By Nick Harris 16 May 2010 The financial rewards simply for being a member of the Premier League are highlighted today with the release of official figures showing payments from central League funds to each club for the season just finished. The bottom team, Portsmouth, picked up £31.8m from the League in TV cash and […]

By Nick Harris 14 May 2010 England’s bid for the right to stage the 2018 World Cup was blessed with the stardust that is David Beckham in Zurich today as the nine bid teams seeking the 2018 and/or 2022 events began the push in earnest to win the game’s biggest prize from Fifa. Beckham, who […]

By Nick Harris 13 May 2010 The Football Association will review how the Gambling Commission handled and dropped a suspected case of match-fixing before deciding whether to proceed with its own action after both bodies were lambasted as “inept” and labelled a “total disgrace” by a senior official from one of the clubs involved. The […]

By Nick Harris 12 May 2010 As the Spirit of Shankly group of Liverpool fans confirmed today that they will meet with Premier League officials on Friday to discuss ownership and governance issues at their club, sportingintelligence can reveal the historic rift between Tom Hicks and George Gillett was fueled by their contrasting views on […]

By Nick Harris 11 May 2010 A book to be published this summer will lay out the despair that George Best felt, including in his owns words and writing, as his career hit the buffers in 1972, when on the cusp of his 26th birthday he sensationally announced he was quitting Manchester United. The book […]

* By Pete Wilson 11 May 2010 A Chinese multi-millionaire internet tycoon has held provisional talks about buying Liverpool in the past two weeks and sportingintelligence publishes the first photograph of him in the British media today (below). Zhu Jun, 44, is the founder, chairman and chief executive of The9 Ltd – one of China’s […]

By Nick Harris 10 May 2010 The Red Knights still intend to table a formal first bid for Manchester United before the World Cup begins on 11 June despite a downbeat statement today from the super-rich fans’ group, sportingintelligence can reveal. That initial bid is likely to be worth £1bn, although it will require only […]

By Brian Sears 8 May 2010 English football crowds outside the Premier League have defied the worst recession in decades to hit a 50-year high according to exclusive analysis of gates during the season that finished this afternoon when the final ball was kicked in Leagues One and Two. As we forecast earlier in the […]

By Nick Harris 8 May 2010 The Manchester United Supporters Trust has entered a pivotal phase in its campaign to oust the clubs’ owners, the Glazer family, by asking fans for cash to bankroll MUST’s work. An initial £5 donation has been suggested to each of the 156,000-plus people who have signed up to join […]

By Pete Wilson 7 May 2010 The Manchester United Supporters Trust has accused the Glazer family of ‘cynical’ tactics in the increasingly bitter battle for control of the club. Three well-sourced newspaper articles today reported that the Glazers have turned down offers of up to £1.5bn for United over the past couple of years. That […]