Olympic spotlight won’t daunt British star Halsall December 19, 2011 WERE medals being handed out for enthusiasm alone, Fran Halsall would surely threaten Michael Phelps’s record eight-gold haul in Beijing at next summer’s London Olympics. As an exceptionally talented 21-year-old athlete, of whom much is expected, the Southport-born swimmer could be forgiven were she to feel a sense of trepidation ahead of the biggest eight [...]
Bumper attendances lift Fulham to record profits December 19, 2011 REGULAR full houses at Craven Cottage last season helped Fulham achieve best ever revenues and a record net profit of £4.8m for the year ending 30 June. Attendances rose 4.9 per cent, with the stadium on average 98 per cent full, as the west Londoners finished eighth in the Premier League. Pre-tax profit was £5.4m, [...]
Dow stadium branding scrapped December 19, 2011 OLYMPICS: London 2012 sponsor Dow Chemicals has confirmed it will not have branding on the Olympic Stadium’s fabric wrap, which they have sponsored for £7m, either before or during the Games. Plans for it to be branded pre-Games were dropped in the summer, Dow said. Organisers are facing calls to drop Dow as a sponsor [...]
Premier League to remain seated December 19, 2011 FOOTBALL: Premier League chiefs have ruled out the possibility of following their Scottish counterparts by planning to re-introduce safe standing areas to top-flight football grounds. “Standing at matches is illegal under the legislation that was brought in after Hillsborough,” said a Premier League spokesman.
Coyle and Kean face six-pointer December 19, 2011 FOOTBALL: Under-fire managers Steve Kean and Owen Coyle insist they are refusing to contemplate the repercussions of defeat ahead of Blackburn and Bolton’s relegation six-pointer at Ewood Park tonight. Kean, whose side are a point and a place ahead of bottom of the table Bolton, maintains the club’s owners still trust him to steer Blackburn [...]
Cleverly focuses on beaten Froch December 19, 2011 BOXING: WBO light-heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly is open to the possibility of facing fellow Brit Carl Froch. The unbeaten Cleverly watched Froch lose his WBC super-middleweight title to Andre Ward on Saturday night. He said: “It’s a fight that would make sense and would be great for the British public.”
GUNNED DOWN December 18, 2011 MANCHESTER CITY (1) vs ARSENAL (0) Wenger concedes Arsenal are out of the title race before Christmas as Silva lands the knockout blow which sends Manchester City back to the summit ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger ruled his side out of the Premier League title race after David Silva’s second half goal returned Manchester City to [...]
MATCH ANALYSIS December 18, 2011 KEY MOMENT Johan Djourou might not be the sturdiest member of Arsenal’s defensive unit, but the injury that ended his game in the 47th minute forced a reshuffle that saw the previously excellent Laurent Koscielny asked to fill in at right-back. And the Frenchman was almost immediately caught out of position in the build-up to [...]
Quins beat mighty Toulouse to boost European chances December 18, 2011 TOULOUSE (24) vs HARLEQUINS (31) HARLEQUINS took their superb start to the season to new heights by coming from behind to score a thrilling win at four-time European champions Toulouse in the Heineken Cup. The Premiership leaders trailed 19-15 after an hour but Mike Brown’s second try and the unerring boot of Nick Evans, who [...]
Westwood and Poulter round off 2011 in style December 18, 2011 A MAGNIFICENT year for British golf was rounded off in fittingly triumphant style yesterday as Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter claimed season-ending victories. Westwood stormed to his fourth title of the year by securing an emphatic seven-shot win over Charl Schwartzel at the Thailand Golf Championship – a success that saw him move up to [...]