Ex-Chelsea and West Ham manager Graham Potter has branded an unnamed former club of his "dysfunctional" in the comments of an Instagram post.

The current head coach of the Sweden national team is rebuilding his managerial career after disappointing spells at both Chelsea and West Ham United.

Potter posted an image of himself doing pilates to Instagram yesterday, and dug out one of his former clubs in reply to a fan.

Graham Potter digs out 'dysfunctional' club in Instagram post

The Englishman made a name for himself as boss at Brighton, where he lasted three years in the job and led the Seagulls to their highest-ever top-flight finish in 2022.

He made the move to Chelsea, where, after losing 11 games in his 31 at the helm, he was sacked inside eight months.

After almost two years away from management, Potter returned to the Premier League to coach West Ham.

In London once more, he lasted even less time, managing the Hammers from January to September of 2025.

The Englishman's side finished 14th in the 2024/25 Premier League standings, but was sacked after leading the club to a 19th-placed position after the next term's first five games.

Now manager of the Sweden national team, Potter led his side out of the groups in North America this summer, before exiting in a 3-0 defeat to previous tournament edition finalists France.

The 51-year-old posted an image of him in a pilates pose to Instagram on Thursday afternoon, which prompted one fan to jokingly respond: "Hopefully you are better at Pilates then you were a football manager."

Potter replied: "I'll try not to do Pilates in a dysfunctional place and I will be ok," with a flexed bicep emoji.

It is unclear which club the Englishman was referring to, however, the Hammers were relegated in the same season that Potter left them, while the Blues finished just 13 points clear of the drop zone in 10th last term.

Since Potter joined, Chelsea have now resorted to their eighth manager in three years, with Xabi Alonso at the helm.

Another fan commented in response: "Didn't mind the money though, did you?" to which Potter replied "absolutely not."

And when a West Ham fan wrote: "You got us relegated, you mug," the Englishman replied with two laughing emojis.

Less than two years ago, FourFourTwo sat inside the bowels of Al Ahli's inner city training ground in Jeddah, and whispers abounded. “If he loses this game, the manager might well be sacked,” one Saudi Pro League expert told us that evening, as we waited for Matthias Jaissle to arrive for his latest pre-match press conference.

Al Ahli had won only three of their first eight games of the new league season, and sat eighth in the table before the Jeddah derby with title-challenging Al Ittihad – a fixture that would attract a raucous crowd of 52,546. Given that Jaissle's club were one of the Saudi Pro League's big four – all owned by the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF) – their results were below expectation.

Back then, the main focus of our visit to Al Ahli had been the recent signing of Ivan Toney, rather than Jaissle, who was largely unknown to British audiences in October 2024. Our question was whether he could help his new frontman make England's next World Cup squad – Jaissle knew Thomas Tuchel, having played for him in the youth teams at VfB Stuttgart.

“Let's see if Thomas calls me and asks how Ivan is doing,” the smartly dressed Jaissle told FFT. “Ivan has the potential, definitely – he must deliver here to be seen in the UK, and we're doing our best to bring him into the best shape.”

Prior to this summer's World Cup, Tuchel did indeed call Jaissle to discuss Toney, revealing the “fantastic feedback” he received was enough to persuade him to pick the 30-year-old in his squad. By then, though, Jaissle could easily have been long gone as Al Ahli boss.

He did lose that Jeddah derby against Al Ittihad, a tetchy game interrupted by a sandstorm that blew dust from the nearby desert into the stadium. He avoided the sack, but was reportedly on his way out two months later after a loss at Al Kholood, with Max Allegri said to be his long-term replacement.

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That was until ultras protested at the training ground, putting up a banner declaring “Enough failure, leave!” The message was aimed at the club's hierarchy, rather than the manager. Jaissle stayed, and became an Al Ahli legend within months.

Jaissle was a central defender during a playing career that saw him help Hoffenheim to the Bundesliga for the first time in 2008, when he'd just turned 20. He'd been expected to be alongside Mesut Ozil, Mats Hummels and Manuel Neuer as part of the Germany under-21 squad that thrashed England in the final of the Euros in 2009, but damaged his ACL shortly before the tournament and would never be the same player again.

Further injuries forced him to retire in 2014, aged 25, before he got a job as a youth coach at RB Leipzig – his former Hoffenheim manager Ralf Rangnick had since become a key man in Red Bull's football project. Jaissle adopted a similarly high-pressing style, and has taken it with him ever since. After a stint as assistant at Danish club Brondby, he joined Red Bull Salzburg, led their feeder side FC Liefering to a joint-highest finish, then was handed the reins at the main club, replacing Jesse Marsch in 2021.

Working with young players such as Benjamin Sesko, Karim Adeyemi, Noah Okafor and Brenden Aaronson, he took Salzburg to a double in his first season, plus the Champions League's knockout stage for the only time in their history. They lost 7-1 at Bayern Munich in the last 16, while Jaissle was still only 33.

A season later, they went 30 matches unbeaten on the way to yet another domestic triumph. It was Salzburg's 10th straight title, but they haven't won the league since Jaissle left that summer. The German joined Al Ahli just a month after they'd been one of four clubs to be taken over by the Saudi PIF – together with Al Ittihad, Al Hilal and Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr. Jaissle's new club had been Saudi Pro League champions in 2016 but relegated since, only returning to the top flight in the same summer as his arrival.

They quickly signed Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino, Edouard Mendy, Franck Kessie and ex-Newcastle winger Allan Saint-Maximin, finishing an encouraging third in Jaissle's first season – enough to qualify for the Asian Champions League.

Then came Toney's arrival, and that tricky start to 2024-25 when Jaissle so nearly lost his job. He knew the pressure he was under when we visited, but didn't let it show – remaining professional throughout, even taking time to greet visiting European media afterwards. It was hard not to warm to him.

“Things take time – the club has a long-term vision,” Jaissle told us, subtly calling for patience as he attempted to turn around results, while nodding to his ability to improve young players. “I hope we can do better by implementing the philosophy from the top down to the academy, because at some point we'll need the young talents. In my eyes, that is the right approach.

“A lot of signings were made before I arrived, so it's important as a coach that you're flexible enough to adapt to a new country, culture and player profiles. In the long run, it's important everyone is aligned, that you improve your squad and players in the way you want to play.”

Jaissle was afforded time to do that. Their progress to the knockout stage of the Asian Champions League had been a factor in him avoiding the sack – Al Ahli had a stronger second half of the league campaign, improving to fifth, then surprisingly became kings of Asia for the first time ever. The Champions League's final three rounds all take place in Jeddah, giving Al Ahli a home advantage that helped, but they still had to defeat reigning Saudi champions Al Hilal in the semis, before a final victory over Japanese side Kawasaki Frontale – conquerors of Ronaldo's Al Nassr.

Last term, while finishing third in a three-way domestic race, they went all Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest and became continental champions again. Toney was key, scoring 72 goals in two seasons under Jaissle.

When PIF-owned Newcastle were looking for a manager to replace Eddie Howe this summer, it shouldn't have been a surprise that they opted for the German. Howe will be a tough act to follow, having delivered the Magpies a first major honour in 56 years. Why have a manager who's won one historic trophy, though, when you can have a gaffer who's won two?

Jose Mourinho is set for an unexpected return to Stamford Bridge after Real Madrid were drawn against Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League this season.

The Ukrainian champions have selected Chelsea’s home ground as their venue for European fixtures in 2026/27.

Shakhtar have been forced to play their designated 'home' matches thousands of miles away from home due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which renders hosting international fixtures in their homeland impossible.

Jose Mourinho can't stay away from Stamford Bridge

Having previously utilised temporary venues in Poland and Germany during recent continental campaigns, the Ukrainian side reached an agreement to stage their Champions League ties in London this year.

The arrangement was made possible because Stamford Bridge is vacant of European football this season, following Chelsea's failure to qualify for any continental competitions.

The fixture, due to be played on Tuesday, September 8, sets up a West London homecoming for Mourinho, who made a return to Real Madrid this summer for a second managerial stint at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Portuguese manager remains an iconic figure in Chelsea's history following two spells at the club. Across his reigns in SW6, he delivered three Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and three League Cups, famously declaring himself 'The Special One' during his unveiling in 2004.

Despite managing other clubs across Europe in the years since, Mourinho has repeatedly spoken of his enduring affection for Chelsea.

"When I am in London, I meet them every day on the street. I know that is going to be a relationship forever," Mourinho previously reflected when discussing his bond with the fanbase. "They belong to my history and I belong to their history. I will always be a Blue."

While Mourinho will occupy the technical area as Real Madrid manager against Shakhtar, his presence on the Stamford Bridge touchline is likely to be the focal point of the evening. For Chelsea supporters, watching their former manager return to the pitch under the Champions League lights, even in the opposition dugout as he did last season with Benfica, will stir plenty of emotions.

The Basque province of Gipuzkoa is famous for its scenic coastline, foodie hotspots and stunning mountainous terrain.

But this small area of northern Spain, with a population of less than one million, has also become notable for producing multiple elite football managers, including four current Premier League head coaches: Xabi Alonso, Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery and Andoni Iraola.

It meant that there were more managers hailing from Gipuzkoa than from England on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, putting renewed focus on the lack of home-grown coaches in the top flight.

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Why are there so few English managers in the Premier League?

The three men flying the flag for English managers in the Premier League are Michael Carrick at Manchester United, Coventry City head coach Frank Lampard and Ipswich Town boss Gary O’Neil.

This is not a new phenomenon. Go back 10 years to the start of the 2016/17 season and there were just four English head coaches - Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche at Burnley, Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew and Mike Phelan at Hull City. It was the same number on the opening weekend of the 2021/22 campaign.

Look down into the Championship and just 10 of the 24 clubs are led by English managers. If that seems low, it may be a surprise to learn that this isn’t a new phenomenon either. Just nine second-tier teams had English head coaches at the start of the 2016/17 campaign, while there were 10 going into 2021/22.

This doesn’t include the odd manager who was born in England and represented another country as a player, but the point still stands: the number of home-grown coaches at the top of the domestic game has been low for some time.

When you look at the identities of the three Englishmen currently managing in the Premier League, you start to see why.

Lampard and O’Neil both entered the division with promoted clubs, albeit the latter was hired over the summer after Kieran McKenna left Ipswich. Meanwhile, Carrick got the United job only after a trial run as interim head coach during the second half of last season.

Despite a generally positive two-and-a-half years in the Championship with Middlesbrough, it is hard to believe that Carrick would have been considered by the Old Trafford hierarchy if he hadn’t played for the club. Similarly, go back to summer 2019 and it is unlikely that Chelsea would have hired the coach that had just taken Derby County to the Championship play-off final in his first season in management if it wasn’t Lampard, a Blues legend.

It suggests that unless you are a famous ex-player, the most likely route into the Premier League for a second-tier boss is by getting your club promoted. But none of the current English managers in the Championship are in charge of one of the promotion favourites, so that is a tall order for the current crop.

You would think that if a coach performs well enough over a long period they would get a Premier League role sooner or later, but it rarely works out that way. Just three times in the past five years has a Premier League club plucked a manager directly from a Championship job - Wolves’ swoop for Rob Edwards from Middlesbrough last season, Chelsea hiring Leicester City’s Enzo Maresca in summer 2024 (and the Italian had just led the Foxes to the second tier title), and Southampton appointing Luton Town boss Nathan Jones in 2022.

In that time, 14 different English managers have been hired by Premier League teams, but only four hadn’t previously been a permanent head coach in the division. Those were Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa in 2021, O’Neil at Bournemouth in 2022, plus Liam Rosenior and Carrick this year. Once again, two of those were big-name former players, while Rosenior came from Chelsea’s sister club, Strasbourg.

It shows that almost every avenue to managing at the top level has been closed off. So, why is that the case?

Probably the most obvious explanation, although not the only one, is that the stakes are now so high at the top of the game that clubs aren’t willing to gamble on unproven coaches. As the riches on offer continue to grow, owners of Premier League teams are increasingly desperate to stay in the division, while those in charge of Championship sides are increasingly desperate to get there.

It means that new faces rarely get to ride the proverbial managerial merry-go-round - in the last five years, Keith Andrews at Brentford and O’Neil at Bournemouth were the only bosses hired permanently by Premier League clubs who were entering their first full-time role as a No.1.

Many young coaches have spoken out about their struggle to land a job. After becoming manager of Italian Serie B side Cesena in March, former England left-back Ashley Cole said he had felt ‘discouraged by a lack of opportunities’ at English clubs.

He told BBC Sport: “They like to throw the ‘you don’t have experience’ line. And I’m like, I get what you’re saying, I agree - but how am I going to get experience?

“That’s the battle you have to fight as a number two for six or seven years - you have to take a leap of faith, but a club also has to take a leap of faith.”

Cole’s former Chelsea and England team-mate John Terry echoed those sentiments last year. “It’s really disheartening, actually,” he told BBC Sport. “I have interviewed for a few jobs myself and not got them due to my lack of experience as a number one, but having captained Chelsea and my country, I’m not sure you can do much more in terms of leading teams and people.”

Terry holds a UEFA Pro Licence, which brings us on to another contributing factor. Here, England has traditionally lagged behind other major European nations, with a Guardian report in 2017 stating that 1,796 people in this country held a Pro or A Licence, compared to 15,089 in Spain. In 2021, the FA revealed that fewer than 500 coaches had completed their Pro Licence with England Football.

With a limited number of qualified English coaches in supply, and clubs unwilling to gamble on the ones that do have the necessary badges, it is no surprise that so few are managing in the Premier League.

Contrast that with Spain, where 12 of the 20 La Liga clubs are managed by Spaniards, while the national team won Euro 2024 and World Cup 2026 under a head coach, Luis de la Fuente, who led the country’s age-group teams for almost a decade.

Meanwhile, despite Gareth Southgate enjoying relative success after being promoted from England Under 21s to senior head coach, the FA replaced him with Thomas Tuchel in 2024 to win the World Cup - insinuating that they felt no home-grown coaches could achieve that goal.

It all adds up to a wider cultural issue that starts from the top. Whereas Spain’s FA and domestic league are committed to giving home-grown coaches opportunities, that is of secondary importance in England. That mentality has been ingrained for so long that it is difficult to see it changing.

No wonder Basque managers outnumber their English counterparts in the Premier League.

It's not been the start to the season that Aston Villa would have wanted.

Just a few months on from lifting the Europa League trophy and securing a top four finish, Unai Emery's side were thumped 4-0 by Brighton and Hove Albion on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

Just to make matters worse, the situation around Ollie Watkins has left a bad taste in the mouths of many supporters.

"Unai Emery has geared Aston Villa up for consistent success in Europe"

Emery was cryptic as to what has gone on with the England striker, saying that the reason for Watkins' omission against Brighton was 'a question for him'.

That comes after several high-profile players have already left Villa Park this summer, including Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers, Lucas Digne and Ezri Konsa, with Emiliano Martinez also being tipped to go.

But Peter Crouch believes that the Villa boss has already shown he is more than capable of riding out to storm and continuing to take the side on to bigger and better things over the long run.

The former Villa striker told FourFourTwo earlier this summer: "Unai Emery deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the really elite managers, with what he’s done at Aston Villa.

"Winning the Europa League was massive, and Champions League football again is going to help them take things up another notch in the long term.

"I’m pleased for the fans who’ve suffered over the years.

"I interviewed Unai at the training ground and he’s in it for the long haul. Why wouldn’t he be? They’ve got ambition.

"They’ve built a hotel at the training ground – that’s important because they might fly back from a European game, sleep there, then do a warm-down the next day.

"He’s geared that club up for consistent success in Europe, and I think that’s what they’ll get."

Villa will find out their opponents for the league phase of this season's Champions League when the draw is made on Thursday, August 27.

Fulham will start the new Premier League season by having the neighbours round. The first Monday Night Football of 2026-27 takes Chelsea down the road to Craven Cottage, where they’ll play in a derby that will do little to indicate what’s to come for either team in the next nine months.

Chelsea have more tangible targets than local bragging rights in a rivalry so cosmopolitan that ‘local’ doesn’t mean much anyway. They’ve been going after those goals like they mean it, up to and including a British transfer record move for the hottest property in English football.

Morgan Rogers has linked up at Stamford Bridge with Xabi Alonso, the Blues’ new manager and the man on the end of the pointed backing of the club hierarchy. Alonso won’t have to deal with European football this season. He will have to deliver it, however.

Managers united in Madrid misery

The 44-year-old officially succeeded Carlo Ancelotti as Real Madrid boss two weeks after leaving German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, where his success was generational and indisputable.

Alonso lasted six months back at the Bernabeu, winning 24 of his 32 matches in charge and leaving by mutual consent in January. Real Madrid were four points behind leaders Barcelona with exactly half a season to play but the manager’s race had been run.

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The outgoing gaffer was succeeded from within by Real Madrid B manager Alvaro Arbeloa. He was replacing the man with whom he had played as a teammate more than any other.

After his 19 league matches in charge, he too had collected four points fewer than Barcelona. Arbeloa stood down at the end of the season and finds Alonso in the away dugout for his first Premier League match as the manager of Fulham.

Unlike Alonso’s, Arbeloa’s Real Madrid departure had been in the works for a while. Question marks over their performances in big matches that marred his half-season in the hot seat were far from baseless.

There were reports of tensions in the dressing room that came to a head when Federico Valverde clashed with Aurielien Tchouameni, and Antonio Rudiger apparently opted for the physical method to express his opinion to Alvaro Carreras.

The scepticism of Bernabéu kingmaker Kylian Mbappe made Arbeloa’s demise inevitable despite his own standing within the club.

Mbappe was more positive about Alonso, but neither the former Leverkusen boss nor Alonso's old teammate got what they’d hoped for from their respective ascensions into the top job with the Spanish capital titans.

When they press the flesh like Dillon and Dutch on the touchline at the Cottage tonight, Alonso and Arbeloa will have that in common. Real Madrid isn’t a job that cuts slack. It’s a Mourinho-sized role with Mourinho-sized ups and downs.

Same tee, different pins

There’s no point in drawing conclusions about a manager after a few months spearheading football’s greatest basket case. Some managerial personalities can pull it off. Others, well, they can’t. It doesn’t say much about them either way.

What separates the two who landed in West London this summer is the nature of their experience before they each spent six months as an egg in a cement mixer.

Alonso, as a Bundesliga champion, double winner and invincible with Leverkusen, has proven himself up to a point. Arbeloa has not. In that sense, they have at least popped up at Chelsea and Fulham the right way round.

Alonso has the chops and the more acute need to prove it. Fulham are embarking on life after Marco Silva and that comes with a very particular kind of pressure.

Youngsters Gonzalo Garcia and Cesar Palacious followed Arbeloa from Real Madrid but doubts over whether the Cottagers have done enough to account for losing the direct impacts of Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez for nothing are entirely justified.

19-year-old striker Jonah Kusi-Asare has joined from Bayern Munich and promising young midfielder Shea Charles has come in from Southampton, but selling Sasa Lukic and Issa Diop to promoted Ipswich Town could prove more significant than Fulham would like if they don’t have their wits about them.

Alonso’s brief is a touch spikier. Chelsea dropped to a level they consider beneath them and are investing in bouncing back. Qualifying for the Champions League is the new manager’s minimum objective. He won’t be there this time next year if he doesn’t.

Whether that would make Leverkusen rather than Real Madrid the Alonso anomaly would be for Chelsea fans to decide, and their Fulham counterparts will have their say on the early-career trajectory of Arbeloa too.

Free of the Bernabéu factor, untangled from the merciless mangle that is Real Madrid, 2026-27 will help define exactly what tier of manager these former colleagues are going to be.

Their aims are different this season, but they’re starting at the same time, in the same game, under the same floodlights.

Liverpool hiring Andoni Iraola came as a curveball to some: Xabi Alonso was available for quite a while, after all.

That was the obvious choice, too. The former Liverpool midfielder had been heavily linked to take over from Jurgen Klopp, before Arne Slot was even in the conversation for the job – so when Alonso to Anfield rumours failed to materialise at the end of last season, it was assumed that the Reds would stick it out with Slot. Alonso even moved to Chelsea.

Which made Iraola an interesting hire. On the pitch, yes, he's perfectly suited to the high press that has come to define the red half of Merseyside over the past decade or so. Off the pitch, few have made the connection just yet.

Andoni Iraola didn't just join any big club - Liverpool offer a collective identity that he wants to work under

The Basque played almost his entire career at Athletic Club before sampling the Big Apple with a season at New York City FC – before heading into coaching.

In 2024, FourFourTwo met up with Iraola to talk about his journey from Bilbao to Bournemouth and how he became one of the most exciting young coaches in the world through a very particular pathway.

Athletic, famously, have a very defined identity: their ‘cantera’ policy focuses solely on developing players of Basque origin or from the region. The fanbase at San Mames, meanwhile, are openly politically active, expressing solidarity with international social and political movements. Regardless of whether you're broadly left or right in Bilbao, however, you belong to something bigger.

Rayo Vallecano – who Iraola managed before Bournemouth – are staunchly socialist. The club's prominent ultra group, Los Bukaneros, is explicitly anti-fascist, anti-racist, and pro-workers' rights. In 2014, the club and fanbase aided Carmen Martinez Ayudo, an 85-year-old local woman evicted from her home, flying banners with “The evictions of a sick state, the solidarity of a working-class neighbourhood” at the very next game.

And when FourFourTwo put it to Iraola himself that perhaps a club's identity was integral to him in football, he nodded in agreement. While careful not to use the P-word (that's politics), he made it very clear that he likes to align himself with clubs who passionately believe in something.

“I’d practically been a one-club man as a player: I stayed 16 years at Athletic Club, and I think at Athletic and Rayo Vallecano, the sense of belonging is really important,” Iraola said.

“In the end, I always ask my players to think first collectively, even if I understand that the players want to achieve a lot of things in their careers. If we work as a collective, I will look like a better manager, they will look like a better player and even the players who are playing fewer minutes will look better – because the ones that are playing will look better. I think we have to prioritise the team, and the team always comes first.

“This has always been the case at Bournemouth.”

It was Bill Shankly who once said, “The socialism I believe in is everybody working for each other and having a share in the rewards. That's how I see football, that's how I see life.” Plenty has happened politically, socially and at football grounds – both to Liverpool and within the city – since those words were uttered.

But the feeling of Liverpool's identity has always been palpable. Perhaps nowhere else in the country could a parallel of “Scouse not English” take off. The Reds bought into the collective under Klopp a lot more than some fans have with high-press priests at other clubs. It's perhaps fair to suggest that Liverpool's identity was a big reason for Iraola moving to Anfield.

Real Madrid begin their La Liga campaign on Saturday – for the first time since 2013, they’ll be under the management of Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese boss previously spent three years at the Bernabeu, winning the league in 2012, during a time when Barcelona had both Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi.

After a spell at Benfica last term, Mourinho was reappointed this summer by Florentino Perez, who believes he could be the man to turn things around after a difficult couple of seasons for Real Madrid.

Real Madrid great gives his verdict

Former Bernabeu favourite Steve McManaman works as a co-commentator and analyst for Disney+, who will screen Real Madrid’s opening match at Espanyol this weekend.

McManaman is fascinated by the club’s decision to rehire Mourinho, and is sure it will make the La Liga season an entertaining one.

“He’s going to have to do well,” McManaman told FFT. “That’s why he’s been brought back – it’s as simple as that, he’s got one job, and that job is to finish above Barcelona.

“With all respect to Atletico Madrid, Villarreal etc, the team they need to beat is Barcelona. They’re the strongest side, so that’s his job – to usurp them. Challenging for the Champions League is secondary.

“Hansi Flick has done the most incredible job since he’s been at Barcelona – they’re starting to get their finances in an upward trajectory, Camp Nou will bring in more and more people, therefore helping their financial situation, and with the signing of one of the world’s best players in Rodri, that will strengthen them as well, as will Anthony Gordon.

“It will be a hell of a La Liga season – it’ll be fireworks all around, watching Jose and everybody.”

Real Madrid have spent heavily to add the likes of Yan Diomande and Marc Cucurella to their squad, but Barcelona have won the title in each of the past two seasons, and McManaman knows Perez cannot afford that to happen again.

“There was a lot of criticism about them last year and they have to turn it around,” he says.

“Either you win things, or you don’t and you’re losers, aren’t you? It’s as simple as that. When it’s as cut and dry and as black and white as it is in Spain, when it’s Real Madrid and Barça, if your main rivals win, it’s a disaster.

“So it’s up to Real Madrid to sort themselves out and try to come strong. It’s going to be a hell of a contest this year.

“Barcelona were excellent last year and for all their frailties – you saw them at times and thought ‘How on earth can they keep winning?’, because they let in a number of goals – the proof is in the pudding. They’ve been winning and they’ve been successful.

“The only blot on their campaign was their loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, and that was circumstances, red cards etc.

“Bringing in Rodri, he will be the metronome, they’ve got the Pedris and the like around him and a new quick forward line with Lamine Yamal and Anthony Gordon, as well as Rafinha, that’s exciting.

“Expect lots of goals in La Liga this year, and fantastic football, certainly between the top two.

“I don’t want to keep saying the top two because hopefully you want to see Atletico, Villarreal and other teams challenging, but the two biggest teams have invested more than anybody this summer and look as if they’re going to be streets clear.”

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Frank Lampard has been here before. The Premier League was his playground for nearly two decades and he was indisputably one of its greatest ever players by the time he left it behind.

He’s been here as a manager, too, with both Everton and former club Chelsea. The Coventry City boss is no Premier League novice but it’s different this time. His work at Goodison Park and Stamford Bridge had merit but the three years since his third Chelsea exit have been the making of him.

Steering the Sky Blues to promotion as the winners of the Championship in his first full season in charge was a serious achievement. Owner Doug King gave no indication in the autumn of 2024 that he felt he was taking a risk by appointing Lampard, who has repaid that confidence many times over.

Lampard is back among the big boys

Others weren’t so convinced. There are still doubters now, not least those whose interest begins and ends with the Premier League. They’ve seen Lampard deliver results in the form of promotion but the substance, the material evolution of Lampard the Gaffer in the West Midlands, remains out of view.

Expecting the same Lampard is folly. We’ve all learned a lot in three years, about ourselves and our lives and our priorities, about our strengths, weaknesses, methods and motivations.

Lampard is no different, and yet it must be acknowledged that, yes, the immediate task he faces is a difficult one.

Transfer activity has to be carried out in quantity and quality, but is impossible to complete.

City have that in common with most promoted teams but have invested heavily to bring in players they hope – with some justification – will prove shrewd acquisitions.

Carl Rushworth was their number one all along. Frank Onyeka was an easy choice in midfield after a positive loan. Gustavo Hamer is the returning hero seeking the creative freedom of home.

Loum Tchaouna and Aurele Amenda are big-money, high-potential risks; Caleb Yirenki the young superstar record buy.

King, Lampard and Dean Austin have already achieved a lot in the transfer window and there will be more to come, but Coventry will start the season at a disadvantage as a club promoted into the Premier League for the first time in the modern era. They have a world of work to do and none of it is easy.

The cost of the spotlight

Lampard returns to the Premier League as a more skilled and more experienced manager but his deftness and adaptability were developed away from the hyper-exposed top division.

It’s possible to look at Lampard’s managerial career as a series of specific challenges. Both spells at Chelsea were appointments of hopeful convenience, Derby County a mutual show of ambition, and Everton a rescue mission.

Whether or not it’s overly generous to say that he was more of a success in those roles than he’s given credit for is beside the point. Lampard did all this as a young boss, in the years when many managers are able to learn and fail and evolve away from the glare under which he was operating.

Lampard at 48 is a different kind of coaching archetype, cerebral and even studious without being yet another caricature off the one-dimensional high-performance conveyer belt. He’s dedicated but thriving, it might be said, precisely because of the respect he has for balance in life.

When advice is offered by people who succeeded in management before him, Lampard is able to take it on board without questioning his own outlook and methods. In time, he has become a more rounded manager than he was when he last took charge of a Premier League match.

Lampard has tactical ideas and plans like any other manager but doesn’t allow them to hold him back. In a Championship title race that occasionally threatened to become competitive, Lampard succeeded not as an idealogue but as a manager who found a way to build a team that finds a way.

Coventry’s resilience will be the making of their manager

The pivotal moment in Coventry’s season and Lampard’s managerial career came in February, when the injury-hit Sky Blues found themselves looking up at Middlesbrough from second place after the Teessiders logged their sixth win in a row.

Coventry, winless in three and with two wins in their last eight Championship matches, beat Boro relatively comfortable in their very next game, won six on the spin and never looked back.

The bond between Lampard and Coventry is real and their new adventure is a shared one, but all outcomes are possible amid the trials and tribulations of a promoted club. Even good managers need a fair wind in that brutal first season.

Coventry might stay up, they might go down. Lampard might last the season regardless, he might get an offer he can’t refuse from elsewhere. King might be the man to make that decision, as unlikely as it seems now.

In FourFourTwo’s opinion, the only thing we can be relatively certain about is that Lampard, one way or another, will be among the Premier League managers again next season.

Manchester United have been punching beneath their weight for some time. Ruben Amorim might not have been the most disappointing head coach appointment, just the man in the plush racing seat when the music stopped on the Red Devils’ aura.

Amorim was in the Man United job altogether too long but ultimately left them in a salvageable position last season. After a couple of matches under caretaker head coach Darren Fletcher, the club turned again to former midfielder Michael Carrick.

The brief for the interim head coach was clear enough: Get results with a team that previously couldn’t even count as high as the sum of its parts, never mind perform beyond them.

How it all went right for Michael Carrick at Manchester United

Carrick’s interim spell was a success. Finishing third in the Premier League and returning to the Champions League after a season that totalled a meagre 40 matches was an admirable achievement, albeit the influence of Bruno Fernandes simply cannot be ignored.

The outer-layer assumption is that Carrick was able to unlock United’s capabilities by engendering a sense of simplicity and freedom, most notably by doing away with a formation Amorim was smitten with but which plainly wasn’t working.

There’s some merit to that simplistic analysis.

Very good players can perform or not on their own but they can also be held back by their environment and, for very many reasons that don’t all apply in Amorim’s case, by a head coach that doesn’t suit, motivate or maximise them.

Relieving that internal pressure on a presentable playing staff by simplifying things and switching to a back four might sound obvious but isn’t just basic stuff that any incoming gaffer could have translated into results.

Carrick didn’t stroll back into Carrington in January, tell his players that back threes are for dorks and immediately defeat Manchester City by just going out there and enjoying themselves. It was an actively smart move on his part to see what he had and understand how to unleash it.

It earned United the desired outcome and got him the job on a permanent basis. With third place and a Champions League spot in the bag, he was the obvious choice.

The audition is over and it’s time to play the part

What happens now is for real and it’s Carrick’s to own. ‘Interim’ is gone. There’s no bounce, no release from loathed methods of old. The only yardstick is the same one against which all United managers are evaluated and that’s an entirely different challenge.

The power of ‘getting it’ typically doesn’t carry from one season to the next. There’s a big difference between getting it and doing it. Doing it is now the task at hand.

There are reasons to be optimistic. Carrick himself is one of them; it would be unreasonable to discount the very tangible success of last season, and it bodes well.

After all, the former United midfielder hasn’t betrayed any reason to doubt him. His team’s recovery in the second half of 2025-26 amounted to just two losses and three draws in 17 matches and included wins over City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool, all of whom finished in the top five with them.

United have brought in some top-quality players in the transfer windows both this summer and last.

Senne Lammens, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko are all major contributors, and the same will be expected of Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos even if supporters hope for more additions. Even prodigal son Marcus Rashford could be in line to play his part.

For Carrick, the bar is high. Qualifying for the Champions League is the baseline for United, not a target, and even that would be deemed by some supporters as falling short of expectations.

The likes of United, Liverpool and Villa can also expect to face more significant opposition from big-spending Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, neither of whom can afford another season like the last and are doing everything in their power to make sure it doesn’t happen.

We’ll find out in the early part of 2026-27 whether United are set up for success. This time last year, with plenty of money spent in the summer but holes in the team and a head coach who steadfastly stuck with methods that seemed to do more damage than just not working, they were doomed to fail

Carrick is the face of what United supporters hope will be a different experience, with players performing to their abilities and operating as a team capable of re-planting the United flag.

His first match of the new season takes United to promoted Hull City. The second is at home against Ipswich Town. The expectation will be that they win both. It’s a familiar standard that Carrick is going to have to embrace.

Ruud Gullit won one major trophy as a manager – and Dennis Wise was the captain who lifted it.

After a legendary career in which he claimed two European Cups and the Ballon d’Or, Gullit joined Chelsea as a player in 1995, then was appointed as manager a year later following the departure of Glenn Hoddle for the England job.

The Dutchman would spend around 18 months as Stamford Bridge gaffer, guiding Chelsea to the 1997 FA Cup – the club’s first major trophy for 26 years.

When Gullit managed Wise

Wise had been part of the Chelsea squad since 1990, and was 29 when Gullit took charge six years later. He’d won 12 England caps but had not been a regular presence in the Three Lions squad, and didn’t go to Euro 96.

The midfielder was sceptical about whether his new manager would be good for him.

“We clashed early on because Dennis was convinced I was only interested in fielding foreign players,” Gullit revealed.

“I told him directly ‘I want you to play to your full footballing potential, not like a wild street-fighter picking up constant yellow and red cards’.

“I invited him over to my home for a proper talk. I said ‘If you play the way I know you can play, you’ll represent the national team.’ He literally laughed at me!”

In October, Chelsea travelled to Leicester for a Premier League match, and Wise was brought off at half-time.

“Shortly after our chat, I substituted him while captain against Leicester when we were 1-0 down, and we turned it around to win 3-1,” explained Gullit, speaking on behalf of NY Sports Day. “He was furious and didn’t speak to me for two weeks!

“Eventually, a mutual friend I played golf with told Dennis he was misjudging the situation and urged him to talk to me properly. He did, and the rest is history.

“Dennis Wise was an outstanding footballer when focusing on his technical game. I gave him an ultimatum – ‘Either play the way I know you can play, or you don’t play at all, captain or not.” He chose to adapt, and he was magnificent for us.”

Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany is the football-minded figure who should lead FIFA in the future, according to former Belgium teammate Toby Alderweireld.

Kompany, a serial title winner as a player in Belgium and England, has also won back-to-back Bundesliga titles as the manager of Bayern, a position that comes with significant political context in the German game.

He played 47 times with Alderweireld as the pair formed part of the sturdiest and highest-quality defensive unit Belgium has ever had to offer, arguably one that should have been good enough to produce more at the base of the so-called golden generation.

‘He would be my president, always’, says Toby Alderweireld of Vincent Kompany

Former Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Alderweireld was clearly inspired by Kompany as an international teammate and remains impressed as the 40-year-old emerges as a top-level manager.

“Who would be my pick to be the next president of FIFA? Vincent Kompany,” Alderweireld told Sveacasino.

“I never thought before that he wanted to become a manager. He always talked about going on a mission to change football but maybe it’s his mission to protect football. He would be my president, always.”

Gianni Infantino arrived at FIFA after rising to become the top administrator at UEFA, but he is not regarded as a football man. He has been accused lack of true insight into the substance of football and a perceived disregard for what makes the game what it is.

In Alderweireld’s estimation, that shortcoming is a serious one. Kompany’s primary qualification for the role in the eyes of his former colleague is that he was a top player and is a fine manager who quite clearly knows football inside and out.

“It’s very important that the FIFA president is someone who played the game and knows the game,” added the former Belgium defender.

“We've all been a fan. Then we've become a football player. We know both sides. When I was a child, I went to all the away games on the bus. We're not just people who made good money out of playing in the Premier League and Champions League.

“We’re football fans too. We played the game. We know how it is. What it is to be a player and a fan.

“The one thing that's very important is that the person who's doing the talking should be a football guy because look at the World Cup. A 20-minute show at half-time? That’s where you need someone who knows football to say no.

“The most beautiful thing about the sport is its traditions. New things have their place too but we need to protect the traditions as well and that’s why you need football players, football people who have been around the game, to keep the businessmen in check.”

Neither Kompany nor Bayern Munich have commented on Alderweireld’s recommendation. Watch this space?

Poor Roberto Martinez. Wigan Athletic’s finest is in line for another of European football’s top international jobs, and there’s not an iota of excitement online from anyone: it’s all just comments about how he wasted Belgium’s great-ever generation of talent. Of how he must possess sensitive information of big-wigs at some of world football’s biggest federations. Of how if his name was Bob Martin, he’d be coaching in League One.

After this summer, few can defend his Portugal tenure and his decision to play a 40-something up front. And yes, perhaps it is surprising that Martinez – whose finest achievement in football happened within days of suffering relegation – keeps getting the biggest jobs on the continent. Though to give them their credit here, this is a forward-thinking move by Dutch football association standards, an organisation who lost their contact book about 15 years ago, but were lucky enough to still have the phone numbers of Ronald Koeman and Louis van Gaal scratched on a desk somewhere in the office, in case of emergencies, and have flitted between the two like a moth stuck between two streetlights in a cul-de-sac.

No, but seriously, the Belgium accusations simply aren’t true. Yes, they had good players. Yes, he hired Thierry Henry as a coach. But not every golden generation gets its flowers – and that one certainly should never have gotten as far as a World Cup semi-final in 2018.

Just saying that sounds utterly bananas. Thibaut Courtois in goal. Vincent Kompany leading the backline, flanked by Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen. Youri Tielemans, Mousa Dembele, Yannick Carrasco and Dries Mertens all from the bench. A front three of Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard, for god’s sake.

Were you to name the 23 best footballers to ever come out of Belgium, there’s a fair likelihood that around 15-20 of them were in that selection. That team would walk most leagues in Europe – two or three times in a row. But that’s not how tournament football usually plays out. It’s not how it’s played out for every so-called ‘favourite’ in international football for the past couple of decades.

The Belgians had been dumped out of the previous two tournaments at the quarter-final stage with a whimper. Despite the wealth of talent available to Martinez, there were chronic issues across the pitch: Martinez had absolutely nothing resembling a left-back, with Nacer Chadli crowbarred into a wing-back berth out of necessity rather than invention. At the time, that was seen as the biggest problem.

It wasn’t. Not really. A lack of central midfield options meant that Axel Witsel – playing in China, at the time – was the one constant to rely on. Mousa Dembele had missed the last few games of the season and looked way off the pace during the tournament, getting dragged off after an hour of Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante giving him the runaround in the semi. Tielemans was still just 21; Marouane Fellaini was a battering ram and De Bruyne had to play deeper at times, despite not being a double-pivot player.

Thomas Meunier was good, if not spectacular. The three-man defence, meanwhile, was fairly solid, if not ageing. The lack of pace from Kompany and Vertonghen put a lot of burden on Alderweireld’s legs. But really, all the spotlight was hogged by that attack: a get-out-of-jail trio who were surely capable of destroying all before them.

And to reiterate the point, yes, they would’ve done, had this been the Premier League. But here’s where this really gets controversial: were De Bruyne, Hazard and Lukaku really the men for tournament football?

Again, not really. They did their best, though. De Bruyne actually didn’t have a bad World Cup: he actually created the third-most chances of anyone in Russia – behind Neymar and set-piece specialist Kieran Trippier – but coming off the back of a historic 100-point season with Manchester City, we all expected him to flourish in his free role, delivering more than just the single goal he netted.

He seemed quiet: yet this would become a theme of the playmaker in knockout footbal. He’d never escape the ghost accusations when it came to European ties – he was subbed off in both Champions League finals he played through injury, which didn't help – but this was just who De Bruyne was. In the very biggest matches, he would enhance other players around him, rather than rocketing a ball into the top corner. His sole strike in 2018 came against Brazil – so he couldn’t have gone missing that much in big games – but he was more of a complementary piece when it came to international competitions.

Even Hazard was attacked with the ‘missing in big games’ cliche. The Chelsea legend netted just two Champions League knockout goals – and one was a penalty. Yet in 2018, he was absolutely magical, his performance against Brazil one of the finest of the tournament (and the 85th best of all time, according to FourFourTwo). He scored three times: you couldn’t have asked much more.

Lukaku, meanwhile, came out of the tournament with four goals and an assist, following a first season at Manchester United (yeah, that really happened). And it’s fair to say that the years have not been kind to the striker’s big game reputation, either. Despite 93 goals for his nation at the time of writing – and 26 scored against teams who have reached the top 10 of FIFA’s ranks since he made his debut – abiding memories of Big Rom at World Cups are not the braces he put up against Panama and Tunisia in Russia: they’re of his disasterclass against Croatia four years later, and his cameo roles in the States, which are fairly fresh in the memory.

2018 was right about the time that the 25-year-old was midway through his target man conversion, too. Despite his strength and build, Lukaku was never the guy to hold the ball up and bring others into play, with his first touch oft-slammed: he was at his best on the shoulder of a defender, or alongside another Martinez (Lautaro, at Inter Milan). He became a worse player when the likes of Jose Mourinho and Thomas Tuchel tried to turn him into something that he wasn’t – yet at the 2018 World Cup, he was there to run into space, to bully defenders who couldn’t handle his movement, and to take on the thankless task of stretching play for Hazard and De Bruyne to work in, since Belgium didn’t really have another top-level runner in attack.

It’s levelled at Martinez that he should have done more with that frontline, all at their peak, at the 2018 World Cup. In the years since, there’s a very good case – almost watertight, in fact – that each of Hazard, De Bruyne and Lukaku had their very best international tournament that summer.

It’s pretty well-established, too, that they lost to the better team: France were miles better in every department – and the Belgians gave them their trickiest game. The Red Devils comfortably beat England twice (in two games that didn’t matter). They outplayed Brazil; yes, they went 2-0 down to Japan, but pulled it out the bag when it mattered.

Belgium had the second-best players in the competition, and lost to the team with the first-best. But they were brilliance without balance: a semi-final was a proper achievement.

And by the time the Euros rolled around three years later, the golden generation had passed them by – Kompany had retired, Vertonghen and Alderweireld were well past their expirations and this was Real Madrid-era Hazard – yet they still didn’t disgrace themselves. Three wins in the group stage (caveated by the fact they played an understandably shellshocked Denmark after Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest), before beating a very good Portugal, and losing to the eventual winners. Again, was it really an underachievement? Or simply what we all expected from this group?

It’s really easy to look at talent that a team has on paper and deem them a failure for not winning something. But it’s an oversimplification to wonder why a Croatian side who have very few star names – but stars in all the right places – often do better than a Portugal side who have standout attackers that struggle to gel together; or why England looked quite so poor trying to cram Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden into a midfield, when a team like Spain are quite happy to take off a big name like Pedri in the middle for Mikel Merino, if he offers them box threat.

International football is very rarely about who has the best squad, but who has the best moments. Belgium had very few players who have consistently pulled something from nothing in the biggest knockouts: they're all league specialists. And over the course of 38 games, Roberto Martinez would’ve been chastised for not finishing in a Champions League spot, at least, with the players he had at his fingertips. Across just seven matches, he probably did well to get to the last four of a major competition with Fellaini and Witsel in his engine room.

And maybe we’ve been harsh on him. Maybe the Wigan relegation and a fairly un-notable Everton stint have shaped the worldview that this is a guy you shouldn’t hand top-level talent to. No, he’s not a world-beater. No, he didn’t work miracles with Belgium. But did you really expect him to win the World Cup with that?

Former Liverpool manager Arne Slot has released a new statement to clarify his current status.

The Dutchman won Liverpool their 20th league title in his first season, after taking the reins from Jurgen Klopp – but his team struggled in their title defence, limping to fifth in the Premier League.

The former Liverpool boss has been linked with the Netherlands job in recent days and has spoken about his next moves and “incorrect speculation”.

Arne Slot clarifies position post Liverpool

Slot was given his marching orders on Merseyside at the end of the season, following a difficult campaign in which he fell out with talismanic forward Mohamed Salah and finished the season trophyless – despite a summer spend of over £400 million.

The 47-year-old has confirmed that he had talks with Dutch football federation, the KNVB, but that he declined to take over as the Oranje's head coach from the outgoing Ronald Koeman, with the job now likely to go to Roberto Martinez.

“Over the past few weeks, and particularly the past few days, various reports have appeared regarding the vacancy at the Dutch national team, suggesting that I had withdrawn from the process after lengthy negotiations, including regarding salary and contract duration,” Slot said, via Voetbal International.

“That speculation is incorrect. We simply never reached that stage of the talks.

“At this stage of my career, I prefer to see myself on the training pitch with my players every day. Something that is simply not possible in the same way with a national team.

“I have enormous respect for the national team and for the KNVB and can only be positive about the professional manner in which the talks proceeded that week. For now, I believe that club football still has a lot to offer me.

“It would be a great honour to represent my country as national coach one day. However, this was not the right moment for me.”

Slot's success in his first season on Merseyside made him a leading candidate for the Dutch job, following an excellent spell coaching in his homeland.

The Hardenberg native achieved success at Feyenoord by winning the Eredivisie and reaching the inaugural Conference League final, only to be beaten by Jose Mourinho's Roma.

Slot left the Reds with a 58 per cent win ratio in 113 games. Liverpool take on Newcastle United when the season starts.

It has been a summer of chaos and upheaval at Newcastle United, but you wouldn’t know it looking at Matthias Jaissle as he faced the media for the first time at St James’ Park on Tuesday.

Donning a smart suit, slicked-back hair, the Magpies’ new coach began by shaking every hand in the room before taking to the stage. He is supremely cool and confident, knowing his own mind and radiating belief that everything will not only be okay on Tyneside, but that great days and nights will follow.

Yet, having arrived at the end of July following Eddie Howe’s swift departure, in just enough time to see captain Bruno Guimaraes follow Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon out of the exit door, Jaissle is under no illusions. He faces a tough task, with just over two weeks until the Premier League opener at home to Liverpool.

"A big challenge"

The 38-year-old insists he sees opportunity rather than negativity. “It is a challenge, a big challenge,” Jaissle said. “We lost big characters; this is a vacuum. Others need to step into it, either through signing these profiles or existing players. We are aware of what we need internally.”

“Always when there is a transition period, it is not time to complain. We see the chance, not the negative. We want to do our best, and we are here to support the players. There will be adjustments in the next days and weeks, but we are focused on our daily work."

“I would have loved to have started from the beginning and been involved in everything, the signings and being involved from the first day. It is something I cannot influence.

“We’ll use every day in the best possible way to improve. This is a collective task for the whole club. If we are all thriving in the same direction, it is going to be successful.”

At their best under Howe, Newcastle were a nightmare to live with, hunting every ball and overwhelming opponents with their pressing and energy. It is no secret that the words “Intensity is our Identity” adorned the walls at the training ground.

As Howe’s flame began to wither towards the end of his reign, culminating in a 12th-placed finish in the Premier League last season, so did that core principle. But as a product of the Red Bull project, a disciple of Ralf Rangnick who has won league titles at RB Salzburg and Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, Jaissle wants to reinforce it, describing Newcastle as a “perfect fit” for his ideals.

“[We should be] front-footed, intense, aggressive and, of course, successful,” he said.

“That is why I am sitting here; the belief we have as a coaching team, the identity of Newcastle United is linked closely together [to that]. It is a perfect fit in my eyes. It is going to be exciting.

“Football is really complex. We can press, why are we doing that? To get the ball, and then you need to have solutions and be smart. You have to have your identity, how we want to play, vertical, we want to score goals, but it depends how the opponent is playing, it is about adaptation as well. We need to use their weaknesses and our strengths.”

Jaissle also believes his relationship with England boss Thomas Tuchel could be important as he settles into Premier League life. They go all the way back to the early days of his playing career, and Tuchel influenced his coaching journey, too.

“The connection is there, it has been a long connection,” he smiles. “He was my coach when I was a youth player in Stuttgart. He is an amazing coach; I really admire him and appreciate him a lot – what he did and will do in the future. He is really special; I am looking forward to getting insight from him about the league.”

His persona on the touchline is at odds with the man sat in the chair at the front of the room. He says he is passionate, emotional and will not change that.

There were no promises of a long-term vision, and some fans could be forgiven for asking wider questions of the Saudi-backed project. But, ultimately, if first impressions say anything, Matthias Jaissle certainly believes he will leave his mark on Newcastle.

Liverpool can certainly challenge for the Premier League this season.

That's the view of former Reds striker Michael Owen, who says that he's been impressed by Andoni Iraola and that the Basque simply needs time at Anfield to show what he's capable of.

With Liverpool entering a new era, few are predicting the Premier League title to return to Merseyside – but Owen says it's “possible”.

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola needs time to implement his own style, says Michael Owen

Liverpool were disappointing last season, with Arne Slot losing his job as a result of a fifth-place finish, despite winning the title 12 months earlier.

Speaking to FourFourTwo, Owen – who now helps UK gamblers compare online casinos as the British ambassador for Casino.org – believes that Iraola has a “building job”, and says he's impressed by what he's seen at Bournemouth.

“He has proven at Bournemouth that he is a top manager and has an excellent style of play,” Owen tells FourFourTwo.

“I have been very impressed when watching Bournemouth play and I hope this can be translated to Liverpool next season. It’s a rebuilding job for sure with Salah leaving and the way Liverpool ended last year and the style of football as well.

“So it’s a big job indeed and the pressure is on, as Bournemouth, with respect, are not as a big of a club as Liverpool, so he will need to look to implement a style of play quickly for the team to start winning.

Despite the size of the task at hand, however, Owen says that he's been so impressed with the style of play on the south coast that he believes that his former side could challenge for the title again.

“From the way Bournemouth played, if you can deliver that at Liverpool, with the quality Liverpool have now and can bring in, then it’s possible to begin to challenge again for sure,” he says.

Liverpool take on Newcastle United in the opening game of the Premier League season.

The last two seasons as a Tottenham Hotspur fan have been pretty miserable – aside from that glorious Europa League triumph – but I have a feeling the club has turned a corner ahead of the new campaign, and it’s largely thanks to Roberto De Zerbi.

In all honesty, though, I was dubious as to whether his appointment back in March would be the right move for Spurs long-term. I was pretty confident that he would drag the club to Premier League survival, and that he did, but would his fiery temperament be at odds with the powers that be at Tottenham?

There’s still plenty of time for that to happen, of course, but we are witnessing what appears to be a real change in the whole mindset of the club this summer, and it could even lead to a surprise title challenge.

Roberto De Zerbi’s appointment at Tottenham Hotspur had me worried

I don’t think I was alone in having doubts over De Zerbi. Tottenham had reportedly tried to hire the Italian before they recruited Igor Tudor for his ill-fated tenure in N17, but to no avail. The fact he changed his mind a month or so later didn’t sit right with me.

Add to that the fact that this is a manager who doesn’t stick around at clubs for too long (his average time at a club is just over a year), plus the way he left Brighton, and I feared we would be a quick gig with no real consideration of the future.

Even De Zerbi’s track record should raise a few eyebrows.

Aside from a Ukrainian Super Cup during his brief spell with Shakhtar Donetsk, his greatest achievements are steering Marseille to second in Ligue 1, and helping Brighton to a top six finish.

They’re not results to be sniffed at, but they also don’t get me dreaming of glory, either. More than anything, though, it was De Zerbi’s personality that just didn’t seem like it would fit at Spurs.

Much like Antonio Conte before him, this is a man who will say exactly what’s on his mind without fear of upsetting anyone, and as we’ve seen in the past, the Tottenham Hotspur board don’t really like that approach.

I do believe that no-nonsense style was exactly what the squad needed at the backend of last season, though, and it’s no coincidence that those seven matches in the run-in were the best Spurs had looked all year.

Tottenham Hotspur look more disciplined and confident under De Zerbi

Under both Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor, the Tottenham players looked bereft of confidence, lacked any kind of fight, and played turgid football. Since day one under De Zerbi, there has been clear passion and a real togetherness on the pitch, and that delivered the results Spurs needed to stay in the top flight.

After survival was secured, De Zerbi himself even claimed it was the “biggest achievement in my time”, before adding, “We are Tottenham, and we can't suffer like this until the last second of the last game to stay up.” You just get the feeling that De Zerbi is raising the standards at the club and will absolutely not tolerate anything like what we saw last season.

For me, no player exemplifies the shift in attitude at the club more than Micky van de Ven. Under Frank, the flying Dutchman appeared to mentally check out and became a liability. As soon as De Zerbi took over, Van de Ven turned into a leader once more, and looked back to his best.

Speaking to The Standard recently, Van de Ven said: “You can see [De Zerbi] has brought a lot of passion into our group, a lot in terms of mentality and passion on the pitch. It is something we needed because everybody was a little bit down.

“He brings a lot of good energy and, from pre-season, we have really had the time to bring his football into the team. That's really enjoyable.”

He’s right, too. This summer’s pre-season activity for Tottenham has been refreshing, with positive results (including a rare win over bitter rivals Chelsea), a mix of experienced and youth players having important roles, and most importantly, the levels in terms of intensity and quality have not dropped despite these games being friendlies.

Another key case study is the comeback story of Antonin Kinsky. The Czech goalkeeper hit rock bottom in the Champions League last season when he was substituted in the first half against Atletico Madrid after a couple of errors. Now, he looks world-class and is Tottenham’s undisputed number one, and it’s all because De Zerbi put faith in him.

The mentality at Tottenham Hotspur has shifted greatly in such a short space of time, and now feels far more aligned with the spirit Ange Postecoglou brought to the club. While Postecoglou’s tactics were questionable, his man management was outstanding. What’s really exciting is that De Zerbi appears to be capable of both.

Tottenham Hotspur are not messing around this summer

Whether it’s due to De Zerbi’s influence or merely a reaction to back-to-back 17th place finishes, the Tottenham hierarchy are finally showing ambition and loosening the pursestrings this summer.

The £85m signing of Mateus Fernandes was a lavish surprise. The £100m capture of Sandro Tonali was, frankly, mindblowing. The club immediately recognised the fact that things needed to change, and put their money where their mouth is to fix it. The same can be said about the defence, too, with the £52m signing of Jan Paul van Hecke and free transfers of Marco Senesi and Andy Robertson adding real depth to an already strong backline.

I’ve also been really intrigued by the manner in which Spurs have sold off some of their younger players this summer. While the departures of the likes of Luka Vuskovic, Alfie Devine, and Will Lankshear were disappointing, Tottenham received good fees for players who were not likely to make an impact on the first-team this season. In years to come, we may regret not having them around, but that’s a problem for another day. What matters now is immediate improvement and success.

Now, if Spurs can follow through with their pursuit of Savinho (or another top winger) and, most crucially, find a high-level striker to lead the line, I see no reason why the Lilywhites can’t be considered genuine dark horses to challenge for the title. The squad is good enough, the manager is determined to make his mark, and the club as a whole demands and deserves better than what we’ve seen over the last two seasons.

The idea of Spurs pushing for the title, especially after the dismal showing in 2025/26, may be a naive pipedream to some. But, I’ll leave you with this… In the 2014/15 season, Leicester City ended up with 41 points and a -9 goal difference. The following season, they performed a miracle and won the Premier League title.

If the Foxes can do it with relatively meagre resources, I see no reason why a free-spending and revitalised Tottenham Hotspur can’t do the unthinkable and rise to the top.

Known for his high-pressing, Red Bull-educated style and sharp tactical focus, 38-year-old German coach Jaissle has developed a reputation as one of the most highly-rated young bosses in top-level football - but his appointment is still a risk.

Whenever a manager takes charge of a major project, they naturally look to familiar faces - players who already understand things such as pressing triggers, defensive demands, and dressing room culture.

Once his appointment is rubber-stamped, it would be reasonable to expect Jaissle to recommend such personnel to the Newcastle hierarchy.

Seven players Newcastle might sign under Matthias Jaissle

Despite so far having had a summer in which they have been one of the Premier League's more active clubs in the market, Newcastle are still in need of targeted reinforcements throughout the side.

It is for that reason, the 'Jaissle effect' could be important during the final month of the summer window. Here are seven players who worked under Jaissle and fit Newcastle's squad requirements.

Nicolas Seiwald (Defensive Midfield)

Appearances under Jaissle: 91 (6 goals, 14 assists)

No outfield player featured more frequently for Jaissle during his trophy-laden tenure at Red Bull Salzburg than Austrian midfielder Nicolas Seiwald.

Functioning as the engine of Jaissle’s midfield diamond, Seiwald reigstered 91 appearances under the German, offering press-resistance and defensive coverage. Newcastle's midfield lacks depth in the holding role, making Seiwald a candidate to rejoin his former boss.

Gabri Veiga (Attacking Midfield)

Appearances under Jaissle: 66 (12 goals, 10 assists)

After making the switch from LaLiga to Al-Ahli, Spanish playmaker Gabri Veiga began working under Jaissle.

Across 66 matches together in Saudi Arabia, Veiga contributed 12 goals and 10 assists before joining FC Porto last summer. With Newcastle seeking a goal-scoring midfielder capable of unlocking low blocks, Jaissle could provide 24-year-old Veiga with the platform for a top-five league reboot.

Oumar Solet (Centre-Back)

Appearances under Jaissle: 66 (2 goals, 4 assists)

Jaissle’s aggressive, high-line defence at Red Bull Salzburg relied heavily on recovery speed and composure of his central defenders, of which Oumar Solet was one.

Featuring 66 times under Jaissle, Solet knows how to play in his backline that routinely dominated domestically and competed admirably in the Champions League. With Newcastle needing long-term athleticism and ball-playing quality at centre-back, Solet fits the tactical profile.

Amar Dedic (Right-Back)

Appearances under Jaissle: 52 (4 goals, 6 assists)

Bosnian full-back Amar Dedic enjoyed his breakout under Jaissle at Salzburg, making 52 appearances and contributing direct to 10 goals from right-back.

His ability to invert into midfield or overlap down the right aligns with Jaissle’s tactical flexibility. Given Newcastle's need to refresh their options at full-back after Kieran Trippier's exit and Tino Livramento's persistent injuries, Dedic could be an option given he already knows the manager's demands.

Mohamed Camara (Defensive Midfield)

Appearances under Jaissle: 43 (1 goal, 5 assists)

Before earning a move to AS Monaco, Malian midfield enforcer Mohamed Camara was the defensive anchor of Jaissle’s 2021/22 domestic double-winning Salzburg side.

Playing 43 games under the soon-to-be-named Newcastle coach, Camara demonstrated excellent ball-winning capabilities as well as decent ability in possession. His tenacity in duel-heavy games would instantly bolster Newcastle's stability in the middle of the park, which is in need of some experience and steel.

Enzo Millot (Attacking Midfield)

Appearances under Jaissle: 40 (9 goals, 7 assists)

French midfielder Enzo Millot worked closely with Jaissle at Al-Ahli, making 40 appearances and registering 16 direct goal contributions.

Millot’s tactical nous, exhibited whilst in the Bundesliga with VfB Stuttgart, and pressing energy make him a coach's dream in a high-intensity transitional system. Newcastle's squad would benefit from his quality between the lines.

Karim Konate (Centre-Forward)

Appearances under Jaissle: 10 (5 goals, 2 assists)

Ivorian striker Karim Konate made his initial top-flight breakthrough under Jaissle at Salzburg, netting 5 goals and laying on 2 assists in just 10 appearances.

Despite that limited sample size before the manager's departure, Konate showed good goalscoring efficiency that foreshadowed his more recent rise as a top striking talent in a mid-tier European league.

While bringing in Jaissle’s trusted former players makes sense on paper, fans would be wise to temper expectations of an instant transformation.

Moving on from almost five years of stability under Eddie Howe marks a significant structural shift, leaving a dressing room very much in a state of flux and notably lacking in natural on-pitch leadership. That will be a responsibility that Jaissle himself must bear while adapting to the demands of English football.

Rebuilding a squad in transition is rarely as simple as importing a cluster of familiar faces. While players like Seiwald, Veiga, or Solet know Jaissle’s style, few will arrive with an immediate grasp of the unique weight, culture, and expectations that come with representing Newcastle or a Premier League club.

Recruiting players who know the manager's playbook can certainly help with tactical implementation, but assembling a reshaped squad under a head coach who is still figuring out the club for himself is a delicate process.

Signing Jaissle's former players may well prove the evolutionary route Newcastle take in 2026/27 and beyond, but it is by no means a guaranteed blueprint for instant success.

Across his spells at Larnaca, Mirandes, Rayo Vallecano and Bournemouth, streakiness has always been a hallmark of Andoni Iraola’s sides – but most of them will tell Liverpool fans that if he gets off to a bad start, he can still prove to be well worth the wait.

In Cyprus, Iraola had Larnaca in fine form in the Europa League qualifying rounds and started the league campaign well, only to hit a run of just one win in nine games in all competitions that cost him his job.

At Mirandes in the Spanish second tier, it was the other way around: Iraola’s side won just one of their first ten games, but then lost just five of their next 33 games.

Streaky clean

That included going on an impressive run to the semi-finals of Copa del Rey, claiming three top-flight scalps from Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Villarreal along the way – but the return to action after the covid-enforced stoppage to the season saw Mirandes finish the season with a run of two wins in nine games and fall out of play-off contention.

Iraola stayed in the Spanish equivalent of the Championship the following season, this time with Rayo Vallecano, and the streakiness continued: three wins from the first four was followed by just two wins in the next eight before they rallied and achieved promotion via the play-offs.

His most extreme start of all came at Bournemouth in 2023. With Iraola installed as Gary O’Neil’s successor, the Cherries didn’t win any of their first nine Premier League games under Iraola, with a 3-0 defeat to a troubled Everton side who had scarcely started the season a particular lowlight.

Much of the criticism was aimed not at Iraola, but at Bournemouth, who were heavily criticised for having made the change in the first place. The Telegraph tipped them for the drop, accusing the club’s decision to replace O’Neil as an act of ‘self-mutilation’ after he had led them away from relegation the previous season.

And who inflicted the defeat in that ninth league game of Iraola’s tenure? O’Neil’s Wolves, of course. The pressure was now on.

But tellingly, the Bournemouth board kept the faith – and despite their awful results, Iraola’s style was already starting to draw a ‘well, actually’ reaction from analysts.

They pointed out that Bournemouth had been handed the toughest opening fixtures of any side in the division – they also faced Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea, Brighton and Arsenal in the run – and yet ranked in the top half on their pressing stats and were consistently getting touches in the opposition box. The implication was that this was a side still adapting to a difficult but potentially rewarding style of play.

Bournemouth fans were generally still on board, too, citing the trickiness of that run, a spate of injuries, late arrivals in the transfer market, and some genuinely excellent passage of play at Anfield and against Tottenham as reasons to stay behind Iraola.

That faith proved to be well-placed. Bournemouth won eight of their next ten Premier League games, with Manchester City the only side to beat them. Not only that, but Bournemouth claimed those wins in style, scoring three against Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest, Fulham and away to Manchester United.

Then came a seven-game winless run, followed by a run of four wins in five games that essentially confirmed a mid-table finish was on the cards.

That first season set a pattern for Iraola’s Bournemouth, who continued to veer back and forth between long unbeaten runs and much more underwhelming periods.

Just consider last season: second in the table after losing just one of their first nine – and they deserved to get something out of that opening-day defeat to Liverpool, in truth.

Bournemouth didn’t win at all in November or December, and lost star man Antoine Semenyo to City in the January transfer window – only to finish the season with an 18-game unbeaten streak that included just slightly too many draws for them to pip Liverpool to Champions League qualification.

Those who watched Bournemouth closely will tell you they often played scintillating stuff.

The Cherries were, for this writer, the most entertaining side in the division for much of the past two seasons, and those poor spells very much felt like the inevitable result of Iraola playing an ultra-intense modern gegenpressing style without having the squad depth required to sustain it at its best over an entire season.

Liverpool should be able to provide that, but whether they actually will or not is another question.

It is clear that the squad needs work, particularly in defence; and for as much as the players who served under Jurgen Klopp are likely to embrace Iraola’s similar style, Liverpool still look from the outside like a club going through a belated transitional period.

The expectation on Iraola will be much higher than it was on the Dorset coast, and yet more winless runs like the ones they suffered through under Arne Slot last season would not go down at all well.

There is real potential for Iraola to end up being made into the fall guy for several years of weird transfer business at Liverpool – but if his prior track record is anything to go by, a bit of patience could go a long way.

Real Madrid clearly do not subscribe to football’s adage about never going back.

Second honeymoons are a common occurrence for Real Madrid, with 13 of the 52 managers appointed as either interim or permanent hires in the club’s 116-year history afforded returns, some multiple times. Nearly half of that figure, including the likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane, did so across the previous three decades alone.

Such romanticism is particularly on brand for a club nicknamed ‘La Casa Blanca’ with a familiar face back in the Bernabeu’s dugout considered more of a hallmark than a habit.

A third 'do-over' for the Special One

Jose Mourinho is the latest beneficiary of a homecoming in the Spanish capital, 13 years after his original spell ended in acrimony. Attempting to finish what he started is a recurring pattern in the Portuguese’s coaching career, with Madrid becoming the third club he has managed more than once after do-over spells with Benfica and Chelsea.

Still, it was a move which raised eyebrows, just months since clashing with his former employers over the alleged racist abuse of Vinicius Junior by Gianluca Prestianni in the second leg of February’s tempestuous Champions League knockout round play-off tie.

Even before that controversy, little love had been lost during Mourinho’s near decade-and-a-half away. His Bernabeu afterlife became a source of derision as much as intrigue. In 2018, fresh from Manchester United’s Champions League exit to Sevilla, Madrid-based daily sports newspaper MARCA likened him to ‘a washed-up rock star, one of those guys who goes around holiday hotels for pensioners, playing old hits on an organ with the base and percussion playing on a tape recorder’. As similes go, there have been fewer more damning for the now sexagenarian ‘Special One’.

Los Blancos witnessed the beginning of his villain arc and, arguably, its most volatile state in a three-year period where just one LaLiga title and a Copa del Rey constituted major silverware. Unlike the redux periods of Ancelotti and Zidane, president Florentino Perez staked a successful re-election campaign on lightning not striking twice with the two-time European champion’s second coming as he is again tasked with halting Barcelona’s latest period of domestic dominance.

But the signs already appear ominous. The Catalans cantered to last season’s title with an eight-point cushion which would have reached double figures had Hansi Flick’s side not taken their foot off the gas in two of the final three games after seeing off their arch-rivals in the latest El Clasico meeting. Confidence remains high that they can secure further bragging rights against Madrid with the teams all-square on 106 victories apiece in their regular contests while Barca could soon equal, and even overtake, their foes’ previously unparalleled haul of 105 major honours after moving to within two with their 29th title success.

Mourinho, meanwhile, inherits a squad devoid of confidence and discipline as evidenced by the unedifying end of Xabi Alonso’s brief tenure and a stumble to the finish line with his interim replacement Alvaro Arbeloa. The advancement of Father Time also has done little to dim his abrasive tendencies which reared an ugly head in his first spell. High-profile fallouts with Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos pockmarked the end of that tenure as he openly lampooned Perez’s vision for a team of ‘Zidanes y Pavones’, mixing stars such as Zidane with homegrown talents like Paco Pavon. In one fractious press conference, he savaged youngster Pedro Leon – one of Pavon’s successors as inferior to both ‘Zizou’ and Diego Maradona.

Hindsight suggests that Mourinho would have done well to endear himself to a more impressionable crop of players instead of an already powerful dressing room clique. A cursory glance at Madrid’s early summer business follows a similar theme to that dynamic with Bernardo Silva, newly minted World Cup winner Marc Cucurella and Ibrahima Konate among the strong personalities that Mourinho will need to bring on side at their Valdebebas training base. There is also the small matter of ingratiating himself with Vinicius after suggesting he had provoked the racist abuse he routinely suffers, even if the imminent arrival of Yan Diomande has seemingly put the writing on the wall for the Brazilian’s long-term future.

He is, at least, hoping a break from some old habits will avoid past mistakes. Mourinho has already turned down a formal media unveiling, which previously guaranteed a box-office entrance and soundbites aplenty. Shunning the flashbulbs has seen him instead working diligently on the training pitches with the club’s less established players while their household teammates were toiling at the World Cup earlier this summer.

The only utterances that Madridistas have heard from their new manager came in the form of a bite-sized social media clip on the club’s official channels during which he insisted ‘Words aren’t enough, because this feels like a mission. This isn’t about me or whether I win, more or less. I’m here to help everybody become better.’

Mourinho knows that Madrid will be his last big job in elite-level management, having only attracted offers from Roma, Fenerbahce and Benfica after his last spell in the Premier League ended in all-too-familiar fashion five years ago. Failure is not an option but he is likely to have little choice with the deck already stacked against him.

Manchester United target and Crystal Palace attacker Ismaila Sarr looks to be leaving the Premier League.

In two years at Selhurst Park, the Senegalese forward has made a huge impact, helping the club to their first three pieces of silverware in the FA Cup, Community Shield and Europa League.

Now, it's being reported by Tuttomercatoweb that the star is “very close” to leaving Crystal Palace – and it looks as if Manchester United could be left disappointed, too.

Manchester United to miss out on Ismaila Sarr, following Crystal Palace exit

According to the report, Fenerbahce are advancing to sign Sarr within the “next few hours”, as they look to reach an agreement with Palace.

According to Foot Mercato, United enquired about Sarr earlier on in the transfer window, with FourFourTwo understanding that the interest has failed to materialise into a formal bid.

Foot Mercato even quoted Senegalese social media account Joueurs SN, which relayed a quote in July from Sarr in July that “there's only one” dream club of his, adding that the winger said, “I love Manchester United with all my heart, and I'm a huge fan” in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

While that would certainly explain how often he's scored against Liverpool in his career, a more sober quote was relayed by APS in Senegal, with Sarr saying, “I have a three-year contract with Crystal Palace; it’s up to them to decide” on his future.

Sarr has been a big hit since moving to back to the Premier League, replacing Michael Olise for the Eagles.

Palace are yet to spend any money this summer, but new manager Pierre Sage may well have to make big moves after losing Marc Guehi in January – and with the long-term futures of Jean-Philippe Mateta and Adam Wharton still far from certain.

United, meanwhile, are still expected to land an attacker before deadline – with FourFourTwo even referencing Sarr as the dream option for Carrick recently.

Sarr appears to be the back-up option following the collapse of Rafael Leao's move to Turkiye.

The Milan forward rejected a move to Fener, who made a formal offer to bring the Portuguese to the Super Lig.

Sarr is valued at €45 million by Transfermarkt. United travel to Hull City on August 22 to kick off their Premier League campaign.

Last week, Eddie Howe called time on his Newcastle United tenure – a luxury that not many managers get these days.

Even the best among them face the sack: since Sir Alex Ferguson retired at the top of the game with a Premier League title, five championship-winning bosses have been sacked, including Claudio Ranieri (who achieved the impossible by winning the league) and Arne Slot (who was employed by a club that famously gives a long leash to their managers).

Even the likes of Sir Bobby Robson, Jose Mourinho and Marcelo Bielsa have been utterly adored in English football by fans of Newcastle United, Chelsea and Leeds United respectively, with each of them forced out of their roles.

The elite club of managers to have NEVER been sacked

When you're the best, you often get to leave on your terms – and there's no finer example than Pep Guardiola, who stepped aside from Manchester City of his own accord earlier this summer.

Of course, the Catalan did the same thing at Bayern Munich to take the City job, and was a rare case of a Barcelona manager choosing to leave himself, after four years of winning everything in the game at Camp Nou.

Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, has technically left his last four jobs: recently swapping his advisory role at Red Bull for the German national team, just a couple of years on from amicably splitting from Anfield.

Despite a tricky final season at Borussia Dortmund, he had enough credit in the bank to choose to go himself, while in 2008, a 40-year-old Klopp resigned from Mainz 05, after failing to secure promotion.

Howe's career shows something similar, with his Newcastle departure mirroring his Bournemouth exit of 2020, after the Cherries failed to secure survival on the final day of the season in lockdown.

Remarkably though, Howe has never been sacked: in 2012, he explained the “personal reasons” that had led him to resign at Burnley and return to Dean Court, less than two years after the Clarets had agreed compensation to hire Howe at Turf Moor.

It's fitting to remember the recently passed Kevin Keegan, too, while talking about those never sacked.

In 1997, Keegan took the bold step of stating he had taken Newcastle as far as he possibly could, before taking the Fulham job later that year.

Keegan would be in charge in West London for two years, eventually stepping aside when the England job became available in 1999 – but despite the disaster of Euro 2000, he actually quit himself, infamously resigning in the tunnel months later, following a 1-0 loss to Germany.

He would retire from management in 2005 at Man City, and in 2008, he resigned from a second stint at St. James' Park over disagreements with his employers. Truly, an anomaly in the modern game.

Can you think of any other elite managers who were never sacked? Let us know in the comments…

Incoming Newcastle United boss Matthias Jaissle tended his resignation at Al-Ahli over a contractual dispute, according to reports in Saudi Arabia.

Newcastle are in advanced talks for the German manager to come in as Eddie Howe's successor after the latter's decision to walk away from the post on Thursday.

Howe quit the post after holding discussions with the club's hierarchy following a disappointing 2025/26 campaign and the sale of key players Anthony Gordon to Barcelona and Sandro Tonali to Tottenham, with captain Bruno Guimaraes also expected to make a move to Arsenal

It quickly emerged that Newcastle were in talks with 38-year-old Jaissle to make the move to St James' Park.

Jaissle has just led Al-Ahli to back-to-back AFC Champions League Elite triumphs, having previous won two Austrian Bundesliga titles while in charge of Red Bull Salzburg.

Saudi outlet Al-Riyadh write that Jaissle has handed in his resignation at Al-Ahli, although it does not yet appear to have been accepted and officially he remains in the post.

Al-Ahli are now said to be in the process of finding a replacement and Jaissle's departure is now expected to be a formality.

However, it seems that his resignation was not specifically with a view to taking the Newcastle job, but rather over a disagreement in terms on a contract renewal.

Al-Riyadh report that Jaissle wanted a clause dictating that he would be paid his salary in full in the event he was dismissed from the post.

The club were not so keen on that, instead offering a maximum of six months' salary, leading the head coach to submit his resignation to the club.

Newcastle are now looking to rebuild their squad in a bid to improve on last season's 12th-place finish.

United had earned Champions League qualification by finishing fifth the previous season.

The club have already reinvested some of the money they brought in by selling Gordon and Tonali, with goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen, winger Bazoumana Toure, and midfielders Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba all joining for a total outlay of £111m.

Newcastle United are set to appoint a successor to departing manager Eddie Howe, who has left the Tyneside club after five years at the helm.

Matthias Jaissle is the manager lined up to take over. Like Howe, he moved into management very young after a modest playing career as a defender. The 38-year-old will become Newcastle boss with both he and the club having a point to prove.

Jaissle, from southern Germany, is currently the manager of Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League. The Royals are one of the clubs majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), also owners of Newcastle.

Who is Matthias Jaissle?

The former centre-back played for Hoffenheim in Germany’s lower divisions before following compatriot Alexander Zorniger to Denmark to become his assistant manager at Brondby.

After two years in Denmark, Jaissle was snapped up and absorbed into the Red Bull football machine, where he had been involved as part of the RB Leipzig set-up.

18 months after returning to the multi-club operation as the manager of Red Bull Salzburg under-18s, Jaissle was bumped up to the senior side at Salzburg finishing school FC Liefering and very quickly to Red Bull Salzburg as the successor to Jesse Marsch.

The Red Bull system is loathed by many football supporters but has become a prolific pathway for young players. Jaissle has coached Benjamin Sesko, Karim Adeyemi and Strahinja Pavlovic, to name just a few.

Some of Red Bull’s success is down to its similar outlook on coaching and management, where the development of talent in line with a particular strategy takes precedence.

Marsch’s immediate predecessor at Salzburg was Marco Rose, now about to embark on his own first season in the Premier League as the manager of Bournemouth. Pep Lijnders is among the managers who’ve held the post since.

Indeed, former Hoffenheim boss Ralf Rangnick steered that system for a period and introduced Jaissle into the fold. The new Newcastle boss prefers principles over a strict systematic approach, learning under Red Bull’s feted 4-2-2-2 philosophy but generally eschewing the formation itself.

“I think it’s important that every club has a philosophy about the way they want to play. But what is also important for me as a coach: Here in Salzburg are guardrails – but within these guardrails, each coach can bring his own signature,” Jaissle said in 2022.

“The question is always how do I get the best team on the pitch? It is important to maintain a certain tactical flexibility. For me, the tactical formation plays a subordinate role. It is crucial that we get our principles on the pitch.”

Jaissle can stand by his record in Austria before he swapped Salzburg for Jeddah three years ago. He won the Bundesliga twice and gave the Red Bull club a foothold in the Champions League, a frontier that has proved difficult in light of the increasing primacy of RB Leipzig in the stable.

Al-Ahli have won the last two AFC Champions League Elite titles, twice defeating Japanese opposition in the final with Riyad Mahrez, Franck Kessie, Edouard Mendy, Ivan Toney and former Hoffenheim teammate Roberto Firmino in their ranks.

They finished third in the Saudi Pro League in 2025-26, matching their best finish under the German.

Newcastle are three weeks out from the new season and set to welcome Matthias Jaissle to the club as Eddie Howe's replacement.

Howe is leaving the Magpies after almost five years at the helm, a period in which he has led the team into the Champions League twice and lifted a trophy for the first time since 1969.

The much-loved head coach is calling time on his Newcastle stint, months after the first knockings of discontent.

Eddie Howe calls time on Newcastle spell

In truth, the writing was on the wall long before the 2025/26 season had begun. Howe had become de facto sporting director and chief spokesperson during the long absence in which Newcastle had neither the former or a chief executive after Darren Eales had stepped down due to health reasons.

Alexander Isak's protracted exit last summer and the trolley dash that ensued to replace him suggested there were key elements and figures at St James' Park that were far from aligned.

Confirmation of a 12th place finish following a long and arduous season should have been the time Howe walked away, but for whatever reason, he remained throughout this summer.

FourFourTwo understands Howe was ready to walk after Newcastle's 3-2 defeat by Brentford back in February. The Toon Army had surrendered an early lead, which had become a theme throughout 2025/26, before conceding a late Dango Ouattara winner.

Howe was persuaded to stay on but all was not well. Before long, rumours about the futures of key players Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes began to emerge in the media, from credible sources no less. Two have already left this summer, with a third highly likely to be on his way.

Within the corridors at Newcastle's Benton training base, there has been talk that Howe hasn't been the same since suffering with a bout of pneumonia. He was hospitalised in April 2025, spending four nights under the watchful eye of doctors and missed three Newcastle matches.

Re-discovering the same vigour which led Newcastle to two memorable Champions League campaigns and a Carabao Cup triumph, it would appear to some, proved too great a task.

This summer, Newcastle have been proactive in the transfer market, with signings spearheaded by new sporting director Ross Wilson.

The experienced football executive has a track record when it comes to unearthing and capturing hidden gems. Newcastle's business has reflected that, although at this stage, many of the additions still have plenty to prove in the game, never mind the unforgiving nature of English football which they are about to enter.

They have not been what one might call 'Howe signings', and that has probably played a part in his decision to leave.

Ewen Jaouen, Aladji Bamba, Sean Steur and Bazoumana Toure have arrived for a combined £111 million, the club reinvesting the money recouped from Tonali and Gordon's sales. Plainly, the new faces are not at the level of those they are replacing in the Newcastle squad just yet.

The true reasoning behind Howe's exit will remain unknown, until a time in which he discusses the departure but there are myriad factors. Firstly, there is an ownership group who have spent the past 18 months appearing somewhat disengaged, misalignment between the coaching side and executive apparatus at St James' Park, as well as Howe seemingly having to relinquish his role in player recruitment this summer, following a disastrous window this time last year.

Howe earned the right to walk away on his terms, and although it is a sad day for Newcastle supporters, many will take the view that it is a necessary step - if only the timing was a little better.

He will remain a legend in the eyes of Toon fans for what he has achieved with the club, lifting the team from relegation certainties in 2021/22 to regular contenders for Champions League football and finally ending the trophy drought.

Where Newcastle go from here is anyone's guess, except for the identity of the man filling the biggest shoes on Tyneside. German coach Matthias Jaissle, schooled under the Red Bull umbrella and has spent the past three seasons in Saudi Arabia, looks to be the man taking to the dugout. Make your own assumptions about that appointment.

The club's hierarchy have been able to line up a replacement, because they know Howe reached his limit some months ago. On the surface, what finally convinced the Newcastle boss to walk away appears to be a 4-1 pre-season friendly defeat to Championship side Bristol City, but this was far from the decisive blow.

Alex Ferguson’s influence on English football is unmatched and more complex than it might appear at first glance.

Manchester United won 13 Premier League titles in the 27-year Ferguson era, adding a pair of Champions League wins and a vast collection of domestic cups. The Red Devils were feared for decades and everything they touched turned to silver.

Beneath the surface, Ferguson helped to nurture a generation of managers. Many of them played under him at Old Trafford but others did not. Ferguson’s willingness to offer advice and guidance to managers making their way in the game is legendary.

"He came straight over and gave me his number"

Sean Dyche was among them. After a short spell in charge of Watford, where he had been a player, Dyche was appointed by Burnley in 2012 and spent the next 10 years in charge at Turf Moor.

Ferguson extended his generosity to the rookie boss.

“It started very quickly,” said Dyche on The Good, The Bad & The Football, in partnership with Midnite.

“I went to a charity gig just after [landing] the Burnley job and to be fair, to his credit, [Ferguson] came straight over and gave me his number.

“It wasn’t really mentoring because that presupposed as though he was ringing me all the time. It wasn’t like that.”

The Clarets have a proud history of success but Dyche was responsible for their biggest modern achievements, leading them to the Premier League in 2014 and again, as Championship winners, two years later.

“He did give me a brilliant bit of advice,” said Dyche.

“When we were pushing for promotion the first time at Burnley and we got to about March, I was thinking, ‘How much longer can we keep this [promotion charge] going?’

“I was fearful it was going to hit the wall. So I rang him and I said, ‘What do you think?’

“He said: ‘Tell everyone how fit you are, how strong you are, and how you’re going to be relentless this season. I said that about Manchester United and I had no foundation – I just put it out there. Keep saying it, and saying it, and saying it.’”

Inspired by Dyche and facilitated by 21 league goals from Danny Ings, Burnley won automatic promotion in second place behind Leicester City, ending the 2013-14 season with 93 points and finishing eight points clear of Derby County in third.

They lost just two Championship matches after the turn of the year, both at home, and started 2014 on an unbeaten run of 15 league games.

“We just kept winning, and winning, and winning,” recalled the former Burnley boss.

Dyche’s team were relegated from the Premier League in the following season but won the Championship – again with 93 points – in 2015-16. They remained in the top flight until 2022 and were relegated weeks after Dyche was sacked.

Burnley have been promoted or relegated in every season since.

Italy legend Andrea Pirlo’s hopes of being named as the Azzurri’s new boss have been denied at the last minute following a political controversy over his potential hiring.

The former AC Milan and Juventus icon appeared to be set for the top job following a protected search for Gennaro Gattuso’s replacement, which had seen former Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola in a three-day discussion for the role only to turn down the position.

But as 116-capped Italy international Pirlo closed in on the job, he hit political resistance, which has now ultimately derailed dreams of managing his country.

Pirlo's hopes of landing Italy job denied

Italy’s search for a new boss came after they failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup under Gattuso, meaning that the four-time winners had missed out on the tournament for a third consecutive time.

Italy U21s boss Silvio Baldini was handed the role as caretaker manager following Gattuso’s sacking in April, and after Guardiola turned down the role, it looked like the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) were ready to call on another iconic former Azzurri midfielder to fill the void.

However, as Pirlo closed in on the job, the 47-year-old’s commercial ties to a Russian betting company came to the fore, with senior figures in the organisation, plus Italian parliamentarians, expressing their concerns.

Pirlo’s potential appointment has now been called off, with FIGC president Giovanni Malago pulling the plug on the deal at the 11th hour, before the former Italy skipper confirmed on Sunday evening that he is no longer in the running for the role in a lengthy statement on social media.

“Over the past few days, I have watched with great bitterness the debate that has unfolded regarding my name and the possibility of taking on the role of Head Coach of the Italian national team,” he posted on Instagram.

“Out of respect for the institutions, the Federation, and all those involved, I chose to remain silent until now. However, I feel it is necessary to clarify a few points. Throughout my career—first as a player and now as a coach—I have always conducted my work in full compliance with the laws of the countries where I have worked and the contracts I have signed. The professional collaboration at the heart of the recent controversy arose during my time working in the United Arab Emirates and is purely commercial and sporting in nature. Attributing political significance to this collaboration implies that I hold views I have never expressed and do not share.

“I would like to thank Maldini and Leonardo for the esteem and trust they have shown me. I am well aware of their expertise, their professionalism, and the love they have always dedicated to Italian football.

“It is regrettable that a decision based on sporting grounds was quickly dragged into a public dispute that ended up attributing motives and intentions to me that are not my own. My love for Italy does not depend on a specific role. It is part of my history and my identity, and it will always remain with me.

Pirlo, who is currently in charge of Emirati club Dubai United, signed an ambassadorship deal with Russian bookmaker Fonbet in October, with scrutiny of this agreement being raised when he appeared alongside his former Italy team-mate Marco Materazzi during an event organised by the bookmaker at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. This visit coincided with aerial attacks on Ukraine, prompting widespread criticism, with Pirlo defending his involvement, insisting that his presence there was strictly non-political, yet a number of Italian politicians have hit back at this.

"After yet another defeat and another missed World Cup qualification, Italian football desperately needed a cultural, ethical and managerial revolution,” Pina Picierno, a vice-president of the European Parliament, said on social media. “The choice of Andrea Pirlo goes in the exact opposite direction.”

Jurgen Klopp has warned the German media that he is more than ready to walk away from the national team job if they subject him to the kind of treatment they gave his predecessor Julian Nagelsmann.

The former Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool boss has returned to management as Germany head coach two years on from departing Anfield.

In the interim, Klopp has served as head of global football for Red Bull, leading to understandable scepticism in Germany about his appointment to his latest role, given Red Bull's unpopularity in the country following the foundation of RB Leipzig in 2009.

Just like the English media towards their own Three Lions boss, the German media can be brutal towards Die Mannschaft's head coach, with Bild particularly renowned for going after managers whose methods they don't prefer.

And despite signing a four-year deal with the DfB, Klopp has warned that he will walk away from the post if the media get too personal.

Speaking at his first press conference, Klopp said: "If you behave badly and don't leave my family in peace then I'll be gone, I'll just turn away.

"I know there are other countries where national team coaches are treated even worse.

"I'm not doing this job for myself, I'm doing it for you. I'm taking this job even though I've seen how you've treated [former Germany boss] Julian Nagelsmann and [England manager] Thomas Tuchel.

"I love this job but I am always ready to call it quits if need be."

Klopp did hint that this role may well be his last in football, however, feeling that becoming the head coach of his country leaves him with no more mountains to climb.

He said: "Jurgen Klopp is not going to have any career after the national team.

"This is the pinnacle, the absolutely high point of my footballing career as coach. I will give everything I have got.

"Over the last few days it has almost been like a movie happening to myself.

"I have always thought the job of Germany head coach is really big, but now it is really dawning on me what being the national team head coach is all about.

"For many, many years it was unimaginable for me to take on this role. As the years went by, it became more or less evident that sooner or later I would be asked to do this job. Now I think the time is right."

New Germany manager Jurgen Klopp is assembling his coaching set-up at Die Mannschaft.

The legendary Liverpool boss was appointed as head coach of his country, following the Germans' devastating defeat to Paraguay in the last-32 stage of World Cup 2026.

With Klopp leaving his role at the Red Bull group to enter international football for the very first time, the 59-year-old is set to appoint a couple of former friends for the task, as attentions turn to Euro 2028.

Jurgen Klopp to welcome familiar face to his Germany coaching team

Ahead of his official unveiling as Julian Nagelsmann's replacement, The Mirror have relayed information from Sky Germany that Klopp is set to appoint Pep Lijnders to his coaching team.

Lijnders famously worked with Klopp at Liverpool, helping to bring the Premier League back to Anfield for the first time in 30 years and winning a sixth Champions League title – but made the somewhat eyebrow-raising move of crossing the divide and joining Manchester City last summer.

Having left Merseyside at the same time as the German, Lijnders took charge of Red Bull Salzburg in 2024, with his tenure lasting just 29 matches and Die Roten Bullen's 10-year streak as Austrian Bundesliga champions ending after his appointment.

The Dutchman returned to football in 2025 to join Pep Guardiola's City coaching staff, facing questions about Klopp's opinion on the move – though his former manager ultimately told him, “If you don’t do it, I will take the job.”

“The moment Pep called, and the feeling he gave me about what he wanted to do with the team by bringing me in, the trust he already had before we discussed how it would look, that made the decision much easier,” Lijnders said of his conversation with Guardiola.

“But you cannot put away 10 years of Liverpool that easily.“

Lijnders is not the only former Liverpool coach set to be appointed to Klopp's team, with Peter Krawietz expected to take a role in Die Mannschaft's set-up, too.

World Cup 2026's disaster means that Germany have failed to win a knockout game at the competition since they lifted the trophy in Rio De Janeiero for the fourth time in 2014.

Nagelsmann replaced Hansi Flick for Euro 2024 on home soil, with his 26-man squad ultimately eliminated by eventual champions Spain in the quarter-finals, while the previous Euros saw long-serving Joachim Low bow out a round earlier at the hands of Gareth Southgate's England.

After exiting the World Cup, Nagelsmann resigned from his role, pre-empting a potential sacking.

Thomas Tuchel is expected to stay on as England manager despite heavy criticism after the Three Lions World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina on Wednesday.

Anthony Gordon’s goal early in the second half put England on course for a first final since 1966, but defensive substitutions and a low block allowed Argentina to dominate the final stages, until Enzo Fernandez equalised and Lautaro Martinez headed in Lionel Messi’s cross in added time.

Tuchel claimed he will remain in charge for Euro 2028, when England will be one of the host nations, but there have already been calls from some quarters to dismiss the German.

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Bookies odds for next England manager

If England do choose to move on from Tuchel, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe is currently the bookies’ favourite to replace him.

Betfair have Howe at 5/2 to be the next Three Lions boss, ahead of Pep Guardiola at 10/3.

Guardiola is now a free agent after ending his decade-long, trophy-laden spell with Manchester City at the end of last season.

While Howe and Guardiola are the clear frontrunners according to the bookies, several other names are in the frame.

Mauricio Pochettino, whose USA side were knocked out in the last 16 by Belgium, is 7/1 to be the next England boss.

Former interim manager Lee Carsley, meanwhile, is 15/2 to get the nod, having continued to impress with the Under-21s.

And in case the FA suddenly realise they didn’t appreciate what they once had, Gareth Southgate is 10/1 to take the job for a second time.

Sweden head coach Graham Potter is 11/1 to switch international jobs, while Frank Lampard is 12/1 after an excellent spell with Coventry City.

Kieran McKenna, after leaving Ipswich Town following a second promotion from the Championship in three years, is 16/1.

As for the outsiders, Aston Villa boss Unai Emery is 20/1 to become the next England manager, and ex-Villa manager and Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard is 22/1.

For now, though, it seems Tuchel will continue, with odds of 1/5 that he will be in charge for England’s first Nations League match against Spain in September.

Did no one at The FA think to flag how much Thomas Tuchel’s head resembles a certain vegetable? A bad omen if ever there was.

However, with the inquest in full swing, I feel it’s important not to rest the blame solely at the feet of the German while others choose to set pitchforks alight. England came into the tournament with some of the purest quarter-final vibes I can ever recall, but were handed a winnable game in the last eight which they won, after extra-time.

The semis felt like nosebleed territory for this team and a final would have certainly been a game too far and not nearly as close as the Euro 2024 final turned out to be.

Hard to get excited about England in 2026

In seven games at World Cup 2026, we saw two good halves of football from England: The second vs Croatia and the first vs Mexico. Apart from that, it was hard to get excited about this team.

The main difference between Tuchel and Gareth Southgate seemed to be their approach to media interviews. Southgate, the politician, Tuchel, the irritable stepfather.

“Sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough,” was his assessment of England's victory vs Norway. Hard to imagine Southgate even thinking in that manner, never mind saying it out loud on live television, but such is Tuchel’s style. You presume that was the thinking behind his hiring. To not be Southgate. To be different.

Tuchel’s point on technical deficiencies is as valid as it is concerning, particularly in midfield. Where Porro, Cucurella, Ruiz and Rodri tik and tak, England’s equivalents swash and buckle. That’s not the fault of Tuchel, who took over at the top of English football two years ago. That issue lies a couple of decades back, when Tuchel was coaching Stuttgart’s U19s, having been working as a bartender just a few years before that.

Tuchel arrived as England manager ready to issue the b*llockings he had become famous and successful for. It raised eyebrows, it demanded egos be left at the door.

At one stage, Jude Bellingham looked like he might be left at home. Trent Alexander-Arnold was. Tuchel was bold with his handling of personnel, and the hope was that he would follow suit tactically.

He largely did until 70 minutes into England’s semi-final vs Argentina. After Anthony Gordon scored England’s first and only chance of the game, England and Tuchel entered sliding doors territory.

At this stage, it would’ve been worse not to score a second than to concede a first. Against Mexico, England were forced into low block mode by Jarell Quansah’s sending off. But vs Argentina, it was a choice. Ezri Konsa came on for Anthony Gordon, a move straight out of the Southgate playbook. England fans were reacquainted with sinking feelings experienced during second-half capitulations vs Croatia in 2018, and Italy at Wembley in 2021.

England 2.0 would, you think, have introduced Marcus Rashford for Gordon at this stage and maybe even Bukayo Saka on the right wing to increase the sense of dread among Argentina players and supporters. Swapping both wingers is something Tuchel has done consistently during games this tournament.

But Tuchel knows this team better than anyone and knows they aren’t Spain. Has England ever really looked in control of a game apart from in the second half against a distinctly average Croatia team? Against Messi in a World Cup semi-final is an entirely different dimension.

Have you ever had the feeling England could push on and add to a lead? They had 7 touches in the opponent's box the entire game vs Argentina who had 28 in England’s. Their xG was a paltry 0.53.

They didn’t look like a team that could score again, but as we saw vs Mexico they had proved they are a team that can defend a lead, so Tuchel went with that. You can at least see where he was coming from with a place in the World Cup final at stake.

Ultimately: wrong decision. We will also never know if Rashford/Saka would’ve been the right decision, but after 2018 and 2021 England fans this morning would’ve rather gone out knowing.

Thomas Tuchel shouldn’t be sacked; he should be given the opportunity to learn from this error. If he ever finds himself in this exact situation again (like Southgate was in the Euro 2020 final) he will act differently.

England’s win over Norway in their World Cup quarter-final tie brought attention to the dynamic between head coach Thomas Tuchel and star midfielder Jude Bellingham.

Rather than a straightforward celebration of their extra-time victory over the Scandinavians, the post-match press conferences in Miami highlighted a clear difference in perspective between manager and player, regarding England's performance.

The friction began immediately after the final whistle in Miami. Despite Bellingham's brace carrying England through, Tuchel was brutally honest in his post-match interview.

Thomas Tuchel and Jude Bellingham relationship

"We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today," Tuchel told ITV.

"The commitment was there, but we played too slowly, made too many technical mistakes and were sloppy."

When Bellingham learned of his manager's public critique, the Real Madrid man responded.

"You don't win every game by completing a thousand passes. Sometimes you have to grind it out and win the ugly way. That's exactly what we did tonight."

In the wake of mounting media interest, Tuchel has moved quickly to defuse the tension. According to a story published today by The Athletic, the German tactician has dismissed suggestions of internal division.

Speaking ahead of England’s semi-final showdown, Tuchel insisted there are 'no cracks' in their relationship and claimed the pair are actually "closer than ever".

This is not the first time the manager's outspoken style has caused friction with Bellingham.

Late last year, Tuchel publicly addressed Bellingham's on-field temperament, stating his 'edge' can sometimes boil over in a way that doesn't chime with some observers.

"I see this with my parents, with my mum, that she sometimes cannot see the nice, well-educated, well-behaved guy that I see," Tuchel said, before later apologising for his choice of words.

Tuchel's directness is a trademark of his coaching career. He has long been perceived as a demanding, outspoken, and sometimes divisive character, often falling out with star players and board members at previous clubs like Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayern Munich.

With a place in the World Cup Final on the line, England fans will hope this latest war of words is merely a reflection of the pair's competitive fire rather than a fracture that could derail tournament dreams.

Marsch has claimed 'I’d rather be us than them [Morocco]' after Canada endured a 3-0 Round of 16 defeat at the hands of Africa Cup of Nations champions Morocco.

Canada appeared capable of turning the event in their favour throughout the first half, before a 55th-minute Azzedine Ounahi hammer put Morocco ahead.

He followed that with a second strike in the 82nd-minute, but Morocco weren't done. Soufiane Rahimi put the final nail in the coffin with a stoppage time clincher.

Jesse Marsch’s bizarre statement after Canada crash out

Speaking after the match, in which Marsch’s men created 0.86 xG (Expected Goals) and managed 10 shot attempts, the Canada boss offered an interesting take on the match.

While Morocco prevailed 3-0, their chance creation was less prolific, but ruthlessly clinical, from their measly 0.78xG.

“What a privilege our fans have had to root on a team like this, that goes after the game, that doesn’t play defensive, that shows they can be better, right?” said Marsch, calmly.

“Of course, we have to be in these situations more and more, and then we have to find ways to succeed, and then we have to build. But what a great team.

“I’d rather be us than them,” stated Marsch. “As good as Morocco is, I’d rather be us, right?

“Like, I’m really proud of our guys. We went after the game. They’re hurting right now, but my goodness, I couldn’t be prouder,” he concluded.

The interviewer closed his time with a thank you message from Canada, to which Marsch thanked the nation back.

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When the segment cut back to FOX Sports pundits, and ex-USMNT forwards, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan in the studio, confusement settled in.

The sentiment from the former United States national team legends was one of confusion, as Canada crashed out in the Round of 16 with just three shots on target.

Morocco will now play the victor of this evening’s France vs Paraguay showdown, as the Africa Cup of Nations champions gun for a second successive World Cup semi-final.

Germany are on the hunt for a new manager after news of Julian Nagelsmann's resignation broke on Friday morning.

His exit follows a dismal World Cup display, which ended with a shock exit to Paraguay, on penalties no less.

A number of high profile names are in the frame for the role, including a couple of Premier League winners and some German legends.

Klopp and Pep among the favourites for the job

Ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is favourite to land the job, with odds of 2/5 on Oddschecker, having not taken up a managerial role since he walked away from Anfield in 2024.

Reports claim that the German, who is currently head of global soccer at Red Bull, would be willing to return to the touchline for his national team.

Some reports even suggest that Klopp's contract with Red Bull has a clause that would allow him to leave specifically for the Germany manager's job.

While he is the front runner, his old Premier League adversary Pep Guardiola is not far behind, with odds of 5/1 to take the role.

Guardiola has never managed at international level before, but has previously suggested in interviews that it is something he would be interested in doing.

After leaving City at the end of last season, he said he wouldn't have the energy to take on another club project and do what he has previously done at clubs like Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

However, he didn't rule out a return to management and added: "Maybe a national team, but that's different."

Also in the running, according to the bookies are Stuttgart boss Sebastian Hoeness, at 6/1, a return for former Germany World Cup winning boss Joachim Low at 8/1 and Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler, also at 8/1.

Less likely candidates in the running include former Germany manager Jurgen Klinsmann at 25/1 and current USA boss Mauricio Pochettino with the same odds.

Ex-England manager Gareth Southgate a long shot at 33/1, along with Patrick Vieira.

• Follow England vs DR Congo LIVE

Sebastien Desabre's DR Congo are facing the Three Lions in the 2026 World Cup, during the tournament's Round of 32.

Aged 49, Desabre has been manager of the national side since 2022, and took DR Congo to its first World Cup since 1974.

This is only the second tournament in the nation's history, so, who is the man in the dugout, and what is his story?

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Who is Sebastien Desabre, DR Congo's manager?

En-route to facing England, the Congolese first frustrated Portugal, with their World Cup opener ending in a 1-1 draw.

After a 1-0 loss to Colombia, Desabre's men secured Round of 32 football with a 3-1 victory against Uzbekistan.

Desabre is a Frenchman, but his experience across the African continent in a managerial capacity is vast.

The 49-year-old has previously managed at club level in Egypt, Morocco, and was boss for the Ugandan national team.

After just one year at the helm for Uganda, his side became one of five nominated for CAF's National Team of the Year award, after qualifying for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

At that tournament, they finished second in their group behind Egypt, but lost in their opening knock-out game against eventual finalists Senegal.

Desabre left the national team by mutual consent shortly after, then became manager for DR Congo three years later in 2022.

The nation had failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and Desabre's aim was to take DR Congo to North America in 2026.

The 49-year-old achieved this, with notable victories against Nigeria and Cameroon during the qualifying phase.

World Cup football was confirmed with a win against Jamaica in the inter-confederation play-offs, which went to 120 minutes and culminated in a 100th-minute DR Congo goal to win 1-0.

In 2023, Desabre also took the nation to the AFCON semi-finals, losing to eventual champions Ivory Coast.

His side beat previous tournament finalists Egypt in the Round of 16, Guinea in the quarters, and secured a draw against Morocco in the group stage.

Steve Clarke has resigned as manager of Scotland's national team after his side failed to achieve knockout stage progression at the World Cup.

Scotland began their tournament with a 1-0 victory against Haiti, their first win on the World Cup stage in 36 years, before following it up with two disappointing results.

Clarke's men failed to beat Morocco, losing 1-0, before enduring a 3-0 defeat to Brazil, in which Scotland gifted their opposition multiple goals through defensive errors.

Steve Clarke steps down as Scotland manager as nation's exit from 2026 World Cup is confirmed

In Group L on Saturday evening, England prevailed by a scoreline of 2-0 against Panama to secure the table's first position.

Elsewhere, Ghana fell 2-1 to Croatia, with the former finishing in third place and sealing Scotland's exit from the tournament.

Scotland, who finished the group stage with three points and a -3 goal difference, had fingers crossed to be one of the North American tournament's best third-placed sides.

However, Ghana's third place finish in Group K, with four points, made it impossible for Scotland to progress.

The Scottish Football Association released a statement from Clarke shortly after Ghana's game concluded.

He said: "The most emotional part of this goodbye is for my players, without whom we wouldn't have had any of the memories that we've accumulated from 2019 until now.

"They deserve all the praise and adulation that they receive and it was truly an honour to be called their Gaffer. Thanks for having me and good luck to my successor," he concluded.

Clarke was Scotland's longest-serving manager, with highs including the 4-2 qualifying match win vs Denmark back in November, which booked his side their spot in North America.

The event was a memorable one, as the Tartan Army witnessed two goals in added time, the 93rd and 98th, to seal their first World Cup appearance since 1998.

During his reign, he previously missed out on World Cup qualification with a play-off semi-final loss to Ukraine back in 2022, but gained qualification to the UEFA European Championship in 2024.

Scotland also qualified for EURO 2020 under his leadership, drawing with England at Wembley before exiting in the group stage.

The 62-year-old signed a four-year contract in May, due to run to 2030, before his nation's 2026 World Cup performance led to resignation.

It’s all over bar the shouting. Senegal’s 5-0 win over Iraq in Toronto on Friday was the result that dropped Scotland out of the top eight third-placed teams, shifting them from theoretically in World Cup 2026 to theoretically out of it.

Scotland have no control over what happens now. They’ve been relying on results above and below them in the third-placed ranking since full-time against Brazil, knowing they conceded too many in that match and scored too few in their only win against Haiti.

There will be teams that go through with three points, but Scotland’s group stage goal difference left them vulnerable. Senegal’s win took them past South Korea, too. Like Scotland, their hopes are winking out in the dusk of the group stage.

The World Cup draw puts teams at a disadvantage before a ball is kicked

Expanding the World Cup to 48 teams has various consequences. One of the most important is that 48 teams divided into groups of four amounts to 12 groups. Another is that 24 or 36 teams can’t populate a round of 32 or 16 without serious compromise.

The inelegant solution, itself fraught with widely documented issues, is to send the top two teams from each group through and rank the 12 third-placed teams to identify the other eight teams to make up the 32.

Every team knows the deal at the outset so scandalous it is not, but the effect of putting some third-placed teams through and knocking others out is that there is cross-contamination of groups and, consequently, a clear competitive difference between teams whose records are directly compared.

It’s summed up thus: Senegal won 5-0 to bump Scotland out of the top eight on goal difference two days after Scotland had a chance to do anything about it.

There’s no sense in looking for excuses for Steve Clarke’s team. They left themselves in that position, and nobody else is to blame for it, but their example does highlight an inequity in a competition that’s supposed to be pure.

The only third-placed teams with three points in the completed first half of the group stage – Groups A to F – are South Korea in Group A and Scotland in Group C.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paraguay, Ecuador and Sweden all collected four points to avoid the silent impurity of the format.

If it’s not square, can it really be fair?

The last uneven World Cup was in 1994, last time it was hosted in the United States.

From six groups, two third-placed teams were eliminated: Russia from Group B and South Korea from Group C, albeit the United States went through in third place in Group A, and two of the three teams that went through playing after Russia and South Korea already had what they needed after two matches.

The first 24-team European Championship in 2016 saw Albania (Group A) and Turkey (Group D) eliminated, while the Republic of Ireland (Group E) and Portugal (Group F) achieved the results they needed in their last games.

Group B and E sent third-placed teams home from Euro 2020. In Euro 2024, Hungary (Group A) and Croatia (Group B) were the two third-placed teams eliminated from the group stage.

There’s no smoking gun, no unimpeachable body of evidence that teams drawn into the early groups have historically been hurt by later teams knowing that a draw or a win or a certain number of goals will reel them in, at least not yet.

There have been too many teams fall backwards into the knock-out rounds or pick up perfectly normal results at the end of the group stage to draw the conclusion that there’s a measurable disadvantage simply to being drawn in Group A or B or C.

But in FourFourTwo’s opinion, there’s a layer of unnecessary doubt that’s been introduced into tournaments by both FIFA and UEFA that makes the picture much clearer for teams in Senegal’s position than Scotland’s.

There’s no way to know how or even whether the creation of overlaps between what should be siloed groups can affect matchday three results, but even the possibility of a lopsided sporting equation would have been better avoided.

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France manager Didier Deschamps has returned home from the World Cup after the death of his mother.

Deschamps left the United States in order to attend his mother’s funeral after receiving the news on Tuesday and missed Friday’s Group I decider against Norway at Gillette Stadium.

France and Norway had both secured their berths in the round of 32 with six points out of six thanks to wins over Senegal and Iraq. They met in Boston with top spot and a second-round trip to MetLife Stadium on the line and France won 4-1 after Norway's manager opted to make 10 changes, including the decision to leave Erling Haaland on the bench.

The French Football Federation has offered Deschamps its support

The French Football Federation (FFF) issued a statement this week confirming the absence of the manager from Les Bleus’ final group stage fixture.

“At this incredibly painful time, we wish the head coach great strength and assure him of everyone’s support,” said French football’s governing body.

Long-time assistant coach Guy Stephan took temporary charge and headed up France’s management team for the meeting with Stale Solbakken’s Norway. He will hand the reins back to Deschamps for the round of 32 and beyond.

Deschamps is a titan of the sport. Along with Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer he is one of only three men to win the World Cup both as a player and as a manager.

The stylish midfielder was a serial league championship and Champions League winner with Marseille and Juventus before ascending to the ultimate honour of captaining his national team to World Cup glory on home soil in 1998.

He lifted the European Championship trophy in Rotterdam two years later.

Deschamps has been France’s head coach since 2012 after enjoying further success in charge of Monaco, Juventus and Marseille. Les Bleus won the World Cup in Russia six years into his tenure, defeating Croatia in the final in Moscow.

They were agonisingly close again in Qatar, where they were beaten on penalties by Argentina in the final of World Cup 2022.

Defeat in Lusail meant France didn’t become the third nation to retain the World Cup and Deschamps didn’t join Vittorio Pozzo as the only managers in history to win the competition twice in a row with the same country.

The 57-year-old, who is ranked at no.73 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest managers ever, will return to the United States for the remainder of World Cup 2026 and his last matches as the head coach of his country’s national team.

It was announced last January that Deschamps would not remain in the job beyond the end of his current contract, which ends at the conclusion of this summer’s tournament.

Zinedine Zidane, Deschamps former teammate, has been widely reported to be in line to succeed the two-time World Cup winner.

Manager Didier Deschamps will miss France's final Group I game following the death of his mother.

The French Football Federation have confirmed that Deschamps was informed of the news on Tuesday morning and has been given leave to fly back home from North America to attend the funeral.

Assistant manager Guy Stephan will now take charge of France's meeting with Norway on Friday.

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Didier Deschamps returns home to France

France and Norway are already guaranteed passage out of Group I together after both claiming back-to-back wins over Senegal and Iraq in their first two games of the World Cup.

That puts them level on points at the top of the group, with France holding the advantage on goal difference.

The winners of Group I will face one of the best eight third-placed teams in the round of 32, and would be set for a meeting with Germany in the round of 16 if both teams were to get that far.

The Group I runners-up will meanwhile face their equivalents from Group E, which looks likely to be the Ivory Coast, but could be either Ecuador or Curacao.

There is no confirmation yet as to when Deschamps is expected to return to North America, with France's knock-out game set to be played on Tuesday, June 30.

Deschamps announced last year that he will step down from the national team following the World Cup, having been in charge since 2012.

Zinedine Zidane is reported to have made a verbal agreement to succeed his former Juventus and France teammate as manager.

The pair won the World Cup together on home turf in 1998 and won the Euros two years later, with Deschamps adding yet another winner's medal to his collection as manager at the 2018 World Cup.

France were defeated finalists at the last edition of the tournament, falling to a 4-3 defeat to Argentina in one of the greatest World Cup finals of all time.

The France-Norway game will kick off at 3pm local time (8pm UK time) on Friday, June 26. Boston's Gillette Stadium will be the venue for the occasion.

Jurgen Klopp has hit back at a series of incendiary comments made by former Netherlands attacker Rafael van der Vaart.

The Netherlands prevailed in a 5-1 victory against Sweden on Saturday, after drawing their opener against Japan in an action-packed 2-2 stalemate.

Van der Vaart was quick to criticise Virgil van Dijk, even after a comprehensive victory, which did not go down well with the centre-back's former manager at Liverpool.

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Jurgen Klopp fires back at 'attention-seeking' Rafael van der Vaart, after former Netherlands attacker criticises Virgil van Dijk

Jurgen Klopp is making it a habit to defend his former players amidst media and pundit criticism, despite his Anfield reign concluding two years ago.

The German was quick to defend Mohamed Salah late last year, after his former player came under scrutiny for an inflammatory interview.

Now, Klopp has came to Van Dijk's aid, after the former Netherlands attacker described him as akin to a Boeing 747 in his movements.

Speaking about the centre-back's speed, Van Der Vaart said: "I have to be honest: I was quite shocked by Van Dijk.

"I thought, 'that doesn't look good.' Especially while turning... a bit like a Boeing 747 turning. I hope he starts turning a bit faster during the tournament," he concluded.

In response, Klopp was ruthless in his total shutting down of Van Der Vaart's opinion, describing the former Netherlands attacker as "not worth mentioning."

"If he ever says something positive about any player at some point, then I'll be happy to take him seriously again," said the German.

Klopp continued: "You get the feeling he sees something, and then it has to be formulated in a flowery way.

"And then he's really against it. But that way, it's really not important," said the German, questioning the integrity of Van Der Vaart's criticism.

Van Dijk and the Netherlands currently top Group F with four points, despite tying on points, goal difference and head-to-head vs Japan.

Ronald Koeman's men return to 2026 World Cup action against bottom of the group Tunisia on Friday, hoping to maintain their top spot.

Jesse Marsch and his Canada side recorded a 6-0 win over Qatar in their second Group B match at this summer's World Cup - the country's first-ever victory at the Finals.

However, the feat was marred by a horrific injury to Canada's Ismael Kone during the second half of the match.

Sassuolo midfielder Kone was tackled unlawfully by Qatar player Assim Madibo, resulting in a serious leg injury for the Canada man.

Jesse Marsch accuses Qatar staff of 'strange behaviour'

Players formed a protective huddle around Kone whilst he underwent treatment for his injury, which is a suspected leg break.

Madibo was initially shown a yellow card which after VAR review was upgraded to a red and ordered from the field.

It left Qatar with nine men after an earlier sending off had cost Homam Elamin his place in the game.

Following Madibo's tackle and ensuing medical intervention on the field, members of Canada and Qatar backroom staff had to be separated as tempers flared.

Then, at full-time, Marsch and Lopetegui became involved in an altercation that saw Lopetegui deep in conversation with the former Leeds manager.

Marsch, evidently unhappy with what the Qatar boss had to say, thrust his arms into the air and walked away from Lopetegui, before refusing to discuss his opposite number in the post-match press conference.

"I'm not wasting a single second talking about that," Marsch told reporters, adding it was 'strange behaviour' from the Qatar bench to argue Madibo should not have been expelled from the field.

“The player apologised to Ismael," Marsch added. "He came into the dressing room. The team let him know that happened.”

The Canada boss and Kone's teammates have since paid a visit to the 24-year-old in a nearby Vancouver hospital before he undergoes surgery.

Canada are expected to qualify for the Round of 32 courtesy of the four points gained from their opening two Group B matches. Their final group stage match is versus Switzerland next Wednesday, June 24.

Marcelo Bielsa has never done things by the book, from sitting on an ice box during matches to examining the legs of a teenage Mauricio Pochettino to assess whether he would make it as a footballer.

It is why the legendary coach has earned the nickname ‘El Loco’ across a career spanning four decades in which he has combined trailblazing tactics with bizarre behaviour.

Bielsa’s latest challenge is leading Uruguay at the FIFA World Cup 2026, and he showed why he remains one of the most captivating figures in the game with his actions during his official FIFA portrait pictures for the tournament.

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'There is a limit in terms of what we need to explain' Why Marcelo Bielsa remains as captivating as ever

While most players and coaches would naturally face the camera - some may even crack a smile, or strike a pose from the menu of random actions now synomous with modern football - Bielsa stubbornly stared at the floor rather than looking down the lens.

When asked to explain the episode following Uruguay’s 1-1 draw with Saudi Arabia in their Group H opener on Monday, the 70-year-old was unrepentant.

“I don’t have to give any explanation, the picture was taken the way it was taken,” he said. “I’m not a model.”

Bielsa returned to the subject unprovoked shortly after, adding: “There is a limit in terms of what we need to explain.

“If I’m wearing glasses, why am I wearing glasses? You look somebody in the eye, why do you do that? There is nothing wrong about wearing glasses or looking into somebody’s eyes or looking down.”

It is not the first time Bielsa has made headlines with his comments as Uruguay boss, having called a two-hour press conference following his side’s 5-1 thrashing by the USA in Florida last November.

After a result that left the former Leeds United manager under intense pressure, he explained: “When I arrive, the environment becomes tense. That’s why I appear infrequently. I’m toxic. To associate yourself with me makes you worse off. Do you understand me?”

Bielsa’s utterings would have come as no surprise to fans of Leeds, who he managed from 2018 to 2022, leading them back into the Premier League in 2020 after 16 years away.

In January 2019, a member of Leeds' coaching staff was caught spying on a training session being held by upcoming opponents Derby County - and Bielsa responded by calling a press conference, in which he revealed that the club had spied on all of their opponents that season and spent an hour giving a detailed tactical breakdown of his methods.

It provided a fascinating insight into the mind of a man who perhaps would not be so influential if he wasn’t a little bit ‘Loco’. Pep Guardiola has previously called Bielsa the greatest coach in the world, while the former Argentina and Chile boss has left his mark on numerous high-profile coaches including Diego Simeone, Andoni Iraola and Mauricio Pochettino.

His relationship with the latter began in bizarre fashion, when he visited the family home of a teenage Pochettino in the middle of the night when he managed Argentinian side Newell’s Old Boys. After asking the youngster’s parents if he could see him, Bielsa examined Pochettino’s legs and declared “he has the legs of a footballer”.

From that incident right up to his actions in the past few days, Bielsa has always done things differently. His comments after this latest episode even earned him support from several fans online, as his refusal to play ball with FIFA felt like a minor protest against arguably the most commercialised World Cup of all time.

Football has changed almost beyond recognition since Bielsa started coaching Newell’s Old Boys II in 1987, but he has not changed one bit - and it is a welcome antidote to the ills of the modern game.

Ruben Amorim will be back in the dugout after landing a new job, five months on from being dismissed at Manchester United.

The Portuguese coach endured a tough spell with the Red Devils. He may have made it to the Europa League final in 2024/25, but never managed to deliver the success the fans, or the board, demanded.

Now, though, Amorim can put that behind him and look forward to a new opportunity at another huge club.

Ruben Amorim set to take over at AC Milan

After sacking Massimiliano Allegri for finishing fifth in Serie A last season, in what was described as "an unequivocal failure", AC Milan are embarking on a new chapter with Amorim at the helm.

Reports suggested the 47-year-old would make the move to Italy, and now Fabrizio Romano has all but confirmed the appointment.

Taking to Twitter/X on Monday morning, Romano posted: "BREAKING: Rúben Amorim to AC Milan as new head coach, HERE WE GO!

"Verbal agreement done on deal valid until June 2028 plus option until June 2029. Amorim has accepted all conditions and will sign this week as new Milan manager."

Amorim will now be tasked with restoring the Italian giants to their former glory. Milan have not won the Serie A title since 2021/22, while fierce rivals Inter have added their 20th and 21st title since then.

Having been a serial winner during his time in Portugal, Amorim will be hoping he, too, can get back to his best after the rough spell at Manchester United.

Amorim had a 71.3% win rate at Sporting Lisbon, but that dropped to just 39.7% during his time in England.

Amorim's expected appointment comes after a number of high-profile coaches were linked with the post.

Mauricio Pochettino, who got the USA off to a flying start at the World Cup with a 4-1 win over Paraguay at the weekend had been mentioned, as had former Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner, who left the Eagles at the end of the season following the UEFA Conference League victory.

Another former Manchester United boss in Ralf Rangnick had also been linked with the San Siro position.

Carlo Ancelotti and Brazil endured a difficult afternoon yesterday in their Group C face-off against Morocco, which ended in a 1-1 stalemate.

Facing off against the reigning Africa Cup of Nations champions — albeit, the strangest champions in the tournament’s history — the anticipation was high.

Brazil, footballing royalty, likely did not anticipate a first half of Morocco dominance, and national team boss Carlo Ancelotti made a worrying admission about his side in the aftermath of their performance.

‘Nerves all over the place’ admits Carlo Ancelotti after Brazil vs Morocco, World Cup 2026

The Brazilians had the opportunity to prevent Morocco’s first half dominance before it had even fully began, with a golden chance after just 13 minutes.

That opportunity fell to Brentford striker Igor Thiago, fresh off the back of a whopping 22 goal campaign in the 2025/26 Premier League season.

Bizarrely, the bagsman produced a miss that left pundits mystified and afraid to speak their mind, sending his header off target.

The opportunity amounted to 0.52xG, a staggering amount for an open play opportunity, with the ball travelling halfway to the corner flag.

Shortly after, Morocco opened the scoring with a glorious finish, entering the second half with a solid momentum and well-deserved lead.

In the second, Vinicius Jr was the hero for Brazil, scoring a wonderful goal of his own, and it’s perhaps no surprise that he was the man to do it considering Ancelotti’s post-match comments.

Vinicius knows how to handle and prevail over nerves at the highest level, having scored in and won two Champions League finals with Real Madrid.

Speaking after the match, Ancelotti said: “I think the team was a bit anxious in the beginning. Nerves were all over the place.

“[We] didn’t keep a lot of ball possession. In the second half, it was a lot better, but it was still tough. I’m sure the team will play better next match,” he continued.

While Brazil’s play did improve in the second half, Ancelotti’s side did not reach the same heights as Morocco’s early dominance, and created less attacking threat than their opponents.

Vinicius, arguably the best player for Brazil on the day, also offered firm words for his teammates, echoing Ancelotti’s concerns.

“We’ve got to hold onto the ball,” said the La Liga star. “We’ve got to move better… but I don’t think there’s a lot to say now. I think we really have to improve.”

In Season One, Episode One of The Sopranos, James Gandolfini’s legendary character, mob boss Tony Soprano, sits in a therapy session in his hometown of New Jersey and laments: “Whatever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn’t in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do."

Cooper was a laconic Hollywood movie star, famous for his understated, stoic acting, and masculinity, which becomes a recurring theme throughout The Sopranos – which is widely regarded as the greatest television series of all time. Tony develops a slight obsession with Cooper, and the idea of the strong, silent man in control of everything. A deliberate irony on the part of the show’s writer, David Chase, who has implanted a dark, impulsive nature and explosive temper in his main protagonist, making him Cooper’s polar opposite.

If Tony Soprano were sitting down to enjoy this summer’s World Cup, where the final will be held about a 20-25 minute drive (depending on traffic) from his fictional home in North Caldwell, he would have a lot of time for Carlo Ancelotti.

Don Carlo’s quiet leadership prioritises player freedom over rigid systems. Where Tony Soprano deals with rage by flipping over his therapist’s glass coffee table, Ancelotti raises his left eyebrow 20 degrees. Both actions carry equal weight.

Ancelotti’s CV commands the ultimate respect: the only manager in history to have won league titles in all five of Europe’s top divisions, the first and only manager to win five Champions League titles. A managerial career that has amassed over 30 trophies.

And now to the international stage. A return to North America, where he stood in 100-degree heat next to Arrigo Sacchi in 1994 as his assistant with Italy, and watched Roberto Baggio blaze the ball high into the Pasadena sky. Ironically (at the time of writing), Italy won’t be at the tournament.

Ancelotti’s appointment as manager of Brazil could be a masterstroke. He has healthy relationships with many of their stars and has shifted the Seleção away from its reliance on individual flair and steered them toward a more balanced, tactically disciplined structure designed to win ugly where necessary. A quality they’ve lacked in previous tournaments, but will need this summer.

"Woke up this morning... got Brazil a sixth star."

Pep Guardiola’s Etihad Stadium reign came to an end at the conclusion of the 2025/26 season, which saw the Spaniard lift the FA and Carabao Cups one final time.

Manchester City have seemingly turned to ex-Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca as the candidate deemed most suitable to follow in the legendary Guardiola’s footsteps.

But before his official Cityzen coronation, the Manchester club are embroiled in more legal drama: this time, subject to compensation claims from Maresca’s previous London employers.

Chelsea hold up Maresca to Manchester City deal

Maresca left Stamford Bridge in January of this year, replaced by Liam Rosenior, who also exited the club months later.

The Italian, who oversaw a turbulent 2025 for Chelsea, departed with three-and-a-half years remaining on his contract, leading to a financial dispute.

That is directed towards Manchester City, Maresca’s next employers, with the request for compensation causing a hold-up in his announcement as the club's next manager.

Chelsea have apparently refused to sign off on a contractual release for the Italian, making it impossible for Maresca to become Guardiola’s successor in Manchester, as things stand.

That refusal will only happen should Manchester City be unable to meet their financial demands, which was disputed initially due to being a seven-figure.

Manchester City fans will be relieved to know that the deal being brokered between the club’s respective legal teams is edging closer to an agreement.

According to a report from Sky Sports, Manchester City are hopeful that an adequate compensation package and deal will be brokered by the week’s end.

As a result, the Cityzens expect to formally announce Maresca as the club’s next manager once an agreement has been reached, likely this weekend.

It is expected that Chelsea will refuse to settle without receiving the largest possible payout from Manchester City, with all cards firmly held by the West London club.

The Italian has large shoes to fill: with Guardiola’s haul extending to six Premier League titles, one Champions League trophy, and too many domestic cups to count.

Guardiola's successor has been in recent talks with the man himself, as well as discussions with the club regarding summer transfer activity.

Maresca’s first games at the helm of Manchester City will be during the club’s Far East Asia pre-season tour, ahead of the ex-Chelsea man’s debut Etihad campaign.

A new era at Anfield is almost here, following Arne Slot’s sacking after he oversaw the most defeats in a single season for the Reds this millennium.

Andoni Iraola is now all but confirmed to be the man who will take over from his Dutch predecessor at Liverpool, known for his aggressive, chaotic and suffocating style of attacking play.

The Spaniard managed Bournemouth between the years of 2023 and 2026, leading the Cherries to a sixth-placed Premier League season finish last campaign.

Iraola is set to sign a two-year Liverpool contract, but why?

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has revealed the length of Iraola’s Liverpool contract to be just two years, tracking with the Spaniard’s history of only signing short-term deals.

Iraola previously revealed to BBC Radio Solent last October his thought process behind signing short-term contracts, stating that money isn’t of importance to him.

“I think Bournemouth is the only time I’ve signed [a contract for] two years. In the case of managers, contracts are not as important as in the players’ cases,” said the Spaniard.

“I don’t want to continue in a club just because I have a contract. I want to continue because both sides are happy and they want to continue together.”

Iraola confirmed that his managerial inspiration, Marcelo Bielsa — known for his short-term contract preference and ranked at no. 77 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest managers ever — influenced him, as well as his own Spanish heritage.

The Spaniard acknowledged that managerial tenures are different in England, with the host pointing out that extended, often up to six-year deals are commonplace in the Premier League.

“Signing a contract just to have the assurance that if they sell you, you will receive money… I wouldn’t feel really pleased with this,” continued the ex-Athletic Bilbao man.

“You have to earn the right every season. Sometimes, even if you don’t get the best results, maybe the club is very happy with your work. And it happens the opposite way.

“Every year has to be a renewal of confidence from both sides — it doesn’t matter what the contract situation is,” said Iraola.

The soon-to-be Liverpool boss will also be bringing members of his Cherries coaching staff with him to Anfield, continuing his successful, pre-existing Premier League partnerships.

Arne Slot was sacked by Liverpool last weekend after overseeing one of the lowest points tallies to achieve Champions League qualification in modern top-flight history.

Andoni Iraola, ex-Athletic Bilbao player turned ‘Rock n Roll’ football manager, remains in pole position to take the reins at Liverpool.

The Spaniard, who led Bournemouth to European football qualification in the 2025/26 season, will be bringing members of his coaching staff with him to Anfield, but who are they?

Andoni Iraola’s assistants at Liverpool

According to a report from Ben Jacobs, the Spaniard is set to bring two members of his coaching staff with him to Anfield ahead of the 2026/27 season.

The first is Tommy Elphick, former professional player at Brighton, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and more, who was one of Iraola’s assistant coaches at the Cherries.

Last week, the 38-year-old rejected the opportunity to manage Bristol City, opting instead to remain faithful to the Spaniard, whose Anfield arrival is all but confirmed.

Elphick began his coaching career with the Bournemouth development squad in late 2021, after retiring from professional football just a month prior.

The 38-year-old was promoted to the first team environment during the 2022/23 season, working with head coach Gary O’Neil.

His ventures this season, working alongside Iraola to secure a Cherries sixth-place finish, prompted his former team-mate, Matt Tubbs, to describe Elphick’s hand as “one of the strongest going” to BBC Radio Solent after news broke of his Bristol City rejection.

Liverpool will be the beneficiary of that decision, as well as the arrival of another first-team Bournemouth assistant coach, Shaun Cooper.

The 42-year-old, also an ex-professional who spent much of his playing days with the Cherries, was promoted alongside Elphick in 2022/23 after the sacking of Scott Parker.

Ironically, the pair’s coaching careers could come full-circle, with Parker’s departure being the direct result of a 9-0 Anfield loss — now set to become Iraola’s assistants at Liverpool.

Bournemouth almost spoiled Arsenal’s Premier League title push this season, with a 2-1 victory away at the Emirates in early March.

Years prior, they did spoil Arsenal's title march, beating the Gunners 2-0 at home during the 2023/24 season in which Mikel Arteta’s men finished second.

Again, ironically, the Cherries prevailed on the day with set piece brilliance — which Arsenal relied heavily on in their Premier League title win this year — with Ryan Christie bagging from an ingenious corner routine.

The move was genius: a quick pass along the ground to an incoming runner, flicked back to an edge-of-the-box Christie, who lashed the ball into the top left corner.

Bournemouth inflicted Arsenal’s first away defeat of 2024 with that strike, followed later by a dagger penalty from Justin Kluivert, with Cooper being described as responsible for the set piece from the goalscorer Christie.

Liverpool fans will rest easy this summer in the knowledge that they aren’t just gaining a manager known for his heavy-metal football, which a recently departed Mohamed Salah begged to see back at the club, but two of the finest assistant coaches around.

Southampton will be playing Championship football next season despite going unbeaten in the 2025/26 play-offs.

The blame for this rests squarely upon the shoulders of first-team head coach Tonda Eckert, who, I must preface, should be applauded for fronting up to the criticism that has fallen at his door in recent weeks.

The Saints were barred from the Championship play-off final against Hull City, and replaced by defeated semi-finalists Middlesbrough, after an independent commission found the south coast club guilty of spying on Boro training in the 72 hours preceding their first leg tie.

Southampton apology video felt insincere after getting play-off boot

Since 2018, it has been forbidden for English Football League (EFL) clubs to observe opponents' training in the three-day period before a fixture.

Even before the original Spygate saga of 2018 - involving Leeds United and Derby County, which prompted a change to EFL legislation - it had always been the case that clubs should behave in good faith towards each other, so much so, that it is written into the EFL rules.

Since taking the top job at Southampton, Eckert has overseen a spying campaign on the Saints' upcoming opponents, to which the club have admitted being a party to in at least two other cases.

Eckert delivered an eight-minute video message, primarily to the club's supporters, but clearly intended for a wider audience, this week, apologising for the sins committed which resulted in Southampton receiving an unprecedented play-off expulsion.

Maintaining intense eye contact down the camera lens, almost as if he were observing a Middlesbrough training session shot on an iPhone, Eckert took his medicine and owned up to the actions that ultimately saw Saints miss out on a shot at promotion back to the Premier League.

For all intents and purposes, this seemed to be your bog standard celebrity apology video. The familiar platitudes were laid out: 'I've let you down, I take full responsibility, yadda yadda'. But, hang on, there's still four minutes of this video left.

Turning quicker than a fleet of foot intern whose stealthy plot had been foiled by Rockliffe Hall training ground staff, Eckert began explaining his actions. Hmm. The tone became much less apologetic. To the neutral, you could be excused for thinking the Saints boss didn't really mean everything he'd said in those opening four minutes.

I don't know about you, but whenever I've had to apologise for something, it's usually a brief exchange in which I take responsibility, offer restitution to the aggrieved party and don't bother with the whole, '...but, the thing is you see, I was only doing it because...'. And that's because it's not a great look - even if you still feel like you're in the right.

"When I worked in Italy for over four years, every starting lineup that we've chosen for the games was always out in the media before games," Eckert said. "And the reason is that our training sessions, especially the ones before games, have always been observed from media and opponent teams that we came up against.

"[Pep] Guardiola has spoken about this at his time at Bayern Munich that it has been common practice in Germany to observe training sessions knowing other teams would do the same. I don't want to say this to excuse what we have done, I just want to give you context in the way that I grew up in the football world.

"There's different rules in England, different rules from the EFL and I should have known them.

"The bitter irony is none of what has happened had any effect on sporting performance. I don't want to use this as an excuse.

"I have made a mistake and I take full responsibility."

Eckert had to eat this one, like a big humble parmo. He'd been caught breaking the rules and punished for it. Some might argue Southampton were sanctioned unfairly or disproportionately, but Eckert represents the club, he is the face acting on behalf of those he manages, those who support him and the team, and those he works under, in what he believed to be the club's best interests. Punishment fits the crime, I'm afraid.

But Eckert didn't eat it - and it's likely now he never will, and won't have to. The German coach keeps his job and has instilled a siege mentality at St. Mary's Stadium, based on the social media response from Saints supporters.

Most neutrals could plainly see how it was they, the fans, who were most hard done by. Not Eckert, not Taylor Harwood-Bellis, whose spying celebration in the semi-final second leg, shone a bright light on footballers' intellect once more, and not the suits in the St. Mary's director's box.

The fans will back him, he's their manager and he actually presided over a fantastic run of form to get Southampton into the play-offs in the first place. Winning is the ultimate currency in football. How much the team actually gleaned from their surreptitious activity will never be quantified but even the slimmest advantages can make all the difference in such a low-scoring sport.

So, Eckert has taken responsibility, or has he? He's been apologetic, too, but did he really apologise? Why does all of this matter?

Football clubs are the pillars of local communities and, in an ideal world, you'd like to think those leading your club are upstanding, rule-abiding members of the public. Some aren't, and unfortunately football has a way of attracting them. That is not to broadly suggest Eckert is such an individual - I have never met the man and would not cast aspersions on his character or moral fibre. But in this case, he's been found to be in the wrong.

Eckert cited previous experiences in Italy and Germany, referenced managerial great Guardiola and commented on the 'bitter irony' of spying supposedly giving Southampton no material sporting advantage, almost as if he were justifying his actions, before adding 'I want to provide context'. All it did was make his previous apology feel insincere. Apologies don't require context when they're sincere.

If spying on your opponent offers little tangible benefit, why do it? If unsure of the EFL rules on spying, why not check them? If the club did not know they were in the wrong, why did the analyst flee once rumbled? Why did he have a change of clothes? Probably because Rockliffe doubles as a golf course, so he brought a spare pair of trousers in case he got a hole in one.

If your apology requires context, it is not an apology, it is an explanation. When an explanation of wrongdoing comes from a position of power and strength, it is rarely one which serves the interests of the aggrieved, often weaker, party.

And how about apologising publicly to young intern, Will Salt, made to carry out the dirty work, whose picture was on the back page of every national newspaper? Leaked WhatsApp messages have recently indicated that interns and junior analysts, much lower in seniority than somebody in Eckert's position, felt pressure to conduct Southampton's spying missions.

"I didn't really have an option and wasn't provided an opportunity to say no. I was an intern and was doing what I was told", a junior analyst intern reportedly told peers.

There is still much that doesn't sit right, and probably never will.

Pep Guardiola departed from Manchester City after a decade at the helm, leading his men to six Premier League titles, an elusive Champions League trophy and domestic cup success.

Enzo Maresca’s appointment as Manchester City manager is now imminent, with private talks having taken place between the Italian and Guardiola.

The Cityzens, who won both the FA and Carabao Cup in 2025/26, narrowly lost out on a swan song Premier League victory for the Spaniard, to ex-colleague Mikel Arteta of Arsenal.

Maresca and Guardiola in discussions over Manchester City squad

According to The Athletic, it is understood that Maresca and his Spanish predecessor have been in talks regarding the current Manchester City squad.

Long-time Cityzen veterans Bernardo Silva and John Stones also departed from the Etihad at the previous season’s conclusion, making Maresca’s start to Manchester City life difficult.

However, transfer activity does not appear to be a strict priority for the Italian, with his primary aim being to connect with the current players and impart his philosophy.

Building on Guardiola’s pre-existing structures in Manchester is also of importance to Maresca, likely the motivation for their contact ahead of the Cityzens’ next campaign.

The club’s director of football, Hugo Viana, will oversee Manchester City’s recruitment and sales, with a right-back, central midfielder and winger topping the transfer priority list.

If Maresca is to be involved significantly in any transfer business, it will be in locating an adequate replacement for Silva, with Elliot Anderson being the club’s main target.

In terms of outgoings, Nico Gonzalez remains the most likely for an Etihad exit, however, Tijani Reijnders, Nathan Ake, James Trafford, Josko Gvardiol, Savinho and Omar Marmoush make up a longer list of potential departures.

The club’s financial situation, as ever, is considered healthy, and the no-fee losses of Silva and Stones are not expected to play a role in their transfer activity this summer.

There is potential for deals to be put in place akin to the signing of John Stones replacement Marc Guehi, who joined six months in advance of the veteran’s exit.

Maresca’s initial games as Man City boss are expected to be during the club’s pre-season tour of the Far East. It is not expected to include many senior players, however, the club’s transfer activity will offer the Italian assurances prior to his first fixtures.