The FINA Diving World Cup, which doubles up as an Olympic Games test event, begins on Monday, in London, and I will be commentating for Radio 5 Live at the event.

One of the main names at the event will be Tom Daley and I managed to grab a five minute phone interview with him this week. He always gives a very good interview and he has been in front of the cameras since the last Olympic Games, so he is always very slick. He is never going to give much away but it was nice to speak to him. There will be an element of pressure on him this year, competing in his home Games, but the Chinese divers were so dominant at the World Championships in 2011 that may be off him somewhat.
British diving's performance director, Alexei Evangulov has suggested that Tom might have to cut back his media commitments or risk missing out on a medal.

Tom is massively in demand but I don't think he is doing that much media work. It is very hard to get him for an interview and the day I spoke to him was on the day that all the GB team were carrying out media commitments. Tom also has his work with his sponsors to fit in too. But his performance director knows him best and the two parties need to discuss his schedule. As an athlete you have got to do the interviews but you have also have to do the work, otherwise there will be nothing to talk about afterwards.

It was disappointing to see the Blues' game with Middlesbrough abandoned after 37 minutes at the weekend, due to a frozen pitch. There was a pitch inspection held in the morning of the game and then another one at 1.45pm, with referee Dean Whitestone, which begs the question, why was the game allowed to go ahead at such a late stage?
Obviously there was player safety to think about and nobody wants to see anyone get hurt on the pitch but I guess the decision was made all the more frustrating as the Six Nations game between Italy and England was played, in worse conditions. In cricket, once the game has progressed past a certain amount of overs, supporters don't receive a full refund and there probably should be something similar in football but the dilemma would be, what would constitute a full refund and what wouldnt?

Ipswich are not doing great in the Championship and yet the supporters turned out in their thousands, on a cold day, to support their team, so the club have to be careful that they do not shoot themselves in the foot.
They have to respect the fans that turn out, especially with the position the team are in, in the Championship.
I know of one person who took his young son, who was desperately disappointed when the game was abandoned. I don't know whether or not they will be able to make the replay.
If you are local I guess the subject of travelling is not as bad but I know the Blues have a big London following and I can understand them being gutted, especially when there is not a huge amount of money around. Since the game, the club have announced the people who had tickets for the original game will be entitled to a significant discount.

I don't know all the facts and I will understand if the club say that they can't afford to do anything more than that, but they do have to be aware that the people losing out are the fans.

I was at Portman Road on Tuesday night to see the Blues demolish Sam Allardyce's West Ham United 5-1 and I have to say I was not expecting that! It was an amazing performance and Ipswich did not look like a team that are struggling at the bottom of the Championship, while West Ham did not look like a side that are topping the division. The Blues looked like they had an extra man and were running rings around West Ham. I just hope they can keep it going now away at Coventry City on Saturday and pick up another three points.
I thought Jay Emmanuel-Thomas' first goal was really good while Luke Hyam impressed me with his strong running in midfield.

It has been a good few days for myself on the football front, especially with my home-town team Brighton pulling off an FA Cup shock when they beat Newcastle, 1-0, at the Amex Arena in the fourth round, thanks to Will Buckley's deflected strike. It's been really tough for Brighton over the years. They did well in the FA Cup in the Eighties but then could not maintain the wages and the old Goldstone Ground was sold by the club without the team having anywhere else to play. They are lucky that they have been able to come back although when I go back home and see that the old ground is now a Toys 'R' Us, is quite heartbreaking.
But the new stadium is fantastic and the club has some really devoted fans that have stuck with the team throughout.

Off the pitch, Tuesday night also saw the closure of the transfer window for clubs in the Premier League, the Football League and Blue Square Bet Premier, although the window opens again next Tuesday for emergency loans. Having the transfer window close on the same night as games were being played was strange and it must have been carnage with managers, players and agents trying to get deals done.
It must have affected the concentration of the people playing and managing in games and it just shows that the workings of football are incredible. How do you decide on a player when there so many to choose from and while there are already some sitting on your bench and others not even in the squad? There are so many players and they can't all go out on loan yet the clubs have to be able to sustain their wage budgets and most clubs can't afford to have all these players in their squad.

Finally, on the football front, I was in Ipswich this week with my good friends, former Town midfielder Simon Milton and his wife Jaime as they celebrated the first birthday of their little daughter, Halle.
She is a little star and she actually swims at my swim school at Red House Farm, Shotley on a Thursday so she enjoyed a birthday swim.

Happy Birthday Halle!



CHRIS ROBSHAW has been named as England skipper for the first two games of the Six Nations tournament, against Scotland and Italy. It must be a great honour for him to have been selected to lead out his country. He has only won one international cap so far and that begs the question, how does he conduct a team talk? The fact is he will have some experienced guys alongside him so he wont be on his own and he is already doing a great job leading Quins this season. He represents a new breed of player to come through, a player that wants to work hard and does not want to be out at the wrong times partying and being in the public eye. If this policy is to be a success then the RFU have to bring through this type of player under similar, more experienced players that are just as committed and have the same ideas. I don't know him personally but Chris is one of the Harlequins players that takes part in the KP SWIM Elite swim programme that i run at the club.