Football (Soccer) News
With Marco Silva leaving after five years, can the club take advantage of the links their new coach, Álvaro Arbeloa, has with Real Madrid?
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 15th (NB: this is not necessarily John Brewin’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 11th
Continue reading...Lincoln’s joint head coaches, Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen, hope Championship rivals underestimate ‘amazing squad’
The last thing the Championship needs is another spying scandal, so when a lorry emblazoned with KGB parked up alongside Lincoln City’s training ground on Tuesday lunchtime there was laughter as staff pondered whether the Soviet Union was examining their set pieces. It shows the relaxed atmosphere at one of the second tier’s newest clubs, one that has had a summer of change yet maintained continuity by appointing joint head coaches.
Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen have replaced Michael Skubala, who led the Imps to 103 points and promotion back to this level after 65 years away before leaving for Bristol City. It was a symbiotic appointment because while the former assistants were devising a sales pitch to the club’s hierarchy, the wheels were already in motion to promote from within. Their plan is to banish English football’s memories of Liverpool’s ill-fated pairing of Roy Evans and Gérard Houllier. The duo are doing final preparations for Saturday’s season opener at the Riverside against Middlesbrough, who have spent more than £20m on summer signings – Lincoln have spent a quarter of that across their 142-year history, indicating the task ahead.
Continue reading...Modest but sensible-looking recruitment befits the club’s new air of stability but a continuation of their spring slump could test David Moyes’s appetite for the fight
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 10th (NB: this is not necessarily Andy Hunter’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 13th
Continue reading...Rangers 1-1 Jagiellonia Bialystok (2-3 agg)
Spirited Hearts hold Benfica but also out of competition
Derek McInnes’s fledgling tenure as Rangers manager is in disarray after his side exited the Europa League qualifiers with a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Jagiellonia Bialystok after drawing 1-1 at Ibrox.
Rangers had lost 2-1 in the first leg in Poland last week but there was optimism when the captain, Lawrence Shankland, levelled the tie on aggregate with a penalty on 19 minutes.
Continue reading...Palace take a risk with new manager Pierre Sage, who is tasked with building on Glasner’s unprecedented success
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 16th (NB: this is not necessarily Ed Aarons’ prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 15th
Continue reading...The former England full-back is back in the Championship after 12 years away, hoping to lead Wolves out of it
When the question inevitably comes, Kieran Trippier is happy to set the record straight. Fresh from training, head to toe in Wolves kit – vest, shorts and club-branded sliders – he walks into a suite at their Compton Park base, conversation soon shifting to an episode that rocked supporters and stopped outsiders in their tracks: three days after signing, the manager Trippier cited as a significant driver behind his decision to drop into the second tier, Rob Edwards, had been sacked. All the while, a deal for his replacement, César Peixoto, was being accelerated.
“I’m not going to sit here and lie, I wasn’t expecting it,” Trippier says. “But it’s the club’s decision. I had good chats with Rob, of course, but I’m here to play for Wolves. There are many surprises in football and that certainly was a surprise, I’m not going to deny that. But I just cracked on, I was with my kids on holiday, training in Mallorca and just looking forward to day one in pre-season.”
Continue reading...We look at the many contenders for the English title this season, one of the big potential moves of the summer and chaos at Fifa
It’s difficult to recall a Premier League season starting amid such widespread uncertainty as this one. Half the division, including Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City, is under new management. The Pep Guardiola era is over and, as Jonathan Wilson put it, the Premier League has no alpha manager possibly for the first time ever.
Continue reading...A mixed picture at the clubs coming down, more playoff places to encourage the pack – and the long shadow of spygate at Southampton
The relegated teams, naturally, will be the favourites to go back up but two have endured confusing summers. Jarrod Bowen committing to West Ham was a bonus and the quality available to Nuno Espírito Santo should make bouncing back straightforward for the calmest of the clubs to have dropped down. They brought in huge fees for Crysencio Summerville and Mateus Fernandes but incoming activity has been pedestrian, which is the only minor cause of concern.
Continue reading...After 25 years away, can Coventry make their return to the top division stick under Frank Lampard?
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 18th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 1st (Championship)
Continue reading...Fabian Hürzeler has lost key players including Welbeck and Van Hecke with Brighton needing squad depth to cope with the demands of European football
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 9th (NB: this is not necessarily John Brewin’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 8th
Continue reading...England defender keen on move to Italian champions
Udogie and Porro set to be Spurs’ first-choice full-backs
Tottenham are prepared to allow Djed Spence to join Inter, with the England defender expected to cost around €30m (£25.6m).
Spence – who started four games for England at the World Cup, including the semi-final against Argentina – has fallen further down the pecking order at Spurs after the arrival of Andy Robertson from Liverpool. He signed a new four-year contract in north London at the start of last season but is believed to be keen on joining the Italian champions, with Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro expected to be Roberto De Zerbi’s preferred full-backs this season.
Continue reading...Keith Andrews and the high-scoring Igor Thiago face difficult second album after outperforming expectations
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 8th (NB: this is not necessarily John Brewin’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 9th
Continue reading...New head coach Marco Rose has a lot to live up to after last season’s sixth-placed finish while fans have a first year in Europe to look forward to
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 12th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 6th
Continue reading...In a mailbag edition of his newsletter, Jonathan Wilson answers questions about Michael Carrick, VAR and the Premier League’s new teams
Manchester United finally seem to have something that resembles stability in the dressing room under Michael Carrick. I feel with quality signings in defence and midfield, they could mount a decent challenge for the Premier League next season. How do you feel they will fare? – Sterling.
There’s an odd sense that Michael Carrick’s level of achievement last season was at precisely the most awkward level for the board. United didn’t produce indisputably brilliant football under him but equally 12 wins and three draws in 17 games was good enough that they pretty much had to give him the job. But it’s one thing to turn out those kinds of results when the pressure’s off, you’re already out of both cup competitions and you don’t have any European football; it’s quite another to do it in the heat of a full season. United don’t have to have an especially amazing season to play 15 more games this season than they did in 2025-26.
This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here.
Continue reading...Unai Emery’s task seems to get harder each year, and the Europa League winners need their big signings to shine
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 7th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 4th
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