"I'll see you soon … I hope," were Martin Jol's words to the media after his Fulham side's 3-0 Premier League defeat by West Ham last Saturday, plans that contrasted with those of new Fulham owner Shahid Khan, who promptly sacked him the next day. Jol – who was replaced by head coach René Meulensteen – departed having lost 16 games in 24 matches since April. Elsewhere Ryan Giggs joined the select band to play top-flight football beyond the age of 40, adding the most recent of his 1,021 senior Manchester United appearances in last week's 5-0 Champions League dismantling of Bayer Leverkusen. And how did Giggs celebrate? "I got some nice shirts and a pair of pyjamas," he informed BBC Radio 2 listeners. Pipe and slippers for Christmas then, Ryan?
Wales' hoodoo continues
The autumn rugby union internationals ended on a high note as Australia withstood a stirring Wales fightback to earn a 30-26 victory in Cardiff. It was a ninth successive defeat for Wales against the Wallabies and also means the Six Nations champions have lost their last 18 fixtures against the three major southern hemisphere sides, a curious statistic for a nation that five months ago provided the core of the Lions team that trounced Australia. "We are knocking at the door at the moment, and at some stage we are going to knock it over," said Wales coach Warren Gatland, though he did not rule out ringing the doorbell, trying the handle or if all else failed, putting a note through the letterbox.
McIlroy wins at last
From the green, green grass of Cardiff to the green, green putting greens of Sydney, where Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy pipped home favourite Adam Scott to victory in the Australian Golf Open. In doing so McIlroy avoided going through the whole season without a win, which would have been in stark contrast to his epic 2012 when he rose to No 1 in the world rankings. "It has been a frustrating year," admitted McIlroy. "I have worked hard and it's been a process, trying to get back to winning golf tournaments again. It was nice to be able to do it."
Thrills and spills in Brooklyn
And finally, a bizarre tale from the NBA where the Brooklyn Nets coach, Jason Kidd, was fined $50,000 for intentionally spilling a drink on the court to delay his team's game against the LA Lakers. A video of the incident showed Kidd appearing to tell Brooklyn reserve Tyshawn Taylor to "hit me" as the guard walked toward the bench, and the resulting delay allowed the Nets, who were out of timeouts, to formulate a plan for the final few seconds. Kidd later denied foul play, putting the incident down to sweaty palms. Not that it made any difference to the result, the Lakers winning 99-94.
