Playing the numbers game January 22, 2014 REAL Madrid top for a ninth consecutive year, Barcelona their chief rival: it may not look like much has changed in world football’s latest rich list, yet those facts belie a year of flux and fascinating trends. For two Middle East-funded upstarts, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, 2012-13 was a season of major gains in [...]
O’Sullivan slapped with fine January 22, 2014 SNOOKER: World champion Ronnie O’Sullivan was fined £6,000 by the game’s governing body yesterday following a string of Twitter comments. He was ordered to pay an additional £1,000 toward the cost of the hearing and warned about his future conduct after being “abusive, insulting and disrespectful” to a referee during German Masters qualifying last month.
City sign deal for A-League club January 22, 2014 FOOTBALL: A consortium led by Manchester City have acquired an 80 per cent stake in Australian club Melbourne Heart. Rugby League team Melbourne Storm hold the remaining 20 per cent stake. City have vowed to boost the A-League side’s scouting and coaching resources through it’s Manchester-based City Football Academy.
Lukaku speaks out as Anelka charged by FA January 21, 2014 CHELSEA striker Romelu Lukaku became embroiled in the growing row over Nicolas Anelka’s controversial “quenelle” gesture yesterday, after the West Brom player was formally charged by the Football Association. Lukaku, 20, who is on a season-long loan at Everton, defended Anelka’s use of the gesture, which has been called anti-Semitic, and said the Frenchman, who [...]
Murray braced for Federer’s fresh game plan January 21, 2014 BRITAIN’S Andy Murray is anticipating a fresh set of problems from old adversary Roger Federer in this morning’s Australian Open quarter-final. Federer has been in decline since reaching all four grand slam finals in 2009, having triumphed just once in the last 15 major tennis tournaments. But the 32-year-old joined forces with two-time Wimbledon champion [...]
Djokovic stunned by Stan January 21, 2014 REIGNING Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic saw his 28-match winning streak ended in yesterday’s quarter-final with Stanislas Wawrinka. The world No2 was beaten 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 and said: “He showed his mental strength and he deserved to win.” Wawrinka will play seventh seed Tomas Berdych in the last four. Elsewhere, teenager Eugenie Bouchard [...]
Cricket Comment: Time for England to switch captain Cook for Morgan January 21, 2014 EIGHT consecutive defeats against Australia in all formats means a major debrief is essential when the players return home, but even now it is clear that certain changes will be needed. Replacing Alastair Cook as captain of the one-day side is chief among those. Friday’s second match was the final straw; there is no way [...]
City reach Wembley final with record win over sorry West Ham January 21, 2014 MANCHESTER City completed the biggest ever margin of victory in a Capital One Cup semi-final last night with a 3-0 second-leg triumph over West Ham wrapping up a 9-0 aggregate win. City, who last lifted the trophy in 1976, struck in the first half through Alvaro Negredo and Sergio Aguero, before Negredo netted his ninth [...]
Vidic loses Chelsea red card appeal January 21, 2014 FOOTBALL: Manchester United look to overturn a 2-1 Capital One Cup semi-final first-leg deficit against Sunderland tonight without captain Nemanja Vidic. The defender begins a three-match ban after losing his appeal against a straight red card issued in Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Chelsea.
Salary cap rise for Premiership January 21, 2014 RUGBY UNION: A salary cap for all Premiership clubs will rise to £5m from next season, an increase of £500,000. The total includes £240,000 in academy credits covering players under 24. Club’s can nominate one player to be excluded from the cap.