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Phil Shaw: Difficult decision, said the chairman. Not for Wolves fans

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The day of a crushing 5-1 home defeat by their closest and bitterest rivals was not, with hindsight, the most auspicious time for Wolverhampton Wanderers' programme to trumpet the availability of "Early Bird" season tickets for 2012-13 with the headline "On sale tomorrow!" No sooner had the renewal hotline opened yesterday than Mick McCarthy learnt that Sunday's 5-1 rout by West Bromwich Albion had booked his ticket out of Molineux.

Ian Herbert: Manager happy to forgive but striker is still embittered

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Sometimes Carlos Tevez gets lost in translation. It is a testament to the way he has never assimilated here that, when a Spanish-speaker was engaged in south Manchester to instruct his family in English a little while back, he went along for some conversation with the teacher in his mother tongue – not for the lessons. But last night's interview, with its namechecks for Manchester United and noxious recollections of that night in Munich, suggested the nascent hopes of a brief, bright twilight to the Argentine's Premier League career are still deeply improbable.

James Lawton: Patience may not be a virtue this time, Roman – Andre Villas-Boas looks all at sea

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

One day it might just dawn on the man who started off making plastic ducks in a Moscow apartment block. In some ways winning in football is not too dissimilar from becoming one of the richest men in the world. A lot of it has to do with timing, knowing when to hold the cards and when to toss them aside.

Wolves: The contenders to replace Mick McCarthy

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:22:56 +0000

With Mick McCarthy's tenure as Wolves manager over after five and a half years, the club will be looking for a swift appointment to lead their fight against relegation.

The managerial sack race

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:28:46 +0000

Managers are never too far away from the sack in football, and this season is no different.

Live Premier League football to be available in-flight

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:15:52 +0000

Live Premier League football is to become available as in-flight entertainment along with live coverage of other major sporting events including the Olympics, the Masters, the British Open and Formula 1 motor racing.

Something From The Weekend: Kean's relief; Officials frustrate; Miracle-worker Del Piero

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The Good: Kean's relief

James Lawton: Managers must come together to drag game back from brink

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

No one died here but in all other respects it was football's version of ground zero. It was where any relish for the game, any love of it for its own sake, its skills and sometimes beautiful rhythm, was likely to be tracked down and wilfully desecrated.

Sam Wallace: Apology is a good start, but there's plenty more to do

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

When finally it did come yesterday, the apology from Luis Suarez was not directed to Patrice Evra in person but was offered rather more for the manner in which his actions before the match at Old Trafford on Saturday had reflected poorly on Liverpool.

Robin Scott-Elliot: Plenty of country and western, but no taking your partners by the hand

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

It's difficult not to sing along to "Rhinestone Cowboy". You are probably doing it now, and will continue to do so at quite possibly embarrassing moments throughout the day. Sorry. It was also difficult to turn off Country at the BBC, no matter how deeply wrong it felt to watch a programme about country-and-western singers stitched together from appearances on Terry Wogan and Val Doonican shows back when chat was all everyone was talking about.

Something From The Weekend: Kean's relief; Officials frustrate; Miracle-worker Del Piero

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The Good: Kean's relief

FA to cast net wider after getting fingers burnt with Scolari

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:28:48 +0000

The Football Association plans to interview a range of candidates beyond just Harry Redknapp, the favourite for the vacant England manager's job, and they will not expect the new man to start until the end of the domestic season.

David Cameron 'plans football racism summit'

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:00:07 +0000

David Cameron is expected to step into the row over racism in football by staging a Downing Street summit on the issue.

Taxman's war on football goes on despite costly Redknapp defeat

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The taxman is carrying out an unprecedented inquiry into football finances. Detailed questionnaires quizzing directors and other officials about player payments and other commercial dealings have been issued to clubs across the UK. The Revenue is also tackling outstanding tax debts and is warning that failure to pay will increasingly be met with red-card treatment.

Ian Holloway: Choose Harry, then give the next English batch a chance

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

We all know Harry Redknapp has to be the next England manager but where are the other candidates? The answer is there aren't any, and that worries me. I'm talking Englishmen here. I don't want someone from overseas, or the rest of Great Britain – we can't play a Scot up front so I don't want anyone other than an English person leading our country.

The world has changed – now show us the books

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Harry Redknapp's innocence was no surprise to his legal team, who had been saying for months the charges should never have been brought.

Peter Storrie: Forgotten man has his day in the sun

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

It is an enduring moment of any high-profile trial in which the defendant is acquitted: standing outside the court in front of a bank of cameras and microphones surrounded by friends, relatives and well-wishers to express relief, gratitude and whatever other emotions flood the mind.

Outside the Box: Grayson favour from his son as Bates-baiting marches on

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Simon Grayson's sacking as manager of Leeds United appears to have given new momentum to the campaign to oust Ken Bates as chairman.

The Last Word: If Harry can't get England out of jail, we may as well throw away the key

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Many years ago, before Sven and his harem, Steve and his brolly and Fabio and his captain – before Glenn and his reincarnation and Kevin and his cubicle even – a former columnist on this newspaper proposed the idea that the manager of England be allowed to undertake the role as an inmate of Wormwood Scrubs.

Redknapp: I was on my own thinking some scary things

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

When yesterday he recalled the minutes before his not guilty verdict at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday morning, Harry Redknapp was, for a rare occasion, lost for words to describe his feelings.

Harry has only just got his life back, FA must give him time

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

As he is prone to do when the pressures of life start closing in on him and football looks like a brutal and unforgiving place, Harry Redknapp was discussing that mythical house in Cornwall again yesterday where he plans to move with his wife Sandra at some stage of his life and, in his own words, "never be sighted again".

James Lawton: Passage of time means to pillory Pearce for old failings is unfair

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

If we want to pillory Stuart Pearce over the racist abuse he allegedly once threw at Paul Ince we might as well take a thousand other old crimes out of the embalming fluid and expose them to the mores of today.

Martin Hardy: Football is a religion...and the North-east has miracle workers

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Moral victories, even morals for that matter, have been thin on the ground this week for English football. It has been a tawdry week, beset with racism rows, resignations, spats and court cases between men of serious wealth.

Bramble denies sexual assaults

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The Sunderland defender Titus Bramble appeared in court yesterday to deny sexual assault charges.

Neil Warnock: Fabio quitting stemmed from my 'Sliding Doors' moment

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Remember that movie, Sliding Doors? It was about how the course of life can be shaped by seemingly minor events. In that case it revolved around Gwyneth Paltrow catching – or missing – a London tube train.

Bogdan: The Bolton Brain Box

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

For some reason, the story of Adam Bogdan, a goalkeeper with views on the qualities of English music, the decline of Hungarian football in the post-Communist era and interests including the Arab Spring and Syria has not gravitated much beyond an anecdote about him and a bag of Wotsits.

Chris McGrath: For Fabio: Handy guide to what we really mean

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Bit late now, I guess. But since everyone keeps complaining that Fabio Capello never grasped "the English football culture", it only seems fair to equip him now with this handy lexicon. You never know. After all, there could be a tempting vacancy at Tottenham fairly soon.

Manchester United fan blocks City’s £100m move

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

A Manchester United-supporter is taking on the might of his City neighbours over the rival club's plans for a £100m training complex.

You Write the Caption - 10/02/12

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:39:31 +0000

Go on, make us laugh. What might they be saying? Post your caption to this picture using the comment form below and our favourite will win a bottle of champagne.

Sam Wallace: After a week from hell, race row is the final sucker-punch

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

When it comes to the governance of English football, even the most consummate politicians at the Football Association can believe that they have all their ducks in a row only to find that at the last minute one has alarmingly floated downstream. So it proved yesterday for the FA in the embarrassing case of Stuart Pearce.

James Lawton: Blame for this awful mess lies squarely with Capello

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Unusually for Fabio Capello, a man who owns some highly valued pieces of art but is not given to too many flights of poetic fancy, he once said that he had a dream. It was right at the start of his England reign and it was that he would lead his team into the final of the World Cup in Johannesburg.

Martin Hardy: How the FA can win with Harry's game

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Will Harry really walk out on Spurs?

From dentist's chairs to fake sheikhs: England's pre-tournament crises

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:37:01 +0000

Fabio Capello's shock resignation leaves the Football Association facing a critical decision over the identity of a new England manager just months before the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine.

Fabio Capello: The highs and lows in charge of England

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:11:02 +0000

Fabio Capello walked away from the England job last night, bringing an end to four years that started with such optimism, only for it to prove yet another false dawn.

James Lawton: Sadness and anger over the ultimate betrayal