* JOHN ROBERTS wrote for the Daily Express, The Guardian, the Daily Mail and The Independent, where he was the tennis correspondent for 20 years. He collaborated with Bill Shankly on the Liverpool manager’s autobiography, ghosted Kevin Keegan’s first book, and has written books on George Best, Manchester United’s Busby Babes (The Team That Wouldn’t Die) and Everton (The Official […]

By Nick Harris 1 November 2010 The Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Syed has withdrawn his interest in buying Blackburn Rovers, saying he has “not received sufficient cooperation from the club’s representatives.” A statement released on his behalf today adds: “He remains committed to acquiring a leading football club should the right opportunity arise but in […]

By Nick Harris 30 October 2010 Ronnie O’Sullivan claimed tonight that snooker “has finally entered the 21st century” after winning the inaugural event under the Power Snooker format, beating China’s Ding Junhui in the final after a day of thrills, spills, confusion, jeers, cheers and beers. ‘The Rocket’ picked up a winner’s cheque of £35,000 […]

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 she went […]

By Nick Harris 29 October 2010 The former Liverpool suitor Kenny Huang, exposed by sportingintelligence in August (link here) as someone with limited sports business credentials who lied under oath in an embezzlement trial (which he won), has today been served with legal papers in London that accuse him of fraud, deceit and defamation among other things, […]

By Brian Sears 28 October 2010 Five clubs have yet to win a single point in the Premier League this season in games in which they’ve conceded first, and Liverpool are the ultimate “kings of crumble”. After going 1-0 down, the Reds have about as much backbone as Paul the octopus, and about as much […]

By Brian Sears 28 October 2010 Tottenham have played their first nine games of this Premier League season without playing any of the ‘big four’ – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United.  That’s about to change as they’ll meet all four by the middle of December, starting with the tough test this Saturday of United […]

By Brian Sears 28 October 2010 A remarkable sequence of results has unfolded in the 12 Premier League derbies between Aston Villa and Birmingham over the past eight years, a period only denied four further meetings by temporary Blue absences from the top flight. For the first six of those meetings, Birmingham hardly put a […]

28 October 2010 Colin Fleming is to team with Ross Hutchins in 2011 as the British duo aim to make an assault on the doubles rankings. As reported by The Herald, the 26-year-old Scot decided to team up with the Englishman after parting ways with former partner Ken Skupski after two years competing on the […]

By Nick Harris 27 October 2010 The death of an octopus called Paul in a German aquarium has triggered a global surge in news coverage that underlines the vacuity of celebrity culture, the power of anything football-related to attract coverage, and the relentless march of clever PR. Far from being a simple cephalopod that got […]