Athletically they were freaks: Westbrook the most physically-talented guard to ever play his sport; Ronaldo dedicated to his physical condition in a way football had never known before

The show is badly in need of a fresh approach. It is crying out for an outsider to present it, with the Second Captains and Off the Ball stables being obvious port of calls

The game in Hampden Park is a pivotal moment in not just Irish women’s sport but in Irish football, dwarfing the recent meeting of the two countries in the men’s Nations League

In an interview he gave to me 10 years ago in this paper, Larry Tompkins spoke about what player was his greatest influence. It was Brian Mullins

It was hardly the kind of victory he was looking for in Hampden over the weekend but Stephen Kenny at least had the consolation of winning over an initial sceptic of his in Liam Brady

We like to think and claim that we’re a great sporting nation but then a Spanish team or athlete wins yet again to put things in perspective – and us in our place

Writing in the foreword of Intensity, Klopp, with his customary self-confidence and generosity, explains that while Lijnders was “tentative” and “conscientious” when first floating the project past his boss, they concluded that the merits and motives of the book were too good and too pure to dismiss.

When we grumble we’ve to ensure it’s not loud or vehement enough for my son’s generation to be another that is reared on thinking the refs are there to be blamed rather than thanked

McIlroy is becoming the face and voice of a major sport and becoming all the more comfortable with that elevation and level of recognition and responsibility

Finally he’s got it. And finally they got it right.