Spurs legend Graham Roberts has backed a campaign by leading medical charity Arthritis Research UK that aims to find new ways to keep people active for longer by asking the public to share their stories of sports pain or injury.

Arthritis Research UK’s initiative, ‘Taking the pain out of sport’, is urging the seven million people in the UK who play sport or exercise regularly[1] to share their experiences via an online survey at www.painoutofsport.org. More than half (56%) of the active public have sustained a sport injury [2] such as sprained ligaments, fractures and broken bones according to a survey by the charity.

At the end of the survey, people can enter a free prize draw to win £250 of Nike vouchers as a thank you for taking part.

Graham said of the campaign: “As a football manager and former player, I have had first-hand experience with the way injuries are approached in football clubs. Osteoarthritis, a condition I have to contend with in my knees, is not only a problem for ex-professionals – my colleagues or players I have coached – who face a life of crippling pain once they retire, but also normal people just staying active through regular activity. More research into the potential risks is definitely warranted, and I hope others join me in this Arthritis Research UK campaign to bring to light the neglected condition.”

A number of other sporting heroes and famous faces are supporting the campaign, including Olympic and Commonwealth games medallist Sharron Davies MBE, former Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson OBE, Colin Jackson CBE, Sir Cliff Richard, Darren Gough and Jonathan Dimbleby.

[1] Active People Survey by Sport England  2009/10

[2] Defined as people who exercise/play sports/go to the gym 3 or more times a week currently or normally  but may currently be recovering from an injury. A survey by ICM Research (September 2010) indicates that this is 28% of the UK

population.

Harry has made it his number one goal to bring in a striker in January, providing he can offload Robbie Keane and one or two others he could have as much as £30 million to spend to land his man.

There are several strikers Harry has been looking at, he has sent scouts to look at Anderlecht’s Romelu Lukaku, now this guy was always amazing for me on football manager 2010. He looks like a great prospect, the trouble is do we need a complete striker already and not a young talent?

Luis Fabiano was Harry’s main target all summer and he looks to be leaving Sevilla sooner rather than later but will Levy be prepared to splash out on an ageing player? If not then  Karim Benzema of Real Madrid may also be a target, Van der Vaart may have a word in his ear and try to sway him into joining us.

For me personally I would like to see Andy Carroll in a Spurs shirt, he is like Peter Crouch but will be stronger and score a lot more goals, will he be available? We have been linked with him since his bright start to his Premiership career.

It is now clear that Harry and Levy both know they made a big mistake in not bringing in  a striker in the summer and will aim to put things right in January. Someone like Ruud Van Nistelrooy would have been good for a season or two but it wasn’t to be. Dzeko seems to be a favourite with the fans and Spurs have also been heavily linked with Suarez and Adebayor.

We are linked to pretty much every striker at the moment but the question is who would you like to see in the Spurs shirt in January?