It is a great shame that injury ruled Graeme Hick out of a farewell first class appearance against Middlesex at Kidderminster. His sore elbow is expected to also keep him out of Worcestershire's Pro40 play-off with Glamorgan and it is the inability to help his teammates retain division one status that will rankle with the Pears legend, not the missed opportunity for a high profile send-off.

 

Hick apparently needed persuading to announce his retirement before the season's close and it is easy to see why a man who shuns the limelight would prefer a low-key announcement in the winter. I for one am glad that he receives the deserved accolades during the season, when cricket is still on the back pages.

 

There are of course those who choose to dwell on his under-performing for England and those who patronise by referring to the unfair pressure, the exceptional attacks he face early in his career and the shoddy selection treatment meted out by the England management.

 

We should concentrate on the positives: the match-winning 83 against South Africa in the 1992 world cup semi final; the 409 one day runs in four innings against Sri Lanka and Australia in 1999; the Test 178 in Mumbai in 1993 when no one else reached 50.

 

These performances indeed hint at what he could have achieved in national colours, but we should not sigh at 'what could have been', as Hick himself is well past this stage. If he is content, then so should we be.

 

Hick is easy to like as a player. I never wanted anyone to succeed for England as much, before or since, and the platitudes offered by former colleagues seem more genuine than usual.

 

His legacy will be held more fondly held than those of other recent domestic run machines. He doesn't possess the selfishness of Boycott, the rebel tour controversies of Gooch or the burning bitterness of Ramprakash.

 

Hick is a cricket legend and his fallibility does not reduce his standing in my eyes nor in those of the New Road faithful. Anyone who finishes his career in the first class run scoring charts a place ahead of Len Hutton can be seen in no other way.

Oh how the press like to pick up on any minor mistake made in sport and it appears that with Nick Faldo, the hacks have found a character they just love to hate.
Recently the European Ryder Cup captain has come under fire for only including one assistant in the form of Jose Maria Olazabal for this years tournament. And despite claiming that there will be more members of staff being added before the start, Faldo has every right to choose just the one vice-captain, especially since everything he could possibly need to know can be found via a computer in the teams locker room.
Now it appears that Faldo has inadvertently given away his pairings via a sheet of paper he was carrying around the course during practice on Thursday, spotted by an eagle-eyed reporter.
The former Open and Masters champion is due to announce his choice of pairings later this evening and in a press conference became noticeably annoyed with the amount of attention given to the spotted notes.
When first asked about the sheet of paper Faldo attempted to make a joke of the situation claiming that it was the players sandwich requests for lunch.
He told gathered journalists it was,
"sandwich requests for the guys, just making sure who wants the tune, who wants the beef,
who wants the ham."
It seems that the press smelt blood though and continued to question Faldo on the sheet and after growing increasingly frustrated he snapped saying,
"OK, I've been caught - I learned a lesson," he said.
"You now know the pairings and we are going to play foursomes on the front nine", many will see this as a crack in Faldo's captaincy. One who certainly does is Radio Five Live reporter, Iain Carter who told the BBC,
"Faldo struggled to keep his composure after his initial joke that the list was the players' lunch requirements had frankly fallen flat.
"This, for the first time, is a sign that the Europe captain is feeling the pressure."
Now stop me if I'm wrong but wasn't Faldo naming his pairing's later this evening anyway? Shouldn't the focus be on the players? I think the answer to both of these questions will be yes and it won't stop me from betting on Europe to retain the trophy for an impressive fourth year on the bounce.
Despite all that has been said about Faldo, I believe that he is a strong enough character to take all the criticism and will presumably just be happy that the attention is on him and that the players can do their own thing. Although many are betting on the Ryder Cup think that this year will be the closest for a long time, I think that the trophy will be heading back across the Atlantic once more after Sunday's last round of matches.

I reflected in my last boxing piece on how the sport was on the up in Britain. Plenty of fighters were enjoying success at world level and Amir Khan was the poster boy of UK boxing. Tipped for greatness since bursting onto the scene at the Athens Olympics, the Bolton man's route to the top now looks full of obstacles and neatly represents how things can change quickly.

 

However, we shouldn't be too disheartened. Joe Calzaghe has the chance to again prove his class stateside in his November showdown with Roy Jones Jr and we should share David Haye's own faith that he can take the bare heavyweight division by storm.

 

Ricky Hatton should claim some Las Vegas redemption in his meeting with Paulie Malignaggi and punters should consider a Hatton-Calzaghe double when consulting the boxing odds.  

 

There is also the British boxing team's success in Beijing to consider - Frankie Gavin's no-show not withstanding - but caution must be exercised when evaluating James DeGale's gold medal performance at the Olympics.

 

The middleweight known as 'Chunky' to his friends needs only to use Audley Harrison as a warning against complacency should he choose to go professional.

 

Harrison was so vocal in predicting a world title for himself that the public quickly lost faith during his succession of shambolic victories over soft opponents and meek collapses against anyone of note. Khan is in danger of going the same way.

 

He of course does not deserve the scorn poured on him since being knocked out by Breidis Prescott, falling victim to the British 'build them up and knock them down' culture, but the fact remains that his inability to take a punch will block his path to a world title.

 

Khan has frustrated his British peers in avoiding competitive domestic clashes, no doubt having his fingers burnt by the problems Willie Limond and Michael Gomez gave him in defeat.

 

Unfortunately for Khan he will now surely have to go down this route and accept a challenge from Jon Thaxton, Martin Gethin or John Murray, as his damaged reputation means a high-profile fight with an overseas star is unlikely. Those expecting a meeting with Manny Pacquiao - perhaps the best pound-for-pounder in the world - are living in a fantasy world.

 

At least these unrealistic expectations, which Khan's camp have helped fuel, will now be dampened. He must forget about a world belt and concentrate on becoming the best domestically. This is a tough target in itself and I wonder whether one more good punch from Murray or Gethin will signal the beginning of the end for Britain's great boxing hope.

So, Social Media Optimization. What's this all about? Well, I personally think that it is a very good derivitive of the whole SEO subject. It is by definition, a method of gererating publicity through online PR with a focus on social networking, social media and online community building. It is an essential part of the mix. By doing 'SMO' you are adding another dimension to your online visibility. It allows for traffic to driven to your site through another avenue other than search engines.

SMO can be quite a varied task. There's a lot of options available! Generating publicity can be done in lots of places in many ways. RSS feeds, blogging, using Flickr and YouTube, social media sites and social networking sites can all be used to communicate your message.

SMO is definitely something to pay credence too. Just as SEO is now an imperitive skill, spending time on devleloping a social media strategy is of great importance. The possibilities are endless. More to the point though, it's more fun. Playing around in the communities is quite an enjoyable way of doing marketing. Essentially we all spend our time looking at, reading and watching content within these communities anyway, so we may as well be tweaking little bits here and there for the greater good of our own sites.

Anchor text and keyword research is so important if you want your links to gain respect and trust in the relevance rankings. Using the correct anchor text is the simplest thing you can do in terms of giving your links the best possible chance.

A simple link may have some benefit, but coupled with the right anchor text it is far more powerful. Google and the other SEs are looking to match things up, add things together and group similar things as much as they can. Their algorithms are mathematical and as such they want everything to be just so. By using the right anchor text, with the right links, with the right keywords, on the right page, in the right place, you are making everything very easy for the search engine. It's all there to see. The SE doesn't have to search around on the ground in the dark, with a torch; instead it gets broad daylight and some nice little arrows pointing to where everything is. The moral of this story is: make everything as simple as possible for the search engine. If you create hard work for it, you stand more chance of it getting bored and moving on somewhere else.

Many things have changed for the better around Elland Road since this time last year, and one of them is the start made by our strikers. Two games into last season our two goals were scored by Frazer Richardson and Danny Pugh, while at the same stage this year David Healy had already knocked in two and Robbie Blake had opened his account against Cardiff. Blake's still not happy though - and not just about the result in South Wales - though we'll come to that later.  

"I'm not playing as well as I know I can," he says. "I didn't play well against Millwall and I don't think I did against Cardiff. I lost a couple of weeks of pre-season so I'm still finding my touch."

But you did score in Cardiff, only your second game...

"It was only a tap-in though! I'll get better."

Things are definitely looking up...

In these days of squad rotation and players and managers complaining about playing too many matches and needing a rest - even this early in the season - it's refreshing to meet a player as enthusiastic as Seb Carole. He may look like a perfectly groomed, laid back R&B star - wearing what look suspiciously like Gucci earrings - but this softly spoken Frenchman is as excited about playing for Leeds at the moment as any of our new homegrown stars.    
It helps of course that at the time of meeting Leeds have made it six wins out of six, with the only 100 per cent record in the football league. Can he put his finger on what has changed from last season?
"I can't say really," he says in his heavy accent, shrugging his shoulders in a very Gallic way. "I think it's football you know - when things are going well you don't really see mistakes and you don't mind if  somebody does something wrong.
"Compared to last season when we were fighting and trying to not go down, it was a difficult situation so everybody was shouting at everybody, maybe that's why - everything is new this season, we've got new players and new things and mentally we prepared well during the pre-season for what we've got to do now."
And the new players have fitted in remarkably well.
"Yes, the new players who have come in have great experience and they are all very funny which is good, it's a good atmosphere in the dressing room - it's a pleasure to come in every day and train with the lads."
He adds: "I look forward to coming to work - every night when I go home I am just looking forward to the next day training, so, it's a pleasure to come in."
And the biggest characters in the dressing room might just be a little surprising...
"Ah - Hughesy - Andy Hughesy - he shouts about everything and it's good, he makes some jokes and he has a big voice, you can hear him from miles and miles away ( he extends his arms to get the point across) and it's funny because when he's doing his warm-up - wow! He's busy, but that's funny, it's good spirits, it's good," he laughs.
"The biggest joker would be the young lad Bocker (Robert Bayly) - definitely, he always has a joke ready for everybody, if you do something wrong he's always there watching and says something funny."
Is he surprised by just how well the season has started?
"Yes and no," he shrugs, "because I know the quality of the group so I knew we would do well but then six wins in a row, that's the best start since I don't know when so in that way it is a bit surprising"
And now the 15 point deduction has been wiped out, how different is the motivation going into each game?
"Not different, not at all," he says earnestly. "When we had the 15 points deducted that was one more motivation to get them back but now we are looking forward to getting in the top six now so we have to win every game
"But we take it game after game, not think about what will happen in five games if we win. No - we have a game on Saturday - win that one and then think about the other one - game after game - just do something good."
He smiles: "We are so excited, on Monday we can't wait for the game on Saturday because we are all so excited to wait and see if we can win again. There is so much confidence now in this group, we are so strong in our heads so we just prepare for every game to win and fight for everything."

One of the most positive things about the new season has been the size of the crowds at Elland Road, which have outstripped many Premiership attendances (and even Champions League fixtures - oh dear, Chelsea...). This must be a huge boost for the team.
Seb nods: "Crowds in general help a lot but our crowd I think is the best ever, because we went down last season, we are in League One, and there is still 27, 000, 28,000 people coming, so that has helped us a lot and it's a 12th man on the pitch.
"Even when we are away, there are still three or five thousand people there, who scream even louder than when we are at home, so it is all good! I hope they keep coming every week and we will do the work for them."
And this season the bigger crowds have seen the introduction of the now customary group hug at the end of each game - whose idea was this?
"Well, I think the gaffer - he came up and said 'Well done boys' and there was a big shout and everyone jumped on top of everybody else! I think we're going to do this after every game because it makes you feel better at the end and just to stick together."
And will it continue if - dare we say it - if we lose a game?
"That's a bit scary, we don't think about losing!" he laughs.
Seb hasn't played at this level before, along with most of the squad, his previous experience coming in Le Championnat for Monaco, then spending time on loan at Chateauroux and West Ham before signing for Brighton where he caught the eye of a number of clubs. As one of our more creative players, how is he finding it this year in League One?
"Compared to the Championship, you've got less time to do things and it's a bit more intensive," he says. "Also I think League One is technically a bit less than the Championship so every team tries to work together and fight for every ball, everything on the pitch, and that's a bit different because in the Premiership and the Championship I think you have more time to do things properly so that's a bit easier.
"I like to be creative and I like big spaces and you haven't got big spaces in League One, also because of the six wins every team is now waiting for us and maybe they're scared a bit of us so they're all defending together so it's hard to create something but we try to do our best to do that."
Seb left Brighton for Leeds when the Withdean club were relegated in 2006 due to having an escape clause in his contract. Did it cross his mind to leave Leeds following our own relegation in the summer?
He shakes his head: "No, I just forgot about football (in the summer) and went on my holidays, I wanted to see what was happening when I got back in pre-season. When I got back I told my wife, 'I don't want to leave, we're going to stay'. We're happy in Leeds, my family feels happy, so why move when you're happy somewhere?
"Even though we went down I know it is a difficult situation but I want to take this challenge and get the club back to the Championship and even to the Premiership if we can, that is the level Leeds has to play."
Having a settled family helps - the eldest of his two children is starting nursery this year ("He's so happy to be learning English!") but so do his friendships within the club. Who is he closest to in the squad?
"TK (Tresor Kandol) and Jermaine (Beckford)" he says. "Jermaine because he was here when I signed and we still kept in touch when he went on loan and TK because he can speak French so it makes things a bit more easy for me - we talk in English together and when I don't know a word he helps me."
Last time LLL was at Thorp Arch we spoke to Tresor for a little longer than planned and unfortunately kept Seb, his designated driver, waiting...   
"Yes, I remember, I was waiting for half an hour!" he laughs. "But that was okay - no problem. He gets a taxi every day now, I keep telling him to buy a car but he's so lazy he gets taxis everywhere!"
Tresor may be lazy off the pitch, but Seb is full of praise for the strike partners on the field.
"They've done very well," he says. "Five goals each, I bet they score 15 goals each at least this season, they have so many qualities. We can do s**t passes (maybe Tresor taught him this word?) and they look good when they get the ball. If you find one of them, you know they can do something good with it, that's good to know that we have quality strikers who can finish because you need to score goals to win games and that's their job and they've done so well."
And there is an element of friendly competition between the two: "In football there is always competition. Even if you're friends, you want to do better than your friend and that will make us score a lot of goals because if TK scores, next week Jermaine wants to score. That's why maybe they have five goals each now and if they carry on they will get at least 15 goals each."
As for his ambitions for the rest of the season, Seb isn't scared of aiming high.
"I don't want to be arrogant but I want to get promoted this season," he says, his eyes lighting up. "I want to see the club finish in the top two - it is possible - hard but possible - so I hope we do that this season.
"Even if it's the play-off final at Wembley, a new stadium, it would be so nice, but if we can finish in the top two it would be better for us!"
(First published in 'Leeds, Leeds, Leeds', September 2007)

It's the day of the first team squad's traditional photo call and the boys are resplendent in their brand new, extremely creased (just come out of the packets) strips. The usual banter is flying about, with Lurpakman, an unfortunate soul in a padded white suit complete with trumpet on the only sunny day Leeds has seen so far in August, the victim of some below the belt punches from Alan Smith and Robbie Fowler and a painful ear tweaking from David Batty.
    One player who is taking the day seriously is newly appointed captain Dominic Matteo, who LLL manages to collar in between his many photo requests and receiving some treatment for a groin injury picked up in the pre-season draw with Rangers. He's in demand but manages to spare a few minutes to give us his thoughts on an eventful close season and his hopes for the new campaign.
    Aside from all the upheaval at Leeds it was a busy summer for Matteo, who went out to Japan to see both England and Ireland play in the World Cup before returning to Leeds and then flying out to the Far East again on the club's pre-season tour.
    "Yes, there's been a bit of traveling but I've enjoyed it," he says. "The tour went well for me personally and for the team. We worked on a few things and there was a lot of traveling but I think we coped pretty well with it."
    The tour, which took in Hong Kong, Melbourne and Bangkok, meant the team were out of the full British media spotlight just after the David O'Leary sacking and Rio Ferdinand's departure, but they were obviously still aware of the furore the departures had created at home.
    "We're all professionals though and we just got on with it," says Dominic. "For me, Rio was a mate as well as a fellow player so I was disappointed (when he left), but life goes on. We had some good times together and we had a good partnership but there's a lot of other quality players here and hopefully we can pull together."
    And when you've got players like Jonathan Woodgate and Lucas Radebe back on top form, Rio's defection can almost be forgotten, if not forgiven. But as well as losing their captain, the squad have had to get used to a change of manager over the close season - which, it seems, none of them expected.
    "It was a shock when David O'Leary went, I didn't see it coming but I don't think anyone did really," he admits. "Obviously he bought me and when a manager buys you and then he leaves sometimes it's difficult. I got on very well with David and I was sad when he left, but what can you do?"
    Indeed. And far from rejecting one of the best signings O'Leary made in his four years in charge, new boss Terry Venables, recognizing the Scot's leadership qualities and international class ability, appointed him captain.
    "Yes, it's a great honour to be captain," says Dominic. "It's something you dream of as a boy, to be captain of a big club. The manager asked me to be captain of Leeds United and I'm very happy to do that and hopefully I will be successful."
    So is the aim now to captain Scotland?
    "I don't know about that! It's just an honour to be captain of my club at the moment and hopefully we'll have a good season, I just want to play more international games really."
    It is difficult to say whether there is more or less pressure on the team for the forthcoming campaign than in previous years, with no-one tipping Leeds for the title and only a few predicting United will make a top three finish and qualify for the Champions League. The fans are craving success though and Rio's request to move to a certain "bigger and better" club has increased that hunger - and the players are well aware of the supporters' expectations. The court case has been over for months and can no longer be used as an excuse, and the squad has not been broken up as was widely predicted over the summer. It is time to concentrate on football and stars such as Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Olivier Dacourt and Lee Bowyer will be expected to perform. After a summer of uncertainty, Dacourt and Bowyer now seem set to stay for the 2002/03 season at least, bringing Leeds some much-needed stability, and fans are desperate for the club to finally fulfill its potential.
    "Obviously we will try to win something this year," says Matteo. "To reach the Champions League is always a target, but we need to win something because I think we're due something. We say it every year, as does every other club, but it's time to do our talking out on the field, and with the quality we've got we should be producing."
    Leeds came through the pre-season schedule unbeaten, with good solid performances in the Far East and Australia, and Rangers providing a tough test. The games enabled Terry Venables to try out new formations and line-ups, but David Batty, Seth Johnson, Nigel Martyn and Gary Kelly were unable to travel while Robbie Fowler picked up an injury, so the new boss was unable to fully assess his squad before the season opener against Manchester City. The new season will provide some interesting combinations as Venables decides on his preferred line-up, but how do the squad feel on the eve of the 2002/03 season?
    "We're quite confident," says Matteo. "We had some good games over the pre-season period and did pretty well in them. There's still a lot of work to be done, we're not the finished article, but we'll get there."
    At the time of the interview there had been two departures from the squad and two additions, with Nick Barmby joining for £2.75million from Liverpool and Paul Okon, the former Middlesbrough and Fiorentina player, coming in on a free transfer. Both have played under Venables at international level, Barmby for England and Okon for Australia, and their versatility could prove invaluable to Leeds in the season ahead.
    "I've known Nick for quite a number of years so I know what he's got," says Matteo. "I've just met Paul in the last couple of days. I've only seen him play a couple of times for Middlesbrough but I'm sure Terry knows what he's doing and he looks in training to be a quality player."
    Dominic made his debut for Leeds in the memorable 1-0 win over AC Milan in the Champions League, immediately making a favourable impression on the fans, and scored his first goal in the 6-0 thrashing of Besiktas a week later. Since those days however Leeds have failed to qualify for the Champions League while Matteo's old club Liverpool have gone from strength to strength, winning five trophies and qualifying for Europe's premier club competition two years in succession. So does the success his former employers have enjoyed spur Matteo on?
    "No, no-one was more delighted than me to see Liverpool win things," he insists. "I had great times there and since I've come to Leeds I believe I've become a better player so both situations are good, I'm pleased for myself and I'm pleased for them."
    Now that the pre-season is over, a summer when Leeds have again seen more than their fair share of back page headlines, what are the new skipper's hopes for the new campaign?
    "It would be nice to win something with the club and play a lot more games for Scotland this year," he says. "Hopefully Scotland will get some good results as we haven't been getting them lately! Basically I just want to be successful here and for my country."
    And how fitting it would be to see the quietly ambitious Matteo lifting some long-awaited silverware next May, while our former captain watches empty-handed from over the Pennines. Well, we can but dream... watch this space.

(First published in 'Leeds, Leeds, Leeds', August 2002) 

It's becoming something of the norm for Leeds United youngsters to set new Premiership records, and lately they've even taken to
outdoing each other's achievements. It was only this time last year that we
were getting used to having the Premiership's youngest ever player in James
Milner (who hasn't done too badly since), and now another Academy product has
set another even more impressive record.

Aaron Lennon was just 16 years and 129 days old when he came on against Spurs at White Hart Lane in August, beating his room-mate by a whole
180 days. And you wouldn't bet against him taking the crown of the league's
youngest ever scorer from Milner as well...

How things have changed since my last post. A different format and a change of captain and things are looking up for England. I evaluate England's One Day success on www.laytheodds.com and wonder whether the current form is a sign of things to come.

England have suddenly become a good One Day team. It was not long ago that New Zealand's motley crew made them look every inch the sixth ranked team in the world that they were.

It is dangerous to predict a bright future for a team that has been so poor for so long, but a new captain and some changes in personnel have quickly helped transform England into a formidable unit. A 5-0 whitewash over South Africa was one of the summer's unlikeliest cricket bets, but it would now be a surprise if there was any other outcome.

A change in leadership often generates a short term improvement in performance, but there is every reason to think that Kevin Pietersen can oversee a successful era in England's ODI cricket. The return of Matt Prior, Steve Harmison and most importantly Andrew Flintoff has balanced the side and the first choice eleven is now full of batting and bowling.

Continue reading this article at: http://www.laytheodds.com/articles/571/1/So-far-so-good-Very-good.html

Over on www.armchaircelts.co.uk I discuss the first Old Firm derby of the season where Rangers ran out 4-2 winners over Celtic. It was a bitter blow for Gordon Strachan's men as it is always painful to lose to your local rivals - especially at home.



Before the game, in terms of football betting, I honestly had Celtic down as favourites. There were some murmurs of unsettlement within the Ranger's dressing room and several pundits were questioning Walter Smith's team selection. These factors, mixed with Celtic's home advantage gave them the edge before the game in my opinion.

However, as we often find out - anything can happen in football and rarely does anything ever goes how it is expected to do so. Especially in games between Celtic and Rangers.

Continue reading this article at:

http://www.armchaircelts.co.uk/content/miller-bags-two-his-return-celtic-park-bhoys-crash-old-firm-defeat

One of the most important factors of successful Online PR is relevance. As soon as someone spots a relevancy inaccuracy in your site or information you publish you will instantly find yourself in trouble. The more relevant you are to what your target audience want to see, the better.

Relevance is sometimes ambiguous and it does seem like a very simple thing to get right. However, many people and companies think they are being entirely relevant, but they are only thinking of relevance in terms of it being relevant to them. You may know something about your industry and think of something that is entirely relevant to your own knowledge, but the person you want to communicate a message to may never have thought of that as being relevant and may not understand where the connection comes in. Then they will think that the message isn't relevant to them, they won't distribute it freely and they won't do any of the work you want them to do!