Matt Dickinson

London

Senior Sports Writer at The Times

Senior Sports Writer at The Sun

Articles

Meghan and Harry 'betrayed Megxit deal & have caused everlasting damage to Royals', blasts Tom Bower

Jul 25, 2024 | thesun.co.uk | Matt Dickinson

MEGHAN and Harry "betrayed the Megxit deal and have caused everlasting damage to the Royals," Tom Bower has blasted. Royal biographer Bower said the Sussexes have used their royal titles to get publicity despite saying they just wanted privacy. Speaking on The Sun's Royal Exclusive show, he said Harry and Meghan have been "treacherous and disloyal". Bower said: "They betrayed and ignored the agreement that they settled on.
Meghan and Harry 'betrayed Megxit deal & have caused everlasting damage to Royals', blasts Tom Bower

Jul 25, 2024 | the-sun.com | Matt Dickinson

MEGHAN and Harry "betrayed the Megxit deal and have caused everlasting damage to the Royals," Tom Bower has blasted. Royal biographer Bower said the Sussexes have used their royal titles to get publicity despite saying they just wanted privacy. Speaking on The Sun's Royal Exclusive show, he said Harry and Meghan have been "treacherous and disloyal". Bower said: "They betrayed and ignored the agreement that they settled on.
From José in a basket to day with Cruyff - after 26 years I’m signing off

May 23, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Matt Dickinson

Mr Porter was — is — one of those teachers whose passion was unmistakable even for the most recalcitrant pupil. In his English classes, plays were to be performed with feeling, language savoured, novels brought to vivid life. So when, what can both feel like yesterday and 100 years ago, Mr Porter — or Tony, as I am allowed to call him these days — suggested that I should involve myself in the school magazine, the offer came with irresistible enthusiasm.
From José in a basket to day with Cruyff - after 26 years I’m signing off

May 23, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Matt Dickinson

Mr Porter was — is — one of those teachers whose passion was unmistakable even for the most recalcitrant pupil. In his English classes, plays were to be performed with feeling, language savoured, novels brought to vivid life. So when, what can both feel like yesterday and 100 years ago, Mr Porter — or Tony, as I am allowed to call him these days — suggested that I should involve myself in the school magazine, the offer came with irresistible enthusiasm.
What I learnt from my night inside VAR’s nerve centre

May 20, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Matt Dickinson

It is strange to stand in the video assistant referees’ (VAR) room on a match night thinking that this glass room on a business estate, with a handful of people going about their work with quiet earnestness, is the cause of so much emotional turmoil.
Only intervene if decision is clearly wrong, VARs to be told

May 20, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Matt Dickinson

VAR officials are set to be told to intervene in Premier League matches only when a referee is “clearly wrong” next season among a number of changes intended to speed up the controversial system and ensure interference only for unarguable errors. A series of adjustments are being planned in the firm belief at the Premier League and PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited), the referees’ organisation, that VAR needs to be improved rather than scrapped.
Why Xabi Alonso is greatest coaching sensation since José Mourinho

May 16, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Matt Dickinson

Istanbul airport, May 26, 2005. The flight back home with the Liverpool squad is bedlam, befitting the bonkers night before. Normally the media are shoved at the back of the plane but overjoyed, hungover players and their partners are sprawled all over the place. Last to board, I cannot find anywhere to sit. As I walk up and down the aisle, everyone looks the other way. No one wants to have to squeeze up next to a pesky reporter.
Brendan Foster’s next big idea: make Lake District trail venue for all

May 9, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Matt Dickinson

Sir Brendan Foster was walking along the famous Camino de Santiago trail in northern Spain when he came across a Belgian couple. “The old man was into running and recognised me so we ended up talking,” Foster recalls. “He was 85.
How Man United won the Treble - by David Beckham and Gary Neville

May 9, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Matt Dickinson

Coming out of a pub recently, David Beckham saw a note on his car windscreen. “I thought I’d got a parking ticket,” he says. Opening it up, he found a handwritten message from an England fan who had watched the Netflix Beckham series and been drawn back to the tumult of 1998: Beckham’s sending off in the World Cup and all the poison that followed. “It said, ‘We are really sorry how we treated you.’ No name or address, just from an England fan who had been involved in that stuff at the time.
When Vincent Kompany abuses the referee we really are at rock bottom

Apr 25, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Matt Dickinson

A book needs throwing at Nottingham Forest, but how hard? What is an appropriate sanction when a club, with reckless disregard for the consequences, accuses a senior official of bias? The Premier League and the FA will have to come up with an answer. And the rest of us will be left wondering if, for a club with a turnover of more than £150million, even a £1million fine will make any difference?