Luis Suarez wins PFA Player of the Year award

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has been named as the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year at an awards ceremony in London on Sunday.

The Uruguayan, 27, travelled down to the ceremony after the Reds’ 2-0 defeat at home to Chelsea earlier in the day.

Why oh why oh why don’t the PFA wait until the season is FINISHED until they start handing out all the prizes and naming a team of the year?

What happens if Man City wins their next three games, win the title and Toure plays a key role in all three games? If that happens then shouldn’t he be getting the player of the year nod?

And why does the PFA insist on giving the young player award to already established players, in Hazard’s case he’s 23 and in his sixth season as a professional, hardly a young player is he.

To make matters worse Aaron Ramsey (23 and in his seventh season as a professional) and Daniel Sturridge (24 and in his eighth year as a pro) were also nominated, it’s ridiculous.

The award should’ve either gone to Sterling or Shaw as they are actually young players!

I can’t complain too much about team of the year although I would swap Gary Cahill with John Terry at the back, but that’s it.

And last, but by no means least, it was in some ways refreshing to watch the Liverpool-Chelsea game yesterday as for the first time this season a top 6 team went to Anfield and didn’t play into Liverpool’s hands.

Arsenal, Everton, Man City and Tottenham all went to Anfield and left themselves exposed and gave Liverpool all the time and space they wanted and they all deservedly got punished for being so naive, although the City game did highlight a huge weakness in Liverpool’s approach, if they don’t blow the opposition away in the first half and go in three or four up they usually don’t win.

As someone who likes to see football being played in the right way it was hard to watch a team go out and not make much effort to win, but Arsenal, Everton, Man City and Tottenham all went to Anfield knowing what Liverpool were going to do and did nothing about it, yesterday Liverpool knew what Chelsea were going to do and did nothing about it, they didn’t have any back up plan or other way of doing things, which if City win their remaining games will cost them the title.   

RBS plan for 200% bonuses blocked by Treasury

Royal Bank of Scotland has abandoned attempts to pay bonuses twice the size of salaries after being told the move would not be approved.

UKFI, the body that manages the Treasury’s 81% stake in the bank, told RBS it would veto plans for a 2:1 bonus ratio at the next shareholder meeting.

“There will be no rise” while RBS is “still in recovery”, the Treasury said.

While I welcome the fact that RBS has been told no, I’m amazed they had the gall to dare to ask for 200% bonuses less than two months after they announced losses of £8.2bn.

I’d really like to hear the explanation from RBS as to why they feel the 2:1 ratio is justifiable for abject failure; usually you hear the tired old line of it’s to attract the ‘best’ people but if you look at the numbers produced by RBS they’re getting worse so they’ve clearly not got the ‘best’ people.

Despite this they still want to pay them bonuses twice their salary, no wonder RBS went under and don’t look like coming back anytime soon. 

Mortgage applicants face new rules

A mortgage lending clampdown comes into force tomorrow which will see lenders delve more deeply into people's personal lives, from their plans for parenthood to how they will spend their old age.

The industry-wide changes affect home buyers and people looking to re-mortgage and they will mean that lenders have to take a much stronger interest in people's spending habits and how their life plans could affect their ability to meet their repayments.

Mortgage applicants will need to sit through longer interviews, provide more paperwork to back up what they are saying and could find themselves taken aback by the probing nature of some of the questions they will be asked.

I understand that maybe the industry body would like to tighten up the rules a little to stop people borrowing more than they can afford to pay back, but it sounds like anyone from Saturday who wants a mortgage will have to sit through a Spanish Inquisition.

Worse than that is there will be a load of hypothetical questions about your personal life that you might not have thought about or be in a position to answer and yet what you say could determine whether or not you get a mortgage or not, that’s ridiculous.

Imagine someone whose 35 and they go in and ask for a mortgage and they get asked what do you plan to do when you retire? And they answer I haven’t thought about that yet, what does that mean no mortgage?

Instead of bringing in these excessive and unnecessary changes wouldn’t it have been better if they had just enforced the old rules properly, that’s all it would have taken!

HMRC ‘plans to share tax data with private firms’

Taxpayers’ personal data could be shared with private firms under plans drawn up by Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

If given the go-ahead it would allow HMRC to release anonymous tax data to third parties including companies, researchers and public bodies.

An HMRC spokesman said "no final decisions" had been taken, and it was committed to "confidentiality".

Hold on, you can’t on the one hand say we are committed to confidentiality and on the other hand say we want to share millions of people’s data with private firms, it doesn’t add up.

Why can’t you control your own data and who sees it? When you disclose information to HMRC that doesn’t mean they own it and can all of a sudden decide to hand it out to whoever they like.

Worst of all this response from HMRC smacks of a last minute pr panic, which means they were hoping to do it without anyone finding out or were hoping by the time it was found out it would be too late.

I’m hoping now they’ve been caught trying to ‘share’ (cough cough sell cough cough) peoples information in secret, that this stupid idea won’t be given the go ahead and HMRC will hopefully realise they can’t do what they like with peoples personal information.  

Bale fee was not enough – Sherwood

Tottenham got a world-record fee for Gareth Bale but head coach Tim Sherwood cannot help feeling they were short-changed.

After a marvellous few years at White Hart Lane, the 24-year-old last summer swapped north London for Real Madrid in a record-breaking 100m euro (£85.3million) deal.

What has happened in football that people can’t see anything objectively anymore and can’t react to an event without grossly exaggerating?

The fact that Bale cost more than Ronaldo was insane enough but now because he’s scored one goal against a Barcelona team imploding at the seams, what that means Real Madrid got him cheap?

Maybe if Tottenham didn’t fritter that money away and spent it properly and hired a proper replacement for Villas-Boas instead of hiring no-idea-what-he’s-doing-wood as a stop gap then this story wouldn’t exist.

What happened to waiting for a player to have two or three years playing at a consistently high level before he’s considered world class?

Now any player shows any promise for five minutes and he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, I’m not talking about Bale here I’m talking in general, it’s stupid and needs to stop because it’s becoming very wearisome.  

Pensioners could get life expectancy guidance

Retirees could be issued guidance on how long they are likely to live, a government minister has said.

Pensions Minister Steve Webb warned people often underestimate how long they might live and can be left without enough savings.

Estimates of life expectancy would be based on factors such as gender, where they live, and whether they smoke.

The information would help them plan their finances more efficiently, according to the minister.

How has this idea been allowed to see the light of day? What a morbid weirdo this guy is.

I dread the day when I reach old age, because then I’ll have to put up with s**t like this.

What is this Mr Webb proposing that everyone of a certain age sits down and assesses every aspect of their life and fills out some form to be sent to the government for them to calculate, as precisely as they can, when you are going to die, or will you simply get a letter saying you will die next Tuesday? 

The only reason he’s saying this is so that the government can make sure they scare people into an early grave and can therefore take a bigger percentage of the money that’s left behind.

To me it seems there are two choices you can either let this idiot and the rest of his cronies try to scare you, or you can enjoy your autumn years and spend the money you’ve saved up on having a good time, simples. 

Water quality at 73% of Britain’s beaches ‘excellent’

A record 73% of beaches in the UK have “excellent” water quality because of last summer's dry weather, according to the Marine Conservation Society.

Researchers said the lack of rain caused less pollution to filter down from towns and cities to the coasts.

In its annual Good Beach Guide, published on Tuesday, MCS says 538 of 734 UK beaches tested between May and September 2013 reached the top standard for water quality. It is 135 more than the previous year. 

This is total BS and hopelessly out of date.

What’s the point of producing a report that says six months ago, before one of the wettest winters on record, we found that the quality of water at the majority of Britain’s beaches is actually quite good because of the lack of rain. 

It’d be like an estate agent trying to sell a house in Pompeii and saying to the prospective buyer, yes I know it’s all covered in volcanic ash now but a few months ago it was quite lovely.

This Good Beach Guide should be reduced to one sheet of paper and on that sheet of paper it should say don’t go to the beach anywhere in Britain the water is cold and brown and the sand is covered in dog shit and other peoples rubbish, go abroad the beaches are much nicer there. Apart from in Cornwall I grant you the beaches are excellent there.  

Despite that small qualifier I’m afraid this story is a pyramid of piffle from the pr department at the Marine Conservation Society and should be ignored. 

Banks free to do what they like

When you think that not a single banker went to jail for causing the economy to collapse in 2008 you do wonder how they could all have got away with facing any kind of retribution for their actions, but this very morning the answer has been presented to me in the form of an article on the BBC website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26178868.

The article tells of a court case that took place between 1991 and 1992 that resulted in the conviction of four high level bankers for fraud, a few months later the ruling was overturned in an appeal court because the complexity and length of the trial meant the jury couldn’t have reached a fair verdict, which I have to say is the biggest load of s**t I’ve ever read.

But what this meant was that since that ruling the Serious Fraud Office has basically shied away from daring to take on a big City institution or senior City executives, which is infuriating because it shows there’s one rule for a select few and one rule for everybody else.

This ruling that the case was so complex a fair verdict couldn’t be reached is such a copout, who else could/would get away with that?

Who else could appeal and say their line of work is so complex the plebeian minds of a jury couldn’t possibly begin to comprehend the matters at hand and so aren’t fit to judge?

It’s something I always suspected but now it’s there in black and white since 1992 the banks have been able to do what they want and everybody is too scared to do anything about it. 

Chelsea draw Atletico Madrid in Champions League

Chelsea have been drawn against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final, while Real Madrid face Bayern Munich.

Jose Mourinho’s side, chasing a third final in seven seasons, are away at the Vicente Calderon in the first leg.

Nine-time winners Real are at home to holders Bayern in the first leg, to be played April 22-23.

Well that was certainly an interesting draw the two big dogs and the two underdogs both facing each other, and I have to credit the UEFA bureaucracy for taking a draw with four teams that should take less than a minute and stretching it out for what seemed like an eternity and leaving everyone in the room and watching at home thinking, just start the f**king draw PLEASE!

Before I comment on the draw for the semis I would just like to say that if Barcelona would have bought a centre-back at any point in the last three years and not had a 38 year old Sunday league goalie as back up to Valdes, then they would have gone through and I would’ve got a clean sweep of getting all my predictions for the quarters right, but three out of four aint bad.  

Back to the draw and I’ll deal with Madrid-Bayern first which I think will see Bayern go through, I didn’t watch their games against United but it looks like they won quite comfortably and if you look at Guardiola’s record against Madrid its excellent he just knows how to beat them and I think he’ll do it again. 

Atletico-Chelsea is an interesting one because both teams keep it tight at the back and hit teams on the counter so which one will look to be more aggressive and take control of the tie?

We’ll have to wait and see about that but as it stands now I think Chelsea’s experience will see them through, as they won’t defend as badly as Barca and they have a keeper who doesn’t look like a rabbit caught in the headlights in big games. I also think Atletico are running on empty they barely had the energy to celebrate when they beat Barca and that’s got to catch up with them sooner or later. And as much as I want them to beat Chelsea I just don’t think they will.

So I think it will be Bayern and Chelsea in the final, with Bayern to defend their title.  

Toyota to recall 6.4 million cars

Toyota is recalling 6.4 million vehicles globally, including 35,124 in the UK, over five separate issues.

Some 3.5 million vehicles are being recalled to replace a spiral cable attached to the driver's side airbag, it may be damaged when the steering wheel is turned and result in the airbag not being deployed in a crash.

Other issues include problems with seat rails, steering columns, windscreen wipers and a glitch with the engine starters that poses a fire risk.

What is going on a Toyota? Is there an internal competition between the different departments as to who can make the most unreliable car and who can score the most number of recalls?

There has to be because this is the fifth major recall Toyota has issued in recent months and this latest one affects 27 different models, and I love the casual explanations offered to the problems, oh yeah there’s a ‘glitch’ that means some of our models may catch fire when you start them, and in some models the airbag may or may not deploy if you crash it all depends on which way the steering wheel is facing at the time, but don’t worry we’ll get them back to the same factory where they were made and fix the problems.

Then I read something that really surprised me, in the last two and a half years Toyota has recalled more than 25 million vehicles, yet in the same time period they’ve sold just over 21 million cars, so in the last two and a half years they’ve recalled more cars than they’ve sold.

What really gets me about all this is that Toyota will continue to churn out cars and make billions even though the cars they're making have clearly not been built properly and are putting people’s lives at risk.    

Massimo Cellino ‘completes’ takeover of Leeds United

Massimo Cellino has completed his takeover of Championship side Leeds United, according to his lawyers.

He agreed a deal to buy a 75% stake in the club through his company Eleonora Sports in February but his takeover was vetoed by the Football League in March.  

The 57-year-old Italian won his appeal against that ruling on Saturday. 

This could all be smoke and mirrors and Cellino may not actually own Leeds, but for the sake of this post I’m going to assume he does.

If that is the case it’s rather odd because he failed the fit and proper owners test because he was convicted in an Italian court of not paying import duty on a yacht he bought, in the original ruling the Football League vetoed his takeover based on this and yet less than two weeks later he appealed and an independent QC overturned the decision and he’s now free to take over Leeds.

Now is it just me or does that not make much, nay any sense, the people in charge of running the Football League have assessed his case and said you’ve breached our rules you can’t buy Leeds, but a random lawyer has decided he hasn’t breached the rules and he can buy the club.

What’s the point of the Football League having a test for potential owners if its say isn’t final? 

Catania sack coach for second time this season

Italian side Catania have sacked coach Rolando Maran - for the second time this season.

Serie A’s bottom side are seven points adrift of safety with six games left.

Maran, 50, led Catania to eighth place last season as the Sicilians narrowly missed out on European qualification for the first time.

So Catania sacked this guy in October and in January, just three months later, went back to him and said we’ve made a mistake we shouldn’t have sacked you the guy who replaced you is no good please come back, he does and then he’s back less than three months and he’s been sacked again, you couldn’t make it up.

What makes this even better is that there is another team in Serie A who’ve done something similar, at the end of January Sassuolo sacked their manager Eusebio Di Francesco and replaced him with Alberto Malesani, then at the beginning of March, less than five weeks later, Sassuolo sacked Malesani and re-hired Di Francesco.

I think the Italians are taking the phrase managerial merry-go-round a bit too literally, and unsurprisingly both teams are propping up Serie A and favourites for the drop.  

But aside from making me laugh these two incidents provide a rather apt metaphor for domestic Italian football at the moment; the whole thing is one big joke. 

New warning about obesity ignorance

Millions of people in the UK could be failing to recognise that they are obese - putting themselves at risk of early death, a new report suggests.

There is poor understanding of obesity-related health risks and many do not even recognise that they are obese, Nuffield Health said.

New research conducted by the charity found that two-fifths of obese people had no concerns about serious illness due to their weight.

I’m torn on my response to this because half of me thinks if there are people out there that are clearly obese but are choosing to ignore it or refusing to acknowledge it and are putting themselves at risk, then let them get on with it.

If they want to die young from a heart attack or lose a foot to diabetes all because their diet is so poor and made them so lazy they can’t even be asked to take the tiniest consideration for their health then so be it.

If they don’t care why should anybody else?

But the other half of me thinks of the millions it costs, and will continue to cost, the NHS to treat people for health problems all because they refuse to eat anything green.

Like I said I’m torn so I decided to flip a coin and it’s made my mid up for me that obese people who choose to ignore the problem should be left to get on with it. 

Norwich sack Chris Hughton

Norwich have sacked manager Chris Hughton and replaced him with youth coach Neil Adams.

The Canaries were beaten 1-0 by West Brom on Saturday and are five points clear of the relegation zone with five games remaining.

They are still to play Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

I’ve thought about this decision and no matter what angle you view it from it makes no sense.

Norwich have sacked Chris Hughton when they’re five points, six effectively if you look at their goal difference compared to Fulham and Cardiff, clear of the relegation zone, ok four of their last five games are against top six teams but if they win their next game, away to Fulham, that would probably be just enough to keep them up regardless of their results in those last four games. 

What makes the decision doubly incompetent is that Hughton has been replaced with a guy who has no managerial experience. 

Is this an admission from the Norwich board that they think they’re going down so they’ve got rid of Hughton now rather than at the end of the season to give themselves more time to find someone to manage the team next year?

That’s the only thing I can think of that even comes close to making this decision make sense and even then it’s still totally bonkers. 

Expenses row eating away at the credibility of Parliament

MPs should do “whatever it takes” to stop rows over their expenses “eating away at the credibility of Parliament”, a cabinet minister has said.

Iain Duncan Smith was speaking after the independent parliamentary watchdog said MPs should “no longer mark their own homework” on ethics.

It comes after a committee of MPs overruled investigators probing Culture Secretary Maria Miller's expenses.

I agree with the watchdog in that MPs shouldn’t mark their own homework on ethics because if you look at the evidence that approach clearly hasn’t worked.

If you think back to the original expenses scandal only a few MPs, most of whom nobody had heard of outside, in fact probably inside, their constituencies had to pay back a small percentage of what they claimed, a few had to resign and I think one might have gone to jail for a few weeks, which when you consider there were hundreds on the fiddle that’s a pretty lame response to widespread wrongdoing that went on.  

I also disagree with IDS because the credibility of Parliament has mostly been eaten away already, there maybe a few scraps left but I don’t think one more MP being accused of wrongdoing is going to change anything.

One way credibility could be improved is by MPs not being allowed to mark their own homework, but another better way would be that they follow the rules and do their jobs properly, that might be the way forward. 

Ryan Giggs: United are not ‘underdogs’ against Bayern Munich

Manchester United are not “underdogs” for their Champions League quarter-final with holders Bayern Munich, according to player-coach Ryan Giggs.

The 40-year-old also insists United can win the competition as they prepare for Tuesday's first leg at Old Trafford.

“Of course it is possible,” the midfielder said. “You need to play well, to get that little bit of luck.”

I’ve often wondered what Ryan Giggs secret to his long playing career was and now reading these comments the only answer I can come up with is drugs, copious amounts of drugs, because the word underdog was surely invented to be applied to a team in United’s situation and anyone who suggests otherwise has to be high on something.

The only chance United have over the two games against Bayern is that the starting XI Guardiola picks all, in a cartoonish style twist, have their brains switched with a pack of dogs and they all randomly charge about the pitch barking, chewing the football and licking themselves.

Even then I’d still be hesitant to back United, mind you it would take that to happen for me to watch because I’ll be watching Barca-Atletico at this stage of the competition I like to see a close competitive game not a walkover/exhibition. 

Now we should eat seven fruit and veg a day

Eating seven or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day is healthier than the five currently recommended and would prolong lives, researchers say.

A study of 65,226 men and women indicated the more fruit and vegetables people ate, the less likely they were to die - at any given age.

Seven a day cut the risk of dying from cancer and heart disease.

Given that it’s already been acknowledged in response to this research that many people, including myself, don’t eat five a day, what’s the point of telling those people to up that number to seven.

All this is saying is right you’re not eating five a day; now try not eating seven a day.

But if you follow the logic here in a few years they’ll be saying eat nine a day then 11 a day then only eat fruit and veg until the aisles of supermarkets will be wall to wall fruit and veg.

If you want people to actually reach the five a day target why not start by removing all the chemicals added and that in turn should reduce the cost, maybe then the target of five or seven will be achievable, that’s a better option than saying eat two more than what you’re already not eating.