Sports Poets Society

This season has shown that enlightened management and smart recruitment can transform a team’s fortunes There should be hope for all sides coming up that they can do more than battle for survival 26 May 2026 - The Guardian Jonathan Wilson The final day of the season, to a modern audience, can seem almost overwhelming: 10 games going on at once, each with their own rhythm and dynamic and storyline. It can be hard to imagine that at one time, before the advent of regular live television coverage, this is how it was every weekend. But from the mass of narratives, one key theme, one that has lurked in the background all season, emerged: that this is a brutally hard, extremely competitive, league in which any slip-up is punished. There have been complaints this season about the style of many games, but then there comes a point towards the end of most seasons when a number of fans pronounce themselves bored and declare it a bad season; that tends to correlate quite strongly with how well the...

IAN HORROCKS/SUNDERLAND/GETTY Le Bris arrived in 2024 to little fanfare,  but has transformed Sunderland Unheralded head coach won promotion last season and then secured seventh place in the Premier League ‘This club is a special place in English football  and our journey is really special’ 26 May 2026 The Guardian Louise Taylor One of Régis Le Bris ’s first acts as Sunderland head coach was to preside over a pre-season training camp near Alicante. It was July 2024 and, according to those present, the Breton sometimes cut a slightly isolated figure. “I arrived alone, without any collaborators,” Le Bris said, reflecting on his leap of faith that involved exchanging the familiarity of Lorient for a job that, initially, meant working with Sunderland’s existing backroom team rather than bringing handpicked assistants. The coach who ended last season with a Championship playoff final victory and, a year later to the day, led Sunderland into the Europa League was playing a longer ga...

The club’s largest shareholder has overseen bizarre player recruitment, poor managerial hires and has failed to heed warnings which has led to calamity Under the technical director Tim Steidten, West Ham wasted the £105m fee for Declan Rice 26 May 2026 - The Guardian Jacob Steinberg West Ham jumped on the relegation train in 2022. Bereft of vision at the top of the club, they failed to realise where they were heading. One internal figure was worried but his voice did not carry enough weight. There were three consecutive years of European football and there was no impending sense of doom when West Ham beat Fiorentina in the Conference League final in June 2023. Yet that glorious night in Prague is a distant memory. The Championship now awaits and, much like when West Ham went down in 2003, this is a failure that could have been avoided with better planning. West Ham have finally received the punishment they deserve, 10 years after promising that leaving Upton Park for the London Stadium...

A due anni dalla sua elezione, il presidente Milei ha creato un sistema di potere e corruzione come quello che prometteva di spazzare via. Senza conseguenze giudiziarie, per ora NICOLÁS RAPETTI Il Manifesto - Martedì 26 maggio 2026 Pagina 20 Quando Javier Milei arrivò alla Casa Rosada, nel dicembre del 2023 , lo fece promettendo una rifondazione morale dell'Argentina. Non si presentava soltanto come un economista ultraliberista disposto a smantellare lo Stato sociale , ma come il vendicatore di una società esasperata dalla crisi permanente e dal peso della corruzione. Il suo bersaglio era "la casta": politici, sindacalisti, imprenditori protetti, giornalisti e funzionari accusati di vivere alle spalle della popolazione. Il linguaggio antipolitico, aggressivo e moralizzatore fu decisivo per la sua vittoria. Milei riuscì a canalizzare una rabbia accumulata in anni di inflazione fuori controllo, sfiducia nelle istituzioni e distanza crescente dalla classe politica, che n...

Photos HÉLÈNE JAYET  Philippe Galzin dans sa ferme du Merlet, en Lozère, le 13 mai. Philippe Galzin , agriculteur de 72 ans, a assisté aux finales des treize derniers Mondiaux. Depuis l’Allemagne de l’Ouest en 1974 jusqu’aux Etats-Unis cet été, le passionné au demi-siècle d’anecdotes a été témoin de l’histoire et des évolutions de la compétition. Philippe Galzin a sa façon bien à lui de vivre la compétition:  un billet aller, un «camp de base»,  quelques nuits d’hôtel réservées,  puis la débrouille. 26 May 2026 Libération Par MARIE THIMONNIER Envoyée spéciale dans les Cévennes Tout le monde a un sujet qui l’entête. Certains se demandent ce qu’ils vont manger ce soir, la prochaine série qu’ils vont regarder, les prochaines vacances. Philippe Galzin, lui, n’a qu’une obsession : se dégoter une place pour la finale de la Coupe du monde de football, le 19 juillet à New York. L’agriculteur cévenol de 72 ans remue ciel et terre. Jusqu’à projeter d’écrire à Gianni Infantino ...

Jambos have shaken up Scottish football despite Celtic’s victory Hearts’ annual wage bill is only a little more than a quarter of Celtic’s. 17 May 2026 - Sunday Independent (Ireland) Rory Smith Observer Hearts believed, right until what passed for the end. They believed even after a combination of Daizen Maeda had broken their resistance and the intervention of a video assistant referee had shattered their dreams with just two minutes left of a second half that had lasted a week. They believed their story could not, would not end like this. That faith held right up until the moment when Callum Osmand found himself with the ball at his feet, 97 minutes on the clock and the great green expanse of Celtic Park at his mercy, his own private paradise. The stands began to melt as he ran towards Hearts’ unguarded goal, fans pouring onto the field in their thousands, the unbearable tension of the most meaningful game the Scottish Premiership has seen for a generation finally released. The eupho...

Fournier au panthéon Porté par son Français, MVP du Final Four, l’Olympiakos a mis fin à treize ans d’attente et remonte sur le toit de l’Europe en dominant le Real Madrid au bout d’un suspense insoutenable. 25 May 2026 - L'Équipe DE NOTRE ENVOYÉ SPÉCIAL YANN OHNONA ATHÈNES – Il s’est précipité vers la tribune Est de l’OAKA Arena, à la recherche, au milieu de la marée rouge, de ses deux garçons, Elias et Adel, et les a fait passer par-dessus la rambarde pour une étreinte prolongée, au milieu des cantiques des fans de l’Olympiakos. Ce n’était, pour Evan Fournier , que le premier de nombreux bains de foule à venir, trophée de l’Euroligue dans un bras, celui du MVP du Final Four dans l’autre, après la victoire des siens hier sur le Real Madrid (92-85). Après le buzzer, les larmes n’ont pas tardé à déferler sur les joues du Français de l’Olympiakos, qui à 33 ans gambadait tel un benjamin, les jambes et l’âme plus légères. Dix-sept ans après ses débuts en pro, celles-ci célébraient, pou...