Qatari bidder Sheikh Jassim rules out Manchester United move for Lionel Messi May 10, 2023 Manchester United will not make any attempt to sign Lionel Messi on a free transfer this summer if Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani buys the club. Messi, 35, is due to leave Paris Saint-Germain next month when his contract with the Qatar-owned French champions expires. His availability has sparked a €1bn scramble for his [...]
English rugby bans high-ranking official from Twickenham for using N-word May 10, 2023 A former Rugby Football Union council member has been banned from Twickenham after admitting making racist comments at a Six Nations match last year. Alex Murphy said to an unnamed volunteer as they walked to the council box at the England v Wales game in 2022, “You realise they don’t let n****** in the Royal [...]
Premiership enjoys attendance bounce, but figures little for rugby to cheer about May 9, 2023 Premiership rugby’s average match attendance is close to returning to pre-pandemic levels as the sport shows signs of recovery following a turbulent period. Average attendance in the Premiership this season was 12,569, up by more than 1,000 on last year and almost back to pre-Covid-19 levels, according to data crunched by City A.M. The figures [...]
Erimo to bring John Size closer to the Championship May 9, 2023 A FLURRY of winners for trainer John Size in the past fortnight, including a winning treble at Sha Tin on Sunday, has now put the ‘The Master Trainer’ firmly in control of winning his 12th Hong Kong trainers’ title. With his nearest pursuer, Frankie Lor, 10 winners behind in the championship race, it’s also worth pointing [...]
Ho to make some Billionaires out of Pierre Ng’s Secret May 9, 2023 MIDWEEK racing in Hong Kong is back at Sha Tin for a fiendishly difficult but exciting eight-race programme on the all-weather surface. Racing fans in the city will be hoping that life returns to some normality after a ‘Wet and Wild’ Sunday at Sha Tin. Weather conditions wreaked havoc with the racing surface during the [...]
Worcester fan group: We don’t want ‘cuckoo club’ Wasps May 9, 2023 A new fan group representing recently purchased rugby team Worcester Warriors have called on the sport’s governing body to block a proposition that would see fellow strugglers Wasps move to their stadium. Following the completion of a deal between the Atlas consortium and administrators Begbies Traynor for Worcester Warriors, it emerged that Wasps owner Chris [...]
Meet the man who quit the City to reinvent the film industry, one documentary at a time May 9, 2023 City banker Julian Bird set up Lorton Entertainment to show that investing in films could be profitable, and documentaries on Diego Maradona, Oasis and Wayne Rooney have proven him spectacularly right. “I’m not really a massive film fan,” says City banker-turned-unlikely movie mogul Julian Bird. It’s perhaps a surprising statement from someone who has been [...]
England’s Jofra Archer Ashes hopes hang in the balance after bowler’s latest setback May 9, 2023 England paceman Jofra Archer faces a race to be fit for the Ashes after cutting short his stint playing in the Indian Premier League. Archer has struggled to recover from his latest round of elbow surgery and is returning to England to focus on recuperation, with the first Test against Australia starting on 16 June. [...]
Carlo Ancelotti concocting plan to beat ‘unstoppable’ Manchester City May 9, 2023 Carlo Ancelotti has challenged his Real Madrid team to beat an “unstoppable” Manchester City side when the Champions League heavyweights collide in the semi-finals on Tuesday. Treble-chasing City have hit top form in the run-in and head to the Spanish capital with 15 wins and a draw from their last 16 games. Top scorer Erling [...]
Everton thrash Brighton to boost Premier League survival hopes, Fulham topple Leicester May 8, 2023 Everton today climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone with an impressive 5-1 win away to Brighton and Hove Albion. The victory offers Sean Dyche’s Toffees a survival lifeline as they climb from 19th to two points clear of the drop. Abdoulaye Doucoure opened the scoring for the travelling side inside 40 seconds before [...]