I watched some of the news last night on TV, and one of the things I noticed, was how drugs in sport has taken so long for the Authorities to see it as a problem. The people responsible for investigating, have come out and said, they are shocked to find its a bigger problem than what they first thought. Now I find that amazing, where have these people been. Sport is all about performance enhancing drugs it always has been.

I can remember as a kid, watching the Olympics and thinking when I saw eastern block competitors. and thinking, that woman looks like a man. Questions were asked at the time , and I suppose they had to examine these peoples bits to find out one way or the other. Would it be worthwhile to the country, to have sex changes, Men into women to win a gold medal.

Now i am no expert in the fundamentals, but i can remember many occasions when I felt cheating was in play and that’s 50 years ago, why has it taken so long, to now find that athletes are using drugs. I also remember a guy named Lasse Viren a distance runner, who was a very good runner at the time, and when he had a final, had his blood changed for high altitude blood that was full of extra oxygen, and they guy ran like the wind, bit different I know, but even in those days, they thought of ways to get an advantage.

Different sports had different ways to cheat, Drugs, blood, sex changes, its all the same, performance enhancing ways to find an edge. Arnold Schwarzenegger won many body building titles, I was always keen on this sport, as the manly thing was to look big and powerful. Seeing Arnie parade on stage was like watching a giant for me back then, bulging muscles and seeing a developed body that outshone every body else, the man was a colossus.

Arnie was a cheat he openly stated as i remember that he was a natural body builder, Nothing Natural about Arnie nothing at all. These people stand out from the rest, I myself trained to build a bigger better body, I can honestly tell you that its impossible to build a Schwarzenegger body without some kind of help no matter how hard you train. When I was doing it, and moaned that my body wasn’t developing quick enough, Other guys told me that you have to use the gear if you want results. I used to train every body part to extreme and even thought about using these treatments myself, not to win trophies just for myself, but it seemed wrong at the time and it still feels wrong now.

I remember just a few years ago when I watched Linford Christy sprinting for England, the first thing i said to my Mrs is his shape is not natural, i said at the time you cannot build a body like that in the amount of time he had, he was only young then, and nobody questioned it. He turned out a cheat, I knew it why didn’t they.

Tiger Woods, my idol at one stage, the best golfer I have ever seen. The best Golfer that ever picked up a golf club and it all looked natural For sheer talent this guy had it all, and he showed he was head and shoulders above them all. Now although Tiger was not caught taking drugs that I know of, Tiger had a secret life outside Golf, we all know the story so I wont bore you, but for a top sportsman, its also impossible to play world shattering Golf , and stay up all night with half a dozen women without some kind of help, even a fool can see that.

What’s all this have to do with football you may well ask, Well is their sports enhancing products, that can aid a young footballer, well of course there are. There are enhancing items for every sport, that’s why it has taken years for them to only start finding out Yeh Right. And not just the young ones, the old ones need help too, even more so.

People ask the question, why do Arsenal suffer more injuries than other clubs, why do our players break down more than the other’s. Boy wouldn’t we all like the answer to that one. When Arsene first came to Arsenal , he introduced new training new diets which has revolutionised the sport as we know it. Now I am not pointing the finger and saying we also used enhancing products, but the way we went about our business, has made me wonder at times, how a player has more energy and stamina by not eating certain foods. My mother used to tell me that a little of everything does you good, and i believed that to be true, but when Mesut arrived, to me he looked like a weak link, He used to perform what I felt like a misplaced player in a league which was too tough for him, he looked skinny and weak and went off regularly before the ninety minutes. Now Mesut looks like a trained athlete he looks to have gained weight he looks visibly stronger he looks the part, in fact he looks the player we thought we had brought.

As I said, I am not pointing the finger, but has Mesut done all this by training harder or even stuffing beef burgers or has he had help, as it seems a bit quick for me. Theo another who has been accused of being a weakling, not so long ago we were saying he gets shrugged off quite easily he seemed like a weak link , but just before he got injured, he looked bigger more muscled and a dam sight stronger, has he been on the burgers as well.

Body shape and mass does not happen overnight, and its not down to diet, stamina is built up and the same with strength, a player training 3 hours a day cannot build like that, but that is just my opinion, as I said I am not pointing fingers. Schwarzenegger has had lots of medical procedures for failing organs due to his Steroid abuse, once a man mounting he is a shadow of his former self, older of course but if you cheat it catches up to you in the end, injuries happen more frequently and then the body starts to ebb away.

I do believe we have not heard the end of drugs and enhancement treatments, training gets you fitter and stronger but it takes years and years, do not be fooled by diets and different training.

Steve Palmer