Top 10 Online British Daily Newspapers for Soccer News

For me, the best thing to happen to exiled followers of English soccer in the past 10 years has been the Internet. The highlight of which is the ginormous number of articles that the traditional British newspapers publish daily on the topic of the Premier League.

Whether you’re looking for breaking news stories, gossip, humor, rants or strategic analysis, the papers have it and more.

To make your journey easier through the sea of newspapers, here are the best ones according to EPL Talk:

1.

THE GUARDIAN

Pros: Their ability to communicate in a voice that is aimed more at the masses separates The Guardian from their competitors. The infamous Fiver newsletter is a must-read, although it doesn’t seem as funny as it once did. And their podcast, meanwhile, is one of the most irreverent ones out there. Two other great features to their football site: Digger and The Knowledge. Lastly, their secret weapon is comprised of two words: Barry Glendenning.

Cons: Despite their success with the blogs, podcast and newsletter — as well as breaking stories — the one thing they’re missing is a greater output of articles to rival The Telegraph. The design of their site could do with an overhaul also.

2.

THE TELEGRAPH

Pros: Quantity and quality of articles are impressive as well as their stable of recognized writers such as Henry Winter. Also to their credit, investigative reporter David Bond has uncovered some gems in the past.

Cons: Despite their foray in the past into podcasting with a fantasy football podcast, it’s criminal that The Telegraph doesn’t have one to compete against their rivals.

3.

THE TIMES

Pros: The Times strikes a fine balance between a quality podcast and an abundance of intelligently-written articles about the beautiful game.

Cons: For a newspaper with so much quality content, I still can’t believe they haven’t created a RSS feed just for football articles instead of just sport. While the design of the football section of their website is smooth, it’s not consistent with the look-and-feel of the other football sections such as the blog.

4.

THE INDEPENDENT

Pros: Neil Warnock’s unique weekly column entitled “What I Learned This Week” is a joy, giving great insight into what it’s like being a manager and how to combine that with family life.

Cons: The design of the site looks like it’s something from the pre-Internet, which is all the more surprising when you consider that their newspaper is one of the nicest designed ones out there, especially their eye-opening front covers.

5.

DAILY MAIL

Pros: Surprisingly large quantity of football-related articles. I still have a soft spot for this newspaper after their involvement with the Soccernet website before it fell into the hands of ESPN.

Cons: For one of the leading British newspapers, the football section of their website looks clunky as if it hasn’t been redesigned in five years.

6.

THE DAILY MIRROR

Pros: Sometimes the best things going for newspapers are their esteemed football columnists, if they have them. In The Mirror’s case, they have their man in Oliver Holt who writes in a very direct and appealing manner.

Cons: The design of the football section is pretty awful, making it appear to the reader that the headlines and blurbs are thrown up on the page with as little effort as possible.

7.

THE SUN

Pros: If you enjoy football transfer gossip, this is the place to be.

Cons: The design of the football section is too busy and a new look is desperately needed. There’s also a surprising lack of top name writers at the paper.

8.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Pros: Simon Kuper, author of “Football Against The Enemy,” is one of the brightest chaps writing about the beautiful game.

Cons: Other than Kuper, the newspaper’s sports selection is pretty light — understandably so since it’s a daily financial newspaper known worldwide for its pink salmon paper color.

9.

THE STAR

Pros: Wake me up when you find something.

Cons: The articles are light on substance and more focused on transfer speculation. The site would have been in tenth place if it wasn’t for the poor design of the Daily Express website.

10.

THE DAILY EXPRESS

Pros: Mick Dennis is an accomplished writer who can often be heard on BBC Sportsweek.

Cons: The design of the site tries to hard to be a Telegraph wanna-be. Plus the site doesn’t work very well. For example, when I click on a banner for articles by their veteran writer Mick Dennis the website returns the message “no results were found.”