Features

. To anyone growing up in Britain in the 1970s, they were larger than life sporting heroes and heels, household names, stars of our TV screens. Big Daddy. Giants Haystacks. The legendary – and masked – Kendo Nagasaki. And Mick “The Man You Love to Hate” McManus, who was famous throughout Europe and who died yesterday, aged […]

* In 1985, Steven Bridge, a lifelong fan of Charlton Athletic, was a mature student, age 31,  living in Kent and studying theology in London. As part of his degree, he wrote an extended ‘Man in Society’ essay. As a football fan concerned by a blight on the beautiful game, he made hooliganism the subject […]

. ANDREW NIXON is a sports lawyer, a partner in the sports group at Sheridans. He is a specialist in the regulatory framework of football and has advised clubs and individual players on regulatory disputes. In the first of a series of new columns for Sportingintelligence, Nixon explores whether a challenge to Uefa’s FFP regulations by a Belgian agent, Daniel Striani, […]

* 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 […]

By Brian Sears 26 April 2013 Everton welcome Fulham to Goodison on Saturday seeking to maintain perhaps the longest 100 per cent winning run against the same opponent in English football. Everton have beaten Fulham in 19 straight league games at home now, dating back to 1961. The last time Fulham even managed so much […]

. 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 […]

By Lauren Fisher 16 April 2013 More and more sports clubs, personalities and brands are using social media not only to communicate team news but to fundamentally shake up the relationship they have with fans; giving unique access and a new kind of transparency to the world of sport. Follow Andy Murray on his Facebook […]

* 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 […]

. Portsmouth’s High Court victory last week showed supporter ownership is growing in credibility. But the relative anonymity of its creator Brian Lomax says much about the game’s priorities, according to Tom Young.   By Tom Young  15 April 2013  On Wednesday last week, after the latest in long line of High Court dramas, Portsmouth […]