By Lionel Page 8 April 2010 As an academic with an interest in economic analysis, the downfall of the English teams in the Champions League this season did not surprise me, even while it disappointed me as a Manchester United fan. Earlier this season, I was actually expecting that the English teams would “under-perform” in the competition, when set […]

By Andy Cole 2 April 2010 Arsenal were handed a footballing lesson on Wednesday night in the Champions League by the team whose blueprint they seek to follow – not to mention given a fortunate penalty by an incompetent referee. But Arsène Wenger’s side showed they’ve got some mettle by recovering from 2-0 down to […]

By Brian Sears 2 April 2010 So the Premier League enters the home straight for another season and statistical seers (not to mention Sears) strive to grab a passing morsel of numerical nuance from their historical data. Most clubs have but six games to go. As a statistician trying to work out what’s next (snow, […]

By Nick Harris 29 March 2010 When Manchester United take on Bayern Munich in the first leg of their quarter-final in the Champions League in Germany on Tuesday night, they’ll do so with a squad that’s slightly older, slightly shorter and almost twice as loyal when measured by how long their players have stayed with […]

By Jonnie Baker 27 March 2010 The ‘race for fourth’, care of Sky, is hotting up and no mistake. Obviously I should declare an interest at this stage: if Tottenham don’t finish somewhere between third and fifth I will more than likely explode in a sticky mess of frustrated bile and cold, cold hatred for […]

By Brian Sears 26 March 2010 As every musical statto knows, Queen’s 1984 hit single, ‘It’s a Hard Life’, derives in part from the Leoncavallo opera, ‘Pagliacci’, and close to the start of the song, Freddie Mercury sings: This is a tricky situation I’ve only got myself to blame It’s just a simple fact of […]

By Andy Cole 25 March 2010 The latest rich list of footballers’ pay by France Football magazine was released yesterday and Lionel Messi has jumped to the top, making £29.6m in 2009 from salary, endorsements and sponsorships to put him above even David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo. I have no idea how realistic these numbers […]

By Nick Harris 24 March 2010 The Glazer family have frozen ticket prices at Old Trafford for next season, and it is understood that the aim of this strategic move is to ensure renewal levels are as healthy as possible.  Manchester United’s owners are known to harbour private concerns that renewals could have dipped drastically […]

By Nick Harris 19 March 2010 With Manchester United set to host their fierce traditional rivals Liverpool this weekend amid disharmony among fans at both clubs because of American owners and their debts, new research shows fans at both clubs want control, with researchers claiming such control is affordable. The detail of the survey also […]

By Brian Sears 19 March 2010 Liverpool, beware. Premier League goal scoring this season remains on course to hit record heights, and Liverpool’s opponents this weekend, Manchester United, remain one of three clubs still in the hunt for the Holy Grail-esque “50 goals at home in a Premier League season”. Now some people might argue […]