1) Only recently unearthed on VHS and uploaded, here’s former Liverpool manager Bob Paisley being This-Is-Your-Lifed by Eamonn Andrews in 1977 – featuring guest appearances from Matt Busby, Bill Shankly and Kevin Keegan via satellite. Among other sport stars to get the red book treatment: Bobby Charlton is set up by Busby and Jimmy Hill, and Muhammad Ali’s mum leaves the Greatest speechless. George Best is surprised by his entire extended family, Barry McGuigan gets emotional and the Matchroom mob join Ronnie Wood and Bobby Davro to pay homage to Jimmy White. Then there’s Damon Hill, Ian Wright and, er, Kriss Akabusi, while John Motson’s big final guest is … Ronnie Radford.
2) Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle’s in-house dust-up last weekend joined a long list of team-mate set-tos, led by the ripped-shirt 2005 genre definer, Dyer versus Bowyer. Other big moments of team spirit spilling over: Placido de Castro team-mates Fabio Junior and Uilian going at it in 2015; Grobbelaar v McManaman in 1993; Batty v Le Saux in 1995; Marquinhos and Carlos Tevez doing some playground arm-flailing in training at Corinthians in 2005; and Ricardo Fuller taking exception to Andy Griffin in 2008, as described by Mark Lawrenson: “It’s a case of plenty of slap and no tickle.”
3) Stronger stuff here. After last month’s David Haye v Tony Bellew press conference stage-fight and this week’s Dillian Whyte v Dereck Chisora PR-savvy table-tossing, some more classic set pieces: Danny Williams versus Audley Harrison in 2006; Riddick Bowe versus Larry Donald in 1994; and Mike Tyson v Lennox Lewis in 2002. Among other out-of-the-ring confrontations worth a watch: Trevor Berbick and Larry Holmes taking their row outside on to the street in 1991; and some slow-burn wrestling: Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier get physical in the ABC Wide World Of Sports studio in 1974.
4) “I just come over here to win the tournament, we done that, I’m player of the tournament on top, it’s just brilliant.” Great stuff from junior Joe Cole, in action for West Ham in the 1991 Dale Farm Milk Cup. And here’s more Milk Cup vintage footage: Beckham, Neville, Scholes and the rest of the Class of 92, back in 91.
5) Meanwhile, showing the kids how it’s done: Lee Trundle, now at Llanelli Town, still has a few tricks up his sleeve. Plus more highlights from the week in football: a barely believable goal-line miss in Greece, a 65-yard volley in Chile, and Besiktas’s first-half performance against Dynamo Kyiv brings goalkeeper Fabricio to tears.
6) And here’s Oakland Raiders kicker and fan favourite Marquette King earning a penalty, doing a dance with the penalty flag and conceding a penalty.
Highlights from last week’s blog
1) Australia’s Steve Smith takes a nifty one-handed catch off New Zealand’s BJ Watling in the first ODI:
2) Isaiah Thomas scores with an outrageous trick shot... after the whistle blows. It’s been a rough week for Boston Celtics fans.
3) Toulouse manager Pascal Dupraz’s reaction to being brushed by a paper plane was bad enough; now compare it to Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz after being struck by an ice hockey puck.
4) Enjoy Bristol City v Wolves in ITV’s 1976 show All in the Game.
5) Damn!
6) And Dutch riders cycle into the wind. Rather like an average British commute. It’s NK Tegenwindfietsen 2016.
Spotters’ badges: CocoTheMonkey, TheCedarRoom, Evan_Rye, StuartRG, Edgeley, TheCorporal.
