The making of Chris Kamara: How ex-footballer went from lads and dads’ hero to prime time national treasure November 27, 2020 As a football player and later a manager, Chris Kamara forged a successful if, by some standards, unspectacular career in an unfashionable era. England recognition never arrived, and his biggest victories came outside a top division that had not yet become the millionaires’ playground of today. More than two decades since he left the game, [...]
London in tier 2: You can attend a Premier League match again November 26, 2020 London’s Premier League clubs will be allowed to have up to 2,000 people attend matches from next month, after the capital was placed into Tier 2 Covid restrictions. The new restrictions mean that fans can enter through the turnstiles at their favourite grounds from 3 December. Arsenal’s Europa League fixture against Rapid Vienna next Thursday [...]
Safe, sterile football is undermining Arsenal’s progress under Mikel Arteta November 23, 2020 It is little more than three months since Mikel Arteta and Arsenal swept to the FA Cup on a wave of optimism, but it feels a lot longer. Victory at Wembley and a run of eight wins in 11 games appeared to confirm that, under their former captain, the Gunners were on the up again. [...]
Cover story: How the Premier League ‘wrapped’ every stadium and hid the empty seats November 20, 2020 Football fans will by now be familiar with Premier League “stadium wraps” or “seat kills”, even if they don’t recognise the terminology. The vast seat coverings, typically emblazoned with club colours and slogans, have provided a backdrop to the action since English football returned to empty grounds in June. But who makes these displays and [...]
MPs threaten football regulation as they urge bosses to end funding ‘fiasco’ November 20, 2020 MPs have called on the bosses of England’s top football leagues to end the “fiasco” over emergency funding, warning they could introduce new regulation if the game failed to reform itself. The Premier League has been locked in fraught negotiations over a bailout deal for clubs in the English Football League (EFL), which have seen [...]
Belgium v England TONIGHT: Why Jack Harrison, Patrick Bamford, Ezri Konsa and Karl Darlow deserve to be in the England squad November 15, 2020 Gareth Southgate has frequently stated his preference to pick England squads based on the form rather than reputation. So, ahead of matches against the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and Iceland, how should Southgate objectively measure a player’s form? One way is through quantitative analysis of the kind we at Carteret Analytics provide to leading football [...]
Premier League confirms plans to scrap controversial pay-per-view model November 10, 2020 The Premier League has confirmed it will scrap its controversial pay-per-view model after a fierce backlash from fans. The new model, which was introduced following the international break in October, means fans have to cough up £14.95 to watch games not selected for regular broadcast. The move sparked anger among supporter groups, who raised hundreds [...]
Five substitutions and fixture congestion: Won’t somebody think of the rich Premier League superclubs? November 9, 2020 It was a good weekend for sales of tiny violins in football’s moneyed north-west heartlands, as familiar debates about five substitutes and fixture scheduling bobbed to the surface. On Sunday, Pep Guardiola revealed he and Jurgen Klopp enjoyed a touchline grumble about the cap on mid-game changes after Manchester City and Liverpool’s draw. Twenty-four hours [...]
The Week In Sportbiz: Premier League set to axe pay-per-view (for now), Formula E gets cosier with Extreme E, and Gosper gives US his World Cup vote November 6, 2020 Less than a month after its introduction, Premier League clubs are expected to ditch their unpopular pay-per-view service. Since debuting on 17 October, half of all games have been restricted to those willing to pay £14.95 a time. Fans groups protested the extra charges by successfully urging people to donate thousands of pounds to food [...]
Premier League, EFL and FA chiefs to be grilled by MPs over Project Big Picture and bailout impasse November 5, 2020 MPs have demanded to grill Premier League, English Football League and Football Association chiefs over Project Big Picture. A Department for Culture, Media and Sport select committee wants to quiz Richard Masters, Rick Parry and Greg Clarke next week. The session is focused on a failure to agree a rescue package for clubs outside the [...]