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Cast your mind back to the last time you needed to think about Fantasy Premier League, before the international break. It feels like an age ago, but it was less than a fortnight.

In the time since, England has rejoiced at seeing tactical genius (but non-national anthem singer) Lee Carsley play all of Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer at once, and subsequently watched England lose to Greece for the first time at Wembley.

Then fans have decided it was obvious all along that Carsley was not up to the permanent job, actually, and heralded with joy the blockbuster arrival of tactical genius Thomas Tuchel to the role, before questioning anxiously whether he’ll sing the anthem. It’s nice to be back to the Premier League.

A bit of a low-scoring gameweek last time out, with Erling Haaland, Mo Salah, Luis Diaz and Ollie Watkins all failing to score big returns while Bukayo Saka swept up against Southampton.

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This week is a really horrible one, a vexer, a real grim series of coin tosses. So we’re going to get a little bit bold with it. There are no straightforward, no-brainer picks (other than Haaland at Molineux, obviously, obviously) so what follows is a set of real differentials (seriously, I cannot stress enough how much Haaland should be your first pick, but I am contractually obliged to not recommend a striker owned by nearly three quarters of the game).

Arsenal travelling to Bournemouth could yield points for the Gunners, Nottingham Forest could continue their early season form against Crystal Palace at home, and Tottenham Hotspur hosting West Ham could show some virtual promise for Ange Postecoglou’s men, and obviously the aforementioned Manchester City at Wolves. These are about the only games where you’d stick your neck out for one of the sides with any degree of confidence. All the rest are a bit too close for comfort. We’re here to help.

The Gameweek 8 deadline is at 11am on Saturday 19 October.

This is an extract of i’s Fantasy Premier League tips. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every week.

Gameweek 8 fixtures

Saturday 19 October

*3pm unless otherwise stated

• Spurs v West Ham (12.30pm)
• Fulham v Aston Villa
• Ipswich v Everton
• Manchester United v Brentford
• Newcastle v Brighton
• Southampton v Leicester
• Bournemouth v Arsenal (5.30pm)

Sunday 20 October

• Wolves v Manchester City (2pm)
• Liverpool v Chelsea (4.30pm)

Monday 21 October

• Nottingham Forest v Crystal Palace (4.30pm)

Dominic Solanke (Tottenham)

The temptation to lead with Bryan Mbeumo for a third week running, this time at Manchester United, was overwhelming. In the interest of variation we’ve decided that is too obvious and opted for another striker with excellent facial hair.

West Ham have been a bit shaky under new boss Julen Lopetegui. A 4-1 win over Ipswich last time out suggests things aren’t a total calamity, but they’ve only taken two points from games at Palace, Fulham and Brentford this season. Another trip to another part of London beckons, and this one is decidedly less friendly – Spurs have only lost to Arsenal at home and scored freely in wins over Everton and Brentford.

Postecoglou will have spent the international break putting a rocket up his squad after a horrific loss to Brighton, so they’ll be looking to prove a point. Spurs and West Ham fans don’t like each other and it’s a derby at home. Dominic Solanke has found his shooting boots in the early season. It all feels a bit pointsy.

Price: £7.6m Points: 21 Gameweek 8 fixture: West Ham (h)

Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

Most of the picks on this list are quite “out there”. Sometimes you need to keep it simple, see that Saka is owned by less than 35 per cent of players, and pick the most obvious collector of Arsenal’s points as they travel to face a Bournemouth side who have lost three of their last four league games.

He tweaked a hamstring for England but a positive injury update has since followed with Carsley suggesting he was merely not going to push him against Finland and noises coming out of Arsenal suggesting they are optimistic he will face Bournemouth.

Otherwise the omens are good. Last time out he got a goal and two assists. He’s on set-pieces and the bonus point system loves him. When it comes to points return form he’s seventh in the league. For Saka’s standards he’s had a rest, having not been played with a frail hamstring against Finland.

Sometimes you just need to pick a powerhouse midfielder to build the side around (after Salah/Haaland), and that is Palmer next week when he isn’t playing Liverpool. For now it’s your boy, Bukayo.

Price: £10.1m Points: 54 Gameweek 8 fixture: Bournemouth (a)

Rasmus Hojlund (Manchester United)

Manchester United are staring down the barrel of a third straight league defeat at Old Trafford. Brentford are flying. Erik ten Hag’s job security is at an all-time low and that is really saying something. It’s time to go big on United forwards, against all narrative, because change is the only constant and because Brentford games are chaotic and despite winning lots the Bees also concede lots.

United have accrued an average of 1.59 xG (4.76 total, it is loathsome how much this sounds like a Ten Hag post-match speech) over three games at home this season and scored precisely one goal. Some people, I am not pointing any fingers (Joshua Zirkzee, Alejandro Garnacho, Bruno Fernandes), are not finishing their chances at the moment.

Rasmus Hojlund is back from injury, and you can say what you like about the pacey Dane’s first touch, but the man takes his chances and engineers a lot of them. Owned by less than 1 per cent of players. Go on, you know it’s a fun differential.

Price: £6.9m Points: 4 Gameweek 8 fixture: Brentford (h)

Emile Smith Rowe (Fulham)

There is some debate as to whether Rodrigo Muniz or Raul Jimenez offers more to Fulham’s attack. Jimenez is scoring more frequently, Muniz arguably brings more productivity in the build-up and helps the team more collectively. Jimenez is dramatically overperforming his xG, so a regression will come at some point, probably here, and Muniz may not start.

The thing is, Aston Villa have been fairly quick to concede on the road. One each to the not-exactly-prolific West Ham and Leicester, and two to Ipswich. There’s goals here for Fulham, who are definitely a better side at Craven Cottage with wins over Leicester and Newcastle this season.

Emile Smith Rowe is crucial to Marco Silva’s side. Everything flows through him, and he can pop up with a goal or two. He’s had an international break to bed in further with his new side and really start pulling the strings. It could be the game it all comes together for 70 minutes before Jhon Duran scores two total screamers.

Price: £5.7m Points: 34 Gameweek 8 fixture: Aston Villa (h)

James Justin (Leicester)

It’s a real relegation six-pointer, a humdinger, a thigh-slapper this one. Leicester, who won the Championship last season with Enzo Maresca and have stuttered a little under Steve Cooper but at least showed the ability to grit down and secure points early this season, visit Southampton, who look in danger already under Russell Martin.

James Justin’s FPL form is wildly skewed by him scoring two goals against Arsenal and getting an assist and a clean sheet against Bournemouth. However, if there’s ever a game where he will continue the run, it’s here against a Southampton side who has only rippled the net four times in the Premier League this season and shipped 15 goals already.

In a game that already feels “must-win” for the Saints in October, if Leicester get an early lead, heads could drop and it could get a bit ugly. Facundo Buonanotte and Jamie Vardy are other excellent picks to get in the mix in this match.

Price: £4.6m Points: 29 Gameweek 8 fixture: Southampton (a)

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Doing the 92 is Daniel Storey’s odyssey to every English football league club in a single season. The best way to follow his journey is by subscribing here

BEAP Community Partnership and Bradford City Football Club could not physically be closer to one another.

From a distance, it appears as if the latter sits directly on top of the other, Bradford’s Main Stand towering comparatively high as if it is perched atop its own hill.

This is Manningham, where a significant proportion of Bradford’s Bangladeshi community live on back-to-back terraced streets.

Three hours before kick-off between Bradford City and Newport County, a group of local kids from various backgrounds are playing on the outdoor five-a-side pitch, a coach on each team.

The most conspicuous player is a police officer who has joined in temporarily, his yellow bib matching the strip of one side. Above them looms Valley Parade. Squint and it could be an extravagant extension of their own playing area.

BEAP is the home of the Bangla Bantams supporters’ group, which was born as one of its projects in 2015. Anwar Uddin, who had become the first British Asian to captain a club in the Football League before retiring, was working with the Football Supporters’ Association and approached BEAP to ask if they were doing much work with the club next door. The answer was an irregular stream of free tickets but no sustained working relationship.

Uddin’s idea was to form a group that would allow the club to know where to come to to source a more direct avenue to the community around the stadium with which to create a pathway of engagement that previously hadn’t existed.

Hiron Miah is the current chairperson of Bangla Bantams. He grew up on Cornwall Terrace, which literally runs to the edge of the Main Stand and the ticket office.

He remembers playing football as a child in the club car park, pretending to be the players. He remembers the fire in 1985, and the terrible loss of life. This is his club now, but he didn’t attend many games.

“I grew up just a few doors away from the stadium and have been a football fan from a young age, but I recognised that many people in the community faced barriers like affordability or simply not knowing how to attend a game.

“Bangla Bantams aims to bridge that gap and build a stronger connection between residents and the football club.”

To do that, you need to answer a series of questions: what are the barriers? Do people feel safe? Is it intimidating? Are some of their fears thankfully out of date now?

Hiron admits that when he was younger, he didn’t feel that he would be welcome at the football; a mood of them vs us hung in the air. Now that environment has changed. It was time to take the fear away.

Bangla Bantams started out by getting tickets at a reduced rate from Bradford City and giving them away to members of the local community who would otherwise not think to attend.

They have an outreach programme that focuses on specific groups in turn: elderly men, young women, children, mothers, grandmothers. They found that those who experienced live football for the first time enjoyed the experience and learnt to overcome perceptions that football was for other people.

“Bradford City fans have always been welcoming and supportive of Bangla Bantams,” Hiron says.

“While there may be occasional negative comments from away supporters, our home crowd is consistently respectful and embraces the diversity in the stands.

“This sense of inclusion helps newcomers to football, especially those we bring to their first matches, feel comfortable and enjoy the experience. We all share pride in being Bradfordians and standing behind the club.”

Bradford City 3-1 Newport County (Monday 7 October)

• Game no.: 27/92
• Miles: 186
• Cumulative miles: 4,107
• Total goals seen: 64
• The one thing I’ll remember in May: The Bradford City match ball car, which wheels the ball onto the pitch for the referee.

One aspect of the project worth detailing is that Bangla Bantams focus their work on first-time visitors. There is little benefit in the same people getting free tickets to repeated matches.

So far this season, at the Saturday home fixtures alone, more than 50 people have attended their first ever live match. Extrapolate that across the season and it will run into the hundreds.

Some may not come back soon; ticket prices are high and this is an area of the city where disposable income is low. But they also share their experiences with others and a bond slowly forms.

Lukman Miah, programme manager at BEAP, recalls children who were given a piece of merchandise and now cherish it. Knowing that the stadium next door would welcome you warmly is enough to build connections.

Since their formation, Bangla Bantams have seen a rise in other similar supporters groups across the country. They have won national awards for their work in bringing a community closer to their local team. In 2022, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a play that dramatised their story, focusing on a group of Bangladeshi women going to watch football for the first time.

But using their affiliation with BEAP – and BEAP’s own growth – Bangla Bantams have since supercharged that work.

In 2021, work began on a community sport centre made possible by obtaining a grant from the Football Foundation. That is where the children are playing before the match. The centre has an indoor and outdoor pitch, gym and rooms from which other youth and community programmes are run.

“The pitch is a gamechanger,” says Hiron. “It used to be a concrete pitch where kids used to have bonfires, a generally unpleasant place eventually. I still remember playing on that pitch in the evenings, and we would cheer when the floodlights came on at Valley Parade because it gave us some extra light. Now we have our own floodlights.”

That pitch is now also home to a development centre which has an official affiliation with Bradford City. Children play in different age and gender groups and one of the managers works in the City academy and so is scouting for talent.

It makes sense to search for the next generation of local-born footballer. If the worst that happens is that hundreds of kids have a place to get exercise and guidance, it’s a pretty good deal.

It’s not just for children. There is a football session that takes place here at 11pm on some evenings. The intention is to attract those who might work late at restaurants, takeaways or as taxi drivers for some fresh air and exercise rather than going straight home.

As Lukman says: “When they go home, they’re so much more likely to say ‘We should send our child there; it’s a good place.’”

But BEAP’s buildings are far more than that. More than two years after the official opening, Lukman beams with pride when he shows me how new everything still looks and feels, proof that it is cherished by those who live nearby.

During the European Championship in the summer, every room inside was filled with locals supporting England on screens assembled for the purpose. Money is raised by renting out the sports pitches at other times and the money reinvested in projects. Sustainability is a huge driving force.

I ask Hiron how supportive Bradford City have been and he begins to speak at double speed in glowing terms about their help.

Bradford were a key figure in the regeneration project, guiding them on the plans and working with them on the report that secured funding.

Discounted tickets are still offered to continue the outreach programme for matches, although now Bangla Bantams can offer something in return: the use of the pitches for associated Foundation programmes comes at a nominal rate.

This relationship is seen best on a Saturday afternoon before a home game. At the start of this season, Bradford City Foundation and BEAP came together to offer a junior Fan Zone. They take over the BEAP centre to create a Bantams Clubhouse.

Parents need only book free tickets online and anyone between five and 16 can attend. There are play zones, arts and crafts, organised sports and a range of football-related games.

“Supporters are getting older,” says Lukman. “There will be a vacuum and young people need to fill it. So let’s get them down. It’s not just the South Asian community; it’s all communities.

“They get engaged in Bradford City. They understand Bradford City. They learn some of the history of Bradford City. They do some penalty shootouts or art and crafts. I’ve always been a firm believer that if you get the smallest children there and get them engaged, you have your future.”

Something Lukman mentions there is something that Hiron is also keen to point out. Bangla Bantams, as the name suggests, was started as a Bangladeshi supporters group of Bradford City. That has changed over time. Their work, and the programmes that BEAP runs, are not aimed merely at one part of the local community but everyone.

This isn’t just about football, then. There is a mis-sold, unfair image of Bradford as a place of polarisation. Only by including everyone do you break down those slurs.

Normalising integration – between children of different backgrounds, between social programmes within different communities, between those who live on Cornwall Terrace and the football club at the end of the street – is the driving force.

And then it’s clearly also about football too, and both are keen to remind me of that: “We want more young people to support Bradford City. We need that.”

That is the aim: getting the children of Bradford to support Bradford City, rather than Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal or nobody at all. This has to be their club and for that to happen, barriers had to be broken.

But if children in Manningham see claret and amber around their community, they are less likely to go for red and white or blue. It uses football as an accelerator to change attitudes so that those growing up now will see the football club as part of them.

That could only ever happen via the current symbiosis. The centre was built with Bradford City’s support and now they feel the benefit. Bradford offered tickets at a reduced rate to Bangla Bantams and get use of the centre.

The tickets go to first-time supporters and as such connections grow out of sight. You might see it as a dozen people at a League Two match with a supporters’ group flag. But change has happened and change is still happening.

Daniel Storey has set himself the goal of visiting all 92 grounds across the Premier League and EFL this season. You can follow his progress via our interactive map and find every article (so far) here

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If you heard an odd brushing sound on Tuesday evening, it was probably the German media’s collective eyebrow raising at England’s decision to hire Thomas Tuchel as head coach.

From Munich to Monchengladbach, the reaction has been a heady cocktail of quiet pride, nationalistic glee and thick irony.

You get the sense Tuchel is respected but not adored in his homeland, that they would rather be able to lord the need for a German manager over England rather than have this gangly genius to themselves.

While a fair chunk of the reaction simply highlighted the English tabloid head loss at a foreign appointment, the strongest source of sardonic humour was unsurprisingly Bild, Germany’s premier red-top, where one columnist wrote: “The motherland of football gets a German dad. Madness!

“Since 1966 – 1966!!!! – the proud football nation has been waiting for a trophy (and sorry, even the World Cup victory only happened because the referee made a mistake). It will soon be 60 years without a title. In that time, we’ve won the World Cup three times and the European Championship three times. Oops.

“The despair on the island must be immense if they realise only a German can help now. What a tribute to Tuchel and German football that the English are jumping over their shadows despite the huge rivalry.”

The article goes on to warn Tuchel he will need to be thicker-skinned to handle the “brutal British TV pundit hell of Carragher, Neville and Lineker” after some terse exchanges as his Bayern tenure collapsed. It finishes much as it started: “Good luck, Tuchel! But not too much…

“Dream scenario from a German perspective: Tuchel leads England to their first World Cup final since 1966 – and Nagelsmann wins with Germany in a penalty shoot-out because the last England penalty bounces off the bottom of the crossbar and onto the line. Deal?”

As German football expert Constantin Eckner tells i, Tuchel’s reputation in Germany has been seriously impacted by his trophy-less season with Bayern Munich.

“His stint at Bayern didn’t do him many favours, He wasn’t on the best of terms with some of the players and the decision was made to end the relationship very prematurely, months before the end of season,” Eckner explains.

“There are some people in Germany who don’t think of Tuchel very highly. Of course others acknowledge he is a great tactician and a great football mind, but a bit of a difficult character sometimes.”

“If things don’t go well and he’s under pressure and criticised, he can go on the offensive and be tense and get irritated quite easily. It’s all in the context.

“There were times when he started at Bayern, the first couple of months, he did quite well. When things go well he’s very charming and he’s everybody’s darling, and people speak very highly of him. It’s a bit of a mixed bag.”

Tuchel is an avowed Anglophile who admitted earlier this year he feels more appreciated in England than Germany. He hoped to stay in London after his Chelsea sacking, but couldn’t secure the necessary visa.

There are also plenty of references to Tuchel’s pursuit of English players while at Bayern. He signed Harry Kane and Eric Dier, but also made offers for Kyle Walker and Declan Rice, which reportedly made him particularly unpopular in Munich, not least because English players are viewed as overpriced.

“It’s a bit different,” Eckner says. “He comes off differently when he’s speaking in German – he tries to be very accurate and read a lot between the lines.

“When he was at Bayern, having grown up very near to Munich it was something of a dream for him, but sometimes people do better away from home. Even at Bayern, he joked around with English journalists but not so much with German journalists. Working and speaking in your second language might give you a different kind of spark.”

Multiple articles reference comments Bayern’s honorary president Uli Hoeness made earlier this week. He called Tuchel’s tenure “a catastrophe” and said the club “lost entertainment value” on the pitch.

Yet more often than not, these are accompanied by sympathetic points about Bayern’s off-field issues and unbalanced squad, suggesting that for all the criticism of Tuchel, there’s an understanding that failure wasn’t solely his fault.

Weekly magazine Der Spiegel was far fairer than its tabloid counterpart on the reasons for England hiring Tuchel, saying: “English football is more globalised than German football, the clubs are often in the hands of foreign owners and they employ the best coaches in the industry.

“Recently, they have rarely come from Great Britain. The only current Premier League coach at a club with European Cup ambitions is Newcastle’s Eddie Howe. He is yet to win a major title.

“And that is exactly what the English FA is all about – end their drought since their World Cup success in 1966. Tuchel can be trusted to do that.”

But an underlying sense of inquiring scepticism is never too far away. Even the Suddeutsche Zeitung – one of the nation’s leading quality newspapers – wrote: “The long uncrowned motherland of football has been waiting for a men’s title since its only home World Cup victory in 1966.

“A German coach – of all people – is now set to fulfil this longing of the English.”

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Bournemouth owner Bill Foley is closing in on a takeover of Portuguese club Moreirense, with talks now understood to be at an advanced stage.

Foley’s Black Knight Football Group, which bought Bournemouth for around £120m December 2022, oversees a multi-club model that includes stakes in French side Lorient, Auckland in New Zealand and a minority investment in Hibernian.

The Cherries are the most significant club under Foley’s control and have seen heavy investment since his takeover nearly two years ago. He has targeted European football for the club and will bankroll a new stadium in the next few years.

Black Knight’s multi-club model is also viewed as an integral part of Bournemouth’s development and there has been an ongoing search to find a suitable club in Portugal to add to the stable.

That has been going on for the last 12 months and included talks with Lisbon-based club Casa Pia and Estoril but Moreirense are the group’s preferred choice, with negotiations ongoing. While there is still some work to do on a deal, an agreement is now understood be close.

An agreement on price still needs to be finalised but Black Knight are confident of finding that in the next few weeks and a deal is expected to be closed out before the end of the year.

Portugal has been seen as attractive market for Premier League owners looking to build their own multi-club networks, with Chelsea owners Todd Boelhy and Behdad Eghbali having considered both Moreirense and Rio Ave as possible options for their further expansion into European football.

It is understood that almost all of the clubs in the league outside the big three of Porto, Sporting and Benfica are on the market for the right price. But Foley’s Black Knight have been the most proactive and now hope to get an edge in the competitive Portuguese market.

Moreirense are currently eighth in the Portuguese top flight and, despite dropping out of the top division in 2022, have been an established presence in the top division over the last 20 years. They won the Portuguese Cup in 2017 and have a decent record of producing young players.

Part of the Black Knight vision for Moreirense will be to scout and attract some of the best young players in Africa, Portugal and parts of South America to the club.

The theory is that this will both help the club progress in the Portuguese top flight while also offering a potential route into the Premier League for the best of them.

Further evidence of Bournemouth’s ambitions to expand their global network came earlier this week with the announcement of a “strategic partnership” with Japanese top flight club Kyoto Sanga.

The two clubs will collaborate on youth development and coaching and – crucially – share scouting networks as the Cherries look to the burgeoning Japanese market for potential players. The club hailed it as a “long-term partnership” in a press release on Tuesday.

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The Football Association promised an exhaustive search to find the best possible candidate to succeed Gareth Southgate and they have been true to their word.

The suspicion that they were waiting to anoint Lee Carsley the permanent England manager – a feeling that might have had some merit if the interim boss had maintained the poise he exhibited during the September international break – has proved unfounded.

Instead they have alighted on Thomas Tuchel, one of the world’s elite managers. Tuchel has won league titles in two different countries, a Champions League win and a world coach of the year award from 2021 on his CV. He occupies rarefied air in the coaching fraternity.

It is an impressively bold strategy that speaks of the FA’s desire to capitalise on the undoubted attacking talent in the squad and actually win something by any means necessary. After all, Tuchel is not coming to St George’s Park to press the flesh with county heads and pose for photo opportunities on coaching courses. There is no development remit here, just a cold, hard desire to win.

There is something to be said for that and also for Carsley’s realisation that he is not the right man for the job. Perhaps if England were at a low ebb, had an ageing squad and needed a culture builder he might be worth a punt. But they’re not. England’s last four tournaments have seen them reach two finals, a semi-final and a quarter-final. What they now need to do is find a way, finally, to edge the big games against the heavyweight nations.

Tuchel, based on recent evidence, is a good bet to do that. He is not perfect – his final season at Bayern Munich unravelled, which is why he is on the market – but in the white heat of a final there are few better.

They held an interest in Pep Guardiola but that always felt like a long shot. We’re told the Manchester City boss is intrigued by the England job – as much as anyone can ever work out what the enigmatic Catalan is thinking – but the FA probably know it’s a waiting game for Guardiola and not one with a guaranteed outcome. Hence why Tuchel emerged as front-runner.

The FA know they are opening themselves up to criticism going down this route. Taking a coach from the German school of management will feel like a betrayal to many of those bright young English talents waiting for an opportunity to prove themselves. If our own FA won’t take a chance on us, they’re entitled to ponder, who will?

But it’s easier said than done. Graham Potter was available but his time at Chelsea raised questions about his ability to cope under pressure.

And while i understands that there were some preliminary overtures to Eddie Howe when Southgate first resigned, there was little indication from the Newcastle United boss that he wanted to follow that up. He is committed to the role at St James’ Park.

Underneath that the cupboard is fairly bare when it comes to serious contenders. Frank Lampard? Good luck with that one after failing at Chelsea and Everton. Sean Dyche is a non-starter and Gary O’Neil, while rated highly in coaching circles, is struggling to cling on to his job at Wolves.

Appointing an English manager for the sake of it makes no sense. Appointing the best for a genuine crack at the World Cup in two years’ time certainly does.

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Sir Alex Ferguson is the most recent victim of Ineos’s cost-cutting drive at Manchester United, with the legendary manager informed his multi-million pound club ambassador contract has been cut.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos, who bought a 27.7 per cent stake in United last February, have been making widespread cuts to reduce costs at Old Trafford, including 250 jobs across the club.

Ferguson was in charge of United from 1986 to 2013 and had been kept on as a global club ambassador and director since stepping down from the managerial hotseat.

While he will remain a non-executive director at the club for the foreseeable future, he will no longer be paid beyond the end of this season, according to The Athletic.

In the only official description of Ferguson’s ambassadorial role, in the club’s 2014 accounts, it was outlined that he received £2.16m for his services annually.

Ferguson will continue on the club’s football board, a predominantly ceremonial body, but not on the official board – the football board also featured Sir Bobby Charlton before his death last year.

The Scot’s departure is reportedly amicable and the decision was wholly taken by Ineos, with the Glazers happy to continue paying Ferguson for his lasting impact on the club and its wider finances.

Ratcliffe reportedly informed Ferguson of his decision face-to-face and he is expected to continue attending both home and away matches when he can.

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The FA Cup first round proper draw has thrown up a derby clash between AFC Wimbledon and MK Dons as all 48 League One and League Two sides discovered their opponents.

Wimbledon won the most recent clash between the two sides 3-0, but a place in the second round will add extra needle to an already-tense tie.

Teams earn £45,000 for winning first-round matches, while losers still bag £15,000, which can be hugely impactful money for non-league sides.

Birmingham, the highest-ranked club currently in the competition at the top of League One, visit Sutton United – the Blues spent more on transfers this summer than Sutton have in their history.

Meanwhile Wrexham, who sit two points behind the leaders in second, are faced with a visit to League Two outfit Harrogate Town.

All games will take place between Friday 1 and Monday 4 November and Premier League and Championship teams don’t enter the competition until the third round.

FA Cup first round draw in full

• Rotherham United vs Cheltenham Town
• Barrow vs Doncaster Rovers
• Worthing vs Morecambe
• Boreham Wood vs Leyton Orient
• Exeter City vs Barnet
• Carlisle United vs Wigan Athletic
• Tamworth vs Huddersfield Town
• Hartlepool United/Brackley Town vs Braintree Town
• Curzon Ashton vs Mansfield Town
• Wycombe Wanders vs York City
• Bradford City vs Aldershot Town
• Hednesford Town/Gateshead vs Gainsborough Trinity/Boston United
• Burton Albion vs Scarborough Athletic
• Tranmere Rovers vs Oldham Athletic
• Rochdale vs Bromley
• Walsall vs Bolton Wanderers
• Grimsby Town vs Wealdstone
• Bristol Rovers vs Weston-super-Mare
• MK Dons vs AFC Wimbledon
• Altrincham/Solihull Moors vs Maidstone United
• Stockport County vs Forest Green Rovers
• Reading vs Fleetwood Town
• Stevenage vs Guiseley
• Northampton Town vs Kettering Town
• Rushall/Peterborough Sports vs Accrington Stanley
• Swindon Town vs Colchester United
• Salford City vs Shrewsbury Town
• Crewe Alexandra vs Dagenham & Redbridge
• Port Vale vs Barnsley
• Chesham United vs Lincoln City
• Chesterfield vs Horsham
• Southend United vs Charlton Athletic
• Notts County vs Alfreton Town
• Taunton Town/Maidenhead United vs Crawley Town
• Harrogate Town vs Wrexham
• Woking vs Cambridge United
• Gillingham vs Blackpool
• Tonbridge Angels vs Harborough Town
• Sutton United vs Birmingham City
• Newport County vs Peterborough United

Northern Premier League West side Hednesford Town are the lowest-ranked team left in the draw, but they will have to beat Gateshead in a replay if they are to make the first round proper.

They have been drawn against either Northern Premier League Premier Division side Gainsborough Trinity or National League Boston United, meaning this will become one of three all non-league clashes.

One of Tonbridge Angels of the National League South facing Southern League Premier Division Central side Harborough Town are also guaranteed a spot in the second round.

The same goes for Altrincham or Solihull Moors, who will face last year’s giant killers Maidstone.

from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/z7ZEMaL