Tag: Premier League

John Barnes and a banana: The story behind English football’s most notorious photo

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This article is part of The Athletic’s series celebrating UK Black History Month. You can find the full series here.

Bob Thomas had no idea he was about to take an era-defining photograph.

When he set off from his home in Northamptonshire bound for the Merseyside derby in February 1988, his focus was simply on capturing an almighty sporting tussle between the two most successful football clubs of the decade.

Everton, as reigning First Division champions, had won the title in two of the previous three seasons; Liverpool had claimed the other, having dominated English football in the 10 years before that.

Thomas liked to arrive early. For a 3pm kick-off, he would be settled two hours before. He considered Everton’s Goodison Park an awkward venue for angles, depending on the light. His favourite position was along the Bullens Road touchline, level with the Park End penalty area.

He does not remember why, but for the second half, he decided to switch, taking up residence in front of the Park End, as Liverpool kicked towards it. Close to the corner flag, it offered a perfect view of John Barnes.

The Jamaican-born left-winger and England international had become Liverpool’s first Black signing the previous summer and at Goodison, he was the only Black player on the pitch. The focus on him became sharper that day because of a new shaven haircut, administered in the hours before kick-off by room-mate Peter Beardsley.

This development was worthy of some analysis from the match commentator, John Motson, who in the opening moments of the BBC’s coverage chirped up by suggesting that Barnes looked like the Black boxer, Lloyd Honeyghan.

Motson, however, said nothing seconds later when Barnes received the ball and was loudly booed, a reaction that could be heard clearly in the front rooms of millions of homes across the United Kingdom. And it went on throughout the game.

Thomas says it was impossible to hear exactly what was being said about Barnes on the terraces. He could, however, see some things that the television cameras, mainly following the ball, could not pick up. He recalls a banana being chucked from the Bullens Road stand at Barnes, just missing him. Thomas was about 30 yards away but he decided to watch him for the next few minutes.

Then, it happened again: another banana flying towards him. This time, Barnes saw it, glancing just behind him. Thomas started pressing into his camera. He could see the studs of Barnes’ right boot connecting with the banana with a degree of force that sent it into the air, before it landed on the dead side of the touchline.

Liverpool won the game 1-0, thanks largely to Barnes’ arcing cross delivered from the same area of the pitch. Thomas, however, was not sure exactly what he had on his film until he returned home. Shooting in colour transparency, the photographs would not be processed until the next day at his studio in Northampton, and they were syndicated to the worldwide press the day after that.

This meant that newspapers did not pick up the image until the middle of the week after the match.

For 48 hours or so, only Thomas, Barnes and the person who threw the banana, as well as those nearby who had witnessed it, knew what had happened.

This was Barnes kicking the racists into touch. And as soon as he saw it, Thomas knew what he had in his possession.

“I immediately thought it was an important picture,” he tells The Athletic. “And so it has proven.”

Bob Thomas’ iconic picture of John Barnes (Bob Thomas Photography/Getty Images)

Thomas’ photograph from 35 years ago has become one of the most famous in sport but in the days and weeks that followed, media coverage was minimal.

Unaware of its existence, the next morning the local Liverpool Echo newspaper was preoccupied with skiing stories — Britons escaping a fire at a Bulgarian resort and the Duchess of York going on a third Alpine holiday since announcing she was pregnant with her third child.

Throughout the week, the focus of the back pages remained entirely on football.

The media focused on the football in the aftermath of Everton 0 Liverpool 1 in 1988 (PA Images via Getty Images)

Everton had another important game on Wednesday, a League Cup tie at Arsenal. The sports news cycle, therefore, was moving on from the Merseyside derby by the time Thomas’ photograph was circulated.

The Echo claimed to be “the voice of Merseyside sport” and “the paper that keeps you in the know”. But while crowd disturbances at Luton Town and Millwall earned coverage across their pages, as well as an incident in Argentina, where goalkeeper Ubaldo Fillol had projectiles including a guitar thrown at him, there was no mention of what had happened to Barnes.

The Echo wasn’t alone. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, racist incidents were common in football and barely made the news. Only one British newspaper initially published the photograph of Barnes, and that was part of a tabloid picture special.

The caption in The Sun, which a year later came to be reviled on Merseyside due to its lies about the Hillsborough disaster, made a joke of it. “What a banana shot!” read the caption. “John Barnes not only skinned the Everton defence to lay on Liverpool’s FA Cup winner on Sunday. He also made sure there would be no slip-up when he neatly backheeled this banana into touch when it was thrown at him by a Goodison fan.”

There was no condemnation of the act, which is now considered a hate crime. And though reporters and their editors were unaware of Thomas’ photograph when match reports were published, there was no mention across nine national newspapers of the verbal abuse that Barnes was subjected to either. The coverage largely focused on his haircut.

Four months earlier, the reaction had been slightly different when Liverpool hosted Everton at Anfield in a League Cup tie.

This was Barnes’ first experience of the Merseyside derby, an occasion where fans in the away end sang, “N*****pool, N*****pool, N*****pool,” as well as “Everton are white!”

London Weekend Television held the rights to the game’s highlights. Though some of this chanting was audible beyond the commentary, it was not mentioned later that night.

There was, however, a response on some radio channels. While BBC Radio 2’s Alan Green, backed by summariser Denis Law, highlighted what was happening in front of them, Clive Tyldesley, representing the local station, Radio City, condemned it live on air.

Tyldesley would become one of the most famous commentators in Britain, later working for the BBC and ITV. He says his reaction was instinctive because he considered Barnes a friend.

When Barnes joined Liverpool in 1987, Tyldesley liked his “charismatic and enigmatic” personality. They both lived across the River Mersey in Wirral and would sometimes socialise together.

Until the start of that friendship, Tyldesley says there were not many black or brown faces in his professional or social circle. It was only through coming into contact with Barnes due to his high-profile move to Liverpool that he came to understand him as a person, and appreciate the difficulties he faced. “I sort of needed John to come along to make me realise a lot of things,” he tells The Athletic.

Clive Tyldesley spoke out about the abuse of his friend John Barnes (Willie Vass/Pool via Getty Images)

The post-match routine of the Liverpool and Everton players involved drinks at the Continental Club on Wolstenholme Square in the city centre. He cannot remember exactly when the following “minor incident” happened, but it might have even been after Barnes’ first experience of the Merseyside derby.

Tyldesley says he was one of the first into the club that night, waiting at the bar for others to join him. From behind, two men he did not know approached him and asked whether he was Clive Tyldesley. He turned around, expecting to sign an autograph, only for one of them to tell him he’d heard on the radio what he’d said about Barnes. “You’ve got to decide which side you’re on,” the man concluded.

Tyldesley says he didn’t lose any sleep over it, but it did unsettle him. Though there was coverage in the local papers in the days that followed, the conversation was mainly amplified through phone-ins like the BBC’s In and Around Town show, with some callers expressing their abhorrence at what had happened at Anfield.

The headlines, though, would come from an authority figure in Philip Carter, Everton’s chairman, who was also the president of the Football League. Freakishly, the fixture list pitted Liverpool against Everton again in the league just four days later in a broadcast beamed live by the BBC, not only in England but to millions of viewers across the world.

Carter called the perpetrators of the songs aimed at Barnes “scum”, but Barnes felt Carter’s interjection helped no one. He was booed when he touched the ball in the early stages of the subsequent match, with Barnes later recalling that some away fans sported badges reading “Everton Are White – Defend the Race”.

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This is racism in English football. This is not a short piece. But it’s an important one.

“Well, the crowd have always got something to sing about,” enthused Barry Davies, the BBC commentator as the cameras panned in on a knot of Liverpool fans near the away end exchanging gestures and taunts. Davies said nothing, however, as play restarted and the racists howled “N*****pool.”

Two moments of brilliance from Barnes helped Liverpool to a comfortable enough victory and much of the talk afterwards focused on Barnes’ contribution to the outcome, rather than the attention he had received.

Four months later, in the bowels of the main stand at Goodison Park after the clubs had been pitted against each other yet again in the FA Cup, Barnes says he was not questioned about the racial abuse. Instead, the first time he spoke publicly about the incident was in an interview with the Daily Mail two months later for a feature about racism, which involved his wife. Barnes laughed off what had happened, saying that “fruit and vegetable dealers did well that day”.

Barnes suggested that if he was short and fat, he’d be targeted for a different reason and when he insisted “it doesn’t hurt”, he was believable. His positive body language in the photograph revealed that.

Barnes had signed for Liverpool in the summer of 1987, but newspaper reports had linked him instead with a move to Arsenal, who did not end up making an offer. It meant he was not exactly welcomed with open arms at Anfield, where racist slogans promoting the National Front were daubed on the walls of the stadium’s car park to greet him.

In his 1999 autobiography, Barnes remembers other messages like “White Power”, “No Wogs Allowed” and “Liverpool are White.” He says he expected it, partly because some people thought Liverpool was his second choice, but also because of the history of the city, which had grown powerful through the slave trade. It was a place where segregation still existed, and the six per cent Black population was rarely reflected at Anfield or Goodison.

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The race divide had been highlighted in Liverpool during the riots of 1981, an event that Black locals in the inner-city area of Toxteth still refer to as the “uprising”. Six years later, Barnes describes a “bad aura clinging to me… had I played badly, it would have been hell for me”.

The Toxteth riots in 1981 scarred the city (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Barnes thought the solution was simple — deliver on the pitch and make the fans love him.

“The Kop would have slaughtered me with racial abuse if I had faltered on the field,” he said. “If I had been playing for Everton, and doing well, their fans would not have been throwing bananas and spitting at me. Liverpool’s would.”

Barnes was fortunate because the stadium’s famous Kop grandstand was closed for the first three games of the season because of a sewage problem. Liverpool had to play away. Had his debut instead been at Anfield, Barnes believes he’d have been booed, “and that could have affected me”.

In his last season as a Watford player, Barnes was jeered at Anfield. Nigel Spackman, a recently signed midfielder in the Liverpool team, tells The Athletic that he remembers it clearly, although he believed it was “because of his links to Arsenal”.

Barnes ultimately joined Liverpool, where he initially moved into the Moat House hotel in Liverpool’s city centre, living just down the hallway from Spackman, just signed from Chelsea.

The Moat House was not the Ritz but it was popular among footballers because it had a restaurant attached to it. Barnes and Spackman regularly ate together and Spackman remembers thinking how relaxed Barnes was about the social barriers he was encountering. Certainly, it seemed as though Barnes wasn’t going to change his ways just because he’d signed for one of the most famous clubs in the world. Barnes had a tremendous appetite, for example, and would sometimes order the Chateaubriand or the rack of lamb. “But that’s for two people, Mr Barnes,” a waiter would warn. It didn’t matter.

His manager, Kenny Dalglish, was adamant that he did not once consider the colour of Barnes’ skin: he just saw a talented player. Others saw it differently. Immediately after signing, Barnes received hate mail at the Moat House, and he’d sometimes spend his evenings reading the letters. One read: “You are c**p, go back to Africa and swing from the trees.”

Barnes’ response was to laugh at the grammar and pass the letters around to his team-mates, “imagining the pathetic types of people who’d written them”.

John Barnes was key to Liverpool’s success in the late 1980s (Allsport UK)

He would learn later that these were only a small percentage of the racist letters written about him. His new club received many more but opted not to make him aware of them, worrying they would upset him.

The squad had not changed that much from the one that involved Howard Gayle six years earlier. Gayle became Liverpool’s first Black player, having been picked up as a teenager from local football. He had grown up as one of only a few Black kids in a white area of the city and was used to challenging the racism he encountered, but Barnes was raised around other Black people in a middle-class military family in Jamaica.

Gayle was conditioned not to ignore the barbs that came his way, including from his notoriously sharp-tongued team-mates. Barnes, by comparison, had a different way of dealing with things. As an expensive signing going straight into the starting XI, his entry point was different to Gayle’s, who had the additional challenge of fighting his way past team-mates if he wanted to take their place.

Barnes saw racism not as football’s problem but as society’s. His team-mates laughed when, before one of his earliest training sessions, a dinner lady forgot to serve him a cup of tea having given one to each of one of his white colleagues. “Is it because I’m Black?” Barnes asked.

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Comment: John Barnes asks for society to be educated before we address racism in football, but who is educating him?

Over the months that followed, Barnes would hear team-mates calling opponents “Black b*******”. He says he would call them out on it, only to be told that they got called “white b*******”. He concluded that “dressing rooms were not the best place for heavy debates”.

Barnes changed the style of the Liverpool team, from one that passed opponents off the pitch to one that dribbled past them. His 15 league goals in 38 games helped Liverpool win the title by nine points.

In one game in which he did not feature, at Norwich, he heard Liverpool fans booing Ruel Fox, the Black winger. Even with his success, Barnes thought the reaction was “hardly surprising”.

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The different faces of racism

Jimi Jagni, a half-Gambian, half-Chinese social activist, grew up in Toxteth, segregated from the rest of the city. He wasn’t into football but remembers Barnes signing for Liverpool as really “big news”.

There were lots of talented footballers in Toxteth but only Cliff Marshall at Everton, then Gayle at Liverpool, who were both born in the area, had made it into the first team at either club.

Barnes came to represent L8, Toxteth’s postcode, in a different way. He would socialise in its nightclubs, bringing along Liverpool team-mates such as John Aldridge. Barnes became a physical and visible link between a district that felt separated from the rest of the city.

Yet Barnes’ experiences, especially in his first season at Liverpool, reminded L8 that if he couldn’t get the media to speak up about the injustices of the world, then they had no chance.

“We didn’t know for certain whether a banana had been thrown at him (in February 1988) because it didn’t receive the attention it should have,” Jagni says. “He was a superstar and very few people said a word about it.”

Emy Onuora, the author of Pitch Black: The Story of Black British Footballers, was one of what he thinks was just two Black Evertonians who followed his team home and away. Joe Farrag, who now happens to be Jagni’s next-door neighbour, was the other, though Onuora was only ever accompanied by white people and occasionally would bump into Farrag at away matches.

As a season ticket holder, Onuora decided that he did not want to attend Merseyside derbies during this period. He describes the abuse towards Black players as “regular”, but with the addition of Barnes, “it was one game where it was going to be too much. I couldn’t bring myself to go”.

Onuora’s matchday experience usually went something like this if a Black player was involved: the abuse would happen, he would challenge it, and the fan or the fans would respond by saying, “I don’t mean you, mate…”

Onuora says he became the target of racist abuse on one occasion. He was in the Bullens Road stand and he responded by punching the abuser. “There were fewer stewards and more police officers. An officer was on the edge of the pitch, pointing at me, saying he was going to arrest me. But he couldn’t get his radio to work.”

The environment was not exclusive to Merseyside. Pat Nevin, who signed for Everton in 1988, after Barnes backheeled the banana, had joined from Chelsea. He had notoriously confronted racist fans — including some from his own club — abusing Paul Canoville, a Black Chelsea player, at Crystal Palace.

Pat Nevin called out racism at Chelsea before his move to Everton (Allsport UK)

Nevin says racism across Britain was “normalised. There were pockets at every ground. Some of them were more sizeable than others. But they were always loud. You’d have to stick your fingers in your ears not to hear them”.

Nevin had been a social justice campaigner since his student days, marching against Apartheid. He became involved in the Merseyside Against Racism (MAR) campaign that followed the 1987-88 season, though he stresses the organisation for this came from like-minded colleagues involved in the players’ union rather than the clubs, their representatives or the authorities.

Nevin had concerns about signing for Everton, asking the manager Colin Harvey whether the club had an apartheid policy of no Blacks. He was reassured when Harvey told him he was only the club’s second-choice signing: the first had been Mark Walters, the Black Aston Villa winger, who later moved to Liverpool.

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Windrush generation footballers: Pride of the pioneers that starred despite suffering

The image of Barnes was not a ‘big bang’ moment. It would take time to germinate as a powerful image, with campaigns like Kick It Out later adopting it.

Onuora identified a pattern across football terraces after a team signed a Black player. Fans tended to cease the booing of their own Black players, if they were successful, but those from opposing teams would still get it.

At Liverpool, Onuora says Barnes’ impact on the pitch “changed the mood” but Everton did not have any Black players at that time and this dynamic had long-term consequences.

“Because Liverpool had one Black player, and because of the rivalry, a section of fans revelled in having a white team,” Onuora says. “The racist abuse at Everton cranked right up. This section wanted to distinguish themselves by being more abusive, more racist and celebrating Everton’s whiteness.”

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Why are football crowds so white?

Onuora thinks it was only when Kevin Campbell joined in 1999, going on to become captain and scoring the goals that arguably saved the club from relegation that attitudes started to really improve.

“Suddenly, we had a Black player in a position of authority,” Onuora says. “That was the game-changer.”

John Barnes went on to become a Liverpool icon (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

And as for Barnes? It says much about the abuse suffered by a man who went on to become one of Liverpool’s greatest players that, in multiple interviews since, he has said he can’t even remember kicking that banana.

He remains, however, a thoughtful and at times forthright voice in the debate over how to combat racism and why football should be seen as a symptom, not a cause, of prejudice.

Bob Thomas’ famous picture, meanwhile, serves as a memento of another era — one many people would rather forget.

GO DEEPER

We ranked every Premier League stadium so you could shout at us

(Top photo: Shaun Botterill /Allsport; design: Eamonn Dalton)

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The New York Times

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October 19, 2023

We ranked every Premier League stadium so you could shout at us

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Welcome to The Athletic’s Premier League stadium rankings, an exercise in entertainment, creating arguments nobody can win and questionable mathematics.

Before we start, we should beg for forgiveness. This is an almost impossible task and however we choose categories, weight categories and then mark the teams is going to annoy you. It’s a subjective topic and there isn’t a right answer.

All we ask is that you know we have put far too many hours into all this, tried to make it as fair as possible, and are not deliberately trying to upset anyone.

So take a seat — or stand, if you prefer — maybe get one of those squeezy stress balls and enjoy. Hey, you might even agree with some of it.

Coming to this order has been a long, methodical process involving a working group that broke the scoring into four categories:

Matchday experience — including seat views, community feel, accessibility and amenities inside and near the stadium (40 per cent of the final total)
Match atmosphere — with consideration for home and away supporters (25 per cent)
Transport and location — how easy it is to get to and from the stadium (20 per cent)
Aesthetics — such as design, character, surroundings, history and other intangibles (15 per cent)

The panel was asked to submit marks out of 10 for each stadium in each category, which were then averaged and weighted as above — giving an objective final ranking.

There are complexities to each category. A ground’s atmosphere can depend on the form of a team, the status of the opposition and whether the floodlights are on.

Equally, your matchday experience can be influenced by how safe you feel or how swiftly stewards deal with an abusive or racist supporter nearby.

As for the aesthetics, stadium architectural historian Simon Inglis said most grounds “are simply an agglomeration of decisions made by different directors over different eras in different circumstances. I hold my hand up to extolling a shambles over a masterplan and prefer asymmetry and quirky angles to a uniform bowl, but I also appreciate that a uniform bowl will almost always be functionally superior”.

Our working panel and consultation included Inglis, our own writers, which includes a broad cross-section of match-going supporters, and guidance from the Football Supporters’ Association.

20. Vitality Stadium

Team: Bournemouth

Capacity: 11,307

First used: 1910

The main stand at what was originally named Dean Court carries the Bournemouth crest and below it, a slogan: “Together, anything is possible”. Few things could be more apt. Completely rebuilt in 2001, the stadium finally got its fourth stand in 2013 after the club survived administration. Since then, it has become a regular Premier League feature.

Best bits: There is a neatness and conformity to the Vitality Stadium. The compact stands are close to the action and provide uninterrupted views and the whole ground does not try to be something it isn’t. Instead it is humble, which may explain its presence at the bottom of this list, but some will also view that as its charm.

Where it falls short: There’s little discernible character. The support is welcoming but everything feels a bit temporary, like the real ground will be built at some point in the future. The images of past glories on the side of each stand are a nice feature but struggle to inspire.

What I love about the place: “It is a cobbled-together ground and wouldn’t look out of place in the lower rungs of the EFL, with the club’s training complex adjacent to the Ted MacDougall Stand. That part of the ground remains a temporary building, put up quickly when Bournemouth were promoted to the Championship. The stadium is situated in a leafy part of Dorset and near a dog-walking route that cuts between the ground and Bournemouth’s compact training facility. The charm of the ground has contributed to them punching above their weight.” – Jacob Tanswell, football writer

Verdict: If you are in the area and a game is on (with tickets available), then you should catch it, but no one is going to shame you if there are other grounds higher on your list.

19. Kenilworth Road

Team: Luton Town

Capacity: 11,050

First used: 1905

Luton’s home for more than 100 years was one of the stories of the summer following the club’s promotion. Kenilworth Road, which last hosted the top flight in 1992, is like a football museum. A working example of how football grounds first established themselves with mostly wooden, low-roofed, shallow terraces that have since seen seats installed. Those stands sit alongside a new, temporary Bobbers Stand that enables the ground to fulfil its Premier League obligations. The Oak Stand entrance through nearby houses is now known globally. The ground’s days are numbered, with Luton set to build a new purpose-built stadium across town.

Best bits: There is nothing like the cauldron of noise that can be generated in a ground like Kenilworth Road. Everything feels so close. The sound consumes. It may be well short of the stature enjoyed by most Premier League venues, yet you won’t hear an atmosphere like it. The walk into the away end through neighbouring terraced housing really is fun, too.

Where it falls short: There is limited legroom, posts galore and a roof that is likely to obscure your view. Accessibility was also considered poor, although improvements have since been introduced as part of the recent redevelopment.

What I love about the place: “All its peculiarities and rough edges embody the Luton story and how far we have come. Each stand has a unique character. Draped flags lionise club greats and protest past wrongs inflicted on the club by over-zealous authorities. The re-jigged Bobbers Stand is just the latest example of the club being dragged kicking and screaming into the next phase of modern football.

“But the individual stories and who you go with (parents, grandparents, partners, children) are what make it so personal. Your first game (Preston North End). Your worst game (Kettering Town). Your best game (Sunderland). They are the memories. Eventually, we will move into a nice-looking new stadium, which will bring financial security and less mockery from opposition fans. It will probably look lovely on TV, but it won’t be home. Not for a long time.” – Alex Brodie, content editor (and Luton fan)

Verdict: Get there and soak up a rare atmosphere while you still can. Just don’t expect comfortable surroundings.

18. Selhurst Park

Team: Crystal Palace

Capacity: 25,486

First used: 1924

One of the venues for the 1948 Summer Olympics, Selhurst Park is a traditional ground that has preserved its character while picking up enough updates. The newest part of the ground is the striking Holmesdale Road Stand, completed in 1994. You may well recognise the stadium as Nelson Road, the fictional home of AFC Richmond in Ted Lasso. Plans for a £150million ($185m) redevelopment of Selhurst Park are in place, with most of the formal barriers now cleared.

Best bits: Palace take pride in their home atmosphere. The Holmesdale Fanatics lead by example with flags and chants throughout the 90 minutes. The soul at Selhurst Park is viewed among the best in the country and there is a community warmth around the place that can be hard to find at other clubs in London.

Where it falls short: Parking is a struggle. There will also be obstructions to your view — especially in the away end — and accessibility is poor in places.

What I love about the place: “Selhurst Park is not the most glamorous stadium, but it has character and history. Next year will mark its centenary, just as work to replace the Main Stand is hoped to start. Combine that with an atmosphere often hailed as the envy of other Premier League clubs and there is something special about it. Just don’t try to drive there.” — Matt Woosnam, Crystal Palace correspondent

Verdict: Selhurst Park is definitely a matchday atmosphere to savour and a classic ground to take in, whether you want to see Roy Hodgson or imagine Ted Lasso watching on from the dugout.

17. Turf Moor

Team: Burnley

Capacity: 21,744

First used: 1883

Home to Burnley for 140 years and counting, Turf Moor is one of the world’s oldest football stadiums. Only Preston’s Deepdale has enjoyed longer unbroken service than Turf Moor and recent investment has raised the standards of the facilities after a few too many years of neglect.

Best bits: Burnley is a proper football town and it feels like it. The stadium regularly averages crowds over 20,000 in a town with a population of little more than 90,000, making it one of the best-supported clubs per capita in England. There’s the tidier look, new video screens, painted wooden seats and a lovely backdrop of rolling hills. You may even get to catch some action at the neighbouring Burnley Cricket Club, which backs onto one of the stands.

Where it falls short: All places get cold, but Turf Moor can feel particularly chilly. You may or may not get a good view of the pitch and two of the stands could do with the same renovation treatment as their opposite ends.

What I love about the place: “There is a charm to Turf Moor that gives it an authentic old-school football feel. It has character, history, tradition, compact concourses and now digital advertising boards. The one feature that marks it out is the view. Sit in the press box at the top of the North Stand and admire the old mill town and surrounding area. A thing of beauty you never tire of and when the visiting team’s correspondent arrives, you can guarantee they will point it out. Combine that with ‘Kompanyball’ at its best and the atmosphere it can generate… quality.” – Andy Jones, Burnley correspondent

Oliver Kay says: “I cannot understand how it’s so low. A functional stadium rather than an attractive one, but it has an old-world charm, slightly more rugged than Craven Cottage. I suspect a north-south divide here. That view from the top of the Bob Lord Stand of the chimneys and hills beyond is something to savour. And there aren’t many better away ends.”

Verdict: Take a coat and enjoy one of English football’s oldest venues that still carries plenty of charm.

16. The American Express Stadium

Team: Brighton & Hove Albion

Capacity: 31,876

First used: 2011

Situated in Falmer on the outskirts of Brighton, the Amex is not so much the home of a club as the sign of its rebirth. Brighton had been homeless for 16 years after the board of directors voted to sell the club’s previous Goldstone Ground home to developers without arranging a replacement. The club fought through the peril and earned Premier League football within six years of moving to its impressive, £93million home.

Best bits: Your matchday ticket also acts as a voucher for free travel. The facilities for supporters include padded seats and ample legroom. The design is appealing and there is even the charm of depicting white seagulls among the sea of blue seats. The stadium’s accessibility has been awarded the gold standard centre of excellence by charity and stadium auditors Level Playing Field.

Where it falls short: It just doesn’t feel or look right to have such small seating areas behind each goal. This is where supporters suck the ball into the net, don’t they know? Although transport is free, the remote location of the ground means there are no real alternatives when it fails. There are also limited refreshment options beyond the club facilities, which tend to be more expensive and don’t provide shelter from the weather.

What I love about the place: “The Amex is neat, well-equipped and fit for purpose. A near-32,000-seater stadium set in a bowl on the eastern outskirts of the city. Above all, it symbolises the spirit of the club and its supporters. Together they fought back from two years of ground sharing with Gillingham 75 miles away and 12 years at Withdean, a converted athletics track that was supposed to be a temporary home back in the city before a drawn-out saga for permission to build the Amex. A facelift after 12 years has given the stadium a fresh feel for the club’s first season in Europe.” – Andy Naylor, Brighton correspondent

Verdict: Brighton are on to a good thing; their stadium sums up perfectly where they have come from and who they now aspire to be.

15. Craven Cottage

Team: Fulham

Capacity: 24,500

First used: 1896

Craven Cottage’s history of hosting Fulham dates back more than 125 years and it represents one of the more idiosyncratic stadiums in England. It is named after a cottage built by William Craven in 1780, which still stands in one corner of the ground. The ornate frontage of the historic Johnny Haynes Stand — the oldest remaining stand in English professional football — runs along the length of the ground. Now standing opposite it is the redeveloped Riverside Stand.

Best bits: There is a lot to like and experience when visiting Craven Cottage. The walk from Putney Bridge along the bank of the River Thames is one of the most enjoyable journeys to an English ground.

Where it falls short: Tickets are not cheap. Fulham supporters already feel like they have been asked to bear the brunt of the cost of that new Riverside Stand through higher ticket prices.

What I love about the place: “The walk to Craven Cottage sets it apart. A rite of passage. Across the bridge, through Bishops Park, along the rows of terraced houses and then, somehow, a football ground hidden behind a listed brick facade attached to the cottage itself, tucked away in the corner. There is no football stadium like it, especially now it combines the modernity of the new Riverside Stand with the tradition and history of the wooden seats opposite. But it’s the stroll on a sunny day that makes it unique. It’s why travelling supporters enjoy it and why Fulham fans have fought so hard to make sure developers could never touch it.” — Peter Rutzler, Fulham correspondent

Verdict: There will be bigger, louder and more intense places to visit, but few are as warm and picturesque as Craven Cottage.

14. Goodison Park

Team: Everton

Capacity: 39,414

First used: 1892

Goodison is iconic. No stadium has hosted more games of English top-flight football. It was the first purpose-built stadium in England when it opened and the first to introduce dugouts for managers. Everton were also the first club to have a church attached to its stadium: the cosy St Luke’s serves tea, toast and memorabilia to match-goers before games. A new stadium on Bramley-Moore Dock is set to replace Goodison during next season, with the old stadium redeveloped for homes and commercial use.

Best bits: Goodison Park is football vintage. It holds in noise to guttural levels and provides an experience far closer and more stirring than others. Designed by Archibald Leitch, also look out for the criss-cross balustrades that underpin its architectural design and underline the ground’s enduring charm.

Where it falls short: There is no avoiding the pillars obstructing your view. It is the Premier League stadium with the highest percentage of restricted-view seats. There is little room for supporter facilities other grounds can offer, or much legroom.

What I love about the place: “If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then Everton’s imminent farewell to Goodison Park is already intensifying emotions among supporters. The Old Lady may be a pensioner among the top flight’s other modern super stadia, but it is a venerable old dear, bursting with history, tradition and memories to go with the fraying paint and obstructed views. Wedged into terraced streets on three sides, those matchday smells of chippies, beer and police horse muck are — like the ground itself — lingering reminders of a bygone age.” — Greg O’Keeffe, football writer

Oliver Kay says: “By goodness, it has seen better days. It’s a relic now, a symbol of a club that has regrettably been left behind in the Premier League and its days are numbered. Everything about the place — the noise and smells as you walk down Goodison Road, the peeling paint in the concourses and stairwells, the appalling lack of legroom — feels like stepping back in time. And in the age of homogenised, identikit new stadiums, it is all the more appealing for that. Everton have to move on, but it will be a sad, sad day when they leave.”

Verdict: The beloved ground will not be around for much longer and is worth a visit for that reason alone. It will be missed once it’s gone.

13. Bramall Lane

Team: Sheffield United

Capacity: 32,050

First used: 1855

Bramall Lane is the oldest football stadium in the world still hosting matches. The four stands cling to the sides of the pitch and loom over the action — and that is despite being originally built to host cricket. It sits near the city centre, yet is a significant distance from the Hillsborough home of rivals Sheffield Wednesday. Steeped in history and character, it has its quirks but also comes across as pretty well-kept. The South Stand’s wooden seats were only removed in 2005.

Best bits: There can be few more intimidating atmospheres in English football than the one generated inside Bramall Lane. The noise lingers and swells as if stuck under the roof and the authenticity of the place means it feels like little has substantially changed through the years. It is the stadium that defines what a “difficult place to go” looks like and being on the right side of that is always more fun.

Where it falls short: Being on the opposite side of that atmosphere is not as enjoyable and the home support can make things intimidating for away supporters when the mood turns. Views can be interrupted by pillars and there is little to get excited about around the stadium itself. Accessibility across the stadium is limited and there is also the depressing sight of the stadium’s hotel, which has stood unused since 2020.

What I love about the place: “In many ways, Bramall Lane is a throwback to the days before dozens of new stadiums came along looking exactly like the one before — other than the colour of the seats. And that’s a good thing. On a night, the atmosphere positively fizzes. The lack of fans in 2020-21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic goes a long way to explaining why Chris Wilder’s United tanked so horribly in their second Premier League season.” — Richard Sutcliffe, football writer

Verdict: The sort of place the Premier League misses when it’s not there, a piece of history that continues to stand the test of time and home to one of the most vociferous atmospheres across English football.

12. The City Ground

Team: Nottingham Forest

Capacity: 30,404

First used: 1898

All but the first 14 years of Forest’s existence have been at The City Ground. The stadium sits on the bank of the River Trent and there have been plans since 2019 to redevelop the Peter Taylor Stand. They were granted planning permission last year, although the stadium’s proximity to the river may complicate matters.

Best bits: The stadium is in a beautiful spot at the heart of Nottingham, with the river a welcome neighbour. Trent Bridge crosses the river and is a hive of activity on a matchday. Then, inside the ground, the belting anthem of Mull of Kintyre sung just before kick-off is an iconic sound in English football, taking the entire ground right back to their English title and European successes of the late 1970s. The home atmosphere has been rejuvenated in recent seasons.

Where it falls short: The City Ground has character but little comfort. The PA system volume can be erratic and there is a chance you will have a post obstructing your view. It has also ranked as one of the more limited Premier League grounds for accessibility.

What I love about the place: “The City Ground has always been special, but it is the people, as much as the place, that has made it Forest’s biggest asset in recent years. Steve Cooper’s fist pumps, the spectacular Forza Garibaldi banners, Brennan Johnson, Ryan Yates and Joe Worrall helping fire their club to success. The deafening, almost physical wall of noise helped drive Forest into the Premier League and helped keep them there. For so long, it was a museum, a place of history. Now there is excitement for the future.” — Paul Taylor, Forest correspondent

Verdict: There is little new and shiny about the place, just a powerful atmosphere and a deeply ingrained history.

11. Etihad Stadium

Team: Manchester City

Capacity: 53,400

First used: 2003

Originally built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the City of Manchester Stadium was converted into a purpose-built football stadium at a cost of £40million. That conversion means it feels much more like a football venue than the London Stadium. In 2003, Manchester City moved in and, following the club’s takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, the stadium sits in one of the most impressive football sites in Europe, with the Etihad Campus just across the road. The stadium design maximises sunlight and ventilation for the playing surface, which is regarded as one of the best in England. Expansion of the South Stand was completed in 2015 and there are plans for further redevelopment of the stadium over the coming three years.

Best bits: It is akin to visiting a football theme park, with restaurants, stages for bands and activities for supporters spread around the site. Inside, the stadium carries an aura given City have set about winning every trophy going. With Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne on the pitch, you know a seat guarantees the very best in action, alongside all the facilities and connectivity of a state-of-the-art stadium, which was lso awarded Level Playing Field’s centre of excellence award for accessibility.

Where it falls short: It is hard not to visit the Etihad and think about Maine Road. The club’s spiritual home saw a constant rollercoaster and delivered one of the great atmospheres in English football. The Etihad is many things but may never have that final piece of intangible soul that sits in the old stands. Away supporters being housed over three tiers does little to help the atmosphere.

What I love about the place: “You’d have to say the Etihad is one of the toughest grounds to go to in top-level European football these days. Pep Guardiola’s team is a large reason for that, but the fans can generate an atmosphere for the biggest games that seems to give the players an extra push. Just ask Real Madrid. As for the physical building, it’s one that’s always evolving. The curious mixture of sky blue and concrete grey will look very modern once the North Stand redevelopment is concluded and the new live music venue next door is up and running.” — Sam Lee, Manchester City correspondent

Verdict: Unfairly nicknamed ‘Emptyhad’ by rivals, the Etihad gets a harder rap than it deserves. Given the team’s trophy haul and the high-quality fan experience, we all know who is having the last laugh.

10. London Stadium

Team: West Ham United

Capacity: 62,500

First used: 2016

London’s Olympic Stadium underwent a three-year, £274million renovation after controversially being handed to West Ham. The club was awarded a 99-year lease and pays an annual rent of £2.5million. The stadium is still used for other sports. UK Athletics has annual use and Major League Baseball games have also been hosted.

Best bits: Set in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London Stadium has expansive surroundings and the genuine feel of a big, international venue. There is plenty of space, excellent facilities and a good atmosphere outside the stadium on a matchday.

Where it falls short: The elephant in the room is the number of elephants you can fit into the stadium. The pitch feels distant and so does everyone else in the stadium. These are problems you will find in any football ground that also features an athletics track. Had Tottenham Hotspur’s bid to take over the site been successful, they would have knocked the stadium down and rebuilt it. Anyone who attended ‘Super Saturday’ in August 2012, when the British Olympic team won three gold medals inside the stadium, would vouch for the noise and atmosphere that can be created inside, but as hard as West Ham try, the experience of the London Stadium struggles to match the spectacle.

What I love about the place: “It will never truly feel home to West Ham supporters due to their strong connection to the Boleyn Ground, but the electric atmosphere on European nights at the London Stadium is special. There have been so many memorable moments, from Andriy Yarmolenko’s winner in the last-16 Europa League tie against Sevilla to Michail Antonio’s goal in the Europa Conference League semi-final first-leg victory over AZ Alkmaar. Those moments make the place come alive.” — Roshane Thomas, West Ham correspondent

Verdict: There are issues — it can offer one of the least engaging atmospheres in England’s top flight – but the amenities, facilities and experience of visiting an impressive venue in part make up for that.

9. Stamford Bridge

Team: Chelsea

Capacity: 40,173

First used: 1877

Chelsea are one of only a few clubs to play at the same stadium since they were formed, but there is something utterly unrecognisable from the ground Chelsea were playing at just 30 years ago. Redevelopment of the stands, the removal of the greyhound racing track and the building of all manner of hotels and restaurants means the stadium itself is almost hidden inside the hodgepodge of buildings that make up Chelsea Village. Expanding the stadium or moving away have proven equally problematic.

Best bits: There are few stadiums of the size of Stamford Bridge that make everything feel so close to the pitch, probably because it would now be almost impossible to design it alongside the required space and amenities. Still, that closeness creates an authentic feel inside the stadium despite its exclusive west London setting and opulent exterior.

Where it falls short: There really is little to get excited about as you approach the ground. No view. No teasing floodlights. It just looks like you’re visiting a hotel shopping complex. Quite frankly, a club with Chelsea’s aspirations needs a bigger stadium and a future away from Stamford Bridge has been discussed. This is another stadium in a prime location where transport links can buckle on a matchday.

What I love about the place: “As each year goes by, Chelsea’s ground shows more signs of age and is overtaken in size and facilities by new, shinier versions built by rivals… but there is no other place Chelsea fans would rather be. Stamford Bridge is unique: the supporters, courtesy of Chelsea Pitch Owners, actually own the freehold to the ground. The club cannot move sites and keep the name Chelsea without getting enough votes from the CPO first.

“A club mocked for a lack of history are still at their traditional home. The team’s deteriorating form has dampened the atmosphere, but a blast of One Step Beyond by Madness after a big win gets people dancing in the stands like nowhere else.” — Simon Johnson, Chelsea correspondent

Verdict: Given Chelsea’s journey over the past 30 years, this may be one club that needs to move if it is to maximise its future, but Stamford Bridge remains an archetypal stop on any tour.

8. Gtech Community Stadium

Team: Brentford

Capacity: 17,250

First used: 2020

Having enjoyed the compact home comforts of Griffin Park and a public house on each corner since 1904, Brentford’s switch to their £71million new home was quite the departure. Plans had been in the works for almost two decades, but the new stadium finally arrived in time for the remarkable rise to the Premier League.

Best bits: The stadium is cleverly designed to fit into a triangle of land just off the M4. Space and comfort are all here and it is compact enough for the stands to feel attached to the action. Transport links are good and there is a community feel about the place.

Where it falls short: The design is fun but unlikely to persuade you to visit. The transport links are good but you could be forgiven for using a map and compass to find your way there on foot or by car.

What I love about the place: “It is one of the smallest grounds in the top two divisions but none of that detracts from its charm. Brentford’s home is close to the Thames and there is nothing better than stopping for a drink at one of the riverside pubs before watching Thomas Frank’s side take on one of the ‘Big Six’ on a roasting summer’s day. Just ask Manchester United fans.” — Jay Harris, Brentford correspondent

Verdict: A proud home for Brentford, a mark of how far the club has come and a comfortable and enjoyable venue for football.

7. Villa Park

Team: Aston Villa

Capacity: 42,530

First used: 1897

It is far from the biggest ground, yet there is something classically ornate and reliable about Villa Park. Villa’s home for well over a century, in the days before the new Wembley Stadium, Villa Park was used for more FA Cup semi-finals than any other ground. Significant redevelopment of the North Stand is on its way.

Best bits: A proper ground full of tradition and character, the Holte End especially. It is as good to look at from the outside as it is to experience from the inside, especially on a good day. When Villa Park rocks, the whole of Birmingham shakes.

Where it falls short: At times, Villa’s long and prestigious history has weighed heavy and when things are not going well, Villa Park can be quiet and unassuming. The ground comes with accessibility issues and has areas primed for redevelopment by its owners.

What I love about the place: “A packed-out Villa Park, when in full voice, is a special place to be. The Holte End towers over the pitch and creates a wonderful, unique atmosphere. When it gets going there is no place quite like it and it’s little surprise more than 30,000 people are on the waiting list for a season ticket. While there are issues around the ground with public transport and the North Stand looks a little dated, its traditional charm is still warming. When cup semi-finals were held here, visiting supporters loved it just as much as the locals.” — Gregg Evans, football writer

Oliver Kay says: “The tragedy of Villa Park is they demolished the old Trinity Road Stand, which was a thing of beauty. Of all the famous stands lost in the rush to modernise during the 1990s and 2000s, there were few more striking. Thank goodness they preserved the Holte End with its imposing red-brick exterior. Is there a more handsome stand in English football? And the upcoming redevelopment of the North Stand will enhance the old-meets-new feel of a stadium that is widely recognised among the best in the Premier League.”

Verdict: Getting to Villa Park for a big game to watch an in-form Villa can be as good and authentic as it gets.

6. Molineux

Team: Wolverhampton Wanderers

Capacity: 31,750

First used: 1889

Molineux has been home to Wolves for more than 130 years. It was the first stadium built for use by a Football League club and among the first to have floodlights installed and host European club games. Its name originates from Benjamin Molineux, who purchased the land during the 18th century. The modern stadium was built following Sir Jack Hayward’s takeover of the club in 1990 after serious financial issues. A new two-tier Stan Cullis Stand was opened in 2012.

Best bits: Whatever Wolves’ issues with identity on the pitch, their Molineux home is truly distinctive, with warm, inviting architecture. It is a short walk from the city centre, the facilities are modern and the atmosphere is raucous. A quick walk around the ground is worth the effort, showing off how the stadium is cut into the land. Hopefully, you will also clock the statue of Wolves legend Billy Wright.

Where it falls short: The home support can be intimidating and it may not be the best place to walk around on your own in your away shirt. It is another ground with limited parking nearby, too. There are a lot of pubs nearby but few allow away supporters inside.

What I love about the place: “Let’s talk about the statues. The figures of Stan Cullis and Billy Wright, in particular, are among the best footballing tributes you will find anywhere. Let’s talk about the pre-match music. Hi Ho Silver Lining, obviously, but Kashmir is even better. When you have Robert Plant around, why not? Then there’s the location; a short stroll from the station and city-centre pubs, not stuck out of town on a retail park. It needs sprucing up in places but so do a few cathedrals, which is what Molineux is; a footballing cathedral at the centre of its community.” — Steve Madeley, Wolves correspondent

Oliver Kay says: “Molineux is a gem, but that wasn’t always the case. When I first went in 1982, it was a dump with an inexplicable 20-yard gap between the pitch and one of the stands. Even to my young eyes, it was a total eyesore. But I love it now. The design is slightly eccentric but it works, as does the old-gold colour scheme. Inside, particularly around the media suite and the executive boxes, the club’s proud history is rightly flaunted. And it’s a five-minute walk from the city centre. Seriously, what’s not to like?”

Verdict: Molineux has a perfect balance of modern facilities and an authentic atmosphere to rival anywhere in the country.

5. Anfield

Team: Liverpool

Capacity: 61,276

First used: 1884

Apart from its first seven years when it was home to Everton, Anfield has served Liverpool from its perch on the edge of Stanley Park. It has continually evolved, adding tributes to legendary figures and more recently adding extra seats. That has seen off the need to move away from the club’s much-loved home. Now Anfield sits high above the trees and dominates the view as much as it does the lives of the city’s red-hearted residents.

Best bits: There is a poignancy in finding a moment to reflect at the ground’s Hillsborough memorial, while watching and listening to the entire ground sing You’ll Never Walk Alone before kick-off is one of football’s special experiences. Anfield can take you on a wild ride you may not want to end.

Where it falls short: The stadium has felt in a state of redevelopment for a few years and issues with the Buckingham Group, which was overseeing the rebuild of the Anfield Road end, have prolonged that perception. Once completed, Anfield will feel like it has been given another fresh lease of life. That is also likely to make matchday road congestion significantly worse.

What I love about the place: “I’ll never forget the first time I walked up those red steps and gazed out at the sheer beauty of Anfield. October 27, 1990. Liverpool 2 Chelsea 0. There was no place like it as a wide-eyed 12-year-old and it’s still unsurpassed more than three decades later. The towering Kop, the noise, the flags and that unique ability to inspire and intimidate players in equal measure. Nowhere is capable of producing miracles like Anfield. Don’t take my word for it, this is what Pep Guardiola thinks: “The motto ‘This is Anfield’ is no marketing spin.” — James Pearce, Liverpool correspondent

Oliver Kay says: “I get why people feel it is over-mythologised. The ‘famous European night’ cliche must sound pretty trite for opposition fans whose only experience of Anfield is a run-of-the-mill Premier League game on one of those Saturday afternoons when the Kop seems to be nursing a collective hangover. But I don’t think my ears have ever recovered from the semi-final second legs against Chelsea in 2005 and Barcelona in 2019. On nights like that, the place seems to take on a life of its own. One of the best things Fenway Sports Group did was scrap the previous owners’ plans for a new stadium.

“From certain vantage points, it is almost unrecognisable, but when the Anfield atmosphere is at its most raucous, it is unmistakable — possibly unrivalled.”

Verdict: A bucket-list item for any Liverpool fan and probably any fan of football.

4. Emirates Stadium

Team: Arsenal

Capacity: 60,704

First used: 2006

Replacing the iconic surrounds of Highbury, the Emirates is now in its 18th season as Arsenal’s home. It cost £390million to build, which was funded solely by the club. Arsenal are yet to win a league title since it was opened — but are closer than ever.

Best bits: Supporter facilities are excellent. Arsenal’s on-pitch performances have improved the atmosphere, too. One thing you do sense walking up to the Emirates is its ‘Arsenalisation’. Since 2009, supporters have helped bring club history and soul with murals and imagery. The stadium’s accessibility has also been awarded the gold standard centre of excellence by Level Playing Field.

Where it falls short: At times under Arsene Wenger, it felt like the Emirates hampered Arsenal’s ability to improve on the pitch. Maybe that was unfair, but it made for an often unhappy stadium to visit. That feeling has eased in recent seasons, unlike the cost of refreshments. There are London Underground stations nearby but that proximity can also cause major congestion outside.

What I love about the place: “Arsenal’s relationship with the Emirates is a funny one. It will always be held up against Highbury and for its first 15 years, it paled in comparison. Recently, however, the supporters have made it feel more like home. The atmosphere has improved since the return of crowds in 2021 and everybody seems to be benefiting. Memories are being created and additions outside the stadium, including Wenger’s statue and new artwork, have also solidified the connection between the club and its people.” – Art de Roche, Arsenal correspondent

Verdict: The Emirates has its critics but it now delivers the atmosphere, facilities, accessibility and product any sports fan would expect from the Premier League.

3. Old Trafford

Team: Manchester United

Capacity: 74,031

First used: 1910

The embodiment of Manchester United’s original Premier League success. The stadium ballooned to its current size — the third largest in the United Kingdom and 14th in Europe — due in part to their domination of the division. Redevelopments ceased in 2006 and Old Trafford is in need of renovation simply to return to its previous standards.

Best bits: The scale of the place is mighty and it comes with a special atmosphere. Most views inside the stadium are excellent and outside, United’s rich history is embraced by statues of Sir Matt Busby, three of their 1968 European Cup winners (Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best and Denis Law), and a clock and plaque to remember the victims of the Munich air disaster.

Where it falls short: There are clear issues — parts look out of date, roofs leak following heavy rain and a lack of commercial areas is hitting revenue. Not all of that is a supporters’ concern, but it will form United’s opinion on whether to renovate or relocate. Surprisingly, there are some areas of restricted view and most of the stadium provides legroom that even those below average height might find a squeeze.

What I love about the place: “Redeveloping Old Trafford is essential. The last major upgrades were signed off before the Glazers took control. Despite this, the stadium itself remains one of huge character and history. Appearing on the Manchester horizon, its structure is distinctive and striking. Once inside, the proximity of the seats to each other and the pitch generates a crackling atmosphere.” — Laurie Whitwell, Manchester United correspondent

Oliver Kay says: “People were always a bit grudging about Old Trafford when it was in its pomp in the 2000s. A bit too shiny and perfect for traditional tastes. Stereotypes about daytrippers and corporate fans in executive boxes eating “their prawn sandwiches”, as Roy Keane famously put it. It was always a brilliant stadium though and it still is. It was so extensively modernised in the 1990s that it didn’t look, feel or smell as historic as Anfield, Goodison Park or Highbury. But it feels historic now. That’s one upside of neglect. The upside of a difficult decade on the pitch is a more raw, visceral atmosphere than commonly portrayed.”

Verdict: Old Trafford is a temple of English football and for as long as it is standing, it will be worth a visit.

2. St James’ Park

Team: Newcastle United

Capacity: 52,257

First used: 1892

The long-term home of Newcastle United, St James’ Park sits on a hill at the centre of the city. It is as if everything is drawn to the beacon that protrudes the skyline. The ground is lopsided given the vast redevelopment of two stands in 1998 and it can look architecturally cold and clinical, but it provides an atmosphere as authentic as any in the Premier League.

Best bits: That big-game aura and the fact you can see the ground from so many points in the city establishes its sense of importance. The stadium is equally impressive inside. It is one of the more respectful welcomes travelling supporters will receive, especially if you return the respect. You can do that by visiting three of the statues outside the stadium that mark the legendary contributions of Alan Shearer, Bobby Robson and Jackie Milburn.

Where it falls short: Away fans are put in a top tier as far away as possible from the action, which is unfair to those who make the trip and in conflict with rules that suggest away fans should be pitchside.

What I love about the place: “I can’t believe there’s a better atmosphere anywhere than St James’ Park right now: paint-peeling noise, the sensory overload of Wor Flags and, after so much division, everybody in it together. What makes the stadium so special is its location, slap-bang in the middle of the city, looming over it, setting the mood and once again drawing people towards it.” – George Caulkin, senior writer (based in Newcastle)

Verdict: The pride in Newcastle runs deep. Hence some of our north-east contingent questioning why St James’ Park isn’t top. It is one of the country’s proper football cathedrals and a fantastic place to watch a game.

1. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Team: Tottenham Hotspur

Capacity: 62,850

First used: 2019

The basics: London’s biggest club stadium was built on the spot of Spurs’ previous home for 118 years, White Hart Lane. A £1billion project to redevelop the north London site replaced one traditional football venue with a stunning, modern sibling. It was also built to become a London home for the NFL and includes a retractable gridiron.

Best bits: The little details that point out the geographical relevance to White Hart Lane, such as a white circle on the floor that marks the previous centre spot. Then there is the 17,500-capacity South Stand. Despite being a bowl, the raking, double-tier stand draws attention, creates atmosphere and provides the perfect canvas for a supporter mosaic.

Where it falls short: Modern can mean clinical and, at times, walking through the concourses you would be forgiven for thinking you were in an airport. Expensive stadiums often lead to expensive experiences and most Spurs supporters would lead their gripes with the cost of their matchday. Transport links on matchday can get clogged.

What I love about the place: “Spurs’ on-pitch performances may not have been the envy of Europe over recent years, but nobody could fail to be impressed by their stadium. It increased the capacity from 36,000, gave fans more spacious concourses, incredible pitch views from every position and, famously, pints that magically fill from the bottom. It hasn’t been an entirely positive transition — there has been little improvement to transport infrastructure and ticket prices are ludicrous – but there can be little doubt Spurs’ new home is the best in the Premier League.” – James Maw, editor and regular on The View from the Lane podcast

Verdict: Perhaps this is a victory for modern, commercialised football over the more organic qualities of its past. Still, sit inside the stadium and you soon realise its draw: an experience comparable to any live stadium sport across the world.

Full stadium scoring and rankings

Ranking	Stadium	Atmosphere score	Atmosphere ranking	Experience score	Experience ranking	Transport/location score	Transport/location ranking	Design/aesthetics score	Design/aesthetics ranking
1	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium	7	9	8.4	1	6.6	11	8.7	1
2	St James’ Park	7.4	4	7.6	2	8.1	1	7.9	3
3	Old Trafford	7.3	5	7.3	3	7.1	3	7.4	6
4	Emirates Stadium	6.7	12	7.3	3	7.7	2	7.6	5
5	Anfield	7.7	1	7.1	5	5.7	13	8.1	2
6	Molineux	7	9	7	6	7.1	3	7.4	6
7	Villa Park	7.2	6	6.5	10	5.7	15	7.2	8
8	Gtech Community Stadium	5.9	15	7	6	6.7	9	6.3	13
9	Stamford Bridge	6.1	13	6.4	12	7.1	3	6.6	10
10	London Stadium	5.8	16	6.5	10	7	6	6.5	11
11	Etihad	6	14	6.6	8	6.7	9	6.3	13
12	City Ground	6.8	11	5.8	14	6.8	8	5.8	17
13	Bramall Lane	7.2	6	5.7	15	6.3	12	6.2	15
14	Goodison Park	7.7	1	5	18	5.7	13	6.9	9
15	Craven Cottage	4.7	18	5.9	13	7	6	7.9	3
16	Amex Stadium	4.6	19	6.6	8	5.1	19	6.4	12
17	Turf Moor	5.8	16	5.7	15	5.5	17	6.2	15
18	Selhurst Park	7.5	3	4.3	19	5	20	4.3	19
19	Kenilworth Road	7.1	8	3.8	20	5.7	15	5	18
20	Vitality Stadium	4	20	5.3	17	5.3	18	4.3	19

(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)

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The New York Times

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October 18, 2023

How the sole of the foot sparked a tactical revolution in football

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Antonio Vacca can remember the moment well.

In truth, the Italian is unlikely to forget it anytime soon, given he not only gets to see his “little theory put into practice” every time he watches Brighton & Hove Albion play on television, but he also has Roberto De Zerbi’s initials tattooed on him.

The story Vacca recalls goes back to De Zerbi’s time in charge of the Serie C club Foggia, between 2014 and 2016, and an incident in a training match that fundamentally changed how the Brighton manager viewed build-up play, and, ultimately, contributed to one of football’s modern tactical trends.

As a keen futsal and five-a-side player in his home city of Naples, Vacca developed an instinct to use the sole of his foot as a method of receiving possession. “I found it easier to stop and control the ball that way,” he tells The Athletic.

De Zerbi saw talent and intelligence in Vacca and believed he could play at a higher level, but there were also moments when he found the midfielder’s use of the sole of his foot frustrating. Sometimes De Zerbi would stop training and say to Vacca: “Sorry, if you need the sole, you have to use it. But if you don’t need it, you don’t.”

The practice match in question threatened to be another of those occasions as De Zerbi urged Vacca to shift the ball more quickly, only this time the coach received a response that stopped him in his tracks.

“My team-mates on the opposing side weren’t stepping out to press me, so the Mister (coach) kept telling me: ‘Pass it, move it’,” Vacca explains. “So I replied: ‘Mister, if our opponents on Sunday come here and play for a point and I move it without getting one of them to jump and press the ball, it’s no use’.

“I argued that if I put the sole of my foot on the ball and lured my opponent out, I’ve invited him to press me. As he does that, we can break the line with a pass.”

Some coaches could react negatively to a player disagreeing with them on the training pitch and making a tactical suggestion, but that was never De Zerbi’s way. Vacca and others would spend hours in the coach’s office talking tactics.

“People who don’t know him might have another idea, but he’s really humble and a footballer can tell him anything,” Vacca says. “He’s the one who has the final say, but when you say something to him, he’ll go away and think about it.

“I remember the following day he said, ‘Vacca’s right. When our opponents sit back, we need to put the sole of the foot on the ball and get them to come out, provoke them, because when a player sees you standing on the ball like that, it sparks something inside them’.”

Many years later, during a two-hour webinar, De Zerbi credited Vacca with opening his eyes to the tactical value of using the sole of the foot as a means of inviting pressure and giving him one of his core build-up principles as a coach.

The images below, which are taken from Brighton’s FA Cup tie against Liverpool last season, illustrate what that looks like.

Adam Webster has his studs on top of the ball, enticing Cody Gakpo (circled) to press. Alexis Mac Allister comes short to offer an option…

… Webster feeds the ball into the midfielder and Pascal Gross (circled) is the free man.

Mac Allister passes inside to Gross and Brighton have worked the triangle perfectly.

Vacca’s influence on De Zerbi feeds into a wider conversation around the increasing use of the sole of the foot in build-up play at other clubs, as well as the tactical game of cat and mouse that often sits alongside it.

Sunday’s Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City was a classic example.

When Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya put his studs on top of the ball in the image below, it was the trigger for the City midfielder Rico Lewis (circled) to lead the press. For context, Raya had already received the ball twice from Arsenal defenders in this passage of play (City didn’t always choose to press Raya when he used his sole).

The second of those Arsenal passes back to Raya was made by William Saliba, shown below. You can also see how City’s six-man press is narrow to stop Arsenal from playing through them.

Raya ends up playing a ‘bounce’ pass to Jorginho, with the intention of dragging City’s press further forward and freeing space up elsewhere.

But what’s interesting here is the home supporters’ growing anxiety, which could be heard loud and clear (and it was not fuelled by the moment when Julian Alvarez nearly scored after pressing Raya — that hadn’t happened at this point).

A hurried clearance upfield from Gabriel follows — all that patience turns to panic — with Martin Odegaard (circled below with his arms outstretched) frustrated that the centre-back didn’t slide the ball into his feet.

We saw Raya with his foot on top of the ball a lot on Sunday and taking time with his pass selection, in the hope that a City player would press him and leave an Arsenal player free.

That was the plan but it troubled some supporters.

“It’s all my fault,” the Arsenal manager said, referring to the crowd reaction. “They can boo me. He (Raya) was excellent. He’s got ‘big ones’ because with the crowd going like this, other players — I’ve seen it — they start to kick balls everywhere. I said to him, ‘You don’t do that’.”

In this final example from Sunday, Raya had the ball at his feet for 23 seconds, which must feel like an absolute age when 60,000 eyes are on you in the stadium and City could jump and press at any given moment. As Arteta alluded to with his “big ones” comment, it requires a lot of courage to stay calm, ignore the background noise, and wait for the movement patterns to unfold, which is what happened here.

Eventually, Declan Rice, circled below, comes from left to right to rotate with Jorginho and receive possession. Mateo Kovacic is briefly caught between the two Arsenal players and, arriving late, commits the foul on Rice that should have led to a second yellow card.

The static element of the modern game is intriguing from a tactical point of view, even if it’s not everyone’s idea of fun in the stadium or watching at home on the sofa.

“Playing with a pause is massive at the moment,” says a coach at a leading Premier League club, who was speaking on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to give an interview.

“As football has developed in the last 10 years, pressing and build-up has become the key feature. You watch a top-level game and a lot of it is about, ‘How well do you press the opponent’s build-up?’. So these more sophisticated ways of attracting pressure to take advantage… like Ederson, he’ll put the sole of his foot on the ball.

“It’s basically bait… who is prepared to let a ball be completely static? That’s why it’s quite interesting now when you watch games against Manchester City — and it will happen against Brighton — when the ball will just be completely still and nobody will press anyone. That’s also the next evolution: if we know they’re trying to do this to us, what do we do to counteract it?”

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There is a technical element as well as a tactical benefit to receiving the ball with the sole during build-up.

“If you receive the ball leaning to one side, you exclude yourself from a play,” De Zerbi explained in his webinar. “If you have it to the left, you could not play to the right. If you receive the ball with the sole and from the front, you can play to the side you want. There, you have total control of the ball.”

The images below, taken from Manchester City’s Premier League win over Arsenal towards the end of last season, highlight that point. In this instance, Granit Xhaka chooses to press Ederson after Rodri passes the ball back to the City goalkeeper.

By receiving with his sole rather than taking the ball to the left or right, Ederson gives no indication to Xhaka (circled) as to what he is going to do next.

Ederson can still go either way right up to the last second.

He eventually slides a pass to Ilkay Gundogan, who lays the ball off to Rodri (unmarked because of Xhaka’s decision to jump and press Ederson) and City are ‘out’.

As well as keeping his passing options open by controlling with the sole, Ederson never took his eyes off his team-mates or Xhaka.

“You don’t have to look down again for the ball,” says Paul McGuinness, who spent 25 years as a youth coach at Manchester United and is a big advocate of using the sole of the foot. “You have 360-degree control, you can look at your opponent and instantly play the ball. It’s the timing of it, it’s the milliseconds it gives you.”

It also means that the opposition find it hard to co-ordinate their press.

“They’ve taken the clues away,” explains Ian Cathro, who worked alongside Nuno Espirito Santo at Valencia, Porto, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. “Usually, when the ball is in movement, there’s an indication as to where it’s going next and that also triggers presses. So if a centre-back receives the ball and takes it across his body, that’s indicating where the pass is likely to go.

“If the ball goes still, you force the opponent to be the one who makes the decision. You then just need to be good enough to be able to act upon the decision (the opponent makes) and be willing to take that pressure.”

In Brighton’s case, acting upon the decision is not random or spontaneous. Their passing patterns are largely determined by how and where opponents press and are rehearsed over and over on the training ground.

“The sole-of-the-foot stillness element is to force the opponent to jump. Based on that jump, De Zerbi and the players already know: ‘Here’s my one, two, three patterns to take the space that’s been left by this jump’,” Cathro explains. “In Spain, they refer to it as ‘automatismos’.”

Those moves are well choreographed. Even before Lewis Dunk put his foot on top of the ball in the still below, Billy Gilmour was signalling where the next pass should be played.

As soon as Fred (circled) motions to step forward, Julio Enciso comes short and…

… Gilmour (circled) is now free on the other side of Fred.

Of course, it still needs a high level of technical ability to execute the passes and, as we saw in Brighton’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool on Sunday, the consequences are severe when a mistake is made deep in their own half.

But there’s also another question to ask here: what happens if the opponent doesn’t take the bait?

West Ham refused to press and adopted a low block in their 3-1 win over Brighton in August, leading to De Zerbi’s team slowly probing, which isn’t quite the same as the “stillness element” that Cathro talked about. In the latter scenario, the team trying to provoke stands its ground when the bait isn’t taken.

If you are wondering what that looks like, watch this moment from England versus Israel at the Under-21 European Championship in July. Levi Colwill had the ball at his feet for 32 seconds, then 12 seconds, then 14 seconds, all in the space of less than a minute and a half. It was a bizarre passage of play, genuinely uncomfortable to watch — there were loud whistles in the stadium — and made you wonder if the TV had frozen.

Something similar happened when Burnley played Manchester City on the opening day of the Premier League season and Vincent Kompany instructed his team not to press Ederson so they could keep the ‘outfield’ game 10-versus-10. Burnley’s supporters got more and more annoyed as Ederson (pictured below) stood alone with his foot on top of the ball.

There is a theory that some ‘lesser’ teams may find it easier than others to employ the deep block that Burnley and Israel Under-21s used.

“One of Brighton’s real benefits is that they are a ‘smaller’ club — there are at least seven teams who go to the Amex feeling a responsibility to press and attack them,” says the Premier League coach who spoke earlier.

“If you are Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, you can’t go to Brighton and sit back — it wouldn’t be accepted.

“If you imagine that you’re a United striker and a Brighton player has actually stopped the ball dead on the pitch, your reaction would be: ‘I have to engage with the ball. We are Man United. We can’t have a Brighton player standing with his foot on the ball’.

“But that’s exactly what they want. They’re waiting for that moment and the minute you jump, someone is free and they play these really well-timed combinations in midfield and play around you.”

Cathro nods. “It’s difficult for the stadium to accept, that’s true,” he says. “It becomes a much bigger test for the strength of character of both coach and players — but probably more so the players because they’re the ones who are on the pitch and going to feel the heat.

“It always comes down to simple things, like the dynamic between players and fans, the score and then you’ve got the other bit — the things that are in your mind: ‘Have we lost in the last eight games? Have we won in the last eight games?’.”

Higher up the pitch, the use of the sole of the foot as a receiving method divides opinion. One of the criticisms from some coaches is that controlling the ball with the sole can become a default setting for players irrespective of how each phase of play looks and slows decision-making as a result.

It was identified as a problem with Bruno Guimaraes before his move to Newcastle from Lyon in January 2022. Performa Sports, a consultancy based in Rio that provides bespoke performance analysis, started working with Guimaraes in September 2021 and highlighted an area of the midfielder’s game that needed to improve.

“At the start, we had one strong perception with Bruno: that he had a lot of vices from futsal,” Eduardo Barthem, an analyst for Performa Sports and Guimaraes’ main point of contact at the consultancy, told The Athletic in August.

“He had played it (futsal) for a long time — longer than most kids in Brazil — and you could tell. The main one was his first touch: every time he received the ball, he’d put his foot on it like they do in futsal. Only then would he start to open up his body. It meant he wasted a lot of time.

“We showed him a few videos that demonstrated this really clearly. You have to control the ball in a way that gives you time and allows you to make the most of the space that is there. The way he did it, he missed out on a lot of passing opportunities.”

Barthem described the videos they showed Guimaraes as a “lightbulb” moment for the player, and the Brazilian adapted his game accordingly.

Equally, it feels like there is a balance to be struck, bearing in mind there are clearly times when receiving with the sole of the foot, even in advanced areas, can be beneficial, especially as a form of disguise.

The example below shows Philippe Coutinho, during his Bayern Munich days, threatening to shoot, controlling with the sole, then threading a clever ball down the side for Ivan Perisic.

Coutinho’s use of the sole of the foot had a big influence on Adam Lallana when they were team-mates at Liverpool.

It says much about the way players are — or were — developed differently in other parts of the world that Lallana said the first time he ever came across players regularly using the sole of the foot to control the ball was when he watched Coutinho and Roberto Firmino at Liverpool. Both Brazilians played futsal when they were younger.

“I wish I’d learnt it off them sooner,” Lallana told The Athletic last year.

Sold on the benefits of using the sole of the foot, Lallana has brought up his son, who is with Southampton’s academy, to receive the ball in a way that he was never coached to do himself. “I’m saying to him: ‘Control it with the sole of your foot, it will buy you an extra second’. Not every time, but in moments. You need to keep doing it to know when you can do it and when you can’t.”

The extent to which that is being coached more widely is difficult to know, but some working in the game are sceptical.

“It’s good that people like De Zerbi are coming in — a bit more progressive. But there’s still a lot of people in English football who are very stuck in their ways,” says Saul Isaksson-Hurst, a one-to-one coach who works with elite footballers at senior and academy level.

“The key thing is challenging players to stay on the ball. Normally it’s, ‘Get the ball, get rid of it, play forward quickly’. That’s always been how we play. So players tend to develop these skills autonomously. But the reality is that we should be challenging all of our players to have these assets, not just some of them.”

Interestingly, Brighton’s academy recently added “provoke the press” to their core coaching principles.

“Each year we do a review of our coaching and playing philosophy,” explains Dan Wright, Brighton’s academy coaching and pathway manager. “It’s a principle-based programme that we use — that’s important. So it’s not like, ‘(former manager) Graham Potter played like this, so we play like this. De Zerbi plays like this, so we play like this’.

“We have principles from pre-academy to under-nines and all the way through. ‘Provoke the press’ is now one of those principles. How you do that would involve the use of the goalkeeper and the sole of the foot.”

It takes courage to play that way and, invariably, mistakes will be made at times by academy players, especially when it comes to knowing the right time to release the pass. To make the concept easier to understand for children, Wright says one of his staff makes a comparison with taking your bread out of the toaster before it burns.

“Interestingly, this year, probably because of De Zerbi, teams are coming to our training ground and sitting in a block on the halfway line — that’s at under-11s and under-12s — and letting us have the ball,” Wright adds.

“So the whole idea of provoking a press is to get in behind. It’s like an artificial transition, creating a counter-attack even though you already have the ball and that works.

“But now some of the coaches just park and put a bank (of players in a low block), so the kids are really waiting, putting their foot on the ball and saying: ‘No one is coming!’. So that’s a new football problem for us: how do you play through a block?”

Maybe Vacca has a solution up his sleeve for that, too. For now, though, the 33-year-old is enjoying seeing De Zerbi and Brighton benefit from his moment of wisdom on the training ground all those years ago.

“It gives me great pleasure to see the Mister put my little theory into practice,” Vacca says. “I often watch Brighton — no, scratch that. I always watch them. When they lose, I feel like I lost, too. I really care.

“I’ve been over to Brighton to see the Mister. I was there with him for five days, dining at his house, in his office, at the training ground.

“I have a tattoo of his initials, RDZ. He left a mark on me, on my skin but in my head, too — because now I can’t watch football any other way than his football.”

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(Additional reporting: Jack Lang)

(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)

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October 14, 2023
Jeffrey, the dog who went viral at a football match – and the touching story behind him

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Jeffrey has been going to Luton Town games for more than six years and has slept through most of them.

There was no change to the labrador’s routine on Saturday afternoon for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur to the perfectly named Kenilworth Road stadium. Jeffrey napped his way through the game again and, while snoozing, a video of him was surging in views online. The short clip of Jeffrey in the Main Stand with his owner Matt Claridge first appeared on TNT Sports’ live coverage ahead of kick-off and has now been watched millions of times.

🚨 Dog spotted at Kenilworth Road 😍 pic.twitter.com/YhsAJaqrZc

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 7, 2023

Jeffrey becoming a viral sensation is news to Matt when The Athletic approaches him and his dad Chris in the main stand following Luton’s 1-0 defeat.

Matt, 44, was born blind. Through treatment, he regained some sight in both eyes but he has since lost all vision in his right eye and sees only partially out of his left. That means he puts full trust in his “best mate” Jeffrey, who he describes as a very loving dog. Jeffrey expertly guides him in and out of the stadium, across roads and onto buses.

“He reacts to the (referee’s) whistle,” Matt says. “When the whistle blows he looks up. But he’s normally asleep and getting people covered in dog hairs. If I jump up for a goal, he jumps with me. I wouldn’t bring him if it bothered him or if he couldn’t cope with it. He just lays down in front of me and sleeps. He has slept through the rise from League Two (to the Premier League).”

The nine-year-old dog, who when he’s not working enjoys clutching his collection of teddy bears at home or putting his paw on your arm to request a cuddle, is famous around the club. But his owner, and those with season tickets in this section of the ground, never expected Jeffrey to become a world star like he has this weekend.

“He’s probably the most famous guide dog in the country at the moment,” Matt later says from the George II pub in central Luton with the video having doubled in views by the time we get there.

This will be Jeffrey’s last full season as a match-going regular. In 11 months’ time he will retire and be looked after by Matt’s father Chris, who lives with them half an hour up the road in Bedford. Matt’s name will then be added to a waiting list for a new guide dog — a process he says could take up to two years.

Jeffrey with owner Matt and other fans. He was sad to see Luton not take the lead (Caoimhe O’Neill/The Athletic)

Chris is his son’s carer and has almost always been at his side for Luton games. Around 2016, though, Chris became ill. He spent four months in hospital awaiting a liver transplant and, during that time, was also diagnosed with bowel cancer, a battle he has since overcome.

Going to the football with his dad has always been an outlet for Matt, who was severely bullied at school. It proved to be even more of an escape when his dad was unwell. And that is when Jeffrey started attending games, to guide Matt in the absence of his dad.

“I got bullied,” Matt says, as Jeffrey, wearing a Luton-themed collar, sleeps soundly at his feet. “I just had to deal with it. The teacher wouldn’t do anything. I was beaten up. They aren’t my best memories.

“They (other pupils) would throw footballs at my face and break my glasses. I had chewing gum put on my seat, they would stick stuff on my clothes. It was cruel.

“I’ve moved on. I got a good job (working in IT for a bank). When I go home tonight, I’ll go down the pub and Jeffrey has got his own bed there and I’ll have a few drinks. I have people.”

One of those people is his dad. And when Chris was well enough to return to matches, Matt, who is not comfortable using a cane after being bullied at school when he tried one, continued to take Jeffrey with them.

At half-time, Jeffrey’s high-visibility harness is put back on to signal he is working. He then guides Matt to the toilet and back. During the game, it is Chris who commentates for Matt, who is unable to see the ball or recognise players.

“I try and communicate with him, tell him if it’s a corner, a foul, if people get excited all around us I’ll tell him why,” Chris says.

There are earpieces available with radio commentary in certain grounds but Matt prefers to hear the voice of his dad and those around him describing the game, like their friends Peter Clarke and his son Scott. The four of them have been attending Luton games together for two decades.

Jeffrey has travelled with them to away games before, but Matt prefers not to take him. Not only are there accessibility issues such as steps and inadequate lighting, but there are usually a lot of people drinking and it doesn’t always feel like the safest space for Jeffrey. “You always get one idiot,” Matt says.

When they went to Wembley in May for the Championship play-off final (which Luton won on penalties to earn promotion to the Premier League) it was Matt’s mother who took care of the dog.

“I didn’t see much of the game. I just go by the atmosphere and people’s reactions. I was about five rows from the front and you don’t see a lot, even when you can’t see,” he chuckles. “I got home, went and picked him up and watched the game again.”

Matt’s younger sister Rebecca is also blind and both spent a lot of time in hospital during their early years.

Jeffrey is petitioning to change the name of the ground to Kennel-worth Road (Caoimhe O’Neill/The Athletic)

“As a parent, it is heartbreaking,” Chris says. “This happened 40 years ago; at that time medication and everything wasn’t as up to date as it is now with laser treatment and all that. Things have moved on so much.

“You just learn as a parent and you have to adapt. It gives me great pleasure in bringing him to the game and to see him there, just being with people.”

As for Jeffrey, his working licence was recently extended by six months which means he will retire in September 2024 instead of in March, when he turns 10. This means he will be able to continue to guide Matt to Premier League home games for the remainder of Luton’s surreal season.

His final games will likely be in August next year, at the start of the 2024-25 campaign. If Luton fail in their attempt to avoid relegation, they will drop back down to the Championship, but that doesn’t matter to Matt. He has followed them during their non-League days and will continue whichever league they are in.

Whatever happens, come August, Jeffrey will no doubt be sleeping through.

(Top photos: Caoimhe O’Neill/The Athletic)

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October 11, 2023
Property, prosperity, power – Saudi influence in Newcastle stretches far beyond football

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Newcastle is changing.

It is happening on the pitch — from rock bottom to the Champions League, matches at the San Siro and Parc des Princes, meting out 4-1 thrashings to European heavyweights.

It is happening at St James’ Park — exploratory conversations to expand the stadium, Strawberry Place back in club hands with planning permission granted for a fan zone, optimism paved into the walk up the Gallowgate.

And change is happening in the city too. Not just in hearts and minds, but in steel, cement and stonework. Buildings are sprouting along Pilgrim Street, £1.5billion ($1.8bn) of investments has been promised by the city council. While, across the Tyne, the regeneration of the Gateshead quays continues apace.

On Saturday, it will be two years since a takeover led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) purchased 80 per cent of Newcastle United, with the remaining stakes split between Amanda Staveley and the Reuben family.

“It’s not sportswashing, it’s investment,” said Staveley upon the deal’s completion, addressing criticism of Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses. In Newcastle, the new ownership arrived at a city in desperate need of just that.

Just as Mike Ashley levied austerity onto the club, successive governments have done the same to the city, with disastrous results. Since 2010, the council have been forced to make £335million worth of cuts. The North East has the lowest life expectancy of any UK region. Both child poverty and unemployment are 50 per cent higher than the national average.

In the aftermath of de-industrialisation, with the city’s traditional industries of coal, shipbuilding and steel washed away by the years, sections of the city have been left to decay. Until recent months, the only significant building work has been student housing.

Further south west, Manchester stands as a precedent. In 2008, Manchester City was taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), a private equity company with strong links to the UAE government. ADUG insists the two are separate.

Their ownership structure was one reason why the Premier League approved Newcastle’s own takeover by PIF — but the parallels run deeper. Over the following years, ADUG invested heavily in impoverished parts of east Manchester, proclaiming an intention to build affordable houses and rid the city of its abandoned brownfield sites.

Good has undoubtedly come from these projects. The area around the Etihad Stadium, once a post-industrial wasteland, is now one of the city’s economic centres. But praise for these developments has not been without its dissenting voices.

Multiple newspaper reports and academic studies have investigated whether the city was exploited by the scheme — with the council receiving no rental income from what was launched as a joint venture with Abu Dhabi. One investigation, published by the Sunday Times in 2019, was headlined “Manchester, the city that sold out to Abu Dhabi”.

Newcastle stands at a similar crossroads. With the city in desperate need of regeneration, the club’s ownership have stated their ongoing commitment to that cause — but Manchester demonstrates how pitfalls sit hand in hand with opportunity.

Like Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia’s economic divestment is intractably linked to its human rights abuses. If Staveley’s assertion that “it’s not sportswashing, it’s investment” is to be accepted, that investment — in Newcastle the city, as well as Newcastle United the club — needs to be scrutinised.

“The past we inherit, the future we build,” reads the motto of the National Union of Mineworkers, a phrase which still flutters on banners at the region’s iconic Durham Miners’ Gala each year. A symbol of the region’s lost industry, it has scarcely ever felt more prescient.

This is the story of what is already happening in Newcastle, and what could be to come, from the Reuben family’s investments to Saudi Arabia’s long-term strategy. In so many ways, Newcastle is a city on the edge.

1. The Reubens

The Sports Direct signs are set to go. This time, however, it is not taking place on the facade of St James’ Park, one of the takeover’s iterative images, but in the shops of central Newcastle.

The Reuben family purchased Monument Mall, just north of Grey’s Monument, back in 2021. As part of their plans to launch a rooftop bar on the site, overlooking the stadium, Mike Ashley’s brand was served its notice. Though Sports Direct is moving to nearby Northumberland Street, the symbolism is telling.

Newcastle is no stranger to the Reubens, long predating the 10 per cent stake in the football club they bought in the takeover.

Secretive brothers David and Simon, who still lead the family’s business interests (Jamie Reuben is David’s son), bought large sections of Pilgrim Street in 2011, including the old police station, art deco Carliol House, and numerous office spaces. Immediately north of the Tyne Bridge, and formerly part of the A1, the road is one of Newcastle’s key conduits, although one which has fallen into dilapidation over recent decades.

The Reubens’ plan is a complete regeneration of that area, headlined by a huge new office for HMRC named Pilgrim’s Quarter. Alongside Monument Mall and the Central Arcade, bordering the city’s iconic Grey’s Monument, and Newcastle racecourse to the north of the city, the brothers own a large portion of Newcastle’s most important strategic locations, even setting aside their stake in St James’ Park.

The Reubens own Central Arcade (Photo: Jacob Whitehead)

The brothers have publicly stated their investment in the football club and city are linked. Post-takeover, Jamie Reuben said: “We will build a true community club, based upon our family’s knowledge of the city and in line with our plans that have been worked on closely with Newcastle City Council to deliver long-term sustainable growth for the area.”

Land Registry records show that the Reuben brothers own at least 21 different properties in Newcastle’s city centre via companies registered in the British Virgin Islands — but, of course, the football club’s ownership has been involved in property development before.

Sir John Hall became majority owner of Newcastle United in 1992. The property magnate had previously been behind the construction of the Gateshead MetroCentre in the 1980s, a major attempt to boost the city’s economy. Under his ownership, Kevin Keegan’s ‘Entertainers’ also helped boost the image of Newcastle as a tourism and partying hotspot.

“The central fact in the recent history of the club and city is the aftermath of de-industrialisation,” says Alex Niven, an academic, Newcastle fan, and author of The North Will Rise Again, a study of the future facing northern cities. “The Sir John Hall attempt was one early effort at a response and regeneration; the MetroCentre rising out of the post-industrial swamp as a symbol of American consumerism.

“But Hall is small fry in terms of global capitalism — he’s a multi-millionaire, but the new ownership, with the Saudis, is a completely different order. It’s the same thing: an attempt by ultracapitalists to regenerate the city after de-industrialisation, but it’s just much bigger.”

Hall has been impressed with the new ownership since the takeover, sensing a similar feeling around the city to the one that existed during the renaissance of the 1990s. Like the Reubens, he owned both the football club and significant sites within the city — and knows how the two can work hand-in-hand.

“The Reubens are very good developers,” Hall tells The Athletic. “They’re doing major development in the city centre, and Newcastle is a good place to invest. That scheme they’re doing is huge, building new offices for HMRC — and they’ve got a very successful record. When you’ve got people like that at the centre, it helps to change the face of the city.”

Ongoing building work at a Reuben family property on Pilgrim Street (Photo: Jacob Whitehead)

Praise for the Reubens has not been ubiquitous. Of course, any property developer wants to turn a profit from their investment, but it is understood there has been anger at the council over the slowness of some aspects of the development. Building work on Pilgrim Street only commenced in early 2022, following the takeover.

The counter-argument is that these large construction projects need time — there were numerous planning objections to overcome — with Ged Bell, then the council’s cabinet member for employment and investment, calling the Pilgrim Street redevelopment “one of the most important city-centre regeneration opportunities in the north of England”.

This timing, nevertheless, feels more than coincidental. Local business leaders — who, like others cited in this piece, spoke off-record to protect relationships — expect there to be an element of Saudi investment in the upcoming projects.

As will become clear, in the North East, Newcastle United is not the only Saudi investment.

2. From the Middle East to the North East

Just after the takeover, representatives from PIF travelled to the North East to meet a number of club legends. A number of topics were discussed, amongst them ambassadorial roles.

Also on the agenda, however, was advice: what could or should be their priority for investment in the city. Hotels? Shops? Housing?

The message was clear. PIF was not just intending to put money into Newcastle United the club, but into Newcastle the city.

“It’s an investment in the region full-stop,” says Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at SKEMA Business School. “Abu Dhabi has demonstrated that investing in a football club is not just about football alone; it’s about civic engagement and infrastructural development. What I think we’ll see is PIF serving as the conduit for other Saudi Arabian investments, not just in Newcastle but in the North East more generally.”

That is already being borne out. After Newcastle’s 2-0 win over Arsenal in May 2022, then director Majed Al-Sorour posted a video to LinkedIn, showing the celebrations from the owners’ box. Sat next to him were Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Jamie Reuben.

Notes of congratulations filled the comments of that post. One reads: “Just shows what a bit of investment in the North East can achieve.”

Al-Sorour replies: “Very soon we will turn to the city and the area together and make them all better.”

Two other figures are visible in that video, sitting one row in front. Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud is the Saudi ambassador to the UK, and can be seen waving a Newcastle flag. Next to him is his wife, Lucy Cuthbert — niece of the Duke of Northumberland, and a member of the region’s powerful Percy family.

“A union of the House of Saud and the House of Percy, the genuine article in North East aristocracy,” says Kristian Ulrichsen, fellow for the Middle East at the Baker Institute for Public Policy.

The Percy family own around eight per cent of Northumberland, as well as extensive properties across Tyneside and London — such as the palatial Syon House in west London. In the North East, their ancestral seat is Alnwick Castle, used by Newcastle United for board meetings, as well as becoming Hogwarts for the first two Harry Potter films.

It is just one example of how Saudi Arabia is beginning to ingratiate itself with the region’s political elite.

According to sources in meetings, speaking anonymously, Prince Khalid is well-attuned to the Geordie humour and deeply passionate about investment in the North East. Another added: “He wants something very tangible — he wants results.”

George Percy, the son and heir of the Duke of Northumberland, studied Arabic at university before going on to work in the Middle East, where he focused on renewable energy — a key investment aim of the Saudi government, which the North East has the capability to provide.

It is worth going back to the region’s relationship with the Middle East. In some ways, their rise and fall are reflections of each other. Back in the 1970s, as British manufacturing and coal mining collapsed, Saudi Arabia profited from that decade’s oil crisis — charging the hyperdevelopment of the modern kingdom, as well as Mohammed bin Salman’s rule years later.

Bin Salman wants to divest Saudi Arabia’s economy, moving away from relying on oil and its volatilities. As well as domestic projects, this also comes with major international investments. London has experienced this in recent decades, with European leaders scrambling to secure their own deals.

For example, Boris Johnson’s trip to Riyadh in March 2022 coincided with the news that one of Saudi Arabia’s largest conglomerates would be investing almost £1billion into sustainable aviation fuel production in Teesside, run by Saudi firm Alfanar. Only weeks earlier, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), another petrochemical company on Teesside, had revealed plans to decarbonise operations with an £850m investment.

As these examples demonstrate, renewable energy is a key part of this drive. This March, a delegation of Saudi business figures visited Newcastle to investigate “cleantech” opportunities, while Prince Khalid has said Saudi Arabia wants to generate half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Grant Shapps, during his brief stint as the UK’s energy secretary, stated that the Saudi “thirst for a greener future” matches Britain’s.

In this context, scrambling for domestic investment and international favour, the British government’s influence on the Newcastle takeover process — in which they considered its possible failure to be an “immediate risk” to the United Kingdom’s relationship with Saudi Arabia — makes clear sense. The British government has always denied attempting to influence the takeover or having a role in it.

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Last year, Newcastle and the government reached a £1.4billion devolution deal, lauded as creating 24,000 new jobs and leveraging £5bn of private sector investment. The opportunity is rife for further Saudi investment.

“These are not random investments in random cities,” says Chadwick. “It’s much more considered and strategic. The big advantage for me in Newcastle, and going down the coast, is the rivers going out into the sea.

“One of PIF’s major priorities is investing in alternative sources of energy. If the North East becomes an alternative energy capital or a sustainable energy capital of Britain, PIF through Newcastle United but also through Saudi Aramco and SABIC already has a presence in the region.”

In April, the North East Economic Forum (NEEF), a non-profit business organisation, founded the Saudi-North East England Trade and Investment Dialogue, aiming to connect regional leaders with international investors.

Prince Khalid spoke at its launch, alongside Berwick-upon-Tweed MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who has been involved in negotiations with the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council; a trade bloc including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) at the Department for International Trade.

Alan Donnelly is chairman of the project, and a former MEP for the North East. He believes that, due to the North East’s links with Saudi Arabia through the football club, they are well positioned to receive first-mover advantage from devolution and any deal with the GCC.

“If you look at the Saudi economy: it’s booming,” he tells The Athletic. “Britain leaving the EU had an impact on the North East’s economy, so you have to look to other places to try to strengthen the commercial and business relationships.

“If you look at the North East, we’ve always been outward looking as a coastal community, with trading links to the rest of the world. With football, with the ambassador, the investments on Teesside — the potential is significant.”

The takeover has been a major spark in this, with business leaders in Saudi Arabia now much more aware of the region. In a trip to Riyadh in late September to discuss potential link-ups in the health economy, Donnelly reports meetings beginning with a discussion of Newcastle’s 8-0 win over Sheffield United, with much of the Saudi elite regarding them as “our club”. That, in turn, has a knock-on effect on investment.

“I was in Saudi Arabia last week, and I was speaking to the investment ministry, and they’re really keen to build a relationship with the North East of England,” Donnelly adds. “Yesterday, Prince Khalid, the ambassador, just said to me: ‘I’m so excited about the opportunities for northern England with what’s happening in Saudi.’”

There are already plans for direct flights between Newcastle International Airport and Saudi Arabia, while other opportunities being considered are investments in the health economy, automotive industry, wind energy, the deep-water docks, the digital sector, and Newcastle’s universities. Another potential project being explored is the construction of a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) during the early 2030s.

The Financial Times reported in January that SABIC had expressed interest in a proposed £3.8billion battery manufacturing plant in Blyth, which had been set to bring a transformational 3,000 jobs before the project collapsed, but had not made a formal bid.

“Newcastle United’s ownership triumvirate is a marriage made in heaven,” says Chadwick. “The Saudis are looking to invest in long-term revenue-generating assets, the Reubens know the real estate market, and Amanda Staveley knows them both and has been able to bring them together.

“I think that essentially, for the Saudi Arabians, (Staveley and the Reubens’) 10 per cent ownership is a commission fee for hunting out other opportunities on Tyneside or the North East more generally.”

3. Manchester — model or moral?

This is not the first time Staveley has been involved in this kind of deal. In 2008, she was closely involved in the takeover of Manchester City by ADUG.

Over the next decade, as City’s on-pitch success grew, the ownership group ploughed money into Manchester, including through its huge property portfolio.

In 2013, a 10-person team of officials, codenamed Project Falcon, had been collated by the UK government to convince the UAE to invest in the UK, with Freedom of Information requests made by The Guardian revealing ADUG were closely involved with these talks.

This governmental intervention — capitalising on the links between a football club and foreign investment — is not dissimilar to the circumstances of Newcastle’s takeover.

The result? Manchester now receives more foreign direct investment (FDI) than any other city in the UK, except for London. For some, their story stands as an example. For others, elements of this path serve as a warning.

In 2014, ADUG and Manchester City Council set up Manchester Life as a joint venture — a developer equally owned by both parties. The proposed plan (worth some £1billion) seemed simple. The council would provide publicly owned brownfield sites for regeneration, with ADUG providing the finance behind affordable housing.

“What the club gave Abu Dhabi was this commercial foothold in the city,” says Nick McGeehan, co-author of Easy Cities To Buy, a report by non-profit FairSquare into the investment. “They developed strong links with the political class. And then when the British government wanted this extra investment, Abu Dhabi was well placed to get this massive property deal.”

As of last July, the development has delivered 1,468 housing units, but questions remain about the deal’s suitability.

In The Sunday Times’ 2019 article “Manchester, the city that sold out to Abu Dhabi”, it is claimed the council had not received any financial benefit from the arrangement, despite sharing some of the project’s risks. At that time, the council also admitted the project had not met standard affordable housing requirements, with one developer describing it as a “sweetheart deal with Abu Dhabi”.

Three years later, a report called “Manchester Offshored”, led by academics from the Urban Institute, built on this reporting. They claimed this land, comprising nine sites, was sold to ADUG at a price well under market value and on unusually long 999-year leases. The typical lease length is between 150 and 250 years.

“Our assessment of the Manchester Life development is that Manchester City Council ‘sold the family silver too cheap’,” the report summarises. “It represents a transfer of public wealth to private hands that is difficult to justify as prudent.”

Responding to the Urban Institute’s report, a Manchester City Council spokesperson claimed that the land was valued by independent experts, with the deal envisaged as a “longer-term arrangement” that would see the council receiving income in future years.

When viewed as a timeline, the purchase of Manchester City appears a clear spark for this investment, especially given the land’s location around the Etihad Stadium — though not everyone agrees with that premise.

Investment has transformed the area around the Etihad Stadium (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

“I don’t think the UAE needed to buy Manchester City to put money into Ancoats and New Islington, but could have done it separately,” says Tom Forth, head of data at Open Innovations, which studies the economics of northern cities. “In Manchester, the answer to investment is almost always ‘yes’, no matter who you are.”

Either way, parallels between the UAE’s investment in Manchester and potential Saudi Arabian investments in Newcastle are clear to see. It is understood that Newcastle City Council has seen Manchester’s redevelopment around the Etihad as a positive model.

Between 2015 and 2020, FDI in the North East has increased from £16.2bn to £24.5bn — but is still only a fraction of the North West’s £73.9bn. Saudi investment represents an opportunity for the region. However, the Manchester Life scheme also shows the risks.

Jonathan Silver, a senior research fellow at the University of Sheffield, was a co-author of Manchester Offshored.

“One thing is the potential speed of this investment in Newcastle,” Silver explains. “If you’re already using Manchester as a model, things can be moved forward much quicker, because the blueprint is in place. If it was cobbled together in Manchester, it can be professionalised and accelerated here.”

In just two years, these foundations have already been laid, with relationships formed between the relevant stakeholders. The government intervened in the takeover. The Saudi ambassador has a personal stake. Organisations have been created to foster Saudi-North East business relationships. Funds set free by devolution await.

“Newcastle hasn’t had the kind of urban development you’ll find in Leeds, Liverpool, or Manchester,” adds Silver. “Maybe this might be their one shot — and when you’re desperate and you don’t have enough other options available, you’re more likely to give too much away on the financing, the reputational risks, and you do a bad deal.”

4. Newcastle, the ‘what next?’ of the north

There may be unease over the identity of the potential investors, but given the city’s disastrous child poverty and unemployment rates, it is clear why Newcastle’s councillors and business leaders are desperate for investment, regardless of its source. These issues are complex and vast, but also pressing and local.

“This goes back to the failure to invest in cities in the 1980s, particularly with the immediate context of austerity, which just wiped out council budgets,” says Niven. “If someone walks along with a lot of money, they’re going to roll out the red carpet.”

Newcastle United’s ownership are uniquely positioned to deliver this wider investment. They have the funds, they have the motive, they have the will, and they have the local knowledge.

“Amanda Staveley is from North Yorkshire, not the North East, but she will be acutely aware of the region’s economic and social circumstances,” adds Chadwick. “You’ve got high rates of poverty, you’ve got high rates of unemployment, you’ve got low rates of business start-ups.

Amanda Staveley will play an integral role in Newcastle’s future – on and off the pitch (Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

“This is fertile ground for investors from overseas to move in and serve as something of a saviour to the local population. There’s a view that the central government in London has failed the North East, and so it’s left to Japanese companies, like Nissan, and Gulf investors, like the PIF, to create jobs, create wealth, create the socio-cultural conditions in which people locally can prosper.”

Local politicians are left in a unique position: they must both encourage investment while ensuring its conditions are the best possible deal for the city. The emotions connected with the football team in a one-club city — and the associated political expediency — is another complicating factor.

“The importance of Newcastle as a club, as a community within the city, was cherished and nurtured because of its importance to people,” says one individual, speaking anonymously, who served on the council during the takeover. “We’d never have it any other way. There was a desire for the city council to be associated.”

For example, when the Premier League blocked the first attempt at a takeover in August 2020, Pat Ritchie, the council’s then chief executive, wrote a letter asking to meet to reach a “compromise”. She said the takeover would be “transformational”, adding that “members of the consortium spearheading this deal have made a clear long-term commitment to the city to help drive growth and regeneration.”

It was notable that when the takeover was completed, tweets from both Jamie Reuben and Ghodoussi thanked Chi Onwurah, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central, with the former calling her one of the people “who made this day possible”.

For her part, Onwurah said at the time she would “continue to talk about sportswashing”, saying before last month’s Saudi Arabia friendly at St James’ Park that “Saudi Arabia, whose sovereign wealth fund is the effective owner of Newcastle United, continues to have one of the most atrocious human rights records in the world… This does not reflect the values of our city.”

Few political figures have been outwardly critical of Saudi investment — whether in the football club or in the North East more widely. One exception has been Jane Byrne, a councillor for Monument, a ward that includes St James’ Park. As well as opposing the Stack fan zone in Strawberry Place, Byrne also met with pressure group NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing and Saudi human rights activist Lina al-Hathloul. She was the only local politician to do so.

For the most part, the prevailing political climate is that, given the existing Gulf investment in other UK cities, and Newcastle’s own desperate need for regeneration, the city should not be held to more stringent standards or asked to act any differently.

After the example of Manchester, however, it is crucial this investment receives full scrutiny. In many ways, Newcastle is more vulnerable given its status as the largest one-club city in the country — especially taking the wider region into account.

“From north-west County Durham up to the Scottish border, pretty much everyone supports the same team,” explains Niven. “That is almost unique: that identification of a place with a football club. It would be very politically difficult for any councillors or MPs to criticise the club and its current ownership.

“There’s the beggars-can’t-be-choosers aspect: people feel as if finally someone’s investing in the region. It clearly doesn’t feel like the right kind of investment, given Saudi Arabia’s record. But for most people, you just think, ‘What is the alternative?’. Stay as the most socio-economically depressed part of the country for another 40 years?”

Since the Saudi takeover, pride has been restored to the football club — achieved through shrewd decision-making, appointing the right people to the right places and significant investment.

In this light, it is understandable why people may be tempted to hand over the keys to the city along with those to St James’ Park. The search for regeneration’s silver bullet has been decades in the making, with both the Reubens and Saudi ownership offering solutions. To do this without oversight, however, brings with it significant risks.

The Saudi’s takeover has led to pride being restored to the club and city (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Sources at the council insist any potential deals will go through due process.

There is one central question to all of this. To what extent is the purchase of Newcastle United an end in itself — or do Saudi Arabia’s leadership see it as unlocking the door to a region?

Given the UAE’s deep links in Manchester, there are competitive, geopolitical reasons to do the same in the North East.

“They’re certainly very aware of Abu Dhabi’s successful ventures, and there certainly has been a rivalry between the two over the past 25 to 30 years,” says David Butter, a political analyst and associate fellow at Chatham House. “Saudi Arabia wants to emulate and go further than what their Gulf rivals have achieved.”

In that sense, it is worth thinking of Newcastle, alongside Manchester, as a node in an international network. Qatari interest in Manchester United, alongside their existing investments in London, is another connective string, as Gulf states battle for European outposts.

“Newcastle is effectively now an actor on the world stage again,” says Silver. “It used to be a powerful economic hub in shaping imperial networks. Now, it plays a very different role in globalisation.”

These are wider questions over what the future of the north is. Many have felt left behind by a centralised government, with the cancellation of the northern section of HS2 this week just the latest example. International investment — and the influence which comes with it — has been the natural replacement. Eddie Howe has spoken about defiance, about Newcastle being focused on themselves rather than external perceptions, or being considered anyone’s second-favourite team. Given the struggles the region has faced, it is clear why many feel the same way about the city.

“It goes to the heart of what Britain is in the 21st century,” Silver adds. “It’s where we sit in the post-industrial era since the end of the Empire, how the country has become entangled with the Gulf around economic and defence interests, and how that plays out in people’s everyday lives. The takeover of Newcastle United, and then perhaps the city, is the stage for that wider reflection.”

A final story. In the 1960s, Newcastle City Council leader T Dan Smith embarked on a radical programme to regenerate the city, razing slums, building the central motorway, and began to lay plans for the Metro system. His council was also at least partially responsible for building civic spaces such as the shopping centre Eldon Square, the Civic Centre, and the airport. In 1974, his reputation collapsed after he was imprisoned on corruption charges.

But during that heyday, he coined one phrase encapsulating his lofty ideals, drawing on visions of a designed utopia. Newcastle: “Brasilia of the North”.

A football club in the heart of the city holds the heart of the city’s future. In 20 years’ time, what will have taken Brasilia’s place in that nickname?

(Top image: iStock; design: Sam Richardson)

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The New York Times

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October 7, 2023
Celtic v Lazio: A political powderkeg

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In April 1945, in the last months of World War II in Europe, Benito Mussolini, the leader of Italy, was captured by Italian partisans near Lake Como. Mussolini was executed and his body was taken to Milan and hung upside down in a square where a year earlier his Fascists had similarly displayed 15 local Resistance fighters. Two days later, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in Berlin.

Granted, it’s not 4-4-2.

And this may seem an odd way to introduce a Champions League match; it’s just that when Celtic host Lazio tonight, the image of Benito Mussolini and his name will again be prominent. Celtic-Lazio has become more than a game, more than a Group E qualifier: it is a clash between two fanbase cultures.

When the two clubs met in the Europa League four years ago, Lazio ultras marched through Glasgow giving Fascist salutes; they were then mortified when they got to Celtic’s ground, Parkhead, to see a local banner with Mussolini on it — upside down — with the words “Follow Your Leader”.

Celtic fans display a banner depicting a dead Mussolini at the game against Lazio in 2019 (Rob Casey/SNS Group via Getty Images)

“From what I remember, the response within the ground was one of celebration,” says Paul McQuade of the Celtic-curating Shamrock website. “It was Mussolini, it would upset Lazio fans and it was aligning the support with anti-fascism. It was well-taken.”

“It’ll be a lot of the same people,” author James Montague says of Lazio fans in Glasgow in 2019 and this Wednesday, “and I imagine a few of them will be looking for that Celtic banner.”

There is a spectrum of political opinion among football fans across Europe and Celtic and Lazio are at either end of it. Speaking of large fanbases inevitably involves generalisations, but we can say Celtic supporters are at the leftish end of this culture and Lazio’s are out on the far right. There are, of course, individuals in between, but their voice tends to get drowned out when squads of young and middle-aged men — and it is a testosterone-fuelled environment — are pacing up and down the streets of foreign cities intent on a temporary takeover of that ‘turf’.

It is called ‘ultra culture’, a term so broad it ranges from footwear to flags to fistfights in forests. As Montague explains, it originated in Italy in the 1960s and 70s and mushroomed in the 1980s and 90s. It became an economic force as well as a cultural and sporting expression. It has a meaning in Italy, and a daily effect, deeper than in many other countries.

Montague, author of 1312: Among the Ultras, and someone who has spent time with Lazio’s ultras, including with their former leader Fabrizio Piscitelli, says, “It begins with this word ‘ultra’, which means ‘go beyond’ in Latin, and it finds a position in the psyche of Italy at a very interesting time in Italian history — post-war, a political time, a changing country.

“You get groups finding identities in an increasingly atomised world. It’s based around your club; but there is also this concept of campanilismo, which means your bell-tower — you have an identity with your district and your town above country or city.

“It’s interesting historically, because Italy is a fairly modern construct — it was said around the 1870s that Italy had been made, ‘now we must make Italians’.

“In the late 1960s, you see ultra culture emerging as the modern representation of supporting your bell tower. It was a politically fraught time — The Years of Lead — when you had far-left and far-right terrorism, bombs all across Italy.

“This protest gets dragged into stadiums and you see these flags, this pageantry, maritime flares, the use of the terraces for expression through songs and chants. It evolves through the 1970s and becomes the most fun part of the game to be attached to for many young people; by the 1990s Italy has the best league, the most colourful league, and suddenly people around the world start following it, some watching just for the ultras.

“So it’s a selling point for Serie A, as much as the great Milan team or Lazio with Paul Gascoigne.

“Something that had developed over two decades explodes in the ’90s. It becomes global, the aesthetic, the look, and you get the use of the Italian language — in Indonesia or Morocco for instance, they’ll say they’re on the curva sud or curva nord, it’s capo for leader.”

As the ultra scene grew, so did the influence of those involved. Piscitelli, known as Diabolik, rose through Lazio’s curva nord to lead the group called Irriducibili — roughly, ‘The Indomitable’. They were proudly right-wing in their politics, anti-Semitic, violent and their aggressive presence on the Olympic Stadium’s Curva Nord made them feared outside the club and warily respected inside it.

Lazio’s ultras, the Irriducibili, pay tribute to their former leader Fabrizio Piscitelli (Matteo Ciambelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“From the 1970s onwards the Lazio ultras take on a far-right, neo-fascist identity,” Montague says. “But you have to understand, in Italy, Fascist politics has never been ostracised as it is in Britain, where it seems like an alien concept.

“The ultras merely reflect the constituency they come from and that can change. Lazio’s have always been to the right, but many others have moved that way over the years. Roma are a great example — in the 1970s and 80s Roma had a distinct left-wing, almost Communist, identity. They were from central Rome which was a Communist hotbed. But after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Communism became less fashionable, those areas changed. So the identity of the ultras changed.

“One of Roma’s oldest groups is the Fedayn — named after the Palestinian resistance. That tells you about the politics of the time. But they have had to disband.”

The Irriducibili have also had to stand down. This followed Diabolik’s murder in a Rome park in 2019 — shortly before the trip to Glasgow. As Piscitelli, he had been imprisoned for offences such as drug trafficking. He was part of Rome’s organised crime scene.

The physical threat he carried enabled access to Lazio’s training ground. Diabolik once had a meeting with World Cup winner and Lazio captain Alessandro Nesta to question the team’s poor form — unthinkable in Britain — and dealt with the club’s owners over tickets and merchandise.

Montague conveys their logic. “In the 1980s, when the popularity of ultras was on the rise, Lazio’s were one of the first to realise how powerful they are. They see their influence as legitimate. If you look at Italian Sky TV, how are they selling their game? It’s not just through star players, it’s through the atmosphere and that has a dollar value. So why shouldn’t they get a cut? That’s their stance.

“There are videos from the 1990s of the Irriducibili turning up at the training ground as if they’re the teachers and the players are children.”

It is worth re-stating that far from all Lazio fans share or shared this attitude. In the beginning, in 1900, Lazio were a multi-sports club and even when Mussolini made football political in the 1920s, forcing three clubs to merge in Rome — forming AS Roma in 1927 — so the capital would have a sporting power to challenge northern giants such as Juventus, Lazio stayed independent. That said, the fact the club’s major figure, Giorgio Vaccaro, was a senior Fascist helped mollify Mussolini.

In 2018, Lazio signed the dictator’s great-grandson, Romano Floriani Mussolini (now on loan at Serie C side Pescara) but as the march through Glasgow in 2019 showed, the Lazio ultras’ sense of identity has not gone away. This January, their curva was closed as a punishment for ongoing racism, the Laziali responding with an ‘official statement’ pointing out the World Cup had just been held in homophobic Qatar due to “a bribe ring” in football’s corporate world.

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Anti-Fascist and anti-racist stickers distributed by Lazio fan group “Laziale e Antifascista” (From Lazio and Anti-fascist) in 2019 (Andreas Solaro / AFP via Getty Images)

There is a football country where ultra culture has never really taken off — Britain — although Montague argues there is an exception. “Celtic are the one club, in terms of organisation, numbers, power and choreography,” he says. “Celtic’s ultras are considered legitimate.”

The key element of the club’s identity, according to McQuade, is “the Irish aspect. The club was set up entirely by an Irish teaching Brother, often mis-referred to as a priest, called Brother Walfrid. He was Irish and all those who helped found the club were second-generation Irish, without exception.

“Walfrid was a head teacher in Bridgeton (Glasgow) and he realised that if they could provide the kids with food it would encourage poor parents to send their children to school. After a couple of charity football games, he saw this was a way to raise funds for the dinner table. Along with others in the parish, he thought they should set up their own football club.

“The club quickly became known for songs, Irish songs, not overly political. Within a year Celtic supporters started organised travel to away games, which had not been done before — the author David Goldblatt says Celtic fans effectively invented away fans.”

When Lazio’s away fans arrive at Parkhead, they will see a giant portrait of Brother Walfrid hanging beside the main entrance and his legacy of Irishness and charitable works resonates 136 years on.

The statue of Celtic’s founder Brother Walfrid (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“Especially for the hardcore, he still matters,” McQuade says of Walfrid. “It was fans who raised the money for the statue (2005), not the club. That was the first statue at Celtic Park. He’s still seen as important, although I think Celtic’s Catholic identity has diluted in recent years, because of secularism more than anything else.”

Celtic have never had the word ‘Glasgow’ in their name, but the club is inseparable from its place. There is a favourite current chant of ‘Celtic, Glasgow oooh-oh’, and fan culture in a football-obsessed city has always been strong.

“It’s a generalisation, but Celtic are seen as Scots-Irish, Catholic, IRA supporters,” says Joe Miller, who has been writing for the Not The View fanzine since 1987. “But these are generalisations, just as there are elements of Lazio’s support who are anti-racist.

“Personally I see us as a Scots-Irish club. We’ve had Irish nationalism at our ground since year dot and some say we’re ‘plastic Paddies’, but many of us are descended from Irish parents and grandparents. There are still a lot of Irish songs sung. But then I’ve many friends who just go to see Celtic play football, they’re not involved in the political side. I totally get that.”

Celtic’s Irish identity meant they were outside the establishment from the beginning and in a left-leaning city, nationally that has been maintained. When their ultra grouping, the Green Brigade, was formed in 2006, they brought high-profile support for issues such as Palestine into the stadium.

“I like to see it,” Miller says. “The Green Brigade mention what the government are doing, racism, food banks — and you’ve 60,000 people there. Maybe everyone doesn’t have the same view, but these are good values.

“And if one young kid sees it and looks into it, then it’s good, it’s education you don’t get elsewhere.”

Miller wore a Gil Heron T-shirt to the last Celtic match — Heron was the father of Gil Scott-Heron and played for Celtic — and cites that as an example of informal education, the punk rock, do-it-yourself ethos.

“Stories like that are great. Music is educational, very much so. Gil Heron and Gil Scott-Heron are still discussed.”

Celtic’s Green Brigade fans arrive for a game against Rangers in 2016 (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The starting of sometimes difficult conversations is why Miller says he thought the Green Brigade’s Mussolini banner in 2019 “was brilliant. It got people talking and I loved that. It puts a public eye on it. There’ll probably be a bit of that again.”

There may well indeed be a bit of it again because as Montague explains, the greatest thing in ultra culture “is to snatch the opposition’s banner, display it upside down on your curve during the game and then burn it.

“If that happens, those who lost their banner are supposed to dissolve. It’s an unwritten rule. The reason Roma’s Fedayn disbanded was because Red Star Belgrade ultras snatched their banner, took it back to Belgrade and burnt it.”

Montague says these unwritten rules can seem “quaint”, but there is nothing soft about the shameful Anne Frank stickers the Irriducibili produced and the antagonism inside Parkhead will be sincere.

“The real feature was the antipathy between the Green Brigade and the Lazio ultras, the Mussolini banner and another saying, ‘F*** off’ in Italian,” says McQuade of the 2019 game which Celtic won 2-1.

“Despite the criticism the Green Brigade get occasionally from supporters, the fact is they carry a massive following among those who go to games, as opposed to those who just watch from home. I never hear criticism of the Green Brigade at games and the amount of Celtic fans who wear Green Brigade merchandise is incredible.

“Of all the clubs in Europe, Lazio are considered to be the most right-wing and since the draw, what I’ve noticed among Celtic fans, even those who wouldn’t be overly political, is them calling Lazio ‘Nazio’.

“I’m thinking, ‘Calm down a wee bit’.”

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Ivan Provedel: The Lazio goalkeeper who scored in the Champions League

“It sounds negative,” Montague says of ultra culture overall, “but in Germany for instance, it’s positive. You see there how the ultras are the gatekeepers of the 50+1 rule. Left, right, centrist ultras — they get together there because they have a common enemy in the establishment.

“You saw Bayern Munich’s ultras in the Champions League protesting against Qatar and the banning of travelling fans. This space in the right circumstances can be progressive politically — look at Celtic. It’s potentially powerful and it could have the rights of fans at its heart — ticket prices for example. It’s sometimes worth seeing ultras as a vessel for young people seeking identity, from left or right.”

Nuance and modern football discourse?

McQuade points out that Paolo Di Canio is an interesting figure for both Celtic and Lazio. A hero to both as a player, McQuade says Di Canio’s Mussolini tattoo would make him unwelcome at Celtic today — “and that wouldn’t just be the Green Brigade” — whereas at Lazio he is revered.

Paolo Di Canio appears to make a far-right salute towards Lazio fans in 2005 (Paolo Cocco/AFP via Getty Images)

“When he was with us, we didn’t fully understand his political views and he kept them quiet,” McQuade adds.

McQuade notes another man born in Rome who links the two clubs — Pope Pius XII. He declared 1950 a Holy Year and a football occasion was seen as part of marking post-war peace. The two clubs selected to face each other in a hands-across-Europe friendly were Lazio and Celtic.

So Celtic’s players travelled to Rome and to the Vatican, where the joke was the Pope got to meet Celtic’s legendary Irish forward Charlie Tully — not the other way round.

So far, so amicable. When the game at the Olympic Stadium kicked off, however, the tenor changed. Two players were sent off and when Lazio made the return trip to Glasgow, Celtic made sure they won, and won well — 4-0.

1950 sounds like ancient history. But a favourite Celtic song contains the line “if you know your history” and, as banners, chants and tattoos prove, when Celtic and Lazio meet, history matters.

(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)

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The New York Times

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October 7, 2023
The Premier League’s invisible games

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When Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle United took to the pitch on Saturday, it was the first time in 18 years that the previous season’s top four teams had all played Premier League matches at 3pm on the same Saturday.

Those teams’ games formed part of an unusual glut of six fixtures at that time, with just one Premier League fixture on Sunday (Sky, which shows Sunday matches in the UK, has not given a reason for this, but it is likely to have something to do with avoiding a clash with their Ryder Cup golf coverage). The thing is, though, unless you were one of the lucky ones with a ticket, if you live in the UK you could not watch any of those six Saturday matches live. Well not legally, anyway.

That is because there is a rule that states no football games can be broadcast live on UK television between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday. That includes matches abroad, such as in Serie A or La Liga. Article 48 of UEFA’s rules allows its members to designate a two-and-a-half-hour weekend slot when live football is banned from screens. Since ITV struck a major television deal with the Football League in 1987, the English Football Association, in conjunction with broadcasters, chose to protect 3pm Saturday matches.

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The thinking is that the blackout protects attendances lower down the pyramid. Without the rule, many supporters could stay at home to watch Premier League broadcasts rather than pay for a ticket to watch their local team.

But is that how it works in practice? And is it really a rule fit for the digital age?

At one point last year, the existence of the rule looked to be under threat, with the EFL forming plans to allow matches to be broadcast live at 3pm. That possibility has faded for now, after a broadcast deal struck with Sky made provision for matches at alternative times, though in July the FA said it was exploring the possibility of showing Women’s Super League matches live at that time.

To find out whether the rule serves its purpose — and to gauge what the football world thinks of it — The Athletic set reporters a task: find out how the 3pm blackout affects football and its fans.

The lower-league game

“Slumming it today are you?” was the greeting from one Salford City fan who recognised The Athletic upon entering the Peninsula Stadium.

It’s the only direct comment we hear about those fans who might prefer the Premier League. A bout of dreary Manchester, sorry… Salford, weather surely meant any curious football fan who might have been tempted to visit their local EFL club stayed home on Saturday.

Salford City’s match against Newport County was not one for casuals. If you were there, it’s because you really, really wanted to be, rather than due to a lack of an easy Premier League viewing option.

Salford’s appeal is explained to us by Steve, a self-employed construction manager. Steve used to follow Stockport County where possible, but work commitments saw his engagement with the club drop. With Salford only a tram or bus ride away from Manchester’s city centre, affordable tickets — we purchased one in the West Stand terraces for £15 (about $18) — and a recent climb from the National League into the fourth-tier League Two, he chose to make “The Ammies” his new team.

“I work eight days a week,” he jokes about a busy schedule that takes him around the country. “Most Saturdays I work in the morning and then try to make the effort to come here in the afternoon for a home game. That’s my time.”

Steve hasn’t been able to watch Salford’s last five matches, but he’s excited about a few away trips he’s got planned. The Furness Railway in Barrow will be a meeting point for some of the Salford faithful on October 28.

“It’s good here. Sometimes you get stag parties who come to watch a game before going into town to watch Manchester City or Manchester United if they’re on later.”

It’d be very reductive to claim Salford City attract more fans specifically because of Article 48. “You don’t just support a team. You belong to it” is a message written on the side of one of the stands at Moor Lane and the club prides itself on being an option for those who have grown weary of the fan experience when following a club in the gilded Premier League.

The loudest section of West Stand on Saturday sees a collection of teenage boys go through a hymn book of fan chants such as “SCFC, Red and White Army” and spend half-time talking about their plans for Wrexham away (October 14 ) rather than the goings on at Old Trafford or Molineux (where Manchester City were playing Wolves on Saturday). On more than one occasion, 10 boys break into a rendition of Dirty Old Town by The Pogues, which has become the club anthem.

After five successive defeats in the league and a 4-0 drubbing from Burnley in the Carabao Cup, Salford rebooted their campaign with a 2-1 victory at Moor Lane on Saturday, (you can read the club’s match report here).

At full-time, screens showing Sky Sports News in the stadium’s “Bucks Bar” allowed Salford fans to catch up on Premier League results. That Salford City fans only briefly register the Manchester United 0-1 Crystal Palace scoreline, before quickly getting out their phones to check on their FPL teams or betting apps shows where the true focus is.

To those who attended Salford’s first home win of the season in League Two, the Premier League exists but it doesn’t matter nearly as much as the community on offer here.

Carl Anka

The London pubs where fans gather to watch… illegally

The Search

The Oxford Arms, The Buck’s Head, The Black Heart, The Nag’s Ruin, The Duchess of Eagles, The Deaf Bluebird, The White Hart Attack, The Feral Cousin, The Hunter’s Earpiece, The Queen’s King’s Red Lion’s Oak Swan Crown. At some point, about three-quarters of an hour into this thing, levels of delirium increasing steadily, the names start to cross-pollinate.

It is 3.45pm on Saturday afternoon. I am walking the streets of Camden, north London. Is this something I would usually do? No, it is not, because I have taste and self-respect. (For the benefit of our international readers, a comprehensive list of all of the good things about Camden would run to precisely zero entries.) I am here in the name of journalism. In the danger zone. On the front line.

Camden, a famously dissolute neighbourhood, is home to a lot of pubs, many of which show live football. The plan was to visit as many of them as possible, hoping to find one that flouted the blackout rule. I was hopeful, especially after hearing a promising rumour about one little place down a side street. But now, as half-time whistles blow around the nation, despair has set in. I have visited 15 pubs — 15! — and… absolutely nothing.

I am, at this stage, quite tired and beginning to question my career choices. But wait! A message from my editor. There has been an anonymous tip about a pub 10 minutes away. He insists the intel is good. “Send the asset to Archway.”

Success

The intel is good. You would not know it from the chalkboard outside — only the early and late kick-offs are advertised — but this blessed pub is showing one of the 3pm kick-offs.

The scene inside is, in truth, nothing to write home about. There is no secret doorway, no clandestine card game out back, no button on the bar that makes all of the TV screens flip around to become fish tanks. No, just a few old men chatting about the Ryder Cup, a couple at the bar slowly drinking their way towards horizontality, and eight or nine people watching Arsenal beat Bournemouth.

The emergency remote controls (Jack Lang)

The television is tuned to Astro SuperSport 2. The aspect ratio is slightly off; the image does not reach the sides of the screen. The remote controls are sat on the edge of the pool table, ready to switch channels quickly if the landlord smells a rat. One of the patrons props his phone up against his pint of Guinness. He is streaming Wolves against Manchester City.

At 4.32pm, the television goes black. The landlord flicks between channels; the rest are working but the Arsenal feed has gone dead. This kind of thing usually elicits a groan, but everybody waits patiently as he returns to the main menu — he’s using an Amazon Fire Stick — and tries something else. When the images return, the aspect ratio is fixed but the commentary is in Arabic.

Arsenal run out 4-0 winners, which goes down well with those watching. After the final whistle, The Athletic speaks about the Saturday blackout with one patron who asks — more for a laugh than for his own protection — to be referred to as “John”.

“It’s bullsh*t,” he says of the rule. “I’m paying for three TV subscriptions and I still can’t watch my team legally.”

John is an Arsenal fan. He says he would happily pay for some kind of streaming season ticket. The blackout, he argues, is outdated. “Most Premier League games sell out well in advance,” he says. “When it’s a sellout, they should televise it. It’s not stopping people going to the matches.”

The Athletic has places to be, but not before making a quick pact with John. “Please don’t name the pub,” he says. “They’re good people.” For now, they’re also his best bet for watching his team play on Saturday afternoons.

Jack Lang

The LA bar where fans wake up early to watch… legally

At Joxer Daly’s Bar in Los Angeles, almost 9,000 miles from the Emirates Stadium as the crow flies, Arsenal fans filtered in before the 7am local time kick-off, replacing Aston Villa supporters who had set their alarms in preparation for the 6-1 thrashing of Brighton & Hove Albion.

Joxer Daly’s Bar in Los Angeles (Elias Burke)

Those devoted west-coast fans committed to getting up and out for a 4:30am kick-off, but Saturday’s early kick-off is available across all 212 territories in which the Premier League is broadcast.

The 3pm games (10am ET, 7am PT) are subject to a uniform ‘blackout’ in the United Kingdom but every Premier League game is available to supporters in the United States via NBC, a television broadcast network, and Peacock, a digital subscription service.

Joxer Daly’s is a soccer-specific bar catering to die-hard fans from the west coast of America by opening its doors in line with kick-off times in England. Despite complaints about the Peacock livestream that cut out several times, prompting a chant to the tune of “What do we think of Tottenham?” most supporters in attendance at the home of the West Side Gooners supporters’ group were in good spirits as they watched their side cruise to a 4-0 win over Bournemouth.

Phillip West, an applied psychologist who had travelled around 20 miles from Pasadena, had heard of the 3pm blackout through Twitter, and as an American football fan, he sympathises with the English soccer fans who are frustrated they cannot watch every game on television, as the NFL once had similar restrictions.

Phillip West (Elias Burke)

“Soccer has become more and more global; I mean, we’re right down the street from a Stan Kroenke-owned stadium,” says West, referencing the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, home of NFL franchises LA Rams and LA Chargers. “For me to be able to watch this game, but someone who lives a lot closer to the stadium not to be able to watch it, seems totally unfair. If you were to take away Laker and Clipper basketball coverage from people in LA but allow fans halfway across the world to watch it, people would lose their minds.”

From 1973 to 2014, the NFL maintained a blackout policy that stated a home game could not be televised in the team’s local market if 85 per cent of the tickets were not sold out 72 hours before kick-off. This policy has been suspended since 2015 and is up for review year-to-year. For West, who works in the healthcare field, the UK’s 3pm blackout shows a lack of consideration for people who struggle to attend events in public.

“I’m a mental health professional, and there’s a lot of people I know that love sport and following their sports teams,” says West. “Being among those big crowds, even if they’re smaller crowds for smaller clubs, it’s an entirely anxiety-inducing thing. Taking that away from people to try to encourage them to attend in person? It’s just going to make them angry.”

As for the argument that lifting the blackout would affect attendance in lower divisions of English football, most fans The Athletic spoke to had little sympathy.

Ryan O’Malley and Aya Kuratani (Elias Burke)

“Even if you think about the Premier League, most teams that play at 3pm are probably not the biggest clubs,” says Ryan O’Malley, who has been an Arsenal supporter for six years after meeting his partner, Aya Kuratani, a longtime fan. “So, at the same time as not showing the lower leagues, they’re hurting the fanbases of the smaller clubs in the Premier League. It’s probably just promoting illegal streams.”

Elias Burke

The fan who will do anything to watch his team

Stephen Woodward* has not missed an Arsenal game for 10 years, despite the fact he only goes to around five or six home matches a season.

How does he do that? Illegal streaming plays a huge part. A viewing option that once meant endless searching for a working stream, followed by pop-up adverts, buffering and commentary in a different language, has evolved to the point that it is now comparable to the experience of watching via one of the main broadcasters.

“It’s a lot easier than it used to be,” he says. “I’ve been doing it for 15 years and it used to be a real lottery to find a reliable stream with English commentary. I watched so many games with Arabic commentary. On Wednesday, I watched our Carabao Cup game against Brentford and it took less than a minute to find and the quality was really good throughout.”

A survey by global research firm YouGov Sport last month found that 5.1million adults in England, Scotland and Wales watched a sporting event via an illegal streaming website, pirated app or modified set-top box in the first six months of 2023.

The media rights to live Premier League games are shared between Amazon Prime Video, Sky Sports and TNT Sports in the UK. A subscription to all three services costs fans more than £70 a month but that only gives fans access to 200 of the season’s 380 Premier League games, with the other fixtures reserved for the traditional Saturday afternoon slot.

“Every time I watch one of these illegal streams I say to myself that Arsenal and the Premier League are missing out on revenue,” says Woodward. “I would happily pay more to watch it in high definition with proper production and commentary. I am breaking the law but there are hundreds of other countries around the world with this broadcast and yet we can’t see it.

“I’d happily pay £10 as a one-off fee to watch a game properly, or £15-£20 for a monthly pass to watch the matches I can’t currently get via the broadcasters. I actually believe that the subscriptions I do have are good value and I get lots of entertainment from them. I wouldn’t want to steal from my club’s back pocket and I want to support the club I love financially, so I’d be happy to pay more if that was an option for these games.”

Kai Havertz celebrating his first goal for Arsenal at Bournemouth (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

One limitation of illegal streaming is it takes away a degree of control. Woodward spent Saturday redecorating the house with his wife and ideally would have recorded Arsenal’s trip to Bournemouth and watched it later, but that was not an option. For someone with three children, needing to watch it live does not fit easily with a busy life. “The convenience of being able to record and pause live matches is one of the reasons I’m very happy to pay,” he says.

Woodward is torn over whether lifting the blackout would change how he consumes football.

“The goal of the blackout was to protect league attendances but I’m not sure those motivations still apply,” he says. “We’re so used to having everything available at all times. I don’t believe that a team being on TV would prevent a match-going fan from going. Going to the stadium is usually such a positive experience that I don’t base those decisions on whether it’s on TV or not. Having said that, would a change to the rule influence which games I tried to get a ticket for? It doesn’t at the moment but maybe if it was on TV I wouldn’t make so much effort to get to the match.”

John Stanton

*not his real name — we have chosen not to identify this person because he is discussing illegal activity.

The law-abiding fan who finds other ways to follow

For every fan standing on a rainy terrace in the fifth tier, or scouring around for a pub with a dodgy Amazon Fire Stick to get their 3pm fix, there are others who do not feel compelled to necessarily watch football — any football — on a Saturday afternoon. Take Arsenal supporter Conor O’Callaghan.

When Arsenal are playing during the blackout, he is quite content to get on with his day while following updates either by listening to the radio, reading live blogs or by having Soccer Saturday on in the background.

He does not use illegal streams. It is not that he is afraid of getting a letter through the post. “I don’t think that would deter me,” he says.

This is not some principled stand against the abuse of the Premier League’s intellectual property either. “I don’t think that football always has fans’ best interest at heart anyway,” he adds.

It is a question of life getting in the way. A decade ago he might have had the time to sit around navigating a world of pop-up ads and VPNs but now, as a 37-year-old father, he has more important responsibilities.

“If I wasn’t married or didn’t have a kid and I had more time on my hands, I probably would be looking for a stream on a Saturday, but I guess as you get older, you don’t have as much time as you used to do.”

O’Callaghan adheres to the blackout, then, but he does not necessarily support it and finds the argument that it holds up lower league attendances hard to justify.

Going to games outside the top flight with friends in the past has not always proved cost-effective. “In the Premier League, they do the away ticket cap at £30. Pricing for games in the Championship is more expensive.”

Even non-League football is not a huge saving, in his experience. O’Callaghan’s local team Maidenhead play in the National League. “I think a home adult match ticket is £18. That’s a lot.”

Something often missed on both sides of the argument is that, for O’Callaghan’s generation, watching your team play was still the exception rather than the norm.

Growing up, O’Callaghan’s parents always insisted a Sky subscription was too expensive. One of his neighbours would record Arsenal matches for him. “I would know the score but then I’d go up and get the video and watch it anyway.”

But when it came to following Arsenal live, he had little option to turn on the radio.

“I’ve grown up listening to it,” he says. “That was my source of information when I started supporting Arsenal. People like Alan Green and Mike Ingham back in the day, I used to love listening to them.

BBC Radio commentator Alan Green in April 2000 (John Gichigi/Allsport via Getty Images)

“That’s why I’m quite happy now,” he says. “I walk around the house and just have it on, playing through my phone. That’s pretty much what I was doing 20 years ago, just in my room, radio on.”

When faced with either shelling out to watch a side you have little interest in or the hassle of searching for a reliable stream, why not simply follow the team you support through more legal, traditional and practically free methods? Especially if that is how you came to love the sport in the first place.

Mark Critchley

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Samuel Richardson)

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The New York Times

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October 2, 2023
Why everyone wants Xabi Alonso as their next head coach

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From the relegation zone to being level on points with Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga, Xabi Alonso has led Bayer Leverkusen on quite the ride in his 12 months as manager. Some sort of rebound was almost inevitable given the team’s talent, but the complete change in the team’s attitude under the Spaniard has been nothing short of remarkable.

Ever since the club acquired the unwanted “Neverkusen” moniker following three runners-up spots in 2002, Bayer had been a byword for underachievement and lack of resilience. Now though, they are coming back from a late goal away to serial champions Bayern to score an even later equaliser and generally play with a swagger that befits the most balanced, confident team in the league.

Sporting director Simon Rolfes makes no effort to underplay the manager’s role in this transformation. “There’s a seriousness and maturity in our football that reflects Xabi as a person,” the 41-year-old tells The Athletic. “He’s a natural competitor and winner. He’s instilled a battle-hardened attitude and a fighting spirit in the side.”

Rolfes points to February’s knockout-stage win against Monaco in the Europa League as a key game in lifting spirits last season. “We were the better team in the first leg at home but lost 3-2 because of two late goals.

“In Monaco, we were again the better team and should have won it in 90 minutes. But we had to go into extra time and then to penalties — after we had missed the last seven spot kicks in a row. It was all set up for another unlucky finish. Things looked like they were going against us all season. But we scored all five and won! That was an important moment for the team and all of us.” Bayer went on to narrowly lose against Jose Mourinho’s Roma in the semi-final.

Tactically, Alonso has drawn from many of the different ideas he encountered playing under Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benitez. His first move was to stabilise the defence, playing counter-attacking football. Once they were more solid out of possession, Alonso put his attention to improving Leverkusen’s quality on the ball. They have taken another big step forward this year, becoming more and more watchable, and they are now playing the best football in Germany.

“Xabi is not a dogmatic manager,” Rolfe says. “When necessary, the team know how to defend or be pragmatic in certain situations, it’s not always the beautiful build-up from the back. Finding a way to win is what matters to him, more than anything.”

Alonso relays instructions to Jonas Hofmann (Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)

However, there is a sense that Alonso’s philosophy is firmly rooted in his development at his boyhood club, Real Sociedad. He had his first playing and managerial opportunities at a club that has an emphasis on producing technically gifted players to play controlled, possession-based football.

He took La Real’s B team to promotion to the Spanish second tier for the first time in 60 years. Although they were relegated at the end of that campaign, there are caveats, namely his youthful squad, which had an average age of 21.4 years). His inexperienced team still topped 70 per cent possession in seven separate games.

At Leverkusen, their steady improvement has coincided with the increased control in their build-up across the last calendar year, with their blistering start to the season built on pass-heavy attacking moves.

As the scatterplot below illustrates, no side have averaged more passes per sequence throughout the opening five games. They have even more than Bayern. Leverkusen’s slightly higher ‘direct speed’ (how fast the ball moved upfield) suggests that they can be quick and incisive when the space opens up too.

Summer recruitment has also accelerated Leverkusen’s progress, with tactically versatile players allowing for a new system.

Wing-back Alejandro Grimaldo has given Alonso an attacking threat down the left-hand side — after generating 12.7 expected assists (a measurement of the quality of chances a player creates) last season at Benfica, a figure that only five players in Europe’s top-seven leagues could better — along with defensive solidity, which allows Leverkusen to shift into a solid back-four shape in the build-up.

Centre-backs Edmond Tapsoba, Jonathan Tah and Odilon Kossounou all move over, allowing the dangerous Jeremie Frimpong to push on with more freedom.

In the middle, the experienced Jonas Hofmann is a talented technician who can combine with Frimpong and cover defensively for his live-wire team-mate, while Granit Xhaka has reinforced a solid double-pivot, encouraging the creative presence of Florian Wirtz to roam across the attacking third in search of the ball, as below.

Leverkusen scored their second goal against Heidenheim with this exact structure at the weekend, as Hofmann darted in behind to receive a perfect through pass from Exequiel Palacios.

There’s also the relentless Victor Boniface, who has averaged an incredible 7.6 shots per 90 minutes since joining the Bundesliga, to go alongside his explosive off-the-ball running. Leverkusen are a potent attacking force.

“Having a deep theoretical understanding of football and a superstar aura from winning everything as a player is a ridiculously powerful combination for a manager,” one senior Bayer official tells The Athletic on condition of anonymity, maintained to protect relationships. “He’s done it all but he has the work ethic and humility of a total novice.” Alonso is the first one in and last one out every day, brooding over tactical details for hours on end.

An employee who saw him address the annual staff meeting described him as “a rather dry” orator who’s not a natural entertainer nor a tactile ‘Menschenfanger’ (catcher of men) like Jurgen Klopp. Unlike some of his predecessors at Bayer, he has shown little interest in club departments that don’t directly impact football. He only really cares about the game.

But that sort of single-mindedness has also inspired staff members at a club that has sometimes been mockingly described as a ‘Wohlfuhloase, an oasis of comfort, due to the relative lack of pressure to succeed. Alonso has managed to energise Leverkusen staffers with his professionalism, charm and hunger for success. “You just sort of believe every word he says, because of who he is and the way he says it,” the employee says. “You believe that he will bring success. Because he does.”

The players are similarly entranced. It doesn’t hurt that Alonso is still the best footballer on the training pitch six years into retirement. He regularly pings 50-metre diagonals that land on the intended blade of grass and plays vertical passes that cut through lines like a freshly sharpened yanagiba knife, all without breaking a drop of sweat.

Some people in the club were initially concerned his fantastic technique might intimidate the team, or worse, rub them the wrong way. They recalled 1990 World Cup winner Pierre Littbarski, in his role as assistant coach to Berti Vogts in Leverkusen in 2001, showing off his free-kick-taking skills, teasing the players for falling short of his standards. “You have to take out the shoe trees from your boots,” the former midfielder used to joke. Until one day, one Bayer player sought revenge — and ‘accidentally’ scythed down Littbarski in a training game.

That won’t happen to Alonso, and not just because he’s too slick to get caught by a mean-spirited tackle. The team respects and admires him far too much. “There are some former pros who try to impress players with their skills on the ball, since they don’t have much else to offer by way of coaching,” the senior club official says. “Xabi doesn’t need that. He just plays a killer pass to get his idea across — like somebody would draw an arrow on the tactics board — and to raise the quality of the training exercise.”

Alonso’s glittering playing career earns him respect (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

There’s an air of focus and commitment to the cause that hasn’t always been observed on the training pitches just across from the BayArena stadium. Alonso moves a lot, talks a lot and sometimes shouts if he feels that a specific message needs emphasis. Recently, he set his team a challenge to be more effective from set pieces. When they duly improved, he rewarded them with two days off.

“He’s a very clever man with sensitive antennas that pick up all sorts of signals,” says another Bayer source who works with Alonso on a daily basis. He points to the manager making sure that some players whose contributions are in danger of getting overlooked by the public receive their due share of the limelight and a bit of extra attention from him.

Alonso isn’t the sole reason for Bayer’s positive momentum, obviously. He has a strong relationship with Leverkusen’s Spanish CEO Fernando Carro and Rolfes, a former central midfielder who’s the same age as Alonso and shares many of his footballing convictions. His ideas are closely aligned with Leverkusen’s transfer policy, too.

The club’s scouting has been formidable for decades, but last summer they were especially smart. Selling French winger Moussa Diaby to Aston Villa for €60million (£52m, $63m) enabled them to invest in a couple more seasoned pros to complement the array of talented youngsters.

Former Arsenal midfielder Xhaka and Germany international Hofmann, both 31, have added character and mentality as much as quality to the dressing room. Grimaldo, 28, is also being mentioned as a hugely positive influence behind the scenes. And on top of that, it’s always useful to add a dynamic goalscorer in Boniface (six goals in five league games), signed for €20.5m from Union Saint-Gilloise.

Picking the right club to succeed is a coach’s most underrated skill. Alonso has been especially careful in that respect. He took this time to learn the trade in three years at Real Sociedad B and turned down a chance to coach Borussia Monchengladbach in the spring of 2021 — he knew from his time at Bayern as a player (2014-2017) that Leverkusen were a better fit.

Bayer are a relatively wealthy club committed to attacking football but they don’t operate in a cacophony of media noise, due to the small size of the city. It’s an ideal place for a young manager to make his next steps. The only question now is how long Bayer can keep up with a manager who’s going places.

Rolfes says they are not worried about reports linking Alonso to the Real Madrid job. “I never mind rumours about our players or coaches. If they’re good and successful, others will take note. In April, there were plenty of stories that Alonso would leave this summer. Didn’t happen.” Instead, he signed a new contract until 2026.

Bayer are not naive. If Alonso gets offered the Bernabeu job for next season and decides he’s ready to take it, the Germans won’t keep him against his will and will try to manage that process in a way that minimises disruption. But there’s still hope it won’t be over come May. Bayer have received no indication that Alonso wants to move on. And from everything they’ve seen so far, he’s not a man in a hurry.

(Top photo: Getty Images)

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The New York Times

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September 29, 2023
Why Mauricio Pochettino keeps a box of lemons in his office at Chelsea

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We all know the old saying: “When life gives you lemons, use them to eradicate the negative energy affecting your lavishly expensive sports team.”

Actually, it might have been something about making lemonade, but new Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino believes that lemons serve a much grander purpose.

He keeps a large box of them in his office at the Premier League club’s training ground in Cobham, south of London, having begun doing so several years ago on the advice of a friend. It is a manifestation of his broader spiritual belief in “energia universal”, a higher form of energy that people can connect with and even harness if they open their minds.

Lemons have been bestowed with a wide range of symbolic and spiritual meanings and utilities in cultures around the world over the centuries.

They are considered a sacred fruit in the Hindu faith. Elsewhere, they have been used to ward off evil spirits. And you can also cut them in half and put them in your refrigerator to help avoid unwanted odours. They have been credited with healing and purification properties, and it has even been claimed they spark positive energy, inspiration, personal growth, prosperity, luck and love. It is unclear at this time whether they can heal muscle or serious ligament injuries.

Pochettino adheres to the belief they can soak up negative energy like a sponge from their surroundings, and even the people who visit his office.

He was also known to keep a tray of lemons on his desk while Tottenham Hotspur manager and tends to replace them every 10 days, or sometimes sooner, as they apparently become contaminated with all the bad vibes they have absorbed.

Pochettino talks Conor Gallagher and Levi Colwill through his thinking (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

There has been precious little evidence of their positive impact in his brief Chelsea reign so far.

The club have won only one of Pochettino’s first six Premier League matches in charge and are 14th in the 20-team Premier League despite advanced data suggesting performances have been markedly better than results. There is also an injury crisis at Cobham, with nine senior players sidelined.

GO DEEPER

Crisis at Pochettino’s Chelsea? They’re actually playing quite well

But when asked during a press conference last week if this deeply underwhelming start to the season — despite owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital committing more than £1billion ($1.2bn) in transfer fees for new players over the past year — had shaken his belief in the power of lemons, Pochettino remained bullish.

“They started to work after two years at Tottenham,” he said. “Give time to the lemons. It is a thing that we all believe. If you want to have good energy, you need to implement all the things that you believe.

“I believe in the lemons, but at Tottenham they started to work after one and a half, two years. They need a long time, they are not magic, but more than ever I still believe in them.

“Today in my office, I have yellow ones, green ones… different types, from Spain, from Italy. I don’t want to lie, there is a big box of lemons. I always thought the yellow lemons worked much better than the green but now I believe in any colour — any colour can help. If I could get a blue lemon (to match Chelsea’s kit), it would be even better.”

In keeping with the philosophical tone of the press conference, journalists present asked whether a green lemon is simply a lime. Pochettino, however, dismissed that notion. “A lime is not a lemon,” he insisted. “It is a brother, maybe with a different mother or different father.”

A compelling riposte, but perhaps the bigger question for Pochettino to ponder is whether Chelsea’s owners and supporters can tolerate the bitter taste left by his team’s struggles long enough for his lemons to have their desired effect.

(Top photos: Getty Images)

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September 27, 2023
Rickie Lambert, conspiracy theories – and why footballers are vulnerable

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Just after clocking off time at the edge of Liverpool’s business district on Wednesday afternoon, a small but striking man with a tattoo stretching across his neck joined a crowd of 200 or so protestors outside the city’s most significant civic building.

Chris Sky is an optimistic-sounding name. His aviator glasses, gleaming white teeth and peroxide hair gave him the appearance of a Las Vegas timeshare salesman; instead, he was flogging a story to other famous men like Rickie Lambert, the former Liverpool and England forward, who had advertised this rally in advance without mentioning its special guest.

On the opposite side of the road was another group, making a stand against fascism. For a good half-hour, two men holding megaphones used the busy thoroughfare as a barrier between ideologies as cars went past and bemused commuters tried to get home.

While the anti-fascists screamed about Nazis and the real problems Liverpool’s residents should campaign against, the “freedom” movement stood behind yellow placards that advised readers to “question everything” and to “lose the denial”. There was also another warning: “15-minute neighbourhoods will be your prison.”

The 15-minute city protest in Liverpool (Simon Hughes)

That, ultimately, was what Lambert was here for: to raise awareness of the supposed threat of Liverpool becoming a “15-minute city”, where the local government stands accused of planning to essentially segregate districts in the name of climate change.

Sky emerged as an online agitator at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic by railing against restrictions at a series of “freedom rallies”. To his followers, he is a precious purveyor of truth in a world of sinister forces trying to exercise control; to many more, he is a dangerous conspiracy theorist.

There was, however, no denying he was the star attraction on Wednesday. After another “freedom” spokesman with the megaphone denied the event’s links to the far right — “This has nothing to do with racism,” he claimed — Sky and his followers ambled towards the space in front of the crown court. Then, after the rally’s organiser described those mainly middle-class-looking older women and students handing out socialist newsletters on the other side of the street as “satanic” communists trying to “steal our souls”, Sky was invited to talk.

“Hello Liverpool,” he shouted into the mic, only for his voice to disappear in a violent gust blowing in from the Irish Sea.

Sky announced that he was on a tour to change the world courtesy of speeches like this one, which included unsubstantiated claims about the return of Covid-19, the weaponising of climate change by governments in an attempt to control freedoms, and a hidden LGBT agenda that the audience needed to be aware of because according to the Bible, “pride” was one of the seven deadly sins.

Lambert, who did not speak despite his role in promoting the event, stood by, taking it all in. Most people did, but for one Liverpudlian in a vest, who piped up from the back of the crowd: “Why the f*** are we listening to some American talk about our city?”

It was at that point that someone informed him that Sky, whose surname is really Saccoccia, was in fact from Canada.

In his book, Red Pill Blue Pill, David Newert describes a conspiracy theory as “a hypothetical explanation of historical or ongoing new events comprised of secret plots, usually of a nefarious nature, whose existence may or may not be factual”.

In recent years, Newert adds that it has also become a “kind of dismissive epithet”. The majority of people, he explains, do not have the time for conspiracist beliefs and, therefore, it is easier to banish those who do as “cartoonish scam peddlers”.

A psychologist based in Merseyside, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of his working contracts, makes comparisons between conspiracy theorists and his experiences in the drug services when survivors discover salvation, prompting them to want to impart their knowledge to others by working in recovery.

“When conspiracy theorists discover something, they never keep it to themselves,” he concludes. “They have to pass it on to someone else. Now they know their place in the world, they see themselves as crusaders.”

Conspiracy theories can take root in every sector of society and yet there are compelling reasons why sportspeople — including footballers — could be particularly susceptible.

Lambert has used his social media platforms to perpetrate a variety of outlandish theories, including calling for doctors and nurses who vaccinated children against Covid-19 to be arrested, sharing posts that erroneously claim vaccine shots contain ‘cancer virus’, and saying that anyone who is “in on the globalist plan, the new world order, needs to be brought down”.

Yet he is by no means the only high-profile example. Matt Le Tissier, one of his predecessors in a Southampton and England shirt, has used social media to augment arguments among conspiracy theorists that include the denial of the war in Ukraine and actors being used to fake what is happening in front of Western cameras.

Le Tissier has sparked controversy with his views (Robin Jones/Getty Images)

Le Tissier claims he has been pushed to the fringes by mainstream media companies because of his views. Support has come from Lambert but also from other ex-footballers, such as David Cotterill, the former Swansea City and Wales midfielder, who has used his Instagram account to make wild accusations over the existence of a network of celebrity paedophiles, climate change, Covid restrictions and that a Texas school shooting was a ‘false flag’ event.

Another former Liverpool player, Dejan Lovren, appeared to endorse the conspiracy theory that the Covid-19 pandemic was devised as a ploy to force vaccinations on the world’s population. In 2020, he responded to a social media post thanking health workers by Bill Gates, the billionaire who helped fund vaccine research, by saying: “Game over Bill. People are not blind.” He has repeatedly promoted links to talks by David Icke, the former Coventry goalkeeper, who has long held a belief that the British Royal Family are a group of shape-shifting lizards.

On a similar theme, the former Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas revealed in 2018 that he did not believe the Moon landings were real.

The key word in any cognitive reaction to conspiracy theories, according to the psychologist, is ‘threat’. They explain the brain like this: the threat part of the brain is the most potent, telling the drive system to do something about it. But the drive system is also the part of the brain that deals with reward, which makes people feel like they are eliminating a threat. This, therefore, makes people feel like they are achieving something. When that happens, it releases chemicals like serotonin and dopamine, making them feel better.

“It gives people a purpose,” he says. “The problem is, it becomes cyclical. The threat system says, ‘You’ve done something about it this time — what about next time? You feel good now but there’s another threat around the corner.’ This means the brain jumps back into drive.

“This isn’t a million miles away from the life of a Premier League football player, who has to push themselves to avoid being dropped or heckled by 60,000 spectators who revel in telling you that you’re crap at your job. In a sporting life, that’s the threat. You’ve done well in one game, but there’s always another to follow.”

Sportspeople are susceptible to this world because of how carefully they need to manage their bodies in order to perform.

“Clean eating became a fad 10 years ago or so,” the psychologist says when asked to explain what can happen when sportspeople embrace alternative thinking. “That quickly becomes, ‘Don’t trust the professionals — take charge of what you put into your body.’ This then becomes, ‘Don’t trust the professionals — they are in the pockets of ‘big pharma’’. You throw in a pandemic in the middle of all this, along with various high-profile political scandals, and suddenly it manifests into not trusting anyone, claims about who controls the planet, and extreme views such as antisemitism.”

These are big jumps, but look at the leap Le Tissier has made in a relatively short space of time, from small city champion and legendary Southampton No 7 to a war-denier in Ukraine, who in July, without providing evidence, suggested on Twitter a “communist takeover is slyly being implemented”.

The psychologist suggests retired footballers can find life difficult without the routine of training and matches. This can lead to them seeking a lost dressing room culture that can be found initially in a chat room or a forum.

“Given golf courses were closed during the pandemic and there was nothing else to do, there was a sanctuary of sorts on the internet, where people seeking explanations for questions that had no answers seemed to find them. Such groups offer the illusion of certainty and safeness.”

Golf courses closed during the Covid-19 pandemic (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

The problem, as Newert points out, is that real conspiracies do exist and have done through most of civilised history.

In Liverpool, particularly, you only need to remind people of the 1980s, when “managed decline” was suspected as a strategy of the United Kingdom’s Conservative government, before official papers were released under the 30-year rule in 2011 revealing that Chancellor Geoffrey Howe had, at the very least, proposed the policy to then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Many people who lived in the city through this period would agree that there is enough evidence to believe the policy was, in fact, carried out. The decade finished with Hillsborough, the worst football disaster in British history, when the authorities aligned to blame fans. It would take more than a quarter of a century for a cover-up to be exposed in a courtroom and only in the past few years have some police forces started paying out damages to victims.

In some parts of Liverpool, it is still believed that the heroin epidemic of the same era was another strategy, aimed at doping the city up as the rot set in — preventing people in the haze from standing their ground.

Only a few hundred at most turned up outside Liverpool’s town hall on Wednesday, but the psychologist believes the city is fertile ground for conspiracists because of its history and a wariness towards authority.

Though it has not manifested into demonstrations, the current Conservative government’s decision to send in commissioners to run an area that hasn’t had a Tory councillor since 1997 has heightened suspicion amongst those with long memories.

This month, Icke hosted a talk in Liverpool’s Greenbank Conference Centre and he wouldn’t have organised that if he didn’t think at least some people from the surrounding area would turn up.

Super conspiracies, the psychologist thinks, are intoxicating because they have no answers, which helps maintain an interest over a long period of time.

“The awakening always feels just around the corner; that Scooby Doo moment, where the villain’s sack is removed from his head,” he says. “First, there was 5G to consider. Then there were lockdowns and masks. Now there are 15-minute cities. It’s a never-ending threat and that’s why it’s so difficult to escape from.”

Lambert, whose football career ended in 2017 following 241 goals in 701 games for nine clubs across all levels of professional football in England, perhaps stands as testament to that.

On September 11, the 41-year-old used his Twitter page to start promoting the rally with a poster that could easily have been an advert for a ghost tour, where the town hall faded into the background of a ghoulish blue light.

“People of Liverpool, start researching 15 minute city’s (sic),” Lambert wrote, “because they are coming our way very shortly if we allow it.”

Then, in capital letters, he added: “WE DO NOT CONSENT!!”

A video from a garden followed three days later, was aimed at “you Scousers”.

According to Lambert, Liverpool’s council was planning on “dividing” the city into 13 zones in an attempt to create greener and safer spaces for “us, the people”.

“It is not, it is not,” Lambert insisted. “It is a controlled tactic being implemented across this country as we speak. These are initial movements for 15-minute cities, all under the guise of climate change.”

Liverpool would be under the surveillance of cameras and, eventually, permanent barriers, according to Lambert. “This is unacceptable,” he said. “Us, the people, will not stand for this control tactic.”

Lambert making his way to the 15-minute city protest in Liverpool (Simon Hughes)

While Lambert did not provide evidence for these claims, the city council is adamant that such plans have never been discussed at any committee meeting and it does not form a part of its planning or policy.

The 15-minute city, an urban design concept which could be perceived as a fairly mundane strategy that has been moderately successful in other parts of the world for more than a decade, aims to provide everything that a resident supposedly needs within a 15-minute walk or bike ride.

Since the start of 2023, however, it has been targeted by conspiracy theorists, who believe it to be a part of a malign international plot to control people’s movement in the name of climate change. According to the protestors standing beside Sky, new cameras in bus lanes were evidence that this process had started in Liverpool.

Not every person’s life can be viewed through their social media output, but Lambert’s might be revealing in terms of what it does not include over the first three years.

His Instagram page has been active since 2017 and until 2020, nearly all of his posts related to his family and football. If he was interested in politics, medicine, or social freedoms, he did not show it.

The nature of those posts began to change six months into the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically when Rishi Sunak told musicians they should retrain and find new jobs.

Lambert, like a lot of people, pushed back at this radical suggestion by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has since become the British prime minister.

By March 2021, he was posting about lockdowns, writing: “No new variant or blaming the unvaccinated!! NO MORE!!!”

Lambert only joined Twitter in June 2023, attracting 10,000 followers since. His bio suggests he is “fighting for my children’s future”, as an ex-footballer-turned-coach, though he does not mention he is employed by Wigan Athletic. It includes the hashtag #greatawakening.

In his first video post, he described himself as a “critical thinker” before having a stab at explaining what he thought this phenomenon was.

“No one has ever told us what the great awakening is,” Lambert admitted.

A month later, he released another, more succinct video, where he “withdrew his consent to be governed by any corrupt, compromised, belligerent parliament of government”.

“I will not comply,” he added.

I had asked Lambert for an interview in July, to speak about his views, challenge them, and to see where they were rooted. Initially, he agreed, but the night before we were due to meet, he cancelled without any initial indication he wanted to reschedule. After being pressed on another date and promising to come back with a suggestion, he did not.

It became apparent on his Instagram page that two days before our original interview, he had attended a gathering with at least four other people, including Andrew Bridgen, the Member of Parliament who, earlier this year, was expelled from the Conservative Party for comparing Covid-19 vaccines to the Holocaust. He had also been found to have breached lobbying rules.

Bridgen has been an outspoken critic of lockdown policy (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

At the start of September, Hope Not Hate, the largest anti-fascist organisation in the United Kingdom, distributed a picture of Bridgen in Copenhagen with Tommy Robinson, arguably the most notorious far-right activist in the United Kingdom.

The organisers of the rally Lambert promoted and attended in Liverpool were the British Lions, a group which was spawned out of the Covid conspiracy “freedom” movement.

Despite using ancient law and sovereign language, Hope Not Hate says the organisation is not explicitly far-right, but says that some of its members have been seen at other far-right events.

A leaflet handed out by the British Lions on Wednesday outlined, rather chaotically, all of the things they are challenging the government on. Some were rooted in reality, such as the attempt to criminalise rights to protest; others were unsubstantiated claims apparently designed to offer the impression of a super conspiracy.

So many of the origin stories for these groups and beliefs can be traced back to the pandemic, which Joe Mulhall, from Hope Not Hate, describes as an “unprecedented opportunity for engagement with the conspiracy world”.

Mulhall says conspiracists will ignore any differences when they meet believers of their secretive world. “The nuances seem tiny when they feel like they are conquering an external force. The enormity of the perceived threat means they will put aside political distinctions that traditionally might be a problem.”

Nine summers ago, I watched Lambert cry tears of joy as he completed his dream move. He was at Melwood, Liverpool’s old training ground, having just signed for the club.

When I spoke to him briefly in July, he described it as the best moment of his life. I remember being delighted for him, as so many Liverpool supporters were. His story until this point had been one of crushing rejection and extraordinary revival, heaving himself from the floor of his release from the club he loved as a teenager to working his way back a couple of decades later. “I can’t believe this has happened,” he told me.

Lambert fulfilled a boyhood dream by playing for Liverpool (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

On much colder reflection, his path might offer clues as to why he thinks the way he does now. Lambert was born in Kirkby, an overspill town seven miles inland from Liverpool’s city centre, living in a maisonette opposite the old Kirkby Stadium, which for junior teams in the area was the equivalent of Wembley. With a notoriously hard shot, he was spotted by Liverpool scouts aged 10 and he spent five years in the junior ranks, rejecting opportunities to join Everton and Manchester United.

It was not a shock to him when he was told by Steve Heighway, Liverpool’s academy director, that he was being released because of his lack of pace. Over the next few years, he had to adapt his game and this led to him playing in a variety of positions. He joined Blackpool as a right-back, but by the last year of his apprenticeship, he was a central midfielder. Two of those years had been under Nigel Worthington, but when Steve McMahon, the former Liverpool midfielder, took over, his fortunes changed. McMahon had been his father’s hero, but within six months of his appointment as manager, Lambert was allowed to leave the club — unable to even get a game for the reserves. McMahon had seen ability but did not think Lambert’s body would allow him to regularly play for 90 minutes.

On trial at Macclesfield Town, he was not being paid and this led to him getting a job at a beetroot factory. Aged 19, he was contemplating a career in the semi-professional ranks because he did not have a car and could not even afford the cost of the travel expenses to make it to training. Yet six months later, he was sold to Stockport County for what remains a club record fee of £300,000.

Lambert believes he was entitled to earn 10 per cent of that fee, but when he tried to buy a house, he learned that the money had disappeared into an agent’s account. By the age of 19, it would be understandable if he had trust issues given he might feel let down by the club he loved, his father’s hero, and the person supposedly representing him in this cruel, unforgiving sport.

At Stockport, Lambert found it hard to adapt to a deep-lying midfield role. The team was struggling and the fans turned on the players. As the most expensive signing, he bore the brunt and this led to him dropping a division to join League Two Rochdale, where he rediscovered a sense of purpose while playing as a centre-forward. He maintained his scoring habit after moving to Bristol Rovers and when Southampton were relegated into League One, new owners, with new money, enticed him to the south coast. There, the manager Alan Pardew asked him to lift his top up. Looking at his belly, he told him he was a “disgrace”.

Despite scoring the goals that helped Southampton accelerate back up the leagues and making friends with Le Tissier along the way, Lambert says the club wanted to sell him every summer.

He was desperate to prove them wrong and when he finally made it into the Premier League, aged 30, he had played almost 400 games across each of the divisions in the English football league. Yet in the opening game of that season, at champions Manchester City, he was left on the bench. The decision by manager Nigel Adkins suggested he didn’t truly believe in him.

Lambert always felt the need to prove himself (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

Listening to Lambert, you begin to realise how lonely football can be. He could only ever really trust himself: his talent and resilience. Regularly, those making decisions about the direction of his career did not. Even after proving himself in the Premier League, he felt as though international recognition with England only came out of respect for his record rather than his ability.

On his debut against Scotland, he was in “dreamland” after scoring the winner. He made it into England’s squad for the 2014 World Cup squad but felt like a “mascot” after just three minutes of playing time. The lack of action meant he felt he needed less of a summer holiday as he began his Liverpool career. Despite being given five weeks off, he returned to Melwood after a fortnight, vowing to become the fittest he had ever been.

It proved to be a mistake because he needed the break. Aged 32, Lambert had never played a full season extending into a summer tournament before. Back on Merseyside, he felt heavy — like he didn’t have any energy. On the club’s pre-season tour of the United States, he struggled with the routine of training, playing and travelling.

Liverpool’s manager, Brendan Rodgers, had told Lambert that he was bringing in Alexis Sanchez to replace the outgoing Luis Suarez. Sanchez, however, never arrived. In the 2014-15 season, Liverpool missed Suarez terribly. In Sanchez’s place, Rodgers bought Mario Balotelli despite vowing not to, and Balotelli’s signing was a failure.

Lambert was under more pressure to deliver. His first Liverpool goal at Crystal Palace coincided with what turned into a bad team performance and a defeat. After just five months at the club, Rodgers wanted to move him on, but Lambert rejected the opportunity to join Palace before he almost went to Aston Villa. He never fulfilled that boyhood dream of scoring for Liverpool at Anfield.

Out of the starting XI, his fitness got worse. He was less likely to affect a game if his chance did come. Spells at West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff City followed, but within six weeks, Lambert was told by Neil Warnock that he wanted him off the wage bill. One of the offers came from Scunthorpe United, but he couldn’t face lowering himself to a level of football which he had tried so hard to get away from.

Listening to him on the Straight From The Off podcast in 2021, it seemed as though he was still searching for answers as to why his career unravelled the way it did. Certainly, had he listened to any supposed “expert” at crucial points in his career, then he may have not even made it to Blackpool.

Across the Liverpool fanbase, he has become a figure of fun, but not because his time at the club ended in the way it did. In another podcast this year, he spoke enthusiastically about scientists conducting an experiment where they spent time speaking positively to a glass of water, which allegedly responded by dazzling them with the clarity of their crystals.

When a friend saw that clip, he messaged me straight away, asking: “What next, Rickie Lambert taking mortgage advice from a can of Fanta?”

(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)

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September 22, 2023
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer exclusive: His first in-depth interview since leaving Man United
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“I’m on a ferry now,” says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, talking on the phone in his first in-depth media interview since being sacked as Manchester United manager in 2021.

“We’re going to Surnadal for our under-16s’ second team. I’ve driven from my home in Kristiansund. The team minibus is next to me with 14 boys aged 15 enjoying themselves.

“This is how I remember growing up as a footballer. It’s lovely being with my youngest son Elijah, just as it was when I coached our eldest son Noah after I was sacked at Cardiff — and our daughter Karna just before I joined Man United.

“To be able to turn offers down that I didn’t feel 100 per cent about to spend time with my family is a privilege. When you manage Manchester United, you sacrifice all of that.”

It is almost two years since Solskjaer was sacked, the club legend dismissed six months after taking the team to the Europa League final, where they were beaten by Villarreal on penalties.

He has not spoken fully about his experiences at Old Trafford. I have regularly asked him to talk, but the time has never been right. A text on Monday morning confirmed he was now ready to speak — and no topics were off the table.

Solskjaer took United to the Europa League final (UEFA – Handout/UEFA)

During a one-hour conversation, it becomes clear he is ready to return to professional football. On Wednesday, he begins a new role as a UEFA technical observer but he is thinking about management again.

In this wide-ranging interview, he discusses:
- How signing Ronaldo “felt right but turned out wrong”
- Telling players at half-time of his final match that he expected to lose his job
- Views that some of his players “weren’t as good as their perception of themselves”
- How some players turned down the chance to be captain
- Filming players singing “Ole’s at the wheel” after famous PSG win
- Why he wanted to film farewell video
- Missing out on Harry Kane, Erling Haaland and other stars
- His view of the Glazers
“I’m doing a lot of coaching, four times per week, and we have three teams,” he says en route to the junior game 300 miles north west of Oslo. “I’m helping the kids, who enjoy it. You see a different side to football, the grassroots – except it’s all plastic pitches here. You see the brightness in their eyes, they listen to you, they want to learn.

“But you start to miss it (professional football) when you see the games, either in person or on television. Since I left United, I’ve travelled around as a fan with my kids, going to places like Napoli, Milan and Dortmund to experience games. We loved it.

“My role with UEFA means watching Champions League matches in person. I can watch teams from a different perspective than being a manager: analyse them, solve problems, see how both teams will try to hurt each other.

“Then I’m going to the east coast of the United States in a few weeks to see Wayne Rooney and David Beckham, see a few games and see what’s what.”

Do you want to manage again?

Yes, and I’ve had offers. Most recently, two from Saudi Arabia. My best mate, who is also my agent, sifts through them. If you’ve managed Man United, you put your own criteria about what you want to work with.

I love England and the Premier League. Even the Championship feels stronger than ever, but I don’t feel bound to England. Maybe a different challenge where I need to experience a new culture and learn a new language.

The DNA and identity of the club are important, a club where I can be the best me. It has to be a match. Maybe I made the wrong decision to go to Cardiff, for example, where there was a clash of identities and styles.

What I miss most is working with good people, coming in every day, discussing football and putting a plan together for the next game. It’s not just about formations, but creating a culture where the staff enjoy their job and building a team together.

Nearly two years after leaving, how do feel about your time managing United now?

Well, there’s something missing: a trophy. One penalty could have changed that (in the shootout defeat to Villarreal in the Europa League final) and my time there would be viewed differently.

Trophies are important, but it was also important to lay the foundation of good performances. We managed to do that for a long time, consistently. Ultimately, that’s not good enough, but the remit I was given was to get fans smiling again and we had something going. We were top of the league in September 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo came in, and Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho joined.

And?

And we’d gone strong by signing these players. It was about taking the next step to challenge for the title. And, unfortunately, it just didn’t work out.

Solskjaer helped bring Sancho to United (Adrian Dennis via Getty Images)

There’s a perception among fans and some media that Ronaldo ruined your team, that he was a vanity buy by Ed Woodward. What’s the truth about his arrival and how you found him to work with?

It was a decision that was very difficult to turn down and I felt we had to take it, but it turned out wrong. It felt so right when he signed and the fans felt that at that Newcastle game, when Old Trafford was rocking (after Ronaldo scored twice in a 4-1 win). He was still one of the best goalscorers in the world, he was looking strong.

When I looked at the fixtures it was going to be a deciding period: Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham, and Leicester away. Then Chelsea and Arsenal, plus Champions League games. Things went against us. It started with Aston Villa at home (a 1-0 defeat) and a late penalty miss.

When you have a group you need everyone to pull in the same direction. When things didn’t go right, you could see certain players and egos came out. We beat Tottenham convincingly 3-0 away, but then we lost two games…

Ronaldo scored regularly on his return to Old Trafford but there were questions about his overall impact (Marco Bertorello via Getty Images)

You lost five league games from seven that autumn. Did you feel you were going to lose your job?

Nobody told me, but I knew at half-time against Watford (a 4-1 defeat in November 2021). We didn’t look like a Man United team; the players weren’t running for each other. At half-time, I told the players it was probably going to be the last time we worked together and to play with pride. We almost turned it around, until Harry Maguire got sent off.

And then?

I got a text message the next morning from Ed Woodward saying he needed to see me in his office at Carrington. That was pretty hard when you’ve been at the club for 18 years with all those good and bad times.

I’d had lots of backing and good times with Ed. He’d given me the chance and for that, I’ll always be grateful. I dropped my family at the airport before the text arrived. After the text, I told my wife that I might be back in Norway before her.

It was an emotional day. Very emotional. I didn’t think it would be, but it was like leaving your family. I wanted to speak to all the players and say goodbye. I spoke to the coaches and the staff. Then I went back to an empty house.

You did a farewell video. Was that your idea?

I didn’t want not to say goodbye to fans who’d treated me so well, fans who felt like family. Doing the video felt like the right thing to do.

Were you angry? Did you feel let down by your players?

Not angry. Not bitter. Disappointed. I’d not managed to do my dream job as I’d hoped. I’d gone in to do a job for six months and enjoy it. I certainly did, especially that win at Paris Saint-Germain (a stunning 3-1 away win in the Champions League last 16 in March 2019 to reach the quarter-finals).

And there were some great moments when I got the job permanently. The wins at City away, beating City at home with Scott McTominay scoring with the last kick before the lockdown. I’ve never felt Old Trafford rocking like that. The fans stayed behind for ages.

As it happens, that was the last time they’d be in the stadium for many months. Another win at PSG. Staying unbeaten away from home for so long. It’s not easy to go 29 away league games unbeaten.

Victory at PSG a highlight of Solskjaer’s time in charge (Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)

Empty stadiums actually helped us in some ways as we could coach during the matches.

Those City and Liverpool teams were the best that their clubs, with fantastic managers, have ever had. I know that’s a bold statement because Liverpool were so good in the ’80s, but they were a fantastic side under Jurgen Klopp.

In my last season, we played Liverpool at home. I felt the players were ready for it, just like I’d felt they were ready when we’d gone to City and won. We could have sat back and countered but my decision was to go for it. We lost 5-0. It was 50/50, more or less, in possession and chances at half-time, yet we were 4-0 down.

I made the wrong decision and that was my lowest point as United manager by a mile. Roberto Firmino was probably the opposition player who caused me the most problems as a manager. The 6-1 defeat at home to Spurs was different and affected by a sending-off.

Is the United job impossible?

No, but it’s difficult, especially for managers following one of the best managers ever. The expectations are very high but we can’t live in the same era as when I played. We had Arsenal and Chelsea as rivals towards the end. Now, most teams have money or even if they don’t, they don’t need to sell.

Back then, Wayne and Cristiano were the best young players and we signed them. Now, United can’t just go and buy Evan Ferguson. We couldn’t buy the players I mentioned to the club.

Players like?

Erling Haaland, before he made his Salzburg debut. Declan Rice, who wouldn’t have cost what he did in the summer. We discussed Moises Caicedo, but we felt we needed players ready for there and then. Brighton are very good at letting players come from abroad and find their feet for a year and a half. At United, you don’t have that luxury and that has cost the club loads of players.

We wanted Jude Bellingham badly — he’s a Man United player, but I respect he chose Dortmund. That was probably sensible. But it’s why I respect Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Dan James and Jadon. Young players prepared to come into a team that wasn’t 100 per cent there like it was when I arrived.

I would have signed Kane every day of the week and my understanding was that he wanted to come. But the club didn’t have the budget with the financial constraints from Covid-19, there was no bottomless pit.

You came from abroad and needed a week and a half as a player…

I was a scorer and scored with my first kick. I came into a perfect situation. I had Eric Cantona as the best second striker, Andy Cole was injured. I took my chance, I was ready. The Premier League is very different now, it’s difficult.

Ralf Rangnick came in after you were sacked and was critical of the club he found. Was that a slight against you?

The club he found in November 2021 was different from September 2021. I told him when I gave my opinion on every player. Things had soured, the collective had been lost and that’s not Man United, where teams are built on the collective.

Some players felt they should’ve played more and weren’t constructive to the environment. That’s a huge sin for me. When I didn’t start games I wanted to prove to the manager he’d made the wrong decision.

Now, a lot of players aren’t like that. Agents and family members get into their heads and tell them they’re better than they are because they have a vested interest. It’s a disease of modern football.

We had a great group to work with by the end of the 2020-21 season. We got to the FA Cup semi-final in 2020 and the Europa League final in 2021.

Would you have done anything differently in that Europa League final, or that FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea?

Villarreal under Unai Emery were hard to break down. I’ve not watched it back.

David de Gea missed the decisive penalty in the 2021 Europa League shootout (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

But you told me you’ve watched every United game you’d managed…

Not that one. Or Liverpool, Spurs or Watford. No chance. I watched the rest, we were a decent side. But I should have started or at least brought on Nemanja Matic against Villarreal. That game was for him. I didn’t choose him because I felt others deserved it.

It’s difficult to leave players out but you have to take risks. I risked kids for the final game of 2020-21 at Wolves, risked an unbeaten away record. I was proud of how those kids reacted (in a 2-1 win).

You were criticised — online mainly, but it became a narrative — for not having tactical plans and being just a counter-attacking team. Can you talk to us about your philosophy and how important the coaches were in that?

I love Kieran McKenna and Michael Carrick to bits. Top coaches and they’ll prove it. Mick Phelan had experience, Martyn Pert had worked around the world. We felt you needed to defend well to attack well. We always wanted to press our opponents, even at Anfield or the Etihad, even with injuries. And we usually did well.

I wanted us to get forward quickly and it’s physically demanding. It sounds like counter-attacking, but at our best, we’d go to places like Spurs, Brighton and Everton under Carlo Ancelotti and we’d control the game. Or Leeds at home, when we won 6-2 and 5-1 against Marcelo Bielsa’s side.

We didn’t always get recognition for our organised attacks and defending, though other managers and coaches complimented us on our tactical approaches with and without the ball.

Football has changed even since I left as a manager. It’s so different to when I played and we focused on pace, power, personality and individuals who’d win a game. Now, teams are more comfortable playing in their own box, sucking opponents in and exploiting the space they jump from.

You need players who are comfortable and capable of doing that. If you played a pass across your goal in the ’80s or ’90s you’d be taken off. Now, it’s normal and if you can beat that first and second press, you’re in.

Which of your signings were your best?

Bruno Fernandes came straight in and lifted the team. Harry Maguire – it’s a disgrace that he’s getting so much abuse. I feel sorry for him, but he’s a strong lad and I hope it turns for him. He raised our defence big time when he arrived and lifted the mood around the place. I can’t remember every signing I made, but I should because there was a cap on three main ones every season.

Solskjaer appreciates the way Maguire improved his defence (Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)

Who put the cap on? Does the structure of United work?

I signed up for it when I arrived. I understood my remit and agreed to it. I can’t complain now and I’m not the type to moan after losing my job, but United have spent a lot more in the two summer transfer windows since I was there.

How does that make you feel?

That they’ve seen what the club needs.

Does that not frustrate you?

It’s not about me or how much I got every summer, but how much money the club wanted to spend. I want United to be on top again, to beat City and Liverpool.

I made one selfish decision — to keep Scott McTominay when he could have gone on loan to Derby in 2019 to play more football. We kept him, we played him and after beating PSG away when he and Fred played well at the base of midfield, I think we did the right thing. Scott’s a Man United player through and through.

We watched Ajax beat Real Madrid the night before and that gave us hope that another young team could play with no fear against the best. We didn’t even have time to work on the tactics properly and played a 4-4-2, with the strikers dropping deep. Fred was to play like he played at Shakhtar Donetsk.

I knew Marcus would score that decisive penalty. I looked at the away fans; they just erupted. My young team had won. Sir Alex Ferguson and Eric Cantona came into the dressing room after the game.

The players were singing “Ole’s at the wheel”. All of them, singing and dancing on the table. What a moment. Players who couldn’t really speak English jumping around kicking pizza boxes and singing “Ole’s at the wheel”. It felt good. It’s the only time I got my phone out and filmed my players.

United have signed some good players — Rasmus Hojlund will be exciting and is the type of player United need to be signing.

Did you feel the players threw you under the bus, as some of your former team-mates have stated?

No. Not really. Some weren’t as good as their own perception of themselves. I won’t name names, but I was very disappointed when a couple turned down the chance to be captain. I was also disappointed when others said they wouldn’t play or train because they wanted to force their way out.

There was stuff in the media after I left about how I treated some players, which were complete lies, but I had a solid, honest relationship with most of them.

When you see what Erik ten Hag is having to deal with off the pitch, do you have sympathy?

I know what he’s going through. It’s a dream job, but it’s difficult. You’re dealing with humans with all their problems and backgrounds — this isn’t a computer simulation. But most are good professionals who want to do well. Some think about No 1 first, most think of the club.

What do you think of the Glazers owning United?

In my conversations with them, they were honest and upfront. I had to be patient and mentally strong — and I was. And they’ve backed the manager now.

How did you feel when the group of fans turned up at the training ground to protest about the Glazers? What was your view of what went on that day?

It was their right — and I went to speak to them. Security didn’t want me to, but I wanted to go and speak to them. I listened and I felt we had a good conversation.

Speaking to fans is part of being United manager. You’re encouraged to have security around you but I didn’t feel comfortable with that and usually wanted to be on my own.

I’ve not been back much since the whole family moved to Norway last year. People give me the thumbs-up in Manchester, though they’re more likely to do that in real life. It’s easier to say, “You’re s***” when you’re anonymous behind a keyboard.

Did you feel supported by United fans?

Apart from Watford away, I can’t remember any negativity at games, bar the odd comment. At Watford, I went to the away end after and remember thinking, “I really don’t have the backing of all of them”. Bruno was there too, but I knew I was finished. The 4-1 looked awful, but it was 2-1 after 90 minutes. We conceded two more. I understand how fans felt — 4-1 is 4-1.

Did you want to sign Sancho and how do you think he’s done?

Yes, I wanted to sign him. Manchester United will never sign a player the manager doesn’t want. That’s not the case everywhere. Jadon was put up as the No 1 target for the right wing by the scouts and when you look at his talent, I could see why.

Unfortunately, it has not worked out. When he arrived, he had to go to hospital and that was a setback as he couldn’t start the first games. He’s immensely talented and we haven’t seen the best of him. I hope we do, but he prefers to play left wing… where Marcus plays.

By that time, things had turned, but you’d had such a bright start when you arrived to replace Jose Mourinho in December 2018…

Those first 15 games, I loved it. Right from arriving and walking into the staff party at Lancashire Cricket Club. The fans loved it, the media too. With the media, it was a game in itself. Clubs want to control the narrative. Maybe I should have been more open, I don’t know.

I never leaked a single piece of information when I was manager. I need my dignity, I need to look at myself in the mirror in the morning. I’m idealistic, I still think it’s the beautiful game.

Why was there a downturn in results after your interim position became permanent?

Some players wanted to go. Tiredness, since we demanded a lot, and that caused injuries. The air came out of the balloon at the end of that first season but in my two full seasons, we finished third and second in the Premier League.

There appears to be this cycle under the Glazers of manager arrives, things pick up, things take a dip, then within a couple of years, the manager gets sacked. How do you see it?

Let’s hope Erik is successful and if there is a cycle, that he breaks it. Someone is going to do it. It’s difficult when great managers go — Valeriy Lobanovskyi with Dynamo Kyiv, Rosenborg with Nils Arne Eggen. In Norway we have a saying, “You don’t want to jump after Wirkola” because Bjorn Wirkola was one of the best ski jumpers. We’re now five or six down the line. It’ll happen.

(Top photo: John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)
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The New York Times

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September 20, 2023
Tottenham owner Joe Lewis charged by feds with insider trading

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British billionaire and Tottenham soccer team owner Joe Lewis has been indicted on charges of slipping confidential stock tips to his romantic partners, private pilots and other pals, U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday.

Lewis exploited his entrée to various corporations to reap lucrative secrets, passed them on to people in his own inner circle and prompted them to trade on the knowledge, prosecutors said. They said the stock transactions made millions of dollars for Lewis and his cronies.

“As we allege, he used insider information as a way to compensate his employees and shower gifts on his friends and lovers,” Manhattan-based U.S. attorney Damian Williams said in a Twitter video announcing the insider trading case. “It’s cheating, and it’s against the law.”

David M. Zornow, an attorney for Lewis, said his client had come to the U.S. “to answer these ill-conceived charges” and would fight them vigorously.

“The government has made an egregious error in judgment in charging Mr. Lewis, an 86-year-old man of impeccable integrity and prodigious accomplishment,” Zornow said in a statement. The charges include securities fraud and conspiracy.

With a fortune that Forbes estimates at $6.1 billion, Lewis has investments that span from real estate to biotechnology, energy to agriculture — and, of course, sports. He bought Tottenham, one of England’s most storied soccer clubs, in 2001.

Lewis’ Tavistock Group has stakes in more than 200 companies around the world, according to its website, and his art collection boasts works by Picasso, Matisse, Degas and more. His business connections include Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Justin Timberlake, with whom he built a Bahamian oceanside resort that opened in 2010.

According to the indictment, Lewis’ investments in various companies gave him control of board seats, where he placed associates who let him know what they learned behind the scenes. Prosecutors say Lewis improperly doled out that confidential information between 2019 and 2021 to his chosen recipients and urged them to profit on it.

At one point, according to the indictment, he even loaned his two private pilots $500,000 apiece to buy stock in a cancer-drug company that he knew had gotten — but not yet publicly disclosed — encouraging results from a clinical trial.

“Boss is helping us out and told us to get ASAP,” the pilot texted when advising a friend to buy the stock, too, according to the filing. In later texts telling the friend about the loan, the pilot reasoned that “the Boss has inside info” and “knows the outcome.”

“Otherwise why would he make us invest,” the pilot added.

Lewis also gave the tip to his girlfriend, his personal assistant, a poker buddy and a friend with whom he had a romance, the indictment said. After the company announced the clinical trial data, the stock gained nearly 17% in a day, and Lewis’ friends and employees all eventually sold at a profit. The pilots repaid the loans, at Lewis’ request, according to the indictment.

Another time, according to the filing, Lewis gleaned some closed-door information about a muscular dystrophy drug company in which he was a major investor. The information allegedly included a planned financial move and some clinical trial news.

Lewis’ biotech hedge fund signed a confidentiality agreement that prohibited disclosing the information or trading on it. But, the indictment said, he told his girlfriend to buy the company’s stock, then told the pilots the same as they flew the couple to Massachusetts from Seoul, where the two had been staying in the swanky Four Seasons Hotel.

The stock price shot up after the clinical trial results and the financial move were announced, and the girlfriend more than doubled her money, netting about $850,000, according to the indictment.

Yet another stock tip concerned a third pharmaceutical company, which Lewis was negotiating to acquire, the indictment said. It said Lewis advised his pilots and two personal assistants, who were working on his 322-foot mega-yacht, to buy in. And they did, before the merger plan became public and bumped up the stock price.

On still another occasion, the indictment said, Lewis learned through a hand-picked board member that an Australian agricultural firm was bracing for significant losses from a monsoon flood. He quickly urged the pilots to sell, according to the indictment, but their broker wasn’t able to dump the shares before the company went public with the news.

“Just wish the Boss would have given us a little earlier heads up,” one of the pilots lamented to the broker by email.

The indictment doesn’t mention Tottenham, one of Lewis’ most visible investments.

Under his ownership, the Premier League club has built a state-of-the-art stadium at an estimated cost of more than $1 billion. It features an NFL field below the moveable soccer pitch, as Tottenham has a long-term agreement with the NFL to stage regular-season games in London.

Spurs also was among teams involved in 2021 in the aborted plan for a European Super League, which prompted widespread protests from supporters.

A message seeking comment was sent to the team, which is on tour in Singapore.

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July 25, 2023
Real Madrid & Barcelona’s League Is Now Named After EA Sports

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La Liga, Spain’s top flight of professional football and home to some of the world’s biggest clubs—like Barcelona and Real Madrid—has signed a new sponsorship deal that sees its previous branding (“La Liga Santander”) swapped out, with the league now to be known as LALIGA EA SPORTS.

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Please note the caps is their idea, not mine. It’s presumably part of EA’s big push to get people ready for this year’s ~~FIFA~~ EA Sports FC video game, which will play the same as last year’s edition but will be the first to not be able to rely on decades-old brand recognition.

Which is all well and good for everyone involved, I’m sure hands have been shaken and money exchanged, but this isn’t a business press release website. I don’t really care what the top flight is called, and EA Sports have been sponsoring big european football leagues for years in one way or another (they’ve got multiple deals with the Premier League, for example, including appearing on referee’s uniforms).

No, I’m here to talk to you about the second division’s rebrand. Known either as La Liga 2 or Segunda División, depending on where you’re from, it’ll now be called (again, their caps, not mine) LALIGA HYPERMOTION.

Hypermotion, for those who haven’t had to read the bullet points of sports game press releases for the past few years, is a system EA cooked up to try and sell FIFA where they combined 11v11 motion capture with machine learning to try and improve the physics and animation of the players in the game.

That’s what a whole league is now named after. Not a video game company, not even a video game, just a physics and animation system designed for a single video game series where the benefits it brings are negligible at best (it’s mostly just empty PR calories, FIFA hasn’t fundamentally changed the way it plays or looks for years).

Of course nobody on the streets will actually call it that, everyone will still just call it La Liga 2 or whatever they’ve been calling it forever, but still. I’m very much looking forward to EA expanding these types of sponsorships, when next season’s Championship will be renamed to THE FROSTBITE LEAGUE.

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Luke Plunkett

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July 5, 2023
Twitch Streamer’s Soccer Team Pulls From $1M Tourney Over Racism Allegations

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A soccer team owned by FIFA streamer Edwin Castro has withdrawn from an inaugural soccer tournament after a member of the team allegedly used a racial slur against an opposing player in a match.

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Dallas United was playing West Ham United F.C. in the inaugural The Soccer Tournament (or TST), a 7v7 tournament with a $1 million prize for the winning team taking place in Cary, North Carolina on June 1. The Dallas team, which is composed of “mostly amateur players from the Dallas area,” according to ESPN, was up 2-0 in the match against West Ham when the incident reportedly took place.

Video clips on social media show West Ham players gathered around the match’s referee, with center back and former English Premier League player Anton Ferdinand at the center of it all. One clip appears to show Ferdinand telling the ref “I’m here to set a precedent now,” before the entire team decided to walk off the pitch. Though it’s unclear what was allegedly said, the chatter on social media and on sites like The Daily Mail suggest the n-word was hurled at Ferdinand by a Dallas United player.

The official TST twitter account later shared an update, saying that it had “[conducted] an investigation into the final moments of the match between West Ham United and Dallas United” and “concluded that Dallas United violated TST’s code of conduct.”

“We have been in dialogue with leadership from both clubs and we are all aligned that the best path forward is Dallas United withdrawing from competition,” the statement also reads.

Though Castro’s Dallas squad initially shared a tweet stating that it had launched its own internal investigation into what took place during the match and was “cooperating fully” with TST’s investigation, a later tweet seemed to suggest the squad’s stance is that the “accusation” against them is false. “In light of the shadow cast by an opposing player’s accusation during tonight’s match, the Dallas United players unanimously decided to withdraw from the remainder of the competition,” read a tweet posted just a few hours after the initial one. Kotaku reached out to TST and Castro for comment.

Castro has 3.5 million followers on his Twitch account and over 1.5 million on Twitter. He is best known for his FIFA streams. In a March 7 video posted to the Dallas United Twitter account, Castro likens owning the team to “[playing] FIFA in real life.”

As reported by ABC 11, North Carolina’s branch of the news organization, Ferdinand spoke to reporters after West Ham’s final match on June 2, praising TST’s swift response to the allegations. “I need to go on record and say the topic of conversation that was laid bare yesterday is better than football. The way that TST dealt with it so swiftly, the no-nonsense action, a lot of people around the world, organizations around the world, can take note,” he said.

West Ham and their opponents reportedly knelt in solidarity before Friday’s match, as Ferdinand’s team considered not continuing on in the tournament after the racially charged incident. “When somebody of white heritage hears somebody of my heritage speak of [such racism], it’s almost like it’s a broken record, we’ve heard it before. But when you hear it from somebody who looks like you, it makes you take note. So I think everybody needs to come together to fight as a collective. And if we do that, football can be the catalyst for change in society. But society is going to have to want to change with it,” Ferdinand said during the press conference.

As reported by the BBC, Ferdinand isn’t the only former pro footballer competing in the tournament—Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and Cesc Fabregas are a part of it, as well, and professional clubs Borussia Dortmund and Wrexham (owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney) have teams representing them, as well.

This is also, sadly, not the first time Ferdinand has faced racism as a Black man in football. According to the BBC, a former Chelsea player was fined and banned four matches back in 2011 for racially abusing him when he was a defender on Queens Park Rangers. Racism has no place in football, gaming, or otherwise.

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Alyssa Mercante

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June 2, 2023
Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace condemn alleged racial abuse towards Son Heung-min during Premier League game | CNN

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CNN
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Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace have both condemned alleged racial abuse towards South Korean forward Son Heung-min after the teams faced each other on Saturday.

In a statement on Sunday, Crystal Palace said the club is “aware of a video circulating online (as well as reports made directly to us) regarding an individual in the away end at Spurs yesterday, appearing to make racist gestures towards Heung-Min Son.”

The statement added: “Evidence has been shared with the police, and when he is identified, he will face a club ban. We will not tolerate such behaviour in our club.”

In response to an inquiry about Saturday’s game, a spokesperson for London’s Metropolitan Police told CNN that it is investigating allegations of racial abuse.

“Officers are carrying out enquiries,” the spokesperson said. “No arrests have been made at this time.”

Tottenham said it was aware of the alleged incident and called discrimination of any kind “abhorrent.”

“We will do everything in our powers to ensure that if found guilty, the individual will receive the strongest possible action – as was the case earlier this season when Son suffered similar racial abuse at Chelsea,” Spurs said in a statement on Sunday.

Last August, Chelsea said the club had identified and banned a season ticket holder “indefinitely” after reports emerged that Son was racially abused during a Premier League game at Stamford Bridge.

On Sunday, the Premier League said in a tweet that it “condemns all forms of discrimination” and that “no one should have to suffer abuse of the kind received by Heung-Min Son.”

Tottenham defeated Crystal Palace 1-0 to move up to sixth in the Premier League table thanks to Harry Kane’s header at the end of the first half.

That took Kane to 209 Premier League goals as he moved to second in the league’s all-time scoring list ahead of Wayne Rooney.

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May 7, 2023
I Must Know What Video Game Erling Haaland Is Playing

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Norwegian giant Erling Haaland broke the single-season Premier League goal-scoring record earlier this week, scoring his 35th of the campaign—which still has four games left—in a 3-0 win over West Ham. He was interviewed by Sky afterwards, and said something that has been stuck in my head ever since.

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Asked what he thinks about securing this record, and possibly getting his hands on even more, the 22-year-old said “I don’t think of this, I will go home now and play some video games, eat something and then sleep, that’s what I will do”.

After which he’s prompted by the presenter “which video games are you playing at the moment”, to which Haaland replies “I can’t say, it’s too embarrassing”.

Really.

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Firstly, my guy, I’d like to say there is no video game you should be embarrassed about playing. It’s 2023, there are games for all lifestyles and platforms and budgets, and so whatever kind of game you want to play you’re able to go out and play it.

Secondly, though, I will guess that despite this, he is embarrassed because he’s a professional footballer, and maybe figures the lads (and/or assholes on social media) will take the absolute piss out of him if they find out. If this is the case, I am intrigued.

What possible game could a man that stands 1.95m tall (6’5″), makes £375,000 (USD$470,000) a week and is one of the five best footballers on the planet be too embarrassed to talk about?

It’s not going to be FIFA or Call of Duty, and likely wouldn’t be something like Fortnite either. Athletes across sports and all over the world are streaming games like that all the time, there’d be nothing out of the ordinary there.

Which has led to suggestions it might be something a bit gentler, a game that Haaland—rightly or wrongly—maybe doesn’t feel is the kind of game a big footballing man should be playing. Animal Crossing, perhaps. Maybe something European, like a farming or truck-driving simulator. Maybe he’s spending $470,000 a week on Robux. Maybe it’s Honkai: Star Rail. Maybe it’s Redfall.

Or, maybe it is FIFA, and he’s just playing as himself. Which you wouldn’t need to embarrassed about all dude, if I was in the game and had stats that good I would do exactly the same thing.

If anyone has any good guesses—or even any inside info—let us know!

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Luke Plunkett

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May 4, 2023
World Snooker Championship: Luca Brecel pulls off greatest Crucible comeback to stun Si Jiahui and reach final

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Luca Brecel became the first player in Crucible history to erase a nine-frame deficit as he beat Si Jiahui 17-15 in a thrilling contest to reach the final of the World Snooker Championship; “To win is absolutely unbelievable, it is the biggest game of my life. I was in disbelief”

Last Updated: 29/04/23 6:53pm

Luca Brecel celebrates his famous win over Si Jiahui

Luca Brecel produced the greatest-ever Crucible comeback as he won 11 frames in a row against Si Jiahui to book his place in the World Snooker Championship final.

The Belgian, who conquered Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals, looked certain to be heading home as he trailed 14-5 in the race to 17 after a dominant opening by Si.

But he started his miraculous recovery by winning the final five frames of Friday’s night session and offered up more of the same on Saturday afternoon to complete a remarkable 17-15 victory.

In doing so Brecel became the first player in Crucible history to overturn a nine-frame deficit as he booked his first final in Sheffield, having never previously got past the first round.

It was difficult not to feel some sympathy for Si, who at 20 years old looked set to become the youngest Crucible finalist in history, as he looked increasingly solemn in his chair as Brecel won frame after frame.

Brecel leans in disbelief after wrapping up his incredible comeback win

To his credit he stopped Brecel’s run of 11 in a row with a composed break of 91 and then had chances to send the match into a final-frame decider before a clipped red along the cushion allowed the Belgian to close out a famous victory.

Brecel told BBC Sport: “At 14-12, 14-13 I knew I had a chance, but I think 14-14 I was really believing it because I could see he was struggling and I was playing great stuff.

“But I knew I could have lost as well. To win is absolutely unbelievable, it is the biggest game of my life. I was in disbelief, I was shaking.

“The whole game I was expecting to lose, even with a session to spare, so to even have a chance to win was the craziest feeling ever in my body and I can’t believe I did it.

“I have never won a game here and now I am in the final, it is some story. It is going to take a while to sink in.”

Brecel and Si Jiahui embrace following their thrilling semi-final

Si hopes the punishing loss can help him become a better player.

“I was feeling kind of disappointed, but not very, he played nearly perfect snooker in the final two sessions and my safety let me down,” he said.

“I have realised there are flaws in my game, there are so many things I can still improve, so in the coming season I will be confident I can beat anyone.”

Brecel will play either Mark Allen or Mark Selby in the final, with their semi-final coming to a finish later on Saturday.

Allen won three of the final four frames of the morning session to reduce his deficit to 11-10.

Former champion Stephen Hendry accused the pair of casting a “dark cloud” over the Crucible with their attritional play during a second session on Friday that was halted three frames early.

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April 29, 2023
Safe from the sack for now, Jurgen Klopp looks to revive Liverpool with win over title-chasing Arsenal | CNN

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It’s fair to say that most Liverpool fans will be looking forward to seeing the back of this season.

After an energy-sapping quadruple chase last term, Jurgen Klopp’s team appears to have run out of steam and ideas as it languishes in eighth place in the Premier League and has been soundly eliminated from all three cup competitions.

Now 13 points off the top four, even Champions League football next season is looking like an increasingly unlikely prospect, as the team has gone winless in its three league matches – four in total, including defeat to Real Madrid – since that 7-0 drubbing of Manchester United.

In a league that has often been all too happy to sack managers at the first sign of trouble, it’s notable that Liverpool’s owners have so far kept faith and look likely to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.

But after a Premier League record 12 sackings this season – Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers and Graham Potter of Chelsea being the latest victims – even Klopp joked about his job being under threat.

“The elephant in the room is probably why am I still sitting here in this crazy world? Last man standing,” the German told reporters earlier in the week.

Despite this season’s struggles, however, you would be hard pressed to find a Liverpool supporter in favor of dismissing Klopp.

The 55-year-old has turned the club around in remarkable fashion since arriving eight years ago, taking the team from mid-table to the summit of English and European football.

It is precisely this success, obtained with a thrilling brand of football to boot, that has earned Klopp enough brownie points with fans and the club’s owners to be awarded time to fix the current situation.

But while his job is safe for now, even the most patient of owners have their limits.

It’s likely Liverpool will have to show some improvements between now and the end of the season to prove Klopp can coach the team out of this slump, something he was unable to do in his final months in charge of Borussia Dortmund.

Up next on this brutal stretch of fixtures is Arsenal, a team that been what Liverpool aspired to be in the league this season.

The Gunners’ success, achieved with an entertaining style of play, was something Klopp was quick to praise ahead of Sunday’s clash.

“Mikel is building this team for a few years now and obviously the outcome is pretty impressive,” Klopp told reporters on Friday, per LFC.com. “The way they play is fun to watch, to be honest, it’s super-lively, really good football, top players on the pitch, good match plans.

“It’s not exactly what you can say about us in the moment, so that shows you what the situation is. But at least for a while we can mention, again, it’s Anfield.

“So, we are at home and still have to show reaction after reaction after reaction – we have to – and improvement. That’s what we will absolutely try on Sunday.”

Klopp said building on the “good moments” Liverpool had recently enjoyed in games – even if they have been few and far between – will be key to earning a result, but will be easier said than done against an Arsenal team that has a first Premier League crown in 19 years in its sights.

However, Arsenal has struggled badly at Anfield in recent years, losing seven, drawing two and winning just one of its previous 10 matches in Liverpool’s back yard.

Arsenal’s last win at Anfield came in 2012, a game Arteta started, but the Gunners boss is confident his team has the ability to snap that poor run of form at Anfield.

“We’ve been to a few grounds this season where we haven’t won in 17, 18 and 22 years and we have managed to do that,” he told reporters, per Arsenal.com. “So we are capable of [winning at Anfield], that’s for sure.

“We really need to embrace the moment and go for it. The team is full of enthusiasm and positivity and we know that we have a big challenge, but I see a big opportunity to go to Anfield and do something that we haven’t done for many years. That’s what is driving the team in the last few days.

“It’s very, very difficult, so we know that, and the opportunity is ahead of us there on Sunday to do something that we have done in the last two or three years, to win in places that the team didn’t do for many, many years.”

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April 9, 2023
Police investigating reports of Liverpool bus attack after Manchester City match | CNN

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CNN
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Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is investigating reports that Liverpool’s team bus was damaged after the club’s English Premier League match against Manchester City, the police force said in a statement.

The incident is reported to have taken place close to the Etihad Stadium, where the match was held, on Saturday afternoon, GMP said.

“There were no reports of any injuries and the Liverpool Club coaches were able to continue with their journey. An investigation has now been launched by Greater Manchester Police to identify and locate the offenders,” read the statement sent to CNN.

Manchester City, who won the tie 4-1 to keep alive its hopes of winning a third successive league title, described the incident as “totally unacceptable” and said it would “fully support” the investigation.

“We understand an object was thrown towards the coach in a residential area,” the statement said.

“Incidents of this kind are totally unacceptable, and we strongly condemn the actions of the individual(s) responsible.”

Manchester City also addressed the chanting aimed at Liverpool fans during the game. Some British media outlets reported that the chanting made reference to the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster which caused 97 Liverpool fans to lose their lives.

“We regret any offence these chants may have caused and will continue to work with supporter groups and officials from both clubs to eradicate hateful chanting from this fixture,” City said.

Liverpool has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.

In a statement to CNN, the Premier League said: “The Premier League condemns the chanting heard during today’s match between Manchester City and Liverpool. The League is treating the issue of tragedy chanting as a priority and as a matter of urgency.”

The rivalry between the two English teams has increased in recent seasons as both have vied for the league title. Last season, City finished one point ahead of Liverpool in the title race.

In 2018, UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, fined Liverpool after fans threw objects at City’s team bus ahead of a Champions League quarterfinal at Anfield.

Last October, City manager Pep Guardiola said coins were thrown towards him during a league game between the two teams, and after the same match Liverpool condemned the “vile chants relating to football stadium tragedies” heard in the away end of the stadium, adding that offensive graffiti was also found in the away section.

Fans singing songs about stadium disasters or fatal accidents, which has been described as ‘tragedy chanting,’ has been put in the spotlight in England this season.

Ahead of Manchester United’s league match against Liverpool last month, the respective managers of both clubs called for an end to such chanting in a joint statement.

The Football Association, English football’s governing body, said it strongly condemned such chants.

In a statement to CNN, a FA spokesperson said: “We are very concerned about the rise of abhorrent chants in stadiums that are related to the Hillsborough disaster and other football related tragedies.

“These chants are highly offensive and are deeply upsetting for the families, friends and communities who have been impacted by these devastating events, and we strongly condemn this behaviour.

“We support clubs and fans who try to stamp out this behaviour from our game. We also support the excellent work of the survivor groups who engage with stakeholders across football to help educate people about the damaging and lasting effects that these terrible chants can have.”

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April 2, 2023
World Pool Championship: Francisco Sanchez Ruiz wins title in Kielce, Poland

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Spain’s Francisco Sanchez Ruiz is the new champion of the world after defeating Mohammad Soufi 13-10 in the World Pool Championship final in Kielce, Poland; the world No 1 will now head on to the Premier League Pool and World Pool Masters

Last Updated: 05/02/23 9:55pm

Francisco Sanchez Ruiz won the World Pool Championship in Poland

Francisco Sanchez Ruiz won the nine-ball World Pool Championship, with the Spanish superstar defeating Syrian Mohammad Soufi in Sunday’s final.

Sanchez Ruiz, who was forced to come from behind against Mario He to reach the final, took a 6-4 lead in the race to 13 but a miss on the four in rack 11 brought Soufi in to cut the deficit back to one.

Just when it seemed the Syrian outsider would find momentum, a scratch on the break allowed his opponent to enter the fray and sweep in for an 8-7 lead.

Sanchez Ruiz took advantage of another Soufi mistake to take control of proceedings by establishing a two-rack buffer reaching double figures in the process and moving three away from the title.

The Spaniard appeared to have sussed the break and he soon reached the hill.

He pounced after Soufi’s break in the 23rd rack left the one and eight locked together to seal a memorable victory.

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Sanchez Ruiz pocketed the two off an incredible fluke at the World Pool Championship

Sanchez Ruiz pocketed the two off an incredible fluke at the World Pool Championship

Sanchez Ruiz now holds the US Open Pool Championship, World Cup of Pool, and World Pool Championship titles in the nine-ball arena.

He said: “It’s an amazing feeling. I have no voice. I felt the pressure. I had an unbelievable year last year but this is the first of this year and I cannot believe it.

“I didn’t play my best in the final but I fought for it and I got the end result.

“I knew I could lose a game with someone like Mohammad. He is very good and strong. I played my game though, I am so tired, I feel unbelievable, this is my biggest title for sure.”

Sanchez Ruiz hugs Mohammad Soufi after winning the World Pool Championship title

The world No 1 will now head on to the Premier League Pool and World Pool Masters.

“The last year when I won the big titles but when I won the Derby City Classic last year, everything changed in my mindset.

“I was playing good but I had never won a big title. When you win a big one, your confidence goes through the roof.

“There’s so much pressure in Matchroom events, you cannot compare it to any other.

“In the Mosconi Cup, I hadn’t felt something like that. When you play Mosconi, every tournament after, it feels like no pressure.”

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February 5, 2023