Stoke City have sacked manager Nathan Jones with the club second-bottom of the Championship.
Jones succeeded Gary Rowett at the bet365 Stadium in January after excelling in England s lower leagues with Luton Town.
However, having taken over a side that was already falling short of expectations following their relegation from the Premier League in 2018, the Welshman oversaw a continued decline as Stoke won just five of their 34 Championship fixtures under his management.
The Potters form this season has been dire and, although they won back-to-back games against Swansea City and Fulham last month to briefly spark hopes of a turnaround, defeats in their past two matches against Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall mean they are four points from safety with eight poi…
Jose Mourinho should be suspended from coaching and Roma barred from European competitions following the disgraceful harassment of Anthony Taylor after Wednesday s Europa League final.
That is the view of Martin Cassidy, chief executive of Ref Support UK – a charity committed to supporting officials – after Taylor was abused following Roma s penalty shoot-out defeat to Sevilla.
Roma boss Mourinho was fiercely critical of Taylor s performance as Sevilla won a record-extending seventh Europa League title via spot-kicks following an ill-tempered 1-1 draw in Budapest.
Thirteen players were booked during the match, while Gonzalo Montiel scored his winning penalty at the second attempt after Rui Patricio was punished for encroachment after initially saving his kick…
All eyes are likely to be on Yohan Cabaye when Paris Saint-Germain host Bordeaux on Friday.
The midfielder became the latest high-profile addition to PSG s star-studded ranks when he completed the formalities of his move from Premier League side Newcastle on Wednesday, for a fee of around £20million, and he could feature for the first time against Francis Gillot s men.
Coach Laurent Blanc has opted to strengthen in the middle of the park after Adrien Rabiot was ruled out for several months with a knee ligament injury.
The addition of Cabaye will undoubtedly provide yet another dimension to PSG s already fearsome attacking threat, with Bordeaux looking to succeed where others have failed already this season by beating the champions on their own patch.
Blanc s men…
(GSM) French striker David Trezeguet is open to playing for France again after former team-mate Laurent Blanc s appointment as new national team manager.
The 32-year-old striker, who left Juventus to sign a two-year deal with Spanish club Hércules last month, had a nervous relationship with former boss Raymond Domenech.
Hence, Trezeguet retired from international football two years ago after he was snubbed by Domenech for the Euro 2008.
When asked about if he would make himself available for France now that Domenech is gone, Trezeguet answered: Then we ll see what happens.
I know France has talented young players but if Laurent Blanc needs me, he knows he can count on me.
…
Lothar Matthaus said Bayern Munich should never have allowed Toni Kroos to join Real Madrid in 2014, but feels the transfer was a great move for the midfielder himself.
Kroos opted against renewing his contract at the Allianz Arena as he did not feel appreciated, prompting Bayern to cash in on the Germany international to prevent him from leaving on a free at the end of his deal.
The 27-year-old has since developed into a key figure at Madrid and Matthaus thinks Bayern should be regretting their decision to let Kroos leave.
Bayern should have kept Kroos after he impressed at the 2014 World Cup, Matthaus wrote in his column for Sport Bild ahead of the Champions League tie between Bayern and Real.
But he did not get the appreciation he wanted. He want…
Manuel Pellegrini became embroiled in some heated exchanges with the media following questions over Manchester City s form after their defeat to Manchester United.
Marcus Rashford scored the only goal of the game as Louis van Gaal s side sealed a 1-0 win at the Etihad Stadium to close to within a point of their neighbours, who remain fourth in the Premier League table.
Pellegrini walked out of a Sky Sports interview after the match when asked for his view on City s declining home form, with the 2013-14 champions having lost three of their last four home league games.
And the Chilean was equally irked in his media conference later when asked for his explanation over why City have taken just 51 points from 30 matches.
I cannot explain that, no. We are here…
Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri has revealed that he wants to stay at the club for a long time after winning his second consecutive Italian manager of the year award.
The 51-year-old, who guided Juve to a seventh straight Serie A title and 13th Coppa Italia triumph last season, beat off competition from Maurizio Sarri and Simone Inzaghi for the Panchina d Oro.
Allegri has picked up where he left off so far this campaign with a 2-0 win over AC Milan on Sunday maintaining their six-point lead at the Serie A summit.
They are well placed to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages, despite last week s 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United, and Allegri admits he is targeting European success in what he hopes is a prolonged spell in Turin.
I th…
Verdict: Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals
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World champions France are looking to seal the deal with in their Nations League group, and will qualify for next summer s semi-final stage with a point in Rotterdam.
Holland
Starting with the hosts, after Holland failed to qualify for back to back major tournaments, new boss Ronald Koeman has done an impressive job with his Netherlands rebuilding process. Although they may have suffered late heartbreak in Belgium last time out, Holland did leave with a point, even if the former Everton boss will feel that they deserved more. Also picking up a very eye-catching 3-0 win over bitter-rivals Germany last month, they have now lost just one of their last eight matches across all compet…
Microsoft employees have shown off a concept for what an optimized Windows user interface could look like on Valve’s Steam Deck handheld PC, and by extension, how Windows gaming would operate on that system. In a leaked video posted online by Twitter user h0x0d (via The Verge), the pitch details all of the problems that Steam Deck users have with trying to get Windows running on the handheld hardware, and it originates from a Microsoft Hackathon that was held in September 2022.
This internal event, where employees pitch ideas to Microsoft higher-ups in order to get support for them, saw the team present a prototype operating system for the Steam Deck. Led by senior UX designer Dorothy Feng, the launcher allows for games to be opened up from multiple storefronts such as the PC vers…
More corruption claims dogged FIFA on Tuesday, only two days before it picks the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, as Olympics chiefs vowed to probe one of their own officials caught up in the allegations.
As prime ministers and royalty headed for the Swiss city of Zurich ahead of Thursday s two announcements, fresh media allegations even prompted a call for football s world governing body to postpone the decision.
And Russia, one of the frontrunners to stage the 2018 tournament, railed against the move to award two tournaments in one go, saying it encouraged collusion.
The final decision will be made in a ballot among the 22 members of FIFA s executive committee on Thursday, the first time the hosts of two tournaments had been chosen at the same time.
A re…