Battlefield at the Young Vic draws effective parallels between Syria and the Mahabharata February 11, 2016 Young Vic | ★★★☆☆ Can a 2,500-year old story tell us something new about the human condition? That was presumably one of the considerations of 90-year old playwright Peter Brook and his long time collaborator Marie-Helene Estienne when they returned to an Indian epic, the Mahabharata. Having already told the story through their nine-hour 1989 [...]
Ed Woodward hints Manchester United will have money to spend this summer and confirms club is in market for “top players verging on world class” February 11, 2016 Manchester United still expect to become the first English club to break the £500m revenue barrier this season, despite their struggles in the Premier League and uncertainty over the future of manager Louis van Gaal. Executive vice chairman Ed Woodward delivered the upbeat forecast to investors on Thursday after announcing second-quarter results which included a [...]
Manchester United share price pops following £84.5m increase in cash balance and rise in revenue thanks to commercial strength February 11, 2016 Out of the Champions League and seemingly out of the Premier League title race, Manchester United at least finished their second quarter in the black with £18.6m profit, triggering a seven per cent share price pop in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The figures United's commercial strength helped the club record its highest [...]
Deadpool film review: fresh and funny but fails to break new ground February 11, 2016 Dir. Tim Miller | ★★★☆☆ Deadpool was born out of the comic book nadir of the early 1990s, when super-hero books tended towards the morose and the self-indulgent. It was a time when muscles were big and boobs were bigger. Rob Liefeld's wise-cracking mercenary Deadpool, AKA Wade Wilson, was a breath of fresh air amidst the [...]
Premier League tickets should be capped at £10 for away fans, says West Brom boss Tony Pulis, following Liverpool and Arsenal price hike climbdowns February 11, 2016 West Brom manager Tony Pulis has joined calls to reduce the cost of attending top-flight football, urging Premier League clubs to charge away supporters no more than £10 per ticket. Pulis said teams should stop “milking, milking, milking” fans and, drawing comparisons with the Bundesliga, argued that incentivising supporters to travel to games would generate [...]
Manchester United second quarter results: What’s behind the share price slump? A loss of faith in the Glazer model or Louis van Gaal’s team? February 11, 2016 Manchester United were recently tipped by Deloitte to reclaim their position as the world's richest football club, yet investors do not appear to be reciprocating the faith in football's premier commercial juggernaut. Over $800m (£345m) has been wiped off the club's market value and its share price has slumped by 22.5 per cent since first [...]
Why Manchester United investors may be losing faith in the Glazers’ ownership February 11, 2016 Manchester United’s share price has fallen by over 20 per cent since the start of the year, reflecting the team’s struggles on the pitch which have left them in danger of missing out on Champions League qualification. Yet the degree of decline in United’s share price and the extended period over which it has occurred [...]
Have you seen the houses? Wentworth Golf Club’s chief exec says that locals shouldn’t fear the club’s new £100,000 joining fee February 11, 2016 For a man threatened with legal action by some of the City’s wealthiest banking and finance execs Stephen Gibson, the chief executive of Wentworth Golf Club, appeared calm and composed in the clubhouse’s boardroom overlooking one of the three courses. Since the club was sold to its new Chinese owner Reignwood Group a year and [...]
Bayliss: I’ve never seen new boy Dawson play February 10, 2016 Head coach Trevor Bayliss has admitted that he has never seen uncapped rookie Liam Dawson play despite naming the Hampshire all-rounder in England’s squad for the ICC World Twenty20, which starts next month. The 25-year-old, who bowls left-arm off-spin, was a shock inclusion in England’s 15-man squad, while there was no place for Warwickshire’s Chris [...]
IAAF crisis: Nestle follows fellow sponsor Adidas in severing ties with troubled athletics world governing body February 10, 2016 Nestle has asked to terminate its sponsorship of crisis-hit athletics world governing body the IAAF over fears the deal was damaging the Swiss-based food and drinks giant’s image. The decision, a year before the end of Nestle’s five-year partnership, follows a similar move by sportswear group Adidas last month. The IAAF has been tarnished by [...]