Leeds have confirmed the appointment of Javi Gracia, the former Watford and Valencia head coach, as their manager. The 52-year-old Spaniard takes over from Jesse Marsch, who was sacked just over a fortnight ago, and has agreed what the club described as a “flexible contract”. It is understood the initial commitment is to the end of the season.
Leeds are in the Premier League’s relegation zone after defeat at Everton on Saturday and turned to Gracia after failing to land other targets. A quartet of their preferred candidates, Feyenoord’s Arne Slot, West Brom’s Carlos Corberán, the former River Plate coach Marcel Gallardo and Rayo Vallecano’s Andoni Iraola, proved out of reach.
Although Leeds may well try…
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Things aren’t going so well for Hearts at the moment. Just six weeks ago, they handed contract extensions to manager Steven Naismith and his staff, only to wind up chasing the lot of them out of Tynecastle and through the streets of Edinburgh last Sunday in scenes resembling the opening credits of Trainspotting. Because that’s what happens when you choose to go out of McFizzy Cup at the hands of Falkirk and choose to lose both legs of your Bigger Vase qualifier against Viktoria Plzen while also choosing to lose five consecutive Scottish Premiership games against Dundee, Motherwell, Dundee United, Motherwell, Celtic and St Mirren. For now, Hearts are choosing not to choose a new full-time replacement an…
Adrian Wojnarowski’s sources inside front offices might be a little too eager to share with him. Even Shams Charania is playing from behind Woj a majority of the time. On Wednesday, Wojnarowski hit send on a WojSmokeBomb explaining the Minnesota Timberwolves’ intention to decline Taurean Prince’s team option for the 2023-24 season. The Timberwolves apparently didn’t inform Prince of their decision not to pay him $7.4 million before someone opted to text Woj. Woj isn’t the problem here. His job is to beat his competitors to the news, but not the player himself. Prince was low on the Timberwolves’ totem pole, averaging only 9.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game as a bit player in Minnesota’s rotation. It’s a hard-knock league. Malcolm Brogdon was traded by the Celtics las…
Last weekend, 2016: Obama's America, an anti-Obama documentary released in roughly 1,000 theaters nationwide, shocked observers by making more money than fellow new releases Premium Rush and Hit & Run, both of which were shown on twice as many screens. It's already the sixth-highest-grossing political documentary of all time— behind four Michael Moore movies and —and is the highest-grossing explicitly right-wing film ever. (Passing Atlas Shrugged, anti-abortion film October Baby, and that sad Michael Moore satire An American Carol by the wayward Zucker brother.) This took me by surprise along with everyone else, because I had literally never heard of the film until I saw it on the marquee of my local theater. As a devoted moviegoer, as, dammit, a concerned citizen, I f…
Last month, the voting public selected Boats Botes as the 2017 Name of the Year. Congratulations, voting public, on choosing a wildly inferior candidate for the second time in six months! The Name of the Year High Committee held a separate vote, as the committee often does. And while we could only right this one election wrong, we feel we have done so. Kobe Buffalomeat is our 2017 Name of the Year. Buffalomeat is, of course, the 6-foot-7, 285-pound offensive lineman from Lawrence, Kan., whose name blew up in February after he committed to Illinois State University. Darren Rovell made good—and one hopes ironic—use of “BREAKING” on Twitter, reporting that “Illinois State signs the best recruit name in college football recruiting history.” The Washington Post called Buffalo…
Shamus Beaglehole has prevailed. Here's to you, Shamus. Let's recap the Chesterfield footballer's meteoric rise through the Sithole regional and beyond. He breezed past Wubbo Ockels in the first round of the tourney. He stomped Jazzmar Clax in the second. Sweet 16: Diesel Daigle went down hard. All fine and good—seeded at #3, all these wins were to be expected. But the next two matches put Mr. Beaglehole on the map as a kingslayer. The Sithole final pitted him against top-seeded Dr. Loki Skylizard, whom he dispatched by a margin of 300 votes. Next came another #1, Bulltron champ Curvaceous Bass, who also fell to Shamus. After running this gauntlet, the final round against Chrotchtangle upstart Chillie Poon was child's play. If David took out two Goliaths, he…
This week’s Deadcast guest is Spencer Hall, chairman of the fully armed and operational Every Day Should Be Saturday. (Listen here, iTunes here.) This week’s mission? WE BE HATIN’. It’s the 2009 Hater’s Guide To The Top 25. I know we did this in print form last year, and I wanted to do that again. No one likes a podcast in lieu of a written column. But these NFL previews have gotten in the way, so blame the AFC North for still hanging around. NORTH! Anyway, Swindle and I go through every team in the Top 25 (including an odd digression outside the top 25 to… Nevada), picking out reasons to hate each and every team listed. Spencer provides the actual football insight, while I ignorantly blast every team, fan, and state in an immature and totally uneducated manner. It’s w…
Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and the blogosphere to bring you everything you need to know to start your day. • Florida crushes Cincinnati to take the Sugar Bowl. "If the National Championship was the Father, and the Heisman the Son, this is a pretty solid Holy Ghost," Tim Tebow was certainly not heard to remark. [ Miami Herald] • Broncos' coach Josh McDaniels announced he will bench Brandon Marshall for Sunday's playoff gasp against the Chiefs, while questioning his star receiver's toughness and commitment. An offseason trade to the Bears for Johnny Knox now seems all but inevitable. [ CBS Sports] • Kobe drains a three at the…
data-mm-id=”_n050uwjiz”>The Los Angeles Lakers faced off against their crosstown rivals to start the NBA season. Despite it technically being a home game for the Clippers, Lakers fans packed Staples Center and drowned out whatever support there was for newcomer Kawhi Leonard & Co. Despite that, the Lakers came up short and lost, 112-102. Before we get into this, I will state the obvious: it's the first game of the season, the first real minutes LeBron James and Anthony Davis have played together, and they came against the best player in the world right now in Kawhi Leonard. The Lakers were missing their third wheel in Kyle Kuzma, and two key depth pieces in Rajon Rondo and Alex Caruso didn't play. There are definitely some asterisks on this loss. But! Despite all that, th…
data-mm-id=”_5nl05anfb”>Tom Brady Sr. is in the news more often than the vast majority of men who have sons in the NFL. But, then again, his son isn't just any NFL player. When it comes to someone as high-profile as Tom Brady the quarterback, everyone in his circle is subject to the spotlight. Brady Sr. seems to enjoy that spotlight, however. He's never been shy about speaking his mind to the media about the way his son is treated, most notably when he ripped Roger Goodell over DeflateGate. He also fanned the flames of Brady's potential departure from New England earlier this month by saying his future with the Patriots was up to Bill Belichick. Given the fact that his son doesn't seem to particularly relish any attention that doesn't revolve around his play, i…