By Sportingintelligence 1 June 2017 Chelsea’s Premier League title win in Antonio Conte’s first season as a manager in England earned them almost £151m in prize cash, with official figures released today showing they have pocketed £150,811,183 from central funds alone. The money comes primarily from the PL’s huge TV deals but also includes Chelsea’s share of […]

Brought to you in association with the UK Concrete Show (“The whole of the concrete industry under one roof!“) . By Martin Kelner 20 June 2016 When the England football team arrived back from Italia 90 to a heroes’ welcome – instead of what normally greets one at Luton Airport, grey skies and disillusion – […]

By Sportingintelligence 24 May 2016 Leicester’s miraculous 5000-1 Premier League title win in 2015-16 made them globally famous but the prize money table for the season was topped by Arsenal, with official figures released today showing they have pocketed £100,952,257 from central funds alone. The money comes primarily from the PL’s huge TV deals but also includes Arsenal’s share […]

By Brian Sears  31 December 2014 Of all the teams playing in the four main divisions of English football in 2014, Manchester City and Chelsea were the standout performers in the calendar year in terms of points per game. Both amassed 88 points from 38 league games in 2014 for 2.32 points per game on […]

By Brian Sears 8 August 2014 With the 2014-15 English football season about to begin, and with every fan still at the stage where they can dream that this will be the year, the notion of where a club ‘deserves’ to be is again a topic of relevance. Up and down the country there will […]

* In 1985, Steven Bridge, a lifelong fan of Charlton Athletic, was a mature student, age 31,  living in Kent and studying theology in London. As part of his degree, he wrote an extended ‘Man in Society’ essay. As a football fan concerned by a blight on the beautiful game, he made hooliganism the subject […]

By Brian Sears 21 February 2013 The FA Cup attracted crowds last weekend that were five per higher collectively than the clubs involved have been attracting to league matches this season. The fifth round of the Cup is the first time that this phenomenon has happened this season, and is indicative that the closer the […]

By Brian Sears 28 January 2013 Liverpool’s FA Cup elimination at the hands of Oldham on Sunday was the 119th time in the Premier League era that a Premier League side has been knocked out of the Cup by opponents from a lower division. And it is Liverpool who have suffered this fate more than […]

By Brian Sears 24 January 2013 The League Cup has been grabbing all the headlines this week, what with Bradford’s utterly extraordinary (and globally significant) progress to the final; Swansea’s stirring win over Chelsea on aggregate; and that kick (or was it a poke?), by Mr Hazard upon a ballboy who happens to be the […]

* In his first Monday column of 2013, Ian Herbert, The Independent’s man in the north-west, asks why we only remember Ronnie Radford when 21st century giant killers are far more up against it; why ITV’s Splash! was a car crash; and why the Premier League chairmen won’t take Fergie on. . By Ian Herbert […]