Many consider Sir Bobby Charlton to be the greatest player England has ever produced. To countless Manchester United supporters, he also stands as the club’s finest-ever footballer, having scored 249 times across 758 matches.
Because he is such a revered figure in the game, his views on other legendary players always attract attention. On one occasion, he even singled out a Celtic icon, describing him as one of the greatest strikers in football history.
That player was Bobby Lennox.
Sir Bobby Charlton’s Praise For Bobby Lennox
While younger supporters may not immediately recognise his name, Lennox was an outstanding player in his time. Remarkably, his tally of 25 major trophies has been surpassed by only three British footballers.
He was also a key member of Celtic’s legendary Lisbon Lions side, which lifted the European Cup in 1967. Over the course of his career with the club, the Scotland international scored 277 goals in 586 appearances, and he still ranks as Celtic’s second-highest scorer ever.
With a record like that, it’s no surprise he drew praise from stars of his era, including Charlton, who once remarked:
“If I’d had Lennox in my team, I could have played forever. He was one of the best strikers I have ever seen.”
He would spend the bulk of his career at Celtic, but for one year in America with Houston Hurricane in 1978. Such was his impact on the game, in fact, that when Lennox was given a statue to celebrate his career, Charlton sent a touching tribute to the player.
“I had the pleasure of playing alongside Bobby several times. I thought he was a superb striker who, in my opinion, was one of the best strikers we have ever seen.
“Truly great players play for truly great teams, and few teams are as important to the history of the game as the Lisbon Lions. As the first British team to ever lift the European Cup, Bobby and his Celtic teammates set the standard for us all to follow.”
”The Scotsman who gave me the most trouble was Bobby Lennox of Celtic. My testimonial at the Bernabeu was against Celtic as, of course, they were the champions of Europe in 1967 and, although I remember the Bernabeu rising to Jimmy Johnstone, I admired Lennox greatly.”
To have two true icons of the game dish out praise so high only goes to prove just how special Lennox was in his day.
According to reports, the schedule for England’s game against Mexico is set to be changed. The game was supposed to take place at 6pm local time in Mexico City, but will be moved.
There were fears that thunderstorms could cause delays on the day of the last 16 fixture. According to the Met Office forecast, the storms are expected to begin an hour before kick-off and last one hour into the World Cup clash.
As such, the game is now set to be moved to Sunday at 12:00 PM, six hours earlier than the intended kick-off. As such, if the change goes through, viewers in the UK wiill now watch the game at 7pm (GMT).
Even England’s best player understands the task ahead.
England Set To Have New Kick-Off Time vs Mexico
Hannah Mckay via Reuters
A report from Mexican news outlet Claro Sports explained that FIFA will change the kick-off time ‘due to the risk of a thunderstorm. A post on social media noted:
Claro Sports has learned that the round-of-16 match between Mexico and England is changing its schedule due to the risk of a thunderstorm. The match will take place this Sunday at 12:00 PM, in a key adjustment for one of the most anticipated clashes of the World Cup.”
Tottenham have received an official offer to sell one of their players in the summer transfer window from one of the ‘big teams’ in Turkey.
We could see a host of players leave Spurs in the summer transfer window, with Roberto De Zerbi’s side looking to bring in a host of reinforcements.
Spurs have already confirmed the signings of Mateus Fernandes, Jan-Paul van Hecke, Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, and Martin Dubravka, which could lead to a number of players leaving the club.
Midfielder Joao Palhinha has already confirmed that he won’t be remaining with Spurs next season after the North London club had an opportunity to sign him on a permanent deal following his loan spell.
Yves Bissouma also departs at the end of his contract, but further exits are likely.
He won’t be a Tottenham Hotspur player next season
Tottenham Receive Official Offer
According to journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu, Tottenham have received an official offer from one of the big sides in Turkey, likely meaning Fenerbahce, Besiktas or Galatasaray, for Brazilian forward Richarlison.
It’s unclear which team has submitted an offer for Richarlison or how much. Either way, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Spurs were willing to accept the deal.
Richarlison is unlikely to be the starting striker for Spurs heading into the new season. It wouldn’t be a surprise if De Zerbi’s men look to bring in a new centre-forward.
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Tottenham to Make Big Loss on Richarlison
Regardless of how much Tottenham have received in terms of the offer for Richarlison, they look set to make a huge loss on the Brazilian forward.
Considering he has hardly set the world alight during his time in North London, it is going to be difficult for Tottenham to even get near that in terms of a sale.
It would be a shock to see Tottenham receive even £30 million for Richarlison. They may have to accept that they are going to make a huge loss in order to get him off the books.
A former USMNT manager has gone viral this week after being called out for comments he made about Mauricio Pochettino following the USA’s 2-0 win over Bosnia in the World Cup Round of 32. The Stars and Stripes secured their first World Cup knockout victory since 2002 on Wednesday night.
Folarin Balogun – one of the standout performers at this summer’s tournament – played both hero and villain in Santa Clara. He scored the crucial opener to put his side in the driving seat, but then threw a spanner in the works for Pochettino and co. when he was shown a red card in the 64th minute. That left Mark Tillman to step up late on and double the co-hosts’ advantage.
After topping their group and recording back-to-back World Cup wins for the first time since 1930 with victories over Paraguay and Australia, the USA have well and truly caught football fever this summer. There’s a sense of optimism surrounding the team unlike anything seen before – but that doesn’t mean everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.
Ex-USMNT Manager Bizarrely Puts Pochettino on Blast After Bosnia Win
Phil Noble via Action Images via Reuters
Perhaps a little salty, Gregg Berhalter was unimpressed with Pochettino’s tactical set-up during the 2-0 victory over Bosnia, and believes superstar Christian Pulisic needs to be utilised more ahead of their Round of 16 tie vs Belgium.
Speaking on FanDuel’s Coaches Corner, which features Berhalter alongside fellow former coaches Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley, he was critical of the way the US was getting ‘Captain America’ involved. “I want to touch quickly on Christian, because I don’t know if you guys remember the first time he touched the ball in the game?” he asked the studio.
“It really came from us building in our shape, it was like a 3-1-6 (formation) almost. (Bosnia) are playing, as Bob, mentioned a 5-3-2. So they shifted over once to our three, but then on the next pass to our open center back, they’re released with a midfielder. When they did that, Antonee Robinson was high, Malik (Tillman) was high, Christian was wide and we played in the ball.
“Malik runs behind the back line and Christian cuts across the middle of the field like a knife – just accelerating across the field. That was a really dangerous attack.
I would have liked to see that more. Stay wide, get the ball, take the opponent on and have been have players running from there. I don’t think we did that enough. I don’t think there was enough intention to get Christian the ball in those positions to really set him loose.”
While Berhalter – who has sat in Pochettino’s seat on two separate occasions, between 2018 and 2022, and again between 2023 and 2024 – was just providing some analysis, as he was called upon to do, he has been destroyed by his former supporters after the video quickly went viral on social media.
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Gregg Berhalter looks on before the game between the United States and Bolivia in a 2024 Copa America match at AT&T Stadium on June 23, 2024.Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Pochettino’s tactics are superior to those of the fired coach. That’s the opinion of a majority of USA fans right now, and so scrutiny towards the current manager’s predecessor has been swift, with one X user remarking: “Yes, let’s ask the guy who was fired for being bad at his job what we should’ve done,” as others pointed out that he “failed” to do what his heir has managed to do.”
“He needs to stay in his lane,” a third added, as a fourth wrote: “His opinion is irrelevant.” Elsewhere, a fifth brutally concluded: “If I were Greg Berhalter watching what’s happening right now I think I would be spending 100% of my time trying to make sure people don’t remember that I exist.”
Opta’s Supercomputer claims Lionel Messi’s Argentina have a stronger chance than England
In his first spell in charge of the USA, Berhalter’s side reached the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and won the Concacaf Nations League Gold Cup in 2021, but his second spell lasted only 14 games. After a 1-0 defeat to Uruguay to knock them out of the Copa AMerica at the group-stage, he still claimed he was the right person to lead the team to the 2026 World Cup, but faced the axe instead.
