Columnists

By Andy Cole 4 June 2010 Fabio Capello’s England squad held no surprises for me (Theo Walcott didn’t deserve to go), and just one disappointment: Darren Bent’s omission. The Sunderland striker could not have done any more at club level to warrant inclusion, having scored 24 Premier League goals this season, so I can only […]

  * 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 […]

By Andy Cole 28 May 2010 England’s phoney war of pre-World Cup friendlies has just one more skirmish left – this weekend’s match against Japan – but there are still questions to answer all over the pitch. The most problematic of those in my view is not a new dilemma but one of the oldest: […]

By Andy Cole 22 May 2010 . Cardiff have reached today’s £90m play-off final for one particular reason: they’ve scored more goals this season than in recent years, and a lot of those goals have come at important times and been crucial in sealing wins by a one-goal margin, or nicking a point in a […]

* KEN SKUPSKI is one of Britain’s best tennis players, a doubles specialist with 20 titles to his name whose breakthrough season was 2009, when he won twice at ATP events. Born in north-west England, he studied at Louisiana State University. His abiding passion away from the court is supporting Liverpool. Here in his debut […]

By Andy Cole 14 May 2010 Seven players from Fabio Capello’s 30-man provisional World Cup squad will miss out and I know how it feels to come close but not go. I’ve been there, done that, twice, more of which in a moment. Some of Capello’s 30 are certain to get the nod: all three […]

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) […]

By Andy Cole 7 May 2010 Peter Crouch capped a fantastic season for Tottenham on Wednesday with the goal that takes Spurs into the Champions League for the first time. We can assume Crouch is a certainty for Fabio Capello’s England squad for the World Cup, a subject to which we’ll return shortly. First, though, […]

By Andy Cole 30 April 2010 We can argue “if this” and “if that” but let’s face facts: the Premier League title race will be settled by what happens when Chelsea play at Liverpool on Sunday. If Chelsea win, the title is as good as theirs. If they don’t, it’s Manchester United’s. Spare me the […]

* ELEANOR PRESTON spent 10 years travelling the world as a tennis journalist for national newspapers, notably the Guardian. She continues to work as a broadcaster and is also a media consultant and advisor to tennis players and organisations within tennis, as well as athletes and organisations across a range of sports. She is also […]