By Nick Harris 2 June 2010 The Rafael Benitez era at Liverpool is over after he was offered £3m to walk away and was told his position was untenable. A large number of the club’s fans will be appalled by the effective ultimatum that Benitez was given, but sources have told sportingintelligence this evening: Benitez […]

By Keira Daley 2 June 2010 The Hollywood heart-throb Brad Pitt has today accepted an invitation from the US Soccer Federation to join the board of directors for the USA’s bid to stage the World Cup in 2018 or 2022. The full story is online at the USSS website and the move is sure to […]

By Nick Harris 2 June 2010 HM Revenue & Customs has started legal proceedings against the Premier League in the wake of the financial collapse of Portsmouth to try to have the so-called ‘“football creditors’ rule” (FCR) abolished. Under the rule, if a club enters administration, “football creditors” including other clubs, players and managers owed […]

  * ALEXANDRA WILLIS is the Deputy Editor of ACE Tennis Magazine, and alongside mag work and an affair with social media, has the dubious honour of following British players to Grand Slam qualifying from time to time as part of her professional duties. If you happen to bump into her court-side, she’ll probably tell you that […]

By Pete Wilson 2 June 2010 Barcelona have confirmed via their official website that they have now made a formal offer to buy Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal. The Spanish club’s director general, Joan Oliver said: “Everybody knows that Cesc wants to sign for Barca and that we also want him to come here, but there […]

By Nick Harris 2 June 2010 The Red Knights group of super-rich Manchester United fans who want to take control of the club from the Glazer family have released a statement this morning confirming their ongoing interest, as sportingintelligence reported first yesterday that they would do. In a less than spectacular endorsement of the early […]

By Nick Harris 2 June 2010 The USA’s World Cup squad will share a bonus pot of more than $20m (£13.8m) if they defy the odds to win the tournament in South Africa this summer. The potential payout is the most lucrative confirmed bonus scheme in the history of the tournament and could net the […]

*** By Gary Hopkins 2 June 2010 . The occasion was the ‘Boston Soccer Party’ of 1993, otherwise known as the second fixture in the US Cup, a four-nation international tournament hosted by the US Soccer Federation and featuring the USA, Brazil, England and Germany. This particular match featured the USA against England on 9 […]

By Nick Harris 2 June 2010 An analysis of the strikers from Europe’s leading nations heading for South Africa – and their records at domestic level in 2009-10 – proves that Darren Bent is uniquely unfortunate in not being selected to be part of England’s 23-man squad. The 26-year-old Sunderland forward is the only footballer […]

By Brian Sears 1 June 2010 If an African nation is to win the 2010 World Cup in the first edition of the tournament to be staged on African soil, then possibly the Ivory Coast will be the team to do it. The bookmakers make Sven Goran Eriksson’s ‘Les Elephants’ the favourites among the African […]