West Ham v Man City: Irons showing steel under Moyes ahead of EFL Cup tie October 27, 2021 West Ham United could be forgiven for wanting to forget the last time they met Manchester City in the EFL Cup. In a two-legged semi-final played in January 2014, City humiliated Sam Allardyce’s Hammers by an aggregate score of 9-0. The first leg at the Etihad Stadium, which ended 6-0, was notable for defender Roger [...]
Man Utd owning Glazers outbid in Indian Premier League franchise auction October 25, 2021 Manchester United owners the Glazer family suffered another defeat today when they lost out in an auction for one of two new franchises in cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Avram Glazer’s Lancer Capital made a bid for one of the new teams, which will begin competing next year when the high-profile Twenty20 competition expands to [...]
Man Utd 0, Liverpool 5: Ruthless Reds expose Solskjaer’s limitations October 24, 2021 Before his desperately out-of-form Manchester United side took on Liverpool today, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer explained the wisdom of keeping faith with the same starting XI that fell two goals behind to Atalanta in midweek. They had “played well”, Solskjaer insisted, adding that he wanted them to “start on the front foot” and “dominate the game” [...]
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 [...]
Uefa hands clubs power over Champions League rights in joint venture with ECA October 13, 2021 Uefa will take a step into the unknown on Thursday when it formally launches its search for an agency to help it make more money from the men’s Champions League. European football’s governing body has worked hand in glove with its favoured partner, Team Marketing, since the inception of its flagship competition almost 30 years [...]
Bournemouth midfielder David Brooks diagnosed with cancer October 13, 2021 Wales and Bournemouth midfielder David Brooks has been diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin lymphoma and will begin treatment next week. The 24-year-old Championship player said: “Although this has come as a shock to myself and my family, the prognosis is a positive one and I am confident that I will make a full recovery and [...]
Foden’s Andorra masterclass promises solution to England playmaker problem October 10, 2021 Fixtures like Andorra away represent something of a hiding to nothing for England, which also happens to be what they dished out in the Pyrenees on Saturday night. But with World Cup qualification not in any danger, this 5-0 win was more encouraging for the hints of evolution in Gareth Southgate’s plans that it revealed [...]
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. [...]