Roger Alton

Roger Alton is an executive editor at The Times. He writes the Spectator Sport column.

Don’t let City spoil top-flight football

15 June 2024 9:00 am

The Pac-Man defence, as all high-flying financiers know, is a tactic borrowed from the enjoyably addictive computer game which means…

The perils of going to Manchester United

1 June 2024 9:00 am

Plodding up Wembley Way to the FA Cup Final at the weekend surrounded by a phalanx of well-refreshed Manchester United…

Is pro-golf eating itself?

18 May 2024 9:00 am

Spare a thought for Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag. He’s got a fairly crummy, injury-hit team who appear to have…

The strikers giving Southgate a headache

4 May 2024 9:00 am

Poor Gareth Southgate. Having three outstanding finishers is giving him a thumping headache ahead of the European Championship. Harry Kane,…

Manchester City are surely unstoppable

20 April 2024 9:00 am

Well it was fun while it lasted, the closest three-way race for the Premier League in history, a title challenge…

County cricket needs Bazball

6 April 2024 9:00 am

It’s freezing cold and everywhere is flooded, so it must be the start of the county cricket season. Surrey, last…

Farewell to rugby’s King John

10 February 2024 9:00 am

My sporting questions for 2024

16 December 2023 9:00 am

English cricket doesn’t travel well

11 November 2023 9:00 am

It’s a tricky old time for cricket. The collapse of England’s World Cup white-ballers – and how they have managed…

It’s a blessing that England didn’t make the rugby World Cup final

28 October 2023 9:00 am

In the days when Spitting Image was funny it featured a song called ‘I’ve Never Met A Nice South African’.…

Simone Biles is in a league of her own

14 October 2023 9:00 am

Has there ever been an athlete, male or female, quite like Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time? She…

Will the US catch the birdie at the Ryder Cup?

30 September 2023 9:00 am

At last the Ryder Cup is here – well, in Rome – and with it Europe’s biennial chance to stick…

The man who won’t go away

16 September 2023 9:00 am

‘What are you still doing here?’ joked Daniil Medvedev to Novak Djokovic after their US Open tennis final – a…

England need to look alive to have a shot at the Rugby World Cup

2 September 2023 9:00 am

So the end is near… or it certainly will be soon if England’s rugby players carry on trying to do…

England’s rugby World Cup has disaster written all over it

19 August 2023 9:00 am

England’s preparation for the upcoming rugby World Cup is beginning to look like a slow-motion car crash, after two pathetic…

Stuart Broad would make a great politician

5 August 2023 9:00 am

And they said Test cricket was in its death throes! This epic, attention-grabbing, emotion-wringing Ashes series ended in the last…

Cricket, tennis and the Women’s World Cup: what a summer

22 July 2023 9:00 am

Great sport needs great rivalries, and that is why anyone with a pulse must celebrate being in the throes of…