DANIEL LEVY : TOTTENHAM'S NEMESIS.

Clive Allen, a former player and coach for Tottenham Hotspur FC, is quoted today as saying that the club's chairman, Daniel Levy, is an "incredible" businessman but is "not a football man". I've seen similar comments elsewhere.

Sadly, I think Mr Allen has got it wrong. Not only is Levy "not a football man", he's an appalling businessman. Tottenham are not a poor club and they have the backing of a reclusive billionaire owner, Joe Lewis, whose 'ENIC' investment company bought a majority shareholding in 2001, when Levy replaced Alan Sugar as Chairman. Since then, the club has had a succession of managers, both 'permanent' and 'temporary', and has won nothing of real note; it's one League Cup victory in 2008 can hardly be called major silverware.

The sad truth is that Levy's understanding of football is poor and his understanding of its management even poorer. Within a month of taking control, Levy sacked the then manager, George Graham and has since appointed and sacked 7 more; additionally, the team has had to endure 3 spells of acting managership, 2 with David Pleat and one with Clive Allen. With the ludicrous sacking of Tim Sherwood after only 5 months in post, Tottenham face yet another management upheaval in advance of next season.

At the same time that he's been busy sacking managers, Levy's also been busy making sure that those same managers lost their best players and were given unsatisfactory replacements. Carrick, Modric, Berbatov and Bale all exited, admittedly for large amounts of cash, but the cash has then been squandered on a mish-mash of players who have almost all failed to make the grade. In the last year, Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela were bought for a combined total of around £60m, neither proving much use to the team. Etienne Capoue and Nacer Chadli have hardly played and Paulinho has faded somewhat after a bright start. Only Christian Eriksen has really been a success although Vlad Chiriches has certainly had his moments. The final result is that a team full of expensive foreign stars, and peppered with some excellent home-grown talent too, has been slaughtered by the top sides and has struggled to beat the minnows.

Given the length of time he's been in the job, one would have thought that Levy would, by now, understand that managers need time to build their own sides; a few months or even a couple of years are simply not enough to mould success from a disparate group. Sadly, he has not learnt this and his shameful treatment of the hapless Sherwood is just the latest in a long line of appalling acts.

That he does not understand football is a given. If changing manager every year or 2, selling your best players and buying others for whom the manager has no desire is good business, then he's a good businessman. I see it as wasting vast amounts of money on paying off a succession of managers, selling off the family jewels and wasting the proceeds on buying into speculative ventures that usually fail. Looked at in these terms, Levy has been an abysmal failure as a businessman. He has ruined a great club and it's time he went.

BBC SPORTS' COVERAGE - IS THERE ANY, EXCEPT FOOTBALL ?

The BBC seems to believe that 'sport' = football.

Today's 'sports' slot on the Radio 4 programme 'Today' at 8:30ish gave several minutes to a discussion about the expected omission of one Ashley Cole from England's world cup football squad and gave very little attention to anything else. A few seconds were devoted to telling listeners that Lewis Hamilton had won a grand prix and Martin Kaymer a golf tournament. The only other item was the utterly pointless racing tips, though with no mention of any racing results.

Our national summer sport, cricket, was not mentioned even though the latest round of county championship matches started yesterday. Nothing was said regarding other performers behind Hamilton and Kaymer in their respective events, and nothing was said about tennis, in which there had been a significant final played on Sunday. There was no coverage of the rugby union play-off matches, nor of the rugby league 'Super league'; the UK athletic championships. Cycling, in which there is a major event taking place, was ignored.

Once upon a time, the BBC covered a wide variety of sports in excellent fashion. Today, they seem to have given up covering most sports and even given up reporting on all but football, unless, of course, a British competitor happens to be doing well. How Martin Kaymer, a German, managed to get a mention is a bit of a mystery though he is a citizen of the EU, so perhaps this helped to shoe-horn him in.

Apart from events which they cover in detail, fewer and fewer every year, the BBC gives no coverage worth the name to any sport except football. Cricket is almost forgotten even though it is our national sport. The replacement for the old 'teletext' is so poor in its coverage of most sports as to be useless - it is updated rarely and, again, devotes almost all of its energies to football.

It really is time for this once great organisation to be switched off or, at least, to have to fight for viewers as its competitors do. The licence fee has to go, even if the BBC does not.

MARK SELBY - WORTHY CHAMPION.

In an absorbing final, Mark Selby fought his way back from a 5 frame deficit to beat defending champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan 18-14. Early on, O'Sullivan seemed likely to run away with the crown for a third successive year as a weary looking Selby proved unable to construct any meaningful breaks. Somehow, Selby did cling on and even won the last 2 frames of the first day to trail by only 7-10 overnight.

On day 2, Selby was a different man and it was O'Sullivan who appeared on the edge. Selby won the first 4 frames of the day for a run of 6 altogether and a lead of 11-10. Although O'Sullivan drew level again, some uncharacteristic misses allowed Selby to pull away again as he grew in authority with every passing frame. In the end, it was almost a comfortable victory.

Selby is a worthy champion and also regained the top spot in the world rankings. Now all he has to do is to retain the title next year, something which no one has ever done at the Crucible following their first win there. I wouldn't bet against him.

ELENA BALTACHA TAKEN BEFORE HER TIME.

The death of Elena Baltacha makes this a sad day indeed.

Baltacha was a fine tennis player who battled ill health for most of her career. Despite this, she became British number 1 and rose to gain a place amongst the world's top 50 women players. While she was no world beater, her powerful style of play caused many upsets and she was always an exciting player to watch.

Ill health finally ground her down and she retired from competition in 2013 to concentrate on her tennis academy and family life. Sadly, she was destined to enjoy neither for very long and the liver cancer with which she was only diagnosed a few weeks ago has claimed her life at the tender age of 30.

The world of tennis, indeed the world itself, is much poorer for her passing.

CURLING - OUR NEW NATIONAL SPORT !

Most of the 'Winter Olympics' leaves me cold but Curling is different. A few years ago, millions of people stayed up until the small hours to watch Rhona Martin and her team win Gold by beating Switzerland in the Curling final in Salt Lake City. Suddenly, a pretty unknown sport took centre stage in the British psyche.

Today, another British women's team, though all actually Scots, took on another Swiss team, this time for the Bronze medal in Sochi. Defeat by the all-conquering Canadians in the semi-final was a huge disappointment but our girls picked themselves up, held their nerve and won a tense match to clinch the medal. At an average age of only 23, Anna Sloan, Vicky Adams, Claire Hamilton and 'skip' Eve Muirhead, did themselves proud and, tomorrow, the British men's Curling team play for the Gold medal against Canada after beating world champions Sweden in a nerve jangling semi-final. 

Who would ever have thought that 'Bowls on ice' would be so enthralling ? ! 

SIX NATIONS STARTS TO BOIL !

Now that the 6-Nations competition is well and truly underway, the teams are beginning to sort themselves out.

Week 1 kicked off with a feisty Italy giving Wales a bit of scare in Cardiff. The home side had built a healthy half-time lead before the visitors roared back and the final score of 23-15 was a bit closer than the Welsh would have liked or expected. This was a decent performance from Italy, who showed more mobility and attacking intent than previously, and a rather poor one from Wales. Keeping their title will not be easy if this is going to be their standard of play.

The weekend's second game was in Paris where England, full of expectations, were the visitors. Shock, horror ! Lax play from the start saw France score a try within 30 seconds and add another after little more than a quarter of an hour; a couple of French penalties to one for England saw the home side lead 16-3 and things were looking bad for the visitors. From there on, it was all change. England began to gain some control and a try by Mike Brown reduced the deficit to 8-16 at half time. The second half was all England and the score line eventually reached an almost unassailable 24-19 before Fickou broke the English line in the dying moments of the match and Machenaud gave the home side victory with his conversion. 26-24 to France, but England will rue that first 20 minutes.

The final game was Ireland taking on Scotland in Dublin. The Scots, as always, had talked a good game beforehand but the reality was a little less good. They put in lots of effort but lacked penetration, while Ireland were solid and clinical. Scotland's line out was poor and their handling erratic as Ireland carved holes in their defence, with the imaginative Sexton making causing havoc. The visitors did have some spells of possession and never gave up, but they were simply never able to be a real threat to a better side and the final result of 28-6 to Ireland was no more than the home side deserved.

The second week began where the first had left off, in Dublin where Wales were now the visitors. As reigning 6-Nations champions much had been expected of the Welsh but, as in week 1, they were disappointing and the Irish were excellent. Again, it was Jonny Sexton who was the inspirational figure for the home side and Ireland were never really troubled by a dysfunctional Welsh side. Although their defence was solid, they offered little in attack and rarely threatened the Irish line. Conversely, the Irish pack was immense and caused havoc in the Welsh defence, Chris Henry going over for the first try after a sensational driving maul. Ireland continued to dominate, Sexton kicking 4 penalties, before his replacement, Paddy Jackson, scored a second try under the posts with a  couple of minutes to go. Wales' only consolation was a solitary penalty from Halfpenny and the final score of 26-3 served notice on the rest that this Irish side are serious title contenders.

Next up was the Calcutta Cup match, this year at Murrayfield. The Scots had, again, talked a good game in the run-up, but they had little to offer in the match itself. Playing on an appalling pitch and with the rain falling for much of the time, England withstood some early Scottish pressure and gradually took control. As in the previous week, Scotland could not be faulted for effort but their misfiring line out and the enormous penalty count against them left them with no hope. England ground out a comfortable victory with Danny Care at the heart of the action; Mike Brown and Luther Burrell scored tries, as they'd done against France, Billy Vunipola caused all sorts of problems and Dylan Hartley and Courtney Laws ensured a perfect line out record while they were both on. The final result of 20-0 to the English was probably not a true reflection of the visitor's dominance, particularly in the second half, but the real test for them will come at Twickenham in a fortnight when their opponents will be the Irish.

The final match of the weekend was in Paris where France entertained Italy. The opening minutes were all France but other than 2 missed penalties, they had nothing to show for it. Italy defended stoutly and began to come more into the match but it was scoreless until close to the half hour mark; 3 penalties in quick succession and another for France just before the break made it 9-3 to the home side and left the visitors wondering what they'd done to be behind. The second half was a different story. From the off, France stormed into their opponents and a they had a try in each corner within the first 5 minutes. Another try, from an interception, effectively ended the match as a contest as the home side led 30-3 after little more than 50 minutes. Italy continued to defend well and pressed hard in the last 20 minutes, during which the French had a yellow and red card and the Italians a red. Italy almost had a try and did get one with little more than 3 minutes to go, but it was all rather academic. Victory to France by 30-10 left Italy fearing another wooden spoon while France can still dream of a Grand Slam.

PIETERSEN - GONE AT LAST.

Kevin Pietersen's international career is over, at last.

That he has been an exciting batsman who could win matches on his own is undeniable; he was clearly one of the best batsmen England has had over the last 50 years and has become well known even outside of his sport. Thereby is the problem.

Just like the superstars of some other sports - George Best and Paul Gascoigne immediately spring to mind - Pietersen has been destroyed by his own ego and personality, by the very celebrity status which he earned from his sporting prowess. In his own mind, he became more important than the game he played, or his team, or his country. It is clear, and has been for some years, that Pietersen has been a disruptive influence in the dressing room; in the end, even his team mates had had enough of their maverick colleague and he had to go.

Some commentators are bemoaning his departure and wondering where England will find his replacement. The simple answer is that no one is irreplaceable and even a slightly less talented player will be a more than adequate replacement if he shows a better attitude towards his team and its needs. Pietersen is far from being the greatest player in England's cricketing history, though he was a good one. Unlike the true greats of the past, he was able to play on manicured pitches and rarely had to intermesh his international career with county or other commitments; he probably never played on a rain affected wicket and the first hint of rain or bad light saw him and his team mates racing for the pavilion. How he would have fared in the days of uncovered and rough-hewn pitches is something we will never know but he'd have been hard pressed to challenge the genius of Hobbs or Sutcliffe, Hutton or Compton, or a plethora of others.

Pietersen's exit is a boon to English cricket. It is just a pity it did not happen earlier.