LEWIS HAMILTON : SUPER-RICH MORON.

Lewis Hamilton's puerile and rude behaviour during yesterday's drivers' conference ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix was a new low.

While other drivers listened to, and answered, questions from members of the media, Hamilton fiddled aimlessly with his mobile 'phone and giggled to himself. When he tried to draw some of his colleagues into what he considered to be 'fun', they looked distinctly unimpressed. This surely was one of the most childish and pathetic performances ever seen from a supposedly 'great champion'.

Hamilton may be a good driver but that's all he is. Basically, he is a super-rich, moronic child and the sooner he's gone from our lives, the better.

LEWIS HAMILTON : WHAT A SILLY BOY HE IS.

Oh Dear, he we go again. Poor Lewis Hamilton, the entire world, and particularly the Mercedes F1 hierarchy, is against him. Failing to finish in today's Malaysian Grand Prix leaves him 23 points behind his only real rival for the drivers' title, the German Nico Rosberg, and he doesn't like it at all.

Admittedly he's been unlucky with technical issues this year but his regular outbursts suggesting that there are dark forces at work really are becoming tedious and are, frankly, ridiculous. No Formula 1 team would ever take deliberate steps to disadvantage one of its drivers, there's simply too much at stake in terms of money, prestige and future sponsorships. Additionally, does Hamilton really think that Mercedes are happy with the world seeing that one in every 2 of their cars has problems ?

Hamilton may be a very good driver, quite possibly one of the best ever, but he is also a miserable, self-absorbed, puerile little twerp. Let's hope that Nico Rosberg actually does win this year's drivers' championship.

YET ANOTHER FOOTBALLING HORROR STORY.

Dear God !

What on earth is going on in English football ? Not only were they humiliated by Iceland at the Euros, an event which caused the resignation of then manager Roy Hodgson, but now Hodgson's replacement has shown himself to be a naïve idiot.

Sam Allardyce may have been a reasonably effective club manager, but how did the Football Association ever believe that he was the right man to appoint as manager of the national team ? Yes, Allardyce obviously wanted the job and didn't make the excessive wage demands of other candidates, but those are hardly reasons for handing the job to a man who was always likely to prove a disappointment. In the event, it took him only just over 2 months to embarrass both himself and the FA sufficiently for his tenure to be terminated.

Allardyce is the headline story but the real story is the utter incompetence of the Football Association. For decades, they have distinguished themselves by their inept managerial appointments and the consistency with which English national teams have been humiliated on the world stage. Given that English football has vast wealth, it is a shocking indictment of its management, that is the FA, that they have been unable to secure the services of a genuinely top-class manager who has then delivered top-class international results.

No doubt there will be much soul-searching and gnashing of teeth before the next no-hoper is appointed to the manager's job - whether this one will just not be up to the job, will have strange world-views, will be a 'wide-boy', or will have hitherto undisclosed 'baggage', we can be sure that, as long as the FA remains in charge and unreformed, the appointee will be another 'wrong-un' and the English national team will remain a second rate presence in the international arena.

ENGLAND - WORST TEAM AT THE EUROS ?

Oh Dear !

The result that was considered a foregone conclusion has turned out to be nothing of the sort as the England football team has produced another miserable performance and been beaten by Iceland. I repeat, England has been beaten by Iceland.

Iceland is a nation with a population of 330,000 or thereabouts while England lays claim to having the best league in the world and, listening to the 'experts', also has some of the best players around. In truth, the league is good because of the huge number of foreign players it includes and the best of the English really don't cut the mustard. Iceland has no professional league of its own and its players only come together for international games but they have passion, something which most of the England players sadly lack.

In the past, we were told, by English pundits, that the likes of David Beckham were amongst the greatest in the world and yet neither Beckham nor the others of his generation were ever as good as they were said to be. Today, we're regularly told that Wayne Rooney is a 'great' player; we're told that Kane, Vardy, Sturridge, Sterling and the rest are, at the very least, very good. Watching this bunch of no-hopers tonight was an embarrassment; they scored a goal, from a penalty, conceded 2 from open play and then spent the next hour or so making little impact and giving Iceland few problems.

This England team was dreadful. There was no passion, no plan, little skill and no spark. The manager, Roy Hodgson, probably has little more than a few hours or days in his job but the players will continue to draw their vast club salaries; what do they really care about it all ? Yet again, they've been shown to be mediocre at best, poor at worst, and England has been humiliated at its national sport.

Let's hope Andy Murray wins Wimbledon, even though he is a Scot; it would at least help to take our minds off of the football for a while.

A GREAT SUMMER OF SPORT BECKONS

What a day of sport for the UK, and no sign of any help from the European Union !!

In Rugby Union, England put up a tremendous performance to record a rare win against Australia in their own country, winning 39-28 after trailing by 10 points early on. Wales suffered defeat against the World Champions in New Zealand but gave the hosts a real scare until the last 15 or 20 minutes. In South Africa, Ireland achieved one of the greatest victories ever, defeating the home side 26-20 having had a man sent off after 22 minutes; while playing with a man short in football is often a relatively minor handicap, playing with a man short in the far more physical game of rugby is an appalling handicap and that the Irish side not only coped with, but beat, an opposition who are renowned for their physical prowess and have been one of the best teams in the world for many years, was an astonishing achievement.

In cricket, England enjoyed a good day in the field against their admittedly less than testing opponents, Sri Lanka. After being in a good position overnight, Sri Lanka succumbed rather too easily in the morning, but they did bounce back to put England under pressure later on. Nonetheless, the prospect of a series whitewash now loom large.

Then we have Formula One motor racing, in which Lewis Hamilton, the reigning World Champion, gained pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix tomorrow. His advantage over team mate Nico Rosberg was miniscule at six hundredths of a second, but it was, nonetheless, an advantage. Tomorrow he is in prime position to further reduce Rosberg's lead in the championship and increase his own chances of retaining his world title.

Finally, I come to football, though this is what dominates the sporting media. Sadly, all other sport seems to fade into insignificance under the financial weight of the current world-wide infatuation with kicking a ball around; regardless, the latest international extravaganza, 'The Euros', is a major event and has to be acknowledged as such. Given that, Wales, having made their first appearance in the finals of an international tournament since the dinosaurs ruled the earth or, at least, since 1958 which may be the same thing, came through a challenging first match against Slovakia with a fine win, courtesy of a great team performance. Superstar Gareth Bale did his bit but it needed rather more than one man to win the match.

The Welsh victory was then followed by one of the better England performances of recent times. Indeed, but for a last minute lapse of concentration, they would also have started their Euro campaign with victory; as it was, Eric Dier's goal was cancelled out at the last moment though a draw was far from a bad result. England did look good and probably deserved to win, though they still need to learn the secret of scoring regularly from open play. The next game, matching England against Wales on Thursday afternoon, now becomes that much more important for both, though the Welsh currently have the upper hand.

With other great events coming up soon - Wimbledon, the Open, the Ryder Cup - what a great summer of sport we have in prospect !!

MUHAMMAD ALI - SIMPLY "THE GREATEST".

The death of Muhammad Ali yesterday robs the world of one of the greatest icons of all time. Ali was not a politician, great artist or scientist, he was not a great man of letters or religious leader; he was, quite simply and in his own words 'The Greatest'.

As a boxer Ali was a phenomenon. Olympic light-heavyweight champion, as Cassius Clay, in 1960, aged just 18, he quickly became a serious professional heavyweight. In 1963 he travelled to Wembley where he was put on the canvas by our very own Henry Cooper, only for his very quick thinking corner men to engineer a prolonged break between rounds, time enough for Clay to recover his wits and stop Cooper, whose propensity to horrible cuts was a blight on his career, in the 5th round. Still as Cassius Clay, he went on to defeat the hitherto unbeatable Sonny Liston in 1964 and to become world heavyweight champion.

As champion, Clay suddenly became a man of real substance. He soon changed his name to Muhammad Ali and went on to defeat all comers until the US authorities found a way to stop him; his refusal to serve in the Vietnam war gave them all the excuse they needed to have him stripped of his title and effectively removed from circulation for 3 years. On his eventual return to the ring in 1970, Ali quickly showed that he was still a power and gained a fight against then world champion 'Smokin' Joe Frazier, in 1971. In one of the greatest fights ever, Ali and Frazier hammered each other for 15 rounds, Frazier winning on points but also suffering such damage that he was never the same fighter again. Ali continued to be the iconic figure of boxing and beat Frazier in a re-match in January 1974, before taking on the reigning champion, George Foreman, in Zaire in October of the same year. Ali simply defended himself for round after round, leaning against the ropes and allowing Foreman to pummel him; suddenly, it was all change in round 8 as Ali took advantage of his now tiring opponent and sent him sprawling to the canvas. In the words of commentator Harry Carpenter "Oh My God, he's won the title back at 32 !" I first heard these words on the radio by my bedside as I listened to the

fight in the early hours of 30th October 1974, and have never forgotten them.

A third fight with Frazier followed in 1975, this one being billed as 'The Thriller in Manila' and being another incredible battle between 2 great champions; they fought each other to a standstill, Ali retaining his title when Frazier was retired at the end of the 14th round but he, himself, was on the point of collapse, and held it until he was shocked by Leon Spinks in February 1978, losing on a split points decision. Nonetheless, great champion that he was, he came straight back and regained his title with a unanimous points win over Spinks in September of the same year, becoming the first man to win the heavyweight title 3 times.

His win over Spinks was to be his last, finally calling it a day after losing, on points, to Trevor Berbick in December 1981. Sadly, Ali had already been showing signs of brain damage from years of punishment and he was eventually diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The rest of his life was a story of slow decline although it seems that he never complained nor gave up fighting for what he believed in. He became the most recognizable man in the world, undoubtedly one of the most iconic personalities ever and received a tumultuous reception when he appeared to light the Olympic Flame in Atlanta in 1996.

In the UK, Ali became a much loved and honoured superstar. He was the BBC's Overseas Sports' Personality of the Year in 1973, 1974 and 1978, and was the overwhelming winner of the Sports' Personality of the Century award in 1999, voted for by the British public. His television appearances with Michael Parkinson have become almost as legendary as his famous and highly inimitable brand of poetry and invective. Ali's gigantic personality turned him from being a simple sportsman into a truly world-wide celebrity and a figure whose passing will be mourned in every corner of the globe.

Muhammad Ali - we will never see his like again.

LEICESTER CITY OVERKILL.

So Leicester City have won the English football's Premier League - WELL DONE !

However, this is a story which belongs on the sports' pages and perhaps, at the end of a national news broadcast. It does not belong at the head of the national and international news and does not deserve the wall-to-wall coverage afforded to it by the media, especially the BBC. As a news story, it simply isn't that important, in fact, as a news story, it isn't important at all.

Many years ago, the late Bill Shankly, a very successful manager of Liverpool FC, said something along the lines of :

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that".

He was, of course, utterly wrong but, as a football fanatic who'd never really worked in any other sphere for his whole life, football was that important. For the vast majority of the human race, football is just a game over which some if us get excited from time to time but about which we do not obsess. The ludicrously excessive media coverage of Leicester City's triumph merely goes to show how shockingly distorted the values and priorities of our media have become.