Rodgers reaches his first English final, Spurs wait on Harry Kane’s ankle and Norwich make a welcome returnBrendan Rodgers’ previous FA Cup semi-final visit, in April 2015, ended in disaster, a deserved 2-1 loss with Liverpool to an Aston Villa team inspired by a teenage Jack Grealish. That was an afternoon when Liverpool froze but six years on, Rodgers is a manager with considerably more chops. His Leicester team approached their Sunday night visit to Wembley with poise, confidence and patience. On the sidelines, and even above the 4,000 fans in the stadium as part of a post-Covid experiment, Rodgers’s baritone was audible, talking his players through each passage of play. His suit is always reassuringly expensive but Rodgers remains...
Old Firm are the only serious rivals to each other in a Premiership where third place to the rest represents glorious successIf we are to assume a suitable element of normality will have returned by May, any Celtic celebration of a 10th Premiership title in succession will be quite the sight. Less is more has never applied to the Old Firm, especially where the making of history is concerned. Celtic will begin their season on Sunday as the legitimate favourites to become the first Scottish club to deliver 10 in a row.Inside Scottish football’s parochial cauldron, that achievement is a key theme to the point where it is already all-consuming. Can Steven Gerrard – who hasn’t won a trophy in...
The Liverpool legend has given his side hope and is looking for his first trophy as a manager in the Scottish League Cup finalIt would be natural for Celtic supporters to have spent recent days in a state of apprehension. For the prospect of their domestic dominance being halted by their Old Firm rivals Rangers is galling. Were Aberdeen, Dundee United or Motherwell to end Celtic’s consecutive trophy haul, which currently stands at nine, there would be joy for the underdog and widespread shock. If Rangers break the spell, the mutual impact would be considerable. For all that Celtic should be the favourites heading into Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final, a Hampden Park showpiece likely to be more intense, and...
Hibernian and Aberdeen have also risen to the occasion as Celtic prepare to set out for an eighth title in a rowThe swagger returned to Scottish football in recent days. A close battle between Aberdeen and Burnley, Hibernian’s success over the fifth-ranked team in Greece last season and Rangers’ victory over the fourth-best team in Croatia triggered giddy excitement. Celtic had already taken a further step towards the Champions League with their defeat of Rosenborg. Glory, glory hallelujah. Related: Scottish Premiership 2018-19 preview: Celtic favourites but focus on Gerrard Related: Europa League: Burnley’s Cork and Barnes sink Aberdeen in extra time Continue reading...
Great players do not always make successful managers. Will the Liverpool legend be a Zinedine Zidane or a Gary Neville?When Ross Wilkins stood up during his late father’s memorial service at St Luke’s Church in Chelsea last week to address a congregation that included many of the great names of the past 40 years of English football, he found the words to express a poignant truth. “Football found a way to live without Dad,” he said, “but the simple truth was that Dad could never live without football.”After calling time on his long and distinguished playing career, Ray Wilkins stayed in the game, as so many do. The next 20 years were spent in a variety of dugouts, as the...