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Newcastle 3-1 Brighton (Osula 12′, Burn 24′, Barnes 90+5 | Hinshelwood 61′)

ST JAMES’ PARK – This one had a bit of everything.

For the Eddie Howe enthusiasts, proof of his enduring ability to conjure big moments when it matters. A risky team selection, turning back to trusted lieutenants over more talented teammates, paid off and the crowd sang his name lustily a couple of times in front of a beaming club chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and the rest of the PIF bigwigs.

There was even a question about Europe in the post-match press conference – seven days after he was asked if they were safe from relegation.

It’s been that kind of season and you came away hoping that, exhilarating as this win was, no one is fooled into thinking they’ve discovered a blueprint for future success. Because it was also a nerve-shredding, scrappy sort of second half that suggests there is still so much work to be done if Newcastle are to meet the lofty aims of their ownership.

In the short term, though, it feels like the win gave us some certainty over Howe’s position. Newcastle’s hierarchy have stressed privately that no one has a “free pass” to underachieve but it’s never felt like there’s any enthusiasm for making a change either. No alternative plan has been worked up, no managers quietly tapped up. Belief in him remains, as long as Howe is prepared to make the necessary adjustments and accept the club’s recruitment pivot.

That stance is all well and good but it needs wins to give it credibility. So defeat against Brighton felt unthinkable and the fact Howe admitted afterwards that he was up during the middle of the night on Friday suggested he sensed that too. For a normally sound sleeper, it was a telling admission.

It was fascinating, then, that when he needed a win he turned to his old faithfuls. Howe is adamant he is ready to change his approach but when the pressure is on, his tendency is to revert back to what he knows. So Dan Burn kept Lewis Hall out at left-back, Jacob Murphy remained at right-back and Joe Willock – another survivor from the Steve Bruce era – was handed a role in front three that you’d never have guessed back in August would have been finishing the season.

It didn’t feel much like a team for the future but it did the trick in the present day. Will Osula, who really is getting better, opened the scoring with a header from a brilliant Murphy cross and then Burn glanced a Bruno Guimaraes corner past Bart Verbruggen, one of Newcastle’s goalkeeper targets for the summer. That eased the anxiety after a challenging start and suddenly the Magpies had their energy and zip back again.

In a season of second-half dips, Brighton threatened to inflict more late pain. Jack Hinshelwood prodded past Nick Pope, who had another Jekyll and Hyde afternoon, and then Yankuba Minteh missed from five yards. But Newcastle didn’t buckle for once, and a late Harvey Barnes goal was greeted with a wave of relief and euphoria around St James’ Park.

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Howe won this battle and with it cast aside any lingering fears that they could be dragged into the relegation fight. But it would be churlish to suggest Newcastle have answered some of the deeper questions about what got them into this mess – and how they can get out of it.

Al-Rumayyan’s presence this week has focused minds. He was in the dressing room after the win reassuring the players about PIF’s big plans and ambition. Howe repeated that “exciting times” are ahead for the club. But it can’t get lost in the joy of victory that things have to change.

Experience was the answer on Saturday but perhaps relying on it in recruitment and team selection has been part of the problem this year. Difficult decisions await and Howe’s willingness to make them might decide whether the problems of this season are a temporary blip or stretch into next year.

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PORTMAN ROAD — The build-up to this moment was 87 minutes in the making, a countdown extended almost to its maximum. No late drama, no mania – simply a team passing for time as their congregation sang oles and waited impatiently to exalt. Ipswich Town are Premier League. Again.

At each end of Portman Road, an eternal leader of Ipswich Town looks down. Bobby Robson and Alf Ramsey: two stands, two sirs, two managers who forged heroship in Suffolk, two inspirational leaders against whom everyone else is destined to be compared unflatteringly here. On sunny days like this, the pillars of history literally cast shadows.

Kieran McKenna knows that only too well. On a wall outside his office in Portman Road, a framed photograph of Sir Bobby offers a friendly glance every time he goes to work. You can allow majestic history to hang around your neck as a millstone or you can recycle it into fuel. There was never any doubt which option McKenna would take.

McKenna now stands with Robson and Ramsey on the podium. He took over a club drifting nowhere pleasant. He has overseen three promotions in four seasons, two of them to the Premier League. He was the fastest manager in Ipswich’s history to 100 wins. He stayed when many, maybe even most, made peace with a probable departure.

Ipswich town centre was transformed for destiny day. McKenna’s greatest achievement may be moving the football club back into the bosom of its public. The town hall had been lit up in blue this week. Shops and local businesses put up balloons, posters and bunting. If the size of the team drives the outcome, McKenna had 150,000 on his side.

An early kick-off preempted celebration. Roads closed early. Groups of mates mused whether it was too early for a settler with the taste of breakfast still on the lips. Thousands lined the streets on the entrance to Portman Road for the arrival of the team coach, provoking a vast fog of blue smoke.

The wall of sound before the game was something else. As the players walked onto the pitch, one or two looked up and around, caught off guard by an atmosphere that demanded their performance meet their public halfway. Portman Road’s West Stand is brilliant at retaining noise that circles and swirls. Not even the waving of 15,000 white flags – to accompany the blue – could summon a decent jinx.

Queens Park Rangers were all that stood in the tractor’s path, here on the back of three straight defeats and a repeat of their lower-midtable obscurity. Some clubs are destined to rise, fall and rise again. QPR have finished between ninth and 20th in this league for the last 11 years. They were malleable and gloriously acquiescent, to the extent that some away fans nipped out for a pint after nine minutes.

By then Millwall and Middlesbrough were already preparing for the playoffs. Ipswich were ruthless and relentless, right on queue. They scored after three minutes and that wasn’t even their first clear chance. Attacking players dipped into space and dovetailed, bamboozling a defence playing at half speed in sliders. Jeopardy was forcibly evaporated in seconds; it’s overrated anyway.

This bend of the Ipswich Town rollercoaster has hardly been easy. The last time they were a Championship team it was as an upstart, bruising noses and upturning expectations having arrived from League One. This season only the pressure felt relevant. McKenna’s team were the preseason title favourites.

Ipswich didn’t always cope well. They didn’t win until their fifth match of the season. Their two most expensive summer signings – more than £30m between them – have started 32 combined league matches. Ipswich have spent less time in the lead than anyone else in the top six and won only nine of their 23 away games. They took 12 fewer points than two years ago.

But who cares now? They rediscovered their verve in 2026, an automatic promotion race muscle memory, and lost one of their final 15 league games. If the two most expensive signings haven’t quite soared, there are other heroes: captain Dara O’Shea, monumental at the back; Azor Matusiwa, who breaks up play for fun in midfield; Jack Clarke, super-sub extraordinaire.

There is a belief inside Ipswich Town that they belong in the Premier League, given the work, the ambition and the standards of excellence set. O’Shea explicitly said as much this week. There will be a determination to improve upon their previous experience, 22 points and limp relegation after early promise.

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That presents promotion not as the pinnacle, as it may have felt two years ago, but merely a further step along the journey to a different destination than before. It will be the message of McKenna to those who stay and those who join this summer.

Still, days like these demand that you take a step back to appreciate the view in wider focus. In September 2021, less than half a decade ago, those inside Portman Road watched a team managed by Paul Cook lose 5-2 at home. Ipswich were winless and in the bottom three of the third tier.

The six opponents that Ipswich couldn’t beat at the beginning of that season: Morecambe, Burton, Cheltenham, MK Dons, AFC Wimbledon, Bolton Wanderers. Thanks to McKenna and those who allowed him to flourish, those are now two different worlds.

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Only in the English Football League could a relegation season featuring a minus points total and not a single home win conclude with the “mother of all parties”.

At Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday a sell-out crowd of almost 35,000 will gather to celebrate the end of their worst ever campaign, but also the start of a new era under US owners Arise Capital Partners LLC.

Lawyers worked through the night on Thursday to complete the takeover deal on Friday. A public announcement was due to follow but got pushed back to Saturday with assurances that “nothing sinister” was delaying the confirmation. Now the hard work starts.

While the group will finally get the keys to Hillsborough on Saturday morning, work has been going on furiously behind the scenes for months to piece together a club left broken by former owner Dejphon Chansiri.

Consortium members David and Michael Storch – alongside business partner Tom Costin, who has experience of football through his Blue Crow Sports Group – have impressed with both their industry and willingness to engage with the fanbase.

Big day tomorrow… pic.twitter.com/PFFCsa6tTl

— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) May 1, 2026

They’re already “along the way” with a director of football appointment, a new CEO is lined up, and potential signings are understood to be in the pipeline too.

“They’ve not put a foot wrong. They reached out to us in the early days when the club was for sale and talked to the Trust,” says Rob Brookes, a board member at the club’s Supporters Trust.

“They’re very engaged, they want to engage the Trust, all the fans, the artistic and music community. They’ve been in touch with the Mayor of South Yorkshire, the leader of the council – they’ve been all over the place, they’re so energetic.”

On Saturday fans will don Hawaiian shirts to celebrate “Honolulu Wednesday” – a tribute to a song sung on the terraces since the eighties – but the challenges really are considerable.

As it stands the club will start next season in League One with a 15-point penalty and the EFL were also planning to restrict the club to a £7m-a-year wage budget, with a maximum of £7,000-a-week for any player. Given the Owls have to rebuild an entire squad, that feels fairly onerous.

Sources indicated that detailed conversations with the EFL – described as “hard bargaining” – that have taken place over weeks have reduced those penalties, although part of the discussions has been strict secrecy over what has been agreed.

The Trust have previously suggested starting with those “Draconian” penalties would be a threat to the club’s very survival. But the fact Arise stayed at the table suggests there has been progress with the EFL.

“We hope they give us a fair fighting chance. It would be so unfair to impose those conditions on a new group of owners – especially when we’ve got to essentially rebuild an entire squad,” Brookes says.

The consortium have deep pockets and will need them. “Coming out of administration is almost the easy part for Sheffield Wednesday,” says football finance expert Rob Wilson, who provided advice and counsel to some of the interested parties in the early days of the takeover saga at Hillsborough.

“The club has decayed over the last decade and the stadium needs serious work. This is a £100m project at a bare minimum – that’s in terms of acquisition, redevelopment of infrastructure and more.”

The new owners have been undeterred. “Arise are going into this with their eyes wide open,” Brookes says.

“They know the club needs serious financial investment to get anywhere close to being back to being a competitive force.”

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My Sporting Life is The i Paper’s look behind the curtain at what drives sports stars to greatness. This week, we speak to former England footballer Rio Ferdinand, widely considered one of the best centre-backs of his generation, who is best known for his 12-year stint at Manchester United, where he won six Premier League titles and one Champions League trophy.

Making my debut for West Ham is probably my proudest moment

From the age of seven I was hell-bent on being a professional footballer. I worked for the majority of my life trying to get there. It’s difficult to pin it on one match.

I made my debut for West Ham at 17. So that meant a great deal to me. Playing for England was another one, and then becoming a winner at Manchester United.

As a player, there are things that you absolutely want to achieve. You want to become a professional, you want to play for your country and you want to win trophies. And I managed to achieve all three, luckily.

Iain Dowie was a good mentor to me at West Ham

He was a centre-forward but I think he spotted some potential in me. He was always giving me pointers. Obviously he used to play against me in training a lot, so he would tell me about certain things I should be doing to look my best.

The door was always open with me at Manchester United. I don’t think anyone found it difficult to talk to me. If you speak to any of the players, they would say I was one of the most easygoing guys in the changing room.

If a young player needed to talk or had a problem, they knew they could come to me for advice.

Joe Cole wouldn’t touch a football in the changing room

I didn’t notice it at West Ham, more so with England. It’s quite rare when you consider you’re going to go out and play football, you need to get a good touch of the ball and understand it and get used to playing with the football. But he made sure he never got near a ball.

If you rolled the ball towards him he would jump out of the way. He wouldn’t touch it. So quite weird.

We used to just play games and try and make him touch the ball. We used to roll the ball at him all the time. He never got the hump to be fair to him. He would laugh. But he just made sure he wasn’t going to divert from his ritual.

The best piece of advice Sir Alex Ferguson ever gave me

It was the first thing he said to me, actually. I remember we were sat in his office. It was quite simple, really – he told me to work hard.

I’d been given a great opportunity. People would give their right arm, a limb, to go and put the shirt on and play football. And I carried that with me throughout my whole career, to be a professional is a privilege.

The ones that think they’ve made it don’t last long at the top. Just keep maintaining that hunger and that desire and that kind of attitude of “I haven’t made it yet”. There’s always things to learn. So to rest on your laurels is something that I wasn’t able to do. I didn’t let myself slip into that mindset.

I only had two roommates – Roy Keane and Frank Lampard

They were both very different. I can’t tell you why [laughs]. I controlled the remote control in both cases, so that was good for the TV.

Frank was a bit more noisy. Whereas Roy, I would just turn around and he would be stretching his hamstring all the time. He was just mad, but it was great.

They are both great guys. I still speak to both of them now, actually, so it wasn’t too bad. We still keep in touch.

My kids take the mick out of my YouTube channel

I love it. It’s something that I’ve always been interested in. I’m not scared to dip my toe into new things.

I was one of the early adopters of social media, definitely in the football world. Now I’ve got a business that’s doing really well, but I’m enjoying it at the same time. It’s like the best of both worlds.

Failure is a part of life. If it doesn’t work out, it’s not that bad. I’ve always been one to take risks.

Airbnb and Rio Ferdinand are launching a once-in-a-lifetime football experience, where fans can go behind-the-scenes at a podcast recording of “Rio Ferdinand Presents”, meet Rio, and attend a Fifa World Cup 2026 quarter-final match in Los Angeles. Fans can request to book “The Ultimate Quarter-Final Getaway” for free from 12 May at 10am BST at airbnb.com/rioferdinand

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Eddie Howe faced a “challenging” meeting with Newcastle United‘s owners on Thursday but emerged with the confidence of a man who will get a chance to correct the mistakes made this season.

The much-discussed Matfen Hall “off-site”, which stretched into a second full day in the Northumberland sunshine on Friday, was split into two parts: business and football.

With assistant Jason Tindall alongside him Howe, along with head of performance James Bunce and director of football Ross Wilson, delivered a presentation alongside data-led analysis of performances and recruitment over the last year to a 25-strong PIF delegation that included lawyers, equity advisers and club chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

With the team floundering in the Premier League it felt like a big deal, but Howe said on Friday he felt “support and unity” as he predicted “exciting times” lay ahead.

The content of Howe’s presentation was provided to the PIF contingent weeks in advance, in order for the delegation to digest and rigorously examine the information being communicated, meaning this was no easy ride.

“It’s not an inquisition as such but they do pick holes in things. It’s not an easy ride and if you bulls**t him [Al-Rumayyan], he’ll catch you out,” believes one source.

Al-Rumayyan’s areas of interest include a potential multi-club model – which remains on the table at Newcastle, with preparatory work carried out in 2025 – player development, innovation and, interestingly, psychology.

He has asked before about ways of making the team more mentally robust, so the late collapses and game management are almost certain to have been on the agenda.

Several sources The i Paper has spoken to believe that Howe retains the support of the key power brokers. He has a good relationship with the club’s chairman and achievements on his watch give him “credit in the bank”.

But he is clearly going to have to change his approach, embrace a more collaborative recruitment approach and working with emerging players from markets Newcastle have not worked in previously.

Last summer’s transfer shambles has put him on the back foot and there’s a staleness around the squad that is troubling. The performance of some players suggests their heads are elsewhere.

Where Howe might be pushed is that Al-Rumayyan is big on growth and development. Currently there are unnerving parallels with his end of days at Bournemouth. The question confronting those at Newcastle is can this manager adapt and not just survive, but thrive?

“His Excellency believes everyone should strive to get better. Standing still or going backwards is a problem for him,” says one source familiar with PIF’s inner workings.

Newcastle sources have played down the idea that Howe was fighting for his job in front of his paymasters. That interpretation “over-dramatises” the annual meeting that has taken place regularly since the PIF takeover in 2021 but the run of form Newcastle are on – and the club’s trajectory this year – made the timing awkward for a manager under pressure.

The voices calling for change in the fanbase have grown and Newcastle need results, even if the manager projects authority.

“I have to retain that confidence. I don’t think it serves anybody not to have that long-term vision,” Howe said.

“I’ve never needed clarity in my head (about what the ownership think), in the sense that I’m here, I’m working and I’m committed.”

Howe has delivered Champions League football (twice) and the Carabao Cup, but the job now is more prosaic. They are still not mathematically safe from relegation and their last league victory at St James’ Park was way back on 4 March. That is utterly unacceptable.

“In my position, I am under no illusions I have to get results to keep that feeling, that strength and that trust and that will be regardless of whatever moment we’re in,” Howe said on Friday.

“I am well aware there is a responsibility that comes with the job.”

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For some, Leicester City’s fairy tale feels like yesterday. The 5,000-1 feat ended with Claudio Ranieri’s unlikely lads lifting the Premier League trophy before being serenaded by Andrea Bocelli.

Yet the 10-year anniversary of Leicester’s 2015-16 Premier League title win is also a reminder of how fast football moves.

That astonishing triumph was confirmed on 2 May, 2016, when Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur’s infamous “Battle of the Bridge” draw kickstarted the Leicester party at Jamie Vardy’s house.

Fast forward to May 2026 and the Foxes are on a downward spiral, their finances in tatters and League One football awaiting next season. They nevertheless marked the anniversary with a charity match at the King Power as Claudio Ranieri and Wes Morgan returned.

So what are Leicester’s title-winners up to now? One boxed a YouTuber, another switched to construction, while Christian Fuchs has a huge task as a manager in League Two.

Marc Albrighton

One of the final title-winning players to leave, Albrighton experienced relegation with Leicester and then played in their Championship-winning season before retiring in 2024. He has dabbled with punditry and kept the competitive juices flowing by playing in Baller League.

Danny Drinkwater

Leaving Leicester for Chelsea in 2017, he had loan spells at Burnley, Aston Villa, Kasimpasa in Turkey and then Reading. He opened up about boozy London nights while a Chelsea player on Jake Humphrey’s High Performance Podcast, and after falling out of love with football he started a new career in construction. Responding to trolls after posting a picture in his new job, he said: “Some of these messages, behave. I love being on-site grafting! It’s a choice.”

Throwback to this from Danny Drinkwater on Instagram…

He lived the dream, had a fantastic career and now runs a profitable construction company pic.twitter.com/N9DBE1qmVa

— The Away Fans (@theawayfans) April 1, 2026

Christian Fuchs

Joined MLS side Charlotte FC from Leicester in 2021 and retired two years later. Fuchs is now in Wales, where he manages League Two club Newport County. They are currently fighting for their EFL status, one point above the relegation zone.

Robert Huth

Injuries forced Huth to retire in 2019. He ended his career at Leicester and returned there in 2022 for a two-year stint as loan manager. Now does talks and evening shows on both his time at Stoke City and Leicester, joining Danny Simpson, Albrighton and Morgan on stage to reminisce about 2015-16.

Great time with these guys at De Montford Hall. What a turn out! Great event pic.twitter.com/UmH0wIZYMR

— robert huth (@robert_huth) November 3, 2025

N’Golo Kante

It was one season and out at Leicester for Kante, who was quickly snapped up by Chelsea and won the league there as well. The Frenchman spent seven seasons at Stamford Bridge, and is now at Fenerbahce in Turkey after three years at Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.

Riyad Mahrez

Unlike Kante, Mahrez resisted the temptation to leave straight away but eventually joined Manchester City in 2018. The winger never quite replicated his 2015-16 campaign but was devastating for City on his day, winning four league titles, three EFL Cups, two FA Cups and the Champions League. He signed for Saudi side Al-Ahli in 2023.

Wes Morgan

Stayed at Leicester until retiring in 2021, bowing out by lifting the FA Cup in his last appearance. Post-retirement sidequests have included punditry, achieving a Masters in Sports Directorship, golf, and the latest fitness craze, Hyrox. Has also been a part-time academy scout for Nottingham Forest since 2024.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWqjYQhDaYl/?img_index=1

Shinji Okazaki

Founded a German sixth-tier side FC Basara Mainz with a focus on developing Japanese players. Could never quite step out of Vardy’s shadow at Leicester and eventually left for Huesca in Spain in 2019. Spells at Cartagena, also in Spain, and then Belgian side Sint-Truiden followed before retirement in 2024.

Kasper Schmeichel

One of Leicester’s best servants, staying with the Foxes until 2022, Schmeichel’s departure was a signal of the club’s increasingly strained financial position. He spent a season at Nice and then Anderlecht, and currently plays for Celtic – initially reuniting with Brendan Rodgers, who was then sacked last year.

Danny Simpson

Kept busy since retirement, and still laces up for the odd amateur game, playing for both Stretford Paddock – a 12th-tier team – and Wythenshawe Vets, who have seen a high-profile list of ex-pros play for them, including Papiss Cisse, Stephen Ireland, Emile Heskey and also Drinkwater.

Simpson tried his hand at boxing – drawing against YouTuber Danny Aarons in 2024 – while last year he opened up a new bar and restaurant in Manchester. Like 90 per cent of the global population, he has also taken up padel.

Jamie Vardy

Arguably Leicester’s greatest ever player, Vardy scored 24 league goals to inspire the Foxes to glory in 2015-16 and stayed to lift the FA Cup in 2021.

The 39-year-old only left last summer after 13 years at the club and moved to Italy to play for Cremonese. ITV will broadcast a series later this year about how Jamie, wife Rebekah, and their four children are adapting to life abroad.

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CITY GROUND — They twirled their scarves in the air at the City Ground and they played the songs of old, those anthems of yesteryear that are suddenly back in fashion. This team has been through a lot over the years and a lot over the course of this season too. If it seems remarkable and ridiculous that it could still end in the fourth greatest season of their history, isn’t that just perfect Nottingham Forest.

Nothing is done, of course. It never could be on Thursday evening. But for the first time since more than a year ago, this is a team with truly positive momentum that believes it can bruise the noses of the supposedly bigger and better. That was their fuel last season. That was their fuel when Cloughie walked on the Trent. I hope you’re not stupid enough to write them off.

Chris Wood was the match-winner and may well be the season changer too. His recovery from a serious knee injury has – perhaps slightly inadvertently – altered the course of a campaign drifting towards who knows where. His penalty was pure and definitive and gave Emi Martinez no chance at all.

Wood’s return has allowed Vitor Pereira, the fourth and maybe most defining manager of Forest’s season, to switch formation. There are two strikers. There is high pressing and there are turnovers. There is Morgan Gibbs-White nominally starting out wide but basically acting as a magnet to wherever the ball is.

Near Gibbs-White is always Elliot Anderson; there was a passage of play in the second half, after Forest had scored their penalty, when the two exchanged five passes on the left wing, each more intricate and outrageous than the last. It persuaded the home crowd to ole while they were still wrought with tension. That’s what supreme talent does.

But for all of the improvements in Forest’s attack, they have conceded four goals in their previous nine games after five games without a clean sheet. That was the headline from Thursday night. Murillo was injured. Jair Cunha was injured. Morato had to play and was excellent. Ola Aina came off with an injury and academy product Zach Abbott came on.

And Neco Williams kept on keeping on, from minute one to 90 just like always. Of all the principal contenders to be Forest’s potential hero in Istanbul, if they get there, most will be midfielders or attackers. But Williams hasn’t just been one of the most consistent performers at the City Ground this season. He’s been arguably the best left-back in the Premier League this season and he was a contender for that same award in 2024-25 too.

WIlliams was one of the 2022-23 crop, that Nottingham Forest splurge that drew much mockery and opprobrium. Liverpool allowed him to leave for £17m because he was a young right-back and they had Trent Alexander-Arnold. Now Williams is comfortable on either side, comfortable going forwards and back, comfortable driving inside or crossing with his left and comfortable taking set pieces.

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But it’s Williams’ one-on-one defending that is most impressive. He has a tigrish quality, a determination to compete for every ball and never give up whether he is faced with pace, guile, strength or a combination of all three. He is a tyro and a terrier and yet possesses the composure to start moves as well as block them. He is a future Wales captain, if they’re smart.

These are the qualities that Pereira has repeatedly insisted are non-negotiable, certainties if Forest are to push Aston Villa and keep their heads above water in the Premier League. Williams epitomises them.

As he wandered around the pitch after full-time, Williams’ forename was briefly sung on repeat by those who have grown to adore him. He still looks a little humbled, unsure of whether he is the right actor for the protagonist role. But make no mistake: he leads by example and by attitude.

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