Matt Barlow

@mattbarlowmail.bsky.social

Football writer at Mail Sport…

Into the Valley… Curbs on CAFC’s greatest era & Chelsea 🎸 The Who gig 🏖️ The beach row 🪶 Signing Mendonca 🥷 Selling Parker 👋 The day he left ➕ in-jokes, shades, mothballs & half and half scarves with Minto, Brown & Lisbie mol.im/a/15445501

ALAN CURBISHLEY EXCLUSIVE: How we built Charlton's best ever team

Dressing room humour bounces around and Curbs, as everyone calls him, is still the boss, respected for his great wealth of knowledge and catalogue of hilarious stories.

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Javier Zanetti interview 🇦🇷 Messi, Maradona, World Cup 26 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Beckham, Owen, St Etienne 😕 Sir Alex & Man United 💥 Mourinho & Inter 🌎 a project 10 years in the making to pitch kids from around the world against those from elite clubs ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

ZANETTI EXCLUSIVE: Why I told Sir Alex I could never join Man United

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY MATT BARLOW: Zanetti is one of football's gentlemen. He was loyal to Inter for 19 years and 858 senior appearances, politely declining the chance to join United.

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Jamie Cureton on 😬 rejecting Class of 92 📞 the Fergie phone call 🍻 wasting his talent 🎯 a striker’s instinct 🍷 improving with age And becoming the first to score in the top 10 tiers of English football ⚽️⚽️⚽️⬇️ mol.im/a/15308843

Rejecting Fergie's call to join Class of 92 - Jamie Cureton interview

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - MATT BARLOW: Jamie Cureton still wonders about Sir Alex Ferguson. His big 'what if' in a career stretching across more than a thousand games.

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McClaren & his Reggae Boyz on brink of the World Cup 🇯🇲 🔍 recruitment 🧱 team building 🧐 problem solving ❤️‍🔥 Caribbean passion 🏝️ inspiring an island With Isaac Hayden & Amari’i Bell and many more familiar names Redemption Songs all round ⬇️ mol.im/a/15283561

How Steve McClaren has taken Jamaica to the brink of the World Cup

McClaren's Reggae Boyz lead their final qualifying group with two games to play. First, a trip to Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday. Then the crunch against Curacao, the closest challengers for top spot...

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Owls of despair: Sheffield Wednesday and a deepening summer crisis 🦉 🔵 Rohl over ⚪️ Late wages 🔵 Unpaid tax bill ⚪️ Transfer bans 🔵 More trouble ahead A decade under Chansiri lurching to its unseemly end ⬇️ mol.im/a/14855305

Why Sheffield Wednesday are buckling up for a deepening crisis

MATT BARLOW: With players returning for preseason, the transfer market open and a new set of fixtures released these are normally times of fresh optimism in the world of football.

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Thomas Frank, the making of a very modern coach 🇩🇰 🧐 an academic curiosity 🗂️ The Oscar files 🪞 Motivation in the mirror 3️⃣ priorities to keep Bees up Olsen, Rud, Andersen, O’Kelly ⬇️ mol.im/a/14802465

Inside the evolution of Thomas Frank

MATT BARLOW: When Morten Olsen was searching for coaches with the energy and innovation to revolutionise his country's development strategy, he liked what he saw in Thomas Frank.

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Sunderland, the return to the Premier League and the challenge of staying there ✍️ the art of recruitment 🤔 flexible thinking 💪 preparing to scrap Not doing what Saints did 😇 ➕ Man United, Spurs, Watkins, Wembley & long throws Monday column ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

What Sunderland MUST do this summer to survive next season

MATT BARLOW: Sunderland, who beat Sheffield United in the play-off final to end their exile from the topflight, are on their way back with more than a hint of another side about them.

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Spurs will soon forget this PL season of misery & mockery if they win in Bilbao 🏆 Europa success trumps finishing 4th or 5th… same goes for Man United to a lesser degree ➕ PSG, Sterling, Wolves, Rohl, Taylor Monday column ⬇️ mol.im/a/14700181

Top four, top five, top half, so what? Chasing trophies is the joy

MATT BARLOW: First there was Luton Town , winning on penalties at Wembley Stadium to complete their odyssey from non-league, fuelled by injustices to end their long exile.

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Bukayo Saka, darling of the North Bank… is he even better than we think? 🤕 3 months out 🏆 a title race lost 🇳🇴 Odegaard connection 💥 back with a bang 🇫🇷 bring on PSG ➕ Palace patience, ex Hammer time etc Monday column ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

Why only Arsenal fans know Bukayo Saka's true value

MATT BARLOW: There's a maxim from the boot room era, coined by a famous former manager who would confide to his staff, 'We'll be fine as long as the right ones get injured'.

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Nuno, Forest, Spurs, Ange… 📈One on the best season decades & the other the worst 📉One facing sack & the other manager of year 🏆One closing in on Champions Lge & the other drifting ➕ Mbeumo, Bowen, Dibling, Cheek, ET, etc Monday column ⬇️ mol.im/a/14630201

Nuno should win Premier League manager of the year, writes MATT BARLOW

MATT BARLOW: Nuno Espirito Santo should win the Premier League 's manager of the year award if he can complete the leap from 17th to the top five.

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Respect for Burnley seems grudging at best but I like Parker’s mean machine 1️⃣2️⃣ conceded in 4️⃣0️⃣ 🍷 a good year for the Clarets ➕ Villa’s smart trading, Norwich not, Caicedo/Sarr revisited, Cov nostalgia fix Monday column ⬇️ mol.im/a/14576963

How Burnley's Scott Parker became one of England's best young coaches

MATT BARLOW: If automatic promotion was decided by Rudyard Kipling it might go to someone keeping his head when all around lose theirs and trusting himself when others cast doubt.

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Tyler Dibling, the £100m clamour, Lord Sugar & the price of lobster 🦞 👹 Man United & Wilcox ⚪️ Spurs collecting teens 🔴 Saints to Liverpool link 🇩🇪 Bundesliga interest ➕ football’s T20 revolution, Brighton goalies, etc Monday column ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

Revealed: Why Southampton believe they can get £100m for Dibling

MATT BARLOW: Lord Sugar's approach to football's transfer market came to mind with the big 'game's gone' moment of the international break - Southampton's £100million valuation of Tyler Dibling.

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From Ozil & Brooking to the technical wizardry of Foden, Saka & Co but no centre halves… 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 English football’s new conundrum ➕ Biereth 🇩🇰 Karetsas 🇬🇷 Iron rising 🔴 classic Currie 50 years on Monday column ⬇️ mol.im/a/14528251

MATT BARLOW: Why can't England produce strikers or centre backs?

MATT BARLOW: It was the morning after England had been demolished by Germany in the Under-21 Euros final and Sir Trevor Brooking was sifting through the debris in a Malmo hotel.

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🇧🇷 How Raphinha conjured his finest season under Flick rather than accept his Barcelona exit 🌍 Bournemouth & Luton cast into different orbits one year on ➕ Pep’s yellow subs, last 10 drama, top speed Haaland, Barnet’s lucky 5 Monday column ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

How ex-Leeds star Raphinha has become a Ballon d'Or candidate

MATT BARLOW: Few had it down as a good development for Raphinha when Lamine Yamal burst from Barcelona's youth ranks to make the position on the right wing his own.

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Ian Cathro on stepping out of Nuno’s shadow 🇵🇹 back to Portugal after Valencia, Newcastle, Hearts, Wolves, Spurs & Saudi Forging success at Estoril and why it is the start of his career as a head coach ➕ Dowman, Dembele, etc Monday column ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

Meet the young British coach who's tearing it up in Portugal

MATT BARLOW: Two thirds of Portugal's top flight go into the season aiming for what they call 'manutencao'. When Ian Cathro took the job at Estoril last summer, he banned the word.

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Harry Kane at Bayern - a perfect home for a 30-something goal machine 🏆 trophies incoming ⚽️ Gerd Muller & Lewandowski 🇩🇪 nothing to do with your Vorsprung durch Technik you know ➕ Merino, Chelsea, Luton, Noonan, Ellison, etc Monday column ⬇️ mol.im/a/14403877

Why would craftsman Harry Kane want to leave Bayern Munich?

MATT BARLOW: Conversations among the Bayern Munich supporters leaving Celtic Park made it clear Die Roten did not have confidence tanks replenished to capacity.

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Exeter boss Gary Caldwell on… 🏆 Wigan’s glorious Cup run 2013 😩 pain of relegation 🏟️ pen miss on Wembley return 🤕 hip ops & early retirement 💰 Exeter, management, Man United & lost replays Plotting another Devonian FA Cup upset ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

Why Wigan hero Gary Caldwell feels the stars are aligning for Exeter

INTERVIEW BY MATT BARLOW: Two photographs are captured within a single picture frame that hangs on a wall inside Gary Caldwell's office at Exeter City.

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The new Euro format - any good or just an incoherent ramble of exhibition games… ⚽️🏀 Barcelona, Benfica, Harlem Globetrotters, Celtic 🧮 Tottenham’s squad size ➕ City in-form teen, Bolton love in, Ndiaye spreading wings, etc Monday column ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

MATT BARLOW: Bloated Champions League is like Harlem Globetrotters

MATT BARLOW: Meaningfulness should return to European football this week as the rambling and incoherent first phase finally winds to a close.

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Big Ange, injuries & the Tottenham teens 6️⃣ in Europe for teenage kicks ⭐️ meet the youngest star 1️⃣6️⃣ and on the bench 8️⃣ times 🇩🇪 kids needed at Hoffenheim ❔ can it keep the boss in a job❔ ⬇️ more here… www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

Inside Tottenham's youth revolution and their 16-year-old saviour

There has been a remarkable shift at Tottenham from last season, when Ange Postecoglou entrusted just five minutes of Premier League action to teenagers.

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On Tony Mowbray’s return to football 🪃 comeback story of the year 🎄 Xmas Eve vibes #WBA ❤️ love, life & death ⬆️ target Premier League ⚽️ Diallo, Wharton, lovely soft feet ➕ Law, Trent, Sir Les, Lowe, Sheffield Monday column ⬇️ mol.im/a/14302415

MATT BARLOW: It warms the heart to see Tony Mowbray back in management

MATT BARLOW: There was no great sense of ceremony. No drumroll nor fanfare. That's hardly his style and yet it was no ordinary comeback as Tony Mowbray strolled out at the Hawthorns.

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🚨Exclusive interview: Les Ferdinand on... ⚽️ the trouble with his beloved Spurs ⚽️ Keegan's Entertainers ⚽️ leaving QPR & what next ⚽️ the making of Eze, Kane, Townsend, etc ⚽️ impact of prostate cancer on his family and his campaign @ProstateUK www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

Les Ferdinand delivers verdict on former club Spurs under Postecoglou

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY MATT BARLOW: Les Ferdinand is well into his stride by the time he tackles Tottenham 's perennial puzzle of style versus substance.

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Inside the wonderful world of walking football 🚀 soaring popularity 🧘‍♂️ healing bodies & minds 🤝 forging friendships 👕 Busst, Bennett & the Sky Blues Uplifting tales from one of my favourite assignments of 2024 Monday column ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

MATT BARLOW shines a light on the wonderful world of walking football

MATT BARLOW: The physical benefits are clear. The psychological benefits are no less important, bringing people together, giving them purpose and forging friendships.

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Bournemouth are kings of the subs 7️⃣ goals by 7️⃣ different subs 6️⃣ in last 8️⃣ games 7️⃣2️⃣ used out of 7️⃣5️⃣ 5️⃣ subs should suit the big clubs ❔what’s going on Monday column ⬇️ mol.im/a/14194985

How Bournemouth are reinventing the use of the substitutes' bench

Andoni Iraola's subs have scored seven in the Premier League this season to enhance his growing reputation as a modern football thinker.

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Arsenal set pieces & the Crazy Gang 🗝️ delivery, desire, variation ⚽️ a goal every 13 corners 🏆 Liverpool in 88 🤨 solving the puzzle 🐟 codswallop ➕ Ox, Zabarnyi, Reading, Posh Monday column ⬇️ mol.im/a/14170567

Why Arsenal's set-piece prowess is nothing new, writes MATT BARLOW

MATT BARLOW: Arsenal's threat from set-pieces got me thinking about Dave Bassett, who once figured out his Wimbledon team at their peak scored on average from every 13 corners.

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The extraordinary rise of Richard Kone 🌍 Africa to Homeless World Cup ⚽️ goals galore @ Athletic Newham 📆 pro deal in Jan 24 🏔️ fired Wycombe top L1 🕵️‍♀️ PL scouts tuned in ➕ GK goals, Fabio Silva, Kluivert pens, Tom Davies & CAFC Monday column ⬇️ mol.im/a/14145753

The extraordinary tale of an unlikely FA Cup hero, writes MATT BARLOW

MATT BARLOW: Richard Kone came on to score the second in a 2-0 win at Wealdstone in the FA Cup second round on Saturday, his 12th goal of the season.

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Paul Elliott is back at Charlton as vice chair, still breaking down barriers at 60 & launching a new project to transform crowds in the EFL 🗣️This will modernise the club, make it fit for purpose, take it and all of English football forward #CAFC ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba...

Paul Elliott launches new diversity initiative at Charlton

MATT BARLOW: Paul Elliott stopped to weigh up the changing nature of English football crowds as he launched an exciting new initiative at Charlton Athletic aimed at improving crowd diversity.

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