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...
Attempted career reboots for the footballing pariah have amounted to little with his immense talent unfulfilledExplaining the thinking behind his move to Australia in an interview last December, Jack Rodwell professed to have been conflicted before agreeing to sign for Western Sydney Wanderers, the A-League side he had just joined following a two-week spell in quarantine at what was once an insalubrious miners’ camp outside Darwin. While the midfielder felt he had more to offer as a player in England or elsewhere in the European big leagues, the impression was conveyed that a lack of alternative options meant relocating to Australia had to be considered.The decision to move to Sydney was made easier by the fact that his wife is...
The West Brom manager has a stain on his record now. But nobody should think the old magic has entirely deserted him.The summer of 2016 has a lot of answer for. What if England had not been beaten by Iceland in the last 16 of the Euros? What if they had not lost their nerve, if Joe Hart had not made that mistake, if somebody, anybody, had demonstrated any kind of clarity of vision and attempted a mode of attacking that was not just whacking the ball into the box or giving it to Wayne Rooney? What if they had then scrambled through a quarter-final against the anxious hosts, France, to set up (another) semi-final show-down with Germany?Perhaps Roy Hodgson...
On one point after 13 games, Blades look set to repeat the lows of Kevin Kyle’s humbling relegations at the Stadium of Light For Kevin Kyle, the nadir came in his kitchen. The Scottish striker was boiling the water to prepare his baby’s bottle when it kicked out at the pan, soaking his tracksuit bottoms and scalding his scrotum. “When it first happened,” he says, “it was just a shock, but then I got to hospital and they didn’t have the drugs to take the pain away. When something like that happens you start to feel everything’s stacked against you.” Related: Manchester United and Rashford repeat comeback trick at Sheffield United Related: Premiership: Sunderland 2-1 Fulham Continue reading...
The Hammers may survive this season but the prospects for the next one do not look good – just ask fans of the Wearside club now in League OnePerhaps this time the Ferryman will not accept the fare. Wednesday’s unlikely victory over Chelsea, allied to the abjection of Norwich and Bournemouth and the struggles of Aston Villa and Watford, means West Ham may survive this season, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t major questions for the club to answer, foremost among them who should be their manager.Wednesday’s Premier League game turned out to be a clash of two managerial flaws, the inability of Frank Lampard sides to defend set‑pieces or counterattacks winning out over the tendency of David Moyes sides...