Luton’s return to the top flight, a return of Everton’s anxieties and a big showdown at Stamford BridgeVincent Kompany’s old club provide a litmus test for his current one for the second time in six months. Burnley were storming towards the Championship title and unbeaten in 18 matches when pitted away at Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals in March. Club officials, as the new Mission to Burnley documentary reveals, viewed the tie as a gauge of Burnley’s Premier League credentials while Kompany fired up his players with talk of Wembley. They were swatted aside 6-0. There is no shame in a sound beating at the home of soon-to-be treble winners but Kompany will expect a more competitive display...
Goalkeeper could soon have competition from David Raya but he produced fine saves to thwart Manchester CityIt didn’t take long for Joe Hart to realise the writing was on the wall for him at Manchester City under Pep Guardiola. “He said: ‘Of course you’ll be given the opportunity, but …’ As soon as there are any buts at the end you know there’s a decision,” the former England goalkeeper recalled last year. “It was a two-hour conversation that kind of ended with him saying: ‘I can’t see this working.’”Hart is by no means alone. Yaya Touré, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko are some of the big names jettisoned by the City manager in his pursuit of perfection since...
The team my father-in-law supports are unrecognisable from the one he followed as a child: is it still the same football club?My father-in-law, Bryn, has been a loyal supporter of Manchester City for as long as he can remember. In the 1950s, he would jump on to the crossbar of his dad’s bike and journey from their home in Withington towards the famous terraces of Maine Road. On arrival, they would pay “thruppence” to park among the heaps of bikes piled on top of each other alongside the terrace houses around the stadium. His dad being a season-ticket holder, just like his own father, they would sit together near the players’ tunnel and more than 70 years later it takes...
Uefa must make its showpiece event accessible as a lack of thought for wheelchair users led to a horror show in IstanbulAs a wheelchair user who attended the Champions League final in Istanbul last weekend, it was probably the worst experience I’ve ever had at a stadium. And I’ve been kettled outside Wembley with drunk fans pushing past my mum and knocking her over.When your team reach and win the Champions League final, you want to make memories from it. Unfortunately, Uefa created only nightmares. You have to question whether any thought was put in to considering the experience of disabled fans in the city during the planning process. Getting around Istanbul’s streets was difficult: dropped kerbs to help wheelchair...
The problems I experienced at the Champions League final in Istanbul made me wonder – how is Uefa so bad at this?The block across from us – full of guests of the potato chip brand Lay’s – all had their phones ready to capture the big moment. Manchester City had just defeated Internazionale to become European champions and win the treble. Fans around us cried and hugged as Ilkay Gündogan walked up to lift his third trophy in a month. This was the endpoint of a wild journey for the team that I’ve been watching since my first match in 1992. It was, as a football fan, as good as it could ever possibly get, but almost all I could...