English clubs still want to join a European Super League, says Barcelona chief March 22, 2023 Leading English football clubs are still interested in joining a European Super League despite renouncing the project, says Barcelona president Joan Laporta. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur all backed out of the breakaway shortly after it was announced in April 2021. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus remain keen to press [...]
Five live sporting events to watch on TV this weekend March 17, 2023 The sporting world this week sees the conclusion of the Six Nations, a domestic rugby final and the return of the FA Cup and Formula 1. Here’s what you should put into your diaries ahead of this weekend. Football: Forest vs Newcastle – Friday The Premier League returns this evening with a crunch battle between [...]
Pep Guardiola makes Manchester City Champions League admission March 13, 2023 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted that their Champions League clash with RB Leipzig on Tuesday will help to shape his legacy at the club. Guardiola has delivered nine trophies in six and a half years in Manchester but success in Europe’s top competition has eluded them, despite reaching the final in 2021. The [...]
Sport on TV: What to watch, when is it on and what channel is it on? March 10, 2023 The huge golfing tournaments return to the sports calendar this weekend with the Players, while there’s the continuation of domestic and international sport. Here are five events you need to mark ahead of this weekend. Golf: Players Championship, Thursday – Sunday Reigning champion Cameron Smith is absent for this year’s Player Championship due to his [...]
Manchester City face wait until 2027 for punishment in Premier League dispute March 8, 2023 It may take as long as four years for Manchester City to receive punishment if found guilty of perpetrating the biggest financial scandal in Premier League history. City were charged last month with more than 100 alleged rule breaches dating back to 2009, including falsely reporting income and the salaries of players and managers, and [...]
Why football clubs are like tomatoes – and these are salad days for the likes of Manchester United’s owners February 28, 2023 The salad shortage and the appeal of elite football clubs such as Manchester United are both being driven by the same thing, writes Neil Hopkins. Early 2023 seems destined to be remembered for shortages. For most of us, a shortage of tomatoes and other salad produce. For cash-rich investors from the Middle East, a shortage [...]
The gap between the football brand behemoths and the rest is likely to grow February 23, 2023 The bidders for football club Manchester United are now in a virtual data room, filling their spreadsheets and compiling their questions. The job of the Glazer family’s investment banking advisors, Raine Group, is now to find ways to squeeze every possible dollar out of this football asset. One trick of the bankers’ trade is to [...]
Premier League: ‘Regulator can’t damage success of competition’ February 22, 2023 Premier League chiefs have warned that the proposed independent regulator for English football must not damage its success. The UK government will today publish its white paper on plans to install a regulator to ensure clubs are financially sound and implement more stringent owners’ and directors’ tests to deter what the government describe as “unscrupulous” [...]
Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Call of Duty: The perfect storm that drove UK broadband traffic to record levels February 22, 2023 The top-of-the-table Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City pushed UK broadband traffic to record levels last week, City A.M can reveal. The eagerly anticipated fixture, which was only available to stream, helped traffic on the country’s biggest broadband network to reach a new peak of 29.1 terabits per second (Tb/s). BT and EE [...]
De Bruyne and Laporte out for Man City ahead of Leipzig Champions League tie February 21, 2023 Manchester City will be without Belgian playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, as well as Aymeric Laporte and John Stones, for their Champions League round of 16 clash against RB Leipzig tomorrow evening. The trio have not trained with the Premier League champions this week and have not travelled to Germany for the last-16 tie. It is [...]