The Hidden Gems 💎

Sharing and promoting the great game ⚽️… and some parody 😊

[Giulia Bould @GiuliaBould]

Very emotional piece by @JoCurrie & @_Dan_Austin with the family of Matt Beard & pressure on football managers

His son Harry: "Only when something happens, all this love comes out. When they get a loss they get battered online. When they win, nothing"

https://t.co/3qT0k2dCmi

[Girls on the Ball @GirlsontheBall]

A really powerful piece from @JoCurrie + @_Dan_Austin and huge credit to Matt's family for telling their story. Matt's death was a tragedy and football as a whole needs to learn from it. It needs to look after its people so much better and take the mental health of managers, players and everyone working in it much more seriously.

[Daniel Austin @_Dan_Austin]

The inquest into the death of former Liverpool manager Matt Beard has been delayed after his family told court today they feel Burnley "bullied" him.

They say he named Burnley chairman Alan Pace as the instigator and believe it contributed to his death.

https://t.co/gjLPNgfbXW

[South Shields FC @SouthShieldsFC]

THAT IS HUGE!!! 💪👏

⚓️ 4-1 🔵

📸 Kev Wilson

#SSFC #AlwaysReady

[Dave Salmon @dpsalmon]

‘This is the lowest point of my managerial career.’

Here’s the @MorecambeFC manager Jim Bentley’s full reaction after the Shrimps were relegated following a 5-1 defeat at Woking in the National League.

(Some wind noise at times).

#UTS 🦐 | #WOKvMOR | #ShrimpsLive

[Sky Sports News @SkySportsNews]

"Crazy conditions for April!" ❄️

Hearts travel to Livingston for a crucial encounter in their Scottish Premiership title charge but will potentially have to deal with strong weather conditions when they kick off later today.

[TomTalksToon @TomTalksToon]

#NUFC U15 beat Chelsea, the host club, in the U15 PL International Tournament.

They will face Man City in the final later today.

Watch the winning save of the penalty shootout from Lucas Flack: https://t.co/kcUi5itfhL

[Extra Time Indonesia @idextratime]

🎥 Cuplikan Indonesia vs St Kitts and Nevis tadi malam dengan komentator luar.

[(fan)Dc🇧🇪 @justdc4838]

🚨Jose Mourinho conceded 15 goals in 38 matches.

🚨Antonio Conte conceded 33 goals in 38 matches.

🚨Thomas Tuchel conceded 36 goals in 38 matches.

🚨Liam Rosenior conceded 31 goa....show more

[True Geordie @TrueGeordieTG]

Why Eddie Howe will NEVER take #NUFC to the next level…

[𝝡𝗘𝗘𝗦 𝘏𐌉𝗟𝗚𝗘𝙍𝗦 @meshilgers]

Debut coach John Herdman 👏🏻

📸 vivagoal | 📹 zvyinnn | teukusyahrezadinasti

[dan @DanAV___]

cundy is on a generational run

[The Gallowgate 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @gallowgateSJP]

1,628 days since the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United!

❌Training ground sponsor
❌Stadium sponsor
❌Training kit sponsor
✅Ticket price increases
✅Tourists getting Derby tickets
✅Mackems in home end
✅Adidas collections X5

#NUFC

[Magpin @Magpin1]

Will Osula pin badges go on sale this evening (Fri 6th March) @ 6pm! 💫

For your chance to win one of the standard badges, simply;

- Repost this post 🔁
- Follow @Magpin1 ✅

Winner announced shortly before 6pm tonight. Good luck! #NUFC

https://t.co/h5ZJB43m9D

[george @StokeyyG2]

Leeds United’s Pascal Struijk was not given a penalty for this despite Luke O’Nien having both hands around his neck…

Daniel Farke will NOT be happy.

[Ajoje⚽⚖️ @israel_ajoje]

You must be wondering why.

Let me put this into better perspective for you. A coach that the Champions League and Premier League got sacked for not winning the Community Shield and UEFA super cup. That's what happened here.

Earlier today, Filipe Luís watched his Flamengo side dismantle Madureira 8–0 in the Campeonato Carioca semi-final, securing progression to the final in emphatic fashion. Hours later, he was dismissed.

The timing feels contradictory but it will only feel like that to you if football decisions are judged by single scorelines. Flamengo does not operate that way. Institutions of that scale rarely react to one match; they react to direction.

The 2026 season had already introduced instability. Flamengo lost the Supercopa do Brasil final to Corinthians and fell in the CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana against Lanús. Performances were described as physically inconsistent and technically below the standard established the previous year.

For a club built on continental ambition, early-season irregularity is interpreted as an early signal, not a temporary inconvenience and the sack is a reaction to that.

Filipe Luís took over in September 2024 following Tite’s departure and quickly stabilised the squad before delivering a Brasileirão and Copa Libertadores double in 2025. That success sort of changed the internal benchmark for him. Once a manager demonstrates elite capacity, tolerance for regression narrows significantly. Winning changes the margin for error. He is a victim of his own standards. I feel sorry for him.

Moreover, beyond results, there were reports of tension beneath the surface. There were reports that his communication style, tactical management, and dressing room atmosphere were sources of dissatisfaction among segments of the squad.

Contract renewal negotiations, which extended his deal until 2027, are said to have created distance between the technical staff and senior leadership. Obviously, alignment between coach and board is often invisible to supporters, but it remains decisive in governance decisions.

The 8–0 victory did not reverse those concerns because the evaluation had already moved beyond immediate optics. Flamengo’s leadership appears to have concluded that trajectory and cohesion matter more than a dominant semi-final performance against domestic opposition.

High-expectation clubs do not wait for decline to become irreversible. They intervene at the first sustained sign of drift. That culture is unforgiving, but it is consistent.

Recent trophies elevate status but they do not secure immunity. In high-expectation clubs, yesterday’s trophies do not insure tomorrow’s patience.

And at Flamengo, patience is the rarest currency of all.

Filipe Luís’ dismissal was not about one extraordinary night. It was about whether the curve was still ascending. And from the looks of the Flamengo management, it wasn't. And that was why he was sacked.

What do you think?

My name is Ajoje and I am International Sports LAwyer and FIFA Licensed Agent. I write on the Law and Business of Football-a lot. Repost and Follow me if you want to read more posts like this.

[The Hidden Gems 💎 @TheFootyFinder]

Does he only do attacking corners? As Newcastle have been terrible at defending corners and would be interred to see how may they have scored vs conceded!!! Plus before he came Jason tindall actually did the corners and Newcastle were excellent defensively and … DAN BURN cup win

[Rilwan @Real1_balogun]

On set pieces.

This is Martin Mark in the image below. He was appointed Newcastle United’s set piece coach in 2025, just before the beginning of the current season.

Mark is 31.

He was formerly a set piece coach at FC Midtjylland in the Danish league.

His numbers were insane. In the 24/25 season, FC Midtjylland scored 64 goals and 27 of them were from set pieces. That’s 42%~four of every ten goals they scored were via set pieces. In 23/24, they won the title, greatly because they scored a lot of goals from set pieces. In 24/25, they won during the regular season too but lost the title to Copenhagen.

That’s for Peter Schmeichel. It’s happening in his front yard. Top Danish teams are using set pieces as a differential. And their national team will use it too.

Let me even digress a bit and talk about national teams.

Denmark didn’t qualify for the 1992 Euros but after Yugoslavia were banned due to war in the country at the time, they gained entry two weeks to the tournament.

Their manager to the tournament, Richard Moller Nielsen was dubbed unadventurous. Schmeichel called his football ‘lower class’.

Michael Laudrup, their best player at the time pulled out because he didn’t like the system. His brother, Brian Laudrup also pulled out but he came back when they eventually were granted a place.

Long and short, Denmark won that Euros and Michael missed out on his country’s biggest moment, because of puritanism. He believed football should be played in a certain way. Schmeichel ate his words and apologised. They WON! That’s all that mattered.

Back to Newcastle. Has Mark made a mark? It’s HARD. Replication hasn’t been easy.

And if you didn’t know, James French joined Man City from Liverpool during last summer. He was an opposition analyst at Liverpool, but was signed to become City’s setpiece coach. He worked 13 years at Liverpool. That’s the talent poaching happening at the top level.

Liverpool are scoring more goals from set pieces now after their early season struggles. Why?

After they lost French, Aaron Briggs stepped into the fray as set piece coach. They struggled in the Premier League, Slot toiled in every presser and condemned what he struggled with.

Briggs left in the new year and Liverpool looked for who could make a difference. Luckily, their solution was inside. Lewis Mahoney. He’s 27.

Mahoney was set piece analyst for the first team but worked away from the bench. When Briggs left, his role was upgraded and he works closely with Slot now. Their setpiece numbers have gone up from negative to positive, and Slot isn’t whimpering anymore.

At some point, you’ll have to leave this puritanical stance to football behind.

There are young coaches emerging and the game is becoming more rounded. The details are infinitesimal. Premier League teams are dominating in Europe and it’s partly because their set pieces have become hard to stop. It’s legal. It’s difficult to do but it’s done time and again.

Go hard or go home. Everyone is leveling up.

[Lee Forster ⚫️⚪️⚫️⚪️ @LeeDForster]

So it appears the 5cm tolerance is dependent on badge on the shirt 🤷🏻‍♂️

#NUFC ⚫️⚪️⚫️⚪️ #NFFC

[Magpie 24/7 @Magpie24_7]

Enough is Enough 🤬⚫️⚪️

​Is it just me, or is the officiating reaching a breaking point this season? ​It feels like we’ve had more "howlers" and "subjective" calls go against us in the last few months than in the previous three seasons combined. From the Lucas Digne handball in the box that wasn't a penalty against Villa, to Anthony Gordon being denied a blatant penalty against Chelsea, to the sweat on Joe Willock's head making him offside—and now the Dan Burn "shove-offside" scandal at City.

​Time and time again, we are getting the s* end of the stick.** 📉

​We aren't asking for special treatment; we just want a level playing field. But when VAR and the on-field refs consistently make the same "errors" only against the lads in black and white, you have to wonder what’s actually going on.

​We are fighting injuries, a brutal schedule, and the "Big Six" bias all at once. Availability is one thing, but getting a fair whistle seems to be the hardest thing to find in the Premier League right now.

​Are we being targeted, or is the standard of refereeing just at an all-time low? Let it all out in the comments.
👇

​#NUFC #NewcastleUnited #EPL #VAR #Refereeing #ToonArmy #Magpie247 @FA_PGMOL

[WelBeast @WelBeast]

😭😭😭