Krueger goes skating in to Saints’ chairmanship
By David Owen
March 12 – A man who had a hand in Canada’s recent Olympic men’s ice hockey gold medal is replacing Nicola Cortese as chairman of Southampton.
Premier League
Pardew gets 3-game stadium ban and 4-game touchline ban for headbutt
March 12 – Newcastle United’s Alan Pardew has been handed a seven-game ban, a Premier League record for a manager, for the headbutt inflicted on Hull City midfielder David Meyler that was flashed around the world on television.
Prosecutors drop case against Spurs’ ‘Yid’ chanters as not ‘abusive’
March 10 – In what was viewed as a vital test case in terms of freedom of expression, charges have been dropped against three Tottenham Hotspur fans who were facing prosecution for chanting the word ‘Yid’ at matches despite almost certainly using the term in a non-derogatory way.
FA consider appealing Anelka’s ‘too leniant’ Quennelle sanction
March 7 – The English Football Association is reported to be considering whether to appeal against the five-match ban imposed by an independent commission on former French international striker for his infamous ‘quenelle’ gesture on the basis that it was too leniant.
Disastrous season puts QPR through financial hoops
By David Owen
March 6 – The financial consequences of a disastrous 2012-13 season for Queens Park Rangers, the west London club majority-owned by Tony Fernandes and partners, have been spelt out in grisly detail.
Reds still in the red, but better times are in prospect
By David Owen
March 4 – Liverpool’s exciting brand of attacking football, which has carried them to second place in the Premier League, is inspiring dreams of a return to the club’s glory days between the 1960s and 1980s. But the on-field revival has yet to be reflected in the bottom-line – at least judging by the latest published accounts.
Villa post £51m loss but ‘close a chapter’ on excesses of past
March 4 – The painful financial turnround of Aston Villa is still on-going though the club maintain that they are on the right track and have “closed a chapter” on a period of heavy losses and are now self sufficient and within UEFA’s financial fair play regulations.
Anelka sanctioned for offensive ‘quenelle’ but not found anti-semitic
By Andrew Warshaw
February 28 – In a move that could serve as an important test case for English football’s disciplinary procedures, former French international striker Nicolas Anelka has been banned for five matches and fined £80,000 for his infamous “quenelle” gesture that made worldwide headlines.
Anelka hearing is a ‘test case’ for English fight against racism
By Andrew Warshaw
February 26 – The hearing into former French international striker Nicolas Anelka’s infamous ‘quenelle’ gesture is reported to have begun at an undisclosed location. Anelka has been charged by the English Football Association for use the reverse Nazi salute, brought to prominence by controversial French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, as a goal celebration. The much-travelled striker, who faces a minimum five-match ban if found guilty, has denied the charge of making a gesture that was “abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper”.
Magpies stay in the black as faithful fans and player sales boost financials
By David Owen
February 25 – Newcastle United has announced an after-tax profit of £9.9 million for the year to June 2013, after booking a £10.6 million profit on player trading. If the business continues to progress in the same way this year Newcastle look set for a serious profit in 2013-14. Maybe as much as £30 million.
Man City gets go-ahead to boost Etihad capacity by 14,000
February 17 – Manchester City’s status as one of the new elite of European football has been further enhanced by plans to increase the capacity of their Etihad stadium from 48,000 to over 62,000.
Man Utd report record results and set aside war chest for Summer
By Paul Nicholson
February 13 – Manchester United announced another quarter of record financial revenue with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward confident that the club would still be able to sustain financial momentum even if it failed to qualify for the Champions League 2014/15 competition. He also indicated the club would be spending substantially in the summer looking to a long-term future as the first team is re-built.
Spurs push deeper into Asia with AIA shirt sponsorship
By Andrew Warshaw
February 13 – Tottenham Hotspur are the latest top-flight English club to launch a major push into the Asian market by announcing a five-year multi-million pound shirt sponsorship deal with Hong Kong-based insurance giants AIA. The deal drives the club deeper into the Asian markets having recently launched a Chinese language add-on to its website as well as securing new TV deals in the region.
Twitter trolls force Cleverley to quit the social media network
By Jamie Styles
February 13 – Tom Cleverley has shut down his Twitter account after his own fans abused him on the social media site. The news comes only a day after the midfielder spoke out about the online abuse coming his way and suggested that he has been made a scapegoat for Manchester United’s lacklustre season.
No money blues for City, Soriano says they will be in the black in two seasons
February 12 – Manchester City’s chief executive has pledged the big-spending club will break even this season and has rejected the suggestion that they will breach UEFA’s financial fair play rules.