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No 18-year-old has played as many minutes in the Premier League as Archie Gray this season, and the vast majority of them have been out of position. So when asked where he sees himself playing long term, he raises a smile.

“To be honest,” he tells The i Paper, “I don’t really know myself.”

“I always trust the manager. He knows best and wherever he thinks to put me on the pitch or bring me on in the game, I’ll back that 100 per cent. I’m an 18-year-old – he knows the game a lot better than I do.”

The age bears repeating because that is one of the curious things about Gray, a simultaneous mix of maturity and consciousness of just how young he is.

His first season at Tottenham Hotspur has been a turbulent one, but he is perhaps the epitome of an Ange Postecoglou player: youthful and at the same time fearless.

Angeball has had its critics with Spurs losing 14 of their 27 league games in 2024-25, amidst an injury crisis that has seen Gray deployed at centre-back, left-back, occasionally in midfield and rarely in his more regular role at right-back. Yet he believes the process is working.

“It’s amazing the football that we play,” he says. “It suits the players that we’ve got and it’s such enjoyable football to play. It brings us the results, obviously we’ve had difficult times in the season but that’s football, for every team that [bad runs of results] comes as well. I’m enjoying it and it’s such an amazing style of football to be playing.

“To me it doesn’t matter what position it is, I’m on the pitch and I’m playing football. Ultimately it’s just a game of football and you’re against 11 players and I’m grateful that the manager’s trusted me.”

Unlike most of his teammates, Gray does have an advantage when it comes to Postecoglou’s physical demands.

In his year in the Championship with Leeds, he played every league match, including the play-off final – starting 43 times. That is an almost unprecedented workload for a player of his age, but it has helped him adapt to the notorious intensity of training at Hotspur Way.

“I always enjoy stuff like that. I always do a lot of fitness work in pre-season, so I was preparing myself well for those sessions, I was always looking forward to them. Working hard every day and doing the extras will always pay off.

“The amount of games in the Championship, especially with the cup competitions we had and going to the play-offs last year, it was a lot of games. And for a 17, 18-year-old you can only wish to play that amount of games and I was lucky that I did.

“To have Daniel Farke last year trust me in those different positions, it was a great experience for me.”

It was not supposed to end the way it did, Farke nursing Gray’s head as he cried into his shoulder at full-time of the play-off final. Defeat to Southampton would prove his last game for the club he joined as an under-9. But there is no disputing that the move has paid off, and on Thursday, he was named Men’s Young Player of the Year at the London Football Awards.

Gray was still barely old enough to buy a drink when he left home to move to the capital on his own; while he is a first-generation Spur, he left behind three generations of Leeds stars – father Andy, grandfather Frank, and great-uncle Eddie, all of whom played for the club before him.

“It was difficult at the start,” he admits. “Moving away from the family is always tough, and all my friends. But after a month or two it was easy to settle in, especially with the bunch of lads we’ve got and the coaches, they all helped me. I definitely feel really settled with the group and with the fans at the club – and I’ve always got people visiting me.”

There has been advice too, most of it typical of the wisdom given to young footballers – “keeping my head down, working hard and being patient, and when my opportunity comes, take it. When you’re not playing, just working hard every day in training and doing the extras”.

The Grays are not the only ones to have taken him under their wing. Given the age gap, he acknowledges that Spurs’ senior players do not have to go out of their way to socialise with him.

“Ben Davies has helped me out a lot, Madders [James Maddison], Sonny, Brennan [Johnson] as well. They’ve all helped me out so much. At the start, they’d all have breakfast with me and speak to me and make me feel comfortable.”

Former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is among those who has tipped Gray to join that leadership group one day – he has, Redknapp suggested, all the makings of a Tottenham captain.

“It’s way too early to think about it,” the teenager insists. “Sonny being the captain, he’s such a great leader. All of them are, Madders was captain the other day, they’re all role models in different ways and we’re lucky to have them.”

Nor is he entertaining rumours he is in the running for Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad, which is set to be announced in the coming weeks. Gray was at the centre of a tug-of-war between Scotland, for whom his footballing relatives played, and England, but has recently indicated he will declare for the latter.

Tuchel’s appointment has coincided with his Spurs breakthrough but he is not prepared to be distracted by it as Spurs head into the Europa League knockouts. “I’m just completely focused on the next game,” Gray says.

“We’ve got so many tough games ahead of us. I’m not even thinking about it [England] at all.”

If his form continues, he may well be alone in that.

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The European Commission has confirmed it is assessing claims that Manchester City have distorted the football market, with one legal expert telling The i Paper the fresh allegations against the Premier League side do not “get any more serious”.

La Liga, the Spanish top-flight league, reported Manchester City to the EU Commission in 2023, alleging the club have used other companies within the same Abu Dhabi ownership group to circumvent rules.

City declined to comment but strongly deny the fresh claims.

An EU Commission spokesperson told The i Paper: “We can confirm receipt of La Liga’s submission. The Commission may examine information regarding any alleged foreign subsidies distorting the internal market, in any economic sector, including sports. However, the Commission cannot comment on ongoing assessments.”

In extraordinary claims, made at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit, La Liga president Javier Tebas compared City’s alleged actions to the Enron financial scandal, when the American company diverted losses into separate companies.

“City have a lot of companies in their group which lie outside the City Football Group structure, extra companies where they put their expenses,” Tebas said.

“These other companies lose the money but not the club itself. We have reported Manchester City to the EU. We have the facts and figures.

“We asked for City to be checked. It’s very important that all clubs are subject to the same transparency rules and governance on both the sporting and financial side.

“The City case is one where we believe they have put the losses on the companies that are not officially part of City Football Group.”

City manager Pep Guardiola refused to answer questions about Tebas’s comments at a press conference on Friday.

He did, however, give an answer as to whether he feels the club are being unfairly targeted.

“I don’t know. It happened in the past with Uefa and in a few weeks it’ll happen in the Premier League, the sentence [to the 115 alleged charges], right?” he said. “We wait, and after we talk. I don’t know [if it has anything to do with success].”

Tebas is urging the EU to act under its Foreign Subsidies Regulations, introduced in July 2023, which allows the EU to investigate if a foreign state provided financial support to a European company that unfairly distorted markets.

As an English club, City fall outside the EU, but the fact City Football Group, the conglomerate through which City’s owners run a network of clubs around the world, own Spanish side Girona brings them under the EU Commission’s remit.

The EU Commission has powers to ask for financial information, including the valuations of sponsorship deals and contracts, and internal communications.

“Tebas is not just saying City have received above fair market subsidies,” Stefan Borson, a corporate lawyer and former financial advisor to Manchester City, told The i Paper.

“He’s saying there’s a whole network of third-party companies that are artificially funding football clubs. It doesn’t get any more serious than alleging the City Football Group are a conspiracy akin to Enron.

“Enron is one of the biggest financial fraud cases in history.”

Borson believes the EU Commission’s actions will, however, be linked to the outcome of the Premier League’s financial breach charges.

“It feels unlikely that the EC would take action unless the 115 case was proven but it is worth noting one of the initial FSR cases coincidentally involved one of City’s sponsors, e& (formerly known as Etisalat) in its recent acquisition of a European telco,” he said.

La Liga reported City after the club had its Uefa sanction reduced at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Following a Uefa investigation into breaching financial rules, the governing body banned City from the Champions League for two years and fined them €30m, in 2020.

City appealed to CAS, however, and the ban was dismissed and the fine reduced to €10m.

“I can’t speak to any sanctions for Manchester City on this matter yet,” Tebas said.

“All I can say is when a company in Europe, in general, is seen to have distorted the market, they often have to return funds. We want Manchester City to be sanctioned.”

At the same time, City await the decision of an independent commission into the 115 charges for alleged financial breaches brought separately by the Premier League.

The verdict is expected by the end of March but could take longer. Sanctions – if there are any – could include heavy fines, points deductions, being stripped of titles and even expulsion from the Premier League.

City have always denied any wrongdoing.

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It is not hyperbolic to suggest that Marcus Rashford’s four months at Aston Villa are the most crucial of his career.

He has had rapid rises, none more so than the braces he scored in his first two Manchester United games, propelling him into the football stratosphere as an 18-year-old. And deep plunges, such as the 189-day Premier League goal drought he endured. But he has always had the parachute of being a United academy success story, one of their own, the benefit of the doubt often tipping the scales in his favour in troubling times.

Now, however, he is cast out and on his own: 27 years old still and potentially with his peak years in front of him but with a point to prove. Villa have provided the stage, but it is on him to perform on it. The football world is watching.

And the importance of this moment is not lost on the forward, who was once on a pathway to greatness but has lost his way.

He is staying in a hotel close to Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground and has impressed coaches with the extra work he is putting in. He arrived at the club with one of the lowest body fat percentages, but there was almost two months before his last game for United, 56 minutes in a Europa League game against Viktoria Plzen, and his debut for Villa in the FA Cup against Tottenham Hotspur.

That is a long time for any player to miss first-team football, so Rashford is currently embarking on a crash course in making the little time he has count. With that in mind, he is also rowing back on work with sponsors to concentrate on football.

Until Villa approached Rashford with the prospect of a move in December, there had been no intention of joining another Premier League club. It had been hoped a deal could be struck with Barcelona, but while talks were held it wasn’t a signing that was possible in January, due to the Spanish side’s financial constraints.

His availability took everyone by surprise. Transfers tend to be planned months in advance, but Rashford revealing in an interview that he was open to a new challenge, followed by a brutal, prolonged public castigation by United manager Ruben Amorim, suddenly thrust a 60-cap England international on the market.

Villa’s interest changed everything. They were a club competing in the Champions League and for the Champions League – but far enough removed from his boyhood club that it did not feel as though he was slighting them.

He knows a few of the players from his England days and is said to have settled in well, has been nothing but polite and friendly with staff, only wanting to get his head down, work hard, and start enjoying football again.

One source said the players have been stunned by his ability in training – that he has frequently stood out in a squad packed full of talent.

The day after he signed, on 2 February, Villa’s players were given two days off with no game for eight days. But Rashford went into training anyway, working with a fitness coach on the grass and in the gym, in punishing sessions demonstrating his speed and strength. He was keen to show his new employers that there were two sides to the story Amorim was telling in press conferences; that he wasn’t giving maximum effort in training, that he didn’t understand football the way the coach did, that he would prefer to put his 63-year-old goalkeeper coach Jorge Vital on the bench instead of the forward.

It was the coldest of cold shoulders, but Unai Emery has responded by placing a more comforting arm around the forward. The Villa manager, who sold his vision of Rashford’s rehabilitation in a phone call, has spent much time working one-on-one with the forward, mainly concentrating on positional play and tactical understanding.

The Villa manager simply wants to reinvigorate Rashford’s confidence and believes he has the skillset do it. As Rashford once said himself: “If I’m not happy then it’s difficult for me to play my best football.”

Mid-season signings can be hard to fit into a coach’s systems and philosophy, and Emery and his video analysts have been busy with Rashford, frequently discussing tactics and approaches, trying to ply him full of information and instructions so he can get up to speed on the pitch.

Emery is demanding tactically, but he is also fair: when Rashford is on the pitch, predominantly as left-winger, Emery has devised strategies that utilise his strengths – his pace, dribbling, directness, shooting – as opposed to trying to shoehorn him into a system that doesn’t work for him.

And Rashford, for his part, has responded well.

There is much overlap between player strengths and manager philosophy – Villa have been at their best under Emery when they attack with rapid, lethal transitions, an area that has dipped this season. At his best, Rashford is a forward who fits that mould.

One of the major statistical drop-offs between Rashford in his prime and Rashford more recently has been shots at goal. Yet it is an area he is good at, and one Emery has encouraged.

Before the Chelsea game, Emery told Rashford he was a substitute but to be ready, that though he wasn’t starting he could have a big impact from the bench – and Rashford coming on and setting up two goals to turn the game has strengthened a growing trust between the two.

At one stage, when Rashford was 21, reports in Spain claimed Barcelona were preparing an offer of £100m for the player and there is no question he has been valued close to the nine-digit mark.

Now clubs can sign him for around £40m – based on the valuation in the deal Villa have agreed with United to make the move permanent at the end of the loan.

As revealed by The i Paper, Barcelona remain interested and Rashford will sit down at the end of the season and assess his options.

Bayern Munich and Napoli are understood to be monitoring developments. Clubs want to see how he responds to a new environment and a new challenge. A player lifting themselves out of the hole he found himself in can develop a resilience that improves their game. Struggle, however, and options will contract.

After his two-assist appearance from the bench against Chelsea, a substitution that changed the game, Villa fans joked online that the club should try to sign Vital next.

If Rashford turns things around, Amorim may come to regret some of his comments.

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Cole Palmer has been named Premier League Player of the Year 2025 at the London Football Awards, also winning Goal of the Season.

The 22-year-old overcame competition from Arsenal’s Gabriel, Brentford pair Brentford pair Bryan Mbeumo and Mikkel Damsgaard, as well as Fulham’s Antonee Robinson to secure the men’s prize.

Palmer, who won Young Player of the Year at the awards last year, earned Goal of the Season for his free-kick in Chelsea’s 4-2 victory over Brighton in September – a game in which he became the first Premier League player to score four goals in a first half.

Chelsea Women’s boss Sonia Bompastor won Manager of the Year, with Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, Bromley’s Andy Woodman, Brentford’s Thomas Frank and Leyton Orient’s Richie Wellens having been on the shortlist.

Bompastor has expertly replaced Emma Hayes in the dugout and remains unbeaten in the Women’s Super League.

The ceremony, partnered with The i Paper, was held at Wembley Stadium and featured some of London’s best footballing talent past and present.

Archie Gray was awarded Men’s Young Player of the Year for his outstanding season at Tottenham Hotspur, beating Arsenal pair Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, Crystal Palace’s Romain Esse and Watford’s Rocco Vata.

Gray stepped up during Spurs’ injury crisis and showed versatility across the pitch in a number of different positions.

Arsenal’s David Raya was named Goalkeeper of the Year after keeping nine clean sheets in the Premier League so far this season.

In the women’s categories, Guro Reiten was named WSL Player of the Year ahead of teammate Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Arsenal’s Alessia Russo and Frida Maanum and Tottenham striker Beth England.

Chelsea’s Aggie Beever-Jones took home the Women’s Young Player for the second year on the bounce.

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s Aggie Beever-Jones took home the Women’s Young Player award for the second year on the bounce, as her team’s second-highest goalscorer, trumped only by Reiten.

AFC Wimbledon striker Matty Stevens was named English Football League Player of the Year, ahead of Watford’s Giorgi Chakvetadze, Leyton Orient’s Jamie Donley, Bromley’s Michael Cheek and Millwall’s Japhet Tanganga.

Off the pitch, Sir Gareth Southgate was honoured with the Power of Football award following the end of his tenure as England men’s manager last year, during which he reached two European Championship finals.

Former Queens Park Rangers manager and technical director Chris Ramsey was given an Outstanding Contribution award for his influential work, having also received an MBE in 2019 for his services to football and diversity in sport.

Brentford’s Community Sports Trust received a Community Award for their Bee a Hero campaign, which aims to increase the number of blood donors in the areas around the club.

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Newcastle United‘s chief commercial officer Peter Silverstone says the club’s much-anticipated stadium call will “start with the fans” – before admitting they face an “unprecedented challenge” in trying to catch up with the financial resources available to some of their Premier League rivals.

In a week when all of the club’s key powerbrokers, including chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and a high-powered delegation from majority owners the Public Investment Fund (PIF), met in Northumberland to discuss the stadium and Newcastle’s future plans it was Silverstone who broke ranks among the club’s board as he spoke on a panel at the Financial Times‘ Business of Football Summit.

While the much-awaited decision on what to do about St James’ Park is not believed to be imminent – “relatively soon” was the timescale Silverstone mentioned after the club said a call would be in made in “early 2025” last year – two proposals now have flesh on the bone after a lengthy due diligence process.

One is a new build with a capacity of around 68,000, constructed close to the current St James’ Park site, while on the other a possible revamp of the existing stadium which could take it closer to 65,000 seats has been investigated.

It is a neat summary of the club’s current status: tantalising potential but a current reality that feels much more grounded. There is a distance to travel on and off-the-pitch to become contenders and the current inconsistency on the pitch, when they can veer from ordinary to excellent within the space of 90 minutes, is a metaphor for the uncertainty around their future direction.

As the man charged with leading their commercial growth Silverstone has a crucial role. To put it simply: in the era of Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) the only way the club can spend more money on players is by securing lucrative sponsorships. The buck ultimately stops with him if progress on that front slows down.

Here’s what we learned from his comments during a 40-minute panel at the FT event.

Stadium call “starts with the fans”

For those after a definitive update, the wait goes on. But there was less strident talk here about moving from St James’ Park than there was when Brad Miller – the club’s chief operating officer – suggested it would double revenue in an instant.

In reality the decision now lies with PIF, who were briefed by Miller and other board members on Monday about potential options and the preferences of those on the ground. The uncertainty about where the Saudi owners go next perhaps explains why Newcastle officials are still choosing their words carefully. PIF are the ones who decide how all of this is funded.

But still, it was nice to hear fans mentioned in a stadium debate that has been largely dominated by Newcastle’s ongoing tussle with PSR and the impact that has had on a squad that has not been strengthened for three transfer windows.

The perception on Tyneside is that the financial fair play rules have put the club in a straitjacket, with spending having to slow to comply with regulations around rolling losses. It’s difficult to see a way out of that without radical improvements off-the-field and St James’ Park, for all its history and significance, isn’t delivering the sort of revenue streams that more modern arenas are.

But Silverstone framed things slightly differently on Thursday, insisting that the club’s starting point for making a decision was meeting the excess demand for tickets that exists weekly at Newcastle.

“I wouldn’t say (the stadium call) is a dilemma, it’s an opportunity. That opportunity is to meet demand,” he said.

“Richard Masters talked about the Premier League having an audience of 1.4billion. We have the interest and audience of a very passionate city. We are a one club city and therefore we fortunately have an over demand for our stadium currently so we need to look at ways of both satisfying that and allowing as many fans to come in and enjoy the atmosphere of Newcastle and watch their team and then obviously, as everyone has talked about, try and maximise the value in return for ownership.”

He said no decisions have been made yet and, referencing an earlier presentation by Populous managing director Christopher Lee on the future of stadia which had featured some jaw-dropping artists impressions of upcoming projects, said the club were “not yet at that stage”.

“We’re at that point where we’re deciding ‘Is it best to renovate and re-invigorate St James’ Park’ – which is renowned as one of the most atmospheric stadiums in the country – or build a new stadium as these projects have shown and other clubs in the Premier League have done.

“That is a decision which will be made relatively soon. What’s clear is we need to satisfy that demand. Every week we have a very intense fanbase which is determined to come and watch Newcastle but can’t.

“So you start with the fans and how we can service most of them and then look into what’s the best option from that.”

PIF are “extremely ambitious”

For all the talk of a long-term project, there is frustration at Newcastle at the pace of change.

Some of that is due to the regulations, which prohibit excessive spending. But PIF’s methodical approach is at odds with their desire to disrupt in other sports like golf and in their own Saudi Pro League. Sources consistently point out that they see Newcastle as an investment rather than a vanity project and that is why big decisions are considered and there needs to be a strategic approach.

Silverstone’s interpretation tallies with that. Newcastle are still in a “growth” phase, he points out – making reference to a multi-million pound investment in the STACK fanzone which has outstripped revenue forecasts in its first few months.

“I’m in a fortunate position, we have an ownership group in the PIF and Reuben family who are not only extremely well-funded but also extremely ambitious for the club in the long-term so we have been investing, whether that’s in a fan zone outside the stadium which has created double digit (increases) in revenue in a year (or) investing in a retail business. We’re in the build phase, we’re investing to build and grow,” he said.

“Why are we investing? To meet the ambition of the ownership group and fanbase but also we need to generate more revenue to invest in effectively what everyone is buying – the talent on the pitch. Both in women’s and the men’s game we’re investing hugely but (we) are just trying to build at the moment.”

Newcastle face “unprecedented challenge”

Newcastle’s last recorded commercial revenue (for the 2022/23 season) was £46million. Manchester United’s was more than £300million. That simple comparison is why the club has set “relentless” targets for growth and why they face what Silverstone branded an “unprecedented” objective in the modern Premier League.

“The challenge we have – or the opportunity we have – is relentless,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter how much we’ve grown over the last two years, to catch some of the clubs who are way ahead of us we have to keep growing at that double digit growth rate which is unprecedented in the Premier League in this PSR era.”

With no ‘cheat code’ for beating the system – PSR is set to be replaced by squad cost controls which place an even greater emphasis on revenue in 2026 – it is the only way they can invest heavily on the pitch.

A hint on pricing plan

Newcastle are set to unveil new season ticket prices and a new pricing structure for supporters whose long-term, ten-year deals are up in the next few weeks. Given the focus on prices throughout the Premier League it is a potential flashpoint for supporters.

Silverstone though said Newcastle were not considering dynamic pricing – where the cost is put up to reflect demand – and said the need for more revenue was being “balanced by the fact Newcastle is a community club”.

Encouraging noises, at least.

Newcastle keep their powder dry on PSR

There was no bite on PSR or associated parties transactions, two huge issues that have an impact on Newcastle. That feels like a consistent strategy now from those at the top of the club.

While Manchester City’s lawyers are poking holes in the legislation – with a big decision on the future of APTs that could open the door for more lucrative sponsorship deals for Newcastle in the future – the Magpies aren’t kicking up much of a fuss.

Whether that situation changes in the future – and some inside the club believe it could – is for another day. For now, Silverstone seems happy to reflect Newcastle’s desire not to spoil for a fight.

“I don’t see the focus on Newcastle over any of the 19 clubs,” he said.

“We all have to work within these rules and maximise opportunities in our own ways. We’re continuing to do that.”

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Tottenham 0-1 Manchester City (Haaland 12′)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — Sometimes it’s the little things, barely noticed, that can tell you a lot about a player.

Jeremy Doku will be credited with the assist for the final ball across the box to Erling Haaland, but, as Ange Postecoglou pointed out – in his bizarre tirade against assist statistics – rarely does that tell you the full story of a goal.

This one was made 60 yards away, by the movement and skill of Omar Marmoush. It was too early in the swift counter-attack, even, for the replay clips on social media to catch.

From an attacking position, Marmoush sprinted deep within his own half to retrieve the ball coming out of Manchester City’s box and Kevin Danso, the panicked Tottenham Hotspur centre-back, had been forced to go with him.

What Marmoush did next was marvellous to witness: it wasn’t the kind of skill taught by coaches, your Cruyff turn or step-overs, but rather a simple deft touch and gentle spin that unbalanced Danso and carried him, almost floating, around his opponent.

Centre-back dragged wildly out of position, City break on, Marmoush handed the ball off to Savinho and it was worked all the way across the pitch until Haaland ran into a Danso-shaped hole in the Spurs defence to score.

The only goal of the game between two off-colour teams and three vital points that put City in a strong position to qualify for the Champions League.

Back with a bang

Erling Haaland returns to the Manchester City team to sweep home to put his side ahead 1-0 in the capital

@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/m6vvj6TJOX

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 26, 2025

Those who saw Marmoush come through at Wadi Degla in Egypt may have wondered how he had been found quite so deep on a football pitch. Mido, the former Spurs and Middlesbrough striker, gave Marmoush his debut at 17 years old at the club and says the player never had much concern for dropping back or getting on the ball.

He played most of last season at Frankfurt as a striker – leaving the Bundesliga only behind Harry Kane on goals. For Egypt, in his 35 games, he has predominantly played off the right-wing.

At Frankfurt he sometimes played as a 10, and even as an eight in that attacking but slightly reserved central midfield role. What he has shown so far in his handful of City games since his £59m transfer has given Pep Guardiola plenty to think about.

Marmoush prefers playing as a No 10. But Guardiola often has different ideas, sees things players can’t even see in themselves.

As Kevin De Bruyne’s light fades, can Marmoush ease that burden and replace him?

After Marmoush’s debut, when he played off the left-wing, and was replaced by De Bruyne, Guardiola noted that “he’s intelligent at defending” and that “he made incredible movements that players in the middle could not see”.

He is a phenomenal creator, as much a provider as the goalscorer he proved to be in the first half of the season.

Up until his final game in Germany, only five players in the league had created more chances than him. None had carried the ball more times than him – and those long dribbles had resulted in shots more than twice as many times as any other player.

Marmoush has stepped into City’s worst season in years, halfway through it, and is settling remarkably well. Players speak often about the difficulty in adapting to Guardiola’s demands – Jack Grealish said it took him a whole season before he felt comfortable. It will take time to be as close to perfection as Guardiola wishes.

And their unexpected, unusual January transfer window splurge could now pay dividends next season. January signings find it notoriously difficult to make an impact, yet already out of the title race Guardiola has been able to work through that painful transition now.

He started three of the new signings – Nico Gonzalez and Abdukodir Khusanov joining Marmoush in the XI – against Spurs.

Had these players joined in the summer, they would still be bedding in when the season started, but Guardiola can use the second half of this season to massage out the faults and make sure his message sticks.

Qualify for the Champions League and they can begin next season back as title favourites as though this painful campaign never happened – leave it behind as a mere unfortunate ripple in their recent history.

When Guardiola substituted Marmoush with 15 minutes remaining against Spurs he gave the Egyptian a little affectionate hair ruffle on his way to the bench: a job well done. It was another little moment, that might go unnoticed, but said a lot.

As Guardiola attempts to rebuild the pieces of Manchester City into the indomitable team they once were, not so long ago, Marmoush is quickly emerging as one of its future stars.

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

Aidan Callan remembers the first time he saw Matus Holicek play. Holicek was nine years old and had recently been signed to Crewe Alexandra’s academy. Callan recalls how technical his game was, even that young. Not all the ones who stick out at that age make it, but Holicek had a better chance than most.

Fast forward a decade and Holicek is now 20 and a firm fixture in Crewe’s team.

He has international recognition at Under-19 level, has become more of a central attacking midfielder than wide player and has assisted five league goals this season. Last month he signed an extension to his first professional contract. They want to keep him here and his deal was running out this summer.

Crewe Alexandra produce a lot of academy talent. The 12 used in the first team this season is three more than any other team in League Two.

But Holicek is particularly interesting because he represents a new wave of scouting and recruitment that Crewe believe gives them a distinct competitive advantage. The clue is in the combination of Slovakian name and the wonderfully broad Cheshire accent.

Crewe has long had a heritage as a welcome home for migrants from Eastern Europe. Following the end of the Second World War, 160,00 Polish refugees settled in Britain and the largest resettlement camp was built at Doddington Hall to the south of the town.

After the eastern expansion of the European Union in May 2004, it was possible for migrants from multiple nations to relocate to the UK and Crewe became one of the hotspots.

A BBC news report in 2006 said that 6,000 Polish workers alone were living in Crewe, although other studies thought that too high. The 2021 census calculated that 2.1 per cent – a far lower number – of Cheshire East’s population was from Poland or Romania, with Slovakia also a contributor. Still, the community clearly exists.

That migrant population is significant enough that Crewe Alexandra understand the importance of trying to embrace them within the family of a football club that literally exists at the centre of the community.

Social media posts are occasionally published in Polish or Slovak inviting participation in ticket offers. To state the obvious: the language is a barrier but football has no language.

On the Saturday I go to the Mornflake Stadium (although it will always be Gresty Road to me), a family waits at the back of the massive Main Stand: father, mother, young son.

This isn’t the first game that they have been to here, but they only come infrequently. They are buying tickets on the day for Newport County at home, so they’re only a few steps from being hopelessly addicted.

But it’s in the academy that the most fascinating impacts of Crewe’s multiculturalism are being seen.

It makes complete sense in a world where clubs are continually looking to outsmart each other and seeking a competitive advantage. You have a large migrant population who have largely arrived from countries with a football tradition. So you try to tap into it.

“We have an opportunity here – we know that,” says Callan. “We have a new head of recruitment from a different part of the country, and he wants to learn about the local population and how it is evolving.

Crewe Alexandra 0-3 Newport County (Saturday

• Game no.: 65/92
• Miles: 130
• Cumulative miles: 11,122
• Total goals seen: 191
• The one thing I’ll remember in May: The view from the Main Stand in Crewe. On a clear day, I reckon you have a wider vista of England’s lands than from anywhere else in the 92.

“This is a unique chance to tap into what is happening in the local area and bring through a few more Matus Holiceks. This is a multicultural world and that is brilliant. Different cultures add to day-to-day life, but it can also have an impact on football.”

Crewe is an ideal place for this type of movement. It’s a small town and those within the grassroots game and school sport system tend to know each other. As well as scouts that watch games, the club is repeatedly receiving recommendations.

Twelve years ago, one of those recommendations was about a six-year-old named Mikolaj Lenarcik. He was a pupil at a primary school in Crewe, was very shy and could barely speak any English.

He was also a promising outfield player who was eventually turned into a goalkeeper in Crewe’s academy. Lenarcik was on the first-team bench at 17 and, this season, saved two penalties in a shootout win in the FA Youth Cup. He is another that they are very proud of here.

Clearly this is a no-brainer in a practical sense: you have children who may have talent so clearly you break down barriers as much as possible to explore the potential.

But what I find particularly interesting is how these young players differ from those around them. When Callan first saw Holicek, it was the way he protected the ball and surged forward with it that made him different. Even as children, there are stylistic trends in those from different backgrounds.

“Because of that, it’s not just about the individuals themselves, but about how they impact upon the other academy kids around them to create rounded players,” says Callan.

“We take boys over to Cyprus and Barcelona to experience different styles of football. But if that is happening on a daily basis here, players learning from others with slightly different styles, that’s only going to help.”

This is an emphatically long-term project: Holicek was one of the first to develop because his talent was immediately obvious and the timings of his move to the UK fell into place. It is also a game of miniscule percentages: there is not suddenly going to be half a team of eastern European surnames in a Crewe academy side.

But Crewe can be hopeful that this symbiosis becomes fruitful and self-fulfilling.

“The ideal is that this goes hand in hand,” says Callan.

“We know that there is a significant eastern European population around Crewe and south Cheshire.

“If you start to bring through players from those backgrounds, it seems inevitable that local communities within that population are going to be more interested in following that journey and the younger generations of those families will be interested in playing football.”

Which creates unity through football, a natural integration within a diverse multicultural population.

Amid the scare stories from bad-faith actors who seek to cause division, there’s something warming about all this. Matus Holicek, he’s one of Crewe’s own.

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

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Tottenham 0-1 Manchester City (Haaland 12′)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — Erling Haaland’s 20th goal of the season gave Manchester City a precious away win in the race for Champions League football next season as they beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0.

The victory, only City’s fourth away win in the league since the end of August, moved Pep Guardiola’s men back ahead of Chelsea and three points clear of Newcastle United.

Spurs brought on the cavalry in the second half and Son Heung-Min came closest to an equaliser, while Pape Matar Sarr headed over from five yards with virtually the last touch of the game.

Haaland had celebrated a second goal deep into stoppage time, but referee Jarred Gillett and VAR Graham Scott combined to rule it out for handball.

Spurs still have a full back four of defenders sitting out through injury, with Cristian Romero, Ben Davies, Micky van de Ven and Radu Dragusin all missing.

But Ange Postocoglou did also choose to name Son and Dejan Kulusevski on the bench, suggesting the Australian has more than one eye on next Thursday’s Europa League last-16 first leg against AZ Alkmaar.

The Spurs boss did at least bring Pedro Porro, who has played more than any Tottenham defender this season, back into his team to try and deal with the threat of Jeremy Doku.

But it felt like Postocoglou could have named two right-backs or even three and it might not have been enough, given the space afforded to the Belgian on the left flank.

And he needed no second invitation to run at Porro when Omar Marmoush injected pace into the counter-attack and Doku was able to pull it back to Haaland, whom Destiny Udogie had allowed to ghost into the box. The Norwegian had scored six in his last seven games but Udogie seemed happy to let him run freely towards the six-yard box and, even off-balance, turn the ball into the net in the 12th minute.

Back with a bang

Erling Haaland returns to the Manchester City team to sweep home to put his side ahead 1-0 in the capital

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He has now scored at least 20 league goals in five straight seasons, and his strike was the only difference between the sides at half-time, although an animated Guardiola could not quite believe how: first Savinho was left completely unmarked by Udogie, who else, and somehow slipped and scuffed his shot from close range; and then Haaland should have doubled his tally when Doku, who else, was allowed to get to the byline unattended and squared to City’s No 9, who had no excuse for hitting his shot from seven yards into Guglielmo Vicario’s legs.

Haaland, who missed defeats to Liverpool and Real Madrid due to a knee problem, was clearly angry with his teammates as City were frustrated as much by their own profligacy against what has become their bogey team: this side has lost nine times to Spurs during Guardiola’s time in charge, more than any other outfit.

And they were almost punished for their wastefulness 10 minutes into the second half when Porro, pinned in his own half for much of the first 45 minutes, produced a fine cross into the penalty box and Wilson Odobert, on his first league start since September 1, could not quite stretch far enough to direct the ball the right side of the post for the South Stand’s liking.

But they were lifted and with good reason, as Spurs produced their best spell of the game, City completely losing control of a game they utterly dominated before the break.

Player of the Match

Jeremy Doku: Terrorised Porro from the first minute and was unlucky to end up with only one assist.

And Spurs should have been level after 69 minutes when Djed Spence, a second-half replacement for the dismal Udogie just two minutes earlier, surged past Matheus Nunes and found fellow substitute Sarr with the goal beckoning but his shot was well blocked.

On the touchline, Guardiola cut an increasingly frustrated figure, knowing victory would take his team back into fourth place in the Premier League, a point clear of Chelsea and three ahead of Newcastle.

He was right to be worried too as perhaps Tottenham’s best chance of the match came six minutes from time, the otherwise quiet Brennan Johnson setting up Son, but Ederson was equal to the shot with a strong save low to his left.

What a save from Ederson

The Brazilian does fantastically to get down and keep substitute Son at bay, and protect his clean sheet

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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 26, 2025

It looked like a lengthy delay to rule out, correctly, Haaland’s second goal for his own handball had seen out stoppage time, but resurgent Spurs had one last chance.

It was typical of their night that Porro’s cross came off Son’s back and as a result, all Sarr could do was head it over.

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