By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 23 January 2012 A new demographic study of European football, published today by the CIES Football Observatory in Switzerland, contains detailed analysis of 12,410 footballers at 500 clubs in the top divisions of 33 European countries, reporting among other things how the Russian Premier League […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 23 January 2012 The 20 clubs in England’s Premier League are using more ‘club-trained’ players in the 2011-12 season than their counterparts in the top division of Germany’s Bundesliga, a new study shows. Given that the Premier League is sometimes criticised as a cash-rich league […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 23 January 2012 Clubs in the Russian Premier League, a 16-team division awash with plutocratic ‘new money’, especially from the oil sector, are rapidly closing the gap in quality between themselves and leading clubs from the top divisions in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues, according to […]

By Sportingintelligence 22 January 2012 The ongoing crisis surrounding the ownership of Blackburn Rovers by the Indian poultry conglomerate Venky’s is the focus today (22 January) of a huge four-page feature in the Sunday edition of the Economic Times of India – the most respected title in its field. The paper’s editor has deemed it […]

By Brian Sears 19 January 2012 In the 19 completed Premier League seasons Tottenham have never won more than seven games away from White Hart Lane in any one league campaign. This season they have already won six of their 10 games on the road. Their next away challenge is Sunday’s journey to Manchester City. Manchester […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 16 January 2012 While no evidence has yet been found of FA rule-breaking at Blackburn Rovers, Sportingingelligence has learned that the Football Association have had a ‘watching brief’ on the club since January 2011 and have taken a particular interest in the activities of agents. […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 16 January 2012 SEAN Long, the former Wigan, St Helens, England and Great Britain international rugby league star, has spoken for the first time – exclusively to Sportingintelligence – about his role in the rugby drugs scandal at Hull FC that led to Martin Gleeson […]

By Steve Menary 16 January 2012 FIFA’s former director of international relations Jérôme Champagne has entered the debate over the future governance of the world body by sending a detailed assessment of the problems facing the game and potential remedies to all 208 members. A former French diplomat, member of the 1998 World Cup organising […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year. 15 January 2012 The former Great Britain rugby league international Martin Gleeson has spoken today for the first time about the circumstances in which he came to fail a drugs test, and how more widespread use of a stimulant was covered up. His story, and a […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 15 January 2012 AN extraordinary letter written by senior figures at Blackburn Rovers to the club’s co-owner, Anuradha Desai, proves they felt helpless at the direction the club was taking as early as January last year, just a few months after the takeover by Venky’s. […]