Abject England 9-4 to hit back

Sports and showbiz betting, by Keith McHugh

WE are only into February yet already this Premier League season Roy Keane, Paul Ince and – in the last few days – Phil Scolari and Tony Adams have been relieved of their managerial duties.

I find it all rather bemusing and extremely sad. To my mind, football has completely lost its way amid a results-now-or-be-sacked culture and, in the opinion of this observer at least, things will get a whole lot worse before they get better.

Money is the root of all this evil and clubs will chuck more of it at the next hopeful managerial incumbent, which brings us neatly to the identity of Adams’ successor at Portsmouth.

Chelsea acted with almost indecent haste to get rid of Scolari and replace him with Guus Hiddink, but Pompey don’t have quite the same financial clout and the search for a new, permanent boss is ongoing.

Avram Grant, who did a fine, yet ultimately-unacceptable job in the Chelsea hot-seat following Jose Mourinho’s reign at Stamford Bridge, is the 9-4 favourite to take over on the South Coast.

He is followed, amazingly, by the opportunistic Sven Goran-Erikkson at 4-1 and the much more suitable and decent Alan Curbishley (9-2). Croatia boss Slaven Bilic is best of the rest at 10s.



IT’S last-16 time in the FA Cup this weekend and those of you who took this column’s advice in backing Everton at 28-1 will be pleased to know that the Toffees are now a best-priced 12-1.
The all-conquering Manchester United, who will surely get past Derby on Sunday, are worthy favourites at 11-4, ahead of Chelsea (4-1), Arsenal (5-1) and Aston Villa (11-1).

I DO have a conscience so I sympathise, and empathise, with those of you who backed England’s cricketers to win the first Test against the West Indies.
As you will be aware, I expected our lads to win comfortably in Jamaica and go on to dominate the four-Test series.

What I did not reckon with was the shambolic, gutless, ill-prepared and indisciplined efforts of a team whose dressing room seems to be split into several fragments.

For not seeing this coming, you have my apologies.

Not once, however, did I hear a similar sentiment emanating from the England camp following their abject display in the second innings at Sabina Park.

If I can see England’s batting deficiencies from 4,000 miles away, what the heck are the coaches, and Andy Flower in particular, actually doing out there?

Alastair Cook's technique is in bits, Ian Bell has mental problems and looks like a little-boy-lost, Paul Collingwood's feet are rooted to the crease and Strauss himself can't shake his trigger movement to go back rather than forward on slow pitches, making him a walking wicket for the hosts.

There are lots of England fans in the Caribbean for this series and, having spent their hard-earned during a credit crunch, they certainly deserve better than this spineless garbage.

Thousands more will be flocking to Antigua and Barbados for the next two Tests and although the Barmy Army and the rest of the England supporters are a loyal and tolerant lot, even their patience has a breaking point.

So the message to Andrew Strauss (who I actually feel rather sorry for) and the rest of the England camp is stop worrying about your own agendas, get some hard work done in the nets, play to a game plan and, above all, show some pride and passion in playing for your country.

If I were Strauss, I would be telling several of his so-called stars that they are playing for their England careers.

For heaven's sake, the Ashes are less than five months away, so let's get a grip lads, starting with tomorrow’s second Test in Antigua, for which England are 9-4 to square the series.

The hosts are 11-4, with the draw (a placid pitch and showers are predicted) at 5-4.




FINALLY in this rant-filled week, a few observations about the forthcoming Oscars ceremony in Hollywood.
Last Sunday’s snow flurries paralysed my Sky signal, so I flicked around the terrestrial channels only to stumble upon the BAFTA awards ceremony on BBC1.

What a load of self-indulgent, hypocrisy-laded nonsense this really was and I have no doubt the US version will be a whole lot worse.

Film stars with huge egos smiled through gritted teeth as they applauded fellow actors grabbing what they believed to be their place in the spotlight.

In the real world, people get to keep their jobs (and there’s no guarantee of that, these days) if they do OK, yet these so-called superstars, many of whom have no idea what it is like to live in a recession-riddled society, dress up to the nines and pat each other on the back in the false expectation of entertaining a public which couldn’t care less.

They really could do with a reality check.

For what it’s worth, Kate Winslet is 8-11 to be top actress, Mickey Rourke is 8-13 to receive an Oscar for best actor and Slumdog Millionaire is 1-6 to be named best film. In other words, a BAFTA action replay.