BRAZIL-IANT
AS
SENNA MARK 2
SIGNS FOR WILLIAMS
FRANK WORRALL reports the nation's favourite sports!
I’LL ADMIT it damned near brought a tear to my eye when Bruno Senna signed for the Williams Formula One team this week. The deal means Senna, the Brazilian nephew of the man who was arguably the greatest driver ever, will now drive for the team Ayrton was with when he died so tragically in 1994.
Funnily enough, I’d just watched the movie SENNA on DVD the day before the link-up between Bruno and Williams was announced. And what a great film that is - a really moving, touching, tender tribute to the great F1 king – do catch it if you haven’t already. Bruno raced karts with Ayrton and features in the film about his uncle's life and death.
OK, Bruno is no Ayrton and never will be – he is not in the same league as a driver – but he could still spring a surprise or two in the season’s F1 races, which begin in March.
And you’d have to have a heart of stone not to feel some emotion for the boy when he finally races in the Williams. No doubt it will go through his mind that he is riding in the same team as his triple world champion uncle – and no doubt he will feel under pressure to live up to the Senna name.
But he needn’t bother – for most of us it will be enough simply to see the name Senna racing on the circuit once again. No one is expecting him to come anywhere near close to emulating his brilliant uncle’s exploits – because no one could do that, not even Lewis Hamilton or the reigning double champ Sebastian Vettel.
There was only one Ayrton Senna – and will always be, so just enjoy the ride, Bruno. Here’s wishing you a great season from all us Senna fans in the UK…
FOOTBALL’S MANAGER
OF THE YEAR SO FAR –
THE BEATEN, BATTERED,
BLOODIED…BUT PROUD
AND DIGNIFIED STEVE KEAN
A FELLOW sports journalist asked me the other day who would be my footballing Manager of the Season if the vote was now. I scratched my head and looked suitably intense and then said: ‘Steve Kean of Blackburn’. Cue undiluted laughter and mickey taking as said hack then paraded around the office telling other journos that I had taken leave of my senses!
But is it really that outrageous a suggestion? I think not. OK, the likes of Alex Ferguson, Roberto Mancini and Harry Redknapp will always be in the mix, given the way their teams have performed this term. Yet Kean has worked a miracle dragging Rovers out of the relegation zone in the wake of the most vicious onslaught I have personally ever witnessed against a top-flight manager.
He has worked diligently and put in the hours, trying to keep afloat a sinking ship that even Fergie, Redknapp or Mancini would struggle to stop hitting the rocks. Every waking day he has to face aggro from both sides – from the majority of fans who appear to despise him and from the Indian owners Venky’s who appear to know nothing about how to run a football club – yet he has somehow kept his dignity intact and overseen his team climbing out of the bottom three.
I repeat, given the circumstances, the man has worked a near miracle and, surely, it is about time some of those Rovers fans gave him credit for that. I’m not saying he is going to be a great manager, but he is doing a great job right now. He never ducks or hides and conducts himself with immense dignity at post-match Press conferences – sometimes after having to cope with a risible combination of spit, abuse and threats on his life during the game.
Steve Kean is a human being – someone’s son and someone’s father – and deserves the sympathy and respect of football fans everywhere right now for being a light in the darkness that is Blackburn Rovers FC right now. The bloke deserves a break…
FRANKIE’S FLUTTER
ARSENAL V MAN UTD
MAN CITY v TOTTENHAM
Premier League
Sunday
TWO absolutely huge games involving the two Manchester giants and their North London counterparts.
All four clubs have shown topsy-turvy form of late – great results followed by poor ones but the results of these two games could define the season for each of them. Arsenal desperately need a win if they are to get in the top four and book a spot in next season’s Champions League. But United would also love to exit the Emirates with three points to keep the pressure on neighbours City.
In the other match at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, a City win would see them put daylight between themselves and third-placed Spurs at the top of the table, and could even ease them away from United if the Reds lose at Arsenal.
There’s plenty at stake and the stakes are enormous. With that in mind, I am plumping for two draws, with honours shared.
I am going for:
Arsenal 1 Man Utd 1
Man City 2 Tottenham 2
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