Why Tom Daley should inspire everyone

Tom Daley is 18 years old and he is competing in his 2nd olympic games. An amazing feat for a lad of his age. Yet the reason he inspires me does not concern his diving necessarily but what he has overcome and what he has achieved despite this.

I am 16 years old. I've done nothing of note in my life and it would be amazing if I went back to my school in 10 years time and I'd be amazed if any of my teachers remembered me.

What Tom Daley and I have in common is we both have had a family member close to us be diagnosed with some sort of illness. For example, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the start of 2010. Tom's Father had cancer also. My Mother is still with us and I thank God that she is. Tom's father tragically passed away in May 2011.

When I found out she had cancer I fell to pieces, it felt like a hole had been ripped in my heart. I was meant to be one of those kids you see on Children in Need where they look after their parent when they're sick and I tried but could never be like them. I took it badly. My school results suffered and my personality changed.I neglected schoolwork and prayed that my Mam would survive. I was no longer the excitable childish kid who had fun. I became an unsociable, sulky and moody teenager.

Tom Daley never let it stop him. He became world champion at the age of 15 and had already competed at the Beijing olympics. What was I doing? Probably sulking when someone had beaten me on Fifa. He then went on to win 2 gold medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. I watched him in awe. I wanted to be him. I wanted his life, the attention he got and jealous of how every girl wanted to see what was in his Speedos.

I then found out he was bullied in school. If you've never been bullied I don't think I can explain how horrible it feels to have been bullied. Like Tom I was bullied in primary school. I'm short for my age and was always the one to get called names etc. But again, he didn't let it stop him. He became a celebrity supporter of ChildLine at 13. Good on him I thought when I read it on his Wikipedia page.

I'm awaiting my GCSE results. I'm dreading them. I'm a relatively smart person yet like I said earlier I'm lazy. Therefore I'm expecting them to be not as good as my family hopes for. Tom on the other hand obtained one A and 8 A*s. Wow. He achieved this even with all the pain that he had experienced in his family life and in public.

I have nothing but respect for Tom Daley and I wish him all the best at London 2012. He is an inspiration of mine and I hope you see him in a new light. As for me, I hope I can at least do something with my life.

Why the Cabaye to Barcelona rumour is complete nonsense

Yohan Cabaye excelled in his maiden season in the premier league. He quietly went about his business in a black and white shirt and quickly grew to be a fan's favourite. His eye for a pass earned rave reviews from pundits and even drew acclaim from Dan Walker who tipped him as one of the signings of the season. He continued his excellent form into Euro 2012 playing for France. He played all of France's games bar one and scored against Ukraine. Now it's the time of the year every fan hates. Where their players are linked to other clubs. The most eye catching one for me was the rumour that Barcelona were preparing a bid. I think this is nonsense and I'll explain why.

Barcelona are world class. Probably the best in the world when they turn up. They have an attacker who can score 70 goals in a season and a midfield which could pass any team off the park. Their midfield consists of Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Busquets, Mascherano, Sanchez, Pedro, Affelay and Cuenca. 9 top players. Cabaye is another top player yet Barcelona don't need him. They don't need him in their team and they don't need him for cover. He'd be an unnecesary purchase and a waste of talent on Barcelona's bench. They have players that can do Cabaye's job and more.

Barcelona won't sign Cabaye. If they do I'd be very surprised.

Thoughts on potential Carroll return

January 31st 2011. A day I'll probably never forget. Another day where I felt screwed over by Mike Ashley. The day Ashley sold Andy Carroll to Liverpool without buying a new striker.

I don't think I should put in blog format what I said that day. However, although I felt betrayed I couldn't help admire Ashley's balls to sell Carroll at such a late stage in the window when the toon army already baying for his blood. But then I realised that we'd gotten £35 million for him. £35 million?! He wasn't worth that at all. He was an relatively unproven english striker who'd found a bit of form in his maiden full season in the premier league. He was worth £15 million at most was the general consensus amongst my friends and family who supported Newcastle. What a business deal. It was a huge sum of money. Who knew Liverpool had just funded Newcastle's european adventure for the next few seasons? Who knew Liverpool had just funded Newcastle's rise to fifth that would see them finish above them? Who knew it would be a huge flop?

Carroll started for England and scored against Ghana in a friendly soon after. I'd always support him in an England shirt but never in a Liverpool shirt. I disliked him for turning his back on the number 9 but for some reason I could never hate him. He was one of us. (Although I still hate Graham Fenton's guts.)

He didn't perform for Liverpool like he did for Newcastle. Reasons? Liverpool didn't utilise him correctly in my opinion. They relied heavily on Suarez and just wildly lumped it to Carroll. At Newcastle set pieces and movement were crafted and practiced. If Liverpool were to get the best out of Carroll they should of signed Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton as well. (That was a joke I'm sorry.)

He flopped. He didn't score goals. He didn't terrorise like he did for the toon.

April 1st 2012. Another day I'll never forget. Andy Carroll made to be the april fool in front of full house at St James'. Newcastle marching for Europe. Liverpool marching for Europe. Ben Arfa vs Enrique. Cisse vs Carroll. It was all about Andy Carroll in the build up. Ironically the replacement number 9 scored a brace and left Carroll literally on his arse. It was hilarious; one of the best football matches ever. Newcastle got everything. Carroll booked for diving. That's the only time I hated him, when he tried to cheat us out of a penalty.

It's the summer again and Newcastle have been linked with every striker possible. Today (Sunday 15th July) Sky Sports have revealed Newcastle have put a bid in for Andy Carroll to take on a season long loan with an option to buy. Would he fit in? Here's my view: 1) He'd be a squad player who'd do the job when Cisse/Ba are out of form/tired/on international duty. 2) He'd be an option in Europe against weak defences a 'battering ram' that would terrify Europe. 3) A man to scrape points, coming on in the last half an hour to salvage a point/get the winner 4) Our cup striker.

Or we could leave it to Pardew and wait for a masterstroke!

We may see more of this, hopefully anyways.