Football

By Brian Sears 23 December 2010 Manchester City’s two favourite opponents in their 13 and a half seasons in the Premier League are Aston Villa and Newcastle, according to sportingintelligence’s exclusive analysis of where they’ve gained their points down the years. And who are City’s two Yuletide opponents? Ding dong merrily on high – it’s […]

By Nick Harris 19 December 2010 Few if any Manchester United fans can have failed to notice the recent coverage of Sir Alex Ferguson ‘overtaking’ Sir Matt Busby’s record reign as United manager, but in fact Ferguson overtook Busby 10 weeks ago. And the inconsistency in the way the ‘official’ United figures have been compiled […]

By Nick Harris 19 December 2010 Tony McCoy, the greatest jump jockey of all time, was crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year at a star-studded awards night in Birmingham this evening – and then mentioned the Beeb’s great broadcasting rivals, Sky, in his acceptance speech. He was talking about the delight with which […]

By Brian Sears 16 December 2010 It’s official and it’s demonstrable and it’s enough to leaving a Red feeling Blue: Chelsea are Manchester United’s toughest opponents in the Premier League. United of course have the chance to change the momentum in that relationship this weekend, with themselves on the up, apparently, and unbeaten, certainly, while […]

By Brian Sears 16 December 2010 . Liverpool’s loss to Newcastle in the Premier League was followed by a dull 0-0 with Utrecht but history says things should improve with their teatime game on Saturday at home to Fulham. The London team have never won at Anfield in the Premier League in nine attempts, five […]

By Nick Harris 8 December 2010 Charlie Adam, Blackpool’s best player, won his recent tribunal hearing against his own club over a £25,000 bonus row but won’t emerge from the episode with much, if any, financial benefit, sportingintelligence can reveal. His ‘winnings’ have mostly been spent on fees and expenses, including a costly QC. The […]

By Nick Harris 8 December 2010 Kentaro is best known for event management, including arranging Brazil friendlies. It also had the rights to the first and only England pay-per-view match on the internet, against Ukraine last year. Now the agency, which sportingintelligence has learned has been described as “like family” by Venkatesh Rao, the MD […]

By Brian Sears 8 December 2010 Of the 436 Premier League goals scored this season, 181 have come before half-time (or 42 per cent), leaving a sizeable chunk of 255 goals (58 per cent) in the second half. Most clubs – 15 from 20 – scored most of their goals (a majority) in the second […]

By Nick Harris 7 December 2010 As the Fifa vice-president Jack Warner claims that the world governing body could not have voted for England’s 2018 World Cup bid because of the English media, sportingintelligence publishes an extract from a secret Fifa document (scan at bottom of page) that shows some of his own colleagues believed […]

By Nick Harris 6 December 2010 An anti-homophobia group that campaigns for equality in football has criticised the decision of Fifa’s executive committee to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a nation where homosexuality is a crime that can carry a five-year prison term. That sanction is not theoretical – Qatar has had cases […]