Why Are People So Grudgeful?

Raheem Sterling and Callum Hudson-Odoi condemned the 'unacceptable' racist abuse of England players during their five-one win over Montenegro in Podgorica. Sick, ignorant racist chanting was reportedly directed at several England players during the Euro 2020 qualifier. England's manager Gareth Southgate said that he 'heard the abuse of [Danny] Rose' and the incidents will be reported to UEFA. However, Montenegro coach Ljubisa Tumbakovic claimed that he did not 'hear or notice any' racist abuse. One or two people even believed him. Southgate, speaking to Radio 5Live, added: 'There's no doubt in my mind it happened. I know what I heard. It's unacceptable. We have to make sure our players feel supported, they know the dressing room is there and we as a group of staff are there for them. We have to report it through the correct channels. It is clear that so many people have heard it and we have to continue to make strides in our country and trust the authorities to take the right action.' After only six minutes, BBC Radio commentator Ian Dennis said that he had heard racist chants when Stottingtot Hotshots left-back Rose was in possession of the ball. Another BBC football correspondent, John Murray, also said that he heard the chanting 'throughout the game' and spoke to pitch-side photographers who described the abuse the England players received as 'disgusting.' Sterling scored England's fifth goal in the eighty first minute and celebrated by putting his hands to his ears, a gesture he later said was 'a response' to the racist abuse. In injury time Rose was booked following a strong challenge on Aleksandar Boljevic, with more racist chants aimed at the twenty eight-year-old. It is not the first time Rose has faced this situation on international duty. He was racially abused in Serbia in an under-twenty one game in 2012. Serbia's FA was subsequently fined sixty five grand, with their under-twenty one team having to play one game behind closed doors. Sterling called on football's authorities to take 'a proper stance' and 'crack down' on the racist abuse. 'A couple of idiots ruined a great night and it is a real sad thing to hear,' Sterling told 5Live. 'It's a real sad situation we are talking about after a great win. I don't think it was just one or two people that heard it, it was the whole bench. There should be a real punishment for this, not just the two or three people who were doing it - it needs to be a collective thing. This place holds fifteen thousand. The punishment should be, whatever nation it is, if your fans are chanting racist abuse then it should be the whole stadium so no-one can come and watch. When the ban is lifted, the fans will think twice. They all love football, they all want to come and watch their nation so it will make them think twice before doing something silly like that.' Describing his reaction to his goal, Sterling added: 'It was one of those where it was to let them know, you are going to need to tell me more than that we are black and what we resemble to affect us. That was the message and give them something to talk about. We can only bring awareness and light to the situation. It's time for the people in charge to put a real stamp on it. In England we have a diverse country and lots of different faces. I can only do so much; the FA can only do so much. The people in charge need to make a proper stance.' Kick it Out, the anti-discrimination charity, said: 'As we've argued countless times, it's time for UEFA to take strong, decisive action - fines won't do. Extended stadium bans or tournament expulsion are what's needed.' England had gone behind in Montenegro to a Marko Vesovic effort before goals from Michael Keane, Ross Barkley (who scored twice), Harry Kane and Sterling completed a comfortable win for England and their second five goal haul in two games. However, the talk after the game was dominated by the racist chanting aimed at England's black players and Southgate was asked about whether he should have taken England's players off the pitch. 'I'm not one hundred per cent certain that that would be what the players would want,' he said. 'There would be a mix of views, in terms of when we've discussed the topic in the past, how the players would like it to be dealt with. And they just want to play football. Of course, we have the chance to have an impact, but I don't have the answer, frankly.' He added: 'Maybe that's something I'd have to consider in the future. I have to say, it wasn't something that came to mind at the time. I would want to have a long discussion with my players before to make sure that was a course of action they felt was a) something they wanted to do and b) thought was something that was going to make a difference.' A UEFA delegate was at the game and Southgate believes the representative from European football's governing body will have heard the racist abuse. 'I'm reflecting on should I have done more?' said Southgate. 'In the end, I think I tried to protect my players as much as I possibly can. I'm not the authority on the subject. I'm a middle-aged white guy speaking about racism. I'm just finding it a really difficult subject to broach because I want my players to enjoy playing football and not be scarred by the experiences. If people feel I should have done more, then I can only apologise for that.' Moscow Chelski FC winger Hudson-Odoi, who was making his first international start, told BeIn Sports: 'I don't think discrimination should be anywhere, we are equal. When you are hearing stuff like that from the fans, it is not right and it is unacceptable. Hopefully UEFA deal with it properly. When me and Rosey went over there, they were saying, "ooh aa aa", monkey stuff and we just have to keep our heads and keep a strong mentality. Hopefully Rosey is okay too. We will discuss it and have a chat. He has a strong mentality and is a strong guy so hopefully everything will be good. It is not right at all - I was enjoying the game too. We just have to take the win and go back home.' England's Declan Rice, who was also making his first Three Lions start, was sitting next to Rose in the dressing room after the game and said that the incidents had affected everyone in the camp. 'It is clearly unacceptable and it is up to the FA and UEFA to deal with it,' said Rice. 'It is not right, we came here to play a football match, we have been respectful and they need to show respect to us. Danny was disappointed. We talk all the time about kicking it out of the game but when is it actually going to stop? It is happening all the time and there needs to be more punished for it. We need to be doing more. I don't know what else we can do, there are so many campaigns saying 'kick it out' but then you come to places like this and it happens again, you are back to the start.' UEFA subsequently confirmed that 'disciplinary proceedings' had been opened against Montenegro with one charge for 'racist behaviour.'

Cast in role of cheerleader-in-chief, Scottish FA president Alan McRae felt it 'a privilege' to announce Alex McLeish as the new manager of the national team in February last year. McRae was so delighted to appoint his old friend that he went into a riff about how 'close' the two men have been over the years. When he said that their friendship went back to the 1888-1889 season - the year that Jack the Ripper burst on to the scene - out came the calculators along with much mocking humour. Going by McRae's verbal blunder, he was president of McLeish's testimonial committee one hundred and thirty years ago, a timeline that would have put the new Scotland manager very much in the veteran category. This is the man who will lead us to Euro 2020, said the president. 'No pressure, Alex. Over to you ...' McRae got a bit of a ribbing for that, but it was a one-day thing before the next thing arrived and then the next thing and so on. Scottish football is a fast-moving caravan of the absurd. In the past ten years only one club has been sanctioned for the unacceptable conduct of their supporters - a two-year probation for Motherwell. Meanwhile, Clyde, an easy target from League Two, get hammered with a points deduction and a fine for accidentally fielding an ineligible player. That is the sort of behaviour which passes for leadership in Scottish football. Big clubs appear to get a free pass and a small club gets the Sword of Damocles. Football fans from all over Scotland will be able to tell stories about the cravenness of the nation's governing bodies going back decades, but the weakness and lack of moral authority seems to be rising all the time. It's almost as if the national team, in their insipid performances against Kazakhstan and San Marino, has now taken on the guise of the people who run it and their colleagues down the corridor at the SPFL. This is bigger than McLeish. The Scotland fans are now, openly, in revolt against not just him but the people who appointed him and the (same) people who will appoint his successor, whenever that may be. There is little faith, little trust. There is a growing anger in places but, worse still, a growing apathy. Acceptance that nothing will change therefore what's the point. Scotland fans had to view two lamentable performances and then hear ridiculous comment in their wake. When McLeish said that Scotland had 'started brightly' in Kazakhstan - they were two-nil down in ten minutes - there was an 'insult-to-injury' quality to it. When he said on Sunday that, in terms of qualification, 'it's never over this early in any competition' he was ignoring history and asking for blind faith from supporters. Scotland failed to win their first game in the qualification campaigns for the World Cups in 2006, 2010 and 2014 and, of course, they didn't make it. They also failed to win their first game in the qualification campaigns for the Euros in 2012 and 2016 and didn't make it on those occasions either. Even a fast start hasn't helped. For the World Cup in 2002 they were unbeaten after six games. For in 2006 they were unbeaten after three games. For Euro 2016 they had ten points from a possible fifteen at the start of the group and still they couldn't get through to the finals. McLeish had to talk up his team's chances but, he was doing so from a position of desperate weakness and with a scant regard for what had gone before. With every syllable it became more uncomfortable listening to him. Scotland got pulverised by a team ranked one hundred and seventeenth in the world and then toiled horrendously against the - official - worst team in the world. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland, a nation with extremely modest resources but an excellent manager, delivered back-to-back wins against Estonia - ninety six in FIFA's world rankings - and Belarus - seventy eight in the world. The Irish had four players from the Scottish Premiership in their starting line-up, which is as many as Scotland started with against San Marino. They had a clutch more on the bench, including a goalkeeper from Partick Thistle (Conor Hazard) and two thirty nine-year-olds from Glasgow Rangers (Gareth McAuley) and Hearts (Aaron Hughes). All three of the used subs against Belarus had spent time in Scottish football. The guy who got their winner was Josh Magennis, who did six years in Scotland with Aberdeen, St Mirren and Kilmarnock. Not for the first time, the performance of Michael O'Neill's team shamed Scotland. The booing in San Marino was heart-felt and thoroughly deserved. There is no confidence in the SFA having the gumption to change things in the short-term. In the press conference where he referred to the beginning of his friendship with McLeish dating back to Victorian times, McRae spoke cheerily of the 'bright future' which awaited the national team. Not many believed it then. Fewer still believe it now.

Former Premier League striker Pavel Pogrebnyak has been fined almost three thousand knicker for saying it was 'laughable' to have black players in the Russian national team. The thirty five-year-old, who plays for Russian top flight side Ural Yekaterinburg, was also given a suspended ban by the Russian Football Union on Tuesday. The ban, until the end of the season, would come into effect if he made any more discriminatory remarks. The former Reading player will not appeal against the verdict and has snivellingly apologised for his crass statement. Pogrebnyak's comments - made in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily newspaper last week - were condemned by Russian president Vladimir Putin's human rights adviser Mikhail Fedotov. Pogrebnyak, who also played for Fulham, said that he was 'opposed' to the recent trend of non-Russian players receiving Russian passports and, potentially, going on to represent the country in international games. He singled out the examples of Brazilian-born duo Mario Fernandes, who plays for CSKA Moscow and Ariclenes da Silva Ferreira (Ari), who plays for Krasnodar. 'I don't see the point of this. I do not understand at all why Ari received a Russian passport,' he said. 'It is laughable when a black player represents the Russian national side. Mario Fernandes is a top player. But we also have Igor Smolnikov in his position. We could make do without foreigners as well.' Pogrebnyak, who won thirty three caps for Russia, later said that he did 'not have anything against black players.' One or two people even believed him. 'In the interview I voiced my strictly personal opinion that in the Russian national side I would like to see footballers who were born and raised in our country. That is all,' he claimed. 'I did not mean to insult anyone.' Ah, but you did, Pavel. You did.

The death of a supporter overshadowed Zimbabwe's qualification for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday. Zimbabwe's FA said that a fan was killed 'in a stampede' outside the national stadium in Harare before their final Group G match against Congo-Brazzaville. Despite the tragedy, the qualifier went ahead with Zimbabwe winning two-nil to seal their place at Egypt 2019. The Democratic Republic of Congo also qualified from the group with a one-nil win over Liberia in Kinshasa. Zimbabwe finished top of Group G with DR Congo second. Liberia and Congo-Brazzaville - who were both in contention at the start of the day - were eliminated. With fans clamouring to get inside the stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe's players knew what qualification for the Nations Cup meant to supporters. Khama Billiat, who plays for Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa, opened the scoring in the twentieth minute with a well-struck free-kick. His Belgium-based captain, Knowledge Musona, added a second sixteen minutes later, pouncing on a defensive error. Congo-Brazzaville tried to get back into the match but could not overcome a powerful and resilient Warriors team. The victory makes it back-to-back Nations Cup appearances for Zimbabwe, who played at Gabon 2017 after an eleven-year absence from the finals. In Kinshasa, Liberia needed a draw to go through, but China-based Cedric Bakambu's 52nd-minute goal ensured DR Congo made it instead. Liberia - who had requested for this fixture to be moved away from DR Congo because of concerns over Ebola - brought on Newcastle's under-twenty three midfielder Mohammed Sangare in the second half for his international debut. But DR Congo secured the victory they needed. The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations will, for the first time, take place in June and July and will feature twenty four teams rather than sixteen.

Cardiff City are reportedly 'set to claim' that the deal to buy Emiliano Sala from Nantes for fifteen million knicker was 'not legally binding,' as their efforts to weasel out of paying what they - morally, if not necessarily legally - owe shamefully continues. The Bluebirds are refusing to make interim payments for the striker, who died in a plane crash on 21 January. Cardiff will tell world football's governing body FIFA that Nantes' conditions for completion of the deal were 'not fulfilled' and Sala was not registered as a Premier League player. Nantes claim the required paperwork was all completed. The French club referred the matter to FIFA, who want Cardiff to submit their evidence by 3 April. Sala was Cardiff's record signing, announced on Saturday 19 January. The Argentine died when an aircraft piloted by David Ibbotson, who is still missing, crashed into the English Channel near Guernsey. The club was due to pay a first instalment to Nantes on 20 February. An alleged Cardiff 'source; allegedly claimed that the transfer agreement stipulated - at the request of Nantes - that the Football Association of Wales and France's Ligue de Football Professional had to 'confirm' the registration to both clubs by 22 January, along with confirmation of the international transfer certificate being released. The Premier League also had to clear the registration. The Bluebirds insist the terms of the contract 'maintains' that if any parts of that arrangement were not confirmed, then the deal would be 'null and void.' The Ligue De Football Professional reportedly did not confirm with Nantes until 25 January. It is thought the notifications clause was inserted because if the deal fell through, both Cardiff and Nantes would have had time to seek a new player before the January transfer window closed on 31 January. BBC Sport has also claimed to have 'learned' arrangements for a signing-on fee 'did not meet Premier League rules and so had been rejected by the league.' A Cardiff spokesman would not comment on specific details but said: 'The club is aware of FIFA's request for a response by 3 April and is processing that accordingly. We have no further comment at this stage.' Nantes say they completed all the necessary paperwork and have pointed out that FIFA themselves registered the international transfer certificate on 21 January. They say they have been fully compliant with FIFA's rules.

UEFA has opened disciplinary action against the Football Association of Ireland for the protest that took place during Tuesday's Euro 2020 qualifier. The Republic of Ireland's one-nil win over Georgia was delayed by four minutes when fans threw tennis balls on to the pitch at the Aviva Stadium. Dozens of balls were thrown from the stands in protest at ex-chief executive John Delaney remaining at the FAI. The charges will be dealt with by UEFA on Thursday, 16 May. The FAI has been charged under Article 16 (2) of the UEFA disciplinary regulations after the planned protest delayed the match during the first half. The demonstration in the thirty third minute was in response to the FAI's decision to offer Delaney a newly-created Executive Vice President role less than a week after it emerged the Association had received a one hundred thousand Euro loan from their long-serving chief executive in April 2017. Delaney has said that the 'bridging loan' was repaid in full two months after it was received. The Irish Government has written to the FAI to demand 'further information' about the loan and Delaney is expected to be part of an FAI delegation that will attend a government committee hearing on 10 April, to answer questions on the Association's financial dealings.

A brain injury charity wants UEFA to investigate why Fabian Schär was allowed to carry on playing for Switzerland after apparently being knocked unconscious in a Euro 2020 qualifier. Schär collided with Georgia's Jemal Tabidze and received emergency help. The incident occurred after twenty four minutes and Newcastle United defender Schär went on to complete the game and put in a man of the match performance. Headway chief executive Peter McCabe said: 'What is it going to take to make football take concussion seriously?' Schär lay unconscious on the ground after the clash of heads with Tabidze during the match in Tbilisi and Georgian player Jano Ananidze rushed to his aid. The twenty seven-year-old recovered quickly after further treatment from Swiss first-aiders, Swiss newspaper Blick reported and was able to continue playing, helping set up Switzerland's second-half goals for their two-nil victory. 'It looks awful. I can't remember anything,' Schär told Blick after being shown video footage. 'I was out for a few seconds. My skull is still humming. And I've got neck ache and a bruise on my forehead. But it was worth it.' Tabidze also lay motionless after the clash, his shirt covered in blood but he, too, recovered and continued playing with a bandage around his head before coming off just after the hour mark. McCabe said: 'How many more players will have their careers and, more importantly, their lives and long-term health put at risk by the sport's inability to follow its own protocols? Put simply, the decision to allow Fabian Schär to return to the field of play after suffering a clear concussion was not only incredibly dangerous, but also a clear dereliction of duty. The player's comments after the match are also deeply disturbing and again show the lack of awareness and understanding among players. UEFA must immediately launch an investigation into the incident and explain why their protocols were not followed.' The Swiss FA confirmed on Monday that Schär will not play in Tuesday's Group D game with Denmark in Basel. It is understood the medical departments of Newcastle and Switzerland made a joint decision to withdraw Schär from the Denmark game. Some atypical lazy tabloid journalism in the UK saw claims that Fabian was 'set to miss' United's Premier League trip to The Arse next week 'due to concussion.' In reality he is, in fact, suspended for that particular game.

A footballer has been acquitted of racially abusing an opposition player before a mass brawl with the punching and the kicking and kids gettin' sparked and aal sorts. Prosecutors had alleged that Sheffield Wednesday's Fernando Forestieri 'insulted' Mansfield Town's Krystian Pearce during a pre-season friendly. Mansfield Magistrates' Court heard Pearce 'had to be restrained' during 'a forty-man brawl.' Forestieri was found not guilty of racially aggravated harassment and using threatening words or behaviour. District Judge Jonathan Taffe ruled Pearce 'may have misheard' Forestieri as 'it was very loud' at the ground on 24 July. The court heard that the incident began with a foul by Forestieri on a Mansfield player which prompted his team-mates, including Pearce, to react. The prosecution alleged this led to 'a heated exchange of words' and, while Forestieri was speaking mainly in Spanish, he allegedly used 'derogatory racial terms.' Mansfield manager David Flitcroft told the court that he felt he had to pull Pearce away from Forestieri after being told about 'a racist incident' by the fourth official. Pearce confronted Forestieri after the match. The Owls player denied being racist and apologised if the defender had 'misheard.' Giving evidence, Forestieri also denied using any racist terms. He said: 'No, I never said that, I'm not like that. I was very sad because I'm not a racist. The first rule in football is to respect your colleagues.' Forestieri was banned for three games and fined twenty five grand as a result of the brawl.

Here's a remarkable goal scored by Jason Cowley for Bromsgrove Sporting, a team playing in the Southern League Division One Central, the eighth tier of English football. Cowley shows mad skills before burying the ball in the old onion bag. The goal came in Sporting's two-one league win over Corby Town. If Lionel Messi had scored that, dear blog reader, people would be saying ... 'what the Hell is Lionel Messi doing playing for Bromsgrove Sporting?' Probably.

A Welsh footballer has been convicted of using his car as a 'one-tonne weapon' to 'knock down spectators like skittles' after his team lost a match. Lee Taylor drove his BMW into eleven rival supporters, some as young as fourteen, after his side lost five-nil. The thirty six-year-old Margam player 'lost his temper' and drove into the victims after a game in Cornelly, Bridgend county, on 19 April 2018. Taylor, from Port Talbot, will be sentenced in April. A jury found him very guilty of dangerous driving and eleven counts of 'attempting to do grievous bodily harm with intent.' He claimed he was 'trying to escape' the teenagers when he got into his car after they called him 'fatty.' Taylor claimed he did not know he had hit the boys until the police arrested him later that day. He told the court that he was 'trying to break up a confrontation' between a Margam teammate and fifteen to twenty supporters of rivals Cornelly United outside the changing rooms when the group turned on him. But Christopher Rees, prosecuting, said Taylor 'got into his car to drive at the youths because he lost his temper.' Some of the boys were thrown up into the air and it was only by 'sheer good fortune' that none suffered injuries worse than cuts and bruising, he added. 'It was an attack that was out of all proportion to the playground nonsense that happened beforehand.' The court was told that Taylor had previous convictions for twenty four offences, including criminal damage, taking vehicles without authority, common assault and affray. Mobile phone footage was played to the court allegedly showing Taylor getting out of his car and assaulting a young man who had confronted him. Judge Daniel Williams said that he would consider handing down an extended sentence for the 'serious offences' after a report by the probation service. After the hearing, Janine Davies, from the CPS, said: 'Lee Taylor used his car as a weapon, deliberately driving at the group. When cars are used as weapons the consequences can be devastating. We wish all those injured in this incident a speedy recovery.'

Sterling Works

FA Cup matches will be shown live on the BBC until 2025 as part of a new four-year broadcast deal with the Football Association. The new agreement - which starts at the beginning of the 2021-22 season - will see BBC Sport continue to show live fixtures, highlights and online clips. Up to eighteen fixtures a season will be televised - more than ever before. The FA said that the deal was 'exciting,' adding: 'We look forward to working with the BBC for years to come.' Mark Bullingham, the FA's chief commercial and football development officer, said The Scum's fifth-round win at Moscow Chelski FC was the most-watched domestic match of the season, with a final and consolidated Seven Day Plus audience of eight million people across all platforms. 'The popularity of the competition goes from strength to strength and continues to draw some of the largest audiences in sport,' he added. 'The Emirates FA Cup is the best and most historic domestic cup competition in the world and we are delighted to have agreed a new long-term commitment to keep it on the BBC until 2025.' The new deal will also see greater coverage of the competition's early stages, with up to six live matches from across the first and second rounds. Barbara Slater, the director of BBC Sport, said: 'We are delighted to have secured these FA Cup rights until the 2024-25 season, ensuring the millions that tune into free-to-air TV can continue to enjoy the most famous domestic cup competition in the world. This new deal now brings even more games to audiences across the country as the BBC provides top-class sport on all of our platforms. Our FA Cup coverage delivers some of the year's biggest viewing figures, engages a key younger audience and provides memorable sporting moments that unite a nation.'

England's years of living down to expectations may well be over - now the difficult part will be keeping a lid on the rising hopes and anticipation surrounding Gareth Southgate's exciting young side. The euphoria of a surprise run to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia was tempered by the sense of a missed opportunity after they were beaten in extra-time by Croatia in Moscow and failed to reach their first final for fifty two years. As Wembley rose in unison at the end of this emphatic five-nil thrashing of the Czech Republic on Friday there was the sense that Russia was simply the start of something special for England and this emerging generation of players. First, though, the context. The Czech Republic were compliant opponents, barely offering a threat and with several accidents waiting to happen in defence - which duly occurred. England,nevertheless, were ruthless and dynamic. They were simply too fast, too mobile, too good and no-one should pour cold water on that. And after their advance to the final stages of the inaugural Nations League in Portugal in June, secured by their first win in Spain in thirty one years and a superb comeback to exact revenge over Croatia at Wembley, there is every reason to believe this England team is not just here to stay, it is going to get better. It was crucial England capitalised on the wave of goodwill that accompanied them back from Russia. The nation loved and admired their football team again - for the first time in an age - and momentum needed to be maintained. On the evidence of the last few games, it has not simply been maintained. It has been gained. And at the head of it all was Sheikh Yer Man City's Raheem Sterling, now the mature, high-class player everyone assumed he would become when he first demonstrated his brilliance at Liverpool Alabama Yee-Haws. Sterling, still only twenty four, has become the complete forward under Pep Guardiola's guidance at City. Southgate's careful handling and support during much of a three-year spell in which he never scored an England goal in twenty seven games is now reaping its reward. Southgate never wavered. He insisted he could not understand questions - albeit, not question from anyone that actually matters - about Sterling's place in England's side. These were not words to bolster fragile confidence. They were delivered with conviction and belief. Sterling now has twenty four goals for club and country this season. He is flourishing in the Premier League, Champions League and, importantly, with England. He is naturally gifted but now more clinical - and there is more to come. This is a message that applies to this England side, a team now confident in itself and with the growing confidence of supporters who became accustomed to bitter disappointment. As recently as 2016, they were bundled out of the Euros by Iceland in the last sixteen under Roy Hodgson's management. England's first goal against the Czechs summed up their fluidity, confidence and cutting edge. It was a passage of twenty five passes in which only Dele Alli did not touch the ball. Even goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was involved before the final thrust from Harry Kane's clever pass inside the defence, Jadon Sancho's perfect cross and Sterling's sliding finish. Kane has now scored sixteen goals under Southgate, eleven more than any other player. Sterling is another who is among the first names on the manager's teamsheet. What adds to the excitement is the lengthening undercard of young, precocious talent with the confidence to not simply stand alongside their more experienced, established England team-mates but to push them for their places. Eng land's evolution has picked up pace rapidly since the World Cup - which was crucial - and the evidence of future potential was paraded before elated fans at Wembley. Sancho, just eighteen, wore the England shirt that used to weigh so heavily on so many before him like it was a perfect fit. If anything, the Borussia Dortmund teenager was almost too confident, too eager early on before all of his burgeoning talent came to the fore. Sancho had the vision and composure to play in Sterling for the first, then brought England's fans to their feet with two quick-fire pieces of sleight of foot in the Czech penalty area. And the substitute appearances of twenty-year-old Declan Rice and Moscow Chelski FC's Callum Hudson-Odoi - the youngest player to make his debut for England in a competitive international, aged just eighteen years and one hundred and thirty five days - gave another tantalising glimpse into the future. It was the first time in one hundred and thirty eight years that England had fielded two players aged eighteen or younger in an international. Southgate's own boldness deserves credit here. It is hard to imagine any of his predecessors thrusting a rookie such as Hudson-Odoi into his England debut before he had even made his first Premier League start at Moscow Chelski FC. This is another sign that the emphasis has changed around England. And with the likes of Liverpool Alabama Yee-Haws's Trent-Alexander Arnold and Joe Gomez, The Scum's Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Luke Shaw and Sheikh Yer Man City's John Stones all to come back from injury - plus midfield quality in the shape of Southampton's James Ward-Prowse and Leicester City's James Maddison - there will be some very hot competition for places to add to England's edge. England look a team perfectly equipped for the modern game in attack with pace, mobility and threat. The midfield has yet to pass the stiffest tests but Rice's switch from the Republic of Ireland may provide the missing link in that department. The same questions can be applied to England's defence in the face of this flimsy Czech Republic side but this was not a night for quibbling or negativity. This was a night when England delivered on the hype. Two up at half-time it was the sort of game in which, under several previous regimes, England would have treated the second half against clearly inferior opposition as a training exercise and the game would have ended two-nil with a crowd grown bored and borderline disappointed long before the ninety minutes. Instead, after an odd five minutes post half-time, in which the Czech's were first to every ball and half of the England team appeared to still be, mentally, in the dressing room, they recovered their poise and went for the jugular. England are now unbeaten in their past forty qualifying matches in the World Cup and Euros, winning thirty one and drawing nine since a loss to Ukraine in October 2009 - but rarely in that sequence has there been the sort of hope and optimism that surrounds this group of players. Now the good work must continue when England face Montenegro in Podgorica on Monday.

Alex McLeish refused to discuss his future as Scotland manager after leading them to one of their most ignominious defeats in their opening Euro 2020 qualifier in Kazakhstan. The Scotch were two down inside ten minutes and conceded again just after the break to give the Kazakhs only a second win in twenty one qualifiers. On Sunday, they face San Marino, who lost their opener five-nil in Cyprus. 'I'll continue to do my job and won't get drawn into that,' said McLeish. Speaking to Sky Sports News in the immediate aftermath of the abject defeat, the manager conceded the result 'possibly puts more pressure on me.' No shit? McLeish was appointed Scotland coach in February 2018 - eleven years after the end of his first spell in the job - and has won four of his eleven matches to date. His side had previously secured a place in the play-offs for Euro 2020, which they will part host, by winning their Nations League section. Scotland were guilty of abject defending for all three goals in Kazakhstan and offered little threat going forward against the country ranked one hundred and seventeen in the world. McLeish was forced to field a makeshift backline after several withdrawals and the team's inexperience was cruelly exposed. 'It was a poor night for us defensively,' he said. 'We had one chance just before they scored and I was thinking it was looking quite lively for us. But they scored two quick goals and we never reacted. They could have been prevented with better positioning. There's a lot of inexperience in the squad. We have introduced a few new names over the last year or so and it can take time, but I know we don't have time. It's never finished until it's finished. We have players to come back.' In Thursday's other game in the group, Belgium beat Russia three-one in Brussels.

World champions France began their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with a comfortable victory against Moldova. Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring after converting from The cum's midfielder Paul Pogba's superb pass.Raphael Varane headed in the second and Moscow Chelski FC striker Olivier Giroud netted a third before half-time. Paris St-Germain star Kylian Mbappe stroked in a fourth before Vladimir Ambros scored for the hosts. In the night's other Group H games, Iceland won two-nil in Andorra while Turkey won in Albania by the same score.

Memphis Depay scored twice and provided assists for Liverpool Alabama Yee-Haws duo Georginio Wijnaldum and Virgil van Dijk as the Netherlands thrashed Belarus in their opening Group C qualifier. The Dutch took a first-minute lead when Depay punished a sloppy back-pass before his backheel pass was converted by Wijnaldum in Rotterdam. The Reds midfielder then earned a penalty from a foul by Mikhail Sivakov. Depay converted before he crossed for Van Dijk to head in a late fourth. Ronald Koeman's side, who face England in the Nations League semi-finals in June, host Germany in an eagerly anticipated clash on Sunday. Northern Ireland defeated Estonia two-nil in Thursday's other Group C qualifier.

Germany head coach Joachim Löw whinged Leroy Sane was 'lucky' after a 'vicious foul' on the Sheikh Yer Man Man City forward led to Serbia's Milan Pavkov being sent-off as the sides drew oneall in a friendly on Wednesday. Sane hobbled from the pitch after the foul in added time at the end of the game. Serbia goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic had produced an inspired display to prevent Löw's new-look Germany from securing an opening win of 2019. 'It was a vicious foul,' Löw bleated. 'Sane was lucky and got away with not getting hurt but such fouls can break bones.' Löw's youthful side went behind to Luka Jovic's header in the twelfth minute, before substitute Leon Goretzka hit the equaliser after the break. Germany dominated the early possession but Jovic was on hand to turn in the loose ball from six yards before Goretzka levelled with a fierce strike in the second half.

Birmingham City and Aston Villains have each been fined five grand by the Football Association for failing to control players in their Second City derby. The Championship clubs were both charged over a melee in the fifth minute after a foul on Villains captain Jack Grealish by Blues midfielder Maikel Kieftenbeld. Birmingham are also facing a separate charge after Grealish was attacked on the pitch by a fan five minutes later. The Villains won the game on 10 March, with Grealish scoring the only goal. Both clubs accepted the charge. Kieftenbeld was booked for his late challenge, which set the tone for an ill-tempered game at St Andrew's. Grealish was subsequently attacked by Blues supporter Paul Mitchell, who ran on to the pitch and struck the Villains midfielder from behind in the side of the head. Mitchell, of Rubery in Worcestershire, was subsequently sent to The Slammer for fourteen weeks after admitting assault and encroachment on to the pitch. He was also ordered to pay three hundred and fifty smackers in fines and costs and banned from attending any football matches in the UK for ten years. Birmingham, who banned Mitchell from St Andrew's for life, were charged by the FA with failing to control their spectators and they have until 22 March to respond to that charge.

Barnsley midfielder Kenny Dougall has revealed that he tried to play on against Doncaster despite having a broken leg. Dougall is set to miss the rest of the season after suffering the fracture in Friday's goalless draw in League One. But, he subsequently revealed on Instagram that he tried to continue before being substituted in the eighteenth minute. 'Injuries are part of the game and unfortunately I've been hit with another tough pill to swallow,' the Australian posted. 'Full trust in the lads to get us up into the [Championship]. Don't know why I've tried to play on with a broken leg but nobody can say I didn't try.' Barnsley said in a statement that Dougall will be assessed by a specialist this week but he is not expected to feature again this season. Tykes striker Kieffer Moore has already been ruled out for the rest of the season due to concussion. Daniel Stendel's side are second in the table, two points ahead of third-placed Blunderland, having played a game more.

Doncaster Rovers have sacked Niall Mason after he admitted a charge of sexual assault in January. Mason received a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for assaulting a woman in 2018. A judge at Sheffield Crown Court also placed Mason on the sex offenders' register for seven years. A Doncaster statement read: 'Rovers have cancelled the contract of Niall Mason after he withdrew an appeal against his dismissal by the club.' It continued: 'Rovers opened internal disciplinary proceedings immediately following his guilty plea for a sexual offence at Sheffield Crown Court.' Defender Mason had been a regular for the promotion-chasing League One side until shortly before his court appearance in January, but was suspended following his sentencing.

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been extremely charged with 'improper conduct' by UEFA over a goal celebration in the win over Atletico Madrid in the last sixteen of the Champions League. The thirty four-year-old appeared to mimic Atletico coach Diego Simeone, who turned to fans and grabbed his crotch during his side's two-nil first-leg victory. Ronaldo made the gesture after his third goal of his hat-trick in the return leg as Juve won three-nil. UEFA will rule on the case later this week. Simeone was fined twenty thousand Euros for his celebration. Juventus have been drawn to play Dutch side Ajax in the quarter-finals.

A Colombian footballer has been arrested for, allegedly, having The Sex in public and then, allegedly, trying to bribe police officers who caught him after, allegedly, giving them a false name. Jhon Fredy Hurtado, who plays for Quiche FC in Guatemala's top flight, was reportedly arrested in the city of Santa Cruz Del Quiche. FC Quiche does, undeniably, sound like a Sunday League team containing eleven Gruniad Morning Star readers. Local media claim police found him having The Sex in his parked car - with someone else, obviously, he wasn't having The Sex by himself -- and extremely arrested him for 'obscene exhibitions.' The report adds that officers claim Hurtado told them he was called Guillermo 'El Pando' Ramirez Garcia, a former footballer. Both Hurtado and the woman he was with, named in the media as Rocio Adely Giron, are then said to have offered a bribe of ten knicker and a mobile phone to let them go. Police say they rejected the handout and the pair were romtly inched by The Fuzz. Hurtado has been charged with attempting to bribe an officer. A police report reads: 'In the moment they were caught, the gentleman who said he was called 'Pando' Ramirez was found on top of Rocio Adely Giron (both without clothes) and both were asked if they would be kind enough to get changed, after which the motive for the arrest was made known.' Quiche FC have moved to distance themselves from the scandal, saying in a statement: 'The player did it in his free time, which is why the club exempts itself of any legal or penal responsibility that the player has.' The club's board are set to meet to decide what action to take. Hurtado will also be 'hauled in for talks' so he can 'present his defence.' Guillermo El Pando Ramirez was a Guatemalan player who was suspended for life from any football-related activities due to his participation in money laundering and fixing games.

Football fans who claim they believed they were buying a share in 'a real life club' are, reportedly, demanding their money back from an app firm. Thousands allegedly signed up to OWNAFC after its director claimed it would enable them to 'make decisions over the running of a club it took over.' Customers said that they thought paying forty nine knicker would mean they 'had a share in a club' and would be 'entitled to help run it.' OWNAFC denies wrongdoing and said that the forty nine quid was 'to access the app.' It said that shares would only be on offer once a club was actually bought. Gunnercooke LLP, the legal adviser to OWNAFC, said it 'accepted' the business 'needed to be more open with customers.' Hednesford Town FC had considered a take-over by the app but 'a collective decision' was made to 'not go ahead.' One customer, who wished to be known as Nicholas, snitched to the BBC: 'I paid the money on behalf of my thirteen-year-old son because it seemed really exciting. But, after I paid, we received an e-mail about FAQs and in there it said I hadn't paid for a share, but that we would be "entitled" to a share. My son is really upset. He had spent his own money on this and now there appears to be no recourse.' Plus, he's discovered that his father is a moron which is, frankly, a blow for any teenager. In a statement issued on behalf of OWNAFC founder and director Stuart Harvey, Gunnercooke LLP said: 'In no way has the business done any wrongdoing and we strongly reject any accusations of fraud. The concept for OWNAFC was aimed at allowing fans to take an active part in the running of a football club via a mobile application.' A spokesman said that those who paid forty nine quid 'unlocked features' of the app 'allowing them to engage in the experience of running a real football club, by making all boardroom decisions upon deal completion and takeover.' He added: 'All OWNAs, subject to age restrictions, will be entitled to one share in the limited entity that takes over the club. However, it is not mandatory for an OWNA to take a share if they choose not to.' A 'non-executive advisory board' is being appointed and, as part of this move, Harvey will be 'stepping aside' from the business, added Gunnercooke LLP. Harvey said that he had closed down the company's social media pages due to online abuse and threats to his family. The company brochure stated that 'All OWNAs will have the option of buying one share within the club at the nominal value.' It also said that the choice of club to take over would be 'the first decision that you and your fellow OWNAs will make.' But customers said they were 'still unclear' as to what their forty nine notes had,actually, bought them. A customer, who only wanted to be known as Mark, nark'd: 'It's about the fact that ninety nine per cent of the people who paid, like me, are just genuine football fans wanting to be part of something that could make a difference.' The company's website also said 'by making payment of forty nine pounds, you are securing your position as football club OWNA and unlocking all features of the OWNAFC app.' It added: 'once the club purchase is complete, you will unlock the app features and really put your theories into practice.' Meanwhile, customers have been applying for refunds through their bank. Watchdog Action Fraud confirmed that it had received 'reports' relating to OWNAFC within the past two weeks and, as part of its process, informs the National Fraud Intelligence bureau, which then contacts the relevant police force. Greater Manchester Police, the force in which the business is registered, said that it had not yet received any reports. One of the clauses in the website's terms section states that refunds are only offered 'if a takeover is not completed within three months of a club accepting our offer. If no offer is made to a football club by 1 June 2019 then refunds will be offered,' it says.

Weapons, fireworks and drugs have reportedly been found on a coach carrying Paris St-Germain fans to a Women's Champion's League game against Moscow Chelski FC. Up to fifty PSG fans were denied entry to the quarter-final tie at Kingsmeadow. Police were first called to reports of vandalism at the stadium then, later, to serious disorder at Waterloo and Wimbledon stations. A coach that travelled overnight from Paris was searched and one arrest was made. In a statement, the Met Police said: 'Weapons, including knives and knuckledusters, were recovered along with class A drugs. One man from the coach was arrested for possession of class A drugs and the remaining passengers were escorted from the area by police.' Reports suggest a door at the stadium had been broken and parts of the ground had daubed with pro-PSG graffiti. BBC Sports reporter Jacqui Oatley tweeted: 'I'm told there were weapons - knuckleduster and knives - plus drugs on board. They damaged Chelsea's Kingsmeadow ground this morning before returning later. Banned from PSG men's and youth games but not women's.'

Sheffield United Women forward Sophie Jones has been banned for five games after being found guilty of racially abusing Tottenham player Renee Hector. Hector claimed that she 'received some monkey noises' from an opponent during a Championship match on 6 January. Jones, whose Blades deal has been terminated by mutual consent, claimed that she is 'not guilty' and the 'hearing took place in a kangaroo court.' She has also been fined two hundred smackers and must attend an educational course. Defender Hector made the allegations in a social media post after Tottenham had beaten the Blades two-one. Spurs, who said the alleged incident was reported to the referee by Hector during the game, also reported it to the Football Association. 'There is no place for racism in our game,' said Hector on Twitter. 'A zero tolerance policy is imperative in stamping this out from football therefore I welcome this verdict. No-one should be subjected to racist abuse on or off the pitch and I felt a responsibility to call it out for what it was.' The FA set up an independent panel to hear from both sides, with the charge of using abusive and/or insulting words - that included reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race - found proven. An FA spokesperson said: 'The case against Sophie Jones was heard by an Independent Regulatory Commission comprising two independent lawyers and a former football player and manager. The written reasons in the case will be published in due course, which will provide a detailed account of the evidence given and the findings of the Commission.' Sheffield United confirmed that Jones' contract, which was 'due for review' at the end of the season, had been 'terminated by mutual agreement.' In a statement, Jones has since suggested her football career is over. 'It is with a heavy heart that I feel I am unable to continue within football and play under an organisation that I do not have any confidence in,' she said. 'I would like to state on record that I do not condone racism in any form and I will continue to stand by this statement. I strongly stand firm that I am not guilty with regards to the charge that the FA have brought against me. I am struggling to come to terms with this decision and how the FA can come to a verdict based on probability from the two witness accounts verbally given, instead of reviewing the case and its evidence, in its entirety.' In their own statement, The Blades added: 'The club works closely with the English Football League, the FA and Kick it Out and would like to reiterate that it does not condone racism or any form of discrimination.'

The father of former England footballer Adam Johnson said it was 'good' to have his son home after his release from prison. The former Blunderland and Sheikh Yer Man City winger was extremely jailed for six years in 2016 for engaging in sexual activity with a fifteen-year-old fan. Johnson's father spoke to reporters outside his thirty one-year-old son's house in Castle Eden. Witnesses said Johnson's father was seen leaving HMP Moorland near Doncaster in the early hours. A Mercedes with blacked-out rear windows he was driving was later seen arriving at the former player's mansion near Hartlepool. Johnson said that his son 'might' make a statement later and asked reporters to leave the home's gated entrance. Johnson, who played for England twelve times before being sent to The Slammer, was released part way through his jail term. On the first day of his trial, the winger pleaded very guilty to grooming the girl and one charge of sexual activity, relating to kissing her. Blunderland immediately terminated his sixty grand-a-week contract following his admission of guilt. Jurors found him guilty of sexual touching but cleared him of one charge relating to another sexual act. As a sex offender, Johnson will have to register his address and bank details with police and inform officers of any intention to travel abroad. His trial at Bradford Crown Court heard that Johnson first began communicating with the girl at the end of 2014 while his partner, Stacey Flounders, was heavily pregnant with their first child. The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was a Blunderland season ticket holder and was 'infatuated' with Johnson. He told the jury that when she sent him a friend request on Facebook he 'recognised her' as a Blunderland fan. They exchanged hundreds of online messages before Johnson met up with the girl in his Range Rover on 30 January 2015 after agreeing to sign football shirts for her. It was in the car that the kissing and touching took place.

All My Violence Raining Tears Upon The Sheet

There was late drama in all three of the Premier League games played on Saturday. Matt Ritchie struck with almost the last kick of the game to earn yer actual Keith Telly Topping's beloved (though unsellable) Newcastle a share of the spoils against Bournemouth at The Vitality Stadium. The Magpies inched a fraction closer to Premier League safety with the two-two draw. Former Cherries player Ritchie sent a spectacular volley into the roof of the net from DeAndre Yedlin's cross to rescue a point for Rafa The Gaffer's side. Joshua King had turned the game in Bournemouth's favour in the second-half, sending Martin Dubravka the wrong way from the penalty spot before finishing coolly into the far corner from Dominic Solanke's pass. Salomón Rondón had given Newcastle the lead in first-half stoppage time, curling a superb free-kick into the top corner from the edge of the area. Callum Wilson almost scored his twelfth league goal of the campaign with the score at one-one, but Paul Dummett cleared the goal-bound header off the line. The point lifts Bournemouth above Everton into eleventh place, while Newcastle remain thirteenth with thirty five points, seven clear of the relegation zone. Elsewhere West Hamsters United came from three-one down to beat bottom club Poor Bloody Huddersfield at The London Stadium with three late goals including an injury-time winner from Javier Hernández. And, it was a jolly bad day for Burnley who missed a chance to pull themselves out of the relegation mire losing two-one at home to Leicester City who had Harry Maguire sent off in the early stages for bringing down Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson when he was clean through on goal. Wes Morgan scored the winner for Leicester in the last minute.

It was nice to be reminded that football can be a thrilling and unpredictable game after a week in which the sport has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. A Birmingham City fan has been extremely jailed for fourteen weeks for attacking Aston Villains captain Jack Grealish during the second city derby. Paul Mitchell, of Rubery, ran on to the pitch and hit Grealish from behind - really hard - about ten minutes into Sunday's game. Less than twenty four later, Mitchell was up a'fore The Beak and, in his particular case, justice was not only swift but, also, merciless. Mitchell admitted assault and encroachment on to the pitch at Birmingham Magistrates' Court. He couldn't really do much else since thirty odd thousand punters inside St Andrews saw him do it, plus seven hundred thousand more watching on TV. He 'cannot explain what came over him yesterday morning,' his solicitor claimed, unconvincingly. 'His initial, foolish, intention was to just go on to the pitch and whip up the crowd,' said Vaughn Whistance, defending. Mitchell was also ordered to pay three hundred and fifty notes in fines and costs and has been banned from attending any football matches in the UK for ten years. The three hundred and fifty knicker includes one hundred quid in 'compensation' for Grealish's 'pain, discomfort and shock.' The Villains midfielder was able to continue with the game at St Andrew's and, indeed, went on to score the winning goal in the sixty seventh minute. Mitchell, a pub worker, claimed that he was 'not drunk' when he invaded the pitch and punched Grealish in the jaw. 'I cannot help but feel how lucky I was in this incident,' the player said. 'It could have been so much worse had the supporter had some sort of weapon.' Birmingham City snivellingly apologised to both Grealish and The Villains immediately after the game and said that Mitchell had been banned from St Andrew's for life. He has also been banned from away games. The club said there were 'no excuses' for his behaviour, which 'has no place in football.' West Midlands Police said it was also investigating 'offensive social media posts' which appeared after the goal referencing Grealish's younger brother, who died when the midfielder was four. Birmingham City said it had banned another supporter for life over the 'vile and malicious' tweets. Mitchell, who has been a season ticket holder for twenty years, was said to be 'very remorseful' after realising he had 'brought shame' on his club. His defence asked for community service or a suspended prison sentence but magistrates were having none of it and ruled that 'a message had to be sent out to fans.' The father-of-one's prison sentence 'should be a deterrent,' magistrates added as they sent him off to The Slammer. During the court hearing, Whistance claimed that online threats had been made to Mitchell whilst also using the 'his girlfriend is pregnant so, you know, let him off with a slap on the wrist yer honour,' defence. Whistance claimed that Mitchell's family had 'left the area through fear that they would suffer serious harm or even death.' An FA spokesperson said 'a line had been crossed' and 'strongly condemned' the attack, as well as two other pitch invasions which occurred at the weekend. It has written to Birmingham City to examine the club's security measures. The club said it had begun 'reviewing all of its stewarding, safety and security procedures as a matter of high importance. We will be putting into place extra measures at our stadium designed to help ensure the safety of players, as well as supporters,' a spokesman said. The club also confirmed it was investigating an incident involving a steward 'after Aston Villa players celebrated their goal on Sunday in front of their supporters in the Gil Merrick Stand.' In 2002, a Birmingham City fan who ran on to the St Andrew's pitch and confronted Aston Villains goalkeeper Peter Enckelman was jailed for four months for encroaching the playing area and using threatening behaviour.

A Hibernian fan who 'confronted' Glasgow Rangers captain James Tavernier at the side of the pitch during a match has admitted a breach of the peace charge. Cameron Mack, from Port Seton, climbed over an advertisement hoarding at Easter Road last Friday night. The twenty one-year-old kicked the ball away before the confrontation with the Rangers defender. Mack, who will be sentenced next month, has been extremely banned from attending any football ground in Scotland. His actions were condemned by Hibernian chief executive Leeann Dempster. Speaking after the match, she described the incident as 'completely and utterly unacceptable' and said that the culprit would be 'banned from Easter Road for life.' The confrontation took place almost a week after Glasgow Celtic player Scott Sinclair was almost struck by a glass bottle thrown from the crowd at Easter Road. Over the weekend, there were also incidents at two English matches. The incident at Easter Road took place as Tavernier went to pick up the ball to take a throw-in. At Edinburgh Sheriff Court, fiscal depute Lorraine Almond said that Mack had acted in a disorderly manner, kicked the ball away, approached the Glasgow Rangers defender and 'acted in an aggressive manner towards him.' She said both men pushed each other several times before a steward intervened and the police detained Mack. Deferring sentencing until next month, Sheriff Adrian Cottam told Mack: 'The nature of the offence has caused a lot of discussion and concern and is a serious matter.'

A man has been charged with assaulting The Scum's defender Chris Smalling during a Premier League match at The Arse's Emirates Stadium. Gary Cooper, of Chertsey, was extremely charged with common assault and encroaching on to the playing area. He was bailed to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on 26 March. The charge relates to an incident about seventy minutes into Sunday's match which The Arse won two-nil.

A sixteen-year-old male has been very arrested for allegedly calling Huddersfield Town midfielder Philip Billing 'a black donkey' online. Jesus, why the Hell is everybody so nasty these days? Billing tweeted a private message that he had been sent on Instagram, with a 'thumbs down' emoji. Which is Interweb thing that 'young people' use a lot, apparently. In the expletive-ridden message, Billing, a Danish international of Nigerian descent, was told to 'leave our club.' West Yorkshire Police confirmed the arrest was made on Wednesday morning. 'I never want to see you in a Town kit ever again, you useless wannabe black donkey,' the message said. A police statement read: 'Following a report received by West Yorkshire Police ... in relation to abusive racial comments on social media, police have now arrested a sixteen-year-old male. The teenager has been arrested on suspicion of malicious communications and is being investigated as a hate crime. Enquiries remain ongoing. Kirklees District Police would like to reassure the public that this incident has been swiftly and proportionately investigated. All reports of hate incidents are taken extremely seriously by West Yorkshire Police and all such reports will be thoroughly investigated.' Huddersfield said in a statement that the club 'does not tolerate abuse of any kind and has a zero-tolerance stance towards any form of discrimination.' It added: 'We will give our full co-operation to the police to deal with this matter in the strongest possible way.' The campaign group Kick It Out said in a statement: 'We condemn the disgraceful abuse that Philip Billing has received online and call on social media companies to take steps to act against people who use their platforms to carry it out. Recent events underline that players should be protected from abuse both on and off the pitch. We are liaising with Huddersfield Town and have offered our support to Philip.' Billing, who was named youth player of the season in 2016, joined The Terriers in 2014 and has made seventy four senior appearances for the club.

The Sun has grovellingly apologised to the families of the victims of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings after wrongly suggesting that police resources were diverted at a football match to deal with a group of campaigners who were raising funds to pay for legal fees. The entirely false claim was made in a report in the risible right-wing scum tabloid on the Birmingham City versus Aston Villains game. The paper dedicated multiple pages of coverage to the Jack Grealish incident, describing the 'toxic atmosphere outside the game' where Birmingham City fans were allegedly 'baiting' Villains fans. It also claimed that the 'police had their hands full with a protest also being at the ground' by Justice For The Twenty One, a campaign for the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings, which killed twenty one people and wounded two hundred and twenty. The newspaper said that the campaigners had 'held a demonstration that the police eventually restrained,' putting it in the wider context of the authorities 'losing control' over the stewarding of the match. Justice For The Twenty One said that its members were not demonstrating and did not need to be 'restrained' by police or anything even remotely like it. Instead, they were merely asking for donations from members of the public towards legal fees to ensure families were represented in the recently reopened inquests into the deaths. The families say that they have been 'forced to resort to bucket collections' outside major events after not receiving sufficient public funds through legal aid to pay for their lawyers and that they raised thousands of pounds at Sunday’s match. West Midlands police later confirmed that absolutely no 'protests' had taken place outside Birmingham City's ground on the day of the match. After supporters of Justice For The Twenty One complained to the press regulator, Ipso, the newspaper snivellingly apologised on Wednesday and retracted 'any suggestion' that the campaigners distracted the police. The Sun said: 'We wish to clarify that members of the group were there as fundraisers, not demonstrators and that there was no suggestion that the group had caused any trouble for police.' Except that, of course, there most certainly was that suggestion in the original article. 'The Sun has publicised the work of the group over a number of years, which campaigns for the twenty one victims of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombing. We apologise if any offence was caused.'

Yer actual Keith Telly Topping's beloved (though unsellable) Magpies' youngsters Elias Sorensen, Jamie Sterry and Callum Roberts have all returned to Tyneside from their - utterly pointless - loan spells in the Football League at Blackpool, Crewe Alexandra and Colchester United respectively. The trio have barely featured for their loan clubs since leaving St James' Park in January and are now available for United's remaining Under Twenty Three games following their misadventures in the Football League. All three are highly-regarded at St James' and there has been considerable disquiet over the lack of game-time given to the trio when the whole point in sending them out on loan in the first place was for them to get some valuable league game experience; to the point when Sterry and Sorensen (along with another loanee, Liam Gibson, currently at Accrington Stanley) returned to Newcastle last month to play in an Under Twenty Three game at Leeds. The only one of the trio to actually start a game was right-back Sterry - who has made four first team appearances for United. He completed ninety minutes for Crewe against Northampton Town in League Two but was never called upon again by The Railwaymen thereafter. Three substitute outings for winger Roberts - who scored for Newcastle in the FA Cup against Blackburn in January - totalled a mere thirty seven minutes in the third tier for The U's. Striker Sorensen - who is yet to make his first team debut - fared worst of the three, playing just once for The Tangerines, given thirty two minutes as a substitute against Wycombe soon after arriving at Bloomfield Road. The Dane then failed to appear in any of Blackpool's subsequent eight games and, latterly, wasn't even selected for their match day squads. Given the futility of these loans - and several previous temporary departures from St James' (notably striker Tom Heardman at Bury last year), news that United are seeking to recruit a 'player loan co-ordinator' would appear to be an idea long overdue.

Former England striker Andy Carroll looks to have played his last game for West Hamsters United after another injury setback. Carroll has missed two games with an ankle injury and it appears unlikely he will be fit before the end of the season. While the Hamsters have not made a final decision yet, it is expected they will not offer Carroll another deal when his contract ends in the summer. 'Andy Carroll has an ankle problem,' said Hamsters boss Manuel Pellegrini. 'How serious, we don't know. I cannot tell you.' It means for the fourth time in his six years at the club after an initial loan move from Liverpool Alabama Yee-Haws was made permanent, the fifteen million quid striker will have failed to make twenty appearances across all competitions in a season. Given that record, the Hamsters hierarchy 'is considering whether it would be a wise use of resources to offer Carroll a further deal,' according to BBC Sport. Carroll has scored but three goals in the Premier League since April 2017.

Former The Scum and England midfielder Paul Scholes has left his role as Oldham Not Very Athletic manager after just thirty one days. The forty four-year-old took on his first managerial job on 11 February and was only in charge of the League Two club for seven games, winning but one. Scholes said in a statement that he had decided to resign 'with great regret. It unfortunately became clear that I would not be able to operate as I intended and was led to believe prior to taking on the role,' he continued. Scholes took over with The Latics fourteenth in the table, nine points off the play-offs and leaves with them in the same position. He began his reign with a four-one win over Yeovil Town, but three draws and two defeats followed prior to his final match, a two-nil defeat by league leaders Lincoln City on Tuesday. 'I hoped to at the very least, see out my initial term of eighteen months as the manager of a club I've supported all my life,' he said. 'The fans, players, my friends and family all knew how proud and excited I was to take this role. I wish the fans, the players and the staff - who have been tremendous - all the best for the rest of the season and will continue to watch and support the club as a fan.' Scholes made seven hundred and eighteen appearances for The Scum, including four hundred and ninety nine in the Premier League and scored one hundred and fifty five goals in all competitions. He initially announced his retirement at the end of the 2010-11 season, but made a comeback at the start of 2012 before finally calling time on his career in 2013, having won eleven Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two League Cups, five Community Shields and two Champions Leagues. He also played sixty six times for England, retiring after Euro 2004 to focus on his club career. Scholes resigned as a director of National League side Salford upon taking over at Boundary Park, but he retained his shareholding and could now return. The Ammies could be promoted to League Two this season and EFL rules prevent a person holding roles with two clubs at the same time without prior consent, although a holding of ten per cent or less in a club is disregarded providing it is held 'purely for investment purposes.' Moroccan football agent Abdallah Lemsagam became Oldham owner in January 2018 and is now looking for his fifth manager in just over a year, although Scholes' immediate predecessor Pete Wild was only in charge on a caretaker basis. A short club statement said: 'Oldham Athletic Football Club can confirm that Paul Scholes has resigned from his position as first team manager with immediate effect. We would like to place on record our thanks to Paul for his efforts during his spell in charge of the club and would like to wish him well for the future.' There were plenty of people within the game, privately as well as publicly, who told Scholes that cutting his managerial teeth at Oldham was a bad idea. But, such was his long-held desire to manage his hometown club, he ignored them all. As he has proved so regularly as a pundit, Scholes is a straight talker. It was always the case he would resist any outside interference, which is a claim that has been levelled at Lemsagam on more than one occasion and, in the end, the former The Scum midfielder's status became untenable. To many, it will not come as a surprise. To others, there will be a sense of satisfaction given how brutal Scholes has been at dishing out criticism from the comfort of the pundit's chair.

For the first time in thirteen years there will be no German club in the Champions League quarter-finals, a fact not lost on the country's media on Thursday morning after Fußball-Club Bayern München crashed out against Liverpool Alabama Yee-Haws. Jürgen Klopp's team emerged victorious from the Allianz Arena against a team who had lost only one of their previous twenty six Champions League fixtures on home soil, but it was the performance more than the result that perturbed the German football media. 'What we have learned from the last sixteen is that German football has shrunk considerably and that it no longer has a place among the big teams in Europe's most important competition,' wrote Jörn Meyn in Der Spiegel, pointing out that three of the teams – Bayern, Borussia Dortmund and Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 - were eliminated by English clubs and that the fourth, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, did not even make it out of their group. 'With an eight-month delay we have seen at club level what was obvious for the national team at the 2018 World Cup: German football has been left behind,' he added. Matthias Brügelmann, in Bild-Zeitung, continued along the same lines, writing that 'the fact is that German football is internationally only second class' and 'that Bayern and Germany need a radical turnaround to be able to compete for titles again.' Bayern were heavily criticised for their performance on Wednesday, with the headline in Kicker saying 'No plan, no courage: Bayern are out' and the paper's chief reporter, Karlheinz Wild, saying that 'even at one-one Liverpool were dominating the game and spending most of the time in the Bayern half.' He added: 'The English team were quicker, more agile and better with the ball and the two-one and, eventually three-one, felt logical.' Niko Kovac was partly to blame, claimed Wild, who wondered whether the Bayern coach 'really thought he could turn the game around by bringing on Renato Sanches?' The Munich paper Abendzeitung described Bayern as 'helpless' and said that they had 'beaten themselves' in front of seventy thousand fans, starting with Manuel Neuer's mistake for Liverpool's opening goal when the goalkeeper came out to try to dispossess Sadio Mané but was left flummoxed by the Liverpool forward's nimble footwork. The outfield players were not spared either with Abendzeitung handing out 'fives' - the worst mark that a player can get in Germany, one being the best – to Neuer, Rafinha, Franck Ribéry and Robert Lewandowski. The Polish forward had failed the 'ultimate test' against Virgil van Dijk and was 'weak in the challenge' and could not keep the ball. Only Javi Martínez was given a good mark - a two. 'Like a starving predator he ran around chasing his prey, the ball. He had a strong first half, winning ninety per cent of his tackles. Bayern's best player,' the paper wrote. Kovac put on a brave face after the defeat, saying that Liverpool 'deserved' to go through and that Bayern would 'focus on winning the domestic double.' He did receive some criticism from his players for his tactics, though, with Lewandowski saying: 'I think we were too defensive. We didn't take enough risks and did not go forward enough. When you look at the two games we did not have many chances and therefore we can't have any arguments when it comes to the outcome.' The Bayern CEO, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, finished things off by telling German TV that it would be 'great' to have Herr Klopp as Bayern coach, making a really bad night for Kovac considerably worse.