Before he can replace a legend, David Moyes still has to clean out his old desk.

Moyes finished the on-pitch commitments of an 11-year reign as manager of Everton on Sunday with a 2-1 loss at Chelsea. On Monday, he began the tricky business of succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson as manager of Manchester United—even while finishing his duties with Everton.

According to several media outlets, Moyes began meeting Monday with staff and players at United ahead of his official July 1 appointment. BBC Sport reports:

So, while Moyes is now working for Manchester United, he also remains an Everton employee. No man can serve two masters, as the old saying goes, but then again, Sir Alex Ferguson usually gets what he wants.

Read More »11

The 2012-13 season is over for Arsenal, and now comes the time to take stock.

Was it a successful season for the Gunners? Was it a failure? Somewhere in between?

Today I'm recapping Arsenal's season and handing out end-of-season awards to players, staff, moments and whatever else strikes my fancy. Keep reading to find out how I rated the season.

Read More »6

A group of Manchester United fans from Australia believe they can deploy crowd sourcing to finance the return of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

The 'Bring Ronaldo Home' campaign went live last week. The business model, familiar to those who know Kickstarter, has fans encouraged to donate £10 toward the eventual purchase of Ronaldo's replica United shirt next season, should United sign him.

That £10 commitment becomes £55 if the deal goes through, buying you the shirt (£50 if it's a child size). In theory, that money is delivered to United, who will use the money, minus the shirt printing costs and anything else owing (image rights etc.), toward paying his transfer fee.

How much might Ronaldo cost United? Some reports have a figure around the £55 million mark (Bloomberg). Others cite the speculated €1 billion buy-out clause in his contract, which still has two years left to run (ESPN FC).

Read More »31

The final weekend of the Premier League season followed a familiar pattern for fans of Tottenham Hotspur. Gareth Bale scored and Spurs won—but narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification.

Now comes uncharted territory. Will Bale, the budding 23-year-old superstar, stay with the club this summer or seek a new challenge?

That story leads this Monday edition of the B/R Summer Transfer Window Gossip Roundup. Inside, we also have updates on Andre Schurrle, Carlos Tevez, Gonzalo Higuain and Dani Alves.

Keep reading for all the details.

Read More »42

Heading into the summer transfer window, tabloids and papers will often link nondescript players senselessly to random clubs.

Here, we offer you a rough guide on what sort of players will be market hits over the coming months, using tactical trends from the 2012-13 season to help.

Positions change, duties change. Here's what your manager is looking for.

The Midfield Game-breaker

Read More »20

It sounds like a hypothetical question, but thanks to stats, we now know the answer.

What if all the shots that hit the woodwork in the 2012-13 English Premier League season had counted as goals? It turns out Opta ran the numbers (h/t 101 Great Goals), and the EPL table would look quite a bit different this morning after the final matches of the season.

Most noticeably, Tottenham Hotspur would have finished third with 76 points, 83 goals scored and a goal differential of plus-31. Compare that to Spurs' fifth-place finish in the real table, with 66 goals scored and a goal differential of plus-20. That's a difference of 17 goals scored and two very valuable places.

With a third-place finish, Spurs would have qualified directly for next season's Champions League group stage. Instead of a summer full of Gareth Bale exit rumors, Tottenham fans would probably read about several high-priced stars being linked with their club.

Read More »23

On Sunday, B/R picked an English Premier League Team of the Season following the culmination of the 2012-13 campaign.

In the same 4-2-3-1 formation, we've picked out a "rising stars XI"—a set of 11 players who've improved drastically over the course of the season and look primed to hit 2013-14 in great form.

The label "rising star" is difficult to quantify, so we've laid on a few restrictions: Every player is 23 or under, and each of them have seen their reputations explode over the course of one single year in the game.

See if you agree with our selections, and comment below if you've any to add!

Read More »46

It's the first day after campaign's end, so prepare for "silly season" to commence.

Transfers will be suggested left, right and centre; no club in England, with the possible exception of Chelsea, are looking at the prospect of fending off as many rumours as Manchester United.

David Moyes officially joins the Red Devils on July 1, but planning for the 2013-14 season will begin with immediate effect. First on the agenda, Sky Sports (h/t The Mirror) hint, is the transfer of Marouane Fellaini:

Here marks the difference between two great English clubs: One counting transfer targets and cutting loose the players they don't want or need, the other facing a fight to hold onto their best players after a promising season to build on.

Read More »9