timessport (2024)

10/06/2024

As the 20-year-old Real Madrid forward prepares to spearhead England’s challenge for the Euros, those who saw him at an early age reveal the development of an extraordinary young player

🔗 Read the full story through the link in our bio

08/06/2024

Causing havoc by packing his side with players who attack, attack, attack could be best option for the usually restrained Gareth Southgate, according to Martin Samuel.

🔗 Read the full piece via the link in our bio.

08/06/2024

Harry Kane has scored 49 goals for club and country this season. There may never have been another footballer who has accomplished so much without winning a trophy, and the stage may never be better set for him to lift his first.

🔗 Read the full piece via the link in our bio.

04/06/2024

🔺️ EXCLUSIVE: Manchester City have launched an unprecedented legal action against the Premier League in a move that has sparked civil war in English football’s top flight.

The dispute, which has become a battle between the most powerful clubs in the country, will be settled after a two-week private arbitration hearing starting on Monday.

The outcome could dramatically alter the landscape of the professional game and have a significant impact on a separate hearing set for November into City’s 115 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s regulations and financial rules.

That hearing, expected to last six weeks, could lead to massive fines for the club owners and possibly even relegation for Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side. At next week’s hearing, which has provoked bitter divisions between clubs, City will attempt to end the league’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules, which they claim are unlawful, and seek damages from the Premier League.

🔗 Read the full story using the link in our bio

28/05/2024

Ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final, Real Madrid’s unflappable Italian manager talks to Martin Samuel about lessons from Zinedine Zidane, his humble roots and how he survives in modern football without a clear style

🔗 Read the full interview through the link in our bio

25/05/2024

✍️ "When the final whistle arrived at Wembley Stadium, confirming Manchester United's victory over their rivals City in the FA Cup final, Lisandro Martínez lifted Erik ten Hag off his feet and they roared in righteous celebration.

"Ten Hag’s previous 24 hours had been a storm of speculation about his future, and the whole game was played to the backdrop of stories that — whatever the outcome — United are going to sack him.

"His response was this. Defiance. A trophy. And a performance from players playing their hearts out for him, and executing a brilliant tactical plan."

🔗 Read Jonathan Northcroft's report using the link in our bio
📸 Times photographers Marc Aspland and Bradley Ormesher

17/05/2024

✍️ “Declan Rice has revealed the secret behind his brilliant performances for Arsenal this season: eating up to eight pancakes before matches.

“Rice has been nominated for the Premier League’s player of the season award after a superb first campaign, in which the 25-year-old has been instrumental to Arsenal’s impressive title challenge.

“Asked for the secret behind his energetic performances, Rice told Men’s Health UK: “I have four pancakes before a game. Covered in syrup or honey. I swear to God, it’s the best thing . . . When I joined the club, I could see the [Arsenal] players eating them and thought to myself, ‘What is going on here?’ But honestly, it’s been a game-changer.”

🔗 Read the story via the link in our bio

17/05/2024

✍️ “My cricketing career before this week consisted of a handful of Sunday friendlies for my local club and a couple of trial matches for MCC 20 years ago. These days, you are far more likely to find me on the boundary with a scorebook and a pencil case than in the middle.

“So, it was with a great deal of trepidation I agreed to have a bowl on the Nursery Ground at Lord’s in front of a handful of media colleagues, the Sky Sports cameras, a professional umpire and — most intimidatingly of all — the ECB’s data and insights team.”

Elizabeth Ammon comes in off her long run at Lord’s where she found herself under the forensic gaze of iHawk, the game’s newest technological innovation.

🔗 Read her piece using the link in our bio

12/05/2024

✍️ “William Scotton did not set pulses racing at the Oval on August 12, 1886. The Nottinghamshire opener went 67 minutes without scoring and was out for 34 in almost four hours, lollygagging behind WG Grace, his partner. It inspired Punch magazine to parody Tennyson’s Break, Break, Break: “And the clock’s slow hands go on / And you still keep up your sticks / But oh! for the lift of a smiting hand / And the sound of a swipe for six! / Block, block, block / At the foot of thy wicket, ah, do! / But one hour of Grace or Walter Read / Were worth a week of you.”

“Opening in the IPL is full of smiting hands. On Wednesday, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head swiped 14 sixes in 42 minutes. It was near perfection: two openers scoring quickly and unable to get out; no debates about whether they were reckless in their dismissals, nor whether they left runs out there through excess caution. Teeing off (not recklessly) was made manifest.”

🔗 Read more using the link in our bio

07/05/2024

✍️ “As unhappy an ending as it is for David Moyes, he will look back on his time at West Ham United as one of the best periods in his managerial career and in the club’s history.

“His second spell in charge, lasting 4½ years, will finish when his contract expires at the end of the season and he will take his place in the home dugout for the final time against Luton Town on Saturday, a chance for supporters to show their gratitude.

“It will not be the farewell that Moyes would have imagined when he beat Manchester United and Arsenal in consecutive league matches in December and cruised through to the Europa League knockout stage.”

🔗 Read the full link via the piece in our bio

03/05/2024

✍️ “By Wednesday afternoon, my search for Arne Slot has taken me right to the source. This is Bergentheim, a tiny, tidy Dutch village on a canal just five miles from the German border. In the village library, I tell the librarian my mission and she soon has me back at her home where her husband and neighbour are unloading their Arne anecdotes.

“Arne, the young prodigy. Arne, the boy genius. You don’t have to go far to hear the stories because if you come from Bergentheim, you tend not to leave. His parents still live here. His father, Arend, was the headmaster of the village school. Bert, the chairman of VV Bergentheim, the football club, lived two streets from the Slots and, back in the day, played in the same team as Arend (“Great player. Fast, faster than Arne.”)”

🔗 Our Chief Sports Writer goes back to the land of his ancestors to uncover the places and teams that forged Liverpool’s incoming head coach. Read more via the link in our bio

30/04/2024

✍️ “Arsenal may not win the Premier League this season but they appear to have an unassailable lead in one area: superiority from set pieces.

“Two goals from corners in Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur took their total this season to 16 from corners, as many as have ever been scored by a team in one Premier League season. Their total from all set pieces, excluding penalties, is 22; the league’s next most effective team, Everton, are four behind.

“Who deserves the credit for Arsenal’s pre-eminence at dead-ball situations? Ben White’s role is to be chief disruptor, causer of confusion and a general sly winder-upper of opponents.”

🔗 Read the full article using the link in our bio

26/04/2024

✍️ “Arsenal are in contention to become Premier League champions for the first time since 2003-04, a season when they clinched the title with a 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. Mikel Arteta’s team can take another stride towards securing the Premier League crown with victory on Sunday away to their greatest rivals — who are pursuing a Champions League spot — and the recent history of the fixture suggests there would be plenty of excitement even without these extra factors.

“Over the past 25 seasons the north London derby has produced an average of 3.2 goals per Premier League match, almost exactly half a goal per game more than overall in the top flight in that time. There has been only one 0-0 in the teams’ past 59 meetings in all competitions.”

🔗 Read Bill Edgar’s Deep Dive into the north London derby via the link in our bio

25/04/2024

✍️ “Declan Rice has something different, something difficult to measure. Something intangible. It can have a significance that extends beyond the individual.

“You see, when a player such as Rice enters a dressing-room, he exerts a cultural influence too. Perhaps the classic evidence of this was provided by the rowing coach Wolfgang Köhler. He paired weaker, less-motivated rowers with more capable partners and found that the former improved at a remarkable rate.

“Why? They were absorbing the motivational intensity of the top performers.”

🔗 Read Matthew Syed’s full column using the link in our bio

10/04/2024

The 31-year-old gymnast will bid to claim a fourth gold medal in Paris this summer after being inspired to continue by his five-year-old daughter

🔗 Read the full interview through the link in our bio

19/03/2024

🏉 The Turnover: Kicking more, fierce at the breakdown – how Italy stepped up

The Italians enjoyed their most successful Six Nations, with two wins and a draw. They achieved the feat by kicking to create rucks, passing from deep less frequently and letting Tommaso Menoncello wreak havoc

🔗 Read the full story through the link in our bio

16/02/2024

Zak Carrick-Smith won three skiing medals for Team GB at the recent Youth Olympic Winter Games in South Korea - two golds and one silver.

The 17-year-old, his twin (and closest competitor) Freddy and older brother Luca, now look well-positioned to feature in the 2026 Winter Olympics – thanks to coaching from their mum, a former Olympian herself, and dad.

🔗 Read our interview with the family using the link in our bio

13/02/2024

When referees thrust out an arm to signal penalty advantage, do they somehow suck all sophistication out of the attack? It’s tough to come up with a more rational explanation for teams wasting advantage ball.

It should be the perfect attacking situation. Penalty advantage means a free play — a chance to run any move while knowing that possession will be retained if it does not come off.

However, sides should not run whatever they please just because they can. The logical approach is to set up a nuanced play that, while involving inflated risk and potential reward, can realistically lead to a try. Instead, teams too often lose all structure and composure, as though they have to score from the first phase after the advantage is called.

Round two of the Six Nations showed that this tendency can decide matches, and also revealed what is possible when players keep their heads.

🔗 Read the latest edition of The Turnover through the link in our bio

13/02/2024

The Premier League said last week it had judged that video assistant referees (VAR) have made 20 errors so far this season.

The Premier League said it was not prepared to reveal the full list of 20 decisions considered erroneous by the panel, saying it wanted to protect the confidentiality of the process between the panel and Premier League clubs.

However, The Times has managed, with the help of football insiders, to compile a list of the 20 decisions believed to make up the Premier League’s list.

🔗 Read the full piece through the link in our bio

13/02/2024

What on earth do you do to prepare for the arrival at the crease of Jasprit Bumrah, the genius India fast bowler whose first-innings six wickets, and three more in the second dig, destroyed England in the second Test in Visakhapatnam?

Think of batting against a bowling machine. There is no rhythm of the bowler running in, no chance of picking up the usual cues. That is what it must be like facing Bumrah.

How do England fix their Bumrah problem? The first thing to say is that Zak Crawley has looked considerably more comfortable against him than any other England batsman, and that is probably because he does not use a trigger movement any more.

🔗 Read Steven James’ considerations through the link in our bio

08/02/2024

Super Bowl week is in full flow and, as usual, madness abounds.

For those who missed it, the week began with the NFL commissioner denying claims that the entire season was rigged as part of a plot for Swift to tip the US presidential election in Joe Biden’s favour.

Kelce, who is looking to win his third Super Bowl this Sunday and is consistently one of the best players in the NFL, has been quizzed all week on his relationship with Swift.

🔗 Read the full story through the link in our bio

06/02/2024

🏉 The Turnover 🏉

✍️ In the first piece of our new series, dissects how Ireland and England forwards pressurised Maxime Lucu and Alessandro Garbisi and why Scotland nailed their kick-chase defence in round one of the Six Nations.

🔗 Read via the link in our bio.

31/01/2024

George Ford looks to have beaten Fin Smith to England’s No 10 shirt for the Six Nations opener against Italy in Rome on Saturday, where former Maori All Blacks flanker Ethan Roots is set to make his debut.

The Times understands that Ford, 30, has been preferred to start over Smith, who will win his first cap if he appears from the substitutes bench, and will partner Danny Care, 37.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, the 21-year-old Cardiff-born wing who has opted to play for England instead of Wales, is likely to make Borthwick’s bench in the No 23 shirt.

🔗 Read more using the link in our bio

31/01/2024

The exchange of ideas between the Liverpool and Manchester City managers - stretching back to their days in charge of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively - is set to come to an end at the conclusion of this Premier League season after Jürgen Klopp announced that he will leave Anfield in the summer.

Both have contributed so much to the status quo of strategy, but emerging styles such as anti-positional play and baiting a press may take over and redefine football tactics.

🔗 Read more from The Trend using the link in our bio

30/01/2024

In his first column for The Times, Courtney Lawes explains why the light touch of new England captain Jamie George is a better fit than the abrasive Owen Farrell to coax the best out of a young team

🔗 Read the full column through the link in our bio

26/01/2024

🔺 BREAKING: Jürgen Klopp has delivered the bombshell news that he is to leave Liverpool at the end of the season.

The 56-year-old says he is to take a break from management, stepping away from the dugout after nine years in charge at Anfield

13/01/2024

Mazhar Majeed went to jail for his part in the Pakistan spot-fixing scandal. He has since managed to establish himself in a new sport and now acts as an adviser to fighters with direct links to Boxxer, the promoter which in 2021 signed a four-year, £32 million deal with Sky.

Sky declined to comment when asked if it had any concerns about Boxxer’s links to Majeed. Majeed told The Sunday Times he has “no formal business relationship with Boxxer”.

🔗 Click the link in our bio to read the special investigation

05/01/2024

When England’s players reviewed their World Cup after finishing third in France last year, they kept repeating one word: foundation. After hearing that, Steve Borthwick believes his squad are ready to build on their bronze medal.

Having inherited a team that he said “weren’t good at anything” last February, Borthwick, the head coach, agrees with his players that the foundations of long-term England success have been relaid in the past 12 months.

So what does Borthwick need to fix in 2024 and beyond?

🔗 Click the link in our bio to read the full piece

21/11/2023

The Football Association has said it is prepared to review evidence of potentially serious breaches of agent rules in a transfer involving Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth and Jermain Defoe.

An investigation by The Times has learnt that during a private hearing concerning the transfer of Defoe from White Hart Lane to Fratton Park in January 2008, it emerged that the England striker, the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, and Harry Redknapp, then the Portsmouth manager, all dealt with an unlicensed agent during the negotiations.

Agents can act for a player or either the buying or selling club in a transfer but must hold a licence and a formal representation contract has to be in place. The contract is an agreement between an agent and a player or an agent and a club, and must contain “the entire agreement between the parties in relation to the agency activity” including details of the commission due.

FA regulations at the time stipulated that both “players and clubs are forbidden from using the services of an unlicensed players’ agent’. The rules, which remain in place today, also said that “a players’ agent shall be permitted to represent a player or a club only by concluding the relevant written representation contract with that player or club”

🔗 Click the link in bio for the full story

21/10/2023

The Manchester United and England legend Sir Bobby Charlton has died at the age of 85.

The 1966 World Cup winner passed away this morning, his family confirmed in a statement.

The former attacking midfielder is widely regarded as one of the greatest players to play the game having won three First Division titles at United, the European Cup, the World Cup with England in 1966 and a raft of personal accolades, including the Ballon d’Or.

🔗 Click the link in bio to read the full story

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