The true extent of crisis club Portsmouth s financial problems was revealed when their debts were revealed to be around 120 million pounds (185 million dollars) over 40 million pounds more than previously estimated.

Bad enough in itself, the chaos surrounding the south coast club s accounts was highlighted by the extraordinary disclosure they owe Tottenham Hotspur a million pounds over the sale of Asmir Begovic even though the goalkeeper has never played for the north London club.

Begovic was linked with Tottenham in January but instead signed for another English Premier League side in Stoke City.

However, Pompey have been left owing Spurs a one million pounds sell-on fee.

Portsmouth, bottom of the Premier League and already relegated after being deducte…

Football has a pedigree dating back to mediaeval England, when villagers hoofed an inflated pig s bladder around a muddy paddock.

Today, though, the 22 players on the pitch are supported by a ghost squad of scientists drawing on biomechanics, physics, nutrition, psychology and other performance-enhancing disciplines.

Here are some examples of how science has helped to change football, answer riddles and end hearsay.

FAKING A FALL: How can you tell when a player is diving? One telltale is the archer s bow, says British psychologist Paul Morris. This is when a player falls with both arms in the air, with open palms, chest thrust out and legs bent at the knee, like a sprung archery bow. This occurs in many dives but biomechanically it does not occur in a natural fa…

Premier League management jobs are coming about too easily for foreign managers, according to Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho is in his second spell at Stamford Bridge after managing the reigning champions from 2004-2007 before returning in 2013 and guiding the club to Premier League glory last season.

The Portuguese boss faces Italian manager Claudio Ranieri on Monday when Chelsea travel to Leicester City s King Power Stadium and he spoke about the high number of foreign managers in the league.

I think the Premier League was quite a closed space for foreign managers and to come here was not easy, Mourinho said.

To come here, you had to do something serious. I think I did enough to deserve to be here. You come to a country number one in European…

Paris Saint Germain have again been linked with a move from Chelsea defender David Luiz, .

Both Bayern Munich and Barcelona have already expressed an interest in signing the Brazil international, who Chelsea would be willing to sell for around £35m.

The Ligue 1 Champions are keen to pair Luiz up with his international teammate Thiago Silava, while fellow Brazilian Alex, who was at Stamford Bridge between 2007 and 2011, is hoping for a new contract with Laurent Blanc’s side amid talk of a move to Napoli.

Luiz moved to West London three years ago, and has made 133 club appearances in all competitions, scoring twelve goals.

In his three years with the Blues, he has won the both the Europa League and the Champions League as well as the FA Cup, in whic…

James Rodriguez really wants to leave Real Madrid this summer. The Colombian star has not been part of the club s plans for the past few years and his playing time when he was at the club was not satisfactory. He also had spent some time on loan at Bayern Munich, but now he wants to leave the 13-time European champions for good.

According to El Pais, he will definitely be playing for another club after this summer. Rodriguez made just eight La Liga appearances this season and it is obvious he is not in Zinedine Zidane s plans for the remainder of the 2019-20 campaign. But where will Rodriguez go then?

Some previous reports have stated that Rodriguez is close to make a move cross town, to Atletico Madrid, as some media even side things are almost done. He was also linked…

Erling Haaland will remain at Borussia Dortmund regardless of where they finish in the Bundesliga this season, according to sporting director Michael Zorc.

Dortmund are in danger of missing out on Champions League qualification from the Bundesliga and it has been suggested that could result in Haaland moving on.

The 20-year-old has scored 51 goals and supplied 11 assists in 55 appearances in all competitions since arriving at Dortmund from Salzburg in January 2020.

Those goalscoring exploits have seen him linked with a host of major European clubs, including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain to name but a few.

He was unable to find the back of the net in Wednesday s 2-0 victory over Union Berlin, with Marco…

Premier League clubs continue to defy the global recession as a new report shows revenue from the top 20 teams in England reached a record 1.981 billion pounds in 2008-09 and is likely to have exceeded two billion pounds in the 2009-10 season.

According to the latest Annual Review of Football Finance from the Sport Business Group at Deloitte, new broadcast contracts will drive a further increase in revenues to 2.2 billion pounds in 2010-11.

In total, the 92 English clubs saw revenues increase by 100 million pounds to over 2.5 billion pounds in the 2008-09 season.

Dan Jones, Partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: Despite the sharp economic contraction, Premier League clubs were able to increase revenues by three percent in 2008-09.

Whils…

Germany midfielder Thomas Mueller is the favourite to be voted the best young player at South Africa 2010 but has admitted winning the World Cup would have been a better prize.

The 20-year-old has been short-listed by a FIFA committee for the award won by team-mate Lukas Podolski four years ago along with Mexico s Giovani Dos Santos and Ghana s Andre Ayew.

After Germany were beaten 1-0 by Spain in Wednesday s semi-final, Mueller says his side must now win Saturday s third place play-off against Uruguay in Port Elizabeth to finish their World Cup on a high.

I am delighted to be on that list, but winning the World Cup would have been a nicer reward, said the Bayern Munich midfielder.

I think we need a win to leave South Africa on a high.

Having …

Milan striker Mario Balotelli has rubbished suggestions he made a joke at Real Madrid s expense by suggesting the club are inferior to Spanish rivals Barcelona.

The Italy international, who arrived back at San Siro on a season-long loan from Milan in August, is reported to have made a dig in Real s direction by suggesting Barca used the Santiago Bernabeu for training. 

Barcelona is the only club to have two stadiums, Camp Nou for matches and Bernabeu for training, he is reported to have said.

However, Balotelli, so often outspoken during spells with Inter, Manchester City and Liverpool, took to Twitter to deny the joke, accusing people of making it up.

Just to let you people know.., he posted.  Stop putting stupid words in my mouth! I never mad…

Crystal Palace F.C. winger Yannick Bolasie has committed his future to the club by signing a new long-term deal at Selhurst Park.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo international, who joined the Eagles from Bristol City for an undisclosed fee in the summer of 2012, has scored seven goals in 119 appearances in all competitions for the club.

Bolasie, 26, was heavily linked with a exit from Selhurst Park this summer, with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur among the reported suitors.

However, Palace manager Alan Pardew has insisted that no bid came in for the 26-year-old during the summer transfer window.

This is a good news story for the club, to secure this guy, Pardew told the club s official website. Not only is he an exciting player who ou…