It's a fair Kop Mike

SHOULD we really have been surprised that referee Mike Reed did a lap of honour (okay, okay no exaggerating - punched the air in delight) after Patrik Berger put Liverpool 2-1 up against Leeds?

Well - like football reporters - they are probably only frustrated players themselves anyway and it's difficult to be completely detached.

But Reed, a controversial figure in normal circumstances, claimed he was simply congratulating himself on good refereeing because he had played an advantage earlier in the move.

Premier League spokesman Mike Lee, however, said: "We understand the emotions involved but such gestures are open to misinterpretation and cannot be encouraged."

There was uproar because it was so unusual.

If such behaviour had been commonplace we might well have seen Gerald Ashby charging round Ewood a few years back, singing "Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio . . . " after dismissing Henning Berg against Manchester United!

And then claiming his exuberance was down to the fact that he had been brilliant enough to spot a foul missed by 30,000-plus other witnesses.

Still, if the "Which planet are we on?" Football Association can come down on Steve Claridge and his Portsmouth team-mates for backing their own side to WIN a game, a referee who all but jumps on the Kop and sings 'You'll never Walk Alone' must be in the dock.

I'd be a jolly good delegate

IT'S got to be the best job in the world - become a delegate on a bid for the World Cup, Olympics, Commonwealth Games etc.

Our representatives, including former sports minister Tony Banks, jetted off to Paraguay this week on their latest "Jolly".

How about East Lancashire bidding to stage the next World Subbuteo Championships - I'll happily travel the globe on expenses telling them what a wonderful place this is.

Flock gets the chop

THOUGHTS of tasty summer barbecues may have crossed some minds as a small flock of sheep - five to be precise - was discovered grazing happily at Rishton CC's Blackburn Road ground the other day.

But such thoughts got the chop when police and representatives of local farmers arrived to round up the invaders.

And it is believed that cost and fuel-saving initiatives proposed by the ground committee had to be dismissed when the animals bleated about being hitched up to the roller . . .

A dead cert..

THE weights were issued yesterday for the Martell Grand National, but it was the addition at the end of the list which caught the eye.

"Also entered: Dr Leunt (dead)"

Good job I spotted that . . . or you know where my money would have gone!

Fourteen love

GREAT Britain's Davis Cup representatives have gone an astonishing 14 years without a win in tennis's elite 16-nation world group.

And I thought Rovers were struggling after losing three matches in a row!

Stay friendly over friendly

THE Football Association rejected Russian claims that they had gone back on an agreement to play them in the last Wembley fixture before Euro 2000.

And everyone will be hoping the row is not allowed to fester.

Well, you never know when we'll need a Russian linesman . . .

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.