Ancelotti: Chelsea won’t sack me March 23, 2010 CHELSEA manager Carlo Ancelotti is convinced he will still be in charge next season, irrespective of whether the team’s Premier League and FA Cup challenges flourish or flounder. It cannot have escaped the self-confessed fan of statistics, however, that Roman Abramovich has dispensed with coaches with better records than his. Ancelotti takes his side to [...]
Tigers chief urges salary cap overhaul March 23, 2010 LEICESTER TIGERS director Peter Wheeler last night called for a major review of the salary cap system in order to help English rugby compete with Europe’s elite. The Guinness Premiership has suffered from an exodus of players heading for the bright lights and big wages of the French Top 14 league, including the world’s best [...]
First Lady of Football Brady eyeing last laugh at embattled West Ham March 22, 2010 ANYONE willing to succeed the much-loved Margaret Mountford as Alan Sugar’s sidekick on The Apprentice is clearly on first-name terms with daunting tasks, but Karren Brady may have surpassed herself with the role of vice-chairman at West Ham. Among the Premier League’s most illustrious clubs but staring down the barrel of financial ruin, they are [...]
FA in lurch as Watmore quits top job March 22, 2010 THE Football Association was thrown into chaos last night after chief executive Ian Watmore resigned less than nine months into the post. The 51-year-old quit just 80 days before England’s World Cup bid amid reports he had become fed up with the on-going power struggle with the Premier League. Watmore only undertook the role last [...]
Van Persie eyes comeback after stepping up training March 22, 2010 ARSENAL striker Robin van Persie has revealed he is close to making a return and expects to play a role in the Gunners’ final push for Premier League and European glory. Holland star Van Persie says he is “medically fit” following a four-month lay-off and has recovered from his ankle injury sufficiently to train with [...]
Chelsea slip to third as Mourinho malaise lingers March 21, 2010 BLACKBURN (1) vs CHELSEA (1) TWICE Jose Mourinho led Chelsea to the Premier League title; this year he appears to have knocked the trophy from his former team’s grasp. The Blues travelled to Ewood Park desperate to show they had recovered from the midweek blow of a Champions League exit to Mourinho’s Inter Milan and [...]
Pompey bidder to stay secret March 21, 2010 PORTSMOUTH have inched closer to having a fifth owner of the season – but the man fronting the bid insists his main backer is not ready to reveal his identity. Property developer Rob Lloyd has been granted access to the crisis club’s books this week in order to carry out due diligence. Lloyd says he [...]
Sky may sell Premier footy on Freeview March 21, 2010 BSKYB could soon offer pay-per-view Premier League games and movies to customers through their set-top box. Broadcast watchdog Ofcom is expected to change the rules to allow the new venture this week as part of a massive shake-up of broadcasting laws. The ruling would allow Sky access to millions of homes that do not currently [...]
Reforms required to make India world class March 21, 2010 CITYA.M. readers struggling with the end of the UK winter won’t want to hear I am in India. My business on your behalf is strengthening ties with India’s financial services community, but the hot topic with locals on the street is the Indian Premier League. The remarkable success of this cricket tournament, which only got [...]
Managers eyeing job swaps March 18, 2010 A MANAGER’S future is notoriously precarious but even by those standards this summer is shaping up to be a jamboree of job changes, with Europe’s biggest clubs training their sights on some prestigious names. Rafael Benitez and Jose Mourinho brought the scramble into sharp focus this week with renewed and feverish speculation about their current [...]