Archive January 31, 2026

Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick has praised the backing he has received from the club’s fans and says he is “not offended” by the protest planned before Sunday’s Premier League encounter with Fulham.

Carrick has a 100% record in his second spell in charge following unexpected wins against Manchester City and Arsenal.

Despite the improvement following Ruben Amorim’s dismissal and the fact United moved into the Premier League top four for the first time this season following the Arsenal success, the 1958 fans’ group is pushing ahead with its protest.

The group claims it expects between 5,000 and 6,000 fans to attend the protest march, although given it will start an hour before kick-off from either side of the stadium and meet in the middle by the ‘Law, Best, Charlton’ statue outside Old Trafford, exact numbers will be difficult to quantify.

Organisers say they have “a few surprises in store”.

“Our protest has never been about performances on the pitch, not now, and not once in the last 21 years,” they argue.

“We are judging a dysfunctional ownership model that has repeatedly failed.”

In his autobiography, Carrick said the Glazer family were “great owners”.

Few fans agree with those sentiments, regardless of whether they intend to join the protest or not.

Anti-Glazer songs are a feature of every game United play, while recently minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been the focus of negative supporter sentiment.

Asked for his thoughts on the issue, Carrick preferred to focus on the support both he and his team have received rather than address the wider issue.

“I don’t think it [the protest] connects with the two wins, to be honest,” he said.

“I fully respect the supporters. I’m not offended by it or anything, and the players certainly aren’t.

“Within the stadium, the support we’ve felt, and that’s been there for all the games that I’ve watched for quite some time, has been of the highest level and I’m sure it will continue to be like that.

An “emotional” Shaun Murphy will aim to win a trophy named after a late friend after setting up a German Masters final against world number one Judd Trump.

Former world champion Murphy dispatched Neil Robertson 6-1 in their semi-final, and now has a chance to land the event’s Brandon Parker Trophy – which commemorates his friend and manager who died of cancer in 2020.

Parker had been a key figure in promoting the event in Berlin, and its cup was named after him a year after his death.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s final, Murphy said: “I get emotional thinking about Brandon all the time so the fact I’m out there playing won’t change anything.

“It might give me a bit of escapism actually. I’ll just concentrate on the snooker.

“It would be wonderful to take the Brandon Parker Trophy home. It would mean so much and possibly more to me than any other player on the tour.”

Murphy opened his semi-final with a 122 break and, after being pegged back in the next frame, hit two further centuries – 129 and 125 – on his way to a comfortable victory.

“For a lot of that match I was close to my best,” he added.

Murphy’s dominant form carried over from earlier rounds, which saw him dispatch Kyren Wilson and Mark Allen with ease.

It will be a second German Masters final for Murphy, who lost to Mark Selby in 2015.

In Saturday’s evening session at the Tempodrom Berlin, three-time German Masters winner Trump reached the final after beating Ali Carter 6-2.

Trump took the first four frames before Carter fought back to make it 4-2.

Britain’s Josh Kelly put on a slick and brave performance to beat Bakhram Murtazaliev and win the IBF light-middleweight title by majority decision in Newcastle.

It was a trademark Kelly display as he danced around the ring, displaying devastating speed and high ring IQ – knowing when to engage and when to get on his heels.

Both fighters hit the canvas with Murtazaliev going down in the fourth and Kelly in the ninth. The Briton went down a further two times late in the fight, but both were ruled as slips.

Two judges scored the bout 115-111 and 114-113 in Kelly’s favour with the other having it down as a 113-113 draw.

Murtazaliev looked to have got to grips with Kelly’s evasive style in the latter rounds, but the home fighter rallied in the last three minutes to end strongly.

Kelly, who becomes Sunderland’s first world champion, sprinted to embrace trainer Adam Booth when the result was announced before grabbing the belt and raising it up to the 4,000-strong crowd.

“It feels like a dream. I envisioned this,” Kelly told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“I was praying a couple of days ago, envisioned the fight, and I had deja vu of the knockdown in the tenth round.

Kelly takes the UK’s tally of reigning male world champions to six, alongside heavyweight Fabio Wardley, welterweight Lewis Crocker, super-featherweight Jazza Dickens, featherweight Nick Ball and light-welterweight Dalton Smith.

The 31-year-old extends his winning streak to eight.

Earlier in the night, Elif Nur Turhan retained her IBF lightweight title with a split-decision win against Taylah Gentzen.

Knockout artist Murtazaliev likes to walk his opponents down and strike with heavy shots but Kelly’s game plan worked to a tee, using the outer reaches of the ring to be elusive and choosing the right moments to launch his own attacks.

Kelly was roared into arena and looked relaxed as he walked to the ring – that calm aura remained once the first bell rang and Kelly’s hand speed immediately looked like it could give him the edge.

Trainer Adam Booth urged Kelly to “be patient” late in the second before he landed a bruising left hook to earn the champion’s respect.

The 2016 Olympian grew in confidence with each round as it became clearer that his game plan of staying on the outside and carefully choosing when to engage was working.

A stabbing left sent Murtazaliev down in the fourth and Kelly offered a cheeky wink to his opponent as he climbed back up off the canvas.

Murtazaliev was unbeaten in 23 previous fights but a 16-month stint outside the ring appeared to have a detrimental impact as he struggled to get to grips with Kelly.

With heavy marking under his right eye, Murtazaliev began to settle in the second half of the fight and a clean left sent Kelly down in the ninth.

But cheers of “there’s only one Josh Kelly” seemed to give the challenger a second wind and he ended the contest on the front foot with flashy work.

He hit the deck again in the 12th round, but the referee ruled it a slip and Kelly rallied to end the strongest at the final bell.

Turhan’s first defence of her IBF lightweight title was a scrappy affair as she struggled to find a home with her trademark heavy-hands.

The Turkish fighter ended a dream 2025 with a third successive knockout win to claim the IBF title in Monaco eight weeks ago, but was unable to seal another stoppage as Gentzen spent large periods of the bout skirting around the outside.

Gentzen, a serving member in the Australian army, began to tire in round five and sustained a cut to her right cheek when a looping left landed flush.

Fighting for just the third time outside Australia, Gentzen found a second wind in the latter rounds and looked sharper with her jab, but it was not enough to win over two of the three judges.

Turhan, who was wearing a gold outfit befitting her champion status, had enough energy left to sprint around the ring celebrating with a Turkish flag after extending her perfect record to 13 victories.

The 30-year-old can now start looking towards unifying the lightweight division.

Pep Lijnders says former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp urged him to take the job as Pep Guardiola’s assistant coach at Manchester City.

Lijnders, 43, replaced Juanma Lillo as Guardiola’s number two last summer following six successful years as Klopp’s assistant at Anfield and a short spell as Red Bull Salzburg boss.

The Dutchman left the Reds when German Klopp departed at the end of the 2023-24 season, having helped the side win major trophies including the Premier League and Champions League.

Despite the recent rivalry between the two sides – City beat Liverpool to the league title twice by one point in 2018-19 and 2021-22 – Lijnders said Klopp was enthusiastic about the opportunity for him to work under Guardiola.

“You cannot put away 10 years of Liverpool that easily, but I’m really proud to come to a club of this magnitude, so successful over the last 10 years and with a manager that defined football.”

Lijnders initially arrived at Liverpool as a development coach under former boss Brendan Rodgers in 2014, but left in 2018 to manage Dutch side NEC Nijmegen in the Eredivisie.

However, he was dismissed at the end of the season so returned to Anfield to become Klopp’s assistant in 2019 following the departure of Zeljko Buvac.

His tenure at Austrian club Salzburg lasted only 29 games, and while his switch to City raised some eyebrows, Lijnders said Guardiola’s offer was too good to turn down.

“Pep’s brilliant, of course. He has a passion and a game-understanding from a different planet, in my opinion,” said Lijnders.

“The moment Pep called, the feeling was straight away really good. It was not a difficult decision.”

City are second in the Premier League, seven points behind leaders Arsenal, and face Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday (16:30 GMT)

Guardiola has won 18 trophies since becoming City manager in 2016, and in May 2024 the 55-year-old celebrated guiding the club to a record fourth consecutive top-flight title. Lijnders said the Spaniard’s drive and pursuit of excellence is inspiring.

“The best ones are like that – Tiger Woods, all these guys. They push themselves to limits,” he said.

“He’s constantly searching for that – very professional, very ambitious, wants to make impact every day.