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 […]
MANCHESTER CITY, the club that turned almost everything they touched to gold last term, may not look back on their pre-season trip to China with too much relish. For some reason, the Chinese state-run news agency, Xinhua, felt moved to accuse the club of showing disrespect to local fans as well as discrimination to the […]
DEPENDING on which newspaper or website you read, Neymar looks set to leave Paris Saint-Germain in the coming weeks. Or maybe not. There are rumblings from the French capital that Brazil’s troubled talisman has had enough of life in Ligue 1, that he’s longing for a move back to Barcelona. It has been a fractious […]
