That’s all from me today. Thanks for all the emails and for following along this afternoon.
Finally, here are some Guardian readers on how to fix the sport we love.
Harry Kane spoke to Sky Sports for the first time since, well, everything.
Kane on Mourinho’s sacking:
“I was surprised, I’ll be totally honest. I came in that morning and probably found out 5, 10 minutes before it was announced.
“A lot of the focus was on the Carabao Cup final and preparing for that but, look, it’s football. I’ve been here now where a couple of managers have been sacked and, as a player now, I don’t think you ever expect the boss to be sacked but it’s part of the game, you have to deal with it.
On the Super League
“I liked the outcome of it. I didn’t quite like the idea of it if I’m honest. I can totally understand the fans’ point of view. From a lot of people’s point of view, it wasn’t quite right. It’s obviously been ended for now. I’m proud of the fans for sticking up for what they believe it. I am glad of what the outcome has become.”
The Wales FA have released a statement “noting” Ryan Giggs and confirming that Robert Page will manage the Wales National Team for Euro 2020.
Here is their full statement, which does not elaborate on Giggs’ future:
The Football Association of Wales has noted the decision of The Crown Prosecution Service to proceed with charging Ryan Giggs, the Men’s National Team Manager.
In light of this decision, the FAW can confirm that Robert Page will assume the role of Cymru Men’s National Team manager for this summer’s EURO 2020 tournament and will be assisted by Albert Stuivenberg.
An FAW Board meeting will be convened to discuss these developments and its impact on the Association and the National Team.
Chelsea will freeze general admission season tickets for the 21/22 season and rail seating will also be installed at Stamford Bridge.
“A further upgrade to Stamford Bridge that we are pleased to announce is the installation of rail seating in the Matthew Harding Lower and Shed End Upper and Lower tiers. This change, which will be ready for the 2021/22 season subject to approval by the Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA) and its Safety Advisory Group (SAG), will enhance supporter safety by replacing the current seats in those sections of the stadium,” said Chelsea in a statement.
Here is the full statement from the Crown Prosecution Service on the Wales manager’s charges. Giggs was arrested in November:
We have authorised Greater Manchester police to charge Ryan Giggs with engaging in behaviour which was controlling or coercive and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
A charge of assault by beating relating to a second woman has also been authorised. Mr Giggs will appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 28th April.
The CPS made the decision to charge Mr Giggs after reviewing a file of evidence from Greater Manchester Police
Criminal proceedings are active and nothing should be published that could jeopardise the defendants right to a fair trial.
Football Daily (@footballdaily)
🗣 "I'm very happy the fans have voiced their opinions and we listened to them."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer speaks about the 'European Super League' proposals pic.twitter.com/9STuiNNwSh
April 23, 2021
Here is Barry Glendenning with The Fiver:
“It was to USA! USA!! USA!!!-based counting house JP Morgan Chase that the club owners turned for the €3.25bn (£2.8bn) funding package they required. On Friday it was their turn to don the bespoke pin-striped sackcloth and prostrate themselves before an angry public, claiming they couldn’t possibly have been expected to know how much of a fuss a trillion-dollar financial institution helping to rip the still-beating heart out of the Premier League would cause either.”
Steve Bruce says he would like to sign Arsenal loanee Joe Willock permanently.
Meannwhile, Eden Hazard (remember him?) will be back in the Real Madrid squad for their match against Real Betis tomorrow evening.
According to transfermarkt, Hazard has missed 58 games for Real Madrid since his arrival in 2019. He missed 21 games in his seven years at Chelsea
It is not often that you hear such an honest comment from a player about their recent manager.
ESPN UK (@ESPNUK)
Frank Lampard wasn't ready for the Chelsea job, according to Jorginho 👀 pic.twitter.com/QaGN5AnyUn
April 23, 2021
Sid Lowe here on the struggles of Eibar, who are bottom of the league and 5 points from safety.
Manchester City (@ManCity)
🚨ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨
We can confirm that @gembon23 has left the club and has signed for Racing Louisville.
Thanks for the memories Gem!
Read more here 👇
🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re
April 23, 2021
Here is Alexandra Topping on the efforts of the supporters’ groups after the ESL announcements.
An email from Adam Leach:
“Interesting to read Sadiq Khan’s thoughts on football reform and also Andy Burnham’s yesterday - particularly regarding 39th Game proposal - but I can’t help feel that there’s a hint of hypocrisy in the fact that Sadiq finishes by discussing bringing an IPL team to London to use “megastars” as a way to build excitement around cricket.
“I’m all for politicians working to bring greater balance to football and making it fairer, but it seems ludicrous that we can look at it in isolation rather than as part of the wider sporting landscape.
For instance, how can we be so vehemently opposed to hosting Premier League games in foreign markets where fans of such clubs are just as loyal and dedicated, but in favour of taking games or whole clubs from the IPL or NFL to London?
Should the day come that the Jacksonville Jaguars leave Florida for London full time, I’ll be intrigued to see how we square that away with the moral superiority we’re all mainlining at the moment over defeating the ESL. Just a bit of devils advocating.”
As the resident tennis journalist, I should add that many people feel a similar way about Gerard Pique. As he advocated for football fans on twitter, his investment company, Kosmos, is responsible for the dismantling of the old Davis Cup format in 2019.
Since there clearly haven’t been enough opinions about the Super League on this blog today, here is David Moyes:
“I’ve been really disappointed with the clubs who got involved in it. But I think if anything the people have stood up, it’s the people’s game, it’s not for billionaires, it’s for everybody and the people have shown what it means. I think the supporters have been a credit in the way they’ve gone about it. Obviously we don’t want big bad demonstrations, but they’ve been the ones who have stood up and said we’re not having this. It shows the power of the people and it’s a great thing that football hasn’t changed as dramatically as some people would have liked it to.
“I think there’s a lot of corrections that need to be put right in football. I thought if ever there was going to be a time where we could fix football, it was during the pandemic. A chance for football clubs to get together and say we’re going to stop over-spending, stop giving too much in wages, stop giving agents too much money, we’re going to make sure lower league clubs are looked after. But it looks like we’ve done the opposite, or certain people have tried to do the opposite. I hope we get back to the basis that it’s a sport for the people and not just certain ones.”
Believe it or not, there is some football to be played this weekend.
Arsenal and Everton will kick things off tonight at 8pm and their injury lists could not be more different. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are both out for Arsenal, with captain Aubameyang still recovering from malaria. Kieran Tierney, Martin Odegaard and David Luiz are all also still out.
Meanwhile, Everton can call on the services of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Andre Gomes, Yerry Mina and Fabian Delph.
Neither team is in stunning form. Arsenal have lost only two of their past 12 games but their run of 6 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses is hardly ideal. Everton have not won any of their last six games, with three losses (Chelsea, Burnley and Manchester City) followed by three draws.
Harry Kane did not train with Tottenham today ahead of Tottenham’s Carabao Cup clash with Manchester City. Ryan Mason says that they will see if he can train tomorrow and will decide on his involvement at Wembley together.
“We’re taking it hour by hour, seeing how he feels. What we are not going to do and what Harry is not going to do is put his body on the line if he does not think it is suitable.
“We are never going to put Harry in that position, absolutely not. We will see how he is tomorrow and we can make a decision from there. It is combined effort. How does the player feel, what do the medics say.”
Ahead of the Carabao Cup Final against Tottenham, Pep Guardiola was in a similar mindset to his rival Jürgen Klopp as he described the months ahead for his players.
“Of course there will be more injuries. These guys will finish an incredibly tough season, have five or six days off and then go to their national teams. The managers for the national teams will want them to train to make a good competition in the Euros. Then when it’s finished they’ll have 10-15 days off.
“If the club is demanding they will make a tour of New York or Asia. Then they’ll have to come back for the Community Shield if they’ve won the Premier League. And you have to play to win because the people demand it. Every season is the same. The players love to play but sometimes the injuries come. UEFA knows it, of course, but do they care? Absolutely not.”
(Via PA)
Thomas Tuchel on the effect of the Super League on his team amid fan protests before Chelsea’s 0-0 draw with Brighton.
“Yes it has been distracting, but it’s the owner’s club, it’s not my club. I’m part of the club, but it’s the owner and the club’s decision, and now they change that decision. There’s no need to apologise to me directly, my job is to adapt to the circumstances. And were we distracted? Yeah clearly. Me personally I arrived in a state of mind on Tuesday at the stadium that was clearly not the mindset that I normally arrive in, for a match. But that’s already in the past, and like I said, I don’t think they need to apologise to me.”
(via PA)
Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch)
Jurgen Klopp on FSG:
"I know the owners, I have known them six years, I know there are some moments when they might not have made right decision, this time for sure." 🔴 pic.twitter.com/o46UgjgTkk
April 23, 2021
Jürgen Klopp spoke in long, long answers today. He essentially said that he wants people to move on from the Super League and to ensure that the essense of the game isn’t lost:
“We all wanted to have the Super League away, but in the same moment it happened that now the new Champions League is out there. Who read this concept properly and said: ‘oh, that’s perfect?’ Who tells me now that’s not about money? It’s a joke. I said before [with the] Nations League - even more games. I said before when Fifa wanted the Club World Cup. And they don’t ask. They just wanted to introduce it. What’s the reason for that? Money.
These kind of things happen constantly. But in the end, we always could at least in our moments have the perfect moment for us. Playing football, enjoying the game as much has we can. And that has never changed so far. And I only want to make sure that it does not change.
Here is Barry Glendenning, who spoke with people from around the football community about the European Super League:
Jürgen Klopp was asked if any positives came out of the Super League, presumably a hint to the solidarity among fans. We can confirm that Klopp had no interest in thinking about positives:
“What I heard, it’s not over yet. I don’t mean that the Super League could still happen but now there are a lot of discussions about other things as well. We could speak a lot about these kind of things. I’m just not here to always do that. Everyone knows my view on more games and that’s why what Pep said the other day was always my opinion. You cannot always introduce more competitions. Yes, the Super League is off the table. Good, very good. But the new Champions League is not. Did you think: ‘Oh, great let’s do that?’
They showed it to me, I gave one hour to UEFA. They showed it to me, the whole idea, and I said: ‘I don’t like it, because there are 10 games instead of six. I have no idea where we shall put them in.’ And then we’ll see what happens then - maybe UEFA asks for the cup competition gets cancelled in England or that we only have 18 teams. You tell that to the Premier League, they say, ‘No way.’ The only people who never get asked are the coaches, the players and the supporters. I know the supporters think: ‘Play more games, they get paid a lot of money.’ But we are already on the edge.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been speaking ahead of Sunday’s game against Leeds:
“I’m very happy that the fans have voiced their opinion and that we’ve listened to them. In a strange sort of way it’s brought the football pyramid or community together and I think that’s important and I’m very happy. I’m a supporter myself, and there’ll be a day that I’ll come back and watch Man United and I want to watch a team even with a fear of failure.
“That’s what I thought about it. I didn’t like the concept anyway because it has to be on sporting merit. I want to earn the right to play in Europe. =I’m very happy that all the clubs that have admitted their mistake, that this was a bad idea and the way that it came out as well.”
(via PA)
Here is Jürgen Klopp after being asked to send a message to fans in light of the Super League.
I know the owners, I know them since six years. I know there were some moments when they might not have made the right decisions. This time, for sure. That doesn’t change too much for me. Because I prefer dealing with the problems or the people I know than just changing, because you might have the same problems early enough again.
I think it’s completely normal after this that everybody thinks about, ‘How can we carry on?’ and stuff like this but that needs longer time. You cannot solve that in a week. It’s always like this - we have to be concentrated on the things we are actually here for, that is playing football. That’s what we try to do.
Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris continues to speak frankly about his team, saying that the players should take responsibility for Jose Mourinho’s sacking:
“Should we take responsibility as players for Jose’s sacking? Yes, of course. The situation doesn’t change my respect for José. He’s a great football man. He has proved that in the past and for sure he will prove it in the future. I just feel sad that he didn’t work like we wanted at Spurs. Of course we have to share the responsibility. The players first because we are the actors.”
Thanks, David.
A note via email from Ursolin Waxoh:
When the Euro 2020 plan was announced, I thought it was a swell idea. Having the tournament held in several countries would spread the cheer and avoid the usual excessive spending in new stadia and infrastructure. In pandemic times, spreading teams would also reduce contagion risks. But this is utter nonsense.
Seville has two excellent venues - why not play all six group E games there instead of shipping off some to St. Petersburg? Why are group A games in Rome AND Baku? This implies travelling that is pointless and could easily be avoided. Group F games for instance are all either in Budapest or Munich - two cities about 400 miles apart. That’s a perfectly decent solution. Why couldn’t all groups be scheduled like this?
And with that I’ll hand you back to Tumaini Carayol.
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa (who would surely appreciate Skillzy’s work ethic) has been talking ahead of Sunday’s home clash against Manchester United. Unlike a lot of people in football this week, he gets it.
“I know perfectly what it means to play in a classic game. I know the effect that the result will have on the emotion of the people.”
It didn’t work out so well in the first meeting when Manchester United thumped Leeds 6-2 at Old Trafford but Bielsa believes that wasn’t a fair reflection of the game.
“Of course what happened in that last game is present in our minds. You have to recognise the characteristics of the opponents’ forwards and try to organise our players on the field so they can pick up the protagonists.
“We try to match them up with players in our team who are up to the challenge of neutralising them.”
And another...
Despite going to all that trouble of listing the fixtures, I’m getting the vibe that you’d all rather see another picture of Skillzy. Go on then...
It’s the Euro 2020 knockout fixtures. All kick-off times BST by the way. See group fixtures to work out who 2A v 2B could possibly be. I accept that this isn’t the perfect way to present it all but everything will become clearer when you get your When Saturday Comes wallchart.
LAST 16
Saturday, June 26
1: 2A vs 2B (5pm, Amsterdam)
2: 1A vs 2C (8pm, London)
Sunday, June 27
3: 1C vs 3D/E/F (5pm, Budapest)
4: 1B vs 3A/D/E/F (8pm, Seville)
Monday, June 28
5: 2D vs 2E (5pm, Copenhagen)
6: 1F vs 3A/B/C (8pm, Bucharest)
Tuesday, June 29
7: 1D vs 2F (5pm, London)
8: 1E vs 3A/B/C/D (8pm, Glasgow)
QUARTER-FINALS
Friday, July 2
QF1: Winner 6 vs Winner 5 (5pm, St Petersburg)
QF2: Winner 4 vs Winner 2 (8pm, Munich)
Saturday, July 3
QF3: Winner 3 vs Winner 1 (5pm, Baku)
QF4: Winner 8 vs Winner 7 (8pm, Rome)
SEMI-FINALS
Tuesday, July 6
SF1: Winner QF2 vs Winner QF1 (8pm, London)
Wednesday, July 7
SF2: Winner QF4 vs Winner QF3 (8pm, London)
FINAL
Sunday, July 11
Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2 (8pm, London)
Euro 2020 knockout fixtures on the way but to break up the page a bit, here’s Skillzy, the official Euro 2020 mascot, at the site of the ‘Flat No 60’ art installation in St Petersburg commemorating the Soviet Union’s victory in the 1960 European Nations’ Cup final.
Who wants to see the full fixture list and host cities for the group stages of Euro 2020 with England, Scotland and Wales games helpfully bolded up? You do....
Friday, June 11
Group A: Turkey vs Italy (8pm, Rome)
Saturday, June 12
Group A: Wales vs Switzerland (2pm, Baku)
Group B: Denmark vs Finland (5pm, Copenhagen)
Group B: Belgium vs Russia (8pm, St Petersburg)
Sunday, June 13
Group D: England vs Croatia (2pm, London)
Group C: Austria vs North Macedonia (5pm, Bucharest)
Group C: Holland vs Ukraine (8pm, Amsterdam)
Monday, June 14
Group D: Scotland vs Czech Republic (2pm, Glasgow)
Group E: Poland vs Slovakia (5pm, St Petersburg)
Group E: Spain vs Sweden (8pm, Seville)
Tuesday, June 15
Group F: Hungary vs Portugal (5pm, Budapest)
Group F: France vs Germany (8pm, Munich)
Wednesday, June 16
Group B: Finland vs Russia (2pm, St Petersburg)
Group A: Turkey vs Wales (5pm, Baku)
Group A: Italy vs Switzerland (8pm, Rome)
Thursday, June 17
Group C: Ukraine vs North Macedonia (2pm, Bucharest)
Group B: Denmark vs Belgium (5pm, Copenhagen)
Group C: Holland vs Austria (8pm, Amsterdam)
Friday, June 18
Group E: Sweden vs Slovakia (2pm, St Petersburg)
Group D: Croatia vs Czech Republic (5pm, Glasgow)
Group D: England vs Scotland (8pm, London)
Saturday, June 19
Group F: Hungary vs France (2pm, Budapest)
Group F: Portugal vs Germany (5pm, Munich)
Group E: Spain vs Poland (8pm, Seville)
Sunday, June 20
Group A: Italy vs Wales (5pm, Rome)
Group A: Switzerland vs Turkey (5pm, Baku)
Monday, June 21
Group C: North Macedonia vs Holland (5pm, Amsterdam)
Group C: Ukraine vs Austria (5pm, Bucharest)
Group B: Russia vs Denmark (8pm, Copenhagen)
Group B: Finland vs Belgium (8pm, St Petersburg)
Tuesday, June 22
Group D: Czech Republic vs England (8pm, London)
Group D: Croatia vs Scotland (8pm, Glasgow)
Wednesday, June 23
Group E: Slovakia vs Spain (5pm, Seville)
Group E: Sweden vs Poland (5pm, St Petersburg)
Group F: Germany vs Hungary (8pm, Munich)
Group F: Portugal v France (8pm, Budapest)
Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris is bigging up - of course he is - new boss Ryan Mason ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final.
Interim boss Mason (aged 29 and a bit) makes rumoured permanent Jose replacement, Julian Nagelsmann (33), look like a gnarled veteran and the former Spurs midfielder made a winning start with a 2-1 success over Southampton in midweek.
Here’s what French goalkeeper Lloris has to say about the man still eligible for an 18-30 club holiday (are they still a thing?).
“Honestly if the club gives him this responsibility it’s because he’s got the confidence of people at the club.
“He’s got the club DNA. Then he’s got the football approach he tried to bring to the team. I think in the second half, we saw a bit of his way and his approach.
“You would be surprised, you would be surprised. He’s ready. He knows exactly what to say to the players.
“He’s got the proximity to the players that’s helping him. Then it’s about the [team] leaders as well to show their leadership. But he’s got a real philosophy of football. It will surprise you.
“Everything has happened so quick. We only had two days to prepare for the game against Southampton and now it’s going to be a short time to the final.
“But even with a short time, he gave us a team structure, a shape. He gave us his football approach.
“To be honest, he’s 29 years old but he shows more maturity than that. And confidence. He transmits this good energy to the players.
“To be honest, I think the players have more responsibility than before and we have to perform better and better to finish as strongly as we can.”
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