Sports Poets Society

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6jSdt2G0PX9xABmDVumFnn Anno nuovo, e vita nuovissima, per Hamilton e Márquez: neo-signori in rosso. E primo giorno - di fatto - della loro prossima avventura (umana prima ancora che) professionale: sull'agognata Ferrari per Lewis, che - parole sue - l'ha sempre sognata e tifata; e che eredita da Carlos Sainz. E da ducatista "ufficiale" - dopo il 2024 al Team Gresini - per Marc, come compagno di "Pecco" Bagnaia, fino al 2026, al posto di Enea Bastianini (passato alla Red Bull KTM). Sulle rispettive "rosse" nazionali, ci salgono da fuoriclasse risolti, ma ancora carichi di motivazioni perché fatti della materia dei sogni: Hamilton con l'ottavo titolo per superare Schumi, Marquez col nono per raggiungere ValeRossi. Il britannico - e 40enne il 7 gennaio - dopo sei stagioni in McLaren e una dozzina in Mercedes. Lo spagnolo, 32 anni il 17 febbraio (compleanno condiviso con un certo Michael Jordan, altro cuore ducatis...

À l’orée de 2025, où le cyclisme est à l’entrée d’un « grand virage », le manager de Groupama-FDJ exprime ses appréhensions face à un nouveau modèle qui pourrait menacer l’état général de son sport. “Je ne voudrais pas que ce qui était du dopage autrefois s’appelle aujourd’hui de l’ hyper- professionnalisation" “Le vélo a quand même cette particularité que de temps en temps il a des grosses merdes et ça ralentit" 31 Dec 2024 - L'Équipe ALEXANDRE ROOS Marc Madiot profit ait lundi d’ un dernier jour de repos dans son fief de Mayenne avant de reprendre le boulot en région parisienne. Dans la matinée, nous l’avions appelé pour savoir ce qu’ il ressent ait après la retraite de Patrick Lefévère, représentant comme lui de la génération des managers « à l’ancienne », mais rapidement la conversation a débordé sur l’état général du cyclisme. Alors qu’il se promenait dans la campagne, le manager de Groupama-FDJ s’inquiétait de la nouvelle réalité économique des on sport. Avant d’ at...

Rooney leaves rock-bottom Plymouth after seven months 1 Jan 2025 - The Guardian Ed Aarons Wayne Rooney’s time at Plymouth has come to an end after only seven months, with the Championship club announcing they have “mutually agreed to part ways with immediate effect” with the former Manchester United and England forward. Rooney was appointed by Plymouth in May on a three-year contract but has departed after ending the year with his side bottom and four points from the last safe spot at the halfway stage of the season after a winless run of nine games that included six defeats. That run culminated in two successive away defeats at Coventry and Oxford over Christmas and Plymouth’s board decided to act before the visit of Bristol City on New Year’s Day. Kevin Nancekivell, the first-team coach, and the club captain, Joe Edwards, will now take temporary charge. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank the board of Plymouth, in particular Simon Hallett and Neil Dewsnip who I shared gre...

1 Jan 2025 - The Guardian Rob Draper Volker Kersting, Mainz academy director, sighed. Thomas Tuchel , as of today England’s new manager, had that look in his eyes. “He just said, ‘Volker’ and I knew what was coming,” Kersting said in Rulebreaker, the Tuchel biography by Daniel Meuren and Tobias Schächter. “I’d been dreading it. He really wanted to go up the mountain and dig up that pin.” “The pin” was a grubby, small Mainz badge which during a summer pre-season training trip in Austria for Tuchel’s then Mainz under-19s team had assumed almost sanctified status. Alongside four-hour training sessions – something of a shock for teenagers – Tuchel also displayed the gift for team bonding that he will require for the England job. One day in Austria, Tuchel insisted the whole squad hire mountain bikes and ride to the summit of the Simmering mountain, where they had lunch and admired the beautiful views before the head coach demonstrated his rhetorical powers, using the moment to tell the tea...

The Arsenal forward has been called ‘a bit of a moaner’ by his manager but he has a vital role to play this season 1 Jan 2025 - The Guardian David Hytner Mikel Arteta has warned Liverpool that his Arsenal team are ready to hammer away at the points gap over the second half of the season if they wobble at the top of the Premier League table. Liverpool have surged to the summit on the back of 14 wins from 18 games, with three draws, and they have a commanding nine-point advantage over Arsenal, who are broadly considered to be their likeliest challengers, with both sides having a game in hand on secondplaced Nottingham Forest. Arteta, who takes his team to Brentford today, has urged his players to turn the focus inwards and adopt a remorseless attitude. Arsenal drew 2-2 at home against Liverpool in October. The return at Anfield is scheduled for 10 May, the sides’ thirdlast match of the season. “It doesn’t depend on us,” Arteta said. “But we have to continue to be like a hammer, be there ...

United’s players celebrate the FA Cup semifinal shootout going their way …  … but despite victory in May’s final, Erik ten Hag was sacked in October  September’s 3-0 loss to Spurs was in a run of eight games that saw only one win Bruno Fernandes trudges off after his dismissal in defeat against Tottenham 1 Jan 2025 - The Guardian May’s FA Cup triumph did not save Erik ten Hag and by the end of December, as John Brewin writes, his successor was talking about relegation Ratcliffe cuts 250 jobs at United, causing shock and tears and saving about £10m a year January 8 Jan, Wigan (a), FA Cup, 2-0 win; 14 Jan, Tottenham (h) 2-2 draw; 28 Jan, Newport County (a), FA Cup, 4-2 win A slow start to the new year, though the bright and shiny new ownership regime of Sir Jim Ratcliffe is quick to make waves, the man himself gatecrashing the press room before the Tottenham game to say: “I have done a few exciting things, but this caps it all.” Ratcliffe the thrill-seeker may have felt a few jo...