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The best way to view progress is always through sporting endeavour. It is a mini-miracle, really. In 2004-05, Bromley were in the eighth tier. In 2013, they finished in the bottom half of the sixth tier with an average attendance of 509.

It keeps going. At the end of 2021-22, Bromley won three of their final 19 National League matches, failing to beat Maidstone United, King’s Lynn Town, Dagenham & Redbridge and Dover Athletic amongst others; all are now sixth-tier clubs. 

Bromley are now top of the fourth tier with genuine hopes of facing a host of former Premier League clubs on an even keel next season. They currently have 17 more points than at this stage of last season and that was the highest league finish in their history. They had the fourth longest pre-season odds in League Two to gain promotion and yet here they are, with a six-point lead at the top.

But the most emphatic reminder of how far Bromley have come is in the away end at Chesterfield. I start counting the number of supporters who have made the journey from a seat across the pitch and make it 134. The official away attendance is 148. Counting was never my strongest suit.

They gather in three distinct groups: a group of younger, louder lads at the back; older gentlemen on the end of rows to stretch out creaking legs; a clutter of younger families towards the front. When their number is announced over the PA system, they stand and wave like dignitaries at Wimbledon. They have had some fun following their team this season.

The change is astonishing, really. I went to see Bromley before their first Football League match and was there for the game itself, a joyous, sunny August afternoon and a fanbase blinking with disbelief at the realised potential. That was a new age and even it seems like a long time ago given the progress.

The off-field work had always been deeply impressive, from moving the 4G pitch piece by piece to the back of the stadium to the club buildings – offices, classrooms, gyms, changing rooms, restaurants and kit rooms – that wouldn’t look out of place in the Championship. The mantra has always been to invest in infrastructure because that – and not the playing budget – is how you take a community with you.

In September, the new East Stand opened for the first time and changed the game again. On the first day of 2026, Bromley welcomed 4.946 supporters into Hayes Lane for a home fixture against Newport County. In 2010, the two clubs met at the same ground in front of 817 people. Promotion to the Football League drew a line in the sand and now Bromley are dancing on it.

Bromley had long been the second team for fans of bigger London clubs or were simply ignored. We have seen other clubs rise up from non-league and keep going: Luton Town, Wrexham, Forest Green Rovers, Burton Albion.

But in recent history, no major city suburban team has done it quite like this. You really do see Bromley shirts in the street now.

Arguably the most impressive element of Bromley’s rise is how players have stepped up to each challenge. Michael Cheek, Grant Smith, Ben Krauhaus and Corey Whitley were the four most regular starters in the National League promotion season; all have been regulars this season.

The recruitment has always been focused. Before the start of last season, owner Robin Stanton-Gleaves told me that there are three non-negotiables: no history of serious injury, must live locally and must be able to play at least two positions.

Last summer, Bromley signed young players on loan or free transfers from the Under-21 teams of Brentford, Crystal Palace, Brighton, Millwall and Tottenham Hotspur. And when Bromley do sign experienced players – only two over 24 last summer – it is to meet a need.

Andy Woodman is the glue that holds this all together. Few managers in the country have been at their club longer and done more with their time.

Woodman is a bundle of touchline energy who has already served two touchline bans this season for overexuberance but, like Bromley, his demands are simple and non-negotiable. There is a way here that works and everybody must fit it. He will make you better if you do.

Travelling around the country to watch EFL football, you often become drawn to its crises, where wastage and mismanagement invite protest and pessimism.

God knows I’ve visited enough half-empty stadiums of disenfranchised supporters to feel glum enough for a year.

It’s far more enjoyable to tell the other side of that story. We should celebrate clubs like Bromley for their simple brand of excellence: logic, investment, communication, long-termism, progress. You can still build up something that brings a community with you. The secret to success: that there is no secret ingredient at all.

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Crystal Palace are in the market for a striker in the January window whatever happens regarding Jean-Philippe Mateta’s uncertain future.

The top target is 19-year-old Angers forward Sidiki Cherif, but the move has stalled as negotiations between the two clubs have been leisurely.

Palace remain frontrunners for the attacker’s signature, with the France youth international communicating that his favoured destination is Selhurst Park.

Cherif, who Marseille boss Roberto De Zerbi describes as a “very powerful player”, has scored four goals in 19 appearances this season.

No big-name Guehi successor

Palace’s main focus in the final 11 days of the transfer window is on acquiring a replacement for club captain Marc Guehi, who joined Manchester City last week in a deal worth over £20m.

Short-term loan options are currently under consideration by decision-makers, who believe a stop-gap option would tide them over until making a permanent addition in the summer.

How Mateta exit bombshell unfolded

Meanwhile Jean-Philippe Mateta is trying to force a move away from Crystal Palace this month and has lodged a verbal transfer request, sources have told The i Paper.

The 28-year-old is out of contract in June 2027, with his camp rebuffing offers of a new deal.

Mateta feels his £55,000 per week wage – which makes him one of Palace’s lowest-paid starters – does not represent his role in the squad.

However, Palace made a substantial six-figure per week offer over a year ago, which would have rectified his pay disparity, but Mateta wanted to keep his options open and declined.

His desire to leave is driven by lost earnings, while he is not convinced that remaining at Palace will aid his hopes of being named in France’s World Cup squad.

The Frenchman earned his maiden call-up to the France senior side in October 2025 and scored on his first start, a 2-2 draw against Iceland.

Why a deal is stalling

Palace are willing to sell Mateta after accepting he will not sign a new contract and are keen to maximise their return on the striker, who joined from Mainz for £15m in 2022.

Their asking price is understood to be £40m, which has limited the market for Mateta.

Serie A has long been Mateta’s preferred destination. Juventus were the most advanced in their interest this month, but their proposal of a loan with a conditional obligation to buy, dependent on Champions League qualification, was deemed insufficient by Palace.

Aston Villa admire Mateta, but are limited by financial constraints. He was also discussed internally at Tottenham Hotspur before the transfer window opened, although the north London outfit does not plan to explore a move.

Palace have set the objective of winning the Uefa Conference League in Oliver Glasner’s final season at the club, with Mateta a key part of the squad – scoring 10 goals in 33 appearances this term.

Mateta has been pivotal to their success under FA Cup-winning manager Glasner, netting 40 times in 92 appearances since the Austrian took over from Roy Hodgson in February 2024.

The situation is difficult for all parties, with the forward keen to leave this month, while interested parties are unable to meet the asking price.

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A Saudi Pro League summer swoop is already being prepared for Mohamed Salah – but clubs will not try to sign him in the January transfer window.

As The i Paper reported earlier this month, Saudi clubs had cooled their immediate interest in Salah, given how Liverpool were reluctant to let the Egyptian go. The two parties reconciled in the aftermath of his extraordinary public outburst last year.

Sources say the fact the 33-year-old was straight back into the Liverpool XI for the 3-0 win in Marseille, days after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations, enhanced the belief among Saudi clubs that they are right to look elsewhere for now.

However, with superstar names returning to Europe en masse from the Middle East, there has been a shift towards signing younger players, a look at their summer plans has caused a bit of a rethink.

While all seems well between Salah and Arne Slot for now, the relationship is far from secure. The chance to say a proper goodbye to Liverpool and their supporters, finishing the season on the pitch, is how Salah would prefer to go out, rather than an acrimonious January exit.

Florian Wirtz’s improvement and Hugo Ekitike’s start to life on Merseyside put them a strong position to lead a Liverpool attack club officials feel can be a success, with Alexander Isak to provide the firepower when back fit.

One source close to the Saudi Pro League transfer process feels a summer move is “inevitable”.

“The January conversation only came about after what Salah said to the media [about being ‘not wanted’]” one source says.

“Now we know it is in his head that leaving Liverpool is a realistic option, and retiring there isn’t likely, we can prepare a proper approach in the summer.

“Salah is a name that changes the appeal of the league to a large number of players.”

N’Golo Kante is the latest big name eyeing a return to Europe, with talks between Al-Ittihad and Fenerbahce ongoing. Former Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte left the Middle East for a second stint with Athletic Bilbao. Ruben Neves could leave this January, while a host of marquee players are out of contract in the summer and are expected to seek new challenges.

The burgeoning Qatari Stars League also poses a problem in that there is another potential Middle Eastern option for players seeking a lucrative final few years of their careers. Roberto Firmino, Marco Verratti and Julian Draxler have joined the growing list of recognisable players in Doha.

Salah is the one name Saudi clubs have always retained an interest in, even as the shift away from ageing players past their best progresses.

A Muslim player of Salah’s stature, playing in an Arab country, could have an even greater galvanising effect on the league’s appeal than the arrival for Cristiano Ronaldo, a source added.

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You could make the case that Paris Saint-Germain next week is shaping up to be the most lucrative match in Newcastle United’s recent history.

It might not sound particularly romantic given they could make sporting history by booking their place in the last-16 of the Champions League for the first time but the bottom line increasingly matters at St James’ Park. To put it bluntly the reason it remains, in the balance that Newcastle add to their squad in the next fortnight – despite the obvious and pressing need to reinforce an injury ravaged squad – is those numbers.

They have investigated deals and spoken to clubs and agents this month. Just last week there were conversations about Joaquin Seys, Club Brugge’s highly-rated defender. But insiders say that with two financial fair play deadlines looming large – the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) date and Uefa’s squad cost target – there’s more than a 50-50 chance that Newcastle stick rather than twist when it comes to recruitment in January.

Frustrating? Undoubtedly. But also another thudding reminder that if the Magpies are to progress as a club, this is the competition they need to be playing in, year in, year out.

Here’s a few figures to consider: Newcastle made a cool £1.8m for beating PSV Eindhoven last night. But they will make £18.7m in one night if they can emerge from the back yard of Europe’s best team on Wednesday with a result that guarantees a top eight place and a fast-track into the knock-out stages.

That is not pocket money for Newcastle. Already this run has banked £25.5m for the club which, after you deduct not-inconsiderable bonuses for the players, will all go almost directly into the summer transfer kitty, when 3 or 4 important signings are anticipated. For a club still in the base camp of their journey to elite, it matters.

And top eight? That would feel doubly significant – partly because of the calibre of opposition they would have had to overcome to get there.

“[Paris Saint-Germain] have won everything so they are the best team in the world,” Yoane Wissa said after his best performance in black and white.

Yet Newcastle – ironically considering their sketchy performances in the Premier League – might actually have a chance in the Parc des Princes next week. In a difficult season one theme feels consistent: the effortlessness of their efforts in Europe.

They now have four wins, one draw and two defeats in the Champions League, a marked improvement on their results last time out. Granted that was in a group of death that contained Borussia Dortmund, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain but their performances this time out have showcased progression on Eddie Howe’s watch. They had control last night and have had a happy knack of making wins against decent opposition look routine.

A lot of the work that went into this season was with that in mind. Managing the squad, dialling down the reliance on full-throttle intensity – these are experiments that haven’t always worked this term but have been a means to an end. If they win in Paris next week, there will be vindication of sorts.

“We have the quality to win there, we showed that against PSV Eindhoven,” Wissa says.

“We need to show some character and we need to play football, because if you give the ball away often it’s going to be difficult. What we did on Wednesday is really important – we played good football against a good team.”

Wissa was one of those who offered a riposte to his critics. The narrative that Newcastle wasted that Alexander Isak bounty has gained traction among certain sections of the fanbase recently but Wissa looked sharper against PSV. He will never be Isak, but his injury was a serious one. He is still playing catch up but his third goal in black and white was also his first ever in the Champions League.

“There’s more to come from me, for sure, because I’m not 100 per cent,” he said.

“I’m close to it and I’m working hard to help the team. Wednesday night was important because I showed the manager I can play and in a good place. Not the best place, but it’s coming.”

That hope will carry them in Paris.

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Sunday was a good day for Jack Grealish, whose optimism may well have peaked to its highest for three years before it came crashing back down this week.

Back at his old digs on the weekend, Everton upset Aston Villa, while Grealish was even offered a warm response from the Villa Park faithful after full-time as he saluted the Holte End.

The 30-year-old was then all smiles in the tunnel, the leading Englishman for assists in the Premier League this season looking relaxed when sharing a joke with England manager Thomas Tuchel.

“Available in March, by any chance?” Or so the conversation may have gone. England face Uruguay and Japan in two months’ time, two friendlies that will help Tuchel turn pencil to pen on his World Cup squad.

On current form, on this season’s form, Grealish would have more than earned his recall, and at that Wembley double-header he could easily have staked a claim to start for England this summer in the process.

But whether Tuchel would have taken the plunge on Grealish for the first time as England manager will remain a mystery, with a foot stress fracture keeping Grealish out for at least 12 weeks.

The timing is a sickening blow for Everton and primarily Grealish, who may have been repeatedly overlooked by Tuchel but never looked beaten, with each omission seemingly spurring him on.

There is a chance to be a national hero in North America this summer and Grealish was on the path to playing his part. He was heartbroken to miss out on Euro 2024 under Gareth Southgate, and was doing all he could in response to Tuchel’s subsequent plea – leaving City, getting minutes at Everton, and rolling back the years under David Moyes.

It was a bold move that paved the way for his England return. Grealish has dictated play at Everton like he did at Villa, albeit with the added aura that age and seven trophies at City brings, and he was on course for his best season in years.

Now though his season may have a few games left, and while the injury is unlikely to deter Everton from attempting to make this move permanent in the summer – when The i Paper has reported the club have a grand £70m plan to rebuild to squad – his World Cup prospects are all-but over.

He would have to make a late, stunning play to make the plane, but the reality is those hopes are slim to nil.

Aiding his cause is that England’s starting place on the left wing remains up for grabs, with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon the leading contenders but neither performing strongly enough to make that position their own.

Rashford has one goal and one assist in his last seven league games for Barcelona, somewhat curbing the positive start he had made in Spain, while Gordon’s return of two league goals is at odds with his Champions League form, where he has scored five times.

Grealish would have to go some to turn Tuchel’s head for another conversation, making this injury a rotten reminder of football’s cruelty and how quickly momentum, and smiles, can vanish.

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The first thing to say is that he is 22 years old. Superstardom in any field tends to reduce age to a blurry footnote, but rarely more so than with Jude Bellingham. Lionel Messi, one of our measures of sporting transcendence almost from the moment he arrived, had played 262 senior matches when he turned 23; Cristiano Ronaldo was on 303. Bellingham still has five months left and is on 346.

Last year was a difficult one for Bellingham, in that he was only named in the Fifa World XI by his peers, the La Liga Team of the Season and voted England’s Player of the Year by supporters. Sarcasm aside: it was the first year when he has come in for criticism. That same old formula – build ’em up to knock ’em down – has a new darling.

Last Saturday, Bellingham was booed by a section of Real Madrid’s supporters during a home win against Levante. There were salacious media reports in Spain of Bellingham enjoying a party lifestyle too much, seemingly with very little actual evidence.

All of this follows from persistent criticism over his England form and demeanour. England are on a stellar run heading into the World Cup; Bellingham has been excepted from praise.

If there are deep-rooted questions to ponder about Bellingham’s professionalism, he’s done a fine job of hiding it. Under-18s at 14, Under-23s at 15, first team at 16, England debut at 17, first World Cup goal at 19 and Bundesliga Player of the Season at 20; these are not the obvious indicators of a wastrel, given the pressure and the competition.

Perhaps what we’re now seeing is some complacency on behalf of the masses. You witness a boy wonder realise his huge potential within the space of three years and you inevitably ask “What’s next?”, as if that is in any way fair. When the demand for more and more quickly falls slightly short, as it always has to eventually, we seek for answers beyond “Maybe the expectations themselves were wrong”.

Part of Bellingham’s problem, I think, is that comparatively we know so little about him. Every part of his career has been on his own terms, from turning down Manchester United for guaranteed minutes in Germany to the fated move to Real Madrid and superstardom. He’s something brilliantly unique: a magnificent English footballer who has never played in its top flight. That means we struggle to get a handle on the man.

Normally, this stuff is addressed by media exposure but Bellingham has never been enamoured with playing that game (and nor does he have to). He speaks his mind on occasion – “A load of shit” was how he described the reports of drinking in the Spanish press – but prefers to not speak at all. That gets interpreted, as so often before, as either sulkiness or arrogance.

If media avoidance is an attempt to reduce pressure, the danger is the opposite. In the absence of information, gossip and overanalysis rushes in to create a clear picture of a footballer who feels slightly ethereal, untouchable perhaps. We like nothing more than to subconsciously place famous people into boxes.

And so social media replies will tell you that Jude is surly or spoilt, as if any of these people really know him. Or they say that he isn’t a team player, to which you’d say: if individualism means pulling England out of canyon-sized holes with overhead kicks, sign me up.

And yes, there is the race thing too. I’m not saying that Spanish football has a race problem that may lead to black players getting more flak and makes salacious allegations about them more likely but…no, that is exactly what I’m saying. Ask Antonio Rudiger. Ask Vinicius Jr. Whether it be unconscious bias or people literally being sent to prison for hate crimes after hanging an effigy, Spain has a long history with this sort of thing.

The great shame would be if any of this brings Bellingham down. The joking goal celebration on Tuesday evening, mocking the notion that he drinks too much, is to be welcomed. But there are signs with England of how this stuff can become self-fulfilling: too much criticism, a brighter spotlight than ever, a harder environment in which to thrive, a player getting a little more browbeaten every day.

The answer, of course, is just to let him be for a while (don’t hold your breath). And to remember that first line again. What were you doing at 22 – clean answers only? Did you make any mistakes? How public was your own life? Did you have the media of your place of work and place of birth implying that you didn’t care enough or behave well enough? Were you forced to be exactly what someone else wanted or woe betide the reaction?

We have to ask what the ultimate end goal is here – a game-changing midfielder continuing to produce his best for Real Madrid and England – and work back from there. Jude Bellingham is not perfect, of course. Nobody is. But if that’s a crime then it is only the fault of the justice system itself.

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Not all football’s laws are framed by rules. During the interminable wait for the Premier League to decide the fate of Manchester City after their 130 charges, it appears something rather more prosaic is calling time on the Pep Guardiola era.

Empires often breach in much the same way, the erosion unseen, unrecognised until it is too late. Is that what we are seeing now? A team so used to winning, so high on its own strength and power, the feeling of success so deeply ingrained, that the very idea it might fail is unthinkable?

The defeat to Bodo/Glimt left that great symbol of City hegemony, Erling Haaland, a muted predator, without explanation for a result that pierced City’s armour in ways unimaginable when Pepball was the game’s peerless reference point.

Falls do not come much greater. The win was the first in the Champions League by Bodo, a tiny fishing port north of the Arctic Circle, and the first for any Norwegian team in the competition since 2007. The familiar metrics were all there, the dominance of possession, the greater number of shots, etc. Missing, however, was the eminence, the control, the unanswerable, big-dog power.

City were so shorn of aura and belief even before Rodri saw yellow twice in the space of 60 seconds, it triggered the notion that Guardiola’s end might be decided by forces unrelated to the impending ruling in the Premier League case against them.

Guardiola has always pegged his fate to City’s proclaimed innocence, maintaining the denials of any wrongdoing made by the Abu Dhabi ownership, however implausible that stance appeared when the charges were laid against them almost three years ago.

More than a year has passed since the case was heard at the end of 2024, a period during which the City hierarchy showed how secure they feel in their position by investing heavily in the squad. Guardiola has doubled down on his position, insisting he will see out the extension he signed on his contract until 2027.

In the absence of any tangible progress towards a resolution, a feeling has grown that City’s grip on power is immutable, that the heavily financed squad renewal would iron out uncharacteristic ripples and get the Guardiola machine rolling again.

One night above the 66th parallel took an anvil to that view. The defeat was similar in feel to the thrashing at Old Trafford, Guardiola’s system abusing its sell-by date with inevitable consequences.

The eight straight victories with which City ended 2025 seem an epoch away. City have not won in the Premier League this year, returning just three points from 12. Though Guardiola was hampered by injuries, plus the unavailability of new signing Antoine Semenyo and Bernardo Silva, that does not account for the sense of drift as the Arctic night went away from them.

This feels more seismic than mission creep in the middle of a long season. City are not just off the pace but out of ideas, unable to address or contain the tactical shifts deployed by opponents who no longer accept their helplessness.

This collapse reprises the failings of last season when the Guardiola system began to creak significantly for the first time. The old certainties established via the agency of Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and peak Phil Foden are gone. Emboldened opponents have adapted to City’s rhythms, found a way to rise, and suddenly Guardiola does not have answers.

His contribution to the game is already experiencing re-evaluation, another sign that the energy has moved on. In a withering recent appreciation Fabio Capello went full, hob-nailed catenaccio, accusing Guardiola of arrogance, of making changes in big games to prove his “genius”. He said his tiki-taka obsession produced robotic, sterile football, killed the vibe and stifled creativity.

Then up popped Bodo’s Kasper Hogh with two goals in two minutes, one a beauty, to total City for the second time in four days and leave a bemused Guardiola talking about fragility and the feeling that things are going wrong.

Now Wolves are on their way to the Etihad, unbeaten in January and fancying their chances. Whether they win or not is hardly the point. That victory for the Premier League’s bottom club is an idea with legs is the real worry for Guardiola, a coach weighing not only his team’s fallibility but his own.

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On 30 May, 2022, the day after Nottingham Forest had won at Wembley and returned to the Premier League for the first time in 23 years, owner Evangelos Marinakis stood on the steps of the Council House in Nottingham’s market square. “Meet you by the lions,” everybody says around here. Thousands gathered in front of them for a party.

The scene was of understandable jubilation, but Marinakis wanted to make a statement; this was just the start. His ambition was never just to get to the Premier League, but to take Forest back into Europe. Few really believed him because what logic was there in that dream?

On Thursday, Forest will play away in Europe for the final time in this season’s Europa League group stage at SC Braga. For those who have managed to get tickets or just gone along for the ride, the trips have been memorable. Seville in September was like a three-day dream sequence, a sea of red shirts and flags and, for a while, a lead and a team taking the piss like the old days.

It hasn’t lasted. The great wastage of this season, in wide shot, is that what should have been the focal point for the joy and energy of supporters has become a complicating distraction. They feasted upon the nostalgia and all of the magnificently-curated club content. And now Europe feels like a domestic cup competition to many.

That’s not entitlement or complacency; at the moment Europe still feels special. But Forest are back in the relegation mix for the third time in four seasons and the financial reality of the situation dictates that staying up has to be the only show in town, for now.

Speak to any neutral follower of the Premier League and they will scoff at these players being demoted to the Championship; entirely fair. But there is an alternative view. Between August and April last year, the glory months under Nuno Espirito Santo and his counter-attacking brilliance that few seemed able to unnerve, Forest collected 57 points in 30 league games.

Outside of that, Forest have taken 104 points from 106 Premier League matches. For supporters, it’s hard to know what is real. Was everything before building up to the excellence of 2024-25 (that then subsided due to injury and fatigue) and everything since severe underperformance? Or were the 30 games just the exception?

Whatever the answer, it’s indisputable that Forest’s off-field work last summer made life more difficult. The appointment of Edu into the position of de facto transfer kingmaker was a desperate misstep in hindsight.

Forest signed 13 players for around £180m and they have started five matches each on average, a figure inflated by Dan Ndoye and Igor Jesus accounting for 28 of those 66 starts.

Against Arsenal at the weekend, when Forest were solid defensively and looked to counter in the 2024-25 mould, 10 of the 11 starters were regulars last season. Jesus was the exception and even that has been impacted by the injury to Chris Wood and underperformance of Arnaud Kalimuendo before his loan departure.

The transfer scattergunning is overshadowed by the managerial psychodramas of this season. A fallout with Edu ruptured Nuno’s relationship with the club. A desire to play a more front-foot style of football led to the appointment of Ange Postecoglou, surely one of the greatest tactical lurches imaginable; he lasted eight games. A desire to stay up led to the appointment of Sean Dyche, surely one of the greatest tactical lurches imaginable. You get the picture.

Dyche has certainly steadied the ship in raw numbers. Forest have more league wins than nine other clubs since he was appointed and as many as Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United. Those results have turned for the worse of late, but grubby wins over West Ham and Wolves keeps Forest’s head above water.

But here’s the thing: if you tell supporters that you want to evolve the style and four months later they’re watching Dyche football, you lose people along the way. Seeing Jesus badly isolated as Forest attempted 52 crosses during a 2-0 home defeat to Everton was like watching a piece of performance art titled “Man makes own head bleed”.

This has been sold as necessary, but it’s only necessary because of what came before and what came before was entirely in Forest’s control. It inevitably causes schisms between supporters, some of whom have been taught to believe in something better and some who have now steeled to not-quite-grinning but bearing it.

Part of this has long been the Forest supporter experience: not quite knowing how to feel because the ground is always moving beneath your feet. Forest have not finished between 10th and 15th in any division for nine years. There is never a dull moment and so never a quiet season. Everything seems geared towards noise, for better and worse. It is exhausting.

As such, it perennially feels like Forest’s next few weeks will define their next few months and then their next few years. That’s never been truer than in 2026. European progress and Premier League safety is within reach. So too is a grim unaesthetic slide towards trouble with Europe only making life harder at home. Answers on a postcard from Braga.

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Everton are prioritising loan moves for the remainder of the January transfer window as the club look to “bank” their PSR headroom in an attempt to go big in the summer.

Within touching distance of the European places that David Moyes believes the club can challenge for in the second half of the Premier League season, Everton find themselves with a dilemma.

Should they invest in January to build on signs of progress that emerged in Sunday’s eye-catching defeat of Aston Villa, or stick to a bigger plan that views the summer of 2026 as a crucial second stage of the rebuild that began last year?

At the moment it is the latter sentiment that is winning out. While Moyes might privately feel he needs to supplement his squad with a couple of permanent signings, the club’s transfer committee are understood to prefer loans and short-term deals. It’s understood that nothing that has happened so far this month has swayed their long-held belief that January offers little in the way of value.

That does not mean there will be no incomings before 2 February, but there’s a real reluctance to spend big on players when there is still so much work to do in the summer.

Deals dwindling

For now loans seem more likely, with the club primarily focusing efforts on bringing in a right-back. There have also been enquiries around strikers but that market is seen as particularly tricky mid-winter.

The i Paper understands that they investigated the financials around a move for Fenerbahce striker Youssef En-Nesyri, who was offered to the club, but at this stage a move for the 28-year-old is rated as unlikely.

Similarly Everton were one of a number of clubs interested in Callum Wilson but senior officials at West Ham now appear to have blocked his exit. Sources close to the former England striker intimated that he wants to be a regular starter, something Everton might have been reluctant to guarantee with Thierno Barry’s upturn in form.

The Toffees have also been made aware of Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s availability at Genoa, although the Serie A side don’t want to allow the 22-year-old to leave on loan. With Juventus and West Ham also interested in the right-back, they would prefer a permanent deal at around the £17m mark.

Interest in loan moves for either Joshua Zirkzee or Kobbie Mainoo – both floated a few weeks ago – has dwindled with the managerial machinations at Manchester United.

Everton will block outgoings, even though there is Championship interest in young midfielder Tim Iroegbunam.

Analysis: Everton’s shrewd business

Given how challenging the market is, Everton’s desire to retain room to spend in the next transfer window makes some sense – even if some may view it as an opportunity missed in a wide open Premier League season.

One financial expert who works with top flight clubs believes a net spend of around £70m in the summer – given transfers are amortised for accounting purposes – would be possible.

“Everton had a hangover from their points deductions and have basically ‘reset’ things since then,” Professor Rob Wilson, a football finance expert, told The i Paper.

“A quiet January makes sense and then they pick things up in the summer.”

“I still don’t see them spending hundreds of millions but if they turn a bit of profit, essentially break even or even reduce losses significantly, then you will see substantial headroom in the summer to continue the model we’ve seen under the ownership of The Friedkin Group.”

In the meantime there is help on the horizon for Everton. They will have the benefit of Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye returning from Afcon, where they were part of the Senegal side that won the tournament.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jarrad Branthwaite are also expected to return soon, giving Everton more strength-in-depth ahead of a run of what look like winnable fixtures.

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There are two images that punctuate Katie McCabe’s decade-long Arsenal career. The first, the early days, meeting just a handful of supporters to sign autographs. The second, on top of a podium, red and white confetti fluttering into the Champions League trophy as she yells into a microphone: “What do we think of Tottenham?!”

May’s European triumph was one of six honours the Irish captain has won in north London, alongside a Ballon d’Or nomination in 2023.

After the recent stalemate against Manchester United left them 10 points behind league-leaders Manchester City, there are those outside the club who have questioned whether Arsenal are on course for more. At the time of writing, though, they are still technically in the running for five honours, including the upcoming Champions Cup.

‘We are still pushing’

“We want to be pushing for trophies,” McCabe tells The i Paper. “When you play for a club like Arsenal, it’s important we stay in these competitions and yeah, if you look at the league mathematically, there is a big gap.

“But things can happen pretty quickly. Teams are taking points off each other all over the league. We need to keep full focus on that and making sure we’re putting in the right performances and keeping our standards as a team as much as possible.”

“There is going to be moments where people have different opinions on things. For us, we ignore the outside noise. There’s been highs and lows. At times, we haven’t been where we want to be as a team. But personally, I like to not look backwards and just focus on how we can be better and how can we get the best out of each other.”

Champions of Europe

After the dreamlike highs of Lisbon, when Arsenal achieved what no English side had done in a Women’s Champions League final since they last won it in 2007, perhaps a jolt back to reality was inevitable.

“It was something I always dreamed about as a young kid in Ireland,” McCabe says. “I’ll never forget it.”

The 30-year-old is something of a rare breed – she relishes the incessance of a schedule that is increasing all the time as the sport grows. The new Europa Cup, Champions Cup and Club World Cup are all aimed at developing the women’s game but inevitably increase the strain on players.

Could women’s football be heading to Qatar?

The inaugural Women’s Club World Cup, still two years away, has reportedly had an expression of interest from Qatar, who want to host it. The women’s game in the Gulf state has been so neglected that it does not even have a Fifa ranking and the tournament would be held mid-season, causing major disruption to European leagues.

A number of high-profile WSL players – including Leah Williamson, in an interview with The i Paper – also spoke out about Qatar’s 2022 men’s World Cup, given the country’s criminalisation of homosexuality.

“The one thing I would say is there are obviously a lot of big differences, culturally, that would need to be considered before a competition like that is confirmed over there,” McCabe adds.

Arsenal’s new era

The workload on players has already been heightened this season, with several of her Arsenal teammates – Williamson, Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo – going the distance with the Lionesses at Euro 2025.

“When there’s a tournament smack bang in the middle of the summer, that has a big impact on how each player comes back into the start of the season. The club did a really good job of getting everyone back in – there’s still five trophies to play for. I try to just embrace the challenge of it, I really enjoy the games coming thick and fast. That might be my competitive nature!”

Arsenal have also transformed their set-up off the pitch as a means of challenging on so many fronts. Head coach Renee Slegers has earned a new deal and Arsenal legend Jodie Taylor has been made technical director. That continues a long tradition, McCabe points out, of the club “giving opportunities to women” in a league with just four female managers.

McCabe’s own 10 years at the club “started with a couple of 100 fans at Boreham Wood – now we’ve got 37,000 at the Emirates”.

“It’s crazy to think it’s been 10 years,” she says. “It’s a really proud thing to look at and know that I’ve played a part in where we are today. I’ve grown up at the club and helped shape where we are now and the history we’ve made.”

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