The No 10 has captivated the crowds at Loftus Road and helped Steve McClaren’s side turn their Championship season aroundAt Loftus Road, there is a new No 10 in town. Eberechi Eze has a long way to go until he is mentioned in the same breath as Rodney Marsh or Stan Bowles, but there is no doubting the Queens Park Rangers playmaker’s ability to astound. A buccaneering performer, there are shades of the audacity of Adel Taarabt and the brain of Akos Buzsaky, but Eze is carving out a reputation in his own right as one of the most exciting young talents in the country.But Eze has not had it easy. Released by Millwall in 2016 the 20-year-old struggled as...
Lower-division sides help young players develop and benefit from having them but there’s growing disquiet about demands that loanees play regardless of form“You can get a player, an 18-year‑old who’s on 10 grand a week, and you do a deal with the club on his wages,” says Darragh MacAnthony. “Then they not only want the wages, they want you to pay for his accommodation. They’re then on you all the time about ‘Why is he playing?’, ‘Why is he not playing?’ They’re on at you every day. If the player then has an attitude issue and we go and complain they say: ‘Get on with it, you’re not sending him back, you’ve agreed a contract, pay his wages.’”Forthright opinions, such...
A new owner, new manager and new players for Sunderland, Pompey under Kenny Jackett can also revive former glories, while Charlton and Barnsley should challenge tooAfter successive shattering relegations, Sunderland must not only halt an alarming slide but navigate an instant return to the Championship. The buck now stops with Jack Ross, the 42-year-old former St Mirren manager tasked with reviving a club floundering for respite. He must succeed where most recently Simon Grayson and Chris Coleman have tried and failed, in turn breathing life back into what has proved a hollow stadium of plight. Related: League Two 2018-19 season preview | Ben Fisher Continue reading...
Will Lampard, Bielsa and Potter light up the Championship, is Barton manager material and how low can Sunderland go?After seeing Rúben Neves help Wolves tear the Championship apart last season, Nottingham Forest have also decided to tap into the Portuguese market as they attempt to end their long absence from the top division. They have broken their transfer record to buy João Carvalho from Benfica for £13.2m and have also signed Diogo Gonçalves on loan. The arrival of the Portugal Under-21 internationals are signs of big-spending Forest’s ambition. Related: Football League fixtures: Lampard's Derby kick off season at Reading Related: Aston Villa should stick with steady Steve Bruce after recent turmoil | Nick Miller Related: Marcelo Bielsa sets modest target...
After ultimately saving Argyle, the owner has helped to give fans the chance to dream of reaching the ChampionshipLast Sunday marked seven years since a financially crippled Plymouth Argyle entered administration, a time when 40 full‑time staff went nine months without being paid. They were dark days in deepest Devon but, zoom in on a run of one defeat in 15 league matches over the past three months and, like Gary Sawyer, the captain, you, too, will be scrabbling to find the right adjective to describe an equally extraordinary transformation.Plymouth were bottom with 17 points from 20 matches in League One on the morning of 9 December 2017, at which point the club were 5,000-1 for promotion. However, since a...