Sports Poets Society

Der 1. FC Heidenheim schafft sich mit dem 2:1-Sieg in Kopenhagen ein gute Ausgangslage für das Playoff-rückspiel und sorgt für gute Stimmung vor der wichtigen Aufgabe in der Bundesliga. "Da kommt er sehr gut raus, hat super mitgespielt und uns im Spiel gehalten."     - Fch-trainer Frank Schmidt lobt Frank Fellers Parade. "Ich weiß gar nicht, wie ich da nach vorne geraten bin.  Es war etwas Glück, dass der Ball direkt vor meinen Füßen landete."    - Tim Siersleben beschreibt den Siegtreffer zum 2:1. 15 Feb 2025 - Heidenheimer Neue Presse Von Dominik Florian Das Fangnetz zwischen Spielfeld und Heidenheimer Auswärtsblock wackelte, die Spieler mischten sich mit den mitgereisten Fans, und auch alle Auswechselspieler stürmten in die Jubeltraube. Da musste einfach etwas raus: Der 2:1-Siegtreffer war der emotionale Höhepunkt eines wechselhaften Playoff-hinspiels des FCH in der Conference League beim FC Kopenhagen. „Die erste Halbzeit war zäh, aber die Reaktion in d...

Supporters protest at culture of ‘profit before glory’ with manager Postecoglou bidding to relaunch Spurs’ season If you don’t pay the top wages, you don’t get superstar players. It speaks of lack of ambition 15 Feb 2025 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport David Hytner The worn-down, grim-faced Tottenham fans. The protest banners. The chants. It is a scene we are familiar with, the anti-daniel Levy movement, mobilised on the High Road outside the stadium he built, and we are about to see it again. The last time was before the Premier League game against Liverpool on 22 December and there were a couple of hundred there, along with the obligatory rubber-neckers, including the photographers who filed their pictures back to the news desks. It is amazing how the tight-angle shots come across. The tourists got out their cameraphones. Of course they did. The organisers gave away black balloons, with Levy Out written on them, and the idea was for people to release them in the 24th minute of the game. The b...

‘We must explore options, including reducing costs’    - Manchester United email to staff 15 Feb 2025 - Sport Jamie Jackson Manchester United will hold a meeting on 24 February with staff to discuss “media reports”, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s new round of up to 200 redundancies expected to be on the agenda. Yesterday evening, all employees received notice, via email, of the “team briefing”, which will take place at 2.30pm on Monday 24 February. On Tuesday it emerged that Ratcliffe is to cut as many as 200 employees, having previously made 250 redundancies in the summer and autumn. On Wednesday it was reported that Ratcliffe is undertaking these and other money-saving measures to avoid the club going bankrupt, after it lost £300m in the past three years . While United are yet to officially confirm the new redundancies, the email suggests this and other matters will be discussed at the meeting. It says: “We are aware of media reports this week speculating on a number of issues re...

In spreading oneself too thinly, slimming down further rarely offers a remedy. The sense is Ratcliffe has overreached 15 Feb 2025 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport Nick Ames Five and a half years ago, Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos swept into OGC Nice with a mission statement. “We have a plan in place and we will follow it,” read one of the billionaire’s quotes amid a press release that outlined how the Ligue 1 club would become a regular player on the European scene. “I am adamant we will not be the dumb money.” It is one of the earliest usages, in the context of sports investment at least, of a phrase dear to Ratcliffe. “Dumb money” is exactly what it says: injecting funds without genuine insight or expertise into the relevant industry. A few months later Ratcliffe deployed the same term speaking about Manchester United, who were at that point a twinkle in his eye, with specific reference to a £47m transfer fee spent on Fred by the previous regime. In fairness to Ratcliffe, Nice currently sit third in...

Accountancy rules allow the presentation of differing versions to investors and fans – and it’s a complicated story United pay only £55 in wages for every £100 of revenue, way below Uefa’s advised £70 Kieran Maguire 15 Feb 2025 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport When Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority investment in Manchester United was announced on 24 December 2023, many fans thought it an early Christmas present. Presented as a locally born lad and lifelong fan, he was a multibillionaire and was putting some of his hard-earned (but not hard-taxed) money into the club. Ratcliffe’s investment gave him control of the football operation and in the mind of many fans the post-Ferguson slump in major trophies was coming to an end. Enterprising Mancunians started selling Muga (Make United Great Again) baseball caps , the club defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup final and the good times were about to roll again … until they didn’t. Stories started to circulate and were then confirmed about significant j...

The quality is there in the way he moves, all easy grace, clean lines 15 Feb 2025 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport Barney Ronay A few years ago a British newspaper published a thousand-word article about Ousmane Dembélé not going to a notorious Spanish sex club. The article featured 14 photos of the notorious sex club Dembélé had never been to, including one of a frightening sex-crucifix Dembélé had never been lashed to, and another of a Spiderman-style sex-net Dembélé would never find himself contorted around in the grip of tearful public ecstasy. There was even a greasy close-up of the sex-doorbell Dembélé would never furtively press, go anywhere near, or be aware of existing. Instead, as the author notes sadly, Dembélé “lives a reclusive lifestyle playing on his Playstation and watching Narcos with his friends”. These activities are at least cast in vaguely debauched terms. They happen, we are told, “while swallowing fast food and fizzy drinks”. Swallowing. They don’t even chew, mate. And th...