City spend eight times as much as United on agents November 30, 2009 MANCHESTER CITY’S lavish recruitment policy saw them splash out almost £13m in agents’ fees alone last year – more than eight times as much as champions Manchester United. City, who have spent close to £120m on signing a host of big-name players in the last 12 months, paid agents £12.9m for transfers and contract negotiations. [...]
Pietersen will hit form, says coach Flower November 30, 2009 ENGLAND coach Andy Flower has urged critics to be patient with Kevin Pietersen following his latest batting flop. The Hampshire ace has struggled for form since being sidelined for four months with an Achilles injury, which forced him to miss the last three Tests of the Ashes series against Australia. Since his return, Pietersen has [...]
Serena hit with record fine for outburst November 30, 2009 WORLD No1 Serena Williams has been hit with a record fine and a suspended three-year ban for her verbal tirade at a line judge during the US Open. The American has been ordered by the International Tennis Federation to pay £53,000 and warned she will be barred from the Grand Slam for three years if [...]
Time to put the bags away November 30, 2009 SO, here we are, back to that fortnight in the calendar where the players can finally hang up their golf bags and visit their families after a long, hard season. The golfing year seems to get more and more demanding on the tour professional these days and the players have certainly earned their closed season [...]
Rees faces injury lay-off November 30, 2009 RUGBY UNION: Scarlets hooker Matthew Rees faces a race to be fit for Wales’ Six Nations opener with England on 6 February after suffering a groin tear in Saturday’s 33-12 defeat to Australia. Rees joined Ospreys wing Shane Williams and Cardiff Blues wing Leigh Halfpenny on the treatment table during the game against the Wallabies [...]
Pacquiao may shun Mayweather November 30, 2009 BOXING: Manny Pacquiao may turn to fight Yuri Foreman before taking on Floyd Mayweather Jr, according to trainer Freddie Roach. The eagerly-awaited showdown between pound-for-pound king Pacquiao and unbeaten Mayweather but Roach has accused the American of dragging his heels. “We want to fight in March and we don’t really want to wait,” Roach said. [...]
Woods pulls out of own event November 30, 2009 GOLF: Tiger Woods yesterday withdrew from his own tournament following the affects of his car accident last Friday. The world No1 pulled out of the Chevron World Challenge – a tournament he has hosted for the past nine years – after sustaining facial injuries when his car struck a fire hydrant and tree near his [...]
Braving choppy waters: World Cup bids and marketing in a downturn November 29, 2009 ENTREPRENEUR extraordinaire Sir Keith Mills does seem to relish a stiff challenge. Having led the successful bid to bring the Olympic Games to London in 2012, the business brains behind Air Miles and Nectar’s latest goal is to see his sailing team win the America’s Cup – something no British crew has managed. And if [...]
Davydenko is the unlikely star of the O2 November 29, 2009 NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO treated the London crowd a tennis masterclass on his way to becoming the first Russian to win the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals. The 28-year-old turned on the style to beat Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4 to claim the biggest title of his career – and a cheque for just over [...]
Anderson lets rip as England bounce back November 29, 2009 CAPTAIN Andrew Strauss revealed how a dressing-room dust down inspired England to a tremendous seven-wicket success over South Africa at Port Elizabeth. Strauss lambasted his bowling attack after the comprehensive 112-run defeat to the Proteas in Cape Town on Friday. And it worked a treat as James Anderson’s career-best 5-23 led a stinging attack on [...]