MOST SOOTHING TV
Won’t come from Sky. 2016’s summer Jim White Day falls on Wednesday – the Sky Sports News anchor’s biannual showbiz chance to make up for months of reporting on late fitness tests by shouting his way through transfer deadline day. Pass the time between deals with Jim White bingo (“my goodness me”, “Sky sources are telling us”, “hold on to your hats” and “I’ll have to stop you there Natalie”) before the window OFFICIALLY SLAMS SHUT at 11pm.
ACTUAL FOOTBALL
Comes in the form of midweek international friendlies, while Premier League clubs recover from all that spending. The Republic of Ireland face Oman on Wednesday (7.45pm TV) – the official farewell international for 36-year-old Robbie Keane (left) – while other games include Turkey v Russia and Germany v Finland (BT Sport, 7.45pm) and, on Thursday, Italy v France, Belgium v Spain, and European champions Portugal delighting their neighbours and predecessors by hosting Gibraltar. England fans, meanwhile, can get started on their next cycle of hype, hope and despair today, when Sam Allardyce names his first squad. England play Slovakia away in a World Cup qualifier next Sunday (ITV, 5pm).
RETURN TO ACTION
Winning Olympic gold doesn’t buy you any time off: Paris was playing host to a couple of dozen Rio medallists on Saturday and 14 champions will be competing this week in the Zurich Diamond League finals (Eurosport on Thursday) – alongside 26 silver and bronze medallists. Among the big names are Caster Semenya (below), who recorded the world’s fastest 800m this year in Rio amid more uncomfortable accusations over “unfair advantage” from her hyperandrogenism, and Elaine Thompson, Dafne Schippers, Allyson Felix and Veronica Campbell-Brown, who go in a stellar 200m.
LIFE-CHANGER
With the Paralympics starting on 7 September, BBC Radio 5 Live gives a repeat to Blade of Glory on Tuesday at 9.30pm – their documentary on Van Phillips, inventor of the Flex-Foot system that made Oscar Pistorius famous. Phillips, who lost part of his left leg in a water skiing accident in 1976, spent 20 years honing his dynamic design, inspired by the movement of porpoises, kangaroos and cheetahs, and by the spring of swimming diving boards. But, he says, blade technology is still “only in its infancy”.
AND TOP-LEVEL TENNIS
It’s US Open time – Novak Djokovic defending his men’s title against Wimbledon and Rio winner Andy Murray. Sky have dropped their coverage of the event after 25 years but Eurosport took up the rights and plan to show 200 hours’ worth of action from Flushing Meadows over the next fortnight. It starts on Monday from 4pm (UK time), and ends on Sunday 11 September.
The what? It’s the season’s edgiest rebrand – the new name for the cup previously known as the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, LDV Vans Trophy, Auto Windscreens Shield, Autoglass Trophy, Leyland DAF Cup, Sherpa Van Trophy and the mid-80s classic the Freight Rover Trophy. It starts on Tuesday, and people aren’t happy.
Why the discontent? It all used to be so simple: League One and Two teams aiming for a trip to Wembley. Barnsley won it last season, beating Oxford United. Fans liked it, so organisers decided to change it. Starting this season, it’s a group-stage tournament, with Premier League academy sides invited to take part – sold by the Football League as an effort to “rejuvenate this competition and assist the development of the very best young players in the country”.
So how’s that gone down, then? Not so well. Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Spurs all declined the invitations; fans of lower-league clubs called the format “farcical” and plan to boycott it; and the regionalised draw system turned up some unlikely new local derbies due to teams being classified as “northern” or “southern” by division. Among the highlights: Cheltenham, in the northern section, face a 340-mile round trip to Blackpool, while Coventry, 50 miles north of Cheltenham, kick off in the southern section against traditional local rivals West Ham under-23s on Tuesday. It’s the start of the long road to the 2 April Wembley final – most likely between two sets of under-23s.
And “Checkatrade”? A trades vetting website – in keeping, at least, with the cup’s long paint and vans and windscreens heritage. The League – itself now rebranded “the EFL” – say there are “strong synergies” between their corporate identities.
That’s good to know. So what’s the official line? Everyone will grow to love it, reckons EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey. “Innovation is never easy. But we’re taking decisions we feel are in the best interest of our clubs and the game.”