Untung99

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! Sixty-eight years and counting. Despite the high hopes of the tens of thousands of optimistic Geordies who converged on London over the weekend, Newcastle’s long wait to win a major domestic trophy goes on. And while that Inter-Cities Fairs Cup triumph in 1969 helped take the bare look off the trophy cabinet in the interim, the second leg of that particular final was played in Budapest at a time when even the most devoted of Mags would have struggled to get a peek behind the iron curtain to see and celebrate the trophy-lift. Continue reading...

If Ange Postecoglou derived added satisfaction from the retention of the League Cup, he hid it well. Celtic’s manager has been an interested observer as Rangers stirred under the guidance of Michael Beale. Game 15 of Beale’s hitherto unbeaten tenure saw Celtic reaffirm the sense they are Scotland’s dominant force. What football that arrived in a ragged final came from those in hoops; the first piece of silverware of this Scottish season belongs to Celtic. Continue reading...

As they waited for the teams to be announced Leeds fans debated whether their new manager, Javi Gracia, should drop Junior Firpo. Not everyone appeared delighted when Jesse Marsch’s successor opted to stick with the left-back but, in the 77th minute, Gracia’s faith was rewarded when Firpo scored his first Premier League goal. Continue reading...

Questions about Brazilian’s signing appear ridiculous after his Manchester United displays show he is a complete midfielder There was a funny moment shortly after Casemiro had completed his transfer to Manchester United from Real Madrid last August when he was asked about one of the many new things he would have to get used to – namely no Champions League football. Was it something that bothered him? “Well, I have five,” he said, that familiar cherubic smile spreading across his features. The question could have been put more bluntly. What on earth was Casemiro, who had just won his fifth medal in Europe’s elite competition, who had almost turned it into his personal playground, doing coming to United, the fallen giants? Continue reading...

Chelsea manager’s measured response to his team’s poor form has sparked an oddly outraged reaction from press and public Just how angry do we want Graham Potter to be? Stepped on an upturned plug angry? Just missed a train angry? Had his Subaru nicked and getting ghosted by his insurance company angry? Potter’s tenure at Chelsea is a fascinating study in our expectations of managers and how much importance – if any – we place on honesty and integrity. Continue reading...

* Manager says he has a close relationship with his predecessor * Dutchman wants ‘best performance of season’ against Barcelona Erik ten Hag has described as “massive” Sir Alex Ferguson’s willingness to impart his knowledge to help the Manchester United manager after they dined together on Tuesday night. Ten Hag met his supremely successful predecessor in a restaurant in Wilmslow near to their homes. Ferguson’s 26-and-a-half year reign as United manager ended in 2013 with 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, four League Cups, two European Cups, the Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup, the European Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup and Fifa Club World Cup. Continue reading...

Plus: golden boot winners in multiple countries (2); a caretaker saving a Premier League club from relegation; and more * Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU “I’ve just discovered that Slade’s 1978 single, Give Us a Goal (it flopped), had a video filmed at Brighton’s Goldstone Ground. What other music videos have been filmed at football stadiums?” tweets Phil Withall. We’ve ignored official club songs, for obvious reasons, so let’s proceed directly to what was, by some distance, the most popular answer in our inbox. “My local band in Prestwich, the Fall, filmed the video for their single Kicker Conspiracy at Burnley’s Turf Moor,” writes Michael Mand. “It ends with the legend, ‘filmed in Burnley’.” You couldn’t mention football in the rock world then. We were on Rough Trade and I told them ‘this is about football violence’ and it was all: ‘You don’t go to football, do you?’ I remember Melody Maker saying: ‘Mark Smith’s obviously got writer’s block having to write ab...