• SPORTS

  When getting fired pays rich rewards

  Sports, Nobby Piles, Published on 08/12/2018

  » The departure of Mark Hughes from Southampton hardly came as a surprise. He now holds the unenviable record of being the first manager to be sacked by two different Premier League clubs in the same calendar year, having been axed by Stoke City in January.

• NEWS

  England ponder painful performance

  Sports, Nobby Piles, Published on 13/01/2018

  » The final moments of the Ashes series could not have been more symbolic in summing up England's plight in what has been a nightmare tour Down Under. While the victorious Australian team gleefully collected all the awards and sprayed champagne at the Sydney Oval, England's captain Joe Root, suffering from a stomach illness, was asleep in the dressing room.

• SPORTS

  Flying Hammers hoping the bubble won't burst very quickly

  Sports, Nobby Piles, Published on 13/11/2021

  » There is a real buzz at the London Stadium these days which is understandable as West Ham find themselves in third place in the Premier League thanks to some brilliant teamwork and a reassuring presence of astute Scottish manager David Moyes.

• SPORTS

  Leeds finally back after painful journey

  Sports, Nobby Piles, Published on 25/07/2020

  » When Leeds United went into administration in 2007, their new chairman Ken Bates commented: "Right now we are at the bottom of our cycle, but Leeds United are one of the big six clubs. The small clubs can have their day in the sun but eventually they go back where they came from. Leeds will always be a big club."

• SPORTS

  Saints keep faith in manager Hasenhuttl

  Sports, Nobby Piles, Published on 06/06/2020

  » When Southampton were humiliated 9-0 at their St Mary's Stadium by Leicester last October, few thought Austrian manager Ralph Hasenhuttl would survive the coming weeks as fans and owners understandably demanded some kind of explanation.

• SPORTS

  The real scrap is down at the bottom

  Sports, Nobby Piles, Published on 01/02/2020

  » With Juergen Klopp's Liverpool running away with the title in grand style, apart from the customary scramble for European places, the main interest in the Premier League for many fans has switched to the bottom half of the table and the battle to avoid relegation.

• SPORTS

  The rich should show their true colours

  Sports, Nobby Piles, Published on 27/04/2019

  » As we approach the end of the football season it is as good a time as any to come up with a gripe, no matter how irrational, about something that you find really irritating in the game.

• SPORTS

  The sack race starts at Craven Cottage

  Sports, Nobby Piles, Published on 17/11/2018

  » The international break in November is traditionally a time when struggling Premier League managers begin nervously looking over their shoulders -- and for good reason. So it hardly came as a surprise when Slavisa Jokanovic got the axe this week with his Fulham team bottom of the table.

• SPORTS

  Impressive start for Cardiff custodian

  Sports, Nobby Piles, Published on 25/08/2018

  » There are not many goalkeepers who can say they saved a penalty in each of their first two games of the season, let alone in the Premier League, but that is the case of Cardiff City's goalie Neil Etheridge, the first player of Southeast Asian descent to perform in England's top flight.

• SPORTS

  Gloomy times at the Stadium of Light

  Sports, Nobby Piles, Published on 28/04/2018

  » For a football team once dubbed the "Bank of England Club", Sunderland have fallen on very hard times, suffering their second successive relegation last week and dropping to the third tier for only the second time in their 130-year history.

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