Coming off a 32-goal campaign in the First Division, Andy Johnson took the Premier League by storm in 2004-05.
Second to only Thierry Henry in the Golden Boot race, Johnson scored 21 goals in the season despite playing for a Crystal Palace team which went straight back down.
There was more than a whiff of controversy following the Bedford native, however, with 11 of his goals coming from the penalty spot.
Palace’s 11 spot kicks was five more than any other team, and Johnson was often responsible for manufacturing fouls in the area.
Those 11 goals from the spot helped Johnson earn a place in the Team of the Year, and saw him finish with seven goals more than third in the scoring charts, Robert Pires.
It was not enough to sway Palace’s fortunes in EPL tips, though, with West Brom pulling off a great escape on the final day of the season.
As the top scoring Englishman in the Premier League, Johnson was called up to the Three Lions part way through the campaign.
He was more than a penalty specialist, exhibiting some clinical finishing throughout the season, but this campaign was a clear outlier in what became a journeyman career.
Johnson had 22 goals in all competitions in 2004-05, a tally he never replicated. Injuries were partly to blame, with the 5’7 striker scoring 17 in 39 appearances following Palace’s relegation.
Upon his return to the Premier League with Everton, though, he was a long way off reproducing his penalty-driven production from 2004-05.
Luka Milivojevic has scored 10 penalties this season. Only Andy Johnson has scored more in a single #PL campaign (11, also with @CPFC)#NEWCRYpic.twitter.com/1XnWmcbf9q
Just a couple of years removed from upsetting Premier League betting odds to be named in the Team of the Year, Johnson signed with Everton. He scored 22 goals in 74 matches for the Toffees.
Fulham clearly believed Johnson could be one of the best Premier League strikers, and two seasons later splashed over £10 million on the England international.
Across four Premier League campaigns with Fulham and one with QPR, Johnson’s return was a meagre 27 goals in 116 appearances.
It was not only at club level that Johnson’s career tailed off. He never scored for England in eight appearances and ultimately retired before his 34th birthday.
Finding the same form and fortune as he did in 2004-05 was always improbable, but fitness issues had a significant role to play in Johnson’s career declining as abruptly as it did.
For that one year, he was a star of FPL predictions, and so, so nearly carried Palace to safety.
He hung around longer than some of the Premier League’s other one-season wonders, but the 2004-05 season is what will live longest in the memory.
While there must have been deep frustration in the years that followed, the heights of that peak are worth the lows.
Johnson didn’t have the longevity of many of his peers, yet so many Premier League players never get to experience what he did in 2004-05.
The England caps and the Team of the Year selection, would never be traded for a couple more 10-goal campaigns later in his career.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
Sam is a sports tipster, specialising in the Premier League and Champions League.
He covers most sports, including cricket and Formula One. Sam particularly enjoys those on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean – notably MLB and NBA.
Watching, writing and talking about sports betting takes up most of his time, whether that is for a day out at T20 Finals Day or a long night of basketball.
Having been writing for several years, Sam has been working with 888Sport since 2016, contributing multiple articles per week to the blog.
Into the twilight years of his career, Ashley Young is Aston Villa’s club captain during his second stint with the club. Young is a depth piece at this stage, starting just 10 Premier League matches in 2021-22 along with 14 substitute appearances.
This is only part of the Ashley Young story, however. He starred alongside some of the best Premier League strikers, he was an England regular and even had a surprising stint at San Siro with Inter.
He first made his name starring for a Watford team favoured in Premier League relegation odds, but Young quickly climbed the Premier League hierarchy to build a significant medal collection.
From his latest contract to career moves and a surprising link to the greatest of British F1 drivers, let’s learn a bit more about the former England international.
How Much Is Ashley Young Worth?
Ashley Young net worth is reportedly £7.4 million. Obviously, the vast majority of Young’s net worth was accumulated during his nine-season stay with Manchester United.
Young had what was likely a lucrative deal with Nike during his peak years at Manchester United.
Never the most marketable of footballers, however, the Stevenage native didn’t have the same catalogue of endorsement deals as many of his peers.
Ashley Young Contract
Despite leaving the club as a free agent on July 1st 2022, Ashley Young extended his contract for another season a few days later.
Along with the new deal, he was named club captain, though midfielder John McGinn was picked as on-field skipper by Steven Gerrard.
It’s unclear what Young’s salary is exactly for 2022-23, but Spotrac had him down for £50,000 per week in 2021-22.
There is a decent chance that he has taken a slight pay cut given his role in the squad, though Gerrard spoke very positively of Young back in March.
He's a player who can come in and do any job on a football pitch. There aren't many people who can do that, especially at his age as well.
"He's one of a few, like James Milner, who are a manager's dream. Certain situations crop up where you need someone to come in and do a certain type of job.
"It doesn't matter whether it's on the left, the right, in the middle, in attack, it doesn't matter what you ask them to do, they just carry it out. People need to give Ashley Young a lot of credit for being able to do that."
Villa have invested heavily in their first team over the last three transfer windows, with several players paid considerably more than Young in 2021-22.
He will have fallen further down the list this summer with the signings of Diego Carlos and Boubacar Kamara.
Ashley Young Career Statistics
Ashley Young has played in over 640 club matches, scoring 84 goals along the way.
Young’s England career began in 2007 and he made his last appearance in 2018, finishing on 39 caps with seven goals despite a hiatus between 2013 and 2017.
Predominantly a creator rather than scorer, Young has over 120 assists to his name in club football, with a career-best return of 16 assists in 2007-08 for Aston Villa.
Starting his career with Watford, Young made 110 appearances for the Hornets before joining Villa for the first time.
Across four and a half campaigns in the Midlands, he appeared 190 times for the Villains ahead of a high-profile move to Manchester United.
Across almost a decade at Old Trafford, Young had over 260 outings and then had a short stint with Inter by which point he had shifted to playing full-back or wing-back.
Lewis Hamilton Link
Ashley Young attended the same school, and played in a football team alongside seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton.
The Saint John Henry Newman Catholic School has quite a claim to fame, having produced arguably the greatest racing of all-time and a long-serving Premier League star in Young.
It’s an overstatement to say Young is in Hamilton’s shadow, but there have been moments where he has not responded too positively to his schoolmate being brought up during interviews.
Ashley Young Transfer History
Joining Watford’s academy at just 10 years of age, Young debuted for the club in September 2003. He made six total appearances for the club that season and became an integral part of the side in 2004-05.
Having caught the eye in the Championship, Young continued to impress with Watford in the Premier League. Halfway through his debut topflight campaign, Aston Villa spent almost £12 million to take the then 21-year-old to Villa Park.
Four and a half years later, Young had earned numerous individual honours, including a couple of selections to the PFA Team of the Year.
Manchester United came calling in the 2011 summer window, splashing over £16 million on Young and handing him the number 18 shirt.
While already highly regarded, this was a real step up in the world of Premier League predictions, and Young was under considerable pressure to deliver. He did just that, winning his first and only league title in 2012-13.
Into his final few seasons at Old Trafford, Young moved into a deeper role, often used as a wing-back.
Being adept in this role is what made Inter sign Young for around £1 million in January 2020. The Nerazzuri had, and exercised, an option to retain the Englishman for the 2020-21 season.
At the end of this deal, he re-signed with Aston Villa on a one-year deal.
Ashley Young Honours
Premier League – 2012-13
FA Cup – 2015-16
EFL Cup – 2016-17
Community Shield – 2011
Europa League – 2016-17
Serie A – 2020-21
Watford Player of the Season – 2004-05
PFA Team of the Year – 2005-06 Championship, 2007-08 Premier League, 2008-09 Premier League
PFA Young Player of the Year – 2008-09
Premier League Player of the Month – April 2008, September 2008, December 2008
Sam is a sports tipster, specialising in the Premier League and Champions League.
He covers most sports, including cricket and Formula One. Sam particularly enjoys those on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean – notably MLB and NBA.
Watching, writing and talking about sports betting takes up most of his time, whether that is for a day out at T20 Finals Day or a long night of basketball.
Having been writing for several years, Sam has been working with 888Sport since 2016, contributing multiple articles per week to the blog.
Since breaking into the top level of motorsport a few years ago, Pierre Gasly has faced an up and down time in Formula 1 betting.
Initially impressing with Toro Rosso, Gasly had a brutal half-season alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull, but has once again been exceptional in the AlphaTauri.
While not in a car with a chance of being picked as a winner in Formula 1 betting tips, Gasly has consistently outperformed his teammates and proven to be one of the best drivers on the grid.
He is waiting for another opportunity in a race-winning car, though it’s unclear what the future holds with Red Bull extending Sergio Perez’s deal.
The Frenchman is competing in his sixth Formula One season, and his fifth full campaign.
While he hasn’t been among the highest-paid drivers during his career, Gasly has still been handsomely rewarded throughout his time with Toro Rosso, Red Bull and now AlphaTauri.
Part of their driver program, Gasly is obviously endorsed by energy drinks company turned motorsport giant Red Bull.
He is also associated with Blomm and Berger, a Swiss headphone company, and entered into a partnership with Crypto Gaming recently.
This places in the bottom half among F1 drivers in 2022, with only six drivers receiving less money per season. That group includes Gasly’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda and the driver he was swapped for in 2019, Alex Albon.
Halfway through the 2022 season, it was announced Gasly has extended his deal with AlphaTauri for another year, taking him through 2023.
This was a direct response to Perez staying on at Red Bull. Left with few other options, Gasly will hope to impress at his current team and potentially earn a switch to a more competitive car.
McLaren is a potential landing spot if Daniel Ricciardo departs after 2023.
Upon the announcement of the contract, Gasly said, "I'm happy to remain with my Scuderia AlphaTauri team next season.
"This year's new regulations have created new challenges for us, and being able to plan our development with the team for the next 18 months is a good working basis for the future."
Who Is Pierre Gasly's Girlfriend?
Pierre Gasly’s girlfriend is Katerina Berezhna. A Ukrainian social media influencer, Berezhna has kept her relationship with Gasly relatively quiet.
The majority of Formula One drivers choose to keep their private life away from the glaring eyes of social media, and Gasly has been no different.
Rumours recently surfaced that Berezhna and Gasly have gone their separate ways. The relationship status of the AlphaTauri driver is currently unclear.
Pierre Gasly F1 Win
Pierre Gasly never achieved a podium, let alone a race win, during his half-season with Red Bull. Not only overshadowed by Max Verstappen’s net worth, Gasly was horribly overmatched and the environment became incredibly challenging.
He was rejuvenated when he returned to the sister team, earning his first career podium at the penultimate race of the 2019 campaign.
A matter of months later, Gasly went one better, winning his first ever Grand Prix at Monza. A dramatic race throughout, the Frenchman held off Carlos Sainz in the McLaren to claim victory by under half a second.
In post-race interviews, Gasly cited his fighting spirit, not only from his turbulent time on the track, but also having to cope with the loss of childhood friend Anthoine Hubert.
"It's amazing. I'm honestly lost for words, it's unbelievable, I've been through so many things in 18 months, it's better than anything I expected.
"I'm not someone that gives up on anything. I've always had to fight for everything in my life since I was in karting. My drive to be better is so strong.
"I've got no words - it's an amazing day. It's been so long since another French winner! I never expected this, I'm so happy!"
It was an historic race, with Gasly becoming the first French race winner since 1996 and AlphaTauri becoming the first team outside the big three to win a race since 2013.
"This team has done so much for me. They gave me my first podium and today they've given me my first win.
"It feels amazing and a big thank you to all these guys. Most of these guys are Italian, they'll be having a great time.
"I literally gave everything I had. I pushed so hard to open up a gap. The last five laps were so difficult. I'll be sleeping next to the trophy, that's for sure!"
Naturally, the praise came flooding in from Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Martin Brundle and many others.
Gasly ensured he wouldn’t be on the list of the best drivers to not win a race, and it’s a day that he can always cherish regardless of how the rest of his F1 career plays out.
Speaking to Autosport several months after his maiden win, Gasly explained how the emotions from that day remained with him.
"I remember every single second of that race and of the celebration It's something which is in my mind and will never go away…
"It was something quite incredible. This year, Mercedes won pretty much all the races, except Max [Verstappen] and Checo [Perez] - and us."
The trophy is kept in Gasly’s apartment near the track, serving as a source of motivation on a daily basis.
"When I'm in Italy in my apartment, that's where I stayed over the [Monza] weekend, it was the first time to sleep at home for a race weekend.
"I'm sat exactly there, the same place I had my breakfast before my win, and I see the trophy and kind of feels pretty special.
"It's a great motivation. Every morning, I take my coffee with the trophy in front of me, and think 'yeah, we've done it'. It's not impossible, even though we were a midfield team.
"That should be a motivation for all of us in the team to try and repeat as much as we can, strong performances like we have had in Sao Paulo or in Monza."
Gasly Drivers’ Championship Results
2018 – 15th, 29 points
2019 – 7th, 95 points
2020 – 10th, 75 points
2021 – 9th, 110 points
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
Sam is a sports tipster, specialising in the Premier League and Champions League.
He covers most sports, including cricket and Formula One. Sam particularly enjoys those on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean – notably MLB and NBA.
Watching, writing and talking about sports betting takes up most of his time, whether that is for a day out at T20 Finals Day or a long night of basketball.
Having been writing for several years, Sam has been working with 888Sport since 2016, contributing multiple articles per week to the blog.
This was a really interesting venue for me to visit. It is a recently opened sports hub designed mainly for use by women and girls for their football training and matches.
The burgeoning popularity of women’s football is lovely to see and hosting the Euro Finals in England this summer will leave a vital lasting legacy to inspire the next generation of female footballers.
National publicity will continue to grow and this will drive lucrative sponsorship and advertising deals. In fact I firmly believe that men and women football players will be paid the same wages within the next 10 to 20 years.
This will give girls like my three year old daughter the chance to eventually have a rewarding career as a professional footballer which is fantastic. The very best possible job!
Ground Description
It is located at the end of a large new housing area on the western edge of Milton Keynes where 2,200 homes have been built along with a local centre and a primary school.
Entry to the Fairfields Sports Hub is via a lane which leads to the large car park. The inclusion friendly main clubhouse contains spacious changing rooms, offices, a kitchen, educational facilities and meeting rooms.
It has recently been hosting workshops for female football coaches as well as “watch” parties for the big matches in the Women’s Euros.
Spread around the outside of this building, there are four natural grass pitches whilst my match took place on a FIFA-certified full size 3G artificial playing surface. This is fully fenced off with floodlights and a spectator viewing enclosure down one side.
Interesting for me to visit a new sports hub that has just been opened specifically for football for women & girls
— Tony Incenzo - football reporter (@TonyIncenzo) July 24, 2022
Supporters can also watch from the grass banking that surrounds the perimeter cage.
The launch publicity for the Fairfields Sports Hub stated that it “has been specifically designed to provide female players, coaches, and officials with all the amenities they need to feel comfortable within the football environment.”
The overall site is managed on behalf of Milton Keynes Council by the MK Dons Sports & Education Trust - an independent charity renowned for carrying out great work in their local community.
Major funding for this Fairfields facility came from the Football Foundation who I admire as perennially staunch supporters of the grassroots game. Milton Keynes Council also made a significant financial contribution.
The Match
This was a thoroughly entertaining affair between two teams that wouldn’t normally meet each other during their respective domestic seasons.
MK Dons of The FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division started brightly and led 2-1 at half-time through strikes by Mollie Coupar (seven minutes) and a Nicole Pepper penalty (20 mins).
But visitors Stoke City – who play in the same league but as part of the Northern Premier Division - always looked stronger.
Indeed, the Potters deserved their victory with Meg Bowyer (eight mins), Beth Roberts (55 mins), Callan Barber (59 mins) and Carra Jones (90 mins) all on the scoresheet.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to @TonyIncenzo*
No team in Europe’s big five leagues have ever won a quadruple (the four biggest trophies)
Both Manchester City and Liverpool have previous come close to making history
This season they have the squads to pull it off, but do they have the luck?
It first became possible for an English side to win a quadruple in 1960 though ‘possible’ seems jarring in context.
With the founding of the League Cup, a side could now theoretically win the league the previous season in order to qualify for the European Cup, then navigate their way through a series of knock-out rounds against champions of other leagues and lift the famous big-eared trophy come May.
And all while securing another league title and claiming the newly conceived League Cup and the FA Cup to boot.
As stated, ‘possible’ is a stretch, ‘possible’ takes extreme liberties and subsequently nobody discussed the fanciful notion of one team claiming all four major trophies back then, because it was deemed to be very much impossible.
It never came up, nor until recently was there even a betting market to cover such an eventuality. It exceeded our imaginations, like waking up and wondering if you were going to see a human levitate that day.
It first became easier for an English side to win a quadruple in 1992, though again ‘easier’ jars, hugely downplaying what is necessary to achieve this ridiculous feat.
At least now, with the European Cup rebranded as the Champions League it afforded a team to finish top four a year prior and, furthermore, an opening group stage in the continental competition allowed for slip-ups on route.
Yet still, it was an unexplored conversation, never mentioned even when Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United went on a sustained winning spree in 1998/99. Having exited the Worthington’s Cup in December, all of what followed was framed as a treble quest.
Only then in 2016, Pep Guardiola arrived on our shores, his managerial alchemy initially hitting some resistance before the English game bent to his will and wilted under his fantastical football.
In 2017/18, the Blues didn’t encounter a league defeat until mid-January and briefly it was suggested that they might replicate the great Arsenal side of the 2000s, remaining invincible throughout a long season.
🤔 “What’s a better Arsenal team? The ‘98 team or The Invincibles?”
👀 “I believe the ‘98 team was better. The #LFC team that didn’t win the league was better than The Invincibles.”@ChelseaRory explains his controversial opinion on The Invincibles 🔥
A year later, a similar charge found them still competing in every competition in the Spring and with March heralding a Champions League quarter-final clash against Spurs, along with a couple of must-win games in the league as they fought neck-and-neck with Liverpool, it was tentatively pointed out that the Carabao Cup had already been attained, while a fortnight earlier a FA Cup final spot had been secured.
It was at this juncture, and for the first time ever really, that the idea that an English team might win a clean sweep of silverware began to be mooted beyond a whisper.
“It’s almost impossible to achieve everything, that is the truth,” was Guardiola’s response, when questioned about the unprecedented pursuit, and the Catalan was indeed telling the truth. Spurs won at the Etihad and progressed to the semis.
Such was City’s supremacy however, that again the subject was raised in the Spring of 2021, and with City deep in every tournament what particularly interests here is a candid admission made by their full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko that the players were proactively hunting down a quad. They had, he insisted, ‘hungry eyes’ so ‘why not?’
This unusual breaking of the unwritten player’s code to always play down their intentions brought a public rebuking from Guardiola, in itself a rare occurrence.
“I am older than Mr Zinchenko, I have more experience and I don’t agree with him,” he said, going on to call four titles a ‘utopia’. And again, he was right. It was a utopia, mystical and out of reach.
Of course, City have not had everything their own way in recent seasons with Liverpool forging a duopoly at the top of the Premier League.
As much as Guardiola has transformed City into a ravenous and ruthless machine, Jurgen Klopp has done likewise at Anfield, and while they have also flirted with trophy clean sweeps in previous seasons, last term they went closer than any side has done before.
Remarkably, on the final day of the league season, and with a Champions League final honing into view, the Reds were just two games away from creating a quite ludicrous slice of history, something that Klopp himself had described as ‘crazy’ some months before. Naturally, the German was right. It was.
Yet still, when these close shaves are acknowledged, along with each team’s phenomenal stats, that have seen City average 89.5 points and Liverpool 89.25 points across the last four campaigns, while consistently reaching major finals, is it too far-fetched to speculate that one of these generational sides might win the lot this season? Possibly not.
Which naturally, is not to diminish the feat, that pertinently has never been done before by any team in Europe’s big five leagues, even if some have dominated eras in indomitable fashion.
More so, it’s not possible to diminish, not when it’s noted what a true quad consists of. A Super Cup or a Club World Cup doesn’t cut it. A Community Shield or it’s continental version certainly doesn’t. Only a Champions League, domestic league title, and the two main domestic cups suffices.
That it’s not been done before brings us to an obvious but necessary point, of how exceedingly difficult it is. One single off-day and it’s all over, as demonstrated by City’s loss to Spurs.
A team too needs to be inordinately consistent and enjoy inordinately fortunate, because how many games from these side’s vintage seasons had them rely on a bit of magic from De Bruyne or Salah; or saw a late chance for the opposition skim past the post. Or they found themselves on the right side of a VAR call.
It is additionally immensely grueling, depleting every reserve and testing every weak spot and this was witnessed last season, as Liverpool had their brush with immortality.
An astonishing, but ultimately anti-climactic charge necessitated 37 players, even if a handful experienced only mere minutes in the opening rounds of the domestic cups. It amounted to 63 games, that equates to 5700 minutes of competitive football. Not for nothing is elite football a squad game these days.
To that aim, both clubs have spent their summer active in the transfer market, strengthening from a position of strength and it feels highly unlikely that anyone other than City or Liverpool will claim the title ten months from now. A glance at the latest Premier League odds tells us that.
🏆 Man City have won the title in 4 of the last 5 seasons - and Erling Haaland will join this summer.
But the FA Cup, with its draws that may be kind or cruel? The Champions League, that pits the cream of the continent against them? Then there’s the fixture build-up that always strikes at a season’s finale for any successful side.
In a unique year that has a World Cup squeezed into it, might the schedule become too condensed for even their vast squads to handle?
Let’s end on another example of how fortune is key. Last term, as Liverpool lost only 6% of their fixtures, Virgil Van Dijk – the Reds’ totem and leader – played more minutes than any other outfield player, 4620 minutes all told.
Yet the year before, their Dutch colossus succumbed to injury, depriving them of his services for the most part. And Liverpool won not a bean.
It’s fair to presume that Manchester City and Liverpool will again be brilliant in 2022/23 and be triumphant considerably more times than not. To win the lot however needs copious luck, and frankly there is no accounting for that.
Stephen Tudor is a freelance football writer and sports enthusiast who only knows slightly less about the beautiful game than you do.
A contributor to FourFourTwo and Forbes, he is a Manchester City fan who was taken to Maine Road as a child because his grandad predicted they would one day be good.
Although I have only been attending the Europe’s greatest middle-distance race in person for the last ten years – since I turned 40-years-old in fact, my infatuation with the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe stems all the way back to my school days and those unique Sunday afternoon broadcasts on the BBC.
If you cast your mind back there was no such thing as Sunday horse racing here in the UK until 1992, so in the 70’s and 80’s, watching a slightly grainy looking racing outside broadcast coming live from another European country, was quite a novelty to say the least.
International It’s A Knockout (Jeux Sans Frontières) and the Eurovision Song Contest were about the closest you would ever get to continental television being beamed live into your living room in those days. “Here come the Belgians!” being a popular catchphrase for those of you that remember.
There were many facets that made the BBC’s Sunday afternoon Arc coverage fascinating and compelling viewing.
I recall it being a reasonably short programme, so you would get the big race and very little else, plus they spoke of and referred to a pretty alien betting system to most British people – the Pari-mutuel (PMU).
What was this French mathematical wizardry I thought? You put on so many francs at something point something to one, but that pays something completely different at S.P back in the UK? This was mind blowing stuff to a schoolboy tuning in to watch on a Sunday afternoon.
What a fantastic result! The 100th Prix De L'Arc De Triomphe goes to prove that thoroughbred horse racing is a truly international affair. Germany do their nation proud with Torquator Tasso taking home the spoils from Parislongchamp. #QPAT#ParisLongchamp 🇫🇷🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/7SMoWdyhLM
So fast forward my life into adulthood and the onset of middle-age, and I had read somewhere that the French racing authorities were planning to knock down the old Longchamp grandstands.
This prompted me straight into nostalgia overdrive and my own personal mission that I must visit the racecourse before it gets changed out of all recognition – my television recognition.
Arriving at Longchamp in 2013, I was completely smitten by the whole ambience of this historical Parisian racecourse.
The horse chestnut tree-lined boulevards behind the imposing white grandstands, the tranquil paddock and of course the very beautiful chic French women.
On the track I’ve witnessed the wonderful mare Trêve scoring twice but failing to win her third Arc, Golden Horn winning from a car park draw, Found and Enable taking top honours at Chantilly whilst Longchamp was being redeveloped, Enable taking the spoils at the newly opened ParisLongchamp but failing to make it number three in 2019 when Waldgeist was victorious, the 2020 “behind closed doors” renewal which was scooped by the homester Sottsass, but my greatest Arc memory to date has to be the German-trained horse Torquator Tasso taking home the spoils in 2021 – the 100th edition of the contest.
Not only did I put a copious amount of time and effort into studying the German form, but I was lucky enough to back him at some lovely odds in my horse race bets online.
Through some mutual friends I was extremely honoured to meet some of the horse’s connections before and after the big race, and the whole raw emotion of the occasion will long be an Arc memory I’ll never forget.
If you ever get the chance to visit ParisLongchamp for the first time, as you ascend the main entrance staircase you will be met by the statue of the legendary champion Gladiateur.
That mental image could well be instrumental in enticing you back to the venue year after year. It certainly did with me.
Of course, if National Hunt racing is more your scene then check out all our 888Sport Cheltenham races betting odds here.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
Steven is a sports and horse racing enthusiast and is a member of the Horseracing Writers and Photographers Association (HWPA) in the United Kingdom.
He is a regular visitor to Paris Longchamp for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and a lifelong fan of the Aintree Grand National, a subject he writes about 52 weeks of the year. Last year he reached the impressive milestone of attending the last 30 renewals of the Grand National.
Steven graduated from the University Of Lancaster in 1996 with a B.A (Hons) in Urban Policy & Race Relations (major) with Contemporary Religions & Belief Systems (minor) and still wonders if any of these help him find the winners?
He writes for a number of websites and online publications and you can sometimes hear him at the weekend discussing racing on a number of local radio stations.
Neil Callan (@neilcallan78) chats to 888sport about racing's current superstar Baaeed, a ridiculous fine for Cieren Fallon and a decent book of rides at Glorious Goodwood on Saturday
Restructuring of Flat Racing
There’s hasn’t been much detail so far, but as I’ve said plenty of times over the past couple of months, there’s far too much racing and there needs to be better prize money. If there’s less racing, you should be able to create better prize money.
What I would say is that I’ve got a lot of time for Peter Saville. He’s been the head of the BHA before – he’s very direct and a very good businessman. I like that sort of person.
He will have put a lot of thought into the proposal and he’s a good man to have back on our side. Let’s hope they all listen to what he’s proposing.
Goodwood Rides on Saturday
My first ride is BAGUE D’OR in the Summer Handicap (2:10) for Chris Wall. We’ve built up a good relationship and he was very good at Ascot last time.
At Newmarket the time before, he only just got the job done, but I thought he took a step forward at Ascot.
He idled a bit in front, his nearest challenger was out wide and he didn’t have much to guide him to the line. He’s kept himself under the radar with the handicapper.
This is another test, another step up. It’s a competitive race on a tricky track, but I think Goodwood will suit him.
He’s well balanced, travels well and you need a bit of speed at the end which he has. The faster they go the better, hopefully we’ll get a nice tow into the race.
Goodwood isn’t an easy track to ride, it’s often the one who plays his hand last that wins. You can overthink a race and go out there with this and that plan, but you just have to take it as it comes.
The most important thing is to keep your horse balanced. You’re up and down all the time and horses tend to roll back to the inside rail. You have to be on the ball, keep your horse balanced and you absolutely need a horse that can travel.
Bague D’Or can and it’s just whether he can take the next step up. He’s won his last two, he’s improving and he must have a chance in a competitive race.
The big race of the day is the Stewards’ Cup (3:20) where I’m on WHENTHEDEALISDONE for Roger Teal. I’ve ridden him on both his starts this season.
He wasn’t quite right at Newmarket first time up, so Roger gave him some time and he ran really well at Ascot last time. That felt like the perfect trial going to Goodwood. He’s been running over five furlongs but six is definitely his trip.
🏇 Haydock treble
🥵 Racing heatwave
🚀 Royal Aclaim
🤞 Newmarket rides
I won this race back in 2013 on Rex Imperator for William Haggas. He had to be played late and was the only horse on the bridle a furlong and a half out. I’d say Whenthedealisdone is a similar type of horse.
I’m not too fussed about the draw, it’s where the speed is, but Rex won from 26 and we’re in 25 so that may be a good place to be.
He’ll make his own luck, he’ll either be good enough or he won’t, but it’s a wide-open race and he’s going there in good form.
Next up is GRAIGNES in the last (4:30) for George Baker. He was beaten just a length in the Group 1 Criterium International as a two-year-old and has flip-flopped between France and England since.
This is his second spell with George and he ran a more promising race at Windsor last time. I don’t think he’d want the ground to be too quick, though.
Baaeed The Machine
Baaeed was ultra-impressive in the Sussex Stakes on Wednesday, he’s a brilliant horse to watch. I think he’ll go to the Juddmonte International next and win there.
That will be great for him. If they can win at a mile and a quarter, it’s hugely important for their stallion career. He’ll definitely get a mile and a quarter round a flat track like York.
🔵⚪️ Baaeed - he remains unbeaten with Sussex Stakes glory @Goodwood_Races
Frankel’s performance when he won the Juddmonte was astonishing. I rode in that race and it was unbelievable what he did from the three to two pole.
I caught a glimpse of him in the corner of my eye and he just came through them all like a steam train. It was at the point of the race when everyone is trying to make their move and I remember just thinking “wow, what is this?”
I’d say if Baaeed goes and wins at York, he’d definitely be the best horse we’ve seen since Frankel over a mile or a mile and a quarter.
Goodwood Cup
What a brilliant race to watch and exactly what racing needs.
You get these horse welfare people whinging about our sport and then you see these top-class stayers like Kyprios, Stradivarius and Trueshan, some of them who have been around for years, battling it out in a proper finish.
It was the perfect advert for our sport of kings.
Cieren Fallon Fine
I couldn’t believe it when I heard Cieren had been fined for swearing at the start, what an absolute joke.
In every walk of life, stewards or non-stewards, are you telling me nobody swears or uses bad language? Apparently the vet heard it, did he or she have nothing else to do? Who cares?
It’s just another case of unnecessary negative attention on the sport – it’s not even a story. Once again, they do nothing about the big issues, but then for something like this they have an enquiry. It’s pathetic.
The two stars of the market in England are still, always them. Manchester City and Liverpool have once again done early business by securing their market priorities in June, demonstrating how strategy and planning make a difference in modern football.
But who is really ahead in this race for first place in next year's Premier League with their moves on the transfer market? What are the secrets of these strategies?
Liverpool managed to complete an authentic masterpiece in... four days. When Sadio Mané communicated to the club his idea of starting right after the Champions League final loss in Paris with Real Madrid, the Liverpool board and Jurgen Klopp wasted no time in taking immediate action to replace the Senegalese star.
The strategy was excellent: as negotiations continued with FC Bayern to receive the best offer, Liverpool worked with Darwin Nunez's agents to reach agreement on personal terms with a contract until 30 June 2028 for the Uruguayan forward.
That move was crucial because Manchester United and Newcastle also wanted Darwin Nunez, they tried to jump in the deal until the end but Darwin had decided to sign for Liverpool.
With a meeting in Lisbon on a Saturday morning, the Reds board completed the agreement with Benfica and the Nunez agent for € 70m guaranteed fee, € 5m easy add ons and other potential € 20m in add-ons for a total package of € 100m.
But he was an excellent signing because Liverpool anticipated competition from other clubs and pleased Jurgen Klopp.
The Reds market is completed so far with two high-level talents: Klopp is convinced that Fabio Carvalho can be immediately ready to have an impact with Liverpool, the manager has strongly wanted him and for this an agreement has been reached with Fulham already three months ago.
Liverpool won't loan Fabio Carvalho out next season. He's gonna be part of the first team as Jurgen Klopp is convinced he could become an important player very soon. 🔴⭐️ #LFC
Fulham wanted him to stay on loan but it's never been an option, and Klopp is waiting for Carvalho. pic.twitter.com/rHgdCHaFlN
Calvin Ramsey is a talented fullback who will grow up behind Alexander-Arnold to become the future of Liverpool, a cheap investment from Aberdeen but which demonstrates the intelligence of the club.
In reality, the Reds also wanted Aurelien Tchouameni this summer but Jurgen Klopp's phone calls were not enough: Real Madrid won the race for the Monaco midfielder.
Now Liverpool will have to decide whether to complete their summer transfer market in this way or take advantage of possible opportunities in the coming weeks for a new winger or a new midfielder, two positions where the club's board is always attentive.
If Liverpool have been excellent in the transfer market so far, Manchester City seem to be even further ahead if possible.
Man City have been working since October in the shadows for Erling Haaland as a summer market priority: Pep Guardiola has been an excellent support element for the board in the rush to sign Haaland, direct contact with the player and effective messages that have brought the Man City to outperform the competition from other top clubs.
But that's not all, because City also completed midfield with Kalvin Phillips who refused contacts with other clubs including Paris Saint-Germain because he wanted to work under Guardiola.
A top signing to replace Fernandinho who wanted to return to Brazil: Man City have raised the level in midfield and also want to complete the deal for Marc Cucurella so as to also offer Pep a new left back of quality, fast and excellent skills for the present and future after an excellent first season in the Premier League with Brighton.
Not only that, because the Man City upgrade proceeds with a new second goalkeeper: Zack Steffen did not convince last year, so Stefan Ortega will be the new backup goalkeeper behind Ederson.
But we must not forget that Julian Alvarez arrives in attack, the best talent in Argentine football in recent years signed since last January with a clever move by the club.
Guardiola believes in Julian, City have turned down proposals from five clubs in the Premier League and abroad for possible loans - Alvarez will replace Gabriel Jesus who joined Arsenal this summer.
That's why Manchester City at the moment seems to be at a very high level, at the peak of their project since Pep Guardiola joined the club.
Liverpool can be happy with a top striker like Darwin Nunez, Mo Salah's new contract, Carvalho and Ramsey's talent; but Manchester City do not want to stop and have already completed many departments for present and future.
Fabrizio Romano is an Italian sports journalist. He was born in 1993, he lives in Milan and has over 30 million followers in total on the major social networks.
He collaborates with 888sport, CBS Sports, Sky Sport, The Guardian and has been a transfer market expert since 2011. He will take care of a column dedicated to some "Behind the Scenes" of transfers.
IN those days before the internet, a really good way of following all the latest news from your favourite football team was on Clubcall.
This was a Premium Rate telephone service that was launched in 1986/87 with the unprecedented mantra of “24 Hours A Day, Seven Days A Week”.
The top half a dozen clubs in the country were signed up to begin with and each of them were allocated a specific 0898 phone number that their supporters could ring.
In effect, Clubcall brought a daily diet of news and interviews from each team plus live updates on every home and away game.
It was run by BT Supercall from a three storey building in Downham Road, Dalston, East London. A network of broadcast journalists provided the content.
If I remember correctly, calls were initially charged at 25p per minute but gradually rose to 60p per minute in later years. These fees were divided between BT and the clubs on a revenue share basis.
By 1987/88, nearly all the remaining First Division (now Premier League) clubs had joined Clubcall.
A further expansion occurred for the following season with most of the other Football League teams being recruited. The leading Scottish clubs were on board by that point too.
My own involvement began early in 1987 when I had a meeting with a management executive at Downham Road. I suggested that there should be a generic Non-League Clubcall line as there was huge collective interest in clubs outside the Football League.
I was initially met with a firm “Don’t call us, we’ll call you” response.
Then about six months later, Clubcall appointed a new marketing manager called Charles Webster. He was a big supporter of Gravesend & Northfleet FC and he told a management meeting: “We should have a Non-League Clubcall line.”
A totally unique item in my football library at home is a wallet containing a Clubcall card from every club in the country@fcbusinesspic.twitter.com/MisSGSdH9n
— Tony Incenzo - football reporter (@TonyIncenzo) June 20, 2017
The reply was: “Funnily enough, we had a guy called Tony Incenzo come into the building and say the same thing!”
I suddenly received a phone call from Clubcall’s editorial chief Mark Rooney who invited me back for another chat with Charles and himself. The upshot was that I was asked to launch Non-League Clubcall on 1st September 1987.
This was a huge break for me as it was my first voice work role after training as a written journalist on my local newspaper. Non-League Clubcall quickly attracted thousands of calls.
Mark and Charles were delighted with the success of the service and gave me great help and encouragement. I broadcast Non-League news, interviews and fixtures each day plus all the latest match results on Saturdays and in midweek.
I say “broadcast” but I actually prefer to think of it as “narrow-casting”. I was actually targeting a select group of people who were interested in Non-League football first and foremost.
Within 12 months, I was put in charge of new official Clubcall lines for the Conference (National League), Isthmian League, Northern Premier League and Southern League.
My overall Non-League portfolio continued to expand after that with other leagues joining such as the North West Counties League and the Eastern Counties League. I also edited Clubcall lines for several Non-League clubs including Barnet and Sutton United.
We even sponsored the Clubcall Cup, which was a knockout competition for the leading Non-League teams. I was invited along to present the trophy after the yearly final took place.
In 1991, I was head hunted as Clubcall editor for Queens Park Rangers in the top flight of English football. I saw this as a huge honour as they are my local club that I have always supported.
QPR Clubcall reached its peak with the shock resignation of manager Gerry Francis in November 1994. I had a very close working relationship with Gerry and he decided to give me his only interview at the time.
It took 16,000 calls on Clubcall in 24 hours. This was a staggering figure when you consider that QPR’s average home matchday attendance that season was 14,600.
Another interesting anecdote concerns former QPR chairman Richard Thompson. He once rang Clubcall on his car phone to hear my report on an away game.
Thompson subsequently forgot to replace the handset and accidentally left the call running overnight with my voice on loop. The bill topped £500!
Then there was the famous occasion where QPR hammered Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford. I got very excited by this and started my post-match Clubcall report in Norwegian commentator style by shouting:
“Bobby Charlton can you hear me? George Best, Dennis Law can you hear me? Mark Hughes, Paul Parker can you hear me? Your boys took a helluva beating!”
In total, Clubcall made a profit of nearly £1.25 million for Queens Park Rangers FC during my 14 years as editor. I am very proud of this amount as it came at a time when the R’s didn’t have huge financial resources.
Since then though, the rapid growth of the internet has killed off the viability of football’s Premium Rate telephone market. As a consequence, none of the 92 League clubs still have an official Clubcall line.
But the concept was a fabulous money spinner while it lasted.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to @TonyIncenzo*
The England boss is a divisive figure, with many claiming he’s too cautious
Blessed with an exciting crop of talent he has over-looked or under-used some
These five deserve more game-time or bigger roles to play at the World Cup
Though Gareth Southgate has guided England to a World Cup semi and a Euro final during his time as an international manager, and though his team are among the favourites to lift the World Cup in Qatar, he remains a divisive figure, with some insisting his conservative ways hold back an exciting generation of talent.
Certainly, these five players can feel somewhat aggrieved since he took the reins because for differing reasons, and to varying extents, the waistcoated gaffer is not getting the best out of them.
Trent Alexander-Arnold
By a strange quirk of fate, the Three Lions have been blessed with a long litany of well-equipped right-backs who are all flourishing in the same era.
By an equally strange quirk, Gareth Southgate routinely decides to leave the best of them at home, kicking his heels.
Cherished by Liverpool for his attacking forays, the 23-year-old’s sense of adventure and cultured touch resulted in 19 assists for his club in 2021/22, a remarkable figure for a full-back.
It’s a return that has impressed even the great Cafu, who recently claimed ‘TAA’ is one of the best in the world at his role.
For England however, the player is too often over-looked, with Southgate distrustful of his defensive capabilities.
Having Alexander-Arnold in England’s opening eleven in Qatar would be a statement, an overt intention to win the competition, not merely avoid defeat. Don’t expect it to happen.
Ben Chilwell
The Chelsea star only has four caps fewer than Luke Shaw yet it’s still strikingly apparent that their international manager prefers the Manchester United left-back, especially for the big occasions.
In a similar vein to Alexander-Arnold, this is presumably because Chilwell’s biggest strengths lie in the offensive third with the former Leicester man contributing to so many of the Blues’ most meaningful attacks last term until injury struck.
Flying down the left flank for any other nation, Chilwell would be lauded to the rafters. For England he is merely a peripheral figure, under-valued and criminally so.
Phil Foden
That this generational talent isn’t a guaranteed starter for the opening game v Iran speaks volumes, those volumes consisting of millions of fans voicing their frustration.
Having sensibly introduced Foden to the international stage in increments, there can be no real complaints about the game-time afforded to the midfield prodigy to this point. Sixteen appearances at the age of 22 is fair, however you view it.
The problem rests on how Foden is deployed, nullified of his ability to glide past opponents and cast in a role that plays second fiddle to Kane and Sterling.
Build your team around him please Gareth. An extraordinary player like this doesn’t come along often.
Jack Grealish
There has always been a terrace favourite annoyingly unfancied by an England gaffer and we can go all the way back to the Seventies for evidence of this, with Stan Bowles and the like deemed to be mavericks by the schoolmasterly bosses of that era.
Fast-forward to the present day and it is Grealish with the catapult in his back pocket while Mason Mount brings a shiny apple in every day for teacher, and if the Manchester City star’s natural flair has been sparingly used by Southgate to this juncture, then so be it. Should it continue however, it may start to look a little personal.
That’s because, after a year’s intensive tuition under Guardiola, Grealish is expected to excel this year, balancing out his extravagant creativity with productivity and discipline.
The Premier League Odds has City down as clear favourites to claim another title and that would make the midfielder a two-time title winner too.
Tammy Abraham
No-one is suggesting that Abraham can directly challenge Harry Kane for a regular starting berth up front. Given the Tottenham forward’s record with England that would be ludicrous.
Yet it is pragmatic to say the least to have an established back-up in place, should injury befall Kane, and in recent times Southgate has oscillated with this aim, going with Calvert-Lewin, then Watkins, then Abraham, his choice usually determined by form.
It is the latter however who should be stuck with, through lean times and good. The football odds price Roma up as fourth favourites to win the Scudetto this season.
A sizable reason for that is down to the 24-year-old’s impact in the Italian capital.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
Stephen Tudor is a freelance football writer and sports enthusiast who only knows slightly less about the beautiful game than you do.
A contributor to FourFourTwo and Forbes, he is a Manchester City fan who was taken to Maine Road as a child because his grandad predicted they would one day be good.
