Ian Herbert

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 […]

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 Ian Herbert 22 December 2013 The sign on the exterior wall of the building where I started out in this business, on a September morning 24 years ago, has not kept up with the sad diminution of the paper which became a rich part of my life for a decade. “Liverpool Daily Post […]

By Ian Herbert 12 December 2013 There won’t be any great sentiment for footballers who are banned for illegal betting but the small details of the case of what we might call the “Accrington Five” does reveal why one of the root causes of match fixing – the players need for some ready cash – […]

* “I may have to take a few more blows, definitely. Maybe even more than that. Maybe all season I have to take a few blows but I knew this was going to be the case…”  David Moyes, September 22, 2013 . By Ian Herbert 5 December 2013 Press conferences can be so self-serving that […]

* Wembley, the national stadium and spiritual home of English football, will host the 2013 Champions League final later this month when Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund face each other. The German clubs come from a footballing nation where tickets are cheap, travel to matches is free or subsidised – and the average supporter isn’t […]

* English football has been a soap opera for years, an unending pantomime of drama, chaos, money, more money, haves and never-will-haves, millionaires, billionaires, plutocrats and conmen. The demise of Leeds was shocking, the demise of Portsmouth shameful. But one story now well into its third year that continues to be simply extraordinary is that […]

. Luis Suarez’s mouth-on-arm action when Liverpool faced Chelsea in the Premier League yesterday ensured a sea of headlines and that Suarez became the focal point of a debate about behaviour in football. Again. It goes without saying that his was an extraordinary act, one already punished by his club and certain to lead to […]

* Until quite recently, the Belgium international football team, and particularly its national governing body, had fallen out of favour with fans across the nation. The Belgian FA were perceived as a hindrance and a negative influence on the game; the team were not embraced. Ian Herbert explains how things have changed, rapidly. This is […]