Columnists

By Nick Harris 25 July 2016 The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was aware Russia ran a state-sponsored doping programme in which the head of that nation’s WADA-accredited lab was a central figure as long ago as the first week of July 2013. I know this because I told them. I told them on the phone […]

By Nick Harris 10 June 2016 Two interesting and credible studies published this week have attempted to quantify the cost (and separately, the value) of the 24 squads that will contest Euro 2016, which begins this evening in Paris when hosts France face Romania at the Stade de France. The first was conducted by Profit […]

By Nick Harris                                            26 March 2016 Goodbye to The Independent as a newspaper, published on paper for the final time on Saturday. It’s been inevitable for some time. It won’t be the last paper […]

By John Roberts 21 August 2015                                                            REVIEW When Usain Bolt followed up his Olympic gold medals from Beijing and London by winning the world championships 100 […]

By Ian Herbert 15 May 2015 We now know that there are beating hearts inside the silent, implacable Glazers and that there have been ways of winding them up during their 10 years of ownership at Manchester United, a milestone reached this week. Two ways, to be precise. Joel Glazer was infuriated by the national newspaper claim as the family […]

. REVIEW . By John Roberts 28 November 2014 When the flamboyant Ron Atkinson was the manager of Manchester United, he answered a routine check call from a football reporter and told him: “I’m about to sign Ruudi Wakening from Vasta Sleep.” Big Ron was chuckling even before the reporter had time to make a […]

REVIEW By John Roberts 31 October 2014 During Everton’s celebratory dinner after winning the League title in 1963, Harry Catterick, the club’s manager, mentioned to Roy Vernon, one of his stellar players, that he was considering writing an autobiography. “I don’t want it published until after I’m dead,” Catterick added, to which Vernon replied dryly: […]

By Ian Herbert 3 October 2014 Are Manchester United fans wealthier than Manchester City fans? The question is not part of an attempt to demonstrate a new flank of red superiority but to resolve a debate which has turned into a serious preoccupation this week. It began on Tuesday night, when City attracted a crowd […]

By Ian Herbert 12 September 2014 One of the main panel events at the Soccerex global convention in Manchester this week was headlined: ‘How to run a club successfully.’ We heard all of the usual stuff about what the game has become: Liverpool selling £50,000 of Mario Balotelli shirts in a day, reaching 10 million […]

* By Nick Harris 22 August 2014 When the first episode of Match of the Day was screened 50 years ago today, there were more than twice as many people inside Anfield watching Liverpool beat Arsenal 3-2 than there were watching on TV later. MoTD was a one-game show then, screening whatever was deemed to […]