It will always remain an affront to football that they've binned FA Cup replays so we can instead watch an extra 300 Champions League games that don't mean anything

New footage analysed by Bellingcat shows two of the world’s most wanted crime figures, Christy and Daniel Kinahan, appearing openly at a mixed martial arts event in Dubai, despite US sanctions and multimillion-dollar rewards for information leading to their arrest. www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...

Real Madrid's interim financials detail falling revenues, rising wages and growing debt. And a club still (just about) profitable, but with big liabilities and tight cash flow. Expensive business, this football lark. My analysis: @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/709...

Real Madrid's interim financials detail falling revenues, rising wages and growing debt. And a club still (just about) profitable, but with big liabilities and tight cash flow. Expensive business, this football lark. My analysis: @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/709...

Your season ticket costs more because footballers are paid too much. Hardly a TED talk but it's true

Amid the Spurs horror and hand-wringing it is again worth saying THIS IS WHAT A SPORT SHOULD BE. Bad teams should be punished for being bad. Though it is a sign of quite how bad Spurs are that they're managing to do *this* with the odds so heavily weighted their way

Have we been so consumed with the politics at Spurs this season that we have let the players off the hook? Has that lack of responsibilty contributed to Spurs' struggles? My mea culpa column: www.nytimes.com/athletic/708...

Publication day! My new book, "The Mbappé Project", is officially out today. It is not a biography, but an attempt to understand and explain how a football prodigy was built into a global star by his entourage and by himself, retaining control every step of the way. uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

#LFC accounts for 2024-25 confirm club booked £104.7million profit on player sales last summer (£5m higher than projected in below piece) Club's 2025 net spend, inc. fees on new deals for Van Dijk and Salah, was £273.4m

#LFC accounts for 2024-25 confirm club booked £104.7million profit on player sales last summer (£5m higher than projected in below piece) Club's 2025 net spend, inc. fees on new deals for Van Dijk and Salah, was £273.4m

Just very difficult to overstate how much trouble Spurs are in now

Wolves! Has a team ever stayed up by mistake?

My son is maddeningly obsessed with Paw Patrol. I, therefore, as is the equilibrium of the universe, despise Paw Patrol. And yet Leeds v Sunderland was so astonishingly awful to watch that I found myself half-hoping he'd wake, scale the stair gate, come downstairs and demand I put Paw Patrol on

Can't tell you how important normalising this stuff is

Stoke City made a profit in 2024-25! But only after £90m owner loan write-off. Strip that and £4m cost linked to ground returning to club hands and #SCFC lost further £25m last season Coates family put in £46m cash, taking total funding since May 2006 takeover to nearly £400m

Stoke City made a profit in 2024-25! But only after £90m owner loan write-off. Strip that and £4m cost linked to ground returning to club hands and #SCFC lost further £25m last season Coates family put in £46m cash, taking total funding since May 2006 takeover to nearly £400m

Increasingly important(!)

Hell of a chart, this, from @financialtimes.com. Spot the JCPOA. on.ft.com/4kSuQYO

Manchester United's Q2 results for 2025-26 are out and show improved profitability But any financial improvement this season will be restrained by falling revenues and continued high transfer spending Analysis w/ @mjcritchley.bsky.social @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...

Good morning. Did you see this? Because if not, you're gonna wanna see this

🚨𝗡𝗘𝗪 @theathleticfc.bsky.social: #SAFC remain in talks to sell a 'significant majority stake' in their women's team, even as an exclusivity period with Sixth Street ends today Club has received multiple bids for SAFC Women in past 12 months w/@mjslater.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/704...

West Ham's record £104m loss last season is bad enough but of greater concern is something we've highlighted before: low liquidity. Club took out £124m loan in July and admits player sales needed to meet liabilities this summer. Analysis @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...

Dan Ballard contract extension at Sunderland. Well-deserved. www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...

West Ham's record £104m loss last season is bad enough but of greater concern is something we've highlighted before: low liquidity. Club took out £124m loan in July and admits player sales needed to meet liabilities this summer. Analysis @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...

And now a £104million loss at West Ham reported for last season. That ludicrous Chelsea number. Championship clubs lobbing eight figures down a well every year. And a hunk of yesterday hearing about booming 'asset' values and growth. My head is on Mars with this sport

🚨𝗡𝗘𝗪 @theathleticfc.bsky.social: #SAFC remain in talks to sell a 'significant majority stake' in their women's team, even as an exclusivity period with Sixth Street ends today Club has received multiple bids for SAFC Women in past 12 months w/@mjslater.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/704...

Three EFL Championship clubs have released 2024-25 financials in the past day Pre-tax losses: • Middlesbrough £11m • Coventry City £25m • Cardiff City £35m Operating (pre-player sales) losses: • Middlesbrough £37m • Coventry City £28m • Cardiff City £34m Insanity

Good morning. Did you see this? Because if not, you're gonna wanna see this

Manchester United's Q2 results for 2025-26 are out and show improved profitability But any financial improvement this season will be restrained by falling revenues and continued high transfer spending Analysis w/ @mjcritchley.bsky.social @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/707...

Newcastle United's progression to the round of 16 this evening banks them a further €11m in Champions League prize money Takes #NUFC 2025-26 estimated total to €65m (£57m)

And now a 2-1 victory at the San Siro. Genuinely, Bødo/Glimt beating Inter Milan 5-2 over two legs is one of the most impressive results in European football history

aaaaaand: 175 entities in the network were sanctioned today by the UK.

Brainwashing, 2026 edition. This paper shows how X's algorithmic feed shifts people's views rightwards. It's a sophisticated, highly effective form of reorientation. And it is utterly chilling. If you're still on that platform, unhook yourself now. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is brilliant. And the idea of Allardyce as a managerial dinosaur was always lazy

While you're looking at Conor Benn signing with Zuffa and focusing on the promoter wars, remember the one he's just signed with is pushing to remove the main law currently protecting fighters and stopping promotional outfits from monopolising an already very broken sport

19 of 92 Premier League/EFL clubs have now released accounts for the 2024-25 season. 𝗡𝗼𝗻𝗲 of them made an operating profit. One made a pre-tax profit...of £322k. Net results across the 19 clubs • Pre-tax loss: £256.1million • Operating loss: £475.6million

🧵 Stories Reform UK Doesn’t Want You to Read While the monopoly press serves puff pieces and the BBC hands the party seemingly unlimited Question Time slots, we’ve been digging into what actually sits behind Reform UK. subscribe.bylinetimes.com/reformscruti...

19 of 92 Premier League/EFL clubs have now released accounts for the 2024-25 season. 𝗡𝗼𝗻𝗲 of them made an operating profit. One made a pre-tax profit...of £322k. Net results across the 19 clubs • Pre-tax loss: £256.1million • Operating loss: £475.6million

Okay, it's only half-time in the tie, but to understand the achievement by Bødo/Glimt in beating Inter Milan 3-1 last night, consider most recent wage bills: • Inter €258m (2024-25) • Bødo €22m (2024)

Okay, it's only half-time in the tie, but to understand the achievement by Bødo/Glimt in beating Inter Milan 3-1 last night, consider most recent wage bills: • Inter €258m (2024-25) • Bødo €22m (2024)

An ugly night in Lisbon: not just an allegation that Vinicius Jnr was racially abused by an opponent, but the hostility that greeted him thereafter, monkey gestures in the crowd and the painfully familiar rush to accuse him of bringing it upon himself www.nytimes.com/athletic/705...

Seven EFL Championship clubs to have so far published 2024-25 accounts combine for £167m in underlying (pre-player sales and interest) losses. £23.9m per club, or £65,000 per club per day every day across the year. Even as EFL's upsized TV deal with Sky Sports began last season

Queens Park Rangers lost further £20million in 2024-25, their 26th consecutive loss-making year. Revenue up, wages up more, wages to turnover at 98%. £19.4m in owner funding required. Club has lost £404m since 1999 Average league finish in that time: 14th in the Championship

Burton Albion booked an £8.3m loss on £6.4m revenues in 2024-25, first season under new ownership. Wages 128% of turnover. Owners Nordic Football Group put in £7.2m. Club finished one point and spot above the League One relegation zone. Currently only one place higher. Christ

Burton Albion booked an £8.3m loss on £6.4m revenues in 2024-25, first season under new ownership. Wages 128% of turnover. Owners Nordic Football Group put in £7.2m. Club finished one point and spot above the League One relegation zone. Currently only one place higher. Christ

Confirmed ENG club prize money from UEFA competitions in 2024-25: • Arsenal €117.0m (£98.3m) • Liverpool €98.1m (£82.5m) • Aston Villa €83.7m (£70.3m) • Man City €76.2m (£64.1m) • Spurs €41.4m (£34.8m) • Man Utd €36.4m (£30.6m) • Chelsea €21.8m (£18.3m)

€3.317bn/£2.788bn paid in prize money across UEFA's three club comps in 2024-25 36 clubs from 'Big Five' - Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 - gobbled up €2.109bn (63.6%) v €1.207bn for 72 others Seven ENG clubs got 14.3% of pot - highest country share

€3.317bn/£2.788bn paid in prize money across UEFA's three club comps in 2024-25 36 clubs from 'Big Five' - Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 - gobbled up €2.109bn (63.6%) v €1.207bn for 72 others Seven ENG clubs got 14.3% of pot - highest country share

Kim Hellberg's impact on Middlesbrough has been fast and impressive, as have a growing number of Boro's performances. Top of the Championship, tonight they go to Coventry in second. Hellberg's favourite player as a boy was Frank Lampard. Spent a few hours observing. www.nytimes.com/athletic/703...

For aspiring writers, the rooms of literary figures—Virginia Woolf, Maya Angelou, Joan Didion—are talismanic sites. But the quest to find the ideal creative space is often self-defeating, Joshua Rothman writes. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/FMVeSv