CHRISTMAS WITHOUT COOPERS
When last year’s reboot of Friday night TV staple Fantasy Football League rose like a phoenix from the Flames on Sky, it was largely well-received, even if a sketch satirizing Nottingham Forest was met with opprobrium in the back pages of your ever-smug Daily. Mail. In a segment gently mocking the newly introduced club’s 29 summer signings, one of the presenters impersonated Steve Cooper; this involved little more than him speaking in a slightly cartoonish Welsh accent and half-lidding one eye. She was later reprimanded by the Comedy Police for the heinous crime of “significantly altering her appearance” to belittle the manager in a skit described as “cruel, rude and incredibly poorly judged”. Football Daily can only speculate as to how brutal and rude this gentle attack might actually have been if the Welsh comedian responsible wasn’t a die-hard Swansea City fan with a well-documented love for Cooper that’s stronger than 10,000 suns.
An amiable, seemingly ego-free man of the people with no airs or graces, the recently sacked Forest manager was similarly held in high regard by the City Ground’s regulars, in no small part due to the end of their 23-year exile from the Prime Minister . Not only because he’s in his league, but also because he’s a really nice and humble guy. Few managers, other than Marcelo Bielsa, have been bombarded with as much unreserved affection as Cooper during his time at Leeds, and he has spoken of his apparent embarrassment at being serenaded by traveling Forest fans during and after the 5-0 defeat at Fulham. It speaks volumes about the club, the fans and their relationship with this unassuming Welshman who brought them back to the promised land.
While it could be argued that Forest’s decision to get rid of him, five points clear of the relegation zone, was cruel, rude and profoundly bad, the unhinged Greek billionaire who tossed the strings that sacked him, I’m considering replacing Cooper for a while. So his dismissal on Tuesday was met with wistful sadness but not a huge surprise. Touted as a potential replacement for Roy Hodgson when the Crystal Palace manager is put to pasture or driven back, Cooper is expected to be highly sought after and will not be out of work for long.
Nuno Espírito Santo, who will take responsibility for Forest’s home defeat against Bournemouth on Saturday, must place the club in the upper reaches of the Premier League table, where ambitious owner Evangelos Marinakis feels he belongs. The Portuguese, who last failed to endear himself to Spurs fans during a short and fruitless tenure on these shores, will have to sleep with his eyes open if his regime gets off to a similarly underwhelming start.
LIVE ON MAJOR WEBSITE
Join Scott Murray at 20:00 GMT for hot MBM coverage of Liverpool 3-1 West Ham in the Milk Cup quarter-final; Sarah Rendell will also be on hand for updates from Häcken 1-2 Chelsea in the Women’s Major Cup.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I feel very ordinary, which I love. I’m getting on the tram [Manchester City] In training, it feels like I’m playing local football. I definitely googled myself after the World Cup but I try to stay out of that kind of stuff… to know who I am and not be bothered too much by others… I just try to be sincere and if that makes someone want to follow a dream then that makes me happy ” – Australia’s Mary Fowler tells Caitlin Cassidy how Greater Manchester’s public transport system has helped her stay grounded after a tremendous year for her and women’s football.
TOP 100
Whine if you want, but you’ll still want to click on to the final part of our countdown of the 100 best men’s footballers of the year – now we’re heading towards that all-important 41st place.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
In a sport with more pundits than 19th-century India, any opinion of Rio Ferdinand (yesterday’s Football Daily) must be followed by a clip of him trying to man-mark Lionel Messi in the 2011 Grand Cup final. Just enjoy it buddy. I did it” – Kev McCready.
Not just because I watch York City and love them, but can I just say that losing to York wasn’t Citeh’s lowest point (yesterday’s I Still Want More, full email edition)? “I think playing in the very ill-fated Club World Cup in Saudi was probably the lowest point and if things go the way they are, there will only be more low points in the future” – Jon Millard.
Mick Beeby (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) opens the floodgates by inviting more player behavior proposals to extend VAR’s correction of ‘clear and obvious errors’. Restrict the use of nicknames, names and inappropriate abbreviations on players’ jerseys; As I recall, it all started with Cruyff Junior using ‘Jordi’ in an understandable desire to differentiate himself from his father. Unfortunately he let his football do the talking on this one” – Alan Giles.
Mick forgot to mention walking on his lawn and the music being played loudly after 5pm” – Mike Dax.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. The winner of today’s letter is… Kev McCready, who received a copy of Matt Tiller’s excellent book The Lion Who Never Roared, published by Pitch Publishing. Visit their bookstore here.
FURRY ENEMIES BECOME FRIENDS
♫ It’s time to forgive and forget ♫ Christmas is love, Christmas is peace ♫ It’s time for hate and fighting to end ♫
No, we weren’t expecting to write the lyrics to Cliff Richard’s 1988 festival hit Mistletoe and Wine either. But that’s what came to mind when we saw this photo of PSV Eindhoven mascot Phoxy inviting his furry rivals from other Dutch clubs to the Philips Stadion for Christmas dinner. His message: “Competition is something that only happens during the match. Happy holidays, friends!” Yes, Phoxy!
WE RECOMMEND YOU LISTEN
In a Football Weekly exclusive podcast, Max Rushden and friends look ahead to the Human Rights World Cup a year later and ask: Where are we now?
WE RECOMMEND VIEWING
If your teenagers aren’t as keen on geek trivia as you are, show them this video of the best football moments of 2023, stunning goals, clumsy mishaps, toddlers and pitch-invading dogs.
NEWS, TITS AND BOBS
The Lionesses went on to claim the Sports Personality of the Year award – with Mary Earps picking up the gloves for this year’s gong, following Beth Mead last year.
Matches have restarted in Turkey after the leagues were suspended due to Faruk Koca punching referee Halil Umut Meler. Against Trabzonspor. The match was abandoned. Sigh.
Fulham and Chelsea progressed to the Milk Cup semi-finals after Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier and Everton’s Amadou Onana softened their respective lines in the penalty shoot-out (and in the England defender’s case, in injury time). Middlesbrough also made it to the last four after a 3-0 win at Port Vale. “We’re not stupid – we know whoever gets the draw will want to play us – but we’ve got the chance to have a final that’s an inspiration in itself,” cheered Boro boss Michael Carrick. “Sometimes the door of opportunity opens, and I thought we walked through that door tonight.”
Forest Green continues to live up to its values with recycling managers at a world-record breaking pace. But it is good news for Troy Deeney, who takes up his first managerial role after David Horseman was mutually approved and dumped into the green box.
Manchester City will face Fluminense in Friday’s Club World Cup final after defeating Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0 in Jeddah. Rodri hopes winning the tournament will eliminate the “very bad feeling in the dressing room” caused by some recent concussions.
Brazil’s team doctor says Neymar’s slow journey back from crossover skill will not be completed at next June’s Copa América.
Get your Plymouth Argyle 2024 calendar now! Stoke City’s new manager Steven Schumacher stars in the leading role.
MOVING GOALKEEPS
The latest edition of our sister email is out today and takes a look at Paris FC and the maverick plans to break out of the shadow of their superclub neighbours.
A… ON THE FUTURE
“We have seen how AI in chess has invented some strange strategies that are difficult for humans to accept. They were counter-intuitive, but ultimately they were right. This is one of the most interesting aspects of the emergence of AI in football… such as going from 4-4-2 to 2-4-4. AI will offer highly counterintuitive solutions and strategies, but the outcome will be the same as in chess” – Aldo Comi, chief of global football analytics provider Soccerment, wonders if Pep Guardiola is actually an AI, tells Football Daily. empowered administrative cyborg.
STILL WANT MORE?
Here’s our festive Facts, including the first player to score a goal on Christmas Day, the pitch that became a Real Ice Rink, plus the big name his father was asked to do on December 25th.
Will Unwin investigates whether Forest’s appointment of Nuno was a bit of a move.
It seems like just yesterday everyone was saying West Ham were slow to spend the Declan Brass Money. Ben McAleer notes that Edson Álvarez is a big reason why no one laughs anymore.
Ryan Baldi is saving European football observers some work by recommending the top MLS targets for them next month.
And here’s Peter Bradshaw’s review of Next Goal Wins: Can Michael Fassbender do funny things?
WITH MEMORY STRIP
To the 1993 Wimbledon Christmas party, where Joe Kinnear was pictured enjoying the festivities. He looks like he’s having more fun than he did on Tyneside a few years later.