THE connection between ocean creatures and football is well established, ever since top tipster Paul the Octopus splashed on to the scene during Euro 2008 and swam around long enough to become one of the star attractions during the 2010 World Cup as he correctly predicted Germany’s results.

It was nice therefore to sea, I mean see, that Sea Life Manchester has continued the connection with the when naming one of its new arrivals, a baby Blue Spotted Ribbontail Stingray. Being a natural blue, it was easy to fathom out that the centre management would name the young stingray after a City hero, and duly called it Zabaleta, in honour of Manchester City legend Pablo Zabaleta. It got me wondering if they will be adding any red snapper to their aquarium to balance things up.  Just an idea.

Linking animals to football is nothing new. Celebrity farmer and part-time double- glazing salesman, the late Ted Moult, named his cows after football teams while several racehorses over the years took on the moniker of the great and the good of the soccer world. I’m sure there might be a donkey sanctuary somewhere with some former stars of the SPFL wandering free.

When it comes to naming wildlife, my favourite example belongs to Duncan Ferguson, the former Rangers and Everton striker, and, pigeon fancier in his day. One doo in his loft found itself earning the nickname “Ally” as its main characteristics were that it was also “plump and slow”.

ALL the chat this week about Sunderland and whether Derek McInnes might end up there managing the local football club had a couple of the guys on the Herald podcast chatting about that north-east city. Some admitted never having visited the place, either privately or in a sporting context.

For my part, I’ve been there a few times over the years, for football, boxing (I once saw Ronnie Carroll coming a distant second to Billy Hardy in a British title fight), and snooker, the Crowtree Centre staging the Skoda Grand Prix in 1995.

Snooker’s governing body back then, the WPBSA, decided to put on a show, “dressing” the arena, the venue and the town centre with large banners, with various messages – “Come and see the reds and White in action” was one – and 25-foot high pennants with some of the top players. Early one morning on my way to the venue I received a very agitated call from a staff member saying that Stephen Hendry, Jimmy White and Ronnie O’Sullivan had all been stolen. Just how someone managed to get 40-plus feet up to cut down these banners, which were chained and bolted, was beyond me.

They’d also had a go at nicking a few others. But why would you want a 25-foot high banner of a snooker player. It was hardly going to fit the bedroom wall, was it? I was angry and disappointed, though not as upset and disappointed as Willie Thorne when he found out that his giant drape remained, untouched.

TALKING about buying sporting memorabilia, this week I spotted another way of spending the best part of quarter of a million quid. Earlier this month, a Subaru Impreza WRC (chassis 001) and used extensively in testing by the late Colin McRae, pictured left, went under the hammer at auction and was purchased for £230,000.

That was a lot of dosh to cough up for a near-20 year-old motor, with a history that showed a few less-than careful owners, and one in particular. But I don’t know any petrolhead who wouldn’t want something like that in their collection. For me though, I would never feel as if I could do a car like that justice, not when I’d seen first-hand how quickly it could be pedalled. I had the very good fortune to sit next to Colin in a similar car (like a human form of success ballast), when he was in testing mode.

As I have said elsewhere, riding shotgun with Colin was a fantastic experience, although you were acutely aware of how slow the world seemed for the next few days.

AND lastly, Americans are right into their rings, especially those acknowledging sporting achievements. The New England Patriots, who won the Super Bowl back in February, this week took possession of their commemorative rings in a special ceremony at the home of owner Robert Kraft.

Each ring contains 283 diamonds, the significance of that number being that they had trailed the Atlanta Falcons 28-3 before mounting the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history to win 34-28.

The rings have a carat weight of 5.1, and are described as “a custom-cut corundum sapphire and ruby creation”. They look a million dollars. However, you can purchase a replica, online, for just £7.34. They just might not be real diamonds...