http://www.sportwithoutspin.com Rumour-busting, chat-spotting, plain-talking sport Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:03:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Just because we happened to run into the following story, a new feature emerges. Lest we ever forget the sillier things that people said, here's the expert analysis of Mark Lawrenson in the Mirror, August 16th 2008: Big Phil will bring Chelsea the title - and entertain along the way Phil Scolari ... http://www.sportwithoutspin.com/2010/06/10/good-call-mark-lawrenson/ [caption id="attachment_1803" align="alignright" width="150" caption="A Scolari special!"][/caption] What a difference a year makes. This time last year Big Phil Scolari had just been confirmed as Chelsea manager despite still being Portugal manager, and the newspapers were in fantasy land imagining what sort of flair dream team he would put together with ... http://www.sportwithoutspin.com/2009/06/13/on-this-day-in-transfer-gossip-history-june-13-2008/ [caption id="attachment_1758" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Scolari - Photo toksuede CCANCND"][/caption] Luiz Felipe Scolari has put an end to his time in England after signing an 18 month agreement to become the coach of Uzbeki side Bunyodkor. The highlights for him will include a campaign for glory in the Asian Champions League, the ... http://www.sportwithoutspin.com/2009/06/10/scolari-joins-bunyodkor-where-were-the-rumours/ [caption id="attachment_1691" align="alignright" width="150" caption="QPR Logo - courtesy of Wikipedia"][/caption] Congratulations to Jim Magilton for landing the QPR job. You might think it's not much of an achievement given that loads of people have done it recently, but on the other hand, it's impressive given the number of candidates apparently on ... http://www.sportwithoutspin.com/2009/06/04/jim-magilton-the-appointment-everyone-saw-coming/ [caption id="attachment_1643" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Scolari - not coming to the Bridge - Photo Jose Cruz CCA"][/caption] The Chief Sports Writer at the Sun, Steven Howard, concludes his piece on Carlo Ancelotti's arrival to Stamford Bridge yesterday with the prescient words: The Italian, though, has a real job on his hands. And an ... http://www.sportwithoutspin.com/2009/06/02/managerial-speculation-what-a-difference-a-year-makes/ [caption id="attachment_1614" align="alignright" width="166" caption="Zhirkov - Photo Anton Volkov - Wikimedia Commons"][/caption] Just a small change of pace in the Daily Mail which we noticed while looking for the details of their £100m transfer budget, but what a difference three days can make. According to a Russian tabloid by the name of Tvoi ... http://www.sportwithoutspin.com/2009/06/01/the-daily-mail-scales-back-the-zhirkov-to-chelsea-scoop/ [caption id="attachment_1028" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Luiz Felipe Scolari - still out of work - Photo Jose Cruz CCA Brazil"][/caption] When our website was founded, it was in no small part the fruit of ludicrous speculation - and there are few stories which stood up as little as the following effort from football ... http://www.sportwithoutspin.com/2009/04/27/risible-rumour-of-the-day-whos-the-spoilers-mole-scolari-to-manchester-city/ We spend so much time on Sport without Spin chiding the efforts of commentators and experts that we thought it might be fun to take a quick pulse of the people's thoughts on the major sporting issues - a reminder, if you will, that no matter how big the issues are, ... http://www.sportwithoutspin.com/2009/04/23/the-voice-of-the-public-informed-debate-on-the-big-issues/ [caption id="attachment_850" align="alignright" width="150" caption="See you at Loftus - photo Ricardo Stuckert CCA Brazil"][/caption] When the club was bought by Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone in August 2007, QPR supporters might have hoped that whatever else the multi-millionaires did, they might see an upturn in their fortunes. In the event, the ... http://www.sportwithoutspin.com/2009/04/17/the-qpr-managerial-speculation-fantasy-land/ When Hiddink isn't busy being linked to members of his Russian side without a transfer window in which to buy them, he's been occupied this week with training, and motivating his Chelsea side once more. The good news for the Blues, is that the positive noises are already emerging from ... http://www.sportwithoutspin.com/2009/02/19/hiddink-training-just-the-tonic-again/