Groan of the week

Only one contender, of course - step forward Mr Hoddle

Only one contender, of course - step forward Mr Hoddle. "I don't think he should resign," said George Best on Saturday, "he should be sacked."

"He does have some weird thoughts," said John Appleton, a member of the Great Britain cerebral palsy football squad, "not least in the way he picks his teams." "If Hoddle is right, I must have been a failed football coach in a previous incarnation," was the delicious response of David Blunkett, the blind British Education Secretary, to the England manager's moronic utterings. Last word goes to a contributor to the internet discussion forum, Football 365, who signed himself as `Glenn Hoddle'. "As I was saying to God the other day, what on earth did I do last time around to be me this time." Indeed.

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan is a sports writer with The Irish Times