Premier League clubs block Saudi sponsorship deals with Newcastle United October 19, 2021 Premier League clubs have moved to stop Saudi Arabia flooding Newcastle United with big-money sponsorship deals that would allow them to spend freely on transfers. Eighteen of the 20 top-flight teams approved a block on related-party transactions, in which a company that shares the same owner as a club pays it money via a commercial [...]
Newcastle 2, Tottenham 3: New owners witness false start to Saudi era October 17, 2021 Out with the old, in with the new. That was meant to be the theme as Newcastle United played their first game under Saudi ownership today. In the St James’ Park directors’ box, the club’s new rulers – chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Amanda Staveley, the public face of the £300m takeover – took their seats [...]
Axe hovers over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as familiar questions haunt Man Utd boss October 17, 2021 It was a 3-1 loss to Liverpool that finally brought the chop for Jose Mourinho and opened the door for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to return to Manchester United. Mourinho went into that December 2018 game on a run of two wins in seven matches and amid a growing sense that, 31 months on from being [...]
Football training can be safer with VR technology October 15, 2021 A whipped cross and a powerful header towards goal are staples of football and the essence of set-piece tactics used by every football team. But building Cristiano Ronaldo-like leg power to spring higher than your opponent and honing the skill to guide the ball into the net requires endless training drills. The other, more serious [...]
Indian Premier League gives England cause for concern ahead of T20 World Cup October 13, 2021 The Indian Premier League is one of the best proving grounds in Twenty20 cricket; perhaps the perfect competition for some of England’s stars to find form before the T20 World Cup begins on Sunday. Since the IPL’s return, in the latter weeks of September, seven English players have featured in the competition’s group stage. But [...]
Delphlyx: The start-up offering football bosses data analytics for dummies October 8, 2021 From Harvard graduates building bespoke programmes for Liverpool to the video analysis tools now available even to Sunday league coaches, 21st century football is awash with data. But what might have been overlooked is that some are drowning in it; while today’s club analysts and scouts may be data-literate, their older superiors frequently are not. [...]
Confirmed: Saudi Arabia-led £300m takeover of Newcastle United completed October 7, 2021 Newcastle United have confirmed that a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has completed its takeover of the football club. The deal, which sees retail mogul Mike Ashley exit the club after 14 years as owner, is reported to be worth around £300m. The new owners said: “An investment group led by the [...]
Saudi Arabia’s takeover of Newcastle United is about far more than football October 7, 2021 After years of speculation, prevarication and consternation, Saudi Arabia has at last sealed the purchase of a Premier League football club, something it has long coveted. With a deal for Newcastle United finally set to be announced, one of the most tumultuous episodes in English football history is apparently drawing to a close. Rumours have [...]
Premier League footballer arrested after alleged attack on woman in Brighton October 7, 2021 Police in Sussex said late last night that a Brighton and Hove Albion footballer has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault after a woman was allegedly attacked in a Sussex town. Sussex Police said a man in his 40s and a man in his 20s were arrested following the alleged incident at a Brighton [...]
Crystal Palace owner Josh Harris tips Premier League rights to rise in value October 6, 2021 Crystal Palace co-owner Josh Harris has predicted that Premier League media rights will continue to rise in value, defying forecasts that football’s bubble may be about to burst. The league’s domestic broadcast revenues appear to have plateaued for now and the global sports rights market has cooled, in part as a result of the pandemic. [...]