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Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Forgotten former Man United star signed by Sir Alex Ferguson joins new club just hours after having contract ripped up
Former Manchester United youngster Nick Powell has found a new club just hours after having his contract ripped up by Stockport County. The midfielder, now 31, was described as 'an exceptional talent' by the great Sir Alex Ferguson when he signed for the Red Devils for £6million in 2012. Then only 18, he had just scored a stunner for Crewe Alexandra in their League Two play-off final win against Cheltenham and seemed destined for a successful career at Old Trafford. But things just never worked out for the Crewe-born wonderkid. After making just six appearances in his first campaign in Manchester, Ferguson's last, Powell was deemed surplus to requirements by both David Moyes and Louis van Gaal and loaned out to Wigan Athletic, Leicester City and later Hull City. In total, Powell played nine times for United, scoring one goal, before being released in the summer of 2016. He has since carved out a career for himself in the football league, first enjoying a successful three year period at Wigan Athletic, where he fired home 41 goals in 140 appearances. Powell later moved onto Stoke City, making more than a 100 appearances for the club, before signing for Stockport in 2023. He was a prominent member of their side in his first season but found himself on the bench in League Two with far more regularity last season. The Hatters announced his departure on Monday with a statement reading: 'The club can confirm that midfielder Nick Powell has departed Edgeley Park following a mutual agreement to terminate his contact.' But perhaps surprisingly it was just hours later that Powell found himself a new club, with Stockport's League One rivals Bradford City announcing they had secured his signature. Speaking about the switch, the former Man United star said: 'I am really pleased to be here. 'I spoke to Graham Alexander, he sold the club to me and I am raring to go. 'The crowd here is a massive draw, having such large attendances in League One is a massive pull for anyone.' Alexander, who was appointed as manager of the Bantams in 2023 and led them to promotion last season, added: 'Nick's ability is undoubted and he is determined to rediscover the form he has shown many times previously. 'It is a deal that suits both parties and we are looking forward to helping him enjoy his football and show his quality once more.' Powell becomes Bradford's 10th signing of the summer as they look to put together a successful season in the League One. They've started their campaign strongly, winning two of their three fixtures, drawing the other.
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘This is for every girl in Bangladesh': debutants dream big at Asian Cup
The sun was starting to break through Dhaka's morning haze when a bus pulled up beside the pitch at the Bashundhara Kings Arena just after 5.30am. As the doors hissed open, the girls tumbled out one by one, hair tied back, boots slung over shoulders, already wide awake and buzzing with energy. It was the start of another dawn practice session for the Bangladesh women's national football team, but spirits were high. With internationals on the horizon and competition growing stronger, the girls had no time to spare. At the front of the squad was Afeida Khandaker, the fierce and quietly confident captain who recently led Bangladesh to qualify for the AFC Women's Asian Cup for the first time. 'I want our girls to be recognised for their brilliance and our recent victory did exactly that,' the 18-year-old defender says proudly. 'But we are only just getting started. We want to show the world what Bangladesh is truly capable of.' The team topped Group C in the 2026 qualifiers, defeating Bahrain 7-0, Myanmar 2-1 and Turkmenistan 7-0 to finish with nine points from three matches. They now join teams such as Japan, China and South Korea in Australia next year, and a top finish there could seal qualification for the Women's World Cup and even the Olympic Games, marking a major milestone in their football journey. The group have also achieved their biggest ever leap in the Fifa world rankings, rising 24 places to 104th, the highest gain among all nations in the latest cycle. 'This achievement isn't just ours – it belongs to every girl in Bangladesh who dares to dream,' says Khandaker. 'It's proof of what faith, hard work, and unity can achieve. But we're not stopping here. The next few months of preparation will be tough but we are up for the challenge.' Back in their hotel rooms, the team are more relaxed; lounging around in PJs, making TikTok videos and packing for a flight the following morning. Many of them are still adjusting to life as national footballers. Having come from mostly disadvantaged backgrounds, they're learning to navigate a new world away from home structured around training, strict routines, and nutrition charts. Despite having access to room service at five-star hotels, the girls have been using kettles to boil potatoes and scissors to cut up onions to make bhorta, a traditional Bangladeshi dish. 'We're still getting used to international cuisine,' says Khandaker sheepishly. 'And sometimes after a big game, we just want some comfort food. A little something from back home.' Khandaker had a modest upbringing in Satkhira, south-west Bangladesh, where her father, an avid footballer, once played at district level. He aspired to play internationally but, like many Bangladeshi men, had no choice but to abandon his dreams and migrate to the middle east to support his family. When he returned he had saved enough to start a small business and set up an amateur football academy for local kids; Khandaker and her elder sister Afra were his first students. 'My passion for football comes from my father,' says the captain. 'He wanted to prove that girls could play football just as well as boys – if not better – and pushed us harder than anyone else.' As children, when the siblings were too tired to train or run laps, their father would chase them around a field with mud in his hands, recalls Khandaker, laughing. 'At home he was our abbu, but on the field he was our coach and he never gave us a day off!' Their hard work paid off. Aged 11, Khandaker was selected for the Bangladesh Football Federation's national training camp while Afra pivoted to boxing and recently competed in the semi-finals of Bangladesh's national boxing championship. 'We're really lucky to have supportive parents and hope our success inspires other girls to pursue sport without self-doubt,' says Khandaker. 'We've worked really hard to get to where we are but without a proper support system none of it would have been possible.' Khandaker and her teammates are determined to excel internationally, and the British head coach, Peter Butler, believes they are well on their way. 'It's been a tough few months of development, intense training and building resilience,' says the former West Ham midfielder. 'But the girls have shown remarkable progress and I'm dead proud. This is a young group playing fearlessly against teams ranked significantly higher than them – they're improving with every game and becoming a force to be reckoned with.' Butler has been training the team since March 2024 and it's not just his discipline and work ethic that have rubbed off – some of the girls have started pronouncing English words with a Yorkshire accent. A few months after Butler arrived in Dhaka, a student uprising that sparked mass protests throughout the country quickly turned violent with hundreds killed at the hands of security forces. The uprising led to the establishment of an interim government under the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which has focused on stabilising the country. But, in the wake of the political shift, activists say there is still a lot of work to be done. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion Earlier this year, radicals vandalised a pitch before a women's football match, causing its cancellation, creating uproar on social media and fear among the women's team that their games may be affected too. But the Bangladesh Football Federation quickly stepped in, issuing strong statements and putting security measures in place. 'It's sad that there are people who still think girls shouldn't be playing football,' says Khandaker. 'Bangladeshi women are leading in all aspects of the public sphere – the pitch should be no exception.' The threats have not deterred Khandaker and her teammates who continue proving the naysayers wrong and remain hopeful for the future. 'I remember watching the World Cup on TV with my family in 2022 and wishing I could be there,' recalls Khandaker, who was invited to tour Qatar earlier this year. 'It felt impossible at the time but as I stood there silently in that vast stadium, I wondered what other dreams of mine were within reach'. With the team headed to Australia next year, some victories may come sooner than they think. If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email This is an extract from our free email, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is back to its twice-weekly format, sent out every Tuesday and Thursday.
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Morecambe make Ashvir Singh Johal the first Sikh to manage a professional British club
Morecambe have appointed Ashvir Singh Johal as their new manager, making him the first Sikh to manage a professional British club, as well as the youngest manager in the top five tiers of English football. The 30-year-old was confirmed in the role on Tuesday, 48 hours after the investment group Panjab Warriors completed its takeover of the National League side. Morecambe had come within days of being expelled from league competition and Johal said he hoped to play a part in ensuring such a situation 'never happens again'. 'I'm extremely proud to be the manager of Morecambe Football Club and I can't wait to meet the fans and show them what an exciting team we can build that represents them and the town on the pitch', Johal said. 'The short term plan this year is to make sure that we retain our place in the National League by playing exciting energetic football and working hard. We want to make sure that the situation that happened in Morecambe over the last couple of years never happens again because no club, no town, no people deserve that.' Johal has never held a first-team managerial role before but has built an impressive CV since beginning as a teenage coach in Leicester City's schools programme. After rising to take full-time charge of the Foxes' under-18 side, he followed Kolo Touré to Wigan as his assistant, then to Como where he worked alongside Cesc Fàbregas during the Spaniard's season in charge of the club's Primavera side. Last year Johal was the manager of Notts County's B team while also becoming one of the youngest coaches to complete their Uefa Pro Licence. 'All in all I have had a number of good experiences,' Johal said, 'and I've been working hard for past five or six years to be around the right environments so that when I get the opportunity to be a manager I'm successful from the start. '[Being a manager] has been my dream since the age of 14, 15. It's been my target. Now I have a new target to make Morecambe successful as a club. I want to make sure that this year we don't just survive, we thrive, and that there are moments in games where we dominate. I want to make sure the fans have a team that thrives in games.' Johal has long been the preferred managerial candidate for Panjab Warriors with the BBC reporting that the group had agreed to appoint him before a takeover deal had been completed and with Derek Adams still in place as manager. Adams was relieved of his responsibilities on Monday. Morecambe had been suspended from competition in the National League while the takeover was incomplete. That suspension is now lifted, but the club are believed to have insufficient players on their books to compete and it is likely that their scheduled match against Altrincham this weekend is postponed. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion 'The immediate priority right now is going to be to identify the players that we need in this building to ensure Morecambe Football Club can perform well in the National League,' Johal said.
