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Looks like Tan's done a perfect number on him and moody. I heard on the radio tonight that when the unfair dismissal claims were withdrawn by Moody and Malky before they issued statements apologizing to Tan (5 or 6 weeks ago?) was when they were told about the messages by Cardiff, i.e. the precursor to withdrawing claim. Machiavellian genius to wait till Moody was installing his mate at Crystal Palace before dropping the bomb on the FA and claiming 'obligation to do so, duty bound guv.' Can't help but think Pulis affair may have been engineering by Moody whom seems to be the main author of these text messages? Fair do's I say, play with fire you might get burnt; the attitudes on display indicate a atmosphere and temperament belonging to the dark ages. I think I was reading that Cardiff are now withholding some 700K in fees for deals involving these guys. the whole thing reeks of murkiness. Tan is obviously sharper than he was being made out to be.

In terms of Tuesday's descent I think in the cold light of day Froome will admit to himself (if no-one else) that chasing Contador down the descent was pretty foolish given his time advantage and that his main job now is to protect his yellow jersey, that's what a seasoned pro would do. Given that 99% of the threat to the jersey is him falling of his bike between then and Paris he should probably have a ridden a little smarter. If he wants to smash it every stage, that;s fine, but then risks come with that. He then said today that he did not expect the TT win, but that to me is at odds with his ride on Tuesday - why be happy to limit loses in the TT but not be happy to let Contador take 20 seconds on that descent. I've also just about decided he is clean - he is getting an absolute pasting from all corners so I'm going to cut him some slack.

The doping has never stopped me watching or enjoying it for 20 years or whatever - we can have suspicions but that's all they are, even against empirical evidence and data access like what we do now. We just don't know and won't until someone fails a test. It's a double win, we get to marvel at the spectacle and then call out a doper as a cheating rat a few years later. It's a really great spectacle of sport, dirty or not, and thought of the suggestion of doping is just not enough to not enjoy it. My opinion, I guess, has always been cyclists, like athletes, are always using something, seeking that advantage, and its just a case of how close to the line they stray in terms of current list of banned substances.

it's nearly here double ascent of Alpe-d'Huez Today was a repeat of last week, with Kennaugh\Porte double act taking the GC contenders to break point then Froome attacking. Would have been nice if Quintana could have staid with Froome last few km. As I said earlier, I don't know if he is doping or not, but is great view.

I was surprised by his weight loss from last year, it's noticeably visible on his upper arms - for someone who already has a well oiled and extremely efficient metabolism that is quite a change. I don't think this makes him a doper, that's not my point, maybe he is for all I know. Would there be a training plan that says lose weight, don't worry what you lose in power you gain more from pulling your lighter frame about? These guys ain't exactly got a lot of body fat to start with.

you would think wouldn't you. but it's not one team facing a drop in revenue for possibly as little as one year before getting back to suck the teet of TV\OF - it's 10 of them, and not for one year, for a number of years until the business model works again.

I think you are not seeing the worst case scenario, clubs have players on contracts, thoses contracts can't just be broken as revenue drops, those wages must be honoured (at worst). Loyalty bonus and sign on fees....oops. Staged transfer fees commitments sitting on the books due to go out...oops. Bank debt authorised on future income....oops. Cutting your cloth broadly means means selling players, getting the contract commitments off the books. It's not exactly a vibrant transfer market out there, all the scottish clubs (Celtic maybe less so) will be in the same nae-money boat - so you rely on selling to the lower tiers of the english league. Cutting cloth has the capacity to turn into touching cloth pretty quick. The SPL chairmen have a choice and it's not about sporting integrity etc, its become benefactors and invest in their club to cover the obligations they have untl their club can rebalance on a new footing (punish rangers), or don't (keep rangers going in the spl). Some can, but won't want to, some can't. So after all, it turns out that in the short term atleast, spl does need rangers - certainly when faced with the prospect of dipping into their pockets. It's unfortuate state of affairs, but thats the reality today, right now.

I've got a good feeling about murray as well, but it's a bit like the good feeling I had about scotland last weekend before kick off. Lets not be too harsh on him, good enough to get to slam finals, not yet shown he's good enough to raise his game to the required level in those finals. My own take on it is that his first serve % is too eratic to hold off the top 3 over best of 5 sets, his second serve is just asking to get skelped back at him.

It's Andy Murray time again! I've forgiven him letting me down in Austrailian Open final (performance, not result), but indian wells is getting underway tourney On first against a qualifier [Q] D Young (USA) vs [5] A Murray (GBR) - ATP Hopefully his head is in the game, don't want to see a slump like last year. I'm hoping as Rotterdam tourney was very well paid, he might have turned up for his appearance money and not given a shit (as much as you can) against Bhagdatis.

excellent stuff from the middle of the 2nd set onward - really gave cilic the run around once he started finding the right length and seeing the cilic serve early. amazing to see the catalyst for the turn around in that 2nd set with his over the shoulder flap at that cilic lob - just went from strength to strength after that. The shot in the last game around the net pole was simply outrageous. his record against fed is strong, but as fed says, the one that really mattered went to fed. Federer is strong and will raise his game as he always does, but if del potro can do it, murray can. A malfunctioning federer forehand will be enough to do it, but to even get to that stage murray needs to really nail his first serve percentage in the final and really avoid landing too much midcourt for federer to slap at. At this point I'm doing tsonga a dis-service by assuming he won't get through - but tsonga is a dangerous opponent, he swings at everything on the forehand side and when they go in he is unstoppable (a bit like Gonzalez - and murray has a history of being blown away by big hitters who have a good day). assuming it is a fed\murray final there are two intriguing aspects, 1) murray owes him one from us open final, but 2) fed won't be looking to lose two back to back major finals to lesser ranked players. hopefully 1) is stronger than 2) and murray wins, and at the end fed cries like a little girl again.

A great day for Murray and his team. Done two things really well today, hit his new aggressive strokes when he needed to in the first set - this gave him the edge in the first set. Secondly he stayed tough at the start of the second set when Nadal really started to push him behind the service line. His resolve to stay with Nadal and hang on until his opponent's level dropped off was excellent, he countered his own rise in unforced errors with improved 1st service %, and pretty much made a mockery of Nadal in the breaker. I thought Nadal played better today in both sets than when Murray beat him at the US Open, Murray deserves his plaudits today, it was the type of mature performance that I'd expect to see from a Nadal or a Federer. Against Cillic it's all about Murray keeping his 1st serve % up, if he can do that he should see his second final.

Said it before and I'll say it again..... I don't think he can change his game mid season, his incredible run in the past 12 months was due to his physical conditioning applied to his existing game - he didn't change how he played, he just got better at it. For all the criticism he is getting here, without have an offensive game he has managed to rise to no. 2 is the rankings, when he gets the big shot he will deliver as his ranking suggests he should. He thinks about his game too much for anything else to happen. I think he has been trying to swing the forehand since the post-Wimbledon break, it's just not there yet, it's only been 3 tourneys. There is a difference between noticeably offensive against lower ranked players in the early rounds, compared to against the top guys who all have weapons to worry about.

France done me. Should have stuck with my original choices.

ac milan toasted me last night, decent recovery today with everton last minute penalty. all in all, a faith-restoring weekend. will sit out the internationals but maybe punt my balance on the monday card tomorrow, maybe not.

YEAH BABY, I'M BACK. I'M FUCKING BACK. OH SPURS, HOW I LEAPT WHEN LENNON SCORED@95TH NO COUPON BUSTER TO REPORT.