Daily Star

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HANDS up who is bored of hearing about the potential scrap between Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Conor McGregor?

It could be the first billion dollar fight. So what? One is a retired boxer, the other Do me a favour. It’s all a publicity stunt aimed at lining the deep pockets of both men, plus those charged with putting it all together.

Give me another classic between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal any day of the week.

DAVID WAGNER spoke last week about how footballer­s lack perspectiv­e – and he wasn’t just talking about those in the Premier League.

He was referring to players he manages at Huddersfie­ld in the Championsh­ip. There is nothing glamorous about the Yorkshire club. The stadium is named after a well-known bitter, their nickname comes from a popular breed of dog and the journalist who has reported on them for the last two decades has just been made redundant. The Terriers won three successive league titles in the 1920s but since being in the top flight for the last time in 1972, Huddersfie­ld have meandered through the lower leagues and their current squad fails to possess a single household name.

But Wagner did something before the start of this season that changed the attitude of his squad and made his players appreciate how lucky they are to be profession­al sportsmen.

He took them to a remote island off the coast of Sweden and humiliated them. He deprived them of food, clean water, electricit­y and mobile phones. He made them sleep in little tents and do what bears do in the woods.

The players hated it but also benefited from it. The gamble worked because the Terriers are now third in the table and still in with a great shout of automatic promotion to the Premier League.

Wagner is a clone of his close friend Jurgen Klopp. He dresses like him, thinks like him and talks like him.

But the Liverpool boss could be the one to learn from his protege when it comes to changing the outlook of pampered stars who get lost in their millionair­e bubbles and sometimes forget what’s important in life.

This season we’ve also seen Diego Costa throw a strop over a new contract after he was offered staggering amounts of cash to join the Chinese Super League.

In the past we’ve seen Carlos Tevez go on strike following a row with Roberto Mancini, when the Argentine refused to go on as a substitute in a game between Manchester City and Bayern Munich.

 ??  ?? is the UFC champion of a sport that is laughable.
is the UFC champion of a sport that is laughable.
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