Sports Poets Society

FLORENCIA TAN JUN/UEFA/ GETTY IMAGES Lisandro Martínez was highly critical of the United  hierarchy after the team’s 2-0 loss to Atlético Madrid Martínez may not be ideal messenger but United criticism hits the right targets Has any serving United player spoken out so frankly? 15 Oct 2026 - The Guardian Jonathan Liew Heartbreaking: the worst defender you know just made a great point. Nobody would describe Lisandro Martínez as the ideal person to scrutinise Manchester United’s indifferent start to the season, given that his errors against Fulham and Tottenham are partly responsible for it. “We’re all trying to find the guy who did this,” Martínez burbles on Amazon Prime after United’s 2-0 defeat by Atlético Madrid on Tuesday, dressed in a hot dog costume and throwing his arms out in mock innocence. For those with no interest in engaging with what Martínez had to say, this alone will be sufficient grounds to ignore him. Already you can sense the squeamishness of former players for ...

Club chair helped to make Abu Dhabi a world power, but his stance on financial misdeeds is embarrassing the royal family and his next task may be to sell up In fighting to the end, al-Mubarak appears to have broken a cardinal law of diplomacy 9 Oct 2026 - The Guardian Rob Draper No one better understands the precarious tightrope Abu Dhabi walks when it tries to balance its relationships with western Europe while weighing the complex geopolitics of the Gulf region than Manchester City’s chair, Khaldoon al-Mubarak. He was eight when his father, ambassador Khalifa Ahmed Abdel Aziz al-Mubarak, left the family’s Paris apartment for work on 9 February 1984, and was assassinated on the street by a Palestinian terrorist. And no one outside the emirate’s royal family could be more wrapped up in the project of making and maintaining Abu Dhabi as a significant and secure world power and the dominant member of the United Arab Emirates, a nation state still only 55 years old. His paternal grandfath...

MARTIN RICKETT/ PA Always seeing eye to eye Pep Guardiola (left) and  Khaldoon al-Mubarak  were very close during the former’s time at City Questions were dodged in the past but what Guardiola knew at City relates to the true nature of the club and more basic things like spectacle and human nature There were little things throughout,  like digging out an extra £25m for Kevin De Bruyne 1 Oct 2026 - The Guardian Barney Ronay 'Do you know the question that you are asking me? Today, do you honestly think it is my job to make this kind of question happen …” Cut to the long, painful pause. Chuck in a deep, shaming stare, eyes that have suddenly become death rays of betrayal and disgust and Pep Guardiola himself transformed from a man cheerfully toasting his own FA Cup final victory to a grizzled chief detective addressing a room full of convicted perverts. Guardiola had the wind entirely at his back at this point, sitting in the Wembley press room an hour after Manchester City’...

MANCHESTER CITY FC Ayyoub Bouaddi, who represented France at youth level,  passed his exams a year early and has a passion for chess Ayyoub Bouaddi’s maturity and intelligence mark him out as a rare talent with big shoes to fill at the Etihad ‘Very comfortable technically,  he is always in the right position.  And he’s a charming boy’ 27 Aug 2026 -  The Guardian Will Unwin 'He’s like a computer,” the former Lille head of academy recruitment, Mathieu Frison , says of the €100m (£85.7m) Manchester City recruit Ayyoub Bouaddi . “You teach him something, he learns it and can do it immediately.” Bouaddi has the mountainous challenge at his new club of replacing the world’s best central midfielder. It would be difficult for anyone but at 18 it feels monumental, although those who know the Morocco international best would not bet against him. Bouaddi has known only Lille and Ligue 1 but is entering one of the biggest clubs in the world where a season without a trophy is de...

JAMES GILL/ DANEHOUSE/ GETTY IMAGES Adios and thanks for the memories Pep Guardiola  waves goodbye and hugs Bernardo Silva and John Stones Guardiola lets tears flow as he exits with Silva and Stones ‘Wherever you are as a City fan,  come and hug me’    - Pep Guardiola Manchester City 1 Semenyo 23 Aston Villa 2 Watkins 47 61 25 May 2026 - The Guardian Jamie Jackson High emotion: Pep Guardiola was a picture of a man awed by adoration in a post-game sendoff to his era-defining decade piloting Manchester City. As the manager stood before the tunnel, the 10 years were played out in a highlights reel on the stadium screen. What followed was a jog through a guard of honour as Valentí, his 95-year-old father, watched on, the official announcing of the new Pep Guardiola Stand, and an address to the crowd teeming love and admiration. He said: “A minute of silence please. I’m so nervous. Terrified. Why do you love me so much?” When fans offered a rendition of “10 more years”, G...