HOW CLASS RESCUE OF
20 questions to test your sports knowledge.
How do you rate? 0-5: Relegation zone; 6-10: Mid-table mediocrity; 11-15: Pushing for Europe; 16-20: Look like champs! Answers below!
1 What is the only country to have competed in every World Cup?
2 In 1994, who became the oldest heavyweight champion in history?
3 Which horse was known as ‘Dessie’?
4 Which golfer is known as ‘The Big Easy’? 5 What is a biathlon? 6 In which city was tennis player Martina Navratilova (right) born? 7 In what sport would you perform a Salchow? 8 The 1,000 Guineas and the Oaks are open exclusively to which kind of horse? 9 Which football club paid a then-record £1,000 for Alf Common in 1905? 10 Who are the only father and son to captain the England cricket team? 11 Which British rower won five gold medals in five consecutive Olympic Games?
12 In which country is the Interlagos F1-circuit? 13 Brooklyn and Turkey are terms used in which sport? 14 Which cricket club does the abbreviated name ‘MCC’ stand for? 15 What year were the Summer Olympics in Tokyo cancelled due to war?
16 In which city is Churchill Downs racecourse and what famous race is held there each year? 17 During which month of the year is the British Open Golf Championship held? 18 Prior to Usain Bolt (right) who was the last man to win the Olympic sprint double of 100 metres and 200m? 19 Who was the first Scot to make 100 appearances for his country? 20 Which footballer advertised Brut aftershave in the eighties?
IT was in the spring of 1995 that Sir Alex Ferguson decided to put his faith... in the Class of ’92. Little did he know that his own Manchester United future would come to depend on teenage tyros like Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville.
Mark Robins’ FA Cup winner at Nottingham Forest in January 1990 has become steeped in legend as THE goal that convinced United’s directors not to sack the man who would become the most successful manager in the club’s history.
But the reality is, that just six years later, the Scot found himself facing another make-or-break moment when his United bosses answered his demand to be given a new long-term contract with a question of their own. “Have you taken your eye off the ball?” asked Professor Sir Roland Smith, after Fergie had been summoned to the chairman’s Isle of Man home to discuss his request for six-year deal.
Smith’s suggestion that the
ERLING HAALAND has always been hungry for success with a huge appetite for goals. Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer might have missed out on signing football’s hottest striker but it’s emerged it was he who provided the key ingredient for Haaland’s rise to fame – in the shape of Norwegian chef Torbjorg Haugen.
During his time as Molde boss before joining United, Solskjaer signed up Haugen, who had cooked for Norway’s biathlon team. And in two years she transformed a puny 16-year-old Haaland into a 6ft 4in powerhouse who is terrorising Europe’s best defenders with Borussia Dortmund and is set to become manager should come back next year was not what the 54-year-old Fergie was hoping for.
And chief executive Martin Edwards added insult to injury by warning Ferguson that there would be no cushy boardroom job for him at the end of his tenure.
“We don’t want a repeat of the Matt Busby syndrome,” Edwards is reported to have said.
Ferguson was not in a good place. His bid to become the first manager to defend the Double had ended in failure.a 1-1 draw atwest Ham on the final day of the Premier League season at meant Blackburn were crowned champions.
And, six days later, United were beaten 1-0 by Everton in the FA Cup Final. In the downcast dressing room at Wembley, Ferguson warned that players who let their teammates down wouldn’t be around much longer.
Just a few days earlier, he had shocked his board of directors by announcing that he planned to sell Paul Ince.
Ince had christened himself ‘The Guv’nor’ and his nickname was stitched into the tongue of his Predator boots. Ferguson felt he
REAL MADRID are set to make a cut-price £70million offer for Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba.
The French star (left) has made it clear that he wants a move to the Spanish capital before the start of next season.
Pogba, 27, only has football’s first £200million striker. Molde chef Haugen (below) reckons it’s all down to her meatballs and chocolate cake!
She said: “He was a small, skinny boy when he first came. He grew – a lot! It was amazing. He would come to me after lunch and ask ‘can I get some food to take home?’ His favourite was Norwegian meatballs and another year left to run on his contract and has told United that he won’t be signing an extension no matter the terms on offer. Real will try to take advantage and get their man on the cheap. special small chocolate cakes – but only one! I still miss him a lot but it’s fantastic what he has gone on to achieve.”
Molde fitness coach Borre Steenslid had to carefully manage Haaland’s rapid growth spurt, knowing he had a huge star on his hands. He said: “Erling ate like a horse. When he came, he was just skin and bone really. “He started to grow so we had to be careful about the load out on the pitch!”