Not so in Nobby’s case. Though I may find it sad that he’s taken this decision, he’s made it for the good of his family:

“It was always my intention to leave the entire collection to my children. But I have three sons – how do you fairly divide up this sort of collection between them? They have each selected some pieces they would like to keep for themselves.

“I’m as patriotic as the next Englishman and will always cherish my memories and the friendships I made in my playing days, but at this stage of my life I would rather have some control over the distribution of my memorabilia and know that my family will benefit.”

You can’t argue with that. You’d be a heartless bastard if you did. What it does mean is that there are pieces of real footballing history, both English and Manchester United-related, that are up for grabs for those with deep pockets and, I hope, a real appreciation for such things.

It is to be hoped that the World Cup medal, for example, ends up in the hands of someone with a passion for the game and for England. If it ends up sat in a dark room, never to be looked at and admired, owned by someone who just wanted the prestige of owning it without knowing what it means…that would be a tragedy.

Nobby Stiles won’t care. He’s putting his family first. The rest of us should. The Machester United-related items should, as someone said on Twitter today, really be bought by Manchester United for the museum. Let the public see it, look after one of their own and ensure the items are looked after properly.

That won’t happen though. Sadly.

For me, the one item above all else that I’d love to have from the auction is his shirt from the 1968 European Cup final against Benfica. Not the medal, the shirt. That’s the shirt he sweated blood in to help win us that first European Cup. How good would that be?

So…can anyone lend me about £50,000? If not, and you have it, snap it up yourself. You won’t regret owning it. Just make sure you look after it.

Sporting Fare - Serving up the world of sport...with a twist!

That the words “scientist”, “electrodes” and even “Brighton” should never be used in the same sentence as “football” is bad enough. That there are football fans willing to be linked to machinery and measurement equipment in this ridiculous “experiment” (a word used often by Chelsea, Liverpool and England to little effect, you might remember) just makes it worse.

“The idea is we wanted to identify the power of the 12th man and do something to help England win the World Cup.

“We hope it will catch on with fans on the terraces and we can do something to help the team.”

Said crazed Brighton boffin Duncan Smith. Mate, it won’t. Or if it does we don’t know what the World (Cup) is coming to.

Still, I suppose it beats putting mascara on rabbits or trying to find out how many corn flakes you can put in a hamster til it explodes. Or does it?

Read the full, horrifying story here…

Sporting Fare - Serving up the world of sport...with a twist!

I recognise him as one of the best batsmen in the world and he is certainly one of England’s key men as well. But…

"Swashbuckling". And a bloody big gob.

Do you not think he fails more than he succeeds when he’s out on the pitch playing for ‘his’ country? Be it Test, one day or Twenty20, Pietersen consistently fails to live up to the talent we all know he has.

Sure, there are a few innings of utter style and, more importantly, big scores, but more often than not he gets out doing something stupid when it would have been more beneficial to the team to simply block.

“It’s his way,” you often hear. Well, I’m sick of hearing it. Tendulkar, while less swashbuckling, is a far higher run scorer and far better team player than Pietersen will ever be.

So it bugs me somewhat to read his comments regarding England bowlers and the Indian Premier League (IPL). Here’s a snippet of what he said:

“I was speaking to Paul Collingwood and we’d have liked to have had our bowlers here learning. A lot of our players should definitely have put their names in the hat.”

Aye, Kevin, and we’d like you to learn how to stay at the crease against some of the world’s better bowlers rather than trudging back to the pavilion with a 20 or 30 on the board.

Ok, I’m being a bit harsh. What he said wasn’t THAT bad. It would be beneficial for the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad to play in the IPL in a bid to learn to bowl better in the Twenty20 version of the game before the World Cup. Of course it would, there’s no substitute for matchplay.

Instead Broad and Anderson opted for rest after the winter tour of Bangladesh (not the greatest of challenges in itself, admittedly, though England still managed to make a struggle of it!) and will be fresh, if not practised, for the Twenty20 World Cup.

And why shouldn’t they? International cricketers play a lot of cricket so not playing in the Mickey Mouse version of the game at all in the lucrative but Mickey Mouse IPL is hardly something for the likes of Pietersen to be moaning about. Or Collingwood.

Test cricket remains, rightly so, the pinnacle of the game so until Pietersen can perform consistently to his high standards on that stage, I think he should shut the f*** up about other players and Twenty20.

Or am I just a purist with a gripe?

Sporting Fare - Serving up the world of sport...with a twist!

If it works out just as well then it’s almost nailed on that he will be on the plane to South Africa, Fabio Capello clearly keen to take him if he stays fit.

But should he? The contentious issue continues to keep pubs and papers in business. Sporting Fare is clear on the issue, however – yes, he should go. As an impact substitute and / or back up to one of his as yet unproven heirs there is no better option. Taking two or three from the Walcott / Young / Milner group and leaving Becks behind would be, in our opinion, A. Bad. Idea.

So good luck to him in Milan. Because England are going to need him at some point.

Sporting Fare - Serving up the world of sport...with a twist!