Melting pot

. 31 DECEMBER 2012 A Sportingintelligence survey of almost 1,000 fans from more than 60 different clubs has been published on this website today (link here), with those taking part voting SWANSEA CITY as the club in English football with the best owners, and BLACKBURN ROVERS as the club with the worst owners. These are […]

* In the latest instalment of his brilliant weekly Monday column, Tell Me Why, the Independent’s man in the north-west, Ian Herbert, poses 13 questions that are guaranteed to remain contentious and unanswered satisfactorily in the sporting year ahead.  . By Ian Herbert 31 December 2012   1. Tell me why we can’t stop demonising officials in […]

* In the latest instalment of a new weekly Monday column, Tell Me Why, the Independent’s brilliant man in the north-west, Ian Herbert, asks why the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been allowed to dominate the narrative  of a fine football match in Swansea yesterday with diversionary comments and a slur on a match official – […]

* In the latest instalment of a new weekly Monday column, Tell Me Why, the Independent’s brilliant man in the north-west, Ian Herbert, asks, the morning after the SPOTY before, whether Britain truly is a nation of sporting sophistication, or whether it’s a country that simply likes to part of an ‘event’ – any event. SPOTY winners are […]

* The BBC’s annual Sports Personality of the Year award will be handed out on Sunday evening, and never in the 58-year history of the award has there been a stronger batch of contenders. The 12-person shortlist is packed with Olympians and Paralympians, many of whom have achieved historic feats in 2012, and there is […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 11 December 2012 Queens Park Rangers are odds-on to be relegated from the Premier League this season but it should be no surprise that they are struggling. They achieved far too little last season, considering the money they spent, and avoided relegation by a point. […]

* In the third instalment of a new weekly Monday column, Tell Me Why, the Independent’s brilliant man in the north-west, Ian Herbert, asks whether we are too quick to play judge and jury in some cases where famous people have been accused of abuse, and examines how, in others, society appears quite comfortable to apply 2012 […]

* In the second instalment of a new weekly Monday column, Tell Me Why, the Independent’s brilliant man in the north-west, Ian Herbert, asks whether readers actually care any more whether what they are reading is true. In a world of churnalism, SEO-dictated content and made-up nonsense that becomes ‘fact’ by dint of being re-Tweeted enough times, […]

* In the first instalment of a new weekly Monday column, Tell Me Why, the Independent’s brilliant man in the north-west, Ian Herbert, asks why Manchester United needed to unveil a statue of their remarkable manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, even before Fergie has left the building. What does it tell us about Sir Alex, and […]

* England haven’t won a series in India for 27 years. The last time they won one was thanks to double centuries scored by Graeme Fowler and Mike Gatting in the midst of a series marred by political turmoil following the assassination of Indira Ghandi and then the British Deputy High Commissioner. England have only […]