In a move that came as a surprise to nobody in football, Chelsea yesterday rewarded manager Avram Grant for getting them within a goalpost's width of their first European Cup by terminating his contract. According to a statement released on the club's website Saturday afternoon, the Israeli coach, and sometime rodent disturber, was dismissed following a series of meetings over the past two days. Peter Kenyon prefigured the decision earlier in the week, when......

Vindication finally came to Avram Grant last night. The lugubrious Chelsea manager (and sometime Dangermouse nemesis) achieved what his beloved predecessor never could: he smuggled his side into a European cup final. Long derided by fans, and perennially in danger of being chopped by Chelsea paterfamilias Roman Abramovich, Grant suddenly finds himself with the chance of snatching a historic Prem and Champions League double from under the whiskers of Manchester United. And in a......

The world of English football wobbled a few degrees off its axis yesterday when a club not called Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United or Liverpool won a major trophy. This hadn't happened for four years, since Middlesbrough were victorious in the Football League Cup final against Bolton, but Jonathan Woodgate's one-two with Petr Cech ensured that Tottenham Hotspur would claim their first proper silverware since they won the same competition in 1999 under the stewardship......

As the repercussions continue around the Premiership's shock announcement that it was going to take its brand of football around the world in a weekend, its chief executive Richard Scudamore is determined that the plan should survive in some way, shape or form. As we mentioned last week, FIFA's regional associations and its president Sepp Blatter himself have come out in opposition to the idea of our league matches encroaching on their territories at......

Last October's clash between the Miami Dolphins and Superbowl contenders the New York Giants at Wembley was obviously considered a success as the NFL's commissioner, Roger Goodell, has announced that another regular season encounter will take place on our shores in the autumn... but not necessarily at Wembley, or even in London. Goodell said: The game in London was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the entire 2007 season. The fan interest was tremendous.......

Imagine, if you will, the 'real-life' equivalent of the footballer's 'come and get me' plea to the media..... You're doing very well in your current job, but you can't help but think that you'd be doing even better working for this other organisation, in a more lucrative and high-profile role. This other organisation isn't actually advertising any vacancies at the moment, but you've heard that they might be looking and dammit, you just know......

It's entirely in the nature of ducks that they can fly under the radar, but only in fairy tales do kings arrive unannounced. Nevertheless, even those who would count themselves fans of ice hockey may be surprised to learn that the O2 Arena this weekend hosts not just one, but two clashes between a pair of North American professional teams. And not just a pre-season slapabout, mind you. These are the opening fixtures of......

Yesterday we began giving you our thoughts on value-for-money selections for your Premiership fantasy football teams as you take the plunge entering Londonist's league (code number: 319926-64249) or one of the countless others on offer with the 2007/8 season getting underway this weekend. In the second and final instalment of our musings on the subject we'll soon tackle the remaining London teams, followed by those from around the country, but first, as promised in......

Italian goalscoring star Cristiano Lucarelli (left of picture) told a packed University College London lecture theatre last night that his country's footballing culture had something to learn from the English and that given a choice of where he could play, "If I had supernatural powers I would take Livorno and put it in England!". Lucarelli, a totem for both his home town and their football team as well as a passionate socialist, was speaking......

After two successful public test events the new Wembley has been granted its test certificate by Brent Council and the FA has wasted no time in announcing the stadium as the venue for May 19th's FA Cup Final which could yet feature the dream final of Chelsea v Watford, though it might just as well see Blackburn facing Manchester United. The FA also confirmed that the players of Stevenage Borough and Kidderminster Harriers (FA......

...Arsenal will even throw in a football match for free! Seriously, though, tonight represents an excellent opportunity for those who can't normally get a ticket to watch Arsene's finest, but would love to have a butcher's around their new stadium and didn't fancy forking out over £50 to watch Portugal beat Brazil the other week. Arsenal host Cardiff City tonight in an FA Youth Cup quarter final which might typically have been held at......

Yesterday we said: West Ham’s new owners are playing two hands. If they stay in the Premiership, fine and dandy, but if not there’s the possibility of moving into the Olympic stadium in a few years which might allow the lucrative sale of their existing ground. Only a few hours afterwards, faced with relegation and ejection from the Premiership "spaceship bound for Planet Megabucks", they showed the first of their cards in ruthlessly dismissing......

QPR 1 Sunderland 2 Loftus Road Tuesday 28th November, 2006 Tuesday night in Shepherd's Bush saw a duel between two recently installed Championship managers dealing with the burden of great expectations. Former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland superstar Roy Keane had been in charge at Sunderland for exactly three months, working to regain the fanatically supported club’s place in the Premiership, while ex-QPR and England midfielder Gregory had eased Rangers’ relegation worries with......

Ah, the autumn of 2003, with imitation Russian hats for sale on Fulham Broadway amidst gathering hope that plucky “Chelski”, bankrolled by glamorous Russian gazillionaire Roman Abramovich, were going finally to break open the Arsenal – Manchester United deadlock. In the three years since then the loudest criticism the Chelsea owner has had to endure has been that the traditional big boys can’t keep up. A few voices have stubbornly alleged darkness in Abramovich’s......

The “Group of Death” without which no modern world cup would be complete is definitely this one. Groups A and B are actually two of the three weakest (no prizes for guessing that Germany’s group is the feeblest of the lot), but this one… well, let’s just say we wouldn’t be tuning in anticipating spectacular all round entertainment if we were you. What really makes this group stand out is a collection of defences......

Too right, Matt, who left that pertinent post-match comment on our fearless forecast of a 1-0 cup final victory for West Ham. Before Saturday the FA's showpiece event really did feature an average of 2.1 goals per match. This one had more than that in outrageous collector's items alone, the most score-happy final since Crystal Palace and Manchester United also shared six in 1990. In those days at least they had the dignity of......

Is the health and welfare of Manchester United's team more important than your own? Well, we know of a few misguided folks who might answer yes, but that's not the point. In today's Guardian Janet Smith, author of Liquid Assets, offers the information that whilst Man Utd Ltd Inc or whatever they are these days was recently awarded £30, 000 to Improve the health of its staff from Sport England - those nice folks......

On Saturday afternoon the whole nation, while not wishing injury on anyone, might have breathed a sigh of relief that the most goal-shy, undisciplined striker of England’s world cup qualifying campaign was unlikely to play more than a cameo role in this summer’s finals tournament. Instead the reaction has been more what you’d expect if the government announced all English telephone codes were changing at the end of the week. Such is the importance......

Congratulations to Dennis Bergkamp on his eleven years of service at Highbury, which he crowned with a trademark goal in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, much to the delight of season-ticket holder Elaine James, revealed by Match of the Day 2 on Sunday night as the source of the “Highbury scream” which has punctuated so many moments of goalmouth action at the famous stadium over the years. Elaine will be......

There are only two fixtures involving London’s professional clubs this week and neither of them are taking place in the capital, but both have much hanging on them. Arsenal travel to Turin with that all-important 2-0 lead to face Juventus for a place in the Champions League semi-finals, while on Friday evening Crystal Palace continue their improbable late dash for automatic promotion to the Premiership with an away clash at Leicester City knowing that......

Barring emergencies, Football League managers will now have to make do with what they’ve got for the rest of the season as the deadline for loan signings passed yesterday. Only a few London clubs were at the last minute bargain counter and by far the most well-known player involved was 36 year old former England international Paul Warhurst who’ll be spending the rest of the season trying to help Barnet secure their place in......

A draw seems fair. Barcelona deserved to beat Chelsea and Arsenal deserved their victory over Los Galácticos. Honours even then. A balance is maintained. There is the feeling that London's chances of claiming its first European Cup might have disappeared with Chelsea exiting the tournament, as one might argue that they possessed all the nececessary tools to progress to the Final and persevere. But then the optimist will look at the way the Arsenal......

Still waters run deep is how the proverb goes. And there are few athletes as still, as impenetrable as Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell. Here is a man who has spent the last thirteen years defying lazy footballer stereotypes whilst going about his business of de-constructing attacking moves with a level of stealth that is almost perverse in its ability to go unnoticed. All the while his sphinx-like visage and ice-cold demeanour have combined to keep......

Association football was once again dominated by clubs from the Midlands and the North in 1905, with Newcastle United winning the League Championship and Aston Villa winning their fourth FA Cup. The Capital's sole representatives in Divsion 1, Woolwich Arsenal, could only finish tenth last season and have started the new campaign in equally dismal form, including a 5-1 reverse against Derby County. These are unsettling times at the Manor Ground, with persistent rumours......

What a draw! After a consistently dull group stage (of which the only real highlight was the sad demise of Manchester United), the Champions League sprang into life today with the draw for the last 16. Arsenal will take on Real Madrid and Chelsea, surprise surprise, have drawn Barcelona again. Seeing as London is still waiting for one of its own to lay their hands on the big-eared cup, it might have been nicer......

Disturbing news from The Times Sport's 'Insider', Ashling O' Connor, who reports today that Charing Cross Road bookseller Sportspages has gone into administration . The shop, founded by Kiwi John Gaustad in 1985, is a mecca for all sports fans that contains more than 10,000 titles on all sports bright and beautiful and all games great and small. Its loss would be a great trauma, especially to those Londoners who knew exactly where to......

No matter what you may think of George Best as a human being, do not underestimate the fact that to a great many members of this country's post-war generation, he really mattered. For those of us who are not old enough to have seen Best in his (all too brief) prime, our memories of the man will have been shaped by tabloid headlines and that shambolic appearance on Wogan. So it is understandable if......

We're not sure if you've noticed (probably not, you're no doubt more interested in FILMS or THEATRE or POLITICS and all that rubbish, well it's your loss, because as any fule knos, SPORT is really IMPORTANT) but we are actually very poor at predicting the results for the Premiership's London clubs evey weekend. We've been compiling the stats (stats are IMPORTANT as well), and it appears that we have a success rate of 37.5%.......

Weirdly enough there's two articles in today's papers about how Britain is "in the grip" of an ice skating craze. In the Independent Jonathan Brown and Lucy Phillips are reporting on the "ice phenomenon" by conjuring up images from literary masterpieces such as Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, ("the author uses the love-struck Levin's prowess as a skater as a metaphor for passion as he vainly attempts to woo Kitty at Moscow's Zoological Gardens,") and Tom's......

It has been a fine week indeed for London’s Champion League representatives, with both Arsenal and Chelsea sitting pretty at the top of their groups and the prospect of qualification for the knock-out phase seemingly secure. Chelsea seem to be repeating exactly the same pattern as last season with a sequence of dour, catenaccio-style displays now giving away to rampant attack down the wings and three or four goal thrashings. For the time being,......