By Nick Harris 20 January 2011 The average footballer’s wage in England’s top division has climbed from £20 per week in 1961 to £33,868 per week or thereabouts 50 years later. This week marks half a century since the abolition of the maximum wage in English football, as has been noted by a variety of […]

By Nick Harris 17 January 2011 As part of a special series of reports looking at the Indian company that now owns Blackburn Rovers of the Premier League, here is a detailed breakdown of the 28 India-based companies that form the Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group. Details of some but not all the companies can be found […]

By Nick Harris 17 January 2011 INTERACTIVE SPECIAL REPORT . This feature will be updated throughout the week with links to other pieces in a special series that also includes: The VH Group in detail; Pune in pictures; Boomtown Pune; Words of chicken wisdom; DR BV Rao; Inside Venky’s XPRS; the family-sponsored temple. . It was […]

By Nick Harris 17 January 2011 Blackburn Rovers became the first Premier League club to be owned by an Indian company when Venky’s, part of the poultry conglomerate the VH Group, finalised their takeover in November. The Rao family – brothers Venkatesh and Balaji, and their sister Anuradha Desai – have been accused of knowing […]

By Brian Sears 16 January 2011 The final game of this weekend’s Premier League programme will see Manchester United play Spurs at White Hart Lane in the tea-time game on Sunday. If Tottenham are to turn top-four aspirations into consistent realities they really should improve their Premier League record against United. No other Premier League club has […]

By Nick Harris 7 January 2011 As Fifa’s president Sepp Blatter said today that he expects the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to be staged in winter for the safety of the players, Qatar’s 2022 bid website was unavailable, therefore couldn’t remind the world of the promises Qatar made of cooling technologies to allow a […]

By Brian Sears 6 January 2011 Regular readers will know I am a Watford fan. No, no, it’s okay, I don’t need your sympathy today. Not at all. I mean, have you seen the Championship table? Have you seen it? SIXTH! And not only that, sixth on the back of a handful of wins on […]

By Nick Harris 5 January 2011 The Premier League will witness the first £100 ‘ordinary’ match ticket in the history of English football tonight when Arsenal host Manchester City. That prices includes the price of the seat itself for one person plus necessary extra booking fee and postage. That level of pricing, which comes into […]

By Brian Sears 5 January 2011 Wolves are bottom of the Premier League table as they prepare to host Chelsea on Wednesday evening, and can draw no solace whatsoever from the clubs’ head to head record in the top division since it was revamped. They have met five times in the Premier League, and the […]

ALEXANDRA WILLIS is the former Deputy Editor of ACE Tennis Magazine, and alongside mag work and an affair with social media, has the honour of sitting in on a few tennis tournaments 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 […]