Jose Mourinho is eager to return to England next season amid frustration at a lack of financial support from Roma.
An extraordinary third spell at Chelsea would be his ideal scenario, and his representatives have hinted that he would be interested in any vacancy at Stamford Bridge, but the club have made it clear they intend to stick with Graham Potter.
Mourinho’s wife and children still live in London and he has always preferred working in the Premier League to elsewhere.
Jose Mourinho has been frustrated at the lack of financial support he is receiving at Roma
The manager would like a third stint at hard-spending Chelsea if he returns to England
The Portuguese won the Europa Conference League at Roma last season and are currently fifth in Serie A, but lack the resources to fight for the title. The West Ham job could also be up for grabs soon given David Moyes’ struggles, although Mourinho would not leave Roma in the middle of the season.
United hold doubts over Ratcliffe
Manchester United officials have privately hit out at Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s plans to bid for the club, as they are convinced the INEOS owner has no intention of meeting the Glazer family’s demand for offers of more than £6bn.
Ratcliffe became the first potential bidder to publicly declare his hand last week with an INEOS spokesperson confirming: “We have formally put ourselves into the process.”
However, United is convinced that the company’s main concern is securing positive publicity. Ratcliffe went public with his desire to buy Chelsea last year, but only after the deadline for talking bids had passed.
Manchester United remain doubtful about how serious Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s iconic bid actually is
Italy may delay the offer of euros
Italy is considering pulling out of the race to host the 2032 European Championship if they can secure the right to stage the 2036 tournament unopposed.
Euro 2032 bidding rights are currently being contested by Italy and Turkey, who are also competing for Euro 2028 against a joint bid from home nations, with UEFA set to announce the winners in the autumn.
UEFA declared last year that they were ready to award Euro 2028 to the United Kingdom and Ireland without a contest, but Turkey insisted on making a late bid after losing out to Germany for the right to host in 2024.
A tournament cycle of UK and Ireland, Turkey, Italy from 2028 onwards would suit UEFA, as the risk of taking the competition to a new market on the edge of Asia would be sandwiched between two guaranteed money-makers in Western Europe.
Italy have until the final bid deadline of April 12 to inform UEFA of their intentions, with discussions taking place behind the scenes.
Italy could pull out of Euro 2032 host bidding and instead look to host four years later in 2036
Terriers on the market for £1!
Huddersfield Town owner Dean Hoyle is willing to sell the club for the nominal fee of £1 as long as the buyers are willing to cover the Terriers’ debts.
The Championship club has been officially for sale since October, when Hoyle stepped away from day-to-day operations for a second time due to health reasons.
He regained full control of the club earlier last year after previous owner Phil Hodgkinson suffered bankruptcies in his other businesses.
Huddersfield owes £14m to the banks and £34m to Hoyle, who provided numerous loans during his previous spell in charge between 2009 and 2019.
The sale process has been complicated by Huddersfield’s poor form this season, with Mark Fotheringham’s side at risk of being relegated to League One.
Huddersfield could sell for £1 as long as buyers are willing to cover the Terriers’ overall debts
Boost for regulator plans
The government’s decision to abandon plans to sell Channel 4 earlier this month is set to accelerate the arrival of the independent regulator for football.
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport officials now have more time to push through the regulator’s legislation during this parliament, with a white paper setting out the plans expected at the start of next month and likely to be shown in the Delayed King’s speech, which will take place in the fall of this year.
Government officials are confident the regulator could now be in place before the 2024 general election as it is seen as a potential vote winner for the Conservatives.
Despite their opposition to the plans, this would appeal to the Premier League, who fear that a regulation introduced by Labor will make their lives more difficult.
