Philip Buckingham

England

Football News Reporter at The Athletic

Football news reporter for @TheAthleticFC. Views are my own. Email: [email protected]

Articles

Why Legia Warsaw have become a headache for UEFA

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Philip Buckingham

Tonight's trip to Chelsea, in all probability, will be the 16th and final European game of Legia Warsaw's season. A 3-0 first-leg deficit in the Conference League quarter-finals has left a mountain to climb, and the adventures of Poland's biggest club will likely end at Stamford Bridge. UEFA is too diplomatic to publicly celebrate any club's exit, but parting with the perennial bad boys at least rids their disciplinary department of a long, nagging headache.
What every Premier League club spends on agent fees

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Philip Buckingham

At a point of the season when supporters are left to consider their team's progress - good, bad or indifferent - a financial snapshot to help with any judgement has been presented. The English Football Association (FA) released its annual figures for payments made by clubs to agents and intermediaries on Monday afternoon and, as is now customary, the sums were enormous.
What happens after Premier League relegation?

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Philip Buckingham

There are no darker days in a season than the ones that see relegation confirmed and for Southampton, listless for so much of this Premier League campaign, the moment arrived on Sunday. Their last hope of survival was snuffed out after a 3-1 defeat away to Tottenham Hotspur, with the gap to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 17th now insurmountable. Only the inevitability of it all numbed the pain. An immediate return to the Championship beckons for others, too.
UEFA prize money for 2023-24 revealed

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Philip Buckingham

Real Madrid's latest Champions League triumph earned the Spanish club €138.8m (£116.4m; $154m) in prize money last season, according to new figures published by UEFA. European football's governing body has released its annual financial report this morning to coincide with its 49th Congress beginning in Belgrade and included are the figures distributed to each team competing in UEFA's three club competitions during the 2023-24 season.
PGMOL acknowledges James Tarkowski should have been sent off for foul on Alexis Mac Allister

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Philip Buckingham

The body that oversees Premier League referees have accepted that James Tarkowski should have been sent off for his reckless challenge on Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister last night. Tarkowski was only shown a yellow card in the 11th minute of the Merseyside derby at Anfield when an ugly follow-through saw the defender's studs hit Mac Allister just below the knee.
What could FSG's interest in Malaga mean for Liverpool?

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Philip Buckingham

Ever since the appointment of Michael Edwards as chief executive of football at Fenway Sports Group (FSG) in March 2024, it has been clear the multi-club ownership model is coming to Anfield. Edwards, Liverpool's former sporting director, returned to the FSG fold with the belief that the club has little choice but to expand if it is to "remain competitive" in the Premier League and beyond. The key to that is an ambitious plan to invest in a partner club.
The Preston forward banned for biting and now facing an FA racism charge

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Philip Buckingham |Gregg Evans

Those in his homeland of Montenegro know Milutin Osmajic as a fighter. He is the wild child from Niksic, a place his countrymen evocatively call "the city of dare and steel". "It has tough areas," says one person familiar with Osmajic's back story in Montenegro, speaking on the grounds of anonymity to protect working relations. "So what you see on the pitch is the type of person he is off it.
Breaking down the competition's prize money

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Philip Buckingham

The huge financial incentives for lifting the Club World Cup this summer have been revealed after FIFA confirmed the winners stand to bank $125million (£97m) in prize money. The new 32-team tournament, held in the United States between June 14 and July 13, will see a $1billion pot shared out between those participating and a run to the final is now guaranteed to bring a huge windfall.
'I've got no problem with getting a bit of grief'

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Philip Buckingham

Carl Baker has unwittingly become a creature of habit at home. "My missus laughs at me because I've got my pen and pad and a cup of tea studying games," he says. "I'm a little bit obsessed, to be honest."Baker no longer watches football like he used to. His 20 years as a player with Coventry City, MK Dons and Portsmouth taught him to instinctively track movement and seek space, but now his eyes follow the 23rd figure on the pitch.
Steve Bruce on loss, grief, football and looking forward again

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Philip Buckingham

Thursday lunchtime, two days before Blackpool's trip to Northampton Town, and Steve Bruce's training ground office, with door wide open, is a busy place. Assistant Steve Agnew is opposite his manager, as are the club's sporting director, David Downes, and the chief scout, Dean Hughes. They talk enthusiastically of budgets and opponents, and joke of training mishaps and missed targets.