Sports Poets Society

Why has ‘Flo’ not found his Leverkusen form? Germany midfielder joined for an initial £100m but has rarely lived up to his price tag, despite playing well for his country. 17 Oct 2026 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport Andy Hunter and Andy Brassell explore why Is Wirtz struggling at Liverpool as badly as most outside observers believe? Some criticism has been over the top and a fee rising to £116m heightens demands but, yes, compared with his performances in Germany and for Germany Wirtz has underwhelmed at Liverpool. The past week has encapsulated his Liverpool career so far. In the Champions League rout of Lask he was everywhere, exploiting gaps between and behind the Austrian club’s defence and knitting together a dominant display against limited opposition. In the previous game against Manchester City, however, when Andoni Iraola needed big players to step up in the absence of Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai, Wirtz was ineffective, wasteful and withdrawn when his team were ch...

Ceci n’est pas defeat. The significance of today’s result remains to be seen – but for a different reason than in past seasons, writes Rory Smith 11 Oct 2026 - THE OBSERVER / Sport Rory Smith Manchester City’s fans will know, so far as it is possible to know, what is coming. They have, after all, been amply forewarned. Their club might continue to perform its defiance, to insist on its innocence, to protest long and loud and with the slightly odd support of the prime minister that the legal process is not yet over, that it will – eventually – be exonerated, vindicated, avenged.Mark Leach/Offside/ Getty Images Banana drama: City fan groups are encouraging supporters to brandish the inflatable fruit as they did in the 1980s, as a reminder of the club’s history. The fans, though, will be well aware that the wholly informal court of public opinion works much more swiftly and much less subtly than that. A verdict, conclusive and indissoluble, was reached two weeks ago. A sentence has alread...

Jeff Bezos est devenu actionnaire de Liverpool en août. Beaucoup de supporters de Liverpool s’inquiètent de l’arrivée programmée, dans l’actionnariat du club, du fondateur d’Amazon, qui reste pour l’heure en retrait. “On se demande tous quel serait l’intérêt de Bezos de posséder un jour le LFC.  Il ne s’est jamais intéressé au foot et n’a aucune connexion avec notre ville ''     - NEIL ATKINSON, PRÉSENTATEUR       SUR UN MÉDIA DÉDIÉ AUX REDS 9 Sep 2026 - L'Équipe PIERRE-ÉTIENNE MINONZIO Plus encore que le manque de compacité de la défense du Liverpool FC, ou la difficulté chronique de Florian Wirtz à s’imposer comme le dépositaire du jeu, il est un sujet qui mine les supporters des Reds depuis le 14 août. Ce jour-là était officiellement annoncée l’ ent ré e imminente de 1892 Holdings dans le capital du club. Une fois que les instances de régulation du football anglais auront validé l’opération, ce consortium de milliardaires va acquérir 38 % des p...

Steve Powell/Allsport/ Getty Images - Three’s a charm:  Keegan celebrates the third goal 3-1 British (Home) Championship matchin 1979. The outstanding achievements of a remarkable player and manager, for club and country, far outweighed his occasional failures. Just ask the supporters at Newcastle, Liverpool and Hamburg Dismissiveness went so far, it obscured a life of achievement few great sports people could have any hope of emulating 26 Jul 2026 - THE OBSERVER / Sport Paul Hayward Whenever a star has to die for us to fully appreciate how special they were, the problem is us, not them. With Kevin Keegan, some landmark disappointments in a 40-year career of playing and managing fell away to allow the real story of his character and accomplishments its rightful glow. In great sporting lives the departed dwelt in a binary world of good, bad, won, lost, veneration, scorn. It’s odd to think now, after Keegan was waved off last week with so much respect and warmth, that there were poin...

Image source, BBC SportImage caption,  Kevin Keegan is arguably the most  beloved figure in Newcastle United's history for his deeds as player and manager https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c20z4d87vp3o By  Phil McNulty Chief football writer Published 20 July 2026 Kevin Keegan, who has died aged 75 , was one of football's most charismatic and influential figures in a career of many chapters that took him from superstar player to elite manager. While some may remember him best for his ill-fated reign as England manager, he will rightly be much more celebrated as a world-class player at Liverpool and Hamburg, captaining England, and shining latterly at Southampton and Newcastle United , before becoming arguably the most beloved figure in the Tyneside club's history. Keegan revived Newcastle 's fortunes as a player before carrying the Geordie nation with him on a thrilling ride as manager, first by taking the club back into the top flight, then delivering a magni...

HULTON ARCHIVE/PA/REUTERS/GETTY IMAGES " There was no legal way of stopping him! " 21 Jul 2026 - Daily Mail By GRAEME SOUNESS Keegan’s rival and great friend IF you wanted an example of a man who became a superstar but never changed as a man, Kevin Keegan would be top of that list. For everything he achieved in the game — the trophies, two Ballons d’or — his greatest quality was the humility he carried with him through every waking moment. He treated every person he met in the same way: with utmost respect. To say he was an absolute gentleman seems an understatement. He was a class act. This was a genuine superstar. If only you could bottle the attitude he had and sell it to the players today. I was in a restaurant not so long ago when I witnessed a young player, a so-called star, refuse to do a selfie with a fan. That was the absolute polar opposite to Kevin. Kevin Keegan was a genuinely humble man who recognised he had got lucky in life, but boy did he make the most out of ...

GETTY IMAGES - On top: enjoying promotion with Manchester City  in 2002 and with England boss Ron Greenwood in 1977 21 Jul 2026 - Daily Mail by Jeff Powell MBE WHEN Kevin Keegan was on the foothills of his international career in 1972, Sir Alf Ramsey called him into an enlarged England squad. To say he was not best pleased when this country’s only World Cup-winning manager designated him to the Under-23s match on the night before the senior game is something of an understatement. Keegan packed his bags in anger and had to be stopped from storming out of the hotel with warnings he could be jeopardising his England future. In common with most Fleet Street football reporters, I denounced his prima donna tantrum. A year or three of strained relations with the press ensued. Once, upon the conclusion of a football awards dinner in London, I took a few of my guests on to the members’ club Morton’s for late-night drinks, the great gossip columnist Nigel Dempster among us. We were merrily...

GETTY IMAGES 21 Jul 2026 - Daily Mail by Oliver Holt Chief Sports Writer KEVIN KEEGAN, a kid from mining stock in South Yorkshire, a kid who started out at Scunthorpe United and went on to conquer Europe, was one of the greatest players English football has ever produced, but it was the unquenchable passion that burned within him that won him such a prominent place in the hearts of the public. Mighty Mouse , he was called as a player and it suited him. He was the little man who would never give up. He was the small guy who punched way above his weight. He was the lad who never bowed to anyone. He may have been slight of stature but he had the biggest heart that ever beat in the chest of an English footballer. Sometimes, it feels as if time has dimmed the memory of quite what an outstanding footballer Keegan was and how he became a pioneer and a pathfinder, the first Englishman to play in a European Cup final with both English and foreign clubs, in his case Liverpool and Hamburg. Someti...