THIS IS MANAGER TIME!
Euro 2024 is sooner than you think. Because on Saturday evening, of course, there is the draw for the finals to be played in Germany. This will take place in Hamburg at 17:00 GMT since you asked for it and the balls are being prepared for the 24 finalists, but let it be 21 as far as we know, because the play-off round is yet to be decided. There, 12 nations will meet other such nations who have been given a second chance by improving their qualifications but with a UEFA Nations League equation that would have Nicolaus Copernicus reaching for his Casio scientific calculator. All 24 teams will be announced around midnight on March 26.
Who will present this football festival where the dreaded phrase “the beautiful game” will be scattered like confetti? Or did FIFA copyright this? Details are sketchy, at least on English Google and on social media, putting the TwiXer to shame. The venue is the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, which normally hosts orchestras and the like. While just last month there was a three-day tribute to the music of Kurdistan, this week Bill Frisell, one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 21st century (it says so here), was scratching his head on his guitar.
This award makes one wonder who, instead of Pedro Pinto and Reshmin Chowdhury, will accompany the bespectacled man who performs procedures on Football Daily like Big Website’s Philipp Lahm and Giorgio Marchetti, with whom Gianni Infantino once made jokes in the same style. he established his trademark before moving on to some things. Can Angela Merkel, who is probably working on her memoirs in a shepherd’s hut these days, be persuaded to enter the local raffle? The guests’ wish list would include Christopher Waltz, Ralf Hütter, Nastassja Kinski, the boys from Modern Talking and, yes, The Hoff if we keep going.
Hamburg is the port city that gave the world Kevin Keegan’s tight perm years and where the Beatles spent 10,000 hours training on the Reeperbahn before becoming truly great. On Friday, as a start in the 2. Bundesliga, St Pauli will host HSV in a social encounter at 16.30 local time. This is the most important clash between the Wi-Fi Marxists and the fallen European champions of 30 years ago. It’s been a long time since Felix Magath put cheese on his hips and scored the winning goals against Juventus. As for the mechanics of the draw, six groups of four will be selected from four pots, narrowing the 24 to 16 for the group stage, with the four third-placed teams advancing to the last 16 and Scotland being sadly eliminated. They return home with Del Amitri ringing in their ears.
LIVE ON MAJOR WEBSITE
Join Luke McLaughlin at 19.45 GMT for MBM coverage of England 0-0 Netherlands in the Women’s Nations League.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I knew the pitch wasn’t right at the start and you could see how we were, a few of our players struggled with it. We’ve been on a lot of travel and it’s as tough an environment as you can play in” – Aberdeen manager Barry Robson praises his team for bouncing back from two defeats to draw 2-2 at HJK in the Tin Pot He was briefly stopped by Dons fans who threw snowballs onto the pitch and later Snow plows were brought in to clear the field.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
It’s been a long time since I’ve had one of these, but the news about Shane MacGowan reminded me that every time I hear Naby Keïta’s name mentioned, I immediately sing the chorus of The Pogues’ Navigator. It’s so perfect I can’t believe they didn’t sing this song at Anfield. Anyway RIP Shane” – Alan Ferneyhough.
It was a pleasant surprise to see Truro City grace the pages of Football Daily (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). I was a member of the youth team in the halcyon days of 2007 when the club won the FA Vase before reaching the Conference South. Since then it has been a sad (but familiar) tale of financial overreach, administration, 10-point deductions and relegation. Treyew Road, the last home ground since 1900, has been sold (now a Lidl) and the club is suffering the ignominy of having to play home games in Devon while (gasp) a new stadium is being built. We hope new ownership can bring back the glory days. Finally, don’t worry about those who call Cornish football ‘farmers’ league’, they were all playing rugby” – Jack Stokes.
Answer: ‘The chaos that has plagued Manchester United behind the scenes for years has finally spilled over onto the pitch’ (yesterday’s Football Daily). Finally? Can I be one of the 1,057 people who remind you of this?” – Rob McPheely (no others).
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. The winner of today’s letter is… Alan Ferneyhough, who received his latest copy of Carrie Dunn’s excellent Woman Up.
THE ROAD TO WEMBLEY
Horsham boys, Horsham boys, lace-up boots and corduroy trousers. Yes, they are the lucky losers of the FA Cup and the Lardy Army will travel to Sutton United in the second round on Saturday following their reassignment. Chairman Kevin Borrett tells Ed: “The most profitable outcome would have been a draw followed by a replay, but I am aware that for our game against Barnsley in the previous round we had volunteers taking a week off work to help out.” Aarons has this feature. “A replay against Sutton would be a huge logistical challenge but I’m sure everyone will be able to do it if they have the opportunity. It would have been easier to win against Sutton, then we could relax and watch the third round draw.” For those interested, on Sunday at 13.00…
NEWS, TITS AND BOBS
Cristiano Ronaldo faces a class-action lawsuit seeking at least $1 billion in damages for his role in promoting cryptocurrency-related NFTs issued by beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Police officers were injured as a result of violence by Legia Warsaw fans before the Conference League match played at Aston Villa. Villa said in a statement: “Despite numerous requests for cooperation regarding traveling fans, particularly in the last two days, there has been no assistance from the visiting club regarding the serious safety of away fans.”
As expected, Everton have officially appealed the decision to deduct them 10 points for breaches of Premier League profit and sustainability rules, with the outcome of this expected in the new year.
Jurgen Klopp has told Liverpool’s forwards they must share the workload of a tough December schedule after they booked their place in the knockout stages of the Big Vase with a 4-0 win over Lask. “This is the busiest period in world football for all teams coming up,” he roared. “So they will all play.”
Brighton and West Ham also managed to at least advance to the play-off round, following 1-0 wins at AEK Athens and Backa Topola respectively.
Rangers, who drew 1-1 with Aris Limassol at Ibrox, must wait until the last match of the group to advance. “It was the first time I had real disappointment in the dressing room, they were not happy with their performance,” said Philippe Clement with a sigh.
Erik ten Hag has defended under-fire André Onana and insisted the Cameroon international is among England’s best goalkeepers. “If you analyze well, you will see that according to statistics he is the second best goalkeeper in the Premier League, so expected defensive goals is the second best goalkeeper in the Premier League,” Ten Hag said.
Bristol Rovers have appointed Matt Taylor, who was recently dumped by Rotherham, as their new manager. This means that if they are still in charge of the League One clash between Pirates and Shrewsbury on April 1, it will be Matt Taylor vs Matt Taylor.
And Jeff Stelling is back, baby. He will return to the screens as the host of Prime Video’s Every Game Every Goal show.
STILL WANT MORE?
Premier League. Ten things. This weekend. Now you know the drill.
Before the USA! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! The country that dominated the women’s football scene was China. Ryan Baldi reports a team is trying to regain promotion.
Hipsters v Rothosen: Will Magee in the derby between St Pauli and HSV.
Michael Butler meets Maidstone goalkeeper Lucas Covolan to talk about their FA Cup second round appointment and his journey from Rio de Janeiro through Spain to Whitehawk, Worthing, Torquay, Port Vale, Chesterfield and now Kent.
WITH MEMORY STRIP
FA Cup custodians Hassan Enahoro (left) and Roy MacDonald carry the trophy in his bag at Chasetown in 2008. The Midlands side managed to get through to the second round, playing Port Vale again, so our snapper David Sillitoe spent. A few days following the cup before the third round. They would eventually lose 3-1 to Cardiff City; Still not a bad achievement for a team that was, at the time, the lowest-ranked team to reach this stage.