Jim White

Rafael Benitez will keep his job at Liverpool. It has been made clear that despite his failure to steer the club through the group stage of the Champions League, there is absolutely no thought of his departure at Anfield. Indeed it would be an act of folly to fire him...More

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Now it has become political. Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen has asked President Nicolas Sarkozy to step in to insist the World Cup qualifier between their two nations be replayed. Mr Cowen has talked of the moral imperative, of the need to demonstrate the primacy of the rule book, of...More

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It is an interesting assessment of their position that France are portrayed by many in the English media as a bunch of hopeless under-achievers. That would be the France who reached the last World Cup final and - while admittedly faring poorly in Portugal - at least qualified for Euro...More

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As team news goes, it was not an announcement that was likely to stir the blood of many a football follower. Apparently Mr A Suit has replaced Lord Blazer on the FA's World Cup advisory steering committee, while Sir Starched Collar has ceased to be an Executive Member of the...More

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Just as England arrive in Doha to play Brazil in a game Sir Alex Ferguson can hardly wait to watch, Manchester City are heading round the Gulf for a touch of Middle Eastern sun this week. They have a series of engagements in Abu Dhabi, where they are being feted...More

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Had he been around the American Midwest in the pioneering days of the nineteenth century, Bolton's chairman Phil Gartside would have no doubt appointed himself commander of any wagon trains heading towards the Californian gold rush. At the first hint of a problem - a wheel nut working loose, a horse going lame, a...More

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Last night Didier Drogba showed what an asset he is to Chelsea. Currently the second best centre-forward in the world after Fernando Torres, he was magnificent away at Atletico Madrid, personally securing Chelsea's qualification to the knock-out stage of the Champions League with two typically robust, muscular goals. It was...More

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Marlon King claimed in court this week that he hadn't assaulted a 20-year-old student in a night club, breaking her nose after she rejected his clumsy advances. It was, he said, a case of mistaken identity. If so, it wasn't the first time he had been involved in a such...More

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Assuming that the game does not succumb to the sort of contagion of hacking and spitting not seen outside the movie 28 Days Later, Chelsea will take on Bolton Wanderers in the Carling Cup tonight. The home side will be fortified against the arrival of the swine flu in the Bolton baggage...More

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