Football Comment: Wins keep wolves from City and Spurs door November 2, 2014 WINS are vital to the top clubs and when you go a couple of games without a victory then it’s a crisis so Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini and Tottenham counterpart Mauricio Pochettino will have slept more easily last night having bagged the points as the pressure can mount. Who wants to get the pressure, [...]
BT’s broadband growth slows as market heats up October 30, 2014 BROADBAND customer growth helped boost BT’s profits 13 per cent in the second quarter as the former state monopoly’s free BT Sport offering continued to win customers for the FTSE 100-listed firm. Despite the growth, BT said it added just 88,000 new retail broadband customers in the quarter, 48 per cent of the net new [...]
Redknapp: Tweet ban Ferdinand is among best behaved players October 30, 2014 QPR manager Harry Redknapp has issued a robust defence of Rio Ferdinand’s character following the Hoops centre-back’s receipt of a three-match ban for comments posted on Twitter. Former England captain Ferdinand, 35, was sanctioned by the Football Association (FA) this week after being found guilty of misconduct. He has been accused of sexism for using [...]
Lethal Sakho in contention to face Stoke October 30, 2014 WEST Ham boss Sam Allardyce will give top scorer Diafra Sakho every chance to recover from the shoulder injury sustained against champions Manchester City on Saturday and to prove his fitness ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Stoke City. The Senegalese forward has been a revelation for the high-flying Hammers since his £3.5m summer move from [...]
Manchester derby promises goals October 30, 2014 BEN CLEMINSON PREVIEWS THE MANCHESTER DERBY AND ASTON VILLA AGAINST TOTTENHAM AWESOME attack undermined by dodgy defence: both managers have the same problem to solve in Sunday’s Manchester derby. Manuel Pellegrini has admitted he is “worried” by his team’s form. In little over a week, Manchester City threw away a two-goal lead to hand CSKA [...]
Back winless Villa to go to the dogs again October 30, 2014 PAUL Lambert’s assertion that Christian Benteke could need “six or seven games” to find his best form won’t go down well with Aston Villa fans. Having endured more than eight hours of football without seeing their team score, the Holt End is redefining the phrase ‘long-suffering.’ Along the way Villa have become the ninth side [...]
BT share price opens lower, despite dividend lift October 30, 2014 Investors saw BT's decision to spend £2bn on securing exclusive rights to Premier League and Champions League games for its new sports channels as a gamble, but it looks as thought it might have paid off. This morning the company raised its dividend by 15 per cent to 3.9p as it reported Premier League audiences [...]
Capital One Cup: Blues kids can learn from best, insists Mourinho after cup scare October 28, 2014 SHREWSBURY TOWN 1 CHELSEA 2 CHELSEA boss Jose Mourino believes the club’s youngsters have the perfect role models from which to learn after the Blues reached the Capital One Cup quarter-final by edging past League Two high-flyers Shrewsbury Town at the New Meadow last night. An own goal from Shrewsbury defender Jermaine Grandison inside the [...]
No place for Three Lions among world elite October 28, 2014 ENGLAND’S lowly standing in world football was underlined yesterday when Three Lions players again failed to make the 23-man longlist for the Ballon d’Or award for the year’s best player. It is the second successive year in which no Englishman has been nominated – a far cry from heady 2009, when Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, [...]
Balotelli inspires late Reds win as Fulham collapse October 28, 2014 MUCH-MALIGNED striker Mario Balotelli inspired a late salvage operation as Liverpool kept alive their Capital One Cup hopes with a last-gasp 2-1 victory against Swansea at Anfield last night. Liverpool, who are off the pace in the Premier League and struggling to reach the knockout phase on their Champions League return, found themselves a goal [...]