Liverpool sack their manager. Fulham begrudgingly say goodbye to theirs. A new appointment on Merseyside awaits, Crystal Palace wish they could have got theirs and there is the small matter of the Champions League final. Busy one. Issue 103. Go.

It almost felt as if patience was being shown across the Premier League. Nuno Espirito Santo given the opportunity to lead West Ham into Championship battle, Eddie Howe given backing after a disappointing campaign on Tyneside.

Arne Slot given the opportunity to put this season behind and go again after leading Liverpool to fifth. That was certainly the case until last Saturday morning and then a trigger was pulled from nowhere.

Some would say the decision was harsh, others would say it was merited. Supporters of other clubs wishing that their higher ups could be as direct as that - Newcastle fans watching on with an element of envy regarding their own manager.

Turns out that finishing fifth in 2025/26 after winning the Premier League the season before was nowhere near good enough. Remove all the mitigating circumstances regarding the passing of Diogo Jota and this Liverpool side had fallen well short.

Especially as £400m or thereabouts was spent last season. This campaign was meant to be strengthening from a position of strength. Instead, it was buying too many attacking players and having no real plan or luck when it came to playing them together.

Florian Wirtz, only just edging his way out of bust territory but with a lot to do under whoever takes over from Slot in the summer. Hugo Etikite on the sidelines for the best part of six months. Alexander Isak arguably derailing the campaign from the start.

A myriad of issues and that is before the falling out between the now former Liverpool boss and the now former Liverpool great. Mohamed Salah trying to engineer a ‘me on him’ scenario last December, turns out they both left in the end.

In the previous article, I spoke about the value leak coming out of Anfield at the moment. Ibrahima Konate is now close to joining Real Madrid, with hindsight they could have sold him last summer.

They dallied there, they dallied with Marc Guehi. They will be relying on Jeremy Jacquet to fill the void alongside Virgil van Dijk. The next managerial incumbent, may have to end up spending even more in order to sort this team out.

Which leads us to….

Although Arne Slot’s replacement is yet to be confirmed, the belief is that Andoni Iraola is the man that has been courted and considering he was being targeted heavily by Crystal Palace just a week or so ago, the Spaniard has played a masterstroke in hanging around.

The longer that Palace’s courting of the Spaniard, the more you felt that Iraola was waiting for a better offer. That is not to do the recent Conference League winners a disservice, but there always felt like something up the food chain was coming.

A route to Stamford Bridge closed off after Chelsea got to Xabi Alonso before anyone else, the same can be said for Old Trafford once Michael Carrick got his permanent deal with the Red Devils.

The route to Anfield marked rather clear after Saturday’s movements, whether the sacking of Slot came simply from the desire to snare Iraola can be argued but there can be no argument over who now sits in the frame to be the next Liverpool manager.

His stock cannot be any higher after leading Bournemouth to Europa League football, even more so considering he called his own exit at the Vitality Stadium before continental participation had even been secured by the Cherries.

Which means if there was ever a time to strike while the iron was hot, then now is the time and when you consider how much flux there will be within the members of the Big Six, next season could serve to be most anticipated for some time.

If we compare the managers of the respective half dozen at the start of the season to now, this is what it is likely to look like on the opening day of the 2026/27 campaign:

Five clubs making changes, a scenario where counterparts Mikel Arteta, Xabi Alonso and Andoni Iraola all managing a Premier League giant after growing up in the same Basque region (a point that will no doubt be reinforced all season). Only one constant.

Which leads us to…

Glee for PSG, despair for Arsenal. A Champions League decided from 12 yards, Luis Enrique overseeing a second successive outright success for the French giants and the third lifting of the trophy in his managerial career.

Arsenal out of the traps early thanks to Kai Havertz’ goal, maybe that in itself was the problem. All that seemed to do is allow PSG to settle into a pattern of play and deep down you knew was going to extract some dividend when it really mattered.

It mattered most when Cristhian Mosquera felled Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the second half. Arsenal-leaning pundits (more on them in a moment) said he did nothing wrong apart from that. That in itself was a costly error.

Ousmane Dembele netting the penalty that followed with ease, that setting up a grandstand finish in the second half minutes. Could Arsenal hold out? They did not look like scoring themselves, that in itself was also part of the problem.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s pace a constant thorn in Arsenal’s side, he was incredibly unlucky to hit the side of the goal frame as the travelling Gunners’ support in Budapest was becoming more nervous as time ticked down.

Bradley Barcola, a player even quicker than teammate Kvaratskhelia, should have probably nullified the use of extra-time by ending his lightning burst with a last-minute goal - an errand touch too much and it meant an additional 30 minutes on clock.

A spell where Noni Madueke laid claim to his own award of a penalty kick, referee Daniel Siebert wasting absolutely no time in waving Arsenal protests away. Ironically, the man in the middle would not stand for time wasting earlier in the game.

Bukayo Saka dumbfounded at not being allowed to take a corner kick in the dying moments of the first half. Referee Siebert signalling that time had already overran, opportunity missed for Arsenal.

Which is exactly what it was from 12 yards. Eberechi Eze’s technique giving the advantage back to PSG’s Matvei Safonov. The stuttering run of the former Crystal Palace forward suggesting that there was no plan when it mattered most.

And when it mattered most, Gabriel took out most of the first three rows with his effort from 12-yards. A cruel way to lose a final and especially when a first Champions League title was within agonising distance for the North London outfit.

A very good season for the Gunners that could have been one of the very best. A highly entertaining evening for the neutral as they watched at home and that is the element that TNT largely forgot about.

Less TNT Sports, more AFTV if we are being honest about Saturday’s broadcasting tone in the UK. Already a furore regarding the paywall being held firm by the pay-TV channel, even more regarding the cheerleading of this season’s Premier League winners.

In fairness, to say that neutrals were watching this game with a keen interest is also largely wide of the mark. You were either an Arsenal fan or you were hate-watching in the hope of a PSG win.

The fact that there was a rater large component of the latter made the coverage even more galling when you consider the pro-Arsenal stance. TNT made the mistake of expecting this game to unite the nation.

If this was an upcoming World Cup fixture and the BBC or ITV were laying it thick in England circumstances, then the obvious bias would have been far more edible for supporters across the country to swallow. (Sorry Scotland supporters).

Instead, it was an ‘all-star’ punditry cast of Arsenal fan and presenter for the night Laura Woods being joined by former Arsenal players Jack Wilshere and Martin Keown, the latter now taking on full cheerleader role and being absolutely unashamed with it either.

But people don’t want to see unabated cheerleading for a single club, that is not how football tribalism works, it’s not how European football with English clubs taking part works anymore.

I say anymore, because it is no longer a case of the plucky English club taking on ‘Johnny Foreigner’ and hoping to bring the trophy back to these shores unexpectedly, now it is the biggest clubs on the continent representing the Premier League.

Which means that underdog spirit has long since grown from being a puppy, it is now a bloodhound that is looking to sniff out European success and if it’s not your team, other English clubs will not support you wholesale.

There may have been pockets of well wishes for both Aston Villa and Crystal Palace in the week or so before but you were never going to get that as far as Arsenal in a Champions League final were concerned.

It was a night that gave free advertising for the use of firesticks, not only because the game was behind a paywall but for how bad the coverage was across the board. Once you got past the thick pro-Arsenal bias, you still had to deal with ‘Fletch’

A report conducted for the Guardian by the technology analyst Gaming Compliance International (GCI) shows there were 16.2m illegal stream views of longer than 90 seconds, traced to 3.7m unique IP addresses. 3.7m with a lot of sense if you ask me.

Marco Silva calls time on his managerial stint at Craven Cottage, a move to Benfica now the likely destination for the Portuguese coach. Four seasons in the top tier after winning promotion from the Championship, all rather stress free on reflection.

Finishes of 10th, 13th, 11th and 11th across those four campaigns, the latter arguably the most impressive considering how little the Cottagers spent in relation to their Premier League counterparts.

Silva like many others will feel that the end of the road had been reached with Fulham, frustration that they could not break through the European glass ceiling when Bournemouth did and local rivals Brentford nearly joined them.

The longer that the former Watford and Everton coach did not sign new terms in West London, the greater feeling that you knew how this was ending. He has Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid to thank for opening up an enticing opportunity in his homeland.

The chance to wake a sleeping giant that has been, not in a slumber, but certainly in a doze after a strange season where they went unbeaten but failed to win the Portuguese title.

A coach like Silva will relish the opportunity to test his acumen at a higher level, even if it is within Benfica’s pressure cooker environment. The pressure for the Khan family who own Fulham is to get their next managerial appointment right.

The Cottagers are one of those clubs that look stable but it only needs one manager to undo all the hard work of the past four seasons to undermine all of it. Would Thomas Frank be bold enough to change his West London allegiance? Stranger things and all that.

No World Cup for Billy Gilmour after suffering an injury in Saturday’s home friendly with Curacao. The Napoli midfielder hobbling off before the break. The hope was a precaution. The reality far worse.

A huge blow for a player that was expected to be an integral part of Scotland’s midfield. Ex-Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher has seen his son Tyler Fletcher called up instead. Not bad considering his first cap was in that same friendly.

Blackburn Rovers’ search for a new manager may be coming to a close now that Dave Challinor has left League One outfit Stockport County. The Ewood Park outfit is known for dwindling budgets but can at least offer managing at a level above. Will it be tempting enough for the former Tranmere defender?

Southampton have announced that Tonda Eckert will not be sacked after his role in Spy Gate. The club have given him his backing, the man in question gave an eight-minute apology on Social Media.

He said it goes on all the time in Germany and Italy. Doesn’t make it right though does it Tonda.

The England World Cup squad numbers have been announced. If you picked 1 to 11 for the opening game, it would look like: Pickford, Konsa, O’Reilly, Rice, Stones, Guehi, Saka, Anderson, Kane, Bellingham, Rashford. Interesting.

Switzerland have travelled to the World Cup without forward Breel Embolo. The 29-year-old, who has scored 23 goals in 85 games for his country and played in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, was convicted in 2023 of making multiple threats and handed a suspended fine.

His ETSA is under review due to the conviction and although he is likely to eventually join his Swiss teammates, it is far from ideal preparation before the tournament gets underway next week.

Right, that’s the end of issue 103 as word continues to spread around the football world.

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Issue 104 drops Friday, I’ll be back with another round of insight, analysis and trends that matter. Any feedback or comments on this issue, contact me below:

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