FOOTBALL: Ticket To Slide

It is a real shame when a football match is overshadowed by external factors.

Take, for instance, the Liverpool - Sunderland match at the weekend when, in the 77^th minute with Liverpool 2-0 up, a large group of Liverpool supporters staged a mass walkout in protest at ticket prices that had recently been raised to a maximum of £77 for next season. A noble gesture, and well supported too with plenty of red seats on display on Match of the Day on Saturday night.

The end result? The atmosphere dropped and Sunderland scored two late goals to snatch a 2-2 draw.

Jordan Henderson said after the game that the Liverpool players could not use the walkout for letting the game slip from their grasp, but could you blame them for being distracted? Despite being pre-warned I don’t think anyone could have expected such a large percentage of the home support to partake in the exodus – their loyal fans abandoning them simply to make a statement.

With the new broadcasting deals they do have a reason to be upset. With plenty of money coming into Liverpool they should be rewarding loyal fans with a decrease in ticket prices instead – a way of saying thank you for sticking by us and making us one of the best supported clubs in Europe.

That’s how the relationship between clubs and fans should go.

The protest may have worked, with chief executive Ian Ayre cancelling a planned Q&A session with fans last night in order to begin discussions over reducing ticket prices, but it is incredibly disappointing that this had to occur for Liverpool to realise that their ticketing strategy is plain and simply just wrong. And it’s not just them either, nearly every Premier League club is guilty of it.

As for the fans themselves, it is a noble cause as I already mentioned, but surely if they wanted to make a better statement they wouldn’t have attended the game in the first place? Wouldn’t a half-empty stadium from the start have sent out just as strong a message as all those fans traipsing out with 13 minutes to go did? At least then there would have been no distraction during the game.

 This whole situation, however, has the potential to spiral away out of control.

If Ayre and Liverpool cannot get their fans back onside then this will not be the first walkout at Anfield, and one suspects if these walkouts continue to force crisis talks then other sets of fans may get the same idea. At what point might Richard Scudamore and the Premier League themselves have to get involved to save face?

For all involved, this needs a rapid resolution before the issue turns itself into something a lot more than it should be. If clubs can’t bring down ticket prices then fans won’t attend and we’ll be stuck watching top players compete in front of half-empty stadia.

And I don’t expect Sky Sports or BT Sport to be paying a lot of money for that.

NFL: Signing off in style

It had to be Peyton Manning’s night, didn’t it?

Whether the veteran quarterback decides to stick around for another season or not (he would be 40 at the commencement of the 2017 season), it is fitting that Manning picked up another Superbowl ring to go with his 2006 success with the Indianapolis Colts. In a career where he has amassed 14 Pro Bowl appearances and five MVP awards, it would have been a sporting injustice to see Manning retire with only one ring on his finger.

That said, he has his defence to thank for the Broncos’ 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

Led by deserved MVP linebacker Von Miller, whose two forced fumbles on Cam Newton directly led to touchdowns from Malik Jackson and C.J. Anderson, the Denver defence shut down the Panthers potent offense time and time again, and hurried Newton into errors and hasty passes that we haven’t seen from the quarterback this season.

In fairness to Newton he was given very little assistance by his receivers, especially wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery who dropped two crucial passes that could have made a difference. It was a difficult night for Newton, and it will be one he won’t want to dwell on for too long. He is still young as a quarterback and with this experience under his belt he will be better for it, even if it doesn’t feel that way right now.

For a while it looked like the Broncos may become the first ever team to win the Superbowl without scoring an offensive touchdown. Until the fourth quarter, Jackson’s recovered fumble was the only touchdown Denver had been able to register, and it was down to their stern defence that their lead was still intact when Miller forced the second turnover from Newton.

From there it was down to C.J. Anderson to rush over from four yards to secure Denver’s third Superbowl triumph, and Manning’s second. Do not underestimate what an incredible achievement the Broncos pulled off here – not only did they condemn Carolina to just their second defeat of the entire season but they also limited a Panthers offense, which up until Sunday night had been averaging 30.6 points a game, to just 10 points.

It may not have been overly exciting, but it was efficient.

The Panthers will regroup, Newton’s short post-match press conference suggesting that perhaps it will be a little longer before the 26-year old recovers than the rest of his team-mates, but already early forecasts for next season suggest that the Panthers will be right in the mix once more. With Newton at the helm and Luke Kuechly and Greg Olsen in tow then they have every chance of being Superbowl visitors in Houston this time next season.

The Broncos may not have Manning at the helm next season, even if he does decide to prolong his remarkable NFL career for another year, but they have a defense that has been drilled to near perfection by Wade Phillips and if they can ally a lethal offense to it then they will once again be a tough team to overcome when the big games roll around.

But for now they will simply enjoy the moment.

CRICKET: 400 to win

When a team needs to reach 400 to win an ODI, they’ve got a huge task ahead of them.

In fairness to South Africa, especially Quinton de Kock, they gave it a good go and when the rain began in Bloemfontein they were sitting on 250-5 and it looked like perhaps they might come close, despite England’s impressive haul led by Jos Buttler’s effortless knock of 105 off 76 balls. Alas, the loss of key wickets at key times for the hosts put an end to their charge.

They lost by 39 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method, a cruel way to be defeated. Any professional cricketer will be gutted to lose by a mathematical formula, but it is the way cricket goes.

For England it is another win as their ODI form continues to improve. Even though they were faced with some rather lacklustre bowling from the South Africans (J.P. Duminy and Farhaan Behardien both had economies of 9.00+) it still took the English batsmen to tear apart their attack, and they did so with ferocity. Buttler’s 105 was followed swiftly by Ben Stokes’ 57 off 38 balls. Alex Hales and Joe Root both contributed half centuries. Jason Roy was two runs away from his half century too. Even Moeen Ali contributed a modest 19 runs at the tail end of the order.

In response South Africa rallied around the exemplary de Kock while others batted in bit parts around him. Faf du Plessis made 55 before falling to Moeen but beyond that nobody made any sort of impact on the game with Rilee Roussow’s 19 the next top scorer for the hosts before the rain came tumbling down.

It is further reinforcement for Trevor Bayliss and Eoin Morgan that their newfound philosophy is working. Having made 350+ in just two of their first 645 ODIs, England have now hit that target five times in their last 15 and can rest safely in the knowledge that they have a genuine slugger in Stokes and rapid run scorers in the likes of Buttler and Root.

The second ODI will be held in Port Elizabeth on Saturday and, unless the South African bowlers can find a rapid turnaround in their fortunes, you would expect England to pick up a second victory handily such is the form their batters are currently in.

The Proteas at least have de Kock’s form to fall back on, but they will be concerned at the lack of runs notched by captain Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers and, of course, their inability to bowl effectively to a dangerous England attack. Russell Domingo will inevitably make changes for the second ODI, with Kagiso Rabada’s bowling an option to bring into their attack, but there will need to be a change in mentality too.

England simply need to maintain the status quo – give Buttler, Stokes and Root the freedom to go big or go home and they will rack up some big totals that their hosts will struggle to match. They are on the verge of overtaking Sri Lanka in the world rankings and a couple more wins should do that so that should be the target.

You would back them to do it easily.

RUGBY LEAGUE: Shrewd moves equal success

England RFL have possibly pulled off a major coup.

As Steve McNamara was shown the door, Wayne Bennett passed him on his way in to take the reins at the head of English Rugby League, no doubt with a few daggers shot in one direction. McNamara may go out without saying too much against his former employers, but no doubt on the inside the waters shall not be so calm.

Like Manuel Pellegrini for Manchester City, McNamara’s reign as head coach of England has been successful but unspectacular. A win rate of 59% (16 wins from 27) doesn’t sound too bad, especially whenever they had just a 25% win rate (3 from 12) against Australia and New Zealand, meaning McNamara’s men had a 87% win rate (13 from 15) against all other opponents.

But a 25% win rate against Australia and New Zealand makes you realise that McNamara’s men were still a long way off the top two, and in the end McNamara leaves without a trophy to his name as an international coach. For all the positives you can roll off the tongue about McNamara’s tenure and how much England improved, sports tends to be a results business, and at crucial moments the former Bradford Bulls coach did not deliver.

He probably hasn’t been as poorly treated as Pellegrini at City, but McNamara will not be throwing out glowing reviews of the English RFL any time soon.

Within hours of McNamara’s departure, the announcement broke that his successor would be Wayne Bennett, Australia’s most successful rugby coach. A veteran of the game, Bennett, 66, led the Brisbane Broncos to seven Grand Final victories in 22 seasons with the club and will now arrive to coach England through the 2016 Four Nations and the 2017 World Cup.

Bennett is a clever and astute appointment by the RFL. If you want to be the best, you need the best people behind you and Bennett is most certainly that – his track record proves that and he will get the best out of his players. Then perhaps we will finally see England competing with Australia and New Zealand on a regular basis.

Spare some sympathy for Steve McNamara, he did the best he could and ultimately came up short. But international rugby is a cut-throat business and if the players aren’t producing then the only person who can be given the boot is the coach. The fact of the matter though, is that McNamara saw his side streets ahead of the teams below them but streets behind the two above them, and ultimately that does come down to him.

He can have no complaints.

As for England now, they will have high hopes that the arrival of Bennett will signal a new era for the RFL. Certainly if he can translate his Broncos form to the international stage then England will at the very least close the gap between themselves and the southern hemisphere giants. Perhaps the Four Nations is too much of a dream so early into his tenure, but the World Cup may be a realistic target for the ambitious Australian.

The world’s best are waiting, and Bennett has to deliver.

FOOTBALL: Deadline Day

When a managerial change dominates Deadline Day, you know it’s a slow day.

True, it may have been a rather high profile managerial change with football’s worst secret being confirmed – Pep Guardiola will replace Manuel Pellegrini as Manchester City manager for next season – but even so, Deadline Day should dominate all the footballing headlines, but the best it could muster was Stoke breaking their transfer record to bring in Giannella Imbula from Porto.

January is never an overly active transfer window admittedly, but that isn’t much of an excuse when you consider past windows have served up tasty moves such as Nemanja Matic to Chelsea from Benfica, Nemanja Vidic from Spartak Moscow to Manchester United and Luis Suarez from Ajax to Liverpool.

And when you look at the gulf in spending between the top four and the bottom four it accurately reflects where the battle is in the Premier League. Between them the top four teams signed just six players, while the bottom four brought in 29 altogether. An accurate reflection on where the bigger battle is in England’s top flight division.

Not many big players are available in January, but that is a rather pathetic showing from the big-spending sides at the top.

For Imbula’s signature to be the biggest of Deadline Day proves that the appeal of it has worn off to a degree. It has been hyped into this big day full of excitement and promise and on most occasions it turns out to be 24 hours of “maybe” and “possibly”, less “definitely” or “done”. Clubs make promises that they’re looking for players but the chances that they do are slim.

Meanwhile, Manchester City have once again flaunted their lack of loyalty by throwing aside Manuel Pellegrini without as much as a minute’s thought. Pellegrini was not flawless as a manager, far from it, but he wasn’t doing a completely sub-standard job at the Etihad Stadium either. And yet as soon as Guardiola came on the market City were sniffing around him and were not slow in offering him a deal to start next season.

All credit to Pellegrini who, by his own admission, knew for a month that he would be unemployed at the end of the season for keeping his composure. He could have spoken out against City for the horrendous way they have treated him and told the media what he really thought of the moguls at the head of the organisation that is Manchester City, but rather he kept his cool and simply continued on with his weekly press conference.

That’s professionalism.

Guardiola will improve City, there’s no doubt about that and you can see why they made the move, ethical or not. Chelsea and Manchester United meanwhile will be fuming over their inability to strike first, Chelsea especially given they need a manager for next season. Letting City steal one of the best managers in the world will only serve to hinder their ability to catch up to the Citizens next season, especially if Guardiola can use his influence to bring big name players to the blue side of Manchester.

Arguably, it’s City who won Deadline Day.