By Brian Sears  18 March 2016 St James’ Park hosts a north-east derby of particular significance this weekend as the outcome will swing the relegation scrap. Newcastle and Sunderland are both in the bottom four, respectively nine and eight points adrift of Swansea heading into the weekend. If Rafa Benitez can guide his charges to victory then they and […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 8 January 2013   So Lionel Messi yesterday won the Ballon D’Or for the fourth time in a row, having had a stellar year in which he won the Copa del Rey. And scored 91 goals. The brilliant Argentinean, 25, collected the award – deservedly […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 20 August 2012 . The 2012-13 Premier League kicked off at the weekend and this is what it looked like: Each flag on the graphic represents one player involved in one of the nine Premier League games played on Saturday and Sunday, from Arsenal’s Polish […]

By Nick Harris 22 March 2010 The Premier League’s sale of its overseas broadcasting rights for 2010-13 is just two countries away from being a “global sellout” worth £1.4bn. Only the rights deals for Albania and Russia have yet to be concluded. Intense bidding wars in key areas, mainly between pay-TV rivals in Asia, have […]