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• Italian says Sunderland would have gone down with O'Neill • Notts County racism probe; Monaco to sue league I saved Sunderland, says disciplinarian Di Canio Paolo Di Canio is convinced Sunderland would have been relegated had he not replaced Martin O'Neill at the end of March and…

Burke and Hare – murderers? Don't be so callous | Kevin McKenna

It could be time to rehabilitate of some of Scotland's more colourful characters There has been a great deal of misunderstanding about Alice Cooper's controversial song I Love the Dead , the last track on his classic 1973 Billion Dollar Babies album. Many have dismissed it merely as an…

Trailer Trash Cannes

Jason Solomons meets rising star Marine Vacth and Pelé, Terence Davies signs up Cynthia Nixon – plus the latest gossip from Cannes Send the Marine! Cannes has a great tradition of introducing new sex symbols to the world. Following in the dainty footsteps of Bardot, Deneuve and Paradis…

José Mourinho: second coming of the Special One? | profile

He is the football manager as celebrity, whose appeal goes way beyond the game. With a return to Chelsea likely, after a turbulent time in Madrid, can he still wield his charismatic magic? Barring any unforeseen twists in the tale, José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix will soon…

Premier League 2012-2013: The season that was – in bite-sized chunks

In an era of 24-hour rolling sports news, as Arsenal's manager Arsène Wenger says: "We live in a world that needs a drama every day." There has been enough to keep Jim White of Sky Sports News shouting at the top of his voice all season long, little of it driven by pious recommendations last…

'I'm like a maestro from the Boston Philharmonic': The best quotes of the season

"I certainly don't have any plans at the moment to walk away from what I believe will be something special and worth being around for all to see."

All eyes on Newcastle and Sunderland - the opponents with nothing to lose but their integrity

A united front in the North-east of England. That alone feels like something worth talking about. Two cities with a legendary rivalry will decide whether Arsène Wenger, for the first time in 16 seasons, fails to take Arsenal into the Champions' League as Tottenham pip them for fourth place in…

Another nail-biting finish for unlucky Tottenham as Arsenal look to secure Champions League place on last day

At White Hart Lane this afternoon, the home dressing-room will be no place for doubters or pessimists. For the fifth time in recent seasons, Tottenham go into the final week of the season with ambitions of reaching the Champions' League, but only once so far have they played in it. If a fatalistic…

Manuel Pellegrini has pedigree to be success story at Manchester City

It was 35 years ago that a rather bewildered Osvaldo Ardiles, grateful to have brought his fellow Argentinian World Cup-winner Ricky Villa with him, arrived in north London as the first of the foreign superstars who would gravitate to English football. Had the pair of them failed, who knows how…