Camilla Parker Bowles aka The Duchess of Cornwall has had a turbulent time of it as a Royal, being as she was Prince Charles’ answer to Squidgygate, and the bane of Daily Express-reading Middle England - forever haunted, as they are, by images of Princess Diana’s sad-face. However, having avoided the press in recent times, she has recently gone public about exercise in a bid to promote a more active lifestyle. Being the president of the National Osteoporosis Society, she confesses that whilst she should exercise more herself, keeping fit is vital for maintaining a long and active life. Apparently Body Sculpture Pilates is the way forward for many women.

“I did do a bit of yoga and used to do a lot of walking before I got married, but I have let things slide” she remarked. “I think I am going to have to make it my New Year’s resolution – maybe to do some ‘Pilates’ or even some Tai Chi.”

Osteoporosis itself is a gradual thinning of the bones which many women can become susceptible when they reach the age of 50. “Pilates” itself is a simple exercise that helps build up key muscles around the body, and it is said to be practiced by up to 11 million people around the world.

Whilst we can only commend the Duchess on promoting Pilates, we do wonder why she would seek to convert to Tai Chi as well. Has she gone exercise crazy? Where will it all end up? Kick boxing? Bare knuckle fighting? The next 12 months will certainly be interesting in the Royal household if she carries on like this… Charles beware!

The annual Prince’s Trust North East Football Awards were held recently, celebrating the games best players in the Premier and Coca-Cola leagues. The only criteria is that they play for a club based, funnily enough, in the North East of England. You know what these northerners are like - any excuse to christen their football kits with a drink up really…

The awards were as follows:

North East Player of the Year
Stewart Downing, Middlesbrough FC

Coca-Cola League Player of the Year
Steve Foster, Darlington

Young Player of the Year
David Wheater, Middlesbrough FC

Non-League Team Award
Gateshead FC

Goal of the Season
1st – Jason Kennedy – Darlington FC v Rochdale
2nd – Charles NZogbia – Middlesbrough v Newcastle Utd FC
3rd – Daryl Murphy – Sunderland AFC v Wigan.

Save of the Season
1st – Craig Gordon – Sunderland AFC
2nd – Mark Schwarzer – Middlesbrough FC
3rd – Steve Harper – Newcastle Utd FC

The Prince’s Trust Recognition Award
Sir Bobby Robson

…and a jolly good time was had by all. Hic!

The dust is finally starting to settle after arguably one of the busiest and most exciting football transfer windows in recent memory. I can’t actually remember any other year that has provided so much frantic activity, particularly on the last day. If you were anything like me, you were glued to Sky Sports, jaw wide open as the announcements were made, confirming or refuting the various football rumors that had been flying around regarding which football transfers were in the offing. It was more exciting than watching football itself. Possibly.

Here’s a quick round up of the wheeling and dealing that occurred on the deadline day…

Robinho [Real Madrid - Manchester City] £32.5m
Dimitar Berbatov [Tottenham - Manchester United] £30.75m
Marouane Fellaini [Standard Liege - Everton] £15m
Roman Pavlyuchenko [Spartak Moscow - Tottenham] £14m
Vedran Corluka [Manchester City - Tottenham] £8.5m
Michael Tonge [Sheffield Utd - Stoke] £2m
Tom Soares [Crystal Palace - Stoke] £1.25m
Peter Gulacsi (MTK Hungaria - Liverpool) Undisclosed
Danny Higginbotham [Sunderland - Stoke] Undisclosed
George McCartney [West Ham - Sunderland] Undisclosed
Carlo Nash [Wigan - Everton] Undisclosed
Jon Parkin [Stoke - Preston] Undisclosed
Albert Riera [Espanyol - Liverpool] Undisclosed
Louis Saha [Man Utd - Everton] Undisclosed
Xisco [Deportivo La Coruna - Newcastle] Undisclosed
Vitor Flora [Botafogo - Liverpool] Free
Collins John [Fulham - NEC Nijmegen] Free
Nadir Belhadj [Lens - Portsmouth] Loan
Rachid Bouaouzan [NEC Nijmegen - Wigan] Loan
Fraizer Campbell [Manchester United - Tottenham] Loan
Jean-Francois Christophe (Portsmouth - Southend) Loan
Martin Cranie [Portsmouth - Charlton] Loan
Ryan Donk [AZ Alkmaar - WBA] Loan
Blerim Dzemaili [Bolton - Torino] Loan
Paul Gallagher [Blackburn - Plymouth] Loan
Ignacio Gonzalez [Valencia - Newcastle] Loan
Jonathan Grounds [Middlesbrough - Norwich] Loan
Julian Gray [Coventry - Fulham] Loan
Antoine Sibierski [Wigan - Norwich] Loan
Javan Vidal [Man City - Grimsby] Loan
Andriy Voronin [Liverpool - Hertha Berlin] Loan
Gabriel Zakuani [Fulham - Peterborough] Loan Kamil Zayette [Young Boys - Hull] Loan

The football rumor mill has been whirring away for months, and now the results are out. This bunch of football transfers is bound to shake things up. Whether that’s for better or worse remains to be seen, but I for one will be fascinated to see what effect so many football transfers has on the game.

It would seem that while some football clubs in the premier league are going from strength to strength others aren’t fairing so well.  A case in point at the moment is Newcastle United Football Club which seems to be having difficulties with top management.  Sales of football kits (both home and away), football boots, season tickets and the likes may be on the up but player and supporter morale seem to be on the way down.

As the black and white adorned fans loitered outside St James Park this week sporting both new and old home and away kits, behind closed doors the emphasis didn’t seem to be on the sales of merchandise but the sales of players and more importantly what was going to happen to Kevin Keegan.

Was he going to stay or was he going to go?  Did anyone know if he was going to stay or going to go?  The sports commentators and media circle joined in the scrum, surrounding themselves with a black and white throng of unhappy and distinctly enraged fans; whilst behind the scenes the once curly-haired Keegan remained tight-lipped.

Was it a clever marketing ploy though because sales of Newcastle United Football kits and shirts rose considerably as fans on the outside rallied to show their support.

Keegan, who has only been back at Newcastle Football Club for seven months, has been no stranger to controversy and indeed no stranger to venting his spleen towards club owner Mike Ashley. As the season kicks off and the fans adorn themselves with their new Newcastle United strips one can’t help but wonder just where the army is going to go next?  And, more importantly, who will lead them there?

Now Manchester City have been bought by a mega-rich Middle Eastern consortium, the lines between fantasy football and the real-life game seem set to vanish altogether. When even Chelsea, with Russian oil-garch Roman Abramovich at the helm, find themselves outbid for a player, you can be sure the beautiful game in the UK is about to enter a whole new realm.

Of course all football fans have done it at one time or another. Putting together in your mind your dream team is the perfect way to spend Saturday afternoons – especially when the flesh-and-blood idols before you can hardly hit a barn door. Taking their lead from this most universal of pitch-side pipedreams, thousands of Fantasy Football leagues have been established in recent years. National newspapers, offering huge prizes, led the way. But they’ve also flourished on a smaller scale in offices, factories, pubs and elsewhere. OK, so you have to supply the de rigueur sheepskin coat and ‘sick as a parrot’ clichés yourself. All the same, these schemes offer everyone the chance of becoming a virtual football manager, of tasting ecstasy when your selections do the biz, and agony when it all ‘goes pear’.

Until just a few years ago, the ‘all star’ approach to the real-life game was largely restricted to Real Madrid and their squad of ‘Galácticos’. But first Chelsea and now Manchester City, long the ugly sisters to Old Trafford’s all-conquering heroes, seem set to bring their fans’ fondest fantasies to life.

Young Theo Walcott put on his pair of football boots to prove his critics wrong in England’s World Cup qualifier against an off-form Croatia – the Nineteen-year-old scored a stunning hat-trick of goals. In a match that was sweet revenge for Capello’s men – their previous loss to the Croatians that ended England’s chances of participating in Euro 2008 – the Arsenal striker was given the nod in front of the more experienced David Beckham to place England firmly at the top of the Group Six Table.

Walcott was on fire throughout the entire match, causing the opposition some real problems with his pace, leaving defenders behind and putting himself into good positions with every run. After scoring the first two goals, he linked up well with Wayne Rooney, who slotted in the third. Late in the game, after Mario Mandzukic grabbed himself a consolation goal, Rooney returned the favour by passing the ball across for Walcott to calmly finish off. The team wore their football shirts and football kits with pride in that match: what a performance!

For what was supposed to be one of England’s toughest matches in the World Cup qualifiers, in reality turned into a bit of a walk in the park – Walcott barely ruffled his immaculate football shirt. England dominated throughout, and results like this make you wonder why the team couldn’t strap on their “ootball kits and pull up their football socks 12 months earlier in order to replicate this form. A stunning performance, made even sweeter with the teams first hat-trick since Michael Owen scored three in the teams 5-1 victory against Germany.