Ed Warner: English football might need multi-club question July 13, 2023 Football may be a big industry, but it still operates like a village. Everyone knows everyone else – and their business – and is still prepared to trust their creditworthiness, often in spite of abundant evidence to the contrary. Much like ticks available at the local store or the chalkboard of debt behind the bar [...]
Ed Warner: Thompson’s ECB era will always have report in its shadow July 6, 2023 Ed Warner writes about ECB chair Richard Thompson and how his tenure – much like Seb Coe’s – will always have its connotations despite best efforts. Through the cloud of orange powder, I couldn’t check the privilege of the protester hauled off the Lord’s pitch by Jonny Bairstow last week to see whether he is [...]
Ed Warner: When risk in sport is a smart choice June 29, 2023 This week columnist Ed Warner looks at risk in sport and how sometimes, such as in Bazball in cricket, it can be the smartest choice. A team of sub-10 second sprinters can be beaten to 4x100m relay gold by a quartet who have never broken that magic barrier. The trick is risk management in the [...]
Ed Warner: Rugby, boxing, netball, Para sport – what should Saudi Arabia buy next? June 22, 2023 Challenge accepted! A reader last week asked what the most investable sports worldwide are from the perspective of a sovereign wealth fund such as Saudi Arabia’s PIF. He had rugby union in mind, but wanted a long train journey to dredge up others. A return trip on Avanti West Coast to the first Ashes Test [...]
Ed Warner: What’s next for the losers in the rush to embrace sovereign wealth? June 15, 2023 CityAM columnist Ed Warner discusses the recent LIV Golf merger, the Saudi Arabia PIF deal and what comes next for the losers in the rush to embrace sovereign wealth. Elite runners focus on every step of every run. Us mere mortals seek displacement tricks to block out the pain. And so I found myself [...]
Ed Warner: Remove Fifa toxicity to get Women’s World Cup on the box June 8, 2023 When a global sporting event takes place without TV coverage, does it really happen? Or at least, does it really matter? That question should be front of mind for all the protagonists in the standoff over broadcast rights for next month’s Fifa Women’s World Cup. Blank screens are looming larger with every passing day in [...]
Ed Warner: Football should offer players amnesty in wake of Ivan Toney betting ban May 25, 2023 This week Ed Warner examines what Ivan Toney’s betting ban means for football, the eye-watering cost of tickets for the Paris 2024 Olympics, and a nuanced take on the trans debate in sport. If you stick a betting company logo on a young man’s shirt, beam his image around the world for 90 minutes every [...]
‘It’s not hard to imagine a future where the IPL simply is cricket’ May 18, 2023 As the ICC is set to change the way it distributes revenue, with India getting a significant portion, Ed Warner states that it is not hard to imagine a world where the IPL simply is cricket. The venality and self-interest that drive decisions in international cricket have been so well known for so long that [...]
Ed Warner: Taking part is all well and good, but compelling sport is about winning May 11, 2023 “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part.” Really, Baron? That’s so 19th century! I’d love to hear the thoughts of a time-travelling Pierre de Coubertin in the Stade de France at Paris 2024, or perhaps in the stands at a Premier League football match, or ringside at a heavyweight [...]
Ed Warner: English cricket must accept that The Hundred is dead in the water May 4, 2023 England gave cricket to the world. It followed up with the generous present of T20. The Hundred, though, remains a gift unwrapped and a spurned England and Wales Cricket Board is now scrambling to secure its place in the crowded T20 world market. It’s not too melodramatic to say that the future of first class [...]
