Posts

Posted on

Undermined and under duress, Fonseca leaves Milan with ‘calm conscience’ | Nicky Bandini

Paulo Fonseca failed to meet his own expectations but was treated poorly by Milan, who have appointed Sérgio Conceição

It was Paulo Fonseca who announced his own sacking shortly after midnight. Driving out of the parking lot at San Siro, he stopped briefly to answer questions from a reporter. “Yes, it’s true, I’ve exited Milan,” he said. “That’s life. Life goes like this. My conscience is calm, because I did everything I could.”

Such phrasing might make it sound like Fonseca took the decision himself. He did not. Milan eventually confirmed they had relieved the head coach of his duties in an official statement published on Monday morning.

Continue reading...
Posted on

How to Watch, BetSaracen Odds: Arkansas vs. Oakland

The Arkansas Razorbacks (10-2, 0-0 SEC) have one game remaining in the 2024 calendar year and will host the Oakland Golden Grizzlies (4-9, 1-2 Horizon) on Monday at Bud Walton Arena.The Razorbacks are on a five-game win streak and most recently took down the North Carolina A&T Aggies 92-67 last Saturday.

Posted on

‘Writing a book is tough but being a pro is harder’: Conor Niland on tennis’s periphery and reframing success

Author of William Hill award-winning book The Racket does not miss life on tour as world No 129 but holds no bitterness towards the game

Conor Niland laughs and, without hesitating, rejects the idea that he misses the intensity of competition which shaped and sometimes deformed his life as a professional tennis player who reached a high of No 129 in the world. “No,” he exclaims. “I found myself waking up with butterflies in my stomach on the morning of the William Hill [Sports Book of the Year award] and thinking: ‘I haven’t felt this in a while, and I don’t particularly miss it.’ I don’t think anyone enjoys butterflies that much.”

Niland scrabbled around on the Futures and Challengers tours, those brutal circuits of hell for players outside the top 100 where intensity is often defined by the need to win a match to earn enough money to pay a hotel bill or book a plane ticket out of Astana or Delhi and fly to the next tournament in the hope of climbing the rankings. The dream of becoming an ATP regular has now been replaced for Niland, who retired from tennis in 2012, by a very different dream which saw him deservedly win the Sports Book of the Year last month for The Racket.

Continue reading...