Sporting Miscellanies

There was a time when winning the 'double' - lifting the League and FA Cup in the same season - was considered the very pinnacle of English football.

But times have changed. The riches on offer for merely turning up for a Champions League game have ensured, for some, there's greater glory in finishing fourth in the Premier League than actually winning a trophy.

Few people even refer to the 'double' any more and if they did, they certainly wouldn't belittle a modern 'double' by including the FA Cup, sadly.

But the Liverpool website took it too far this week when, for a Javier Mascherano interview the headline read, 'Masch: We can do the double'. According to Britain's most successful club, the 'double' actually now means winning the Europa League and, er, finishing fourth.

After 885 days, Bale is finally making hay at last

It finally happened. A mere 885 days, 1721 minutes of playing time and three different managers after his debut, Tottenham defender Gareth Bale, at long last, started and finished a Premier League game on the winning team.

Bale slung the monkey from his back in style with a man-of-the-match performance as Harry Redknapp's team beat Fulham 2-0 at White Hart Lane this week. Twenty nine months passed between his first game for Spurs and Tuesday's landmark win. In that time, Bale started just 22 League games, with Spurs drawing 10 and losing 12.

Now, if Spurs could just end that miserable,
long-standing record of their own ­— 49 years without a League title — people might stop making fun of north London's poorer relations.

Football's facing boot

American Football is facing meltdown. If no deal can be agreed within five weeks, there will be no salary cap next season. For our US cousins, such a scenario is unthinkable.

Removing the salary cap will ensure the richest clubs can hoover up the best talent, pay higher wages than their rivals and create a divide that could kill competition.

Some doom-mongers are even suggesting there could be no NFL at all for the 2011-2012 season if there's no cap.

American sport thrives on competition, equality and fairness. No wonder they've never really taken to soccer'.

China's bribery scandal

A Chinese newspaper reported this week that players bribed officials for places at the national football team's training camp — and paid even bigger ones to play international matches.

According to the Shanghai Oriental Morning Post, bribes of £9,000 would secure a place at the camp, while £18,500 would ensure a call-up to an official match. Scandalous.

Rumours that such a policy was in place during the ill-fated regimes of former England manager's Graham Taylor, Kevin Keegan or Steve McClaren have yet to be proved.

Twitter of the week

My last day as a single man. Any ideas of what to do that don't involve a strip club, 15
pints and sobbing on a mate's shoulder?

England spin bowler Graeme Swann tweets yesterday prior to his marriage to Sarah James today.