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READING — Lincoln City’s entire promotion has presented itself as one gloriously unlikely, extended dream sequence and the denouement was perfection. Pegged back in injury-time, needing only a point but suddenly nervous for no reason, 2,900 Imps in an away end watched their team promptly stream up the pitch at Reading’s Select Car Leasing Stadium and score again. It isn’t supposed to happen as splendidly as this. But then none of this was. 

Five minutes later, players, managers and coaching staff are running into each other’s arms and celebrating the most extraordinary achievement. I am lucky enough to join them, giddy with deferred joy because if you can’t revel in the smaller guys doing bigger things then what does sport even mean to you?

In the stands, they chanted of the Championship and of Tottenham, improbable potential opponents next season as equals. Manager Michael Skubala did his fist pumps and the players posed for photos with an adoring mass as the backdrop.

Others were overcome entirely: kit manager Terry Bourne is Lincolnshire born and raised and he cried his eyes out as he stared at the red-and-white sea and heard it sing. On the touchline, away from the noise, sporting director Jez George stood still and just watched. Never underestimate how much it means to those who have worked hardest to make this happen.

Three days earlier, wandering across the back of Lincoln City’s Rilmac Stand on a Good Friday that ended up being a great one, a collection of camera operators spoke to supporters about what they have paid witness to this season. As I passed them and caught slivers of conversation, the same phrase three times in 30 seconds: “It is beyond everything we could have imagined”.

Which just about covers it. Most at Lincoln City look forwards, not back, but it’s worth doing so just this once. A decade ago, Lincoln were finishing in the bottom half of the National League for the fifth season in a row. Now they are unbeaten in 23 matches, have won 18 of them and will be playing second-tier football for the first time since 1961.

I started my 2025-26 domestic season at Lincoln’s training ground quite deliberately, attending an early day of pre-season to spend more time with Skubala, his coaches and players. Last season, doing a similar piece with chief executive Liam Scully and sporting director George, I found myself convinced by the ambition and logic of a club being built, literally and figuratively, to overachieve. Then, the aim was to finish four or five places higher in the division than their budgets.

You can now make that 15 places at least; this simply isn’t meant to happen. League One contains nine former Premier League clubs (four of them in the six places directly below Lincoln) and vast desperation to get back – or get up – to the Championship. All of them have been outclassed by a club that hadn’t finished in the top 50 places in England for 43 years.

For this has been no fluke. Lincoln City have kept 17 clean sheets and only twice this season have conceded more than twice, not bad given that they are also the top scorers. Nineteen different members of the first-team squad have scored. They have lost one of their 20 matches against sides in the top half. The date – 6 April – makes this the earliest confirmed third-tier promotion in at least 50 years.

“We always say that it takes a village,” said Scully in a room inside the LNER Stadium on Friday. “I think I’ve said that to you before. It’s really important that we don’t forget the contribution the whole club has made, including many people who are no longer working here.”

“We always want it to be a sustainable, competitive, balanced football club. Maybe the biggest compliment anyone could ever give us is that we have been boringly consistent. We’ve never chased the glamorous elements.”

“This has been a how-to guide for Lincoln City and who we are. Every club is different, every club has a heartbeat. There is no copy-paste job that you can do. We made a hell of a lot of mistakes and we still make mistakes now. But we learnt the fabric of the club and we designed and executed something that works for Lincoln City: the people, the city, the infrastructure.”

There is certainly some serendipity to this long-termism. There are sections of the LNER Stadium that Liam can point to and tell you which success story funded which development. The famous FA Cup run under the Cowleys in 2017 paid for the new training ground and it is comfortably Championship standard.

Success creates opportunity that, when good sense and good practice rushes in, can become self-fulfilling. Lincoln’s recruitment, led by the sporting director, has been exemplary. Last August, Lincoln sold Jovon Makama to Norwich for a club record £1.2m.

The money was reinvested in creating greater squad depth, adding the experience of Adam Reach and Sonny Bradley and taking a chance on Ukrainian Under-21 international Ivan Varfolomeev. The idea was to create a highly competitive first-team environment. Lincoln have used fewer players than almost every other League One club. A core of six players have started 35 or more matches. The others rest and rotate effectively.

All of this is overseen by surely the highest-performing coaching staff in England this season. Skubala’s journey is fascinating, through teaching PE, academy coaching, Loughborough University and then England futsal before a senior coaching career. At 43, this is Skubala’s first senior managerial role and he has been a revelation.

Skubala is supported by two assistant head coaches, Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen, who are given freedom with individual players. David Preece is the goalkeeping coach but has taken on set-piece responsibility this season. That is one of the key tenets to the overperformance: autonomy within a team where everybody works for each other and the supporters. Everybody you speak to deflects praise and talks up the work of others.

“I cannot tell you how hard we work,” Skubala tells me on the pitch in front of the fans. “I’m knackered. I’m shattered.

“But we have to work hard. You work for 20 years in coaching, developing yourself, in the hope that you get to give your all to a group of players and colleagues such as these. You drive the minibus as an academy coach, plan training sessions for futsal, all for this chance.

“And then you find your pathway, find something where everything is aligned and are afforded a superb group of players whose mentality is off the scale. And you are able to give these people in front of us days like this. And, honestly, it is everything.”

The small-sided football background may sell Skubala as a coach interested in passes and small spaces; that was his education. Two years ago he told me about his pride at working within the Football Association’s England DNA programme to create better technicians from the next generation of footballers.

Skubala’s greatest strength might just be his pragmatism. Lincoln’s players are comfortable on the ball, particularly when transitioning through midfield. But the manager had a plan to steal a march on this division. Lincoln have the lowest possession by a distance but rank in the top three for shots on target and big chances.

They soak up pressure, work damn hard off the ball, tempt opponents to over-commit and then counter. They are magnificent at attacking set pieces, the best of any team in the EFL. They know what they are good at and exploit it to its maximum and they are brilliant at identifying weaknesses in their opponents. And they have been underestimated by other clubs and their supporters all season.

The Championship is a different beast, competitively and financially; nobody is ignoring that but nobody is fearful either. The midseason change of ownership structure and US investment will allow budgets to shift a little. As Scully puts it, selling players and cup runs were the only way Lincoln could spend on legacy projects. Now Ron Fowler can give them more leeway and that is extremely exciting.

And if Lincoln City can punch four places above their budget again, and people continue to underestimate people doing smart things and giving their all in the process, Lincoln will be alright.

“I was 21 when I won my first promotion with [Nottingham] Forest and I thought that it could happen every year; that was my last one,” says Cohen, my favourite ever footballer and so naturally given the last word. “As you get older and wiser, you remember to make the most of them.

“We don’t have the biggest budgets but we have the best team and the best staff in England for the way that we want to play. This isn’t luck. This is because every single person works their hardest every single day. We will enjoy this briefly, as we deserve to, and then we will start preparing for next year.”

Sing it from the rooftops. A provincial football club created a blueprint for punching above their financial weight and have supercharged it under an inspirational coaching team. They have made something mighty difficult look easy. Lincoln City are the most overachieving football club in England.

Covering the EFL regularly can often make you feel like a football grim reaper, knocking on doors when financial crises or ownership controversies have swept into town. The fragility of the financial model threatens the pyramid itself and is fuelled by a wealth gap that grows continuously.

So visiting clubs like Lincoln City over the course of 18 months, meeting its people, understanding its methods and checking in regularly as they come to fruition, doesn’t just leave you impressed but restores your faith in the game itself.

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Belo Horizonte was always a long way from home for Estevao Willian. Born a day’s travel away in Franca, Sao Paulo, the dusty journey across dense forest and up into the mountains was one his father Ivo could little afford.

At age nine, his family made it nonetheless. Cruzeiro’s academy was to be found in the region of Brazil’s abundant gold mines, a fitting beginning for the forging of one of the world’s most promising footballers.

The son of a goalkeeper turned Christian pastor, the young Estevao’s parents also set great store in a prophecy that he would bring them great success. When not playing football, he could be found reading the Bible, or playing the drums in church.

“My faith is everything – it’s fundamental to my career,” Estevao explains to The i Paper.

“It’s faith that allows me to get through the challenging moments, the highs and the lows, to try new things and excel in my career and give me the confidence to excel even more.”

‘A boy who listens’

In 2021 he joined Palmeiras, and it was from there that Chelsea handpicked the standout talent in a golden generation. Teammates Endrick and Luis Guilherme also got their big moves to Europe, to Real Madrid and West Ham respectively.

But the biggest impression Estevao made was with his consistency.

“From his very first day, Estevao never ‘picked and chose’ games,” Joao Paulo Sampaio, Palmeiras’ youth academy director tells The i Paper.

“He always showed the desire to play and give his best, even when he was feeling pain. A player with that kind of hunger has everything needed to build a successful career, because he truly loves what he does and enjoys himself on the pitch. He’s also a boy who is always open to listening to advice from the people around him in order to develop as an athlete – that makes all the difference.”

Sao Paulo to Stamford Bridge

Some of the most important aspects of his technical evolution and positioning took place at the club.

Sampaio would watch as he refined aspects of his game, such as the use of his right foot – he played in every role across the attacking system.

“Because of his characteristics, he tends to feel more comfortable when receiving the ball on the right and drifting inside. He’s a player who can make a difference on the wing, but he can’t be stuck to the touchline – he needs the freedom to move into central areas of the pitch.”

At Stamford Bridge he has settled quickly with the help of a small Brazilian contingent. Joao Pedro is another boy from Sao Paulo, while Andrey Santos comes from Rio de Janeiro. Before his departure in 2025 Thiago Silva was also instrumental in persuading him to join.

“They were very important to me, for my adaptation,” Estevao says. “Because they already spoke English, they had already had a good time in England. The Brazilians, they always have a desire.

“It’s been really important for me to have that community of Brazilian players. They’ve allowed me to settle in quicker than I expected and they’ve been figureheads for me, almost like family members for me here in England in a new space.”

With the national side he is under the stewardship of Carlo Ancelotti, whose reputation for coaching Brazilian legends of the game predates his managerial stint with the Selecao: Kaka, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Vinicius Jr.

A very modern Chelsea signing

It was Ancelotti who permitted Estevao time off from the national camp to go and get his driving license before his big move to England.

The food in London? “Interesting”. The weather: “cold”, but he is “lapping up the experience” of a new country where he is among the favourites to win Young Player of the Year in his first season, having already won the same accolade at the London Football Awards.

So far he has registered eight goals and two assists in all competitions. It is the nature of them that has caught the eye. Against Crystal Palace, he received the ball well into his own half and held off Tyrick Mitchell for the length of the remaining 70 yards.

In the 3-0 Champions League win over Barcelona, he was involved in the build-up before beating Pau Cubarsi wide and then wriggling past Alejandro Balde to score. He then sank to his knees, echoing one of his favourite Bible verses, Proverbs 22:4, which encourages “humility and fear of the Lord”.

Estevao’s arrival in west London was no accident. One source emphasised to The i Paper that under BlueCo’s ownership, there has been a deliberate move away from signing teenagers specifically with the loan market in mind. Estevao cost £29m, a significant price tag for a then 17-year-old. He only joined the club formally on his 18th birthday. A squad with an average age of 23 has been mooted as a reason for Chelsea’s disciplinary problems this season, but has marked a clear shift in strategy.

Because of his age the obvious comparison he usually draws is with Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal. Back home Estevao refused to accept the nickname Messinho (little Messi) because he did not want to be likened to any individual player – though he models himself on Brazilian greats, whom he watches on YouTube.

Surpassing Neymar

“It’s always good to look at big players like Neymar,” he says. “I know I have to improve and I watch them playing a lot, so I’m sure I use them in my game too. These more experienced Brazilian players have been fundamental for me in my experience because I still watch them intently in their games. And that gives me not only the motivation but it gives me new ideas.

“It’s always a learning for me to improve my game so I’m always looking at them as role models and those who can teach me more while I’m learning in Chelsea.”

In his final year at Palmeiras, the teenager broke a long-standing Neymar record, becoming the first player under 18 to achieve 20 goal involvements in one Brazilian Serie A campaign. At Chelsea his starts have been more limited (17 in all competitions) but he is still having more attempts on goal than any other player.

“My family members and my faith have given me that confidence,” Estevao adds. “‘I’m surprised myself that I’ve done it so quickly, but I felt I was ready as soon as I came in. And I’m so thankful to God for everything He did, for everything I went through.”

The rise of Estevao should not come as a surprise to anyone else. The Brazilian league itself has evolved beyond recognition, its biggest clubs enjoying more financial muscle than ever.

“The competition still preserves the essence of Brazilian football,” Sampaio insists. “Especially in terms of allowing talented players to express themselves through dribbling and creative plays. It’s an excellent school before making the move to European clubs.”

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That has put Estevao on course to become Franca’s most successful export, perhaps barring the city’s famous Arabica coffee.

Injury-dependent, Ancelotti has already promised him a place at the World Cup. The No 9 spot may be up for grabs but Estevao has made the right prong of Brazil’s attack his own.

It would be a remarkable end to another breakthrough season.

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Game the international break by keeping as many players as you can. Focus the bodies and minds with a fortnight off. Beat the lower-league team to get to Wembley. Address the concerns. Make more mistakes. See a quadruple become a double in the blink of an eye. Raise more doubts. Somewhere along the way, the perfect plan got lost. Arsenal are left hoping the same is not happening to their season.

The mad panic is inescapable now. Whether it starts with Arsenal wobbling to provoke external pressure, or external pressure that provoked an Arsenal wobble, is a moot point. It now exists as a whirling vortex and the only way to extinguish it is to win, win, win.

And yet the same panic is also almost entirely superfluous. Arsenal have won their last four league games: north London derby, Chelsea, Brighton away and Everton at home, one of the best away teams in the country. They are the Champions League favourites. Beat Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Burnley, West Ham and Fulham and they are likely to win their first league title in 22 years and they won all five of the reverse fixtures. Life is good!

Arsenal are not the first team to learn that participation deep into multiple competitions can be a curse, not because of the workload but for how it shifts expectation beyond control. Quietly bowing out of the domestic cups in November and February causes far fewer ripples when you are ahead of the curve in your priority competitions.

Southampton are ahead! Unbelievable scenes at St Mary’s

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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 4, 2026

The specific complication here: pressure is a self-fulfilling prophecy and Arsenal – and Mikel Arteta – are already fighting against a tide of supposed self-fulfillment. That’s partly because of their competition; “What if City win 10 league games in a row?” we ask about a team that hasn’t done more than six since 2023-24.

But mainly, saliently, it reflects the perception of this Arsenal and this manager: fragile, over-emotional, suffocated by their own proximity to intended destiny. Any setback at any time means more. Shuffle your papers and prepare to prosecute. Release all the memes.

Plenty of this is hyperbolic bluster that will make little difference to what happens between now and June. But what certainly does matter is how Arteta deals with each of these setbacks, for nobody gets through a season without being hurt.

What I find most fascinating about Arteta in these moments is how much he focuses on attitude, character and personality rather than specific focus on tactical issues. After the Wolves draw, he spoke first of needing to “go through the pain and look in the mirror”. After the Carabao Cup final, “poison in the tummy” and “fire in the belly”. On Saturday evening, it was “let’s look at ourselves in the mirror” again.

These are presumably deliberate public simplifications (nobody is saying that Arsenal aren’t privately hyper-focused on tactical points), implicit insistences that the players are good enough but just need to realise it. But they are also the usual sound bites of a firefighter in charge of a team trying to stay in a league, not win it.

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Is your own manager discussing fuel, fight, fire and staring into your own face likely to calm everybody down or whip up the storm even more and force a team encircled by pressure to play more on the edge? At the bottom that can help, but at the top? According to Opta, Arsenal have conceded eight goals in their last 23 games directly resulting from individual mistakes; it was one in 28 matches before that.

It’s also risky because if it fails to work it makes inferences about players’ character and stomach, precisely the things that people were questioning anyway. If you publicly tell a group that fire in the belly is the antidote to losing to Manchester City and you immediately lose to Southampton, it clearly did not work. How long can you stare at yourself in the mirror before you go cross-eyed?

So the storm simply whips up again. Sporting Lisbon in midweek is not just one game because none of them are now. Instead they are all piled up into a mountain left to conquer, a giant left to slay, a vast hall of mirrors that warps your strengths and doubts in reflection. The only way to disprove what everybody says is to prove it to yourselves.

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Football is a funny old game.

For so much of this season, Erling Haaland has looked distinctly ordinary. He was the one player you never thought normality would happen to.

He was finally full. Rivals could breathe again, as City’s title challenge faltered. Defenders had, in the ultra-defensive Premier League, become wise to the Norse goalscoring machine’s ways.

We have all been guilty of thinking such. The numbers, it was assumed by this writer in particular, would remain impressive, but the records would not fall at the speed of light like they did before.

What stands those in the pantheon of Premier League footballing greats apart is how they defy the likes of me time and again. The best just find news ways to stay at the very top of the game.

What Haaland needed was a tussle with old foe Virgil van Dijk. The Dutch colossus has never shirked a battle and, more often than not down the years, has had the better of clashes with Haaland.

Haaland’s penalty at Anfield earlier this season was his first career goal at Anfield – one of only two top-flight stadiums he had played at without finding the net.

Goals from the spot, however, was about all Haaland could muster since the yips had set in since the turn of the year.

Even as he stroked City in front from the spot on Saturday as Liverpool looked to avoid a third defeat of the season to Pep Guardiola’s transitional side, there was no reason to believe the tide had turned.

A sublime header later, arching his back to guide the ball into the top corner on the stroke of half time to all but end Liverpool’s hopes of getting a result, and the rest of the Premier League watching on was starting to feel rather nauseous.

Liverpool had been the better team for much of the first half. Mohamed Salah, playing his first match since announcing he will be leaving the club in the summer, should have done better from an early chance, while Hugo Ekitike blazed over from a good position.

As has been the case for much of Liverpool’s season, a downturn is never too far away. Van Dijk’s clumsy challenge to gift City a penalty later and the stage was Haaland’s.

Perhaps he knew something everyone else didn’t, given he had donated his box and Tunnel Club table to charity for Liverpool’s visit, raising several thousand pounds while bringing some fans from his hometown of Bryne the chance to attend a match. And witness his bludgeoning of Van Dijk firsthand.

The irresistible movement was back. Darting here, ducking there. The header for the second one of those you can’t teach, his throwing of Van Dijk, to make space for City’s fourth, unstoppable. The ball going in off the underside of the crossbar being the perfect way to seal a hat-trick.

As Rayan Cherki looks more at home by the week, Antoine Semenyo assimilates to life in the fast lane and Jeremy Doku continues to back up the fleet of foot with an end product, Haaland is perfectly position to finish the season on full throttle. To collective gulps from all around.

A first treble for City since August 2024, to seal an eighth successive FA Cup semi-final for the only man in the room with a more awe-inspiring relentlessness than Haaland – Guardiola.

That is 46 goals in 50 games for club and country. Had he continued on the trajectory he started on this term, he’d be lapping his peers. The scary thing is, there is even perhaps more to come. Back to the drawing board for everyone else.

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In Dallas Fort Worth airport, a group of Iraq supporters celebrate as they transit for a flight home after attending a glorious World Cup playoff success in Mexico. They sing a little and wave their national flag. You might be able to picture it, if you have ever seen footage of literally any international football match in history.

The video is grainy and the phone is pointed downwards after a while, but the gist is clear. An American man in a bright orange shirt and baseball cap shouts: “Don’t come to America. You don’t come to America and do that”. Someone should probably explain what a World Cup is quickly, because he’s going to have a bad summer.

It is one incident, one bad bloke who was led away by security staff. But one group of people who feel threatened is one too many and this is a microcosm of the concerns now enveloping the World Cup this summer, at least for those supporters travelling to the US. It is a question that so many immigrants there have asked themselves already: is this safe for me?

This could be the World Cup of geopolitical hostility. For the first time in history, it is eminently possible that the host nation could be at war with one of the competing countries. For all of you still checking your Peace Prize satire monitor, it’s about to explode.

We do not yet know if Iran will be at a major tournament that begins in two months. In a perfect piece of dark comic theatre, President Trump says that they shouldn’t come to the US, Iranian Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali says that they can’t come to the US and Fifa president Gianni Infainto says that they will come to the US. Marvellous.

But as the Dallas incident shows, it may also be the World Cup of dismal rhetoric. There are real fears for the experience – and even safety – of those travelling from Middle Eastern nations to areas of high and fevered Trump support. Not least because the President chooses to fan those flames of discord at so many opportunities.

Ordinarily, football may be able to escape the heaviest fumes of geopolitical strife with Fifa selling itself as the unifying, apolitical force. In Russia in 2018, there were mass pre-tournament warnings of hooliganism and the treatment of LGBTQ+ supporters, but almost all who went said that the experience was better than they expected.

In Qatar, the treatment of migrant workers and the social laws that made being LGBTQ+ a largely appalling experience again received necessary, appropriate media coverage and criticism and many felt unable to travel as a result. Again, the tournament largely existed in its own bubble. A WorldCupLand is created, a construct that dissuades greater scrutiny.

The US is different. It is far more vast than Qatar, and so harder to control. It is more geopolitically active than Russia in 2018, where Vladimir Putin understood the logic in putting on a show having won presidential elections by a landslide in March of the same year.

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The turmoil for supporters is exacerbated by the other, less internationally significant but still personally meaningful issues. This week, the first open sale of World Cup tickets showed that Fifa is charging up to £8,333 for a ticket to the final on June 19. Fifa has defended its pricing structure, but supporters across the board have expressed their deep reservations. Football Supporters Europe, one major fan group, described prices as a “monumental betrayal”.

This is the antithesis of what the 2026 World Cup was supposed to be: a show of unity, the first time a tournament had been held across a continent; a safer choice after the controversies of bidding processes for Russia and Qatar; a made-to-measure tournament using stadia already fit for purpose. In 1994, the US marketed their World Cup as “the greatest show on earth”. This was supposed to be a repeat.

Fear rushes into the cracks created by uncertainty. We are 10 weeks out from the biggest World Cup in history and we don’t know if every country will be there, if supporters from every country will be allowed in, how they will be treated when they get there and how on earth they can afford it. It would be weirder if we weren’t fearful.

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It is a hot topic of conversation in boardrooms across Europe: just what is going to happen next with Pep Guardiola?

Another international break may have come and gone but the uncertainty around the Manchester City endures.

There was a school of thought that a fortnight’s break, coming off the back of an impressive Carabao Cup win over Arsenal, would allow him to crystalise his thoughts about whether he would see out a deal that ends in 2027.

But there has been no puff of white smoke above the Etihad. Guardiola is keeping everyone – including City’s top brass – guessing about what his true intentions are.

Inside City the mood seems relaxed. There is no prospect of the club pushing Guardiola to make a decision or publicly declare his intention. There is too much respect for his achievements for that.

Instead they will allow him, as they did in 2024 when his contract was up for renewal at the end of the season, to come to a decision in his own time.

This matters, and not just to those at City. The managerial market is already set to be manic this summer, with vacancies at Manchester United and potentially Real Madrid to be filled at the end of the season.

There’s uncertainty around the futures of Eddie Howe at Newcastle United and Arne Slot at Liverpool, but if City enter the market, intrigue really ramps up.

City will feel they’re prepared, having held discussions with Enzo Maresca at the end of last year. Xabi Alonso and former City captain Vincent Kompany, who has impressed at Bayern Munich, are the most widely touted replacements but there are others, so far hidden underneath the radar.

The i Paper understands they also admire Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola, which could explain his lingering reluctance to commit to a new contract on the south coast.

But the club’s number one wish – and their clear preference – would be for Guardiola to stay and complete the rebuild job that began in 2024 when they erred in the transfer market after winning the Champions League.

Allowing that team to grow old sparked a transfer scramble which has seen City spend the thick end of half-a-billion pounds on 20 players, many of whom will much be stronger for a year in which Guardiola has seen plenty of signs of improvement. Rayan Cherki is just 22, Jeremy Doku is 23 and even Marc Guehi – signed from Crystal Palace in January – is 25.

The intention is to strengthen again in the summer, with City firmly in pole position to sign Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson ahead of city rivals United. They also want a right-back and have carried out checks on Brentford’s impressive Italy under-21 international Michael Kayode.

Those plans are unlikely to be knocked by whatever happens with Guardiola but there’s no doubt they would be in a better position to attack next season and beyond if they knew definitively what was happening with their manager.

There are those close to the City hierarchy who are convinced that Guardiola would never leave them in the lurch by making a decision last minute.

One described the feverish speculation as an attempt to unsettle City as they attempt to chase down Arsenal and Guardiola himself has reacted incredulously when quizzed on the topic in press conferences. It is worth noting he has hardly looked like a man whose energy levels are sapping on the touchline recently.

But he’s also a maverick and his own man, who knows the end of his sky-blue chapter is coming sooner rather than later. The suggestion is that even he doesn’t know whether he’ll still be in Manchester come August.

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A few weeks ago, a Sunderland post on social media channels garnered plenty of attention.

As the Black Cats’ stunning start to the season spluttered, it speculated that the owners might act to remove Regis Le Bris.

To the outside world that would sound outrageous, given he is in manager of the year territory for what he has achieved this campaign.

But if you know a little about Sunderland, and the ruthless, relentless culture that drives decisions on Wearside, you will understand why it felt like a debate worth having.

It is worth emphasising here that internally there are no doubts that the impressive Le Bris is their man.

Tactically he is viewed as elite and the work done to maintain Sunderland’s dressing room culture despite a raft of new arrivals is regarded as especially impressive.

But the implication is not far from the truth. Under owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, Sunderland have developed a reputation for being ruthless. Tracking trends and performance metrics that aren’t always obvious to the naked eye, they have never been afraid to make a big, potentially unpopular call.

It is true on and off-the-field. Further evidence of Sunderland’s relentless desire to keep progressing came as popular chief business officer David Bruce left the club this week as part of a wide-ranging restructure that sources say reflects their evolution from the EFL to the Premier League.

Bruce, a boyhood Sunderland fan, has done a fine job of repairing a fractured relationship between the fanbase and club. A record deal with Hummel has proved overwhelmingly popular. But with squad cost ratio rules that pin Sunderland to spending 85 per cent of their revenue in the future, the club have felt a need to take commercial deals to the “next level”.

All eyes are on the next front-of-shirt sponsor, with global brands interested in striking a deal.

As Tom Burwell, now installed as the club’s new interim chief executive, said last year: “We have to be Premier League ready to compete, both on and off-the-field.

“[We need] the best footballers in the world but we also need to be Premier League ready off-the-field to compete with the best sports executives in the world for commercial and digital eyeballs.”

Staying up is a good start but the ownership see Sunderland’s next objective as becoming an established part of the top flight, before challenging for honours and competing for Europe.

The changes have come thick and fast in the last six months. Bruce follows head of recruitment Stuart Harvey, chief commercial officer Ashley Peden and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman as high-profile exits in the last six months. A new chief revenue officer and chief executive are set to be in place before the start of next season.

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They will inherit a club in good health. Director of football Florent Ghisolfi suggested this week that Sunderland would not repeat the wide-ranging recruitment drive of 12 months ago but the position within the SCR rules is understood to give them further room to invest this summer. A striker is among their priorities.

The club’s model means that outgoings, while not essential to comply with the new rules, will also be considered. The i Paper understands that a Champions League club is interested in goalkeeper Robin Roefs while Noah Sadiki’s excellent debut season in England has also made him a target.

Sunderland have shown before that they do not fear the prospect of selling top players for a premium. The challenge is to retain their upward momentum.

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/0nprfYU