By Andrew Warshaw
February 28 – In a move that could serve as an important test case for English football’s disciplinary procedures, former French international striker Nicolas Anelka has been banned for five matches and fined £80,000 for his infamous “quenelle” gesture that made worldwide headlines.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 26 – The hearing into former French international striker Nicolas Anelka’s infamous ‘quenelle’ gesture is reported to have begun at an undisclosed location. Anelka has been charged by the English Football Association for use the reverse Nazi salute, brought to prominence by controversial French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, as a goal celebration. The much-travelled striker, who faces a minimum five-match ban if found guilty, has denied the charge of making a gesture that was “abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper”.
By David Owen
February 25 – Newcastle United has announced an after-tax profit of £9.9 million for the year to June 2013, after booking a £10.6 million profit on player trading. If the business continues to progress in the same way this year Newcastle look set for a serious profit in 2013-14. Maybe as much as £30 million.
February 17 – Manchester City’s status as one of the new elite of European football has been further enhanced by plans to increase the capacity of their Etihad stadium from 48,000 to over 62,000.
By Paul Nicholson
February 13 – Manchester United announced another quarter of record financial revenue with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward confident that the club would still be able to sustain financial momentum even if it failed to qualify for the Champions League 2014/15 competition. He also indicated the club would be spending substantially in the summer looking to a long-term future as the first team is re-built.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 13 – Tottenham Hotspur are the latest top-flight English club to launch a major push into the Asian market by announcing a five-year multi-million pound shirt sponsorship deal with Hong Kong-based insurance giants AIA. The deal drives the club deeper into the Asian markets having recently launched a Chinese language add-on to its website as well as securing new TV deals in the region.
By Jamie Styles
February 13 – Tom Cleverley has shut down his Twitter account after his own fans abused him on the social media site. The news comes only a day after the midfielder spoke out about the online abuse coming his way and suggested that he has been made a scapegoat for Manchester United’s lacklustre season.
February 12 – Manchester City’s chief executive has pledged the big-spending club will break even this season and has rejected the suggestion that they will breach UEFA’s financial fair play rules.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 11 – English Premier League club West Ham United, who are moving to the main Olympic stadium used for the 2012 London Games, have agreed to sell their east London ground to local property developers .
February 7 – Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has increased its global footprint with the licensing of its Spurs TV weekly television package to four international broadcasters who will screen exclusive club content on their platforms across four continents and 35 countries.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 4 – The comedian who invented the infamous Nazi-style gesture that led to former French international Nicolas Anelka being charged by English football authorities has been barred from entering Britain.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 4 – The Leeds United ownership saga shows no sign of being resolved as the club prepares for fresh talks while re-instated manager Brian McDermott says he is going nowhere – for the moment anyway.
By David Owen
February 3 – Premier League clubs spent a moderate £130 million in the January transfer window, far less than the record £225 million disbursed in January 2011, in spite of the boost to income provided by the new cycle of TV deals.
January 31 – Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur Football Club have launched a digital platform to cater for their expanding Chinese fanbase in the region. Accessible only through the club’s website, the platform can be viewed in English and Mandarin.
By David Owen
January 30 – Everton have gone some way to soothing the pain of this week’s Merseyside derby drubbing at the hands of local rivals Liverpool by publishing a strong set of financial figures for the year to end-May 2013.