Fifa faces winter of discontent over World Cup 2022 as chance of summer tournament in Qatar recedes This time last year the Premier League chairman travelled to the International Centre for Sports Security conference in Doha. All five feet seven inches the statesman, he used his keynote address to warn his Qatari hosts they should not […]
Archive | 2013
Heat turning up on La Roja
Heat turning up on La Roja by Graham Hunter Make no mistake about it, Spain’s six-year status as the uncontested world No. 1 international side is about to be attacked with all weapons and — hopefully for the contenders — battered into submission over the next 15 months, starting this week. I say six years because […]
EU prepare to stop public funding of Spanish debt-ridden clubs.
It is the powerhouse of global football, home to its greatest players and a World Cup-winning national team, but Spain’s soccer bubble looks set to explode as European authorities prepare to halt public funding of debt-ridden clubs. In a move that threatens to provoke the partial collapse of a football system built on unsustainable piles of […]
Leeds United: Owners GFH Capital ready to sell stake in club
Leeds United owners Bahrain-based GFH Capital are ready to sell an unspecified share in the club. According to their parent company’s recent financial statement, GFH is negotiating to sell the club for £7m more than the £22m they paid. But a statement on the club website said: “GFH Capital is looking for investment in part of its […]
Why do you fire the manager?
Sacking a manager is, on average, more harmful to a team’s performance in the short term than doing nothing. This season 31 managers have been sacked, or agreed ‘by mutual consent’ – that bizarre footballing spontaneous combustion – to disappear in a puff of smoke with a huge payoff. The latest, Reading’s Brian McDermott, left […]
The tweaks that led to Barca’s comeback
A few days before Barca’s second-leg vs Milan, I posted an article going through some of the problems Barca were facing – tactically and otherwise – during a difficult run in their season. Changes were required. Spanish football expert Andy West takes a look at some of reasons Barca were able to mount their historic comeback. […]
Fantasy Football – Gameweek 30
This week we bring you two features for Fantasy Football Gameweek 30. Both Fantasy Yirma and Ultra Fantasy Football give their picks below: Fantasy Yirma: Gameweek 30 preview: The case for the defence – Volume III For the third time this season we’re ignoring those Fantasy Premier League attention-seekers and instead looking at those who often miss […]
Spurs qualification marred by Inter racism
Spurs qualification marred by Inter racism … The result was marred, however, by monkey chants that appeared to be directed at several Tottenham players, including Adebayor, while an Inter fan was seen waving an inflatable banana. “It’s a very sensitive situation,” Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas said of the chanting. “UEFA set out to act on […]
England risk falling to third in Uefa coefficient rankings
England began the current campaign on top of the Uefa coefficient rankings with 84.41 points, narrowly ahead of Spain who had 84.186 and Germany with 75.186. The latest official standings after last week’s European matches had Spain ranked first with 85.882 points, England second with 79.820 and Germany third with 76.757. An association’s ranking is based on […]
Xavi – The Coach?
Xavi Hernandez sat in front of the television two Saturdays ago — and what he saw shocked him. He was watching the Clasico — an XXX horror experience for Barcelona fans, a triple-A rating for Madridistas. … If you are in the thick of the action, even if you are a football visionary like Xavi, if […]
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