Spain at risk of following Scotland if Barca and Real allowed to maintain stranglehold June 8, 2011 SPANISH football is riding the crest of a wave. The national team are world and European champions, while Barcelona dominate the club game, and Real Madrid, home to Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho, are no slouches either. Yet beneath the surface all is not so rosy. The same individual selling of broadcast rights that has [...]
Urgent action needed in dire Championship as TV revenue shows signs of drying up June 8, 2011 AS WORRYING as the situation in the top flight is, it is far worse in the Championship, where £4 is spent for every £3 earned. Financial results for England’s second tier worsened for the sixth successive year in 2009-10, according to Deloitte, while the average wages-to-turnover ratio is an eye-watering 88 per cent. It could [...]
Hundreds of thousands of 2012 tickets unsold June 8, 2011 CHAIRMAN of London’s Olympic organising committee Lord Coe has moved to clarify that hundreds of thousands of tickets will be available in the upcoming second ballot. Over 55 per cent of applicants were left empty-handed following the first round of sales and although they are to be given priority second time around Lord Coe sparked [...]
Man United pip Arsenal to Jones signing June 8, 2011 MANCHESTER UNITED kick-started their summer spending spree by snatching Blackburn centre-half Phil Jones from the clutches of Premier League rivals Arsenal and Liverpool. Jones, 19, underwent a medical at Old Trafford yesterday ahead of a £17m move. His transfer represents the second time in a year that Sir Alex Ferguson has stolen a march on [...]
Banned Amir defends club appearance June 8, 2011 BANNED Pakistan bowler Mohammad Amir has denied flouting his suspension and insists he did no wrong in turning out for a club team in Surrey. Amir, 19, was banned for five years for the part he played in the spot-fixing scandal that marred last summer’s Test series against England. But Amir appears to have contravened [...]
England left feeling flat by Lord’s pitch June 7, 2011 Strauss blames dead surface for tepid draw and hopes Anderson will return for the series decider ENGLAND captain Andrew Strauss blamed the lifeless Lord’s pitch for his side’s failure to force a victory on the final day of the second Test. Alastair Cook continued his rich vein of form by reaching his sixth century in [...]
WINDOW PAIN: PRIOR SAYS SORRY FOR INJURING FAN June 7, 2011 ENGLAND wicketkeeper Matt Prior was forced into making a public apology to confused MCC members at Lord’s after breaking a dressing room window with his bat. Prior was run out following a mix-up with Ian Bell and once he had returned upstairs, according to an England and Wales Cricket Board statement, his bat handle “bounced off the [...]
Feisty Broad still well worth his Test place June 7, 2011 WE may not have had the explosive finish we were treated to in Cardiff, but Lord’s certainly provided more positives than negatives for England. This is as powerful a batting line-up as England have ever produced and they compliment each other splendidly. With Kevin Pietersen back in the runs the top seven are bang in [...]
London trio handed tough Heineken Cup assignments June 7, 2011 PREMIERSHIP champions Saracens have avoided the big-hitters in the draw for the group stages of next season’s Heineken Cup, but capital rivals London Irish and Harlequins have not been so fortunate. Sarries have swerved any previous winners of Europe’s premier competition and line-up in Pool 5 alongside two-time finalists Biarritz, Welsh region Ospreys and Treviso. [...]
Fulham have made good appointment in Jol, says World Cup winner Cohen June 7, 2011 Craven Cottage hero believes Dutchman has attributes to pick up where Hughes left off FULHAM great George Cohen has backed Martin Jol’s appointment as manager after the Cottagers moved quickly to hire the Dutchman as a replacement for Mark Hughes. Former Tottenham boss Jol has signed a two-year contract thought to be worth £1.5m a [...]