By Andrew Warshaw
October 11 – BT Sport, the new pay-tv competitor for Sky, is determined to acquire even more sports rights but is happy to “co-exist” with Sky in the market place, according to BT chief executive Gavin Patterson. Patterson has not ruled out acquiring Champions League games for his new channels in the future even though that could mean the competition no longer being shown on terrestrial television.
By Mark Baber
July 9 – In its first year of operation after being switched from Preston to Manchester, England’s National Football Museum has welcomed 458,000 visitors, smashing the 350,000 target and fully justifying Manchester City Council’s investment in the project.
By Mark Baber
June 28 – Shares in Perform, a leader in the distribution and commercialisation of sports content across digital platforms, have fallen by over 10% after a warning that spending on acquisitions and content would slow profit growth this year.
By Paul Nicholson
June 12 – BT will kick off its live football coverage on its new sports channel, BT Sport, with excusive Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard’s testimonial game, Liverpool vs Olympiacos, August 3.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 1 – Fresh revelations as to why England gained only two votes in its bid to stage the 2018 FIFA World Cup have been disclosed in a new autobiography by Sebastian Coe, who was regarded as one the country’s most influential 2018 voices before going on to organise the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
By Duncan Mackay
March 20 – David Magliano, the marketing director of England’s disastrous bid to host the 2018 World Cup, has joined the Co-operative Group as its new brand director, it has been announced.
By Duncan Mackay
January 11 – The Mail on Sunday paid £50,000 ($77,000/€60,000) to the mistress of the former English Football Association chairman, Lord Triesman, for the exclusive story that led to him having to step down as the head of England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup, it was revealed today.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke (pictured) has fuelled further tension between the world governing body and English football by suggesting that they not always feel welcome in the country.
By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – FIFA Pesident Sepp Blatter has re-opened his feud with English football by saying the country has still not come to terms with losing out on the 2018 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 10 – Four days after Sport and Olympics Minister High Robertson described England’s doomed 2018 World Cup bid as the “biggest single failure” of his ministerial career, it was revealed today that the bid cost £6 million ($9.5 million/€7 million) more than everyone had been led to believe.
By Andrew Warshaw at the Leaders in Football Conference in London
October 6 – Britain’s Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson today admitted that England’s inability to win the 2018 World Cup bid was “the biggest single failure” of his reign.
By David Gold
October 5 – The chief executive of England’s failed bid to host the 2018 World Cup, Andy Anson, has mocked FIFA’s response to a string of corruption allegations this year and says that he does not have faith in their ability to reform themselves.
By Andrew Warshaw
September 25 – FIFA’s under-fire Executive Committee member Worawi Makudi has failed to follow up his threat to sue former English Football Association chairman Lord Triesman over allegations of corruption involving last December’s 2018 and 2022 World Cup ballots.
By David Gold
July 4 – The Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee has concluded that the Football Association’s “historic disengagement” from FIFA was a key cause in their failure to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup.
By Duncan Mackay
June 28 – Andy Anson, the leader of England’s disastrous bid to host the 2018 World Cup, has been given a new role as chief executive of Kitbag, which claims to be Europe’s leading sports online retailer.