Fail to prepare. Prepare to fail.

ROY Keane’s infamous quote above from Saipan still resonates in Ireland as we approach the 10 year anniversary of the most infamous sporting exit in the history of this country.

It is a phrase that has been going through my head quite a bit for the past few weeks as my racing season begins in haste tomorrow.  At 11.30am I will attempt to run 5km in under 24 minutes at the John Davis Memorial race in Malahide Castle.

All quite achievable I hear you say.  And indeed in theory you would be correct.  The only problem is that my first run of the year was only last Sunday.  And only a trot for 2.5kms at that.  It was followed up by a 5km jog on Tuesday.

So quite obviously, this has not the most ideal preparations for either race.  But last Sunday’s run broke a spell.  For the past six weeks, I have been meaning to go for that first run.  Having spent a lot of last year with niggly ankle and hip injuries, I was apprehensive about starting the run.

I went to physio to try to loosen out my leg and did the exercises to try to strengthen my leg. So I was trying to prepare as best as possible. And yet, I couldn’t force myself out to run.  When I did finally get a few runs under my belt, the ankle ached and my hip hurt.  So this weekend will be approached with some trepidation and no small dollop of hope that the legs hold up.

I have been aiming to prepare well.  Preparation for my triathlon has not been a total failure, however the preparation for this weekend’s race would likely leave a lot to be desired. 

I can’t imagine I’d get Roy Keane’s seal of approval, but then again, that will depend on how this weekend’s race.  Only time will tell.

Is Ronaldo getting too big for his own boots?

The world of football is waiting with bated breath for Cristiano Ronaldo’s announcement in the next 48 hours about his future. At least that is what he would like us to think. But frankly, this Man United fan has already switched off.

The Portuguese international deserves the awards and plaudits he has been receiving in the last number of months. His contribution to United this year was instrumental on their way to regaining the Premiership. As well as his goals, his contribution around the pitch was second to none.

But any comparisons with any of the greats of the game are wide of the mark. Ronaldo has consistently shown that if he is not involved in a game he will quietly disappear into the background, almost in a huff, and hope that things will start going his way. He stops tracking back and instead makes ridiculous gestures to officials, team-mates, the crowd. To anyone but himself. He is the last one at fault.

His skill cannot be doubted and he has come a long way since a young naïve 17 year old first played in the Premiership with his never-ending step-overs. He can genuinely beat players with both skill and speed. But he has yet displayed the ability to take a game by the scruff of the neck and turn it around for his team. Yes he has scored timely goals and put in timely crosses to colleagues but his general awareness and selfishness leaves a lot to be desired.

Ronaldo does not yet have the mental ability to call himself one of the best players in the world. Just take the last two games in the Champions League. Two penalties. One skied over the bar. One saved. Could you have seen Gary Lineker or Alan Shearer, let alone any of the world’s greats make such mistakes.

But such is his own sense of elevated self-importance, he has to be the centre of attention. When Edwin Van der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka’s penalty to win the Champion’s League for United, all of his team-mates charged to celebrate with him. Ronaldo charged with them. Then he checked. He realised he would not be the centre of attention among the melee of players. So instead he stops and throws himself to the floor and ‘cries’. Cue every camera in the ground to zoom in on Ronaldo prostrate on the pitch. Once again centre of attention.

Ever since, those cameras have been on him and the microphones have followed his every word. But the young Portuguese winger is playing a dangerous game. Portraying yourself as bigger than a club like Manchester United is walking a very tight rope. And Sir Alex Ferguson is holding the other end of that rope.

Ferguson has long held the belief that no one player is bigger than the club. As far as the Scot is concerned, he is the club. And if there is any attempt by a player to take on that club, a watery grave awaits. He need only ask Jaap Stam, David Beckham or even Roy Keane.

The sooner Ronaldo makes his ‘announcement’ the better. Then he can shut his mouth and get back to what he is best at – playing football. That is where he can gain most respect because at the moment he certainly isn’t playing the media well.

Respect the Ref? Two chances!

Hands on hips. His chin lowered to his chest and back to the referee, the player refused to look at the official. Only when threatened with expulsion from the game did the player petulantly make half a turn to receive his yellow card. Having looked the referee in the eye, he was already running away by the time the official’s arm was fully outstretched.

If this was an under ten’s game in the Phoenix Park, the emotion and frustration of the player may be understandable, but when it happens at White Hart Lane and the player is Ashley Cole, any feelings of sympathy toward the player quickly dissipate.

Only four days later Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano received a second yellow card and was dismissed. His offence? Charging more than 20 yards to dispute a challenge made on one of his team-mates.

The issue of player-official respect has once again been brought to the fore.

But a trip down memory lane is not a long one to discover when this was last the favourite bar-stool topic of conversation. It is less than 10 years since Paolo Di Canio infamously pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground after being given his marching orders. Before being banned for 11 games and fined £10,000, politicians and former players were outraged at the Italian’s behaviour. “Chuck the book at him,” said then Sports Minister, Tony Banks MP.

Such fines are nowadays not going to hurt the top professionals where many in the Premiership will be earning about three to four times that amount a week.

Players like Cole now earn more in a week than the referee earns in a year. The Chelsea player believes he is a minor celebrity – he’s not – and therefore has a right to look down his nose at anyone who dares challenge him. Likewise his team-mates.

In football, the players believe they have a God given right to challenge every decision made by the authorities, it doesn’t matter if it took place five or 50 yards away from them.

Indeed, it is not only the players who find themselves in trouble, clubs are increasingly being brought to task for not being able to control their players or 'bringing the game into disrepute'. Arsenal and Chelsea are most often at the top of the list, with the Stamford Bridge club already fined three times this year and assistant coach, Steve Clarke, also fined for abusing an official.

How often in the past number of years has a referee made a decision, or not, and is almost immediately been surrounded by a large number of players. The jostling, barracking and abuse is now seen as a valid tactic to seek to sway the decision about to be meted out. Such incidents do not take place by accident.

In the past week the Football Association (FA) launched a grass-roots campaign to recruit more referees but also improve player behaviour towards match officials. Such a campaign is not an over-night solution but must be welcomed.

Everton manager David Moyes was one of a number of Premiership managers to come out in support of the FA’s proposal to tackle the issue. But he believes respect is a two way thin: “We know they want us to give them respect. They have to give us respect also.”

However Sunderland manager, Roy Keane was highly critical of Premiership managers preaching about players respecting referees. The antagonism shown by players does not happen by mistake. And it is no co-incidence that the teams with the most vociferous managers are those with the most vocal players.

“There are a lot of hypocrites out there. The same bosses talking about players showing respect have been sent off themselves for abusing officials,” said Keane.

The Cork-man who was one of the fiercest competitors on the pitch has been one of the calmest man patrolling the touchlines and believes it is his job to set the example in the club: “I’ve made it clear to everyone here – from the academy to the first team – that a lack of respect towards referees will not be tolerated. How can the players show respect if their managers does not?”

While the FA are seeking to hire the referees at grassroots level, they would do well to include a chapter in the document for managers.

Chief Executive of the Professional Footballer’s Association, Gordon Taylor has called for an exclusion zone around referees to stop players’ dissent. “I have made it clear referees should be a no-go area. It is time managers and players did accept a responsibility because what happens at the top level happens lower down.”

While an exclusion zone is good in principle, any comments can still easily be shouted from five yards away.

If the message is to get across to the players that dissent will not be tolerated, then they must be hit where it will hurt most - on the pitch. Why not take a leaf from the rugby rule-book? Any lip or back chat – ten yards.

If Cole had 10 team-mates shouting at him to shut up as the referee moved a free-kick a further 10 yards up the pitch he might just listen. He respects them.