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• Chair’s 25-year tenure concludes with mixed legacy

• New leadership team includes Enic director Charrington

Daniel Levy has left his role as the chair of Tottenham, eased aside after almost 25 years in charge and leaving a legacy that is best described as mixed. The Lewis family, who own the club, have put a new leadership team in place with Peter Charrington, who was brought on to the board in March, stepping into a newly created role of nonexecutive chair.

Vinai Venkatesham, who was named as the chief executive in April, will grow further in influence and one of their principal goals will be to attract fresh investment. It is understood that it is essential for Spurs to drive their varied plans to expand the business, which would help in the ultimate ambition of bringing on-field success.

• Club affected by Premier League and Uefa financial fair play

• ‘It’s crazy. We’re going to have to deal with what we’ve got’

Ezri Konsa has said that football’s spending regulations “killed” Aston Villa during a difficult summer transfer window. The club, who have started the season badly with one point from three games and no goals scored, were hemmed in by the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules and the equivalent in Uefa competition.

Villa paid out one major fee – £30.5m to Nice for Evann Guessand – and made only four further first-team additions, Marco Bizot being followed in on deadline day by Victor Lindelöf, Harvey Elliott and Jadon Sancho. The club were open to selling Emiliano Martínez only for there to be no buyer and moved Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle for £39m despite Unai Emery preferring to keep him. As a homegrown player, Ramsey counted as pure profit on the books.

• Destroying documents sought by IFR will be a crime

• Other sanctions include fines and compelled sale of clubs

Rogue owners could be imprisoned for the most serious violations of the Football Governance Act under plans set out by the new Independent Football Regulator (IFR). Other mooted sanctions include fines of up to 10% of a club’s revenue and being forced to sell up.

The proposals for a new test for owners, directors and senior executives are critical to the regulator’s activities in a climate in which clubs such as Morecambe and Sheffield Wednesday have experienced existential peril. Their intention is to assess the “honesty, integrity and financial soundness” of those currently or potentially running a club in the English professional game. They have been published for public consultation until 6 October, with the intention that the new regime is imposed as soon as possible. The government wants to fast-track the regulator’s start so that its powers are activated in the autumn.

Kazakhstan, 114th in the Fifa rankings and all in yellow, represented a banana skin on an artificial surface in Astana. Their last World Cup qualifying victory was almost 12 years ago, a narrow success over the Faroe Islands, but this was anything but a straightforward win for Wales.

By the end the chances were totting up, Craig Bellamy’s side clinging on with the Kazakhstan substitute Serikzhan Muzhikov cracking the bar with the final action, a 95th-minute free-kick. The visitors were ultimately grateful for Kieffer Moore’s first-half strike, which was sufficient to earn a victory that keeps alive their hopes of automatic qualification from Group J.

• Germans lose first ever away qualifier in 52 matches

• Spain and Belgium ease to comfortable victories

Four-time world champions Germany suffered their first away loss in a World Cup qualifier after their shock 2-0 defeat by hosts Slovakia in Bratislava on Thursday in Group A.

The Germans, who have set a goal of winning the 2026 World Cup, had never before lost a World Cup qualifier on the road in 52 matches, and they have now lost their last three consecutive games, after defeats by Portugal and France in the Nations League in June.

• 20-year-old’s fee may break world record with add-ons

• Grace Clinton and Jess Park swap clubs in Manchester

Chelsea have signed the USA winger Alyssa Thompson from Angel City for an upfront fee understood to be just shy of $1.5m (£1.1m), which sources say could climb close to a world-record sum with potential add-ons, on a dramatic transfer deadline day in the Women’s Super League.

Thompson is understood to have put pen to paper on a five-year contract with just over an hour to spare before the window shut at 11pm. The 20-year-old completed a medical earlier on Thursday in London, after boarding a flight from Los Angeles late on Wednesday night, amid extensive negotiations between the two clubs.

Desire to end World Cup hiatus is palpable but squad starts qualifying campaign on Friday with clear weak points

An extra layer of poignancy was associated with the death of Jimmy Bone this week. An individual who made a huge contribution to Scottish club football, the robust forward’s only goal for his country came in Copenhagen’s original Parken. Denmark 1 Scotland 4 in October 1972. The Scots, then briefly under the management of Tommy Docherty, had set themselves on course to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, ending an absence of 16 years.

Come Friday, Copenhagen is again the venue. The painful wait this time stretches back to 1998. Togo, North Korea, Panama, Saudi Arabia and Wales have featured in the World Cup since Scotland last did. Steve Clarke will shortly become the longest-serving Scotland manager by games overseen. Scotland have a Ballon d’Or nominee – in respect of Scott McTominay’s country represented if not of birth – and six games to determine their 2026 fate.

• Striker in squad for Friday’s match with Manchester City

• Kerr missed 20 months because of a serious knee injury

Sam Kerr is poised to make her long-awaited return for Chelsea on Friday night after 20 months out because of a serious knee injury, when the Women’s Super League season gets under way.

The Chelsea head coach, Sonia Bompastor, said on Thursday that the Australia striker would be in her squad when the defending champions host Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

Shekiera Martinez is primed to be integral once again as the club close in on more investment to catch up with their rivals

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 11th (NB: this is not necessarily Sophie Downey’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 9th

Every deal in the NWSL, WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Première Ligue and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide

• Men’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

All the latest Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A deals and a club-by-club guide

• Women’s transfers summer 2025: all the moves

He diversified club’s affairs and secured a move to a superb stadium but on-pitch performance left fans deeply frustrated

If it hadn’t been for the football, Daniel Levy would be regarded as one of the great club executives. He oversaw the construction of what is widely regarded as the best club stadium in England. Tottenham’s training ground is one of the best in Europe. He kept costs low. He has diversified the business, so the club hosts NFL, rugby, boxing, monster trucks and major concerts. He even had the chutzpah to get Tottenham into Super League conversations, despite the fact they haven’t won the league since 1961. Yet over the past year, Levy has faced constant fan protests.

The news he had stepped down on Thursday came as a shock, although in retrospect there is perhaps a suggestion that he could feel the end approaching. In February he said “all options are open” in response to fan demands for his resignation. Last month, in a rare extended interview, given to Gary Neville, he remarked: “When I’m not here I’m sure I’ll get the credit,” a suggestion perhaps he was beginning to contemplate his legacy. He is 63 and missed the Uefa Super Cup final to help his daughter settle in at university in the US, perhaps an indication of somebody beginning to reassess their life priorities.

Midfielder reveals decision behind Scotland snub as he aims to join luminaries who began at Wallsend Boys Club

A sense of pride and achievement should accompany a first call-up to a senior national team yet it planted a seed of doubt in Elliot Anderson. Two years on and that seed has borne fruit for England, while adding to Scotland’s regret.

It was August 2023 when Anderson was named in the Scotland squad for the first time. An international debut beckoned for the youngster from Whitley Bay, who is eligible to play for Scotland through his grandmother, in the following month’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Cyprus and the friendly with England at Hampden Park. “He had a little think about choosing between Scotland and England,” the manager, Steve Clarke, said at the time.“We had some good discussions with the boy and his family and he has chosen to come with us, which is good for us now and certainly good for us in the future.” Anderson would never come good for Scotland, as it transpired.

Spurs will look to bounce back after a disappointing 2024-25 campaign and have brought in Martin Ho as their new manager

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 10th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 11th

Third-place WSL finish will be hard to repeat but Champions League group stages are in reach and Fridolina Rolfö is an eye-catching signing

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 4th (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 3rd

New head coach Andrée Jeglertz will be expected to return City to Europe after they missed out on the Women’s Champions League last season

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 3rd (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 4th

More change for last season’s Championship winners, with 15 new players signed as Michele Kang’s big-money project continues to take shape

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 7th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 1st in the Championship

• West Ham player wants to recover his legal costs

• FA already facing bill of about £1m for its legal expenses

Lucas Paquetá is planning to launch a legal claim for more than £1m in costs against the Football Association after the publication of the regulatory commission’s 314-page report that cleared the West Ham player of spot-fixing.

The Guardian has learned that while Paquetá is unlikely to sue the FA for damages for lost earnings from its two-year case against him, which led to the collapse of a proposed £85m transfer to Manchester City in the summer of 2023, the 27-year-old will make a claim to recover legal costs of between £1m and £1.5m.

Former Royal Marine, 53, was arrested after car allegedly driven into crowd celebrating Premier League victory

A man has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges, including dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm with intent, after a car was allegedly driven into a crowd of people in Liverpool.

Paul Doyle, 53, was arrested on 29 May after allegedly driving through a crowd of Liverpool football club supporters during the team’s Premier League trophy parade in the city centre on the evening of 26 May.

• Kulusevski, Dragusin and Bissouma also omitted

• Uefa requires squads to have eight ‘homegrown’ players

Thomas Frank has left Mathys Tel out of his Tottenham squad for the league phase of the Champions League while he has been unable to find room in it for Dejan Kulusevski and Radu Dragusin – even though they could return from long-term injuries while there are still ties to play.

Frank has been in an impossible position because of how the profile of his players has jarred with Uefa’s regulations. Put simply, the head coach has too few homegrown squad members and too many who have come from elsewhere. He was always going to have to exclude six players from his 25-man “A” list.

• Both players were part of England squad at Euro 2025

• London City close to signing Barcelona’s Lucía Corrales

Manchester City and Manchester United have agreed a deal for the England midfielders Grace Clinton and Jess Park to swap clubs, in a transfer that it is understood would essentially mean City buying Clinton for an undisclosed sum plus Park.

Both players have only one year remaining on their contracts and it is believed City had multiple bids to sign Clinton rejected by their local rivals, before United proposed the idea of bringing Park in the other direction as part of the deal.

• Experts believed club had 1% chance of survival

• Ties to Roman Abramovich led to KNVB’s investigation

Vitesse Arnhem have been dealt a dramatic reprieve after an appeals court ruled against the Royal Dutch Football Association’s (KNVB) decision to revoke their professional licence.

Vitesse looked doomed after a civil court in Utrecht judged in favour of the KNVB last month, appearing to confirm the 133-year-old club would be kicked out of the Netherlands’ second division. Many supporters were resigned to at least one season in the cold after no arrangement to continue in amateur football could be reached, but they will now be able to watch their team again after a shock turnaround on Wednesday.

At one point not long ago, the world governing body at least tried to look like it cared about growing the game worldwide. Not any more

If there’s the tiniest sliver of an upside to the latest news about ticketing for the 2026 World Cup, it’s that we can finally dispense with the pretense that Fifa is interested in growing the game any more.

Fifa confirmed on Wednesday that it will, for the first time, use a dynamic ticket pricing model for the tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. While tickets will initially range from $60 for the cheap seats in some group-stage matches to $6,730 for the best vantage point at the final, those prices will then be algorithmically handed over to the market to respond to demand, which will probably cause them to skyrocket. After all, the first tranche of tickets goes on sale through an application and lottery system next week, but the World Cup draw will not take place until December. The gap between ticket sales and the assignment of teams to those actual matches all but guarantees a surge of demand for a diminished supply.

Bolivia, Peru, struggling Nigeria and flagging Italy face an uphill struggle, but others have reason for optimism

There are only three automatic places available via the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers because the USA, Mexico and Canada have secured their spots as hosts, although the two best runners-up head into the inter-confederation playoffs. Suriname have made it to the final round of qualifying only once before and will be hoping to kick off their campaign with a victory when they host Panama in Paramaribo on Thursday. Managed by the former Netherlands goalkeeper Stanley Menzo, they have been steadily climbing Fifa’s rankings since allowing players born in the Netherlands with Surinamese heritage to represent the national side and have the Huddersfield defender Radinio Balker in their ranks.

The manager has been bold – £320m of new players, a new assistant and new tactics – but fans will have to be patient

By WhoScored

Few clubs embody ambition quite like Manchester City. They have won 18 trophies in nine years under Pep Guardiola but, for just the second time in his tenure, they finished last season without a trophy. Given that City had won the previous four Premier League titles, it was easy to downplay it as a mere stumble, a season disrupted by injuries and a cloud of legal issues.

They have responded by investing £320m in the squad in 2025 – including a staggering £180m in the January window, almost matching the rest of the Premier League’s combined spend – so the ambition for this season was clear. City were supposed to regain their aura of invincibility and win again. On the opening day of the new season, they looked every bit that side. Their 4-0 dismantling of Wolves felt like a warning sign. The message seemed clear: Guardiola’s six-time champions were back to their ruthless best.

The former Chelsea midfielder has been on a long, gruelling journey, but he has earned a long-awaited international recall

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was riding high. The 2018‑19 season had been very good for him. The midfielder scored 10 goals for Chelsea and there was one game to come: the Europa League final against Arsenal. Beyond that, he had an eye on the Nations League finals with England and the chance to add to his 10 caps. Four of them had come at the 2018 World Cup in Russia; memories that will never fade. He was only 23. He was about to take the next step. And then it all fell apart.

Loftus-Cheek is addressing the media at St George’s Park. He could be forgiven for pinching himself after being given an England recall on Tuesday as a late replacement for the injured Adam Wharton. Did anyone expect Thomas Tuchel to turn to him for the World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia? Did Loftus-Cheek dare to dream himself? His previous call-up had been in March 2019 when he was forced to withdraw through injury. The last of his caps was against USA in November 2018.

• Spurs full-back says England call-up ‘proves them wrong’

• Spence could become first Muslim to play for senior side

Djed Spence has said that he keeps a mental note of everyone who doubted his ability to make it, including Antonio Conte and Neil Warnock, and that a first England call-up serves as a fitting rebuttal.

The Tottenham full-back admits it has been “a long journey” to reach the England senior squad, having been sent on loan three times by Spurs before establishing himself in the Premier League last season. Spence was also loaned out at Middlesbrough in 2021 by Warnock, who warned him he could be playing non‑league football in five years unless his dedication improved.

Before Thursday’s World Cup qualifier, John McAllister’s final stop will be to meet Craig Bellamy and the team

For Wales, Thursday’s World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan presents challenges aplenty. In between preparing to play on an artificial surface at the Astana Arena, there is a balance between maximising precious time on the pitches and prioritising recovery. Wales took an eight-hour direct flight from Cardiff to Astana, avoiding Ukrainian airspace, and their only real training session as a full squad will be 24 hours before kick-off. Player body clocks will be programmed to a two-hour – not four-hour – time difference.

One Wales supporter, John McAllister, spied a challenge in the fixture. His odyssey, inspired by the BBC’s Race Across the World, began five weeks ago when he left home in Barry, south Wales. Since 29 July he has been travelling from Cymru to Kazakhstan, the world’s ninth-largest country by land area and the largest to be landlocked, documenting his journey in a series of YouTube videos. The 26-year-old has covered about 5,000km. More than 1,100 Wales fans will be at the game but only one, understandably, has been directly referenced by Craig Bellamy. “We’ve got to see him, because it means so much to us,” the Wales manager said.

Familiar tones of rage, pain and betrayal that envelop men’s football were missing during England’s joyful run to glory

“You can’t stand their voices? ALL women’s voices?” “Yes.” “Are you married to a woman?” “I am. And she feels the same.” Hmm. To be fair to Dave from Egham, whose name has been changed to protect the confused, the whole setup here was pretty bleak. It was Dave’s destiny a week on from England’s victory at Euro 2025 to find himself going viral after an appearance on LBC radio.

In the clip Dave objects to the sound of all women’s voices, even if they’re Adele or Billie Holiday. Specifically he objects to women talking about women’s sport, which Dave hates because it is being thrown down his throat, and thrown down his throat to the extent he has to ring up a radio station and talk about the women talking about the women’s sport, simply to disentangle its tendrils from his throat, to steal a few gargling, sputtering final breaths.

Its young, diverse and passionate fanbase offers a huge opportunity, but too many clubs are only scratching the surface

The Lionesses are simply the most successful England football team in history, winning back-to-back European Championships and becoming the first England senior team to win a major tournament on foreign soil. It is an incredible achievement and one that will reverberate through the women’s game for many years to come.

The head coach, Sarina Wiegman, is simply world class; it’s an overused phrase but absolutely fitting in this case. To reach five major finals in a row (including a European Championship win and a World Cup final with the Netherlands before joining England) is a record that may never be surpassed. She was an inspired choice by Kay Cossington, the former Football Association technical director who targeted her for her ability to build a strong culture and sense of team as much as her obvious tactical acumen.

• Carter feared Lauren James would face similar abuse

• ‘It’s about knowing how it’s going to be if we miss’

Jess Carter has said she was relieved when three of her white England teammates joined Lauren James in missing penalties in the Euro 2025 quarter-final shootout against Sweden. Carter, who was the target of online racism during the tournament, feared James would be on the receiving end of similar abuse if she had been the only one to miss.

Beth Mead, Alex Greenwood and Grace Clinton then missed as well, but the Lionesses progressed before going on to defeat Spain in the final in another shootout.

Choosing the best matches from Switzerland provokes plenty of debate along with the outstanding players and the pick of the goals

England seemed to have lost it once, twice, three times against Sweden on a night of nail-shredding drama that sharpened the sense that destiny had rich bounty in store for Sarina Wiegman’s side. It was also the first match, no doubt of many over the coming years, that made a hero of Michelle Agyemang. Nick Ames

Captain Robert Andrich bemoaned his team’s ‘misery’ while those upstairs did little to back Xabi Alonso’s successor

“You say it best, when you say nothing at all,” was how Ronan Keating put it in a 1999 cover version. Whether Erik ten Hag will choose to get over his latest breakup with a tub of ice-cream in front of a rewatch of Notting Hill is open to conjecture but if he did, lyrics dotted through the film are sure to have an added poignancy.

Ten Hag didn’t need telling that in only his second Bundesliga game in charge of Bayer Leverkusen, they and he had a bad afternoon. Going to a diminished and depleted Werder Bremen (it is probably too early to say lowly, even though we strongly suspect that is the part of the table where they may end up spending most of their time), Die Werkself appeared to be on top of things, holding a 3-1 lead and a man advantage.

Fans sang for the striker to ‘take us to Europe’ as he arrived in Italy to join an unfancied team brimming with positivity

Jamie Vardy had not reached his destination, but already he was getting a taste of what may await him, a crowd of Cremonese supporters greeting him at the exit of Milan’s Linate airport – 50 miles away from their team’s home town. Never mind the fact it was almost midnight on a Sunday. He hopped out of his car to sign autographs – one over a tattoo of his own face. They sang for him to “take us to Europe”.

Even in a summer of famous names making unexpected late-career moves to Italy – from Kevin De Bruyne and Napoli to Luka Modric at Milan – Vardy joining Cremonese feels most improbable of all. A player who once finished eighth in the Ballon d’Or vote, signing for a club with a 16,000-seater stadium who have made only fleeting appearances in the top flight since they were founded in 1903.

The small, proud Madrid club are back in Europe this season but playing against a backdrop of a civil war

The drunk, the brainless and the idle enjoyed this. They had said they wouldn’t sing, but the best nights aren’t planned they just happen, and in the end it was their kind of night. Chaotic, wild, a lot wrong but alright, like a picture of who they are, sticking it to the man up here and down there. Packed into crumbling, filthy stands, Rayo Vallecano’s fans didn’t see their team get a deserved victory against Barcelona on Sunday but on a torn-up, dried-out pitch with not much grass, in a ground where VAR became the latest thing to fail, they did watch them fight and do it their way too, flying into the team with a budget 18 times bigger as if they weren’t big at all. “Fantastic,” Hansi Flick called them.

It started as a protest and never stopped being one but it became something else too, something fun; they had been infuriated, worn down over years, and then they had been insulted but they couldn’t help but enjoy themselves, protest and party in one. Three days after Rayo had definitively qualified for the Conference League the team that is not just in the neighbourhood but of the neighbourhood almost comically incongruous in Europe, Rayo’s supporters announced they were going on strike. Rayo’s players meanwhile laid into the treble winners, worthy of more than the 1-1 draw it finished. But for a Lamine Yamal penalty which the broken video assistant system couldn’t correct, they might have got it. But for goalkeeper Joan García they definitely might.

The 23-year-old forward scored the opening goal and set up the last-minute winner as Monaco beat Strasbourg 3-2

By Get French Football News

“There are players that, at 17 or 18 years old, are ready,” says the Monaco Under-17s coach Manu Dos Santos. Maghnes Akliouche was not one of them. The Monaco forward was never sold a glistening career but, through patience, he is forging one.

Akliouche spoke of a “great surprise” when he watched Didier Deschamps read out his name on Thursday. In truth, his maiden call-up to the France squad could have come sooner. His tally of 19 goal contributions for Monaco last season, including a stunning goal in the Champions League against Barcelona, have put him in the conversation for some time.

As toxic nationalism spills over into our shared spaces, the England shirt is freighted with meaning for better or worse

The crosses of St George are flying all around me. Fair to say the opening line of Three Lions ’98 hits a little differently in 2025. The crosses of St George are being daubed on an Islamic centre in Basildon. The crosses of St George are being used to deface a Chinese takeaway in York. The crosses of St George are draped over men shouting at a three-star hotel from a mini-roundabout. The crosses of St George are retailing for about £2.36 on Temu, depending on whether you want them car-window sized, or big enough to write the words “GET OFF MY LAND” in the white spaces.

Keir Starmer has declared that he is “a supporter of flags”. Alas, at the time of writing the prime minister’s position on other items of tactile fabric remains unclear. What does he think about blankets? Does he endorse or condemn the dishcloth? Not to be outdone, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, disclosed that she has St George’s bunting on display at home. “I would put them up anywhere,” she confirmed, which – anatomically speaking – is not an image any of us needed right now.

Defender should still end up at Anfield despite deadline drama, but the manager’s hardline stance may worry the club board

“Marc and me, we have the same fate,” Oliver Glasner said with a smile. It was the eve of Crystal Palace’s meeting with Liverpool in the Community Shield and – not for the last time over the next few weeks – the unavoidable question of his captain’s future had just been broached.

Marc Guéhi had entered the final year of his contract at Palace and everyone knew a swift resolution was needed. “Of course, everybody wants Marc to sign a new contract,” said Glasner, who had broken off negotiations about extending his own deal after leading Palace to their first major trophy by winning the FA Cup a few weeks earlier. “It will be his decision. We never know what will happen in this sometimes crazy transfer market.”

The juggernaut was captured in one three-month tracking shot, but this summer market told us something deeper – about football and the nation

By the time the clock hit 7.30pm the main presenter on Monday’s Sky Sports Window Slam Countdown looked not just frazzled, but oddly heroic, like a man who has ingested a potentially fatal overdose of late-breaking excitement and is now being encouraged to keep talking in a low, dogged voice about massive deals and unexpected snags just to keep himself awake until the paramedics arrive.

There was something of the Situation Room about the whole tableau, five nobly dishevelled talking heads leaning in around the curved tables, lists of names earnestly reeled off. Eberechi Eze. Randal Kolo Muani. We’re hearing that Coventry has fallen. In the bottom corner of the screen a picture of Marc Guéhi would flash up now and then reproachfully, Guéhi wearing a strange, lost smile as though he has in fact died. And below it all the countdown clock replaced with the simple end‑of‑days message: WINDOW CLOSED.

Fans will continue to lap up massive games but perhaps the teams involved will conclude they are not that important

Liverpool v Real Madrid! Arsenal v Bayern! Chelsea v Napoli! Madrid v Manchester City! Bayern v Chelsea! Newcastle v Barcelona! Inter v Liverpool! PSG v Bayern! City v Napoli! Madrid v Juventus! Chelsea v Barcelona! It can’t be denied that the Champions League draw threw up some ties that look like massive games.

These are games that have massive teams in them. They are happening in a massive competition. There will be famous players in famous kits in famous stadiums. There will be Champions League branding. They will play the Champions League theme tune. They will use the Champions League ball, taking its cues this season from the night sky and featuring hand-drawn zodiac signs in gold that symbolise heroic deeds and heavenly destiny. It will all look like something really important.

Our cartoonist on chaos at Craven Cottage, Nicolas Jackson’s gap year and Howard Webb’s apology muffins

• Buy copies of David’s cartoons in our Print Shop

• David’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: buy it now

We assess how each top-flight side fared in the search for quality and value during the summer window

• Transfer interactive: all the deals from across Europe

Andrea Berta’s first transfer window since taking over as sporting director has been busy. Headline moves for Viktor Gyökeres and Eberechi Eze have given Mikel Arteta the firepower and creativity he asked for, while Martín Zubimendi has added class to midfield. The arrival of Cristhian Mosquera, Christian Nørgaard, Noni Madueke and Kepa Arrizabalaga has also added depth to Arsenal’s squad that is already being called on after a series of early season injuries, while the late signing of the exciting Ecuador defender Piero Hincapié should prove to be a shrewd addition. Ed Aarons

Behind the scenes on transfer window’s final day as the Hatters bagged their top target in a loan deal

“Can my dog live in the apartment?” Ben Osborn asks Stockport’s first-team scouting operations manager, Dale Hargan. The Derby midfielder is about to undergo a medical before joining the League One side on a season-long loan and there are questions that need to be answered.

It is deadline day and Osborn has left his East Midlands home for the prospect of more regular playing time. He will be one of three arrivals at Edgeley Park before the window closes, the end of half a year of planning for Stockport. It looks like everything has gone smoothly when Osborn eventually signs the relevant paperwork at 6pm in the boardroom at the club’s training ground clad in official merchandise. Relief can be seen on the faces of the recruitment team. Their hard work has paid off.

Swede is not a classic central striker, but could his signing herald tactical tweaks and what does it mean for Salah?

On the face of it, it’s not hard to see why Liverpool would want Alexander Isak. He will not turn 26 until later this month and has scored more than 20 Premier League goals in each of the past two seasons, something matched only by Erling Haaland. But he offers more than just goals; he’s a very modern centre-forward.

Thirty or 40 years ago, when 4-4-2 was still the dominant formation, strike pairings tended to come in two forms: either target-man and finisher, or creator and finisher. These days, the very best centre-forwards combine traits of all three. This is not entirely new: the days of Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush or Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips are long gone and football has been familiar for some time with players of the ilk of Didier Drogba, Andriy Shevchenko and Radamel Falcao, forwards with pace and some blend of physicality and technical ability.

Arsenal’s cautious, cagey, risk-averse approach showed a lack of adventure and they paid the price against Liverpool

You can get it if you really want. You really can. You can get it. Getting it is a distinct and achievable outcome. There is just one caveat. You do have to actually show some sign of wanting to get it, to throw a little risk to the wind.

This seemed to be the catch for Mikel Arteta at Anfield, on a day where for long periods his Arsenal team were in the ascendancy, dishing up a performance that was assured and compact, but also a bit like watching a politician giving a campaign interview on live TV where the idea is to simply say nothing, wear the right tie, filibuster, convinced that if nothing happens then good things are probably happening. This felt like a kind of high-end Starmer-ball. Hold the line. Let the other guy lose.

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Leighton Baines, John Stones, Luke Shaw, Kieran Gibbs, Ryan Bertrand, Danny Rose, Nathaniel Clyne, Aaron Cresswell, Kyle Walker, Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard, Ben Chilwell, Eric Dier, Kieran Trippier, Bukayo Saka, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Tyrone Mings, Tyrick Mitchell, James Justin, Reece James, Levi Colwill, Fikayo Tomori, Rico Lewis, Joe Gomez, Adam Wharton, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Lewis Hall, Myles Lewis-Skelly.

The new season starts on Friday with Sonia Bompastor’s side chasing a seventh consecutive title but rivals have hope

After a breathless summer that included heart-stopping penalty shootouts, a swath of managerial changes and even the women’s game’s first £1m transfer fee, as the new Women’s Super League season arrives, the million-dollar question is, can anyone stop Chelsea?

The defending champions have won six WSL titles in a row and they notched up a record points tally last term to win the championship by their largest margin yet – 12. Ominously for their rivals, they were trying to strengthen their squad even further during the final hours of the transfer window with the signing of the United States winger Alyssa Thompson from Angel City. Chelsea are, undeniably, the dominant force in the modern English women’s game and appear to be getting only stronger.

Star names have been missing but second half of campaign should bring renewed interest after ratings spike last year

Halfway through the NWSL’s 13th regular season, the league reported TV ratings were trending down. But August has already shown glimmers of recovery and context adds important caveats to that downward slope.

As first reported by Sports Business Journal, when the league took a month-long break midway through the year in July, ratings were down by 8% across their multiplatform media partnership. That partnership, which is now in its second year, was signed in November 2023 with CBS, ESPN, ION (Scripps Sports) and Prime Video for a deal worth $240m – a huge increase from their previous one-party partnership with CBS worth $4.5m. In its first year, the league saw a big uptick in viewing numbers as matches proliferated across a variety of outlets, reaching a wider audience.

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The joy of a Bigger Cup European tour is what makes a season for the fans – the trinket on offer in Budapest is merely a bonus. Six Premier League sides will get to test themselves against the best over the coming months and there are a few new faces in the competition and some intriguing passport stamps to collect. Who wouldn’t want to travel to the Cypriot city of Paphos in September to watch their beloved club play David Luiz’s Pafos FC? The temperature reaches 29C and there is no chance of rain. There are miles and miles of beaches to enjoy with a Keo in hand. If anything, the prospect of a 90-minute match is a bit of a distraction. The even better news is there are flights from London, Manchester and Newcastle.

I’m someone who is passionate and will fight ever[y] time I step on the pitch. But I need to set a better example and you fans know how much I love you and this club” – West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen takes to InstaChat to expain why he appeared to lose his cool with a West Ham fan after they were knocked out of the Milk Cup by Wolves.

A doff of the cap to the Leeds fans, who went from chanting Sheffield Wednesday’s hopefully soon to be ex-owner, Dejphon Chansiri’s name to booing their own side and leaving during the penalty shootout as they lost to what is essentially our under-21 team. And an extra doff of the cap to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, making his debut for Leeds, who fluffed three easy chances to win it for them in the last 10 minutes and then, in the penalty shootout, did his own heartwarming tribute to Wednesday legend Chris Waddle (circa Italia 1990). Hurrah!” – Noble Francis.

Thank you Celtic for giving us the daunting prospect of impossible away-day draws, cheesy headlines and, worst of all, hearing about that teenager Chelsea have already signed until 2068 every single week. Yes Kairat Almighty, the unbeaten at home Beast from the Far East. The broadcasters and tabloids are going to milk this to the last drop aren’t they? As a Spurs fan, I am already dreading the second half of our inevitable fixture against them. I hope you enjoy Bigger Vase, Celtic” –Yannick Woudstra.

I can assure Alex Cameron (yesterday’s Football Daily) he was not alone in his interpretation of your wine-related strapline. Maybe readers could suggest suitable managerial or player candidates to receive a bottle of Chateau d’Arse, an amusing little Fitou from the Languedoc-Rousillon region” – Max Maxwell.

Federico Macheda (yesterday’s Football Daily) – now there’s a blast from the past! The last time I heard that name, I looked like Jack Grealish before he signed for City. Fortunately, as someone who’s only 40 in January, I’m still some ways away from looking like Everton Grealish” – Rowan Sweeney.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Plus: consecutive 3-2 defeats, more capital underachievers and a post-Christmas slump for the ages

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“When Reinildo Mandava started for Sunderland in their 3-0 win over West Ham, he became the first Mozambican to play in the Premier League, which has now hosted players from 125 different countries,” noted Owen Collins last week. “That only dates from 1992 though – are there any nationalities that played in the old First Division that haven’t yet been represented in the Premier League?”

Mandava’s debut actually takes the number of Premier League nationalities to 127, but are there any countries only represented in the English top flight before 1992? Well, the logical starting point is nations that only existed prior to 1992. Take it away, Darren Jalland: “Sergei Baltacha was, as far as I can tell, the only player from the Soviet Union whose entire club stint in England came before 1992 – he played for Ipswich Town from 1988 to 1990.”

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, George Elek and Sanny Rudravajhala to sift through a bonkers deadline day, questionable spending, and the best Championship pick-ups you’ve never heard of.

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On today’s pod: The panel reviews a hectic end to the transfer window, with Marc Guéhi staying put, Yoane Wissa forcing a move to Newcastle, and Alexander Isak being cast out of Geordie folklore. Chelsea finally sign an attacking wide man (sort of) in Facundo Buonanotte, and Spurs loan in Randal Kolo Muani. Villa go all-in with Sancho, Elliott, and Lindelöf, while Manchester City swap goalkeepers and Manchester United spend £200m to generate about £30m back.

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Over the last few months, Premier League clubs have been responsible for roughly £904984bn of spending, an act of such profound, altruistic love that even the stadia are in tiers. Nevertheless, the question begs: are any of them actually any good? Liverpool won last season’s title conceding more goals than every champion since 2013 – issues they are understandably keen to address. As such, they have cunningly replaced two full-backs who can’t defend with two other full-backs who can’t defend at a cost of £59.5m, and so far this season, they’ve conceded four league goals – as many as Manchester United, who in that time have been playing without a goalkeeper. But of course, blame for the malaise cannot be laid solely at the feet of the defenders. Liverpool’s midfield was also a factor in their relative permeability, a difficulty they’ve attempted to address by benching a more physical, defensively-minded type and bussing £116m on a new attacker to take his place; Florian Wirtz’s current contributions stand at 0 goals and 0 assists. And nor is that it! Arne Slot has also lumped £125m on Alexander Isak having already done £79m on Hugo Ekitike in preparation for the inevitability of a Bigger Cup knockout-stages undressing.

This decision was not an easy one for us. Nobody wanted to take this step. However, the past few weeks have shown that building a new and successful team with this setup is not feasible. We firmly believe in the quality of our team and will now do everything we can to take the next steps in our development with a new setup” – Bayer Leverkusen’s managing director, Simon Rolfes, confirms Erik ten Hag’s passage through the dreaded Door Marked Do One after just three games in charge. Oh Erik!

Noble Francis may not have agreed with me that the north starts at Sheffield (tedious Football Daily letters passim), but perhaps, given the Championship table, he’ll agree that it’s where it is all going south?” – Jon Millard.

Dominik Szoboszlai – the new Trent? Marauding right-back with stunning free-kicks. Either this is freaky or a testament to Arne Slot’s brilliance” – Nigel Sanders.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.