Bayern Munich look like a football team. Joshua Kimmich as good as ever. A reminder how much Real Madrid rely on Thibaut Courtois to bail them out.

Now over three years since Velocity Capital (UK) Holdings Limited, Burnley FC's parent company, was formed, and still no accounts filed

Follows over two years before that of the previous parent company filing no accounts before being liquidated

Oisín McEntee and the Hearts surge shaking Scottish football Cavan defender reflects on a career of setbacks as Heart of Midlothian chase a historic Scottish Premiership title

Oisín McEntee and the Hearts surge shaking Scottish football

Shea Charles was the best player on the pitch in the Italy-Northern Ireland match, not Tonali. Charles, 22, real talent.

It was a really good performance as Alex Neil said, and without Hackney. Obviously a poacher No. 9 needed, tho two late defensive slips have cost three points in last two matches at home.

FT Middlesbrough 1-2 Millwall. 69 touches in opposition box, 17 corners, chance after chance, one goal. Familiar tale for Boro. Millwall, battered in 1st half, go second above them with two goals from Boro boy Josh Coburn. Hints of Graham Fenton about it all.

Football is broken – and ‘selling’ community assets to keep up with huge spending is proof Latest accounts reveal that several Premier League clubs are selling stadiums, women's teams and other assets to meet spending regulations

🏟️ #NUFC sold St James' Park to a company owned by its owners this week, yet it was overlooked by many.

🔍 Selling SJP matters - it's a community asset. @cweatherspoon.bsky.social with an important column on how football is broken, & PL clubs' accounting proves it: www.nytimes.com/athletic/716...

Did BBC radio 4 #Today programme really just do a whole package about drilling in the N Sea without once even mentioning #climate change? And not having anyone challenging the one-sided claims of former BP boss? So irresponsible #bbcr4today

Chelsea announce largest pre-tax loss in English football history The club are yet to release their full accounts for 2024-25 but announced a £262.4million deficit for that period on Wednesday.

Chelsea lost an English record sum last season. We already knew that but it was less than what we thought. Or was it? Not really.

Piece on a club losing £262m, or is it £342m, in a year and saying it's all fine actually

@theathleticfc.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/athletic/716...

‘A national scandal’: trawlers scour seabeds of supposedly protected UK waters ‘Precious ocean life is being pushed to the brink,’ say campaigners, arguing that overfished marine areas are ‘protected only on paper’ Almost 40% of England’s seas are designated as marine protected areas. Their purpose, the government says, is “to protect and recover rare threatened and important marine ecosystems … from damage caused by human activities”. And yet in the four years to 2024, trawlers using vast nets, including those that scour the seabed, caught more than 1.3m tonnes of fish within them, according to official figures that campaigners say show they are “little more than lines on a map”. Continue reading...

‘A national scandal’: trawlers scour seabeds of supposedly protected UK waters

Newcastle United’s owners sold St James’ Park to themselves – accounts show club no longer officially owns its home The 2024-25 accounts reveal the sale of the stadium and adjacent land to another company owned by the club’s shareholders

𝗡𝗘𝗪: #NUFC 'sold' St James' Park and subsidiary internally last June, making £133m paper gain

Turned record loss into first PIF profit

Club cited 'reorganising property assets' over PSR impact

Annalysis w/ @chrisdhwaugh.bsky.social

@theathleticfc.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/athletic/715...

new gift link as.ft.com/r/2f2eb56b-3...

David Squires on … big calls and cheeky Cherki at the Carabao Cup final Our cartoonist on the master beating the apprentice as Manchester City got one over Arsenal at Wembley

Here’s this week’s cartoon for @sport.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/football/pic...

Atherton, Seve, Boat Race crabs — celebrating David ‘Splash’ Ashdown Marc Aspland and Bradley Ormesher are joined by some special guests to pay tribute to their late friend and colleague, who spent four decades behind the lens

Great piece on David Ashdown by @marcaspland.bsky.social and others. Some brilliant photographs. www.thetimes.com/article/davi...

Man City deserved that for their personality – O'Reilly's sharpness, Pep's pants, Cherki Charlie Chaplin, Doku's willingness. Arsenal had none of that. Quadruple talk done.

Patrik Schick got another two goals for Leverkusen yesterday, albeit in an underwhelming 3-3 draw at Heidenheim.

Sunderland deserved that. Focused attitude. Not over the top. Great composure from Enzo Le Fee for Brobbey winner. Rigg v good.

Max Dowman for England’s World Cup squad? History tells us prodigious talents must be handled with care Some will say if you are good enough you are old enough, but Arsenal and England's coaches have a duty to protect the 16-year-old

Max Dowman's emergence at Arsenal is a cause for great excitement, but also for caution.
As Arteta says, there's a need to "bring the temperature down". Excitable talk about a World Cup call-up must be nipped in the bud. He's only just turned 16. Patience/calm needed
www.nytimes.com/athletic/712...

Dink, flick, twirl, crack: Eberechi Eze’s beautiful moment — and why it meant so much to Arsenal A goal of sublime quality burst open the Champions League tie against Leverkusen and showed why Arsenal bought the playmaker

Arsenal wondergoals? Whatever next?

On a blossoming Eze, who is warming up at a good time.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/712...

Eze volley worthy of Mark Hughes

A photo of Iran’s bombed schoolgirl graveyard went around the world. Was it real, or AI? Numerous faked images and a string of startlingly inaccurate responses from Gemini and Grok are part of a tidal wave of AI slop engulfing coverage of the Iran war The graves, freshly dug, lie in neat rows of 20 across. More than 60 have already been carved out of the earth, with a few clusters of people standing gathered around them. Dozens more are marked out on the ground in front: small chalk rectangles, with diggers poised to complete their task. The cemetery of Minab, photographed as it prepares to bury more than 100 of the town’s young girls, is one of the defining images of the US-Israeli war on Iran, bluntly capturing the devastating civilian toll. Continue reading...

A photo of Iran’s bombed schoolgirl graveyard went around the world. Was it real, or AI?

Quite remarkable that Chelsea breaking rules to sign seven players (+ three unknown) who during their respective times at the club helped win a Champions League, the Europa League twice, two Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a League Cup didn't merit a points deduction

What is the latest on Man City’s 115 charges and football’s other outstanding cases? Chelsea’s case regarding a rules breach during Abramovich’s time as owner has concluded. However, many ongoing cases are awaiting an outcome

After Chelsea’s £10m fine for breaches of financial rules, there are a number of cases still outstanding in football.

These include:

▪️ Manchester City’s 115 charges
▪️ Chelsea’s FA case
▪️ Court of Arbitration for Sport’s uncertain future

The latest on these cases and more ⬇️

Hard to believe but as St. Patrick’s Day and two World Cup qualifiers approach, this cross-border history of Irish football is somehow* still available.

Access all areas with Motherwell: Britain’s most tactically interesting football team Jordan Campbell spent the week with Jens Berthel Askou and his upwardly mobile team as they prepared to visit Celtic

Really good piece on Motherwell, by Jordan Campbell. www.nytimes.com/athletic/711...

Tottenham could be facing Lincoln City next season in a league game for the first time since 1949. It won’t be Igor Tudor’s fault.

Tottenham could be facing Lincoln City next season in a league game for the first time since 1949. It won’t be Igor Tudor’s fault.

Andrew O’Hagan · Stay Classy: Mummy’s Favourite The late queen can be held responsible for much, but nobody could accuse her of seeming to enjoy her role. For the...

‘When a lazy aristocrat from a dying dynasty uses a helicopter to travel seventeen miles, the edifice shakes. But when that same man rapes a 17-year-old and calls her a liar, it is the end of days.’

Andrew O’Hagan on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Touches in opposition box: Middlesbrough 86-7 Charlton Athletic.

Final score: Middlesbrough 0-1 Charlton Athletic.

Boro frustrated, need to think again.

The Iran women footballers faced with an impossible choice: Defect or return to a war zone (Gift Article) Players from the Iranian women's team defied suspected undercover security officers to escape their hotel and claim asylum in Australia

Over the past 48 hours, Iran's footballers faced a near impossible decision. Return to Iran and risk their own safety; or stay in Australia and leave their families.

Spoke to over two-dozen sources about how the six defectors' escape unfolded and the conditions they endured. Free to read: