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We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 … and look at the editions from further back

• Wilshere takes over club he was with at age of eight

• Chris Powell is former Arsenal midfielder’s assistant

Jack Wilshere has been announced as the manager of Luton, giving the former Arsenal and England midfielder his first permanent role leading a team. The 33-year-old had two games in caretaker charge of Norwich at the end of last season but was overlooked for that job and the summer vacancy at Plymouth.

Wilshere takes over from Matt Bloomfield, who was sacked last week with Luton mid-table in League One. The club were in the Premier League in the 2023-24 season but have suffered back-to-back relegations.

Defender will win 100th cap against Belgium, just reward for the ultimate professional and his old school values

As a 19-year-old Premier League footballer at Swansea, Ben Davies always took an eternity to leave the club’s training ground. In those days, he drove an old Volkswagen Polo with manual windows – much to the amusement of the rest of the squad – and autograph-hunting supporters kept him busy.

“Ben would wind down the window, say hello, have a photo, sign something, wind it back up and then 15 yards on another fan would stop him and he’d do it all over again,” says Alan Curtis, Swansea’s assistant manager at the time. “But he did it without fuss. He was a lovely boy and he is a gentleman now.”

Someone within Hampden Park had the temerity to blast Freed From Desire over the public address system at full time. A song reserved normally for euphoric moments only just drowned out the jeers which met a Scotland victory. People just want more and more? Too right they do.

With this win, Steve Clarke and his players edged closer to the World Cup finals tournament. It was just that a return to that scene for the first time since 1998 felt a million miles away as the Scots limped and laboured past Belarus. “We know we have got to be better, man,” Scott McTominay said. The Napoli midfielder was even more profound as he scored Scotland’s second; second word “me” and the first a rhyme with “duck”. McTominay’s lack of celebrations depicted perfectly Scotland’s messy night.

• German said O’Neill’s approach ‘isn’t easy on the eyes’

• Three teams in Group A level on six points

The Germany manager, Julian Nagelsmann, has said he is “sorry” if Northern Ireland felt his comments about their style of play were disrespectful.

Nagelsmann caused a stir after Germany’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying win over Northern Ireland in Cologne last month when he said Michael O’Neill’s side play “a lot of long balls” with an approach that “isn’t particularly easy on the eyes”.

• New rules give clubs longer to sort out MCO issues

• Palace lost Europa League place despite Cas appeal

Uefa is planning to give clubs more time to resolve potential multiclub ownership (MCO) issues next season following the controversy that led to Crystal Palace being expelled last summer from the Europa League.

In a proposed change to its regulations discussed with elite clubs at a meeting last week of the newly named European Football Clubs in Rome, Uefa is poised to relax the 1 March deadline, which Palace failed to meet last season in an oversight that led to the FA Cup winners losing their Europa League place to Nottingham Forest.

Gareth Taylor said his Liverpool team just need more time together to implement his style, after they lost a fifth game out of five to remain without a point in the Women’s Super League this season.

Their latest defeat was inflicted by Taylor’s former side Manchester City, who – for the second season running – came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Anfield. Liverpool have a game in hand on the teams around them but sit joint-bottom of the table.

There was a collective deep sigh of relief around the Emirates Stadium at the end of 13 minutes of added time, Arsenal’s four-game winless run ended with victory against Brighton.

It wasn’t the most convincing of performances from the Gunners, a lack of any real clinical edge in the final third still a major concern, but a win’s a win.

Everton’s women played at Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time but visitors were easy 4-1 winners

“Ooh, this is lovely, isn’t it?” remarked Marc Skinner as he opened the door, merely at the sight of the media theatre as he walked into his press conference after his Manchester United side had won the first Women’s Super League fixture to be staged at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Before kick-off similar sentiments had been expressed around the concourse as 18,154 gathered for Everton women’s first game beside the docks.

Walking around the plaza outside the East Stand, it was clear that, for many of those in attendance, as well as being able to watch this WSL game, they were here because this was their first chance to see this tadium; there are understood to be more than 25,000 people on the waiting list for a men’s season ticket at this ground and many of them were therefore making their debut.

The Guardian’s fans’ network on the opening stages of 2025-26: their toughest opponents, biggest setbacks and tips for the next manager sacked

Story so far Top of the table, looking down at our rivals, despite still not really firing on all cylinders … it’s early days, but we’re struggling to keep a lid on the excitement here. Having star turns such as Havertz, Madueke and now Ødegaard succumb to long-term injury is a reminder of the risk of being derailed, but it does feel like we’ve never been better equipped to cope with the slings and arrows. Arteta is still unwrapping his new toys and figuring out the best way to use them – can’t wait to see how the chemistry develops.

Bernard Azulay onlinegooner.com; @GoonerN5

Jonathan Pritchard

Optimistic in August under Steve Bruce, Blackpool are now managerless and 23rd in League One after Stockport’s win

The Mick McCarthy “it can” meme is known far and wide as social media shorthand for woeful underperformance, although the full context is not.

When McCarthy was infamously asked if a miserable run of one win in 17 games could continue and issued the deadpan response “it can”, he was the Blackpool manager struggling through his ill-fated 2023 spell.

• Former Liverpool captain withdraws from talks

• Danny Röhl held talks with Ibrox ownership last week

The former Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Röhl is now the favourite to succeed Russell Martin at Rangers after Steven Gerrard dramatically withdrew from talks over the Ibrox post.

Gerrard, who had returned from the Middle East to meet with Ibrox officials in London, had been the overwhelming choice of the Rangers support. Those directors now face an even bigger challenge to win over a seriously disgruntled fan base. Rangers want a new manager in place before Dundee United visit Ibrox on Saturday.

On a day of pro-Palestine demonstrations, high security and skirmishes in Oslo, Norway run out convincing victors

A hot potato of an occasion passed with minor blemishes off the pitch. Erling Haaland stole the attention with a hat-trick on it, rendering his early double penalty miss a discordant memory, and the upshot was that Norway could look with clear heads toward a near-certain first World Cup appearance in 27 years. A win over Estonia next month will confirm their presence; Egil Olsen, their manager at France 1998, watched as Israel offered scant opposition to Europe’s most ruthless attacking force.

It also means Italy, already sore from successive failures to qualify, are likely to face another playoff date. Perhaps Norway’s domination of Group I should prove little surprise: the Israel manager, Ran Ben Shimon, said afterwards that they and Spain are the two best teams on the continent.

• Talks to extend manager’s contract reopened

• ‘I think for Oliver it’s about conditions being right’

The Crystal Palace chair, Steve Parish, has said they have reopened talks with Oliver Glasner over extending his contract beyond the end of this season but admitted they must match their Austrian manager’s ambition if they are to persuade him to stay in south London.

It is understood Palace first explored the possibility of extending his deal with Glasner’s representatives earlier in the year but discussions were put on ice as he guided them to a historic victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final at Wembley in May.

• Rules could be updated for the first time since 2014

• La Liga and Serie A set to play in Miami and Perth

Fifa has begun redrafting its regulations on staging domestic league games in foreign countries and is seeking legal advice over whether it can ban them. World football’s governing body would like to outlaw the practice but will be guided by legal opinion in its first review of the relevant regulations for 11 years.

A source involved in the process said Fifa was working towards making its rulebook more robust with a view to new regulations being ready early next year. This week Uefa blamed the “relevant Fifa regulatory framework” for its decision to allow Villarreal v Barcelona to take place in Miami in December and Milan v Como to go ahead in Perth in February. That is understood to have caused considerable irritation at Fifa because under existing regulations it is not their decision to make.

• Manager ‘happy’ with current camp after Wales win

• Bellingham and Foden left out despite full fitness

Thomas Tuchel says the ­“competition is on” to earn a place in ­England’s World Cup squad and insists the door will always be open for ­players with top quality and ­character to return.

The head coach made radical selection calls for this camp, placing the collective above individuals and introducing the possibility of star names not going to next summer’s World Cup by overlooking Jude ­Bellingham and Phil Foden despite both attackers being fit. Tuchel’s stated aim is to build the best team, not collect the best talents, and his hand was strengthened by ­England excelling without Bellingham, Foden and the injured Cole Palmer in their 3-0 friendly win over Wales on Thursday.

Veteran commentator answers your questions on famous lines, favourite stadiums and being told ‘Not for me, Clive’

What is the best sporting accomplishment or achievement you have commentated on and did you ever harbour personal ambitions to be a professional in any sport? Tony Medlock

I was never good enough at any sport to kid myself that I had a career at elite level. My parents would have told you that from an early age any sporting ambitions I entertained were in the area I ended up in; describing and commentating on top-level sport. I always resist any grading of goals or players or matches because I have a belief that sport belongs in its moment. Sport creates memories – we can recall vividly where we were, who we were with, what we were thinking, when our team won a trophy or an athlete won an Olympic gold medal … or Shane Lowry sunk a putt to seal the Ryder Cup. Those moments are very personal, and the job of the commentator is to try to add something to the memory of those moments. And those moments are unique and should remain separate from one another.

Dynamic pricing, crypto detritus and corporate doublespeak have made the task of buying 2026 World Cup tickets a grim case study in the monetization of emotion

When the first tickets for the 2026 World Cup went on sale last week, millions of fans joined online queues only to discover what Gianni Infantino’s assurance that “the world will be welcome” really means. The cheapest face-value seat for next summer’s final, somewhere in the gods of New Jersey’s 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium where the players are specks and the football’s a rumor, comes at a cost of $2,030 (oxygen tank not included). Most upper-deck seats range from $2,790 to $4,210, according to customers who finally glimpsed the prices that had been closely guarded. The much-touted $60 tickets for group-stage games, propped up by Fifa as evidence of affordability, exist only as comically tiny green smudges on the edge of digital seating maps, little more than mirages of inclusivity.

Fifa had kept the costs under wraps until the very moment of sale, replacing the usual published table of price points with a digital lottery that decided who even got the chance to buy. Millions spent hours staring at a queue screen as algorithms determined their place in line. When access finally came for most, the lower-priced sections had already vanished, many presumably hoovered up by bots and bulk-buyers (and that’s before Fifa quietly raised the prices of at least nine matches after only one day of sales). The whole process resembled less a ticket release than a psyop to calibrate how much frustration and scarcity the public will tolerate.

Former Manchester City coach is tasked with shaping expansion team but still has Champions League dream

More than 15,000 people have paid a deposit for a season ticket at Denver Summit FC despite the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) expansion club having only three players and yet to play a match. So the sense of responsibility that comes with the task of building a team the state of Colorado can be proud is one staff there are acutely aware of.

Principally, that mission has been assigned to Nick Cushing, the former Manchester City women’s and New York City men’s team head coach, who was hired as Denver’s first head coach in August, six months before they embark on their first NWSL campaign, when the division expands to 16 sides in February. It is not hard to see the logic behind the choice; the Englishman was in charge of City when they were new to an expanded Women’s Super League in 2014, with new signings such as Steph Houghton, Jill Scott and Toni Duggan. They went on to win a League Cup in their first top-flight season and the league title in 2016.

From replacing Rodri in the Euro 2024 final to leaving his hometown club, the calm Spain midfielder is taking everything in his stride

Mikel Arteta knew and so did Win. Dogs just do. “Well, of course,” Martín Zubimendi says, cracking up. The July day he walked through the doors at the Arsenal training centre, the club’s resident chocolate labrador – a therapy dog the head coach had brought in to bring the kind of calm wanted from the new signing too – was the first to welcome him. “It was lovely. I arrived with my parents, my agent, a small group, and she came straight to me, sat by me, rolled on the floor at my feet; that was very nice.”

It was also the way he would have wanted it, part of the plan. “She’s a bit like yours,” the sporting director, Andrea Berta, offered as Win lent against the midfielder’s legs. Zubimendi’s dog, Lea, hadn’t made it to London – he’s hoping she will soon – but this was a good start. There was a letter from Mikel Merino and a video call from Martin Ødegaard, teammates at Real Sociedad, yet no friendlier face than this. That can help when you’re departing the city you were born in and the club where you have been since you were 12.

The original throw-in specialist analyses how Premier League teams are reaping the rewards from set pieces

‘You are always looking for a super-strength,” says Dave Challinor. The Stockport manager has a tactics board in front him at the club’s training ground, offering a potential cure to the pain he inflicted on opponents for years. Long throws are back in fashion and causing panic across the Premier League as coaches once again see the merit in chaotic scenes.

Brentford are becoming the masters of the long throw under Keith Andrews, specifically via the arms of Michael Kayode, but face stiff competition, with numbers on the rise across the top flight. Missiles are being launched from touchlines to consistently great effect, bringing with them a headache for defenders and an extra weapon for attackers. Last season there was an average of 1.5 per game in the Premier League; that has risen to 3.7 this campaign. There have already been six goals as a direct result of long throws, compared with 15 in the entirety of last season. Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Tottenham, Newcastle and Sunderland have joined Brentford as the most regular users of the long throw.

Major League Soccer is proving a fertile ground for a growing band of Australian players and coaches

There is perhaps no greater reminder that Australia is a faraway island nation with limited global influence than the fact so many Australians pore over a niche form of online football content known as ‘Aussies Abroad’.

While the likes of Ned Zelic and Paul Okon were hardly the first Australian players to move to Europe, their arrivals at Borussia Dortmund and Club Brugge in the early 1990s coincided with a surge of interest in how Aussie footballers were performing overseas.

The former Newcastle and Peru winger became Pakistan’s head coach in July and he tells Tusdiq Din he enjoys the challenge of making the team more competitive

Nolberto Solano has become accustomed to firsts. He was the first Peruvian to feature in the Premier League after he joined Newcastle in 1998, and the first to play in an FA Cup final the following year. In April 2001 he became the first Premier League player to be sent off by Mike Dean. Now, in the latest stop on a peripatetic coaching journey, the 50-year-old is hoping to lead Pakistan’s men to their first Asian Cup.

After taking the lesser trodden path from Lima to Lahore, Solano faces crucial back-to-back qualifiers for the 2027 tournament against Afghanistan, beginning at home on Thursday. Then, in November and March, come visits from Syria and Myanmar, who won the reverse fixtures. Solano, who replaced the Englishman Stephen Constantine as Pakistan’s head coach in July, is clear on his ambitions.

Seven national-team players, including one from La Liga, have been suspended by Fifa over claims of cheating

There hasn’t been that much to smile about for Malaysian football fans in recent years, so there was real jubilation among the 60,000 home spectators upon the final whistle in Kuala Lumpur on on 10 June. A 4-0 win over regional rivals Vietnam not just kept the Harimau Malaya (Malayan Tigers) on course for the 2027 Asian Cup but well and truly confirmed they were dining back at the top table in southeast Asia. Four months later, they are still the talk of the region of 650 million people, but not in a good way.

The story starts, as it does increasingly in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) football these days, with naturalisation. In January, the crown prince of Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, the owner of Johor Darul Ta’zim football club, and former president of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), wrote on social media: “We have identified 6-7 heritage players … and hope the Malaysian government could assist in the process of obtaining Malaysian passports in order for them to play in the Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers.”

James is at Manchester United, Luca with Burnley and both are making a mark on the international stage as teenagers

It was almost a perfect night for the Scanlons when the 16-year-old Luca came on for his elder brother, James, to make his Gibraltar debut last month against the Faroe Islands, but there was a nagging problem. “I told him the night before not to play my position,” the older sibling jokes.

Only 57 days after Luca’s sweetest birthday, he became a full international. His plan was to be there to support James, alongside a plethora of other family members, but Gibraltar’s head coach, Scott Wiseman, invited him to train with men twice his age to see what he was about and saw enough to promote him from the under-21s. James is a right-footed winger who plays off the left and Luca is the opposite.

Oman coach Carlos Queiroz among those who are questioning the AFC’s decision for the upcoming games

Over the next eight days six Asian nations will battle for two 2026 World Cup places and it feels as if Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already a little closer to North America.

The two countries have been handed home advantage for the games in the two mini-groups by the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) with the winners of each qualifying. The decision, announced in June without revealing any selection criteria, left their opponents understandably upset. Indonesia, Iraq, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) expressed interest in hosting themselves or requested neutral venues and also called for transparency and fairness in the decision-making process but to no avail.

There is no grand PSR conspiracy against Unai Emery’s side. They should be challenging Newcastle or Tottenham for fifth

Four wins in a row and suddenly life does not seem so bad for Aston Villa. They are up into mid-table and if a 2-0 victory over Feyenoord in the Europa League will not quite live in the memory in the way last season’s games against Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain do, a return to Rotterdam at least evoked the glory days of 1982.

It will be a while yet before the frustration at missing out on the Champions League fades, but there does now seem to be a gathering recognition that Villa have a decent chance of winning the Europa League, potentially adding Istanbul’s Besiktas Park to De Kuip as a venue where they have won a European trophy.

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.

We know so little about players’ personal feelings. It means everyone’s analysis of the game is fundamentally superficial

A couple of weeks ago, Liverpool were on course to win the Premier League for the second season running and probably the Champions League too. After Manchester City briefly won the title on the opening day when Tijjani Reijnders tore Wolves apart, the Reds’ run of winning without being that good made it feel inevitable. Winning when not at your best is, after all, a sign (™) of a title-winning side, Clive.

But then Liverpool continued playing not particularly well and started losing. At the same time the perennially second-placed high-performance cowards Arsenal have an excellent defence and at least two very good players in every position. Arise Sir Mikel.

For all the co-owner’s promises of three-year spells, the head coach will not survive this season without real signs of a revival

The word from Manchester United insiders is that Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s headline-hogging declaration that three years is an apt timescale to judge Ruben Amorim is merely Sir Jim being Sir Jim, the self-made billionaire showing his anti-PR, maverick streak.

While the debate rages on TV, radio, social media, and in drinking parlours about the sagacity of his words, what Ratclifffe did not say or allude to intrigues as much.

Our cartoonist anticipates a battle royale between big men who never shy away from confrontation

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Blues’ head coach was sent off after Estêvão’s injury-time winner but it is Arne Slot who has solutions to find

Unleash the carefully metered ticker-tape gun. Crack out the cautiously decanted champagne. This is a game that will perhaps be remembered above all for Enzo’s Run.

With 95 minutes on the clock, as Chelsea’s 18-year-old substitute Estêvão Willian scored the winning goal even before the shared intake of air around Stamford Bridge had been transformed into a barrelling roar, Enzo Maresca was off, sprinting down his touchline at astonishing speed, and showing classical form, hands carving the air, knees high, like a small, bald track-suited Allan Wells, then leaping with his players into the crowd.

Response to strained schedule has been more football than ever, and a danger that the best will have nothing left to give at the World Cup

Cole Palmer and Ousmane Dembélé looked great when they were photographed sitting on Top of the Rock on the eve of the Club World Cup final but it is not being wise after the event to suggest that both might have been better off spending their summer lying on sunbeds.

Top players struggling with fitness issues was foreseeable before the first edition of Fifa’s expanded tournament took place. “The worst idea ever,” was Jürgen Klopp’s take, citing concerns over the long-term impact of squeezing even more football into an ever expanding calendar. “Last year it was the Copa [América] and the European Championship, this year it’s the Club World Cup, next year it’s the World Cup. That means no recovery for the players involved.”

Set pieces, long throws and generally getting it launched are back with a vengeance amid a notable tactical shift

To see a world in a grain of Wayne Rooney, an eternity in a robot‑voiced YouTube tactics clip. To find yourself submerged in a vast rolling wave of information in the course of only seven rounds of Premier League games.

As English football enters its latest international break it is a little startling to think we have had only 70 Premier League matches to this point, with 310 more still to go through the slog of autumn into spring. Seven rounds of games? Really? Is that all?

The ultras are celebrating 20 years of bringing tifos, noise and passion to the terraces at Selhurst Park

When William McGregor founded the Football League in 1888, his vision was for the original dozen clubs to be at the heart of their communities. The clubs would be a focal point for local people to come together and watch football on Saturday afternoons. As money and television have changed the game, supporters have become a secondary concern and Saturday afternoon kick-offs, especially in the Premier League, have become a rarity rather than the norm. In response to these developments, supporters formed ultra groups to ensure their voices are heard.

One of the most prominent of these is the Holmesdale Fanatics at Crystal Palace, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Leaning on the experience of fans of Union Saint-Gilloise in Brussels, Red Star in Paris and St Pauli in Hamburg, they have generated their own brand of coordinated, passionate support over the past two decades.

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Not a lot of people know this, but Brian Clough never managed the England football team. Despite winning two Bigger Cups, two league titles and a few Milk Cups, Clough was overlooked for Big Job, largely because the prevailing blazers were terrified of his unyielding attitude regarding the administration of home truths. Clough as England manager is one of football’s great what-ifs. We’ll never know, no matter how many times it comes up on the Stick to Football podcast, but Thomas Tuchel is starting to give us a glimpse into what it might have been like.

I demand a stewards’ review of the decision on yesterday’s letter winner. Mr Davies’s ‘tale’ is ‘interesting’ but fails to stand up under scrutiny. The match in question attracted a crowd of only 18,629. The capacity of The Hawthorns in 1985 was just under double that figure. There was never a need to plan an ‘unauthorised entry’ for this game. Attendances were in steep decline in this decade. West Brom’s average gate in 1985-86 was 12,164; Villa’s was 15,237. The lock out one hour before kick off was never going to happen. Surely therefore a case of ‘false memory syndrome’ on the part of Mr Davies? Yours in the spirit of Noble Francis” – Richard Worrall.

If Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe has never been given a free lunch in 50 years in the corporate world (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs – full email edition) then he must be even more unpopular there than he is in football” – Ian Casson.

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

Former England international is taking part in Chelsea v Liverpool legends match that will raise money for ex-players in need of support

“I loved competing,” says the former England international Katie Chapman. “I loved the adrenaline of it. That’s whatI missed, the adrenaline and addiction to competing. I spent years trying to find that feeling again.

“I ran a couple of marathons and I did all sorts of things trying to hunt that feeling down, but I had to get it into my mind that I’m never going to have that feeling again in the same way. I had to teach myself to say: ‘Listen, you’re not going to get that back, so stop trying to find it.’ Once I got there, then I could move myself forward.”

Georgia Eaton-Collins and Ria Bose are making waves in Portugal having bought into the club’s ambitious vision

Sporting CP have a rich history of developing prodigious young talents, none more so than Cristiano Ronaldo, and the club’s philosophy is spreading to their successful women’s team.

Although Sporting have not broken the domestic dominance of Benfica, no more proof of their development success is needed than the case of Olivia Smith, who was plucked from Canada’s academy system and sold to Liverpool a year later for a club record fee. Now Sporting are expanding into a new market: English players.

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Toilet humour has long been the safe haven of your Daily, and we are always mindful of notable bog-related stories and milestones, especially in relation to football. What a delight it was to learn that Big Website columnist Adrian Chiles has a West Brom-themed urinal in his house. Spare a thought for the Barnsley fan who took the rest room a little too literally, and was rescued from a deserted Oakwell after falling asleep on the loo at half-time during a 2015 defeat by Fleetwood. “He had no shoes on and had lost his mobile phone and his hat,” elaborated a Barnsley fire station spokesperson. And who can forget when, at the height of his fame at Manchester City, Mario Balotelli popped into a local college to use the facilities in 2012. “Balotelli parked his Bentley outside, then came in and was asking where the toilets were, then he went to the teachers’ staff room,” a student told the Manchester Evening News. “After that he was just walking round the campus like he owned the place.”

What’s in a name? There’s a poem by Dr Seuss called ‘Too Many Daves’. Have Blackpool suffered from Too Many Steves? Steve Bruce, plus assistants Steve Agnew and Steve Clemence have been shown through the door marked ‘Do One’. So is that the end of the club’s Steve obsession? Not quite! Steve Banks and Steve Dobbie remain to take care of the first team. Full Steve ahead!” – John Myles.

Now you have loosened the purse strings and awarded some merch, I have decided to put finger to keypad and make a pithy comment. Ange Postecoglou states that he picked fights in the school playground with kids he knew would beat him up. This masochistic tendency must account for his decision to join Nottingham Forest. As a lifelong Spurs supporter I will always be grateful for the second-season trophy but the only second-season trophy I can see him winning by the Trent, if he lasts that long, is the Championship and that would be some struggle under the present owner” – Stewart McGuinness.

I was never lucky enough to win a mug like Padhraig Higgins (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) and had I done so, I would probably have broken it by now. If you send me one, I promise to take better care of it than I would have had I won it earlier” – Skip Koblintz.

May I suggest that Padhraig contact Noble Francis for a replacement mug. I am sure his trophy cabinet will be overflowing with cups. He could even wrap it in a scarf when posting” – Callum Taylor.

I can’t compete with Noble Francis et al, so I’ll have to be pretty direct: please may I have a mug?” – Tim Wild.

Plus: the original long-throw specialists, an even earlier early-season pitch invasion and more

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“It’s clear that regardless of personnel, Ruben Amorim will not shift from his 3-4-2-1 even if the pope were to force him,” notes Paul Vickers. “This got me thinking: has there ever been a case of players actively defying a manager’s instructions, not by downing tools and giving up, but by taking up self-devised, alternative tactics and positions that they consider better suited to their abilities and the needs of the team? And what was the outcome of any such defiant player self-management in terms of the immediate result and then the subsequent fate of the manager and the players?”

A cracking question, to which we’ve received plenty of answers, so let’s proceed directly to The Insubordination Files.

Max Rushden is joined by Nicky Bandini, Lars Sivertsen and Sid Lowe to wrap up the major stories from around Europe

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On the podcast today; as Real Madrid pull three points clear at the top of La Liga, we ask how is Xabi Alonso settling in at the Bernabéu and how and where does Jude Bellingham fit in? Barcelona dropped to second after a surprise 4-1 defeat by Sevilla and the panel discusses the Uefa decision to allow domestic games to be played overseas.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Freddie Cardy and Marva Kreel to discuss the weekend’s WSL action. Plus debate over taking the knee, early kick‑offs and a Women’s Champions League preview

On today’s pod: a quarter of the way through the WSL season and the title race bursts into life. The panel asks whether Manchester City’s 3‑2 win over Arsenal is the clearest sign yet that Andrée Jeglertz’s side believe they can go all the way, and what Renée Slegers must do to arrest Arsenal’s faltering form.

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s perfect start was ended by Manchester United, but was it a missed opportunity for Marc Skinner’s side, and are they serious contenders for the title? The panel discusses Jess Park’s impact, Sonia Bompastor’s tinkering and why challengers still can’t quite get over the line against the champions.

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