Lancaster besieged by injuries as Johnson ruled out until April January 23, 2013 ENGLAND rugby head coach Stuart Lancaster is facing mounting injury worries as he prepares for his first Six Nations as favourites, after Exeter flanker Tom Johnson was ruled out of the entire championship. London Irish prop Alex Corbisiero, who looked set to start, and promising Gloucester fly-half Fredie Burns are also set to miss at [...]
History shows financial fair play likely to have teeth, says expert January 23, 2013 ONE of football finance’s leading experts has voiced his surprise at continued scepticism over the willingness of European chiefs Uefa to ban clubs if they break new financial fair play (FFP) rules. Deloitte’s Dan Jones believes Uefa will see through its threat to issue a range of sanctions against teams whose losses exceed allowable FFP [...]
Hammers rout edges Gunners near top four January 23, 2013 ARSENAL 5 vs WEST HAM UNITED 1 WEST HAM boss Sam Allardyce last night denied star midfielder Mohamed Diame is on his way to Arsenal, after watching his team thrashed by the Gunners. Jack Collison gave the Hammers an early lead but Lukas Podolski soon equalised, and four goals in 11 frenetic second-half minutes from [...]
Cheltenham confident over Trials January 23, 2013 HORSE RACING: Cheltenham organisers expect Saturday’s Festival Trials meeting to go ahead despite further snowfall. Course clerk Simon Claisse said: “We have severe frost forecast for Thursday night, but providing the forecast for rain on Friday night stays in place and there is no further snow I’m optimistic about the Saturday card going ahead.”
M’Vila snubs QPR for Russia move January 23, 2013 FOOTBALL: Queens Park Rangers have missed out on transfer target Yann M’Vila after the France midfielder signed for Russian side Rubin Kazan for £8m. Meanwhile manager Harry Redknapp has named defender Clint Hill captain, with former skipper Ryan Nelsen set to leave to manage Toronto FC at the start of next month.
No one is too talented to discard January 22, 2013 MOUSETRAPS nestle behind the sink in the gents’ toilets. Rugby training kit crowds shelves in a tiny clubhouse bar, which is improbably squeezed under railway arches. The spartan, chilly “office” upstairs is strewn with cobwebs. In many ways, humble Millwall RFC is the ideal setting to meet Stuart Lancaster. For the England rugby head coach [...]
Bradford slay Villa to reach final January 22, 2013 ASTON VILLA 2 vs BRADFORD CITY 1 Bradford City win 4-3 on aggregate JUBILANT Bradford manager Phil Parkinson admitted he was in “dreamland” last night after completing another Capital One Cup giant-killing to reach the final – and land a trip to Las Vegas. James Hanson’s second-half header earned the Bantams an aggregate victory to [...]
Derby fillip in Wenger sights January 22, 2013 ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger admits his team have their “backs to the wall” as they look to bounce back from Sunday’s defeat at Chelsea tonight against West Ham. Victory would lift the Gunners to within four points of the Premier League’s top four, and Wenger said: “I’m confident we will but the team was very [...]
Spurs blame £4.3m loss on Euro failings January 22, 2013 FAILURE to qualify for last season’s Champions League sent Tottenham into the red for the year ending June 2012, the football club announced yesterday. Spurs recorded a loss of £4.3m, down from a £0.7m profit the previous year, as revenues fell 12 per cent from £163m to £144m. The north Londoners said the financial blow [...]
Materazzi jibes are lies, says angry Benitez January 22, 2013 CHELSEA manager Rafael Benitez has launched a stinging attack on his former Inter Milan player Marco Materazzi, as he prepares for tonight’s make-or-break Capital One Cup clash at Swansea. Materazzi called Benitez “weak”, accused the Spaniard of making him remove pictures of ex-boss Jose Mourinho from the dressing room, and said life under him was [...]