Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis says spending big money on transfers has become less important in achieving Premier League success July 22, 2016 Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis has argued the ability to spend more money on transfers than your rivals is becoming less determinative of Premier League success. His comments may be interpreted as a playing down of fans' expectations for the club's transfer window ambitions this summer. Since signing Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka for £30m in May, Arsenal have failed [...]
Paul Pogba agent Mino Raiola “doesn’t give a damn” about Manchester United’s proposed world record £100m transfer fee July 22, 2016 Paul Pogba's agent Mino Raiola says he is unfussed about the prospect of Manchester United breaking the world transfer record on the Juventus midfielder. The Premier League club are prepared to make former player Pogba football's first £100m man but Raiola, who also represents recent United acquisitions Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, says he only wants "the best for my [...]
Jose Mourinho, Harry Redknapp and Sven-Goran Eriksson join forces to welcome imminent appointment of Sam Allardyce as England boss July 21, 2016 High-profile managers past and present have joined forces in welcoming the imminent appointment of Sam Allardyce as England manager and successor to Roy Hodgson. No formal confirmation of Allardyce’s hiring was given today as the Football Association (FA) continued to thrash out a compensation package with the 61-year-old’s current employers Sunderland. The governing body’s selection panel [...]
Chris Froome in touching distance of third Tour de France title July 21, 2016 Britain's Chris Froome has vowed to get the job done after edging closer to his third Tour de France title by claiming victory in the stage 18 time trial yesterday. Froome beat time-trial specialist Tom Dumoulin of Holland by 21 seconds over the 17 kilometre course from Sallanches to Megeve to extend his lead in the [...]
Cricket betting: Batting bother for England – but Jonny Bairstow can deliver July 21, 2016 England's batting order has been a cause for concern for a number of years now. Since the departure – wrongly or rightly – of Kevin Pietersen, they have tried to plug the round holes of positions three, four and five with a series of square pegs. Last time out at Lord’s, with Nick Compton in [...]
Cricket betting: Spinner Shah could make things Messi for England July 21, 2016 Pakistan's performance against England at Lord’s last week couldn’t have gone much better and it is no surprise they have a 1-0 lead in the four-match series. They were in control of the game throughout, taking a first innings advantage after a century from captain Misbah-ul-Haq before leg-spinner Yasir Shah helped wrap the game up [...]
The Fix review: A musical take on US politics that’s almost as entertaining as the real thing July 21, 2016 The long awaited splicing of House of Cards and hyper-camp musical theatre, The Fix is a boisterous show about one family’s desperate attempts to lay claim to the highest and most oval-shaped office in the land. When presidential hopeful Reed Chandler corks it during a scandalous act of extramarital sex-doing, the weight of his political [...]
Skipper Alastair Cook moves to defuse row over James Anderson’s omission from first Test against Pakistan July 21, 2016 Skipper Alastair Cook has played down the notion of friction in the England camp as the row over seamer James Anderson’s omission from the first Investec Test at Lord’s rumbles on. Anderson is set to return to England’s starting XI for the second Test at Emirates Old Trafford, which starts on Friday, as is all-rounder [...]
11 things to do in London this weekend, including watching Usain Bolt, geeking out to Star Trek and enjoying William Eggleston’s photographs July 21, 2016 1. Go and see some filthy cabaret at the Hippodrome Cabaret, Hippodrome, Saturday, 19.30, from £15-£50 Inspired by 1930s Parisian cabaret but also swiping at the mainstream success of Cirque du Soleil, this is a sassy combination of smut and sparkle. 2. Remember your childhood watching The BFG Film, IMAX Waterloo, Saturday, 11.15, £20 A saccharine-sweet [...]
Ming of Harlem film review: an art house movie about a man who kept a tiger in his New York apartment July 21, 2016 For several years Antoine Yates kept a Bengal tiger in his fifth floor New York apartment, until the day the cat sank its carving knife sized fangs into the man’s leg. Unsurprisingly, doctors weren’t convinced by Yates’s claim that he’d been bitten by his pet dog, and so the authorities were alerted. Back at his [...]