It’s funny being an England fan: you’re always a mix of total cynicism and disbelief that we’ll ever win anything but there’s a little voice in the back of your head that still whispers, ‘It’s coming home’ – and after looking at some of the stats from our squad this season, that voice sounds a little louder.
On Wednesday night, Manchester City star Phil Foden went 21-up for goals this Premier League campaign, not to mention 10 assists to boot, and our brains have already started drifting to visions of him creating or scoring an all-important goal at the Euros this summer.
Undoubtedly one of the rising stars in world football, not just England, the Stopfordian midfielder is having his best statistical season ever there’s no doubt he already looks at home on the biggest stage following the treble last year, but it’s also the company he’s now joined that’s getting us really excited.
As it turns out, not only does Foden have the stats to back it up but he’s also just the fifth player to manage 20+ goals and 10+ (and without penalties) across all of Europe’s top five leagues this season. We were also delighted to find out that only one of those other players wasn’t English:
Five players have registered 20+ goals and 10+ assists in Europe's big five leagues this season, across all competitions 🔥
England players putting up these kinds of stats is making us believe we could actually win something.
When putting things into a wider European perspective (which we have to start doing now the tournament is just over two months away), you can’t help but start to feel more positive when you hear that key members of Gareth Southgate‘s squad are putting up the best numbers on the continent.
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Although Harry Kane will obviously be starting presumably every game unless we romp through the group stage, having a second striker in Ollie Watkins, who is also having his best season in the top flight and looks to be leading a team outside of the ‘big six’ into the European spots, is not a bad place to be in.
Better still, with Ivan Toney having now returned from his lengthy league ban and already back to scoring, it seems the Three Lions boss has plenty of options up front when the Euros rolls around. Even Marcus Rashford is on 14 all-told in a fairly off-season for him.
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In fact, it may have been a problem for England teams in recent years but this current squad seems to have attacking players galore, with the likes of Bukayo Saka, Jarrod Bowen and Cole Palmer all on 20 goal contributions each this season too.
Bowen himself said he wants to give Southgate as big a selection headache as possible, whereas Palmer turning one goal into a hattrick in stoppage time on Thursday to make it 21 goals and a dozen assists is the kind of match-winning mentality you want in your squad. These are good problems to have.
✈️ This is the most likely England squad for the Euros based on the odds
On paper, you can’t deny it’s a seriously impressive squad.
And then we come to that all-important midfield, which has also historically caused us a dilemma at major tournaments, either through not having enough creative players or the right balance between defence and attack. The classic Scholes-Gerrard-Lampard-Beckham problem.
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We don’t want to get carried away but this year it looks like we might have one of the best lineups in the middle of the park you could hope for not only in quality and balance as mentioned before but in depth, physicality and overall engine too.
With Jude Bellingham being quite literally one of the best players on the planet right now and having quickly become a ‘galáctico’ star at Real Madrid in his first season and Declan Rice proving why everyone wanted to sign him as he’s been instrumental in Arsenal’s title race, it’s hard not to dream.
Oh, and we can’t forget about the latest inclusion to the squad in Man United‘s phenomenal young midfielder, Kobbie Mainoo, another Stockport-born starlet who hasn’t only just looked like the most mature player on the pitch at club level but earned player of the match on his very first England start.
Mainoo has been virtually undroppable since bursting onto the scene and after Ian Wright and countless other fans said he simply has to be in the squad, it already looks like he’s done one better and forced himself into most people’s starting 11.
We’re not ones to get overly obsessed with the most specific of stats but what we will say is that all three of these England players boast great numbers when it comes to passes played and accuracy, dribbles completed, tackles and low turnover rates when pressured – Mainoo, especially, at such a young age.
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To cut a long story short, what we’re saying is that there is a supreme amount of talent in this squad and even aside from things like xG and all those more minute metrics, it’s a really energetic squad with some key experienced players all throughout the spine to help keep the younger players more grounded.
Whether or not Southgate is around after Euro 2024 remains to be seen and although there are lots of players to build around in the future, it looks like this is arguably his best chance to win something as England manager. It’s all there on the table, we’ve just got to believe. It’s coming home.
Featured Images — Man City (via IG)/Harry Kane (via IG)/England (via IG)
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Football Manager 25 has been officially cancelled following delays
Danny Jones
Beloved videogame simulator Football Manager 25 has been officially cancelled following continued delays.
The long-standing game where players take control as virtual managers of football teams has been a mainstay of digital sporting entertainment for more than three decades.
Developed by London-based studio Sports Interactive and published by gaming giants SEGA, the game hasn’t missed a single season since it began life as Championship Manager back in 1992.
However, following two significant delays to this year’s title, Sports Interactive have confirmed that Football Manager 25 has now been cancelled, despite countless pre-orders having already been made.
While the news doesn’t come as a total surprise, with FM25 having first been delayed ahead of its initial November 2024 release date and then moved again to March 2025, many fans would
The statement reads: “Sports Interactive [SI] regret to inform that, following extensive internal discussion and careful consideration with SEGA, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Football Manager 25 and shift our focus to the next release.
“For the large numbers of you who pre-ordered FM25, we thank you enormously for your trust and support – we’re very sorry to have let you down. Please see the FAQs below on obtaining your refund.
“We know this will come as a huge disappointment, especially given that the release date has already moved twice, and you have been eagerly anticipating the first gameplay reveal. We can only apologise for the time it has taken to communicate this decision.
“Due to stakeholder compliance, including legal and financial regulations, today was the earliest date that we could issue this statement.”
Insisting that they pride themselves on “delivering the best value for money games that bring you countless hours of enjoyment”, they simply didn’t feel like they were able to release the latest FM title to a good enough standard in its current state following playtesting.
They go on to add that ahead of working on this, the studio undertook the “biggest technical and visual advancement in the series for a generation, laying the building blocks for a new era”, hence why the significant delays. The news has been met with mixed reactions, to say the least.
Don’t worry only gotta wait till November!!! Only in February FFS
— Out of Context Football Manager (@nocontextfm1) February 7, 2025
You can read the statement in full HERE, in which they also rationalise that it simply no longer made sense or felt fair to expect people to buy FM25 when it was ready only to purchase the next instalment later in the year.
Fortunately, with regular updates as well as community mods and patches to the current Football Manager (FM24 was released back in November 2023), loyal fans have been more understanding about the delays and now the cancellation.
SI signed off by stating: “Through the cancellation, every effort is now focused on ensuring that our next release achieves our goal and hits the quality level we all expect. We will update you on how we are progressing with that as soon as we are able to do so.
“Thank you for reading, your patience and your continued support. Our full focus now returns to creating a new era for Football Manager.”
Lighting a candle for the people who collect a physical copy of every Football Manager, with no FM25 their collections will be ruined forever. pic.twitter.com/M1S5LiLJtQ
Salford Red Devils confirm new owners after completing takeover
Danny Jones
The takeover of Salford Red Devils has officially been completed with the club revealing their new owners this week.
Confirming a full change of ownership on Friday, 7 February, the Greater Manchester rugby league side has handed over 100% control to an investment bank.
Pending full ratification from the Rugby Football League (RFL), news of the buyout couldn’t have come at a better time as the Red Devils prepare to get their season underway in just a week’s time.
Sharing a lengthy statement on the club site, they informed supporters of the decision “that secures the future of the club.”
The update explains that following extensive talks with stakeholders, the Community Benefit Society (CBS) and Salford City Council, the purchase of the Super League rugby club has been approved.
It has now been revealed that Salford has been taken over by a group of investors led by businessman Dario Berta, a Swiss banking insider, former director of the global UBS financial group and now CEO of Matanel, which specialises in real estate.
The update goes on to detail that Chris Irwin, the former Chief Commercial Officer at Salford Red Devils and more recently Exeter City Football Club, has rejoined the club as the new Chief Executive Officer.
Most importantly for Salford Red Devils, Berta and co.’s first act following the takeover was to clear all of the club’s debts and put forward “additional significant investment for future growth.”
This will be music to fans’ ears, no doubt, especially given the less-than-ideal order handed down by the RFL given the state of Salford’s books and recently enacted financial regulations.
The process of recruiting a new internal management structure is already said to be underway ahead of the final green light to the new owners, though it is understood to be merely a formality at this stage.
CEO Irwin is said to have met with Paul Rowley, Kurt Haggerty and the current men’s first-team squad at the Salford Community Stadium in Eccles on Friday morning ahead of training.
Although squad reinforcement is inevitable as part of the investment, the statement goes on to clarify that “there will be a selection restriction for this weekend’s Challenge Cup Third Round fixture against the Midlands Hurricanes” but will be lifted ahead of their 2025 season opener.
Significant funds will also be allocated towards stadium redevelopment and the wider club infrastructure. New owner Berta went on to state: “This is the start of a very bright and successful future for Salford…
“I’m very proud to be involved, and with Chris at the helm, I feel like we have the perfect opportunity to build something special. Our focus and dedication now is to work together with stakeholders and fans to build sustainable success on and off the pitch for the long term.”
Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, added: “I’m very happy to welcome Dario Berta to Salford and look forward to working closely together to see an exciting future for Salford Red Devils, building on the successes of the last five years.”
The Red Devils are set to get their new domestic campaign underway against St Helens in their Super League opener on Saturday, 15 February.
Meanwhile, international rugby has returned to our screens and Manchester city centre has plenty of places to watch every second of the action.