6 d. ago Naive Ange Postecoglou could be the least effective Premier League manager ever | Barney Ronay

At no stage did the Australian coach seem to understand the assignment he had been given at Nottingham ForestWell, the Chelsea fans were wrong anyway. Ange Postecoglou was not sacked in the morning. Instead he was sacked in the afternoon. So, another small win there for Ange, even in defeat. Not to mention further proof of the notion to which he has always seemed so fatally in thrall, that he is at any given moment the smartest guy in the room. Even when, as of Saturday afternoon, he’s no longer in the room at all.The official version seems to be that Postecoglou was fired 18 minutes after his final defeat at the City Ground. In reality he was fired in real time, a live-action televised touchline sacking, gone from the moment Evangelos Marinakis disappeared from his seat midway through the second half with the look of a gamekeeper required now to the wring the neck of a dying pheasant. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans is a terrible decision – and a depressing one | Barney Ronay

The idea that barring the Israeli club’s supporters from Villa Park will de-escalate a volatile situation just doesn’t stand upWell, at least we have Ayoub Khan in the house, Birmingham MP and a voice of tolerance, unity and de-escalation in these difficult times. “Sports entertainment events should be enjoyed by all regardless of their race, ethnicity and background,” Khan wrote on X on Thursday. One hundred per cent this. Heart emoji. Slay, king. This is not just the best part of sport. It’s the only real point.“Now is the time to ease tensions, set aside political difference and focus on the football,” Khan concluded, scattering flowers of all shades, fluttering his fingers to release a cascade of butterflies, and opening his arms to embrace, personally, brothers and sisters of every caste and clime. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago England have their best chance of winning World Cup since 1970 – and Tuchel is the key | Barney Ronay

This new realistic, pragmatic approach, with no snags or celebrity bodge-jobs, means that this time could be the oneWe’re on our way. We are Tom’s 26. This time, more than any other time, this time. We’re going to find a way. Find a way to get it right. This time. Well, maybe. Next time is also good. And the time after that. You don’t like this time? We have other times. Hey, Spain are pretty good right now aren’t they.There is an entire multilayered history of Englishness in the basic tone and mood of English World Cup excitement. It is easy to forget that when the 1982 squad, AKA Ron’s 22, released the song This Time, a tortured paean to finally erasing their own ancestral agony, England had actually won the World Cup only 16 years earlier. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Trump’s Gaza plan hinges on security force yet to take shape

Thornier second stage of US president’s proposal includes Hamas’s disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal

Politics

2 w. ago Flag alert! Gary Neville may not be Orwell but he is a very English type of patriot | Barney Ronay

An easy target for accusations of luxury hypocrisy, Neville has at least tried to address an issue that has everything to do with aggressively flag-draped and militarised modern sport“At the far end of the food counter a group of men were pledging allegiance to the flag, with trays balanced in one hand, in order to be allowed to take seats at the table. A group that had arrived earlier was singing The Star-Spangled Banner in order that they might use the salt and pepper and ketchup there.”Welcome to our own Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade, another real-time demonstration of the fact every satirical absurdity described in Catch-22 has become, yeah, pretty much totally plausible. The nation is now fully hostage to bad actors and phoney rage. And as ever football must act as a key amplifier of all this, a public echo chamber for the anxieties of what we must, out of a sense of duty, still call the real world. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago How Arsenal are taking the fight to Chelsea and Man City in aggressive youth academy drive

Special report: Arsenal making ground in raging battle with Premier League rivals for best young talent as Per Mertesacker plan starts to take shape

Sport

3 w. ago Wirtz becomes latest footballer battling to best their objectively weird price tag | Barney Ronay

High-technique midfielder is talented enough for his Liverpool move to work out but most transfers over £80m don’tThe verdict is in on the new Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson movie, The Smashing Machine, which does look pretty good to be fair. The key takeaway is this. Anyone who might have dismissed The Rock as simply a bald, grizzled, muscled-up fight sport veteran is going to have to eat their words.It turns out The Rock is actually a really good actor. There is talk of a previously unseen ability to inhabit a character, to subsume his entire identity within a role. The role, in this case, of a bald, grizzled, muscled-up fight sport veteran. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Ødegaard and Gyökeres on centre stage as Arteta’s Arsenal plan takes shape | Barney Ronay

With an enticing run of fixtures coming up and the captain back to his best, an enjoyable autumn seems on the cardsAnd breathe. As Bukayo Saka shot low, hard and ultimately through Kostas Tzolakis in the Olympiakos goal to complete an occasionally uncomfortable 2-0 win, the noise from the home crowd was more a weary, sofa-flopping sigh than a roar of triumph, with the sense, finally, of a midweek putting-to-bed.This was a game Arsenal always looked like they were winning, despite seeming to realise this a little too early in the piece against eager and purposeful opponents. Nobody attracts the stern and unforgiving eye quite like this Arsenal team, for whom squad depth, the unforgivable act of acquiring a potentially title‑winning team, is the latest crime on the rap sheet. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago At any normal club Ruben Amorim would lose his job – but not Manchester United | Barney Ronay

Obdurate manager’s Ruben-ball could arguably take the blame for Fernandes’s penalty fluff in another utterly bloodless performanceYou’ve got to hand it to the reliably prolific pain-content generator that is Manchester United. Even at the end of a performance that was, if nothing else, a perfect example of empty and bloodless systems football, 90 minutes that felt like watching a robot with a cold go for a walk, this thing can still offer you stories, mini-arcs, narrative Easter eggs.The only shame is we will have to wait another six months, April at Stamford Bridge, to see if Bruno Fernandes can complete the perfect hat-trick of weirdly missed west London penalties. Continue reading...

Society

3 w. ago At any normal club Ruben Amorim would lose his job – but not United | Barney Ronay

Obdurate manager’s Ruben-ball could arguably take the blame for Fernandes’s penalty fluff in another utterly bloodless performanceYou’ve got to hand it to the reliably prolific pain-content generator that is Manchester United. Even at the end of a performance that was, if nothing else, a perfect example of empty and bloodless systems football, 90 minutes that felt like watching a robot with a cold go for a walk, this thing can still offer you stories, mini-arcs, narrative Easter eggs.The only shame is we will have to wait another six months, April at Stamford Bridge, to see if Bruno Fernandes can complete the perfect hat-trick of weirdly missed west London penalties. Continue reading...

Society

3 w. ago Potter sacked, Brentford v Manchester United buildup, Madrid derby – matchday live

⚽ Join us to discuss another busy day of football⚽ View today’s fixtures | Mail us or comment BTLSports politics: Ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Norway next month, it is not possible, no matter what your deep emotional loyalties might be, to argue with the idea Israel shouldn’t currently be playing international sport. Words: Barney Ronay.Brentford v Manchester United: Today’s early kick-off in the Premier League is being broadcast on TNT Sports here in the UK and while Rio Ferdinand may have quit his job as a pundit with the network in order to relocate to Dubai, he has still been offering opinions on Manchester United’s decidedly underwhelming start to the season. Continue reading...

Society