Vesper

from all I have seen, he is pretty meh

that first goal we scored was absolutely cracking

Jamal Musiala dubbed irreplaceable 'like Messi' by German icon after shock World Cup qualifying defeat to Slovakia Musiala suffered a devastating long-term injury Germany humiliated by Slovakia without the star Matthaus compares Musiala’s value to Messi's https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/jamal-musiala-dubbed-irreplaceable-like-messi-by-german-icon-after-shock-world-cup-qualifying-defeat-to-slovakia/bltdea6d504f505c7c8 Jamal Musiala has been dubbed irreplaceable "like Lionel Messi" by German icon, Lothar Matthaus, after a shock World Cup qualifying defeat to Slovakia. The Bayern Munich midfielder fractured his fibula and damaged ankle ligaments following a brutal collision with Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the Club World Cup. The 22-year-old was stretchered off in Atlanta, visibly distraught, and Bayern later confirmed he requires surgery that will sideline him for several months. WHAT HAPPENED? For all the star names on Julian Nagelsmann’s teamsheet, Germany looked disjointed and fragile from the outset. Slovakia smelled blood and pounced. The opener came after Florian Wirtz was easily robbed of possession on the flank. David Hancko surged forward into the gaping space, combining with teammates before slotting past the exposed Oliver Baumann. The second goal was even more damning. David Strelec toyed with Antonio Rudiger before unleashing a thunderbolt.

The BookKeeper: Real reason for Premier League PSR complaints is the 217% rise in costs https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6594343/2025/09/05/bookkeeper-real-reason-psr-complaints/ As the dust settles on another chaotic summer of extravagant Premier League spending, there’s time to take a step back. To look at things with less emotion. To remember we’re all here to watch talented footballers actually play the game, not just wonder where their short, peripatetic careers may take them next. Alternatively, there’s also more time for everyone to bemoan profit and sustainability rules (PSR). Grumbles about PSR have been a theme of the past three months. As Premier League spending ballooned over the £3billion mark — more than the other four main European domestic leagues combined — PSR and its supposed influence remained a constant in the background, a grim reaper bearing a calculator rather than a scythe. How we’ve arrived at PSR taking up such prominence in footballing discourse is, mostly, not a result of rules tightening. Domestic PSR loss limits have not changed since they were introduced in February 2013. The story is different in the three UEFA competitions, and nine English clubs had to consider their approach with continental rules in mind, too. More broadly, the driver of PSR’s fame is club activity. Despite collective Premier League revenues nearly doubling since PSR was introduced, cost increases have been higher: wages are up 115 per cent; non-staff costs, excluding depreciation, have risen 143 per cent; player amortisation, or the annual cost to clubs of transfer fees, increased from £549million a decade earlier to £1.7bn in 2023-24, a 217 per cent rise. Those three cost categories consume 64 per cent, 24 per cent and 27 per cent of revenues respectively. Add them together and you can see why clubs are making losses: 64 + 24 + 27 exceeds 100 per cent of revenues, and that’s before we include any interest costs, which also impact PSR calculations. In 2013-14, eight Premier League clubs posted an operating loss; in 2023-24, that figure was up to 18 of the 20. Hence, clubs are turning to the player-trading model long pioneered, and more recently supercharged, by Chelsea. They led the way with £294million in sales this summer, an amount only previously surpassed by Monaco in the 2018 window, when they sold Kylian Mbappe to Paris Saint-Germain. Just as Premier League clubs broke spending records, so too selling ones fell: £1.8billion was made from player sales, over £400m more than the previous high mark, set just a year ago. This was the third summer running where outgoing transfers topped £1bn. It can be linked to PSR. Clubs running operating losses require player sales to improve their bottom line. Chelsea have done it for years, Manchester City, too. Selling members of your squad represents an immediate boost to financials; of course, if such deals are used to fund more transfer spending, they need to be repeated. Bournemouth became only the ninth club anywhere to pass £200million in sales in one window, and while that was in part them being picked over by wealthier clubs, it also served as a balancer to the hefty spending they’ve undertaken since their December 2022 takeover. Wolves might have had some PSR concerns in June before Manchester United spent £62.5m on Matheus Cunha. The division’s ‘Big Six’ dominated spending again, though that was hardly new. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and the two Manchester clubs accounted for 49.3 per cent of gross spending, having averaged 47.9 per cent in the previous 10 summers. More tellingly, those six teams contributed 67.1 per cent of the division’s £1.3billion net spend this summer. That was well above the recent 48.4 per cent average, and reflects a theme of the window: the richest clubs raided the rest of the division. Of the ‘Big Six’ clubs’ £1.5billion spending this summer, 39 per cent of it went on players at one of the other 14 Premier League sides. The only time this percentage has been higher since City joined the informal ranks of that group was in 2009, at the outset of their Abu Dhabi project. How much of this summer’s leap is down to the rules and how much is just the natural order of football is open to interpretation. For better or worse, the richest have long been able to wrest stars from the less well-off; there is, though, a welcome debate to be had about how much PSR solidifies the status quo. Taking the most heated transfer of the summer, Alexander Isak’s move from Newcastle to Liverpool, there’s a fair argument that the deal had little to do with PSR, at least insofar as we all agree some restraints should be in place. Without any rules at all, there’s a possibility Isak would still be at Newcastle, surrounded by more of the world game’s best and most highly remunerated players courtesy of the vast wealth of the club’s Saudi Arabian owners, challenging for titles already. But that’s a rather larger discussion. In the world as it is, the rules hardly precluded Newcastle from giving Isak what he appears to have wanted financially. He was being paid over £150,000 a week, doubling which would have loaded £9million extra onto the St James’ Park wage bill. But extending his contract would have reduced amortisation costs by around £3m if he signed a new five-year deal. The extra £6m committed annually on the Swedish striker could have been covered, for two seasons, by the £12m that was generated by selling Sean Longstaff to Leeds United. Newcastle, for their part, have been less vocal about PSR this summer than in the past. Where a year ago they were left selling players right up to their accounting deadline, this time they entered the window with much less to worry about. The sale of Isak, a deal The Athletic estimates has generated around £80million in accounting profit, has only helped their position further. They might bristle at losing their best player, but sales like Isak’s can set a club up for years. What You Should Read Next ‘He demands urgency’ – Newcastle’s new CEO David Hopkinson in the words of people who know him The 54-year-old Canadian is described as a ‘perfect choice’ to lead a ‘challenger club’ like Newcastle - this is who he is and what he faces Perhaps this summer’s most common complainants have been Aston Villa. Manager Unai Emery, in his opening-game programme notes, stated the rules have “become a limitation for the clubs that are doing good management, who’ll never be allowed to dream”. On a gross basis, Villa were the Premier League’s lowest spenders. Emery is more articulate than many, and debating the fairness of the current system is a worthy endeavour, but even that snippet was rooted in a generous interpretation of ‘good management’. Villa have ambitious owners, but were they to walk away tomorrow — highly unlikely, but precisely what these rules were brought in to help mitigate against — the club would be in serious trouble. They’ve been big sellers recently, but it follows a five-year net spend of over £400million. Villa have received £365.7million in owner funding in just the past three seasons, much of it to help staunch big day-to-day losses (2023-24 operating loss: £145.3m). That they can require such funding and still remain within the rules suggests those rules need tightening, not relaxing. Between their 2018 takeover and the end of 2023-24, Villa spent 132 per cent of income on wages and player amortisation costs. Of clubs to play in the Premier League in that time, only Nottingham Forest (138 per cent), Everton and Leicester City (both 133 per cent) racked up higher ratios. All three have been either punished for domestic PSR breaches or remain subject to charges. Villa were on guard against PSR issues this summer too, but it was on the European stage where their real concerns lay. Already in a Settlement Agreement with European football’s governing body UEFA, they faced an uphill struggle meeting the organisation’s squad cost rule (SCR), which directly limits spending on wages and transfers. It drove their relative lack of expenditure. With that rule assessed to the end of December for this calendar year, the summer offered the last chance for clubs to get their houses in order. Arsenal were also known to be working with SCR in mind, and they were keen to make more sales than they ultimately managed. Their heady net outlay suggests they pushed spending to the limit. Yet even as nearly half the division now have to comply with rules specifically targeting player spending, clubs ramped things up anyway. In part, that is to do with another bumper Premier League TV cycle starting this season, but the reported fees remain jaw-dropping. They are also underestimates. Research by The Athletic over the three Premier League seasons 2021-22 to 2023-24 finds combined transfer fees paid by clubs per their accounts exceeded those listed on Transfermarkt, a website which tracks player movement globally, by an average of 24 per cent, a disparity largely generated by agent payments and the four per cent transfer levy the division applies on all incoming deals. Apply that uplift to this summer’s reported spend and you arrive at a total of £3.9billion. On a macro level, it is hard to make the case that clubs have reined things in. Naming PSR as the primary cause behind everything that unfolded this summer would be foolish. There are myriad factors impacting transfer activity. But it was certainly a factor and, though many complaints appear rooted in self-interest, there’s growing reason to agree that change is needed. At UEFA level, that change has already come, with tighter loss limits and a new regulation directly pointed at squad spending. The Premier League, eventually, is expected to adopt the latter, too. But prorating three years of player profits down to 12 months, as UEFA’s rule does, reduces the immediate efficacy of successful trading in the market, the very strategy that poorer clubs increasingly rely on to climb the ladder. Moreover, this window showcased the perils of linking any limits to revenue, as SCR does — it naturally allows the highest-earning teams to keep spending more. That has long been the case but as income gaps widen, it only further enables those at the top. In 2013-14, when domestic PSR was introduced, the difference between the average revenue of the ‘Big Six’ and the remaining 14 Premier League sides was £205m. A decade later, in 2023-24, that gap was £405m. This summer’s activity helped reinforce the view that the current system emboldens the already richer. It is true all the way down. Newcastle, outside the ‘Big Six’ but battling to get in and mostly clear of PSR troubles, completed each of the four biggest deals by an English club not in that group, signing players from Stuttgart, Forest, Brentford and Villa. Those four Newcastle moves were among the 10 largest ‘non-Big Six’ transfers of the summer globally; for reference, Real Madrid managed three. Football has, in many ways, long been like that. The rich use their muscle; the poorer must be more innovative to succeed. Getting rid of rules to allow a couple of clubs into the former category wouldn’t boost competitive balance. Tightening them further, and de-linking cost controls from revenue, just might. But with each passing summer of enormous transfer spending, the chances of turning the boat around fade ever further. (Top photos: Newcastle summer signing Jacob Ramsey, left, and Chelsea newcomer Alejandro Garnacho; by Getty Images)

PSG manager Luis Enrique rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after cycling accident https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-15071009/PSG-manager-Luis-Enrique-rushed-hospital-emergency-surgery-cycling-accident.html

Marc Guiu is far more than a bit-part Chelsea player. This is why https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6597652/2025/09/05/marc-guiu-Chelsea-transfer-future/ It would be a mistake to dismiss Marc Guiu as simply the player that allowed Nicolas Jackson to complete a move from Chelsea to Bayern Munich on deadline day this week. His role in the Jackson saga, which saw Chelsea recall him from a season-long loan at Sunderland less than a month after he arrived on Wearside, was covered in The Athletic’s review of the last 48 hours of the club’s transfer window. Chelsea had to act fast to find cover for Liam Delap, who suffered a hamstring injury against Fulham on Saturday, before even contemplating reopening negotiations with Bayern Munich over Jackson. Guiu was the unanimous choice among the decision makers at Stamford Bridge, including head coach Enzo Maresca. Guiu made a very good impression in his first season at Chelsea, after joining from Barcelona last summer when a €6million (£5.2m) release clause in his contract was triggered. He scored six goals, all of which were in the UEFA Conference League, in 16 appearances. The 19-year-old was Chelsea’s top scorer in the competition and joint-third overall. Maresca clearly liked him. Guiu was given his debut in Chelsea’s opening Premier League game last season against defending champions Manchester City, was a late substitute in the Conference League final win over Real Betis in May and was involved at the FIFA Club World Cup. He was named on the bench on another 16 occasions, a sign that Maresca wanted to keep Guiu around the first team even if he was not getting on the pitch. Sources speaking anonymously to The Athletic to protect relationships say this is because Maresca appreciates the intensity, hunger and passion Guiu puts into training sessions and games. The significance of this should not be ignored — Maresca dropped several players last season for not doing enough. In many ways, the two share the same approach to football — that having a strong work ethic is a must. Guiu loves being a nuisance to opponents by pressing them constantly to win back possession. This is something he did in Barcelona’s academy, too, and sources say club staff actually tried to convince him to do it less because they were concerned he might not have the energy to produce when he did have the ball. Barcelona did not want to sell Guiu. This was a homegrown talent who scored his first senior goal for them on his debut aged just 17, only 23 seconds after coming on against Athletic Club two years ago. It was the only goal of the game. He went on to make another six appearances, including two in the Champions League. The striker found the net in that competition, too, during a 3-2 defeat to Royal Antwerp. Marc Guiu (38) is a popular figure at Chelsea (David Ramos/Getty Images) Guiu was lined up to play a lot more for Chelsea in the second half of last season. Significantly, clubs in England, Germany, Italy and Spain all enquired about taking him on loan in January but the club said no. Guiu was also happy to stay. He appreciated how the coaching staff put on extra drills for him after the main session with the whole group to work on aspects of his game. Chelsea wanted him to continue his development with them and part of doing that was increasing his game time. The chances of doing so were poised to go up when Jackson limped off with a hamstring injury against West Ham on deadline day in the winter transfer window in February. Maresca chose Guiu to replace him rather than the more experienced and costly Christopher Nkunku. But just before the full-time whistle, his legs stretched awkwardly while attempting to get to a pull-back in the area and he picked up a problem, too. Initially, it was not thought to be serious but Guiu ended up missing the rest of the Premier League campaign with an abductor injury. Guiu felt he was ready to return for the run-in a month earlier but Chelsea took a more cautious approach. This was the first major injury of his career and with the club seeing him as potentially someone who could play for them for years to come, they felt it was better not to rush things. It was a bitter setback, regardless. Helping him through it was his mother and younger sister, who live with him in his house near Chelsea’s training base in Cobham. Guiu’s father still works in Barcelona but comes over regularly to visit. Guiu spent only a few weeks at Sunderland (George Wood/Getty Images) The signings of Joao Pedro and Delap in his position this summer were not the blow to Guiu’s status at Chelsea that it may have seemed. Chelsea rejected offers from clubs to buy him permanently but Guiu was encouraged to go on loan so he could get game time before coming back next year. He made just three appearances, lasting 103 minutes, but that was enough time to get off the mark with a header against Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup. Unfortunately, playing in that fixture means Guiu will be cup-tied for Chelsea. When Chelsea came calling for him to return to Stamford Bridge on Sunday — they opted against pursuing Conrad Harder or anyone else as they did not want to block Guiu’s pathway — he communicated instantly that he was ready to do so. The international break means he has to delay a reunion with his teammates for now but he cannot wait to get started. There is another incentive. Guiu is expected to make his first outing for Spain Under-21s but while he has been with the camp this week, he has been told that a place in the senior side at the World Cup next year (should they qualify) is a possibility if he gets enough minutes at Chelsea. Rather than simply being a sub-plot to Delap’s misfortune and Jackson’s eagerness to get away to Germany, Guiu stands to benefit a great deal. Chelsea could do so, too.

still the best MLS game ever

Chels lads

example of the bullshit Romano was pushing last summer Teenage Brazilian starlet Gabriel Mec has secured a big-money move to Chelsea, with the Blues set to pay up to £20.5million for the attacking midfielder.

AlphaTauri is a poor man's

Angela Rayner resigns: Keir Starmer begins major cabinet reshuffle, Lucy Powell sacked as leader of Commons The prime minister’s deputy quit after a report by Sir Laurie Magnus found she had broken the ministerial code by failing to pay stamp duty https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/angela-rayner-resigns-latest-news-keir-starmer-p8l9mmrpj What you need to know Sir Keir Starmer is carrying out a major cabinet reshuffle after Angela Rayner resigned over an investigation by Sir Laurie Magnus, the prime minister’s adviser on ministerial standards Magnus said Rayner had “acted with integrity” but breached the ministerial code by failing to pay a £40,000 tax surcharge on her second home in Hove Quitting all three of her roles, Rayner said she took “full responsibility for this error” Have your say: who should replace her as deputy prime minister? Listen for updates on Times Radio

Giorgio Armani obituary Obituary Italian fashion designer whose fluid, unstructured luxury clothing changed the way both men and women dress https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025/sep/04/giorgio-armani-obituary In the 1970s, the fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who has died aged 91, anticipated two permanent and interdependent cultural shifts: the rise in the cult of the gym, which made every man’s physique his own responsibility, rather than a tailor’s; and the end of constriction in men’s clothing. Even before he showed his first collection, in 1975, Armani had been challenging ideas about the male suit and overcoat as they had been constructed since the 1790s – on a basis of stiff canvas, interlining, padding and special stitching, so as to reshape a man’s torso to look as much as possible like a classical statue. He discarded this armature that helped hide imperfections. And when he draped a fluid suede jacket on the toned body of Richard Gere in the 1980 movie American Gigolo, he finally knocked the stuffing out of tailoring. It has never quite returned. Armani said of the film’s core, man-chooses-what-to-wear sequence: “The magical moment, where the shirts are on the bed and Gere throws the ties on the shirt, was so right for the time. It was about his choices, his muscles; it was throwing away the whole story of the way men dress.” Armani was just as revolutionary when he offered female professionals the same boneless structure as men, at a time when a suit, trousered or skirted, was becoming an almost obligatory uniform for working women. His gentler power dressing was the easiest female working gear since Coco Chanel invented her tweed suit in 1954. He explained: “I always tried to eliminate the things that made women appear like a caricature of themselves.” Armani at his spring-summer show in Milan, October 1983. Photograph: Vittoriano Rastelli/Corbis/Getty Images Armani’s success was particularly Italian, a product of the city of Milan, where he worked with textiles for years before he used his knowledge of them for design. The Italian clothing industry could weave, cut and sew high-quality products, but it had lacked international prestige, and was willing to support designers who might supply that. Armani took its cloth and leather, and tapped its skills, especially new ready-to-wear manufacturing techniques that could simulate the flexibility in movement of handwork. For the rest of his life he reinvested in Milan, where his base and heart remained, as its duke of fashion. He was not to the palazzo born, although his taste for ascetic luxury was evident early; he attributed it to his mother, Maria (nee Raimondi), and her “sense of taking things away, of being minimal”. Materially, there was not much to subtract – as the wife of Ugo Armani, who worked for a transport company, she brought up Giorgio and his siblings, Sergio and Rosanna, in wartime Piacenza, south of Milan, doing without herself in order to dress them well in hard times. Armani remembered all her few dresses, and she remained his confidante into her 90s. He was intrigued by his grandfather’s wigmaking for the theatre, too, and developed his own imagination staging puppet shows and watching movies. So far, so Cinema Paradiso. Armani left for military service, and studied at medical school, but outgrew his ambition to be a doctor. He got a window-dresser’s job in 1957 at the Milanese department store La Rinascente, then took charge of its fabrics. Ignorant of fashion, unable to draw, but simpatico with cloth, he was hired by the menswear firm Nino Cerruti to manage its textiles in 1964, then moved into design; he went freelance in 1970. At Cerruti, he met Sergio Galeotti, who became his partner in love and business; together they set up a company in 1975, selling Armani’s old VW Beetle to fund their tiny office. “We didn’t have a lot of experience,” said Armani, “but we had energy.” Galeotti gave Armani confidence; he managed sales, flying to the US to dictate Armani’s terms, and all finances so completely that Armani did not even need to carry a wallet. By the late 70s the cool crowd were collecting Armani’s pricey pieces, and he was asked to provide a sexy wardrobe for John Travolta in the lead role of American Gigolo; when the casting was amended to Gere, it proved fortunate for Armani. His clothes moving over Gere’s gym-honed body filmed so well that the director Michael Mann had him design outfits for the leads of the 80s television cop show Miami Vice: Armani did the linen tailoring, the actors added socklessness and stubble. Later, he lettered “Armani for Bruce Wayne” inside Batman’s civilian suits, and was even able to ameliorate Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ripped muscles. Richard Gere wearing an Armani suit in the 1980 film American Gigolo. Photograph: Paramount/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock As showbiz red-carpet wear began to compete for attention with catwalk shows, Armani set up an LA office to deal directly with the stars’ stylists, and in 2005 Armani Privé, a label to handle year-round special couture orders not bound to collections or seasons. Yet he rejected supermodels for his own shows because he thought they obscured the clothes. What Armani described as his “mad dash for glory” ended when Galeotti died at 40 in 1985. The industry expected Armani to close; instead the designer learned, mostly by error, to manage his business and to carry, if not cash, then a pen to sign the bill. But his firm refused outside investment, and resisted incorporation into the luxury goods conglomerates that financed many of his competitors. He retained control from thread to shopfloor – “It is all tied together, all this needs to be in your hands for it to be successful” – investing in Italian manufacture while others outsourced globally. As chairman, chief shareholder and, from his 84th year, general manager, Armani did not have to publish accounts, but he enjoyed financial candour, and the value of the Giorgio Armani Group is more than £8bn – in Italy, only Gucci and Prada are bigger. His clothes, chocolates, coffee and cutlery are sold along a “Via Armani” of Milanese shops, and the city has an Armani cafe, nightclub and hotels. Despite the proliferation of Armani outlets worldwide, he remained wary of mass marketing, and balanced it with his belief in a discretion that “slays vulgarity”. No naffness was permitted in the hotel with his name that opened in 2011 within the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, where he designed and styled interiors. Armani in his atelier. ‘He had early-morning gym sessions and swam daily.’ Photograph: Mondadori/Getty Images Armani disciplined himself with northern Italian rigour: non-smoking, teetotal, working from early-morning gym sessions to the meat-free late supper he might prepare himself. He swam daily in a water channel beneath the theatre within his town palazzo. Like all his homes, this had been minimalised: plain panels camouflaged its frescoes, except for a Tiepolo roundel too perfect to be hidden. Armani did not collect art, owning only one Matisse given to him by Eric Clapton; his first yacht, Mariù, was named after a song his mother sang, and its successor was Maín, her childhood nickname. His philosophy was “Un po’ Zen” (a little Zen): “You can add on to simplicity. You cannot add on to the baroque.” For years, the palazzo cat was a close-clipped greige Persian. For all his shyness, Armani was a public figure, mobbed whenever he was spotted in his home country. His retrospective exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2000 (which toured to the Royal Academy in London and the Bilbao Guggenheim) was staged as art rather than fashion, and he collected more than 50 awards including, in 2019, the outstanding achievement award of the British Fashion Council. He is survived by his sister, Rosanna, two nieces, Silvana and Roberta, and a nephew, Andrea. Giorgio Armani, fashion designer, born 11 July 1934; died 4 September 2025

Germany in the mud at Bratislava, Slovakia down 2 nil in the 67th minute they look horrid

the not sorted list (my list and I am not listing potential sales of regulars like Enzo, Cole, Trevoh, or Tosin, as I want Wes Fofana sold before one of them) Benoît Badiashile is shit and always injured Axel Disasi is shit David Datro Fofana Raheem Sterling Wesley Fofana I am NOT remotely convinced he will ever fully recover to a decent level of both play and injury Tyrique George Gabriel Slonina Mykhailo Mudryk plus the loanees who are not good enough to ever be Chels Sr team: Teddy Sharman-Lowe Brodi Hughes Caleb Wiley Leo Castledine Omari Kellyman (sure looks that way) Jimmy-Jay Morgan Deivid Washington plus Nico Jackson IF the obligation clause is not satisfied Plus our 2 main GKers, Sanchez and Filip Jörgensen, one of whom surely needs to go when Penders comes in OR if we buy a better one (in which case both may go once Penders is ready to at least be the backup to a new GKer)

Levy steps down as Tottenham executive chairman https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c9qng2rj38do Tottenham's long-serving executive chairman Daniel Levy has stepped down after almost 25 years at the helm of the club. Levy was appointed in March 2001 and leaves after Spurs won the Europa League in May to end a 17-year wait for a trophy. The 63-year-old was the Premier League's longest-serving chairman and earned an estimated £50m-plus during his time in charge, but he was also the target of regular protests from Spurs fans, especially last season. "I am incredibly proud of the work I have done together with the executive team and all our employees," said Levy, who built a reputation for being a shrewd operator and tough negotiator. "We have built this club into a global heavyweight competing at the highest level. More than that, we have built a community. "I was lucky enough to work with some of the greatest people in this sport, from the team at Lilywhite House and Hotspur Way to all the players and managers over the years. "I wish to thank all the fans that have supported me over the years. It hasn't always been an easy journey but significant progress has been made. I will continue to support this club passionately." Tottenham's European trophy success last season came against the backdrop of a difficult Premier League campaign in which the team finished 17th under Ange Postecoglou, who was sacked in the summer and replaced by Thomas Frank. There were a number of protests aimed at Levy last season, with prominent banners at the home defeat by Leicester in January carrying the messages "Our game is about glory, Levy's game is about greed" and "24 years, 16 managers, 1 trophy - time for change". There were also regular chants of "Levy out" during the campaign. During his tenure, Levy oversaw the switch from White Hart Lane to the £1bn state-of-the-art Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which the club made their new home in 2019. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has described Tottenham as the "most profitable club in Premier League history" because of the money their new stadium generates, a historically lower wage structure and a "degree of caution" on transfer spending. Tottenham have been making key appointments in recent months. Before Frank's arrival, the club named Vinai Venkatesham as their new chief executive in April. Peter Charrington becomes non-executive chairman, a new role, following Levy's exit. Charrington, a director of Tottenham's owners ENIC, was appointed to the Spurs board in March as a non-executive director. In announcing Levy's departure, the club added there would be "no changes to the ownership or shareholder structure". Charrington said: "I would like to thank Daniel and his family for their commitment and loyalty to the club over so many years. "This is a new era of leadership for the club, on and off the pitch. I do recognise there has been a lot of change in recent months as we put in place new foundations for the future. "We are now fully focused on stability and empowering our talented people across the club, led by Vinai and his executive team."

scouse tosser alert https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-15066571/Jamie-Carragher-Chelsea-Alejandro-Garnacho.html

one of the worst articles I have read in the past year whingey Dutch cunt Chelsea deceived Ajax in Jorrel Hato transfer talks Dylan ter Laak 4 Sept 2025 16:30 BST https://www.footballtransfers.com/en/transfer-news/tag/newsnow-features-only/Chelsea-deceived-ajax-in-jorrel-hato-transfer-talks

Josh qualifies for the HG youth B list

I deffo rate him over Julio Enciso

£33.8m in gross salary for the last 2 years of his contract (truly wtf was the club thinking!) goes a long way towards survival

Only four players in the club's entire history – Scott Sinclair (06/07), John Swift (13/14), Jimi Tauriainen (23/24) and Richard Olise (24/25) – have adopted the far-from-usual number.