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0 View comments In a more stable era, Portsmouth's 2-0 win over Coventry in the battle of the financial basket cases in League One might have given them a glimmer of hope that they could yet escape relegation. And Coventry, despite a defeat meted out via goals from Jed Wallace and Patrick Agyemang, might reasonably still be hoping to bag a place in the play-offs and a shot at an immediate return to the Championship after relegation last spring. But this is no stable era. Coventry are pondering docked points - and no certainty where their team will even be playing their next home game. Play up Pompey: Portsmouth's Jed Wallace celebrates scoring the opener against Coventry Their owners Sisu, a hedge fund, have upped sticks and left the Ricoh Arena they rent. And it is extremely likely that Pompey, in administration for 13 months and counting, will be relegated anyway, consigned to fourth-tier football for the first time since 1980. And that is their

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a patent dispute concerning Medtronic Inc over medical devices it manufactures that give the heart electrical jolts when it fails to pump blood properly. Medtronic wants the Supreme Court to reverse an appeals court finding that it had the burden of showing that it was not infringing on patents owned by Mirowski Family Ventures LLC and licensed exclusively to Boston Scientific Corp.   The legal battle concerns devices, called cardiac resynchronization therapy, or CRT, which monitors the heart to ensure that the left and right ventricles contract at the same time. If they do not, electrical shocks restore a correct rhythm. The companies have an agreement in which Medtronic licensed the patents in question and agreed to pay royalties on new products if they were found to be using the patents. In 2007, Mirowski Family Ventures claimed Medtronic was developing new products that would justify royalty payments. Medtronic filed suit, seeki

0 shares 5 View comments Premier League footballers have invested an estimated £1billion over the past decade in ‘highly complex’ financial schemes that have left many bankrupt or with severe money headaches, according to a consultant who tries to recover fortunes lost as a result of mis-selling. Some of the most significant schemes are centred in the film industry and have been operated as legal tax avoidance tools. Big-name current and former footballers, including David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane, Emile Heskey, Frank Lampard, Robbie Savage, Jamie Carragher and Darius Vassell, are known to have invested in them, although there is no suggestion that any of these players have suffered problems. Star turn: David Beckham, a major investor in film industry schemes, meets young fans on a visit to China       More from Ni

16 shares 2 View comments Serious shortcomings in the way fake and rogue football agents are policed by the game’s authorities have been exposed after the Football Association were made aware of numerous players falling victim to hoaxers and losing out financially. The problem, ongoing and widespread, revolves around people pretending to be licensed agents and taking money from aspiring players, usually from abroad, to arrange trials at English clubs. The bogus agents thrive by building apparently authentic ‘profiles’ on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and on the business network, LinkedIn. Scammed: Guyana international Vurlon Mills was tricked by a pretend FIFA agent     More from Nick Harris...   Nick Harris: Murray and Co chase £1.5m as Wimbledon chiefs raise prize money to record £20m 20/04/13

European investigators have asked top trading houses Glencore, Vitol and Gunvor to help with a probe into oil price manipulation, while not suggesting they are under investigation, industry sources said on Monday. _0"> Last week, European Commission authorities raided the London bureau of pricing agency Platts and the offices of oil majors Statoil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP in the biggest cross-border action since the probe into rigging of Libor benchmark interest rates.   The Commission said it was concerned that companies, which it did not name, might have colluded in reporting prices to Platts to manipulate published assessments for oil, refined products and biofuels and may have prevented others from participating in the assessment process. "We have been asked to cooperate with the investigation and provide information, so far very general. But it was also made clear to us that we are not being investigated," a source at one of the big trading houses said. S

102 shares 5 View comments While the chaos at relegation-threatened Blackburn Rovers continues unabated amid a civil war between senior executives and reports that finance director Karen Silk has quit in desperation, Inside Sport can reveal that the Football Association have been investigating events at Ewood Park dating back more than two years. The FA's head of integrity, David Newton, is leading the investigation and documents seen by Inside Sport show he is looking at situations surrounding the takeover of Rovers in 2010 as well as control of the club since then and the involvement of agents and advisers. 'This is an ongoing matter,' said an FA source last week. Revolving door: Gary Bowyer is back in the manager's chair at Blackburn Meanwhile Silk, an experienced football executive who moved to Blackburn from Stoke in 2011, is claimed to have become exasperated with matters at the club, although a Rovers spokesman refused to comment on su

8 View comments Tiger Woods escaped expulsion from the Masters despite an illegal drop on Friday because golf’s rules provide a discretionary element over how such a violation is punished, according to a senior official. Woods took an improper drop on the 15th hole, two yards from where he should have dropped. But it was only the player’s own admission about this in his post-round press conference that alerted course officials. By then they had reviewed his drop and erroneously found nothing wrong with it. Controversy: Tiger Woods dropped the ball too far from the designated distance Ian Pattinson, who has acted as a rules official at more than 30 major championships, including all four majors, explained yesterday why Woods had not had special treatment in being allowed to play on.  ‘From a Rules of Golf perspective, the first issue is whether he dropped the ball as nearly as possible to the spot from which it was originally played,’ Pattinson says. ‘Tiger’s own

0 shares 1 View comments The prize pot at this summer’s Wimbledon championship is set to leap by 25 per cent to a record £20million after the All England Club bowed to demands from players that they needed a greater share of the tournament’s spoils. The Club will detail the hikes in pay on Tuesday, but Inside Sport understands that the singles champions will earn a whopping £1.5m each, a huge rise of £350,000 (or 30 per cent) on last year. Andy Murray will be among the favourites to lift the men’s title in SW19 and benefit from the prize increases which have been won via hard lobbying from top stars on behalf of all those on the pro circuit. Incentive: Wimbledon will raise their prize money to £20m with the singles champions earning £1.5m The extraordinary increases in pay will bring Wimbledon in line with the other Grand Slam events upping their prize funds in recent times — and further rises are on the cards. Wimbledon’s total prize fund of £16.06m in 2012, inc

20 View comments Ever heard of a chief executive who makes tea for senior staff, washes up the mugs afterwards and then stays late to drive the juniors home from the pub? Who never has a day off, always comforts you when you’re ill and won’t resign if the pressure gets too much? No, thought not. So my advice to any wife thinking of embracing the new trend of calling themselves ‘domestic CEOs’ is that they should be very wary indeed. According to new research, a staggering 93 per cent of women aged between 40 and 60 are domestic CEOs. That is to say, they take all or most of their family’s financial decisions, from buying a new TV to booking a holiday or choosing a car. Being 'CEO' at home is a thankless task that will drive frustrated alpha types to put terrifying pressures on themselves and their children Gone are the days when the little wife was forced to depend on a weekly allowance from her all-powerful husband: in 2012, she usually has access to all his

0 shares 184 View comments Morning sickness — in poor Kate’s case, an appallingly extreme version — is only the first indication of a shocking new reality that all parents must come to terms with: from now on, life’s no longer all about you. As far as the Duchess of Cambridge is concerned, I imagine this is a lesson that will come easily — for two reasons. The first is that, like most new mothers, she’ll find her new son or daughter is the most beautiful, fascinating and diverting baby ever to have existed. Giving: Kate has selflessly acceded to William's every wish, from wearing Diana's engagement ring to making Kensington Palace their permanent London home The second reason is that — unlike most new mothers — she’s already quite used to the concept of putting someone else first. Her life has revolved around William’s from the moment they started dating. When they began their relationship nine years ago, he was just 20 and painfully aware of his responsi

0 shares 95 View comments Even if you’d never heard of the King Edward VII Hospital before that infamous prank call, a quick look at its online brochure would have told you all about its self-belief and famous heritage. Established more than 100 years ago, it hand-picks its consultants, claims a zero rate of hospital-acquired MRSA infections, and offers all patients well-appointed private rooms with ensuite bathrooms. Of course, because the private hospital business is fiercely competitive, huge effort is exerted to recruit the best consultants and to offer a five-star service. Heritage: Established more than 100 years ago, the King Edward VII Hospital hand-picks its consultants and claims a zero rate of hospital-acquired MRSA infections But for the King Edward VII in Central London, there’s no doubt that what gives it the commercial edge is not its staff or the fine meals on offer, but its peerless royal connections. The Queen is not only patron but also a forme

0 shares 207 View comments Affectionate: Everything about David Beckham suggests he puts his family first Most women I know think David Beckham’s wonderful. Most men, on the other hand, don’t. They dismiss him as a thick, jumped-up footballer of fading talent and think the reason women like him is because we’re easily fooled. They’re wrong, of course. I admit the six-pack and the chiselled cheekbones are an enjoyable bonus, but they’re not what women find most attractive about him. No, the real reason most women like David Beckham, I suspect, is because he’s so obviously a very devoted father. Whether he’s crying over baby Harper (‘I can’t even look at her without welling up,’ he confessed shortly after her birth), playfully hurling his boys into the Malibu surf or giving them affectionate hugs at a baseball game, everything about him suggests he puts his family first. And although his wife Posh infuriates us — too thin, too pouty, and anyway, why on earth does sh

0 shares 50 View comments The most shocking detail to emerge from the terrible saga of Chris Huhne’s downfall is not that he lied for so long, or that he left his wife for another woman. No, the truly damning fact is that he was prepared in the end to gamble his relationship with his own son in order to save his career. As a parent, I can’t be the only one who read those devastating text messages between Huhne and his youngest son Peter, then just 18, and felt a mixture of sympathy and fury.  For what makes this sad story even worse is that Chris Huhne himself allowed those texts to go into the public domain — a decision that had nothing to do with a father’s love, and everything to do with the ambition of a supremely selfish man. Had Huhne pleaded guilty when he was charged, the text exchanges would never have been made public His son’s anger, despair and hate are visceral. ‘You disgust me,’ he says in one of his milder outbursts. Huhne’s replies, on the other h