The Spectator

WHICH WOULD you rather own: Jack Charlton's England shirt from the infamous 1966 World Cup quarter-final against Argentina, called "animals" by Alf Ramsey, or Stan Bowles' first England cap? Auctioneers Bonhams are offering both at their sporting memorabilia sale at Chester on Wednesday, each estimated at 5-6,000. The Spectator's preference would be for the cap, as the cheeky chappy Bowles was, by a country mile, the more entertaining player. And though you might think the Charlton shirt has more historic resonance, there's not much in it in terms of rarity value; while Stan the Man won five caps, it's not untypical of him that he has no idea where three of them are.

1.7

percentage of 'Bolton News' readers - 12 out of 699 - who voted in an online poll for Gary Megson to become Wanderers manager before his appoint- ment. Megson's percentage of wins in charge of a Premier League side: 15 (seven wins in 48 games).

Spat of the week

In the red, white and blue corner: Sir Ian Botham. In the green and gold corner: Ian Chappell. The venue: a Melbourne bar. That much is known - after that, stories differ. "I flattened him," claims Beefy in Volume 93 of his memoirs. "He went flying." Over to the dour Aussie ex-captain: "I was leaning back in my chair and when he pushed me in the chest I fell backwards. If he keeps peddling his lies, some-one is going to regret awarding him a knighthood." Boys, boys, it was 30 years ago; time for closure.

Good week for

THEO WALCOTT (right), first Champions League start and first goals (two) at the Emirates in Arsenal's 7-0 thrashing of Slavia Prague... Marc Livremont, the new rugby union coach of France... Marco Fu, beat Ronnie O'Sullivan to win snooker's Royal London Watches grand prix... and Derbyshire, cricket's under-achievers, signed three internationals - Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) Rikki Clarke (England) and Wavell Hinds (West Indies).

Bad week for

steve staunton (left) and Martin Jol, departed as managers of the Republic of Ireland and Tottenham respectively... Nikolay Davydenko, Russian world No 4 interviewed recently about suspicious tennis betting patterns, fined for "lack of best effort" in St Petersburg Open... Stuart Abbott, England and Harlequins centre, forced to retire at 29 through injury... and Marcus Gronholm, world rally championship leader, title hopes fading after he crashed out in Japan Rally.

Pointless statistics of the week

Sunderland lead the Premier League, with Spurs tucked in behind them, just one point adrift, while Fulham are plumb last... in the decibel division, that is. Phone number service 118 118 have measured the average decibel levels generated by fans at each of the Premiership grounds and come up with a figure of 129.2 for the Stadium of Light, compared to a hushed 115.4 at Craven Cottage. Arsenal's Library is in a passable 12th, while the Theatre of Dreams trails in 17th. What does it all mean? Not a lot, probably, except that firms produce surveys just to get their name in the papers. And it's worked.

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