16/08/2025

SPORTS SATURDAY | AUG 16, 2025 29 Hungry Spurs Palhinha predicts ‘something special’ from Tottenham despite Super Cup defeat J OAO PALHINHA believes Tottenham have three seasons. “It is football. At the end we are really sad. Not just the players but all the staff, all the crowd that came to support us during the game,” Palhinha said. achieve this title. Everyone gave all the maxi mum in this game and I think we showed what we are capable of. Ű BY GEORGE SESSIONS

Rooney escalates work-ethics row with Brady WAY N E R OO N EY has criticised Tom Brady over “unfair” remarks about his commitment during his ill-fated tenure as Birmingham City boss. The former Manchester United star had a brief stint with the Championship club in the 2023/24 campaign. His reign lasted only 15 games before being dismissed by the American ownership group. Even before his departure, part-owner Brady had delivered some pointed criticism. In the Amazon Prime series Brady & The Blues: Birmingham City , the NFL legend was shown telling his business manager Ben Rawitz: “I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic.” Rawitz replied: “Comes across as lackadaisical.” This week, Rooney addressed those comments publicly for the first time. Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show , he said: “I think it was a very unfair comment. “When I went into Birmingham, they were in a mess really. Hence the fact that, the players weren’t really the players who could take the club forward. “We knew that and I think, Tom come in once which was the day before a game where the day is a little bit light anyway and I don’t think he really understood football that well at the time, maybe he does now. “But what he does understand is, he’s a hard worker, we know that, so that’s why I’m really disappointed with the comment because football is not NFL – NFL works for 3 months a year, players do need rest as well, so I think he was very unfair the way he’s come out and portrayed that. “Listen, I respect Tom Brady massively, he’s one of the greatest – if not the greatest athletes – of all time and Birmingham do look like they’re getting it right now, which is good. “I think what they have done is got the players out they need to get out because when I was there, you had Tony Mowbray, Gary Rowett after me who also struggled as well… but yeah, bit disappointed but nothing too serious, so move on.” After Rooney’s exit, Birmingham dropped into League One but immediately secured promotion under Chris Davies. Since then, Rooney’s own managerial fortunes have faltered, following another early dismissal from Plymouth Argyle after just 25 matches. He has yet to return to management, with a punditry career on the cards after agreeing to join Match of the Day . – Express Newspapers WHE N Snoop Dogg sang the praises of Swansea City, it signalled the unlikely arrival of the latest celebrity owner in the once unfashionable Championship, English football’s second tier. The American rapper has joined the Welsh club’s ownership structure, investing an undisclosed sum to rub shoulders with former Real Madrid stalwart and World Cup finalist Luka Modric, who has also sunk his money into the club. “The story of the club and the area really struck a chord with me. This is a proud, working class city and club. An underdog that bites back, just like me,” Snoop said in an introductory video. In North Wales, Wrexham are dreaming of an extraordinary promotion to the Premier League this season on the back of the enthusiastic and

“We played against a top team and I think we have everything, a top coach, top players in this squad, a top crowd with a lot of hunger to achieve titles and me and my team-mates will fight for it, for sure. “A tough night, but I know that we will shape good things in the future. We just need to keep our head up.” This was Palhinha’s competi

the hunger to achieve “something special” this season after their painful Super Cup defeat on penalties by Paris St Germain. Spurs were minutes away from winning a second trophy in the space of three months after goals by Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero either side of half-time put them in control in Udine. PSG upped the ante in the second period and, after Lee Kang-in reduced the deficit with five minutes left, fellow substitute Goncalo Ramos forced spot-kicks with a header in the fourth minute of stoppage time after a 2-2 draw. Vitinha’s miss coupled with successful kicks by Dominic Solanke and Rodrigo Bentancur put Thomas Frank’s team two

“I think we also need to feel proud for what we did until the 80 minutes. You know because we fought all the games with a top team and I think we showed what we are here to get in the future. “We have all

tive debut for Spurs after he joined on a season-long loan from Bayern Munich. Palhinha struggled during his debut campaign in Munich, but is excited to be back in the Premier League and London following two successful years at Fulham before Tottenham’s opener at home to Burnley today (10pm Malaysian time) He said: “In the Premier League you have also every single week top games. I think we cannot relax and the good thing now is we have another game on Saturday to change the (bad) things and start with the right foot in the Premier League. League. I think it’s a league that everyone plays and when you play there and go to play outside somewhere else, you miss something. “I’m really proud to be back again to the Premier League. I’m really happy to be in this top club and top team. I just need to enjoy it.” “I enjoyed when I played in Fulham the two years that I was there. I really miss the Premier

the conditions to achieve good things this sea son and I think the future will bring us some thing special. “I think we have the hun ger from all the players to

up in the shootout, but Van de Ven and Mathys Tel failed to score from the spot and the French side claimed further silver ware with a 4-3 victory. Palhinha was eager to draw on the positives ahead of Tottenham being set to return to Champions League action next month for the f i r s t time in

Mohammed Kudus also made his debut for Tottenham and backed them to learn lessons from the defeat. “We’ve shown that

we can compete at the highest level, we have to take the positives and focus on the tasks we have ahead in the coming season,” Kudus insisted. “This is a good step, of

course a big disap pointment but we

PSG’s Marquinhos (top) in action with Tottenham’s Cristian Romero (bottom). – REUTERSPIC

have a lot more to play this season, a lot more competi tions and we take this as a lesson and move forward.” – The Independent

Reynolds, Snoop Dogg lead Championship celebrity wheel of fortune

lucrative support of Hollywood star Ryan Deadpool Reynolds and fellow actor Rob McElhenney. Meanwhile, former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady has a minority stake in Birmingham City, very much the second club in England’s second city after Premier League outfit Aston Villa. His arrival in 2023 was not met with universal approval, with one fan asking “Tom Brady, who’s he?” in the Amazon Prime Video series Built in Birmingham: Brady and the Blues which follows his early, whirlwind involvement in the club that includes the sacking of manager Wayne Rooney. Brady says his is a “visionary role” and he tries – not always successfully – to pass on his experience of winning seven Super Bowl winner’s rings to the Birmingham players and

beyond their initial investment and operational outlay.” Brady’s friend and co-owner at Birmingham, the New York-based investor Tom Wagner, reveals in the documentary they originally tried to buy a Premier League team but the deal fell through. Then the chance to snap up Birmingham presented itself. “We thought we could make some money, have a good return, which is our ultimate objective, so we just couldn’t pass it up,”Wagner says. Celebrities are active behind the scenes at other Championship clubs. Birmingham kicked off the season last week with a 1-1 home draw against Ipswich Town, who count multi-million-selling music star Ed Sheeran among their financial backers. – AFP

their young manager, Chris Davies. But why do so many celebrities want to invest a slice of their fortunes into the Championship? Christopher Winn, course leader at the University Campus of Football Business (UCFB), told AFP the principal reason was because they see it as an attractive investment – with the carrot of the Premier League’s riches if the team can gain promotion proving irresistible. “There is the notion of long-term returns, in other words buying low (in a lower league) and selling high,”Winn told AFP . “While on-field success and subsequent off field returns are no guarantee, should the promised land of the Premier League be reached, a significant profit would likely be generated on any future sale of the club, in other words generating returns for investors well