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Showing posts from April, 2025

Northern Ireland internationals: Free agents summer 2025

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    Northern Ireland has 23 players out of contact this summer. The list below only includes players who have been called up to the national squad or the under 21 squad and are still active for Northern Ireland. The highest valued player according to transfermarkt.com is Jamal Lewis, rated at €3 million. He is still under contract with Newcastle until this summer. Several other international regulars including; Ciaron Brown, Josh Magennis and, Jordan Thompson are all out of contract this summer. Younger prospects such as Ethan Galbraith and Caolan Boyd-Munce are also due to be free agents this summer. Pierce Charles is arguably Northern Ireland’s first choice goalkeeper now, he is also out of contract this summer. This is perhaps the most surprising name on the list, Charles has recently become Sheffield Wednesday’s first choice having spent the season deputising for on loan (and highly rated) young goalkeeper, James Beadle. There is no doubt that Sheffield Wednesday intend...

Scottish Premiership League reconfiguration: The final game play-off

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League reconfiguration is a talking point that just doesn’t go away, and while many believe something needs to change to make Scottish football better, nobody can agree with a solution that actually is better.   There are a few barriers to league reconfiguration: 1.The SPFL wants to guarantee 4 Old Firm matches each season. They are by far the most viewed and contribute heavily to the tv deal. 2. Adding teams may add games, which means teams must keep larger squads on stretched budgets, it also potentially harms the chances of teams progressing further in Europe. 3. Having fewer games means a drop in match-day revenue which is vital for the teams not receiving European money. 4. Other structures can make the league less fair by having some teams play more games than others (eg. A14 team league with a 6-8 split), allowing some teams to have more home games than their rivals or, having a confusing multi-split system like Belgium.   In the absence of being able to find a...