Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
Any disgruntled Australians wondering why they lost the ashes should first take a look at most of Australia’s batsmen. In the three tests that the Aussies lost (all by an innings) they were all-out for 245, 304, 98, 258, 280 and 281, all below par scores. Individuals who didn’t contribute many runs included captain Ricky Ponting and vice captain Michael Clarke. Not all of the batsmen are to blame - solid scores by Mike Hussey and Shane Watson helped to ensure that Australia didn’t lose the first and third test, which would have resulted in probably the greatest sporting humiliation ever.
West Ham currently sit at the foot of the premiership and over the past month manager Avram Grant’s job has been anything but certain due to the actions of the West Ham board. Rumours surfaced in the media in mid-December that Grant had been given an ultimatum to win one of his next three games or face the sack. Grant himself denied there was such an ultimatum. Earlier in the month, Martin O’Neil was being lined up as a replacement for Gant, before he pulled out. The board have made a decision on Grant’s future, choosing to keep him until the end of the season - something they should have done a long time ago, even if they chose to sack him instead. Leaving the club in limbo for a month is a great way to increase their chances of relegation.
The FA cup third round saw a nasty incident at QPR’s game at Blackburn. A collision between Blackburn’s Gael Givert and QPR’s Jamie Makie resulted in both players having to be carried off on stretchers, the former with an injured knee, the latter with a broken leg. This was bad enough but then Blackburn striker El-Haji Diouf abused the QPR striker whilst he was down on the ground injured. This sparked a string of tweets from angry QPR players, including Bradley Orr and Paddy Kenny, with Orr tweeting “Never come across a more repulsive human being than E-H Diouf!” and Kenny adding “...Diouf will get it one day, what goes around comes around." The FA are currently looking at the situation.
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