The Times Sport - UK (2020-07-18)

Sport

the times | Saturday July 18 2020 2GS 9

champions league places

Liverpool and Manchester City have

booked their places and will be joined

by two from Chelsea, Leicester City

and Manchester United.

Wolverhampton Wanderers cannot

finish in the top four because

Leicester and United meet on the

final day. That fixture also means that

Chelsea, whose goal difference is

inferior to both their rivals, will

qualify with four points from their

final two games. Leicester’s superior

goal difference means that victory

against Tottenham Hotspur and a

draw against United should keep

them above the Old Trafford side and

ensure qualification.

Remaining matches

Chelsea Liverpool (a); Wolves (h)

Leicester Tottenham (a); Man Utd (h)

Man Utd West Ham (h); Leicester (a)

There will be a play-off between

United and Leicester for the final

Champions League spot if the

following scorelines occur (and

Chelsea win at least three points from

their last two games to finish third):

Tottenham 1 Leicester 0

Man Utd 5 West Ham 1

Leicester 1 Man Utd 0

Leicester and United would be level

on points, goal difference, goals

scored and head-to-head (United beat

Leicester 1-0 at home).

europa league places

Fifth and sixth place will earn

qualification, as will seventh unless

Arsenal win the FA Cup and finish

below seventh. Chelsea, Leicester and

Manchester United are assured of at

least a Europa League place, while

Wolves will qualify by winning their

last two games, against Crystal Palace

and Chelsea.

relegation

Norwich City are already doomed to

relegation while Brighton & Hove

Albion and West Ham United each

need a point from their final two

games to be certain of staying up.

Bournemouth and Aston Villa have

found some form but they have

ground to make up on Watford.

What’s still up for

grabs this season?

Bill Edgar

championship promotion

Leeds United are up. Brentford’s

superior goal difference means they

will be all but assured of automatic

promotion if they take four points

from their last two games away to

Stoke City today and at home to

Barnsley on Wednesday. Fulham will

go up if they win their last two games

and West Bromwich Albion lose to

Queens Park Rangers and Brentford

take only one more point.

championship play-offs

Two from West Bromwich Albion,

Brentford and Fulham will appear in

the play-offs. Nottingham Forest need

two points from their last two games

to qualify, while Cardiff City require

two wins to be assured of a place.

relegation to league one

Barnsley will be relegated if Charlton

Athletic beat Wigan Athletic at home

today or if Barnsley lose at home to

Forest tomorrow. A loser in the Hull

City-Luton Town match would

effectively be down if Charlton avoid

defeat against Wigan.

national league play-offs

Six teams are competing for the

remaining promotion place after

Barrow went up to League Two

automatically. Boreham Wood, who

defeated Halifax Town 2-1 last night,

will be away to Harrogate Town in

one semi-final while the winner of

today’s meeting between Yeovil Town

and Barnet will be away to Notts

County in the other.

national north play-offs

Six clubs are aiming for the second

promotion spot after the automatic

promotion of King’s Lynn Town. The

winners of Altrincham v Chester

tomorrow are away to York City in

the semi-finals, while the winners of

Brackley Town v Gateshead are away

to Boston United.

national south play-offs

Wealdstone have gone up, leaving six

clubs to fight for the other promotion

place. Slough Town play Dartford

tomorrow with the winners away to

Havant & Waterlooville in the semis,

while the winners of Bath City v

Dorking Wanderers face Weymouth.

there would be fire alarms going off,

we’d get room service delivered at

two, three, four and five o’clock in the

morning. There’d be a knock on the

door with sandwiches, ‘Did you order

room service?’ You’d be pulling the

phones out, the door would still be

going. They would be trying to get

you hooked up with girls downstairs

in reception.”

Bridges, who scored 21 Premier

League goals in his first season at

Elland Road, has a different memory

of that run to the semi-final. On

October 18, 2000, in a goalless draw

at Besiktas, he suffered an injury that

almost led to him losing part of his

leg. “I travelled back with my foot in a

bucket of ice on the plane,” he says.

“I actually had an internal bleed

and woke up about four days later

and the bottom half of my leg from

the knee down had gone black.”

Leeds would draw the semi-final

first leg against Valencia at Elland

Road before losing the return 3-0 at

it felt like a club on the slide’

Michael Bridges had been with
Leeds throughout the brighter parts
of that five-year period, signed from
Sunderland in 1999 and moved to
Newcastle as part of the swap deal to
bring in Caldwell in 2004.
“It was the best spell in my career,”
Bridges, now a leading football
analyst in Australia, says. “The
football and the footballers I was
playing with at Leeds United was just
unbelievable. We signed Rio
Ferdinand, I was playing alongside
Harry Kewell. We had a very strong
core, David Batty, Nigel Martyn and
young players from the club’s
academy.
“We were scoring goals at will, just
playing with a freedom and we used
to run teams off the park. It just kept
getting better and better. I loved it. I
never thought I would be playing [in
the] Champions League against
Barcelona and AC Milan and actually
beating them as well, but we did that.”
Leeds finished third, fourth and
fifth in successive seasons in the
Premier League and reached a Uefa
Cup and then a Champions League
semi-final, but he talks of naivety.
“Our first season in Europe was my
first too and we didn’t have a security
team,” Bridges says. “We were going
to places like Russia and every night

the Mestalla Stadium. They came

fifth the following season, but that

was followed by a 15th-place finish

and by the following season the

financial overspend had emerged.

The tears flowed at the Reebok, the

mass departure began, a further

demotion followed in 2007 and it took

three years for Leeds to return even

to the Championship, where they

have spent the past ten seasons.

For Bridges, it is a new club

emerging. “You didn’t feel like you

were welcomed like the legends that

had been at other clubs,” he says.

“The disconnect with former players

was very tough. It was always deemed

that it was the players’ fault the wage

bill had gone through the roof and

that left a really sour taste.

“When I went back four years ago

Paul Bell [the club’s executive

director] had got in touch and said,

‘We’d love you to be an ambassador.’ I

was blown away with the vision they

had under the new owner, Andrea

Radrizzani. They were happy to talk

about how they had one man they

wanted in charge, Marcelo Bielsa, and

the style of football they would play.

“Elland Road was rotten behind the

scenes but they spent the money — it

needed a massive makeover. They are

in a great spot now.”

Permanent managers Leeds have used

since relegation from top flight in 2004

15

SPORTING HERO

of the week

Adebayo Akinfenwa

Wycombe striker

It has been described as the “best

post-match interview ever” and, for

poignancy, personality and

unbridled joy, Adebayo Akinfenwa’s

address to the TV cameras at

Wembley on Monday certainly

takes some beating (Gregor

Robertson writes).

“Tell me what we

just did, because I

don’t know,” he

bellowed at Sky

Sports’ David Craig,

who confirmed

that, yes, Wycombe

Wanderers had

sealed promotion

to the second tier

for the first time in

the club’s 133-year

history — and, yes,

Akinfenwa had reached the

Championship for the first time,

aged 38, after victory over Oxford

United. “Football is all about

opinions but I hope my story shows

the only opinion that matters is the

one you have about yourself. I am

blessed to have a

manager [Gareth

Ainsworth] who

believes in me.

And I’ll say it

again: Wycombe

is in the

Championship.”

At the 13th club

of his career,

Akinfenwa is still

providing goals,

leadership —

and joy.

g b m A b A a

is

C

o

A

p

le

a

Fans celebrate

promotion

outside Elland

Road, main, while

Ayling and

Hernandez watch

on, inset, and

Bielsa, above, is

congratulated by

a young fan

16 years after

another fan wept

at Bolton’s

Reebok Stadium

when Leeds

suffered

relegation, right

Leeds’ return to the promised land

Promotion Relegation

19th

24th

14th

5th

7th

14th

13th

15th

15th

13th

13th

3rd

7th

5th

4th 2nd

1st

Premier League

Championship

League One

2004 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 2020

PAUL ELLIS/AFP/GETTY/POOL; GARY M.PRIOR/GETTY IMAGES