59 h. ago Another year, another manager – but it is unfair to paint Chelsea’s project as a flop | Jacob Steinberg

Enzo Maresca got the sack because of his actions. That does not mean the club’s structure needs a complete overhaulSome clubs build around their manager. Eddie Howe is hugely influential at Newcastle and Aston Villa are pretty much Unai Emery FC these days. Chelsea, though, have adopted an alternative model. They have a team of five sporting directors, led by Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, and do not want one person to hold all the power.Yet the question many are asking in the wake of Enzo Maresca’s demise is whether the template will yield success at the very highest level. It is never quiet at Chelsea. They are often busy in the transfer market, meaning there is an element of players coming and going, and they are now looking for their fifth permanent head coach since a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, a private equity firm run by Behdad Eghbali and José E Feliciano, bought the club from Roman Abramovich in 2022. Continue reading...

Society

61 h. ago Liam Rosenior addresses Chelsea ‘noise’, Pascal Gross seals Brighton return: football news – live

⚽ Read Jacob Steinberg on Maresca’s Chelsea departure⚽ Fixtures | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Email JohnEddie Howe is having none of the idea that Newcastle have no plan B, reports PA Media, and rejected suggestions they were under the cosh in their win at Burnley.Howe bristled at suggestions they had come under an onslaught at Turf Moor and there was nothing they could do about it. He said: “An onslaught? What, against us? Have you seen the stats of the game? You must have been watching a different game then. There was no onslaught.“Yes, we had moments, of course. We had moments the other way. I would never describe it as that. If it was an onslaught, I’d give you my opinion and say, ‘Yes, I thought it was’. Continue reading...

Sport

63 h. ago Liam Rosenior on Chelsea ‘noise’, Füllkrug joins Milan on loan: football news – live

⚽ Read Jacob Steinberg on Maresca’s Chelsea departure⚽ Fixtures | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Email TomEddie Howe is having none of the idea that Newcastle have no plan B, reports PA Media, and rejected suggestions they were under the cosh in their win at Burnley.Howe bristled at suggestions they had come under an onslaught at Turf Moor and there was nothing they could do about it. He said: “An onslaught? What, against us? Have you seen the stats of the game? You must have been watching a different game then. There was no onslaught.“Yes, we had moments, of course. We had moments the other way. I would never describe it as that. If it was an onslaught, I’d give you my opinion and say, ‘Yes, I thought it was’. Continue reading...

Sport

64 h. ago Chelsea manager latest, Füllkrug joins Milan on loan, and more: football news – live

⚽ Read Jacob Steinberg on Maresca’s Chelsea departure⚽ Fixtures | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Email JohnEddie Howe is having none of the idea that Newcastle have no plan B, reports PA Media, and rejected suggestions they were under the cosh in their win at Burnley.Howe bristled at suggestions they had come under an onslaught at Turf Moor and there was nothing they could do about it. He said: “An onslaught? What, against us? Have you seen the stats of the game? You must have been watching a different game then. There was no onslaught.“Yes, we had moments, of course. We had moments the other way. I would never describe it as that. If it was an onslaught, I’d give you my opinion and say, ‘Yes, I thought it was’. Continue reading...

Society

68 h. ago Chelsea manager latest, transfer updates and more: football news – live

⚽ Read Jacob Steinberg on Maresca’s Chelsea departure⚽ Fixtures | Tables | Follow us on Bluesky | Email TahaSo Enzo Maresca has left the building. It was a very decent stint on paper, one with two trophies, including a Club World Cup victory which may grow in significance if the tournament becomes a properly serious thing in the future. But it was pretty turbulent, too; Jacob Steinberg has the inside story on what went wrong.Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the first Friday blog of 2026. We’ve already had some drama at Stamford Bridge with the departure of Enzo Maresca, and there’s plenty of Premier League action to review/preview. But let’s just ease up before going full throttle and take in this excellent interview with Jess Carter, the Guardian Footballer of the Year.A lot of people don’t like the way I play football and that’s absolutely fine, but then attacking someone because of what they look like? I can’t do anything about that one, and I wouldn’t want to. I could never ...

Sport

3 d. ago Enzo Maresca forgot Chelsea’s golden rule: the manager does not call the shots | Jacob Steinberg

Manager toed the line at Stamford Bridge with one eye on the Manchester City job, frustrating fans and his employersIt was late on New Year’s Eve when Chelsea’s patience ran out. They knew that Enzo Maresca was attempting to engineer an exit from the club and now they were ready to call his bluff. Midnight was approaching and the fireworks at Stamford Bridge were about to erupt.A baffling story soon had a familiar, predictable ending. Maresca, who is not the first manager to run out of friends at Chelsea, had taken the provocations too far. There was surprise when he told staff that he did not want to conduct his post-match press conference after the disappointing 2-2 draw with Bournemouth on Tuesday night. The official explanation was that Maresca was too unwell to talk in public, despite having just spent the evening coaching on the Stamford Bridge touchline, but the friction was palpable and it was never going to sit well with the Chelsea hierarchy when it took less than 24 hours...

Politics

2 w. ago By not explaining 'worst 48 hours' Enzo Maresca has put himself at even greater risk | Jacob Steinberg

Manager’s comments on Saturday have left Chelsea baffled and the Italian in dangerIf Enzo Maresca was interested in ending speculation that he has a problem with elements of Chelsea’s hierarchy then he would have done so on Monday . Instead the Italian made no attempt to clear up a situation entirely of his own making.He rebuffed questions about his cryptic response to beating Everton on Saturday and even reacted with exasperation when he was asked if he regretted saying a lack of support from unspecified people had put him through his “worst 48 hours” since joining the club. Continue reading...

Events