By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year EXCLUSIVE 12 September 2011 Garry O’Connor, a Scotland striker who played for Birmingham City in the Premier League, failed a drugs test for cocaine while at the club and served a secret ban as he sought and received help for drink and drug problems, Sportingintelligence […]

By Sportingintelligence 12 September 2011 The Champions League 2011-12 group stage commences this week involving players from 68 different countries, with world champions Spain contributing more players – 81 of them – than any other nation. France contributes the next most among the 32 teams in the group stage, with 77 players, followed by Brazil […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 9 September 2011 The resumption of the Premier League this weekend after the international break coincides with the release of new predictions for the title races in Europe’s five major leagues. Chelsea are tipped to win England’s top division in 2011-12 after a three-horse race […]

* THE SPORTS LAWYER is actually a posse of Britain’s brightest lawyers, from the Sport & Media team at the 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 discusses the International Olympic Committee’s ban lift […]

By Brian Sears and Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 9 September 2011 Everton’s meeting with Aston Villa on Saturday comes at a time of financial crisis for the Goodison Park club. They’ve sought but cannot find any new investment. (See now notorious transcript of fans’ meeting with Bill Kenwright). They needed […]

By Brian Sears 8 September 2011 Swansea have played three games in their Premier League adventure and have yet to score a single goal – which means they are already on the 10th longest goalless spell at the start of any Premier League season, and within two full games of the longest goalless opening. So […]

4 September 2011 Sven Goran Eriksson has become the latest big name in football to donate a ‘money can’t buy prize’ for the October auction to raise money for Sir Bobby Robson’s foundation, while Sir Alex Ferguson is the latest to pay tribute to Sir Bobby while donating his own prize. Eriksson, a former England […]

By Brian Sears 26 August 2011 Earlier this month we discussed the freakishly good away results being recorded in the early stages of this English season – so many more than we’d expect. And still, after two rounds of games, that trend has continued in the Premier League, with away teams winning 28 points so […]

* THE SPORTS LAWYER is actually a posse of Britain’s brightest lawyers, from the Sport & Media team at the 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 discusses Tottenham’s dispute over the […]

BOOK REVIEW By Alex Miller 25 August 2011 The great Bill Shankly played his one and only game for Liverpool during World War II, a Merseyside derby in May 1942, when he appeared as a guest player in a performance that left Everton totally outclassed. Shanks also turned down the Liverpool manager’s job in 1951 […]