Why it's time that poor Paul Hart was afforded some Sport Relief

By Ian Winwood

Published 14:00 05/03/10

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Viewers of BBC TV will have noticed that we’re approaching the time of year that signals the give-a-thon that is Sport Relief.

Among the stripy socks and David Beckham designed t-shirts, there are people who have done some remarkable and difficult things in the name of this charity cause.

There’s comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, a man who has run an astonishing 43 marathons in 51 days. The footage of him struggling along Britain’s windy and rain swept roads is almost as almost as hard on the eyes as the tarmac itself must have been on the soles of Eddie’s feet.

Then there’s Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton, a woman who has paddled a canoe for 2000 miles along the Amazon river. By the end of the first day she had blisters the size of oysters on her hands. In front of her eyes, though, she still had 1910 miles that needed rowing. Oh, and her support boat later sank.

These people and others like them are doing remarkable and arduous work for those in need.

But there is a man who has surely suffered more than anyone in the name of sport, a man whose suffering isn’t even in the name of Sport Relief. And that man is Paul Hart.

Let’s recap. This season Paul Hart has been the manager of Portsmouth, Queens Park Rangers and now Crystal Palace. Is there any man alive with a greater crossbar to bear? And he’s not even being sponsored!

Good on you, Paul Hart. You went from a team who have no money, then to a madhouse that has too much money, and then back to third club that also has no money. And you never know, there is a chance that all three of these teams will be relegated come the end of the season.

Now surely that’s got to be worth a pound of anyone’s money!

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