Follow Sunday's FA Cup semi-final live
The second FA Cup semi-final of the weekend takes place on Sunday live from Wembley and BBC Sport will bring you every kick.Nottingham Forest v Manchester City (16:30)Listen to the match on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra hereFollow all of the action and reaction here
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The Sun
8 minutes ago
- The Sun
Man City SLASH ticket prices by up to 43% in massive win for fans after years or protesting and TEN YEARS of rises
MANCHESTER CITY have slashed matchday ticket prices following several fan protests. The Cityzens came under fire this season due to a rise in ticket costs. 1 Fans led demonstrations to protest the issue towards the end of the campaign, with thousands refusing to take to their seats at the start of some Premier League fixtures. Club officials subsequently took action, with chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak promising to find a solution. Lengthy negotiations were then held with City's fan advisory board before Mubarak and Co agreed to lower prices. From next season, fans will be charged between £40 and £60 for Category A games, which involve the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. There will be a further £5 reduction for Category B games and a £10 reduction for Category C fixtures. The cheapest tickets for Category A fixtures are down 43 per cent, with the most expensive down by 22 per cent. Man City are yet to release ticket prices for Champions League fixtures, although they are expected to come down as well. The news will come as a major boost for supporters, who have continued fighting to freeze ticket prices. City Matters, the club's fan advisory board, said in a statement on Friday: "We warmly welcome this announcement from the club, making matchday attendance more accessible and ensuring a vibrant atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium. "Through our dialogue with the club, the matchday pricing reductions, season ticket price freeze, release of new season tickets, and Flexi Gold season ticket fee adjustments highlight the value of fan voices through City Matters. "This announcement shows the club's commitment to City Matters and is a positive end to this season and our working relationship. "City Matters look forward to continued engagement and transparency with the club to achieve our shared ambition for Manchester City's success."
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Farmer, penalty hero, next England No1? The making of James Trafford
It was night-time in Kobuleti in 2023 and in the Georgian hotel where England's young footballers were still celebrating a first European Under-21 Championship success in four decades, James Trafford was back to being as calm and composed as he had been during the most dramatic of ends to a tournament imaginable. A competition that had promised to be a showcase for the further development of Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon had been owned by Trafford, the 6ft 6in farmer's son whose desire to not concede a goal had concluded with a stunning, 98th-minute penalty save. The 1-0 victory against Spain in the final sparked scenes of delirium, on the pitch and with his team-mates in the England dressing room afterwards, but back at the hotel where he could be regularly spotted supping his cups of tea, Trafford picked up his phone to call Joe Hart, one of his early mentors at Manchester City, to say thank you. 'It was back at the hotel, with the families, and he was phoning Joe [Hart], because it's someone he looks up to,' says the former Manchester City defender, Joleon Lescott, who was part of the coaching staff that led England to that win in Georgia. Humble, grounded and talented — that is Trafford, 22, who did not concede a single goal in six games in the Under-21 Euros. Clean sheets are now his calling card. This season, the Burnley goalkeeper kept a phenomenal 29 of them on the way to promotion. In a 46-game Championship campaign, only 16 goals went past him. Trafford's hands helped a ewe give birth to a baby lamb on a Cumbrian farm when he was 11. A further 11 years down the line, they are predicted to be the future of England. His story starts in Cockermouth, Cumbria, on a farm close to the Lake District. He still returns there every summer, and challenges his dad to push bales around the fields. Inspiration comes from memories of his parents going through periods of three hours' sleep during lambing. 'You draw on it the most during the tough times,' he said in an interview last summer with Farmers Weekly. 'You know, when it's nailing down outside and you really can't be bothered. You still have to work all day. That sort of upbringing, seeing my mum and dad graft as hard as they can, has always stuck with me.' Though Trafford wore goalkeeper gloves in the garden at family meals, to mess about in, he had a trial at Carlisle United as an outfield player. Twelve of the 18 youngsters got contracts. Trafford was not one of them. Yet his dad's decision to keep those gloves in the car paid off. 'They said, 'The goalie is ill, does anyone want to play in goal?' ' Trafford says. 'My dad used to put my gloves in the car, so I said, 'I'll go in net'. I loved it and they asked me, 'Will you stop tonight and do goalie training with the goalkeepers?' I said 'Yeah, go for it, why not?' 'I must have done all right. I've been in net ever since.' Four years later, aged 13, he signed for City. 'He's a man now but I met him in the academy at City when he was a boy,' Lescott says. 'He was in the academy and I was working on the loans. He was 15 and tall. His frame wasn't as it is now, obviously, but there was a huge belief around him.' At 18, Trafford went on his first loan, to Accrington Stanley, who were in League One at the time. 'It wasn't a bed of roses but that is the learning curve,' John Coleman, then the club's manager, says. 'I liked his physique and there was no nonsense about him. He didn't come from a Prem club with loads of airs and graces about him, as if he was doing us a favour. He wanted to play football. 'The players liked him. He used to take some of the lads to play golf in Manchester.' But the learning curve Coleman referenced was steep. In a run of three games Trafford conceded four against Wigan Athletic, three against Morecambe and five against Oxford United. 'You only learn through pain. Traff went through a little bit of a shaky period where he got a little hesitant going for crosses and he quickly got through that,' Coleman adds. He went back to City and by January was back on loan, at Bolton Wanderers. The difference in confidence was notable. 'To have that confidence at such a young age is brilliant,' says Matt Gilks, who was in the process of hanging up his gloves at Bolton and moving into coaching. 'Some start thinking, 'I hope I don't do this wrong'. He was the other way round.' In his first four games with Bolton, he kept four clean sheets. It was then that Gilks saw how hard Trafford was being pushed by City and Richard Wright and Xabier Mancisidor, their first team goalkeeping coaches. 'I sat in on the meeting with Richard after the first four games and he tore James' game apart,' Gilks says. 'That's their standards and why they're the best.' Trafford would keep another clean sheet in the EFL Trophy final at Wembley in a 4-0 win against Plymouth Argyle. He ended the season with 26 in total for Bolton — a club record. It was not just his hands catching the eye. There were 1,265 successful passes as well. 'Being at City helped a lot,' he says of his ability with his feet. 'We played out from the back from when I was 13.' Then came those Euros. 'What impressed? Just his aura, it's calm,' Lescott says. 'When he's called upon, he does what he's needed to do. In a game against Germany the ball came to him and he was outside the box and he took a touch and they were pressing him and he passed it so calmly that their players were like, 'We can't press him now, it's a waste of energy'. During the Euros, his transfer to Burnley for £15million was announced. Six days later, England were leading the under-21 final against Spain when Levi Colwill conceded a stoppage-time penalty. The prediction from Cole Palmer, on the England bench, that Trafford would save it has been well-watched, but it is the triple action of the goalkeeper that stands out; a great first save to his right from Abel Ruiz, up, then an excellent reflex save from the rebound, and then he is set once more when a third shot is blasted over the bar. 'When it was a penalty, I knew I was going to save it,' he said. Lescott admits Trafford was 'a bit giddy', but soon he was back to his usual calm self and the phone call to Hart. 'When we were away in camp he just wanted his cup of tea,' Lescottt says. 'He's an old young man and he's very good to be around.' Eleven days later, Trafford was announced as a Burnley player. Standing in the picture were his mum Alison, dad James, and sister Charlotte. 'They're why I'm a professional footballer,' he said. 'I moved away from home at 12 but still came home every week.' He celebrated his big move by helping wrap fleeces and clipping sheep on the farm. 'The first time I did lambing was aged 11. I had to put my hand up and pull. That was far too disgusting.' His first touch as a Premier League goalkeeper was to pick the ball out of the net after Erling Haaland had scored. It was a difficult first season. The Burnley manager, Vincent Kompany, maintained that his young goalkeeper would go on to play for England, yet with ten games to go, Trafford was taken out of the first team and did not play for the rest of the season. He would have moved to Newcastle United last summer, with terms agreed between the clubs, but for Newcastle's issues in complying with Premier League financial rules. They are back in talks with Burnley for him now. 'I wanted to move because the club which I was close to going with was a good fit,' he told Ben Foster, the former England goalkeeper, on his podcast Fozcast. 'I wanted to move. I was moody but I still worked extremely hard.' Scott Parker, the Burnley manager, said: 'There's no denying at the beginning of the season, the work we all had to do with Traff and where he was. I've seen someone mature. There's no denying that he's a world-class keeper.' Clean sheets became almost monotonous in their regularity. He went ten games and 910 minutes without conceding a goal. He saved two penalties in one game against Sunderland, while even his seven yellow cards, mostly for time-wasting, gave a growing sense that the next England goalkeeper is emerging. 'The one thing about good England goalkeepers is they tend to be durable,' Coleman says. 'Gordon Banks, Ray Clemence, Peter Shilton, David Seaman and [Jordan] Pickford. It's Traff now, and he looks like he's going to be Jordan Pickford's successor.'
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Club World Cup 2025: Bet £10, get £40 in free bets and bonuses with Parimatch
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