Sports Poets Society

Former FIFA president claims World Cup has ‘lost its credibility’ under successor 22 Jul 2026 - The Guardian Louise Taylor The FIFA president, Gianni Infantino , has come in for heavy criticism from his predecessor, Sepp Blatter, and the La Liga president, Javier Tebas , with the pair united in the belief that he should stand down. Tebas has accused Infantino of “destroying the football industry” by prioritising the World Cup over national competitions. He claimed “his time is up”. Blatter has called for “fans, players and national associations to reclaim football and bring it back to its roots under new leadership”. Tebas is opposed to the Fifa president’s enthusiasm for expanding the 2030 tournament to 64 teams from 48. “Increasing the number of national teams makes no sense,” Tebas told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport. “The football industry is not just the World Cup. Not everything can revolve around the World Cup. “It is national competitions that support this sport. They [Fifa] a...

DANNY BRANNIGAN/HULTON ARCHIVE ‘Special K’ made the club more exciting in his playing and managerial stints and ‘wanted to stay for ever’ Keegan’s father told him about the exploits of Hughie Gallacher and Jackie Milburn 21 Jul 2026 - The Guardian Louise Taylor The story of Kevin Keegan and Newcastle United is perhaps best described as a three-act play. It involves an enduring and mutual love affair that brings joyous seasons in the sun punctuated by boardroom tensions and tearstained exits. Newcastle fans swiftly identified Keegan as a player and then, twice, a manager capable of switching the lights on at St James’ Park. “Special K” made everything about the club seem more vivid and exciting. To watch his 1990s “Entertainers” was to feel truly alive. When Keegan joined from Southampton in 1982, he was in the latter stages of a highly distinguished playing career. Newcastle were then unwilling residents of the Second Division but once the two-time Ballon d’Or winner walked through 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...

As midfielder prepares for landmark 654th top-tier appearance, figures from his six Premier League clubs detail how and why he has set himself apart ‘He treated the rondo box that teams do after a warm-up like it was the FA Cup final’ 21 Feb 2026 - THE GUARDIAN / Sport Interviews by Louise Taylor, Ben Fisher, Jamie Jackson, Andy Hunter and Ed Aarons 2002-04 Leeds Michael Bridges James Milner was the most dedicated and professional young player I’ve met. He also took the not inconsiderable transition from being at school to playing in the Leeds first team totally in his stride. Nothing fazed him. He was very level-headed. Back in those days, footballers used to have to share rooms during away trips and, at the time, Leeds had developed a mentoring scheme intended to support young players. It meant that my regular roommate, Harry Kewell, and I were split up. I was asked to room with James and Harry shared with Aaron Lennon. It was then that I realised what an incredible footballer – and ...

DANIEL CHESTERTON/ OFFSIDE/GETTY  Familiar face back to haunt Magpies Marcus Rashford  scored his first goals for Barcelona upon his return to England 19 Sep 2025 - The Guardian Louise Taylor - @St James’ Park A little over 24 hours before kick-off, Hansi Flick spoke about how lucky he felt to have acquired Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester United. Barcelona’s manager was not bothered that the forward’s stock had fallen so far. Rashford, he said, was a player he had long admired and could help improve. In the 82nd minute, Rashford walked off wreathed in smiles before being wrapped in Flick’s heartfelt embrace. Ruben Amorim’s bete noire had just scored two splendid goals that not merely rendered Eddie Howe’s rather effective gameplan academic but silenced St James’ Park. With Faustino Asprilla – the scorer of a famous hat-trick for Newcastle as Barcelona succumbed 3-2 on Tyneside in 1997 – having flown in from Colombia to help cheer on his old team, it was not supposed to...

JON SUPER/AP  Marcus Rashford salutes the crowd with his trademark celebration  after a rasping strike puts Barcelona 2-0 in front 19 Sep 2025 - The Guardian Louise Taylor - @ St James’ Park Marcus Rashford believes he can finally fulfil his true potential at Barcelona after scoring two stunning Champions League goals in front of the watching England coach Thomas Tuchel at Newcastle last night. The 27-year-old Manchester United loanee opened the scoring with a fine 58th-minute header before firing in the second goal from 20 yards. Rashford had done enough to ensure that, despite Anthony Gordon’s 90th-minute consolation, Eddie Howe’s side were beaten. “It is going good. I am obviously learning a lot,” Rashford said afterwards as he praised his new manager, Hansi Flick. “It is a new way of football, but I am enjoying it all and I think it is making me a better player. “I’m 100% full of excitement and very motivated. Hansi Flick is a top coach and a top man-manager. We want to wi...

Liverpool break British record to seal £125m Isak deal, but Palace block Guéhi move at 11th hour Guéhi’s £35m Liverpool move collapses after Glasner’s fury Additional reporting by Jacob Steinberg 2 Sep 2025 - The Guardian Andy Hunter Ed Aarons Louise Taylor Liverpool broke the British transfer record to sign Alexander Isak for £125m from Newcastle on deadline day but were foiled in an attempt to end a stunning window with a deal for Marc Guéhi. On a contrasting day for the Premier League champions, Isak underwent a medical on Merseyside before signing a six-year deal worth around £300,000 a week. “I feel amazing,” Isak, who will wear the No 9 shirt, said last night. “It’s been a long journey to get here. But I’m super happy to be a part of this team, this club and everything it stands for.” Liverpool also stepped up efforts to sign the Crystal Palace captain Guéhi, who had a medical in London in anticipation of joining Arne Slot’s side after Steve Parish, the Palace chairman, accepted ...

NIKKI DYER/LFC/GETTY Alexander Isak got his desired move to Anfield on deadline day Departure from Newcastle began with offer of pay rise and ended in a record transfer via success at Wembley 2 Sep 2025 - The Guardian Louise Taylor Not too many players are capable of upstaging Mohamed Salah but, last month, Alexander Isak revelled in revealing that rare ability. Salah had assumed centre stage at Manchester’s Opera House and, as the recipient of the Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year award, was preparing to deliver an eagerly awaited acceptance speech when he lost a previously rapt audience. Numerous discreet vibrations from phones switched to silent had transmitted the news of Isak posting a particularly provocative Instagram message. In accusing Newcastle of breaking promises and leaving a relationship severed, it reduced even Liverpool’s Egypt forward to a mere warm-up act before the night’s main event. Isak has always possessed the knack of timing his runs to p...

GEORGE WOOD/ GETTY IMAGES  Rio Ngumoha celebrates scoring Liverpool’s winner  in injury time of an enthralling match Ngumoha steals show to shatter 10-man hosts 26 Aug 2025 - The Guardian Louise Taylor Eddie Howe said he was investing all his energy in players “who want to play for Newcastle” after his side were sent to a stunning defeat by 16-year-old substitute Rio Ngumoha’s 100th-minute winner for Liverpool. Howe, whose 10-man team had fought back to level at 2-2 after Anthony Gordon’s first-half red card, claimed to be unaware of a last-ditch bid by the club to persuade Alexander Isak to abandon his one-man strike. The Sweden striker, currently trying to force a move to Liverpool and training separately from his teammates, was not at St James’ Park to see an extraordinary game unfold, but earlier in the day minority club owner Jamie Reuben had led an attempt to change Isak’s mind when he met with the striker in Northumberland. “I am not aware of a meeting with the owners ...

Slot has a harder job this time with four in frame for the title Premier League returns with new thrills and a new threat  Clubs are spending like there’s no tomorrow, from Sesko to Wirtz and Gyökeres , but who can say yet who has found the right chemistry? United will as ever exist in their own group of one, simultaneously epic and brittle 15 Aug 2025 - The Guardian Barney Ronay And I heard, as it were, a sound of thunder. I heard multitudes marching to the big kettle drum. Not to mention, it should be said, even larger multitudes talking on the wicked and unholy internet about agent sightings, failed herewe-gos and the Alexander Isak wheel of global conspiracy. Let he that hath understanding count the number! Because, let’s face it, it really is an absolute beast of a number, 215 live Premier League games on Sky Sports alone , an endless rolling debauchery of games, of graphics that go whoosh, of arguments by the lighted dias. Welcome to the start of the Premier League season 20...