England cricket star Stuart Broad supports social media boycotts as sport takes steps to tackle online abuse April 12, 2021 England cricketer Stuart Broad has become the latest high-profile sporting figure to back a boycott of social media. Football clubs Rangers and Swansea City have temporarily stopped posting on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook in protest at a perceived lack of action against online abuse. “There are great positives to social media but if we have [...]
The uncomfortable question for Tottenham and their manager: What is Jose Mourinho for? April 12, 2021 “He’s a specialist in failure,” Jose Mourinho said of Arsene Wenger in February 2014. In seven years since, Mourinho has won fewer trophies than Wenger – if, as the Tottenham Hotspur manager likes to, you count the Community Shield – and his old adversary left the dugout three seasons ago. For a coach who has [...]
Week in Sportbiz: Sports give qualified backing to Covid certification plan; US Beijing boycott talks escalates; Masters caught up in vote row April 8, 2021 British sport’s leading governing bodies have backed plans to use Covid certification if it means they can reopen stadiums in full later this summer. But they have called for urgent clarification on how and when social distancing will be relaxed, warning that partially full venues will not stem their financial losses. The Premier League, Football [...]
Athletes are driving the acceleration of sports investment – will we see European players follow the US trend for SPACs and NFTs? April 8, 2021 Barely a day goes by without another high-profile athlete being announced as an investor in a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a tech start-up or launching their own non-fungible tokens (NFTs). While the Covid-19 pandemic has created major cash-flow problems for many elite teams and leagues, there is certainly no shortage of liquidity being channelled [...]
Is Mike Dean really the strictest referee in the Premier League? April 1, 2021 Mike Dean is many things – showman in a world of automatons, purveyor of the no-look booking, gift to gif makers – but is he, as some would have it, the strictest referee in the Premier League? A study of officiating in English football’s top flight over the past five seasons has attempted to answer [...]
What is the ‘Swiss model’ set to be used in the Champions League, and why have big clubs chosen a system common to chess but unheard of in football? March 30, 2021 The biggest changes to the Champions League for 20 years – including the introduction of the controversial “Swiss model” – are set to be rubber-stamped in April. From 2024, it will mean more teams, more matches and a new format common to chess and croquet that, until now, was unheard of in elite European football. [...]
Mason Mount continues emergence as key man in Gareth Southgate’s England Euro 2020 project March 29, 2021 When Mason Mount collected Harry Kane’s pass and clipped the ball over Albania goalkeeper Etrit Berisha on Sunday it was job done. Another three points for England to continue their flawless start to the qualifying campaign for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. And another exhibit in the burgeoning cache of evidence that Mount deserves a [...]
Thomas Tuchel has turned Chelsea into a winning machine – but the football is surprisingly dull March 22, 2021 Thomas Tuchel’s transformation of Chelsea from freewheeling self-saboteurs to uber-efficient winning machine continues apace. Days after reaching the Champions League quarter-finals by beating kindred spirits Atletico Madrid, they marched into the last four of the FA Cup with minimal flourish against Sheffield United on Sunday. So serene has their recent progress been that media-shy Roman [...]
Why the Premier League TV rights bubble really might be about to burst this time March 18, 2021 The Premier League TV rights for 2022 to 2025 will go under the hammer in the next few months. The outcome of that process could put the competition’s very existence at risk. In 2018, the UK segment of the Premier League TV rights sold for £4.5bn, down from a £5.1bn high in 2015. The rights [...]
Premier League footballers asked to encourage young Brits to get Covid-19 vaccine March 15, 2021 Premier League footballers are being asked to encourage young Britons to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Government ministers believe the move will increase take-up among under-30s, reports The Sun, after polling found one in six had reservations about the jab. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has written to Premier League clubs to seek their help in reaching [...]