* THE SPORTS LAWYER is actually a posse of Britain’s brightest lawyers, from the Sport & Media team at UK law firm, Thomas Eggar, who will be contributing features, analysis and insight on a regular basis on the key sports law issues of the day. In TSL’s latest column, Andrew Nixon, associate, considers the appropriate […]

22 August 2010 The Independent on Sunday have pulled off something of a coup by signing (or rather retaining) the ever-colourful Ian Holloway as a columnist for their sports pages during Blackpool’s debut Premier League season. Today’s offering is typically open, and entertaining, and includes Holloway’s views on and support for his under-fire boss, Karl […]

22 August 2010 Jamie Jackson in today’s Observer has written an absolute corker of an article about English football’s enduring hooligan problem. It’s well established that high-profile trouble is now infrequent, and incidents involving serious violence within grounds are few and far between. But Jackson’s terrific piece, available in full at this link, really gets […]

22 August 2010 Middlesbrough’s manager, Gordon Strachan, formerly of Celtic, Southampton and Coventry, has given an interesting interview today to the Independent on Sunday, which explores, among other things, his relationship with the media and why he left Celtic. (“It was simply the right thing to do, for the club and myself.”) He also talks […]

By Nick Harris 22 August 2010 The Premier League’s status as the world’s most popular sports league is underlined by new research by sportingintelligence, published for the first time today, that shows how the League’s income from selling its TV rights in foreign markets puts every other league in the shade. The research is published […]

By Nick Harris 22 August 2010 It’s well established that the Premier League is popular outside Britain, and as we reveal elsewhere today, it’s now possible to quantify in cash terms quite how popular compared to rival leagues. But where is it most popular? And why? Who watches it in Papua New Guinea or Albania, in […]

By Nick Harris 20 August 2010 Kenny Huang has pulled out of the running as a potential bidder for Liverpool. The New York-based Chinese businessman released a statement this evening (below) to that effect, although he did not provide reasons as to why he was pulling out. He said he had a plan to provide […]

By Nick Harris 20 August 2010 Confusion continues to surround the putative bid for Liverpool by the New York-based businessman, Kenny Huang, after reports that the former Chelsea chief executive, Peter Kenyon, has been acting as an advisor to Mr Huang for several months. There have also been mixed reports about the ongoing involvement (or […]

By Alexandra Willis 20 August 2010 . The debate raging over whether Roger Federer’s seemingly breathtaking feat during filming for a Gillette advert is real or fake has prompted it to become one of the most viewed tennis videos on YouTube. The clip, which shows the 16-time Grand Slam champion serve a water bottle off […]

By Nick Harris 19 August 2010 Ahsan Ali Syed, the Bahrain-based Indian businessman who says he wants to buy Blackburn Rovers, describes himself in his company’s 2009 annual report as a “Dreamer, Visionary, Navigator and Leader”. That report, for Western Gulf Advisory AG, which describes itself as “a self-sustaining investment and asset management company”, can […]