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James Lawton: Memories of Thomson's valour live on at heart of Scottish game

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:35:44 GMT

Around the time Diego Maradona arrived in Glasgow about as amiably as a cornered wolverine – "I do not speak in English" he told a wildly optimistic radio man waving a mike over the heads of a police cordon – Scottish football was gathering in a large banqueting room to honour, with immense feeling and great dignity, the life of a rather different kind of footballer.

James Lawton: The Second Coming of Diego Maradona

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:15:56 GMT

Naturally, if Diego Maradona passes through the latest squall of the blood and tears that have accompanied all of his glory and his pain – a mere administrative dispute with his new employers, the Argentine Football Association – and appears at Hampden Park next week in the utterly improbable role of national team coach, he will receive absolute heroic status.

The Second Coming of Diego Maradona

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:15:56 GMT

James Lawton: McGuigan verdict of fight ‘from a distant planet’

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:52 GMT

You might say it is impertinent to question the boxing judgement of Barry McGuigan, the Clones Cyclone who flies straight into any serious assessment of British fighting's best post-war performers.

Calzaghe savours win laced with a warning

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:33:21 GMT

You could take your choice. Joe Calzaghe had brought to a superb climax his unbeaten career. Or he had raided another set of bones that had become too old, too frail, and, there is no other way of putting this, pitiful.

James Lawton: Calzaghe should beware the ageing warrior

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:00:54 GMT

In the meticulously planned career of Joe Calzaghe that is expected to reach a perfectly orchestrated climax at Madison Square Garden here tomorrow, only one possibility has been left to chance.

James Lawton: San Siro shine has gone for Mourinho as Chelsea sparkle

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:47 GMT

Jose Mourinho is feeling heat in Italy, more certainly, than at any point in his long and frequently orgiastic relationship with the English media.

James Lawton: Hamilton triumphs on critical day

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:37 GMT

Lewis Hamilton drove through all the doubts and the rainstorm to claim his place in history yesterday. He did it with a marvellous self-control that took us to the very heart of a sport that for so long broke so many brilliant men, if it did not kill them.

James Lawton: Roy Keane needs to take a stand against yobs

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:12:22 GMT

So the beast has broken cover again. The stench of yob anarchy is back on the terraces and the field.

James Lawton: Honest Barton can win respect

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:00:26 GMT

Words are just words but then, as a wise man once said, they are extremely useful if you want to say something.

James Lawton: Fabregas and Messi herald a new dawn of beauty

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:00:34 GMT

Is there anything better in football, or in all of sport, than the sight of an old master capturing again the best of his talent?

James Lawton: Man or machine debate goes on as Hamilton closes on F1 title

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:00:23 GMT

It may well be that Lewis Hamilton is just two weeks away from proclaiming himself a true world champion in Brazil.

James Lawton: Ballesteros finally finds degree of peace in serenity's embrace

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:21:39 GMT

It is a little strange but also moving in that way you sometimes cannot quite pinpoint when Seve Ballesteros speaks of serenity from the La Paz hospital in Madrid.

Redemption realistic for Ireland, but only on Trapattoni's terms

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:38:15 GMT

They are not exactly the Three Tenors - not one of them has yet displayed the extrovert panache of the late Pavarotti when he invaded the football stages of Rome and Los Angeles - but rarely can a trio of World Cup performers have sung so coherently and consistently from the same sheet of music.

James Lawton: Faldo's instincts proved correct after old guard's desertion in hour of need

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:45:22 GMT

Were we really supposed to be impressed by the way Europe's old guard golfers gathered around their embattled captain Nick Faldo here in the ashes of Ryder Cup defeat?

James Lawton: Poulter brilliance brings solace to Faldo amid bitter pain of defeat

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:34:41 GMT

For Nick Faldo the truth stretched out long and with almost exquisite pain in the heat and the tension of the bluegrass afternoon.

James Lawton: Poulter repays Faldo’s gamble

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 10:29:25 GMT

There were moments yesterday when the captaincy of Europe was not the final glory of Nick Faldo's brilliant career but a late and deadly ambush of both his dreams and his reputation as a serious man of golf.

Countdown to the Ryder Cup: The Faldo factor

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:38:49 GMT

No matter how well a man anticipates the punch there is still the shock of its impact and though Nick Faldo had plainly been waiting for this one since he was appointed three-and-a-half years ago much of the blood in the face of Europe's Ryder Cup captain still drained away.

James Lawton: Calm after savage storm should induce a sense of perspective in Valhalla captains

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:49:35 GMT

In the interests of perspective – a commodity not always rampantly apparent at the Ryder Cup – the captains of America and Europe might usefully open their first official team talks this morning with a weather report.

James Lawton: Murray emerges from shadows of great to shine in golden year for the game

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:20:47 GMT

Not the least of Andy Murray's achievements these last few days is to have won over New York, a place, of course, not so easily beguiled.

James Lawton: Capello's rage at superstars' somnolence is a welcome wake-up call for England

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:38:33 GMT

It may not be a great resurgent hope for the redemption of England's international football in Zagreb tomorrow night, perhaps it is no more than a desire for a hint of competence, but if you look hard enough there is a glimmer of encouragement.

James Lawton: Managers have been stripped of their worth in a billionaires' lottery

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:26:44 GMT

Before the euphoria created by the desert eagle that landed in English football laden with gold runs completely off the graph, maybe we should take another look at some of the implications.

James Lawton: Why ask too many questions if at last the playing field is level?

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:06:34 GMT

It was not so easy to believe yesterday but it is true and it happened when Manchester City didn't need the money of a philanthropist from Thailand pursued by a pack of human rights organisations or a Middle East property developer bearing the potential gift of Dimitar Berbatov.

James Lawton: Bitterness over Faldo wild cards exposes the hidden cracks in European union

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:54:59 GMT

Tiger Woods has never hidden his contempt for the concept of team golf. Shortly after winning a routine million dollars or so on his own behalf six years ago, he was challenged over his lack of enthusiasm when he arrived at The Belfry, which of course was gripped by the usual Ryder Cup fever.

James Lawton: Wenger's revolution lays down test of loyalty for Arsenal fans

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:39:07 GMT

Football has rarely set such a fascinating test as the one now unfolding at the Emirates Stadium. It is about nerve and understanding of the dynamics of a football club and the possibility that there is a way of going forward that breaks new ground and, one day, might deliver an ultimately satisfying moment of success.