No serious football club spends £70m to buy a 30-year-old and then commits to paying them £350,000 per week for the next four years. Leave that to the Saudi Pro League. Then again, this is Manchester United we’re talking about. Overpayment has defined United’s post-Fergie transfer operations with far too much money wasted on players … Read more
The race for automatic promotion from the Championship is going to the final day, with Ipswich Town holding the advantage over Leeds United. In the battle to join Leicester City in the Premier League next season, second-placed Ipswich are currently three points ahead of Leeds after winning their game in hand at Coventry City on … Read more
Following hot on the heels of a points-packed double gameweek for (some) Fantasy Premier League managers comes another bumper schedule, albeit for only two clubs. Chelsea, humiliated 5-0 by Arsenal in their last fixture, and Tottenham Hotspur, thrashed 4-0 by Newcastle in theirs, are the pair in question with each playing twice in Gameweek 35. … Read more
Crystal Palace 2-0 Newcastle (Mateta 55′, 88′) SELHURST PARK — Newcastle may have been a Champions League team this season, but defeat to Crystal Palace was a reminder of how much work there still is to do to turn this outfit into a top-tier side. Eddie Howe refused to blame his own tactical decisions for … Read more
Nottingham Forest are under investigation by the Football Association after appearing to accuse VAR Stuart Attwell of bias during their 2-0 defeat at Everton. Forest felt they were denied three penalties during a tense Premier League relegation battle at Goodison Park. The club sent out an incendiary post on X/Twitter on the final whistle, claiming … Read more
Labour mayor Andy Burnham and his Tory counterpart Ben Houchen have united against controversial plans to scrap FA cup replays. In a rare moment of political unity, the two mayors have condemned the decision which will come into force from next season and called for a “fight back”. The FA is blaming the new format … Read more
The UK’s four top nurses have urged MPs to back Rishi Sunak’s ban on smoking as it comes to the House of Commons. The chief nursing officers of England, Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland have published an open letter ahead of Tuesday’s vote in Parliament on whether or not to approve the legislation. The … Read more
The Premier League is set to introduce semi-automated offside technology in the 2024-25 season after a unanimous vote by clubs. Semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) was first used by football’s global governing body, Fifa, during the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar. Following a meeting between top-flight teams on Thursday in its introduction was unanimously approved, … Read more
Emmet Mullins is an extraordinary trainer, even for a Mullins. We suspected there was something different about him when he expertly managed The Shunter through a hurdling and chasing campaign to scoop a Cheltenham Festival jackpot in 2021. Other shrewd coups followed. And any doubts that Willie’s nephew wasn’t just “one of the bottles”, but … Read more
Welcome to Wednesday’s Early Edition from i. The “exceptionally toxic” debate around transgender healthcare must end, the retired paediatrician who led a four-year review into the services has urged. In her long-awaited nearly 400-page report, Dr Hilary Cass said: “Polarisation and stifling of debate do nothing to help the young people caught in the middle … Read more
