Untung99

City winning five of the last six titles has not diluted interest as the popularity of England’s top flight outstrips its competitors There are concerns in England about whether the increasing dominance of Manchester City will reduce the popular and commercial appeal of the Premier League. The signs in Asia, the biggest overseas market, however, suggest that even a succession of City processions will result in more fans for the club rather than fewer for the league. “Nobody in South Korea thinks that the Premier League will not be competitive, especially if City can also achieve meaningful results continentally and there are still dogfights between big clubs to qualify for the Champions League,” Baek Jung-hyun, head of planning at KBS Sports, South Korea’s public broadcaster, said. “There are enough interesting points in the Premier League for Korean fans. Arsenal could have been champions and nobody expected that at the start of the season.” Continue reading...

Coach and club are not natural bedfellows, so Argentinian will need time and must show he now knows how to tame chaos “Every week I am fired,” complained Mauricio Pochettino last June, a few weeks before Paris Saint-Germain fired him. “I like Manchester City, because they gave Guardiola the opportunity to build. They gave him time. At PSG, you also need that. By giving serenity to this project, we will be close to winning the Champions League.” Serenity. Yes. Well, good luck with that. One of the fundamentals of coaching is that vacancies rarely turn up at clubs where everything is running smoothly. Yet even allowing for this, Pochettino’s appointment at Chelsea carries its own irresistible quantum of jeopardy. A coach who craves order and control, colliding head-on with an organisation that has spent two decades running on the fumes of chaos. A coach who values a tight-knit environment and close personal relationships, entering a club that has spent the last year trying to sign ever...

While the players of Newcastle stood in front of the noisy travelling supporters and celebrated qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in two decades, their counterparts in blue wandered sheepishly around the Stamford Bridge pitch and wondered what comes next after the season from hell finally came to an end. The immediate answer was a fond farewell to Frank Lampard after his stint as caretaker with a lively 1-1 draw with Newcastle. In terms of the wider picture, though, Chelsea are in for a long rebuild. They have finished in the bottom half for the first time since 1996 and, while they have convinced Mauricio Pochettino to take over, the reality for Chelsea’s owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, is they will have little to celebrate when they mark the first anniversary of their takeover tomorrow. Continue reading...

This time Rob Edwards really could celebrate. The Luton manager had hared off down the touchline with four minutes of extra time remaining to celebrate what he thought was the winning goal in front of his side’s supporters, eating up 45 yards of Wembley turf, only to retreat to his technical area ashen-faced after glancing up at the big screen confirming Joe Taylor’s extra-time goal, which would have been his first for the club, had been disallowed for handball. Jonathan Panzo, on cold as a substitute, dawdled on the ball and Taylor, a 20-year-old making his sixth appearance, nicked it from the Coventry defender, but surged through on goal with the help of his right hand. Edwards covered his face in disbelief but after 140 minutes of gripping action an agonising penalty shootout followed. Eventually, Fankaty Dabo missed the crucial spot-kick as Luton clinched promotion to the Premier League at Coventry’s expense, capping an incredible rise from non-league to the top flight in nine yea...

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! When Frank Lampard was appointed as Chelsea interim manager for the remainder of the season following Graham Potter’s dismissal in early April, he seemed bullish about his chances of making a success of the job. “I am confident in myself,” he rabble-roused. “I have a good understanding of the squad. I’ll do my utmost in this period coming up to give [the fans] what they want with my own hard work.” And while this introductory press conference would have created quite the palaver had he announced: “I intend to mastermind defeat in our next six games, go on a two-match unbeaten run and then lose another two before our last home game of the season,” it was still quite big talk from a man who was sacked after overseeing just four wins in 23 games this season while in charge of Everton. As a lifelong Leeds fan, why am I hoping Leicester beat the drop and we take Everton down with us? What the hell is wrong with me? Why is football so dis...

Getting relegated is not the end of the world but whatever happens on Sunday, Leeds, Leicester and Everton need to reset I do not envy the players, staff and fans of the three clubs fighting for Premier League survival on the final day but as a neutral it is very exciting. One of the reasons why we love football is the jeopardy involved with promotion and relegation – it adds drama to the spectacle – but Sunday will be 90 minutes of emotional turmoil for Everton, Leeds and Leicester supporters. I feel quite nostalgic for the days of crackly handheld radios in the crowd, with people desperately trying to find out what was happening in other matches when survival was at stake. That ripple of information when someone scored or there was a penalty was always fascinating to witness. Thankfully, I was never involved in any last-day relegation drama in my career. Continue reading...

* Tottenham forward Kane top of Erik ten Hag’s striker wishlist * Napoli’s Victor Osimhen valued at €150m by Italian champions Manchester United will attempt to smooth negotiations with Tottenham by bidding as quickly as possible for Harry Kane this summer, while they are also preparing to step up their interest in Chelsea’s Mason Mount. Erik ten Hag is keen to sign a new striker and Kane tops a shortlist that also includes Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Rasmus Højlund of Atalanta. United have been quoted €150m (£130m) for Osimhen, which would put the Nigerian out of their reach. Højlund, the 20-year-old Denmark striker, would be seen as one for the future if he moves to Old Trafford this summer. Continue reading...