Sports Category
Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.
Arsenal balls: referee Antony Taylor ‘started refereeing in Aston Villa League’
THAT was quick, internet. No sooner has referee Anthony Taylor and his whistle helped Aston Villa record an unlikely win over Arsenal on the Premier League’s opening day than a look a his Wikipedia page turns up some interesting ‘facts’:
Football’s back…
Transfer balls: Liverpool’s Luis Suarez desperate to be part of the Arsenal apology
IS Luis Suarez heading to an average Arsenal from an average Liverpool?
Arsène Wenger says:
“The issue is that the club sometimes does not want to sell at any price. And in the example of Suárez and you are Liverpool, you have to calculate if you want to get into the Champions League, who are our rivals and do we want to sell to them? Unless they need the money or they have a clause or things like that, things [do not always work] just because you put the money up.”
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Posted: 17th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Moyes complains about imagined anti-Manchester United conspiracy
WHEN David Moyes was announced as the new Manchester United manager, many wondered if he’d be the perfect fit for the club. Thanks to his complaints about an imagined conspiracy against the Red Devils, it is clear that he’s a dream appointment.
Moyes has hit out at United’s opening fixtures, hinting that this is all a deliberate ploy by the Premier League to give them a tough opening.
In amongst their first five games, the champions have to play Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool. Of course, they’d have to play them at some point anyway and they should quit whining, but there you go.
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Posted: 17th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (2)
Russian athlete defends anti-gay laws
RUSSIA’S anti-gay laws are, clearly, bloody preposterous. Quite why Putin & Co would be so worried about who-fancies-who is beyond any logic or reason. Making the whole thing weirder and worse is that small matter of the Sochi Winter Olympics, a tournament steeped in corporate bon homie and a woolly notion of oneness and togetherness.
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Posted: 17th, August 2013 | In: Politicians, Sports | Comments (3)
QPR boss Harry Redknapp sets about talking up the opposition
TALKING Balls with QPR boss Harry Redknapp.
Says Harry of his side’s big match win the Championship against mighty Huddersfield Town:
“Huddersfield are a big club. I remember them being in the top division and doing well.”
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Lionel Messi signs for English club
PUT a dream football team together and, chances are, a few of the same names will crop up. Pele, Maradona and Messi will inevitably appear as people argue about formations with pepper pots, squabbling about who should sit behind the forwards in a free role and whether or not to play a midfield sweeper.
This isn’t the stuff of fantasy though.
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Transfer Balls: Luis Suarez will be off to Arsenal in the January sales
TRANSFER Balls: Is Liverpool’s Luis Suarez going to Arsenal?
The Reds’ owner John W. Henry goes on the record:
“We are not going to sell Luis… “I’m unequivocal that we won’t sell to Arsenal, whatever the bid is.”
The man’s word is his bond. No price is right for loveable Luis.
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Posted: 14th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (6)
Ten landmark innovations that shaped football
AS Hawk-Eye is launched at the Emirates, bringing goal-line technology to the Barclays Premier League at last, we look back on ten landmark innovations that have shaped the game we know and love.
Goal posts
Long before jumpers, there were goal posts. Their raison d’être was to indicate where the goal was, but they served another purpose too: a notch was ‘scored’ on them after each goal, hence the phrase ‘score a goal’.
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Liverpool: Suarez’s hand balls turned Manchester United’s Evra into a history book hero
TRANSFER Balls: Eurosport has a question about Liverpool’s loverly Luis Suarez:
Do Arsenal really want a player with a rap sheet as long as Luis Suarez’s? Let’s take a look.
That look features 6 of Suarez’s most heinous acts.
6. Uses his hand to stop a certain goal against Uruguay in the World Cup
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Posted: 8th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer Balls: Arsenal offer £51m for Liverpool’s Luis Suarez and Brendan Rodgers just won’t shut up
TRANSFER Balls: News of Liverpool’s soon-to-be-former striker in the news media:
The front and back pages:
The i says Liverpool have told Suarez to train with the stiffs. How’s that for building team unity? On a positive note, the reserves will get better results.
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Posted: 8th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (46)
Transfer Balls: Luis Suarez wants Arsenal and Spurs teach Liverpool how to strike a deal
TRANSFER Balls: Liverpool and that Luis Suarez saga continues:
Arsenal manger Arsene Wenger has been talking to Al Jazeera Sport:
“At the moment the situation is on standby. I really don’t know what will be decided by Liverpool. I don’t know what has been said, what has been promised and what has been written. That is the story between Suarez and Liverpool. Only Suarez and Liverpool can decide that. It’s nothing to do us. We have been told the player wants to leave Liverpool and that’s why we’ve acted. We try and get what we want, if that doesn’t work we will look somewhere else.”
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Posted: 7th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Monty Panesar: Bothers women and urinates on bouncers
CRICKETERS are nice aren’t they? Not like those awful footballers with their grotesque wealth, dreadful taste in cars and super-injunctions. They play sports in their sweaters and take breaks for cups of tea and polite applause.
Right? Wrong.
Cricketers are the masters of deception, sledging opponents at the crease, turning up rat-arsed at Downing Street and, in the case of Monty Panesar, urinating on bouncers at a nightclub.
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Posted: 7th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Real Madrid and Barcelona: Buying Spurs Gareth Bale and other stars is part of a tax scam?
THIS tax story is really getting out of hand: they’re insisting that Real Madrid and Barca are tax scams now:
Those four are Real Madrid and Barcelona, who also take around 50 per cent of La Liga’s total television revenue for themselves, as well as Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna. They have been permitted to retain their status as sports clubs, owned by their members, and to add insult to injury for the rest, the Government refused to disclose how much debt the four owed to the Spanish purse.
……
As well as being treated as not-for-profit organisations, the four exempted clubs benefit under corporation and property tax laws.
Jeebus. They’re treated as not for profit organisations because they are not for profit organisations. This is pretty simple to understand really.
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Spurs Balls: Arsenal and Liverpool in race for Gareth Bale
TRANSFER Balls: As Liverpool’s Luis Suarez agitates for a move to Arsenal and Spurs star Gareth Bale seeks the glamour of Real Madrid, we look at their replacements. When one player goes, the media look around for an identikit:
THE NEW BALES:
Daily Express: “Spurs want ‘new Gareth Bale’ Alvaro Morata included in Real deal for Welshman”
The Fighting Cock: “Andros Townsend: The Next Gareth Bale?”
The Guardian: “50-year-old Welsh wizard: the new Gareth Bale?”
Emirates 24/7: “Arsenal are looking to buy 20-year-old left-sider Acharaf Laazar, dubbed the ‘new Gareth Bale’.”
Liverpool FC.com: “Alex Pritchard…’The next Gareth Bale'”
CaughtOffside: “Luke Shaw has been dubbed the ‘New Gareth Bale’”
IBT: “According the latest reports, North London-based Premiership side Arsenal are planning to make an offer for Italian Serie B side Varese’s young defender Acharaf Laazar who has been dubbed the new Gareth Bale”
AND:
Sabotage Times: “‘Gareth Bale: ‘I Want To Be The New David Beckham'”
RantSpots: “Tottenham Hotspur Star Gareth Bale May Be the New Cristiano Ronaldo”
More Bales Balls every day…
Transfer Balls: Luis Suarez says Liverpool told him he could leave for Arsenal this summer
AND lo, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez did speak to the the Telegraph:
“Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season I’d be allowed to go. I gave absolutely everything last season but it was not enough to give us a top-four finish – now all I want is for Liverpool to honour our agreement.”
Adding:
“It is not as if I am asking to move to a local rival. And I would not consider moving to a club outside the Champions League. I have made my desire to move known in private various times and now it feels like the time for me to make it public. I have to put my career first. People say Liverpool deserve more from me but I have scored 50 goals in less than 100 games and now they could double the money they paid for me.
“I spoke with Brendan Rodgers several times and he told me: ‘Stay another season, and you have my word if we don’t make it then I will personally make sure that you can leave.
“I am 26, I need to be playing in the Champions League. I feel I have done enough to be playing in the Champions League at this stage of my career. Now there is an option for me to do that and I want very much to take it.”
He wants to go to Arsenal, says the Irish Mirror:
The Uruguay striker insists that he is prepared to submit a written transfer request by the end of the week if the club continue to block his move to Arsenal.
The Times:
Luis Suárez has withdrawn from Liverpool’s pre-season trip to Norway after pulling out of training today with a foot injury.
Rooney is injured at Manchester United. Bale is injured at Spurs. Why are all these injured players in such demand?
Posted: 6th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (5)
QPR: Joey Barton is the epitome of consistency as he entertains buffoons in the Championship
WHAT’S Joey Barton been up to of late? The likeable – yep, we like him – QPR player is happy to tell us via his Twitter account:
May 14 2013:
August 3, 2013
Barton tweets about QPR’S victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship:
Buffoons, to your tweets…
Posted: 6th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Roberto Soldado Balls: Spurs pay £26m for an £8m player Liverpool had already bought
ROBERTO Soldado has joined Spurs for £26m. Was the transfer on the cards? Let’s see what the experts in the media reported:
Evening Standard: “Soldado too much for Tottenham at £25m as Liverpool close in on striker”
The price for Soldado, who scored 24 goals last season, will go up to £31m after August 3 but Liverpool hope to agree a deal before then.
Telegraph: “Liverpool will look to sign Valencia striker Roberto Soldado should Luis Suarez force a move to Premier League rivals Arsenal.”
EuroSport said they would not wait:
Liverpool are set to gazump Tottenham over Roberto Soldado
Back in February, the Standard reported:
Tottenham…will offer £8million to try and tempt Valencia into flogging Soldado
And then the Mail stated:
Spurs ready to make club record £18m bid for Valencia striker Soldado
But they need not bother because NewWatch24.com had a fact:
LIVERPOOL AGREE SOLDADO DEAL WITH VALENCIA, AS SUAREZ’S MOVE TO ARSENAL DRAWS CLOSER
In 2011, The Metro told readers:
The only stumbling block to a potential deal would be the fee, with Valencia looking for around £20million for Soldado, a figure that would blow the majority of Liverpool’s January budget.
Says Soldado of his reasons for leaving Valencia:
“The president lied to my face. That left me disillusioned. I think things could have been handled better, but they have been liberal with the truth on numerous occasions. They are doing the club absolutely no good. I don’t believe in their way of doing things, but I hope I’m wrong. Here’s hoping that he ushers in a successful period and is the president who wins the most trophies at the club” he added.
Such are the facts…
Posted: 6th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (2)
Transfer Balls – Luis Suarez: Liverpool expects, Arsenal wait and Alan Shearer fails
THE Daily Suarez – a look at media reporting on the Liverpool striker:
First up, Alan Shearer in the Sun, now behind a paywall. He’s talking about Gareth Bale, the player Brendan Rodgers say is worth the same money as Suarez is. So. Are they worth £100m?
“If someone is willing to pay that much then yes, he is. People don’t pay over the odds regardless of how much money there is in the game.”
No. Of course they don’t.
James Olley has news in his Evening Standard report:
Luis Suarez has not given up hope on moving to Real Madrid, raising the prospect of Arsenal missing out on their prime transfer target.
It is understood that the Liverpool striker is prepared to seek legal clarification from the Premier League in a bid to revive interest from the Spanish giants.
Contrary to reports elsewhere, neither Suarez or his club have contacted the Premier League despite differing interpretations of a clause in his current deal which Arsenal feel they have triggered with their £40,000,001 bid made earlier this month.
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Posted: 6th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer Balls – Wayne Rooney: Manchester United ease him in and out to Cheslea
TRANSFER Balls: Is Wayne Rooney leaving Manchester United for Chelsea?
It’s not just some spurious, summer lull tittle-tattle; Manchester United have confirmed that the club have both received and rejected another bid from Chelsea for Wayne Rooney, rumoured to be valued somewhere around £25million (plus add-ons).
A spokesman for United told Press Association Sport:
“A bid was received yesterday and immediately rejected. Our position remains that he is not for sale.”
So, if Rooney truly does want to try his hand elsewhere next season it looks as though he’s going to have to slap his nadgers on the table and hand in yet another transfer request – which would certainly make things interesting.
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Posted: 6th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer Balls: Gareth Bale is not dead to Spurs and AVB is in denial
THE Daily Bale: what news of the Spurs star man in today’s papers?
The Daily Star leads with an “exclusive”:
“BALE IN DEATH THREAT CHILLER”
Sounds serious:
The chilling message came in a telephone call to the Spurs training ground in Enfield, Middlesex, on Sunday around tea-time.
Did Bale pick up the phone?
Sources close to Bale have confirmed the threat was brief, and has been taken seriously.
At least it has been by the Daily Star.
The Wales star was not at the training ground when the call was made but it is understood security has been stepped up in the light of it.
So. An idiot made a crank call to the Spurs switchboard.
And Bale did turn up later:
Despite claims that Bale – who is becoming increasingly angry at his £105m move to the Bernabeu being blocked by chairman Daniel Levy – was ready to shun training this week, he did turn up yesterday.
On that £105m move, the Indy reports:
Transfer news: Tottenham insist Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata must be included in £87m deal for Gareth Bale
Bale’s a lot cheaper in the Indy.
And in any case, Bale’s not for sale. As the Express reports:
Andre Villas-Boas insists the only talks between Tottenham and Real Madrid regarding Gareth Bale have been to tell the Spanish club he is not for sale.
And the Guardian:
“I think the rumours that anything is imminent are not true,” the Spurs manager said. “We’ve allowed ourselves conversations with Real Madrid, confirmed by their coach, I think, wrongly, but the only thing we’ve communicated is that the player is our player and not for sale.”
Back to the Indy, then:
Negotiations between Tottenham and Real Madrid over the sale of Gareth Bale have been stepped up in the past 24 hours, but with Spurs insisting on the inclusion of Spain’s Under-21 international Alvaro Morata in the proposed £87m transfer.
Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, has made it clear in opening discussions with the Madrid board that he wants the highly rated striker included in the deal.
Looks like AVB is wrong. Unless you read the Huff Post:
Now Spurs will hold no further talks with Madrid until they increase their £80m/£83.6m/depending-on-which-paper-you-read’s-figure forGareth Bale, say the Telegraph.
H;s getting cheaper. And, once again, back in the Indy:
A meeting between Levy and Real Madrid’s president, Florentino Perez, is scheduled for this week in Florida.
In other news, Bale is no longer on Spurs’ Twitter page:
The image of Bale celebrating was being used as the background on the @SpursOfficial site.
Kyle Walker, Jan Vetonghen and now-departed Clint Dempsey also featured – but now Bale and Dempsey have been replaced by Moussa Dembele and Aaron Lennon.
All of whom, like Bale, are not for sale…
Posted: 6th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (4)
Transfer Balls: Cristiano Ronaldo signs Real Madrid deal worth £320,000 a week and leaves for Manchester United
TRANSFER Balls: Is Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Real Madrid for Manchester United? Let’s look at news from the past 24 hours:
Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo has agreed a new five-year contract at Real Madrid. The 27-year-old has extended his stay at the Bernabeu until 2018, increasing his annual salary to 17m euros (£14.8m) after tax.
Ronaldo said: “I’m not going to confirm anything – I’m just going to do my job like I always do. My future – I don’t know. At this moment I’m a player of Madrid, the future, I really don’t know. Let’s see what’s going to happen – but for the moment, I’m good where I am.”
Daily Mail:
Show me the money! Ronaldo will stay at Real Madrid when Bale arrives… but only if he’s paid £320,000 a week
Daily Mirror:
Cristiano Ronaldo has promised Real Madrid president Florentino Perez that he will stay at the Bernabeu.
Daily Express:
Cristiano Ronaldo hints at Manchester United return
Such are the facts…
Transfer Balls – Liverpool: Suarez snubs Gerrard’s testimonial dinner and Arsenal lack class
TRANSFER Balls: News on Liverpool’s Luis Suarez in today’s media.
The Daily Star leads with news that Brendan Rodgers says Arsenal lack “class“. In the insane world of football, Rodgers views an offer of £40m plus £1 offer for a player who wants to leave as a sign of low upbringing. Making a bid for a footballer now requires etiquette. Maybe Wenger should deliver any further handwritten missives on a plump purple cushion?
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Transfer Balls: Sunday Times says Liverpool in breach of contract over Luis Suarez
TRANSFER Balls: Writing in the Sunday Times, Duncan Castles has an interesting line about Luis Suarez’ Liverpool contract.
TOTTENHAM are considering a bid for unsettled Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and Colombia international Jackson Martinez as they plan to reinvest the income from Gareth Bale’s pending transfer to Real Madrid. Andre Villas-Boas is also seeking reinforcememts in defence and on the wing to mitigate the world-record sale.
A sucessful Spurs bid for Suarez seems fanciful. If Arsenal can offer Suarez the Champions’ League football he apparently craves, Spurs can’t. But this is the line that stands out:
With Liverpool refusing to honour a £40m clause in Suarez’s contract by permitting him to talk to Arsenal, the Uruguayan is likely to prove beyond Tottenham’s reach.
So. Liverpool are in a breach of contract?
But Caught Offside.com says:
“…in actual fact the two clubs are said to have already come to an agreement over the sale of Suarez, with the player set to join Arsenal for £45m on Aug 28 on the condition that the club have successfully navigated their way past their upcoming two-legged Champions League playoff that will take place across Aug 20/21 and Aug 27/28.
More facts to follow…
Posted: 4th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (9)
Luis Suarez snubs loyal Liverpool fans as Arsenal’s Wenger shows Rodger’s how to negotiate
TRANSFER Balls: A look at what the experts in the media are saying about Liverpool’s Luis Suarez:
First up, let’s hear from Liverpool manger Brendan Rodgers, who continues to seek inspiration from reading Neville Chamberlain’s Guide to Negotiating:
“Every player has a valuation but you have to look at the market. With Gareth Bale they are talking about £100m and Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez were arguably the two best players in the Premier League last season. You can’t say that Gareth Bale is valued at over 100 per cent more. We are a club with strong beliefs in what we are doing and nobody will be moving out of here.”
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Posted: 4th, August 2013 | In: Sports | Comments (91)
