Liverpool losing their leader...

IS KING KENNY’S REIGN IN JEOPARDY AT LIVERPOOL?

I HAVE heard from reliable sources at Anfield that Kenny Dalglish has got one more season to get Liverpool in the top four of the Premier League - or he will be moved upstairs.

Of course, Liverpool would NEVER sack a legend like Dalglish - but he has much to do if he is to avoid becoming an ambassador for the club, or maybe a director of football.

It may seem ridiculous that a man who has landed the club’s first trophy in six years is under threat - and who may yet also land the FA Cup this season, too.

But that is the cut-throat name of the game nowadays.

The truth is this: most chairmen would rather finish in the top four and accept the Champions League spot that comes with it rather than win the Carling Cup.

And that is where Kenny faces a problem. He has done well in the domestic cups but has flopped in the league.

I agree with him that fatigue has played a part - as have injuries.

And I also accept that he needs a stronger squad. Which, in turn, means he needs more financial backing.

But Kenny has also been his own worst enemy at times. I won’t bother going over his approach to the Luis Suarez controversy again, save to say he was misguided and did himself no favours.

Yet I do believe he has messed up with two of his big summer signings, and that this has left him vulnerable.

Firstly, Jordan Henderson is simply not a £16million player. For me, he is a journeyman with little guile and craft and whose only real assest is that he can cover a lot of ground.

Secondly, Andy Carroll - well, the problem for me here is that Kenny stuck his neck out to buy him but now appears to have lost faith. My feeling is that Andy is still a class act - he was brilliant for Newcastle and for England when he has had the chance.

But, like all big men, he needs regular games to maintain his fitness and get to a peak. And Kenny is just not giving him them. The fact is this: when Carroll plays, Liverpool usually win - so trust the boy, Kenny, and I am convinced he will repay you.

Also, Kenny must improve his act when it comes to PR. He is THE public face of Liverpool FC and how he comes over on the TV reflects on the club.

He needs to be less defensive, less ready to rise to any supposed slight and more jovial and likeable. He needs to get the Press onside rather than antagonising them. And if he needs any help, I’d be glad to show him how to do it.

So come on Kenny - stop acting like a bitter old man who seems out of touch with modern-day football. You can be a king again - but it’s all down to you now.

SNOOKER
JIMMY’S WHITE ON
- EVEN AT 50!

I LOVE nostalgia and so when I learned that Jimmy White is making a concerted attempt to reach this year’s World championships at The Crucible, I was one of the first to cheer him on.

The man known as ‘the Whirlwind’ has not managed to qualify for the event for the last five years.

And that’s a real shame given his exploits and glory there in the 1980s and 1990s.

Jimmy will be 50 on May 2, and what a birthday prezzie it would be for him if he could celebrate it by starring at the Crucible in 2012!

Jimmy starred in six finals in Sheffield - but won none of them.

Now I know it’s pushing it a bit too far into the realms of fantasy to pray that maybe he also ends THAT jinx this year.

But wouldn’t it be a real fairytale ending - if the Whirlwind not only finally qualified again, but lifted the darned trophy!

It’s a dream - but then that is where sport often comes into its own. By making unbelieveable dreams come true.

Come on, Jimmy, you can do it - all your friends here at the Weekly Sport are backing you. As Clint Eastwood once famously said - ‘Make our day....!’

FRANKIE’S FLUTTERS

LAST WEEK I called it right again. Well, in terms of the result if not the score! Yes, I predicted that the big London derby between Chelsea and Spurs at the Bridge would end with honours even - which it did, in a 0-0 draw. I had predicted 1-1.

This week’s big footie match comes on Sunday when Newcastle entertain Liverpool in what looks a crunch encounter in the battle for sixth and seventh places in the Premier League.

The Toon have done better than anyone (me included) expected this season while Liverpool have gone off the boil of late due to injuries and fatigue. I am going to go against the grain - and predict that Liverpool will win. They are due a big result in the league and I can see former Toon idol Andy Carroll being well revved up for his return to St James’ Park. So it’s Newcastle 1 Liverpool 3 for me.

FRANK WORRALL

(For more information on Frank and his bestselling sports books, see www.frankworrall.com)

Weekly Sport readers can buy Frank’s insightful book on Sir Alex Ferguson for the special price of only £2.74 on Kindle (retail price £17.99 for the hardback)…go to http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Fergie-Wonderland-Biography-ebook/dp/B00603XJB8/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1326291046&sr=1-7

We're all praying for you, Fabrice!

FABRICE MUAMBA’S COLLAPSE -
A DISTRESSING INCIDENT
THAT SHOWED THE
BEST SIDE OF FOOTBALL

I WAS as shocked and upset as anyone when I witnessed Fabrice Muamba’s collapse on the pitch at White Hart Lane on Saturday. The Bolton midfielder collapsed suddenly and was taken to hospital after suffering what was diagnosed as a cardiac arrest. As I write this on the Wednesday afterwards, the latest bulletin from the hospital appears to be uplifting – that he is recovering and is speaking again.

That in itself is brilliant news. Fabrice lives up to his name: he is a fab young man, a family man who has great morals and lives a good life. He is not your archetypical hedonistic Premier League footballer who splashes the cash and is always in the papers for the wrong reasons. Far from it, this is one of the good guys.

But his collapse and revival also has another uplifting side – and it concerns the more distastetul side of big-time football. For the aftermath showed another side to our national sport – a side that we do not see often enough. A caring, compassionate side that made me proud to be associated with the game.

First, a salute to the Tottenham fans at the match. They will brilliant, so quiet and clearly worried. Many of them laid scarves outside the hospital and showed that football and its various rivalries was irrelevant – all that mattered was that this young man receiced swift, expert treatment and that he recovered. I did not hear one moan or complaint from the fans that the match was called off.

Second, the medics were swift on the scene and excellent.

Third, the game as a whole – from players to fans – then went into overdrive to show they cared. Players tweeted their good wishes on Twitter, teams clapped before kick offs the next day to show their support and even Real Madrid played their part in Spain, as their big names, including Cristiano Ronaldo sent their support from miles away by wearing shirts wishing Fabrice a speedy recovery.

I found the widespread compassion and backing very moving – the incident itself was both dreadful and dreadfully upsetting, but the attitude of the big stars and their clubs and fans afterwards made me proud to be associated with what we term the Beautiful Game.

Beautiful indeed – and get well soon, Fabrice, from all of us here at The Weekly Sport.



ERIKSSON RATHER
THAN PEARCE FOR
ENGLAND CARETAKER
IN THE EUROS

MOVING into a more critical role, I must admit I am finding it hard to believe – but my spies in Soho Square tell me that the FA are seriously contemplating putting Stuart Pearce in charge of England for the European Championships this summer.

Surely the buffoons in charge can see that he is not up to the job?

They need only look back at how we fared against Holland recently when Pearce was given a run-out in the top role for clues.

Yes, we lost and were outplayed but that might have been expected against the World Cup runners-up.

More worryingly, we lost because Pearce did not pick the right men for the job. I was all for him going for youth – but then he left out THE young player of the moment…Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain!

And he started with Adam Johnson who can’t even get in the Man City first team!

No, if we must go with a caretaker at the Euros, why not ask Sven Goran Eriksson to step in? I know, he became a figure of fun at the end of his reign, but he did the business – getting England to two quarter-finals, much better than Capello ever did.

He knows the players well, he is cool and he is a good ambassador. Let’s face it, we’re not going to win it, not with the likes of Spain, Germany and France in our way. In fact, with Pearce in command, I would not be shocked if we even ended up bottom of our group and exited at the first stage.

We need an experienced hand at the helm. Not a novice, Pearce has no record of success as a manager at this level – or even at major club level - and he could well clash with the senior players like John Terry and Frank Lampard. Pearce is the type who likes to make a statement of intent and to stamp his authority – by dropping some big name or leaving someone out…as he did with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Better the devil you know in Sven than a bloke who is unproven and unpredictable. Trust me.

FRANKIE’S FLUTTERS

LAST WEEK I called it right on the Formula 1 opening round at Melbourne when I said…‘And the F1 in Melbourne – call me a silly dreamer, but I’m going for Hamilton or Button!’ Button duly won and Hamilton came home in third.

I also predicted a big win for Man United at Wolverhampton.

So now you know…Frankie and The Weekly Sport can be relied upon to give you a reliable guide for when you head to the bookies!

This week I’m going for football and F1 again.

On Saturday the biggest match of the weekend takes place at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea take on Spurs in the Premier League. Both teams need the points if they are to grab one of the four all-important Champions League places on offer – and so the stakes couldn’t be higher. Given that, I’m going for a draw, a point apiece and a scoreline of 1-1.

On Sunday the new F1 season continues apace with the Malaysian GP in Sepang. I’m taking Red Bull’s Sebastien Vettel to repeat his win of last year and Jenson Button to also replicate his runner-up spot from 2011. Hamilton finished eighth last time, but he would surely be in the top four on Sunday.



FRANK WORRALL
(For more information on Frank and his bestselling sports books, see www.frankworrall.com)

Weekly Sport readers can buy Frank’s insightful book on Sir Alex Ferguson for the special price of only £2.74 on Kindle (retail price £17.99 for the hardback)…go to http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Fergie-Wonderland-Biography-ebook/dp/B00603XJB8/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1326291046&sr=1-7

THE SEQUEL TO THE DAMNED UNITED...

...NOW SHOWING
AT CHELSEA!

FRANKING WORRALL REPORTING

IN 1974 Brian Clough famously lasted just 44 days as the manager of Leeds United. At the time he was arguably the best football manager around, yet he failed to inspire one of the best teams around when he took over at the helm from Don Revie.

Why did he fail? He was too abrupt with and insensitive to the needs of the established players at the club. The likes of Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles didn’t take at all kindly to someone coming in and telling them to ‘throw their medals in the bin’.

Fast forward 38 years and the story played out again - but this time at Stamford Bridge in West London.

Substitute Andre Villas Boas for Clough and Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole for Bremner and Giles and you get the picture.

The Portuguese was the manager in demand; he was young, had just won a series of impressive trophies with Porto - and he arrived at the Bridge with a mandate to modernise the playing staff.
To bring in new blood and to gently ease out the ageing legs of Lampard, Cole et al. Only it didn’t work out like that - like Clough he met fierce opposition to change from those very older players he had arrived to send off into the dark night.

And like Clough, he was ultimately hung out to dry by the club’s board of directors, or as it is in Chelsea’s case, the autocrat who runs Chelsea.

So it was farewell Andre and hello to...well, who knows. Di Matteo is the caretaker but the new man has not been signed up.

My sources close to Roman tell me it is likely to be one of two - Joachim Loew, the current boss of the German national side, or Athletic Bilbao’s Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa.

I personally would go for Bielsa. Look at the wonderful job he has done at Athletic Bilbao - creating a team of young players who destroyed Man United at Old Trafford last week. And he has the tough edge to show the old moaners the exit door - and quickly.

He is the ideal choice if Roman finally wants to lay down some solid foundations.

As for Lampard and Cole, I thought their behaviour under Villas Boas was disgusting and shameful. They are senior players who are quick to touch the badge on their shirts when they are on the pitch.

But their actions under Villas Boas were totally selfish - they seemed much more concerned about themselves and their petty little battles to put the new boss in his place than they did about the welfare of Chelsea FC. I can understand their ire at being dropped and suddenly no longer being the kingpins - but I believe they would have had a future under Villas Boas if they had knuckled down and accepted that time waits for no one.

In turn, Villas Boas would have had a future himself.

Now the whole issue has exploded, a man who has a lot of potential has gone and the likes of Lampard and Cole could well follow him out the door come summer. Everyone at the Bridge knows they haven’t come out of this with any credit - they are as much to blame as the Portuguese for the lamentable showings.

Now Chelsea need a hardman to knock them back into shape - and to make it clear to any dissenters that they will be on their bikes if they don’t toe the line. In turn, the hardman will need Roman to back him whatever happens: the short-term aggro will lead to long-term joy.
Roman has got to end this short-termism and see the bigger picture.

And, in my humble opinion anyway, Marcelo Bielsa is just the man needed to enforce the necessary revolution.

MOTOR RACING - THE AUSTRALIAN GP

THE FIRST season of the new Formula 1 season gets underway on Sunday – and everyone connected or interested in the sport is praying it is more competitive than last year’s damp squib. Last season was a victory march for German Seb Vettel for much of the campaign after other drivers simply lost their touch. Yes, Lewis Hamilton, we’re pointing at you.

This term the omens are better. Lewis, in particular, is a 100 times more fired up and concentrated in the job in hand. He is back with girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger and appears happier and steadier. Now if only he could prove himself big enough to welcome his old dad back into the fold again… then he would surely be the complete deal.

As it stands, I can see Lewis pusing Vettel much harder – as I am sure will fellow Brit ace Jenson Button. For all his efforts, Button remains very much the McCartney to Hamilton’s Lennon: whatever he does he cannot seem to enchant the British public as Lewis does.

Last year at Albert Park in Melbourne Vettell began his run to glory, triumphing in his Red Bull from pole to chequered flag. And that is one of the keys to winning the Australian GP - the circuit is a tough ask if you don’t get off to a good start. If you do, you’re in with a good chance as long as the car keeps going. So come on Lewis and Jenson, pull out all the stop sin qualifying – and one of you is likely to come home first if you win pole.

Good luck lads from your No 1 sports paper…the Weekly Sport.

FRANKIE’S FLUTTERS

PUT a fiver on the next full-time boss of Chelsea FC being Marcelo Bielsa or Joachim Loew.

Then on Sunday Man United travel to Molineux to take on relegation strugglers Wolves. United will surely walk it given the chaos at Wolves, with Mick McCarthy getting the boat and the players finding it hard to adopt to life under a caretaker boss and the animosity the fans feel towards the board of directors seeping down to the terraces.

I can only see a United win, the only thing in question is the score...and I’ll go for a 4-1 triumph for the Red Devils.

And the F1 in Melbourne – call me a silly dreamer, but I’m going for Hamilton or Button!

FRANK WORRALL
(For more information on Frank and his bestselling sports books, see www.frankworrall.com)
Weekly Sport readers can buy Frank’s insightful book on Sir Alex Ferguson for the special price of only £2.74 on Kindle (retail price £17.99 for the hardback)…go to http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Fergie-Wonderland-Biography-ebook/dp/B00603XJB8/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1326291046&sr=1-7

THE BRITISH OLYMPIC GAMES - a commentary by FRANK WORRALL

THE OLYMPICS

- DO WE DESERVE TO HOLD THEM?

I’M looking forward to the Olympics in London this summer as much as anyone. But I can’t help but wonder if we really deserve to be holding them given the attitude of some people here.

Of course, sports lovers nationwide are anticipating the sporting feast with relish.
But not so the service industry workers who will (hopefully) transport us to the Olympic venues and provide safety cover for us at the Olympic Park in East London.

I only ask if we do deserve it after learning the following:

1. The London Fire Brigade has written to all firemen who retired in the last two years asking them if they are available to work inside the Olympic Park because of fears there will not be enough serving officers to do the job.

They have had to act because serving firefighters have been banned from working overtime by their unions.

2. Tube workers have threatened strike action after rejecting a £500 bonus to work during the Olympics. The RMT union have demanded more money for staff who have to work during the games – even though the tube drivers are already on around £48,000 a year, with rises guaranteed over the next three years to take them well over the £50k a year mark.

Now is it me, or isn’t this double strike threat out of order at a time when many people are struggling to make ends meet in the worst recession in living memory?

And shouldn’t the staff involved be thinking about how they have a once-in-lifetime opportunity to show the nation - and the world - how proud they are of their jobs, and how efficient they are?

Rather than seeing it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cash in on a major event in their region?

It does make me think - especially when my nephew and his girlfriend are excitedly making plans to travel down to London for the summer to work in part-time jobs at the Olympics.

Because they can’t get work in their native Manchester...and they are so proud to be part of the Olympics experience that will probably never happen again in their young lifetimes (they are only in their early 20s).

Maybe they could talk to the London workers - who by comparison seem to be acting like spoilt brats - and get them to think again...