Last updated at 20:59, Thursday, 24 June 2010

TWO weeks away with only a Man City fan to talk sport with is enough for anyone, so I’m back just in time to laugh at the French and celebrate England’s World Cup campaign finally getting off the ground.

WE’RE through! We’ve got the Germans but we’ve been spared the embarrassment of leaving before the competition really kicks off.

England staged their own walk to freedom at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium as they escaped from Group C.

Jermain Defoe’s solo strike saved our blushes, but the overall performance was more like the England of qualification with one man standing out above the rest.

John Terry, who has been unnecessarily vilified this week, put his neck on the line to make sure England qualified.

Terry is a leader despite not having the yellow armband, and he looked very much the part as we made it through to face the old enemy.

DISGRACED France weren’t so lucky. Their embarrassing loss to South Africa, not to mention the ugly scenes of in-fighting, brought their tournament to a close.

With the wealth of stars at their disposal, going home at this stage is embarrassing enough but to be hauled on to a second class no-frills flight straight after the loss will hurt just as much.

It might have been no frills for Thierry Henry and co but for the rest of us it was hilarious.

Disgusting, unacceptable and acting like kids is how the media has seen it over there.

President Sarkozy has also waded into the row and an internal conference is set for next month to determine the culprits.

I think this is what is commonly known as karma.

HENRY’S infamous handball to get France to the World Cup at the expense of Ireland was brought up again this week with Swedish referee Martin Hansson admitting he cried when he realised what a mistake he had made by allowing the goal to stand.

And now it’s the French who will be crying into their coffee cups.

IT’S not often that I want Argentina to do well, but I’m glad they beat the ultra-negative Greeks.

Their ugly, anti-football was awful to watch. It’s not how the beautiful game should be played.

Here’s a statstic for the anoraks, like me, that backs up the point; the entire Greek squad passed the ball over the 90 minutes just once more than Juan Veron alone.

A CERTAIN sign has caused a stir in Workington this week. Blue Sq Bet had a Town sign erected on Borough Park to the displeasure of the football faithful. What’s the odds on the sign being right next time?

REDS ticket prices have gone up by 20 per cent for adults. Season tickets for kids have gone up too and again the natives are restless.

The price hike was inevitable after four years but I hope the board reconsiders the kids’ prices. They are the next generation of pie eaters, beer drinkers and programme buyers so the club cannot afford to price them out.

PRE-season training begins tomorrow for Reds.

Edmo has brought the lads back earlier than last year in a bid to start the season well.

Reds started slowly last year and were hampered by players being on holiday during the pre-season fixtures.

A gruelling programme has been devised with fitness tests being undertaken on day-one to assess initial fitness levels.

Four trialists will be taking part, hoping to win a contract for next season.

Edmo said: “It’s an important time of the season. The lads will be worked hard in a bid to improve on last year.”

First published at 19:22, Thursday, 24 June 2010
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk