Sporting Miscellanies

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

In his own mind, if perhaps nowhere else, Steve McClaren's rehabilitation goes from strength to strength. Fresh from victory over Ajax, and top of the Dutch league with FC Twente, he even feels emboldened to counsel Fabio Capello. His England successor should win the World Cup, Steve tells the Independent, and then quit on top. Well, he'd know all about that. As for the ribbing he received over that bizarre affectation of a Dutch accent, here we find the former national coach in giggly mood. "I thought it was funny, actually," he says of the astonished reaction. "You've got to learn to laugh." If you're Schteve McClaaaren, indeed you must. For when the laughter fades, what can remain but stinging tears of shame?

Gunners goon about

In a dramatic pictorial rebuttal to claims that his squad are still too young to challenge for the title, Arsene Wenger sends four of his nippers (Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, Bacary Sagna and Andrey Arshavin) to the kindergarten fancy dress ball. It's either that, or they're shooting the video for Arsenal's designated charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Reality check, please

As for Nicklas Bendtner's absence from the above photo, this is believed to be due to the bashfulness to which he's such a stoical martyr. The Dane spoke this week of expecting to be top scorer in the World Cup, and of one day becoming one of the world's best strikers. One of? The world's? For God's sake, Nicky, shake off that crippling reticence, and say it after me . . . I will be the greatest striker in the galaxy, I will be the greatest . . . It's like Dorothy repeating "there's no place like home" in the Wizard of Oz or "build it and they will come" from Field of Dreams. Only when you truly believe do dreams come true. For now, though, there's always the Arsenal bench.