ClubsideFC
Issue 87 Sunday, 17 May 2026 Glasgow · Edinburgh · Bilbao
Est. 2023 Independent & reader-funded
The Friday Long Read · Scottish Premiership

The slow, strange unmaking of Celtic's midfield

For two seasons Brendan Rodgers tried to rebuild a department that once defined Scottish football. What he leaves behind is something looser, stranger, and — quietly — a great deal more interesting.

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La Liga · Long Read

Real Madrid's Bellingham experiment, one year on

The English midfielder was supposed to be a tactical riddle. He turned out to be the answer to a question Florentino Pérez hadn't asked yet.

Scottish Premiership

Inside Hearts' quiet revolution at Tynecastle

Three sporting directors, two managers, and a model that nobody else in the league wants to copy — yet. The club is winning anyway.

Transfers

The transfer that almost broke Newcastle's wage structure

How a 19-year-old from Recife became the most-argued-about signing of the summer — and what it tells you about PSR in 2026.

Bundesliga

Can the 50+1 rule survive another decade?

An interview-essay with eight ultras, two presidents, and one very tired league lawyer who wishes everyone would talk about something else.

Grassroots

The death of the Tuesday-night cup tie

Floodlights, frozen pitches, a thermos of tea, and 312 paying customers. We went to four games in eight days to find out what's left of it.

Tactics

What Xabi Alonso took from Klopp — and what he left behind

A close reading of two pressing structures, separated by ten years and roughly four hundred miles of motorway, that look nothing alike on a whiteboard.