By Brian Sears 30 January 2010 . A feature of the domination of the Premier League in recent years by England’s “big four” clubs – Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool – has been how rarely any of that quartet have lost at home to “other” sides from outside their elite group. This is the […]

JOHN ROBERTS wrote for the Daily Express, The Guardian, the Daily Mail and The Independent, where he was the tennis correspondent for 20 years. He collaborated with Bill Shankly on the Liverpool manager’s autobiography, ghosted Kevin Keegan’s first book, and has written books on George Best, Manchester United’s Busby Babes (The Team That Wouldn’t Die) and Everton (The Official […]

By Andy Cole 29 January 2010 Imagine this scenario: you’re in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final, playing against Manchester United, your former club with whom you won the Champions League, and then you score a goal – not a bad goal at all, as it happens – which at the moment you […]

By Andy Cole 20 January 2010 Manchester United would have benefited from taking up their option on Carlos Tevez last summer instead of letting him go, to Manchester City as it transpired. I know that’s a view that puts me at odds with Gary Neville – sorry Nev – and even with Sir Alex Ferguson, who ultimately made […]

By Nick Harris 16 January 2010 Arsenal are the only major English club that would meet Michel Platini’s own “Financial Fair Play” criteria for European club competitions if the Uefa president were able to introduce them now, according to senior sources within the organisation, although any such rules are at least three years away and […]

By Brian Sears 15 January 2010 If the second half of this season is as good for Arsenal as the second half of last season, they’ll win the title. That’s the hope that Arsene Wenger will be nurturing into the Spring, and we can paint a statistical scenario where it might just happen. Here’s how […]

By Nick Harris 15 January 2010 Manchester City’s wage bill has surged by more than 52 per cent in a year from £54.2m to £82.6m, sportingintelligence can reveal. The figures, included in the club’s full annual report – just filed at Companies House – were excluded from the data presented to the public when the […]

By Andy Cole 14 January 2010 I’m not surprised that a contract for Sol Campbell at Arsenal is imminent because Arsène Wenger knows better than anyone that Sol still has something to offer in the Premier League. Wenger will be aware what shape Sol is in because he has been training there for a few […]

. Every book featured in this section is included on the personal recommendation of a member of sportingintelligence‘s panel of writers and authors, to be expanded over time. Our “We say” reviewers have included only those books they count among their personal favourites and would actively encourage others to read as outstanding. A full list […]

11 January 2010 Manchester United’s holding company, Red Football Ltd, today announced pre-tax profits of £48.2m for the financial year to the end of June 2009, a year-on-year turnaround from comparable losses of £21.4m in the year to June 2008. The £80m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid in the summer underpinned the latest […]