Leightweight Lee means business

The fifth hole at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a 653-yard monster, for many years the longest par five in major championshipgolf. Tournaments often take place there in searing heat, making it
especially daunting.

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Rooney's worst fears realised

If Manchester United supporters are looking for a scapegoat, blame Cristiano Ronaldo. After all, he started it. The money, the ambition, the relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson are all contributory factors to the end of Wayne Rooney's love affair with Old Trafford, but the bottom line is that if Ronaldo had still been there, so would he.

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Liverpool must keep identity

If it is only about identity then the battle is lost the moment Liverpool leave Anfield. Nothing erected in their name on Stanley Park can assume instantly iconic status, no matter if there is still a Kop end or how emotively the pre-match anthems are sung.

So it would not be a ground sharing scheme with Everton that would strip Liverpool Football Club of its spirit. It is no coincidence that Middlesbrough remains the only club to move home and win a major prize in football's modern era (and it hasn't exactly been beer and skittles at the Riverside since, either).

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Why Sutton decided to sever Lincs

Amid the hurly-burly of Liverpool's swift demise, Nigel de Jong's tackle and perhaps a change in the identity of the England captain before Tuesday's match with Montenegro, the resignation of the manager of Lincoln City did not attract many column inches.

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This is one that Green should drop

There is an Italian television programme called La lene, on which guests are required to give instant answers to questions about their personality. Carlo Ancelotti, affable, well-liked manager of Chelsea, appeared during his time as coach of AC Milan.

"Name something you always wanted to do but never did," said the questioner. "Beat up a journalist," Ancelotti replied.

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Hodgson is managing decline

For Roy Hodgson, getting the Liverpool job was no doubt the highlight of his professional career in England. A troubled time with Blackburn Rovers was later followed by impressive over-achievement at Fulham, but nothing would have compared to the day he walked through the doors at Anfield.

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Ryder Cup must offload WAGS to regain its X-factor

'Tears of joy and pain, split seconds that make or break careers, the battle of the wives and girlfriends, the Ryder Cup has it all,' wrote The Times recently. It most certainly does, and more is the pity.

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Controversy good for football

There was a very good reason why the Football Association decided Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, had no case to answer in his criticism of Stoke City's "rugby" tactics.

He is 61 next month, has been a football manager for 29 years and has earned the right to say what he damn well likes.

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Has Three Lions lost its appeal?

As his England squad fell slowly apart, and the list of absentees detained by untimely injury or minor surgical procedure grew, Fabio Capello must have hoped he was simply another victim of bad luck.

Heaven knows, England managers have endured enough of it before crucial games in the past. We all recall the catch in Steve McClaren's voice the day he was informed that a freak injury would keep Wayne Rooney out of the final European Championship qualifier against Croatia. McClaren had terrible misfortune as England manager: his teams were greatly depleted in every major match he played.

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Watch out for bogus buyers

Buying a football club is very expensive. Saying you are buying a football club, however, is as cheap as chips. One phone call, one off the record briefing and away you go. Most of us could manage that in our lunch hour. Maybe some of you have. We all made prank calls as children; this is merely the grown-up version.

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Bellamy is a good match for Cardiff

I used to imagine what a fine forward line England would have if Craig Bellamy could partner Michael Owen. This was before Wayne Rooney arrived, obviously.

Back then, England struggled with a succession of foils for their main goal-scorer. Owen and Sven Goran Eriksson loved Emile Heskey but nobody else did, Darius Vassell was a whole-hearted channel-runner and little more, but Bellamy?

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Mourinho is a man among men

Raul is on the market, you may have noticed. He has already rejected a move to Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, where Steve McClaren is manager, and is now being speculatively linked to Tottenham Hotspur. It seems strange to think of him away from Real Madrid, even at 33. Raul has rewritten the record books during his time with the club: Madrid's youngest player, its most prolific performer (741 official matches) and goalscorer (323 official goals), the leading goal-scorer in the Champions League, and for Spain.

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Hammers must set sights lower

As transfer policies go, no wonder Avram Grant wishes to keep owner David Sullivan away from the one at West Ham United. Here is Sullivan explaining why the purchase of Germany's World Cup striker Miroslav Klose did not go through: "We had a deal in place before the World Cup after Klose had a bad season with Bayern Munich. However, as a result of what he has done in South Africa, it is unlikely to happen."

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Fair play is just words on a banner

So they got away with it in the end. Uruguay will not contest the 2010 World Cup Final, meaning Luis Suarez will not have the opportunity to score the winning goal and FIFA have escaped being made to look like the most wanton, spineless administration in world sport: but it was a close thing.

Uruguay were a goal away from taking Holland to extra-time and perhaps the lottery of penalties in Cape Town.

At which point, FIFA's decision to ban Suarez for a single game for an act that changed the course of the World Cup would have been exposed as criminally reckless.

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Three Lions don't deserve lynch mob

So what were they meant to do, then?

I know there are a lot of angry people out there. I know there are people who spent a lot of money, who saved and sacrificed to get to South Africa and follow England through this World Cup. But, for most, watching England involved no greater commitment than a walk down the pub, or two steps across the front room to turn the television on.

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French football is in a mess

Not heard so much about Clairefontaine lately, have we? Can you remember when France won the World Cup in 1998? Then the same players went out and won the European Championships two years later. Oh, there was plenty about Clairefontaine in those days. England had to have one, if you recall. Had to build one straight away or never be world champions again.

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England are trying to buy World Cup

An interesting experiment is to begin in the city of Rustenberg in South Africa's North West Province on Saturday. The English Football Association will attempt to discover whether it is possible to buy the World Cup.

In domestic football, buying success has always been the business of the richest clubs. Manchester United did it, Chelsea do it, Manchester City would like to. European success is bought, too: by Real Madrid, AC Milan, even holier-than-thou Barcelona.

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Walcott only has himself to blame

Cesc Fabregas might not be the only player having second thoughts about Arsenal after this World Cup. Theo Walcott could, too, look at the way his career is going and wish to take stock.

The intelligence from the England camp is that Walcott was axed from Fabio Capello's squad for ignoring orders. After the game with Mexico, the England manager warned him about cutting inside towards goal. One presumes with Steven Gerrard coming in from the left, and Wayne Rooney plus another striker occupying the middle, Capello feared this area would become congested.

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Blackpool will enjoy the ride

There is nothing more depressing than a seaside town in winter. Wet, windswept, deserted, half of the front behind shutters, sad lights flickering forlornly in the gloom. Not Blackpool, though. Not this winter anyway. Some residents may even be looking forward to the darker, shorter days now the town has a Premier League football club. How long this lasts, who knows? Many are predicting no more than a season but, like an outing to the coast, we should at least hop on and enjoy the ride.

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How not to make an impression

Wow. Now I know why you always find me in the kitchen at parties. Apparently, I've been ignoring the golden rule of adult conversation: make stuff up. Lying, we used to call it, but I guess in the modern world we've moved on.

This was Lord Triesman's only transgression, we are now told, sagely. He made up a whole lot of rubbish to impress a girl, said the World Cup was being fixed by Spain with Russia in cahoots, had not a scrap of evidence to support these claims, and then the little minx placed it in the public domain. How inconsiderate.

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