Category Uncategorized

Outgoing ECB chief executive faced many challenges but leaves with English cricket unfit for purpose

Andrew Miller17-May-2022Does anyone remember Chris Dehring? Those of a certain age might raise an eyebrow of recognition at a name that, in the years leading up to the 2007 World Cup, was the ubiquitous, plausible face of West Indies cricket – first as the man who spearheaded the WICB’s successful bid, then as the Managing Director and CEO of the ICC’s rather less successful staging of the tournament itself.It took barely 24 hours after that tournament’s farcical finish, in near total darkness in Barbados, for Dehring to disappear off the face of the game. Overnight, his mobile phone appeared to take a dive for Davy Jones’ Locker, pre-empting that of Rebekah Vardy’s agent, as he moved onwards and upwards to his next executive calling – a five-year chairmanship of Cable & Wireless Jamaica, as it turned out.Related

Chris Dehring appointed new chief executive of Cricket West Indies

England have found three good men; they need another two

When faultlines are too exposed, there's no easy way to rebuild after an earthquake

Harrison denies he is 'clinging on for grim death' at ECB

Tom Harrison steps down as ECB chief executive

You get the sense from Tom Harrison’s furtive departure from his seven-and-a-half year tenure at the ECB that a similar evaporation is on the cards. It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that he might yet find his way back into a role within cricket – a sport that he played professionally as a young man and about which he does care deeply, contrary to the impression that he’s often given off. After all, there’s always room in this sport for someone who can land a good rights deal.But after the controversies of the past few months, it’s hard to believe he’ll have any interest in a third innings in the game. In keeping with the traditions of the modern uber-executive, whatever gratitude there might have been for Harrison’s service has long since been traded in for a golden handshake – specifically his share of the ECB’s £2.1 million bonus pot, which (awkwardly) also happens to be just £100,000 less than the current level of the board’s once-flush reserves.For the bottom line will always be the bottom line when it comes to appraising Harrison’s legacy. Even after his “we’re-all-in-it-together” gesture of a 20% pay cut during the pandemic, the ECB’s top man was still paid more than half a million pounds in 2020, and that figure rose north of £700,000 during the board’s years of plenty in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup. No matter how weighty his responsibilities – and that era since 2015 has thrown up an abundance of crises that have required his first-hand intervention – it is still a sickening sum of money to be siphoning off from the sport, and a distracting one as well, given how much his final pay-cheque has overshadowed his dying days in the job.The issue of remuneration cuts both ways, of course – it wasn’t so long ago that Giles Clarke, the last of the ECB’s blazer-breed who predated the onset of Harrison’s suits and shirt-sleeves, would seek to justify every one of his autocratic whims by pointing out that, technically, he wasn’t paid a penny during his tenure as chairman (although his expenses account took quite the pounding).

At the apex of cricket’s culture war sits the ongoing racism scandal – a catastrophic blow to the sport’s public image, and one that has been especially humiliating to Harrison in his final months in the role

Is it preferable that English cricket’s senior executive is a professional in the most literal sense, and an exorbitantly paid one as well, given the sums that he in turn should expect from the deals he brings in? Probably … even allowing for the dysfunction that he leaves behind him in the boardroom, where since October there has been no chairman on hand to unseat him and, until this past fortnight, no structure beneath him to oversee the most fundamental cricket-focused aspect of its existence. This speaks to a wider truth, that the ECB on Harrison’s watch has become too unwieldy to discharge its basic duties to the game. And for that he has been roundly complicit.Tellingly, there was no mention in Harrison’s farewell press release of the most divisive aspect of his reign – his zealous driving-through of the Hundred, a competition that may have made sense on the boardroom notepaper on which it was brain-stormed, but less so when unleashed as a fourth format in an already overwhelmed summer schedule.Instead of easing the burden on Tests as English cricket’s bread-winner, the Hundred’s existence has hastened their nosediving standards by driving four-day cricket out of the summer’s prime months. And if anyone knows of the whereabouts of 50-over cricket – the format that England ghosted on the morning of July 15, 2019 after a passionate four-year affair – approximately 4.5 million casual viewers on Channel 4 might be moderately intrigued to find out.Therein lies the oddity of Harrison’s seven-year reign. It contained around its mid-point one of the greatest glories any administration could ever hope to oversee – two, in fact, if you include the magnificently “disruptive” achievement of England’s women on the same ground two years earlier. Given the chaos of his early weeks in the job in 2015, with humiliation at the preceding World Cup coupled with the unresolved saga of Kevin Pietersen’s sacking, Harrison clearly deserves some credit for setting the game’s sights on a home World Cup, a notion that his forebears in 1999 never came close to contemplatingBut ultimately it was the players, not the administrators, who delivered that trophy with a display of unforgettable tenacity when the stakes were at their highest. It’s easy to forget now, but until the euphoria of that run-out in the Super Over against New Zealand, the mood music of English cricket had been a gut-clenching, gnawing dread. While Eoin Morgan’s men kept their eyes on the prize as best they could, the board was already deep into a furiously silent and NDA-littered game of tug-of-war with the counties as the Hundred spluttered unconvincingly into existence.Andrew Strauss and Harrison oversaw England’s post-2015 World Cup revival in one-day cricket•PA PhotosHarrison’s board won the argument in the end, but in breaking the counties’ centuries-old hold on the sport, it seems they broke too the ECB’s very . Its purpose (not always realised, mind you) used to be to draw together the various disparate strands of the game at every level, and create – at the very top of its pyramid – an England team that could win the big series, and thereby perpetuate a level of interest into each coming generation.Ever since the ECB committed its original sin of selling the sport to the highest bidder, however, it’s not been quite that simple. Harrison wasn’t complicit in that decision, of course – and his finest hour in the job, the £1.1 billion rights deal in 2017 that brought free-to-air TV, ever so tentatively, back to the game, was an important first step in righting the wrongs of the past.However, his fixation with revenue streams, over and above the human side of sport – and specifically with establishing the Hundred as a failsafe for the dreaded day when international cricket ceases to pay the bills – has fostered an air of rancour and barely suppressed civil war that has only served to hasten that date in the first place.”It is about giving more people the opportunity to be part of cricket’s future” was Harrison’s oft-repeated mantra, most particularly in the lead-up to the competition’s soft-launch in May 2019, when it seemed the ECB’s preferred route to this new market was to apologise loudly and offensively about everything that the game’s existing fans held dear, and trample over generations of softly-sold affection to access the take-it-or-leave-it types at Mumsnet – for whom such well-meaning but ultimately under-delivering initiatives as All Stars Cricket were less about inculcating a lifetime’s love of the sport, and more about an hour’s childcare during the summer months.The disdain was felt across the game – most particularly by those young enough to have been active cricketers around the time of the 2005 Ashes, and who remember both the nationwide euphoria that accompanied that summer’s Ashes, and the decade of silence that followed it. Instead of showing gratitude to a generation whose own kids are now propping up the sport’s participation levels, their fandom has been taken for granted at every turn, and their faith in the game eroded by avoidable insults – particularly on social media, where the silence that greeted the start of this year’s county season was at stark odds with the blow-by-blow updates from a distinctly underwhelming Hundred draft.And at the apex of this culture war sits cricket’s ongoing racism scandal – a catastrophic blow to the sport’s public image, and one that has been especially humiliating to Harrison in his final months in the role.On the one hand, the explosion of testimony from Azeem Rafiq in the first instance, and scores of others thereafter, is a vindication of Harrison’s zealous belief that the county system was not sufficiently appealing to those outside of its auspices – way back in 2015, he hired a cultural education specialist to instil in the ECB leadership a basic understanding of the game’s most populous demographics, and three years later, the South Asian Action Plan was launched to bridge the disconnect with the communities that provide some 30% of the sport’s recreational players, but just 4% of the professional game.It’s hard to deny he recognised the issues before they had gone mainstream – and in 2020, when the Black Lives Matter movement exposed historic grievances in the game’s already withered Caribbean heritage, Harrison’s response was honest and heartfelt.And yet, when push has come to shove on the public stage – most particularly during his desperately uncomfortable appearances before the DCMS select committees – Harrison has been reduced to a stuttering, management-speak cipher. The buzzwords with which he has ruled a succession of boardrooms hold no sway in the cut-and-thrust of parliamentary inquiry, and he was similarly scorched by Mehmooda Duke’s resignation as Leicestershire’s chair last November – Duke, the only minority-ethnic female in such a role, was understandably reluctant to be paraded as proof of the ECB’s hard-won EDI credentials.There are aspects of Harrison’s legacy that may take time to reveal themselves fully. The strides taken in the women’s game are clear to see, for all that the England team itself is at another crossroads, and if nothing else, the configuration of the Hundred as an equal opportunities competition (if not yet equal pay…) is the most obvious means to ensure year-on-year “growth” – the capitalist dream. After all, given the current levels of investment in the format, a sport that barely had a professional footing a decade ago has nowhere to go but up.And then there’s the stewardship of the Covid pandemic – not merely the navigation through the summer of 2020, an impressive display of on-the-hoof crisis-management (albeit tainted by the redundancies at the end of it), but the long-term attempts to manage the health and well-being of England’s players. The human cost of the bubble lifestyle is not yet fully realised, but in setting out to mitigate the impact of the players’ attempts to “keep the lights on”, Harrison tried to show he cared.Ultimately, however, leaders can only be judged by results. And as he leaves office with the game failing by every measure that has ever exercised public opinion – be it matters of money, morals or pure sporting endeavour – there’s really no way of saying he has left the game better than when he found it.

The team has lost every single match on tour in Bangladesh and looks in need of a lot of improvement

Mohammad Isam in Dhaka11-Mar-2020Problem with the basicsTwice during the course of the limited-overs leg of this tour, captain Sean Williams called for improvement in the basics. He said that their approach in the field has been concerning and was also less than impressed with the way the bowlers planned their overs.It was also noticeable that batsmen struggled to cope with pressure. In Bangladesh, it is clear that spin is the major threat, but despite that knowledge they folded quite quickly against Nayeem Hasan in the one-off Test, while in the ODIs and T20Is, Bangladesh’s basic discipline was enough to knock them over too. One must wonder what the bowling, batting and fielding coaches are doing about it. What’s the plan, really?Uncharacteristic seniorsBrendan Taylor and the rest of the Zimbabwe senior players formed the backbone of their tours to Bangladesh in the past, but this wasn’t one of those tours. It began well after stand-in captain Craig Ervine struck a century on the first day of the one-off Test. But with Williams missing, Zimbabwe didn’t have the middle-order glue.Even after Williams’ return, their fortunes didn’t change. Taylor continued to struggle in the ODIs and only managed a fifty in the second T20I. Sikandar Raza batted aggressively in the T20Is, struck two fifties in the ODI series and was steady in the Test as well, but it wasn’t enough in the end.Pace attack without spearheadWhatever the format, exactly who led their pace attack remains a mystery. Chris Mpofu was their most experienced bowler but he looked rusty. Donald Tiripano played in all three formats but never looked like a wicket-taking pace bowler. Charlton Tshuma and Carl Mumba hardly made a dent on Bangladesh’s batting, too. They are clearly missing Kyle Jarvis and Tendai Chatara, both recovering from injury, and need them back.There are rumours that Blessing Muzarabani could come back into contention because of Brexit and its effect on Kolpak contracts. A tall guy who can bowl quick, and has control, will be very helpful to this team.No specialist spinnerRaza displayed several of his variations during this tour, including a fine googly that got Liton Das in the first T20I. But apart from him, no other Zimbabwe spinner stood up to the Bangladesh batsmen.Ainsley Ndlovu and Tinotenda Mutombodzi should have bowled better in helpful conditions. Young Wesley Madhevere bowls steady offspin, which will be handy if he has an attacking option from the other end. But the thing is it is quite apparent that batting is his stronger suit.Questions must be asked of the selectors about Brandon Mavuta and the in-form Tendai Chisoro being overlooked for this tour. Both men took plenty of wickets and scored runs in domestic cricket, which selectors said was their criteria when picking the team.Captaincy riddlePerhaps the biggest question they face. Who is Zimbabwe’s best captain in limited-overs cricket? It was strange to see the selectors bring back Chamu Chibhabha after he had not played at the highest level for 19 months. Even the regulars struggle to keep pace with international cricket after missing action for a few months, so when he did go out to bat in the first ODI in Syhelt, it was only natural that Chibhabha looked out of sorts. No one should blame him.Williams is their Test captain and after Chibhabha’s hand injury, he stepped up to lead in the ODIs and T20Is. There are a few senior cricketers in the side who can easily lead the limited-overs side if they want to free up Williams. All of these decisions must be taken quickly, as Zimbabwe have Ireland coming up in less than three weeks.

Brighton owner Tony Bloom says it is "entirely false" that he placed bets on his team's matches since he took over the club. Reports emerged that the British billionaire was the anonymous gambler behind winnings of £52 million ($70m), which allegedly included bets on the Seagulls. Now, in a statement on behalf of Bloom, the Premier League club has responded to these "misleading" claims.

• 'Secret £600m betting syndicate'

  Earlier this week, Bloom was accused of running a 'secret £600 million ($800m) betting syndicate' and that some of the accounts used allegedly belonged to a former chief of staff of Reform UK MP Nigel Farage. Moreover, claimed that Bloom is the professional gambler known as "John Doe", who is referred to in a legal case in the United States where investigators are trying to unmask an anonymous gambler on a lucrative hot streak. The Football Association prevents club owners from placing bets on matches or competitions involving their own team. Despite that, Bloom is one of several owners allowed to continue gambling on other tournaments and games as he was included in a 2014 policy permitting such an act. Now, the 55-year-old, who is a professional gambler and runs a £600m-valued ($800m) London-based sports betting consultancy called Starlizard, has tried to set the record straight.

Advertisement

• Getty Images Sport
  

  'Inaccurate and misleading report'

  A statement issued by Brighton on Bloom's behalf states that he has never placed bets on the Seagulls since taking over the club in 2009. He described these allegations as "inaccurate and misleading" and said that lawyers have made contact with The Guardian about their story.

  A statement on the club's website reads: "Following an inaccurate and misleading report in The Guardian earlier this evening, I can categorically assure our supporters that I have not placed bets on any Brighton & Hove Albion matches since becoming the owner of the club in 2009. In 2014, in addition to new rules on betting, The FA introduced a policy with quite onerous provisions for owners of football clubs with interests in betting. These provisions allow certain football club owners, including me, to continue to bet on football under strict conditions. In particular, the policy prevents me from betting on any match or competition that Brighton & Hove Albion is involved in. Since 2014, I have always fully complied with these conditions, and all of my bets on football are audited by one of the world’s leading accounting firms on an annual basis to ensure full compliance with The FA’s policy. Lawyers acting on my behalf have this evening directly contacted The Guardian to make my position on this entirely false allegation very clear. Separately, our club is in direct contact with both The Football Association and The Premier League regarding this matter."

• The rise of Tony Bloom

  To many, Bloom is best known as Brighton's owner, along with being a minority shareholder in Belgian top-flight team Union SG. He is also a minority owner of the Australian team Melbourne Victory and Scottish Premiership side Hearts. For those less accustomed to the Brighton-born businessman, Bloom started out at an accountancy firm, before becoming an options trader, and then he got into gambling professionally. Nicknamed 'The Lizard' for his poker-playing prowess, Bloom launched Starlizard in 2006, with their modus operandi focusing on using data to analyse and predict the outcome of sporting events. The success of that enterprise has allowed him to venture into racehorse ownership and charitable foundations, as well as taking Brighton from League One to the Premier League. This comes a matter of decades after the club nearly went out of existence in the late 1990s. Since then, they have played in the Europa League as well for the first time in their history.

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Getty Images Sport
  

  What comes next for Bloom's Brighton?

  Aside from off-field matters such as this, Bloom, who is a boyhood Brighton fan, will be keeping a watchful eye on his team's Premier League clash with West Ham on Sunday. The Seagulls sit tenth in the table whereas the Hammers are third from bottom. A win could see the Albion jump into the top five if results go their way.

Hampshire have announced the signings of Australians Michael Neser and Jake Lehmann. Neser, who claimed his maiden Test five-for against England at the Gabba last week, will join for the first six rounds of the County Championship in April-May, while Lehmann has agreed a two-year contract as a locally registered player using his UK passport.Neser, 35, had a previous stint with Hampshire in 2024, playing seven games in the Blast alongside one Championship appearance. He has also enjoyed success with Glamorgan, taking 80 first-class wickets at 23.00, as well as recording his highest score of 176 not out.Lehmann, 33, the son of former Australia batter and coach, Darren, has never been capped but is a steady performer for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield. He was the competition’s third-highest run-scorer as South Australia won the 2024-25 Shield, with 750 at 44.11, and is currently leading the way for his state in the current season down under.Related

• Hampshire appoint Russell Domingo as head coach

• New heroes emerge with Australia's one hand firmly on the Ashes

• Alec Stewart back as Surrey director of men's cricket

Hampshire will be his third county, having played for Yorkshire (in 2016) and Lancashire (2019).”I’m excited to join Hampshire on a two-year deal, it’s great to return to county cricket,” Lehmann said. “Hampshire has a fantastic history of Australian players and to follow in the footsteps of Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden and the like is really special.”I look forward to joining up with the team at Utilita Bowl and hopefully contributing to the trophy cabinet.”Although Lehmann is likely to have to give up his status as a domestic player in Australia to qualify as a local in county cricket, states are allowed to play one overseas player in a Shield XI.Hampshire narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of the 2025 County Championship, thanks to Durham’s defeat to Yorkshire. They will go into the new season with Russell Domingo as head coach, with the South African taking over from long-serving Adi Birrell.Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket, said: “In Michael Neser and Jake Lehmann, we have two players who have the ability to make a significant impact. Michael brings valuable runs alongside his quality with the ball – he will partner Kyle Abbott as one of our overseas players.”Jake is in outstanding form and is the leading run scorer in Shield cricket over the past 18 months. With a British passport, he is eligible to play as a locally qualified player, allowing flex in strengthening the squad.”Both players possess a great attitude and bring quality and experience; it’s a big boost as we look to finalise our plans ahead of 2026.”

Gloucestershire bring in Australia A allrounder Scott

Liam Scott celebrates his maiden Shield century•Getty Images

Another Australian heading to the UK in 2026 is allrounder Liam Scott, who has signed to play for Gloucestershire in the T20 Blast. Scott, 25, will also be available for two rounds of the County Championship in June.Scott was a team-mate of Lehmann’s in the South Australia side that won the 2024-25 Sheffield Shield. He has also played for Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash, and been capped for Australia A. Last week, he scored his maiden first-class hundred, an innings of 147 off 171 balls that helped set up a ten-wicket win.Jon Lewis, Gloucestershire’s director of cricket, said: “Liam is an exciting young allrounder from South Australia who plays for the Strikers in the Big Bash. He’s a cricketer whose stock is on the rise and is highly regarded across Australia. We’ve done extensive research into the best young allrounders available, and adding a third overseas player with a different skillset will help balance our T20 squad throughout the tournament.”We’re really excited to welcome him over. We’ve heard so many positive things and look forward to seeing him join the group.”Liam will also be available for two County Championship matches at the height of the summer. We’ve had a number of impressive Australian allrounders with the club in recent years, and we’re confident Liam has the ability to be the next big overseas star for Gloucestershire.”

MatériaMais Notícias

Botafogo e LDU se enfrentam nesta quarta-feira (8), pela quarta rodada da fase de grupos da Libertadores. A bola vai rolar a partir das 21h30 (de Brasília) no Estádio Nilton Santos, com transmissão de TV Globo, ESPN e Star+ (streaming). O Glorioso é o lanterna do grupo com três pontos, enquanto os equatorianos somam quatro e ocupam a segunda colocação.

continua após a publicidade

➡️Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

➡️ A boa do Lance!Betting: vamos dobrar seu primeiro depósito, até R$200! Basta abrir sua conta e tá na mão!

Confira todas as informações que você precisa saber sobre o confronto entre Botafogo e LDU (onde assistir, horário, escalações e local).

✅ FICHA TÉCNICA
BOTAFOGO X LDU
Libertadores – Fase de Grupos – 4ª rodada

🗓️Data e horário:quarta-feira, 8 de maio de 2024, às 21h30 (de Brasília);
📍Local:Estádio Nilton Santos, no Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
📺Onde assistir: TV Globo, ESPN eDarío Herrera (ARG) Star+
🟨Árbitro:Darío Herrera (ARG)
🚩Assistentes: Facundo Rodríguez (ARG) e Ezequiel Brailovsky (ARG)
🖥️VAR:Hernán Mastrangelo (ARG)

continua após a publicidade

➡️ Assine o Star+ e acompanhe o melhor da Libertadores quando e onde quiser!

⚽PROVÁVEIS ESCALAÇÕES
BOTAFOGO (Técnico: Artur Jorge)
John; Damián Suárez, Bastos, Lucas Halter e Hugo; Marlon Freitas e Gregore (Danilo Barbosa); Luiz Henrique (Savarino), Jeffinho, Júnior Santos e Eduardo.

LDU (Técnico: Josep Alcácer)
Alexander Domínguez; Quintero, Ade, Facundo Rodríguez e Quiñonez; Piovi, Villamil, Azugaray e Jhojan Julio; Estrada e Arce.

continua após a publicidade

Tudo sobre

BotafogoLDULibertadoresOnde assistir

Celtic will be on cloud line after sweeping aside Rangers to reach the Premier Sports Cup final, and they have now received a response after making a surprise approach to appoint Mark van Bommel as their new manager.

Whether he lands the job permanently or not, Martin O’Neill has once again hammered home his legendary status in the dugout at the Scottish Premiership champions after securing back-to-back wins over Falkirk and Danny Rohl’s men since returning to Parkhead.

After a frustrating start to the campaign under Brendan Rodgers that led to an explosive departure, his Irish compatriot has more than steadied the ship and would be open to taking on the role full-time if discussions with Dermot Desmond were to be forthcoming.

Nevertheless, the search for a permanent fix goes on. Lee Carsley, Nicky Hayen and Kieran McKenna are on Celtic’s list. Meanwhile, Robbie Keane and Wilfried Nancy are outside contenders to fill the void as the race widens before the international break.

One thing is for sure, they won’t have a shortage of talent to work with in Glasgow. Callum Osmand’s Glasgow Derby heroics have given the Bhoys an unexpected striker solution, and Johnny Kenny has also bagged three in his last two games after coming in from the periphery over the last week.

Until January, anyone who takes on the Celtic job may need to play around to find solutions in certain areas. However, O’Neill will leave the squad in a much better place should they find a new head coach, that is, if he isn’t appointed himself.

Either way, time is ticking, and the Hoops are seemingly keen to announce their latest manager, though fresh developments seem to suggest it won’t be a certain former Netherlands international.

Mark van Bommel replies to Celtic management offer

According to a report from Telegraaf, Mark van Bommel has declined an offer to manage Celtic, and he also has offers on the table from Saudi clubs offering more than £1 million per annum, something he has decided to knock back.

The former Royal Antwerp boss doesn’t want to move away from home right now because his son, Ruben, suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury at PSV Eindhoven. In a time where he needs support, the 48-year-old has opted to put his family first.

Honestly, it is hard to fault Van Bommel for his decision. Despite also being linked to Rangers after they sacked Russell Martin, it doesn’t appear that he will be pitching up in Glasgow any time soon.

Throughout his career in the dugout, the Maasbracht-born man has been in charge of PSV Eindhoven, Wolfsburg and Antwerp, and has claimed the Belgian Pro League, Belgian Cup and Belgian Super Cup during his time at Bosuilstadion.

Celtic could still spring a surprise appointment instead of Van Bommel

Now, Celtic will focus on other targets, safe in the knowledge that O’Neill and Shaun Maloney are getting a tune out of their side in the meantime.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has expressed his desire to work with Erling Haaland again, with the Manchester United legend planning a return to management. He previously coached prolific frontman Haaland at Molde and is hoping to see their paths cross for a second time – potentially in the international arena as Norway close in on qualification for the 2026 World Cup.

Superstar status: Haaland forms part of the global elite

Haaland has helped to fire his nation towards a first major tournament since 2000, and their first World Cup since 1998. He bagged a brace in Norway’s 4-1 victory over Estonia last time out, with that win leaving them on the brink of booking tickets to FIFA’s flagship event.

He has reached 30 goals for the season across outings for club and country, with remarkable individual standards also being maintained at Manchester City. Superstardom has been achieved, with Solskjaer helping to nudge Haaland down that path.

AdvertisementGettyWhere next for Solskjaer? International post appeals

The ex-Norway international is currently out of work after severing ties with Besiktas in August, but the 52-year-old is eager to get back to the wheel somewhere. Solskjaer has told the podcast: “I’m looking. I’m open. It’s not like I’m desperate to be back in. But yes, in England, I love living here as well. Is it Norway, is it Sweden, is it wherever, it’s about working with people. I love just trying to make the most of them, or make them be the best version of themselves, and help the club.”

Having spent time with Molde, United and Besiktas, Solskjaer is open to working with a national team next – with his homeland being the most logical choice. He will, however, not look to step on the toes of current head coach Stale Solbakken.

Solskjaer added: “We’ve got a good coach still; we’re on the way to the World Cup. But if he [Solbakken] one day doesn’t sign a new deal? Of course, who wouldn’t want to work with Erling Haaland again?”

Man Utd mistake: Haaland transfer advice ignored

Haaland has previously credited Solskjaer with helping to improve his game, telling : “The first thing I think he said to me was ‘You have no idea how to head the ball. We have to work on that’.

“This is what we did for two years [practice heading], the whole period I was in Molde. And it was a good thing, because I couldn’t hit the ball, and now I’m scoring goals with my head – thanks to them."

Solskjaer wanted to be reunited with Haaland when heading back to Old Trafford, but saw his transfer pleas fall on deaf ears. He previously told : “I had him [Haaland] in Molde, for two seasons. The summer before I got here [Manchester United], I rang the club and said, ‘You’ve got to sign this boy – he’ll be top class’. That was June/July 2018, and they said no – they had enough reports on players.

“Then I became the caretaker manager [of United], and we’d sold Haaland to RB Salzburg. I tell the club straight away to buy him while he has a release clause. We knew that then, and no one else would’ve paid the money – €20 million, it would’ve been a bargain. Even though with his links with Alfie [Haaland], and Manchester City and Leeds.

“It was the club’s decision to not go for it then. We never made bids or went in for him, until after he started scoring for Salzburg. By then, Borussia Dortmund were there, Juventus were there, everyone was there. His release clause then was still good – €60 million.”

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

GettyHaaland goal record: Incredible numbers for Man City

Haaland ended up moving to Manchester with City in the summer of 2022. He helped to fire them to a Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble during his debut campaign at the Etihad Stadium.

With United being left to mull over what could have been, fearsome No.9 Haaland – who appears destined to grace the World Cup finals next summer and compete for future Ballon d’Or prizes – has registered 143 goals through 161 appearances for City.

Are Arsenal now ready to bring the biggest trophies back to North London?

On Tuesday night, the Gunners sent out a serious statement by smashing Atlético Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League, all the goals coming during a 12-minute second-half scoring spree.

New striker Viktor Gyökeres scored twice, easing some of the pressure on his shoulders, while fellow summer signing Martín Zubimendi put in another eye-catching display.

Thus, the additions made this summer have elevated Mikel Arteta’s team to another level, but is balance one of the under-the-radar reasons why the Gunners have found red-hot form of late?

Arsenal's right-sided bias

During their previous title challenges, a high proportion of Arsenal’s attacks have come down their right flank.

The Gunners’ peak form under Arteta came during the second half of the 2023/24 campaign, winning 16 of 18 Premier League matches, with the Benjamin White, Martin Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka attacking trident down the right-hand side, by some distance, their most dangerous outlet.

As documented by the Athletic, the most common combination would see White overlapping, thereby making space for Saka, with Ødegaard’s primary task to find one or the other, this functioning thanks to White’s ‘energetic and well-timed runs’ alongside Ødegaard’s ‘exquisite passing’ as well as Saka’s ‘dribbling ability [which] forces teams to double up on him’

Meantime, the Telegraph outlined that a whopping 45% of their attacks last season came down the right flank, up from 38% and 41% the previous two campaigns, making this a clear pattern across an elongated period of time, something they describe as an issue when the opposition are able to nullify this.

We could have included dozens of goals to demonstrate the threat Arsenal pose down their right-hand side, but Kai Havertz’s late winner against Brentford in March 2024 illustrates it nicely.

Now, recent acquisitions have made Arteta’s team significantly more balanced, no longer solely reliant on some Saka magic, while neither White nor Ødegaard have featured particularly much, for various reasons, so far this season.

Thus, Arteta has reshaped his left side, so has this become equally as effective?

Arsenal's new look creative left-side

Where once Oleksandr Zinchenko stood as Arsenal’s marauding left-back, Riccardo Calafiori is the current occupant of that position.

The Italian has started all eight Premier League games so far, paradoxically described as both ”defensively very solid’ and “the most electrifying man in sports entertainment” following last weekend’s 1-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The table below documents Calaifori’s importance this season.

Stats

Calafiori

PL rank

Minutes

614

6th

Goals

1

5th

Assists

2

1st

Shots

16

2nd

Shot-creating actions

17

4th

Goal-creating actions

5

1st

Progressive carries

16

4th

Tackles

12

3rd

Clearances

20

3rd

Ball recoveries

30

2nd

As the table notes, amazingly, only Gyökeres has attempted more shots among Arsenal players in the Premier League this season, while the Italian is contributing across all areas of the pitch, including the fact he’s second only to Declan Rice in terms of ball recoveries.

However, as White can testify from the other flank, a full-back going forward is only as good as the players he has in front of him, so could Eberechi Eze be that man for Calafiori?

Right now, the England international is being deployed more towards the right, deputising for Ødegaard, with Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli, both of whom have scored crucial goals this week, time-sharing on the left flank.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Nevertheless, Eze’s natural tendency is to drift to the left, something he’s having to fight against at the moment.

Thus, analyst Ben Mattinson posited back in 2024 that the pair could be something of a “left-sided White and Saka”, noting that there are “a lot of similarities”, adding that Calafiori is a “better carrier” and Eze is “creative”, concluding that this could be enough to fire Arsenal to the Premier League title.

The man who arrived from Crystal Palace, too much excitement, in August notched his third assist for Arsenal on Tuesday, setting up the first of Gyökeres’ two goals, while he himself opened his Gunners account at Port Vale in the EFL Cup last month.

As Arteta searches for more central creativity, Eze has regularly been deployed through the middle so far, but has started on the left too.

The best example of what he is capable of from a wider position came against Nottingham Forest, bursting in behind to get on the end of a driven ball over the top by, you guessed it, Calafiori, before squaring it for Gyökeres to tap home.

This goal could prove to be just an amuse bouche of what this £110m pair are able to contribute this season so, if Arsenal’s left side becomes anywhere near as potent as their right, supporters have every reason to believe that this genuinely could be their year.

Gyokeres can help Arsenal's "unbelievable" star reach Mesut Ozil's level

Gyokeres could play a key role in helping the incredible Arsenal star reach the levels of Ozil this season.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Oct 23, 2025