Do Real Madrid have Liverpool’s number? Why the Spanish giants have become the Reds’ Champions League nemeses February 21, 2023 At their best Liverpool have been irresistible under Jurgen Klopp, the most vivid expression yet of the German’s high-octane vision of football – except, it seems, when facing Real Madrid. Klopp has led the Reds into battle with the Spanish giants four times since he took the helm at Anfield in 2015. They have lost [...]
Premiership Rugby CEO clarifies role of new rugby sporting commission February 20, 2023 Premiership Rugby has announced plans to overhaul its governance with a new sporting commission and financial monitoring panel. The moves are part of sweeping changes at the top of the English game following the downfall of both Worcester Warriors and Wasps. “We’re setting up an independent reporting commission to make sporting decisions on behalf of [...]
UK Tennis chiefs offered £500k by WTA to let Russians back into Grand Slam February 20, 2023 The governing body of women’s tennis the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) have offered to retrospectively reduce a £1m fine, imposed on the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) last year, if Russians and Belarusians are allowed to compete in LTA competitions this year. Athletes from the two countries were controversially denied entry to the Wimbledon Championships as [...]
MLR’s Utah Warriors CEO: Rugby needs to put commercialism first February 20, 2023 If you were looking for a nation to grab something traditional by the horns and zhuzh it up, it would be the United States wouldn’t it? Well, now rugby is entering the rodeo ring to have that treatment. Because last month, Major League Rugby (MLR) franchise Utah Warriors announced a partnership with five-time European champions [...]
Manchester United bidders want public statement from Glazers to show they are serious about selling the club February 20, 2023 Manchester United suitors want the Glazer family to go public with their plans for the club and quell concerns that they are not serious about a possible £5bn sale. British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar both confirmed submitting bids to buy the Premier League club last week, [...]
Saudi Arabia wants its own Formula 1 team, says country’s motorsport chief February 20, 2023 Saudi Arabia’s motorsport chief has entertained the idea of a Formula 1 team owned by the Middle Eastern Kingdom in the future. Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal, chairman Saudi Motorsport Company, said the commercial history between the country and Formula 1 lends itself to the country owning a team. “We have a lot of [...]
Former City lawyer tasked with reviewing demise of Wasps and Worcester Warriors in Premiership Rugby financial review February 20, 2023 Legal heavyweight Sir Nigel Boardman, a former partner at City law firm Slaughter and May, has been appointed to lead a review of the financial crisis engulfing Premiership Rugby. Boardman, 72, led the government inquiry into the Greensill Capital lobbying row in 2021 and last year called time on a near-50-year stint with the Magic [...]
Glazer family could walk away from Manchester United sale, bidders fear February 19, 2023 Manchester United bidders believe the club’s owners, the Glazer family, could walk away from a £5bn sale of the Premier League club. Three parties are known to have submitted proposals to the Glazers’ bankers – British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe; the son of the former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani; and [...]
Barcelona and Manchester United are both on the way back up but the Premier League club is on a much surer footing February 16, 2023 Some fixtures just feel like they belong in the Champions League and Barcelona versus Manchester United is one of them. Tonight, however, they will meet in Uefa’s second-tier competition, the Europa League, in the first leg of a play-off tie to reach the last 16. It is a sign of how far both teams have [...]
Ed Warner: The European Super League isn’t dead yet – and it’s because of the Premier League February 16, 2023 “Laughable”, “all hot air”, “flimsy”, a “walking corpse”. So has English football, on a mostly unattributable basis, dismissed the attempt to breathe new life into the European Super League concept which unraveled so swiftly and spectacularly two years ago. But sat on this side of the English Channel, we would say that, wouldn’t we? Is [...]