Mikel Arteta has restored Arsenal’s work ethic – now they can relaunch their season January 7, 2020 Looking at Mesut Ozil’s face as he departed the field towards the end of Arsenal’s 1-0 FA Cup win over Leeds, you could tell that he had put in a hard shift. At full-time of the first few games of Mikel Arteta’s tenure as manager, that effort has been visible in Ozil’s team-mates, too – [...]
Arsenal 1-0 Leeds: Confidence in Mikel Arteta grows as half-time anger sparks comeback in the FA Cup January 6, 2020 His tenure as Arsenal manager may be only 18 days old so far, but Mikel Arteta has already been witness to the many sides of his new side. Having crumbled to succumb to a 2-1 defeat by Chelsea and shone in a 2-0 win over Manchester United, the Gunners tonight combined their previous performances to [...]
Sports technology in 2020: the key trends to watch this year January 6, 2020 Drama is the currency of sport but if current trends continue in 2020, below-the-radar work will be the stuff really making the hard yards. Last year, forward-thinking organisations have been focused on leveraging newer media platforms better and tailoring engagement better, often with a social slant. Two stand-out performers were AS Roma, which used the [...]
Dominic Sibley assumes control to put England in a rare position of strength against South Africa January 5, 2020 England’s second Test match against South Africa started in a negative fashion, in keeping with a tour plagued by illness and kicked off with a meek defeat at Centurion. Rory Burns’s damaged ankle ligaments, which will see him miss the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka and were sustained during a warm-up game of football, followed [...]
2020 Vision: What to expect from sport this year, by industry insiders January 5, 2020 What will sport look like in 2020? We asked a host of industry experts for their predictions – and this is what they said. Neil Hopkins, global head of strategy at M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment Euros offer ticket to ride Football fans used to tournaments taking place in one or, at most, two host [...]
Cyrano de Bergerac review: An astringent and moving adaptation December 19, 2019 Cyrano de Bergerac opens to a stark stage, with plain walls and harsh neon lighting. We are, it would seem, beyond any normal sense of time, but, as the play begins, we learn that this is actually 1640s Paris. James McAvoy takes to the stage as the titular Cyrano, man of many talents: wordsmith, master [...]
Teenage Dick at the Donmar review: High school reimagining is a hit December 19, 2019 Teenage Dick transposes Shakespeare’s murderous monarch Richard III from Plantagenet England to the halls of a modern American high school; the perfect setting for a twisted tale of ambition and resentment. Roseland High School junior class secretary Richard’s desire for respect and attention is frustrated by his physical disability in a community that worships sporting [...]
Can The Rise of Skywalker reawaken Disney’s Force? December 19, 2019 These are dark times for the Disney Empire. The unified celebration that greeted its first two Star Wars entries (The Force Awakens and Rogue One) descended into rebellion with the release of The Last Jedi, one of the most divisive films in recent memory. Then came Solo, the first Star Wars movie to lose money. [...]
The Big Sport Quiz of 2019: How much do you remember from a vintage year of sport? December 19, 2019 World Cups of cricket, rugby union, netball and women’s football. The end of Tiger Woods’s long wait for another Major. An epic men’s Wimbledon final. More success for Lewis Hamilton. Liverpool’s re-emergence as a football superpower. The return of Andy Murray. This has been a vintage sporting year all right. But how closely were you [...]
Business can help charities in more ways than just raising funds December 19, 2019 After a Christmas election where all the main parties claimed that they would boost social spending, the season of giving this year has become unusually politically charged. Yet with an estimated 14m people living in poverty in Britain, regardless of which party is currently in power, there will remain a significant role for private philanthropy [...]