Great episode of the ‘It Was What It Was’ football podcast recalling Leicester’s absurd title win a decade ago, including its ‘fittingly bonkers’ end. @jnorthcroft.bsky.social @jonawils.bsky.social @draper-rob.bsky.social #LCFC #Impossible10YearsOn

The Impossible Dream: Leicester City’s Premier League Win

Welcome back to It Was What It Was, the football history podcast. In this week’s episode, co-hosts Jonthan Wilson and Rob Draper are joined by Sports Journalist and author Jonathan Northcroft to take…

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Compassionate, competitive, Polish league obsessive: the real Bruno Fernandes. What would Manchester United have been without him these last 6 years? Always produces, always provides, almost never injured - and when you meet him you understand why he's their leader www.thetimes.com/article/3382...

The real Bruno Fernandes: compassionate, competitive, Polish league obsessive

The Manchester United captain opens up on his love of all types of football, why he just wants United to ‘compete’ and what makes a perfect pass

thetimes.com

Brexit stopped his move from Stockport to...Real Madrid but typically Andy Mangan bounced back. Now scouting for Brazil while assisting the 'mini Jürgen Klopp' at Swansea he has quite a story to tell. PS lovely to find out what a gent Snoop Dogg is www.thetimes.com/article/1620...

Meet Jamie Vardy’s former strike partner going to World Cup with Brazil

Andy Mangan has gone from non-League striker with Fleetwood Town to scouting for Carlo Ancelotti’s side having impressed the legendary manager’s son on a coaching course in Wales

thetimes.com

👀 Today's peep inside our World Cup special, which is out now: 📖 @jnorthcroft.bsky.social Takes us behind the scenes at the 7 World Cups he's covered, from sublime play to fists flying in the media room. 🛒 Read the full story and 20+ more by ordering yours here: tiny.cc/rgrz001

The abrupt departure of James Ellis means only Mikel Arteta is left from the brains trust that transformed Arsenal In 16 months a sporting director, his deputy, the de facto CEO, the academy head and now the technical director have gone The inside story www.thetimes.com/article/98b2...

Only Mikel Arteta left of brains trust that rebuilt Arsenal. Here’s how

Technical director James Ellis has left club he joined in 2021— the last of the back-office figures who helped overhaul transfer policy and revitalise academy

thetimes.com

Arne Slot's biggest problem at Liverpool? He's just not Jürgen Klopp. He's a winner, is handling big obstacles like squad transition/PL's style change and signs are it's coming together. Yet some won't give it time. A delayed reaction to losing a great leader. www.thetimes.com/article/66f9...

you can read the @jnorthcroft.bsky.social piece online here: www.thetimes.com/sport/footba...

Why carnage of the ‘meat wall’ is bringing back giant goalkeepers

Clubs are turning to physical goalkeepers to combat the set-piece revolution, as teams wreak havoc with awkward crosses aimed at a mass of bodies in the box

thetimes.com

When Scotland set off for 1978 World Cup there was much optimism that they would ‘shake them up’ but as 6-year-old @jnorthcroft.bsky.social documented it didn’t last too long Find out more here - bit.ly/49SL93e

The best intro ever to the Transfers Podcast? 😂 Listen to and watch The Transfers Podcast on iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Acast + more: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... open.spotify.com/episode/65wp... www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTP1... @jnorthcroft.bsky.social @duncancastles.bsky.social

www.thetimes.com/article/20f7...

Thomas Frank on the brink at Spurs after latest debacle

Tottenham weighing up a change after embarrassing defeat by West Ham means head coach has overseen a torrid run of one win in eight games

thetimes.com

good morning

Dwight Yorke v Steve McClaren for a place at the World Cup. Caught up with Yorke about his coaching journey - he's driven, driving standards and creating a buzz about his team. Chats with Fergie and little old ladies feature too. #MUFC #AVFC #Concacaf thetimes.com/sport/football…

As a big fan of chicken shops and nights out in Liverpool (though has been a while) I loved this. Written by a mate. He captures the scene perfectly - and why we keep coming back, against our better judgement, for "chicken roulette" open.substack.com/pub/liverpoo...

The Business Of The Chicken: 12 hours in Chicken Bazooka

Perhaps this venerable, bonkers, mediocre chicken shop is the greasy, indestructible heart of Liverpool

open.substack.com

Amazing privilege to receive an Honorary Doctorate from #DeMontfortUniversity even if it meant wearing Dundee United colours and looking a bit like Henry VIII. There's a particular energy to DMU - seen in how students celebrated getting their degrees :) Thanks @leemarlow.bsky.social and @dmu.ac.uk

Good on Vitinha for being too embarrassed by that pathetic VAR penalty to take it properly

Arne Slot's success raises an awkward question for those (like me) who thought Jurgen Klopp did an incredible job. Was Klopp not the man we thought? Or...did what he hand on, and how and why he did it, show how good he was? www.thetimes.com/article/df2b...

Why Liverpool are a better team since Jurgen Klopp departed

German has watched happily as his Bob Paisley — Arne Slot — has improved what he handed over, but was Klopp actually an underperformer? The truth is a little more nuanced

thetimes.com

...but what were Real Madrid doing with their wall?!

Even better from Rice #horse

Remember David Moyes telling me years ago: "Dec - he's got a kick like a horse" Feels like there are fewer brilliant free kick goals these days but that was one of the best you'll see from Rice.

Our paywall is down this weekend and all Times and Sunday Times content is free 🧵 I wrote these two pieces in December about football losing variety and flair through coaching that takes the agency away from players. This on the general theme 👇 www.thetimes.com/sport/footba...

How Pep Guardiola and data destroyed game’s beautiful variety

Ever felt like Premier League clubs now all play the same? You may be right, as The Times’s data team reveal the stats behind top flight’s growing and underwhelming uniformity

thetimes.com

Salah could do a Rubik's cube with the outside of that foot

Great trip to Leverkusen, getting to understand the rise of a clever but grounded club - and the Xabi Alonso effect. My god he's good. Wouldn't mind watching that football for €17/game. Xabi loves details and the bashed up bin in the away dressing room is one. www.thetimes.com/article/5142...

No one has plotted career as impeccably as Xabi Alonso. Next stop, Real?

From ‘Neverkusen’ to ‘Neverlosing’, Xabi Alonso’s impact in Germany has been compared to a UFO landing and he is now regarded as Carlo Ancelotti’s heir apparent

thetimes.com

City v Real Madrid: great entertainment but essentially because it's so ragged. Both sides poor versions of themselves at the moment.

Ideas lose power, revolutions fade. I've felt this for a while, watching positional (Pep-style) football. Players who once wowed playing safe or touching the ball 4 times in a half. Patterns we've all seen before. There are other ways to play...as 24/25 shows. www.thetimes.com/sport/footba...

How teams are embracing chaos to upset the Pep Guardiola school of tactics

Manchester City manager’s rigid positional play appears to be losing its edge as more risk-embracing styles bring Premier League rewards for a new breed of coaches

thetimes.com

Richard Hughes. Know it's an unpopular opinion, but I think he's quite good at his job. From hiring Slot to getting it right on Gravenberch to bringing Iraola to England to putting this brilliant Bournemouth squad together...some of the reasons are in here: www.thetimes.com/sport/footba...

Why Liverpool trust Richard Hughes, the man who signed Slot and Iraola

Richard Hughes, who built team at Bournemouth, has shown how clever deals and letting players like Ryan Gravenberch develop can benefit club more than flashy signings

thetimes.com

Brendan Rodgers 2.0. His second coming in Glasgow. He has had a sustained career of fine football and achievements but his current work at Celtic might prove his best yet. www.thetimes.com/article/326b...

How Brendan Rodgers 2.0 evolved into one of Britain’s best managers

The 51-year-old may have matured but he is no less hungry for success as he bids to take his Celtic side as far as possible in the Champions League

thetimes.com

NEW!! Sunday Times football correspondent Jonathan Northcroft is one of the very best in the business. We talk about his time in football from Aberdeen to Leicester, Sir Alex Ferguson to David Moyes, England and much more!! @jnorthcroft.bsky.social markgordon.media/jonathan-nor...

Jonathan Northcroft - Aberdeen, England, Fergie and the Foxes - markgordon.media

Jonathan Northcroft is a football correspondent for The Sunday Times with nearly 30 years of experience mixing with the greats of the game.

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Hugh McIlvanney said Denis Law was the only British footballer who would have got into Brazil's divine 1970 team. His finishing was razor sharp, cheeky, as refined as art. Aberdeen's greatest. And just a lovely man who wore his greatness lightly, with a twinkle in his eye.

I'll probably get chased out of Leicester for saying this - but loving the Forest story. Doing things differently, doing things the Nuno way, doing things that have an element of Clough. They have same points after 20 games as Leicester in 15-16... www.thetimes.com/sport/footba...

Inside Nottingham Forest’s rise: Nuno’s simplicity and Clough counters

Revitalised under Nuno Espírito Santo, the club are moving forward as one and their surge up the Premier League table has serious vibes of Leicester in 2015-16

thetimes.com