Jim Goodwin has been appointed as Dundee United manager on a permanent basis on the eve of Sunday’s decisive fixtures in their battle to avoid the drop from the cinch Premiership.
United’s fate is out of their hands – they need to win at Motherwell and hope Kilmarnock beat Ross Count and wipe out the Staggies’ eight-goal advantage – but Goodwin and the Tannadice club have committed to one another regardless with a two-year deal.
Whether United survive or not, the club are planning a major overhaul in the summer, with Goodwin seen as the best man to lead it.
“I’m really pleased to have been able to get things agreed with the club,” the 41-year-old said. “I’m also incredibly grateful to the chairman and the rest of the board for offering me the position in the first place.
“This is a terrific football club with a great history and there are a lot of things to be positive about, albeit we’ve had a difficult season.
“It is now my job to make the necessary changes to ensure the club improves and moves forward in the right manner. Every decision I make during my time at Dundee United will be in the best interests of the club.
“Recruitment is pivotal at any football club. I recognise where the weaknesses have been this season and understand the key areas we need to improve and strengthen in the summer. I think that’s something for the supporters to look forward to.”
Chief executive Luigi Capuano said it was important to secure Goodwin’s position early in order to focus on the challenges ahead.
“As a club, we believed it was important to have him in place as soon as possible to allow the crucial rebuilding process to begin ahead of the 2023/24 season immediately,” he said.
“Since his initial appointment in March, Jim has been an example of professionalism, displaying all of the key attributes we feel are necessary to lead the football club and deliver on-field success in the future.”
Although the odds appear to be against United, midfielder Dylan Levitt claims he has seen “madder things happen in football” than the events it would take for them to avoid the drop.
The Wales midfielder said: “We need to go there and win, that’s the main thing first and foremost for the fans coming, for personal pride, to get a win before the end of the season.
“And then obviously football, you never know what can happen. You never know. But we are just going to go there and hopefully finish on a high.
“I have seen madder things happen in football, I think everyone has.
“Very slim chance but we need to go there and win the game more important than anything, just for yourself, the family and the fans.
“Going out and losing the last game of the season, no-one wants that.”
Guardiola expects repeat of 2022 as Man City and Arsenal face title race finale
Pep Guardiola has warned Manchester City to expect a repeat of the dramatic final day of 2021-22 when the Premier League title race goes to the wire on Sunday.
After beating Tottenham 2-0 in midweek, City know a victory at home to West Ham will secure a fourth straight title – a feat never previously achieved in English top-flight history.
Should City fail to win, Arsenal will leapfrog them and claim their first title since 2003-04 if they beat Everton at the Emirates Stadium.
Two of City's previous five title wins under Guardiola were decided on the final day, as they edged out Liverpool at the death in 2018-19 and 2021-22.
On the latter occasion, they went 2-0 down at home to Aston Villa before three goals in five second-half minutes – two from Ilkay Gundogan and one from Rodri – completed a stunning turnaround.
While many onlookers have already written West Ham off, Guardiola does not think a repeat is out of the question on Sunday.
"I have the feeling it will be like the Aston Villa game again," Guardiola said at Friday's pre-match press conference.
"We would like to be 3-0 up after 10 minutes but it's not going to happen. I've seen enough [West Ham matches].
"I'm ready for it to be a tough, tough game. I want to put in the minds of my players, 'Look at Tottenham, how they fight for every ball, the aggression they had.' I didn't have any doubts about that.
"The 11 players of West Ham will be ready to beat us. Like Aston Villa two seasons ago, they didn't play for anything but I know what happened.
"Ourselves and our people have to be ready from the first minute, to be with us and do it together."
WSL title race heads to the wire as Chelsea and Man City face final countdown
The WSL title race could hardly be any closer heading into the final game of the season. Chelsea and Manchester City are locked together on 52 points apiece, with goal difference the only factor nudging the Blues ahead.
It is finely poised, and both sets of fans are in for a roller-coaster ride on Saturday.
Chelsea put themselves in pole position on Wednesday by winning their final game in hand, beating Tottenham 1-0. The Blues are now two goals ahead on goal difference ahead of facing Manchester United on Saturday. City, meanwhile, take on Aston Villa.
There could be the scenario that the teams finish level on both goal difference and goals scored. The determining metric would then be the number of league wins, followed by head-to-head record against their title rivals. In that scenario, Man City would be crowned Champions, having won away and drawn at home.
The Opta Supercomputer, though, has Chelsea in the driving seat on the final day with a 56.3 per cent chance of retaining their title.
City manager Garth Taylor, however, backed his team to prove the computer wrong.
"Well, I think we have a great chance. We're capable of going and scoring four," he said.
"We know we're capable. Does it mean obviously that you're able to go and do it at the weekend? Of course, because there are many factors that need to go into that. But yeah, I'll leave the data to the other guys.
"I think what we have to do is really concentrate on ourselves and make sure we don't take our eye off the ball. And like I say, start as impressively and as fast as we possibly can and see where that takes us. But you've seen with this team, they can score goals.
"So it's just about constantly realigning them on the focus and what we need to do. Like I say, the more we've done that this season, the better we've been."
How many days have each of these teams led the way this term?
Chelsea lead the standings with an impressive 152. City have only managed 64 days at the top, and have spent much of their time chasing down the Blues.
Hayes' last hurrah
Emma Hayes will bid farewell to Chelsea and the WSL, and she is determined to go out in glorious fashion.
The last few weeks have been challenging for Hayes, with Chelsea losing to Arsenal in the League Cup final, going down to Barcelona in a controversial Champions League semi-final and then suffering a heavy defeat to Liverpool days later. Hayes had declared the title race "over" at that stage.
However, her players had other plans, and put themselves back in contention with an emphatic 8-0 win over relegated Bristol City to turn the goal difference in their favour, and followed that up by beating Spurs. City also handed them hope by losing 2-1 to Arsenal.
This last game will be an iconic goodbye, as the Blues travel to Old Trafford and face last season's challengers for the title, Man United. The fact that this match is at the men's stadium really does emphasise the huge growth the women's game has experienced in the 12 years Hayes has been in charge of Chelsea.
The United Way: Will FA Cup winners decide the title?
When Hayes started managing the Blues, United did not even have a professional women's side. United were promoted to the WSL after just one season following their establishment in 2018, and have not looked back.
Last season, it was the red side of Manchester running Hayes and her Chelsea side to the wire for the title race. This season, United created history by winning their first ever major trophy by beating Spurs 4-0 at Wembley.
United now have the fate of the title partly in their hands, though it would mean possibly gifting the crown to their rivals City.
United have won three of their four WSL games on the final day of the season, including the curtailed 2019-20 season, though that sole loss came in a 4-2 defeat to Chelsea in May 2022.
The Blues will also feel confident having got the better of Man Utd of late, unbeaten in their last eight WSL matches (W7 D1 L0).
Chelsea have scored the most goals in the WSL this season (65), six more than Man City (59), at an average of 3.0 per match, while also having the best xG (55.9) in the division.
United are looking for their first league win against Chelsea since November 2019. They have been outscored 21-7 during this streak.
Chelsea have lost just one of their last 11 away league matches played on a Saturday (W9 D1 L1), winning all of their last four on the road on this day while keeping a clean sheet in all of those victories and scoring 20 goals in the process.
United trio Mary Earps, Maya Le Tissier and Katie Zelem have played every minute of their WSL campaign this season, with City in 2019-20 the last team to have three players play 100 per cent of their total minutes in a WSL campaign (Caroline Weir, Gemma Bonner and Steph Houghton).
Zelem has created 55 chances for her team-mates, the most of any player in the competition, as well as playing 198 passes into the box, also a league-high.
Fran Kirby will pull on a Cheslea shirt for one final time. She has the most direct goal contributions 89 under Hayes in the WSL.
With 33, Kirby has also provided the most WSL assists in Hayes' tenure. She has also created the second-most chances (227), behind Ji So-Yun (228). One final crown would mark the end of an iconic stint at her time with Chelsea.
If Chelsea can get in front, they will be confident of the victory, the team have dropped a league-low three points from winning positions this season.
City always the bridesmaid, never the bride?
City are hoping to end an eight-year wait to lift their second WSL title. In that time City have been runners up on five separate occasions.
Last time out, City suffered a 2-1 defeat against Arsenal at Joie Stadium, handing the momentum back to Chelsea in what has been an enthralling title race. This defeat snapped a 14-match winning streak and was a blow in what has been a record-breaking season.
City are unbeaten on the final day of the season across each of the last four WSL campaigns (W3 D1 – including curtailed 2019-20 season), winning each of the last three in succession.
Meanwhile, no team has had as many shots on target as City (171), who are one ahead of Chelsea's tally of 170.
Lauren Hemp has scored five goals in six prior WSL meetings with Aston Villa, including netting a brace in the reverse fixture earlier this season. She has also recorded seven assists so far in the league this season, the most of any player in the competition.
City will be without leading scorer Khadija Shaw, but they have been imperious at the back.
They have the best defence in the league in terms of goals against, having conceded only 14 times in 21 matches. However, their xGA of 18.8 is actually second-best, ranking behind Arsenal (17.7)
The star of the City defence has been shot-stopper extraordinaire Khiara Keating, in her first full season as City number one. Even ahead of the final game, the 19-year-old has been named the Golden Glove winner with nine clean sheets, beating England's number one Earps (seven).
Keating is the youngest goalkeeper ever to bag the award. Villa will present a stern test, having opened the scoring in each of their last three WSL home games, but they have failed to win any of them (D2 L1); in fact, the Villans have failed to win six of the seven home league games theyve taken a 1-0 lead in this season (W1 D3 L3).
However it plays out, one thing is for sure - Saturday will be filled with drama, tension and goals.
As these two heavyweights go toe to toe, history will be made. Either a fifth consecutive crown for Hayes as she bows out, or for the first time in many years, Chelsea could end a campaign with no silverware.
Another one: ‘Bunny’ Shaw cops 2023/24 Barclays WSL Player of the Season honour
The accolades of Jamaica and Manchester City striker Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw continue to mount, as she was voted the 2023/24 Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL) Player of the Season, on Friday.
This announcement came on the heels of Thursday’s Football Writers’ Association (FWA) awards gala, where Shaw was officially presented with the FWA Women Footballer of the Year trophy, alongside fellow Manchester City star Phil Foden.
To say these individual acclaims are very much deserving would be an understatement given her exploits this season, as she has been a key figure in City’s push for the WSL title.
The 27-year-old, whose season was cut short due to a broken leg, has registered 21 goals in just 18 appearances, while also providing three assists. She’s on course for another prestigious honour of finishing as the league’s top scorer, having incredibly averaged a goal every 66 minutes this season.
And it is just rewards for another phenomenal campaign in which she once again broke new ground in Gareth Taylor’s side.
Shaw is the first player to score three WSL hat-tricks in a calendar year, last year, and between November 2023 and January 2024, the forward again registered three trebles in just four matches.
Finding the net in both WSL Manchester derbies, the Jamaican’s clinical finish at the Etihad Stadium in March also saw her become City’s record goalscorer, as she swept past Georgia Stanway in the process.
Another crucial strike from Shaw came in City’s 1-0 win over Chelsea in February, as they secured the honour of being the first away side to take three points off the reigning champions at Kingsmeadow, in over three years.
In securing the Player of the Season title, the prolific Jamaican fought off the sizeable challenge of City teammate Khiara Keating, who won the Golden Glove, as well as Chelsea duo Lauren James and Niamh Charles. Arsenal’s Lotte Wubben-Moy, Tottenham Hotspurs youngster Grace Clinton, Leicester’s Jutta Rantala, and Brighton’s forward Elisabeth Terland, were also in the mix.
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