Blades have come up short in their four previous attempts to gain promotion via an end-of-season showpiece final When the half-time whistle blows at Wembley on Saturday afternoon, Tom Lockyer will temporarily replace Sheffield United and Sunderland as the centre of attention. It is two years since Lockyer collapsed on England’s most famous pitch after experiencing atrial fibrillation during Luton’s Championship playoff final win against Coventry and almost 18 months since he had a cardiac arrest and almost died while playing for the club at Bournemouth. Continue reading...

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Seb Hutchinson and Dan Bardell as Manchester City move closer to sealing Champions League football with a 3-1 win over Bournemouth Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email. On the podcast today: Omar Marmoush scores a goal of the season contender as Manchester City move into third place in the Premier League, before the race for Champions League football concludes with the final round of fixtures this Sunday. Continue reading...

Manager unhappy leaving multiple players ‘in the freezer’‘Make a shorter squad, I will stay,’ Guardiola says Pep Guardiola has threatened to resign from Manchester City if the club does not reduce the size of the squad over the summer. A number of first-team players did not make the squad for Tuesday night’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth and the head coach is unhappy with leaving so many out. Abdukodir Khusanov, Savinho, James McAtee and Rico Lewis all had to watch on as City secured victory to move up to third in the league. It shows the depth available to Guardiola but he has always preferred to work with a smaller group of players. Continue reading...

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola pays tribute to Kevin de Bruyne following his final game at the Etihad Stadium, a 3-1 win over Bournemouth.

Kevin De Bruyne failed to finish on the personal high he might have craved but Omar Marmoush’s ­tribute act against Bournemouth ensured Manchester City moved up to third to keep the route to Champions League qualification in their own hands. Bernardo Silva and Nico González finished the job after De Bruyne had missed an open net but it was enough to alleviate the tension. The pressure momentarily increased after Mateo Kovacic was dismissed but that ­evaporated as both teams finished with 10 men on the pitch, allowing the City supporters to send De Bruyne on his way in style. Continue reading...