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.
Battering Demin: AFC Bournemouth bashing in the Daily Mail
Now for a spot of AFC Bournemouth bashing in the Daily Mail. The Premier League’s newest club are the subject of a story that – get this – winning the Championship cost money. Matt Lawton says Bournemouth’s Lazarus-like rise from near death to the uppermost tier of English football is a “familiar football story of cash-driven success”.
Indeed, not a season goes by without the usual tale of how a club living off the smell of old 50 pence pieces and spam made it to the big time.
The Mail looks at the club’s owner, Maxim Denim, who had the temerity to loan £25m of his own money on the club. That’s less than it cost Spurs to buy Roberto Soldado.
On the same page, the Mail has it both ways in story about Eddie How, – “the brightest young manger in England” – and the club’s sunshine-lit “staggeringly swift” rise to the top flight.
Next week in the Mail: Bournemouth players refuse to play for free.
Transfer Balls: Radamel Falcao competes with De Gea to be Manchester United’s ‘keeper
Transfer balls: The Metro has news on Manchester United and Radamel Falcao:
Manchester United preparing £43.2million permanent transfer for Monaco’s Radamel Falcao
Tom Olver reports:
Louis van Gaal, however, may be willing to spend £43.2million to buy him outright in the summer, after Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev revealed United have not ruled out the transfer.
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Posted: 6th, May 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Eden Hazard, Morgan Schneiderlin and the magic of the Spurs transfer list
Transfer Balls: The Mirror says that Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson “tops Spurs wishlist”. The Cherries’ striker is, apparently, heading to Spurs for £12m. Well, maybe.
The tabloids love to talk of transfer lists. In recent times, the tabloids have told us other player who sat atop The Tottenham list:
The Metro in 2010: “Croatian Lionel Messi’ Mateo Kovacic on Spurs’ transfer wish-list”. (He was Mateo Kovacic – he still is).
Daily Mirror: “Yevhen Konoplyanka, who is one of the hottest properties in Ukraine football” was at the top of the list.
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Transfer Balls: Chelsea are in for Raheem Sterling, Robert Green, Koke and seven more
Transfer Balls: a look at players linked to Chelsea FC in today’s tabloids.
The Daily Mirror says Jose Mourinho is considering buying Liverpool’s Rickie Lambert. The paper adds that Spurs’ Emmanual Adebayor is also at the “top” of Jose’s list.
Facts to support the stories: zero. But the Mirror says Lambert was watched as Liverpool took on QPR. So, presumably, the Chelsea scout was also watching every other player on show, particularly QPR’s Charlie Austin or the much-coveted Raheem Sterling?
The Daily Mail says Mourinho wants Roman Abramovich to “bankroll another summer trasnfger spree”. The Mail says Chelsea are looking to sign QPR’s Robert Green (see above). Also, Oscar is looking to leave the club so Chelsea will consider moving for Raheem Sterling. Other players namechecked in the Mail’s story are:
Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane
Atletico Marid’s Antoine Griezmann
Shakhtar Donetsk’s Douglas Costa
The Daily Express says Chelsea are in talks to sigs Atletico Madris’s Spain midfielder Koke for £30m. The Blues also want Inter Milan’s Mauro Icardi and West Ham United’s Aaron Cresswell.
That’s just 10 new players, then.
Manchester United Balls: In 8 seasons Angel Di Maria has played just 113 times
This is a statistic to make you take notice: Manchester United’s most expensive player, Angel Di Maria, has only played 113 matches. No. Not 113 matches for Real Madrid or Manchester United. He’s only played 113 first team matches since July 1 2007, when he joined Benfica.
And in 38 of those matches Di Maria came on as a substitute.
Di Maria is 27, cost £60m and is showing signs of fatigue….
Posted: 4th, May 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer balls: Paul Pogba ‘accepts’ PSG offer, wants Chelsea and tempts Manchester United
Transfer Balls: it’s going to be busy summer of chatter for Juventus star Paul Pogba, 22.
The Mirror says Manchester City and Manchester United will have to create a new British transfer record if they want to sign Pogba. This isn’t simply Pogba’s agent talking up his client; it’s a a fact because the Mirror says Paris St-Germain have offered £60m for the France international. And that’s more than the £59.7m Manchester United paid for Angel di Maria.
And then there are the wages. The Mirror says PSG have offered Pogba £320,000-a-week.
The Mirror then says that Manchester United don’t want Pogba. They’re after Gareth Bale and “ready to tempt Real Madrid with a £100m offer”.
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Posted: 4th, May 2015 | In: Chelsea, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Chelsea would have got Pogba from Arsenal because Mourinho’s success is all about the money
Can Arsenal win the Premier League next season? In short: can they beat Chelsea, this season’s best?
Jose Mourinho, never one to miss a chance to salute his own genius, says:
“The titles at Chelsea [in his first tenure in charge] were fantastic, becasue it was the beginning of the Mr Abramovich era, no title before that.”
Well, not quite. Chelsea had been champions of the old first division in 1983–84, 1988–89. They had last won the top tier in 1954–55 – the only time they had done so until Roman arrived.
So. Money won it? No, says Jose:
“But now it’s a great feeling because it’s my club, because of the [strength] of the league, because we are not the any more the rich club.”
Chelsea’s finances are sound. Sure, Chelsea’s parent company owes Abramovich £958million, but he’s not sent any final demands yet.
But Chelsea are rich.
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Posted: 3rd, May 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Chelsea balls: Mourinho’s men get one hour to celebrate the title
Winning them over: Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho talks during the Chelsea press conference at Stamford Bridge on June 2, 2004 in London.
Chelsea are within a whisker of winning the Premier League. Mourinho’s masters are just three 0-0 draws away from the title. In the Times, Steve Clarke recalls what it was like winning the Premier League in 2005 – Chelsea’s first top tier championship in 50 years.
The aftermath was quite strange really. It had been such a long time and we’d been engaged in a relentless pursuit, but there were no real celebrations. Normally after winning the league for the first time in 50 years you’d party for a week, but we had to play Liverpool a few days later. It was absolute madness for an hour, but then we just went back to the hotel for a quiet dinner and the players had a massage. It was very, very José, whose attitude was “Win it, enjoy it for an hour, that’s the job done and move on to the next game.” It summed him up perfectly.
It’s all about next season. As Mourinho says:
“In relation to the Premier League, when the season starts if you want to be champions you also have the risk to finish fifth. Next season will be the same.”
It might be that Jose Mourinho doesn’t get the credit he deserves. After all, next season Chelsea retained the title…
Chelsea balls: Peter Cech defies the tabloids as Arsenal look on
Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Cech is heading out of Stamford Bridge. Arsenal are keen to land him; and Cech would be happy to remain in London.
But according to the Daily Mirror, Arsenal should be wary. The paper says that Chech “hopes Mourinho’s Chelsea…rule England football for a decade.”
But is that really what he said? No. What he said was:
“The last title we won was in 2010, so it has been a long time. This one is hopefully the start of a new era, another generation of players. There is only me, Didier and JT who have been here for the last decade. You can say this is a new generation of Chelsea, hopefully we will confirm the title on Sunday and this team will continue on. You can be a great player, but these moments to play difficult games under pressure, being champions, gives you another step, another dimension. You can see in difficult moments this season, this team has a lot of experience to overcome them. That is why we are in the position we are. The new players came in already with experience, winning the title elsewhere, which is important and why everything clicked quite quickly.”
Pretty clear. But to the Mirror’s Mike Waters, this is Cech saysing Cheslea are at “the dawn of another dynasty swathed in triumph”.
Unless he heads to Arsenal and helps them win…
Liverpool balls: Who called Brendan Rodgers a ‘tactical genius’? Brendan Rodgers did
Who said that Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was a genius? Says Rodgers…
“Three months ago I was a tactical genius, performing to a good level.”
Former Liverpool great Steve Nicol tells the Daily Mail:
“I’d love to know who was calling him a ‘tactical genius’, Brendan. When was he a tactical genius? When was he a tactical genius against Ludogorets, against Real Madrid, against Basel? When was he a tactical genius against Aston Villa in the FA Cup? I mean, come on.”
What kind of wally would have called Rodgers a genius? Well, Nichol might not be a Daily Mail reader because it was that paper’s Adrian Durham who opined:
“Rodgers did the legwork, learned his trade, soaked up knowledge and look where he is now. Tactical genius. That’s what Brendan Rodgers is.”
He wasn’t the only one:
Peter Fraser on Sky: “Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers should be considered a managerial genius whatever happens”
Of course, Rodgers has mentioned his genius before. This is from 2014:
“I know how it goes. Six or seven months ago I was the manager of the year and I was going to be this and that, tactically this and tactically that, and now, because we have lost two world-class players, I am useless. But I accept that. I must have just dreamt that about Liverpool playing 3-4-3 in the last game [the Capital One Cup victory at Bournemouth]. What do people think that was, a bit of luck? A British coach playing 3-4-3? A foreign coach doing that would be a tactical genius. I imagine people think I fell into that system through a stroke of luck or something.”
So. Who called Rodgers a tactical genius? Well, Rodgers did…
Arsenal: player’s mother banned by club for ‘scuffle’
The mother of Arsenal youngster Ainsley Maitland-Niles has reportedly been banned from entering the club’s training ground after scuffling with a member of the Gunners’ back-room staff during a recent Under-21 game.
Police were called to London Colney during the U21 fixture with Aston Villa on March 20th and arrested a woman, reported to be the mother of 17-year-old Maitland-Niles on suspicion of assaulting two people, one of them being Arsenal club negotiator Dick Law.
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Trasnfer balls: Manchester United keep and lose de Gea to Real Madrid as Casillas stays to play for Arsenal
Transfer balls: The Sun says Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, 33, wants to join Arsenal this summer. That move would mean Madrid buying David De Gea from Manchester United.
We know this because the Sun has heard from “top sources in Spain”. The facta only get more factual when the Sun presses caps lock:
And it means Real WILL swoop for Manchester United star David De Gea, who is still stalling on a new deal at Old Trafford.
It WILL!
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Posted: 29th, April 2015 | In: Arsenal, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Arsenal offer Barcelona more than Chelsea for Pedro who plays for Inter
Transfer Balls: Is Barcelona’s Pedro heading to Arsenal? The Daily Express says he is. It’s an “exclusive”:
Pedro’s a top player. Arsenal fans will be happy he’ll be playing for them next season. Of course, this is the Daily Express, which told its readers Pedro had agreed to play for Inter Milan:
Arsenal had best hurry up because early this week, Pedro was worth £22m to Chelsea…
Uttrer balls everyday in the newspapers…
Posted: 28th, April 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Bournemouth Balls: how much is Promotion to the Premier League worth?
Barring a disaster (or miracle if you support Middlesbrough, who will be promoted if they win their final game of the season and Bournemouth lose – and there’s a 19-goal swing in ‘Boro’s favour), AFC Bournemouth will be in the Premier League next season.
The big questiosn occupying media minds is what promotion if worth. Only Bournemouth fans in the expesnsive seats will care about the money, of course. This is about glory. Still, what say the experts?
BBC: “Bournemouth effectively sealed a £100m promotion to the Premier League just seven years after the south-coast club almost went out of business”
Daily Star: “How Cherries Ed-in to £120m Prem dream”
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Clegg’s Arsenal, Cameron’s Aston Villa or Miliband’s Leeds United: the General Election vote for football fans
Political football is a game of own-goals. Just as a leading Aston Villa, Arsenal or Leeds United fan…
David Cameron is the latest (but probably not the last) politician to learn that football, when used as a political football, can result in an own goal.
In football parlance, it was the day the Conservatives’ gaffer became the gaffe-er. During an election meeting, the Prime Minister described our great country as a place, ‘Where you can be Welsh and Hindu and British, Northern Irish and Jewish and British, where you can wear a kilt and a turban, where you can wear a hijab covered in poppies. Where you can support Man United, the Windies and Team GB all at the same time.’
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Posted: 28th, April 2015 | In: Arsenal, Politicians, Sports | Comment
Chelsea: Eden Hazard owes it all to toxic John Terry, the Premier League’s best player
Chelsea captain John Terry is a great footballer. Saying that is hardly going out on a limb. He has been terrific for Chelsea.
But in the Sun, Steven Howard sees Terry as a victim:
“Here was another immense performance. One of the many that a lot of us feel should have earned him and not player Hazard the PFA Player of The Year award. That he was not even nominated by his fellow players shows there are other reasons behind his ommission.”
What reasons? Howard does not say.
The PFA player of the season featured these six contenders: Diego Costa, Philippe Coutinho, David De Gea, Eden Hazard, Harry Kane and Alexis Sánchez. Are they all better than Terry? No. They’re not. If you want to win prizes, you’d pick Terry over Countinho every time.
So. Does Howard have a point? Yes say some other journalists.
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If Floyd Mayweather Jr is your child’s role model it’s time to review your parenting
Floyd Mayweather Jr is a role model. Well, so says a voice on ESPN’s program Outside the Lines, which looked at the talented, driven, money-mad boxer ahead of his fight with Manny Pacquiao.
Mayweather being a role model is good news for those parents who tell help their toddlers reach a fighting weight, and who do the school run in a fleet of white supercars (drop off) and black super cars (pick up).
Floyd Mayweather Jr, is, as D&T reports, an “unrepentant woman-beater convicted of assaulting women on five separate occasions”. He has never been suspended from boxing.
Should he have been? Is boxing a special case? Is he above the law? If he were a footballer, says, would Mayweather be so loved? And sicne when is boxing a branch of Public Women’s Rights And Justice USA?
Let’s hear what the man himself thinks of it?
Spurs Balls: Kyle Walker is monitoring twitter for signs of idiocy
Spurs and England footballer Kyle Walker is in the news for something he didn’t do. Someone told someone who told us that Kyle Walker was in the news. So. We looked at Google. And this is what we saw…
The video being shared on social media features, we’re told, a dog, a woman and a bed. It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Walker. But a few bellends on twitter, reportedly, have tried to insult the Spurs defender by linking him to the video. Of course, they are wrong. Their claims as false as they are ridiculous. They should be easy to ignore or mock.
But Walker thinks it a good idea to respond, writing on Facebook:
I wasn’t going to comment on the rumours going around about myself and my family but as people are still talking about them, I feel I need to set the record straight. I am aware of a video being shared on social media and am disgusted by the suggestion that it’s anything to do with us. With so many young people on social media I am horrified that content of that nature has been shared so many times. My legal team are monitoring the activity surrounding this.
And with that the story is amplified and internet is full of headlines about Kyle Walker and a sick video. A few oddities who get their kicks from watching something the sane would find unplesant and others who just want to make a dumb adolescent joke about a footballer, who most likely plays for a team they don’t support, are now being ‘monitored’ by a legal team.
What they going to monitor next, claims that the referee is a w*nker?
The best reponse is from one wag who replies: “Hope his legal team are better at defending him than he is lloris”
Lloris is Hugo Lloris , the Spurs goalkeeper. And he’s not the video, either…
Liverpool keep Jordan Henderson but will Nivea stick by their man?
Jordan Henderson has penned a new five-year deal to play for Liverpool. Good news for Liverpool fans. And at £100,0o0-a-week, it’s good news for Henderson, who will just be able to afford a season ticket at top-flight boxing. (Tickets for the Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao’s fight are yours for £100,000 each. It makes £60 to watch your team play Arsenal at the Emirates look like a steal.)
Writing in the Times, Giles Smith wonders if Henderson is going to re-sign for another of his clients: Nivea.
…a deal that has already yielded comedy gold. Indeed, if there was a Bafta for Best Look To Camera By A Footballer In A Narrative-Based Commercial (and now there should be), Henderson would have swept it away for a lifetime.
It is a cracker:
But what does it all mean for men? It’s the decline of man: the steady emasculation of our role models.
Posted: 25th, April 2015 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports, The Consumer | Comment
We should love Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney more than tax dodger Lewis Hamilton
The richest sportsman in the UK is Lewis Hamilton. But he’s not. Because he lives in Monaco…
Of course it would hard for a Premier League footballer to live oversease as a tax exile, but if Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney dodged tax , what kind of press would he get?
The Rich List also features Rio Ferdinand. He was great player for Manchester United and England. His story is one of rags to riches. But to many Rio Ferdinand is simply a story of sex scandals, a missed drugs test and a man out of touch with the fans. But what about Rio the taxpayer who does so much for charity? He’s not prefect – this is no blinkered tribute to the once great player – this is to wonder why footballers are looked down on, portrayed as vain, flash, selfish, womanising idiots?
Why are footballers ‘role models’, their every indiscretion paraded for our disapproving eyes and condemned from the top down, while Lewis Hamilton or the Olympians who bend the rules and shag around are not?
Double standards all round in the media…
Posted: 25th, April 2015 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer balls: Liverpool’s bid for Arsenal target Asier Illarramendi is lost in translation
Transfer Balls: Liverpool have made an offer for Real Madrid’s Asier Illarramendi. So declares the Daily Telegraph. And who are the papers sources for this Liverpool scoop?
According to The Metro, Illarramendi is expected to quit Madrid this summer after struggling to hold down a regular place in the Real side
The Metro. Yeah. Stick with it. After all, waaaay back on April 22, The Metro reported:
Arsenal handed transfer blow as Asier Illarramendi confirms desire to stay at Real Madrid
Today’s Metro scoop arrives via Jamie Sanderson:
Liverpool ‘make offer to finally seal Asier Illarramendi transfer’.
Sanderson then delivers the facts:
Liverpool have made an offer to sign Real Madrid’s Asier Illarramendi ahead of Arsenal, according to reports. Illarramendi is expected to quit Madrid this summer after struggling to hold down a regular place in the Real side.
Which reports?
Arsenal have been linked with a move, with Arsene Wenger said to be a fan, but Marca claims Liverpool…
So. It’s Marca, then. And we do find a story on Illarramendi and Liverpool. It’s dated April 11 2015. It contains not single word on any offer. But we do learn that Arsenal and Liverpool both like Illarramendi. But mentions of a bid are there none.
Posted: 24th, April 2015 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Chelsea Balls: Fabregas’ Arsenal return only highlights Wenger’s failure
In the build up to Arsenal’s Premier League match with Chelsea, the tabloids are focusing on the Blues’ Cesc Fabregas. The match will be the first time the Chelsea player has faced his old club on their home pitch.
The Daily Star leads with news that Fabregas “snubbed” Arsenal. The paper says Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has “muddied the water” by saying his former captain had no intention of returning to the Gunners:
“I believe his decision was already made. I personally believe that deal was done a long time ago, in early 2014… I was intriguded that he might go to Chelsea, but when I was informed I thought the deal was already done.”
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Posted: 24th, April 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Victor Wanyama says the Sun’s story on his move to Arsenal is bunkum
Transfer Balls: Is Southampton’s heading to Arsenal? The Sun says he might be. The story tells readers:
Victor Wanyama has revealed to SunSport that he is on Arsene Wenger’s shopping list Wanyama said: “Wenger has been talking about me. And he has let it be known that he wants me in the summer. Arsenal are a great club and I’d love to play Champions League football as I loved being on that stage with Celtic.”‘
So. Wanyama is keen on Arsenal.
But on Twitter, Wanyama says the story is wrong:
“I have to make it clear that I have not said what has been brought up today. I am professional and will never say that. To cut the story short have never spoken to Wenger.”
Now Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish is famous the tabloids set about murdering him
So good was Jack Grealish for Aston Villa during their FA Cup semi-final win over Liverpool that the Sun has decided to ruin him.
In “HIGH JACK”, the Sun says Grealish, “apparently”, has been inhaling “hippy crack”. The Sun says this is the “third star exposed” by the Sun breathing in nitrous oxide from a ballon. Readers have already been treated to photos of Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling and West Brom’s Saido Berahino on the balloon.
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Manchester United spend only 50% of their turnover on wages
Were Manchester United right to get rid of David Moyes as manager after a mere 10 months in charge? It was hasty. But then, the average tenure of all current Premier League managers is 1.57 years. Life is brief at the top.
The Daily Mirror has statistics to prove that under Louis Van Gaal, Man United are a tougher prospect.
Was Moyes hindered by taking over the champions of England?
The facts show that United are on the up once more.
But at what cost? Have they spent too much on chasing success? The Times has more figures. As a percent of turnover, Manchester United spend least of all on players’ wages.
The BBC notes that Chelsea have the best point-to-wages ratio. Jose Mourinho is getting more return from the club’s investment in players than Van Gaal is.
But what about debt?
The Mail says Chelsea are whopping £958m in debt; Manchester United are £342m in debt; and – get this – Manchester City apparently have a debt of just £67m. In May 2014, the Telegraph noted that “over £680m has gone towards interest fees, bank charges and debt repayment” to finance the debt since the Glazer family took over the club.
Imagine the team that could have bought…?
Posted: 22nd, April 2015 | In: manchester united, Sports | Comment
