Opinion: Why Derby County’s financial woes show that football is broken and needs fundamental change September 20, 2021 The unfolding disaster at Derby County should never have been allowed to happen, but sadly this is just the latest example of a game that has increasingly allowed itself to lose touch with reality. We have seen the collapse of FA Cup winners Bury and the demise of Macclesfield, while others, such as Wigan and [...]
Tottenham Hotspur 0, Chelsea 3: Blues cruise in London derby underlines their Premier League title credentials September 19, 2021 Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have produced some memorable ding-dong battles in recent history. This wasn’t one of them, however, such was Chelsea’s overwhelming superiority. The visitors won 3-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but it would not have flattered them unduly had they triumphed by a greater margin. With four wins from five Premier League [...]
Jimmy Greaves: Football mourns Tottenham and Chelsea icon, England World Cup winner and ‘possibly the greatest striker this country produced’ September 19, 2021 Football has united to pay tribute to Jimmy Greaves after the World Cup-winning former England striker and London football legend died, aged 81. Greaves set several goalscoring records that remain unsurpassed, including his 357 goals in the English top division, 266 for Tottenham Hotspur, and 41 in a league season for Chelsea. The east Londoner, [...]
Survey shows that most football fans want World Cup every two years, says Fifa September 16, 2021 Fifa has stepped up its push for biennial World Cups by reporting that most football fans support the controversial proposals. The world governing body cited a survey of 23,000 people in 23 countries undertaken in July as part of a wider feasibility study. Fifa did not reveal any further figures but said it had drawn [...]
Scottish Premiership clubs Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen, Dundee and Dundee United task Deloitte with finding ways to increase league revenues September 15, 2021 Scottish Premiership football clubs have commissioned Deloitte to conduct a review of the league with a view to unlocking new revenue. Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian say they would like to see annual distributions increase from £27m to at least £50m a year by 2026. The five clubs say they will [...]
Champions League 2021-22: Which are the easiest and hardest groups? September 14, 2021 The Champions League returns in earnest this evening when the group stage gets under way, with holders Chelsea mong those in action. Despite the use of a seeding system to make the draw fairer, some groups appear to pack a lot more pedigree than others. So which is the hardest Champions League group and which [...]
Barcelona suffer another financial blow with Rakuten set to pull plug on €30m-a-year shirt sponsorship September 9, 2021 Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten is to end its €30m-a-year sponsorship of Barcelona at the end of the season, according to reports. The development is another blow for the beleaguered titans of Spanish football, who are more than £1bn in debt and lost star player Lionel Messi this summer. Rakuten has been the main shirt sponsor [...]
Paris Saint-Germain hit back at LaLiga boss Javier Tebas in increasingly bitter war of words with Spanish football league chief September 8, 2021 Paris Saint-Germain have hit back at LaLiga boss Javier Tebas after he labelled them “enemies” and “as dangerous as the European Super League”. The outspoken Spanish league chief, a long-standing critic of the spending of PSG and Manchester City, also derided the French club’s signing of Lionel Messi at the age of 34. In a [...]
Manchester City and Leeds United chiefs hit back at Fifa bid for more frequent World Cups September 8, 2021 Manchester City and Leeds United chiefs have joined the chorus of opposition towards Fifa’s plans to stage the World Cup every other year. City chief executive Ferran Soriano told The Times: “There is no space [in the calendar] for anything. No room at all. The players cannot play more games, for sure.” Leeds chairman Andrea [...]
Financial Fair Play is not about making football more competitive, says one of the executives behind the new rules September 7, 2021 Proposed changes to European football’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules will not address concerns about competitive balance, says one of the executives involved. New regulations involving a salary cap and luxury tax are set to replace the current, 10-year-old framework, which is loosely based on breaking even. Economists and legal experts have warned that the [...]