'Wonderful' or a 'disaster' - Spurs fan on a derby with a 'gulf'
With the north London derby looming, Tottenham fans are reaching for the cliches. "Form goes out of the window", a "new manager bounce", or "anything can happen".
Never before has the gulf in a north London derby appeared so wide, but even with the abyss looming, hope does start to gnaw away at you. The thought... "could we?" is already starting to form in the back of my mind.
I'm very familiar with the gulf between Arsenal and Tottenham. Most of my childhood was spent in its presence. Every Monday morning returning to school in north London, I'd have to endure the taunts from that cocky lot.
But things did change. For most of my adulthood, it has been a pothole and occasionally non-existent. But then, thanks to one man, Vinai Venkatesham, we're back in the mid-90s, where our chances rest on nothing more than a 'fool's hope'.
Our CEO loves to pat himself on the back for his 'job well done' down the road, while fully ignoring the bonfire at N17. Vinai has brought back the dark days with some aplomb.
We're five points away from relegation and so frightened of what might happen that we've parachuted in a relegation-saving expert.
This is not a north London derby I'm looking forward to - but still, it is littered with possibility.
Both clubs approach this game with an opportunity to make a statement.
For Arsenal, it's a chance to show they have the fortitude to finally win a two-way title race, especially after the setback at Wolves. For Spurs, it's about changing course.
Igor Tudor's first game against 'them lot' offers him the opportunity to build some optimism and put some distance between us and the Championship.
In my lifetime, I've seen some wonderful north London derby fixtures and some absolute disasters.
Right now, I'm not sure what road this one is on, because we all know "form goes out of the window" - or so my side of the divide hopes.
Find more from Bardi at The Extra Inch - a Spurs podcast
Come back on Saturday for the fan view from the Arsenal side of the rivalry.
Ange Postecoglou admits he was ‘obsessed’ with Liverpool
Childhood devotion shaped by Dalglish magic
There are footballers you admire, and there are footballers who colonise your imagination. For Ange Postecoglou, Liverpool were not merely a club across the world but a weekly ritual, a shared language with his father, a belief system forged in red and white. The Australian coach admitted simply: “I was Liverpool mad, right? I was Liverpool obsessed.”
It began, as these things often do, with a hero. When Kenny Dalglish arrived at Anfield in 1977, replacing Kevin Keegan and ushering in another Liverpool dynasty, the young Postecoglou felt something shift. “When Kenny came in ’77, it went to another level for me,” he said. That was Dalglish’s effect. He made the complicated look inevitable, the brilliant look effortless, and children in Glasgow, Sydney or Sefton Park felt they had witnessed something sacred.
Dalglish’s Liverpool were not just winners; they were craftsmen. They played with poise, patience and menace. They made football feel like poetry written with studs and laces. That is how obsession begins.
Anfield promise carried into Premier League career
Football’s beauty lies in its capacity to connect time. A boy staring at a poster grows into a manager pacing the Anfield touchline, still hearing echoes of the Kop. Postecoglou described arriving early for his first visit as a Premier League manager, wanting a private moment beneath the famous sign.
“I promised myself… I’m going to walk through the tunnel beneath the sign just for my dad… to say we kind of made it.”
It was not about tactics or systems or press conferences. It was about gratitude. About telling a parent who never saw your greatest success that the journey mattered.
Then came the coincidence only football can script. “I turn around and it’s Sir Kenny,” Postecoglou said. The boyhood poster had stepped off the wall and into the corridor. “I’ve just walked through the Anfield tunnel with Kenny Dalglish, the guy that I had on my walls.”
There are moments in football that defy analysis. This was one of them.
Dalglish legacy beyond statistics
Dalglish’s record at Liverpool explains plenty. Over 500 appearances, more than 170 goals, countless assists and an era of league titles and European Cups. Yet numbers alone do not explain why a coach raised on the other side of the world still trembles at Anfield.
Dalglish represented grace under pressure, humility in triumph, humanity in grief. He embodied Liverpool’s identity. That legacy travelled across continents because it was about more than trophies. It was about belonging.
Every supporter knows this feeling. Ask anyone who grew up watching Ian Rush, Steven Gerrard or Mohamed Salah, and they will tell you heroes are stitched into memory like family heirlooms. For Postecoglou, Dalglish was that figure. The link between father and son. Between childhood and career.
Modern rivalry softened by shared respect
Liverpool’s modern era under Arne Slot has produced new rivalries and fresh narratives, yet stories like Postecoglou’s remind us football retains its human core. Managers shout across touchlines, clubs battle for points, but admiration lingers beneath.
Postecoglou’s Liverpool obsession does not weaken his professionalism. It enriches it. It reminds us coaches are supporters first, dreamers before strategists.
And it tells us something about Liverpool too. Anfield is more than bricks and seats. It is memory, promise and pilgrimage. A place where an Australian manager can whisper thanks to his father and shake hands with his childhood idol.
Dalglish gave Liverpool greatness. Liverpool gave Postecoglou belief. Football gave us a story worth telling.
Bristol City CEO Rawcliffe leaves the club
Bristol City chief executive Tom Rawcliffe is leaving the club after less than a year in the role.
Rawcliffe only took on the role last summer but is moving back to Nottingham as his wife is expecting their first child.
Chairman Jon Lansdown said: "Following the closure of the January transfer window, Tom openly communicated his desire to head back to the East Midlands at the end of the season.
"Whilst this was disappointing, we fully understand his reasons.
"Given the fast-paced nature of the football industry, we have agreed that it is best for both him and the club to depart now, and he goes with our best wishes."
Alysa Liu walked away from skating. Her fresh outlook when she returned helped her win Olympic gold
MILAN (AP) — Alysa Liu probably cared the least of all the women in figure skating at the Milan Cortina Olympics about winning the gold medal.
Maybe that is why she won it.
The 20-year-old with the striped hair, prominent frenulum piercing and carefree attitude never showed any worry or strain when she took the ice for her free skate on Thursday night. Instead, Liu waved up at her friends and family in the stands, grinned throughout her program, and acted as if she was going through just another training session at the Oakland Ice Center back in California.
“My family is out there. My friends are out there. I had to put on a show for them,” Liu said afterward. “When I see other people out there smiling, because I see them in the audience, then I have to smile, too. I have no poker face.”
It was all smiles for her crew after Donna Summer's version of “MacArthur Park” came to a conclusion. Liu earned a score of 226.79 points, sending her surging past silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto and Japanese teammate Ami Nakai, who took bronze.
Liu's coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali, embraced in a hug, content in knowing that a comeback two years in the making had achieved something incredible: The first women's figure skating gold medal for the U.S. since Sarah Hughes in 2002.
Liu's family members stood and cheered, as did the rest of the crowd inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
No doubt every official at U.S. Figure Skating, and every member of its Olympic team, also felt a surge of joy. Or relief. It had been a frustrating Winter Games on a number of levels, beginning with some controversial ice dance scoring that denied Madison Chock and Evan Bates the gold medal, and continuing right through Ilia Malinin's struggles in his free skate earlier in the week.
The only golden moment until Thursday night had been the team event, when Liu helped the U.S. defend its Olympic title.
“If I had a nickel for every gold medal I have here,” Liu joked, “I would have two!”
That's the kind of "dad joke" only Liu would crack after triumphing on figure skating's grandest stage.
Four years ago, the daughter of a Chinese immigrant was in a much different mental state. Liu had just finished sixth at the Beijing Games as a 16-year-old prodigy, but she might as well have finished last. She was so burned out by figure skating that her prevailing thought after that Olympic free skate was relief that it was over, rather than pride in what she had accomplished.
She was the kid who'd get dropped off at the rink in the morning and picked up at night. Her childhood revolved around practice, and not of her own choosing. When she became the youngest U.S. champion at 13, and defended her title the following year, it only upped the ante among those who saw her following in the footsteps of Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski.
Liu was trying to fit the mold that everyone wanted for her.
So, she quit. Walked away. Abruptly decided to retire after the Beijing Games, leaving all of that mental strain behind her.
For two years, Liu did what she wanted, which had little to do with skating. She went on backpacking trips with friends and began studying psychology at UCLA. She got the frenulum piercing that shows across her front teeth when she smiles. In short, she became her own person, one whose individualism has made her a hero to the alt, emo and punk crowd.
She broke just about every mold for a figure skater.
“I love that Alysa is showing the entire world, and especially our skating world, that there is more than one way to win," said Johnny Weir, the two-time Olympian, who along with Lipinski called her free skate for NBC on Thursday night.
Indeed, when Liu launched a comeback two years ago, she did it her way. She would only spend as much time at the practice rink as she wanted. She would be involved in every decision when it came to designing her programs. She even had a say in her dresses, with her favorite being the glittering gold ensemble that fit the moment so perfectly Thursday night.
“Honestly, it was more than just work, it was experience,” Liu said. "The last time I was skating, it was so rough. I genuinely can’t begin to start on it. It took a lot to get to this point, and studying psychology has really helped. I love psychology.
“All I want in my life is human connection and, damn, now I am connected with a hell of a ton of people.”
That includes women like Tenley Albright, who won Olympic gold at the 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Games, and was watching from the crowd on Thursday night. And other U.S. champions, such as Carol Heiss, Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill.
But it's more than that.
It's a connection to everyone who has walked away from something and found their way back. Who cut ties with something they once loved so that they could learn to love it again. And who had to go searching far and wide to discover who they really are.
“I have no idea how I am going to deal with it. I’ll probably wear some wigs when I go outside,” Liu said, when asked how she plans to handle her sudden fame. “I hope with all this attention I can raise awareness about mental health in sports, and mental health more generally. I think my story is very cool. Hopefully, I can inspire some people.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Howe delivers ‘nasty’ Newcastle injury update ahead of Man City clash
Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe says that Yoane Wissa is likely to miss this weekend’s game against Manchester City after taking a “nasty knock” in training.
The Magpies travel to Eastlands this Saturday just weeks after losing 3-1 at the same venue in the semi-finals of the League Cup.
Howe will be without several key players, however, as he could be missing up to seven first-team members through injury.
‘Nasty’ Newcastle United injury update ahead of Man City clash
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he provided updates on the condition of Wissa, Bruno Guimarães, Tino Livramento, Sven Botman and Lewis Miley.
Wissa missed the trip to Qarabag in the UEFA Champions League in midweek with a knock, but Howe is optimistic he will be available for selection next week.
“No I don’t think he will be available but I don’t think he will be far off the Qarabag game. It was a nasty knock in training,” he said.
Bruno, meanwhile, is back in his home country of Brazil after suffering a hamstring injury that is expected to sideline him for two months.
“No massive updates, he’s in Brazil. And judging by the pictures I’ve seen, which was great to see, he’s watching the games and his passion for the team is shining through from afar.”
Livramento is still set to return from a hamstring issue of his own in March. “Tino is making progress but I don’t think we’ll shave too much time off the early March timeframe he has.”
Botman has missed the last two games with a back problem, but could be involved this weekend, while Miley will remain out of action for another two weeks with a dead leg.
“Hopefully better news for Sven Botman, hopefully he can be in and around this game. Miley still has got a bit to go.”
Howe added: “Lewis had a dead leg, but it disturbed a bit of the muscle. Nothing more than a week or a couple of weeks, maximum. But we’ve been told we’ve got to be careful with it.”
Read – Elanga backs Howe to turn Newcastle United’s season around
See Also – Every player to score four goals in a Champions League game