That concludes the blog on the day the social media boycott was launched for the entire bank holiday weekend, and Tottenham had to look elsewhere for another manager after Eric ten Hag signed an Ajax extension.
A Chelsea return for Ruben Loftus-Cheek? It’s possible. He can’t play for Fulham against Chelsea this weekend as he is on loan and therefore ineligible.
In a shock development, David Moyes has decided he prefers chasing for the Champions League to fighting out a relegation battle. West Ham play Burnley on Monday night.
We have not been thinking about the last two games. I am really excited about the five games to go, we’re in a great position, This time last year with five games to go I was crapping myself because I didn’t know if we were going to be a Premier League team. I am really enjoying that we have got a good team and we’re playing good stuff. We had a couple of bad results recently but prior to that, we had not lost two games in a row. So the big thing now is to keep doing what we have been doing most of the season and that has included winning and playing well in a lot of the games and scoring goals, so we will try and do that again.
Huge game for Chelsea on Sunday in the Women’s Champions League. Suzanne Wrack reports.
Pep Guardiola spoke to a Zoom press conference ahead of a weekend that may decide the title’s destiny. All eyes on Old Trafford if Manchester City win at the Selhurst Colosseum.
The rest we cannot control. It is a tough job. Crystal Palace has always been so difficult for us, I don’t remember an easy game when we play against them. United are an extraordinary team. They’ve arrived in their best form of the season in the last two months. We need five points to be champions. Tomorrow (Saturday) we have an incredible opportunity to make this next step. Once we win this game, if it happens, we will think about what will happen. Now I cannot explain about the feelings in the future because I haven’t experienced it.
The success of the season so far is (based on) the humanity and quality of players - this is the first thing The second (thing) is don’t think much about what we have in front of our eyes - just the next game. We did that.
Can City place one hand on their third Premier League title in four seasons?
Further to that Premier League away day plan, there’s been a rescheduling of matches to the 18 and 19 May after the lifting of Covid restrictions on 17 May to provide an opportunity for each club to welcome the return of supporters to stadiums before the end of the season. That’s subject to the government’s further easing of lockdown restrictions continuing as planned.
The 37th round of matches will now take place in the midweek of 18/19 May. “Further details regarding Match Round 37 will be announced in due course,” say the Premier League.
Premier League looking at away fans plan
The Premier League is exploring the possibility of allowing up to 500 away supporters to attend matches for the final two rounds of fixtures but could face opposition from some clubs.
Outdoor sports venues will be allowed up to 10,000 fans or 25% capacity - whichever figure is lower - from 17 May, with the Premier League set to rearrange the 37th round of fixtures originally scheduled for the weekend to midweek so every club can host one match in front of supporters.
It is understood that chief executive Richard Masters wrote to the clubs on Thursday after the government indicated that it would allow up to 5% of the capacity to be made up of away fans, with talks ongoing over the feasibility of implementing the plans at such short notice.
Several are believed to have already raised concerns over logistical complexities and how to distribute such a limited number of tickets fairly, with the Premier League having asked for clubs to indicate whether they would be in favour of the plans before the weekend.
Good news for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City?
Per Reuters.
Paris St Germain forward Kylian Mbappé will not play in Saturday’s Ligue 1 game against Lens due to a calf injury raising doubts over his availability for their Champions League semi-final against Manchester City.
PSG trail City 2-1 after the first leg in Paris and Mauricio Pochettino’s side will travel to Manchester for Tuesday’s second leg. Mbappé, 22, had recovered from a thigh injury to play in the first leg and played the full 90 minutes on Wednesday.
The Frenchman is PSG’s top scorer this season with 25 goals in the league and eight in Europe, which included a hat-trick against Barcelona at the Camp Nou.
This Mortal Coil, Steve Biko, Albert Camus, Vini Reilly, Dollar’s Thereza Bazar and Ted Chippington. Sounds like Pat Nevin might have made a decent Guardian Sport casual, but you didn’t get that from Micky Droy.
The Fiver is here - The Threer?
Having said all that, it would be remiss of The Fiver to ignore the upcoming four-day sporting boycott of social media disgraces and content hucksters such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Football clubs, organisations and players across the land are removing themselves from the aforementioned platforms in a symbolic attempt to clean up the fibre-optic sewer of abuse that sluices the dregs of humanity into our homes 24-7. This extremely welcome and frankly long overdue show of silent solidarity begins on Friday afternoon at 3pm BST and ideally would end sometime in the year 2525, but in actuality finishes at one minute before midnight on Monday, which is a start, and we’ll grab what we can with both hands.
The boycott of social media by Guardian Sport begins here, and runs until midnight on Monday.
Guardian Sport joins social media boycott in campaign against hate online https://t.co/OGcdMt0yY0 pic.twitter.com/oz78EtFZeP
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) April 30, 2021
A preview of Saturday’s late game.
Ryan Mason, the Tottenham interim manager, has been speaking about the abuse he received when a head injury curtailed his career at just 26.
Listen, I’d be lying if I said certain comments don’t affect you. We’re human beings. I had to zone out of it and had to take myself off social media as a player because I didn’t want to see it. Even after I retired I’d get messages about my injury and certain things, and you almost think it’s another message and I’ll just ignore it. But these things shouldn’t be acceptable. They aren’t acceptable but they just seem to be OK to happen. I think the platforms need to put things in place that hold people accountable for these type of things.
Suzanne Wrack reports on that World Cup 2023 draw.
Jürgen Klopp will not have much cash to spend this summer, he said at today’s news conference, and if Liverpool don’t qualify for the Champions League it won’t make much of a difference.
The club’s latest accounts published this week showed the club made a pre-tax loss of £46m to the year ending May 30, 2020 and there will be further financial hurt to come, the estimate being £120m lost by the time fans can fill Anfield.
Playing in the Champions League is massive, especially financially. If we can’t make it that’s not good, definitely not, but I don’t think it will change anything. The situation is difficult before, it will be difficult after.
Hmmm. The qualifying stipulations are a bit Alan. I’m sure you can work them out. On that bombshell, I’ll hand you back to John Brewin.
The European section of the draw for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand has been made.
England have been drawn in a group of six alongside Austria, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Latvia and Luxembourg.
Scotland take on Spain, Ukraine, Hungary and the Faroe Islands in one of the three five-team groups.
Wales will play France, Slovenia, Greece, Kazakhstan and Estonia.
The Republic of Ireland face Sweden, Finland, Slovakia and Georgia.
- The winners of the nine qualifying groups will progress directly to the finals in Australia and New Zealand
- The group runners-up take part in the UEFA play-offs in October 2022.
- In the play-offs, the three best runners-up will be seeded directly to round 2 of the play-offs. The six remaining runners-up contest three single-leg play-offs in round 1.
- The three winners from round 1 and the three teams seeded directly to round 2 will then compete in single-leg play-offs determined by a draw.
- The two play-off winners with the highest ranking (based on results in the qualifying group stage and round 2 play-offs) will qualify for the finals.
- The remaining play-off winner will compete in the inter-confederation play-offs in Australia and New Zealand.
Tottenham interim head coach Ryan Mason has been fielding Harry Kane questions. And he says Spurs getting Champions League football isn’t the decisive factor in deciding the England striker’s future.
I don’t think so. Harry Kane loves this football club, in the past eight or nine years as one of the best strikers in the world. Everyone knows that, we know that and hopefully Harry knows that.
Tottenham are five points behind Chelsea with five matches to play.
Their run-in looks like this: Sheffield United (h), Leeds (a), Wolves (h), Aston Villa (h), Leicester (a).
Liverpool have never won at Old Trafford in the Jurgen Klopp era. He’s tried six times, losing four and drawing two.
The Liverpool Echo is doing its best to dig out a reason why this weekend will be different and the ‘key’ is that Sunday’s game is being played between two legs of a European semi-final.
These circumstances have popped up 13 times in the last 10 years and the record for English teams in such a position is four wins, three draws and six defeats.
Of course, no-one would blame Man Utd for taking a collective eye off the ball against their biggest rivals as they fret over trying to protect a flimsy 6-2 first-leg lead over Roma.
Updated
Here’s Newcastle boss, Steve Bruce, weighing up some of the pros and cons of social media:
I was talking with my son about abuse a referee was getting and he said ‘Dad, it’s nothing compared to what you get.’ I looked and was like ‘wow’. But on the flip side social media got me my dog back after it ran away from a Firework display.
Tonight’s Premier League fayre is Southampton v Leicester. And we all know what happened in this fixture last season. Look away, revel in it or simply rubberneck if you’re a neutral. Scott Murray will be on MBM duty this evening (kick-off 8pm BST).
Hello. David Tindall here. John has now handed over to me for the next hour. Hopefully I’m more prepared than this Everton team.
Is this the least ready that any football team has ever been for an official team photo? #Everton #Match 1981-10-03 pic.twitter.com/BT9UQ7AZq3
— Scottish Footy Cards (@ScotsFootyCards) April 30, 2021
There’s a thrilling title race on in La Liga, with only three points separating the top four clubs. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla are all in hot pursuit of the leaders, Atlético Madrid, who have a two-point advantage. Barça last night lost to Granada and missed out on the chance to go top.
Atlético go to Elche on Saturday, before Real Madrid host Osasuna. It’s Valencia v Barcelona on Sunday night, before Sevilla play last at home to Athletic Bilbao.
Atlético manager Diego Simeone has been speaking ahead of that Elche game.
You’re just thinking and focusing more than ever on the next game. With four sides so close together I can only think about the next game and put my confidence in the boys who are having a great season. There’s always pressure there. If you play after and your rivals have won, there’s pressure - but you can say the same if you’re playing before them. You just need to focus on yourself in these situations. It’s something new, but it’s good for Spanish football that there’s four sides battling it out for the title. Each game is more important than the other.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atletico Madrid | 33 | 38 | 73 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 33 | 32 | 71 |
| 3 | Barcelona | 33 | 46 | 71 |
| 4 | Sevilla | 33 | 23 | 70 |
| 5 | Real Sociedad | 33 | 17 | 53 |
Updated
Some more context to that Birmingham City Women story: they face the docking of points for fielding an ineligible player.
To emphasise what these Birmingham players/staff have been up against... Lowest budget in WSL, manager got Covid, lost 3 points to Spurs via an FA tribunal, had to play home matches at SGP, players sent board a letter to complain about treatment, countless injuries & now this...
— Emma Sanders (@em_sandy) April 30, 2021
BBC Sport will not be joining the social media boycott.
The reasons given:
The BBC as a corporation cannot take part in the campaign. We have special duties that don’t apply to other organisations under our Royal Charter and editorial guidelines that prevent us from joining lobbying campaigns. So while we have firm policies to deal with online abuse, the corporation cannot join a lobbying campaign no matter how worthy the cause...
To challenge this, the BBC launched Hate Won’t Win pledging to make our social spaces safer. As a result, we have blocked hundreds of users, hidden or removed thousands of comments and worked hard to send a strong message against hate on our posts.
We will continue to work hard, and publicly, to tackle social media abuse and to expose and challenge racism. And we’ll continue to report extensively on the impact of social media hate - and this weekend’s boycott - across our platforms.
Last August, @bbcsport launched its #HateWontWin project.
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) April 30, 2021
We have since blocked & reported hundreds of users, & removed or hidden thousands of comments. We will continue to take action.
Here's the BBC’s approach on the social media boycott in sport: https://t.co/JGNVwhjew7 pic.twitter.com/yNjq5dNfio
This could be significant at the bottom of the Women’s Super League. Birmingham appear to have fielded an ineligible player, Ruesha Littlejohn, against Reading.
Per Suzanne Wrack, our reporter: “Birmingham thought they had met the suspension by not playing her in the FA Cup but it has to be league. The player was due to serve a one-game ban for an accumulation of yellow cards across the season.”
Birmingham have issued a statement.
Birmingham City Women have today, Friday 30 April 2021, been charged with a breach of FA Rule E12 following their Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture against Reading on Sunday 25 April 2021.
The alleged charge is that Birmingham City Women “failed to ensure that a player registered with the club complied with an automatic suspension.”
Ruesha Littlejohn has also been charged with a breach of FA Rule E10. It is alleged that the player “failed to comply with an automatic suspension by participating in the fixture.”
The Club unequivocally supports Littlejohn and attribute this to an administrative error.
Both Birmingham City Women and Littlejohn have until Tuesday 4 May 2021 to provide their respective responses.
No further comment will be made at this time.
Regulation and discipline update on @BCFCwomen pic.twitter.com/NeGi5MUtBN
— FA Spokesperson (@FAspokesperson) April 30, 2021
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 20 | -22 | 17 |
| 9 | Birmingham City Women | 20 | -24 | 15 |
| 10 | West Ham Women | 20 | -17 | 14 |
| 11 | Aston Villa Women | 20 | -32 | 13 |
| 12 | Bristol City Women | 20 | -51 | 12 |
Updated
Ed Woodward issues apology to fans forum
Ed Woodward, the outgoing Manchester United executive vice-chairman, apologised to the United fans forum this morning, saying:
You will all have read Joel’s [Glazer, co-chairman] open letter to fans last week apologising for the Super League decision and I would like to add my personal apology to this forum.
I know that you will feel angry and let down by the lack of consultation and by the way the proposal failed to recognise the vital principle of open competition. Proper discussion would have helped us avoid the mistake we made. While there would have been a substantial increase in solidarity payments from the leading clubs to the rest of the pyramid across Europe, we fully accept that there were fundamental elements which were badly misjudged.
As Joel said last week, we failed to give enough weight to the essential principles and traditions of sporting merit which are so vital to football not just in domestic competition but in European competition since the mid-1950s. We want to restate our commitment to those traditions. I can assure you that we have learned our lesson from the events of the past week and we do not seek any revival of the Super League plans.
Manchester United is fortunate to be in a relatively stronger position than many clubs because of the resilience of our self-sustaining model. We have a disciplined, long-term approach which has allowed us to navigate the pandemic, while continuing to invest in the team, which we will continue to do this summer. We will now continue working with the rest of the football community to address the long-term challenges facing the game. But I can assure you that we will be doing that with great sensitivity to the opinions that you and other fans have expressed in recent days. We will be listening closely to your feedback today, and we’ll be taking it away for consideration as we review how we can engage more effectively with you in future.
The EFL player of the season speaks to Ben Fisher.
Ed Woodward hears United fans' 'disgust' at Super League plan
Outgoing executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward attended an emergency Manchester United fans forum meeting on Friday and was read a lengthy statement that expressed supporters’ anger at the breakaway, and demanded some next steps that are more inclusive of supporters.
Some edited highlights here.
We are disgusted, embarrassed and angry at the owner’s actions in relation to the planning, formation and announcement of the European Super League.
Once again this clearly demonstrates that the club’s owners are only interested in maximising their own profits and do not care about or respect the views of Manchester United fans.
The complete lack of engagement with fans, our players and manager is a gross mishandling of club affairs and one which we cannot forgive. It was an attack on fans and on clubs across the whole of football and we have simply had enough.
Joel Glazer’s subsequent apology is not accepted. Actions speak louder than words and he and his family have shown time and again that their sole motivation is personal profit at the expense of our football club..
...Fair competition is what makes sport so special, yet it is something Joel Glazer et al decided should be removed in preference of a closed-shop approach. It is arrogant and unfair to exclude so-called ‘smaller clubs’ – including the three previously named teams - from being able to reach the pinnacle of their sport...
...We, the fan representatives on the Manchester United Fans’ Forum and on behalf of Manchester United fans everywhere, request you agree to:
1. Willingly and openly engage and promote the government initiated fan-led review of football and use this as an opportunity to rebalance the current ownership structure in the favour of supporters and not approach this review defensively to fight for the status quo
2. Appoint independent directors to the board whose sole purpose is to protect the interest of the club as a football club, not its shareholders and their focus on profits over results
3. Work with the Manchester United Supporters Trust and supporters more broadly to put in place a share scheme that is accessible to all and that has shares with the same voting rights as those held by the Glazer family
4. Commit to full consultation with season ticket holders on any significant changes to the future of our club, including the competitions we play in
5. Provide a commitment by Joel Glazer that any costs incurred in relation to the creation of, or withdrawal from, the European Super League will be funded solely by the Glazer family and not by the club itself. We note that the Kroenke family have already made this commitment to Arsenal fans.
We request a written response to the above points within seven days.
Updated
Chelsea have banned a supporter for ten years for antisemitic messages on social media.
Following the conclusion of court proceedings in February, the Club conducted our own investigation into the matter and has taken the decision to ban the individual from Chelsea FC for a period of 10 years.
Everybody at Chelsea is proud to be part of a diverse club. Our players, staff, fans and visitors to the club come from a wide range of backgrounds, including the Jewish community, and we want to ensure everyone feels safe, valued and included. We will not tolerate any behaviour from supporters that threatens that aim.
Statement on sanctions in response to abusive messages.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 30, 2021
A snippet on Jack Grealish and his ongoing recovery from a shin injury. Dean Smith spoke ahead of Aston Villa’s game with Everton.
The scan has came back and it’s showed a positive scan. We’re loading him gradually and we’re obviously a little bit tentative after the last time. He’s doing gradual loading and won’t be available for this weekend. He’s working on his own at the moment. As I say, it’s going to be a gradual loading. It’s a loading stress injury so we can’t rush him. I think because of the last time [aggravating it before Fulham] he broke down a bit so we’re a little tentative so will probably want to take a different approach to last time. I expect him to be training with us next week.
Some Erik Ten Hag quotes on the Ajax official website. Sorry reading for Daniel Levy?
I know who I am working with, I know what the ideas are, I know what goals we have. I’m happy here. I’m busy with where I am at, that’s at Ajax, that’s where my head and heart are at. You know what it is like with outside of football rumour...it tells you that we’re doing good work at Ajax. I don’t want to rule out that that could have happened, but I know what I have here.
Sean Carroll spoke to Aston Villa’s star player.
The Newcastle manager, Steve Bruce, has added his support to the social media boycott taking place from 3pm today. His team play Arsenal on Sunday.
I worry about social media, not just for the racist stuff which is obviously disgusting. I worry for young people when they’re vulnerable and they’re looking at it. For me the world is a better place without it, but I do understand that it has its benefits too. But I think the governing bodies need to police it better. I don’t think we should all just be able to access [it on] a tablet or a phone. These disgusting messages which are out there are, in my opinion, not right, so I’m all for it. Let’s hope they can have an impact and they police the whole thing a bit better.
More on that Ten Hag story, and more to follow. too.
Ten Hag extends stays with Ajax
That rules him out of the Tottenham picture. And that picture becomes ever cloudier. Perhaps Ryan Mason is the long-term solution after all.
His home? Amsterdam… ❌❌❌
— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) April 30, 2021
+1 for Erik ten Hag ➥ 2023
Manchester United highlight online abuse of players
Manchester United have conducted an analysis into online abuse of their players from September 2019 to February 2021 and found 3,300 posts targeting them and a 350% increase across the period.
According to the study: “Eighty-six percent of these posts were racist, while 8% were homophobic or transphobic - [and] activity peaked in January 2021 with over 400 abusive player posts recorded. The vast majority of racist posts contained either the N-word (and variants on the spelling) or emojis used with racist intent [including] monkey, chimp, banana, gorilla.”
United, who are part of a sport-wide social media boycott that starts on Friday, said they had taken action against six individuals who abused Tottenham’s Son Heung-min online following United’s victory in north London on 9 April.
“Regretfully, suspensions have been issued, subject to appeal, to three season-ticket holders, two official members and one individual on the season-ticket waiting list,” the club said.
The study also highlighted “user-to-user abuse within the football community” and identified a sharp rise from last summer, with 43% of these posts racist, and 7% homophobic or transphobic.
Richard Arnold, group managing director, said: “While these numbers are shocking, they do only represent a 0.01% of conversations that take place on social media about the club and the players. By taking part in this boycott this weekend, we, alongside the rest of English football, want to shine a light on the issue. It will generate debate and discussion and will raise awareness of the levels of abuse our players and our fans receive.”
Ben Fisher, our EFL specialist, reports on Bolton, one win away from a return to League One.
Full round of EFL action this weekend, and it was their awards last night
Norwich City’s Emi Buendia has been named the Championship player of the season.
Peterborough United forward Jonson Clarke-Harris won the League One player of the season award.
Cambridge United’s Paul Mullin was named player of the year in League Two.
It’s time to introduce your @SkyBetChamp Team of the Season! #EFL | #EFLAwards pic.twitter.com/OLtWgODkIZ
— EFL (@EFL) April 29, 2021
And on a similar note, this story.
The Albion Rovers striker David Cox has said he is retiring from football after allegedly being mocked by a Stenhousemuir player over his mental health during Thursday’s 1-0 win in a Scottish League Two fixture.
Cox, who was named on the substitutes’ bench for the game at Ochilview Park, walked out of the stadium at half-time after the incident. The 32-year old said in a video on Facebook he was quitting the game after “again having to deal with some mental health shouts at football”.
Manchester City’s approach mirrors that of the football family. Suppose the next question is whether the social media companies take any notice.
Social media companies must do more to #StopOnlineAbuse. Join us and switch off too, as we collectively demand change.#NoRoomForRacism pic.twitter.com/8LCyK1zLnS
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 30, 2021
More on the social media boycott.
Preamble
This is the weekend the Premier League title could be won, and if it is the celebrations will take place during a social media blackout from clubs, players, football authorities, newspapers, websites, broadcasters and even some journalists.
Manchester City’s Saturday lunchtime game at Crystal Palace holds the key. Win that, and Liverpool win at Manchester United on Sunday and the socially-distanced celebrations outside the boozers of Heaton Norris can begin.
Before that, Leicester can take a huge step towards securing Champions League qualification by winning at Southampton. Their last visit there? A 9-0 win, of course. Saturday sees Brighton, just about the only team who can get pulled into the mire, hist Leeds. Though should Chelsea beat Fulham and take their own grip on the top four then Graham Potter et al might be able to breathe easier. Later on, Everton play Aston Villa in the race for seventh with Tottenham, and perhaps an entry into whatever the Europa Conference League is.
To quote ESPN’s Dale Johnson, the expert on such things.
The FA Cup final is between Chelsea and Leicester, and if the winners also finish inside the top 6 in the Premier League then 7th enters the UEFA Europa Conference League.
There is a chance that Chelsea win the FA Cup and finish 7th or 8th, and in that event 6th would go into the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Sunday begins with all-but-safe Newcastle host Spotify-targeted Arsenal, who have the Europa League semi-final second leg on their minds. Sunday night sees Tottenham hunting the Europa Conference League, welcome Sheffield United, rock-bottom but coming off beating Brighton last week.
There’s a double-header on Monday, and that will reduce Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher’s talk time; West Brom are chasing a miracle and have a derby match with excitement’s Wolves in early evening. And West Ham have a chance to keep the pressure on the top four with the later game at Burnley.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 33 | 45 | 77 |
| 2 | Man Utd | 33 | 29 | 67 |
| 3 | Leicester | 33 | 22 | 62 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 33 | 20 | 58 |
| 5 | West Ham | 33 | 10 | 55 |
| 6 | Liverpool | 33 | 16 | 54 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur | 33 | 18 | 53 |
| 8 | Everton | 32 | 4 | 52 |
| 9 | Leeds | 33 | 0 | 47 |
| 10 | Arsenal | 33 | 7 | 46 |
| 11 | Aston Villa | 32 | 9 | 45 |
| 12 | Wolverhampton | 33 | -13 | 41 |
| 13 | Crystal Palace | 32 | -20 | 38 |
| 14 | Burnley | 33 | -15 | 36 |
| 15 | Southampton | 32 | -18 | 36 |
| 16 | Newcastle | 33 | -18 | 36 |
| 17 | Brighton | 33 | -6 | 34 |
| 18 | Fulham | 33 | -18 | 27 |
| 19 | West Brom | 33 | -34 | 25 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 33 | -38 | 17 |
