EFL clubs will next month vote on an expansion of the Championship play-offs to six teams after being given approval to pursue the radical change by the Football Association's board - The Guardian
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Thomas Frank sacked as Tottenham Hotspur head coach. #THFC working through various possible contingency plans to replace 52yo Dane as club sit 14th in Premier League - 5 points above relegation zone after 2 wins from 17 matches @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/wy09K1KjjB— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) February 11, 2026 Thomas Frank gone.
Helpful for my thesis that managers are grossly overrated. Frank was lauded for his work with Brentford and got the job at Spurs on the back of this. Yet Brentford have continued to prosper in his absence. Brentford are owned by Matthew Benham who is an Oxford physics grad, a professional gambler and an expert in data analysis. He uses his expertise in these fields to find quality footballers that are somewhat unknown through data analysis. Frank was not the reason why Brentford prospered, it was in fact the players brought by Benham and his team. Frank may have even been holding them back. Give the Spurs job to a random English manager from The Championship and they'd most likely significantly outperform Frank.
I think tactics are grossly overrated but managers matter quite a lot. I just think coaching is far more of a psychological discipline than anything else. "Tactics" in the modern game have a detrimental effect as often as they have a positive one imo. The game belongs to the players and any tactical setup is only good if it's based around empowering the qualities possessed by those players, which unfortunately many aren't.
When you have heavily analytical driven teams most things are determined for the coach. Going from that to Spurs is like going from one extreme to the other. The difference I think is most top teams want a top coach to gain an edge (motivational, tactical, pattern of play etc) with their elite player options. Analytical teams try to eke out a collective type of efficiency.
As a Boro fan, this would’ve benefited us several times since we last got relegated in 2017 and I still think it’s a ludicrous idea. We were nowhere near deserving and/or equipped to get promoted in those seasons or even have a shot. The teams that finished third/fourth were significantly better than us and that applies to any other club that finished 7th/8th compared to 3rd/4th. There’s arguably already a strong argument that the playoffs should be scrapped for a more meritocratic option of just having a top three get promoted, despite the drama and excitement of them.
Agree on the above. Is personally scrap them, but it's money talking here. Also, teams get no real advantage from finishing higher in the playoff positions, and the team that comes third are often dealing with disappointment going into the games, whereas a team who crept in after a late hot streak can be flying.
On a macro level, I do wonder whether the disastrous tenures of Frank and Amorim, together with the way things have gone very south for Slot, marks the end of a certain breed of coach at the highest level. It feels like these technocratic, process oriented figures just aren’t cut out for the big jobs. Aside from their own lack of personality and ability to deal with the scrutiny of managing these big clubs, the fans of these sides also don’t connect with them at all. I always used to think that DNA was overrated and overused as a concept in football. However, when I look at the relationship that United fans had with Amorim, Chelsea with Maresca at times, Spurs fans with Frank and increasingly Liverpool with Slot it becomes more obvious that it’s a very real thing and not just a tenuous buzzword. I wonder whether we’ll see a renaissance of coaches with big personalities like Mourinho, Klopp etc over the medium term.
As a Blackburn fan twice we finished 7th. We would have been absolutely humiliated if we gotten promoted
The Super League is dead. Real Madrid settle with UEFA and abandon it. I wonder what they offered Real Madrid through. BREAKING: Real Madrid pull out of European Super League project after agreement with UEFA https://t.co/891YoiWodF— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) February 11, 2026
Breaking: Man United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says in @skynews interview “the UK has been colonised by immigrants”Speaking to @EdConwaySky https://t.co/VnkmAZckYu— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) February 11, 2026 Feel like from a footballing perspective this will have a negative effect on Man United’s English players present and future who are not always popular with their international online fan base. It might also cause Carrick to be associated negatively if he gets appointed full time.
He talks a lot about UK politics for a bloke who moved his business out of the UK to avoid paying UK tax, isn't predominantly a UK resident, yet wants the taxpayer to fund a new stadium for the club he owns. The hallmark of a true patriot. He's also a complete ********ing dimwit since he claims in the interview that the UK population has risen by 12 million people since 2020.
Replacement migration is happening and at an accelerated pace, the governments own ONS figures demonstrate this. The liberal establishment's response so far has been to deny reality and then get confused when people gravitate to the "far right". Interesting to see members of the billionaire class that is in large part responsible for this making noise about it though. Maybe because they sense which way the wind is blowing with AI and automation on the horizon? In any case I think the scope for a football-relate discussion on this is going to be pretty limited.
Technically he's correct. For over two thousand years the UK has been colonised by immigrants. Celts, Romans, Jutes, Saxons, Vikings, Normans just to start with.
I think it will go into a football discussion because of the major split it’s causing within Man United’s fanbase with several fan groups putting out statements and politicians reacting. If it was international week now the media would be trying to get players and Tuchel to comment. Carrick is lucky he doesn’t have a press conference until next Thursday or Friday.
Feel conflicted as I actually like Forest as a Club, just one of those great Clubs from my youth that just sticks with you growing up but my god I kind of want them to get relegated, just can’t stand the mafia boss who runs them, such an unlikeable character.
This. I think everyone who grew up in the 70s and the 80s have a soft spot for Forest, Clough, European Cup etc., but Marinakis is perhaps the most obnoxious owner in English football, which is an achievement in this field of competition.
Radcliffe obviously meant what he said, otherwise he wouldn’t have said it. You can disagree with him, but all these people asking him to apologise are stupid. It’s completely hollow.
Israel and Ireland in the same Nations league group. That will make the Villa/Maccabi match look mildheated. Ireland have confirmed they will not boycott despite being in favour of an Israel ban from UEFA. (I think if they had (Or end up doing) boycotted it it would put their matches at Euro 2028 at risk both from UEFA reaction and domestic reaction here in England).
People attack Arteta’s playing style which is fair enough but it feels like he’s never even watched most of the players his team has signed for him.
Slot is one of the most unlikeable managers I have seen in a long time. An excuse or explanation in almost every press conference and zero accountability.