We did have wild dreams

16 March 2025 ◾ CARABAO CUP FINAL ◾ Wembley Stadium

NEWCASTLE UNITED 2 Burn 45, Isak 52
LIVERPOOL 1 Chiesa 90+4

Newcastle United Nick Pope - Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schaer, Dan Burn, Tino Livramento - Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Joelinton - Jacob Murphy (Emil Krafth 90), Alexander Isak (Callum Wilson 81), Harvey Barnes (Joe Willock 81) Booked Pope, Tonali
Liverpool Caoimhin Kelleher - Jarrell Quansah, Ibrahima Konate (Curtis Jones 57), Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson - Ryan Gravenberch (Federico Chiesa 74), Alexis Mac Allister (Cody Gakpo 67) - Mohamed Salah, Dominic Szoboszlai, Luis Diaz (Harvey Elliott 74) - Diogo Jota (Darwin Nunez 57) Booked Chiesa
Attendance 88,513 Referee John Brooks

NEWCASTLE UNITED ended 70 years of domestic hurt with a 2-1 win over Liverpool in a first Wembley Cup Final triumph since 1955.

Local hero Dan Burn marked his first England call-up by steering an unerringly accurate header past Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher from Kieran Trippier's corner on the stroke of half time.

Then, in the second half, just moments after having had a goal chalked off by the video assistant referee (VAR), Alexander Isak struck a sublime half-volley from Jacob Murphy's knock-down to double the lead.

It was all far more straightforward than it felt - although Newcastle fans of a nervous disposition, scarred by so many years of Wembley misery, had their fears somewhat justified when Federico Chiesa pulled a goal back.

But it had taken 95 minutes for the Reds to breach the Magpies' magnificent defence just once - and, despite facing a further torturous five minutes of additional time, Newcastle were not to be denied.

This brilliant, well-deserved win under the Wembley arch ended the following painful sequence of six successive defeats at the national stadium in major Cup competitions, as follows:

• 4 May 1974 ▪ FA Cup Final ▪ Liverpool 3-0 Newcastle United
  
• 28 February 1976 ▪ League Cup Final ▪ Manchester City 2-1 Newcastle United
  
• 16 May 1998 ▪ FA Cup Final ▪ Arsenal 2-0 Newcastle United
  
• 22 May 1999 ▪ FA Cup Final ▪ Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United
  
• 9 April 2000 ▪ FA Cup Semi Final ▪ Chelsea 2-1 Newcastle United
• 26 February 2023 ▪ League Cup Final ▪ Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United

Nevertheless, this Newcastle team, featuring no fewer than nine of the players who appeared in the 2023 reverse, had learned from past mistakes.

In the past, the occasion always seemed as if it was too much for Newcastle and that resulted in some desperately tepid displays.

"Keegan two, Heighway one. Liverpool three, Newcastle none," chimed David Coleman in 1974, then a generation passed before Arsenal's Marc Overmars painfully turned Alessandro Pistone inside-out in 1998.

Twelve months later, Newcastle were mere bystanders as Manchester United marched to the second part of their Treble.

And the Magpies were effectively out of the game by half-time against the same opponents two years ago.

But this time was different. Spearheaded by their irrepressible midfield trio - Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali - Newcastle were in Liverpool's faces from the very first whistle and earned the better of the early exchanges.

Tonali flashed a shot past the post before Murphy fired well over the bar - then, just as the half threatened to drift to a close without any scoring, Burn popped up to put Newcastle into the lead in a major domestic Cup Final for first time since 1955.

The second half was a carbon copy. Newcastle were unfortunate not to add to their advantage when Isak poked in a rebound but Bruno Guimaraes was deemed to be interfering with play in an offside position despite Kelleher managing to get down to make a save low down from Joelinton's shot.

No matter. From his very next touch, Isak found the back of the net again after making a difficult finish look deceptively simple.

Liverpool briefly showed some form of response as Curtis Jones drew a one-armed save from Nick Pope - yet, if anything, Newcastle looked more likely to make it 3-0.

Harvey Barnes squared to Isak free in the middle of the box - and, although the Swede's effort was blocked by Kelleher, Eddie Howe's men never let up and further close efforts followed from Murphy, Joelinton and Tonali.

In stoppage time, Arne Slot's Reds eventually got the better of the Magpies' rearguard following just about the first mistake of the afternoon by Howe's side.

After the ball was desperately scrambled clear, Bruno Guimaraes tried to run it out to the halfway line - but instead the Brazilian coughed possession up far too easily.

Harvey Elliott carved open a defence still trying to recover from the previous assault and, with a well-weighted pass, found Chiesa who finished a neat move completely out-of-keeping with the remainder of the Reds' afternoon.

Initially ruled out for offside, the Italian was confirmed to be comfortably on - and the length of the VAR check merely served to extend the Magpies' painful wait.

Newcastle never panicked, though, with Bruno Guimaraes next time running the ball into one corner deep in Liverpool territory, before substitute Joe Willock repeated the trick on the other side of the pitch to win a corner and the reward of an emphatic chest bump from Tonali.

A few moments later, the longest major trophy drought in English club football was over - and greeted by the ear-splitting elation of the black-and-white half of Wembley. Finally, it was over.

Now, of course, all the players and staff deserve credit for having finally rid Newcastle of what had seemed like an unfathomable curse.

However, there are a few heroes in black-and-white that deserve a special mention.

Current captain Bruno Guimaraes, whose tears were guaranteed come rain or shine, and who is the embodiment of the emotion of the Geordie nation despite the fact that he hails from Rio de Janeiro.

Former skipper Trippier, who lifted the Cup alongside Bruno, and who believed in the potential of Newcastle so much that he swapped a Champions League campaign with Atletico Madrid for a relegation fight in which he played the key role in ensuring survival.

And another early Eddie Howe signing, Blyth-born 6'7 Big Dan Burn, who was man of the match and lived out his wildest boyhood dream in real-time.

"It's not beyond our wildest dreams because we did have wild dreams," said Sir Bobby Robson when Newcastle qualified for the Champions League under his tutelage.

Howe, unusually emotional at full time, had also already achieved that when he took his place on the Wembley touchline, but he has now done something no other manager - not Robson or even club great Kevin Keegan - could do.

Newcastle have won a major trophy for the first time since Joe Harvey's side put Ujpest Dozsa to the sword in Budapest in the month before Man first walked on the Moon.

For the first time in nearly 56 years, Newcastle are winners - and it has been so long that all of the Toon Army still seem to be rubbing their eyes in disbelief and none of it yet seems true.

Yes, it all still feels like a dream - the wildest of dreams.

ROUTE TO THE CUP FINAL

NEWCASTLE UNITED
Round 1 Bye
Round 2 v Nottingham Forest (A)	D1-1 (4-3 pens)	Willock 1
Round 3 v AFC Wimbledon (H)	W1-0	Schar 45+1(p)
Round 4 v Chelsea (H)	W2-0	Isak 23, Disasi 26(og)
Quarter final v Brentford (H)	W3-1	Tonali 9, 43, Schar 69
Semi final v Arsenal (A)	W2-0	Isak 37, Gordon 51
Semi final v Arsenal (H)	W2-0 (4-0 agg)	Murphy 19, Gordon 52
LIVERPOOL
Round 1 Bye
Round 2 Bye
Round 3 v West Ham United (H)	W5-1	Jota 25, 49, M Salah 74, Gakpo 90, 90+3
Round 4 v Brighton & Hove Albion (A)	W3-2	Gakpo 46, 63, Diaz 85
Quarter final v Southampton (A)	W2-1	Nunez 24, Elliott 32
Semi final v Tottenham Hotspur (A)	L0-1
Semi final v Tottenham Hotspur (H)	W4-0 (4-1 agg)	Gakpo 34, Salah 51(p), Szobodzlai 75, van Dijk 80

The return of Trump

KAMALA HARRIS	226	🗽	312	DONALD TRUMP
Dist. of Columbia DC (3)	Colorado CO (10)	Wisconsin WI (10)	Nebraska-01 NE-01 (1)	Mississippi MS (6)
Vermont VT (3)	Connecticut CT (7)	Georgia GA (16)	Texas TX (40)	Tennessee TN (11)
Hawaii HI (4)	New York NY (28)	Michigan MI (15)	Arkansas AK (3)	Alabama AL (9)
Massachusettes MA (11)	Maine ME (2)	North Carolina NC (16)	Kansas KS (6)	Arkansas AR (6)
Maine-01 ME-01 (1)	Illinois IL (19)	Pennsylvania PA (19)	Missouri MO (10)	Kentucky KY (8)
Maryland MD (10)	New Mexico NM (5)	Arizona AZ (11)	South Carolina SC (9)	South Dakota SD (3)
Washington WA (12)	New Jersey NJ (14)	Nevada NV (6)	Indiana IN (11)	Oklahoma OK (7)
California CA (54)	Virginia VA (13)	Maine-02 ME-02 (1)	Montana MT (10)	Idaho ID (4)
Delaware DE (3)	Minnesota (10)	Ohio OH (17)	Utah UT (6)	North Dakota ND (3)
Oregon OR (8)	Nebraska-02 NE-02 (1)	Florida FL (30)	Louisiana LA (8)	West Virgina (4)
Rhode Island RI (4)	New Hampshire (4)	Iowa (6)	Nebraska NE (2)	Wyoming (3)
		Flipped states in BOLD		Nebraska-03 NE-03 (1)

US ELECTIONS 2024

DONALD TRUMP will return to the White House in January after sweeping all seven key swing states to take an unexpectedly comfortable victory over Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election.

Mr Trump flipped the three Rust Belt states - Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - back into the Republican column while he also regained Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and held North Carolina to finish on 312 Electoral Votes.

In his victory speech, Mr Trump declared: "This was a movement like nobody’s ever seen before - and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. 

"There’s never been anything like this in this country, and maybe beyond."

On a great night for the Grand Old Party, the Republicans also retook the Senate with gains in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia - and then completed a powerful trifecta in Washington DC by retaining its narrow control of the House of Representatives. 

Undoubtedly then, all of this makes for extremely sobering viewing for the Democratic Party of incumbent President Joe Biden and its 2024 candidate Ms Harris.

But Mr Trump's victory this time did not register quite the same level of shock as his victorious emergence on the political scene in 2016 when he defeated Hillary Clinton. 

After all, the Democrats were defending a pretty weak position and made it even worse by sticking with the clearly ailing Mr Biden for far too long.

The final straw for Mr Biden came in the first presidential debate in Atlanta, Georgia on 27 June, in which the President was criticised, even by some of his own supporters, for providing rambling and incoherent responses. 

So it was to the great surprise of nobody that President Biden formally dropped out of the race on 21 July. 

Vice President Ms Harris was hastily left to pick up the pieces - although, by the time she officially accepted the Democratic nomination on 5 August, there were only 92 days until polling day.

Yet there was genuine initial hope - though it was perhaps also blind hope - that Ms Harris might be able to pull off victory.

After all, the much-speculated Republican red wave in the midterm elections in 2022 never really emerged - and much of the reasoning behind that was the surge in young female voters following the effective repeal by the Republican-leaning Supreme Court of abortion protection under Roe v Wade. 

However, abortion was ultimately rated as the most important issue in the general election by only 14% of all voters, well behind the economy which was cited by 32%. 

Now, Mr Trump actually inherits a growing economy in terms of Gross Domestic Product - but GDP will have meant very little to the average person in the critical Rust Belt states. 

Instead, high inflation early in Mr Biden's term meant voters had seen his or her basic food and gas prices increase significantly over the past four years.

"It's the economy stupid" was the mantra of the Bill Clinton campaign upon his election in 1992 following a similar period of high inflation - and there is no reason why such a fundamental element of politics will have changed. 

Border security was another issue with which the Democrats struggled to convince after official figures confirmed a record number of 2.2 million unauthorised southern border crossings into the United States in 2022.

There was little solace either to be found for the Democrats in terms of their foreign policy record with the start in the collapse of Mr Biden's approval ratings in August 2021 coinciding with the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan which resembled the Fall of Saigon at the conclusion of the Vietnam War in 1975.

Meanwhile, the conflict in Ukraine has largely ground to a bloody stalemate - and, to cap it all, the Middle East has exploded once again into a scene of death and destruction with the American-backed Israelis indulging in a collective punishment of the Palestinian people following the appalling Hamas terrorist attacks on 7 October 2023.

For his part, Mr Trump inevitably produced plenty of rabble-rousing while staying short on detail - and indeed the key moment during his campaign arrived unexpectedly at an open-air rally in Butler, Pennsylvania during which he was subject to an assassination attempt. 

It produced one of the most notable political photographs of recent times - and, having survived, it seemed only to add further to the resolve of Mr Trump and his supporters. 

Unsurprisingly, there has already been a ton of articles forewarning the devastating things which now will occur upon Mr Trump's return to the White House - but history suggests a far less dramatic turn of events. 

After all, Mr Trump will be 82 years old by the end of the term, and spent much of his first stint playing golf or involving himself in all-too-frequent and largely pointless personality clashes. 

There were also two federal government shutdowns, despite the Republicans also controlling Congress, as Mr Trump's agenda was far from merely waved through. 

It is not yet clear if an ageing Mr Trump will be more committed to the day-in, day-out business of running a government. 

Unquestionably, though, this was a truly devastating loss for the Democrats - worse than the 2016 defeat which came down to a narrow Electoral College loss based on a handful of votes in a few places. 

Instead, this time, Mr Trump - despite being outspent by $1.2 billion to $750 million - won pretty convincingly, and became only the second Republican (after George W Bush in 2004) to win the popular vote since George Bush Snr in 1988.

Mr Trump improved his standing across the board - with black voters, Latinos, and young voters - as the United States actually became somewhat less racially divided by party. 

By contrast, Ms Harris underperformed recent previous Democratic candidates in virtually every county including the Latino-heavy Miami Dade in Florida which Mr Trump won by 10%, having lost it to Mrs Clinton in 2016 by 30%.

The likes of Florida, Iowa and Ohio - all of which were considered to be in the toss-up category at the turn of the Millennium - are now firmly Red states, while Ms Harris was reduced to single-digit wins even in Democratic strongholds like Illinois, Minnesota, and New Jersey. 

To be honest then, the return of Mr Trump felt inevitable - and, having been ousted from office so convincingly, the greatest concern for the Democrats really now should be over who and what comes after him. 

The summer Jimmy (and Mo) caught the train

ENGLAND finished the Test summer on their lowest note since Kiwi head coach Brendon McCullum took charge in May 2022 after a woeful eight-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka at the Oval. 

Previously, it had looked as if England were going to be able to move on from the James Anderson era in impressive fashion by claiming a clean sweep of both home Test series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka. 

But the collective performance of the team against the Sri Lankans in the third Test smacked of the sort of arrogance of which England are probably often wrongly accused. 

Losing the toss for the third time in the series, the home side nevertheless reached a solid 221-3 at the end of a first day which was marred by bad light and the strange eagerness of umpires Chris Gaffaney and Joel Wilson to take the players off the pitch at the earliest opportunity. 

It meant ticket holders saw only 44 overs on a day of absolutely no rain in south London whatsoever - and it rightly reopened the debate over whether punters were getting sufficient value for money. 

Back to the match itself - and, on day two, England progressed to 261-3 but then proceeded to throw away their wickets with a series of loose shots, losing 7-64 to finish on a suboptimal total of 325. 

Following that, some outrageously attacking fields bordered on being somewhat disrespectful to Sri Lanka - while a further element of farce was introduced by umpires Gaffaney and Wilson in the seventh over. 

Examining their light meters, the officials insisted Chris Woakes finished his fourth set by bowling four balls of club-standard off-spin despite sunshine beginning to beam through the clouds.

Then, Gus Atkinson was allowed to take the next over and bowl at 88mph - and, considering this was meant to be elite sport, much of the action and officiating on display left a lot to be desired. 

Rather more satisfyingly, England produced a better performance with the ball at the start of day three to dismiss their opponents for 263 and gain a seemingly handy first innings lead of 62.

Here then was the chance for the home side to bat Sri Lanka out of the game and make a major stride towards that clean sweep of victories. 

Instead, England were 71-6 at the afternoon drinks break as left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando began to swing the ball beautifully. 

Then that became 82-7 in front of a stunned Oval crowd before Jamie Smith, to his credit, made 67 in a fine counter-attacking effort to drag England's lead beyond 200 at tea. 

On a pitch offering plenty, a prime English bowling unit might have been able to defend the 219 runs required by Sri Lanka - but this extremely raw attack was badly exposed against the finesse of Pathum Nissanka. 

The opener carried his bat for a delightful Test career-best 127 to earn his country a memorable win, 26 years on from the triumph in their only other visit to the Oval in 1998.

By contrast, for England, this was a highly damaging defeat which effectively ended their already slim hopes of a maiden appearance in the World Test Championship final.

Now, it seems quite a while ago - even though the first home Test of the year did not take place until July to accommodate the ICC T20 World Cup which took place throughout June.

But Anderson's retirement remained the main story of an underwhelming Test season - one without a high-profile visitor to these shores and in which tickets went unsold while big sporting events such as the Olympics, Paralympics and European Championship happened elsewhere. 

Ahead of the first Test against the West Indies at Lord's, Anderson announced it would be his last after the England hierarchy stated explicitly that, in preparation for the next away Ashes series, he would not be considered for any squads beyond the end of the summer. 

In that sense, it was a slightly awkward departure - but, although the now 42-year-old felt he still had more to give, he also confirmed understood the decision and there were no hard feelings. 

This was a far more understated farewell than that of his long-time strike partner Stuart Broad, who retired against the old enemy Australia by scoring a six from his final ball with the bat and taking a wicket with his final ball, 

And, in itself, that was quite typical of Anderson. While Broad finished with a fantastic return of 604 wickets, he particularly relished Ashes contests and revelled in picking his moments. 

By contrast, Anderson was simply the embodiment of consistency. Indeed, the opposition did not seem to matter to him as long as he was taking wickets. 

Never the fastest, the Burnley Express made up for a lack of outright pace with a prodigious ability to swing and reverse swing the ball. Sometimes, in cloudy and humid conditions, he was pretty much unplayable. 

Anderson, though, was more than a mere one-trick pony - and it was obvious he worked hard at his craft throughout his career. 

Unusually for a pace bowler, his average - like a fine wine - continued to improve with age, and even in overseas conditions - the flatter decks of Australia and rank turners in the subcontinent - he was rarely less than miserly in controlling the run-rate on days when he could not be at his penetrative best. 

Strangely, on English soil for his final Test, Anderson was in fact not quite at his best as, perhaps for once, the emotion of the occasion got the better of him. 

It certainly was not the West Indies batting outfit - and, even in this rather quiet conclusion to his career, he still took 1-26 and 3-32 to finish on an incredible 704 Test scalps. 

On the all-time list, Jimmy from Burnley sits third with only two spinners - Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka (800) and the late Aussie great Shane Warne (708) - above him. 

Now, the strain on the body and the sheer plethora of opportunities available in the game for pace bowlers to swan off to less physically demanding and money-rich T20 competitions means that Anderson's record might never be beaten. 

However, Anderson loved the elongated struggle provided by First Class cricket - and, despite the positive results for England this summer, his longevity and consistency leaves a massive hole to fill. 

In fairness, there are some signs that England will be able finally to move on from the Anderson-Broad axis.

Surrey fast-bowler Atkinson enjoyed a dream debut, taking 7-45 and 5-61 for match figures of 12-106, as England blew away the West Indies for 121 and 136 in the first Test at Lord's. 

More remarkably still, Atkinson produced this effort despite playing while the speeding driver who killed his mother in a crash was being sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to eight-and-a-half years in prison.

And, commendably, the 26-year-old continued to take wickets throughout the summer to finish the home Test season on 34 scalps at an average of 20.17. 

Thankfully, for the sake of cricket, the second Test against the Windies at Trent Bridge was slightly more competitive as the visitors registered a score of 457 - and even took a first innings lead of 41 runs. 

On a good wicket in Nottingham, though, England also made hay with the bat, scoring 400+ scores in both innings for the first time in history as Ollie Pope (121), Joe Root (122) and Harry Brook (109) all reached three figures during the match. 

Inevitably, the resulting chase of 385 proved far too much for the West Indies as young spinner Shoaib Bashir made his first major contribution in an England shirt with a match-winning 5-41. 

As such, Bashir notably became - at the age of 20 years and 279 days - the youngest England bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a home Test, coincidentally taking that record from Anderson. 

In the third Test at Edgbaston, West Indies - merely trying to salvage some pride - elected to bat in the third Test at Edgbaston, but could only produce another under-par effort of 282 in the first innings. 

The second innings was even tougher for the men from the Caribbean as Mark Wood (5-40) proved far too hot to handle - and openers Ben Duckett and skipper Ben Stokes were able easily to knock off the runs for a 10-wicket victory inside three days.

Stokes had opened the batting for only the second time in his Test career after Zak Crawley fractured a finger in the field. 

By the time that the Sri Lanka series came around, though, Stokes too was injured after tearing his left hamstring while playing for the Northern Superchargers in the truly lamentable Hundred competition.

That meant instead that Dan Lawrence came in at the top of the order - but the 27-year-old middle-order man rarely looked comfortable in the role and scored just 120 runs at an average of 20, with a top score of 35.

Lawrence was not alone in his struggles. Brook disappointed for the first time in a series while stand-in skipper Ollie Pope seemed slightly overawed by the position and his form suffered badly until his 154 in a losing cause. 

Consequently, the batting unit was again more often than not propped up by Root - and his twin tons in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's took him above Sir Alastair Cook to the top of the list of England century-makers in the format. 

Root now has 34 Test centuries and 12,402 runs - and his uncharacteristic failure to produce a significant score in the third Test defeat only served to emphasise just how greatly England rely upon their former captain. 

Wicket-keeper Smith at least can hold his head up following a more than decent start to his own Test career. 

Consistently smart behind the stumps with his glovework, the 24-year-old also made significant contributions with the bat including a maiden Test century in the first Test at Old Trafford to take that match away from Sri Lanka. 

Indeed, this was still a largely successful summer for an England team which is clearly in transition - and too much introspection for a side in development can be just as damaging as too little. 

Not that there is a lot of time for a deep analysis in any case. The Test team are back in action in just 26 days on 7 October in a three-match tour of Pakistan ahead of a further three games away in New Zealand before Christmas. 

And, prior to all that, England take on Australia in three home T20 Internationals and five One-Day Internationals in a series of matches which will begin today and end on 29 September as mid-autumn approaches. 

The main significance of the white-ball matches is that they will be the first for the team under McCullum after the 42-year-old replaced tactical dunce Matthew Mott

Unsurprisingly, McCullum has already moved to put his own stamp on the squads - and there is no room for 37-year-old Moeen Ali. 

Moeen took the decision upon his omission to retire from international cricket - but, while he cannot boast the sort of figures achieved by Anderson, his tally of 204 Test wickets included a dozen in the successful 2015 Ashes series. 

Meanwhile, Moeen's willingness to bat anywhere in the order made him a key figure over the years in white-ball squads - and he played a part in the triumphant 2019 Cricket World Cup and 2022 T20 World Cup tournaments. 

Nevertheless, with little room for sentiment, the Bazball revolution continues unabated - and, despite the patchy results and some annoying performances, it has been largely good couple of years following the staid tactics of Chris Silverwood. 

But, with all of the teams united once again under one coach and an Ashes series just over a year away, the McCullum era really has now begun to enter the phase on which it truly will be judged. 


RESULTS

	WEST INDIES • England won the series 3-0
10-14 July	England 371 beat West Indies 121 & 136 by an innings and 114 runs	Lord's
18-21 July	England 416 & 425 beat West Indies 457 & 143 by 241 runs	Trent Bridge
26-28 July	England 376 & 87-0 beat West Indies 282 & 175 by 10 wickets	Headingley
	SRI LANKA • England won the series 2-1
21-24 August	England 358 & 205-5 beat Sri Lanka 236 & 326 by five wickets	Old Trafford
29 August -1 September	England 427 & 251 beat Sri Lanka 196 & 292 by 190 runs	Lord's
6-9 September	Sri Lanka 263 & 219-2 beat England 325 & 156 by eight wickets	The Oval

FIXTURES

	AUSTRALIA • Fixtures
11 September	FIRST T20  (D/N)	Southampton
13 September	SECOND T20  (D/N)	Cardiff
15 September	THIRD T20  (D/N)	Old Trafford
19 September	FIRST ODI  (D/N)	Trent Bridge
21 September	SECOND ODI	Headingley
24 September	THIRD ODI  (D/N)	Chester-le-Street
27 September	FOURTH ODI  (D/N)	Lord's
29 September	FIFTH ODI	Bristol

	PAKISTAN • Fixtures
7-11 October	FIRST TEST	Multan
15-19 October	SECOND TEST	Karachi
24-28 October	THIRD TEST	Rawalpindi
	NEW ZEALAND • Fixtures
27 November- 1 December	FIRST TEST	Christchurch
5-9 December	SECOND TEST	Wellington
13-17 December	THIRD TEST	Hamilton

Premier League preview: Arsenal primed to loosen Man City stranglehold

PREMIER LEAGUE CLUB-BY-CLUB PREVIEW

2024-2025

▪️ ARSENAL @Arsenal
Last season 2nd FA Cup Third round League Cup Fourth round Champions League Quarter finals
Last major trophy FA Cup 2020
Ownership Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (USA)
Head coach Mikel Arteta (since December 2019)
New signings David Raya, Riccardo Calafiori
Arsenal head into the campaign as the best-placed challenger to interrupt this period of Manchester City dominance in the Premier League after edging ever closer over the past two seasons. For, while it could be reasonably argued that the Gunners lost their bottle in 2022-23 with dropped points in the closing stages against West Ham United, Southampton, Brighton & Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest, 2023-24 was nothing like that. Instead, a free-scoring Arsenal outfit took 50 points out of the last 54 available - and the title was effectively decided by a tight tussle at Manchester City which finished 0-0. Mikel Arteta knows his existing squad really is not far away now, so the fact there is only one completely new face this summer so far - highly-rated centre-back Riccardo Calafiori - is no great surprise, and merely just a matter of fine-tuning ahead of another season-long assault on the title. 
▪️ Prediction Champions

▪️ ASTON VILLA @AVFCOfficial
Lamovesason 4th FA Cup Fourth round League Cup Third round Conference League Semi final
Last major trophy League Cup 1996
Ownership Nasser Sawiris (EGY) and Wes Edens (USA)
Head coach Unai Emery (since November 2022)
New signings Lewis Dobbin, Ian Maatsen, Samuel Iling-Junior, Ross Barkley, Enzo Barrenechea, Jaden Philogene, Amadou Onana

Aston Villa achieved their highest Premier League finish since 1995-96 as Unai Emery impressively led the club into the premier European competition for the first time in 42 years in his first full season. Of course, with great achievement comes great responsibility to maintain the same level of performance - and, in anticipation of the extra games, Villa have filled out their squad with no fewer than seven first-team signings. Those arrivals have been funded by the sales of Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby to Juventus and Al-Ittihad for £42.3 million and £50.5 million respectively so the Villans should be in no danger of breaching the farcical profit and sustainability rules. However, the loss of Luiz and Diaby should not be underestimated - and there is huge pressure on main striker Ollie Watkins to avoid injury and remain as prolific as he was last season, despite the inevitable strain which additional games will bring.
▪️ Prediction 8th

▪️ BOURNEMOUTH @afcbournemouth
Last season 12th FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Fourth round
Last major trophy None
Ownership Bill Foley (USA)
Head coach Andoni Iraola (since June 2023)
New signings Enes Unal, Alex Paulsen, Daniel Jebbison, Dean Huijsen, Julian Araujo, Evanilson
Bournemouth comfortably retained their place at the top table for a eighth season out of the last 10, maintaining their role as the embodiment of support size meaning little given that their average attendance of 11,108 suggests there is no great need to extend the measly capacity of Dean Court. It means, though, that the Cherries will always have a much lower ceiling than their competitors - especially in this era where commercial income is vital to comply with profit and sustainability rules. As such, it was no surprise really that their main weapon Dominic Solanke, scorer of 19 league goals in 2023-24, had his head turned by the bright lights of the capital city and moved to Tottenham Hotspur, while talented out-of-contract centre-back Lloyd Kelly has journeyed north to Newcastle United. Last season, though, head coach Andoni Iraola produced a team last season which often played at a level exceeding the sum of its parts - so, while the goals of Solanke will be missed in particular, the south coast club can continue to punch well above its weight under the astute Spaniard.
▪️ Prediction 13th

▪️ BRENTFORD @BrentfordFC
Last season 16th FA Cup Third round League Cup Third round
Last major trophy None
Ownership Matthew Benham (ENG)
Head coach Thomas Frank (since October 2018)
New signings Benjamin Fredrick, Igor Thiago, Fabio Carvalho, Sepp van den Berg
Brentford failed to hit 40 points for the first time since their promotion to the Premier League as an unconvincing campaign required late wins over Sheffield United, Luton Town and Bournemouth to secure a fourth successive season in the top flight. The Bees actually coped well with the ban until January of main striker Ivan Toney for betting irregularities - and the 28-year-old responded to his reintroduction into the team with four goals in five games. Thereafter, though, Toney's goals dried up completely amid speculation that he was seeking new pastures, something which as of yet still remains unresolved. This spell is not the first time that there has been speculation surrounding Toney's future in a Brentford shirt - and, having seen his show better form without him in the team during 2022-23, head coach Thomas Frank may consider it is time for the west London club to cut its losses.
▪️ Prediction 17th

▪️ BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION @OfficialBHAFC
Last season 11th FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Third round Europa League Last 16
Last major trophy None
Ownership Tony Bloom (ENG)
Head coach Fabian Huerzeler (since July 2024)
New signings Ibrahim Osman, Yankuba Minteh, Mats Wieffer, Brajan Gruda, Georginio Rutter

All change again at Brighton and Hove Albion as the Seagulls begin the season with another new man at the helm. Following in the recent footsteps of Graham Potter and Roberto De Zerbi, Fabian Huerzeler is the latest left-field appointment on the south coast - and undoubtedly the biggest risk yet. The 31-year-old American-born German arrives in English football without any top-flight experience - and, although he led St Pauli into the Bundesliga in May in his first full season there, it is difficult to tell if he knows exactly what awaits him. For his part, Huerzeler - the youngest manager in Premier League history - has set his sights on producing a "season to remember", but that will be no mean feat considering Brighton have already had plenty of memorable days in recent years. 
▪️ Prediction 9th

▪️ CHELSEA @ChelseaFC
Last season 6th FA Cup Semi finals League Cup Runners-up
Last major trophy Champions League 2021
Ownership Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital (USA)
Head coach Enzo Maresca (since July 2024)
New signings Omari Kellyman, Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Guiu, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Renato Veiga, Caleb Wiley, Filip Jorgensen, Aaron Anselmino, 

Billion Pound Bottlejobs - it is going to be a difficult tag for Chelsea to shrug off especially after another summer splurge has resulted in the signing of nine new faces at a cost of over £200 million so far. Remarkably, at the time of writing, the Blues have 42 first-team players vying for a squad place - an eye-watering number and a clear result of a revolving door approach to the head coach role. On 1 July, Enzo Maresca became the fourth new man in the role in under three-and-a-half years, excluding caretakers and interim appointments - but there are already doubts over just how long he will last in the Stamford Bridge hot-seat. After all, despite the Championship title win, the Italian's reputation at Leicester City suffered some damage after the Foxes squandered a lead which had stood at 14 points - and yet chairman Todd Boehly still saw fit to bring him in.
▪️ Prediction 7th

▪️ CRYSTAL PALACE @CPFC
Last season 10th FA Cup Third round League Cup Third round
Last major trophy None
Ownership John Textor (USA), David Blitzer (USA), Josh Harris (USA), Steve Parish (ENG)
Head coach Oliver Glasner (since February 2024)
New signings Chadi Riad, Daichi Kamada, Ismaila Sarr, Louie Moulden

Crystal Palace continue to battle to keep their squad together after new head coach Oliver Glasner perhaps revealed too much of his hand during the south London club's fine late recovery last season. Glasner led Palace to six wins out of seven at the back end of 2023-24 as the Eagles eventually soared into a finishing position of 10th, only weeks after being on the fringe of the relegation battle, as the second Roy Hodgson era came to the sad conclusion that the 77-year-old was simply too frail to continue in the role. So far, following the sale of Michael Olise to Bayern Munich, Palace owner Steve Parish has rejected no fewer than four bids by Newcastle United for Marc Guehi while Eberechi Eze also has his suitors. At this point, though, it is difficult to see more than one other major player at most leaving Selhurst Park - and, as such, Glasner's men should bounce around midtable all season with little drama.
▪️ Prediction 14th

▪️ EVERTON @Everton

Last season 15th FA Cup Fourth round League Cup Quarter finals 

Last major trophy FA Cup 1995 

Ownership Farhad Moshiri (IRN)

Head coach Sean Dyche (since January 2023) 

New signings Tim Iroegbunam, Iliman Ndiaye, Jake O'Brien, Jack Harrison*, Jesper Lindstrom* 

It was a slightly long and winding road - but Sean Dyche restored some stability at Everton last season as the Toffees survived fairly comfortably despite taking deductions of six and two points respectively. Of course, much of that was down to the desperately poor quality of the chasing pack as, for only the second time in the Premier League era, all three promoted sides made an immediate return to the Championship. However, the Merseysiders also deserve credit for their solid defensive record which brought 13 clean sheets including nine at Goodison Park, something which lessened the impact of the goal drought suffered by main striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Ideally, Dyche would have liked to have used this summer as a platform to build on - but, ahead of the delayed relocation to the new stadium on Bramley-Moore Dock next season, finances remain perilously tight.
▪️ Prediction 15th

▪️ FULHAM @FulhamFC 

Last season 13th FA Cup Fourth round League Cup Semi finals 

Last major trophy None 

Ownership Shahid Khan (USA) 

Head coach Marco Silva (since July 2021) 

New signings Ryan Sessegnon, Emile Smith Rowe, Jorge Cuenca, Sander Berge, Joachim Andersen

For Fulham, the first stage of the recovery is close to completion. Having yoyoed wildly between the Premier League and the Championship in five consecutive seasons between 2017-18 and 2021-22, the Cottagers have begun to re-establish themselves in the top flight again with trouble-free finishes of 10th and 13th in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Head coach Marco Silva also appears to have settled down and, having failed to stay for longer than a year in his four previous jobs, the Portuguese moves into a fourth full season at the west London outfit. Fulham struggled in front of goal last season at times, failing to score in 13 of their 38 league games - but if new signing Emile Smith-Rowe can overcome his recent injury woes, Fulham will re-establish themselves as part of the Premier League furniture once again.
▪️ Prediction 10th

▪️ IPSWICH TOWN @IpswichTown

Last season 2nd in the Championship (promoted) FA Cup Fourth round League Cup Fourth round 

Last major trophy UEFA Cup 1981 

Ownership Gamechanger 20 Ltd (USA)

Head coach Kieran McKenna (since December 2021) 

New signings Omari Hutchinson, Ben Johnson, Jacob Greaves, Liam Delap, Arijanet Muric, Conor Townsend, Sam Szmodics, Kalvin Phillips*, Jens Cajuste* 

Too much, too soon? In May, Ipswich Town became the fifth team during the Premier League era to gain successive promotions from the third tier - and two of the previous four (Southampton and rivals Norwich City) stayed up. The Tractor Boys will hope to become the third as top flight football returns to Portman Road for the first time since 2002 after a couple years of missing out in the playoffs turned into years of mediocrity - and then worse with the drop into League One in 2018-19. Kieran McKenna has led a magnificent recovery - and, while those of the Suffolk faithful who expect survival might be a little too drunk on optimism, their Northern Irish head coach has given them plenty of reason to dream.
▪️ Prediction 20th

▪️ LEICESTER CITY @LCFC 

Last season 1st in the Championship (promoted) FA Cup Quarter finals League Cup Third round 

Last major trophy FA Cup 2021 

Ownership Srivaddhanaprabha family (THA)

Head coach Steve Cooper (since June 2024)

New signings Abdul Fatawu, Bobby Decordova-Reid, Michael Golding, Caleb Okoli, Oliver Skipp, Facundo Buonanotte*

Out of the 20 clubs in the Premier League, Leicester City have ridden the biggest rollercoaster in the last 20 years, since relegation from the top flight in 2004. There followed a demotion to the third tier for the first time in history in 2008 before promotions in 2009 and 2014, a great escape in 2015, an incredible first English league title in 2016, a first FA Cup triumph in 2021, and a shock relegation in 2023. Even this summer, the soap opera on Filbert Way has not stopped with Championship-winning head coach Enzo Maresca moving to Chelsea. Replacement Steve Cooper looks like a sound choice given his recent experience in the lower reaches of the table at Nottingham Forest - but, just like in his last season at the City Ground, some of Cooper's fate will rest outside of his control if the Foxes receive a points deduction for breaching profit and sustainability rules.
▪️ Prediction 19th

▪️ LIVERPOOL @LFC 

Last season 3rd FA Cup Quarter finals League Cup Winners Europa League Quarter finals 

Last major trophy League Cup 2024 

Ownership Fenway Sports Group (USA) 

Head coach Arne Slot (since June 2024)

New signings None 

Arne Slot takes on the difficult job of following Jurgen Klopp at Anfield - and the Dutchman has not exactly been able to stamp his own authority yet with Liverpool making precisely zero incoming signings at the time of writing. Now, it is not as if the Reds have a weak squad - but, having finished in the top two in three of the four seasons between 2019 and 2022 and having finally won the Premier League in 2020, the Merseysiders are no longer the closest challengers to Manchester City after finishes of fifth and third in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Slot will want to rectify that - but his first priority will be to win over some sceptical fans with strong early results in a fixture list which features a relatively early-season visit to Manchester United on 1 September.
▪️ Prediction 4th

▪️ MANCHESTER CITY @ManCity 

Last season Champions FA Cup Runners-up League Cup Third round Champions League Quarter finals 

Last major trophy Premier League 2023-24 

Ownership Abu Dhabi United Group (UAE) 

Head coach Pep Guardiola (since July 2016) 

New signings Savinho, Ilkay Gundogan 

The longest shadow continues to loom large over the whole integrity of the Premier League with the investigation into the charges against Manchester City for breaching financial rules expected to reach a conclusion early next year. That might not be the end of the matter as the Blues, who deny all 115 charges, would be likely to appeal any judgement against them - but the whole legal circus is almost certain to cause a noisy distraction for Pep Guardiola's men at some point this season. Moreover, the loss of handy back-up striker Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid, albeit for £81.5 million, leaves Man City looking improbably short up front - especially if main man Erling Haaland continues to struggle make much of an impression in games against the best teams in the division. Following an unprecedented four consecutive English league titles, this could be the year in which Man City lose grip on their crown, although it certainly will not be given up easily.
▪️ Prediction 2nd

▪️ MANCHESTER UNITED @ManUtd 

Last season 8th FA Cup Winners League Cup Fourth round Champions League Group stage 

Last major trophy FA Cup 2024 

Ownership Joel Glazer and Avram Glazer (USA) 

Head coach Erik ten Hag (since May 2022) 

New signings Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui

Amid much speculation at the end of last season, Erik Ten Hag was surprisingly given a stay of execution in the Old Trafford hotseat with the decision to retain the services of the Dutchman only coming on 12 June, almost three weeks after the last domestic season ended. Ten Hag can point to trophies in successive years with the FA Cup in May adding to the League Cup won in February 2023 but, having been well backed in the transfer market, the Red Devils' descent to eighth place in the Premier League was undoubtedly a massive step backwards following the promising third-place finish in 2022-23. In truth, though, Man United have not sustained a title challenge in the 11 years since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson - and that seems unlikely to change while Ten Hag remains in charge.
▪️ Prediction 5th

▪️ NEWCASTLE UNITED @NUFC 

Last season 7th FA Cup Quarter finals League Cup Quarter finals Champions League Group stage

Last major trophy UEFA (Fairs) Cup 1969 

Ownership Public Investment Fund (KSA) 

Head coach Eddie Howe (since November 2021) 

New signings Odysseas Vlachodimos, Lloyd Kelly, Lewis Hall, John Ruddy, Miodrag Pivas, William Osula 

Much like many reputable bands have difficult second album, the 2022-23 campaign was a difficult second full season for Newcastle United under head coach Eddie Howe. Cup draws were not kind as, in various competitions, the Magpies faced AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea in the League Cup, and a hotly-contested derby against Sunderland, and Man City again in the FA Cup. In total, Howe's men ended up playing 51 matches while trying to cope with a seemingly never-ending injury crisis and an almost year-long ban for Sandro Tonali for breaching betting rules. On that basis, seventh place was no disgrace even if it was not good enough to qualify for any European competition this year due to Man United's surprise FA Cup Final win - although the summer has also been extremely frustrating with a long pursuit of Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi appearing to have been a wild goose chase. For as long as the likes of Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes and Tonali all remain on Tyneside, though, Newcastle really should be competing hard for a European spot once again.
▪️ Prediction 6th

▪️ NOTTINGHAM FOREST @NFFC 

Last season 17th FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Second round

Last major trophy League Cup 1990

Ownership Evangelos Marinakis (GRE) 

Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo (since December 2023)

New signings Marko Stamenic, Eric da Silva Moreira, Elliot Anderson, Carlos Miguel, Nikola Milenkovic, Jota Silva, Ramon Sosa, Alex Moreno*
Reliant on home form to stay up on their return to the Premier League in 2022-23, Nottingham Forest head into the new season having won just three of their last 17 games in all competitions at the City Ground, with 10 of those matches finishing in defeat. That record simply must improve for Forest to survive this time as the Tricky Trees cannot rely on finding three teams as averse to picking up points regularly as Burnley, Luton Town and Sheffield United were. In the end, Forest stayed up last season on 32 points, breaking the record for the lowest tally of any surviving team in the Premier League era - and, even accounting for the four-point deduction incurred for a breach of profit and sustainability rules, the 36 points won on the pitch would be touch-and-go normally. A baffling scattergun set of new signings - and a head coach in Nuno Espirito Santo who does not connect to the fans like his predecessor Steve Cooper did - point towards another difficult campaign on the banks of the Trent.
▪️ Prediction 18th

▪️ SOUTHAMPTON @SouthamptonFC

Last season 4th in the Championship (promoted) FA Cup Fifth round League Cup First round 

Last major trophy FA Cup 1976

Ownership Sport Republic (ENG)

Head coach Russell Martin (since June 2023) 

New signings Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Adam Lallana, Charlie Taylor, Ronnie Edwards, Nathan Wood, Yukinari Sugawara, Flynn Downes, Ben Brereton Diaz, Cameron Archer, Mateus Fernandes, Lesley Ugochukwu* 

Southampton recovered admirably from a devastating relegation season in 2022-23 in which they fell well short of the required standard, winning just six matches and collecting only 25 points. The Saints eventually ensured an immediate return by beating Leeds United 1-0 in the playoff final through an Adam Armstrong goal - an outcome which did not too likely when the south coast club lost four games in a row last September. From then, though, Russell Martin guided his side to a club-record 25-game unbeaten run in all competitions but the Premier League is a completely different beast. Indeed, a defence which leaked 63 goals in the second tier - and which still regularly features the ponderous Polish centre-back Jan Bednarek - will have top-flight strikers licking their lips.
▪️ Prediction 16th

▪️ TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR @SpursOfficial 

Last season 5th FA Cup Fourth round League Cup Second round 

Last major trophy League Cup 2008 

Ownership ENIC International Limited (ENG) 

Head coach Ange Postecoglou (since June 2023) 

New signings Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, Dominic Solanke, Wilson Odobert, Timo Werner*
Tottenham Hotspur defied the prediction of this scribbler, and many others, by finishing in fifth place last season under Australian head coach Ange Postecoglu, as skipper Son Heung-min picked up the slack by filling the Harry Kane-sized hole up front with 17 goals. However, another late-season collapse of five defeats out of six in April and May, precipitated by another battering away at Newcastle United, prevented Spurs from returning to the Champions League fold - and that, as well as early exits in both cup competitions, left Postecoglu feeling rather downcast at the end of the season as he described the foundations of the club as "fragile". The big signing this summer of Dominic Solanke restores a presence in the centre-forward position - but it has come at a cost of £65 million, has been based on the output of a single campaign, and does nothing to address Tottenham's biggest concern, which is at the back.
▪️ Prediction 3rd

▪️ WEST HAM UNITED @WestHam 

Last season 9th FA Cup Third round League Cup Quarter finals Europa League Quarter finals 

Last major trophy Europa Conference League 2023 

Ownership David Sullivan (WAL), Daniel Kretinsky (CZE), Vanessa Gold (ENG) 

Head coach Julen Lopetegui (since July 2024)

New signings Luis Guilherme, Wes Foderingham, Max Kilman, Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Fuellkrug, Guido Rodriguez, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo*

Sometimes relationships just come to a natural conclusion and that was certainly the case between West Ham United and David Moyes despite the Scotsman having won a first trophy for the east London club since 1980 with the Conference League triumph in June 2023. Last season was much more of a toil, though - with an abrasive Moyes often forced to defend his results over questions about his style of play - and, once results declined into a series of dispiriting defeats and with Moyes out of contract, the statement released prior to final game announcing a parting of the ways came as no surprise. Julen Lopetegui was recruited  after his gap year - and the Spaniard has been backed in the transfer market with, among seven new faces, the arrival of Max Kilman and Aaron Wan-Bissaka in defence, as well as forward Niclas Fuellkrug who impressed during Euro 2024 for Germany.
▪️ Prediction 11th

▪️ WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS @Wolves 

Last season 14th FA Cup Quarter finals League Cup Third round 

Last major trophy League Cup 1980 

Ownership Fosun International (CHN) 

Head coach Gary O'Neil (since August 2023) 

New signings Tommy Doyle, Rodrigo Gomes, Pedro Lima, Jorgen Strand Larsen*
For the second time already in his short managerial career, Gary O'Neil has jumped in at the deep end - first, O'Neil took charge on Bournemouth less than a month into the 2022-23 season - then, just over a year ago, he was drafted in at Wolverhampton Wanderers as a late replacement for Julen Lopetegui. On both occasions, O'Neil has proven himself to be a quietly effective operator - and, unlike at Bournemouth, the 41-year-old has been given a second season to build upon his work at Molineux - and a first ever full pre-season as a head coach. The summer has seen the departure of injury-prone Pedro Nero to Chelsea but, perhaps far more critically, centre-back Max Kilman to West Ham United - as a former defender who builds his teams from the back, O'Neil likely faces a tough assignment again in the current campaign.
▪️ Prediction 12th

Mixed feelings for Team GB at end of Paris 2024 Olympics

GREAT BRITAIN matched its total of 65 medals from London 2012 at the Paris 2024 Olympics as cyclist Emma Finucane and weightlifter Emily Campbell both closed the Games with bronze.

For Finucane, it was a third medal of the week following gold in the team sprint and an earlier bronze in the keirin - as she became the first British female athlete in 60 years to win three medals at a single Olympic Games.

Indeed, Paris 2024 was a groundbreaking Games for Team GB in some respects, notably in artistic swimming, formerly known as synchronised swimming.

Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe took a silver medal in the women's duet to register the first ever British success in the sport at Olympic level.

Undoubtedly, though, the moment of the second week came in the truly gripping sport of climbing as teenager Toby Roberts struck an unexpected gold in the men's lead-and-boulder competition.

Roberts transferred his practice during the COVID-19 lockdown on a makeshift wall in his Surrey back garden to the biggest stage of all, scoring 92.1 points out of 100 on the lead wall for victory.

But, somewhat annoyingly, Roberts's golden moment was only one of two for Team GB during the last six days of competition.

Ellie Aldridge won the other gold in the first ever staging of women's kitesurfing - a welcome zippy addition to the sailing programme.

Curiously, though, the sailing regatta was staged off Marseille in the calm waters of the Mediterranean, rather than in the far more suitable Bay of Biscay - and there were numerous races either delayed or cancelled altogether.

That was not the only questionable decision made by the organisers with the main faux-pas being the staging of the swimming leg of the triathlon and the open-water swimming events in the river Seine.

Heavy rain for 24 hours turned an overly-ambitious Opening Ceremony - in which the parade of athletes was staged on boats - into something of a damp squib.

Worse still, though, the downpour increased pollution in the river to unsafe levels for several days, forcing the cancellation of the proposed triathlon training sessions and the postponement of the men's event by 24 hours.

Of course, making the Seine clean to swim in for the first time in 100 years was one of the key legacy pledges made by the Paris 2024 Olympics organisers to the extent that city mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the river herself ahead of the Games.

But, if anything, the whole thing smacked of a costly public relations exercise - and more than a few sceptical eyebrows were raised when, on the day of the women's competition, the water quality was suddenly deemed safe enough for both competitions to take place.

Nevertheless, it would be churlish in the extreme to deny Paris 2024 was a success - or to deny that the French are feeling the same sort of buzz which was evident in large parts of the United Kingdom at the conclusion of London 2012.

Following an early false start when the French high-speed railway network fell victim to a series of co-ordinated arson attacks, and looking beyond the problems with the Seine, there were no more incidents of major concern.

Meanwhile, the hosts enjoyed its best haul at an Olympics for 124 years since hosting in 1900 with gold medals in rugby sevens, cycling, canoeing, fencing, triathlon, judo, surfing, volleyball, taekwondo, and swimming.

Most notably in the pool, a new Olympic legend emerged for the French as Leon Marchand took four individual gold medals in the 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke, and 200m individual medley.

And that was good enough to help France finish fifth in the medal table on 16 gold medals behind only United States, China, Japan, and Australia.

For the record, the Americans topped the table for a fourth time in a row and dominated the overall count with 126 in total.

However, the US finished level with the Chinese on 40 gold medals and only just caught up in the very last event of the Games by squeezing past France by a single point in the women's basketball final.

Netherlands crept above Great Britain into sixth place on the last day of competition after an excellent late run of success spearheaded by woman's marathon winner Siffan Hassan and track cyclist Harrie Lavreysen who took home three gold medals. 

By contrast, for the first time since Sydney 2000, no individual British athlete won multiple gold medals at an Olympic Games. 

Chief executive of the British Olympic Association Andy Anson said: "It’s frustrating to be seventh in the medal table but we’ve got to celebrate first the number of fantastic moments, the way athletes have won their medals.

"It’s about this continual fine-tuning figuring out what can be done better to move forward. The middle bit of the medal table below the United States and China feels incredibly competitive."

In fairness, the cycling squad is still in something of a transitional phase following the retirements of relentless winners Sir Jason Kenny and Dame Laura Kenny.

Katie Archibald was also badly missed having been ruled out with a broken leg and dislocated ankle after tripping up a step in her garden on the eve of the Games.

Furthermore, the competition now from other countries in cycling is so much stronger than it used to be. 

Ultimately, though, it was the missing gold medals in the velodrome which dropped Britain down the standings when compared to previous Games within the last 20 years.

After all, even outside of the velodrome, silver medals and bronze medals were in plentiful supply for Team GB. 

Inspired by Keely Hodgkinson's brilliant gold on Day 10 in the women's 800m, the track-and-field squad hit double figures at an Olympics for the first time since Los Angeles 1984. 

All five relay teams reached the podium with bronze medals coming in the men's 4 x 100m, men's 4 x 400m, women's 4 x 400m and mixed 4 x 400m - while the women's 4 x 100m squad took silver.

There was also a silver medal for Josh Kerr in the men's 1500m as he beat his great Norwegian rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen but failed to match a surprisingly strong late run on the inside made by Cole Hocker of the United States. 

Just over 24 hours later, Matthew Hudson-Smith was also agonisingly beaten by an American - Quincy Hall - by just four one-hundredths of a second in the men's 400m. 

However, the most blissful of the silver medals for Great Britain in the Stade de France undoubtedly went to heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson. 

At the age of 31, after being ravaged by injuries and bad luck at previous Olympic Games, Katarina Johnson-Thompson finally finished on the podium at the fourth attempt. 

Johnson-Thompson even pushed defending champion Nafissatou Thiam extremely hard for gold by recording her personal best in the shot put and the 800m.

Still, the required 8.5-second margin over Thiam in the 800m race which concluded the heptathlon always looked like a long shot and the Belgian duly made sure her deficit never fell below that.

But it did not matter really. For Johnson-Thompson, the silver medal was still a victory over the doubters who deemed the Liverpudlian had missed her last chance already - and a glittering reward for a sterling athletics career.

Elsewhere, Caden Cunningham was Team GB's only taekwondo medal winner at Paris 2024, as he took silver in the men's heavyweight division after a split-decision defeat to Arian Salimi of Iran.

Noah Williams won a bronze in the men's individual 10m platform event - a result which meant a diving squad of 11 matched the five-medal haul of the considerably larger swimming selection.

And, in the women's park event, 16-year-old skateboarder Sky Brown won a repeat bronze to join weightlifter Campbell in winning medals in back-to-back Olympic Games.

Finally, Lewis Richardson - with bronze in the welterweight category - ensured the disastrous Olympics in Atlanta 1996 remains the only time since 1964 in which Team GB did not win a boxing medal.

However, it is highly likely that no one will win any boxing medals at Los Angeles 2028 with the sport slated to be dropped - although this decision is set to be reviewed in 2025.

As usual, the whole competition was marred by rotten judging with fighters like Britain's Rosie Eccles somehow deemed to have lost against Poland’s Aneta Rygielska who received a points deduction for failing to keep her head up.

Horrible judging is sadly nothing new at the Olympics - but the women's competition became subject to further controversy over the eligibility of Algerian Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei, both of whom won gold medals.

Certainly, if boxing wanted a quietly effective Games in order to save its place at the Olympics, this was not it.

But none of this was the fault of a Paris 2024 itself, though - and, despite plenty of frustration for Team GB, the squad as a whole still won medals across 18 sports so there is no need for wholesale changes to be made.  

Rather delightfully, Paris did not let itself down either.  In full glare following the unwanted Games in Tokyo 2020+1 in front of empty stands due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Lights reignited the Olympic flame for many sports fans around the world over the past two weeks. 

Merci beaucoup - and onto the Paralympics which begin on 28 August. 

PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

MEDAL TABLE

Pos	Final standings	G	S	B	TOTAL
1	UNITED STATES (USA)	40	44	42	126
2	CHINA (CHN)	40	27	24	91
3	JAPAN (JPN)	20	12	13	45
4	AUSTRALIA (AUS)	18	19	16	53
5	FRANCE (FRA)	16	26	22	64
6	NETHERLANDS (NED)	15	7	12	34
7	GREAT BRITAIN & NI (GBR)	14	22	29	65
8	SOUTH KOREA (KOR)	13	9	10	32
9	ITALY (ITA)	12	13	15	40
10	GERMANY (GER)	12	13	8	33
11	NEW ZEALAND (NZL)	10	7	3	20
12	CANADA (CAN)	9	7	11	27
13	UZBEKISTAN (UZB)	8	2	3	13
14	HUNGARY (HUN)	6	7	6	19
15	SPAIN (ESP)	5	4	9	18
16	SWEDEN (SWE)	4	4	3	11
17	KENYA (KEN)	4	2	5	11
18	NORWAY (NOR)	4	1	3	8
19	IRELAND (IRL)	4	0	3	7
20	BRAZIL (BRA)	3	7	10	20
21	IRAN (IRI)	3	6	3	12
22	UKRAINE (UKR)	3	5	4	12
23	ROMANIA (ROU)	3	4	2	9
24	GEORGIA (GEO)	3	3	1	7
25	BELGIUM (BEL)	3	1	6	10
26	BULGARIA (BUL)	3	1	3	7
27	SERBIA (SRB)	3	1	1	5
28	CZECH REPUBLIC (CZE)	3	0	2	5
29	DENMARK (DEN)	2	2	5	9
30	AZERBAIJAN (AZE)	2	2	3	7
30	CROATIA (CRO)	2	2	3	7
32	CUBA (CUB)	2	1	6	9
33	BAHRAIN (BRN)	2	1	1	4
34	SLOVENIA (SLO)	2	1	0	3
35	CHINESE TAIPEI (TPE)	2	0	5	7
36	AUSTRIA (AUT)	2	0	3	5
37	HONG KONG (HKG)	2	0	2	4
37	PHILIPPINES (PHI)	2	0	2	4
39	ALGERIA (ALG)	2	0	1	3
39	INDONESIA (INA)	2	0	1	3
41	ISRAEL (ISR)	1	5	1	7
42	POLAND (POL)	1	4	5	10
43	KAZAKHSTAN (KAZ)	1	3	3	7
44	JAMAICA (JAM)	1	3	2	6
44	SOUTH AFRICA (RSA)	1	3	2	6
44	THAILAND (THA)	1	3	2	6
47	ETHIOPIA (ETH)	1	3	0	4
48	SWITZERLAND (SUI)	1	2	5	8
49	ECUADOR (ECU)	1	2	2	5
50	PORTUGAL (POR)	1	2	1	4
51	GREECE (GRE)	1	1	6	8
52	ARGENTINA (ARG)	1	1	1	3
52	EGYPT (EGY)	1	1	1	3
52	TUNISIA (TUN)	1	1	1	3
55	BOTSWANA (BOT)	1	1	0	2
55	CHILE (CHI)	1	1	0	2
55	ST LUCIA (LCA)	1	1	0	2
55	UGANDA (UGA)	1	1	0	2
59	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (DOM)	1	0	2	3
60	GUATEMALA (GUA)	1	0	1	2
60	MOROCCO (MAR)	1	0	1	2
62	DOMINICA (DMA)	1	0	0	1
62	PAKISTAN (PAK)	1	0	0	1
64	TURKEY (TUR)	0	3	5	8
65	MEXICO (MEX)	0	3	2	5
66	ARMENIA (ARM)	0	3	1	4
66	COLOMBIA (COL)	0	3	1	4
68	KYRGYZSTAN (KGZ)	0	2	4	6
68	NORTH KOREA (PRK)	0	2	4	6
70	LITHUANIA (LTU)	0	2	2	4
71	INDIA (IND)	0	1	5	6
72	MOLDOVA (MDA)	0	1	3	4
73	KOSOVO (KOS)	0	1	1	2
74	CYPRUS (CYP)	0	1	0	1
74	FIJI (FIJ)	0	1	0	1
74	JORDAN (JOR)	0	1	0	1
74	MONGOLIA (MNG)	0	1	0	1
74	PANAMA (PAN)	0	1	0	1
79	TAJIKSTAN (TJK)	0	0	3	3
80	ALBANIA (ALB)	0	0	2	2
80	GRENADA (GRN)	0	0	2	2
80	MALAYSIA (MAS)	0	0	2	2
80	PUERTO RICO (PUR)	0	0	2	2
84	CAPE VERDE (CPV)	0	0	1	1
84	IVORY COAST (CIV)	0	0	1	1
84	PERU (PER)	0	0	1	1
84	QATAR (QAT)	0	0	1	1
84	REFUGEE TEAM (EOR)	0	0	1	1
84	SINGAPORE (SGP)	0	0	1	1
84	SLOVAKIA (SVK)	0	0	1	1
84	ZAMBIA (ZAM)	0	0	1	1

MEDAL ROLL OF HONOUR
TEAM GB

		GOLD
1	29-Jul	Rosalind Canter (Lordships Graffalo) Laura Collett (London 52) Tom McEwen (JL Dublin)	Equestrian	Team eventing
2	29-Jul	Tom Pidcock	Cycling	Men's mountain bike cross-country
3	30-Jul	Nathan Hales	Shooting	Men's trap
4	30-Jul	Matt Richards Duncan Scott Tom Dean James Guy Kieran Bird James McMillan	Swimming	Men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay
5	31-Jul	Alex Yee	Triathlon	Men's event
6	31-Jul	Lauren Henry Hannah Scott Lola Anderson Georgie Brayshaw	Rowing	Women's quadruple sculls
7	02-Aug	Emily Craig Imogen Grant	Rowing	Women's lightweight double sculls
8	02-Aug	Bryony Page	Gymnastics	Women's trampoline
9	02-Aug	Scott Brash (Hello Jefferson) Ben Maher (Point Break) Harry Charles (Romeo 88)	Equestrian	Team jumping
10	03-Aug	Sholto Carnegie Rory Gibbs Morgan Bolding Jacob Dawson Charlie Elwes Tom Digby James Rudkin Tom Ford Harry Brightmore (cox)	Rowing	Men's eight
11	05-Aug	Sophie Capewell Emma Finucane Katy Marchant	Cycling	Women's team sprint
12	05-Aug	Keely Hodgkinson	Athletics	Women's 800m
13	08-Aug	Ellie Aldridge	Sailing	Women's kite
14	09-Aug	Toby Roberts	Climbing	Men's lead-and-boulder combined

		SILVER
1	27-Jul	Anna Henderson	Cycling	Women's road time trial
2	28-Jul	Adam Peaty	Swimming	Men's 100m breaststroke
3	29-Jul	Tom Daley Noah Williams	Diving	Men's synchronised 10m platform
4	29-Jul	Adam Burgess	Canoeing	Men's C-1 canoe slalom
5	29-Jul	Matt Richards	Swimming	Men's 200m freestyle
6	31-Jul	Kieran Reilly	Cycling	Men's BMX freestyle
7	01-Aug	Helen Glover Esme Booth Sam Redgrave Rebecca Shorten	Rowing	Women's four
8	02-Aug	Ollie Wynne-Griffith Tom George	Rowing	Men's pair
9	02-Aug	Ben Proud	Swimming	Men's 50m freestyle
10	02-Aug	Duncan Scott	Swimming	Men's 200m individual medley
11	04-Aug	Amber Rutter	Shooting	Women's skeet
12	04-Aug	Tommy Fleetwood	Golf	Men's event
13	05-Aug	Joe Clarke	Canoeing	Men's kayak cross
14	06-Aug	Jack Carlin Ed Lowe Hamish Turnbull	Cycling	Men's team sprint
15	06-Aug	Josh Kerr	Athletics	Men's 1500m
16	07-Aug	Dan Bigham Ethan Hayter Ethan Vernon Ollie Wood Charlie Tanfield	Cycling	Men's team pursuit
17	07-Aug	Matthew Hudson-Smith	Athletics	Men's 400m
18	09-Aug	Elinor Barker Neah Evans	Cycling	Women's Madison
19	09-Aug	Dina Asher-Smith Amy Hunt Imani-Lara Lansiquot Daryll Neita Desiree Henry (heats) Bianca Williams (heats)	Athletics	Women's 4 x 100m relay
20	09-Aug	Katarina Johnson-Thompson	Athletics	Women's heptathlon
21	10-Aug	Kate Shortman Isabelle Thorpe	Artistic swimming	Women's duet
22	10-Aug	Caden Cunningham	Taekwondo	Men's heavyweight (+80kg)

		BRONZE
1	27-Jul	Yasmin Harper Scarlett Mew Jensen	Diving	Women's synchronised 3m springboard
2	28-Jul	Kimberley Woods	Canoeing	Women's K-1 canoe slalom
3	29-Jul	Laura Collett (London 52)	Equestrian	Individual eventing
4	31-Jul	Beth Potter	Triathlon	Women's event
5	31-Jul	Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix Lois Toulson	Diving	Women's synchronised 10m platform
6	01-Aug	Becky Wilde Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne	Rowing	Women's double sculls
7	01-Aug	Oli Wilkes David Ambler Matt Aldridge Freddie Davidson	Rowing	Men's four
8	02-Aug	Anthony Harding Jack Laugher	Diving	Men's synchronised 3m springboard
9	03-Aug	Heidi Long Rowan McKellar Holly Dunford Emily Ford Lauren Irwin Eve Stewart Hattie Taylor Annie Campbell-Orde Henry Fieldman (cox)	Rowing	Women's eight
10	03-Aug	Emma Wilson	Sailing	Women's IQFoil
11	03-Aug	Lottie Fry (Glamourdalec) Carl Hester (Fame) Becky Moody (Jagerbomb)	Equestrian	Team dressage
12	03-Aug	Jake Jarman	Gymnastics	Men's floor
13	03-Aug	Sam Reardon Laviai Nielsen Alex Haydock-Wilson Amber Anning Nicole Yeargin (heats)	Athletics	Mixed 4 x 400m relay
14	04-Aug	Lottie Fry (Glamourdalec)	Equestrian	Individual dressage
15	04-Aug	Harry Hepworth	Gymnastics	Men's vault
16	05-Aug	Alex Yee Georgia Taylor-Brown Sam Dickinson Beth Potter	Triathlon	Mixed relay event
17	05-Aug	Kimberley Woods	Canoeing	Women's kayak cross
18	06-Aug	Sky Brown	Skateboarding	Women's park
19	06-Aug	Lewis Richardson	Boxing	Men's welterweight
20	07-Aug	Elinor Barker Josie Knight Anna Morris Jess Roberts	Cycling	Women's team pursuit
21	08-Aug	Emma Finucane	Cycling	Women's Keirin
22	09-Aug	Jeremiah Azu Louie Hinchcliffe Zharnel Hughes Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake Richard Kilty (heats)	Athletics	Men's 4 x 100m relay
23	09-Aug	Jack Carlin	Cycling	Men's sprint
24	10-Aug	Noah Williams	Diving	Men's 10m platform
25	10-Aug	Georgia Bell	Athletics	Women's 1500m
26	10-Aug	Lewis Davey Charlie Dobson Alex Haydock-Wilson Matthew Hudson-Smith Toby Harries (heats) Sam Reardon (heats)	Athletics	Men's 4 x 400m relay
27	10-Aug	Amber Anning Laviai Nielsen Victoria Ohuruogu Nicole Yeargin Yemi Mary John (heats) Hannah Kelly (heats) Lina Nielsen (heats) Jodie Williams (heats)	Athletics	Women's 4 x 400m relay
28	11-Aug	Emma Finucane	Cycling	Women's sprint
29	11-Aug	Emily Campbell	Weightlifting	Women's +81kg

EARLIER PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS BLOGS
26.07  Sport-by-sport preview
01.08  Flurry of gold for Team GB
07.08  Hodgkinson crowned new queen of British athletics