How Manchester United's Debt Problem Could get Much Bigger
After a lot of NFL news, this week we look at the football you play with your feet. It's arguably the most important season ever for the MLS, so we talk to deputy commissioner Gary Stevenson about its plans. And we look at the mess at Manchester United and the sale process of Glasgow Rangers.
Also, in the ever stranger world of football, we had a reporter in Benghazi to watch a match put on by a Libyan warlord. Real Madrid giants Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos and Michael Owen along with ex Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o and Juventus's David Trezeguet were there. (In non football news — beards are in.)
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New York Times
18 minutes ago
- New York Times
49ers' Trent Williams on his future: ‘Not going to retire with something left in the tank'
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Trent Williams has seen it all as he gets ready for his 16th NFL season, but he is admittedly new to the whole voluntary organized team activity thing he's participated in this offseason. The San Francisco 49ers' left tackle has been at team headquarters for a couple of weeks now, including Tuesday's start of the team's two-day mandatory minicamp. While he said he doesn't regret missing every non-mandatory session the past 10 years, he is very excited to have been around more this offseason. Advertisement 'You wouldn't think that this is a team that went 6-11 last year,' Williams said Tuesday. 'The confidence, the way the kids are flying around. … The new draft class to me looks like it has several steals, several great picks that are going to contribute. 'I was really pleased to see how the confidence and how the atmosphere is coming back and kind of being around the guys for the first time.' Wednesday's session is the last practice before the team parts ways until training camp in six weeks. Williams, who turns 37 next month, had mentioned last year that he would like to play until he is 40 years old, and pooh-poohed any talk of retirement. 'I didn't give it a lot of thought (this offseason), honestly,' Williams said. 'I just feel like I do myself and my teammates a disservice if I'm looking towards the end. I'm paid and people count on me to be here now and we've got goals and aspirations as a team. I just don't think putting brain power towards that helps us get to where we want to go. 'You know, when it happens, it happens. I feel like I'll know. One day I should know when it's getting (to be) that time and then I'll do the responsible thing and let them know early enough so that they can make the adjustments needed … (but) I'm definitely not going to retire with something left in the tank.' Williams said his ankle injury, which caused him to miss seven games last season, was completely healed by February. And 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said while he was thrilled Williams came to work early this year, the team will manage his workload. 'With age and the wear and tear and stuff, we just try to keep (his) legs fresher and stuff,' Shanahan said. 'I'll be shocked if we put him out there (Wednesday). He'll be good to go for (training) camp. … He's healthy and right where he needs to be.' Advertisement And he has always been a hard worker, even when he was training on his own in the offseason and not always at the facility. A player has to work year-round to be able to earn playing in 188 career games. 'I love Trent being around so people can see how much he does care about football, how much he does work at football,' Shanahan said. 'It's cool at his age and where he is at in his career for people to still see what he has to do to get ready. He has to do it for himself more than anything, but anytime you have the kind of credibility that someone like Trent has earned, anytime someone gets to watch him do that and watch what he puts into it will always help other people.' And it might help him earn another redo on his contract. While Williams' deal runs through 2026, only this next season is guaranteed at $21.1 million. Williams said that 'doesn't concern' him. 'I'm taking everything one year at a time,' Williams said. 'I feel like if my play warrants a new year or two on a deal or whatever, then I'm here for it. If not, then you know it'd be time to sail on into the sunset.' Williams did have to wave goodbye to some of his favorite teammates this offseason, as players like Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Aaron Banks and Charvarius Ward, among others, left for new teams, while Javon Hargrave and Leonard Floyd were cut and Deebo Samuel and Jordan Mason were traded. 'It's always tough,' Williams said, 'but it's my 16th year, so I understand how the business goes. Those guys are family, so you wanna see the best thing happen to them that puts them in the best situation. All of those guys, I am really, really happy for them. I think that they're really blessed. Like (Aaron) Banks getting compensated, Jaylon Moore getting compensated. It's a blessing that doesn't come often in this league. Advertisement 'I think Deebo found a home that he is going to flourish in.' Williams said he will miss those guys in the locker room and on the field, but is excited about one newcomer, former Philadelphia Eagles pass rusher Bryce Huff. 'He's gonna bring that speed demon off the edge, that guy that's gonna require a running back or a chip (blocker) opposite of Nick (Bosa),' Williams said. 'He adds that Dee Ford effect that they had in 2019 that took them to the Super Bowl. One of the reasons we had a really, really good defense for those couple years is having that guy who can actually make that quarterback step up by getting a good jump off the ball and bending the edge.' Williams also was happy to shake hands with the new Brock Purdy after the quarterback signed his new $265 million contract. 'He's one of the richest people I've ever met in person,' Williams, smiling, said. 'For me, it's just super, super fulfilling just to watch a guy like Brock. You talk about a Cinderella story, and this is the epitome of that, from making a few hundred thousand a year to making 50 million a year is astronomical. … And it couldn't have happened to a better guy.' More importantly, Williams said Purdy is 'the' guy. 'He is the guy for this franchise,' Williams said. 'This is just the tip of the iceberg. He's gonna get another contract. He's going to win a lot of football games. He's that good of a player. So super, super happy to see that happen for him. I love him like a brother, you know, so I couldn't be any happier.'
San Francisco Chronicle
18 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Jim Irsay's daughters embrace his NFL legacy as they take their turn running the Colts
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jim Irsay did everything possible to prepare his three daughters for taking over his beloved Indianapolis Colts. Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson now want to continue their late father's legacy by chasing another Super Bowl trophy. 'His greatest love beyond his family was having the blessing to be a steward for the Indianapolis Colts,' Irsay-Gordon said. 'It's our privilege and honor to share this same responsibility and opportunity today.' The sisters spoke at a news conference Tuesday, a day after the Colts announced the ownership transition featuring Irsay-Gordon as the team's CEO with Foyt as executive vice president and Jackson chief brand officer. Irsay-Gordon said their father's 'foremost wish' was to keep the Colts in the family. He died last month at age 65. He had long battled issues of health and addiction and had been far less visible following a fall at his home in December 2023. 'We've spent decades in our family business learning every aspect of our organization under our dad's leadership,' Irsay-Gordon said. 'It was sometimes trial by fire, and I'm forever grateful for the invaluable experience that I've gained. It has prepared me and my sisters for moments like today." Irsay started working in the Colts' equipment room and took over as owner when his father Robert Irsay died in 1997. Irsay-Gordon said she had to take a different path as a woman, interning in departments like marketing, administration and football operations. She said their father was so proud to see each of his daughters find her own niche in the franchise. Foyt recalled countless training camps along with answering telephones at the front desk and working in marketing before working for the NFL in London. She returned to the Colts' front office in 2007 and said she and her sisters all have the same horseshoe tattoo as their father symbolizing the franchise as family. 'We've been around the NFL and the team a long time,' Foyt said. 'We've grown up here in Indy and the city. We just know the value of our commitment to the team and the city of Indianapolis is just as important as when he was there." The Irsay sisters had held the title of owner since 2012 when they were named vice chairs. Irsay-Gordon has represented the Colts at various NFL meetings since 2004. Jackson has been leading the family's initiative to raise awareness of mental health. Jackson called Tuesday 'extremely bittersweet' as she and her sisters fulfill possibly their father's biggest dream in taking over the Colts. She said Irsay knew he wouldn't be able to see this moment in person, but that no decision will be made without them hearing his voice in the back of their minds. ___
San Francisco Chronicle
19 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Aaron Rodgers says his decision to play in Pittsburgh this season was 'best for my soul'
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers doesn't need to keep doing this. He knows that. The four-time NFL MVP's decision to return for a 21st season and to do it in Pittsburgh was not about trying to prove something to himself, the New York Jets or anyone else. The game has given a lot to him. Stardom. Wealth. A title. Relationships that will last long after he decides to stop playing. The next seven months — if they are indeed the last seven months of a career that almost certainly will end with a gold jacket and a bust in the Hall of Fame — are about trying to pay it forward while finding peace in the process. Standing in front of a sea of cameras more suited for the week ahead of a conference championship game rather than what Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin calls 'football-lite' in June, the 41-year-old Rodgers made a compelling case that the coda he is trying to author in Pittsburgh is about something deeper. 'A lot of decisions that I've made over my career and life from strictly the ego, even if they turn out well, are always unfulfilling,' Rodgers said Tuesday after the first day of Pittsburgh's mandatory minicamp. 'But the decisions made from the soul are usually pretty fulfilling. So this was a decision that was best for my soul.' And one the Steelers believe is best for business, one of the reasons they put no pressure on Rodgers during the spring as he dealt with off-the-field issues that he's said included having multiple people in his inner circle battle cancer. Rodgers said those issues 'have improved a bit,' clearing the way for him to join Tomlin and a team that has bounced from one quarterback to another since Ben Roethlisberger retired at the end of the 2021 season. While Rodgers is hardly a long-term solution, he believes he has enough left to help a club that has gone nearly a decade without winning a playoff game. The path from the second Tuesday in June to late January and beyond is a long one, and Rodgers balked when asked if he could help Pittsburgh get over 'the hump." He pointed out it was simply Day 1, with all the awkwardness that comes with it. Rodgers couldn't 'stand' the new helmet he was forced to don after the model he'd worn for the last 20 years was finally banned by the league. He didn't know many of the names of the other 88 guys who joined him on the practice fields on a day All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt skipped in hopes of landing a new contract. It took all of one step outside the locker room for him to immediately get lost. And yet, there was a familiarity to it all. He's known Steelers quarterbacks coach Tom Arth since Arth made a cameo appearance alongside Rodgers as a player in Green Bay in 2006. Rodgers then rattled off a list of people he's come across with Pittsburgh ties (which includes former Packers coach Mike McCarthy) and then added with a smile that he has 'a lot of Yinzers' in my life, a colloquialism for Western Pennsylvania natives. None of those names, however, convinced Rodgers that Pittsburgh was the right choice. That was all Tomlin. The two stayed in contact over the last two-plus months following Rodgers' semi-undercover visit to the team facility in March, producing what Rodgers called 'some of the coolest conversations I've had in the game." 'He's a big reason I'm here,' Rodgers said. 'I believe in him.' The feeling is mutual. Unlike last year, when there was a quarterback competition — at least in practice if not in spirit — between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, there is not one this time. While Rodgers, wearing a white jersey with the No. 8 on it and a towel unfurled over the front of his black shorts, mostly stood and watched while Mason Rudolph, rookie Will Howard and Skyler Thompson took the reps there is no mystery about who will work with the starters when Pittsburgh arrives for training camp at Saint Vincent College in late July. The last few groups of quarterbacks, from Wilson and Fields to Rudolph (during his first stint) to Mitch Trubisky to Kenny Pickett, never missed a practice or an OTA. They are also not Rodgers. 'I trust that whatever issues or learning curve things that he needs to get through will be handled during the down period of the summer for sure,' Tomlin said. Rodgers, who has worked out with recently acquired DK Metcalf in recent months, hopes some of the Steelers' skill position players can join him in Malibu, California, sometime between when minicamp opens on Thursday and they report to Rooney Hall on July 23. If they do, maybe they'll get a chance to meet Rodgers' wife. Rodgers was spotted wearing what looked like a wedding band in a picture the Steelers shared when he signed his contract. Rodgers confirmed Tuesday that he was married 'a couple months' ago but declined to get into details. The revelation, made late in his 13-minute session with reporters, hints at the many layers to Rodgers that extend far beyond the field. He's not afraid to express his views about many topics, from vaccines to politics and beyond. Yet there was none of that on Tuesday. There was only his firm belief in why he's here, and the optimism that this perhaps final chapter of his career will be rooted in joy. 'It's hard to think of anything in my life that's positive that wasn't impacted by directly or indirectly by playing this game,' he said. 'So (I) just want to give love back to the game, enjoy it, pass on my knowledge to my teammates, and try and find ways to help lead the team.' ___
