Man Utd top weekly attendance chart as Chelsea dip
April 20 – Man Utd topped the attendance capacity chart for Round 34 of the Premier League, in a week that saw every home team fill their ground to more than 90% of capacity.
Premier League
Villa crisis deepens as Bernstein and King quit board, but sale talks still on
April 19 – Just days after being relegated for the first time in 28 years with a month of the season still to play, Aston Villa have been plunged into yet more turmoil with two board members resigning.
Liverpool and Man City successes could rob Premier League of fourth CL spot
April 18 – Finishing fourth in the Premier League has traditionally been the goal for achieving Champions League football the following season.
Mihir Bose: West Ham deal exposes the moral vacuum at the heart of UK politics
The great gift the London Legacy Development Corporation, chaired by Boris Johnson, has given West Ham football club is the sort of gift that makes the money that David Cameron’s mother gave him to help avoid inheritance tax look like chicken feed. It also exposes the fact that when it comes to the national game not only are our political masters grossly unfair, favouring some clubs while penalising the vast majority, but there is also a huge question of whether football has lost its moral compass.
Newcastle United profit from reduced wage bill
By David Owen
April 14 – A sharp cut in payroll costs was at the heart of Newcastle United’s impressive financial performance in 2014-15, with the wages and salaries bill tumbling below £57 million from £69.3 million the previous year.
Down but not out: Gutierrez wins cancer discrimination case against Newcastle
April 15 – Newcastle United, battling for their top-flight survival on the pitch, have suffered a serious blow to their image off it after an employment tribunal ruled that their former Argentina midfielder Jonas Gutierrez had been dropped from the team because he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Koeman says players need to get the headphones off and get old-school social
April 14 – How many times have you seen elite players emerge from the team bus with headphones clasped to their ears, oblivious to the outside world, or twiddling with the latest software on their mobile phones?
West Ham pack the Boleyn Ground again, Swans are flying
By Paul Nicholson
April 13 – With the spotlight back on the detail of the deal made by West Ham with the London Legacy Development Corporation for their move to tenancy at the Olympic Stadium, more evidence was provided that the need for the club to get a bigger home was provided last weekend with another sell out at the Boleyn ground with just 39 seats left unfilled.
Will Hammers get nailed over their ‘secret’ deal for London’s Olympic Stadium?
By Mark Baber
April 12 – West Ham’s move to London’s Olympic Stadium will come under increased public scrutiny following a ruling by the UK’s Information Tribunal which rejected in full the London Legacy Development Corporation (LDDC)’s appeal against an earlier Information Commissioner ruling to reveal full details of the secret contract enabling West Ham to move into the publicly owned Olympic Stadium.
Toure’s Man City pomp drawing to a close but summer will bring suitors
April 12 – The minute imperious central midfielder Yaya Toure got the news that Pep Guardiola would be replacing Manuel Pellegrini as manager at Manchester City in the summer, he knew his reign as one of the team’s pivotal superstars would be over.
A tale of two cities: Leicester rise as Villa plummet
By Andrew Warshaw
April 11 – It’s less than 50 miles, a one-hour drive on a good day, between the respective grounds of Leicester City and Aston Villa in the English midlands. But the mood and atmosphere surrounding the two Premier League clubs could not be more extreme.
West Brom bags another profit amid takeover talk
By David Owen
April 8 – West Bromwich Albion, the Midlands football club now assured of at least one more season of English top-tier football, remained in the black while suffering a near halving of profits in the year to 30 June 2015.
Relegation-haunted Magpies post bumper £32m profit
By David Owen
April 7 – Newcastle United may have lost their mojo on the pitch, but they remain one of the Premier League’s most consistent financial performers. The club from England’s football-mad north-east, which has turned to Rafa Benitez in an attempt to salvage its top-tier status, has posted a sharply increased after-tax profit of £32.4 million – up from £18.7 million in the year to 30 June 2014.
Chelsea confirm Conte as their new manager on 3-year deal
By Andrew Warshaw
April 4 – As widely anticipated, Italy’s Antonio Conte is the man chosen as Jose Mourinho’s permanent successor to revive the fortunes of Chelsea. Conte, currently head coach of Italy, will move to London after this summer’s Euros on a three-year contract following the departure of Mourinho in December, prompted by Chelsea’s worst start to a top-flight campaign for more than 30 years.
From pauper to Prince. Leicester City’s run powers on to becoming PL kings
April 4 – This time last year Leicester City’s fans were chanting “we are staying up” as their team put together the greatest ever survival feat in Premier League history.