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In an exclusive extract from her autobiography, goalkeeper reveals the painful road to her shock England exit

England felt like such a safe space for me. It was usual to have a team review after a big tournament and after the Euros in 2022 we came together in the Club England meeting room at St George’s Park, the team’s headquarters.

The emotional security that I felt within England was bolstered by the culture and values that had underpinned and contributed to our success. Non-collegiate behaviour was not tolerated. We came back together to the news that Hannah Hampton had been dropped from the squad: her behaviour behind the scenes at the Euros had frequently risked derailing training sessions and team resources.

Feyenoord coach on how a chat with his daughter changed his life, memories of Arsenal and Manchester United and a lunch with Guardiola

Robin van Persie was warming to his theme, imparting wisdom to his children, Shaqueel and Dina, then 14 and 10. “We were at the kitchen table in our new house and I was giving them a speech: ‘You have to find your passion as soon as possible!’” He is, however, self-aware enough to realise how parental monologues are received. “I was ‘passion this, passion that’. It went on and on and on.”

It was Dina who brought him up short. “Yeah, Dad, but what is your passion now?”

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⚽ Premier League: 10 things to look for | Mail matchday live

Burnley v Arsenal: The leaders are at Turf Moor this afternoon looking to go seven points clear at the top of the table.

Mikel Arteta has a decent record away at Burnley as Arsenal manager: played four, won two, drawn two – including a 5-0 rout of Vincent Kompany’s side on their last visit.

It’s not just that Arsenal look very good; it’s that it’s very hard to see who could put together a consistent enough run to overhaul them. Liverpool, as Arne Slot keeps admitting, have been worked out; City are also trying to accommodate a number of new players and seem overreliant on Erling Haaland; and Chelsea are blunt without Cole Palmer and look short at the back. Under pressure, there’s a chance any leader can crumble; but nobody looks capable of applying that pressure.

Will Frank grant them freedom? Chelsea punished Postecoglou’s gung-ho tactics on their past two trips to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Frank will surely be smarter. Is a switch to a back five on the cards? Chelsea have conceded from three long throws this season. Spurs could have Kevin Danso chucking balls into the box. They will note that Chelsea have improved at offensive set pieces but are conceding too many chances.

• Original 16 December date could change to 23 December

• Palace set to play three games in five days if tie not moved

Arsenal have voiced strong opposition to Crystal Palace’s request that their Carabao Cup quarter-final be played on 23 December, with Mikel Arteta insisting it would not be fair to make both teams play two matches in little more than 48 hours.

The tie is scheduled for Tuesday 16 December in a gruelling run of three matches in five days for Palace, who have a Premier League game at home to Manchester City two days earlier and a Conference League fixture against KuPS on 18 December.

Result of Sunday’s League Cup semi-final could be key to an unlikely return or quest for a fresh managerial face

It feels unwise to be fooled by Martin O’Neill’s self-deprecation. The 73-year-old remains publicly steadfast that his second stint in charge of Celtic will be short term. “I think my remit was that they would be looking for somebody [else] pretty quickly,” he said on Friday. “I don’t think this is a renaissance. I just think this is a fill-in.”

Shock is still reverberating around Celtic Park, not so much about Monday’s resignation of Brendan Rodgers but the follow-up savaging of the former manager by the main shareholder, Dermot Desmond.

• ‘But we need to do better in not conceding goals’

• Liverpool host Villa after six defeats in seven games

Arne Slot has said the Liverpool hierarchy share his views on the reasons for the team’s slump and he will not abandon an attacking style in search of a way out. The head coach admitted that six defeats in seven games was unacceptable before Aston Villa’s visit on Saturday and denied making excuses for Liverpool’s worst domestic run in 72 years.

Slot accepted the pressure was on before his makeshift team exited the Carabao Cup against Crystal Palace on Wednesday. That pressure to arrest the slide, however, is not, he insisted, coming from Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, FSG’s chief executive of football, Michael Edwards, or the sporting director, Richard Hughes, after a summer transfer outlay of almost £450m.

• Coach wondered if it was ‘meant to be’ at United

• ‘To lose so many games, that was so hard for me’

Ruben Amorim has indicated that the Europa League final defeat by Tottenham was among the moments that made him fear he would not last a year at Manchester United.

The head coach admitted he has wondered more than once whether it was “meant to be” for him in the job he was appointed to a year ago on Saturday. He has lost 19 of his 52 games since signing a two-and-a-half-year contract and last season took United to 15th, their lowest Premier League finish. The Portuguese was asked whether he had worried about completing 12 months in charge.

Kieffer Moore downed Coventry with a perfect second-half hat-trick as Wrexham won 3-2 to inflict a first league defeat on the Championship leaders.

Coventry, the only unbeaten side in the EFL, were closing in on a club-record seventh straight league win when Ephron Mason-Clark superbly slotted the Sky Blues ahead midway through the first half. The omens were not good for Wrexham given Frank Lampard’s side had scored 34 goals in 12 games before arriving in north Wales and the home side had won only one of their previous seven.

Wretched results have been signposted, with recruitment and team selection tripping up manager who was a local hero last season

It has been a while since Vítor Pereira ventured into The Moon Under Water, the Wolverhampton city-centre Wetherspoons where last season he savoured victories with supporters. Now Wolves are at risk of drowning in the Premier League, bottom after taking two points from their opening nine games and without a win in six months. Supporters have made their anger plain but the Wolves head coach insists he is au fait with the pressure. “I remember in Porto after a draw it was impossible to go into a restaurant to eat with my family,” Pereira says. “This is football.”

For Wolves supporters, this campaign has descended into one big, fat told-you-so. Wolves have been stuck in a negative cycle and after another slow start fans are worried this will be the season they fail to escape and spiral into the Championship. Pereira rescued them after arriving last Christmas but much of his credit has evaporated. With every game comes increased pressure. “I’m a fighter,” he says. “The pressure is what I put on myself. I don’t feel the pressure, believe me. The pressure is important to be alert … if you don’t feel anything, you’re too relaxed. If you don’t accept the criticism or pressure, you must go to another job.”

Pragmatism meets dogmatism when Spurs host Chelsea, with both head coaches still trying to win fans over

A few managers were in the running when Chelsea were looking for a replacement for Mauricio Pochettino in May 2024. It was an extensive process and involved the club talking to Thomas Frank before they settled on Enzo Maresca.

The feeling was that Maresca’s positional game and focus on possession made him most suited to Chelsea’s squad of technicians. Frank, who had performed brilliantly at Brentford, had to wait for his next opportunity. Overlooked by Manchester United after they fired Erik ten Hag, it arrived when Tottenham hired the Dane after sacking Ange Postecoglou last summer.

Tottenham do battle with Chelsea on Saturday while Manchester City host high-flying Bournemouth on Sunday

Saturday 3pm Venue Amex Stadium

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• League says issues rooted in more European matches

• It promises increased Boxing Day games next year

The Premier League has confirmed there will be only one Premier League game on Boxing Day, with Manchester United to host Newcastle United at 8pm. The late kick-off may cause travel issues for Newcastle fans, with public transport limited on the holiday.

The league cited the expansion of European competition in explaining its schedule. The last time Boxing Day was a Friday, in 2014, there was a full top-flight programme.

• OpenAI service suggested a move to a back five

• Harvey has been head coach of the NWSL team since 2021

Seattle Reign head coach Laura Harvey has admitted that she used ChatGPT to help determine the team’s tactics for multiple matches this NWSL season.

Speaking on the Soccerish Podcast, Harvey said that she started by asking the large language model various questions about tactics and strategy in the NWSL, which eventually turned into more detailed breakdowns on how to beat individual teams in the league.

• Arsenal say 19-year-old will not play again this season

• ‘Recovery starts now, I will be back stronger than before’

The England forward Michelle Agyemang has promised to come back “stronger than before” after confirming that she ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament during the Lionesses’ 3-0 victory over Australia on Tuesday.

Agyemang revealed the results of her scan on her social media. “Disappointed that results show a torn ACL,” she wrote. “I am so grateful for all the kind words and the support from everyone. Recovery starts now, I will be back stronger than before. In all things I give thanks to the Most High God, this test will surely turn into a testimony.”

Enzo Maresca lambasted Liam Delap for his “very stupid red card” and called on his young squad to “grow up”. Chelsea, 3-0 up at half-time, managed to turn this into a topsy-turvy tie that earned them a ­Carabao Cup quarter-final tie at ­Cardiff, but has cost them the services of their striker for Saturday’s game at Tottenham.

The Chelsea manager had no ­sympathy for Delap who, ­returning as a substitute after two months out with a hamstring injury, was dismissed for collecting two similar yellow cards in seven late minutes.

The Carabao Cup was on display in main reception here, dictating that Tottenham’s players trooped past it en route to the away dressing room before kick-off. If the sight of that trophy inspired Thomas Frank’s team, Newcastle’s desire to retain it proved infinitely stronger. As Eddie Howe put it: “This was a performance in line with our identity and our expectations. We were strong.”

Howe’s side could have been forgiven for prioritising the Champions League and the Premier League but, instead, they played with the zeal of a side still buoyed by their Wembley triumph in March.

Arne Slot has no excuses, Fulham and Palace are stretched and should Arsenal be wary of Burnley’s full-backs?

• Premier League top scorers: Golden Boot standings

Burnley’s Kyle Walker and Quilindschy Hartman, Q to his friends, have been one of the finest full-back pairings in the Premier League this season. They are defensively disciplined but also have the ability to push forward and cause problems. Everyone expected as much from Walker, who has been one of the best right-backs in world football over the past decade, but it could have been difficult for Hartman, coming from the Eredivisie, to settle into a newly promoted team and face some of the best wingers in the world. The Dutchman has stuck to his defensive tasks supremely well but the task of marshalling Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze will be a true test. Regular assists are also making Hartman a real asset to Burnley. Two crosses produced Zian Flemming’s goals against Wolves, making it four assists in nine Premier League appearances. Arsenal should be wary. Will Unwin

Manchester United are determined to avoid ‘rinse and repeat’ of past 10 years but was Anfield really the coach’s Mark Robins moment?

The excitement of a new era at Manchester United was almost palpable, according to one observer. The part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, CEO Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox were full of optimism. What owner isn’t energised by making a coaching appointment, especially their first? It was a chance for Ratcliffe to put his imprint on United after years of drift under the Glazers.

The coach, who had regained the title at Sporting, had youthful vivacity, an admirable track record and emotional intelligence. Ruben Amorim, appointed a year ago this Saturday, was one of the most desired young coaches on the market, which is why Tottenham and Liverpool had also considered him.

How Arsenal-supporting family put the youngster on road to history-making appearance at Emirates on Wednesday

There was never a question about which club Max Dowman wanted to join after he was spotted playing up an age group for Billericay Town’s colts in 2015. In the Essex town best known these days for being one of the backdrops for the popular BBC comedy series Gavin and Stacey, and where allegiances have often been split between Tottenham and West Ham, Dowman had caught the eye of scouts from London’s biggest academies at the age of six.

“He had the pick of clubs,” says Nick Hutt, the chair of Billericay’s youth section, who saw a four-year-old Dowman play. “But the whole family are Arsenal supporters, so they chose Arsenal.”

Banyana Banyana squeeze through but assistant Thinasonke Mbuli insists they must learn from countries such as Malawi

The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations will welcome two new participants next March after Malawi and Cape Verde qualified for the first time. For Cape Verde, the island archipelago with a population of just over half a million people, it’s a double celebration after their men’s team qualified for the World Cup for the first time. The women’s team was only founded in 2018 and in seven years have enjoyed a rapid rise. As far as records show, no other team has progressed as quickly from formation to major tournament.

They will play in a field that includes hosts Morocco, 10-time champions Nigeria, Kenya and Burkina Faso, who have both qualified for just the second time in their history, and six other teams who were involved at the 2024 edition: Zambia, Tanzania, Algeria, Senegal, Ghana and 2022 champions South Africa, who required a 91st-minute winner against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to confirm their spot.

The 46-year-old didn’t fulfil his potential as a player but as manager has climbed from the bottom of the pyramid to fifth in La Liga

The driver of the Tusa bus went from Badalona to Barcelona and regional catalana to primera división, stopping everywhere in between. On Thursday night, Atlètic Lleida host Espanyol in the Copa del Rey first round. Lleida play in Spain’s semi-pro fourth tier, a world away from their opponents, who celebrated their 125th anniversary last Saturday by climbing into a Champions League place, but there will be something familiar about the man sitting on the visitors’ bench, if he ever actually sits. “I know Manolo because we’ve faced each other at our level,” Lleida’s coach, Gabri García says. “We come from the depths.”

Depths is right, but Manolo González wouldn’t change a thing, proud to have been in García’s place. A symbol of some day, he reached the top flight via the long route, having coached at every age group and every level in Spain, from the regional league to tercera, with its 397 teams across 18 groups; from Segunda B, still theoretically amateur and made up of four regional divisions with 80 teams, to segunda; and on to primera, no guarantee he would get there. Which is why it took years to give up the day job at the wheel of the interurbano to Barcelona.

Former Liverpool and Sunderland forward on buying Ed Woodward’s house, his padel business and how his new coach is similar to Ancelotti

Fabio Borini’s house witnessed a major disagreement over football but it was not related to his recent move to Salford City. The forward bought the property from the former Manchester United executive vice-chair Ed Woodward, who had fans at the gates showing their displeasure during his time at Old Trafford. “Because of the protest outside, everybody was worried, so I said: ‘Don’t worry I’ll buy it, get the price down,’” Borini jokes.

The former Italy international has a business mind and knows a good deal when it comes along. Joining Salford, however, was certainly not about the money. Following his departure from Sampdoria, where he endured a difficult final season after being ostracised, Borini wanted to play for the love of the game. He returned to his wife Erin’s native north-west, where they had their Cheshire home, and searched for work.

From PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Brazil’s next hope, we select some of the most talented players born in 2008. Check the progress of our classes of 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 … and go even further back. Here’s our Premier League class of 2025

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 go even further back. Here’s our 2025 world picks

Club’s winless streak finally ended on Wednesday against Udinese but a significant task awaits the next manager

It was an oddly coy way to announce Serie A’s first sacking this season. “Igor Tudor is no longer the manager of Juventus,” read the Turin club’s social media post on Monday – as though this had happened by accident or mutual consent. The Bianconeri had not, in fact, lost him down the back of the sofa, but instead relieved him of his duties after an eight-game winless run.

That was their longest dry stretch since 2009. Claudio Ranieri got the boot back then, and it was no surprise to see Tudor meet the same fate now. Juventus had failed to score a goal in his final four matches, culminating in a 1-0 loss to Lazio on Sunday night. “I’m living in the present,” he insisted afterward. “I don’t give a stuff about the future.” Yet it came for him the next day all the same.

Habib Beye’s job is on the line but simply sacking another manager is not the route to success for the Pinault family

By Get French Football News

“It’s been a bit of a crazy week,” said Rennes manager Habib Beye after his team’s 2-2 draw with Toulouse on Wednesday night. After a run of five games without a win, the former Newcastle and Aston Villa player did not know if he would be in charge for the game – his sacking was even hastily announced in some places – but he was in the dugout in Toulouse and is still holding on.

“The momentum at the club isn’t good and finances are relatively fragile, which puts pressure on us,” said the club’s president, Arnaud Pouille, after the game before announcing that the manager would stay. “We met with the staff on Monday to ask them whether they still had the energy to keep going, and they proved it tonight.”

It was just like old times as Dani Carvajal sparked a full-time ruckus with Barça’s teenage star after his pre-match barbs

“As long as I win they can’t say anything,” Lamine Yamal said once, but this time he didn’t win and they were coming for him. They said he spoke too much; they replied that, yeah, they would see him outside; they told him talk is cheap. And that was just the players: there was more from the preachers in their pulpits, men who never lose.

On the eve of the clásico, the teenager who claims he left fear behind in Mataró suggested that Real Madrid rob and moan, or so it goes. He also offered a reminder that the last time he had been at the Santiago Bernabéu – a kid with blaugrana braces, a glint in his eye and a right foot they didn’t know he had – he beat them 4-0. But that was then and this was now. And, an adult now, exactly a year on, he was beaten back. He knew, they told him so.

India are struggling at domestic and international level, and are now missing out on hosting two superstars of the game

In September 1977 an Indian astrologer predicted that Pelé would fall ill in Kolkata and be unable to take to the pitch for Santos in an exhibition against Mohun Bagan. In the end the Brazilian did actually play to the delight of 60,000 fans but, almost half a century later, there was perhaps even more excitement, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi set to appear on the subcontinent in the space of a month. This time, though, any doomsayer would be correct. Ronaldo didn’t come in October and Messi will not in November.

Without getting into that debate, Ronaldo’s absence is more painful simply because he was due to play in a competitive fixture, by some distance the biggest name ever to appear in a real game on Indian soil. August’s draw for the AFC Champions League Two put Al-Nassr in the same group as FC Goa, where the hotel for the visitors reserved the presidential suite for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner for the 22 October game.

With ticket sales phases under way and prices reaching eye-watering levels, my experience raised a crucial question: who is this World Cup for?

For months, people in my life had been asking me when and where to get World Cup tickets. In the absence of any actionable information from Fifa before the first round of the pre-sale opened up, they hoped, I guess, that I had inside knowledge.

In truth, I only knew that Fifa would be using the universally despised dynamic pricing model, and that the bid book for the 2026 World Cup had promised an average group stage ticket price of $305. Mind you, that was seven and a half years ago and an awful lot of inflation has happened since then. In the bid, Category 4 tickets for the group stage – the cheapest seats available – were priced at $21. (As we would soon learn, the actual price would start at $60, and category 4 tickets are almost non-existent.)

The lack of squad investment had clearly frustrated a habitually successful manager yet he was minded to see out his final season – before things got personal

Presumably Martin O’Neill had no inkling of what the coming hours would bring when he used a Monday radio appearance to talk up Hearts’ prospects of winning the Scottish title for the first time since 1960. “This is the time for Hearts,” O’Neill said.

The scale of reverberation around Brendan Rodgers’s resignation is such that even the return of O’Neill to the Celtic dugout is not the most dramatic element. Instead, the lesser‑spotted Dermot Desmond broke cover to lacerate Rodgers. The attack felt personal and spiteful. This proved a sad and unseemly conclusion to Rodgers’s second spell in Glasgow. So much so, in fact, that the third most successful manager in Celtic’s history cannot now show his face at the stadium. Desmond appears to be a bad enemy to choose.

Incidents in both games generated a lot of noise, not least the yellow card for Dorgu when Minteh was running towards goal

Two fixtures at the weekend generated a lot of noise in terms of refereeing decisions: Manchester United v Brighton and Brentford v Liverpool. In each case there were incidents that can serve as good educational pieces for understanding the calls that match officials make.

Starting at Old Trafford, the yellow card for Patrick Dorgu after fouling Yankuba Minteh, when the Brighton man looked as if he was through on goal, frustrated a lot of people. Everybody screams: “Last man, you’ve got to go” – which is absolutely false. Just because you’re the last defender it doesn’t mean you have to be sent off. In this kind of incident, the referee awards a foul and then has to consider the criteria of what fits the denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

With their election looming, the Argentinian club hope stable leadership can reverse worst form in four decades

Stefano Di Carlo was two months old when, in 1989, his grandfather, Titi, became the president of River Plate, taking over after the resignation of Hugo Santilli. He was seven months old when, that December, his grandfather narrowly lost the presidential election. He was three years old when his grandfather took him to his first River Plate game.

Titi Di Carlo remained a senior figure at the club and was on the board when he went to a Copa Libertadores quarter-final against Banfield with the 16-year-old Stefano. The first leg had finished 1-1.

Our cartoonist dons his best threads to check out which aesthetics are back to dominate the football fashion world

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Mikel Arteta’s side have experience of being top of the table but have been unable to finish the job in previous seasons

All the signs point to it finally being Arsenal’s season. But given that they have spent almost 800 days top of the table since last being champions in 2004, nothing will be taken for granted at this stage. After an outlay of more than £250m in the summer, Mikel Arteta has a formidable squad that has been able to cope with injuries to important players such as Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard – a problem that derailed them in three successive runner-up finishes.

The Liverpool legend is the subject of a new film directed by Asif Kapadia on the Scot’s remarkable career in football and connection with his adopted city

‘We got the bus and went down to Sheffield to visit the supporters who were in hospital,” Kenny Dalglish says as he remembers how he spent the Monday after the tragedy of Hillsborough in April 1989. “All the players were there so we split up and they walked into different wards to see people. We were trying to give them a wee bit of confidence or belief of anything that could help them. And there was a family around a young boy’s bed and he was unconscious.”

Sean Luckett was 20 years old and one of the thousands of fervent Liverpool supporters who had travelled to Hillsborough to support the team who Dalglish managed and had played for with such sublime talent since arriving from Celtic in 1977. Ninety-seven Liverpool fans eventually lost their lives after the unbearable crush during the club’s FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.

In an embarrassing climbdown, the game in Miami is off with the league having alienated the players and even Villarreal, the club that was on its side

If there is a moment that defined La Liga’s fourth failed attempt to play in Miami, an image to explain why everything went wrong, it may have been the moment it was all over. On Tuesday night, Spanish television broadcast reaction to the news from the Estadio de la Ceràmica, live and unfiltered.

Cameras caught someone else who felt dismissed and disrespected, treated as if they didn’t count. This time it was someone who was supposed to be on the league’s side, but now appeared as a portrait of poor planning and poorer communication, a lack of consideration that pushed the project to collapse.

Manager inherits a group of players that suits him and has a track record of creating camaraderie in his squads

Sean Dyche was often spotted at the City Ground while out of work. The Nottingham Forest job has been of interest to him for a long time, and not only because he lives close by. The circumstances in which the role has become available are not ideal for an incoming head coach but his appointment is the pragmatic choice in ludicrous circumstances.

Ange Postecoglou was never the right man, inheriting a squad that did not suit his style and did not adapt quickly enough, though it did not help that he told the players their previous achievements meant nothing. His tenure will go down in history for all the wrong reasons. Dyche, on the other hand, has plenty of respect for what Forest achieved under Nuno Espírito Santo and is far more aligned with that conservatism than with what was witnessed under Postecoglou.

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Is nobody safe from the cold, dead hands of artificial intelligence? Certainly not if you’re in the business of attempting to write a borderline humorous weekday mailshot. Take this, punched into a smartphone, belched out by ChatGPT in mere seconds after the instructions: “Write 100 words on AI in football in the style of the Guardian’s Football Daily email.”

Ah, football and AI — the game’s newest double act. From tracking player movement with eerie precision to whispering tactical tweaks into analysts’ ears, artificial intelligence is now as common at training grounds as bibs and banter. Clubs crunch mountains of data to predict fatigue, refine pressing triggers, even scout teenagers before they’ve finished growing. VAR, of course, remains the clumsy cousin — still learning when ‘clear and obvious’ actually means clear and obvious. But love it or loathe it, AI isn’t leaving the pitch anytime soon. The algorithms are watching — and your xG just twitched slightly higher.”

I’m sure I am stepping out of my lane here (I’m an A&E doctor here in Canada and a keen amateur triathlon participant when I can). But surely the match schedule you mentioned for Crystal Palace as being ‘Manchester City, Arsenal, KuPS Kuopio and Leeds in a novel Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday Premier League, Fizzy Cup and Tin Pot triathlon’ (yesterday’s Football Daily) is actually a quadrathlon, which comprises four events (typically swim, cycle, kayak + run). I’ve never tried one, and my Quebecois wife says I couldn’t do the kayaking leg if my life depended on it” – Adam Simpson.

Re: Sid Lowe’s interview with Espanyol head coach and former bus driver Manolo González (yesterday’s Quote of the Day). I assume he sets his team out with a low block: he’s known for parking the bus. Sorry. Kudos to Sid for writing a long piece without stooping to the obvious: Señor, you’re a better man than I” – Pål Jørgen Bakke.

The reference to Rory Delap (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) reminds me of an amusing incident at Stoke in February 2011. West Brom, who usually lost there, had equalised in the 87th minute. Happy with the point, they began to play out for a draw. It was a wet evening and Delap had been hurling the ball into the Albion box all night following careful use of a towel provided by the ball boy. After the equaliser, Albion got a throw midway in the Stoke half and Steven Reid called for the towel. After spending some time carefully drying the ball he threw it five yards to the nearest Albion player and received a return pass” – Les Andrews.

Reading of the difficulties (and expense) of buying tickets for the Geopolitics World Cup (yesterday’s Still Want More, full email edition) triggered a memory that took me back to the summer of 1966. My dad and his friend decided at the last minute that they fancied watching the opening match (England v Uruguay). They drove to London (from Portsmouth) in the afternoon and paid at the gate to get into the ground. He wasn’t very impressed (fairly dull 0-0 draw) and the next morning announced that he wasn’t going to bother going to any more games. I am 70 years old and this does seem incredible, so on my wife’s advice I checked with my brother that he also recalled this excursion. He did and furthermore reminded me that on the day of the final my dad (an enthusiastic player but only occasionally picked to play cricket), was a surprise selection due to a shortage of available players (I wonder why) and so didn’t even get to see the final on TV. So for him, the World Cup really was over” – Steve Beaton.

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

Today’s newsletter looks at the most clinical forwards at the tournament in Morocco, which has reached the last-16 stage

The 2025 Under-17 Women’s World Cup is well under way in Morocco with Brazil, China, Canada and Spain among the countries who have reached the last 16. After an intriguing group stage here are some of the young stars who have stood out so far:

Giulia Galli (Italy): Italy have been one of the surprise packages of the tournament, spearheaded by the goals of Galli. The 17-year-old has enjoyed an eye-catching year for club and country: she was at the heart of her nation’s run to the semi-finals of this summer’s Under-17 European Championship, their highest finish in more than a decade that booked their spot at this World Cup. Since then, she has found herself around the Roma senior team, scoring her first goal for the club – the winner – in their Serie A Women’s Cup fixture against Milan. She has led the charge once again in Morocco as Selena Mazzantini’s side won all three group games to progress. All five goals to date have demonstrated her uncanny knack of breaking defensive lines as well as her instinctive clinical ability inside the box.

This is an extract from our free weekly email, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Recent history has seen all three sides promoted from the Championship be relegated the same season – Régis Le Bris’s side could break the spell

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Last season, all three promoted sides in the Premier League were relegated. The season before that, all three promoted sides were relegated. The fear was that the gulf between the Premier League and Championship had become too big, with the increasing stratification of the English game essentially making it impossible for the promoted sides to survive, much less to thrive. It’s a self-perpetuating issue; the longer the other 17 remain in the Premier League, fattened on television rights, the harder it will be for teams coming up to make an impression.

There was a need for the promoted sides to put up a better fight than they managed last season when, between them, Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton collected just 59 points. Nine games into this season, not quite a quarter of the way through, Sunderland, Leeds and Burnley already have 38 points between them. None of the three are currently in the relegation zone. But most striking have been the performances of Sunderland, who have taken 17 points already and, to widespread surprise, lie fourth in the table.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Robyn Cowen, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan and Ewan Murray as Liverpool lose again, Arsenal keep a clean sheet again, the panel preview the Premier League and Ewan Murray joins for the latest from Scotland

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On the podcast today: Liverpool lose to Crystal Palace for the third time in a row; it was a very rotated and young side … so does it matter in the wider context of their crisis? Crystal Palace’s reward is a trip across town to Arsenal, who keep another clean sheet and beat Brighton.

Plus: more early English managerial exits, the player hitting the woodwork four times in a game and P45 structures

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“My beleaguered Tranmere played Barnet a couple of weeks ago,” begins James. “I was amazed that this was the first ever meeting between two clubs who have spent so much time in the Football League. It made me wonder: what is the most surprising or eye-catching fixture in English club football that has never been played?”

We were surprised to hear that Middlesbrough’s 1-1 draw with Wrexham on Saturday was the first ever league match between those two sides, though they have met in both domestic cup competitions.

222 seasons Everton (127) v Rochdale (95), West Brom (127) v Rochdale (95)

218 Everton (127) v Hartlepool United (91)

217 Manchester United (123) v Gillingham (94), Manchester City (123) v Exeter City (94)

216 Arsenal (122) v Southend United (94), Arsenal (122) v Exeter (94)

213 Liverpool (122) v Hartlepool (91)

206 Manchester United (123) v Mansfield Town (83)

205 Everton (127) v Torquay United (78)

204 Manchester United (123) v Darlington (81)

203 Newcastle United (122) v Darlington (81), Sunderland (125) v Torquay(7 8)

201 Manchester United (123) v Torquay (78)

200 Arsenal (122) v Torquay (78), Aston Villa (127) v Newport (73), Liverpool (122) v Torquay

3 days: Bill Lambton, Scunthorpe, April 1959

4 days: Dave Bassett, Crystal Palace, May 1984

7 days: Tim Ward, Exeter City, March 1953
Kevin Cullis, Swansea City, February 1996

8 days: Billy McKinlay, Watford, Sept-Oct 2014

9 days: Martin Ling, Cambridge, Jul-Aug 2009

The board of directors of Raith Rovers FC announces that we have parted company with manager Gary Locke and assistant manager Darren Jackson, with immediate effect.

Raith Rovers FC announces that we have this evening parted company with manager John Hughes and assistant manager Kevin McBride

Mail us with your questions and answers

The world of soccer throws up no shortage of questions on a regular basis. In today’s column, Graham Ruthven endeavors to answer three of them

Rory Delap was apparently ahead of his time. The spirit of Stoke City’s legendary ball flinger lives on with the long throw-in enjoying a renaissance in the Premier League this season. Indeed, statistics show that the number of long throw-ins per match has more than doubled from last season, pointing to a very real and meaningful trend.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Júlia Belas Trindade and special guest Mary Phillip to discuss England’s defeat to Brazil. Plus, Beth Fisher joins to reflect on Jess Fishlock’s emotional farewell

On today’s pod: England fall 2-1 to Brazil as the Homecoming Series begins with questions over Maya Le Tissier’s best position. The panel unpack the Lionesses’ defensive issues, Khiara Keating’s landmark debut and what’s next before their Australia rematch.

Elsewhere, the Republic of Ireland edge closer to promotion to League A after beating Belgium, Spain cruise past Sweden, and Jess Fishlock bows out in style for Wales. We hear from Beth Fisher on Fishlock’s legacy and what comes next for Rhian Wilkinson’s side.

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