Just as the Netflix cameras return to the Championship club, the manager who got them there has departed for Stoke CityA penny for the thoughts of Jewison Bennette last Friday morning. Almost certainly still jet-lagged following his 8,600km journey from Costa Rica to the north-east of England, the 18-year-old winger arrived at the Academy of Light training ground to meet his new teammates having signed a four-year contract to play for Sunderland the previous day. “When you see the Stadium of Light and this huge fanbase, it gives you more desire to work hard day-to-day and give your all,” he said after signing his contract.Bennette’s new manager could scarcely have been more effusive in his praise of a player who...
Neutrals got the romantic outcome they had demanded on a raucous day that had an odd sense of inevitability about it“Far we have travelled, much we have seen,” read the banner draped behind Wembley’s west end. A fair percentage of Nottingham Forest’s fanbase will have scant, if any, recollection of their last runout at the highest level but now they can add Premier League destinations to their adventures. Mull of Kintyre will become a top-flight anthem once again and perhaps, if they are really fortunate, Paul McCartney will make good on his half-promise to perform his hit at the City Ground upon promotion.This was the ascent neutrals had demanded: a dose of straightforward romance in complicated times and a reminder...
Participation has plummeted, finances are dire and the structure of the men’s game below the Premiership is brokenNothing lasts forever, as numerous proud old English rugby clubs can testify. Orrell, West Hartlepool, Wakefield, Waterloo, Rugby Lions, London Welsh … all of them have been in the top two leagues in the country in the past 25 years before disappearing off the radar when financial reality struck. The downward spiral, once it commences, can be desperately hard to arrest.Which begs a question: how will English domestic club rugby look 10 or 20 years from now? Here’s a fun piece of trivia for you: a time capsule was buried in Twickenham’s South Stand in 2006-07 containing, among other things, predictions of the...
The ‘Guernsey Grealish’ and a 128-goal-a-season striker make our shortlist of EFL youngsters to look out for this yearAt times it is hard to remember that this is the electric winger’s first true taste of the Championship. Johnson, the son of the former Forest striker David, has lit up games with direct bursts forward, providing five assists and five goals this season, the first an equaliser at local rivals Derby. Johnson scored an 11-minute hat-trick on loan at Lincoln in League One last season and is primed to play a part in Wales’s play-off quest to reach Qatar 2022. He is not short of top-flight admirers but Forest are determined to keep the academy graduate. Continue reading...
João Cancelo continues to shine, Dele Alli shows his worth and Blackburn are looking upJürgen Klopp spent much of the pulsating 2-2 draw with Tottenham frothing with rage at some of the refereeing decisions and his anger was more than justified. We all have bad days at the office, but certain elements of Paul Tierney’s display were inexplicably poor. Diogo Jota was denied a blindingly obvious penalty in the first half, before Harry Kane escaped with a yellow card for a potentially career-ending tackle on Andy Robertson. Robertson was smart enough to jump, without which the damage would have been severe. “That’s definitely a red card ... if Robbo’s leg is on the ground, it’s a broken leg,” Klopp correctly...