Manchester United chief throws down gauntlet to Premier League over Project Big Picture October 21, 2020 Manchester United chief Ed Woodward has publicly warned the Premier League that the club have not given up on plans to reshape English football. Project Big Picture, a radical overhaul of the domestic game drawn up and championed by United and Liverpool, was defeated in a vote of top-flight clubs last week. Woodward called on [...]
Manchester United lose £23m as coronavirus cuts revenue by £120m October 21, 2020 Manchester United suffered a £23m loss as revenue plunged by almost 20 per cent for the year ending 30 June. Annual income fell to £509m, from £627m the previous year, as the coronavirus outbreak saw football suspended. All three of Manchester United’s main revenue streams were hit during the fourth quarter, when most games were [...]
DEBATE: Is there any point trying to find love in lockdown? October 21, 2020 Is there any point trying to find love in lockdown? JOIN THE DEBATE. Emma Sayle, founder and chief executive of social network Killing Kittens, says YES. When lockdown started, traffic to the Killing Kittens website went up 300 per cent. We had 150 per cent more photo uploads and 425 per cent more messages — [...]
Wasps cleared to play in Premiership final despite coronavirus outbreak October 21, 2020 Rugby chiefs have cleared Wasps to take their place in Saturday’s Premiership final despite an outbreak of Covid-19 at the club. Fears grew that Wasps would have to forfeit their spot in the Twickenham showdown against Exeter Chiefs after 11 players and staff tested positive in the last week. But the six-time English champions have [...]
Champions League 2020-21: How prize money is calculated and why the winners don’t always get paid the most October 20, 2020 Winning the Champions League is not just about the glory; it also comes with a major prize money windfall of more than €100m for the eventual winner. Last season Bayern Munich earned an estimated €130m for lifting the trophy, while Liverpool pocketed €111m in 2018-19. But precisely how much a run in European football’s top [...]
Champions League behind the numbers: Richest clubs, most valuable squads and players 2020-21 October 20, 2020 The Champions League begins again in earnest this week when the cream of European football kick off the group stage. It comes less than two months after Bayern Munich lifted the trophy in a coronavirus-delayed conclusion to last season. Despite that success, the German club do not have the most valuable squad in this year’s [...]
Here’s why sport is still a good bet in a recession October 19, 2020 There has been a re-awakening. Have you felt it? If you haven’t quite felt it, you’ll have certainly seen the force with which live sport returned to our screens as professional leagues worked hard to piece together a schedule to meet fans’ desire for relative normality. And boy was the audience growing impatient for it. [...]
Wasps’ Premiership final hopes recede after four more coronavirus cases October 19, 2020 Fears that Wasps could be forced to forfeit their place in this week’s Premiership Rugby Final have grown after more of their players tested positive for Covid-19. Three more unnamed players and one staff member returned positive tests over the weekend, taking the total number to do so in the last week to 11. Wasps [...]
Cast adrift on a sea of hubris, refereeing has lost sight of the spirit of football October 19, 2020 Only three possible explanations exist for both referee Michael Oliver and video assistant referee David Coote failing to designate Jordan Pickford’s crumpling of Virgil van Dijk a red card offence. One: neither thought it worth addressing. Two: neither felt it was in their power to act since Van Dijk had been guilty of the most [...]
McLaren boss says operating costs now ‘break even’ following fundraising and redundancies, and downplays second wave fears October 19, 2020 McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt has described his “horrible” 2020 in an exclusive interview with City A.M., but says he is “cautiously optimistic” despite the second wave of coronavirus. Flewitt was forced to make 1,200 redundancies – almost a quarter of the company’s 4,000-strong workforce – and carry out a sale and lease-back of the McLaren [...]