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Osun eager for change, says Okpebholo
- Panel submits APC primary election report to Yilwatda
The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in Osun State, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has said the “State of the Living Springs” is eager to have the party at the helm of affairs next year.
Okpebholo, who is also the Edo State governor, said this while submitting the report of his committee to the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
He said: “Osun people are eager for change. They are tired of motion without development. What we saw was a strong desire for real governance.”
The committee chairman described the assignment as a defining experience, stressing that the committee witnessed overwhelming unity, enthusiasm and popular support for the party’s candidate across Osun State.
The Osun State primary was conducted by a high-powered committee, underscoring the party’s commitment to transparency, credibility and internal democracy.
Okpebholo expressed appreciation to the party’s leadership for the confidence reposed in the committee.
Yilwatda received the report alongside the National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru; the National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Argungu; and the Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Chidi Duru.
Yilwatda praised the committee for a job well executed.
The APC national chairman said the atmosphere during the primary was celebratory and peaceful.
He assured the committee that the report would be presented to the Party Caucus and the National Executive Committee (NEC) immediately.
“What you have submitted gives us something cheery to present to NEC. Your sacrifice, even at short notice, is deeply appreciated,” he said.
The national chairman said the strategic importance of Osun State, calling for massive mobilisation to secure a decisive victory.
Yilwatda noted the cordial collaboration between APC governors and the party, stressing that such synergy would be key to reclaiming Osun State for the APC.
Former Kogi State governor and committee member, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, also praised the party’s leadership.
He described the consensus process as instrumental to the committee’s success.
The former governor stressed that the Osun State governorship election, being the last major poll before the 2027 general election, is critical to the party’s national momentum.
“The APC must go to the field and deliver Osun. My support for the party is total and unwavering,” he said.
Senator Basiru expressed confidence in the party’s victory, declaring that the current Osun administration has been given a “yellow card” and would receive a “red card” at the poll.
The committee’s secretary is Solomon Maren, while other members include the governors of Ondo, Nasarawa, Delta, and Lagos states.
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Rams hero Puka Nacua sparks antisemitism fury by agreeing to perform touchdown dance based on Jewish stereotype
Los Angeles Rams star Puka Nacua has come under fire after devising a touchdown dance which includes an offensive Jewish stereotype during a live stream with two YouTubers.
Nacua, who is in his third season with the Rams, appeared on a stream with popular content creators Adin Ross and N3on earlier this week ahead of their crucial Thursday night showdown with the Seattle Seahawks.
As well as taking a swipe at NFL referees and Taylor Swift, the 24-year-old receiver sparked a more alarming type of controversy when he was captured working on an antisemitic touchdown dance with Ross, who is Jewish himself.
Ross encouraged Nacua to perform the celebration, which first sees him spin the ball and flex before rubbing his hands together, with the latter gesture becoming a signature move of the streamer to reference a degrading concept of Jewish people.
It is unclear whether the NFL player was aware of the antisemitic stereotype the dance is based upon.
Nacua’s agent, Justin Schulman of Athletes First, responded to The Athletic’s request for comment by saying: ‘No comment needed.’ Daily Mail has also approached Schulman and the Los Angeles Rams.
Rams star Puka Nacua has come under fire after devising a touchdown dance which includes an offensive Jewish stereotype
The 24-year-old has sparked antisemitism fury after working on the controversial dance
The LA wideout has caused outrage by performing the dance with Ross, with California politician Eric Swalwell blasting him as an ‘a**hole’ after seeing the viral clip.
Swalwell, who is calling for swift action from either Nacua or the Rams, says his actions were even more outrageous in light of the devastating shooting at a Jewish holiday celebration in Australia over the weekend.
‘The Los Angeles Jewish community is on edge after the Bondi Beach massacre,’ the congressman said Wednesday. ‘And what does this a**hole @AsapPuka do? He promises an antisemitic touchdown dance for his Thursday night game.’
While he is Jewish himself, Ross has previously faced scrutiny for platforming far-right provocateur Nick Fuentes and an anonymous Neo-Nazi among other polarizing figures.
The online personality and N3on later attempted to enter the Rams’ facility on Tuesday to stream with Nacua there, only to be denied entry by the team.
‘I thought my team communicated. I guess there was no communication,’ Nacua told them over the phone on the live stream. ‘Especially then, when Coach found out, he didn’t f*** with that. Just because of the short week.
‘Let me handle business on Thursday, then we should be good.’
Over the course of an explosive live stream, Nacua went on to hit out at NFL referees in a shocking rant, describing them as ‘the worst’.
Nacua appeared on a live stream with popular YouTubers Adin Ross (right) and N30n (left)
‘These guys are lawyers. They want to be on TV, too,’ he claimed. ‘You don’t think he’s texting his friends in the group chat like, “Yo, you just saw me on Sunday Night Football? That wasn’t PI (pass interference), but I called it.”‘
NFL players risk huge fines by publicly criticizing league officials, meaning Nacua could face punishment over his tirade.
In another viral moment from the stream, he suggested the ‘Taylor Swift curse’ is to blame for the Kansas City Chiefs failing to make the playoffs.
‘I mean, they didn’t have Rashee Rice who’s their other receiver this year,’ he initially said. ‘I don’t feel like they ran the ball well. [Isiah] Pacheco was their running back, right? I don’t feel like he played really good.’
Nacua then added to the amusement of Ross and N3on: ‘It’s got to be the Swift curse or something like that, I don’t know… after they ran out of a little bit of the juice.’
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Rams hero Puka Nacua sparks antisemitism fury by agreeing to perform touchdown dance based on Jewish stereotype
The sweeping sanctions handed down by the world football governing body FIFA against Malaysia have cast fresh light on the growing eligibility dispute involving Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On Wednesday, December 17, FIFA punished Malaysia by overturning three international matches as 3-0 defeats after an investigation confirmed that seven players had been fielded despite failing to meet nationality requirements.
The ruling, which was confirmed by the Football Association of Malaysia, also included suspensions for the players involved and additional financial penalties for the association.
That decision has now sharpened attention on Africa, where the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has formally petitioned FIFA over the eligibility of players used by the Democratic Republic of Congo in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying clash.
Nigeria were beaten on penalties by the Congolese side, known as The Leopards, in the African play-offs, a result that booked DR Congo a place in the intercontinental play-off final. The Super Eagles’ exit, however, has since been followed by claims that eligibility rules may have been breached, prompting the NFF to seek FIFA’s intervention.
The Malaysian case offers a clear precedent. FIFA’s investigation there was triggered by a complaint following a high-profile win, and it ultimately led to forfeited results once it was established that the players in question lacked a parent or grandparent born in the country they represented.
The governing body made it clear that forged documentation and nationality shortcuts would not be tolerated, regardless of the stage of competition.
The outcome of the Malaysian ruling has strengthened belief within local football circles that FIFA will apply the same standards in the Nigeria vs DR Congo case if wrongdoing is proven.
While no verdict has yet been announced, the example from Asia suggests that sanctions could range from match forfeiture to suspensions and fines should the allegations be upheld.
Chelsea manager, Enzo Maresca, has emerged as a top candidate to replace Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
The Athletic reports that this could be Guardiola’s last season at the Etihad.
Maresca is under contract at Stamford Bridge until 2030.
This means that any approach for the Italian coach would need to take place via Chelsea and require significant compensation.
Chelsea is keen to keep Maresca, but his comments after the 2-0 victory over Everton being his “worst 48 hours” have left senior officials confused.
At this point, it is unclear if the remarks are due to a potential vacancy at his former club.
Maresca worked under Guardiola, before taking up the head coach role at Leicester City.
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Revealed: The high-profile ring girls for Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul’s controversial fight – including one with more TikTok followers than AJ!
The trio of ring girls for Anthony Joshua’s clash with Jake Paul in Miami on Friday night has been confirmed.
Joshua and YouTube star Paul face off in a highly controversial clash which, according to our previous reporting, is worth just shy of £140million.
The boxing world has been divided over the showdown, with many fearing it could be dangerous for Paul. AJ, a two-time unified world heavyweight champion, has insisted he has a ‘licence to kill’. Paul remains undeterred. ‘Let’s kill each other,’ he said.
Some people hoping to lower the animosity slightly will be the ring girls, who have been confirmed as Raphaela Milagres, Marissa Ayers, and Journi Carr.
The first two were announced at the end of November and Carr revealed her involvement this week to her fleet of 406,000 Instagram followers.
Carr, 25, an influencer and model from Texas, said she was ‘beyond excited’ to join the crew after boxing chiefs launched a search for a UK-based model – but landed on her anyway.
The trio of ring girls for Anthony Joshua’s fight with Jake Paul has been revealed (pictured: Raphaela Milagres)
Journi Carr announed that she is the final ring girl and will make her debut in Miami
Marissa Ayers has more followers on TikTok than Joshua does, with 1.5 million fans
The three shared their excitement as they posed at the press conference ahead of Friday
Carr said she was ‘beyond excited’ to be joining her more experienced colleagues for the bout
Milagres (left) has been a ring girl for Paul before while Ayers has worked on fights
It appears that she is a debutant alongside her more experienced colleagues, Milagres and Ayers.
Milagres, a 30-year-old model from Brazil with 181,000 Instatram followers, has worked as a ring girl at Paul’s fights before.
For example, she was holding the cards at his win over Mike Tyson in November last year and she was also involved for his victory against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in June.
Then there’s Ayers, a 22-year-old former gymnast and University of Alabama graduate.
She gained recognition as a ring girl at the Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano bout earlier this year, which Milagres was also a part of.
Like Carr, she has 406,000 Instagram fans and around 1.5 million on TikTok. That’s more than the 1.1 million that Joshua boasts.
Carr revealed in an Instagram video how the trident of ring girls were getting on as they smiled and posed at the pre-fight press conference.
The eyes of the world will be on this fight and the three of them have an important job helping the millions of viewers to keep track of the rounds – if, indeed, Paul survives any.
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Revealed: The high-profile ring girls for Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul’s controversial fight – including one with more TikTok followers than AJ!
The Super Eagles of Nigeria have been drawn in Group C of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco, alongside Tunisia, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Naija News reports that with a rich AFCON history, including three previous titles, Nigeria enters the tournament as one of the favourites to lift the coveted trophy.
Nigeria came agonisingly close to glory in the last edition, losing 2-1 to hosts Côte d’Ivoire in the final after initially taking the lead. As they gear up for Morocco, the focus is clear: go one step further and claim the continental crown in North Africa.
The Super Eagles will kick off their campaign against the Taifa Stars of Tanzania on December 23 at 6:30 pm (WAT) at the Fez Stadium in Fes.
Nigeria’s second group match promises fireworks as they face the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia on December 27 at 9:00 pm. This North African rivalry is always intense, with both sides looking to assert dominance early in the tournament.
The group stage will conclude with the Super Eagles taking on the Cranes of Uganda on December 30 at 5:00 pm. The top two teams from each group will automatically progress to the round of 16, while four additional teams will qualify as the best third-placed finishers.
Super Eagles Group Stage Fixtures – Morocco 2025
Dec 23: Nigeria vs Tanzania – 6:30 pm (WAT)
Dec 27: Nigeria vs Tunisia – 9:00 pm
Dec 30: Uganda vs Nigeria – 5:00 pm
With history on their side and expectations high, the Super Eagles will be looking to soar above their group rivals and set the stage for an AFCON triumph in Morocco.
Kun Khalifat FC head coach, Emmanuel Osigwe, has revealed plans to add experiences players to the team during the mid-season transfer window.
Osigwe said that the experienced players will help improve the level of performance among the young players.
He pointed that the Umuahia-based club struggled in their last home defeat to Abia Warriors.
Kun Khalifat lost by 1-0 to Abia Warriors at the Dan Anyiam Stadium on Sunday.
“Will talk to the proprietor of Kun Khalifat FC, we need good players not amateur players,” Osigwe told Puyaka.
“We need professional players who played the league two or three of them.”
Former Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou has named the Super Eagles his favourites to win the title at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Nigeria came close to winning a fourth title at the last edition of the AFCON, but lost 2-1 to hosts Cote d’Ivoire in a keenly contested final.
Kalou insisted that they have the quality to go all the way this time around.
Kalou Tips Nigeria For Title
“Nigeria look very strong this year. With Victor Osimhen leading the line, they have one of the most feared strikers in world football,” Kalou wrote in his weekly blog in the Tribuna.
Read Also:AFCON 2025: Eagles Need A Winning Start Vs Tanzania –Lawal
“Add in the pace and creativity of Ademola Lookman and Samuel Chukwueze, plus Wilfred Ndidi’s stability in midfield, and you see a team with balance and depth.
“Nigeria were runners-up last time, and with this mix of stars they’ll believe they can go all the way.”
Eric Chelle’s side are drawn in Group C with Taifa Stars of Tanzania, Carthage Eagles of Tunisia and Cranes of Uganda.
The West Africans will open their campaign against Tanzania in Fèz on Tuesday, 23 December.
By Adeboye Amosu
SPORT
UNTOLD UNITED: THE DOWNFALL OF BRITAIN’S BIGGEST CLUB. Volume 3 – How the new-age ‘experts’ blew £2billion on a ruinous transfer policy that left United for dead
For Cristiano Ronaldo, it was the loose, chipped tiles in the players’ swimming pool at Carrington. For Zlatan Ibrahimovic, evidence that Manchester United were no longer the big club he had imagined came in the form of a £1 deduction from his salary for drinking fruit juice from a hotel minibar on a club trip.
‘Everyone thinks of United as a top club, one of the most powerful in the world,’ Ibrahimovic wrote in his autobiography. ‘But once I was there, I found a small, closed mentality.’
The penny dropped for Alexis Sanchez after just one training session. The Chilean, one of the worst and most costly signings of United’s grisly recent history, called his agent to see if he could abort his move from Arsenal, having had the briefest of glimpses behind the Old Trafford curtains.
‘I would have loved to play, win everything, and make the fans happy,’ Sanchez said later. ‘It didn’t happen because of things at the time that weren’t suited for a team of United’s size.’
Two of United’s biggest signings of the past decade quickly realised that the empire Sir Alex Ferguson built had fallen into a state of decay since his retirement in 2013. They were right. And nowhere has all that manifested itself more than in the playing squads that have dragged United towards the bottom of the ocean over the past decade.
Around the modern United, there is always going to be one bad guy, or bad family: the Glazers. Absentee owners for the vast majority of their time at the club, the Americans and those doing their bidding tend to get the blame for everything. It’s understandable. A fish rots from the head and all that.
Sir Alex Ferguson brought the greats to Manchester United, such as 2013 title winner Robin van Persie – when Fergie left the recruitment began to rapidly go downhill
But what about everybody else? United have flatlined because of years of underperformance on the field and that is on the players – and the ‘experts’ who bought them.
It’s also on Ed Woodward, in thrall to star names and flashy agents and far too interested in social media metrics. It’s on Richard Arnold, who followed him into the CEO’s office. And on the numerous faceless men who United have asked to do their work for them in the market all these years and have failed. Men such as John Murtough, now at Atalanta after a disastrous spell as United football director.
Squad-building is nuanced and complicated. Mistakes get made. But the truth is that United have been getting it wrong for years on a very basic level: Too much money on too many bad players.
How have so many dismal and destructive patterns been allowed to repeat? From Angel Di Maria in 2014 to Rasmus Hojlund in 2023, United’s cack-handed strategies have left a money trail so deep and unseemly, you can almost smell it.
Over the course of 12 years, United have spent close to £2billion on 75 players. And how many of those players can be considered successful acquisitions? Apart from Bruno Fernandes – signed five years ago – can you name another?
And what has been the strategy linking United’s recruitment over the past decade? Has there even been one?
While clubs such as Manchester City and Liverpool have surged forwards on heavy spending and smart work in the market, more modest outfits such as Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford have embarrassed United by using modern data and AI models with considerable success.
United have made a profit on one first-team player – not including homegrown talent – in the past decade. Dan James was bought from Swansea for £15million in 2019 and joined Leeds for £25m two years later.
United have made a profit on one first-team player in the past decade. Dan James was bought from Swansea for £15million in 2019 and joined Leeds for £25m two years later
Few people leave Old Trafford a better footballer these days. United have become a graveyard for big stars and the cream of the club’s famed youth academy. Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Alejandro Garnacho and Scott McTominay have all come through the ranks at United and moved on. The talented Kobbie Mainoo could be next.
Rashford and McTominay have thrived after moving elsewhere, another worrying sign about the debilitating, demoralising environment that has grown up around United, unable to develop and care for talented young footballers.
United had been buying poor players even before Ferguson left the club. He won his valedictory title in 2013 after picking City’s pocket to sign talismanic forward Robin van Persie. But that season disguised a malaise that had already set in.
In the summer of 2012, for example, Van Persie joined alongside Shinji Kagawa, Nick Powell, Alexander Buttner and Angelo Henriquez. A deal for Wilfried Zaha was then done in January 2013. David Moyes had to clean up the mess of that one.
Back in 2009, meanwhile, United had waved Ronaldo off to Real Madrid, watched City take Carlos Tevez from them and spent just £24m on Antonio Valencia, Gabriel Obertan and Mame Biram Diouf.
A year later City shelled out £125m on a squad that would go on to topple United from the pinnacle of English football, while their neighbours spent £39m on four players including Bebe, an unknown Portuguese player who came to prominence playing for a homeless charity.
In many ways the die was cast. The Blue Moon was rising. But the manner in which errors at the end of the Ferguson era were allowed to snowball into a decade or more of catastrophic misjudgments in the transfer market is even more astounding.
Things changed dramatically after Ferguson and United got it terribly wrong. They admit it now. Woodward – United’s all-too-visible executive vice-chair from 2012 to 2022 – has copped a lot of the blame. Some insiders believe he was starstruck, others describe him as being ‘like a kid in a candy store’.
Ed Woodward (left), United’s all-too-visible executive vice-chair from 2012-22, took a lot of the blame. Some insiders believe he was starstruck, others say he was ‘like a kid in a candy store’
He pushes back against some of that, but not all. ‘People say I was signing players but I wasn’t,’ he told a confidant. ‘I put people in place to do that.
‘In the first three years post-Ferguson we made poor recruitment decisions. You need seven out of 10 signings to be successful. We were three out of 10.
‘Ferguson was even more of a genius than we realised. He was the Pied Piper. We actually needed to evolve and we didn’t. Then we made multiple mistakes around recruitment. It really hurt us for a long time.’
Ferguson had preferred to work closely with his chief scout Jim Lawlor and his brother Martin, relying on their insight and his own evaluations of players. The genius lived inside Ferguson’s head. There were no reference points left behind for those who followed. It had all been utterly intuitive and old school and as such utterly alien to his successor.
Moyes’ reputation as a shrewd operator in the transfer market was built upon the forensically-detailed systems in his ‘secret room’ at Everton’s Finch Farm training base where the whiteboards had colour-coded annotations.
At United the tactical analysis office was enhanced with whiteboards, touchscreens, iPads and a central database of targets, but it was all painfully rudimentary. Only months after Ferguson’s decision to go, United were already struggling.
‘All of a sudden there’s a huge power vacuum,’ says one ex-employee. ‘We started to bring in “experts”. Analysts all over the place. The club did need to move on, but it went from one extreme to the other and for all the new additions we didn’t replace the authority or the power that we had lost with Sir Alex.’
The only summer transfer window Moyes oversaw was a disaster. He pulled the plug on a move for Thiago Alcantara as United pursued deals for Gareth Bale, Cesc Fabregas and a return for Ronaldo.
None got off the ground, and United’s only summer signing ended up being Marouane Fellaini from Moyes’s old club Everton. The fee on deadline day was £27.5m – £4m more than Fellaini’s buyout clause, which had just expired.
David Moyes wanted Gareth Bale (right). In the end he only got Marouane Fellaini (left)
Cesc Fabregas (right) was another that Moyes coveted, but he ended up at Chelsea instead
Woodward accepts now that the club failed Moyes. Back then a disconnect between the men was clear – ‘either he’s a genius, or a f***ing clown,’ said Moyes privately.
Woodward had no compunction in sacking Moyes in April 2014 but it was what happened next that shaped so much of what has gone wrong at Old Trafford.
A one-season mistake should have been quickly corrected. Instead, United simply threw money at a problem and threw much of it the wrong way.
For more than a decade, players with global profiles and glowing reputations would arrive at Old Trafford and be spat out – their reputations and output vastly diminished.
In the four-and-a-half years that Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho were in office at United, tens of millions were lavished on transfer fees and wages for Galacticos such as Di Maria, Radamel Falcao, Memphis Depay, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Anthony Martial, Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Sanchez.
Amid United’s many missteps in the transfer market, the club would occasionally comfort themselves – and indeed their shareholders on quarterly investor calls – by looking at the social media and brand optics.
Never was that more apparent than in the summer of 2016 when, having countered Pep Guardiola’s appointment at Manchester City by installing his old nemesis Mourinho in the Old Trafford hotseat, Woodward’s United signed Pogba and Ibrahimovic.
Rather than embarrassment at paying Juventus £89.3m for a former academy player who had left Manchester for Turin four years earlier for £1.5m, Woodward was cock-a-hoop that the world-record fee had put United firmly back on the map.
Rather than embarrassment at paying Juventus £89.3m for Pogba, who had left Manchester four years earlier for £1.5m, Woodward was cock-a-hoop at the world-record fee
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was another on a big salary who came to regret his time at Old Trafford
With Ferguson’s hatred of social media no longer holding United back, the Frenchman’s return was trumpeted in an adidas-sponsored video of him dancing to a Stormzy rap with the hashtag #PogBACK.
For Ibrahimovic, having quickly realised United were not the force he expected them to be, he began to grow exasperated at what he encountered on a daily basis, not least at Carrington.
He recalled: ‘I’d lower my window and say to the person at the gate, “Listen my friend, I’ve been coming here every day for a month, I’m the best player in the world – if you still don’t recognise me, you’re in the wrong job”.’
Ibrahimovic was very, very far from being the best player in the world by then. He had never been, but that was not what his ego told him. And that made him another perfect fit in United’s arc of dysfunction.
Pogba’s antics were a distraction for Mourinho, Solskjaer and interim boss Ralf Rangnick, before he returned to Juventus on a free transfer. His relationship with academy product Lingard also rubbed people up the wrong way, particularly their habit of posting light-hearted dressing room videos when things were going badly.
‘It’s obviously knowing the right time to do things like that,’ Lingard tells us now. ‘But ruining culture? We only tried to make it stronger.’
Henrikh Mkhitaryan also fell out with Mourinho but the significance of his otherwise forgettable time at the club lies in the fact he was used as a makeweight in the ruinous Sanchez deal.
The swap valued Sanchez at £35m even though he only had five months left on his Arsenal contract. Wikileaks subsequently revealed that United, desperate to fend off interest from City, agreed to pay Sanchez a £20.35m-a-year salary, plus £75,000 for every game started and a £1.1m annual signing on fee.
Jesse Lingard (left) and Pogba (6) rubbed some of the more old-school pundits up the wrong way – but as far as they saw it they were bringing energy back to the dressing room
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (left) and Alexis Sanchez (right) swapped clubs in January 2018 – neither side got a good deal but United were definitely worse off
Everybody in football could see Sanchez was signing for the money but United, in thrall by then to the cult of footballing celebrity, seemed utterly blind to the dangers.
His unveiling was an extravagant production, filmed playing Glory, Glory Man United on the piano in his new kit. The Chile star probably thought he had joined a footballing orchestra but he was now part of a circus. He went on to score just five goals in 45 games for the club and left 19 months later.
As the United malaise has deepened, the club has attempted to modernise. Woodward was happy with changes put in place by the time he stepped away in January 2022, even if an uptick in recruitment patterns and standards was not immediately apparent.
Today, United are making some progress with signings such as Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo. Director of football Jason Wilcox recorded a club podcast recently in which he outlined the art of a transfer deal. Confidence appears to be growing.
As always, it has been impossible to please everyone along the way. Mourinho, for example, was scornful of the club’s recruitment policy, mocking the fact they had three options for every target position.
The Portuguese – a control freak to this day – was also opposed to the idea of a football director and was known to be bemused by the size of a scouting network that had ballooned to 58 around the world since the days of Ferguson’s black box.
United’s drive for expertise and their attempts to embrace modern player tracking and transfer strategy had led to some departments becoming rather bloated. From one extreme to the other in just a few years.
The Ferguson inner circle had been replaced by an army of experts. When Erik ten Hag took over, the number of scouts had risen to 140 – 90 full-time scouts and 50 casual weekend observers – feeding into an extensive database called TrackerMan.
Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo have been two of the more successful signings in recent years
Jason Wilcox (left) has got a grip on recruitment now and things are looking more promising for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Co
In the summer of 2019, when United signed Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace, Woodward boasted that the defender had been singled out from a long list of 804 right backs. Sceptics wondered why – after such intensive scouting – United had ultimately settled on a bloke they could just have watched on Match of the Day.
Palace chairman Steve Parrish, meanwhile, is said to have nearly fallen off his chair when United agreed to pay £50m. Wan-Bissaka is now playing his football at West Ham, which is probably his level.
United have for too long lagged behind many of their rivals partly because, despite the growing numbers of staff and a willingness to embrace latest technology and methods, there was too often a palpable vacuum where there should have been football expertise. It’s no good having the gear if you can’t use it.
Murtough, one of two men behind TrackerMan along with then head of recruitment Steve Brown, was not appointed as the club’s first director of football until March 2021. That came at the same time as Matt Judge became head of football negotiations, having been doing the job for a number of years under the incongruous title of head of corporate development.
United were, belatedly, turning to numbers and technology when they went after players rather than just sloshing cash around European football. In October 2021, Dominic Jordan was hired as the club’s first director of data science.
Still, there have been obvious mistakes. United spent the summer of 2022 waiting for Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong to join them. He never did. So, at the last moment, they plumped for Real Madrid’s veteran midfielder Casemiro – whose parting shot at the Bernabeu was to tell team-mates he couldn’t believe how much his new club were about to pay him.
Casemiro, who cost £60m and earns £300,000 a week, is 33 now and still in United’s midfield. He has had moments of excellence but mostly, he has looked like a player who gave his best years to another club. It’s a familiar theme at Old Trafford.
After a poor start under Ten Hag in 2022-23, meanwhile, United once again made what appeared a panicked signing, paying £86m for the Brazilian winger Antony, even though he had been available for £60m two months earlier. He has been moved on at a huge loss.
Casemiro and Antony have been two hugely expensive errors at United, coming in at close to a combined £150million
United had wanted Frenkie de Jong (left) in the summer of 2022, but he never gave any indication he was up for making the move from Barcelona – so Casemiro came in instead
At one point it even looked like the supporters were in charge of recruitment, as a move for Marko Arnautovic was abandoned amid protests from fans over signing the former Stoke and West Ham striker.
Too many of the incomings during Ten Hag’s uncertain tenure seemed to be linked to his own agent Kees Vos, had played for him before or in leagues with which he was familiar.
When Ten Hag was told Matthijs de Ligt would not be a natural fit for United – the recruitment team labelled him ‘a Dutch Harry Maguire’ – the manager put his foot down and the club paid £42m for him.
United’s academy recruitment has also dipped, which led to two overhauls in eight years to try to compete with City and Chelsea.
Murtough had become an increasingly prominent figure until being swept aside by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s new broom. He was at least credited with ensuring there was more focus on player care. Claire Robson, daughter of United legend Bryan, was handed a key role ensuring those at the club were well looked-after off the pitch.
‘You’d get kids coming here who had no idea about Manchester,’ an insider revealed. ‘Back in the day someone like Rio Ferdinand or Wayne Rooney would tell them about the area and the best places to live.
‘There was one young lad who bought a mansion in the middle of nowhere and quite quickly became isolated. When his form dropped off, he didn’t really have anyone to speak to.’
United’s academy conveyor belt had been failing for some time pre-Ineos. Despite the overhauls, United are not always considered by the best young players, who often go to Chelsea or City.
Erik ten Hag was told Matthijs de Ligt (right) would not be a natural fit for United, but the manager put his foot down and the club paid £42m for his old Ajax student
Several of Ten Hag’s United signings were also represented by his trusted agent Kees Vos
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted Erling Haaland, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham. He got Jadon Sancho, Donny van de Beek and a 36-year-old Ronaldo.
United paid £73m for Sancho in 2021 and, currently on loan at Aston Villa after a spell at Chelsea, he will leave as a free agent when his £250,000-a-week contract runs out next summer. He has not played for United for two years.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, was different and the parallels to the misguided and costly signing of Sanchez three years previously were clear but also ignored. The deal was a masterstroke by super-agent Jorge Mendes, who put the fear of God into United that Ronaldo ‘had the pen in his hand’ and was set to sign for City.
‘It created a panic,’ says one source. ‘The idea of him scoring for City against United was too much for them. They were frightened to death about how the fans would react when the reality was that signing him would go against everything that Ole was trying to do.’
Buying one of the world’s best players for £19.8m can rarely be seen as a bad thing, but Ronaldo was a disruptive presence from the moment he walked back into the club on more than £500,000 a week. A split is believed to have been created by his desire to take the captaincy off Maguire. Years later, Solskjaer said: ‘Maybe it affected the whole dressing room, the dynamic. He was top scorer that year, but I was out of the job 10 weeks in!’
Solskjaer needed to be braver over the issue of Ronaldo’s return. Could you imagine Guardiola at City or Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool being dictated to in this way? Having made so much of a return to the principles of Ferguson – unity and meritocracy – Solskjaer allowed all that to be undermined by the return of the one player in Europe who was arguably bigger than the club itself.
In 2023, United abandoned a bid to sign Harry Kane partly due to the cost but then paid £72m for Hojlund, who was valued at a third of that price by other clubs.
Hojlund joined Napoli on loan last summer with a view to a permanent £38m move. Antony has been sold to Real Betis at a loss of around £60m. Manuel Ugarte – signed from Paris Saint-Germain for an initial £40m in the summer of 2024 – sits on the bench while Fernandes – a naturally attacking player – occupies his berth in the centre of midfield. And so the vague sense of make-do-and-mend rolls on.
In 2023, United abandoned a bid to sign Harry Kane partly due to the cost but then paid £72m for Rasmus Hojlund, who was valued at a third of that price by other clubs
Manuel Ugarte (centre) was signed for £40m to play with Bruno Fernandes (right) but has been rooted to the bench instead
Overspending was one of the many issues highlighted by Ineos during Ratcliffe’s £1.3bn investment in the club last year.
The due diligence concluded that United didn’t move quickly enough to sign players and were too ready to extend existing contracts to protect their assets when it would make more sense to let them leave.
Whereas Woodward relished his blockbuster deals, Ratcliffe aspires to unearthing ‘the next Kylian Mbappe’. He wants to drive down the wage bill and make a profit from the academy by selling off homegrown players, something only encouraged by Premier League profit and sustainability rules.
The hierarchy has been completely overhauled once more and it now carries a strong Manchester City influence – chief executive Omar Berrada, director of football Wilcox, who stepped up following the rather embarrassing decision to sack Dan Ashworth after 159 days, director of performance Sam Erith and new academy head Stephen Torpey all have a City background.
Christopher Vivell is director of recruitment and Ratcliffe brought in Mike Sansoni from the Mercedes F1 team to improve United’s ‘last-century’ data operation.
The aim is to improve the culture and recruitment at the club with a ‘no d***heads’ policy after 12 years of expensive mistakes. Moving Garnacho on to Chelsea was, at least, a step in the right direction from that point of view.
Not only has the quality of player been allowed to plummet post-Ferguson, so too have standards. One first-teamer, who was not well liked, secured a move away but left his mark. ‘He had a ridiculous supercar,’ a source explained. ‘When he left, he just abandoned it in the car park at Carrington. It was there for about six months. That was how little he cared.
‘There’s a strip of grass next to the players’ car park in between two buildings. One player appeared to be too lazy to reverse out and instead started driving over the grass to turn around instead.
Chief executive Omar Berrada is one of a number of new United employees who have experience of building winning teams across town with Manchester City
Stephen Torpey (right) has been brought in to run the academy and produce high-quality talent
‘One of the players left from Sir Alex’s time pulled him up on it, to be fair, and told him that it was a fancy car he was driving and it was surprising that it didn’t have a reverse gear.’
We can assume it didn’t belong to defender Eric Bailly, whose modest choice of vehicle was mocked by his team-mates. They took to jumping on the roof and bonnet when it was parked at Carrington and, on one occasion, were joined by manager Mourinho.
There is a widespread view that a complacent United have traded off their illustrious name for too long, and the harsh reality identified by Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo and others has been allowed to erode the club from within.
As we approach the 13th anniversary of Ferguson’s departure, and after numerous attempts at a cultural reset, it feels like a long way back. The legacy of years of United’s malfunction in the market goes on.
The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) remains the ultimate prize in African football, a tournament that defines legacies and crowns continental kings.
Organised by the Confederation of African Football, Naija News reports that AFCON is one of the most-watched football competitions globally, producing unforgettable moments and national heroes.
Egypt remain the most successful nation with seven titles, followed by Cameroon with five, Ghana with four and Nigeria with three.
As preparations build towards the 35th edition of the tournament, scheduled to be held in Morocco from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026, attention has again turned to individual legacies.
Despite their brilliance, influence and global acclaim, some of Africa’s greatest footballers never lifted the coveted AFCON trophy.
BBC Sport Africa recently highlighted five iconic players whose international careers were marked by near misses, heartbreak and cruel twists of fate.
Mo Salah’s Unfinished Business With AFCON
At 33, Egypt captain and Liverpool star player, Mohamed Salah, remains one of Africa’s most decorated footballers at club level, but AFCON success continues to elude him.
Salah has come agonisingly close twice, finishing runner-up in 2017 and again in 2021. Egypt, the tournament’s most successful nation with seven titles, last won AFCON in 2010, before Salah had fully established himself on the international stage.
The Pharaohs’ failure to qualify for three consecutive tournaments between 2012 and 2015 delayed his AFCON debut until 2017.
That maiden appearance ended in heartbreak, as Egypt lost the final to Cameroon.
Four years later, the story repeated itself. Egypt reached the final again, only to lose on penalties to Senegal. Salah, held back to take a potentially decisive fifth kick, never got the opportunity as the shootout ended early.
Injured during AFCON 2023, he watched helplessly from the sidelines as Egypt exited in the last 16. With time no longer on his side, AFCON 2025 may represent Salah’s final chance to complete his international legacy.
Few African players thrived under pressure like Didier Drogba. Renowned for delivering on the biggest stages with Chelsea, AFCON finals, however, brought nothing but frustration.
Drogba captained the Ivory Coast in two AFCON finals, in 2006 and 2012, and penalties proved decisive on both occasions.
Against Egypt in 2006, he missed in the shootout as the hosts emerged champions. Six years later, facing Zambia, Drogba suffered fresh agony. He blasted a late penalty over the bar in normal time before Ivory Coast once again lost on spot kicks.
Despite multiple semi-final and quarter-final appearances, AFCON glory always slipped through his fingers. In a cruel twist of fate, the Elephants finally won the tournament in 2015, just months after Drogba retired from international football.
Weah’s Brilliance Beyond Trophies
George Weah occupies a unique place in African football history as the continent’s only Ballon d’Or winner, claiming the prestigious award in 1995.
While he dazzled at club level with Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, international success was limited by Liberia’s modest football pedigree.
Liberia qualified for AFCON only twice during Weah’s career, in 1996 and 2002, and on both occasions failed to progress beyond the group stage. Weah scored just once at the tournament, finding the net in a 2002 draw against Mali.
Although AFCON glory never came, Weah later served his country in another historic role, becoming Liberia’s president from 2018 to 2024.
Kanu’s near miss on home soil
Elegant and intelligent, Nwankwo Kanu enjoyed a glittering career, winning the UEFA Champions League with Ajax and domestic honours with Arsenal. He also famously claimed Olympic gold with Nigeria in 1996.
AFCON, however, proved less forgiving. His closest brush with the title came in 2000, when Nigeria reached the final on home soil.
The Super Eagles faced Cameroon, with the match going to penalties. Kanu missed his kick, and Nigeria were beaten.
Nigeria reached four semi-finals during Kanu’s international career but never returned to the final. He retired with silver and bronze medal, but no AFCON winner’s medal.
Essien And Injury Curse
Michael Essien was the engine room of a gifted Ghanaian generation that followed the country’s last AFCON triumph in 1982.
Powerful, disciplined and technically refined, Essien became a leader for the Black Stars, mirroring his club success with Chelsea. Yet injuries repeatedly struck at the worst possible times.
He missed AFCON 2006 entirely, captained Ghana to a third-place finish in 2008, and was sidelined midway through the 2010 tournament as Ghana reached the final, only to lose to Egypt.
Persistent fitness issues eventually curtailed his international career, leaving Essien as another African great whose brilliance was never rewarded with AFCON gold.
As AFCON 2025 approaches, these stories serve as reminders that greatness is not always defined by medals, but by impact, legacy and moments that live far beyond silverware.
The Nigeria Premier Football League, has rescheduled the matchday 18 encounter between Nasarawa United versus Barau FC.
The match which was earlier fixed for Sunday, 21st December will now hold on Tuesday 23rd December, 2025.
The encounter will be staged at the Lafia City Stadium.
Nasarawa United will be facing Barau FC for the first time in the NPFL.
The Solid Miners are yet to taste defeat in their last two NPFL matches.
Nasarawa United occupy second position on the NPFL table with 31 points , while Barau FC are in the relegation zone with 19 points.