Sir Alex Ferguson expected to give an important announcement regarding his future as Manchester United boss

After a 26-and-a-half-year reign as the manager for Manchester United, there is now great speculation that Sir Alex Ferguson could retire from the club by the end of the week. The UK telegraph which first broke the story exclaimed, “Sources close to the players confirmed that the squad’s golf day had been overshadowed by suggestions that the Scot would be making an announcement”.

After taking the club to 13 Premier League titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups and 2 Champions League Titles and building an up a value estimate of $3.17 billion by Forbes, Ferguson’s positive impact on the club is definite. With such a prominence in the sport as a whole it is expected that much controversy will come from the alleged announcement until it does indeed occur or Manchester United releases an official statement saying otherwise.

It is of no surprise to some that an announcement of this type was soon to come given Ferguson’s age and recent health issues. At the age of 71 he certainly isn’t getting any younger and would be finding it more difficult to be as involved as he has been in the past. In 2004 he had to have a pacemaker inserted due to a heart irregularity and is set to have hip surgery after the club returns from its pre-season tour this year. It is noted by many that Ferguson has always said that his health would dictate how long he remained at the top of Man United and with another operation soon to come and a recent replenishment of the Premier League Crown over arch rivals Manchester City, the timing would make sense.

This expectation has also been verified by the actions of bookmakers in the UK, surrounding odds of football manager and executive movements. Particular to these changes is the slashing of odds regarding movements of Everton manager David Moyes to Manchester United. The chance of this has brought forward another possible action by Ferguson, in staying with the club and instead either having more assistance in his managing department or stepping down into a less important role. This standpoint has been taken by The Mirror newspaper in the UK.  

A triumphant Ferguson.

John Tomic has beaten up the training partner of his rising tennis star son?

Australia’s best young Tennis player, Bernard Tomic, is the headlines again but this time it isn’t his fault. His father, John Tomic, was allegedly jailed for attacking Thomas Drouet, Bernard’s regular practice partner.

Supposedly an argument started between John and Drouet after an incident at the swish Monte Carlo Country Club and continued from there, onto the Flight to Madrid and then at the hotel where the pair was staying. A clash outside the hotel, witnessed by leading players such as Janko Tipsarevic, apparently ended with Drouet knocked out and sustaining a broken nose, fractured vertebrae and stitches. 

John Tomic angry at a decision against his son.

John Tomic’s history wasn’t the greatest as it stood before this, with incidents of road rage against other players and coaches, pulling Tomic from games mid-match and a fiery clash with 2010 Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley. There is now a mass of speculation that John Tomic will be removed from tennis circles, particularly due to his violent behaviour. 

Tennis Australia describes the reports as “very concerning” with them “working closely with ATP officials who are investigating the incident”. After a loss in his first match in Madrid it is hoped by many that Bernard can put these issues behind him and focus on playing good tennis for himself. 

Waterhouse V. Singleton horse racing issue, so how the hell is Andrew Johns involved?

When a disagreement between the world renowned horse trainer Gai Waterhouse and multi millionaire horse owner John Singleton was first brought forward in the media nobody really new what was going on and then the Rugby League champion Andrew Johns and Gai’s bookmaker son Tom were brought into the feud! After a week of new stories and evidence coming out around this high profile, high stakes relationship breakdown, the whole picture of the situation has almost been clarified.

To explain briefly, John’s had been told by Tom Waterhouse at the ANZAC Day NRL game that “he didn’t like” Singleton’s horse ‘More Joyous’, and when John’s relayed this information to one of his close friends it was eventually passed on to Singleton, who was outraged to here this. Singleton severed all ties with the Waterhouse family and himself, creating a dispute that surrounded both that they were colluding to give themselves an unfair advantage in terms of betting and that he was never given any information of More Joyous’ circumstance. It was discovered later that More Joyous was in fact on antibiotics prior to the race, without Singleton’s knowledge.

With Gai immediately sacked as Singleton’s horse trainer, there was a clear display of the seriousness that the situation presented to the horse racing and sports betting community. It is hoped by people in these circles that the situation can be totally sorted out and the true facts of it presented to the public, so as to not hurt the sport any further. This is particularly important for many at this point in time as online betting and actually the particular involvement of Tom Waterhouse as the odds presenter for the NRL are facing a lot of scrutiny and backlash later. Furthermore horse racing is under fire from another angle also, after many horse crashes at a specialist derby over the weekend have stemmed public and animal rights group concerns.

Hopefully full communication of the Stewards Enquiry looking into this whole Waterhouse V Singleton saga can alleviate concerns surrounding such a high stakes controversy in our sport. 

Not such a good business relationship after all...

ASADA investigation taking its toll on the Cronulla Sharks

As soon as NRL chief executive Dave Smith announced that 31 players were being targeted by a new ASADA (Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority) investigation into drugs in sport, information that the Cronulla Sharks would be a focus of this process surfaced.

After putting together one of the strongest teams the Sharks ever over the offseason, there were many expectations of greater success for the sharks this season. We are now coming up to round 7 and the Sharks have only won 2 of their 6 matches, with many pointing at the ongoing ASADA investigation as a major reason for this poor performance.

The ASADA investigation requires players to participate in a grueling and lengthy interview process, with a constant communication stream between players, their lawyers and their managers to ensure that they are protected. As reflected by many high profile figures in the NRL such as commentators, previous NRL greats and coaches, the switch in focus from sport to the investigation, both physically and mentally, makes in impossible for the Sharks players to be in the best form. As Brad Fittler put it, “They can’t have any intensity at all because what is on their mind all the time is what the lawyers have just been speaking about… they are going home with problems on their mind”.

A real controversy on this issue awakened when Sharks Coach Tim Flanagan finally admitted that the ongoing ASADA investigation was taking its toll on the teams preparation and game. He admitted after a couple of consecutive losses that he was trying to play down the investigation in order for the team and followers to concentrate on the game however now notes that preparation is being stunted “because there is too much stuff going on off the field”.

All participants and followers of the game are hoping that the investigation concludes on the earlier end of the four to six weeks initially exclaimed as the expected length of the investigation, especially considering the secrecy and lack of information to players, teams and fans from ASADA on their progress and findings. Worried sports fans are anticipating the process to drag out for extended periods and are expecting other teams to be more conclusively dragged into the investigation, thus damaging their season as well. The weight that is on the Sharks players and staff will hopefully be lifted as the focus on them wraps up, helping them to regain the best chance of turning around their season before its too late.

A lot weighing on the sharks minds...

James Hird to confirm jabs from Stephen Dank

James Hird to confirm jabs from Stephen Dank: Essendon coach James Hird is set to reveal he received two injections from sports scientist Stephen Dank for health reasons.

As some of you may know, James Hird and the Essendon Football Club are in the spotlight of one of AFL’s biggest drug scandals ever.

The allegations are targeted towards Essendon’s use of banned substances in sport. The most recent allegation is James Hird’s use of this banned substance.

Sports scientist Stephen Dank came forward and admitted he had injected Hird with a drug banned under doping codes, with the Essendon coach describing the allegations as "very upsetting".

Further information has come out that James Hird has admitted to receiving two injections of the substance last year. Also, text messages have surfaced which show that James Hird was aware of his team’s use of the substance.

While there is nothing to prevent Hird taking the drug, competitive athletes including the footballers he coaches are banned from doing so under the World Anti Doping Authority code. 

Scenes of James Hird and team after game celebration of one of the greatest wins of all time over Fremantle last weekend.