With him back on board, after a short trip to Ireland this week, the Albion pre-season really kick-starts on Saturday with the annual friendly against Worthing.

Some fans are saying that, with the return of Micky Adams and the Albion's impressive activity in the transfer market, this is the most exciting close season since the summer of 1976 — when older readers will recall that a newly-retired England international, Alan Mullery, took up his first managerial appointment, at the Goldstone.

What followed was a five-year rollercoaster, which ultimately ended with the Albion making it to the top flight of domestic football and staying there for three eventful seasons.

The Albion fans crammed into Woodside Road this weekend would like to think that, with Falmer on the horizon, history could yet repeat itself.

Sections of the media have been castigated for giving more coverage on Monday to the Wimbledon Men's Singles Final than Lewis Hamilton's victory in the British Grand Prix.

So let's analyse the whole situation. A difficult choice. On one hand, we have perhaps one of the greatest sporting encounters ever; up against, on the other hand, a tax exile winning a motor race.

They will probably still be showing footage of that tennis in 100 years time. It represented everything that was good about sport, and perhaps one of the most telling aspects was Federer's reaction to defeat.

A true champion in every sense of the word and the ultimate role model to any youngster, in whatever sport they take part.

As for Nadal, at 22, if he was to stay injury-free, would anyone bet against him going on to surpass both Federer and Bjorn Borg and win six Wimbledon titles on the bounce?

There almost appears to be a worldwide campaign hell-bent on convincing FIFA that South Africa is not a suitable place to host the next World Cup Finals, on account of security and crime issues in the host cities.

I hope our own FA doesn't shot too loudly: it might actually invite an accusation of "people in glass houses".

Two years after South Africa hosts the World Cup for the first time, the Olympic Games will arrive in London. And unless you've been living in a cave for the last six months, that's the same London, the city that has had 19 teenage fatalities this year as a result of knife crime.

Not exactly a glowing endorsement is it?

If our social problems in the capital continue, could it be that a lobby might start asking questions about London's suitability to host the event?

It almost begs the question: is Dwain Chambers not the sharpest tool in the box?

With the Beijing Olympic Games only a month away, he still seems driven to take the legal steps to ensure he will line up on the track in China representing the British team.

But "team" is the key word here. No one in it wants him to run at the Games, and almost every notable Olympian, to a man and woman, has stated the same thing.

I think I'd go as far as saying the overwhelming majority of the public interested in sport don't want him back in a British vest. Regardless of whether he's served his punishment as a drug cheat, or not.
Some people just can't take a hint.

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