Vesper

Thoughts whirling like so many dervishes in his considerable head DIRTY HARRY So nightmarish has Harry Maguire’s start to the current season been, that some media commentators are of a mind he could do with a break from football. Of course it could also be argued that his most recent break from football has almost certainly contributed to the Manchester United and England centre-back’s current slump in form and after all that unpleasantness in Mykonos another holiday is the last thing he needs. Fiver readers of a certain age will remember that having been found guilty of assault, resisting arrest and attempted bribery by the Greek beaks back in August, Harry immediately appealed and had his conviction quashed pending a retrial some time next year. Perhaps for the best, it was not an avenue open to him after falling foul of football’s legal system against Denmark and as he trudged off the pitch he had the air about him of a man who needed some quiet time alone with the thoughts whirling like so many dervishes in his big Slab Head. Southgate backs Maguire to shrug off criticism after red card costs England Read more Due to face Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday, Steve Bruce, his players and the fans of Newcastle will almost certainly agree with Gareth Southgate’s post-match view that the best place for Maguire at the moment “is on the pitch”, but the England manager’s staunch defence of a player whose form has plummeted lemming-like off a cliff in recent months is increasingly being used to beat him in the wake of England’s latest defeat. Even before Wednesday’s game started, “Southgate out” was trending on social media disgrace Twitter, his managerial heroics in only losing three matches out of seven at the last World Cup were apparently a fading memory in the minds of some. The kind of fairweather England fans who’d like to see him replaced by Arséne Wenger, Richard Osman, Ian McEwan or any other authors currently doing the rounds hawking new books. While a couple of ropy performances, negative tactics and an apparent reluctance to pick somebody who played well for 76 minutes in a friendly against the Wales B team are hardly sackable offences, there remains a nagging concern that Southgate might not be the right man for the job and his opportunity for glory came and went at the 2018 World Cup. It was not the first famously glorious opportunity he passed up while representing England and a consensus is growing that it won’t be the last.

Wednesday October 14 2020 Matt Law's Chelsea briefing Is the party over for Abraham's England hopes? By Matt Law, Football News Correspondent Tammy Abraham's surprise party has proven costly CREDIT: ANDY HOOPER Ben Chilwell's withdrawal from the England squad on Tuesday capped a bad 10 days for two of Chelsea's England players. But while the country's left-back shortage means that Chilwell's failure to play in any of England's three games should not damage his long-term opportunities, striker Tammy Abraham faces a more difficult international challenge. To put it bluntly, Abraham has been the biggest loser of the surprise birthday party that was thrown for him a couple of days before the England players were due to meet up at St George's Park for the games against Wales, Belgium and Denmark. Chilwell and Jadon Sancho were also at the party, and they, like Abraham, were forced to join the England squad late because of breaking the government’s 'rule of six' coronavirus regulations. But Chilwell can be confident he remains Southgate's best left-back, while Sancho's appearance as a substitute against Belgium underlined the fact he does not have too much to fear. All three players were naive to remain at the party without considering the consequences and the incident highlighted how important it is that footballers surround themselves with the right people. Whichever of Abraham's family or friends organised the party, they owe him a sincere apology because the cost has been big for the former Aston Villa loanee. It was only a few months ago that Abraham was positioning himself as England's No 1 alternative to Harry Kane and yet now he will finish this international break as the country's fourth-choice striker at best. Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Danny Ings grabbed their chances by both scoring against Wales, and the duo also have the advantage of being guaranteed to start each week for their clubs. Abraham deserves great credit for the way in which he responded to being benched for Chelsea's opening games by forcing his way back in with goals against Barnsley, in the Carabao Cup, and West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League. Trying to take Chelsea's second penalty against Crystal Palace off Jorginho was an error of judgement, but it showed his hunger to keep scoring goals and did not overly concern Frank Lampard. But now Abraham will need to hit the ground running when he returns to Chelsea for Saturday's visit of Ings and Southampton to Stamford Bridge. Because if he loses his place in Lampard's team, then he could well be left out of the next England squad altogether. With Kane, Calvert-Lewin and Ings already at his disposal, Southgate also has Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Sancho as part of his A-list, with Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish now pushing for a regular place among the forward players in the England squad. Southgate will already be wondering whether or not he needs a fourth out-and-out striker when everybody is available, and Abraham needs to make sure that he makes the decision a little harder. All parties are cancelled.

Timo Werner names four Chelsea legends he idolised growing up The German striker is clearly delighted to be playing at Stamford Bridge and is all too familiar with some of the legends to have plied their trade there https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/timo-werner-names-four-chelsea-22841907 Timo Werner has named his manager Frank Lampard and Chelsea legends Didier Drogba, Petr Cech and Ashley Cole as the Blues players he admired while growing up. snip

Azpilicueta explains why he wants Hazard back at Chelsea https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/club-news/azpilicueta-explains-why-he-wants-hazard-back-at-chelsea/ Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta has named Eden Hazard as the former teammate he has missed the most as he spoke about their close relationship during a question-and-answer session on YouTube. It has been more than a year since the 29-year-old left Stamford Bridge to pursue his dream at Real Madrid. His departure practically marked a new era for the Blues, with young players such as Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner coming in to succeed him and the likes of Willian and Pedro Rodriguez. Only a few players from the Premier League title-winning Chelsea side remain in the squad, including Azpilicueta who has become a senior member of the dressing room. Interestingly, when asked to pick one former Chelsea player he’s missed the most, Azpilicueta chose his best mate Hazard. He told Chelsea reporter Lee Parker: “I’ve been really lucky to play with top professionals and top men who have won everything. “When I first sat down in the [Chelsea] dressing room, I looked around and thought ‘wow’. I had to make the most of it and I learned a lot. “Obviously one [former Chelsea player] I had a [closer] relationship with was Eden Hazard because we were more or less the same age. “We also lived really close to each other, we had our kids in the same school and the same class. “It [was] a different kind of relationship but, in terms of football, I couldn’t complain [about Hazard].” Despite his stardom, the four-time Chelsea player of the year is just a normal man outside the pitch, Azpilicueta added. “He was very quiet, a family man. “He would ring your doorbell to play and ride a bike.” It sounds like the Eden Hazard we know – and miss.

Poland vs Italy – Highlights https://yfl.viditnow.com/player/html/eUPop6UQMMgNo?popup=yes&autoplay=1

Norway vs Romania – Highlights https://yfl.viditnow.com/player/html/yJ8ygEpFPlULz?popup=yes&autoplay=1

Croatia vs Sweden – Highlights https://yfl.viditnow.com/player/html/hPgwcSriqnnKG?popup=yes&autoplay=1

Iceland vs Denmark – Highlights https://yfl.viditnow.com/player/html/T8mNF7F6r7ay1?popup=yes&autoplay=1

Ukraine vs Spain – Highlights https://yfl.viditnow.com/player/html/EqCm9srHZfg04?popup=yes&autoplay=1

Germany vs Switzerland – Highlights https://yfl.viditnow.com/player/html/gYYal9N0gUMOW?popup=yes&autoplay=1

this bloke has beast potential when he comes back from loan to BHO next summer, he was so good against Italy Brighton sign Jakub Moder and Michał Karbownik for £14.5 million http://www.wearebrighton.com/newsopinion/brighton-sign-jakub-moder-and-michal-karbownik-for-14-5-million/

Andreas Christensen makes it into the @WhoScored Nations League team of the round for his part in Denmark's 3-0 win over Iceland

Hakim Ziyech is the final piece of the Chelsea jigsaw puzzle https://theprideoflondon.com/2020/10/13/ziyech-piece-chelsea-puzzle/ Chelsea has been without its first summer signing for the entirety of the season, but Hakim Ziyech represents a vital cog. It may be slightly difficult for many to believe, but Chelsea needs Hakim Ziyech for this team to finally come together. The Blues have started the season without the Moroccan international and so far, the only comfortable league game they’ve had has been Crystal Palace at home. This is not to discredit anything that any of the new and existing players have been doing; however, it is easy to see where Chelsea has been missing the former Ajax man: the final third. Frank Lampard’s side has lacked a decisive creator who can spot rare passes, as well as execute them. Chelsea would benefit from a player like this in counter attacking situations and in times where the opponent is difficult to break down. Ziyech has a superb ability to whip a difficult cross over a defensive line at just the right height to a winger/fullback running behind the defensive line. Yes, the Blues have been creating chances, but they’ve not been quality chances. Chelsea has created two big chances per game since the start of the 2020/21 season. This isn’t good enough for a team of this stature, especially compared to other teams like Aston Villa (3.3), Everton (3.2) and Liverpool (3.2). Tottenham Hotspur leads the statistic comfortably with 4.2. The number of clear-cut opportunities is a good measurement for the quality of chances that Chelsea creates. Timo Werner comes from RB Leipzig, who created 3.1 clear-cut chances per game in the Bundesliga last year. Havertz is good at finishing chances, but he can’t finish chances he doesn’t get. Chelsea has a talented squad, however, the number of big chances created has to increase and Ziyech is the key to that. How can we be sure? Ajax has created 2.5 big chances per game so far this season without Ziyech. With Ziyech in the last few seasons? 4.6 (2019/20), 4.1 (’18/19) and 3.1 (’17/18). In comparison, Chelsea’s highest number of big chances created in a season is lower than Ajax’s lowest number of big chances created in a season over the past three seasons: 2.8 (’19/20), 2.5 (’18/19) and 1.6 (’17/18). The difference is glaring. Individually, the Blues have also not been superb in terms of their creation. Over the past three seasons, the players that have created the most big chances for the west London side per season have been Cesar Azpilicueta (11), Eden Hazard (18) and Willian (12) in the 2017/18, ’18/19 and ’19/20 seasons respectively. Azpilicueta—the only one of those three remaining in the squad—is a fullback. In comparison, the same player has led in big chances created for Ajax over the past three seasons with 24, 27 and 23. The player? You guessed it, Ziyech. There is an argument to be made about how easy it would be to replicate those numbers for Chelsea, but chance creation is a product of football intelligence, as well as teammate movement. Ziyech obviously has the X-factor. That argument could also be made for every new player that any club has ever signed. There’s no guarantee that any player could replicate amazing numbers in different leagues, but Ziyech has given reason to show that he can. He has comfortably controlled defenses in the Champions League and even reached a semifinal—all of these as a key player. The new Blues need time to bed themselves in and become a well-oiled machine, but they also need to get used to creating quality chances and having quality chances created for them. No team ever won the league with a bunch of half chances across 38 games (though Chelsea recorded 0.8 BC per game in the 2016/17 title winning season). Ziyech is an essential element in making this Chelsea team gel. The Blues will not be able to get away with benching the Moroccan magician too much this season for this reason.

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Video: Forgotten Chelsea ace produces brilliant and vital challenge vs Robert Lewandowski in Nations League clash https://www.caughtoffside.com/2020/10/13/chelsea-news-emerson-tackle-vs-lewandowski-video/ Forgotten Chelsea left-back Emerson Palmieri has reminded us all of his quality with a superb piece of defending for the Italian national team against Poland. Watch the video below as Emerson produced a stunning and important tackle on Poland striker Robert Lewandowski, denying him what looked like a huge scoring opportunity in their Nations League clash… Chelsea signed Ben Chilwell this summer, meaning Emerson is now possibly Frank Lampard’s third choice left-back, with Marcos Alonso also still in the mix. This seems a bit harsh on the former Roma defender, who clearly remains a key player for his country and someone capable of providing great work rate and leadership at the back.

N'Golo Kante 'wants to leave Chelsea due to tension with Frank Lampard after he refused to let him go to a friend's wedding... and the midfielder dreams of a move to Real Madrid' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8833165/NGolo-Kante-wants-leave-Chelsea-Real-Madrid-falling-Frank-Lampard.html N'Golo Kante could leave Chelsea in January after falling out with Frank Lampard over a wedding and dreams of a move to Real Madrid, according to reports. The French midfielder is one of the top midfielders in the world and is currently on international duty with his country ahead of a mouth-watering tie with Croatia on Tuesday night. But French news outlet Le Parisien claimed Lampard refused to let Kante skip training to attend a friend's wedding before the international break which angered the 29-year-old. And the report also claims that Kante is dreaming of a move to Real Madrid and his representatives want to secure a Chelsea exit within the next 12 months, even though the LaLiga side are yet to register their interest in the player. The Frenchman still has under three years left remaining at Stamford Bridge but has been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge for most of this year. Kante and Lampard came into the season on good terms after the Chelsea manager allowed the midfielder to take compassionate leave after the player had concerns about coming into training during lockdown. The 29-year-old had a difficult time with coronavirus symptoms during the season's hiatus earlier this year and had doubts over whether it was right for the Premier League to return in June. Kante ended the season with Chelsea and did not leave the club during the summer transfer window, but the latest debacle could change his future at the club. The Frenchman joined the west Londoners in 2016 having just won the top-flight title with Leicester City. Kante has since played 175 side for the Blues and has helped them win one Premier League title, one FA Cup triumph and the 2019 Europa League trophy.

The reason Victor Moses' latest loan has been delayed and his deadline to seal move from Chelsea https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/reason-victor-moses-latest-loan-19092303 The 29-year-old has until Saturday to complete a switch to Spartak Moscow Victor Moses' loan move to Spartak Moscow is not in jeopardy despite delays over the wing back's medical. The 29-year-old has verbally agreed to join the Russian club on a season-long loan that will see him sign a one-year contract extension at Chelsea as a result of his current deal running out next summer. As first reported by Goal, Moses has agreed in principle to join Spartak after Inter Milan did not pick up an option to buy after he spent last season on loan in Serie A. Moses joined Chelsea from Wigan Athletic in the summer of 2012 and thrived during Antonio Conte's title-winning season but he has already had five loans, including three different Premier League clubs, two seasons at Fenerbahce and the spell at Conte's Inter. Last month Frank Lampard said that Moses was not part of the club's coronvirus testing group and would be looking for a move. "We have a bubble at the training ground with the first-team squad, which Victor hasn’t been part of. I know Victor well and we will see how that develops," the head coach said. Chelsea, who have 30 players already out on loan, are still trying to find new homes for Danny Drinkwater, Jake Clarke-Salter and Baba Rahman. The latter has interest from a number of Championship clubs, including Watford and Middlesbrough, and they have until Friday to confirm moves. The Russian transfer window shuts on Saturday. Spartak are joint-top with Zenit St Petersburg, accuring 21 points from 10 games.

Thomas Partey’s father says he waited for Chelsea’s offer despite Arsenal transfer https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/transfer-news/thomas-parteys-father-says-he-waited-for-chelseas-offer-despite-arsenal-transfer/ Thomas Partey’s father, Jacob, has confirmed Chelsea were interested in signing his son prior to the midfielder’s deadline-day move to Arsenal. There wasn’t really a race for the 27-year-old’s signature in the summer. Atletico Madrid clearly didn’t want to sell. The only way to sign him was to pay his release clause, which was reportedly £45 million. A report from The Telegraph said Chelsea sent their scouts to watch the Ghana international with Frank Lampard looking for a defensive midfielder. But the report added the Blues were only going to make a move if they could sell some fringe players, which they failed to do. Arsenal then triggered Partey’s release clause on deadline day. However, according to Partey’s father, the midfield enforcer could have been a Chelsea player. He said his family were waiting for an offer from a “bigger team” than Arsenal. His father Jacob told Ghanaian outlet Joy Online: “We actually weren’t disturbed by anything because we hoped a bigger team [would] come for Partey. “We were aware of the [other teams that were interested] – Juventus, Chelsea and so forth. “So about all these, we knew God was with us.”

Jorginho close to new Chelsea contract after turnaround under Lampard https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/club-news/report-jorginho-close-to-new-chelsea-contract-after-turnaround-under-lampard/ Chelsea midfielder Jorginho will reportedly begin talks over a new contract with the club as he reportedly sees his long-term future at Stamford Bridge. The last few months have been a roller-coaster ride for the 28-year-old. He was frozen out of the team in the first few games of the Premier League return before N’Golo Kante and Billy Gilmour’s injury paved the way for his return to the team. Having been heavily linked with a return to Italy, he remains a Chelsea player with the Premier League and Serie A summer transfer window now closed. Footballing-wise, things also look bright for Jorginho. He made Frank Lampard’s starting line-up in all of Chelsea’s Premier League games this season, including in the last 4-0 win over London rivals Crystal Palace in which he scored two goals from the spot. Despite primarily operating as the deepest man in a midfield three throughout his career, Jorginho is arguably the obvious choice to play alongside N’Golo Kante in Lampard’s new double-pivot midfield. And according to a report from Area Napoli, the regista is convinced to extend his stay in West London with first contacts for a new contract coming in the next few days. Jroginho and Chelsea’s representatives are planning the details of about the contract extension, the report added.

fucking Sarri POS tried to turn him into something he never was and never will be plus he damn near destroyed him with overplay and then playing him when he was injured thank fuck he appears healthy again now that he is soon 30yo (and thus plummets even more in sales value) I no longer feel a burning need to sell him, especially if he stays disciplined like he does for France

Words like 'self', 'serving', 'power' and 'grab' are being bandied about POWER GRAB OR ALTRUISM? When Sunday’s big scoop about a mooted shake-up in the English football pyramid broke around noon, it caused much consternation among the country’s press pack. As anybody who has ever witnessed feeding time at the lavish Stamford Bridge media buffet will attest, football journalists are famously fond of their grub. With that in mind, forcing them to abandon Sunday lunch in order to digest the finer points of very elaborate and detailed plans to save football instead was never likely to end well, so it’s no great surprise so many of them seem to have found it thoroughly objectionable. Hatched by Liverpool’s American owners with the approval of their Manchester United counterparts and run up the flagpole by Football League chief suit, Liverpool fan, former Premier League CEO and suspected trojan horse Rick Parry, Project Big Picture is not entirely without merit, even if it does bear a striking likeness to Edvard Munch’s The Scream. Taking the extremely short-term view, the one Parry and his cohorts want you to take, EFL clubs in danger of going into Covid-related extinction would get a rescue package, the grassroots game would benefit financially, a much-maligned parachute payments system would be abolished and – most importantly – The Fiver gets some much-needed #content to write about on what would otherwise have been a very quiet Monday. Plan to mend football pyramid's great crack should not be swept off table | David Conn Read more But at what cost, eh? Since news of the plan broke, words like “self”, “serving”, “power” and “grab” have been bandied about by cynics who, while acknowledging Something Needs To Be Done to save clubs from going to the wall, have a feeling the motives of Liverpool and Manchester United might not be entirely altruistic. The government is appalled, the Premier League is appalled and several Football League clubs have also clutched their pearls over a wheeze they feel would scupper their chances of ever hitting the big time. In return for a gesture of apparent largesse that would cost them nothing and help them earn even more, members of the Big Six and three other clubs apparently picked at random from an upturned fez would ultimately seize control of all Premier League decision-making. “I don’t see it that way,” countered Parry, waving his pom-poms on various radio shows. “They care about the pyramid. This will come out, the truth will come out; their passion for the pyramid will come out.” Of course only time will tell if this hitherto concealed passion is unbridled enough to encourage the Premier League’s richest clubs to help out those less fortunate than themselves in a manner that isn’t so obviously self-serving. They could begin by rowing back on their fiendish plan to remove the Premier League’s all important “one club, one vote” ethos, an idea that flies in the very face of democracy. For now, though, at least a conversation has begun and it is shaping up to be quite the squabble that could ultimately end in a footballing civil war. For lower-league clubs who need financial assistance now, the wait for salvation looks set to go on and on. QUOTE OF THE DAY “I became too fond of the lifestyle that came with the money. I want to go back in time and hit that young lad on the head with a hammer. Make him understand what a chance it is. That he has something special … something he has to look after” – Nicklas Bendtner opens up to Donald McRae on how he lost his way.

Costliest squads: Manchester City stands out Issue number 308 of the Weekly Post presents the annual CIES Football Observatory analysis on the transfer fee expenditure to assemble the squad by big-5 league teams. As for 2019, Manchester City tops the table with an estimated 1.036 billion euro invested in transfer indemnities to sign their current players (including add-ons). The figure recorded for Manchester City is €22M higher than that measured one year ago. While still inferior to that of their city rivals, the transfer expenditure to assemble the squad for Manchester United increased by €93M compared to October 2019: from €751 M to €844 M. With this increase, the Red Devils get closer to Paris St-Germain (€888 M, - €25 M) and overtake Real Madrid (€708M, - 194M). The biggest increase was recorded for Chelsea FC (€761M, +€198M). Apart from Paris St-Germain and Real Madrid, only three other non-English teams are in the top 12: Barcelona (4th, €826M), Juventus (8th, €594M) and Atlético Madrid (11th, €483M). This finding confirms the financial supremacy of the Premier League. No team from this competition has invested less than €100 M in transfer indemnities to sign its current players. The European champions, Bayern Munich, only are 15th (€408M). https://football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2020/wp308/en/

Explained: Why a US entertainment giant has bought the biggest football agency https://theathletic.com/2126770/2020/10/11/footballers-influencers-icmpartners-stellar-agency/ Lockdown was a drag for footballers in terms of their day jobs, even for the ones with huge gardens, but it was a different story for their sidelines in content creation. Sergio Aguero turned into a gaming sensation, Robert Lewandowski taught the world to dance and Alphonso Davies tried to singlehandedly lift the mood, one minute at a time, via his TikTok account. All three added millions to their already impressive social media followings, giving them even bigger platforms to influence our choices on what games to download, music to play and onesies to wear. Famous people have always been influencers, there is nothing new about that, but footballers have never been this famous before or had as many different outlets for the fame their feet has brought them. Books, documentaries, movie cameos, podcasts, reality TV: there is nothing the modern player cannot do, which is why they become key assets in one of the world’s growth industries. City Football Group chief executive Ferran Soriano might have misread the room (and forgotten his club’s not-too-distant history) this week when he suggested the answer to the English Football League’s cashflow crisis might be more Manchester Citys but he nailed “the very basic investment thesis” that is driving his industry. “The world is a place with six, seven, eight billion people and the majority are middle class — that’s different from 30 years ago but it’s a reality today — and these people need to be entertained,” Soriano told a virtual audience during a Leaders Week question-and-answer session on Wednesday. “So the business of entertainment will grow and sport is a fundamental part of entertainment and football is the number one sport.” We did not need to wait long for further proof of football’s growing importance within the global media-entertainment complex. The following day one of the world’s largest talent agencies, ICM Partners, bought the biggest football agency, Stellar Group, to create ICM Stellar Sports. Beyonce, Michael Keaton and Samuel L Jackson, allow me to introduce you to your new stablemates, Gareth Bale, Ben Chilwell and Jack Grealish. Founded in Los Angeles in 1975, ICM is a very big deal in books, films, music and television. It represents the estates of American literary heavyweights such as Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, it looks after the producers and writers who gave us Breaking Bad, Frasier, Friends and Sex and the City, while championing the careers of comedians Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld. But until Thursday, it did not do sports. Which is why ICM’s boss Chris Silbermann called Stellar chairman Jonathan Barnett last Christmas to see if it was too late to have a chat with him. Silbermann, you see, had heard on the grapevine that Barnett was thinking about selling Stellar, an agency he had started in 1994 on his kitchen table in London with business partner David Manasseh, to one of ICM’s rivals. As ICM had just sold a minority stake to New York-based private equity firm Crestview for $150 million, Barnett thought a chat was the very least Silbermann deserved and told him he was on holiday in Miami if he wanted to join him. A day later the pair were hitting it off over lunch and the deal, bar nine months of hammering out the details, was done. Barnett and Manasseh are now the executive chairmen of ICM Stellar Sports, where they will be joined by the rest of their Stellar colleagues and clients, the latter numbering 800 footballers, cricketers, rugby players and track and field stars. Named by Forbes magazine as football’s number one agent last year, Barnett has been doing deals so long he cannot remember his first client but it was probably a cricketer. His first big client was definitely a cricketer, West Indies superstar Brian Lara, but it was not until he oversaw Bale’s record-breaking £85 million move to Real Madrid in 2013 that he and Stellar really went stratospheric. Seven of the England football squad who beat Wales on Thursday are Stellar men and the group had already dipped its toes into the North American market with the signings of New Orleans Saints quarterback Jameis Winston and New York Giants safety Xavier McKinney. Why sell now, then? “ICM is a magnificent media and entertainment agency and they don’t do things by halves,” Barnett explains. “They wanted to build a powerful sports division and that’s where we come in. We’re already number one in football, the world’s favourite sport, and now we’re going to develop our NFL business and get into NBA and all kinds of other sports. “That’s what excited me. I can afford a suit or two these days and I drive a better car than the Honda, with a door hanging off, that I was driving when I started Stellar but I feel 70 years young and I want to build a new agency. “Not from my kitchen table, I’m too old for that, but from a position of strength.” While Barnett and Manasseh have signed long-term contracts to run the new agency on a day-to-day basis, oversight of the business will be provided by chairman Ted Chervin, managing director of ICM Partners’ main business and as much of a legend in his own field as Barnett is in his. A Harvard-educated lawyer, Chervin started off prosecuting criminals in New York before he got into the agency business, going from boxing, with the likes of James “Lights Out” Toney and Manny Pacquiao, to books. He was a named partner with Silbermann in a literary agency bought by ICM in 2006, and has spent most of the last decade running ICM’s television stable. So why sports, why a UK-based agency and why Stellar? “We’ve been working with athletes as they moved into sportscasting but we’ve wanted to really get into sports for a while,” says Chervin, speaking to The Athletic via Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. “There are two ways you can start a new business. You can build organically, perhaps by bringing someone in or by promoting from within and giving them more responsibility, but that’s a slow process. We wanted to move quicker. We wanted a partner, who shared our values, ambition and entrepreneurial culture. That’s Stellar. They’re right at the top of their game and with them you get their expertise, excellence and access. “We want to start up here (his hand level with his forehead) and get to here (six inches above his head). Stellar already has soccer, track and field, rugby and early steps in NFL, and we’re going to expand all of that, and get into the NBA, maybe baseball, and golf and tennis, if the right opportunity arises.” From a business perspective, the deal makes sense. US interest in investing in English football is also particularly buoyant at the moment, with American-listed firms such as RedBall Acquisition Corp — of which former Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore is chairman — having raised $575 million (almost £440 million) in August. Chinese investment is dwindling and US investors appear to want to fill the gap. The English market is appealing given valuations generally do not match the astronomical figures of US sports and there is a greater possibility of achieving a minority stake. COVID-19 has hit ICM hard though, as television and movie production has stalled, forcing the company to shed nearly 10 per cent of its workforce. Diversifying into new markets should, in theory, create some growth again, although sport has not been immune from the pandemic’s impact. The Premier League’s clubs might have combined to spend more than £1.2 billion on new players, a staggering sum all things considered, but that was still down on previous seasons and the market was significantly weaker elsewhere in Europe. Stellar’s profits were actually falling even before COVID-19 struck, as it made £11.5 million in 2018 but less than £5 million last year. That said, one or two deals can move the needle pretty quickly and Bale’s return to Spurs and Chilwell’s £50 million move from Leicester to Chelsea should have brought in a couple of decent commissions. More worrying, perhaps, is FIFA’s attempts to curtail the amount of money agents make from transfers. World football’s governing body was stung into action by the revelations from Football Leaks, the website set up by Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto in 2015 that led to a series of newspaper investigations between 2016 and 2018, and eventually a book. It was from these leaks that the world learned Bale’s transfer to Real Madrid was a world record, beating Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to the same club from Manchester United, and that Italian agent Mino Raiola earned £41 million from Paul Pogba’s transfer from Juventus to United. FIFA’s proposal, which has been backed by the European Commission, is to limit the agent of a selling club to 10 per cent of the fee, with a three per cent limit for the buying club’s agent. Unsurprisingly, this has managed to unite Barnett, Raiola and Jorge Mendes, another of European football’s elite agencies, against what they view as a restraint of trade and a misunderstanding of their role in the game. They have promised to fight FIFA in the courts for as long as it takes. And as Barnett regularly points out, his job is to make sure a fair share of football’s income goes to the stars of the show, something he has done better than most. It is also worth noting that Stellar rarely loses a client. However, during a pandemic and with red tape on the horizon, the need to find new revenue streams is obvious, which brings us back to the real rationale for bringing such wide-ranging talents under one umbrella. “There used to be walls between the disciplines in TV and film,” explains Chervin. “Sitcom writers only wrote sitcoms, showrunners who did drama, only did drama. If an actor wanted to produce something, it would be called a vanity deal, something done to placate them. “But that all changed 10 years ago, the verticals started to break down and the top talent became multi-discipline. Now there are no limits to what a major celebrity can do. “We have realised the value of influencers. The Kardashians, George Clooney, Ellen, John Cena, all have massive followings and they can break through the chatter. “Athletes are no different. They have a massive opportunity to tell their interesting stories but also to tell the stories that interest them.” Barnett might not know how to pitch a sports documentary to a US network or get a footballer a part in a Hollywood blockbuster but he now knows 500 people who do and he completely understands what this means for his clients. “The world is their oyster and they’ll be able to pick and choose the opportunities that interest them,” he says. “When players finish their careers today, they’re very wealthy, so we’re not talking about £250 to do an interview for Sky anymore. They’ll do things because they want to. Peter Crouch is one of ours and look at him. So yes, for the younger ones, they can become social media superstars. Gareth Bale has 100 million followers across all platforms.” Owen Laverty is a director at Ear to the Ground, a London-based creative agency that specialises in sport and esports. “Historically, we have always been influenced by athletes, musicians, actors and, more recently, celebrities,” says Laverty. “But social media gave a gateway to a new wave of individuals to gain and monetise influence through direct access to large audiences for a low fee, the cost of creating good content. These content creators stole a march on athletes, musicians and actors in the way they built and engaged with youth audiences. “What we’re seeing happen now is twofold. On one hand, we have footballers coming through who have grown up with social media and who have been following — and learning from — content creators themselves. So, they are interested and enthused by the idea of creating content and building audiences like ‘influencers’. “And, on the other hand, talent agencies have finally learned from the content creators’ methods and are applying them to individuals with much more potential. No offence to YouTubers but a Champions League-winning player, who also creates fun stories and vlogs, is more likely to blow up online and open up massive commercial opportunities than a teenager starting out in their bedroom. “This creates more commercial opportunities for players’ agents. Brands are going to pay more to sponsor individual talent who give them direct access to an audience.” Laverty explains that in the past brands would have to pay for a footballer to appear in their advert, then film it and then buy the media spots, too. But now they can do deals with players who are already creating their own content and have huge audiences of their own. This, he says, gives agents more opportunities to leverage cash on behalf of their clients, particularly as their content-creation skills are improving all the time. “Lockdown seemed to have only accelerated all this,” he says. “With players at home, in similar situations to fans and not a lot to do, we saw a huge spike in more engaging, two-way content between players and their fans on social media. There was about a 15 per cent increase in Premier League player content on social. And fans loved it. “More Q&A Instagram story sessions, more challenge and trick-shot content, more dancing. It filled a void but it was also successful and it seems many players are now taking these lessons forward.” Laverty believes gaming will play a huge part in this, which seems a sensible bet. After all, Amazon Prime put all four of the Project Restart games it was given to stream on its gaming platform Twitch, as well. Those streams attracted 150,000 viewers. But, as Chervin points out, the possibilities for the modern professional athlete are almost endless. One of the sport-related deals ICM Partners has done before buying Stellar was to help New Orleans Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins become a contributor for CNN on race and social justice issues. Whether we can expect to see Stellar clients Mason Mount, Jordan Pickford or Nick Pope pop up as talking heads on heavyweight political shows is debatable but at least they now know it can be arranged.

History lessons, new homes and Ancelotti’s Blackpool fury: Everton’s dream start https://theathletic.com/2127693/2020/10/12/everton-start-premier-league-ancelotti-coleman-rodriguez/ A couple of days before Everton’s home game against West Bromwich Albion last month, Seamus Coleman assembled the squad for a meeting. Everton had made a good start to the season, beating Tottenham Hotspur away on the opening day before following it up with a 3-0 Carabao Cup win over Salford City, but the club captain was still keen to impress on players — old and new — what it means to play for one of English football’s oldest sides. Coleman had requested a short video from the club’s media team over the summer, a part-educational, part-motivational montage of historic triumphs, club legends and recent highlights. With new players, including James Rodriguez, Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure, performing in front of empty stands, Coleman also wanted to convey the power of Goodison Park and the passion of Everton’s fanbase. The video started with drone footage of the stadium from Howard’s Way, the popular film chronicling Everton’s success in the 1980s under legendary manager Howard Kendall, and a quote from Peter Reid, one of that side’s stalwarts. “There’s something unique about Everton, the spirit of the place grabs you, and once it grabs you, it never leaves you,” Reid said. Over 15 minutes, Rodriguez and the rest of the team saw Kendall’s great side conquer Bayern Munich in the European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final, Goodison full to the brim celebrating goals and victories, and standout moments from current squad players. That weekend, Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton side beat West Brom 5-2. The montage was particularly well received by in-form striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who is said to have commented that he had been inspired by the feats of club legends Andy Gray and Graeme Sharp. Calvert-Lewin, called up to the England squad for the first time this month, is continuing that fine vein of Everton striking tradition. Buoyed by the new England cap’s goals, the astute management of Ancelotti and the addition of several big names over summer, Everton have made an outstanding start to the season. “There might have been a bit of scepticism when Carlo first joined about whether he has the appetite anymore or when James Rodriguez went if he was ever going to be the player from 2014,” says a source. “But those questions are getting answered now and people are taking notice.” After seven games, Ancelotti’s side are top of the Premier League by three points, into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and boast a 100 per cent record across all competitions, scoring 24 goals in the process. It has been their best opening to a campaign since 1894-95. The form of Calvert-Lewin, who struck nine times in his opening six club games, has been pivotal. But so has the astute management of Ancelotti, the influence of his son, Davide, and Duncan Ferguson as assistants, and the impact of the new signings. Across the board, standards have been raised and Everton look like a different beast. It is a turnaround in fortunes that scarcely seemed possible after a tough end to 2019-20 in which Everton finished with just one win in their final six matches and lost 3-1 at home to relegated Bournemouth on the final day. Bloomfield Road. August 22 Everton’s pre-season is just 11 minutes old but already they are three goals down to League One side Blackpool. They have not been at the races, either individually or collectively. For all Blackpool’s good work — and there has been plenty — the goals come about through a series of Everton errors. Overrun all over the pitch, the visitors are teetering. Ancelotti watches on ashen-faced, arms crossed. He has been here before. By half-time, Everton are back in the game through goals from Calvert-Lewin and Gylfi Sigurdsson but it is not enough to remove the furrowed brow from Ancelotti’s face. He sends his players out 10 minutes early for the second half. Few words but a clear message. Take responsibility. It had been the same after defeats by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bournemouth at the end of the 2019-20 season. Following the 3-0 loss at Molineux, skipper Coleman reminded the team in the away dressing room that they had fallen well below the standards required, before saying the same thing in front of the TV cameras. Privately, other members of the squad felt like they had been playing like a team a couple of goals ahead rather than one 3-0 behind. After the 3-1 humbling against Bournemouth, and again before the players went away for their short three-week break between seasons, Ancelotti demanded his squad come back to training with a changed mentality, renewed ambition and more desire. The worry, after Wolves, was that there had been no real response. Months later, in a similar situation against Blackpool, Ancelotti belatedly got one — albeit against League One opposition. From 3-0 down, Everton clawed their way back to draw 3-3. “Blackpool could end up being a watershed moment,” says one source close to the dressing room. “They’d only just got back and it was more, ‘You could get embarrassed here. It’s not good enough.’” The response seen on the Lancashire coast was a step in the right direction, but Ancelotti wanted more. He turned to the transfer market and some familiar faces. The arrivals of Allan, Doucoure and Rodriguez have not only given everyone at Goodison a lift, they have also added vital elements Everton have long been missing. “They’ve brought in a handful of class players who have gone into the first team,” says one source. “It was so obvious last year that there was this massive hole in the middle of the team. They didn’t have legs or anyone to sit in front of the back four. They’ve gone out and addressed that with quality players.” Another regular observer with links to the club describes how Allan and Rodriguez, two players who have worked under Ancelotti before, have integrated seamlessly and helped drive standards. “They know what the manager wants immediately and that’s massive,” the source says. “Everton were too nice. There’s a difference in the camp now in terms of what’s expected and what’s allowed. Ancelotti is right in (at Finch Farm) after games whereas other managers would sometimes go away for a bit.” Ancelotti was particularly pivotal in the deals to bring Allan and Rodriguez to Goodison, phoning up the pair before their arrivals to discuss how they would fit into his plans. Without the pre-existing bonds in place, it is hard to envisage Everton being able to secure Rodriguez. “It’s given everyone a massive boost and everyone knows if they’re not on it they’ll be replaced,” one source tells The Athletic. “You can’t afford to have a poor season. The competition has brought the best out of everybody — you have to operate at another level.” The early signs are that Everton’s squad players are doing just that. Sigurdsson, an ever-present when fit last season, has started just one Premier League game this time around, but is having a quietly effective start to the campaign. He has responded to being dropped with a number of eye-catching displays in the Carabao Cup, backing it up in the Premier League win over Brighton & Hove Albion before the international break, and is arguably one of those benefitting most from the switch from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. With extra legs and defensive solidity alongside him, Sigurdsson’s technical ability has come to the fore. The Athletic understands, though, that Everton were open to selling the Icelander to Saudi side Al Hilal on deadline day, only for the 31-year-old to decide to stay and fight for his place. Sigurdsson scored twice for Iceland on Thursday in their European Championship qualifier against Romania and, speaking to Icelandic TV, sent a message to Ancelotti after the game. “I hope Carlo was watching,” he said. Others close to the Everton dressing room highlight Yerry Mina and Tom Davies as examples of players who have stepped up in recent weeks in the face of renewed competition. Mina, towering against Brighton as new £20 million signing Ben Godfrey watched on at Goodison, is widely considered to have had one of his best games in a blue shirt against Graham Potter’s side. Blundellsands is a sleepy suburb next to Crosby on Merseyside’s Sefton coastline, known for the historic West Lancashire Golf Club and Antony Gormley’s ethereal Another Place statues. It’s also become the centre of a “New Everton” enclave. Ancelotti fell in love with the area at first sight and instructed his estate agent not to look any further after showing him the plush home he moved into in December, and Richarlison lives around the corner with his agent. Just up the road in nearby Freshfield is Rodriguez, who chose one of the area’s most impressive properties; replete with six bedrooms, a tennis court, swimming pool, gym and putting green. If that’s not enough to keep the 29-year-old busy in his spare time, his new home even has its own floodlit football pitch in the grounds. It is no coincidence the Colombian chose to live close to his mentor and fellow leading light in Everton’s attack. He speaks Portuguese and has already socialised outside of training with Everton’s core of South American stars. While many players from the north west’s four biggest clubs choose to live outside of Liverpool and Manchester in nearby Cheshire, Everton players are increasingly following the example of their manager, who wanted to be embedded in the community of which his club is part. It’s typical of the growing unity on and off the pitch. Half-an-hour’s drive from Blundellsands is Everton’s Finch Farm training ground, where Ancelotti’s methods have had time to fully settle in. While the Italian complained last season about a lack of directness and “vertical” passing from his team, he and son Davide have restructured sessions to counter the problem. There is a desire to communicate in English but Davide, who speaks Italian, Spanish, French and German, is also able to convey instructions in other languages — particularly as Everton’s South American contingent continue to learn English. The result is quick, decisive attacking football that starts with bravery on the ball from defenders to get it into the feet of gifted attackers. “Carlo is all about playing the ball through the lines quickly,” says a source close to the first team. “They’ve got those players there who can pick up the ball and drive. “All the training is about breaking the lines as quickly as possible. It’s five against six for 20-25 minutes at a time. Wave after wave. It’s about getting the ball and slotting it through. “In defence, they’re setting out with a couple of banks and it’s ‘break us down’. That’s Ancelotti.” It has also helped Calvert-Lewin, who has not looked back since Ferguson’s first game as interim coach in December, race to the top of the scoring charts. Everton’s new balance was evident from the first game of the new season, before which Rodriguez received a standing ovation for his Brazilian initiation song and dance at a Shoreditch hotel. Ancelotti’s side played with a sense of purpose, poise and control in north London, which was a million miles away from the dark days of Molineux in July. More importantly, they got a result that was an important early psychological landmark; their first win at Tottenham in the Premier League in 12 years. “You can’t underestimate winning that game against Tottenham,” says a source. “The confidence is sky high and they trust and believe in the manager who has been there and done it. “There has been a raising of standards across the club and there has been a shift in mentality. They look like a team of men.” The growing belief and positivity even extended into the usually fraught last day of the transfer window. Four years ago, in owner Farhad Moshiri’s first summer, Everton were gazumped close to the deadline by Spurs, who signed Moussa Sissoko from under their noses after the club had agreed to a deal with Newcastle. This time around, they even completed their later business in a controlled fashion, signing Godfrey, one of the country’s highest-rated young defenders, from Norwich ahead of a host of clubs on Monday morning. Replenishing their ranks of central defenders with the £20 million deal for Godfrey pushed Everton to their limits financially after being unable to offload as many highly paid fringe men such as Yannick Bolasie and Muhamed Besic as they would have liked. Nevertheless, they got the transfer done. “Everyone is saying Everton have got a real player on their hands here with Godfrey,” says one figure close to the deal. “Lee Carsley (who coached Godfrey for England Under-21s) loves him and was raving to Duncan. Physically he’s there already and he really wanted to come. “Everton are becoming a desirable club. Players in the Premier League and Europe are starting to view them as more than just somewhere to go for a pay-day but somewhere to go and challenge the top four soon.” It’s still early days this season but the signs are certainly encouraging.

‘I was thinking, f*** you. I have as much right to be here as you’ https://theathletic.com/2126791/2020/10/11/gender-discrimination-womens-football/ On August 13, Georgie Bingham posted a tweet announcing that earlier in the week, she had been informed by talkSPORT radio that her contract was not being renewed for the new season. “I would like to make it clear that this was not my decision,” she wrote. “I was told they’d like to take the weekend breakfast show in a different direction with more ‘football expertise’ and I was not offered any other on-air slot or any new shift agreement either.” She left talkSPORT with little fanfare. There was no public thank-you for her service or even an acknowledgement that she had been let go. The Athletic understands that her departure was a programming decision with the Weekend Sports Breakfast programme continuing with Natalie Sawyer taking Bingham’s place alongside Tony Cascarino. Bingham had worked at the station since 2011 and hosted its weekend breakfast show for six of those years, posting positive or increased listening figures in every quarter bar three. In the two weeks after revealing her departure on Twitter, she was inundated with over a thousand messages of support from listeners who couldn’t understand talkSPORT’s decision. It’s just one part of a broader scenario that has left a broadcaster with more than 25 years of experience questioning whether she wants to continue to work in sports media. “Why would I?” Bingham says. “Combine the social media issues surrounding outright hostility towards women with 10 years of ploughing a lone furrow at talkSPORT for an exit that didn’t even dignify a thank you for my service… At the moment, I don’t know if I have the appetite to work in this industry again. It would be like staying in an abusive relationship. After 25 years of putting up with bullshit, you just think, ‘Maybe I don’t need that anymore’.” Bingham is speaking in the same week the Women in Football (WiF) organisation announced the results of its biggest-ever survey, sent out to over 4,000 members to coincide with their relaunch. It found that two thirds (66 per cent) of women have experienced gender discrimination in the football workplace, with just 12 per cent of incidents getting reported. To try and build a better picture of what that discrimination looks like and why so much of it goes unreported, The Athletic has spoken to several women who work in the media sector of the industry about their experiences. Some chose to speak anonymously, fearful of putting their careers in jeopardy. Others, including one who said she’d been through “a couple of really horrendous things in the last three years”, chose not to speak at all, terrified that their anecdotes would be traced back to them and cause further problems in the workplace. The football media landscape is one that, from the outside, looks to be moving in a positive direction for women. There are more female football reporters, presenters and analysts than ever and while there remains a vast swathe of social media that will never accept a female view on the men’s game, there are many more who appreciate seeing, hearing and reading the views of female journalists. But for those on the inside, there are still issues that need addressing. More than one football journalist described themselves as the most experienced, capable and knowledgeable they have ever been — but with the least work. Is that simply the impact of coronavirus? Perhaps in part. But there are also instances where women have been let go with the explanation that their employer wanted to bring in younger talent, while simultaneously seeing older male colleagues handed multi-year contracts. “It’s a real issue which men don’t face,” says one source, “getting to mid-30s and suddenly being ditched for young women without any experience or even relevant qualifications.” Another says, “unfortunately, there are just too many decisions now that are made by middle-aged white men who decide who they like the look of when it comes to women. That is a lot of what happens in broadcast and it’s just so obvious.” Bingham says, in her experience, it’s largely a generational issue and that while attitudes of the male generation who are now in their late 20s/early 30s are “very different and refreshing”, they are not yet the ones in positions of power and influence. “There is a level of misogynist that is the kind who thinks women should be in the kitchen. Then, there is a level of misogyny that protects the white, middle-aged man, and that’s largely what our management in this industry is. “There’s a lot of men who don’t even realise they are misogynistic. They’re like, ‘I love women’, but they don’t respect women and don’t treat them as equals. That’s what we’re working against and it’s going to take a long time for the industry to flush out these people.” Another source who has worked as a sports broadcaster and producer across television and radio for 15 years says that sexism in football is something that has taken time to become recognised as such. “It’s a bit like ingrained racism in society — something we’re only really now starting to uncover, so it’s not about the things we know not to say: it’s the things that are ingrained within society.” A year or so ago, she was giving a talk at a business event when she found herself telling a story that she’d not spoken about publicly before. At the time she was working on a football tournament for a large broadcaster and had been working in football for a number of years, but in broadcasting as a whole for even longer. Even so, she was delighted to be given a slot hosting her own bulletins solo (most were double-headed, with one male and one female broadcaster), meaning she was responsible for producing, writing and presenting the broadcasts. It was a real coup. It was only when she arrived in the office one afternoon to find an invoice accidentally left on her desk that she realised her work was being undervalued. The numbers showed a male colleague, someone fresh out of university and with nowhere near the level of experience she had, was being paid £50 more per shift than she was. “It wasn’t even for doing the same job,” she says. “He was co-hosting, so only doing half the job I was.” It was the first time she’d experienced such inequality and she decided she couldn’t ignore it. “I asked for a private word with my boss and told him, ‘I’m grateful for the opportunity I’ve had but this hurts when I think of all the work I put in and the experience I’ve got’. He shut me down very quickly, told me it was none of my business what he paid anyone else and that I had five minutes to decide if I wanted to do the rest of the shifts or not.” She left his office and mulled it over for 10 minutes before sending her boss an email explaining that, as a woman of her word, she would fulfil her shifts on the terms agreed but that she was disappointed and hoped his three daughters would never have to face what she’d had to. His reply read: “I’ve backdated your pay to match his but I’ll never work with you again because you’re trouble.” “The door swung open on gender pay some years after that happened,” she says. “But he never reached out to me about it. I often wonder if it’s something that ever crossed his mind again? I’ve never forgotten it. But that day at the business event was probably the first time I mentioned it out loud and I got gasps from the audience. “I think, as women, we have these experiences and bottle them up. I’d normalised it so much in my own head that when I got that reaction, I was really surprised.” Alison Bender has been working in football broadcasting for 20 years and says it’s only now that she feels able to talk about some of the experiences she’s had in the industry. “Weirdly, I have less work now than I had many years ago but I feel I have earned my stripes and can talk more freely. In the early days, I was so afraid that if I reported any sexism, people would be like, ‘It’s a privilege for you to be in this job. If you don’t like it, then get out’.” As a mother of two, Bender has twice experienced returning to work from maternity leave. On neither occasion was it straightforward. After her first child was born, she made sure to be back at work as soon as possible, only six weeks after having her son, because she was “petrified” her job would be given away. She returned to find that her rush had been in vain. Her show was already being passed over to a younger female who had no experience of presenting. “I feel sad for my young self that I rushed back in that quickly, but I felt I had no choice. While I was gone, there was a change of management and, because I came back part-time, I don’t think the new boss saw me as part of the furniture like I had been. He took me into his office and said, ‘We’re making some changes and you’re one of the casualties’. It was a terrible end, really. I can’t ever say that it was because I had a baby but I do know that because I had a baby I wasn’t in the office as much as I would have been. “I don’t think there’s enough protection for women when they leave to have a baby. But at the time I didn’t have the courage to say anything.” A few years later, Bender was working for a different company when she had her second child. She says the employer had been “very good” to her when her first was still very young, allowing her family to fly out to visit her halfway through a six-week assignment abroad: “If they hadn’t allowed that I don’t think I could have done it,” she says. While she was off to have her second child, a replacement was hired but was not told that she was working as maternity cover. “There was a strange stand-off when I was due to come back,” says Bender. “I came back ready to do my job and was supposed to be flying to Monaco to interview Zlatan Ibrahimovic but they told me to take the day off because this other girl, with a much younger image than mine, was going to cover it: ‘We think it fits her style better’. “I had a contract there but they just decided they liked her style better than mine. It’s frustrating, but you can’t really do anything.” Reshmin Chowdhury, also a mum of two, has worked in sports broadcasting for 12 years, getting her first opportunity in Spain at Real Madrid TV in 2008. “There was nothing in England at that time,” she says. “It was such a closed shop, so there was no way to get into the industry unless you knew someone.” Her experience in Spain helped her to get a job at BBC Sport when she returned, and that’s where she first experienced something that will be painfully familiar to most women working in football. “I call it the litmus test, where male colleagues would ask me these questions just to make sure that you knew what you were talking about. “One asked, ‘Tell me about Lassana Diarra. What does he bring?’ I answered all his questions and he’s nodding his head as if to say, ‘You’ve passed the test’. I didn’t say anything but I was thinking, ‘Fuck you. I have as much right to be here as you’. I knew my work would prove it, so I just saw it all as part of the job — my role was to educate people and prove them wrong.” Chowdhury says there are far fewer barriers to entry for women now than when she was starting out and that many of the misconceptions are gone, or at least going. While she struggled through the early years of raising two children while trying to fulfil all the challenges her role presented, often including foreign trips that meant being away from home for days at a time, she says young women now feel far more comfortable being open about the struggle for balance. “I never talked about it, because no one else did. It was a given that you’d just get on with the job. It was about organising everything before I left; making sure all their laundry was done, the fridge was stocked and I’d prepared meals to make it easier for the people helping me out. Then, I’d prepare myself for the job. It’s like doing three jobs in one: being a nanny, a mum and a journalist all at the same time. It’s only now that I look back and think, ‘I don’t know how I did it’. “I love my job, but it’s been hard. I can’t even begin to tell you how hard it’s been to do everything and the constant guilt of not being there for certain things.” For all her experience and success, when Chowdhury surveys the landscape in sports broadcasting now, she isn’t sure how much further she can progress. “I’ve put in over a decade of hard graft and feel I’m on the cusp or should be the next person to have one of these top roles but I have this feeling that I’m going to be overtaken by people further down the continuum because broadcasters are looking for the ‘new face’. “I feel I’m at the top of my game and I have got really good work but there’s more I want to achieve — I just don’t know if I can. It’s either that faces don’t change or broadcasters go for whatever is relevant at that time, and I might not be that. It’s not a meritocracy, this industry. It’s not always the most qualified people getting the jobs. “I do feel there is a ceiling, which is why I don’t want to just be reliant on broadcasting. The landscape is still so based on who you know. If you have that one person who is your ‘backer’ and takes you everywhere they go, you’ll do really well. But if you don’t have that…” For Ebru Koksal, Women in Football’s chair, the results of its survey have shown exactly how much work still lies ahead. “The feedback we have received from women about the issues they have faced in the industry makes for heartbreaking reading,” she says. “One story of bias, outdated perceptions and outright bullying is one too many. “There is still a lot of work to do to ensure that women are encouraged to forge careers in the industry and this is where Women in Football will continue to play a big part.” Its next steps are the launch of a new corporate membership scheme to support employers in becoming more gender-inclusive while WiF is also doubling the number of places on the Vikki Orvice Memorial Directorship Scheme, which aims to help recipients secure board positions within football. The last two months have given Bingham time to pause and reflect on the industry she has been part of for a quarter of a century. During her time working there have been incidents where Bingham feels she was treated differently to her male counterparts, even recounting instances where guests on her shows would not address her directly, only her male co-host. But she makes it clear that the talkSPORT she joined a decade ago was very different from the company she left this summer, where more women have been welcomed on board (Reshmin Chowdhury fronts their GameDay coverage while Faye Carruthers has been appointed England correspondent alongside her roles hosting Saturday evenings and the Women’s Football Weekly show) and the “outright hostility” she experienced from “people who just expected that you’re stupid or token, or that you are invading their territory” has all but disappeared. It’s a different world to the one where a young Bingham, just starting in the industry, was told by her first boss to go and work in the US, “where they want opinion and humour”. “And that was right,” she says. “America was perfect for me. The UK really isn’t. Unless, of course, I was white and male, in which case, opinion and humour are positively encouraged.”