Post-Fergie blues

It was inevitable really - despite all the claims in the press that he deserves time to settle in, unreasonable pressure is already being heaped on David Moyes, even though he has only been in the Man Utd hotseat for the equivalent of the opening 5 minutes of a match. And while much has been written about his problems in the transfer market, perhaps the only legitimate concern for fans should be his many references to the peerless atmosphere at his new club and how this compares with the underdog atmosphere at Everton, giving the impression that he doesn't yet fit in with his new players' winning mentality. Time to stop making references to Everton and make himself the chief winner - but, simply, this will take time and I hope that he gets it...

Pulis for the FA?

Tony Pulis is sadly no longer a manager of a Premiership Team - which will mean an increase in the number of players diving/ needlessly shouting and abusing referees. The BBC has a good interview with him, where he points out the need for English football to get to the point where it isn't trying to copy a model in one country or another. This makes perfect sense, because, for one reason, we're slow and bad at copying - just look at how long it took us to put in place a system to match France's Clairefontaine training ground for national players. It was also something which Clive Woodward instilled into English rugby before it was able to win the world cup - to move from trying to match the best to being the team the others wanted to copy. But Clive Woodward also recognised that this needed to be done one step at a time. First catch up with the other teams, and only then can you be in a position to become the team which is ahead of the curve. Still, it's a better clarity of vision than I've ever heard from the FA...perhaps it is time for Tony Pulis to take hold of the reins of football development at the FA?

The Masters at Augusta. What more can you ask for after a long hard winter, to let you know that summer is coming? A real festival of colour (probably only matched by test matches played in Australia), coupled with a sense of time standing still, making it an ideal partner to the new BBC HD channels combined with the great tradition of BBC sporting coverage. So it's a disappointment that the Beeb only start their full coverage come Saturday, but a disappointment which is tempered by Colin Montgomery's excellent commentary for Sky. Softly spoken, with excellent knowledge of the course and the realities of competing in the pressure cooker of major golf, Colin is an engaging speaker. But it's his almost fatherly pride and understated support for his Ryder Cup charges that really endears him as a commentator. I look forward to more from his broadcasting career.