Button goes in reverse to realise a dream

June 7, 2009: Barcelona had just been crowned Champions of Europe, Michael Jackson was rehearsing for his 'This is it tour' and Swine Flu was on the verge of being announced as a global pandemic.

It is also the date that Jenson Button was last victorious in a Formula One race, ten races ago, at the Turkish grand prix.

This statistic would not be so astonishing were it not for the fact that the boy from Frome, Somerset, went on to become world champion.

The season went from one low points finish to another but it mattered little as his rivals put up little fight and he was crowned champion with a race to spare.

In fact, Jenson only finished higher than fifth on one occasion between that victory in Istanbul and clinching the title in Sao Paulo, Brazil five months later.

A worthy champion ?

Before this season there was nothing to suggest Button would ever become an F1 world champion; and since that fifth place finish at Interlagos two weeks ago many have asked the whether Button is a worthy champion. In a word: "no".

Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy and a talented Formula One driver but it takes so much more to be deemed a rightful F1 world champion.

In living memory it is difficult to think of a less deserving champion than the former Williams and Honda driver.

Here is a list of recent Formula One champions: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Schumacher, Hakkinen.

Button is not even fit to tie their shoelaces; even the much-maligned Damon Hill was a serial title threat and had to withstand immense pressure to eventually wrap up his title in 1996 at the season finale at Suzuka, Japan.

Impressive debut

He made his debut amid much fanfare in the year 2000 and made an impressive start to his career with the Williams team, managing to out-perform his more experienced team-mate Ralf Schumacher.

However, the Englishman went on to spend eight largely unsuccessful seasons meandering around some of the worlds most famous race tracks, barely unsettling the established order.

Nevertheless, he did win his maiden grand prix in 2006, in Hungary, but it took him 113 races to reach this milestone and he seemed certain to be consigned to the history books as a mere race winner and not a champion.

That was until a remarkable change of luck at the beginning of this season.

Changing the rules

A dramatic change of the rules, which at the time were described as some of the biggest the sport had ever seen, within Formula One, saw the newly formed Brawn team come up with an ingenious technical advantage.

The chassis of their car gave them an immediate and substantial advantage over their rivals, at least for the first few races of the season, whilst the other teams adapted much more slowly to these new regulations.

Ferrari and McLaren had dropped the ball and were left languishing down the field, which aided the team Brawn effort.

All this fortune meant that a driver whose career was going nowhere was now in a car so far ahead of the rest that it was almost impossible not to win races.

No competition

Button's other stroke of luck was that his team-mate was another Formula One also-ran, Rubens Barrichello, who, like the Briton, took more than 100 races to win a grand prix.

To the 29-year-old's credit he took full advantage and won six of the first seven races whilst his car was so much better than the competition.

But that sixth victory proved to be his last of the season and he ended up winning the title more through the fact that his competitors were left tripping over themselves or that the best drivers on the grid; Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were all in inferior machinery.

So the man from Somerset effectively reversed into winning this year's title, but what about the style in which he achieved his success.

Lacklustre champion

I spoke to Gemma Briggs, The Guardian's weekly Formula One columnist, about Button's recent title win. who said: “He's not a worthy champion. Not at all.''

She continued: “Not just because of his lack of victories in the latter stages of the season but for me he lacks the aggression of a true champion.

“When you compare him to other champions there was a distinct lack of fireworks as he won his world championship in a somewhat lacklustre manner, particularly in comparison to last year's champion Lewis Hamilton who was always making things happen. Button, though, would, in his own serene way, just lead from the front or cruise and collect points in his efforts to win the title, lacking flamboyancy.”

And what of the future? Next year it is inevitable that McLaren and Ferrari will be much more on the pace and Brawn will have a fight on their hands to retain both the drivers and constructors titles they earned this year.

Tough enough?

A renaissance from the top teams is certain, but what is equally sure will be the motivation of the other drivers to topple Button from his lofty perch.

If he thought it was tough to cross the finish line first this year, things are just about to get even tougher.

When the going gets tough, it is difficult to know whether Button is tough enough to get tougher and any talk of a move to McLaren is likely to be much like the wind flying out of the rear of his engine- hot air.

So this season will almost certainly have been just a flash in the pan for Button and if he wins another world title, I will eat my exhaust pipe.

Is Federer the greatest?

So the dust has settled and Switzerland's Roger Federer has achieved an unprecedented 15 Grand Slam titles, overtaking Pete Sampras' previous best of 14. Federer can also lay claim to the fact that he has won all four of the Grand Slams, something only five others have done in the history of the game. Finally, he also holds the record for most consecutive weeks as the world's number one, 237. With all this in mind, surely he is the greatest of all time...

While there are several reasons to suggest he is the greatest, there is one over-riding argument against it- Rafael Nadal is better. So, despite reclaiming top spot from his Spanish nemesis with that victory at Wimbledon, until he overcomes Nadal, doubts will persist as to his true claim to be the best ever.

The rankings are currently giving a false reading, depending on injuries and various other quirks of the points scoring system, take note of the Williams' sisters bizarrely being ranked below Safina in the women's list.

It is highly unlikely we would even be talking about Federer's feats had Nadal stayed fit for the last two Grand Slams. The Mallorca born Nadal would undoubtedly have won the French, something he had done for the previous four years beating Federer en route to victory on each occasion, but for a knee injury curtailing his progress early on in the tournament. Admittedly Federer was there to pick up the pieces but he has never even come close to defeating Nadal on clay, with the exception of a fortuitous win in Hamburg two years ago.

When we look at the previous three Wimbledon's too, we notice a pattern. Remember, this is Federer's strongest surface- in 2007 he came through to win the title against Nadal in somewhat fortunate circumstances, Rafa was on top until a knee injury prevented him from performing at his best for the final dozen or so games and Roger managed to take full advantage. In 2008, Nadal outplayed his opponent and probably played the best match of not only his life, but displayed arguably the greatest tennis performance in the history of the game to beat Federer in that memorable final. And then to 2009, Federer has been on the wane for the previous 12 months and his record against Nadal getting ever worse. Their current head to head in Grand Slams stands at 9-6 in the Spaniard's favour, winning five of the last six meetings. But those statistics are put into greater perspective when we look at their head to head in Grand Slams where Nadal leads 5-2, winning the last three in a row. So it is difficult to imagine Federer winning this year's Wimbledon with a fully fit Nadal in opposition.

The 2009 competition contained some exciting matches that enthralled the crowd as much any other Wimbledon in previous years but the overall quality was probably at its lowest since 2003. Can you really imagine Andy Roddick pushing Nadal to five sets and to 14 all in the final set? Can you really imagine a fully fit Nadal only breaking the American's serve once in nearly 40 games as Federer managed in that final?

This is not to say that Federer cannot do something about it. Should he dispel the myth that Nadal has the Indian sign over him and actually beat him in a fair contest in the future and perhaps improve his record against him then he could defintitely be the unequivocally claimed as the greatest. It is just that I highly doubt that he will do that. Nadal's career, when his knees are strong enough, has been on a permanent upward curve whilst Federer's has actually been in decline for about two years now, and unless he can rediscover that forehand that used to be so deadly I do not even know of he will win any more slams at all.

Much, of course, depends on Nadal's long term fitness. Basically, there are two realistic possibilities, either Nadal never fully recovers and Federer collects a few more Slams but in the shadow of Nadal's absence or Nadal will continue to overpower his Swiss opponent. Either way, Federer's claim to be the greatest will always be overshadowed by Nadal.

Can the world's greatest ever player be the second best player in the world?

Nadal halts the Fed express

After Andy Murray's dramatic victory last night he is still on course for this year's Wimbledon final. However, he still has some way to go to reach the standard of play set in last year's final by the sport's current Galacticos in what was probably the greatest tennis match of all time.

The greatest tennis match ever? Nadal halts the Fed express

As darkness was descending upon Centre Court the reign of Roger Federer as Wimbledon Champion for the last 5 years was coming to an end but what had occurred over the previous five playing hours of tennis will live long in the memory. This game ebbed and flowed and will go down in history as one of the greatest Wimbledon finals ever. The statistics will read 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 in Rafael Nadal's favour but that barely tells the story of this sensational match.

They said before that Federer's crown was beginning to waiver before this final, despite an imperious journey to the showpiece event. They said that illness aligned with the parting of ways with his coach over the last twelve months had had a destabilising effect on the boy from Basel. He had lost at both the Australian Open Semi-final and then in last month's French Open Final in demoralising fashion. They said that if he failed to win at Wimbledon it would back up their belief that he was no longer the player he once was. Well the obituary writers on Federer's career can stop scribing, despite his ultimate failure to retain his title.

It was looking as though the doubters would be proved right as Nadal opened up an early 2 set advantage. This was the Spaniard at his absolute best. Time after time he emerged victorious from long rallies with his Swiss opponent either through his own brilliance or an unforced error from Federer, especially from the Champion's forehand which is exactly how Federer lost his serve for the first time in the 4th game of the opening set. Nadal did not look back and seemed to be in a hurry. No doubt hoping to inflict a similar straight sets humiliation on the World number one to the one he inflicted at Roland Garos a few weeks ago. First set Nadal.

Federer showed some initial fightback at the beginning of the 2nd set by taking a 4-1 lead only for Nadal to to come out the stronger, winning 5 games in a row to win the set 6-4, despite a code violation for taking too much time between points. Federer had surprisingly complained prior to the match about Nadal's slowness between points and it seemed as though his words had been read by today's umpire but it ultimately seemed superfluous as Nadal's rhythm continued uninterrupted.

By now Federer's doubters were in full swing. The forehand weakening, the demeanour cowering, the scoreboard depressing for his SW19 following.

Nadal, on the other hand, was feeling more and more at home. Even the shoes scraped Wimbledon's dry surface in a manner more associated with the clay courts he was brought up on back home in Mallorca.

It was beginning to look as though Spain would be able to celebrate their second International sporting success in 7 days.

Roger Federer, though, did not become World Number 1 and have an unbeaten record at Wimbledon stretching back 6 years and 41 games without having character and character is what he showed as the match took a new twist. He won the 3rd set via a tie break with a trademark ace. Game on.

Nadal was bidding to become the first player since the watching Bjorn Borg to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, as well as the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon since Manuel Santana in 1966 but it was starting to appear as though that quest may yet have to wait another year.

If the game had been of an extremely high quality before, it now reached a new plane altogether. So many points were being contested by either player it was difficult at times for the watching public to keep up but they knew they were witnessing something special provided by the planet's 2 best players.

Having won the 3rd set, Federer seemed to have an extra spring in his step but Nadal was giving as good as he was getting. To the purist the 4th set was serving control at its absolute best sending the set towards an inevitable tie break- and what a tie break.

The first 3 points went against serve before Nadal seized initial control, taking a 5-2 lead. Federer fought back to lead 6-5 and have a set point only for Nadal to win the next 2 points to have Championship point. He could not convert. No matter. Another one arrived seconds later as he now led the tie break 8-7 after an amazing passing shot down the line. However, Federer then executed one of the best backhands of his illustrious career to not only save another Championship point but to assist him on his way to taking the tie break 10-8.

The All England Club gasped for breath as we entered a 5th and deciding set. At 2-2 and deuce on the Federer serve the rain entered the fray again, having briefly interrupted the 4th set as well.

The master-class continued from both players. Federer resumed with two aces. Incredible. 3-2.

Surely there has never been a match with so many close line calls. Even Hawk Eye's eyes were beginning to strain.

In this ultimate set Nadal was always serving 2nd giving him an obvious disadvantage as he was constantly serving to save the match, as well as the psychological disappointment of seeing a 2 set lead evaporate before his very eyes.

The next 2 games went with serve. In the 8th game of the set Federer managed to acquire his 13th break point (he had only managed to convert 1 of his previous 12) and it proved to be unlucky. It also proved to be his last.

Time and again Nadal served almost faultlessly under the most immense pressure. His play reaped its reward when he finally managed to break his opponent's serve to take an 8-7 lead. He attained 2 more Championship points as he served knowing he just had to close out the match. Federer saved 1 incredibly but not the 2nd.

This was the 3rd Wimbledon final in a row contested by the 2 giants of today's game. Do not bet against them making it a 4th in 2009.

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Money for old rope?

So the expenses row looks like it just will not go away. No sooner has one high profile figure moved out of office, than another joins the bandwagon of departures.

Of course, the biggest of them all came last week. The one that really shuddered even the most shuddered.

When Manchester United finally confirmed that Christiano Ronaldo would be leaving the 'Theatre of Dreams' to pursue his own life-long dream in an entirely different theatre it seems to have triggered all sorts of crazy talk with highly inflated figures for above average footballers.

There has been all sorts of conjecture regarding the justification of such fees. To be fair, the debate regarding the justification of spending 80 million pounds on arguably the best footballer on the planet seems to be a fairly even one. Sure, it is a lot of money but how do you replace 67 goals, two Premier League titles and two Champions' League finals in two years with the promise of more to follow? With great difficulty, even if you have 80 million in your pocket.

However, the debate on whether Zlatan Imbrahimovic is worth the same amount has to be an emphatic 'no'. Even Real Madrid were scared off by the fee quoted them by Inter. Even if Ronaldo is worth 80 million then that would make the Swedish international striker who has never scored a goal in a Champions' League knock-out game worth about 20 million (25, tops).

So who would you like at your club? Ribery for 60 million? Villa for 40? Eto'o for 15-20? Or, if you're a little further down the league and looking for a cheaper option you might need to be looking at academies and rejects. Anyone want Michael Owen for nothing?

Shattered dreams

The pre-match feeling had Manchester United as slight favourites owing to a far superior defence and an abilty to strike in seconds, see their semi-final against Arsenal.

Suspension and injury to key defenders put paid to any defensive stability Barcelona may have had, aligned with moving Toure from a holding midfield role to central defence.

So the ball arrives at Evra's feet on the edge of the area, the next moment a wonderful cross is met with a remarkable header at full stretch from the world's best player, albeit assited by some ''shoddy'' defending, and the ball is nestled in the net.

Only, the shoddy defending belonged to Manchester United. The lack of tracking back also belonged to the champions. And when the ball arrived at Evra's feet, he panicked and his unnecessarily rushed clearance went straight to Xavi. He in turn was left way too much time and space to deliver a chipped cross which Messi expertly headed home.

Oh how Ferguson must have wished for injury-prone Hargreaves or the suspended Fletcher to have been available for this game. Their absence was sorely felt but, to be fair, United were outclassed all over the pitch and in a season of facts we are left with an undeniable one- Barcelona stand alone at the pinnacle of Europe's tree- and that's a fact!

Ronaldo's top five hissy fits of 2008/09

After Ronaldo vented his displeasure at being substituted in yesterday’s Manchester derby it added to the list of tantrums from the Manchester United star this season. Here are just a few more:

1. v Arsenal, April 2009

With United looking comfortable and Ronaldo on top form, the Portuguese winger falls to the ground after a challenge from Arsenal left back Keiran Gibbs. Ronaldo illustrated his displeasure at the lack of a free kick with a ‘hissy fit’ that would’ve been more appropriate in a playground- arms flailing and feet stamping.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKVD7s3HiE4

2. v Fulham, March 2009

This time it was referee Phil Dowd who saw more than he had bargained for. Ronaldo, after repeatedly being denied free kicks, decided to bare the top of his thigh to show Dowd exactly where he had been hurt. Dowd responded by showing his own leg.

3. v Newcastle United, March 2009

Newcastle defender Steven Taylor annoyed Ronaldo so much during this season’s Premier League clash at St. James’ Park that the Manchester United star reportedly accused his opponent of being a rubbish footballer. Taylor retorted by allegedly saying that at least he wasn’t ugly.

4. v Sunderland, December 2008

After taking a blow to the chest, Ronaldo proceeded to wince and complain for a few minutes before jogging off the pitch and down the tunnel, with no indication to a startled home bench. Ronaldo had substituted himself!

5. v Manchester City, November 2008

With United winning 1-0 and set for three points in the Manchester derby, Christiano concludes he’s not happy with a corner. Instead of heading the ball, he decides to catch it. Unfortunately for Ronaldo, the referee decreed it as a deliberate hand ball and a second bookable offence. Fergie suggested Ronaldo may have heard a whistle, others thought he may have been concerned with messing up his hair.

Miss-firing squad

It's a squad game these days someone once said. And Sir Alex Ferguson recently proclaimed this current squad to be his best ever. Better than the double winning squad of '94. Better even than the treble winners of '99. So, that being the case, where is it all going wrong?

The answer has been presumed that Sir Alex's confidence was miss-placed. However, perhaps the real answer lies in the fact that it is not necessarily a squad game. First elevens do actually win the trophies and not the reserves.

A lot is about timing it to perfection and in terms of having your first eleven available at the crucial time of the season when the wheat and the chaff are separated.

Just take last season, for example, both Manchester United and Chelsea had their first teams available and their benches were without absentees either. Memorably Park Ji Sung couldn't make the bench as even Louis Saha managed to put on a tracksuit without pulling a hamstring. The same could be said for Manchester United's final league game when their whole squad was available.

Then imagine that final last May without Ronaldo or Ferdinand or even Wes Brown. Would they have emerged triumphant?

Many talk about a lack of depth in Liverpool's squad this season, citing the fact that they can't cope in Gerrard or Torres' absence but there is no way Manchester United would win a significant trophy were there to be a prolonged absence for Rooney or Ronaldo.

The sooner the Red Devils can get their big guns back fit- Ferdinand, Brown (yes, he's a big gun), Berbatov- and their big guns who have been miss-firing - Ronaldo, Carrick, Vidic, Evra- back on form the better and perhaps Man Utd's season can be rescued.

I have a hunch that Wednesday night's return in Porto may see one of those special European performances to rival that of Roma at home in 2007 or Barcelona away in 1998 but I also had a hunch that Roy Evans would deliver Liverpool's first league for many years back in 1997... and they are still waiting.