Every year I watch the BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY).  In fact I have been watching it all the way back to when Gazza won it in 1990.  Watching last night edition was all the more memorable as it was won by someone that really deserved it – Ryan Giggs.

Before I continue I would like to just say that I am in no way a Manchester United fan or indeed a fan of any club.  I have my favourites I suppose like anyone watching football matches but a true fan of any club I am not.

Watching the BBC Sports Personality of Year really does bring back childhood memories each year that it is on the TV.  I always remember as a youngster looking forward, to looking back at the sporting year, and I would always watch SPOTY in the lounge with my dad.  Strangely I also have the recollection that it was always the same night that SPOTY was on which was when my mum would erect the family Christmas  tree in the corner of the room.  Whilst she was doing this the cat (and then cats!) would be wrestling with the decorations that mum was trying to put on while me and dad were watching the TV.  What my brother was doing at this time I can’t really remember.

Anyway enough family history and back to the point of this post.  Sports men and women are paid phenomenal amounts of money these days.  High salaries maybe but that high?  Well that is probably another post for this blog, but my point being is that it seems the more a lot (not all I might add) of these young stars get paid then the more that we will see them on the back (and more often these days the front) cover of Britain’s newspapers indulging in some yobbish behaviour.  It seems there is always something about someone in the papers doing something that shouldn’t be.  In fact the behaviour of some is terrible.

Ryan Giggs however is the opposite.  How many times do we see him falling out of a club at 0300 in the morning drunk and causing a scene?  How many times do we see his Mrs plastered all over the pages of the papers in little clothing?  Never is the answer.  Giggsy is a thoroughly decent, family bloke that deserves all the credit that he receives.  Not only he is a nice chap but an outstanding footballer and a great ambassador for the game in terms of his skill, the way in which he goes about his professional career and his loyalty to his employer, Manchester United.  Well done Ryan, you deserve every bit of the limelight that you received last night.  It is just such as shame that the rest of the premier league stars are not like you.

Today were the last fixtures in this seasons English Premier League and the relegation battle was the big story of the day. One team from Sheffield United, West Ham United and Wigan would be relegated. Sadly for Sheffield fans it was they who were relegated.

Sheffield United lost to Wigan who had to win in order to stay in the division. Wigan triumphed 2 goals to 1 which was enough for them to get the 3 points that they required.

Sheffield United must be very annoyed however. Earlier in the seasons West Ham United (the third team in the relegation battle) had bought 2 players from Argentina – Carlos Teves and Javier Masherano. The later moved onto Liverpool almost immediately however Tevez played several games for West Ham United. It later emerged that the transfer between West Ham and the club in Argentina was not legal and he was indeed an illegal player as far as the premier league were concerned. For this West Ham United were fined £5.5 million.

You might think this is a hefty sum of money to be fined but what annoys me about this and I am sure is what will be annoying Neil Warnock and the Sheffield United players is that the goals that Tevez scored when he was playing illegally with still have gained West Ham points. Points that have meant they have stayed up and Sheffield United have not. It is estimated that not being in the Premier League will cost Sheffield United around £50 million.

Sheffield United have done nothing illegal yet effectively get fined 10 times as much as the offending club. Is that right? Something should be done.

Today I watched the premiership game between Everton and Manchester United at Goodison Park and yet again there were examples of players diving in order to cheat the referee into a decision that was not fair. But today wasn’t the only game that this takes place in.

The modern game of football has changed dramatically since the late eighties and early nineties when I started watching football. 15 years ago players were more honest and there was a culture of wanting to stay on your feet as much as possible to show the opposition that you could not be pushed around easily. It was the hope that this would intimidate the opposition into thinking that you were not going to lie down without a fight.

How the game has changed in the modern day. Players now do all they can to win free kicks and cheat as much as possible and it seems that there are some more than other s that are partaking in what is effectively cheating. Take a look at some of the examples of diving from this YouTube video.

In today’s match the main culprit to me was Gabrielle Heinze, the Argentinian central defender for Manchester United. Everton had a young striker in attack (James Vaughan) and every time to striker touched Heinze he collapsed. It is not the fact that he goes to ground that really bothers me it is the way that it is done. He would fling his arms in the air, almost as though someone had shot him from the stands with a riffle. Clearly the aim was to con the referee into making an incorrect decision. On one of these instances it got Vaughan booked for a nothing tackle. Yes is was a foul but the dramatics brought about the booking.

The Portuguese players (Ronaldo et al.) are perhaps the worst culprits and this could not be seen more as in the world cup semi-final of 2006. They were diving all over the place and thankfully it didn’t work and they never progressed to the final.

Footballers have got to take some responsibility for this and if they do not change the the game is going to change forever. Football will inevitably become a non-contact sport, which is was never meant to be. It also makes th referee’s job a lot harder and their job is hard enough as it is, what with all the video replays they must put up with proving them wrong.

Come on players are start playing the game like real men and not drama queens!

I was watching the Masters Golf Championship yesterday and the commentator Peter Allis was talking about how amazing it is that the crowds dull to a silence when the players take their shots, and how do we get them to do that? I then started to think about the crowd problems of other sports, most notably the football problems with Manchester United’s game in Roma and Spurs game in Spain. So why do some sports have problems and others don’t?

The 3 sports that I was thinking about are perhaps the 3 most popular in this country – football, golf and cricket. All of these sports have a large fan base and most of the fans of these sports enjoy playing them.

It seems that football is riddled with problems with the crowds at games. Theese problems go a long way back in history. Perhaps the first that I remember was the Heysel disaster of 1985. The Heysel stadium was in Brussels and football holiganism meant that a retaining wall collapsed and killed 39 people. Amazingly the game continued. Then there was Hillsborough. FA Cup semi final and fans were crushed against the railings as too many supporters were allowed in one section of the ground. This one perhaps not down to misbehaviour though. Then of course there have been the problems this season with the trouble that Manchester United had in Lens and also in Rome. It does seem that there is the culture of misbehaving and swearing in this sport. You watch a match on the TV or go and watch one at the ground and the language used by both the players and the crowd (even the managers and officials) is appalling. The trouble is how to change this.

Cricket and golf on the other hand are quite different to this. And in the case of cricket, the fans are ‘encouraged’ to drink all day long when watching the match. I went to Old Trafford a few years back now to watch England versus the West Indies. We were downing a few (not that many) pint during the day as was everyone else, however the atmosphere was nothing but friendly and welcoming. You never once feared any sort of violence which was great. The crowds have a real good laugh and enjoy the game. You might say well the type of people that go and watch cricket are not the same type of people that go and watch football, but I do not agree. I know a few people that watch both and they are completely different people when they are at a football match to what they are at a cricket match, but why?

Golf is much the same although there is not as much of an alcohol influence as cricket. Many football fans play and therefore love to go to the Open Championship to spectate and they behave perfectly. So why is this?

Well maybe there is a few reasons but I think two stand out. The first are historical reasons. For example in golf you have always had to be silent when players take their shots whereas in football you have’nt – the etiqeute has always been there. The second reason I think is tolerance. To a certain extent (careful how I put this) less good behaviour and langauge at football matches is tolerated as no-one does anything about it.

As for me I love watching all 3 sports however due to cost and time restraints I hardly get to see any of them in the flesh as it where but I know which one I would like to watch most!

In 2001 Dietmar Hamann scored a goal for the German national side against England in a World Cup Qualifier. It marked the end of Kevin Keegan’s time as England manager. Aft that match the Wembley as we knew it was demolished. The story of its replacement has been riddled with failures and disappointments.

It was decided to demolish the old Wembley stadium and replace it with a brand new development that would serve not only football, but many other sports in the UK.

A builder was selected (Multiplex) who have built other stadiums around the world too and then work slowly began. They started building the stadium in the second half of 2003 and the completion date at that time was scheduled for January 2006.

Well more than a year late the keys are due to be handed over the the FA this Friday the 9th March 2007. The stadium has cost an estimated £757 million. A lot of money to pay out when the stadium is over a year late?

For sure, looking at the photos and the text on the stadiums website it does seem clear that it will be a mighty impressive stadium – perhaps one of the best in the world, which can only be a goos thing with the Olympics coming to the UK in 2012. The FA cup final will now be held in May this year after a while at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

But will the cost and the wait justify the need to building this new Wembley?

I was watching the football last night – Barcelona vs Liverpool in the Nou Camp, Barcelona. I was very impressed with the way in which Liverpool handled the game and successfully came away with an excellent result, winning by 2 goals to 1. It was the tactics that need to be discussed!

Liverpool’s tactics were obvious and normal from the start. You are the away team so you sit tight, make it hard for the opposition to play and wait for chances to come your way. They did this OK until Barcelona scored. After that they weathered the storm and scored themselves.It was the changes that the Barcelona manager (Frank Rijkaard) made which were strange. In a two leg game surely it makes sense not to go out guns blazing to win the match in leg one, which is what he seemed to do. Doing this he left his team so exposed at the back that they conceded again and went 2-1 down. Barcelona looked poor at the back and surely Liverpool can score more goals against them at Anfield. which brings me to my next point.

Andy Gray the Sky commentator was suggesting that Liverpool were perfectly set for the second leg as they could just sit back and defend knowing that they didn’t have to score to win. I have to say that seem strange as with a defence as poor as Barcelona’s then surely attacking is better. If Liverpool were to score just one, with their away goal that would leave Barcelona needing 3 to win. Very difficult at Anfield.

The other point to make is the ridiculous antics (acting) of many of the Barcelona players. When I used to play football as a kid we were told to stand on your feet and – for the want of a better phrase ‘be hard’. Nowadays these foreign players just hit the deck at the first sign of trouble like wet pansies. Surely this must be ruled out. I was talking to a friend tonight and he said that England will not win anything unless they join in this. You know what I think he may be right. What is even sadder is that we will have to lower ourselves to cheating order to win what we deserve. Not good really is it!

Last night saw the meeting of Manchester United and Lille in the UEFA Champions league last 16 match in France. The game played about an hours drive away from Lille in Lens as the stadium was not satisfactory in Lille. Maybe not but was the organisation and securoty any better?

The reason I ask is that in Lens yesterday evening, many eye witnesses have suggested that only just was another Hillsborough averted. Witness to the event have suggested that it was clear that there were too many fans to fit into the allocated section of stadium for the away fans. This inevitably could lead to some supporters being crushed.Videos from the news have shown fans climbing over the security fences, in order to avoid being crushed from the people behind. The reaction of the police is surprising as they use their batons to beat supporters down the climbing the fence to get out of danger. In these situations the language barrier must cause a problem. Fans would be screaming at police of the problems in the stands. Where police willing to listen? Could they understand them? Who know’s but the people that were there.

How many disasters to we have to see before all these security fences are removed from football stadiums arouns the world? If those security fences are not put in place then these type of incidents would never happen. OK, you may get a few fans running onto the pitch from time to time because there is nothing to stop them but would you rather that or the death of supporters? To me the answers is simply. Remove these fences now.

As the game itself, that didn’t happen without incident either. Ryan Giggs scored a late goal from a quickly taken free kick to give united a precious lead. The reaction from the Lille players and staff, was the order their team off the field. When a team does something like this surely they should forfeit the game. They cannot take the laws into their own hands like this. The decision of the referee has to be respected. The time to argue the toss about a decision is after the game. UEFA should seriously punish them for this.

The game at old trafford next week proves to be a heated affair, but lets hope that something good can come out of the game – a Manchester United win to put an English club in the quarter finals.