Sir Dave Brailsford says he'd consider move into football

I think Brailsford need to talk to his 'inner chump' and just say no. Marginal gains for track and road racing is a little more quantifiable than heading the ball into the net and having Dr Steve Peters Vulcan mind melding the nervous types only works if the athletes have enough brain to work with in the first place... "My mind to your mind... My thoughts to your...er? Hello..?"

What do you mean by 'the penalty problem' Alan? Is this when you don't know whether to throw yourself on the floor and claim a penalty or try and shoot for goal

The sports psychologist who went to athletics might well be useful to the England football team but there's no guarantee his input would help solve the penalty problem. That depends on regular practice from a young age (so that your technical foundation is so solid you can deal with nerves) and from my experience of watching girls' academy coaching that's not going to happen because in 4 years I never saw them practice penalties once. I've no idea if the boys' ones are any better but I doubt it.

Not sure Brailsford dealt with the Victoria Pendleton situation very well either! Cycling is a sport with very little serious international competition compared to football, so success in it doesn't prove that much. Even Man U haven't been very successful in the Champion's League in spite of their money and access to the competition. But it is possible for a country with little history of success to make it as Spain have shown and Spain had a worse history in penalty shootouts than we did. In fact Spain is the only country we've ever defeated on penalties. The solution is lots and lots of well-qualified coaches at all levels, thousands of them. That is what Spain has that gives them an edge in football and it's probably what gives British cycling its edge rather than any one individual.

Can't help recalling Woodward's training Southampton, and telling professional footballers how to kick a ball.

From a coaching point of view, footie is a different and more multifaceted team ethic and dynamic to cycling. It has different individual skills and needs in terms of physical and psychological preparation. When to attack, when to press, when to go expansive or stay compact, how to back up or link up with my teammates - with respect, I suspect Brailsford doesn't have much of clue what's going through a footballer's head before, during and after a game.

I'd love Brailsford for an hour or so at the end of the week if it got me off the training ground doing sprints. But ultimately, it'd be 20 blokes wanting to tell him to take his inner chimp and do some rude things with it (West Ham have a song along these lines), so we can slope off home.

@Zombie Cucumber er, yes we did?

Our story pointed out that there had been conflict at Man Utd and that Brailsford seemed to have forgotten that fact, Pwake agreed with Sir Dave and said there hadn't. I supplied a couple of examples.

Maybe Sir Dave was confusing lack of conflict with the manager getting his own way - and Man U these days being very good at making sure news of any rows doesn't get out. The manager obviously gets his own way at Man Utd because no star is bigger than him and if anyone threatens to get too big for his boots he's out. In an interview earlier this year Brailsford said he'd asked Ferguson what was the secret to constantly having to re-build a successful team Ferguson's reported response was "get rid of the c**ts". That doesn't suggest lack of conflict it simply suggests that when there is conflict the power is all on one side.

I'm riding in the velocity event on Friday night, despite never having ridden on the track before(!) think I might have to give my inner chimp a bash over the head beforehand...

Can we not get him to run for PM? Department of Getting the job done.

Little or no conflict? Ferguson cut Beckham's head when he threw a boot across the dressing room at him, while Keane left after a massive row.

"Presumably, the British Cycling supremo was otherwise engaged and missed the blanket media coverage when two of the club’s biggest stars of recent years, David Beckham and Roy Keane, left after reportedly falling out with the manager."
I think Brailsford was right. There was little to no conflict. No matter how big a star they thought they were, they were out, not Ferguson. It was the same with Brian Clough.

Delusions of Grandeur?