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The cold, hard truth this summer is that everyone at St James’ Park has a price.

There are those like Lewis Hall, Bruno Guimaraes, Lewis Miley and Sven Botman who Newcastle United want to form the spine of next season’s reshaped team and are almost certain to be around.

And then there are those like Anthony Gordon, who has one foot out of the door with Newcastle haggling with Bayern Munich over a transfer fee on a move that suits both parties, and Sandro Tonali, who is yours if you get close to the Magpies’ near £100m asking price. So far on that score, no takers.

For most of the rest it will depend on the offers that come in. Newcastle need to be effective traders to rebuild their squad, so there are no sacred cows.

Where does Will Osula sit in this equation? It is a fascinating question given the trajectory the Danish striker has been on in recent months.

Anthony Gordon is closing on a summer departure to Bayern Munich (Photo: Getty)

There is no doubt that he has taken the chance afforded to him by the uncertainty surrounding Gordon’s future and the inability of Yoane Wissa to reach the levels required. In six consecutive starts he has five goals but also the look of a striker who has what it takes to prosper in Eddie Howe’s favoured system.

His movement and understanding of the game, which looked so rudimentary when he started for an Alexander Isak-less Newcastle at Leeds United back in August, has developed hugely.

Hard work on the training ground by assistant manager Jason Tindall, who has mentored a sometimes erratic Osula over the course of the campaign, and first-team coach Graeme Jones has borne fruit in a period where he suddenly looks like a top-level striker.

The dilemma for Newcastle is this: for a club who have to become better sellers to keep the financial wheels in motion, is now the time to cash in on a player whose stock is high?

The i Paper understands that Osula does indeed have suitors, both in the Premier League and abroad.

Everton and Aston Villa have long been admirers of Osula, while interest from the Bundesliga persists. But the £30m deal Eintracht Frankfurt were proposing last summer? The feeling is it would now take nearly double that to get around the table with Newcastle.

That makes sense. Osula is only 22 and has the raw materials to get better. In terms of goals per minute, he has one every 106 minutes played – the best ratio in the Premier League.

Outperforming his expected goals (xG) significantly, it feels like he will benefit from a recruitment plan which intends to lower the age and boost the energy of a Newcastle team that has looked stale at times this season. With all that going for him, the Magpies are correct to apply a huge premium for any team interested in signing him.

As The i Paper reported earlier this year, it will be effectively “one in, one out” this summer, which means the task is to either find a buyer and take a hit on Wissa, broker the possibly unpopular sale of Nick Woltemade or reshape with what they have.

Option A – even if it has financial consequences – feels like the best route if it allows Newcastle to add another energetic forward to share the goalscoring burden with Osula and Woltemade, who looked smart in the No 10 role against West Ham.

The recruitment wheels are in motion at St James’ Park and the nature of the targets who have emerged – Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara one to watch – backs up the feeling that this will be a very different sort of transfer window on Tyneside.

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European targets, perhaps a couple of off-the-radar additions and a Premier League proven acquisition, would give Newcastle freshness, while also supporting a manager whose preference has historically been for tried and trusted.

But few expect it to be quite that easy, with plenty of competition for the likes of Camara.

A few weeks ago, the red flags were fluttering over the striker department at Newcastle. But Osula’s emergence means the prospect of a forward firesale no longer feels necessary. He has earned the opportunity to keep on improving at St James’ Park.



from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/TUQklMh
May 18, 2026
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This is The Score with Daniel Storey, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here.

A truncated Premier League weekend, but one with a little added spice after Manchester City won the FA Cup and confirmed that eighth place will qualify for Europe. That made Sunderland the big winners of the weekend, who really could qualify for Europe as a promoted club.

The other major interest was West Ham having a chance to push their noses out of the earth and put extra pressure on Tottenham. Unfortunately for them, they can’t defend and the attack isn’t really working either. Relegation will be sorted if Spurs take one more point.

Here is one piece of analysis on each of the top flight clubs who played this weekend (in reverse table order)…

This weekend’s results

  • Aston Villa 4-2 Liverpool
  • Man Utd 3-2 Nott’m Forest
  • Brentford 2-2 Crystal Palace
  • Everton 1-3 Sunderland
  • Leeds 1-0 Brighton
  • Wolves 1-1 Fulham
  • Newcastle 3-1 West Ham

Wolves’ ray of positivity

There’s not much to hang your hat on with this Wolves squad for next season. The players Rob Edwards would like to keep are probably going to leave and the ones he would like to lose will probably be the hardest to shift.

But Mateus Mane has likely enjoyed this season; so few others can have. He is still 18 years old, has started 18 Premier League matches and on Sunday scored his second goal with a cracking finish from the edge of the box.

Raw wide forwards with pace and directness typically do well in the Championship. If Wolves can persuade Mane to give them one more season and a shot at promotion, it could be the making of his career.

Burnley

Play Arsenal on Monday night.

West Ham’s defending is why they’re going down

Nuno Espirito Santo got the team shape wrong, sticking with the three-man central defence when they needed to get at Newcastle and stop them settling. But there are passages of play that define entire seasons and West Ham’s defending for the opening goal was one of them.

Mads Hermansen plays a rotten pass between two players. Jean-Clair Todibo is late to react but also makes a criminal mistake in not stopping play by any means necessary and allowing Harvey Barnes to jump past him. The collective inability not to spot the absolutely massive frame of Nick Woltemade on the edge of the six-yard box and thus giving him time and space to wait for a pass.

The defending for goals two and three were little better. This was the West Ham of Molineux in January, when they looked doomed. All the progress since has been wasted.

Tottenham

Play Chelsea on Tuesday night.

Nottingham Forest have every right to be annoyed

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of “I have no idea what the handball law is anymore”. This week, we have a bloke almost catching the ball and then playing a five-yard pass to someone who scores.

Firstly, the VAR officials clearly considered it to be a handball because they sent the referee to the screen. I can also understand in some cases why a deflection off a body part can negate the offence, which was the explanation given.

But when a player literally stops the ball between his arm and body and it then drops to his feet, how on earth is that not gaining an advantage and how on earth can it matter that it is accidental? Lots of handballs are accidental!

Wharton’s Crystal Palace milestone

Palace may not have much to play for in the league, but Sunday still produced one of the moments of their season when Adam Wharton, who had waited 94 matches to score his first Palace goal, finally broke that duck.

Firstly, Wharton doesn’t look like a natural back-flipper but he did that celebration when he scored his first Blackburn Rovers goal in 2022 and he did it again on Sunday.

Even better than that, Wharton’s mum was in the crowd, celebrated her son’s goal like mad and then joined in with a chant sung in her honour. Lovely stuff.

Calvert Lewin’s astonishing Leeds record

In a 26-man squad, it is quite possible that Thomas Tuchel only takes two strikers: Kane and Watkins. With Marcus Rashford likely going and capable of playing through the middle, England’s manager might consider that sufficient backup for Kane.

Which would be an enormous shame for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, because I reckon he is third in the queue. No English player has scored more goals in the Premier League this season, astonishing given we suspected that Calvert-Lewin was done at the top level. It is more than he has scored in all but one season in his career.

Here is a final fun fact: the goal that Calvert-Lewin scored on Sunday was his first winner in any match for more than two years. If three strikers go, he could be one.

Fulham’s attack must be rebuilt this summer

If you take out a 3-1 win over a rotten Burnley team at home, Fulham have now scored two goals in their last nine matches: Ryan Sessegnon against Aston Villa and the penalty against Wolves on Sunday. That is why Fulham have fallen away from the top eight and their shot at Europe.

As such, the attack must be rebuilt over the summer whether Marco Silva leaves or not.

Harry Wilson is the top scorer and is out of contract. Raul Jimenez is 35, looks weary and will be playing at the World Cup this summer. Rodrigo Muniz has endured a rotten season and scored one league goal. The next highest scorer after Jimenez and Wilson is Alex Iwobi on four.

Everton’s perfect Moyes season

It’s something we said fairly recently, but after boos met the final whistle of Everton’s final home game of the season and European football was taken off the table, it’s worth reflecting on just how perfect a David Moyes season this has been.

There has been good progress, because he is a good manager. There has been overachievement, a couple of really good runs and some fine results against the bigger boys: two away wins against teams that will finish in the top four.

And then just when you think something is building, there are just enough flaws and foibles to persuade you that none of the excitement was worth it. This isn’t a brilliant squad but nor is it one that should have taken three points from their last 18 available. Everything collapsed just when Everton had sight of something special.

Newcastle’s tricky dilemma

Last summer, William Osula looked certain to leave Newcastle United on a permanent deal for Eintracht Frankfurt.

If Newcastle had kept hold of Alexander Isak or signed their replacements earlier, the deal would surely have been done. With Osula scoring one league goal before the start of March, his value dropped.

Since then, Osula has scored six Premier League goals after jumping both Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa in the striker queue. Now the question is not whether Newcastle would still get the £30m from a Bundesliga club, but whether he might be worth keeping if Woltemade is now a No 10 and Yoane Wissa will be sold this summer.

Chelsea

Play Tottenham on Tuesday night.

Sunderland are the biggest winners of the weekend

Sunderland have been flying a little under the radar recently after a fast start and tricky spring. Because of the results around them and their own supreme result at Everton, they still have a shot at European football despite taking 15 points from their last 13 games. It really has been an odd Premier League season.

To put Sunderland’s achievement into context, whether they qualify for Europe or not, they were the shortest odds of any Premier League team to be relegated before a ball was kicked.

If they beat Chelsea at home on the final day, they will enter the top ten of points totals from promoted clubs in the Premier League era. We had assumed that was no longer possible.

Brentford’s classic long throw goal

This has been the season of set-piece goals and, on the penultimate weekend, Brentford produced the most aesthetically pleasing example of a supposedly ugly practice.

Michael Kayode was the architect, the man with the best long throw in the country given the power and flat delivery he is able to execute. Next comes a gorgeous flick-on header from Sepp van den Berg, who rises about a foot higher than everybody else because he’s absolutely massive.

Van den Berg cannot spot Dango Ouattara, but he knows where the ball must go and Ouattara knows where he’s meant to be. There’s an overload at the back post and Ouattara is able to head home. Three touches – hand, head, head – over 40 yards, all performed so well that stopping it felt like an impossibility.

Are Brighton too predictable?

One of Brighton supporters’ criticisms of Fabian Hurzeler is that his substitutions are a little predictable, particularly in matches that are tight and when his side are coming under some pressure.

“Gomez probably comes on for Veltman around the 65th minute, at which point Kadioglu shifts over to RB,” posted @FPL_Instinctive (a tactics account that focuses on Brighton) at 1.51pm on Sunday. After 64 minutes and 30 seconds, Hurzeler brought on Diego Gomez for Joel Veltman and Ferdi Kadioglu shifted over to right-back.

This isn’t always a problem, but when Brighton then lose the game late on you do wonder whether opposition analysts are able to plan for eventualities with some certainty. It might have cost Brighton their tiny chance of Champions League qualification.

Bournemouth

Play Manchester City on Tuesday night.

Liverpool’s massive gamble

I’m not saying that Xabi Alonso isn’t entirely happy to be Chelsea’s new manager, but the last few weeks have very much felt like he was waiting to see if Liverpool would give him a call. And Liverpool have clearly chosen not to.

That must mean that Arne Slot is staying, because you wouldn’t wait until Alonso – probably the best coach they could hope to get and a good fit for the club given his own history – was off the market and then make the move, would you? Would you?

But this can’t carry on if Slot carries on losing. Liverpool have taken 44 points from their last 32 league matches. In recent weeks they look entirely shambolic defensively and are offering little in attack. And now you have a departing hero intimating that the manager is betraying the club’s attacking ideals and having his post liked by teammates.

Opportunity beckons for Aston Villa

Unai Emery has done a magnificent job this season, foolishly omitted from the Manager of the Year shortlist. Whatever happens in Istanbul – and Villa are favourites to win the Europa League – Emery has taken them back into the Champions League.

That means everything for their future because Villa do need a rebuild. The average age of the starting XI against Liverpool on Friday was 29.9 – it was the oldest team they have picked in more than 30 years. Emery has been able to rely upon dependable, experienced players who have delivered spectacularly.

Champions League football will make greater demands of an ageing squad. This season was a snapshot in time. It was also a triumph of coaching and man management. Next must come the squad building. Villa have been less good at that.

Man Utd’s chief beneficiary

Luke Shaw has just had one of the best seasons of his career, and he owes Ruben Amorim a thank you for it. Had Manchester United qualified for Europe last season, or not been absolutely dreadful in the domestic cups this season, Shaw would likely have had to play 50 matches and the injury issues may well have returned.

Instead, Shaw has played 40 times, been one of United’s highest performers and scored a lovely goal on Sunday lunchtime. I don’t think it will be enough to squeeze into the England squad, because I think Tuchel wants more of an attacking option and Shaw wasn’t in the last squad.

But if United buy Shaw a decent backup option for next season, he can continue to have a lovely old time in the biggest matches.

Man City

Play Bournemouth on Tuesday night.

Arsenal

Play Burnley on Monday night.



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May 17, 2026
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Newcastle 3-1 West Ham (Woltemade 15′, Osula 19′, 65′ | Castellanos 69′)

ST JAMES’ PARK — At the final whistle, the truce between West Ham’s suffering supporters and the players responsible for their almost inevitable relegation finally cracked.

With the pretence of Premier League survival all but wiped away by this insipid defeat at St James’ Park, the reckoning that has hung over the Hammers arrived.

A vitriolic chorus of “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” from the visiting fans reflected feelings that had been supressed while West Ham clung on to their top flight status.

That is surely gone now.

Tottenham Hotspur might have been hopeless for most of this season but their revival under Roberto De Zerbi means a point from Chelsea and Everton feels fairly straightforward.

It could be all over by Tuesday night – and then imagine what the London Stadium will feel like for the final game of the season against Leeds United on Sunday. Few will be spared.

Anger will be all the more acute because this feels almost entirely self-inflicted.

West Ham’s recruitment is regarded almost as a lesson in how not to do it by Premier League peers, hundreds of millions wasted on players not good enough or brave enough to influence this relegation battle.

And the less said about a string of hopeless mangerial appointments, the better.

The latest hire, Nuno Espirito Santo, inherited a shambles and deserves more credit than his predecessors for making the team competitive, but he was definitely culpable here.

His starting XI was all wrong – corrected, belatedly, with a switch to 4-4-2 by the time West Ham were two down – but they were oddly conservative against a Newcastle team who have looked brittle on their own turf.

His players did not seem to get the message that this was a must-win.

They began tentatively and the state of their defending for Newcastle’s opening two goals was nothing short of pathetic.

Mads Hermansen has been a calamity for most of the season and his over-hit pass was not dealt with by Jean-Clair Todibo, one of the worst of their signings at £35m.

Harvey Barnes pounced and teed up Nick Woltemade, who was granted the freedom of Newcastle to steer his first league goal of the year into the net.

A second goal owed just as much to West Ham hesitancy as Willam Osula pounced on a Jacob Ramsey through ball before steering past Hermansen.

His celebration involved whipping out a silver glove before performing a Michael Jackson dance move – and it was pretty “Bad” for West Ham.

Nuno looked like a broken man on the touchline, head bowed.

He made tactical changes and West Ham looked better but by then the damage was done.

A second goal for Osula – teed up wonderfully by Joe Willock – put the game beyond them despite the improvement.

“I have regrets,” Nuno admitted afterwards in hushed tones.

His mea culpa included the confession that “the fans were right” to say his players didn’t deserve to wear the shirt.

“A bad performance, a bad day for us,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough week ahead but we owe the fans respect to deliver a better performance.”

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West Ham briefly threatened the most unlikely of comebacks after a brilliant Taty Castellanos goal but Newcastle had enough.

They are still – just about – in the hunt for a Conference League place and had paid tribute to departing Kieran Trippier before the game.

He has been a brilliant servant, helping Newcastle survive relegation before leading them into Europe and a trophy. Exactly the sort of player feckless West Ham could do with.



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May 17, 2026
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OLD TRAFFORD — Early into his Manchester United career, Casemiro threatened to be the Che Guevara figure the club had been craving since Roy Keane left in acrimonious fashion all the way back in 2005.

Michael Carrick, the player, was of the classy metronome ilk, without possessing the combative streak Keane made his modus operandi, one that drove the standards right throughout the club.

After his big-money arrival four years ago, a trophy-laden Casemiro offered elements of Carrick’s finesse and Keane’s fire. United had found their midfield revolutionary.

As he waved an emotional goodbye to supporters on Sunday after United’s 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest, Casemiro heads to the beaches of Miami having made his mark, but without proving to be that inspiration he had initially threatened to be.

In a bizarre twist of fate, the perfect successor in every way was on the pitch to see the departing Brazilian off into the sunset, registering two assists and running the show for 90 minutes, as he so often, effortlessly does, for the losing side.

Elliot Anderson is everything United need in a midfielder. One second he resembles Kevin De Bruyne in his dynamism and ability to pick a forward pass, as his two perfect pickouts at Old Trafford for Morato and Morgan Gibbs-White’s respective goals prove.

The next, like the many-headed beast hydra, Anderson pops up in every corner of the pitch to win the ball back, with channelled aggression and positional knowhow one cannot teach. No player on the pitch made more than the England midfielder’s 18 defensive contributions all match.

On another day, had Forest put away their late chances, Anderson would have had more assists in one afternoon than record-equalling Bruno Fernandes mustered for the campaign. The United skipper set up Bryan Mbeumo for the game-clinching strike in the second half that took him to 20 assists for the season, level with De Bruyne and Thierry Henry for assists in a single Premier League term.

Sources close to the United hierarchy insist they will not be held to ransom by Forest over their top target Anderson. If the fee is upwards of £100m, they are adamant they will look at plentiful other options and move on. No regrets.

The alternatives, however, would not have anything like the same galvanising power. This United squad has been well strengthened of late and is on the cusp of being able to mount a sustained Premier League title tilt once again. Adding Anderson to it takes it from potentially good to potentially great.

As emotional a moment as it was when a tearful Casemiro was given a standing ovation in the second half before addressing supporters in a presentation upon the final whistle, the long goodbye perhaps was a damning indictment of the dearth of game-changing midfield talent post Carrick and Keane.

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Casemiro faded fast after an impressive first season, enduring two stop-start campaigns that followed. He deserves immense credit for enjoying an Indian summer this term, when most would have downed tools and taken home his astronomical wages when left out of the team. His overall legacy, however, is not one who justified the exorbitant outlay.

Anderson, whatever the cost, would. He will leave Forest this summer, that much is certain. Several sources have indicated for many months that Manchester City will be the destination. They would be willing to pay whatever Anderson costs to fill that gaping Bernardo Silva-shaped void. United would not even be able to compete on wages, should it come down to that.

Ineos must beat the traffic. The co-owners deserve credit for instilling a more measured approach after years of profligacy in the transfer market around these parts. Anderson, however, is one they should make an exception for.



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May 17, 2026
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Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City (Semenyo 72′)

Antoine Semenyo scored the game’s only goal as Manchester City beat Chelsea to win the FA Cup for the eigth time.

It took a moment of quality in a game where both sides struggled to make much of an impression in front of goal as Semenyo sent a clever flick past Robert Sanchez.

Chelsea created chances but were unable to find the cutting edge needed to punish City.

Victory delivered a 17th trophy in 10 years for City under manager Pep Guardiola.

Chelsea player ratings

Robert Sanchez: Rarely had much to do against an often stagnant Manchester City attack. 5/10

Wesley Fofana: Made some important clearances 6/10

Levi Colwill: Was front-footed, defended well and played a substantial role in Chelsea quickly shifting the ball from back to front. 6/10

Jorrel Hato: Looked to move forwards and dribble through the lines, but sometimes caught out at the back. 5/10

Malo Gusto: Played some nice combinations as Chelsea went forwards. 6/10

Reece James: Linked play well at times but did not do much of note. 5/10

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Moises Caicedo: Had the only effort on target and made some promising runs, but could not take advantage of Chelsea’s chances. 5/10

Marc Cucurella: A little bit clumsy at times before going off. 5/10

Cole Palmer: Sprung into life as the game went on to cause trouble for the City back line, but lacked the clinical edge. 7/10

Enzo Fernandez: Was potentially lucky to only get a yellow for a foul on Bernardo Silva. 6/10

Joao Pedro: Did not make the most of Chelsea’s opportunties. 6/10

Substitutes:

Pedro Neto: 5/10

Alejandro Garnacho: N/A

Liam Delap: N/A

Manchester City player ratings

James Trafford: Had very little to deal with and only had to make one save. 6/10

Matheus Nunes: Produced some great defensive work and pushed further up the pitch when needed. 6/10

Abdukodir Khusanov: Part of a defence which held back Chelsea but did not do anything to stand out. 5/10

Marc Guehi: Dependable presence at the back to win tackles and make clearances. 6/10

Nico O’Reilly: One of City’s brightest sparks. Sent in an excellent cross for a potential opener which Semenyo wasted. 8/10

Antoine Semenyo: Provided the needed quality and scored with an audacious flick in a game which was often drab. 8/10

Bernardo Silva: Constantly involved as City went forwards and created chances. 7/10

Rodri: Played his usual metronomic role in midfield before going off, although misplaced a few passes. 6/10

Jeremy Doku: Constantly in battle with Palmer and Gusto, but was often beaten. 6/10

Omar Marmoush: Did not make much of an impact before being taken off at half-time. 5/10

Erling Haaland: Failed to score in a final once again, but had a goal ruled out and assisted Semenyo. 7/10

Substitutes:

Rayan Cherki: 7/10

Mateo Kovacic: 6/10



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May 16, 2026
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Eighty-seven minutes into their 38th league match of the season and the title belonged to Hearts. If all anybody remembers is who won, never how and never the losers, there will be an exception this season. But this day still belonged to Celtic. The gravitational pull of established might and financial advantage found a way in the end.

Celtic are not used to winning titles in different ways, having to sprint down the home straight rather than easing up to pose for the cameras, shake a few hands and admire the view. Let the record show that they won seven straight league matches to end the season.

That, we must include, is what champions do. They hadn’t been top since September but they were top at 2.30pm on 16 May and that will keep half a city dancing until Monday morning and beyond. For Martin O’Neill, an extraordinary story arc towards the end of a managerial career that many thought was done.

Hearts both lost it at Celtic Park and didn’t; they came to Paradise and missed out on their nirvana. As in 1986, that great calamity they were attempting avenge on Saturday, this was a final-day drama after so long in a position of strength.

But the pressure became heightened due to opportunities missed and precious oxygen wasted along the way: Livingston, Kilmarnock, St Mirren. Hearts had failed to win 13 league matches before the final day and more than half were against sides who ended in the relegation group. They beat the Old Firm five times, the most since Fergie’s Aberdeen. That should have been enough.

Inevitably, there will be a great deal of forlornness, along the Maroon Mile and in Scotland and beyond. A widespread gnashing of teeth about coming so close and ending so far, about hope being all that keeps you alive until it kills you in the final scene. About domination and power and financial might ruling all else.

And…fair enough. If you can’t win it this year, The One With Wilfried Nancy and after Brendan Rodgers’ grand falling out part two, when will you? Celtic are not a club in rude health; quite the opposite. The off-field structure is broken, much of the fanbase is engaging in quiet or noisy protest and they have employed the same guy as an interim and permanent manager in the same season. And still they won again.

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The assumption is that change is coming at Celtic. The assumption has to be that Rangers respond, either by changing manager again or working on better solutions to guarantee a title challenge throughout next season. That is the lot of the outsider: your window of opportunity usually exists only as a crack and can be pulled shut without warning. Ask the boys of 1986 about that.

But there is another story here, perhaps one for when Celtic Park has emptied out and when the bitter disappointment of leading but not winning dissipates just enough to make it bearable to countenance.

In June 2025, Brighton owner Tony Bloom’s company bought a 29 per cent stake in Hearts. The club had already been using Jamestown Analytics, another Bloom company, for their recruitment. Bloom arrived with a plan to disrupt the Glasgow domination of the Scottish Premiership and it would be impossible to argue that he has not done so already. This was a five-year plan that almost achieved the unthinkable inside 12 months.

The recruitment has shifted significantly already. Last season in the Scottish Premiership, 72 per cent of all playing minutes were given to those who represent Scotland, England, the Republic of Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland and three major British-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, USA) and most of the exceptions were at the Old Firm.

Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Celtic v Heart of Midlothian - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - May 16, 2026 Celtic's Daizen Maeda celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates REUTERS/Russell Cheyne TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Celtic have now surpassed Rangers’ title tally, having won the league 56 times (Photo: Reuters)

Against Celtic, Hearts’ team had representatives of Burkina Faso, Netherlands, DR Congo, Greece, Austria and Germany; add Norway, Kazakhstan, Albania and Portugal on the bench. That work will continue again this summer.

It will take time – how could it not? It may well never happen – how could there be any guarantee? The financial reality of this league means that the duopoly will take years to shift. They will always generate more revenue and attract higher-profile players because that is how established wealth and power works. To make any dent in the establishment, you have no choice but to try something different. Different means risk and risks don’t always work and aren’t always enough.

But remember too where Hearts have come from so quickly. In April 2025, they lost 0-2 at home to Dundee and Neil Critchley was sacked with relegation a genuine possibility. That was the last time Hearts lost at home, 13 months ago. Now it is a place of wonder.

At Tynecastle in October, when Hearts won the Edinburgh derby in added time, the place felt visceral enough as to make relentless pursuit of more days like this a certainty. If you could come that far in four months of new investment and ownership, where could the next four years of the five-year plan take them?

The crying shame, for almost everyone not associated with Celtic or Hibernian, is that we are still talking in questions rather than monumental results; a different vista is still a mirage for now. We wanted to know if the duopoly would ever end and we still do.

I still think there’s room for hope of change here. I think we have to believe in that and I think it would be good for Scotland, whatever Glasgow will – entirely understandably – say. The world was not shifted off its axis and rolled down the Gorgie Road, but it surely wobbled for a while. A glimmer of air finally rushes through that dusty window again. Celtic won the battle; Hearts are still preparing for war.



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May 16, 2026
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My Sporting Life is The i Paper’s look behind the curtain at what drives sports stars to greatness. Former England and Tottenham maverick Glenn Hoddle speaks with remarkable honesty about being described as a “luxury player,” the toughest opponent he faced, Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God,” music advice from Boy George and his biggest regret.

Football chose me rather than the other way round

I didn’t have a choice. It was in my DNA. I used to sleep with a football until I was nine years old.

There was a couple of things that might have ruined my career. I nearly lost my eye and had my cartilage out when I was 14. But I just loved the game. I’ve never been on drugs in my life, but I felt as if I was on drugs. I thought differently to the era that I played in.

Hoddle in action for Tottenham against Arsenal at White Hart Lane in 1985 (Photo: Getty)

The way I played was more important to me than winning trophies. It’s easy for me to say, but it’s true. It was never hard work for me because I just loved playing.

Being called a ‘luxury player’ never bothered me

It used to make me smile. I always wanted to play abroad. I felt that my style was more suited to the continental game.

I nearly went abroad a couple of times, once to Germany when I was very young, at 20, and then Italy, when I was a bit older. But when I went to Monaco, I worked with Arsene Wenger and the philosophy was totally different. Back when I started, teams never had a No 10.

I got man-marked in France, which didn’t happen in England. That’s why Eric Cantona did well in England but didn’t do well in France, because he couldn’t cope with that man-to-man marking. So it took a bit of adjustment, but I ended up overcoming that and I felt it improved me as a player.

Getting relegated with Tottenham was my lowest point

I was only 18, and we got relegated in 1977. That was the lowest I’ve ever felt without a shadow of a doubt, because it was my team. I’ve supported Tottenham since I was eight years old, and to think I was in a team that got relegated was crucifying for me as a youngster.

But it was good for me in the end, because I learned from it a lot and I learned how to cope with adversity. Some people, they’re great when they’re winning. The minute it goes the other way, they don’t know how to deal with that.

If I could turn back time, that would be the one, because I would approach things so differently now.

Having a perm is my biggest regret

Hoddle regrets his iconic haircut despite it being fashionable at the time (Photo: Getty)

Everyone had a perm back then, so it wasn’t something unusual. But looking back, that was something I shouldn’t have bought. You didn’t used to pay much for a haircut but it cost a fortune.

It took hours. Oh my God, that was the problem. The barber put me in the front seat in his shop in Harlow, which was my town.

I was only a kid but people were walking by and everyone was laughing at me. It was mortifying. So yeah, that was a big personal regret of mine. I can’t look at the photos. I hate it.

The toughest opponent I faced was a player called Jiri Sloup

I’ve got 26 stitches in my forehead to tell you about him. It was the second leg of the Uefa Cup tie against Bohemians Praha, and it was pretty evident after two minutes this fellow was trying to kill me. Dingy, old place we were playing in. The floodlights were dreadful. The pitch wasn’t great.

I remember Ray Clemence threw me the ball, bless him, and I was on my own for a second or two. I could see Sloup coming at me out of the corner of my eye, so I thought I’d flick it round him and spin the other side. He hit me like an express train. His elbow caught me in the head. I tore my groin, so I got stretchered off.

So that was an experience. He was probably the hardest bloke I played against. I wouldn’t want to play against him every week.

Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ played on my mind a hell of a lot

I felt we were cheated. I had to get out of the country. Psychologically, it was tough.

My holiday was a bit later in the summer. I just said, look, we’re getting on a plane, we’re going to go abroad. I watched the World Cup final in Spain somewhere with a load of Germans if I remember rightly.

That was a horrible time. I felt numb. I kept playing it over and over again in my head.

Boy George gave me a music lesson at the urinal

I bumped into him in the men’s toilets in the recording studios, which I can’t remember the name of, where Chris Waddle and I were doing “Diamond Lights”.

I go to the toilet, it’s about two o’clock in the morning and suddenly a fellow walks in behind me. I turned my head and thought, “bloody hell, it’s Boy George!” He was having a pee next to me.

It was a bit of a surreal moment, I’ve got to say. We ended up having a quick chat – he gave me a few tips about music. That was probably the most random [celebrity encounter].

Glenn Hoddle was talking ahead of a month like no other, with five major football finals live on TNT Sports & HBO Max kicking off with the Emirates FA Cup this Saturday.



from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/j8R05dF
May 15, 2026
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