MANCHESTER CITY’s two-year ban from the UEFA Champions League might have been overturned, but the critics won’t let the saga close without further snipes. Managers at other clubs, league officials and media commentators have all suggested the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was foolhardy. José Mourinho said it was a “disgraceful […]
IT LOOKS as though Real Madrid are going to lift their first La Liga title since 2017 and Barcelona, the reigning champions, will go into the close season resembling a family in conflict and misunderstanding. Amid this turmoil, Lionel Messi is one year away from the end of his contract and Barca officials’ nervousness continue […]
FOOTBALL has always been full of hypocrisy, from self-appointed socialists living in gated communities and driving marque vehicles to clubs trying to position themselves as representatives of a surreal people’s republic that charges its members astronomical sums to be a part of the tribe. And they are quick to show they are embracing the latest […]
THEY say turkeys don’t vote for Christmas and there’s an element of that in the posturing around “Project Restart”, a table-thumping marketing slogan that fits nicely into the Coronavirus narrative. Naturally, those that have something to lose in continuing the Premier League programme from where it stopped are less enthused than the mid-table men of […]
IT HAS taken a global pandemic to prompt action, but it looks like spitting on the football field will become a yellow card offence before too long. It has been a mystery why, in this sanitised age in which communal post-match baths have long since disappeared and the slightest trace of blood can hold a […]
THE PROSPECT of Pep Guardiola leaving Manchester City seems rather remote, but the media is whipping-up a story that the enigmatic Spaniard is on the brink of leaving the Etihad for a stint as head coach at Juventus. The Guardian claimed that Pep has the “four year itch” and is ready to move on. The […]
EVEN AT this early stage, Liverpool’s current team, as exceptional as it is, is being prematurely labelled the club’s best ever side. There’s a degree of “presentism” about this claim, not least because if any club has a phenomenal list to choose from, it is Liverpool. Liverpool are odd-on champions-elect this season but as yet, […]
JUST how much control should an employer have on its employees when it comes to their viewpoints, opinions or feelings? Mesut Özil spoke out on social media about the plight of Muslims in China and his employer, Arsenal, felt moved to distance themselves from his twitter posting. At the same time, Arsenal claimed they were […]
FOR the families of the 96 people that died at Hillsborough, there can never be any peace. That seems to be the conclusion from the latest twist in a tragedy that refuses to deliver closure for the mourners. At some point, it may end, when the grieving relatives either gain satisfaction or there simply isn’t […]
