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Nick Harris at the Manchester Aquatics Centre 20 December 2009 Michael Rock is a 22-year-old Liverpudlian who studies law at the University of Manchester and yesterday he beat the greatest swimmer of all time, Michael Phelps, in a discipline in which they both love, the 200m butterfly. Therein lies part of the beauty of the […]

24 December 2009 Michael Schumacher has been explaining the motivation for his comeback on his website (see the post on 23/12/09).  He writes: “Until recently, I was absolutely sure that I had ended my career as a race driver at Ferrari. But sometimes things change suddenly and unexpectedly. “All of a sudden, the framework conditions […]

By Nick Harris 23 December Like many teenagers, Tom Daley cites The X Factor as his favourite TV show. Every weekend he followed Jedward, Olly, Stacey and Co, and fully expected this year’s winner, Joe McElderry, to bag the Christmas No 1. Daley hadn’t even heard of Rage Against The Machine until a fortnight ago, […]

22 December 2009 Yes, it’s true. There is another SI.com out there, slightly better known and slightly longer established, and just a teeny, weeny bit better resourced. Its 20 best this, that and t’other of the decade makes for an interesting – if predictably USA-centred – read. That said, a perusal of SI’s top 20 […]

22 December 2009 It wasn’t so many decades ago (about five) that teams in the English football league would routinely play matches on Christmas Day, and then play the reverse match on Boxing Day. Whatever one thinks of packed modern schedules, they’re not like that now, although elsewhere in the world, the festive day has […]

22 December 2009 Roger Federer was last week voted by American sports editors as one of the top five athletes of the decade. The Swiss polled 25 votes of 142 cast to come third behind Tiger Woods (56 votes) and Lance Armstrong (33), and ahead of swimmer Michael Phelps (13), New England quarterback Tom Brady […]

21 December 2009 Stan Kroenke has bought another 25 shares in Arsenal at £8,500 each. That takes him within 17 shares of the “trigger” holding that would make a bid for the whole club mandatory. The American made the purchase on 17 December but it was only made public today in a statement to the […]

EXCLUSIVE By Nick Harris and Hugh Godwin 20 December 2009 Britain’s foremost PR advisor, Max Clifford, toldThe Independent on Sunday last night that he has represented two high-profile gay Premier League footballers in the past five years and has advised them to stay in the closet because football “remains in the dark ages, steeped in […]

December 2009 The leading striker at your club – or for your country – has just banged in a hat-trick. He must be in “form”, mustn’t he? And thus more likely than average to score in his next game as well? No, actually. According to a book published last year, the concept of “form” in […]

EXCLUSIVE: 9 December 2009 Sol Campbell is not being coveted by Manchester United, according to well-informed sources close to the player, and won’t be offered any deal at Old Trafford, with a source at the club saying the former England centre-half will not be offered even a short-term contract to cover for injuries. Campbell, 35, was […]