Source: Daily_Mail
PIERS MORGAN: In a world of corruption and greed, be grateful for Jenson Button
Nearly a year ago, in a dimly lit bar at midnight, I stood with Jenson Button watching our mutual friend, Amanda Holden, dance the night away at her wedding.
He had just discovered that his race team, Honda, was pulling out of Formula One - a
Jenson Button
Reunited: Button with his girlfreind Jessica Michibata, who missed his Championship winning race
decision that had left him without a car to drive for the 2009 season, and with not many people giving him much hope of finding one so late in the day.
Yet despite this rather calamitous development, Jenson couldn’t have been calmer or cheerier when I spoke to him.
‘You must be gutted?’ I suggested. ‘No, it’s OK,’ he replied with a smile, ‘something will turn up, it always does.’
And with that, he ordered us both a large vodka and we went back to discussing the finer points of Amanda’s disco skills.
The next time I encountered Jenson was when I interviewed him for GQ magazine after he’d won the first six Formula One races of the year. ‘See,’ he said and laughed.
‘Something turned up!’
In that interview Jenson modestly declared himself the best driver in history, indicated that he’s as good in bed as he is in a car, admitted that lapping Lewis Hamilton in one of his victories made him laugh out loud, and gave the most vivid description of F1 racing that I’ve ever heard: ‘The G-force when you take big corners is like someone trying to rip your head off.
'You hit the brakes and it feels like the skin is being pulled off your body.’
Towards the end, I asked him how he’d like his epitaph to read and after considerable thought he replied: ‘He became world champion in 2009 after struggling for a few years in Formula One and finally showed that he did have the skill to be a world champion, and he then followed it up by winning the next three titles as well.’
A few weeks later, we sat together at the Glamour magazine awards ceremony when my eldest son rang from school.
He was about to take his GCSEs, so I passed the phone to Jenson to give him a bit of a pep talk.
Jenson Button Ross Brawn
Dream team: Button, who paid for his own plane tickets to save the team money, celebrates with Ross Brawn
‘Work very hard, then play very hard!’ was the entreaty. And that’s always been Jenson Button’s attitude. With his love of yachts, beautiful women, fast cars and private jets, he is, as David Coulthard once told me, the ‘nearest thing to James Hunt we have in Formula One’.
But there’s a lot more to him than just a playboy who drives fast. When Honda pulled out, Jenson could have walked away and tried his luck somewhere else.
But he didn’t. He stayed with the team, took a £5million pay-cut and worked even harder to try to turn a disaster into an opportunity.
He told me how he addressed the whole factory when the news broke, tears in many eyes, including his own, and said: ‘All we can do is stay together, remain positive and focused, and get our heads down.’
There were a few seconds of silence. ‘I thought I’d done the wrong thing and blown it,’ he admitted. But, in fact, he had inspired them all beyond words.
Then one man spoke up: ‘JB, don’t worry about it, we’re fighters and we know we have a good car and if someone buys us, we could be on the front of the grid next season.’
Jenson Button
Hot property: Button was mobbed by hundreds of fans at the Bluewater shopping centre last week
That’s why, when I watched Jenson storm to the title last Sunday with one of the most daring drives of his life, I felt so thrilled for him.
Because he is everything I want in a British sporting hero - he works very hard, plays very hard, loves his family, is ferociously loyal to his friends and work colleagues, has trained furiously for 15 years to realise his ambition, and always dealt with the slings and arrows of outrageous Formula One misfortune with the same cheeky grin and glasshalf-full approach.
He’s never cheated, never complained and never asked for any special favours. Even this season, he paid for his own flights to Grands Prix to save the Brawn team money.
Now he’s the world champion. And if Jenson Button doesn’t win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, too, then it will be an outrage.
Because in a country full of corrupt politicians, greedy bankers, cheating sportsmen and violent drunken thugs, he’s about as good a role model as it gets.
At last, Wenger’s masterplan comes good
My favourite joke involves the late, great Texan oil tycoon J Howard Marshall II. He was the 89-year-old billionaire who fell in love with and married Anna Nicole Smith, the stupendously cleavaged, 26-year-old model who met a tragically early demise a couple of years ago.
Concerned as to how he might satisfy the highly-sexed Ms Smith, J Howard sought help from his doctor, who told him: ‘There’s this new unlicensed drug I can give you called Viagra but I have to warn you that given the ages involved here it could prove fatal.’
Arsene Wenger
The early days: Arsene Wenger at Highbury during first years of his tenure
J Howard thought about this for a moment, then replied: ‘Hey, Doc, if she dies, she dies.’
In many ways, J Howard Marshall II reminds me of Arsene Wenger.
Both had their pick of the best of their respective talent pools to choose from and opted for the very young end of the market; both were blessed by the enduring power of positive thought, despite overwhelmingly uncomfortable odds and widespread mocking criticism; and both in the end opted for Viagra to achieve their goal.
I haven’t written much about Arsenal this season because, as a fan, I always get too emotional and, therefore, irrational about them.
And it’s been a frustrating few years waiting for Wenger’s masterplan to come to fruition. But watching us boss Birmingham all over the Emirates park last Saturday,
the latest in a series of superb performances, I felt a renewed surge of energy and self-belief.
Because this Arsenal team suddenly resemble a proper one that can win things. They’re physically bigger, for a start. Players like Song, Diaby, Clichy and Walcott looked like boys last season.
Now they’ve bulked up physically and matured mentally. Up front, Van Persie is emerging as a world-class striker, combining the technical genius of Bergkamp with
the deadly finishing of Henry.
Arsene Wenger
Upwards: Wenger's long-term plan is now producing results
Fabregas gets more commanding with every game. And the Viagra? That’s come from the two new signings, Vermaelen and Arshavin — respectively, the best centre-back we’ve had since Tony Adams and the best midfield maestro since Liam Brady.
We’ve scored 27 goals in eight Premier League games, we’re easing through the Champions League, there is a new hardness and experience to go with the flair, youth and arrogance, and none of our rivals are dominating.
Wenger says Arsenal will win a trophy this year. I now agree.
PS..............
‘I don't take criticism personally,’ announces Sir Alex Ferguson, the day after he stormed out of a Press conference because a journalist had the gall to ask him about his disgraceful treatment of referee Alan Wiley.
This hilarious denial is right up there with Bill Clinton’s ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman’ claim for sheer breathtaking fibbing.
But at least it allows me to call him a thin-skinned, red-faced, hypocritical, bullying old growler and be reassured that Sir Alex won’t take it remotely personally...
