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      in Motorsport

      Ben Hunt: Max Verstappen’s total dominance in record-breaking F1 season shows Red Bull star is no ‘cost-cap champion’

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      MAX VERSTAPPEN’S 14th win of the season set a new Formula One record for most victories in a year.It also takes his tally to 34, putting him sixth in the list of GP winners — just seven shy of Ayrton Senna fifth-place mark.
      Max Verstappen broke the record for most wins in a season in a year of total dominanceCredit: Rex
      Verstappen celebrated the achievement on the podium alongside Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez in MexicoCredit: Splash
      He has also broken the record for most points in a single season, set by Lewis Hamilton in 2019.
      And he has single-handedly helped Red Bull stop Mercedes’ most dominant run in F1 history when it comes to the constructors’ championship.
      That’s all rather good for Red Bull, but incredibly disappointing for F1’s motorsport director Ross Brawn, who introduced new rules this season to level the playing field.
      Red Bull have won 16 of this year’s 20 races, and we still have two more to go in Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi.
      READ MORE IN F1
      Verstappen says he doesn’t care about statistics and I remember Hamilton saying the same in the past.
      He said: “It is just an incredible season for the team. I never thought I’d be able to win 14 races in a year.
      “I was never really interested in stats. I just live in the moment. I just try to do the best I can every weekend.
      “That for me is the most important — that I go home and can say I maximised everything.”
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      Quite surprisingly, given his achievements, the magnitude has been lost in a row over the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP and the cost-cap row.
      He has been hammered on social media and dubbed ‘cost-cap champion’ plus the bitter fallout with Sky F1 and subsequent boycott over pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz’s comments.
      Red Bull team principal Christian Horner feels that Verstappen’s performances this year have gone unnoticed.
      He said: “What we’re seeing this year with Max, we are witnessing something very special.
      “I sometimes think his achievements don’t receive the plaudits they should.
      “He has won the most Grand Prix in a year, within 20 races, and two sprint races — and he’s not won all of them from pole.
      “He has had to fight and race for a lot of those victories.
      “It is an absolutely outstanding year, from a driver who is absolutely at the top of his game.
      “The level of consistency is incredible.”
      It is difficult to disagree but surely it is only a matter of time before he finally gets that recognition, especially if he keeps on breaking records.
      LANDO FAN RAP
      LANDO NORRIS wants a crackdown on punters in the exclusive area during Grand Prix weekends.
      In Mexico, Max Verstappen was soaked in beer and Pierre Gasly had his bag rummaged through.
      Norris said: “If people are aggressive and grab you all of the time, biff them out.
      “I love having the fans in here, especially when it’s kids. Kids are kids, that’s cool.
      “It’s more the older people. There’s just not as much respect for personal space as there should be.”
      ALL TYRED OUT
      IT has come to something when Ferrari are offering Mercedes race strategy advice.
      The Italian team are now famous for their bungled calls on tyre choices and pitstops.
      Yet Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto reckoned Mercedes got it wrong for a second race in a row.
      He said: “They maybe have lost the last race by not choosing the right tyres.
      “So I think it’s not only down to us somehow to make different choices or making mistakes.”
      GHASTLY FOR GASLY
      PIERRE GASLY will walk a seven-month disciplinary tightrope if he is to avoid a one-race ban.
      The Frenchman, who joins Alpine next season, had a penalty point added to his licence for an incident with Lance Stroll, meaning he has collected five in a month.
      Two more points before May next year would see the AlphaTauri driver cop a ban.
      HEDWORTH A HERO
      MY hero of the weekend was Alice Hedworth, Red Bull communications manager who looked after Sergio Perez’s media commitments in his home GP.
      Mexican Perez, the country’s most popular sports star, was mobbed at every turn with poor Alice dragged along in the melee — quite literally — with his 15 security guards!
      Formula One 2022Everything you need to know about F1 this season

      HONDA OFF MARC
      MARC MARQUEZ says Honda are already running late with their Moto GP title challenger for 2023.
      The Spaniard, 29, said: “We are delayed and Honda know we’re in delay, so we will have one chance.
      “I hope to test something interesting in Valencia because what you try in Malaysia in February is the bike you will race.”

      FORMULA E will beat F1 by being the first to race in South Africa next year.
      The all-electric series will visit Cape Town in its 17-race schedule in 2023.
      It also kept Africa as part of the tour after dropping the Marrakesh ePrix.
      Read More on The Sun
      THE Mexican Grand Prix was the 20th race this season and there are two left.
      There will be 24 races in 2023 so it was good to hear Toto Wolff say F1 plans on enforcing a two-week winter break to help ease extra pressure on staff. More

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      in Soccer

      No excuse for Klopp or Conte’s recent antics but refs must improve communication and take accountability for decisions

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      THERE needs to be a watershed moment with referees in football.Officials are trying their best and they don’t deserve to be screamed and shouted at like Jurgen Klopp and Antonio Conte have done.
      Klopp raged at the assistant referee during Liverpool’s win over Manchester CityCredit: Getty
      Conte was sent off at the end of Tottenham’s clash with Sporting on WednesdayCredit: Reuters
      I can’t sit on my high horse about it because I am one of the worst for having a go.
      And I don’t think a referee can get it right every time. I really don’t.But the key thing is communication.
      As a player or a manager, you need to feel heard. Right now, there simply isn’t enough of that.
      A lack of communication. A lack of clarity.
      READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
      There is no excuse for what Klopp and Conte did, but that’s where it stems from, especially in recent weeks.
      If referees were made to take proper accountability for a controversial decision, get in front of a camera for one or two minutes and explain their thinking, the dynamic would completely change. I honestly believe that.
      You see it at the end of games, refs standing in the centre circle telling players and managers to go away and leave them alone.
      That isn’t helping anything.
      Most read in Football
      They shouldn’t be bombarded by an interviewer post-match for every small incident and every foul.
      That would be ridiculous. It needs to be done in the right way.
      There are normally one or two big decisions in a match.
      Refs should get about 15 minutes in their room at the stadium after the final whistle to review some TV footage.
      Then, they can get asked, ‘Why didn’t you give that as a penalty?’ or ‘explain why you felt that was a handball’. No pointing the finger, just a discussion.
      It sounds like such a small thing, but for managers and players, the public watching looking for clarification, it changes everything.
      I don’t think it will happen but why not? I understand we want to protect officials.
      Refs need to be accountable.
      There needs to be a greater understanding of what goes on in their minds and how they react to being in a potentially season-defining moment.
      Should they be scrutinised in the same way as a manager or player?
      Of course not, but they shouldn’t be able to just walk out the back door and say nothing.
      Why can’t they go in front of the press and explain a decision?
      It would literally be two or three questions maximum and that is it.
      Clubs do referee reports after games. Why can’t we also publish those?
      It is not about saying the referee is bad but highlighting things that went wrong and taking accountability.
      Until we can ask those questions and get the answers up front, without any cloaks and dagger, you are going to have this weird space where refs are all interpreting the same law differently without being called out on it, and that’s what causes arguments.
      When I was at the Euros last summer, the VAR was top drawer. We all thought, ‘Here we go, we are getting somewhere’.
      I don’t remember too many games in that competition when VAR was ever mentioned or was contentious.
      What is happening now is that we always try to evolve, we always try to do something weird and wonderful. Each year there are five or six different law changes.
      For example, the interpretation of the handball law from last year to this year is completely different.
      Goals that were disallowed last season would stand this season.
      If you walked up to any player, in the Premier League or the EFL, and asked them to write down what the handball law was, no one would get it right. That’s a worry in itself.
      The letter of the law to the interpretation is completely different and that is where the frustration comes from.
      In the Championship, I do feel there is less anger at an official and less anger in general, without VAR.
      You can have your frustration purely with a ref. It is his decision.
      The enjoyment I am having is that it is not stop-start every two minutes.
      There are loads of set-pieces, corners and fouls in this league.
      They would be reviewing every action every two or three minutes with VAR and games would be two hours long.
      The conversations are also a bit better with refs in the Championship.
      In the Premier League, I felt there was more ego.
      The meetings with referees during pre-season can be very productive.
      You get to meet them in a non-pressurised situation and they get to see you having more of a laugh and a joke.
      Read More on The Sun
      At the start, officials are like players — they are very high energy, enthusiastic, making promises they are going to be better than the year before.
      Ultimately though, when the games start, they are trying to do their best and our job is to win. More

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      in Soccer

      Fifa deserves all the flak it gets over Qatar 2022 call but it’s too late now to address horrified activists’ complaints

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      IT was as inevitable as Erling Haaland scoring lots of goals that there would be demands for action against the World Cup in Qatar.Don’t say Fifa bosses didn’t ask for it, because they did.
      No less than 650 men are believed to have died constructing stadiumsCredit: AFP
      Horrified activists began campaigns for change after it was announced Qatar would host the World CupCredit: Reuters
      The moment the highly questionable executive committee voted for Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, horrified activists began campaigns for change.
      There was plenty to campaign about, too. Russian sport is riddled with drugs crime and Vladimir Putin’s policies are accelerating towards tyranny.
      After questions about where exactly Qatar is, it also became clear oil money was its lifeblood and that its rulers cared as much about stadium workers’ welfare as women’s rights. So, not much at all.
      No less than 650 men are believed to have died constructing stadiums.
      READ MORE ON WORLD CUP
      And although worldwide protests have helped improve pay and conditions, we still have the feeling foreign brickies in the Arab state were ranked just above slaves.
      With the World Cup three weeks away, it is probably too late to do much about the latest challenges — but it is surely right to air them.
      Such is the anger at Putin’s war on Ukraine, that a side issue concerning Iran’s sale of bomb-charged drones to Russia has angered protesters to the point of demanding the replacement of the Islamic republic’s team with Ukraine.
      For all sorts of reasons, this isn’t going to happen.
      Most read in Football
      Much as many people may see it as justice, it would be an open goal to barring many countries from numerous international competitions.
      The idea of a World Cup of the Innocents might be fun for those nations without fault, although my guess is such total purity does not exist anywhere or in anyone.
      Iceland might edge in on the basis of lowest crime rate, although not judging by the number of wicked whodunits on TV recently.
      An Iceland v Tonga final may not be a big attraction…
      Sadly, Ukraine will have to concentrate on matters closer to home.
      I have more sympathy with the bid to oust Iran, through the shocking treatment of protesters who refuse to accept their government’s refusal to do anything about the brutal murder, in police custody, of Mahsa Amini for taking off her hijab.
      Many since — including women and children — have been killed demanding women’s rights.
      Again, barring the Iran team would be widely applauded. But I am far from sure that it would further those demands.
      There is a scant record of boycott success in sport.
      Olympic boycotts haven’t worked and, realistically, the only one that did was against apartheid, which was started by England’s cancellation of the 1968-69 cricket Test series against South Africa.
      One promise we can make is that boycott campaigns will continue to flourish.
      Protesters have found it hard to impress themselves on football but I fear it won’t be too long before the green movement, for one, concentrates on the biggest sport there is.
      We should be careful how we treat people who want change for the better.
      Improving human rights has to be one of those.
      Read More on The Sun
      Racism and undervaluing women are the most blatant and, I’m afraid, many politicians are slow in acting to improve these.
      Football is huge across the world and has the muscle to boot their reluctance over the grandstand.
      The decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has always been deemed controversialCredit: AFP
      A worker walking at the Caravan City, an ongoing project to host fans during the Qatar 2022 Fifa World CupCredit: AFP More

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      in Soccer

      Dave Kidd: Newcastle are coming for the Premier League ‘Big Six’… it’s just a shame it took these owners to achieve it

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      RAINBOW laces and captain’s armbands sure did look pretty as Saudi-funded Newcastle United stormed into the Premier League’s top four and turned the Big Six into the Big Seven.Having reached the Champions League places, Eddie Howe’s men will soon head off to the land of their paymasters for a training camp during the World Cup break.
      Premier League captains wore rainbow coloured armbands throughout the Premier league this weekendCredit: Getty
      A nation where homosexuality is illegal but a nation which has been allowed to buy one of England’s biggest football clubs.
      All while the Premier League preaches inclusivity with colourful empty gestures.
      With the Bigg Market now twinned with Chop Chop Square in downtown Riyadh, perhaps some of the Toon Army will venture out to Saudi Arabia to see their heroes this winter.
      Never mind the Blaydon Races, they’ll be ganning along the Scotswood Road, to see the public beheadings.
      READ MORE ON FOOTBALL
      Us snowflakes in the wokerati (although I’m not actually a tofu man myself) feel uncomfortable about barbaric regimes capable of dismembering journalists, but we might as well go and bark at the moon.
      Because Newcastle fans don’t give a stuff and nor do the Premier League hierarchy, as they whistle along to ‘I Can Sing A Rainbow’, blissfully unaware of their own absurdity.
      Trying to argue morals in the moral vacuum of England’s top flight is senseless.
      Vladimir Putin’s mate, Roman Abramovich, started all this at Chelsea 20 years ago — not that we could call him Putin’s mate until this year because his lawyers were too expensive.
      Most read in Football
      And ever since such dangerous dodgepots arrived, this type of Saudi takeover was the obvious endgame.
      It probably can’t get any worse than the Saudis, as the Taliban don’t have a pot to piddle in and probably couldn’t afford to buy a Premier League club even if they formed a consortium with Colombian drug barons, Somali pirates and Iranian Ayatollahs.
      But let’s not entirely rule out that possibility.
      It shouldn’t be mutually exclusive, though, to feel outrage about Newcastle’s ownership while admiring the work of Howe, and recruitment chief Dan Ashworth, and enjoying the increased competition at the top end of the table.
      When Jurgen Klopp moaned about Liverpool’s inability to compete with clubs funded by nation states, he almost certainly wasn’t being xenophobic, as has been insinuated by Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City.
      It probably can’t get any worse than the Saudis, as the Taliban don’t have a pot to piddle in.Dave Kidd
      The Anfield boss was, though, speaking out of self-interest and panic.
      Weirdly, mid-table Liverpool are the only team to beat Newcastle and the only team to beat City this season.
      Ironically, Klopp’s team have barely managed to beat any Premier League club who aren’t owned by a nation state.
      But Liverpool are scared of Newcastle. So too are Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United.
      Next season three of those five clubs may miss out on Champions League football.
      The season after next, when that competition is expanded and revamped, England may get a fifth team but, still, it is becoming an even stiffer task for any club owned by poor old-fashioned American billionaires to win any silverware.
      It might not seem fair but neither was it fair on Newcastle to have an owner as joyless as Mike Ashley for more than a decade.
      Now, Howe’s Newcastle are looking brilliant and they’ve only just begun.
      Eddie Howe’s Toon squad are in fantastic form as the Magpies continue to fly up the table
      They’re doing all this with Dan Burn at left-back — and just wait until they start signing ready-made world-class players. Howe’s Newcastle team might not finish in the top four this term — and if they did manage it, they would certainly be ahead of schedule.
      But Sunday’s 2-1 win at Tottenham, a fourth victory in five games, was hugely symbolic — as an electrical storm raged and Spurs, along with the rest of the old guard, imagined themselves standing at the gates of Hell.
      Ashworth’s recruitment has been astute and Howe has improved players immeasurably.
      As Howe argued, in response to Klopp’s recent comments, there are financial fair play measures in place — the kind that might stop an incompetent Emir from breaking into the elite.
      Klopp wouldn’t sound so defeatist if Newcastle were filthy rich and brainless.
      But if you’re really good at what you do and you’re completely minted — like Newcastle — then those restrictions won’t keep you out for very long.
      An invigorated Newcastle is good for English football. Theirs is a vibrant city, fanatical about its club, which had been in the doldrums for too long.
      It is just a shame they couldn’t have achieved all this with a slightly less murderous ownership.
      Still, at least there were ‘bespoke rainbow ball plinths’ at Premier League games, last weekend and next. So all together now: “Red and yellow and pink and green…”
      CONTAIN YOURSELF
      QATAR is a nation with an abysmal human rights record, they won the right to stage the World Cup because of rampant Fifa corruption and thousands of migrant workers died building the venues.
      But the last World Cup was held in Putin’s Russia and it was still a decent spectacle. Because Russia is big and it has hotels and infrastructure.
      Many supporters weird enough to actually want to travel to Qatar will end up sleeping in containers in newly-built shanty towns.
      Because Qatar isn’t big enough and it doesn’t have enough hotels and infrastructure. That’s going to be the biggest problem of all next month. Can’t wait.
      STEVIE’S STRIKERS
      ASTON VILLA were thrashed 3-0 at Fulham, then sacked Steven Gerrard, then stuffed Brentford 4-0.
      So the natural conclusion was that Villa’s players had ‘downed tools’ on Gerrard.
      And maybe, subconsciously, some of them did.
      But after Gerrard had humiliated his popular skipper Tyrone Mings by stripping him of the captaincy and publicly criticising him, who could really blame them?

      MASON MOUNT has been named ‘England’s most eligible bachelor’ by Tatler magazine.
      I fear a new reality TV period costume drama coming on. Stamford Bridgerton, anyone?

      LIVERPOOL keeper Alisson made a brilliant assist for Mo Salah against Manchester City this month and City’s Ederson did likewise against Brighton on Saturday.
      Only one of these Brazilians can start at the World Cup, with Alisson No 1.
      Maybe Ederson can feature as a deep-lying playmaker?

      LEICESTER had just five shots on target in back-to-back wins over Leeds and Wolves, yet scored six goals.
      Well done to boss Brendan Rodgers on reinventing himself and dragging the Foxes out of the relegation zone.
      Even Tony Pulis was never as efficiently minimalist as this.
      Read More on The Sun
      I TELL you what the heavyweight boxing division really needs — Tyson Fury battering a 38-year-old Derek Chisora for the third time, at a football stadium without a roof on a cold December night.
      Said absolutely no one ever. More

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      in Soccer

      Ten Hag can see the future, Cristiano Ronaldo is the past – Man Utd must AXE icon for everyone’s sake after Spurs strop

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      THE time really has come for Manchester United to rip up Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract and show him the door.His actions in walking out on the Red Devils’ best performance under Erik Ten Hag is unforgivable.
      Cristiano Ronaldo’s walkout in the win over Tottenham ensured the headlines were about himCredit: Rex
      It’s time for Erik ten Hag and Man utd to rip up his contract and show him the doorCredit: Rex
      Once again in a desperate moment of theatrics, he turned the attention on himself in United’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham and, to be fair, he got it.
      Not that Ten Hag seemed bothered: “I don’t pay attention to that, we want to focus on this team, it was a magnificent performance from all 11 players.
      “Tonight we celebrate the result and the rest we deal with on Thursday.”
      Indeed Ronaldo as a player is becoming an irrelevance for him, has been for some time.
      READ MORE MAN UTD NEWS
      He has paid him respect in refusing to point to the fact that the player’s powers are now dramatically on the wane.
      So much so that for the first time since he was a teenager the 37-year-old no longer demands a first team place in a football team.
      Even in Portugal, their football media are questioning whether he should start next month’s World Cup.
      Still, he craves the attention.
      Most read in Football
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      Which is why in the final minute of normal time, he hot-footed it down the tunnel at Old Trafford, realising he was not being brought into the action, and soon after Cristiano had left the building.
      It was such a shameful sign of disrespect to his teammates.
      He remains the biggest name at the club which is why he should have been on that pitch, full of smiles, congratulating his teammates.
      They had produced an awesome display in beating high-flying Spurs, which had Old Trafford buzzing like it has not done for some time.
      Proof that the wins over Arsenal and Liverpool at the famous old ground this season had not just been one-offs when the team had managed to raise itself for the big occasion.
      Get something at Stamford Bridge on Saturday in the 5.30pm kick-off against Chelsea to follow it up and people really will start to sit up and take notice.
      But unfortunately, the Ronaldo sideshow can still become the main show, even without him touching a ball.
      After similar petulance in pre-season United should have done something there and then.
      In the final warm-up game against Rayo Vallecano, Ronaldo was hooked at half-time and left ten minutes before the end of the game.
      This after having what appeared to be a very public difference of views with his manager during a break in play in the first period.
      Still United decided to keep him, while his agent tried to force a move.
      Ten Hag wanted the matter resolved but it wasn’t.
      Now a brooding presence will return to Carrington this week, a place that should be bouncing, like Old Trafford was.
      Indeed the Ronaldo strop had little resonance with his teammates who celebrated on the pitch and in the dressing room without a second thought for what had happened.
      This is a new team, with an exciting influx of new players and rejuvenated ones who had lost their way.
      Witness how Ten Hag turned Fred around from Sunday to Wednesday night.
      The new boss says everything publicly to continue to respect Ronaldo the legend even though the signs are there that he no longer warrants a place in a top team.
      Read More on The Sun
      It is just a shame that the same respect is not replicated.
      Ten Hag can see the future, Ronaldo is in the past. More

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      in Motorsport

      Mick Schumacher has FOUR races to save F1 future with son of legend Michael’s disaster crashes costing Haas a fortune

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      IT is always telling when someone gives praise and then pauses before adding ‘but…’.And so to the words of Gene Haas whose Hass F1 Team will compete in their home race – the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas – this weekend.
      Haas F1 team owner Gene Haas (centre) is looking forward to seeing them compete in Texas this weekendCredit: Getty
      Haas had been asked about the situation with Mick Schumacher, who is out of contract at the end of the season with rumours rife he will be ditched for 2023.
      Hass said: “I think Mick has got a lot of potential…. but, you know, he costs a fortune and he’s wrecked a lot of cars that have cost us a lot of money that we just don’t have” Ouch.
      It seems inconceivable to think Schumacher, 23, the son of seven-times world champion Michael, 53, is fighting for his career after less than two seasons in F1.
      Particularly when you remember that in 2021, Haas spent little money developing that car and instead ploughed the majority of their efforts into their challenger for this year.
      READ MORE IN F1
      In his rookie season, he comfortably got the better of his team-mate, the hapless Russian racer Nikita Mazipin, who was eventually axed.
      But the unfortunate reality for Schumacher is he is simply unable to turn in the error-free and stand-out performances his father was noted for during his early career.
      He has always maintained his surname is a blessing and hindrance in that it no doubt opened doors that would have remained closed to others, such as his place in the Ferrari driver academy.
      But it has also brought a level of public interest and, of course, expectation.
      Most read in Motorsport
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      You only need to look at the stunted sports careers of Diego Sinagra, the son of Diego Maradona, and Michael Jordan’s son, Marcus, to witness how that burden limits performance.
      The harsh reality is Schumacher has not been consistently good enough against his current team-mate, Kevin Magnussen, and there have been the aforementioned crashes.
      He had big ones in Saudi Arabia and Monaco, plus last time out in Japan too – and Haas cannot afford for such errors.
      He now has the final four races to score enough points to convince Haas he deserves another chance in 2023.
      Meanwhile, his manager – interestingly the same one as his father employed towards the end of his racing career – is working on the potential for a switch to Williams – if the Haas option falls through.
      Schumacher now faces a crucial period if he is to remain in F1, as Williams are keen on American Logan Sargeant, providing he secures enough super licence points from his final races in F2.

      Brown blasts cost-cap breakers
      F1’s cost cap row will rumble on at this week’s United States Grand Prix in Austin.
      McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown has written to the FIA where he says teams caught breaking the budget cap “constitutes cheating”.
      Brown is one of a number of team bosses who are unhappy that Red Bull breached the spending limit.
      The FIA are yet to determine their punishment for the ‘minor’ breach, which is an amount of less than five percent (£5.7million) of the total £114million available.
      However, Brown has taken preemptive steps to ensure the FIA come down hard on any team who broke the rules.
      “The overspend breach, and possibly the procedural breaches, constitute cheating by offering a significant advantage across technical, sporting and financial regulations,” Brown is quoted as saying in his letter.

      Lando’s on song for Max
      LANDO NORRIS is having a go at being a DJ and recently performed at a party to celebrate Max Verstappen’s world crown.
      Videos have emerged across social media showing Norris taking to the decks in Monaco, where both drivers live.
      Max Verstappen celebrated his 2022 world title win with pal Lando NorrisCredit: Not known, clear with picture desk
      Big hitters in NASCAR
      NETFLIX might want to take a look at the fisticuffs in NASCAR if they want to have more action in F1.
      Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson tangled on track in Las Vegas and matters spilled over into the infield.
      Wallace was livid at being taken out of the race by Larson and confronted him, shoving him a few times in the chest before matters had to be calmed down.

      MotoGP looks in the Bag
      IT has been an incredible few months since Francesco Bagnaia crashed a car after a few drinks in Ibiza.
      The MotoGP rider has won three times, finished second once and his two third-place finishes in Thailand and Australia have moved him to the top of the championship.
      The Ducati ace can win the title at the next round in Malaysia. More

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      Violence against referees is a blight on our game and number of physical assaults is alarming, says Karren Brady

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      WHEN Dave Bradshaw packed his kit before heading off to Platt Bridge’s ground in South Lancashire he hardly expected to return home with broken ribs, a broken nose and concussion.You don’t need to guess that Bradshaw is a referee — and this level of attack has become all too common on the fields of amateur football.
      Ref Dave Bradshaw suffered broken bones, concussion and whiplash when assaulted on the pitchCredit: ITV
      The red card that Bradshaw had shown to a player might as well have been a free-entrance token to an A&E department at the local hospital.
      Reading a case like this, the reaction is simply: Why would anyone want to be a referee?
      The number of physical assaults is alarming.
      A report this week put them at 380 last season and, at what appeared to be a normal weekend of football in the fourth division of the South Lancashire Counties League, there were three suspensions for threatening or violent conduct, including the attack on Bradshaw.
      READ MORE ON FOOTBALL
      So bad has thuggery become in the neighbouring Merseyside Youth League that all matches were cancelled this weekend in protest at “multiple incidents of inappropriate and threatening behaviour” towards officials.
      There are more than 100 teams in the league and officials fear a boycott by referees that would end the enjoyment of football among children and teenagers.
      It seems a good deal of the trouble stems from parents who, from touchlines across the country, urge on their children and blame referees in abusive language.
      Players are encouraged to tackle illegally and respond in kind.
      Most read in Football
      Then when a referee intervenes, wound-up boys (girls know better) curse or threaten and — in some cases — even attack the ref.
      He may indeed be a poor one, probably made worse by verbal pressure from managers on and off the pitch.
      But without respect for his or her authority, the game is deader than horse meat.
      The Bradshaws of Britain deserve better.
      Their rewards are small and while top-tier refs are reasonably well rewarded, it isn’t for money or prestige that thousands of people put up with loud criticism or even physical violence.
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      Here’s one ref’s experience: “He headbutted me. I managed to turn my head but he made contact with the side of it. I count myself lucky I avoided the full brunt.”
      Another said: “I showed him the red card for threatening and abusive behaviour. He then punched me on the left side of my face. He also threatened to meet me in the car park after the match.”
      The FA have a protocol for treating offenders.
      For physical contact — which can include a push, barge, or snatching cards out of a referee’s hands — the ban is 182 days.
      Five years out of the game, upwards to life bans, is the punishment for assaults, with points deductions for the clubs involved.
      Is enough really being done? Karren Brady
      Fines and a requirement to attend an educational course can also be applied.
      In the face of death threats and damage to mental health, it is a wonder that the FA continues to keep referee recruitment at a decent level.
      An FA spokesman said: “We are clear that all forms of abuse, whether on or off the pitch, are completely unacceptable and we will continue to do everything to stamp out this behaviour.”
      But is enough really being done?
      There is strong reluctance to involve the police to any real degree and I understand why no one in the game wishes them to be much involved.
      Read More on The Sun
      Yet there must surely be a point where policing football is considered, although not at the level of interfering in domestic matters.
      It is close, however, to the time when the copper’s whistle is blown on assaults causing serious bodily harm. Detention must be an option.
      Assaults on referees are a serious problem for footballCredit: Getty More

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      in Soccer

      Squeaky bum time for Klopp as Liverpool face being out of title race by October with Arsenal & Man City next

      by

      IN the week that ‘Squeaky bum time’ entered the Oxford English Dictionary, Jurgen Klopp is about to discover exactly what Sir Alex Ferguson was talking about all those years ago.Trouble is, Fergie was referring to the nervous final few games of the season when titles are won or lost.
      Liverpool could be out of the title race in the next few weeks with Arsenal and Man City up nextCredit: Rex
      Arteta’s Arsenal are sat top of the leagueCredit: Rex
      Guardiola will go head-to-head with his former apprentice, Arteta, for the Premier League crownCredit: Rex
      Not the first week of October, with over three quarters of the campaign still to be played.
      But the stark reality for Liverpool, is that if they lose their next two  games against Arsenal and Manchester City, then their title bid will be over.
      Some might argue that they are already too far behind the top two to stage a comeback.
       While those gloomy forecasts might seem a little premature, there is no getting away from the importance of the next nine days for Klopp.
      READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
      Because unless they can get their act together immediately, there is every chance that they will find themselves 16 points behind City and 17 adrift of Arsenal before the clocks even go back to signal the end of British Summer Time.
      Right now, they are languishing in ninth, just above Brentford and Everton on goal difference.
      They have conceded the first goal in nine of their last 11 league games — and have an appetite for self-destruction which should have them on suicide watch.
      All the more remarkable, then, that they have only lost one league game in 2022, which is testimony to their powers of recovery if nothing else.
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      But having to stage a fightback on an almost weekly basis is draining the life out of Liverpool’s ageing players
      And it’s not as if they can still blame injuries for all their troubles, because most of their absent stars have now returned to action — and without any discernible improvement in results.
      Whole forests have been chopped down to cover the recent newspaper debates over right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold’s qualities.
      But defensive rock Virgil van Dijk is suddenly just rocky, while Mo Salah has now developed ‘Ozil syndrome’ and largely gone missing in action since signing his £350,000-a-week contract in the summer.
      Darwin Nunez has struggled to cope with the constant comparisons to City cyborg Erling Haaland — and Klopp is already wondering if he kept the receipt for deadline-day signing Arthur Melo.
      The only Reds players performing on a consistent basis are Alisson and Luis Diaz.
      Yet victory at the Emirates on Sunday is not beyond them, particularly given the record between the teams.
      Since Klopp was appointed in October 2015, his side have lost just one of 17 competitive games against Arsenal, scoring 46 in the process.
      So history suggests another Liverpool win, even if the current form book says otherwise.
      But anything less than three points will leave them with a mountain to climb  and the horrifying prospect of their title dreams receiving the last rites at Anfield next weekend.
      And that is certainly enough to get all Scouse bums squeaking.
      RON CAN BOSS IT
      WITH Wolves looking for a new boss and Cristiano Ronaldo with a face like a slapped arse on the United bench, why not kill two birds with one stone and make him Molineux player-manager?
      He’s Portuguese and has Jorge Mendes for an agent, so he certainly ticks all the right boxes.
      And you suspect that Manchester United chief Erik ten Hag would be glad to see the back of the grumpy old GOAT after initially blocking his Old Trafford exit.
      Trouble is, clubs aren’t exactly queuing up to sign a petulant 37-year-old who throws his toys out of the pram every time he doesn’t get his own way.
      But that wouldn’t be a problem if he moved into management, because he could pick himself for every minute of every game and always be the centre of attention.
      So now it’s just a simple matter of funding those £360,000-a-week wages and persuading his partner to move to the Black Country. 
      Ronaldo is having a tough season at UnitedCredit: EPA
      RUNNING JOKE
      I HAVE never understood the appeal of running in the London Marathon and the chance to finish 8,000th behind someone dressed as an emu.
      And even the millions of pounds raised for charity do not completely offset the nightmare prospect of getting stuck next to the pub bore droning on about his split times.
      But I had to take my hat off to the bloke who sprinted to the front of Sunday’s elite race to get himself on TV and win a long-standing bet with  his mates.
      And even though he wasn’t able to maintain his lead beyond the first 100 metres, at least he made it all the way to the finishing line.
      Fancy dress is a common theme at the London MarathonCredit: The Mega Agency
      MR OR MRS BENN
      WHY all the fuss about Conor Benn testing positive for the female fertility drug clomifene?
      Perhaps the poor guy has simply been trying to get pregnant.
      Although I have to say fighting with a baby on board isn’t advisable.
      But if boxing can virtually turn a blind eye to Tyson Fury and Canelo Alvarez failing drugs tests in highly dubious circumstances, it’s little wonder so many in the sport were happy for Benn’s catchweight contest with Chris Eubank Jr to proceed.
      Benn failed a drugs test and his fight with Eubank Jr has been postponedCredit: Alamy
      REAL MADRID chief Florentino Perez says football is sick — and that a European Super League is the only cure.
      But everyone knows that horse has well and truly bolted after England’s self-appointed Big Six got their fingers so badly burned last year.
      Doctor Flo is fooling nobody but himself, Barcelona and Juventus if he thinks anyone else will board that bandwagon again.
      Perez says the Super League is football’s cureCredit: EPA
      JUST last week I pointed out how managers hate having tactics questioned.
      And on cue Antonio Conte reacted to criticism of Spurs’ loss to Arsenal.
      Not sure what ‘youse are all idiots’ is in Italian but Djed Spence’s sister might want  to  axe social media.
      Spence is struggling to break into Tottenham’s starting line-upCredit: Getty
      Read More on The Sun
      MAN UTD’S 6-3 defeat at the ­Etihad was the eighth time in 12 months that they have conceded at least four goals in the Premier League.
      Maybe they should ask Vladimir Putin for advice. He knows all about the Red Army’s crumbling defence.
      Man Utd conceded six against rivals Man City on the weekendCredit: EPA More