spoiling an exciting match in the dying minutes, just an announcement that coverage was over.

You could go to one of those web channels to finish watching the game but it would be too late by the time you found it.

Channel Four have, by and large, done well with providing coverage but this was one decision that was wrong.

Paralympics 2012

2012-09-03T13:46:06Z

Coverage of the Paralympics has been, at best, patchy.

Channel 4 got off to a bad start when advert breaks made the opening ceremony into a hotch potch of paid-for advertising and plugs for sponsors.

And it didn't get much better as the days went on.

More commercial breaks interrupted the action at the best moments including the self-indulgent strop by cyclist Jody Cundy.

Watching it after the event just wasn't the same.

Talking of Cundy, was that any way to behave? I know we train our sportsmen and women to have a high opinion of themselves but his rant was a poor example of sportsmanship.

And don't get me started on his battleaxe of a mum.

Oscar Pistorius is another one who needs to grow up.

His complaint, as far as I can tell, seemed to be that the bloke who beat him had better technology that he did.

Some of the commentators didn't seem to be as excited as their counterparts at the Olympics.

And as for the studio team - Jonathan Edwards brought a sporting knowledge to the table but what was the point of his co-star?

Daraine Mulvihill, I think she's called, and she was the one who asked searching questions like: "How can you swim with no arms?"

The pair seemed to spend an awful lot of time looking at each other while thinking of something to say.

It would have been a good time for a commercial break.

Signs of unease as Mike fails to splash the cash

2012-08-31T15:51:01Z

YOU have to admire Joey Barton's brass neck.

As his private jet touched down on sizzling tarmac in the South of France, an earnest Barton was delivering one of the all-time great footballer quotes to the Sky Sports News reporting team that had accompanied him to Marseille.

"This is the ugly side of football that most people don't see," he said with an entirely straight face.

These days we can afford to observe the slack-jawed Barton sideshow with a wry smile, of course. He is long gone from these city walls so his relevance is miniscule, but it should serve as a warning to those griping about Newcastle United's lack of ambition in the transfer market.

Barton was the cause celebre for some supporters last summer, but Newcastle's decision to release him has been vindicated in spectacular fashion. He is someone else's problem now and the determination of Derek Llambias and Mike Ashley to see him off was one of the triumphs of last summer.

It was also unpopular, which brings us to the imminent closing of the transfer window - and United's very modest spending.

We're used to things happening in transfer windows but the revolving door at St James' Park has been dormant. Renowned gambler Ashley has uncharacteristically decided to stick rather than twist and it leaves me feeling uneasy.

This was never going to be a close season that required a revolution because Newcastle have a first XI that is the equal of anyone outside the Premier League's regular Champions League qualifiers. They no longer require the culture changes that were ushered in last summer by the brutal culling of senior players but it is asking a lot of Alan Pardew to repeat the feat with only one new addition who is considered ready for immediate first team action.

It is made doubly difficult by the fact that the rest of the Premier League is showing few signs of standing still. Newcastle finished a place above Chelsea last season but the Blues have spent an eight-figure sum to bring in a crop of glittering internationals that includes the season's early breakout star Eden Hazard.

Now no-one was expecting Mike Ashley to suddenly match the benevolence of Roman Abramovich but a modest outlay might have allowed supporters reason to believe Pardew's assertion that his imagination had been fired by Newcastle's achievements last season.

That might have been the case but in reality, Newcastle have spent the summer haggling over the price of a right-back that they had been watching for two years. It hardly seems like time well spent by the club, especially when finding that extra million or so might also have kept Yohan Cabaye happy.

It was a story repeated elsewhere. Newcastle's meticulous extensive scouting efforts had identified four or five targets who fitted the mould but for one reason or another, they failed to land them - with the honourable exception of Ajax's Vurnon Anita.

On the other side of the balance sheet, they managed to sell Leon Best for a remarkable amount and saw Danny Guthrie and Peter Lovenkrands depart. The need for senior recruits, especially up front, seemed acute but the recruitment process became tortuous as clubs reacted with dismay to offers for their stars that they thought were significantly below their values.

Now we can't have it both ways here. Having praised the club to the hilt in May for their work in the transfer market, it does not mean the blueprint should suddenly be ripped up and tossed in the bin. United have shown themselves to be canny operators before and may yet be vindicated in their approach to Luuk de Jong, Debuchy, FC Twente defender Douglas and Andy Carroll.

But just because there has been success in the past does not mean the club is immune to critiques of their work this summer.

Keen students of the Magpies will remember that last season's fine start was running out of steam as January approached. The club had hit turbulence but the ambitious signing of Papiss Cisse kick-started a run of form that helped them into that remarkable fifth-placed finish.

It was sensible, sober investment on a player that had been extensively scouted by Newcastle. His impact was spectacular but that was no fluke: United had done their homework and got themselves a terrific striker.

Similarly, investment on Debuchy or de Jong would surely not have been wasted either. The club had enough faith in Graham Carr to hand him an eight-year contract this summer but that was not matched by the courage to spend big on some of his recommendations.

Luckily, Newcastle have a manager and coaching staff who are now used to pulling rabbits out of the hat - and fans should take plenty of encouragement from having Pardew in the dug out. You don't get manager-of-the-year for nothing and he is sharp, smart and more-than-capable of extracting the best from a very talented squad.

Even he will recognise that replicating last season's heroics will be that bit harder if Newcastle United - as expected - sit on their hands today.

Mike Ashley, Andy Carroll and finding alchemy in the unpredictable

2012-07-20T20:59:31Z

WHEN Mike Ashley renamed St James' Park after the sportswear company that had turned him into one of Britain's richest men, the menacing warnings that emanated from a wounded Tyneside were stark.

Over a century of history had been tampered with in favour of the crudest form of commercialism but bubbling beneath the backlash, a curious thing happened. Sportsdirect.com recorded more traffic than at any point in the history of its online retail operation.

Ashley has long since learned to embrace the chaos of making difficult decisions, and history tends to bear him out in the long-run. Not necessarily in the short-term - his early struggles at St James' Park were replicated at Sports Direct - but eventually, Ashley has the happy knack of emerging on top.

Quite how that initial anarchy turns into alchemy is the key here. There is something that Ashley does in the meantime that clearly works - and pays off time and time again.

I know what your next question is, but if we could explain exactly what it is that Ashley does then it wouldn't be special. We'd all be doing it, and an unremarkable Ashley would blend into the background without his collection of helicopters and country mansions.

In trying to pin down the motivation for Newcastle's perplexing bid to bring Andy Carroll back, I think I might have accidentally stumbled upon a sniff of the Ashley secret. Talking to someone in the inner circle at St James' Park, we kept returning to one word: unpredictable.

Quite simply, even his closest allies can't really tell you what Ashley is going to do next. They can assume - and Newcastle's business model now runs to a pretty simple blueprint - but every now and then he'll throw you a curve-ball that you didn't see coming.

The pursuit of Carroll certainly qualifies. It is not that the England striker is not a good player - as anyone who saw him first time around will testify, he can be absolutely devastating - but it seems to make little success for Newcastle right now.

For a start, it has veered so far off the path of United's current transfer blueprint that it seems barely credible. Having made such progress by identifying targets whose valuations don't match their ability, it seems strange that he would sanction such a huge transfer - and in a position that United are well served in too.

Scoring goals was not the problem last season. In the first half of a gloriously uplifting campaign they had Demba Ba blazing a trail through top flight defences and when his goals dried up, the mantle was successfully grasped by Papiss Cisse and Hatem Ben Arfa.

From September onwards, you knew that Newcastle had goals in them. By the time they had blossomed into genuine top four contenders after a mid-winter wobble, they were arguably the Premier League's most devastating attacking unit.

If there was a problem, it was in defence. United were hardly porous - they still kept more clean sheets than any team barring Manchester City in those final weeks of the season - but there were times when they looked vulnerable. On the final day of the season there was an unedifying collapse at Everton which seemed to confirm that reinforcements were required.

Confronted with those facts, what does Ashley do? Sanctions a £13million logic-defying bid for a player that he sold for £35million just 16 months previously.

To this correspondent, the acquisition of Carroll makes little sense. It is an exciting development that I would love to see come to pass - if only because there is something intoxicating about a good redemption tale. But while United require a centre-back to bolster their starting XI, I would argue that this is where the priority should lie.

United are a different team from the one that Carroll left, much less one-dimensional and a great deal more nuanced in their approach play. They have players capable of supplying the bullets for Carroll but does anyone on the Gallowgate really want to see Newcastle return to the functional style of Chris Hughton's days?

I'm not convinced it is worth the gamble, but then I belong to a sizeable proportion of the population who you would classify as risk-averse. While Ashley zooms about in his helicopter, I shudder at the thought of stepping into a big, safe and comfortable commercial airliner.

I also would have paid the extra couple of million to sign Gervinho last summer, I wouldn't have cashed in on Carroll at such a crucial stage of the season and I most definitely would have signed a defender in January for insurance.

Ashley did none of the things above and yet Newcastle prospered, so he has earned our trust as he contemplates the next move in the Carroll chase.

Having identified the lucrative middle ground between recklessness and risk, he is entitled to have another go on the transfer roulette wheel. And I rather suspect he enjoys making our heads spin while he's doing it.