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Paul Scholes is 51 years old. Apart from starring in his own sitcom with former Manchester United teammate Nicky Butt and “funny man” Paddy McGuinness, in which he channels those miserable old bastards from The Muppet Show, Waldorf and Stadtler, there is little to detain him other than his beloved Red Devils.

For the majority of his retirement, loving United has been hard to do. Though there has been a bounce back under Michael Carrick, the trauma of Ruben Amorim’s moribund reign is all too easily triggered when matters go belly-up, as they most assuredly did at Newcastle. 

There is little more painful in football than watching the opposition curl in an added-time winner, the anguish exacerbated by failing to build on the extra man advantage held for half the contest. So Scholes did the only thing available to an old fella so late at night, he lashed out at the tall bloke with the big coat energy presiding over the whole, sorry mess.

Scholes rowed back from his ad hominem lunge by removing his anti-Carrick rant on Instagram when dawn broke, realising, perhaps, that he had been a little unkind. But not before the keyboard stalkers had papped him. “Michael has definitely got something special about him… cos Utd have been crap last four games… night.”

We’ve all been there. Except most of us did not play alongside the recipient of the darts we throw. Scholes’s resting face is somewhere between joyless and dour, so you can imagine how he might take a reverse as painful as that inflicted by William Osula, who once received a prize at Old Trafford for winning a football skills competition as an 11-year-old.

Scholes has previously spoken highly of Carrick, praising him for the upswing in results and mood since the sacking of Amorim. Yet, whilst he is right in his observation that United have been winging it since the drawn game at West Ham ended Carrick’s four-match winning run, it would not be the first time he has fired off at the wrong target.

You might recall his odd denigration of Lisandro Martinez before Carrick’s first engagement against Manchester City. Martinez made light of Scholes’s heightist insults with the emphatic jailing of Erling Haaland, despite the disparity in height between them. 

Indeed, you might argue that the return of Martinez was the catalyst of that early resurrection, his aggression and tenacity at centre back setting the tone and his brilliant left foot spearing opponents with quarterback-like efficacy.

And now it is Carrick’s turn to take one for the team. There has already been plenty written about the positive impact Carrick has made by simply stripping out the complications of Amorim. Yet the truth remains he is working with a squad too thin to compete against rivals with stacked benches. 

The restoration of Kobbie Mainoo has been one of Carrick’s big gains but in recent matches the limitations of the pairing with Casemiro has been exposed by aggressive opponents who have stretched United out wide and over-powered them through the middle.

Casemiro has been rightly lauded for his positive contributions. He was on the scoresheet again at St James’ Park, yet his inability to track back, and Mainoo’s scratchy defensive positioning, leaves United vulnerable to big units like Joelinton ploughing through the centre.

At West Ham last month, Tomas Soucek, hardly Usain Bolt, ran past Casemiro and Mainoo to prod the home team into the lead. United survived via the capricious arc of Benjamin Sesko’s worldie at the death. Before that United blew a two-goal lead at home to Fulham before Sesko rescued them in added time.

Crystal Palace outplayed United with 10 men and were unfortunate to lose at Old Trafford on Sunday. Newcastle were all over United with a full compliment and though Aaron Ramsdale kept them in it in the second half, few would argue they were anything but deserving winners. 

Carrick made changes without changing anything. That is because the cavalry, such as it is, is lame. Patrick Dorgu will not return before April. None can say when Matthijs de Ligt might recover from a stubborn back injury and Mason Mount is made of balsa. The big miss is Martinez, who was injured in the narrow win at Everton. 

Perhaps the setback is a blessing, a necessary check on the idea that Carrick has all the answers. What Newcastle demonstrated with something to spare is the uneven nature of this Premier League season. Nothing is certain, and none is safe from grumpy old men who stay up too late.

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ST JAMES’ PARK – If this is to be Kieran Trippier’s last lap as a Newcastle United player, how appropriate that it is turning into a victory one.

With everyone at St James’ Park in dire need of this sort of season-defining win to save a listing campaign, a Magpies side whose foundation was experience and know-how delivered in some style. Veterans are not exactly in fashion in the Premier League these days, but boy did they pay dividends for Eddie Howe when he needed them most.

Pick of the lot? That would be 35-year-old Trippier, who most assumed would not be shuffling off the substitutes bench all that much in the business end of the final season of his contract.

"It would've been easy for the players to feel sorry for themselves at half-time"

Eddie Howe reflects on the mentality shown by his Newcastle side to beat Man United with ten men

@lynseyhipgrave1 | @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/YZOoKVWltv

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

How wrong we were. Trippier has played 112 times for Newcastle since a bargain £12m move from Atletico Madrid and yet there is a case to be made that his performance against Manchester United was the best of the lot.

It was certainly his most timely. The walls might not have been closing in on Howe quite as quickly after the Everton shambles as they were when Newcastle slipped up against Brentford but he needed a big win to rescue the season and remind a growing band of doubters just how good he is.

This was that victory, an epic 10-man illustration of all that is good about Howeball. White knuckle pressing? Check. Rapier intensity in transition? That was here. And so too was what has been missing in recent weeks: discipline and a desire to do the ugly stuff in defence.

That is what has always marked Trippier out as different. His technique is great but his reading of the game is levels above as Manchester United found out to their cost at a frenetic St James’ Park. He just never let them settle or build the sort of counter-attacking patterns that have been the hallmark of Michael Carrick’s interim spell.

For those of us who regard Trippier as a modern day Newcastle hero, we can also breathe that bit easier. He has been a great servant to the club but there is understandable anxiety about the number of games he has been forced to play recently. At times there have been signs of tired limbs, too, and the nightmare scenario would be such a fine player exiting after hanging on for too long.

This performance hinted at a renaissance that would be very well-timed. Newcastle have four huge games across three competitions in the next fortnight: come out of games with Manchester City, Barcelona and Chelsea with something to show for it and suddenly the season has a very different feel.

Might it also change the calculus on Trippier’s future? At the moment the prospect of him staying rests at less than 50 per cent. No-one is saying it out loud but Newcastle know they need to drive down the average age of their squad and recruitment prep is being carried out with that in mind.

Right-back is a priority position to strengthen and the word from insiders is they won’t shy away from difficult decisions this summer.

And that sounds about right, because at times in recent years their hesitancy has cost them. Howe likes his loyal lieutenants to the extent that he even wanted Callum Wilson to stay last summer. Retaining Trippier – a known quantity at a time when there is uncertainty over Tino Livramento’s future – might appeal.

But to keep the project rolling, clear-headed calls are required. Sporting director Ross Wilson has to be ruthless when the numbers are crunched on Trippier and another brilliant servant Fabian Schar.

None of that, though, means Trippier is not good enough right now and can’t play a huge role in a season suddenly imbued with possibility again. On Wednesday night he showed just what he can offer. If it is to be the final act, it has the potential to be glorious.

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VILLA PARK — If all goes to plan Aston Villa’s season has 16 games left.

Right now though nothing is going to plan for Unai Emery’s side. Talk of a Premier League title push always felt improbable, and now they are bang out of form a top-four spot is quickly slipping from their grasp as well.

Defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday night was deserved. Tight VAR offside calls swayed this match in the first half, and after Ollie Watkins was denied the goal he desperately needed, Cole Palmer got the goal he was utterly craving to seal a valuable three points for the Blues.

Villa remain fourth, three points above both Chelsea and Liverpool, but with nine league games to go momentum is not on their side. One win in six, three wins in 13. Take your pick, either way that is not the form of a Champions League-chasing team.

But worse than any numbers is the mood inside Villa Park. Some fans left after 65 minutes, when Joao Pedro completed his hat-trick, and thereafter those who remained had given up on anger and replaced it with an apathy that mirrored Villa’s leggy players.

Joao Pedro completes the hat-trick and Chelsea are running away with this tie now @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/tYAJdnbWz9

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

It is no new feeling at Villa Park. That giddy excitement in December, when Villa were pushing Arsenal and Manchester City close after 12 wins in 13, feels like an age ago already, with home defeats in 2026 to Everton, Brentford and now Chelsea proving this place is no longer a fortress.

Now: a decision to make. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, only Manchester City (164), Chelsea (159), Liverpool (156) and Arsenal (155) have played more games, with Villa not far behind (153).

That has made for tired legs, and raises the very real possibility of Villa fighting on two fronts and falling short in both the league and Europa League.

Offer Villa fans one route to the Champions League therefore and surely it is aboard the Ange Postecoglou Express, where the league is sacrificed and the Europa League is prioritised.

Villa are far and above the low levels of Spurs last season (and this one), and yet only one club walked away with an eagerly-awaited trophy.

Add to that Newcastle United and Crystal Palace ending their respective droughts and Villa fans witnessed a handful of clubs get their day in the sun, be it at Wembley or in Bilbao.

Villa’s dream must surely be to make it to Istanbul, where the Europa League final takes place on 20 May. It will take six games to get there and a seventh to win it, and while of course it warrants a gamble to prioritise this over the league – where they still hold the keys for fourth – it is surely worth the risk.

There is only one outcome to the season that will have Villa supporters talking about this campaign in 50 years’ time. They need that night in Istanbul, and though that is walking a greater tight rope, right now the league is not offering them any joy – they simply do not have the form to finish in the top five.

They don’t have the form to win the Europa League, either, and with Lille to come in the round of 16 and Bologna or Roma should they make the quarters, suddenly a tournament Villa are deemed favourites to win looks a tall order as well.

But maybe focusing on those upcoming Thursdays is what it must be about for Emery. He is sorely missing the midfield trio of John McGinn, Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara – only McGinn and Tielemans will be back this season – and 16 games is too much for this squad to handle.

Focus on the seven that could deliver major silverware after a 30-year wait.

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Liverpool need to start again, again.

It may seem somewhat churlish to suggest a club who spent £350m on strikers alone last summer needs an attacking overhaul 12 months later, but the champions have to hold their hands up and admit they got it wrong and go again.

On the face of it, it appeared Liverpool had enjoyed an all-timer of a summer transfer window.

Florian Wirtz was coveted by the continent’s elite. Hugo Ekitike very nearly joined Manchester United. Civil war almost broke out at Newcastle United over Alexander Isak’s departure.

But with the benefit of that oh-so-useful analytic tool – hindsight – the malady that has instead played out is not entirely unsurprising.

With an almighty price tag on his shoulders, playing in a league more physical than it has ever been, Wirtz was always going to take time to adapt.

Ekitike has defied the odds and hit the ground running, but Isak’s injury record always made him an almighty risk.

His goal record is an impressive one, but his arrival is the one where Liverpool crossed the line in being overly indulgent – especially at that price.

The strike revolution would have worked had Salah carried on his flawless ageing process and continued to be Liverpool’s talisman into a ninth season.

In the most simplistic terms, Salah carried Liverpool last term.

Had Manchester City not endured an incongruous off-season and Arsenal’s penchant for the bridesmaid role rolled on, a second Premier League crown would not have been as easy to come by.

Even for the ultimate athlete with more abs than ribs, a drop-off was inevitable.

In a rotating strikeforce that was put in place to alleviate the burden on him, Salah has simply disappeared into obscurity.

While he may have ended his longest Premier League drought at Wolverhampton Wanderers, the rest of his display should signify the final death knell to his Reds career.

The craft has gone, his ability to attest duels now non-existent.

The most worrying lost facet is what separated him from his peers, the drive to keep coming week after week with more fire than before has irretrievably vanished.

There is confidence from Saudi Arabia – should conflict in that part of the world settle down – that a deal can be struck in the summer.

When looking for Salah’s replacement and an upgrade on Cody Gakpo, who supporters are starting to lose their patience with, Liverpool could take a leaf out of Manchester United’s book.

They too conducted a strike overhaul last summer, but with a difference.

While Benjamin Sesko was a risky signing from the Bundesliga, they flanked the big-money Slovenian with two, proven Premier League goalscorers in Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.

It is what United used to do best in their halcyon days under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham, Louis Saha – all snared from lower ranking rivals, when at the peak of their powers.

Isak had the Premier League pedigree, but his injury record would always come back to bite them at some point.

Ekitike is here to stay, as is Wirtz. But if Liverpool are to delve back into the forward market, at least one option needs some Premier League savoir faire.

Antoine Semenyo would have been perfect, but the Liverpool hierarchy didn’t push enough.

Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise would be an expensive option, but one worth splurging on. Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers has a myriad of attributes to make a real difference, too.

Then they can look to Europe for younger, unproven options. Paris Saint-Germain’s Bradley Barcola is an achievable get, while RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande remains a top target.

The other imperative position to address is midfield.

Alexis Mac Allister’s decline has been stark. A full season of offering nothing in attack and defence, when he is supposed to be approaching his peak years, is an almighty burden to overcome.

Dominik Szoboszlai has arguably been the club’s player of the season, but he needs a calming influence alongside him.

Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson would be perfect, but he appears destined to go where all Liverpool targets end up – City. Palace’s Adam Wharton is a fine alternative.

Full-back remains a concern, but Milos Kerkez and fit-again Jeremie Frimpong are likely to improve.

Centre-back issues persist – Virgil van Dijk isn’t getting any younger – but Ibrahima Konate’s form has recovered and Giovanni Leoni will be back next term, giving them better strength.

Two wide forwards and a central midfielder, however, should be non-negotiables.

As should an emotional farewell for Salah, who if he stays into a 10th season, could do some serious harm to his legacy.

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Some of the Birmingham City super project is going perfectly to plan. The designs for the new 62,000 stadium are out, an otherworldly concept of red-brick chimneys and blue panelling.

Architects Populous are on board; they worked on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley. Governmental meetings have taken place over the level of public funding for the Sports Quarter and necessary transport links. 

This is the Knighthead masterplan. Birmingham City Council have precious little financial leeway and hedge fund money sensed an opportunity. Knighthead Capital owns 49 per cent of the Birmingham Phoenix Hundred cricket franchise and a stake in the netball team. Birmingham sport and culture is effectively a distressed asset; private finance usually fills the void.

But Birmingham City has always been the cornerstone of the project because football clubs are the easiest vehicles for rampant ambition to be celebrated by the masses.

Last season, the most expensively assembled squad in third-tier history achieved the highest points total in third-tier history. This season, they wanted a repeat promotion. That is how the hierarchy spoke and they have never apologised for it.

Rebuilding any football club is expensive, but especially one that you have promised to take the moon in absurdly quick time. Birmingham have signed 41 different players on permanent or loan deals since June 2024 and a good number of those were either expensive, on long contracts or both.

Revenues have increased exponentially under Knighthead, both a reflection of its acumen and the work of previous owners. There is an Amazon documentary. Stadium facilities – notably in hospitality areas – have improved so supporters spend more time and money.

Levers have also been pulled. Last month, a deal was agreed to sell 97 per cent of the women’s team to Shelby Companies Limited, a subsidiary of Knighthead. It is an accounting trick used by others but also one that will soon be banned and with good reason. The point is this: lots of money has been spent.

For a while, this was a pure good news story in the eyes of supporters. You can see why: when you have been burnt so many times by supposed guardians, the proven ambition of their replacement will always go down well. And there was not much to complain about. Before Monday night, Birmingham had lost one home league game since April 2024.

But this season has been harder than Birmingham, or at least those who speak for it, ever considered that it was likely to be. The belief that automatic promotion was a hope and a top-six finish the expectation now looks lost; Birmingham have drawn too many home games and lost too many away for that.

The eight-point gap to the top six is not insurmountable, but there are five clubs between Birmingham and Wrexham and the form does not stack up: 13 teams have more points over their last 15 Championship matches.

That has raised questions of manager Chris Davies’ performance in some quarters, including many of those who traipsed out early on Monday night. There are some accusations that carry some weight: penetration without end product, issues in playing out from the back, too much loyalty to certain players and a lack of rotation.

Instead, look further up the food chain. Birmingham signed 14 players last summer, a recruitment drive led by director of football Craig Gardner. Kyogo Furuhashi, the most expensive arrival, has scored one league goal. Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Alfons Sampsted and Kanya Fujimoto have two league starts between them.

Having understood that mistakes were made, Birmingham went big again in January: five permanent signings and two more loans. And yet this team still looks weak at right-back, goalkeeper, one of the central defensive positions and it still does not score enough goals.

The age profile of players signed – 12 of the 14 permanent arrivals were aged 25 or over – proved the “win now” mentality and yet this still isn’t a team that looks ready to do it. That has to be on the club, not the manager.

None of this should be a problem, nor would it be in normal circumstances. Birmingham are an upper-midtable Championship club who have not finished in the top half of the second tier for a decade. This season has been perfectly acceptable, with the glow of a record-breaking promotion still lighting up St Andrew’s.

But Birmingham made this a problem through their naked ambition. Until now, the faith in Davies remains (and he has done a very good job). But how do you marry that with the “win now, take over soon” policy that runs like an aorta through everything Knighthead has said and done?

What does that attitude do to people? Those in charge have no choice but to double down on spending to chase their tails after mistakes because the alternative is to see how things play out. The level of the outlay and the age of those signed – with financial limitations surely soon to be an issue – disallows that.

New players arrive knowing that they have to perform immediately with little room to breathe because everybody has heard what the club says about their expected goals. The manager is criticised for loyalty to certain players, but there is so much change that such behaviour is necessary to retain some control.

And, most obviously of all, supporters are hardwired into impatience. On Monday night against Middlesbrough, all the hallmarks: targeting individual players for jeers, booing at half-time, empty seats at full-time and a bubbling angst whenever Birmingham are not winning.

At some clubs, you could argue for that as evidence of undue impatience or entitlement. But what do you expect when the club itself openly engineered these attitudes? The danger with publicly talking up a desire to constantly move forwards is that it stops people from taking any moment to enjoy the view.

Birmingham City have monumentally grand designs; those have not changed. Maybe they get it right this summer and avoid questions over annual losses through Premier League revenue. Maybe the revenues will grow again and allow another splurge.

But this season has been a lesson in learning that the proof of the pudding at any football club will only ever be on the pitch and that is largely decided by the decisions you make off it. Talking a good game is infinitely easier than playing one. The super project now feels more fragile and half-formed, the mood just a little too fractious for whatever comes next.

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Ukraine Women 1-6 England (Kalinina 58’ | Russo 47’, 51’, Stanway 64’ pen, 70’, Park 78’, 89’)

Nine hundred miles from home, with a resilient but ultimately emphatic 6-1 defeat to England Women, the long exile of Ukraine’s national team continued.

In a near-empty Turkish stadium, here lay a reminder why Fifa’s recent flirtations with a Russian return to football smack of such moral bankruptcy.

Plunged from one warzone into another region of grave uncertainty, there was some doubt as to whether this World Cup qualifier would go ahead at all. The Lionesses had to seek safety assurances from the Government, with further concerns that Middle Eastern air space could close at any moment as conflict escalates.

Ukraine had battled with such bravery to get there that the scoreline almost felt irrelevant. And that is a mood-reader which ought to shame Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who insists banning Russia following Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in 2022 has only created “frustration and hatred” – and that he would “cheer” if they were welcomed back post-war.

The absurdity of that position should not need to be laid bare. To reach Antalya required a circuitous route by Ukraine’s players, who mostly play in their homeland, of a 15-hour bus to Moldova and then a plane. The venue was chosen by their FA but their hand is forced – they have played in Poland and Croatia but cannot play at home.

The national anthem itself was charged with power. While Iran Women declined to sing their own before playing South Korea, Ukraine draped themselves in blue and yellow flags for a fiery rendition.

With symbolic defiance, they held off a dominant England for 47 minutes until two deft Alessia Russo finishes. Yana Kalinina’s goal from Ukraine’s first attack proved only a brief scare. Georgia Stanway’s brace, one a penalty, the other lashed into the top corner, showed how welcome the Bayern Munich midfielder’s imminent return to the WSL will be. She then set up a fifth for Jess Park, who added a sixth with a looping finish.

The significance of this result on the road to the 2027 World Cup will become clear. What was inescapable was the sense of unease.

Russia was first banned because national teams, particularly Poland, said they would not play them. They may have to do so again to ensure there can be no way back for the sporting representation of Putin’s regime.

Otherwise it is over to the marionettes of a sport which increasingly appears devoid of ethical logic – case in point, the plot to build new stadiums in Gaza, allied with Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. Palestine had perfectly functioning grounds of its own until they were destroyed in US-backed IDF bombardments.

As for whether the Kremlin is to be appeased, Russia’s U17s have already been allowed back into competitive action. While Moscow continues to pulverise cities, Volodymyr Zelensky believes Trump, the political face of the summer’s men’s World Cup, could have ended the war.

That leaves the current football ecosystem woefully out of step with the rest of the world.

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We’re a fickle bunch, aren’t we? Not long ago rage against Pep Guardiola’s tiki-taka was in vogue with passing out the back trickling down to League Two.

Now Arsenal are doing us dirty, flooding the six-yard box for corners, scoring from a joint-record 16 of them, and leaving Tony Pulis wondering if he’d be a Premier League title-winning manager were he born 20 years later.

Arsenal get blamed for games they aren’t even playing – that’s when you know you’ve made it – while the hate only gets louder the closer they edge to a first league title for 22 years.

It’s March, Arsenal are still fighting on four fronts, and yet what has proven contagious across the Premier League has also been deemed boring. Sky Sports ushered in Yaya Toure on Sunday, seemingly from an Emirates hospitality box, and he spat out truths against the product that very broadcaster is trying to sell.

“I feel a bit disappointed… We see three goals by set-pieces, for a derby it’s strange,” he said, looking exasperated, and with his woolly hat on, as if he would rather be heading home. “Winning was important for Arsenal, but as a fan I want to see more.”

"I'm a bit disappointed… three goals from set-pieces, a bit strange for a derby!"

Yaya Toure wanted to 'see more' from Arsenal's performance in their win against Chelsea today pic.twitter.com/6zGawzpIdB

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 1, 2026

A Manchester City voice railing against the Arsenal way only deepened the sense among Gunners fans that everyone is against them.

The fact this lends to siege mentality can actually work wonders, with Mikel Arteta already joking about being “very upset” his side did not score a set-piece goal in the win over Sunderland last month, but does this style bother the paying Arsenal fans?

“Many people just do not care but equally many people are finding it very tough to enjoy,” Arsenal fan Moh Haider tells The i Paper.

“It is not an easy on the eye experience watching Arsenal under Arteta this season, but I have constantly reminded myself this season that it’s the title that’s important, not the style.”

Arsenal’s wait for a league title has become more painful with each near miss, and after the Invincibles were dismantled and a softer, leader-less generation followed, they have become ripe for ridicule regardless of whether the football has been nice on the eye or geared around set pieces.

It is a prevalent theme among Arsenal supporters therefore that they would rather win playing ugly than be mocked for playing beautiful football and falling short.

“We’ve played enough good football over the years and not been rewarded for it,” says James Clark. “At the time people used to call us soft and say we didn’t have what it takes to be winners.

“Now we’re doing whatever it takes to win we’re being called boring… I’d rather see beautiful football but winning is the priority right now.”

Arsenal blogger Sash adds: “I’ve seen the team play liquid football from 2007-2018 but it led to nothing. We didn’t come close to competing for a league title and got embarrassed in Europe.

“Part of the reason we play this way in my opinion is pressure… The team is finding ways to get results. It’s 53 games so far this season across all competitions and only three defeats.

“I can understand why that must be frustrating for rivals when they’re used to seeing us get embarrassed for the best part of the last 22 years. So from my side there’s no frustration with the perspective that’s out there.”

The apparent anger against Arsenal’s style is also “disingenuous” according to another fan, Rory Cook.

“We were mocked and criticised for years, for playing pretty football but ultimately having a soft underbelly and not winning when it mattered,” he says. “Now Arsenal are physically dominant and finding ways to win games, it’s a huge problem.”

From the outside, the hate reads like jealousy, and Gooners would be right to feel that way too.

Surely any fan swaps style for substance if it meant ending two decades of being the butt of jokes?

The main risk of course is falling short again, particularly with Manchester City in the mood, but what is proving a winning formula for Arsenal is hardly going to be altered with less than three months to go.

Even if rival fans say they will remember, history soon forgets the manner of how silverware is won.

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Brentford, currently seventh in the Premier League, are still a byword for shrewd management, forward-planning and general business sense.

Keith Andrews has just signed a new contract with the west London outfit until 2032, with the Bees chasing European football. Employing the former set-piece coach at the beginning of 2025-26 to replace Thomas Frank was viewed as speculative, but only from the casual observer.

Andrews knows Brentford intimately. They have essentially built a 4-5-1 system with Igor Thiago as the focal point. Passes, long and short, to the £30m striker, who has delivered 17 goals this season, are bearing fruit. The Brazilian’s response to the Bees’ faith in him after a season-long injury, occurred after his arrival in a 2024 pre-season friendly, is remarkable.

Thiago’s presence has been so potent that memories of heralded ex-stars of recent years, such as Ivan Toney, Yoane Wissa and the famous “BMW” – Said Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins – are already fading.

Andrews’ major tweak

Thiago, recently linked with Chelsea, has extended his Brentford deal. Any notions of a sudden switch across west London would therefore come at a massive premium.

Unlike Frank, Andrews appears more pragmatic in managing players’ game time and is very aligned with all his backroom staff in this, his first head coach post. As engaging as he was, there were suggestions Frank, after almost seven years at Brentford, was perhaps “bigger” than the club.

Niggly injuries to key players are evaporating within Andrews’ culture. Mikkel Damsgaard, a stellar midfielder last term, is injury prone, so the Danish international is being handled with care. The same applies to Vitaly Janelt, Aaron Hickey, Rico Henry and Kristoffer Ajer.

Christian Norgaard was another who played through a pain barrier before leaving for Arsenal last summer, where he has not featured regularly. Moreover, during Frank’s short spell at Tottenham, injuries on an industrial scale were an issue. While this is perhaps coincidental, few players are likely to experience burnout under Andrews’ watch.

Brentford’s transfer plans

No major splashes are anticipated this summer. Andrews will recall left-back Jayden Meghoma, currently on loan at Rangers, as a potential successor to Henry, whose contract is up at the end of this campaign.

Other likely solutions are already wedded to Brentford. Sources close to the club have high hopes for both attacking midfielders Antoni Milambo and Romelle Donovan.

The recycling may continue with a possible exit for Fabio Carvalho, who has only flattered to deceive. Kevin Schade, Ethan Pinnock, Mathias Jensen and Ajer, linked with Wolfsburg, could join him in the departure lounge.

Conversely, Dango Ouattara should add more threat in support of Thiago, and Sepp van den Berg already seems like a long term Brentford bulwark. A £20m fee to Liverpool last August for the 24-year-old is money expertly invested for years.

Andrews, like any other manager, may not be able to predict an exact future, but the Bees remain at enviable altitude.

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Manchester United’s Man of the Match in the 1968 European Cup final is struggling to pay his medical bills – 12 months on from Sir Jim Ratcliffe cutting funding from an organisation that helps former players in need.

The Association of Former Manchester United Players (AFMUP) was set up in 1985 to raise money for charities and to help out when ex-stars need help. However, it is now facing extinction after Ratcliffe withdrew the club’s annual £40,000 donation.

It was part of Ineos’ wider cost-cutting measures and at the time it was announced, it seemed like just another PR disaster for the United co-owner. One year on, the consequences of Ratcliffe’s cuts are being felt.

John Aston, 78 – who edged George Best to the Man of the Match prize in United’s 1968 triumph – has just had a stroke, remaining in hospital having also contracted sepsis.

“When the old boys found out about John’s illness, they gave £5,000, all they could manage, to help buy a wheelchair,” Aston’s wife Gaynor tells The i Paper.

“United, to their credit, matched it. Otherwise, we are self-funding as we are not eligible for government help. If I want to get him home – better to care for him here – we’re looking at costs of £80 per visit from essential nurses, four times a day. I just don’t know how we’ll manage.”

The AFMUP would ordinarily be able offer more financial support for the Aston family, but the reduced funding has left them in a precarious position.

“We’re determined to bring the AFMUP back from the brink,” filmmaker and committee member John Gubba tells The i Paper.

“We had to cancel two dinners and one golf day last year as a result of the funding being taken away and the future looked bleak. It seems like a small amount but over the years the AFMUP turned £40,000 sponsorship from United into more than £2m – by using it to stage those fundraising dinners and golf days.”

The AFMUP normally hold four events per year, but after losing United’s £40,000 donation, they cancelled two events as they struggled to pay for venues and catering.

The i Paper has been told that despite funding being withdrawn, United’s involvement in the last two AFMUP dinners helped to boost fundraising efforts. Chief executive Omar Berrada attended last April’s event alongside Sir Alex Ferguson, Gary Neville, Andy Cole and Jonny Evans. Director of football Jason Wilcox was at September’s dinner. Raffle prizes were donated for both evenings.  

The AFMUP have also helped to support the family of Tony Dunne, another star of the 1968 final, who passed away in 2020. The Dunne family were struggling to cover funeral costs, so the Association stepped in.

Gordon McQueen, who enjoyed a post-playing broadcast career before his recent passing, required assistance with some operations – the AFMUP also contributed to that.

Former United winger and AFMUP committee member Gordon Hill believes the club has a duty to help ex-players.

“The club has the museum and they charge quite a lot for entry,” he tells The i Paper.

“Yet nothing seems to come back to the people who made that history – us.

“We are that history. Without John Aston, United may not have won the European Cup, and millions of fans worldwide wouldn’t have started following the team.

“People who come to see United, especially from overseas, visit the museum. People who come to the city visit the museum. That’s our memorabilia, photos, history. And they make millions off that. Can’t they spare £40,000 for a good cause?

“I don’t dislike him [Ratcliffe]. I agree with him on some things. But he’s still got to realise it’s a football club and not a chemical company. It’s a community club.”

Former youth player, Aaron Burns, still only in his 30s, has joined the AFMUP to help modernise operations. At the organisation’s next self-funded event in April, they are banking on recently retired former stars like Wayne Rooney attending. Bryan Robson and Steve Bruce will be special guests. There are also plans in place to seek out sponsorships and other revenue streams to help the AFMUP rebuild.

“We refuse to let the association die,” Gubba adds. “If Ratcliffe doesn’t reinstate the funds, we’ll find another way to carry on so we can raise more money to give to charities and to help fund medical treatment and other things for former players.

“Our next dinner at Old Trafford on 16 April definitely goes ahead. We owe it to the former players who started this charity over 40 years ago to carry on. And there are many others like John Aston who will need our help.”

After retiring, Aston – whose father also played for United – did not stay in football and ended up running a pet shop in Derbyshire.

“I’m not going round with the begging bowl, we don’t want that,” Gaynor Aston adds.

“We are just trying to do all we can. John has had his last rites twice, but he is a fighter. I just want him home.”

from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/ilXGx6q