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While Football Daily spent most of New Year’s Day shivering, sweating and staring at hallucinatory rodents while questioning the wisdom of embarking on our first Dry January since 1989, it didn’t escape our blurred vision that Chelsea chose to ring in 2026 by firing Enzo Maresca. While he may have grown up the son of a humble Italian fisherman, the head coach had gotten a little too big for his waders, eventually being tossed into an ocean of opaque criticism he had levelled at unspecified members of the club hierarchy. Like a frail old man bobbing around the Tyrrhenian Sea while trying to reel in a 500lb bluefin tuna with a spool of dental floss, Maresca had picked a battle he was always going to lose – and on Tuesday Chelsea unveiled the Italian’s replacement.

So Chelsea are so confident that Liam Rosenior is the answer that they have given him a contract until 2032. Odds on him still being there in six years’ time? There’s more chance of Accrington Stanley winning the FA Cup (and they got knocked out in the first round). Are football club owners mad or just desperate?” – John Myles.

It’s quite sad to see Thomas Frank under increasing pressure at Spurs (for not solving all the problems that have dogged them for the last 40 years at a club that finished 17th last season, one place above relegation). Still, the one thing that should help him in this challenging period is that there isn’t anyone available with extensive experience of being an interim manager at Spurs. Oh. Meanwhile, Martin O’Neill returning as Celtic manager (now they don’t have to play Hearts again obviously), after spending only 37 days as interim and yet somehow outlasting the subsequent full-time manager, is both utterly predictable and yet simultaneously farcical. The skeleton of Jock Stein must be roaming the Scottish countryside in search of a pair of eyeballs to roll …” – Noble Francis.

As we emerge into the sunlit uplands of 2026, can any of us honestly say that we had a 3-0 Wolves win, Chelsea, Celtic and Manchester United managerial exits, plus the audacious midnight capturing of a sitting South American president by the winner of Fifa’s peace prize on our festive bingo cards? Thought not. Happy new year! We’re off to a flyer!” – Allastair McGillivray.

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Elsewhere in the Premier League: Wolves have finally won their first match of the season, scoring three without reply against sorry West Ham at Molineux. In news to make those of us who remember his Leeds United debut as a 16-year-old feel truly ancient, James Milner celebrated his 40th birthday by helping Brighton to a 2-0 win over Burnley, while Aston Villa got back to winning ways by beating Nottingham Forest 3-1 at Villa Park in today’s early kick-off. Wolves remain 12 points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table but today’s results mean life is looking a lot less bleak for Rob Edwards’ side now than it did first thing this morning.

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