Thank you very much for your company and anecdotes of meeting footballers on holiday. Let me leave you with today’s Football Daily. “At the age of about 12 I was out for dinner in quite a swish place in Madrid with my parents,” says Nicolas. “A very glamorous couple came and sat at the next table, turning around I realised it was Figo at the height of his powers at Real Madrid and his girlfriend, a few minutes later none other than newly minted Galactico David Beckham walks in with Victoria and joins Figo for a slap up meal. “I had my arm in a cast at the time and despite my pleading my parents refused to let me ask any of their table for an autograph. Fair enough but I was in a right sulk for the rest of the holiday.” Imagine what that cast would be worth now … Players will receive full remuneration if they exercise an entitlement to miss training sessions or matches for menstrual health reasons as one of a host of new regulations for women’s football introduced by Fifa. The changes to the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP), which come into effect on Saturday and were unanimously endorsed by the Fifa council earlier this month, build on existing regulations that were first announced by Fifa in November 2020. The announcement also includes new provision for adoptive parents and non-biological mothers. While the 2020 reforms, which outlined global minimum labour conditions for players, did include a minimum 14-week maternity leave, it was at the time enshrined for players only. Coaches will now also be allowed the same, while a minimum of eight weeks’ paid absence have been granted to female players or coaches who have adopted children aged younger than two, reduced to four weeks for a child between two and four years of age and to two weeks for a child older than four. PA Media Most of the press conference has been in Spanish. Ancelotti has confirmed that Courtois will start and Lunin, who is suffering from flu and is set to arrive in London tomorrow, will be on the bench. Reading’s head of football operations Mark Bowen has been charged over breaches of the FA’s betting rules after allegedly placing 95 bets on football matches. The alleged offences took place between April 19, 2022 and January 14, 2024 and were not connected to games involving the League One club, the FA said in a statement posted on X. The 60-year-old, who took up his current post with the Royals in May 2022 after a spell at AFC Wimbledon, has been given until June 7 to respond to the charges. Under FA regulations all players, coaches and officials connected with clubs in the top eight tiers of English football are prohibited from gambling on matches played worldwide. PA Media Watch the Real Madrid press conference live! “Was in the Calcutta Club on Maid Marion Way in Nottingham visiting from Canada with 2 friends from New Zealand,” says Kevin Bossy. “Jack Colback was tucking into a Chicken Tikka Masala ( I assume). Got a picture with him that his co-diner took. Imagine my surprise that I got a selfie of his dining buddy on my phone. “Every time I have since been asked to take a picture I have stolen this pose. “Apologies to the American Couple I golfed with recently.” I suspect it was not his friend’s first time. What a funny old season it has been for Jadon Sancho. Andy Brassell takes a look at his return to Dortmund. Jose Mourinho has posted a photo on Instagram of his suitcase being packed, so he must be off somewhere. Istanbul? Benidorm? St Malo? Shaun Wilkinson emails: “RE: Frank Lampard being linked with the Burnley job - if I were him or anyone else I would be busting a gut for that job. As we have found out, getting them relegated with under 30 points gets you one of the biggest jobs in world football - who wouldn’t want to such a gig?” FSG appoint head of global goalkeeping Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, have appointed Hans Leitert to the newly created position of the company’s head of global goalkeeping. Leitert held a similar role at the Red Bull Group for five years before becoming Liverpool’s goalkeeping scouting consultant in 2018. The Austrian, author of The Art of Goalkeeping, will lead the recruitment of a new head goalkeeping coach for Arne Slot following the departure of the long-serving John Achterberg at the end of last season. That process is already underway. The 51-year-old will also oversee the development of goalkeeper coaches, manage analysis and introduce a goalkeeper specific training programme. Frank Lampard is under consideration for the Burnley job. All I keep thinking is that Will Still fits the bill. With so many young French speakers in the squad at Turf Moor, he seems like a good fit. It’s not just the players who need to get used to their surroundings. Dan emails: “Picking up on the John Barnes theme, during the 90s I worked on the go-kart track at PrestHaven Sands holiday Camp, North Wales. The 90s being a simpler time, John Barnes once holidayed there and took his kids on the go-karts most days, always waiting patiently for the two-seater machine. The manager, a rather officious chap, banned us from getting autographs and told us we had to ‘treat him like anyone else’. At some point during the week one of my colleagues brought in a disposable camera with a few exposures left and we managed to take a sneaky picture of John whizzing by. I wonder if the blurred picture of John is still up inside the ticket hut.” I bet he was nifty through the corners. Take that the Camp Nou. “Saturday just gone I was in Glasgow to cheer on Celtic as they sealed the double in the Scottish Cup final against the dark side,” says Danny. “After a long day of liquid celebrations, I was walking back to the hotel when a car stopped just beside me and out stepped our captain, Callum McGregor, heading into a club. Being pathologically worried about bothering people, I could only stand there mouth agape before I summoned up the courage to call out to him. “Once I got his attention, the only thing I could think to do is tap my heart twice with my fist. “Got an amused “Awrite mate” in response, which will definitely do me.” “As a young apprentice in 1966 I watched England win the World Cup ( on TV of course ) Discussing the game with my fellow apprentices a group of four of us decided to save the princely sum of £2 per week from our wages and watch the next World Cup in person,” says Kevin Dwyer. “A couple of our group dropped out over the years, both having found love, and marriage. ”The years rolled on, and in the week following my 21st birthday my friend an I boarded the plane to Mexico City and onwards to Guadalajara. The digs were basic, a motel on the outskirts of the city. Things were a lot more laid back and so a small group of us were in the Hotel when Sir Alf came out of a team meeting announced the squad to the press. Visiting an upmarket department store the day after the England team had been shown round, we noticed that we had gathered an entourage, being young and slim, with a couple of us wearing track suits we’d been mistaken for members of the squad, and despite our protestations of mistaken identity, autograph books were thrust at us. Not wishing to disappoint, I became Martin Peters for the afternoon. ‘‘We had tickets for all the England games, plus the Final. When we had originally booked there was an optional three day trip to Acapulco which we had taken up. After England were knocked out we travelled to Acapulco. One afternoon we wandered into the Hilton and took the lift to the rooftop bar. We grabbed a beer and noticed there were a few members of the team playing cards at an adjacent table. Although we never joined their company we did exchange greetings and had a brief chat ( I think Bremner was more interested in the card game than anything else ). “Our tickets to the Final were way up in the Gods, we didn’t have the best of views but the atmosphere was electric. Flying back home and and going back to work in inner city Birmingham was a real shock to the system, and then of course I’ve had to bear the trials and tribulations of supporting Birmingham City for over fifty years.” But at least everyone enjoyed meeting Martin Peters. “I once stayed in the same hotel as Neil Warnock in The Maldives on my honeymoon,” says Hugo Campbell. “It slightly disappointed me as I’d imagined him as a ‘Why do you need to go anywhere further than Blackpool’ kind of guy but hey. He played a lot of pool at the hotel.” I am sure he has spent many a summer in Prestatyn, too. Gareth Bale is backing Real Madrid in London. He’s had a quiet time since retiring but has been pretty busy this week with media opportunities. I believe he’s predicted a 3-0 win over Dortmund. Nottingham Forest have been charged by the Football Association for failing to control their fans during the defeat to Liverpool in March. Forest were incensed after Jurgen Klopp’s side scored a stoppage-time winner at the City Ground immediately after referee Paul Tierney incorrectly awarded a dropped-ball to Liverpool in the Reds’ penalty area, rather than to Forest who were in possession in an attacking area when he stopped play for a head injury to Ibrahima Konate. Forest and first-team coach Steven Reid were charged at the time for their behaviour towards Tierney, but now they have been sanctioned again, this time for failing to control their fans. Supporters surrounded the away dugout and got involved in spats with Liverpool’s coaching staff. An FA statement read: “Nottingham Forest FC has been charged with misconduct in relation to crowd control at the Premier League match against Liverpool FC on Saturday 2 March. “It’s alleged that Nottingham Forest FC failed to ensure its spectators and/or supporters (and anyone purporting to be supporters or followers) conducted themselves in an orderly fashion; didn’t behave in an improper, threatening or provocative way; and/or didn’t commit any form of pitch incursion. Nottingham Forest FC has until Friday 7 June to respond.” PA Media Shaun emails about footballer spots on holiday: “It’s probably the earth-shattering equivalent of bumping into Bob Holness on a train or something (also ‘achieved’ in my claim-to-fame sticker book) but here goes anyway... “About to board a flight from Doha, Qatar back to Manchester, sat right by the gate as the small queue starts to form after they’ve let on the rich lot and John Barnes strolls past me. “So I leap up (was ready to anyway) and jumped in behind him, said hello and told him I loved him in 87/88 and thought it was some of the best football I’d seen in my life, including that 4-0 pummelling of QPR I was in The Kop for. He smiled and said “They were great times.” “Then I got on the plane and remember he was sat near the front by the doors (economy class though) so said hello again in passing and then spent the next few minutes telling the various members of the crew that they should know who John Barnes is/was. “They didn’t know and didn’t care. “But I met John Barnes.” A third coffee has been brewed … Richards said Keane was “cool” and “calm” in the aftermath. Monaco midfielder Mohamed Camara has been handed a four-match ban after covering up anti-homophobia logos on his shirt. Per PA Media: The Mali international put white tape over the badge that featured on the front of all Ligue 1 clubs’ jerseys on the final day of the season. Camara also covered up the rainbow-coloured league crest on his sleeve during Monaco’s 4-0 win against Nantes. The Ligue de Football Professionnel said in a statement: “After hearing the player Mohamed Camara, and noting his refusal during the meeting to carry out one or more actions to raise awareness of the fight against homophobia, the Commission decided to impose a four-match suspension.” France’s sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera had called for “the strongest sanctions” in the wake of Camara’s “unacceptable behaviour”. Monaco manager Adi Hutter said the club were supportive of the anti-homophobia campaign and that it was a “personal initiative” by the player. The club’s chief executive Thiago Scuro said they would hold internal discussions with Camara. Kurt Perleberg emails: “It is hard to believe that tomorrow’s Champions League final will end the first Champions League season since 2002-03 without either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.” We’re all just getting old, kid. Another new managerial appointment as Hull City bring in German Tim Walter to replace the popular Liam Rosenior, signing a three-year deal. Hull’s website describes the former Hamburg manager as “an innovative coach with a high-octane, possession-orientated style of play”. Hull City chairman Acun Ilıcalı said: “Tim was always our first choice. We had many strong applicants and wanted to be thorough in our recruitment process, but it quickly became clear that Tim was the outstanding candidate. Our discussions were detailed and productive in planning for this season and I am encouraged about how we can work together to the benefit of our club.” Jonathan Liew on Wembley going into tomorrow’s showpiece event. Jude Bellingham has been speaking to the folk (Steve McManaman) over at TNT. As holiday season approaches, I am off to a hotel where I saw Rangers’ John Lundstram at breakfast (twice) last summer. Send me your holiday interactions with footballers. Joey Lynch reports on Australia’s late equaliser and the rest from their draw with China. Daniel Karamanski emails: “Peppermint tea -> Better for you, third cup of coffee -> More entertaining for us.” For reasons beyond my control – taking someone to the airport – I’ve been up since 5.15am. This is at the heart of the matter. Not to mention, I am on solo parenting duty do need to be vaguely alert this evening. It’s a tricky balance. I was listening to the Socially Distant Sports Bar this week where Mike Bubbins explained he had seven or eight coffees a day, which sounds ludicrous. Tuck into the sports quiz over lunch. Will Gareth Southgate stay on as England manager beyond the Euros? David Hytner takes a look. The managerial comings and goings do not end when the season does. Burton’s Martin Paterson has said goodbye to the League One club at the end of his short-term contract. Chairman Ben Robinson told the club website: “Martin took up the managerial position under very difficult circumstances in January and he worked extremely hard with the support of his backroom staff, which saw the club secure its League One status. “The club thanks Martin for his efforts during his time at Burton Albion and wish him well for the future.” Hello! I am here for the remainder of this Friday afternoon blog. What larks we should have as I debate whether to have a third coffee of the day or a peppermint tea. Stay tuned! And that’s the end of my two-hour stint. It’s been a pleasure as always. Here’s Will Unwin to steer you through to your Friday evening beverages. Crystal Palace are about to unveil a summer signing. Centre-back Chadi Riad will join them from Barcelona after spending a season on loan at Real Betis. Marco Reus has been in trademark defiant mood, speaking ahead of what could be a truly special farewell for him in the Champions League final tomorrow night. Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid is his final game in the famous black and yellow and he’s been speaking to TNT Sports about his team’s chances. “Sure, Real is the favourite. But I don’t care, because the role of favourite doesn’t decide who wins the game,” said Reus. “Both teams will prepare well and then it will depend on their form on the day. It depends on a lot of things: willpower, fitness – after all, it can go on for longer than 90 minutes. “We are definitely very, very fit. We have a very strong desire to win the final. In the last 10 years, Real have been in the final five or six times and have not lost any of these finals – so it’s time for us to do it.” Isn’t it time we gave Leicester some airtime, rather than Chelsea, when it comes to Enzo Maresca? Matthew Jones thinks so. With Maresca leaving Leicester, could we please have something on how it affects the Foxes? There was a resounding shrug from every Leicester fan I know, with many of us sceptical about whether we wanted to watch Jannik Vestergaard walking around the centre circle with the ball at his feet while we quietly get relegated ‘playing football the right way’. Is it possible that Man City are winning things because of all the money they’ve (definitely within the rules) spent over the years? Or is it just because Pep Guardiola has finally figured out the correct way to do football, and everyone he’s even had a brief encounter with is therefore a good football manager? Who might Leicester realistically get in, given that we may well be deducted points? Steve Cooper, Carlos Corberan, Graham Potter and Ruud van Nistelrooy are the main men in the running, according to latest odds and reports. Potter would be my man, personally. As for the spread of Pepball around the continent, that seems pretty unstoppable at this point, Matthew. On the issue of player welfare, Tim Woods has an excellent email: Regarding player welfare: why not set a maximum number of games a player can play in a season, say 45 or 50? Every club has a squad and there is no rule a player has to play every time. Obviously getting rid of daft ideas like the expanded Club World Cup/Champions League group stage would make more sense, but that’s never gonna happen. I’m liking this, Tim, I really am. But I fear the authorities would never agree to it. Here’s a shot of Jadon Sancho on the ground at Luton Airport having just stepped off Borussia Dortmund’s bespoke plane. Because why not. Just John McGinn living his best life here. Scotland are going to be fun at the Euros, aren’t they? Barrow have appointed former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Stephen Clemence as their new manager. The Cumbrian club just missed out on the League Two playoffs in 2023/24 and will be looking to go one better next season. Fancy a game of Manchester United defensive signing spin-the-wheel? Course you do. Today’s (potential) answers include Jarrad Branthwaite (obviously), Trevor Chalobah and Ronald Araújo. The latter I believe has been linked with United for the past five successive windows. Could be more than five. And that’s not forgetting previous top answers Tosin Adarabioyo and Jean-Clair Todibo, of course. Here’s a hot take: they can’t sign them all. They’ll probably only sign one of them. West Ham in talks to sign forward Luis Guilherme West Ham United are in talks to buy Brazilian attacker Luis Guilherme from Palmeiras for a fee in the region of £25m, reports Jacob Steinberg. He’s a Brazil Under-20 international who plays mainly on the right side of attack and has been identified by the Hammers’ technical director, Tim Steidten, as a target. It would be their first business of the summer and of the post-David Moyes era. Bellingham for the Ballon D’Or? If Real Madrid win at Wembley tomorrow night, it’s a conversation we could be having … Former Los Blancos midfielder Claude Makelele has tipped Jude Bellingham to win biggest individual prize in football. The 20-year-old has had a remarkable debut season at the Bernabeu, scoring 23 goals in all competitions and could cap it off by winning the Champions League on home soil against Borussia Dortmund. And with Euro 2024 to come, Makelele thinks the England star could claim the biggest individual prize in the game, as he spoke to the PA news agency: He is a future Ballon D’Or if he continues like this. He can take it, if he wins the Champions League and has a great Euros, I think he will be the winner of the Ballon D’Or. I am so impressed with what he has done. First with the quality he has, then the leadership and how he adapted to LaLiga and Madrid. No one has done this before. To do what he has done is amazing. A young player like this, he has many years of great football. Also for the national team it will be great to see him play. I speak from experience (Cardiff 2017) when I say the vibes around the Champions League Festival are always excellent. They’ve looked particularly good in and around Trafalgar Square in London this week. Soak it up, guys. Aston Villa have unveiled their new badge and, quite frankly, I can’t remember what the old one looked like. There’s not a great deal of difference, is there? An email from Bert Fill questions David’s earlier point regarding follicly-challenged football managers: Regarding ‘Does the Premier League really need another bald manager?’ at 10:11... Maresca going to Chelsea doesn’t add a bald manager as he would already have been a bald Premier League manager had he stayed with Leicester. A good point well made if ever there was one. There’s a women’s international friendly going on right now, actually, with Australia’s Matildas going a goal down to China in the first half: England take on France in a Euro 2025 qualifier at St James’ Park tonight, with Lionesses’ captain Leah Williamson set to feature after coming back into the squad in April following a year out injured. England have already dropped points in a tricky qualifying group, drawing with Sweden last month, so victory over an improving French side is paramount, you’d say. Williamson has spoken to the BBC about the France game: I think if you go off paper then obviously we are the reigning European champions. It’s easy to forget we’re still in qualifying. A lot has changed. France have always been a top team despite having not won [a trophy]. They are always tipped as favourites in many of their games as well. I see it as fairly even to be honest but if we have to take that label then we do. That’s been a consistent for us. We knew winning [the Euros] would put a target on our backs but it’s a nice place to be. I’ve mentioned about the [England] squad and how well they have performed and raised the level so it’s good to be back but we’re obviously missing a couple. It’s a competitive unit to try and get into. Sheffield Wednesday are trending on Twitter X and I had to have a peak as to why. Turns out it was because of this lovely clip of Chris Powell, the current assistant manager to Danny Röhl. Powell remains one of football’s very best people. Wish him only good things. Thanks David. And there was me thinking it would be one regular day of Guardian Friday football blog. It’s all I ask for. Will never happen. That’s my morning cameo complete. I shall hand you over to Dominic Booth for more build-up and manager move shenanigans. How do the bookies see the Wembley final? Real Madrid are very clear favourites although Dortmund were also underdogs against PSG in the semis. 90-minute odds: 8/13 Real Madrid, 4/1 Dortmund, 10/3 Draw. Saturday’s Champions League final will be refereed by Slavko Vinčić. Some fun facts about the the 44-year-old Slovenian: He’s a father of two and has taken charge of five Champions League matches this season, showing a combined tally of 19 cards. Three of those came in Dortmund’s quarter-final 4-2 win over Atletico Madrid, Julian Ryerson the only player in the German side to receive a caution. While Kieran ­McKenna chose to stay put at Ipswich, there has been change at their fierce local rivals Norwich. The Canaries have appointed the Nordsjælland manager Johannes Hoff Thorup as head coach. For the record, that takes the combined age of the two East Anglian clubs’ managers to 73 (McKenna 38, Thorup 35): three less than Roy Hodgson. Jamie Carragher won the Champions League with Liverpool in that epic 2005 final against AC Milan in Istanbul. Nowadays, he’s become a star of CBS’s Uefa Champions League Today programme. Here, he talks to Gregg Wakeman about becoming a hit in the US. No mention of who he’ll be cheering on at Wembley but it’s pretty easy to guess with Real Madrid denying Liverpool in two of the last six finals and Carragher immersing himself in the ‘Yellow Wall’ and enjoying more than a few bevvies with the Dortmund fans in their semi-final home leg against PSG. Had things gone differently at Old Trafford, Jadon Sancho could have been hoisting the FA Cup aloft last weekend. Instead, he could be lifting the Champions League trophy to the Wembley skies with Borussia Dortmund on Saturday night. Andy Brassell looks at the England wideman’s redemption arc. Jürgen Klopp once linked player welfare to climate change, calling on soccer’s governing bodies to act before it was too late. It normally went down like a lead balloon, sparking tiresome tribalistic tropes about Klopp moaning all the time. Klopp, speaking a couple of months ahead of the 2022 World Cup, had said this: “When I start talking about it, I get really angry... It is like with the climate. We all know it has to change but nobody is saying what we have to do.” Klopp lost the will to fight in the end but, as he steps aside, the players themselves are now saying enough is enough. No doubt social media will tell them to stop being tired given all the wonga they earn. Because those two things are linked, right. Mourinho set for Fenerbahçe Fenerbahçe are closing in on an agreement to appoint José Mourinho as new head coach. Hot deets here from Fabrizio Romano. Fenerbahçe, by the way, have just racked up 99 points in the Turkish Super Lig (P38 W31 D6 L1, GD 68) and still only finished runners-up to Galatasaray. And you thought Liverpool felt bad in 2018/19. “I am extremely proud to have signed a new contract with the club. We have enjoyed incredible success together over the last two seasons and I’m excited to have the opportunity and responsibility of leading this fantastic club into its first season in the Premier League in 22 years.” The words of Kieran ­McKenna after putting pen to a new deal with Ipswich. Brighton, Chelsea and Manchester United were all interested but McKenna has decided to stay put, the decision perhaps helped by the 38-year-old now becoming one of the highest-paid managers in England. Chelsea agree terms with Maresca Sacked by Parma after 14 games in 2021 and once an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Enzo Maresca is set to become the new head coach of Chelsea after guiding Leicester back to the Premier League. Will he be any good? Better then Poch? Does the Premier League really need another bald manager? Gareth Bale knows a thing or too about the Champions League. He won it five times and scored one of the greatest goals ever seen in a final: that overhead kick against Liverpool. Ahead of Real Madrid v Dortmund on Saturday he gets his chat on with Ewan Murray. Inevitably, there’s some golf talk too. Although nothing about Wales. Preamble They always find a way. Real Madrid have dodged bullets again to find themselves in another Champions League final and are clear favourites to win it for a 15th time. That would put them eight clear of Milan at the top of the all-time list. Remarkable. Standing in their way are underdogs Borussia Dortmund. Despite finishing fifth and a massive 27 points behind Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen, Dortmund have been a different proposition in Europe. But good enough to win Saturday’s showpiece final at Wembley? We shall see. We’ll be all over the build-up in – no chin wobbles please – our final Friday football news countdown of the season. Before the wistful reflections kick in too strongly, there’s good news: we’ll be kicking this thing off again for the Euros. And that, dear reader, is just two weeks away when Germany host Scotland. Back to today and the managerial merry-go-round will also take our attention. It’s spinning fast and José Mourinho looks like the latest to jump on. More on that later. Right, peep peep, let’s get this thing started!