Draw sees Pardew primed for reminiscences January 26, 2015 CRYSTAL Palace boss Alan Pardew faces a potential quirk of fate in the FA Cup fifth round, should Liverpool keep their end of the bargain and navigate a potentially treacherous replay at Championship side Bolton Wanderers. Pardew’s Selhurst Park coronation earlier this month was greeted with recollections of his most famous moment in a Palace [...]
Premier League bids heat up as TV broadcast deadline nears January 26, 2015 WITH a fortnight remaining until bids are due in the multi-billion pound auction for the TV broadcast rights of three seasons of the most-watched football league in the world, BT, Sky and Discovery are preparing for battle. Before Christmas the Premier League said it had opened up bidding for seven packages of live broadcasting rights [...]
Arsenal strikeforce is my best ever, says Arsene Wenger January 25, 2015 Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his current repertoire of attacking players is his deadliest yet after the FA Cup holders swaggered into round five and assumed the status of favourites. Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil both scored their first goals since lengthy injury absences, while evergreen playmaker Tomas Rosicky crowned a man-of-the-match display with a [...]
Football Comment: Blues stars unprofessional and City disrespected cup January 25, 2015 I DON’T blame Jose Mourinho or Manuel Pellegrini for their teams’ shock FA Cup defeats to lower-league opponents on Saturday; I believe the fault is with the Chelsea and Manchester City players, who have let their managers down. Mourinho’s pre-match remarks about the disgrace of losing to inferior sides show that he would have prepared [...]
Diafra Sakho returns to save below-par West Ham January 25, 2015 WEST Ham manager Sam Allardyce hailed top scorer Diafra Sakho after the striker returned from injury to head the Hammers into the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in four years. Sakho showed few signs of the back problem that controversially precluded him from joining Senegal’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations [...]
Jose Mourinho defends Chelsea preparations and downplays knock-on effect January 25, 2015 CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho has issued a robust defence of his approach to the FA Cup after his decision to field a much-changed team against Bradford backfired spectacularly on Saturday. The Blues suffered one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s storied history when they crashed out 4-2 at home to the League One side, [...]
Discovery Communications named as bidder in Premier League auction January 22, 2015 US MEDIA group Discovery Communications has been named as another possible player, along with Sky and BT, eyeing up a bid in the ongoing multi-billion pound auction to screen Premier League football. Last month the Premier League announced it had opened up bidding for seven packages of live broadcasting rights (totalling 168 matches) as well [...]
Obscure wage bill rules blamed for January transfers shortage January 22, 2015 An unexpetedly quiet January transfer window could be the first sign of little-known Premier League cost-control regulations starting to bite, according to industry experts. Despite English top-flight clubs being richer than ever before – all 20 are among the top 40 wealthiest in the world, it emerged this week – they have failed to spend [...]
One out, one stays at Spurs as Kyle Naughton seals Swansea transfer January 22, 2015 FORMER Tottenham full-back Kyle Naughton admitted a desire to secure first-team football underpinned his departure from White Hart Lane after yesterday completing a move to fellow Premier League side Swansea City. The 26-year-old former Sheffield United defender has signed a three-and-a-half year contract at the Liberty Stadium after an undisclosed fee, believed to be in [...]
Bournemouth can pile the misery on Paul Lambert’s Villa January 22, 2015 FOR A team that only secured their Football League status back in the 2008/2009 season with a late winner on the final day of the campaign, Bournemouth’s meteoric rise to the top of the Championship has been a brilliant advertisement of the club’s management. The Cherries have played extraordinary football at times this season, smashing [...]