Ok ok ok. I know I said I’d try harder. So here it is. Me trying harder.

Before the year runs out and I haven’t posted anything at all, I thought I’d better get my thoughts and expectations for the sporting year ahead. Sadly I’ve already missed the boat on the Australian Open, but if I had had chance to blog about it before the event I would have written about my hopes that Andy Murray would do well. You can imagine my delight that he did very well indeed. It is a shame that Roger Federer still exists! I did manage to catch Murray live in his second round match against Marc Giquel and I was stuck by how much more aggressive he looked on court. I had high hopes. I guess the only disappointment was that Murray couldn’t take that final set against Federer. I guess we all knew The Fed would prevail, but I had hoped Murray would take a set or two off him. Still, I have hopes for Andy. I have no doubt he will win a major one day, I just don’t think it will be Wimbledon. He seems far more at home on the hard courts of Australia and the USA.

Moving swiftly onto Football, and the Christmas period was an interesting one for Manchester City. December saw the removal of Mark Hughes and the swift appointment of Roberto Mancini (Bobby Manc) in his place. For the record, I violently disapprove of the way in which Mark Hughes was sacked. Gary Cook is generally a shifty character and benefits the football club in no way whatsoever. I’m also staggered that we heard nothing from the chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak. He seemed quite happy to let is slimey Lieutenant do all the dirty work. Shame. I had thought that City’s owners were different. They were promising patience and promoting the youth. Obviously I was wrong. Money doesn’t buy happiness, and if it doesn’t get success immediately, something must be wrong. However, I always felt that Hughes lacked the tactical nous to really succeed at City, and as Mancini has proved with his adaptability in the middle of games, he has. And ultimately, I believe that Mancini could take City further than Hughes could.

I am continuously disappointed by the attitude that most football fans now take to City, which is viewed as the Devil that is destroying football. Really though, we’ve done nothing wrong. It wasn’t City’s fault that they were chosen. But the sad fact remains, that the gap from the top four to “the rest” was enormous. And it was always going to take an exorbitant amount of money to bridge it. As City are proving. And once the top four become the top five, the problem will remain. Until we develop some form of salary or budget capping (which is a whole new topic in itself), I see no long term solution other then Sugar Daddys. With all this in mind, I have high hopes that City will break into the top four this season, after all, there’s never been a better opportunity. Whilst their defeat to Man Utd in the semi’s of the League cup was disappointing, it was a vital experience for the team, and the fact that Sir Alex took the fixture so seriously is a good indicator of how much more a threat he feels that City are. Lets see where we are come May.

Whilst we’re on football, we’ve got that World Cup thing coming along soon, in which England will no doubt be knocked out by Portugal or Germany on penalties in the quarter finals. It does seem that over the past year Capello has managed to get England heading in the right direction, but much will depend on the fitness of key players such as Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard. I’m not going to dwell on “The John Terry Saga”, since this has been covered to death by the press, and frankly, I’m sick of it. So my grand prediction for England? At best Semis. Although with a bit of luck…..

Since I’ve rattled on for several years now, I’ll just touch on the Winter Olympics which starts tonight. Obviously this is when I assume my Norweigan nationality (greatest medal winner of all time don’t you know). No doubt though I will be prevented from seeing anything as Channel Nine in Australia will probably just show the skeleton and the swimming. Sigh, one can hope. My fingers are firmly crossed that Ole Einar Bjoerndalen can become one of the greatest ever olympians by winning gold. I’m also looking forward to the ice hockey, which will see the greats of USA, Russia and Canada compete with the reigning champions; Sweden.

It only remains to briefly mention Forumla 1, which looks like being one of the most exciting ever. With the great Schumacher returning, British champions Hamilton and Button will need to work together in order for one of them to win. One must sacrifice themselves for the other. Otherwise, Schmacher will prevail. Also, a quick note to Cricket. The year will end with England in Australia defending their Ashes, although I will leave my thoughts on that one for a later stage.

Hope you all have a good year!