Sebastian Coe s drive to have Alex Ferguson lead a British football team at the London 2012 Games garnered support on Thursday from British Olympic Association chairman Lord Moynihan.
Seb Coe has strong views about who should be managing the men s team and I completely agree with him, he said.
It is an excellent idea that should be pursued and I am endorsing Sir Alex Ferguson, although I should also say that should the FA find anyone with a comparable name, I should be equally delighted.
Lord Coe, London 2012 Organising Committee chairman, revealed last Sunday that he had held talks with the Manchester United manager about leading the team in four years time.
The 66-year-old Scot is expected to stand down from the Old Trafford hotseat in the next th…
Sunday saw two more Premier League bosses dismissed from their roles.
Graham Potter s sacking by Chelsea followed on from Leicester City cutting ties with Brendan Rodgers.
That pair of dismissals took the total count of managerial departures for the season to 13 in England s top tier. Twelve of those have been sackings.
According to Opta, it is the most managerial sackings in a Premier League season by three.
The previous high mark of 10 (set in the 2013-14 season and equalled in 2017-18) was matched last season.
Yet this campaign has been even more extreme. Here, Stats Perform assesses the 13 managers to have departed.
Scott Parker Bournemouth (August 30)
Just four league games had passed when Bournemouth became the first club to …
Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick as Paris St Germain won 3-0 at Reims for a fifth straight Ligue 1 victory to move top of the table.
Luis Enrique’s side produced the required response from the midweek Champions League defeat by AC Milan to keep the pressure on Nice, who were held to a goalless draw at Montpellier on Friday night.
However, despite taking an early lead, PSG had to overcome some testing spells at Stade Auguste-Delaune before Mbappe settled matters late on.
MBAPPÉ S HAT-TRICK GIVES PSG THE TOP SPOT IN LIGUE 1
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG)
Mbappe had given the visitors a perfect start by opening the scoring after just three minutes with a superb finish.
Ousmane Dembele swung the ball in from the right and Mbappe dispat…
Italy can continue their unbeaten record in Euro 2012 qualifying when they face Estonia in Modena in Group C on Friday.
Cesare Prandelli s side have won four of their five matches so far and top the group by five points, with Estonia six points behind the leaders in fourth.
Prandelli has selected a strong squad for the visit of Estonia, in what he describes as a decisive match.
Estonia is going to be the decisive game, Prandelli said.
I want a group prepared to graft. We ve always struggled when we play in June and September.
Prandelli has tasted defeat just once as national team boss, that coming in August when Italy were defeated 1-0 by the Ivory Coast in a friendly.
That was his first match in charge, but Prandelli has since shown h…
Republic of Ireland manager Martin O Neill believes his side s next opponents Belgium have the best players at Euro 2016.
Marc Wilmots men are much-fancied at this tournament, but fell to a 2-0 defeat in their opener against Italy.
However, with Ireland hoping to build on their 1-1 draw versus Sweden, O Neill insists that the quality within the Belgium squad makes them a dangerous proposition.
They have, if you look at them, the most talented set of individual players at the tournament. They are very, very dangerous, the former Sunderland boss said.
The Italy game was always going to be difficult, they had three or four chances to score and didn t take them and it will be a tough night for us – but we want to make it tough for them as well.
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Five places in the finals and several playoff berths will be on offer when Euro 2012 qualifying concludes on Tuesday.
England s 2-2 draw in Montenegro on Friday secured Fabio Capello s side top spot in Group G, and saw them become the fifth team to secure a place at next year s tournament in Poland and Ukraine as group winners.
Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands are the other teams to have already qualified.
The nine group winners and the best runner-up qualify automatically, with the eight other group runners-up being thrown into the playoffs.
In Group B, Slovakian hopes ended Friday after a 1-0 home defeat against Russia.
That left Dick Advocaat s Russian side two points clear of the Republic of Ireland, and three ahead of third-placed …
Neymar said he is going to give everything to win the World Cup next year as Brazil look to vanquish the demons of 2014.
The 2014 World Cup was supposed to be Brazil s time to shine on home soil, however, the South American giants suffered a demoralising 7-1 semi-final loss to eventual champions Germany.
It was a result that sent shockwaves through Brazil and world football but fast forward to 2017 and Tite s men now head to the Russia showpiece with renewed belief and loom as one of the teams to beat.
Brazil only lost once during CONMEBOL qualifying to book their ticket to next year s tournament and Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar insisted confidence is high.
The respect towards the team now is different to what it was three or four years ago after the …
England have staggered and stuttered their way through Euro 2024, but they are nevertheless in another semi-final.
For the third time at a major tournament under Gareth Southgate, the Three Lions are in the last four – the only competition in which they have failed to reach that stage since the start of the 2018 World Cup was in Qatar in 2022.
Standing between them and successive European Championship finals are the Netherlands.
Ronald Koeman s team were unconvincing in the group stage but, unlike their opponents in Dortmund on Wednesday, have clicked into gear in the knockouts.
Whereas England required extra time – and a Jude Bellingham stunner – to break Slovakian hearts, and then stayed perfect from the spot and relied on a save from Jordan Pickf…
Trent Alexander-Arnold says he is absolutely gutted to miss England s Euro 2020 campaign after suffering a thigh injury against Austria on Wednesday.
The Liverpool full-back was the centre of heated speculation ahead of Gareth Southgate s decision to cut his preliminary squad to a selection of 26 this week.
Alexander-Arnold was picked, though, along with three other recognised right-backs in Kyle Walker, Reece James and Kieran Trippier.
However, the 22-year-old will play no part in the competition having gone off injured late on in the 1-0 friendly win over Austria after clearing the ball.
Alexander-Arnold, who faces around six weeks on the sidelines, posted an image on his Twitter account on Friday with the caption: Absolutely gutted.
Sou…
Real Madrid will begin their bid for a first LaLiga title in five years with a trip to Real Sociedad on the opening weekend of the 2016-17 season.
Zinedine Zidane s side are scheduled to meet Clasico rivals Barcelona on December 4 at the Camp Nou before hosting the return clash five games from the end of the campaign on April 23.
After the initial Clasico clash, Madrid will travel to Japan to take part in the Club World Cup between December 8-18, meaning the Champions League holders will have a home-match with Deportivo La Coruna and trip to Valencia that are scheduled during this period rearranged.
Madrid will face capital city rivals Atletico Madrid on November 20 at the Vicente Calderon and April 9 at the Bernabeu.
Real Madrid s 2016-17 La Liga fixtur…