Sports
Chelsea fans have ‘significant concerns’ about club’s future, says supporters group
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Chelsea Supporters Trust says fans have “significant concerns” about the club’s future in a lengthy letter to co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
It says feeling among fans is at its lowest since the early 1980s and is close to “irreversible toxicity”.
Despite a record outlay on players since the new owners took over in 2022, Chelsea are 11th in the Premier League.
“The current mood amongst supporters is critically low and cannot be ignored,” CST’s letter said.
“The feeling that the club has become a ‘laughing stock’, both on and off the pitch, is growing.”
The takeover by American investor Bohely and private equity firm Clearlake Capital was completed in May 2022, after former owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned over his links to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
In the new owners’ first season Chelsea finished 12th. Manager Thomas Tuchel was sacked in September and replaced by Graham Potter, who was himself removed after seven months with Frank Lampard appointed in his place until the end of the campaign.
Last summer Mauricio Pochettino was put in charge but has been unable to significantly improve results.
During Sunday’s FA Cup win over Leicester there were chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” aimed at the Argentine from the Stamford Bridge crowd and loud boos for forward Raheem Sterling.
There have also been chants in support of Abramovich, under whom Chelsea won five Premier League titles.
The CST letter said the group wanted to highlight “serious concerns” and the “disconnection felt by supporters towards the majority of the team, the manager, the club ownership, and the board”.
“The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust regretfully believes that we are close to, if not already experiencing, a significant shift in supporter opinion that could result in irreversible toxicity, almost irrespective of results on the pitch,” it added.
“Supporters are saying that there currently seems a fast-growing lack of trust from much of the fanbase, especially matchgoers towards the board, partially due to severely limited communication.
“Many supporters have significant concerns about the short and long-term future of our football club.”
The letter called on the club to “work hand-in-hand” with CST to improve the supporter-board relationship.
“A significant number of supporters that we speak to are quick to express concerns that the lack of any public-facing vision from the new ownership has led to an overwhelming sense of helplessness, frustration, and deep concern,” it said.
“Surely supporters deserve a coherent, detailed strategy update from the ownership on their medium/long-term plans? They have yet to receive one.
“Included within such an update should be the stadium redevelopment. Even if the club have no strategically important news in this area, periodic statements would certainly not go amiss, given the crucial importance of the redevelopment to so many matchgoing supporters.”
CST also “strongly cautioned against” increases in prices related to the club, such as tickets, coach travel and food and drink.
In a written response, Chelsea thanked CST for its support and said they endeavour “to have substantial dialogue on a regular basis”.
Sports
US Open women’s final 2024: Aryna Sabalenka holds off Jessica Pegula to win third Grand Slam title
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After losing to Gauff in last year’s final, a tearful Sabalenka admitted she had struggled to deal with the crowd, later saying the noise was so loud it “blocked my ears”.
The atmosphere was no different this time around, with Pegula receiving the majority of the support from the packed 23,000-seater stadium.
There were times when Sabalenka looked like the occasion would again get the better of her as she hit 34 unforced errors and five double faults.
Once the type of player who failed to keep her emotions in check, she has taken active steps to strengthen her mentality, including working with a psychologist, to become one of the most consistent competitors on the WTA Tour.
With injuries disrupting her season – she struggled with a stomach problem at the French Open before a shoulder issue ruled her out of Wimbledon – Sabalenka has got back on track with successive titles after beating Pegula in the final of last month’s Cincinnati Open.
“I wish she would have at least let me get one set. We had a tough match in Cincinnati a few weeks ago and she’s one of the best in the world,” Pegula said.
“She’s super powerful and isn’t going to give you anything, she can take the racquet out of your hand.”
Sabalenka’s victory in New York sees her become the first player to win both hard-court Slams in the same year since Angelique Kerber in 2016.
Sports
Republic of Ireland 0-2 England: What BBC Radio 5 Live saw in Lee Carsley’s first game
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Ian Dennis
Even before we had gone live on air for 5 Live, it was noticeable how involved Lee Carsley was with the warm-up.
The interim head coach even placed the red and white cones out in the England half of the field.
He was waiting on the pitch as a solitary figure before the players came out to warm up.
Carsley was actively involved along with his assistants Ashley Cole and Joleon Lescott. It’s a significant change in approach to that of Gareth Southgate or previous managers.
I even remember Fabio Capello, when he was England head coach, watching intently from the sidelines along with his assistant Franco Baldini – but they would study and monitor the opposition.
Carsley was purely focused on his England players and looked comfortable as a tracksuit manager.
John Murray
If you were looking for a different approach from Lee Carsley, it was there right from the start. There was an initial mis-step when he turned right to the home dugout when he first walked down the tunnel, but it was a tracksuited Carsley who laid out the balls and the cones and oversaw the whole of the warm-up.
It served to underline how he wishes to be seen very much as the head coach. And if England replicate the first-half performance, he will not be interim for too much longer.
Sports
Paris 2024 Paralympics: Finlay Graham, Emma Wiggs and Charlotte Henshaw win trio of golds for GB
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Finlay Graham, Emma Wiggs and Charlotte Henshaw won gold medals on Saturday morning at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, taking Great Britain’s tally to 45.
Graham, 24, won the men’s C1-3 road race, while Wiggs, 44, was victorious in the women’s VL2 200m Va’a Single final.
Henshaw, 37, continued GB’s Para-canoe success, winning the women’s VL3 Single final, where there was also a silver medal for Hope Gordon. David Phillipson took silver in the men’s KL2 Single final.
Daniel Powell has guaranteed himself at least a silver medal in the men’s -90kg men’s J1 judo.
In Para-equestrian, Sophie Wells won the bronze medal in the Grade V individual freestyle event.
Great Britain now have a total of 106 medals at the Paralympics, including those 45 golds. Only China, with 85 golds and 195 total medals, have more.
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