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Quotes of the week: 1Aug2007

This week’s sporting quotes focus on cheating in sport, from Tour de France drugs, to secret F1 plans, to the Great Jelly Bean Mystery. Plus, Catalan Dragons’ victory over Wigan, Des Lynam, Sir Alex Ferguson on Wayne Rooney, Sid Waddell and this week’s LA latest from David Beckham

“I found some jelly beans on the wicket and I felt it was insulting” – India bowler Zaheer Khan on sweet and sour goings on in the second Test against England

“It comes with the territory. It’s international cricket, it’s a hard game. We all want to win, we’re all playing to win, so you’re going to have the banter. From what I saw no one overstepped the mark” – England wicketkeeper Matthew Prior

“Sky could do with a rival and I think it will do great. It’s healthy for the sport to have another main player in the game” – Des Lynam comes out of retirement to help Setanta promote its new televised football offering

“It is a slur that when it is all sorted out I’m sure you guys will all write lovely things about us again, and retract all the other things. I have never had a hint of corruption put at my business career, and I don’t think that, when this is all sorted out, it will be repeated” – Sir David Murray, the owner of Rangers, on the club’s involvement in the police investigation into the transfer of Jean-Alain Boumsong to Newcastle

“If this was not the most surprising semi-final result in the 110-year history of the Challenge Cup, it may well have been the most popular. Wigan have infuriated everyone in the game, and embarrassed many of their own supporters, by pulling every trick in the book in recent weeks in an attempt to escape their self-inflicted salary cap problems in the Super League, so there will be far more schadenfreude than sympathy for their inability to seize this golden chance to return to Wembley” – Andy Wilson, in The Guardian, on the historic and timely RL Challenge Cup semi-final win for Catalan Dragons over Wigan

“What a few fans are trying to do is cause trouble. They wouldn’t give a shit if Putin bought the club as long as it was successful” – Ken Bates, now in charge at Leeds, not bitter at all about his £17 million pay-off from Roman Abramovich when he sold Chelsea to him

“Let’s face it, there has not been too much since Coe, Ovett and Steve Cram. You can’t ignore the past, but you can learn from it” – Michael Rimmer, promising 800m runner, ahead of the weekend’s AAA Championships

“No one has faith in who is wearing the yellow jersey. This year’s Tour has lost all credibility. It’s null and void as far as I am concerned” – Britain’s Bradley Wiggins in forthright form

James Lawton in The Independent
“Sure, they had their suspicions. Didn’t even the mighty, five times winner Anquetil pose the difficult question: ‘How do you think they cover that course… on mineral water? The surprising thing is not that the boys take drugs but that some people imagine they could do what they do without them?’ But there was a still a little innocence, a belief that a God-fearing Burgundy lad like Bernand Thévenet did it from his heart and not a syringe.

“Well, there’s no innocence now. There is no question that La Grand Boucle has become a squalid little mobile drug dispensary.”

“Anti-doping efforts have become bureaucratic, overly concerned with compliance and full of self important autocrats” – Michele Verroken, the former UK anti-doping chief, writing on the Sport Industry Group website

“Is Linford still an effective coach? Yes he is. Is he completely committed to drug-free sport? Yes he is” – UK Athletics’ Dave Collins continues to defend the appointment of Linford Christie – with two positive drug tests in his career – as a mentor to young athletes

“Today’s decision legitimises dishonest behaviour in F1 and sets a very serious precedent. We find it incomprehensible that McLaren’s violations do not carry any punishment” – Ferrari statement on outcome of motor racing’s “spying” scandal

Wiggins (pictured) on how his Tour de France ended after the positive drug test of team mate Cristian Moreni
“From finishing a seven-and-a-quarter-hour Pyrenean stage on Wednesday to being told straight away at the finish that we had to go to the police station on a bus. Then being dragged out of France after being questioned and flying home on Thursday. I’m quite pleased I’m here and out of it. I have no regret that I am not there. It’s not a nice place to be”

“We won’t make any assumptions but we assume that Andy Turner will be on the plane to Osaka” – Steve Cram

“This is a banquet. Good old Blackpool fayre. This is fish ‘n’ chips with saveloys, steaming hot and dribbling with vinegar – tongue-smacking tungsten. You will never see a better match anywhere between here and planet Venus” – Sid Waddell‘s TV commentary on the World Matchplay darts in Blackpool

“Matt Smith and Beckham sat in white armchairs on the terrace of some California wet dream apartment overlooking a deep blue swimming pool. As the opening scene of a porn movie it would not have been bad but instead the two talked about Beckham’s ‘challenge’… ‘To see people like John Travolta and his wife saying how great we are as people, me and Victoria are saying “Oh my god”. It’s pretty amazing’.” – Martin Kelner reviews the latest televised Beckham-fest

“There was a hitch in the DJ Campbell deal which had to be clarified. I asked if I could speak to Mr Steve Bruce. The man who picked up the phone said he was training and I replied in my Scottish accent that it was Sir Alex Ferguson on the phone. Mr Bruce came to the phone and said ‘Good morning Alex’, and I replied ‘Good morning Steve, it’s Martin Allen’. He laughed and laughed and laughed; he called me a few names, I got the answer out of him that I wanted and we got the deal completed” – Leicester boss Martin Allen

“Nothing bothers Rooney. Wayne’s incredible, a very strong character. He is exceptional. He just loves football and training. He will be a big player next season, believe me” – Sir Alex Ferguson


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