Managers steal the show
HERE’S nothing like some pre-season friendly action to get fans salivating in anticipation of the 2016/2017 Premier League, which this year promises to deliver so much.
And strangely, it will be the managers who steal the show and not necessarily the transfer window signings. Yes, Euro 2016 has just ended, but honestly I didn’t enjoy it at all and don’t feel that the Euros satisfied my insatiable appetite for football during the off-season.
Most international football competitions have a tendency to disappoint and the Euros were no different. Truth is, I just wanted Portugal to win so that Cristiano Ronaldo would have a winner’s medal from an international competition, a triumph that would, even if only temporarily, silence his critics.
The Premier League, however, shows no signs of disappointing and we still have till the end of August when the transfer window shuts.
Jose Mourinho kicked off his United career with a 2-0 win against Wigan, with the bulk of his squad yet to return from their post-Euro break. I have to say that Mourinho has been his typical self and in a sense the ultimate puppet master – he is saying everything United fans want to hear, making them believe that the team will settle for nothing less than victory, and in a sense pulling the strings perfectly to erase the misery experienced since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
Pep Guardiola has been more guarded in his approach, saying this is an opportunity for him to prove himself in England and that expectations should be realistic, particularly in his first season.
Antonio Conte kicked off his stint at Chelsea with a loss to Rapid Vienna, but the Italian has been striking the right chords with the Blues’ faithful and they too have reason to be optimistic.
Conte is talking big, making promises that all of us are keen to see whether he can deliver on. And, like Mourinho, they have a bit more time to build their teams seeing as both will be without Champions League duty, while the heat will be on the likes of Guardiola, Arsene Wenger and Mauricio Pochettino.
I could be wrong but I don’t think anyone realistically believes that Leicester will be able to repeat their heroics of the past season, nor will they progress far in the Champions League.
So I suppose Claudio Ranieri and his revised team (bearing in mind players leaving and new signings to bolster their squad) will have to prove the world wrong, yet again.
THE IOC seriously needs to reconsider its decision to reintroduce golf at the Olympics.
If anything, all the withdrawals of the world’s top golfers has only served to prove that the Games don't have a special appeal or allure for certain codes.
This must have been the reason that golf was absent from the Olympics for 112 years. For golfers, their biggest event is the Open Championship or any of the four Majors.
The golfers have cited the Zika virus as the reason for them pulling out, but this time around it’s just a convenient excuse to get out of a trip to Rio – they would rather compete in a PGA event.
As it stands, there are a total of 18 golfers who have pulled out – the top four in men’s golf, along with South Africans Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and female golfer Lee-Anne Pace.
While the Olympics is the ultimate glory for most sporting codes, golf, tennis and football have the Majors, Grand Slams and Fifa World Cups, which for them are bigger than the Olympics.