Ratcliffe, IPL and Littler: The Morning Wire Sport 2024 year in review December 31, 2024 It was the year that was in sport; when iconic athletes retired, major brands made fascinating choices and one pole vaulter was knocked out of the Olympics because of his hefty package. The 12 months that made up 2024 weaved the retirement of cricketer James Anderson with the iconic breakdancer Raygun, it saw a German [...]
Ahead of the Game: Man United cuts could be copied by other clubs December 30, 2024 Manchester United’s controversial move to slash the funding it provides to its charitable foundation as part of cost-cutting measures introduced by Sir Jim Ratcliffe could be followed by other Premier League clubs. The Manchester United Foundation are set to be the latest victims of Ratcliffe’s drive to cut costs at Old Trafford, with Sky News [...]
Football, rugby and boxing: The most attended sports events of 2024 December 29, 2024 It’s no secret that the Brits love going to watch live sport. Whether it’s domestic action, international sport or a special annual event; we love it! So which event saw the most people through the turnstiles on a single day for each month of the year? We take a look. January 73,489, Old Trafford, Premier [...]
Youngs and Cole: For The Love Of Rugby duo look to 2025 December 28, 2024 Leicester Tigers duo Ben Youngs and Dan Cole review at 2024, look ahead to 2025 and discussed their podcast For The Love Of Rugby. The last 12 months has been an incredibly interesting time for rugby union for a number of reasons. Steve Borthwick’s England had a rough back end to the year but took [...]
The best and worst sports marketing campaigns of 2024 December 25, 2024 In the true Christmas spirit of judging others, I’ve looked at my favourite – and not so favourite – sports marketing campaigns of 2024. I had planned to hand out awards with categories based on the startling number of current football pundits who were in Graham Taylor’s Euro 92 England squad. The Gary Lineker Award [...]
Ahead of the Game: Illegal Usyk vs Fury streams dealt heavy blow December 23, 2024 Illegal streaming services appear to be in retreat judging by the collapse of viewing figures for last weekend’s Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury rematch compared to the original world heavyweight title fight between the pair in May. Analysis conducted for Morning Wire by online intelligence platform Yield Sec identified a peak audience of 3.2m illegal [...]
Ollie Phillips: Dupont leads my 2024 rugby union awards December 20, 2024 For my last rugby union column of 2024 in print it’s only right that we hand out a couple of awards covering the last 12 months. Rugby has seen an Olympic Games sit front and centre of the calendar while there have been some surprises in terms of domestic winners. It wasn’t easy but I’ve [...]
Why RFU boss Sweeney is set for no confidence vote December 18, 2024 Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney will face a vote of no confidence after over 180 clubs and bodies rebelled against the governing body’s biggest name. Sweeney, alongside chairman Tom Ilube, will face the music in February following a grassroots-led revolt against the body led by the referees’ union and the Championship clubs at [...]
Red Bull: Leeds United minority owner set to increase football investment December 18, 2024 The energy drinks brand already has a minority stake in Leeds but has an option to increase it.
DCMS fear rugby future as £30m in taxpayer loans expected to be written off December 18, 2024 The government could be forced to write off nearly £30m of taxpayers’ money loaned to sports bodies, clubs and the arts during the Covid-19 pandemic. The figures, revealed today by the National Audit Office, provide a stark update on the £474m aid package provided by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Rugby union was [...]