Man City settle a legal win over PL | Amorim says he's 'under more pressure' than Postecoglou | Brighton defeat Chelsea 3-0
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm Jessica Crichton and joining me are ESPN senior writer Mark Ogden and The Times Northern sports correspondent Martin Hardy. Welcome to you both.

Yeah, lots to discuss tonight. Let's start with the story that is the lead on most of the back pages, as you saw there. The Premier League's rules governing sponsorship deals from the period between 2021 and 2024 are void and unenforceable. That's what a tribunal has ruled. Well, last year, an independent panel found against aspects of the league's associated party transaction regulations after the case was brought by Manchester City.

We have to try and make sense of this, gents. It's very wordy. But initially, Mark, what do you make of this ruling? Well, the reality is it's covering the three years, as you say, 2021-2024, and the rules have already been changed. So the Premier League have already amended the rules. The clubs voted on it in November to amend the rules. So this ruling suggests or says that the old rules were unlawful, but they've already been dealt with. There's going to be a tribunal to discuss whether the new rules are lawful. So

Whether it's a major win for City, I'm not too sure, but I think it's something they can celebrate, that they feel that they're on the right side of the legal argument right now. But the Premier League aren't shedding too many tears over it. I think they're quite confident that the new rules will stand.

I think the reality is it doesn't apply to the 115 charges that is the big one that's coming down the line for Man City, the one that have the most significance. But away from that, the APT rules do have an impact on clubs like City, on Newcastle and clubs that may have wealthy owners that have got access to revenue streams that other clubs don't have, shall we say.

That's a positive from their point of view, but I think to suggest it's a major signpost is what's coming down the line. I don't think that's right. I think it's a case of, yes, City have had a win in this one, but there's a lot more battles against the fight and it's another kind of signpost. But we don't know where we're heading yet. The big one is the 115 charges and we expect some sort of resolution on that before the end of the season. Yes, like Mark said there, Martin, City fans might well feel that that is a win. The Premier League insist...

that the new rules are valid, are enforceable. What's your take on it? We're going to have another tribunal to see if the rules that were kind of rushed through in November last year, whether they are valid and effective. And Manchester City have won, if you like, the first couple of rounds here. There are big legal battles to come.

Manchester City then with the next phase of this then we'll see a huge change in terms of the amount of money that the likes of Manchester City and Newcastle and Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa four ambitious clubs with the finance to spend more and the four clubs that kind of voted against the change when it came in whether they feel you know further down the line that they can become a lot more competitive from Newcastle's perspective the person that's probably most frustrated by this would be Amanda Stavely who

brought through the takeover by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund and said at the time that Newcastle would be winning league titles in European Cups within five to ten years, but that was very much on the understanding that they could spend a lot of their wealth. So that fair market value, that phrase that came in two weeks after the Newcastle takeover, could tail the speed at which Newcastle could develop and could spend on new players at the club.

the interesting element from art and samuel in our paper in the times tonight just saying that there was punishments given to everton and not in forest which could have resulted in them getting relegated now the the you know the financial deal that they were working under has today been uh proven to not be fit for practice during that period so it would have been there is a bit of fortune here for the premier league that those two clubs didn't get relegated as a result of the changes

I think it means there's uncertainty going forward. There's the possibility of a big legal cost coming the Premier League's way as well. And, you know, there are more pressing fights to have here, but this is not a good day for the Premier League, I don't think.

Okay, thank you, gents. We'll keep an eye on that one, I'm sure, and we'll be discussing that on back pages tonight in the coming weeks and months. But let's move on, shall we, and talk Manchester United, because Ruben Amarin has been very vocal, hasn't he, in the last few months in regards to his press conferences and what he says about his team, other teams. He's been vocal again, has Ruben Amarin, and talking about Spurs and the up-and-coming match this weekend. And, Mark, he says that Spurs are...

not as big a club as Manchester United and that he's under more pressure than Ange-Poster Coglou. Is this mind games or does he genuinely believe this?

I think Ruben Amarin believes that. I think he basically says what he thinks and it's got him into trouble a few times recently. He's said things that he's had to backtrack on at probably the next press conference afterwards. So, I mean, look, let's be honest. Man United are a bigger club than Tottenham. They've won a lot more trophies, more Premier League. They've won the Champions League three times. So, yes, they are a bigger club. But that doesn't mean that Ruben Amarin is under more pressure than Ange Posto-Koglu. It's all about the context of the club you're at. Now, Amarin is under pressure at United because...

he hasn't had the impact that you would expect a new coach to have at a big club but i'm supposed to coggler's in the pressure at tottenham because equally he's not delivering you know yes he's had a big injury as he constantly tells us but he hasn't delivered so it doesn't matter where you are if you're a club that's not performing you're a coach you're under pressure so the pressure is the same no matter what the size of the club but i think i think reuben hammering probably is great for us it's fantastic that every week you know that's going to give you a great quote and it's going to say something that is a headline

But he probably needs to start winning more games. If he wins more games and starts letting his football do the talking rather than what he says in the press conference, that will probably please him and please Man United. So the pressure, yeah, they're both under pressure. And I wouldn't like to see the coach that loses at the weekend if there is one. But it's going to be a big game for both because both United and Spurs are where they shouldn't be in the Premier League.

And Martin, Manchester United in the back page of the Mirror as well, who are reporting that United cull to fund rebuild. Ruben Amarin has admitted Manchester United must sell several players in the summer to fund his rebuilding of the team. What do you make of those comments?

Yeah, well, regardless of whether you have PSR or not, you cannot simply go the way Man United have done in the last two or three years and keep spending big, big transfer fees on players that have done relatively little. The amount of money that was spent under Eric Ten Hag is still kind of mind-blowing. £600 million and you've got no idea where a lot of it went in terms of value for money. And the fact that James Sancho...

comes for 75 million and now can go to Chelsea for 20, 25 million. You're talking about a phenomenal level of depreciation.

So the interesting part there, apart from Amarin coming out and picking this strange battle of who's under the most pressure, well, both managers are doing poorly. That's why they're both under pressure. I think it's 21 defeats out of 46 for Postacoglu. I think Amarin's won four league games since he became manager in November. The bottom line is both of them are failing and not doing well enough in their respective clubs. And they are two big clubs. But what was really interesting, which is to go back to the story you mentioned there,

amaran says we have to sell players this summer before we can start buying again

It's fairly obvious, but it's not exactly what Man United's fans are going to want to hear when they have possibly the worst squad they've had in the Premier League. They have this real misfiring forward line that is fairly underwhelming. But it's like this situation could get worse before it gets better. And that's an amazing situation for Manchester United to find themselves in. Yeah, well, the big, big game coming up at the weekend against Spurs.

as well. Let's talk about the Friday night football, shall we? Because we talk about pressure and Brighton and the staff might have felt under some pressure after that 7-0 morning at the hands of Nottingham Forest, Mark. But what a way to respond. 3-0 against Chelsea. What do you make of their performance?

Well, they've definitely taken it out on Chelsea twice, haven't they? They beat them in the FA Cup last week as well. So, you wouldn't want to be a Chelsea player right now going to Brighton. Look, Brighton were great tonight. They've got one of those teams that can be hot and cold, but, I mean, obviously, we've all seen Matoma's goal, the fantastic touch that he took down and beat the man and then shot from 20 yards. Brighton, on the day, are a really good team that can beat anybody. And I think they've been inconsistent under Hurst this season, but they are a team that can damage teams. And I think...

they'll be fine. They're challenged to trying it at the European places. But I think the question tonight is what's happened to Chelsea? I think right now it looks like Enzo Moreschi is having a bit of a difficult time. They've stopped winning away from home. And as we see at Chelsea, their owners, they do expect a lot from their coaches. And

I'm not saying that he's under pressure right now, but the pressure will begin to grow because they're out of the FA Cup, they're not in the Carabao Cup final, they're in the Conference League, which is the very lowest of targets that they would want to go for. And, you know, they're now in probably a three-way battle with Man City and Newcastle for the Champions League football. So,

They're not in form right now. So I think Chelsea tonight, obviously they're big losers in more ways than one. They lost on the pitch, but their momentum is suddenly stalled. And I think Brighton have done that in both competitions. Yeah, the Mirror have pointed out in their headline, Blues not so bright. It was a missed opportunity, wasn't it, Martin, for Chelsea to put some space between them in fourth and City in fifth?

No, absolutely. And at the same time, Brighton closed the gap to Chelsea at six points. You know, there were some damning phrases from Jamie Carragher in court commentary. He said this has been a nothing performance from Chelsea.

they've been bad at both ends of the pitch he also said there's been no improvement on last season and as Mark alluded to there Chelsea are not frightened at all to change manager unlike Tottenham at the minute so I think that does put pressure on Enzo Moresca so we'll see where we'll go from there what was disheartening if you were a Chelsea fan tonight was

Levi Caldwell gets the gentlest tug on his arm, falls over, claims a free kick, sits almost as if he's huffing on the ground. And he's still the first player to get back to almost prevent the third goal because there's that look of apathy about the Chelsea players. These days now coaches continually talk about win your duels, win your duels. Every duel was won by the Brighton players tonight. It's a brilliant first goal by Matoma.

and a brilliant assist from Verbruggen in the Brighton goal. But to be fair, he had to do something to keep himself warm, I think, because he had so little in terms of the game. What was it? One shot came anywhere near him. Two months ago, like a few other people, I thought Chelsea were becoming a serious contender to fight for the title. So their demise is surprising and quick. Their dropping points have been beaten to Brighton twice now in the FA Cup and in the league. They've lost to Ipswich Man City.

draws with Palace ever and Maresca did look like a particularly stressed coach on the sideline tonight and that's completely understandable. Yeah, and a big game coming up against Villa next up. Lots for Chelsea fans to look forward to. Now to some very sad news. Patrick Barkley, who was a respected written and broadcast journalist and a regular on Sky Sports Sunday supplement, has died at the age of 77.

Mark, I'd like to get your thoughts first. I'm sure you have many memories of working with and alongside Patrick. Yeah, I mean, listen, first of all, Paddy was just a lovely guy, a great guy, fun, mischievous.

But as a journalist, he was supremely well-connected. He was a brilliant writer. And I think press boxes and press conferences can be quite chaotic places at times, especially when there's a late goal going in or a manager gets quite intense in a press conference. But I never ever saw Paddy without a smile on his face or a smirk on his face. He never got riled by anything. He was always there sat in the corner, smiling away as others were losing their head. But I think just to sum up what a good guy he was, he was the football correspondent at the Independent when it launched in the 80s and he left probably early 90s.

Now, I started working for The Independent just maybe 10 years ago, and I left quite shortly after. There was a few people left at the same time. They closed the paper down, and they had a leaving drinks in London. And Paddy turned up. He hadn't been at the paper for 25 years, but he turned up because he still had a connection with people that weren't there

and he kept in touch and he was, despite the fact he'd reached the very top of his profession, he wanted to be in touch with people that had gone through a hard time and that were still at a paper that he loved to be at, you know, half his career ago. So he never forgot the people that he worked with and he was just a lovely guy. It's a real sad day. Yeah, it's a great story, Mark. And Martin, I'm sure you too have your own memories of Paddy. Yeah, look, Paddy was a genuine heavyweight of our industry when you first started, somebody that you just naturally looked up to.

viewers might not be aware of the Football Writers Association and he was chairman of that for a period of time before, during and after his period in the chair, he made sure he attended each annual FWA meal, whether it was in Durham for the North East or in Manchester for the Northern Football Writers do. And I think that highlighted his love of the game, the fact that he was prepared to sit year after year and listen to football writers and ex-footballers tell stories until the early hours of the morning.

until very, very late on. I worked with Paddy at the Independent for a period of time and he had an interview set up with Alan Pardew when Alan Pardew was doing really, really well at Newcastle and was on his way to winning both Manager of the Year awards. And we had a chat on the phone. It was Paddy's interview. He'd set it up and by the end of the conversation he just said, look, it's your patch. You should go and do it. Which was...

That's the kind of gesture, not everybody does that, believe me, in our profession. That kind of gesture was one of the reasons why he was so well respected and why today is such sad news to hear of his passing. Mark Martin, thank you for that. And of course, all of us at Sky Sports News send our thoughts and our wishes to the Barkley family at this time.

Okay, now let's move on to Liverpool after that Merseyside derby because we've heard news today that Arna Slott has been charged alongside both teams and Arna Slott's assistant as well. Mark, this is perhaps the first time we've seen Arna Slott in this light. What did you make of it all?

Yeah, when you watch the footage it was quite crazy at the end of the game at Goodison Park, there was a lot going on and the one team that seemed the least explosive of the lot was Arne Slott and Michael Oliver. Arne Slott went over to shake his hand and something was obviously said but straight away the red card came out so it'll be interesting to see what the disciplinary panel's verdict on Slott is, what Michael Oliver said that Slott said.

because it didn't seem to be the most, it didn't seem like a Jurgen Klopp bust up with the referee put it that way. But obviously he now faces a touchline ban and I think Liverpool will have to consider over the weekend what they're going to do. But yeah, a touchline ban is coming his way more than likely.

But it was a surprise because Arne Slott has been very calm on such lines this season. But I have to say in recent weeks, it has got a little bit more intense. But like I say, he's nowhere near Jurgen Klopp levels of losing it to Schatt. Yeah, he does say that he regrets the sending off, of course, as that charge comes in. He now faces a two-match ban, Martin. Is this a sign perhaps that he is getting a little bit more agitated maybe as Liverpool march towards the title?

To mirror what Mark has said there, Roy Keane about three weeks ago commented upon how cool a bloke Arnie Slott was and how he was one of the few managers keeping it all together. And then, as Mark said in the last couple of weeks with

seeing that kind of pressure come out and I think what we all have to be aware of and perhaps it's amplified because of social media everybody out in that pitch is under and by the side of the pitch in dugouts is under a phenomenal amount of pressure at the minute which we've saw but the timing of this and yes it was the last derby at Goodison Park and hugely emotional and for James Toskowski to score in the last 97th minute

would undeniably every time create mayhem. But Michael Oliver has just been the subject of death threats from Arsenal fans for a decision he made whereby a foul was committed, quite a cynical foul. Most people said it probably should have been an orange card, but he went red and later was rescinded to a yellow.

So it was a small margin for that. He got death threats. The next high-profile game he does really is this derby. And at the end of it, he's got the manager of Liverpool saying something so offensive that there was an immediate red card and for which there was a level of apology today, which is nice to see from Arnie Slott.

when he says my emotions got the better of me it's very difficult for everyone to kind of turn down that emotions but at the minute we are really pouring it all over referees and you saw afterwards the abuse for michael was from liverpool fans and everton fans and arsenal fans were joining in and you're like that's our best official in this country at the minute um we perhaps need to just everybody just cool that he's a little bit and that's

Thankfully, that was reflected by Arnie Slott's comments today. Now, Liverpool, of course, seven points clear at the top of the Premier League. Arsenal chasing them behind. And turn into the mirror, interesting headline from Mikel Arteta saying, Arsenal can still win the title despite their injury crisis in the striker position. Mark, is he serious?

Well, it's going to be difficult, isn't it? Because obviously Liverpool are seven points clear, but Liverpool have got a tough week ahead. They've got Wolves at the weekend, but they've got Villa away midweek, and then you've got Man City away. So they're two very difficult away games. So if Liverpool have a wobble, Arsenal have to be in a position to take advantage of it. And I think, obviously, they're missing their key attackers. To lose the kind of habits for the rest of the season is a massive blow. And I do think that

Mikel Arteta has hinted that he regrets not signing a striker during the window, but they should have signed one last summer. So it's not something that just crept up just because they've had injuries. So, yeah, he talks about the workload of players, but that's across the board right now. You know, players are playing way too many games. There's so many more injuries this season. We see that Manuel Ikanji is out for, I think, 12 weeks now at Man City with an injury. So clubs are playing too many games and managers have to rotate their squads better. And Mikel Arteta has not been able to do that because he didn't sign a striker in the summer. So,

Yes, he's right to say that players are playing too many games, this was coming, but equally he has to take some of the blame because he didn't rest his players when he should have done. He didn't have enough players in the squad and that stands to him for not bringing the players in the summer. Yeah, and people would point to the fact, Martin, that he didn't sign a striker in the January window, perhaps missing a trick there. He has suggested that he might look at free agents. How fruitful might that be? I don't really think you're going to find a free agent under a stone who's going to help you win the title and stop this Liverpool team at the minute.

Probably there'll be huge frustration for Mikel Arteta-Havertz with his thigh injury, Gabriel Jesus with an ACL, Saka with a thigh injury and Martinelli with a hamstring. It's really unfortunate and this decimated his front line. And yes, we all said, why did they not buy a centre forward in January? But you've got to be able to find somebody that's better than what you've got and that's not easy. Having said that, they still should have strengthened to kind of be ready for this.

The real frustration I'd imagine for Mikel Arteta at the minute is that if Arsenal had shown anything like the form they've been in in the last two years, I think they'd possibly be on their way to win the Premier League title. As it is, they're not free-flowing, they rely on set pieces, and now they've lost four really, really good forwards. They are the only team, I think, left to compete with Liverpool for the title, and Liverpool could have a wobble, and we saw the pressure on them. But, yeah, this has been a really, really bad week for Arsenal.

OK, let's move it on because one of the match-ups of the weekend will be Manchester City against Newcastle. You've been following this one closely, I know, Martin. You've got a piece called Beauty and the Beast. First of all, which one's Beauty, which one's the Beast? Because we're looking forward to this match-up, aren't we, between Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland.

well the beauty is alexander is that in full flow i thought so yeah and you know that this norwegian force in nature who's just a demolition man in the penalty area so the two contrasting styles but you know from two countries next door to each other in sweden and norway they both have incredible ability and you probably say along with killing and batman

or amongst the three best centre-forwards in the country at the moment. The statistics kind of back up that Isak's completed 89 dribbles to Harlan's 29. We're sitting and resting that Isak's

chance conversion is better than Harlan's this season but whenever Harlan seems to be questioned like this and I know Manchester City lost during the week 3 but he scores twice and he certainly did his bit to try and get them through to the next stage of the Champions League Newcastle's record at the end he had is absolutely terrible they haven't scored in the last six games there they've never won a league game there I think they've drawn twice and lost 16 or 17 so

If Alexander is at least to take the crown from Haaland, he couldn't do it in a better place than Manchester City tomorrow. We are looking forward to it. Martin, Mark, thank you for your contributions to Back Pages tonight. Much appreciated.