Freddie Flintoff - What a character!

It is safe to presume that when you think of Andrew Flintoff, you think two things, Freddie and Character. Maybe one other thing pops into your mind, Ashes 2005 legend. Whilst the 1981 Ashes belonged to Ian Botham, maybe the 2005 Ashes belonged to Freddie. Yes he played excellent cricket, took 24 wickets at an average of 27.29 runs and scored 402 runs, averaging 40.2, but surely the two best images of Freddie from those Ashes were two that best described his personality and affection with not only the British public, but the world who were watching. The iconic image where he shakes Brett Lee's hand after the second test which England narrowly won and the drunken images of him on top of the open top parade bus with very red eyes and a stumble matched only by George Best. This showed his humility as a person, understanding the professionalism and sportsmanship that he holds as a top class sportsman and also that he is a normal person, one of us you could say...who enjoys a drink just as much as the rest of us. How often do we see sportspeople enjoying a drink in public now? We're British, we love this kind of jovial behaviour! In my eyes - and hopefully yours - he will retire a true British sporting hero who played tough with his heart on his sleeve, played fair but also enjoyed himself and had a relationship with the public that you wont often see a sportsman have.

Freddie is a wonderful player and even though he may not be as strong as he was in 2005 due to the several injuries he has had, he still managed to raise the voice of the crowd in Cardiff last week and managed to spark a good spell from Stuart Broad and a double wicket taking spell from James Anderson. He also introduced Philip Hughes properly into Ashes cricket with a few bouncers and a terrific ball that nipped back for an inside edge to Matt Prior. It is vitally important that he remains injury free (though at the time of writing, he may miss the second test because of his knee) and plays as much as he can before his retirement. He has to be involved just because he gets the other players and the crowd 'up for it'. Every player has to be fighting against the Aussies in this Ashes series and Freddie will make sure that they are.

Looking back at Flintoff's career, it is very creditable and worthy of such note. In 75 matches, he has scored 3645 runs at an average of 31.69 and taken 218 wickets at 32.07 including two 5fors. OK so his figures may not set the world alight but when he has played, he has arguably been consistently England's best bowler over the last decade and a real impact batsman who has scored vital runs - his batting figures from the 2005 Ashes prove this. He will certainly be missed by England and fans alike, most notably, this writer.

Who can fill such a void? How about Stuart Broad? Early indications would show that he can bat with a level head and grab wickets, but only if you ignore his first test outing in Cardiff last week. I feel he suffered to get his head around the moment and build up much steam. He was no where near as aggressive with the ball as he should have been. On the plus note, to save the game, he did face 47 time wasting balls and had a respectable partnership of 32 with Graeme Swann. If Broad gets aggressive, becomes more dependable with the bat and raise his overall spirit, he can certainly be a very good player...he bowls at a decent pace and less importantly, he has a great hair cut.

Moving on to another candidate who is already involved is Graeme Swann. Obviously, he is not a pace bowler, nor is he recognised as an all rounder, but he is seen as a bowler who can bat. You may wonder why have I put him out there, but he can bat as shown with his 31 in the second innings last week and he can bowl, being England's leading wicket taker over the last twelve months. He just needs to take his time between balls, evaluate each ball he bowls and relax. I found him too eager to get through his over. It obviously backfired because he collected no wickets. Swann also has that uncanny ability to have a laugh but remain serious and professional when needed. Only this week I saw him on television describing the players who were best dressed, trained the best etc. and he blatantly mixes well with the players and creates that banter, much like Freddie. Expect a humorous autobiography from him in the future.

Who are the other candidates to take the mantle? Names we could throw into the hat include Luke Wright of Sussex and England Twenty20 fame, James Harris of Glamorgan - a rising young star who already has plenty of runs and wickets in the county championship and Adil Rashid.

Freddie will exit the England test fold and he will leave behind not only a cricketing legacy of passion, prodigious talent and aggression, England will also lose that character we love, the one player that other players wordwide truly respect and behaviour that can be linked to the everyday person of the UK. Test cricket is important to England and without him, it's going to be that little bit more difficult.

Manchester United - Arrogant or Confident?

Before I endulge fully in the context of this blog, I would like to remind you all that I am a massive Manchester United fan. I follow all the results, all the news, all the latest kit launches and all the latest signings deep down to wanting to know about the financial mess the club is in due to the takeover five years ago. During the 2006-2007 season when we reclaimed the league title, my family had a season ticket in the old scoreboard end in the top tier and I was able to watch some of the matches. Never have I been to an arena so splendid. By the way, out of all the players I saw at Old Trafford that season, Henrik Larsson was the one that stood out and the one I always tell my mates I was glad to have seen play. Although I did see Ronaldo smash that free kick in against the helpless David James!...it was quite erotic.

Anyway, that is neither here or there (and worrying). I write this blog on the day United have 'lost out' on another player to Real 'more money than there is in the whole world' Madrid. In this case, it's the French player Karim Benzema. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of him but thats not the point. Madrid are buying like gypsies in a car boot sale and they are buying big. The fact that Ronaldo went there is the main spine of this argument. In my opinion, United did very well to receive £80 million in one payment and a huge profit of £68 million in his original £12 million cost. What drives me mental is that many pundits have said, "Why would he want to move? He's at the biggest club in the world, the best club at the world". That is such a general statment and in todays football climate, it obviously is not true. The pundits on MUTV (United's own TV channel of which I am a subscriber) are of course going to be as bias as Russia were towards Communism, but all these comments of big and best just really yank my proverbial plank.

If United are to move forward as a club then they need to shake off this 'arrogance' tag that is quickly being labelled to them. Lets look at the facts. United are currently not the best team on the planet as so many writers and pundits have said. Barcelona are. They absolutely pumped us 2-0 in Rome with a side that is full of home based talent. United have won the European cup 3 times compared to Madrid's 8. United play in front of 76,000 fans, Madrid 90,000+. United is in Manchester which equals terrible weather and terrible accents, whilst Madrid is a baking hot city in a country full of amazing footballers and the ever increasing value of the Euro. Players like Ronaldo have achieved everything they could have at United, he won every domestic trophy, ever domestic award, the European Cup, World Club Cup and the European and World player awards so he had nothing left to achieve. OK, so United are better than Madrid right now but you can surely understand that Ronaldo is a man of considerable ambition as well as talent. He has been given an opportunity to turn Madrid into a force again and fulfil a lifetime ambiton of wearing that famous bird faeces coloured kit. Although I am disappointed by his departure, I am not surprised and being a huge fan of Sir Alex Ferguson, he always turns it around in United's favour as has been prooved by the departure of some top names in the past.

These top names have also jumped ship to Madrid including messers Beckham, Heinze and van Nistelrooy. Are Man United becoming an unofficial feeder club to Madrid!? It certainly seems that way! How can United be branded the biggest club in the world when their biggest names have left in recent years? Most importantly, they have all wanted to leave having their arguments with the fuhrer Ferguson. In time, Ferguson has been proved right and again I'm sure he will be once more but there does appear to be an arrogance that United is the best place to play in the world so why leave? Yes the club has a great history and yes the club is one of the biggest and top teams in the world but the best, the biggest? Right now, they are certainly not and right now, players will continue to be lured towards Madrid and the money. Kaka, Benzema and potentially Ribery are all proving this. They have all, reportedly, turned down United to join Madrid. Whilst, respectably, United have had to settle for a winger from Wigan!

Ronaldo is a great player, one of the best to play at Old Trafford and although the money is incredible, success at United is worth more than cash. However, every player has their value and every player has ambitions. His did not lie at United and that is why he went. Surely this shows that the best player in the world is not at the biggest and best club if he wants to leave. And if United are the biggest team in the world then why are none of the world's top players joining them?

Lets just hope that this arrogance does not come back to haunt United. Lets just hope that Nani actually plays football this year instead of comparing himself to Ronaldo and fancying him.