The assault on Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish reflects the airborne plague spread via Twitter and other areas of society“He might be a fan, he might be a nutter, but he’s on my turf and I’m gonna chop the mother down” – the words of Keith Richards, who famously raised his Fender Telecaster and used it as a club to repel a stage-invading fan as the Rolling Stones played Satisfaction at the Hampton Coliseum in 1981. Related: Birmingham City fan who assaulted Jack Grealish is jailed for 14 weeks Related: Emery calls for calm at Arsenal and 'respect' after fan shoves Smalling Aston Villa v Preston, 2 Oct 2018 Related: Liverpool goalkeeper Shamal George hurt in alleged racially motivated attack Continue reading...
Big-spending Nottingham Forest will hope they can do a Wolves but the English second tier remains unpredictable Related: League One 2018-19 preview| Ben Fisher Related: League Two 2018-19 season preview | Ben Fisher Related: Number of clubs sponsored by betting firms is ‘disturbing’, say campaigners Related: Football League 2018-19: 20 things to watch out for this season | Jacob Steinberg Continue reading...
No 26 did not deliver destiny for Villa in the Championship play-off final against Fulham and now Steve Bruce has problems preparing for another promotion tiltSurely football’s gods would not deny Aston Villa this time: 26 May was the 36th anniversary of the club’s European Cup victory when the team in claret and blue, against all the odds, beat the bluebloods of Bayern Munich. The number 26 was on the back of Villa’s captain, John Terry, the warrior central defender who would pass his 38th birthday back in the Premier League, taking a couple of days off when his adopted club play Chelsea to whom he said goodbye a year ago in the 26th minute.That was to be the narrative except...
Slavisa Jokanovic’s side play the kind of front-foot football that makes them welcome Championship play-off winnersThe deafening sound as Fulham celebrated promotion under the Wembley arch gave a whole new meaning to white noise, for Slavisa Jokanovic’s slow-burning, swaggering side had finally got over the line. A couple of months ago, Jokanovic had insisted that dreams were to be had in the bedroom but he woke with his team triumphant and many topless at the end of Fulham’s first game at the national stadium since 1975. His players, showered in gold confetti, guzzled champagne as they bounced on a hastily erected stage still feeling the effects of the mass pile-on at full-time. Related: Fulham promoted to Premier League after play-off...
This is where we all are at the moment, gushing at news that Fulham’s teenage wing-back can use a household applianceTo south-west London, where startling news emerged when Fulham’s Supporters Trust held its AGM on Tuesday. An awed hush fell over the room as Alistair Mackintosh, the club’s CEO, told an anecdote that left everyone wiping away the tears. On one occasion this season, Mackintosh revealed, Ryan Sessegnon had a doping test after a night game and by the time he was done everyone had gone, the kit man included. So Sessegnon took his kit home, washed it and ironed it before bringing it in the next day.The story ended there, leaving us to speculate whether Fulham saw fit to...