Football

By Alex Miller at Leaders in Football, London 6 October 2011 Former top referee Pierluigi Collina has warned that the issue of match fixing was “the future of football” and that everybody associated with the sport had to act to look after the game. On the day that Wayne Rooney’s father and uncle were arrested […]

By Alex Miller at Leaders in Football, London 6 October 2011 Arsenal’s chief executive Ivan Gazidis has claimed the club’s current lowly league position is not a concern and added the Gunners “could afford to miss out on Champions League” next season and continue to compete for the league title. The club has qualified for […]

By Alex Miller at Leaders in Football, London 5 October 2011 Kia Joorabchian, the man who formerly ‘owned’ Carlos Tevez and continues to act as his representative, has blamed an interpreter for incorrectly translating the Manchester City striker’s comments after the infamous ‘strike’ incident in Munich last week. Tevez was initially reported to have said: […]

By Alex Miller at Leaders in Football, London 5 October 2011 Uefa’s general secretary Gianni Infantino has admitted ticket prices for last season’s Champions League final at Wembley “slipped through Uefa’s net” and promised that prices “won’t be so high in 2013”. Prices for the 2011 final between Barcelona and Manchester United, not including administration […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 3 October 2011 Manchester United haven’t just made the best actual start to the Premier League season but also the best relative start when the difficulty of their fixtures so far is considered, according to analysis by sportingintelligence. Manchester City have made the second-best start, […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 3 October 2011 Blackburn Rovers’ Indian owners will be told in the coming days by senior executives based in Blackburn that many of the club’s staff and some of the players have lost confidence in Steve Kean’s ability to turn around the crisis at Ewood […]

By Brian Sears 23 September 2011 In the 20-year history of the Premier League, only six teams, including Manchester United this season, have ever accumulated winning sequences as long as five straight matches at the start of a season. But despite United’s five straight wins this term – against West Brom, Tottenham, Arsenal, Bolton and […]

By Brian Sears 14 September 2011 Whether Manchester City can make an impression in their first European Cup campaign since 1968 remains to be seen, as their city rivals United aim for a fourth Champions League final in five seasons. But in no doubt are the storming starts both clubs have made in the Premier […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 13 September 2011 Arsenal were the only team in Europe’s ‘big five’ divisions last season who were rated best in their division by statistical analysis but failed to win their domestic title, according to research just published by the CIES Football Observatory. Barcelona were rated by […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year EXCLUSIVE 12 September 2011 Garry O’Connor, a Scotland striker who played for Birmingham City in the Premier League, failed a drugs test for cocaine while at the club and served a secret ban as he sought and received help for drink and drug problems, Sportingintelligence […]