By Paul Nicholson
January 20 – The richest man in China is rumoured to be lining up a move into Premier League football by buying Southampton. Last week Southampton’s chairman Nicola Cortese resigned, prompting immediate speculation that the Liebherr family who own the club were ready to sell.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 20 – Shirt sponsors Zoopla have allegedly threatened to pull out of their £3 million deal with English Premier League club West Bromwich Albion unless the club drops former French international Nicolas Anelka over the allegedly racist sign he made over Christmas.
By Paul Nicholson
January 17 – Premier League clubs Arsenal and Liverpool have both announced exclusive global sponsorship partners, while Manchester City have unveiled a regional sponsorship.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 15 – The bitter dispute over the name of English Premier League club Hull City has been stepped up with owner Assem Allam, who has pumped millions of his own money into the club, threatening to quit unless the English Football Association approves his plans.
January 13 – Liverpool FC is rolling out its club TV output with nine new TV partnerships announced. The deals cover partnerships in various individual territories globally, rather than pan-regional agreements.
January 10 – Gruppo Campari’s Italian aperitif brand Aperol has become the official global spirits sponsor of Manchester United Football Club. The multi-season sponsorship officially launched January 1 and runs until the end of the 2016/2017 season.
January 6 – The debate over the number of foreign managers in the Premier League has been given fresh impetus – by none other than Chelsea’s own Portuguese boss Jose Mourinho.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 3 – Players are frequently seen to verbally abuse officials on the pitch but rarely does it happen the other way – not publicly at least. English Premier League team Southampton have made an official complaint, however, after accusing referee Mark Clattenburg of insulting their captain Adam Lallana in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Everton.
January 34 – Former Norwegian international striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, known in his playing days as the “baby-faced assassin”, has taken on the challenge of trying to manage Premier League newcomers Cardiff City following the controversial sacking of Malky Mackay by the club’s Malaysian owner Vincent Tan.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 2 – UEFA’s financial fair play rules have been brought into sharp focus with the news that Chelsea, one of the world’s most affluent foreign-owned clubs, made a loss of £49.4 million for the year ended 30 June 2013.
By Paul Nicholson
January 2 – Attendance for the three fixtures of the holiday period for the Premier League in England averaged over 95% of stadium capacity for the matches December 26, December 28-29 and 1 January 2014. Of a total of 1,147,696 available seats in stadia, just 30,802 seats were unfilled.
By Paul Nicholson
December 27 – Proof that the English love their Christmas football was shown on Boxing Day in the Premier League with eight out of 10 clubs filling their stadiums to more than 97% of capacity, two stadiums being more than 99% full and only one stadium being below 90% in occupancy.
By Paul Nicholson
December 13 – English Championship club Queens Park Rangers have announced plans to move to a new 40,000 seater stadium as part of the £10 billion regeneration of the Old Oak area in West London.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 12 – The acrimonius dispute over the name of English Premier League club Hull City has been further fuelled by a formal application to the Football Association to call the club Hull Tigers from next season.
By David Owen
December 11 – Not that there is any connection, but Manchester United’s latest Premier League woes have coincided with the installation of new display boards – “the largest, brightest and clearest pitch-side electronic boards in football,” the club says – at its Old Trafford base.