Sport

Welcome to the 2017/18 Fantasy Football Blog! It’s a time of great excitement in offices and WhatsApp groups as teams are assembled with great care and attention, usually to be discarded by mid-September. I enjoy fantasy football, but I don’t enjoy the nonsense that comes with it. Triple captains. Bench boosts. Wildcards. All a load of bollocks. What if you tried to play the game more along the lines of real life? My intention this season is to pick a...

We’re so close! The start of the 2017/18 Premier League season is a mere two days away, when Arsenal play Leicester on Friday. For Spurs, it’s a trip to St James’s Park on Sunday. How hyped am I? Not very. This summer is shaping up to be something of a disaster. As is typical of Daniel Levy, we seem to be waiting until the dying days of the transfer window to make any moves in the market, in an effort...

By Chris Woods Wealdstone were dominant but made hard work of finding the net in a highly entertaining 2-1 victory over Concord Rangers in the league opener at Grosvenor Vale on Saturday. The Stones could and should have added three or four more to Elliot Benyon’s 25th minute opener and were pegged back immediately into the second half courtesy of Jordan Cox’s header. But Dan Fitchett ensured that the home side deservedly claimed all three points on 57 minutes after...

A non-league football team claimed to have clubbed together to sign the world's most expensive player Neymar Jr - by raising season ticket prices to almost £3m. North Ferriby United sparked a hilarious reaction on social media as they photoshopped Brazilian striker Neymar, 25, on to their very own green and white-striped kit. The Villagers, who were relegated from the National League last season, then craftily added that their season tickets had increased to an eye-watering £2,845,212. The price of...

Barcelona have given Neymar permission to leave after Paris St-Germain tabled a lucrative 222m euro (£198m) deal for the forward. The Brazilian told his team-mates at training on Wednesday that he wanted to leave the Spanish club and was then given permission by Barca manager Ernesto Valverde not to train and to "sort out his future". A release clause in his contract set at 222m euros has freed up his options to talk to other teams, which PSG are understood to be...

Wealdstone FC are calling on supporters to contribute £60 "in the name of their favourite Stones player" to fund player recruitment for the 2017/18 season. The innovative new fundraising scheme will enable fans and businesses to donate a seat in the new stand for a minimum contribution of £60 in the name of their favourite player past or present as part of the celebration of the construction of the new facility at The Vale. Fans can donate as many seats as...

Go to CrossFit? Bored everyone you know because you talk about CrossFit all the time? Q: How do you know that someone does CrossFit?  A: They’ll tell you all about it. I would like to apologise to my friends and family (especially my wife), the supermarket Deli attendant, and that bloke at the train station, who I’ve bored to death talking about CrossFit. The thing is, I’m not really sorry. It's just that I have exhausted all other audiences. But...

Grays is the largest town in the borough and unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex.The town is approximately 22 miles to the east of London on the north bank of the Thames.The area is a mix of rural and industrial with the Port of Tilbury being probably the best known employer together with a number of logistical companies and the huge Lakeside retail outlet at West Thurrock. The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890 before merging with Southern...

As if the Premier League's coffers hadn't been bolstered enough by Sky and BT bidding wars, a new player could be in the market come 2018 when the rights to air games are next up. The previous deal secured in 2015 led to a £5 billion cash injection into the EPL which inflated player's pay packets and led to TV subscribers having to pay two subscriptions to keep up with matches. But rather than alienating other bidders and triggering a...