By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 11 March 2013 A new large-scale survey of Chinese football fans to coincide with the start of the 2013 Chinese Super League (CSL) season has found that three of the top five players that supporters would like to see imported to the competition are Steven […]

By Brian Sears 8 March 2013 With 10 games remaining in the Premier League season, statistical history says Manchester United’s coronation as champions is inevitable. Even if United slump in the run-in to match their previous worst-ever points haul from their final 10 games (which was 14 points), and closest rivals Manchester City match their […]

By Brian Sears and Nick Harris  SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 28 February 2013 SEVEN clubs have been “ever present” in the Premier League since it began in 1992-93, and as they all prepare to play their 800th league games of the Premier League era this weekend, one club stands heads and shoulders above […]

By Brian Sears 21 February 2013 The FA Cup attracted crowds last weekend that were five per higher collectively than the clubs involved have been attracting to league matches this season. The fifth round of the Cup is the first time that this phenomenon has happened this season, and is indicative that the closer the […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 7 February 2013 The leading investigator into the global match-fixing crisis in football has confirmed that a press conference on Monday hosted by Europol “was misleading” and “it is a concern that the message was not clear.” Friedhelm Althans is the chief match-fix investigator with […]

By Brian Sears 28 January 2013 Liverpool’s FA Cup elimination at the hands of Oldham on Sunday was the 119th time in the Premier League era that a Premier League side has been knocked out of the Cup by opponents from a lower division. And it is Liverpool who have suffered this fate more than […]

By Brian Sears 24 January 2013 The League Cup has been grabbing all the headlines this week, what with Bradford’s utterly extraordinary (and globally significant) progress to the final; Swansea’s stirring win over Chelsea on aggregate; and that kick (or was it a poke?), by Mr Hazard upon a ballboy who happens to be the […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year  23 January 2013 Bradford City’s remarkable run to the final of the 2013 English League Cup gives them the chance to become the first club in football history from any European country to win a national cup competition while playing in the fourth tier. A win […]

  By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 21 January 2013 The number of non-native players in the football leagues of Europe has climbed to record levels, with 36.1 per cent of all players being ‘foreign’ in the leagues in which they play, according to research released today. The CIES Football Observatory […]

By Brian Sears 10 January 2013 Premier League goal scoring is still on track to achieve record levels for a third season running, but only just and mainly thanks to the recent free-scoring exploits of the Manchester clubs, Arsenal and Chelsea – and especially two recent freakish scores from Arsenal and Chelsea. Up to today, […]