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Dave Thompson / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Manchester United fans protest against the club’s majority owners, the Glazer family. The players were booed off the pitch last Sunday after dropping a 3-0 decision at home to Bournemouth in Premier League play.

State of Manchester United goes beyond ‘favourite soap opera’ status

Jerrad Peters 6 minute read Friday, Oct. 30, 2026

Last Sunday, during Manchester United’s embarrassing 3-0 loss at home to Bournemouth, supporters in the Stretford End of Old Trafford unveiled a giant banner in protest of their club’s decline.

Beneath depictions of three iconic captains — Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Bryan Robson — it presented a single word: “STANDARDS.” It wasn’t lost on anyone, as the Red Devils slumped to their meek defeat, that the banner represented the only “standards” in the stadium that afternoon.

The players were booed off the field, and the rest of the week was spent rehashing the inquiry of what, this time, might be wrong with England’s biggest club — an ongoing conversation the BBC has described as “one of the nation’s favourite soap operas.”

Inevitably, the public looked to the trio of greats whose likenesses looked down on the Bournemouth debacle to help make sense of the performance, of the ever-lowering bar of expectations and of the club’s more deep-rooted problems.

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VINCENT THIAN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Reigning world junior pair Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov make their Skate Canada senior debut on Friday.

Pair preps for weekend test in Kelowna

Laurie Nealin 5 minute read Preview

Pair preps for weekend test in Kelowna

Laurie Nealin 5 minute read Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026

KELOWNA, B.C. — Their first spin around the ice at Skate Canada International on Thursday was a mix of business and pleasure for Winnipeg pair skaters Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov.

Job one for the practice session was to get accustomed to the size and feel of the ice surface at Propsera Place while test-driving the lifts, throws and jumps they’ll perform Friday in their senior ISU Grand Prix competition debut.

“The big thing is the patterns (skating into elements) because these boards are very narrow but very long — it’s NHL size — so when you’re setting up elements you need to make sure you’re using the full length or else you’re going to run into the boards,” Elizarov explained in a post-skate chat with media.

“The second thing is the ice which is sometimes really soft or really hard. This ice is really soft.”

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Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026

Sports

Petr David Josek / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud have embraced their emerging leadership role with a transformed Team Canada.

‘Mom and dad’ Pereira and Michaud lead Team Canada at Kelowna Grand Prix

Laurie Nealin 5 minute read Preview

‘Mom and dad’ Pereira and Michaud lead Team Canada at Kelowna Grand Prix

Laurie Nealin 5 minute read Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026

Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud’s spirits couldn’t be higher as they begin their fourth ISU Grand Prix season this weekend at Skate Canada International as Team Canada’s top medal prospects.

Fresh off a decisive victory at Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany last month, the reigning world pair skating bronze medallists were riding a wave of confidence and excitement — and feeling “a mom and dad energy” — as they contemplated the assignment ahead in Kelowna, B.C.

“To go out and win our first Challenger (event) was a great confidence boost in our back pocket,” said Pereira, who admitted to a case of jitters before taking the ice in Oberstdorf.

“No matter how many years you do this, you still always get the first competition nerves. We’re just glad we were able to remind ourselves how to handle that and put out two great skates.”

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Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026

Soccer

(Joan Monfort / The Associated Press files) At the last El Clásico in May, there was plenty of scuffling on the pitch between Real Madrid and Barcelona. In the lead up to Sunday’s iteration of the head-to-head, league and club presidents and managers alike have escalated the insult slinging.

Gripes, grievances and… Goebbels?

Jerrad Peters 4 minute read Preview

Gripes, grievances and… Goebbels?

Jerrad Peters 4 minute read Friday, Oct. 23, 2026

El Clásico is more than a match. That is, the encounters between Barcelona and Real Madrid, while ostensibly about football, tend to collect all manner of drama, controversy and animus before — and after — the 90 minutes played twice per season in La Liga.

And yet, even by its typical standards, the build-up to Sunday’s showdown at Camp Nou (3 p.m., TSN) has been especially rancorous. From organized labour to name-dropping Joseph Goebbels, there’s not much this Clásico hasn’t touched on, and it’s still some time away.

Rather importantly, it should be noted that, yes, the two sides will actually face one another as scheduled. This was only confirmed Thursday, when it was determined that a workers’ strike would not prevent the game going ahead.

Approximately 60 of Barcelona’s seasonal employees are participating in the action, which began midnight Friday and will extend into Monday. They’re concerned about worsening conditions and task overload caused by understaffing. It’s just the latest organizational issue at a club that seems to lurch from one to the next.

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Friday, Oct. 23, 2026

Soccer

NSL PHOTO While the Calgary Wild and AFC Toronto are the Northern Super League’s red-hot clubs, the Week 26 matchup between the two teams sees the Mighty Maroons in desperation mode to maintain home-field advantage in the post-season.

Around the NSL: Penultimate matchup playoff implications

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Penultimate matchup playoff implications

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Friday, Oct. 16, 2026

And we’re back!

Hopefully the bye week gave everyone a chance to collect their breath as Week 23 only amplified the drama in the standings.

Ottawa drew 0-0 on the road against Montreal, Calgary drew 0-0 on the road against Halifax and Toronto took a 2-1 victory at home over visiting Vancouver.

While there was minimal shuffling in the standings — mainly the Mighty Maroons leapfrogging the Rapid for second overall — here’s a look at the remaining games and their implications with two weeks left in the regular season.

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Friday, Oct. 16, 2026

Opinion

Thibault Camus / THE ASSOCAITED PRESS FILES Former Girondins de Bordeaux defender Paul Baysse (left) has been hired as the club’s assistant coach. Baysse is part of Bordeaux’s rebuild after the team was sold early last month for one euro.

Rock bottom best thing to happen to Les Girondins

Jerrad Peters 4 minute read Preview

Rock bottom best thing to happen to Les Girondins

Jerrad Peters 4 minute read Friday, Oct. 16, 2026

You know things are dire when hitting rock bottom is a relief. You might be at your lowest point, but you still exist. The ground hasn’t swallowed you up, and while you lay prostrate, humiliated, you eventually understand that the only way is up.

Girondins de Bordeaux is at rock bottom — and lucky to be there. It is still, just barely, a football club. But it exists. And given how close it came to oblivion, existence is good enough for now. Not that it doesn’t hurt.

The dizziness of the drop, and pain of the landing, is felt in relation to the height from which you fell. Bordeaux fell from the top of the mountain.

On May 30, 2009, Les Girondins won its 11th match in a row and was crowned Ligue 1 champions for the sixth time. A month earlier, it had lifted the Coupe de la Ligue — a competition in which it drubbed Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes in the semifinal.

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Friday, Oct. 16, 2026

Opinion

JON SUPER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo (left) and Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz fight for the ball the last time the two sides met back in April. The Sky Blues are certain to get a rough welcome by Reds fans as the two clubs meet at Anfield next Sunday for the first time since Man City’s guilty verdict of breaking more than 100 Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018 — a span that saw Manchester take the league title and Carabao Cup over Liverpool.

Premier League would be all too relieved if Blues simply went away for a while

Jerrad Peters 5 minute read Preview

Premier League would be all too relieved if Blues simply went away for a while

Jerrad Peters 5 minute read Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

Manchester City will face Liverpool in the Premier League next weekend.

That is a statement of fact. The match will kick off Sunday, October 11 at 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m., CT, FuboTV) at Anfield, though the 90 minutes that follow will be more a spectacle than a game, if not a circus.

By now the football world — as well as the general news cycle and relevant authorities — has had more than a week to absorb the shock of the sport’s biggest tremor of recent times.

Man City, according to the findings of an independent commission, broke more than 100 of the Premier League’s financial rules between 2009 and 2018. Its breaches, per the ruling, were deliberate, premeditated and at industrial scale.

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Friday, Oct. 2, 2026

Soccer

NSL Photo AFC Toronto forward Lena Silano (far right) robbed Ottawa goalkeeper Mollie Eriksson of the ball last Saturday before a beauty of an undefended finish to open the scoring. The Mighty Maroons would shut out the Rapid 3-0.

Around the NSL: Silano’s spectacular strike; Rapid treading water; Post-season posturing

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Preview

Around the NSL: Silano’s spectacular strike; Rapid treading water; Post-season posturing

Grace Anne Paizen 4 minute read Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026

And just like that, the Northern Super League playoffs are nearly set with only fourth place — and home-field advantage, of course — up for grabs.

AFC Toronto is on a tear, and the Wild continue to terrorize the post-season race. Week 23 was a wild ride — pun intended.

With three weeks of the regular-season schedule remaining, the crystal ball of who has the best chance of taking the Diana B. Matheson Cup has never been cloudier.

And with a pivotal Friday night matchup, here’s an early edition of View from Row Z.

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Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026

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