WHAT’S HOT WHAT’S NOT

HOT ERIC CANTONA

THERE was Shakespeare, science but no sardines when Eric Cantona lit up the Champions League draw in Monaco. ‘What’s going through your mind?’, he was asked after winning the UEFA president’s award. King Lear, it turned out.

T20 CRICKET

NEARLY 50,000 people turned up for Surrey’s two sold-out T20 clashes at The Oval. On Tuesday, 4,000 bought tickets for the final day of the final Ashes Test at The Oval, with 59 per cent of buyers new to Test cricket. Imagine if more games were on free-to-air TV.

ANDERSON DARONCO

THE referee temporarily halted Vasco Da Gama’s match against Sao Paulo after homophobic chants by supporters. It comes less than two weeks after officials in France paused Nancy’s game with Le Mans over offensive chanting. A small step in football’s battle to eradicate abuse, but a brave one.

NOT ANTHONY JOSHUA

IF the wheels didn’t come off his career when he was knocked out by Andy Ruiz, the paint is certainly losing some of its shine. AJ and promoter Eddie Hearn have run a near flawless PR machine but after the heavyweight admitted he had lost ‘a bit of passion’ for boxing, Hearn publicly told him to ‘snap out of it’. Pressure does funny things.

JAMES HASKELL

THE former England rugby star says he is taking his switch to MMA seriously and would be embarrassed if he was like Freddie Flintoff during the ex-cricketer’s short boxing career. But Flintoff did one thing right, he got out unscathed. Let’s hope Haskell can do the same.

THE EFL

EFL executive chair Debbie Jevans admits they need to learn from the expulsion of Bury. What took them so long? The situation Bury and Bolton are in hardly crept up on the EFL. These clubs have been broken slowly, right in front of their eyes.