Columnists

* 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) and Everton (The Official […]

By Ian Herbert 23 February 2010 Top-flight football is truly a world of flat earth news, to coin the journalist Nick Davies’ memorable description of the way the information the mass media delivers has become homogenous and rarely open to question. This week, Fabio Capello has been followed half way around the world to a […]

NICK BOLLETTIERI is the world’s most famous tennis coach, and the most successful. He’s coached an unequalled 10 players to No1 in the world, from Andre Agassi and Monica Seles to Jim Courier and Maria Sharapova. He’s never been accused of being shy, and he’s certainly not retiring. Ever. Holy Mackerel! . . . . . A handful […]

By Andy Cole 19 February 2010 Snowboarding, skiing, motorbikes, casual texting, impromptu nights out and all manner of other activities that “ordinary” people do without thinking have one thing in common for a professional footballer: they’re out of bounds unless you want to risk getting yourself into serious trouble. It’s a pertinent subject during a […]

By Nick Harris 19 February 2010 When the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the British High Commissioner in Delhi and the Metropolitan Police become involved in the decision over whether England should attend the Commonwealth Games in India in October, you know that sport is as vulnerable as society at large to terrorism, and possibly more so. The forthcoming […]

By Andy Cole 11 February 2010 Portsmouth were given a seven-day stay of execution yesterday at the High Court from being put into administration, or worse, but their financial problems aren’t new; they have roots dating back to at least 2006. As somebody who signed for Pompey that year I can give you an insight, […]

By Helen Harris 5 February 2010 Kim Clijsters has this week had the peculiar honour of becoming the first athlete in the world to be immortalised in shapely plastic as a ‘one-off Barbie’.  The Belgian tennis star and her daughter, Jada, who turns two this month, each received Barbie versions of themselves, which have been […]

. By Sarah Hames 4 February 2010 I recently endured, sorry, celebrated, what’s known as a ‘landmark’ birthday.  Sadly that landmark involved neither a ‘2’ nor a ‘1′ but a ‘3’ and a ‘0’.  Boyfriend was wondering what might be a suitable gift to mark such an auspicious event, and I would like to say […]

By Andy Cole 4 February 2010 The debate over John Terry’s captaincy of England has snowballed into a minefield of moral, practical and sporting issues. I certainly don’t envy Fabio Capello – it’s far from easy to see what should be done next. Capello is a worldly man, and a hard one, and he’ll want […]

. UDO ONWERE had a 12-year career as a professional footballer with clubs including Fulham before he hung up his boots and pursued a new career in law. He now works for leading law firm Thomas Eggar on tax and estate planning issues and works extensively within the sports, media and entertainment industries. . . […]