He was dismissed by the former even as he was closing in on the 1996 championship and publicly criticised by Tom Walkinshaw, team principal of the latter, the following season.Hill survived an uncertain early 1998 to deliver Jordan's maiden grand prix victory "You write off Damon at your peril," Eddie Jordan said "He knows he has our support. That's how we treat our drivers."Hill is less content with the current cars "I find them really frustrating to drive Last week we had no wind and the car was OK Today it was totally different It's down to the aerodynamics. They should be more fun to drive."SPANISH GRAND PRIX (Barcelona) First unofficial practice session: 1 E Irvine (GB) Ferrari, 1:23.577, average speed 203.654kph/126.57 mph; 2 H-H Frentzen (Ger) Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:23.790; 3 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:23.895; 4 M Hakkinen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:23.982; 5 A Zanardi (It) Williams-Supertec 1:24.312; 6 D Hill (GB) Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:24.318; 7 D Coulthard (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.339; 8 R Barrichello (Bra) Stewart- Ford 1:24.347; 9 J Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Supertec 1:24.458; 10 R Schumacher (Ger) Williams-Supertec 1:24.559; 11 J Alesi (Fr) Sauber-Petronas 1:24.571; 12 P Diniz (Bra) Sauber-Petronas 1:24.823; 13 J Trulli (It) Prost-Peugeot 1:24.957; 14 O Panis (Fra) Prost- Peugeot 1:25.140; 15 G Fisichella (It) Benetton-Playlife 1:25.448; 16 J Herbert (GB) Stewart-Ford 1:25.667; 17 A Wurz (Aut) Benetton-Playlife 1:25.901; 18 M Salo (Fin) BAR-Supertec 1:25.998; 19 P De La Rosa (Sp) Arrows 1:26.595; 20 T Takagi (Japan) Arrows 1:27.296; 21 L Badoer (It) Minardi-Ford 1:27.314; 22 M Gene (Sp) Minardi-Ford 1:27.506Ecclestone's $1.4bn bond, Business, page 21. TALK ABOUT trebles. It's three minutes and 33 seconds from when the fourth official holds up the placard with that blessed and unexpected "3", to when Baldy blows his whistle and Clive Tyldesley declares: "History is made. Manchester United are European champions again - and nobody will ever win a European Cup final more dramatically than this." That's all the video of Wednesday night's proceedings need consist of really, though you could throw in the 12 minutes of celebration to flesh it out? As well as including more than the paltry nine seconds ITV lavished on them lifting the trophy before breaking to the ads. Yesterday morning I played the short version for a football-phobic friend who thought he was probably watching Red Dwarf as it was all happening, just so he could tell his proverbial grandchildren he'd seen it It was about the 1,500th time I'd played it, I told him.

"Football porn," he muttered. There were some misgivings beforehand at the fact that Tyldesley was in the chair. Brian Moore may have been flawed, but he had the requisite sense of drama. He was very funny commentating in the wonderfully observed comedy Bostock's Cup (ITV, Tuesday) - about which I would write much more, all of it good, in any other week.Tyldesley, though, gave a performance to match United's. After a decidedly shaky start, getting his Germans-on-holiday jokes in early, he dug in, got through, then rose to the occasion when the unbelievable exploded in his face.There has been half a minute of injury-time.

"Can United score? They always score," Tyldesley says with admirable, if reckless, confidence as Beckham shapes up to take the corner and the camera homes in on Teddy Sheringham. "It's come to Dwight Yorke - cleared - Giggs with a shot - SHERINGHAM!" - the last word a throaty roar, his voice a wave breaking on the rocks.And then - a marvellous touch that others might do well to steal - 10 seconds of silence while the depictions of ecstasy and shock speak for themselves. His first phrase back in has an edge of even greater certainty: "Name - on - the - trophy." You can't argue with a confident man.Certain images stand out in hard-edged relief - the haunted face of Lothar Matthaus. Peter Schmeichel deadly serious as he walks back to his own goal The flares high up in the United end. "As things stand we will go into extra time with a golden goal hanging like a massive shadow over this final," says Tyldesley, as Denis Irwin lofts the ball upfield."Unless" - a pause as he contemplates the astonishing possibility - "Ole Solskjaer can conjure up another." A young face-painted fan clutching a furled flag which shakes with his tension is breathless with anxiety. He is panting, desperate and pleading as he watches Beckham run over to the corner flag. Never has he lived life so intensely, you guess.Then Tyldesley: "Is this the moment? Beckham - into Sheringham - AND SOLSKJAER HAS DONE IT!" Even writing it makes my spine tingle.Another 10 seconds of silence - Schmeichel's extravagant flip; a close- up of a Bayern defender, hands on knees - the pain, the pain."Manchester United have reached the promised land," says Tyldesley.Another close-up of the defeated German warhorse: "And what must Matthaus be thinking? With the greatest of respect, who cares?"Later, as he goes up to get his loser's medal, which he keeps on for precisely three seconds, he looks like Charlton Heston He's a Roman general about to fall on his sword.