Features

By Brian Sears 26 December 2012 Manchester United have played 394 Premier League games at Old Trafford in 21 seasons, winning 296, losing 32 and drawing 66. Sixteen different teams have beaten them in those 32 home defeats in the PL era but the visitors on Boxing Day, Newcastle, are not among those 16. Newcastle have […]

* 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 […]

By Brian Sears 14 December 2012 Arsenal fans continue to bemoan the woeful returns of the Arsene Wenger era: three titles (two as Doubles, one as Invincibles), four FA Cup wins, a Champions League runners-up slot, no finish outside the Premier League top four in Wenger’s time and 13 consecutive seasons in the Champions League. […]

* 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 […]

By Brian Sears 7 December 2012 Last week we pointed out that Chelsea went to Upton Park with the weight of historical results on their side.  In the six seasons 2005-2011 when West Ham were last in the Premier League, Chelsea won 10 and drew two of their 12 encounters. What a statistical surprise (or was it […]

* 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, […]

By Brian Sears 30 November 2012 Last weekend, we predicted in these pages why West Brom might enjoy their match at ‘soft touch’ Sunderland, and they duly won 4-2 to continue their Champions League qualification form. A week on and with a midweek hiccup against Swansea behind them, the Baggies face a barometer of their […]