Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Uefa sermons on integrity
Even this multipronged intro has outstayed its welcome. We could have just said that all connected with Crystal Palace are seeing the downside of football's increasingly popular multi-club model. Last week, Palace were demoted from Bigger Vase to Tin Pot because Lyon – who are owned by Eagle Football Holdings, the company of Palace's main shareholder John Textor, although he is in the process of selling his shares and we're boring ourselves now – are in the same competition. Lyon finished higher in their domestic league, which means Palace are currently wearing a Tin Pot parachute against their will.
Their Bigger Vase place is likely to be taken by Nottingham Forest, whose benevolent concern for the greater good of football motivated them to inform Uefa of a potential breach of regulations by Palace. Forest's owner Evangelos Marinakis also owns Olympiakos, but that's different because … look, just click this for all the grown-up stuff. When Football Daily stumbled upon a video interview with Palace's chairman Steve Parish and saw the quote 'one of the great injustices', our first thought was to wonder why Alan Bates had changed his appearance so drastically. Parish has appealed to Cas – and The Rest is Football, and anyone else who fancies an interview – so this is likely to go on for a while yet.
For a neutral teatime email there's particular sadness in seeing Palace finish last in the Uefa Multi-Club Loophole Stakes. When they beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May, one word was conspicuous by its absence from the immediate post-match analysis: Europe. All that mattered was that Palace had won their first major trophy at the tender age of 119, and gloriously to boot. A Bigger Vase spot was the reward, not the prize. We have sympathy, not least because a Uefa sermon on integrity is almost as hilarious as Bob Mortimer on Would I Lie To You? But this has been on the cards for one club or another since multi-club ownership became English football's latest money-spinne – sorry, English football's first opportunity to pioneer and deliver a consistent underlying approach to talent development, fan experiences, sports entertainment, commercial opportunities and community impact. Still, Palace v Forest on 24 August should be fun. No, you silly old romantic, not the football. We want cameras in the boardroom. These days, that's where the real action is.
Join Sarah Rendell from 8pm BST for MBM coverage of Sweden 2-1 England (aet) in the Euro 2025 quarter-finals.
'It's soul-destroying. It is two minutes to midnight and it's just terrifying' – David Freer, a lifelong fan who has commentated on Morecambe games over 12 years for the Football League, on the Shrimps being days from collapse. Amid Jason Whittingham's ownership, there is a very real possibility they will be banned from playing in the National League, which kicks off in three weeks, and players allowed to leave for nothing if they're not paid by Friday.
Re: Hamrun Spartans' shoot-out win over Zalgaris and it being 'the first time a Maltese side have made it beyond this round, becoming part of football history' (yesterday's Football Daily). I am sure I won't be the only football geek to point out that Malta was represented regularly in the European Cup's early decades – eg Floriana (beaten 10-0 at Portman Road) and Hibernians, who held the Busby Babes 0-0 in Valletta before going down 4-0 at Old Trafford' – Alan Cooper (and no other football geeks).
I'm interested in the view that the north of England starts at Stoke (yesterday's Football Daily). If so, does the south of England also start at Stoke? Asking for a friend who claims to live in somewhere called 'the Midlands'' – Tony Rabaiotti.
After your comment on Jordan Henderson joining yet another club playing in red and white (Tuesday's News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition), I couldn't help but think which other Premier League clubs in red and white kits he has to cross off before he goes full circle and rejoins Sunderland. Arsenal seem the logical next move, as it's just a short drift down the Regent's Canal away. But would he survive 'The Theatre of Dreams'? I sincerely hope Amazon will be there to film it all' – Yannick Woudstra.
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today's winner of our prizeless letter o' the day is … Tony Rabaiotti. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.
It's not quite the same as the England men's players shoehorning song titles into media interviews in 1998 – Gareth Southgate possibly gave the game away with 'It's hardly Club Tropicana, Bob, it's been raining all day' – but the Lionesses have got an in-joke of their own at Euro 2025, with Chloe Kelly explaining the celebrations of Beth Mead and Aggie Beever-Jones against Wales, with the pair clicking their fingers as they wheeled away. 'We have a little group of us, the finishers, the positive clique, we call it,' she explained. 'We said if one of us comes on to score then we should do that as our celebration. It might have been Maya [Le Tissier] that made the group chat. We get our pictures on an app and some of us didn't have the pictures of the clicking celebration and that's where the group chat came from, to send each other the pictures of it.' Sarina Wiegman will be hoping to see a few renditions in England's quarter-final against a tricky Sweden side who smashed Germany and are a model of tournament consistency.
Manchester United had the highest number of fans arrested of all clubs in England and Wales last season, according to Home Office data. There were 121 arrests of United supporters, putting them ahead of Manchester City (94) and West Ham (77), with the Hammers also having the most fans with a banning order in force at the end of last season, up from 93 to 112.
Italy are through to their first major women's semi since 1997 after Cristiana Girelli's 90th-minute header beat Norway at Euro 2025. The striker scored both goals in a 2-1 win to spark wild celebrations. 'We are doing this for our glory but the meaning is much deeper and we want to bring this to Italy,' she roared.
The first £1m transfer in women's football has been completed after Olivia Smith confirmed her record-breaking move to European champions Arsenal. 'It's a privilege and an honour,' she beamed. 'It's my dream to compete for the biggest titles here in England. The atmosphere the supporters create at Emirates Stadium is incredible and I can't wait to have that behind me.'
Bad news for Newcastle: Liverpool's late swoop for Hugo Ekitike appears to be gaining traction with the Eintracht Frankfurt striker said to prefer a move to Anfield. Ekitike has a €100m (£86.5m) release clause.
And DR Congo are to pay Barcelona more than €40m in a sponsorship deal that will see a logo promoting tourism appear on some team apparel.
The latest edition of our sister email is out, out, out. Read an extract from it, about Wafcon and the future of African football, right here.
Emma Hayes wants to let the England squad know that beating Sweden in the Euro 2025 quarter-finals will be ruddy difficult.
Tom Garry puts his focus on the Swedes and their lofty status in the women's game thanks to being a progressive nation.
New season, new Manchester United? Absolutely not. Jamie Jackson looks at the plethora of issues still facing Ruben Amorim.
Keeping hold of Alexander Isak, amid Liverpool's interest, will be a key test of Newcastle's ambitions, according to Louise Taylor.
And do remember to get all the latest transfer tittle-tattle from the Rumour Mill. Nicolas Jackson to Old Trafford, anyone?
It's the Open! Follow round one live. Away from the links, though, here's a look at Arsenal player Alex James considering his putt during a team training day at a course in Hatch End, north-west London, back in November 1929. Teammate Tom Parker, manager Herbert Chapman and David Jack look on.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
9 minutes ago
- Times
Chris Davies: I spent my dream family holiday on Zoom calls with Tom Brady
On Thursday, a screen outside St Andrew's played excerpts from Amazon's new Birmingham City documentary. It kept looping back to a clip of Tom Brady: 'I have no f***ing fear. I have no fear in anything I do,' says the GOAT of American football. In his personable yet steely way, Chris Davies is similar. Last June there he was, only 39 but 20 years into his preparation — 20 years of working towards The Moment. That point where he would take the plunge and become a manager, his ambition since injury killed his playing dreams as a teenager. The former Welsh youth international had built such a reputation in coaching circles that for some time good offers, including from Championship clubs, were flying in. He turned them down. In football management, you're cooked if you don't get the first job right. Then Birmingham called. 'I knew I'd have six games. I was a complete unknown to most people and if I didn't get early results, I'd have been gone,' he says. 'But this one was different. It was a feeling in my gut.' So he took those dreams, those 20 years of careful preparation, and staked the lot on blue. A story that sums up Davies' mentality. He had said his goodbyes at Tottenham Hotspur, where he was assistant head coach to Ange Postecoglou, and arrived at St Andrew's with Birmingham's sporting director, Craig Gardner, and then chief executive, Garry Cook. Outside the main stand he met Jasper Carrott and remembers embarrassing himself somewhat by telling the comedian he was his hero. Then he went out to the pitch with the club historian who casually hit him with a fact. 'He said no team in English football, in the last five seasons, had lost more games than Birmingham City,' Davies recalls. 'I thought . . . wow. But then, it conversely excited me. I thought, 'What if we win more games than any team?' ' Davies went on to take Birmingham up from League One with an all-time English points record (111) and the most league victories (34) of any side in an English season. Of course, Birmingham had the biggest budget too and a hyper-ambitious ownership group including chairman Tom Wagner and minority investor Brady, and the cameras were rolling on the documentary Built in Birmingham: Brady & The Blues. All of that fuelled the expectancy that led Davies to calculate those six games were all he had. Yet he rather liked the thought. 'I want to be under pressure because I think that's when I'm at my best,' he says. His education was at clubs expected to win all the time. He was assistant coach to Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool (and Swansea City) and Rodgers' No2 at Celtic and Leicester City. At Spurs, he took training while Postecoglou observed (Davies' departure was perhaps a factor in last season's slump). 'Even at Leicester we were at the higher end of the Premier League so I was used to teams who were going to have the ball and be dominant,' Davies says. 'I wasn't a specialist in relegation battles and thought the job here suited me more than one down at the bottom of the Championship.' He learned so much from Rodgers, stretching back to captaining his youth team at Reading, and describes his season with Postecoglou as 'finishing school'. 'Brendan's core is being able to set up a team to have possession of the ball and how Ange would want the team to train, let alone play, was just relentless. And it all connected with my own idea of how I want football to look like,' Davies says. 'What I want to see in players is an energetic team, but a brave team. A team that can get on the ball and play.' Davies' first competitive game was a 1-1 draw with Reading. In the comments section under the BBC match report, a fan wrote: 'If Birmingham think playing tippy tappy and possession-based football gets you promoted out of this league they will soon find out it doesn't.' However, Birmingham won the title by 19 points with an average 67.1 per cent possession, the highest in England's top-four leagues, while pressing the ball quicker than any team as well. 'As I said to the players, I've never seen myself as talented, I've seen myself as having a work ethic others won't always match,' Davies says. 'This club is working class to the core and our fan base want that reflected on the pitch. 'Tom [Brady] asked Sir Alex [Ferguson] about Birmingham and [Ferguson] spoke about how hostile St Andrew's is. There's an edginess to it. So I've been cautious that the football's not too pretty. The pressing gives you that.' I've known Davies since his days at Swansea, where initially he was Rodgers' opposition analyst, and he always stood out: a young British coach with a sharp and serious mind about the game, and gift for conveying concepts with clarity and passion. He traces his drive to being released by his hometown club, Watford, at 11, then after rebuilding at Reading having his playing career curtailed by a foot injury. 'The setbacks gave me a hunger and resilience I wouldn't have had,' he reflects. His 20s was a decade of pouring enormous energy into carving a coaching path. He took a BSc in sports and exercise science at Loughborough (graduating with first-class honours), coached at Leicester's academy then schlepped to New Zealand to coach at two academies there. His first talks with Wagner and Brady were video calls while in the Maldives with his wife and three children. 'I remember the calls. Six o'clock every day, the perfect time to go out for dinner with the kids. I've promised we'll go back there one day and actually enjoy the Maldives. It was our dream holiday and I spent it on Zoom, basically.' He and Brady have forged a connection. They converse two or three times a week, sometimes by video call, more usually on WhatsApp. 'Tom sent me a message today. We often talk back and forth about how the team's doing, training's going and one of his big things is process over outcome. He built his identity of success on what he did day to day,' Davies says. 'I've found there's a lot more layers to just that superficial Tom Brady [image] and as a person he's really switched on — and not just win, win, win all the time. He understands the challenges. He's been helpful to me in terms of high-performance culture and probably reminded me of Steven Gerrard. 'I've worked with some top, top players and Steven is a real reference point for me as an elite player, England captain, Liverpool captain. These people, they have this relentless drive. 'Harry Kane is another. These types are never satisfied. But typically they're really good people — they just have this aura.' Brady has organised Zoom calls for Davies with NFL coaches and regales him with stories about Bill Belichick, the legendary former New England Patriots head coach. 'How he pushed his players is sometimes very funny and not conventional,' Davies says. 'He would question them so they reacted. You've got to be careful with that, but as a psychologist and in terms of coaching strategy, from the stories Tom tells, he was incredible. He was very, very demanding — and that's what I've tried to be.' Knighthead, Wagner's ownership group, has already invested £35million in improving Birmingham's stadium, training ground and academy, and £100million in helping regenerate East Birmingham. Wagner's vision is to create a Sports Quarter with 62,000-capacity Birmingham City Stadium at its heart, at a projected cost of £3billion. Knighthead's original plan was for Premier League football by 2026 and it is thought the target is immediate promotion this season. Internal data and analytics suggest a top-two finish is possible. Davies' brow furrows momentarily, but he takes mention of this in his stride. 'I think everything is with a pinch of salt in the sense that we believe our squad is stronger than last year, but we need a few more pieces to be a real contender,' he says. Summer signings include Demarai Gray, whom he coached at Leicester and is returning to his first club from the Saudi Pro League. 'When Demarai is fired up he's as good as almost anyone and he needed something like this to really motivate him,' Davies says. Birmingham have also brought in James Beadle, the 6ft 7in, highly rated England Under-21 goalkeeper, and paid Rennes about £10million for the Japan striker and modern Celtic legend, Kyogo Furuhashi. Their opener is at home to Ipswich Town on Friday night and tickets were sold out a month ago. 'Looking at their squad, I would class Ipswich as favourites [for promotion], with Leicester potentially there. So to test ourselves against them is going to be a great start for us,' Davies says. 'St Andrew's will be louder than I've ever heard it. Next Friday under the lights is going to be one of those games to remember.' The quality he loved most in Postecoglou was his authenticity — 'Ange doesn't change for anyone,' Davies says, smiling — but while rising to be one of the hottest prospects in British coaching, Davies is no different to the helpful, young analyst I met when trying to tell the story of Swansea's rise 14 years ago. His children have been enjoying watching their cameos in the Amazon documentary, but what does he think of it? 'Well, the first thing I said when I watched it was, 'God, why do I swear so much?' I warned my parents. My dad comes to every game and my mum said, 'It's all right, don't worry'. She's heard it all before. 'I guess it's passion, and sometimes you don't realise you're doing it.' Birmingham City v Ipswich Town
BBC News
9 minutes ago
- BBC News
Hughes and Hunt win British 100m titles
UK Athletics ChampionshipsVenue: Alexander Stadium, Birmingham Dates: 2-3 AugustCoverage: BBC iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website & app. View coverage details Zharnel Hughes and Amy Hunt claimed the 100m titles at the UK Athletics Championships as pole vaulter Molly Caudery also starred on day one in bronze medallist Hughes clocked a wind-assisted 9.94 seconds to cross the line ahead of Jeremiah Azu (9.97) and Louie Hinchliffe (10.01) and secure his place on the Great Britain team at September's World Championships in star Hunt, 23, also secured qualification by dominating the women's final in a personal best 11.02 after defending champion Daryll Neita was disqualified for a false must achieve a top-two finish in their events and have met the World Athletics entry standard to be assured of a place in the squad, which will be announced on 27 runner Hannah Nuttall and discus thrower Lawrence Okoye were among those to also triumph on Saturday and earn are 26 gold medals to be won on the final day of action at Alexander Stadium. Olympic 1500m medallist Georgia Hunter-Bell and Max Burgin qualified fastest for Sunday's 800m finals, while 400m favourites Amber Anning and Charlie Dobson also secured comfortable victories before their finals. A relaxed and confident Hughes turned his head and stared down his closest rivals as he cruised over the line in the final event of the 30-year-old came into the championships as the fastest Briton this year after his 9.91 run in Eugene in July, holding off world indoor 60m champion Azu and the fast-finishing who won last year's title to secure a fairytale rise from obscurity to Olympic qualification, and Azu have not achieved the sub-10 standard needed for the a dramatic start to the women's final, Neita, who had run a season's best 11.00 in a strong semi-final showing, was denied the chance to compete after making a slight movement in her starting her absence, former training partner Hunt finished well clear of Desiree Henry (11.32) and Faith Akinbileje (11.34).Hunt and Neita are doubling up in 200m, where they will have competition from former world champion Dina Asher-Smith. Caudery won the pole vault with a first-time clearance of 4.45m, before pushing herself to equal her best performance of the year by going over at 25-year-old won world indoor gold in a breakout 2024 season, during which she broke the British record with a 4.92m jump, but failed to qualify for the Olympic final."I've just been finding my flow again and figuring a few things out, so I didn't push it today, but it is really exciting to jump back over the 80s again and I'm hoping to attempt [the British record] soon," Caudery sealed her place on the team by winning the women's 5,000m in 15 minutes 46.90 seconds, having achieved the qualifying time before the 19-year-old Innes FitzGerald, who achieved the qualifying standard in breaking the European Under-20 record in London last month, must wait to see if she is selected after finishing third behind India confirmed his place in Tokyo by winning the men's discus with a 65.93m throw, while Anna Purchase threw a championship record 72.96m to win the women's hammer title - a distance within UK Athletics' (UKA) consideration standard. Elise Thorner, who also has the UKA standard and will go to Tokyo if she qualifies by world ranking - ran a championship record 9:22.05 to win the women's 3,000m Barrett clocked 13.06 to win a chaotic women's 100m hurdles final in which several athletes Duruaku and Charlie Husbands agreed to share the men's high jump title after both cleared 2.14m, while Alessandro Schenini won the men's long jump with 7.85m in the first Lincoln, who has the UKA standard, won an 11th consecutive men's shot put title with 20.77m, and Adelaide Omitowoju claimed women's triple jump gold with a personal-best Alisson won the men's javelin title with a personal best of 78.48m, as did two-time Paralympic champion Daniel Pembroke with 63.62m to take the para men's title, while Daniel Greaves won the para men's discus with Young won the men's 100m ambulant final in 11.19, and the women's 800m wheelchair event was won by Kare Adenegan in 2:12.87.
Daily Mail
9 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
DROP THE EGO! Rangers boss Martin hits out at his players' mentality after dropping points on the first day of the Premiership season
Russell Martin last night let rip at the Self-Preservation Society dragging down the Rangers dressing-room and vowed to weed out the egos and hiders that were lucky to escape from Fir Park with a 1-1 draw. The Ibrox head coach saw yesterday begin with a £3million fee being agreed with Dutch club Go Ahead Eagles for Finnish winger Oliver Antman. However, it quickly turned into a nightmare with a terrible display at Motherwell seeing home forward Emmanuel Longelo cancel out a James Tavernier opener with three minutes to play – and Rangers keeper Jack Butland then having to save a point in time added-on when denying Tom Sparrow. Rangers have now failed to win their opening-day league fixture for three straight seasons and Martin read the riot act afterwards with a scathing critique of his side and their mental fragility. 'The problem should be tactical. It shouldn't be mentality,' said Martin. 'We have too many guys that slip into self-preservation mode and I think it's been a fact of this club for the last few years, for sure. 'When it's going well, you're all-in, you want to run, you want the ball. It's nice, but, when it's not going well, you don't want to run so much, you pick and choose when you want to run. 'You pick and choose when you want to compete and mark your player from a throw-in or a corner. You pick and choose when to run back, and it's unacceptable for this sort of club. 'For us as a coaching staff, this is not acceptable. We're six weeks in. There will be issues, but the issue today is purely mentality. Too much ego, too much self-preservation, and you're either all in all the time or you're not. 'If you're not, you just won't play very much. I'm very disappointed and a bit hurt and a bit angry at a lot of stuff I saw. 'The problems haven't been tactical yet, really. They've been mentality, about energy, about courage, intensity, aggression, to play. We haven't started games well enough in the first half in the two European games. 'We then showed a bit more willingness to trust the detail in each other and work. Then, today, we go ahead and we're playing some OK stuff. Every time we get in the final third, we turn the ball over and make crazy decisions. 'They're either selfish decisions or they're based on anxiety, so we need to get to the bottom of that - because there was far too much stuff that we haven't worked on or haven't seen. 'I take full responsibility for it, but that hurts me more than anything.' Martin admitted he has not been entirely surprised by the mentality problems which surfaced with a vengeance in Motherwell. 'When I knew I was in for the job, I watched a lot of games where players could do what they want and that's not on the manager,' he said. 'I thought Barry Ferguson did a great job, I could see what Philippe Clement was trying to do. But players sometimes? Yeah, same problems really, want to run, sometimes don't. 'You need better mentality than that to play for this football club and to actually win things. 'We'll work out the guys who are all-in all the time. Lyall Cameron came on, was fantastic. John (Souttar), Nasser (Djiga), Jack (Butland) did great. 'We have to solve it as a group. We've been really demanding with them on certain rules. Not many, just, I think, really basic ones that should be demanded at this football club. 'A little bit of resistance to that from some, not a lot, because they know and understand why and it's best for them.' Martin was aware of an angry reaction from the visiting support at time-up and had no problem with that at all. 'I 100-per-cent understand,' he said. 'I was as angry as they were. So I completely understand the supporters' reaction. We have a point that we didn't deserve. 'We let them down. The mentality of the team, I spoke about it so much since we came in, and it was a big problem.' Antman is expected to complete his transfer in the coming days and Martin is clear he needs more to turn this team around as he prepares for Tuesday's Champions League third qualifying round first leg with Viktoria Plzen at Ibrox. 'We need some better players to help us, for sure,' he said. 'We need some players that we feel will do what we're asking them to do all the time. 'The ones who are here are good enough to do it. They just need to make a choice if they want to do it. 'There's different groups of people at every club. Some are looking and going: 'That's too much for me. It's too much. Demand's too much. Training's too much'. 'They just want to float through a little bit, so they get left behind. That's fine. Then you have the guys in the middle who can go either way but they'll always be attracted to what is the majority. 'I feel we have the majority who want to play in this way and understand it will make them successful. The ones maybe in the middle need to go that way or they'll just be left behind. Asked if bad mentalities can be overcome, Martin replied: 'Yes, because it's a reflection of me ultimately. Whenever I leave this football club in a few years, hopefully in a long time, the problem won't be the mentality of the team.'
