There are some days in football news that send shockwaves through the sport. When something completely unexpected happens — or multiple events on one day — stun the fans of a club.

For Crystal Palace, Friday was one of those days. Manager Oliver Glasner announced he was leaving, the season after he led the team to their first major trophy in the FA Cup. It came after news broke that the club was close to agreeing a £20million ($26.7m) transfer deal with Manchester City for their captain, Marc Guehi.

There have been terrible tragedies affecting clubs, of course, a recent example being the death of Diogo Jota at Liverpool. Nothing can ever get close to the impact of these events.

Beyond those stories, there are still times when news affecting players, staff and ownership, is completely unpredictable — even for the most tuned-in reporters — and sends shockwaves through a team — for better or worse. Here are just a few, told by our reporters who experienced them…

Manchester United

Few clubs can upstage a day of World Cup games, but Manchester United did their best on November 22, 2022.

Just over a week on from Cristiano Ronaldo’s surprise interview with journalist Piers Morgan, in which he criticised his manager Erik ten Hag, the Old Trafford hierarchy and even the training ground’s jacuzzi, United responded: terminating the contract of one of the highest-profile athletes in the world by mutual consent and with immediate effect.

(Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

That was not all, though. A few hours later, the club’s owners, the Glazer family, announced that they would be “commencing a process to explore strategic alternatives” for the club. In other words, they were putting United up for sale.

Although that process only ended in a minority investment by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the INEOS founder and petrochemicals billionaire, would assume control of day-to-day operations as part of the deal, and a new era in the club’s modern history began.

Mark Critchley

Barcelona: Messi’s tearful farewell

Some still couldn’t believe it, thinking president Joan Laporta would pull off some stroke of genius or plot twist, as Barcelona fans had come to expect, because it couldn’t be true.

But when Leo Messi entered the Auditori 1899 on August 8th, 2021, dressed in a suit, and started crying before the press conference began, any hope vanished. It was true.

A few hours earlier, the news that the Argentine had ended his time at Barcelona had stunned everyone. Some thought it was a strategy by Barça to put pressure on Liga president Javier Tebas and get him to ease up on financial fair play. 

(Photo: Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

But it wasn’t. Messi was leaving.

I remember seeing him cry and feeling completely dissociated. On one side of the room were the 35 trophies he had won in his career, shining painfully in the silver light. As the Argentine spoke, he glanced from time to time at those trophies. 

This was the bitter ending to the greatest story in the history of football; an Argentine boy who arrived at FC Barcelona aged 13 and, after becoming the best in the world, was unable to retire at the club of his life.

Laia Cervello Herrero

Chelsea: When Abramovich announced a sale

Despite the many seismic events at the club over the years, the statement released just before an FA Cup fifth-round tie kicked off at Luton Town on March 2, 2022, stands out.

That was when owner Roman Abramovich announced he was selling the club after 19 years at the helm. Why? It’s hard to sum up briefly, but the news came a week after Russia invaded Ukraine. While Abramovich denied he had links with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, the UK government were about to impose sanctions on him. It effectively left him with little choice.

Abramovich announced the sale in 2021 (Photo: Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

There had already been signs it could happen. Days earlier, Abramovich said he was intending to hand stewardship of the club over to the trustees of Chelsea’s charitable foundation. But confirming he was selling outright was still a massive development.

So you can picture the scene for this reporter as he turned up expecting to report on a cup match, only to have to ignore it completely to write a column about Abramovich instead.

This meant leaving my seat in the cramped press box to head to a tiny press room Luton had at the time. I missed a classic as Chelsea hit back twice when they were behind to win 3-2, albeit the cheers from the crowd gave me a good idea when every goal was scored.

Simon Johnson

Tottenham Hotspur: Levy and a swift end after 24 years

Thursday, 4 September, 2025, was meant to be a quiet day in the world of Tottenham Hotspur. The transfer window had just shut, and the international break had started. After a frantic summer, it was time for everyone to take a breath.

And then, out of the blue, Daniel Levy was removed as Tottenham’s executive chairman, ending his 24 years running the club. There have been plenty of sackings at Spurs over the years, but nothing quite as dramatic, important, or unexpected as this. Levy had been totally synonymous with the club for so long, and then suddenly he was out the door, having his desk cleared. There has barely been a Premier League moment like it.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Bayern Munich: Kane and a cruel twist of fate

Ahead of the 2023 German Super Cup, I was on an entirely separate reporting assignment in Munich when news of Harry Kane’s departure from Tottenham began to break.

And this is football’s wicked sense of humour at its absolute cruellest. As a Spurs fan, I was left to write my tear-soaked, “farewell Harry” piece for The Athletic from Bayern’s training ground, surrounded by over-excited, highly caffeinated German journalists.

Kane has been a huge success at Bayern (Photo: Sebastian Widmann/Getty Images)

And because that was not enough — because football never gets tired of kicking you when you’re down — I also got to watch him make his debut for Bayern, and enormous numbers of Bayern supporters getting Kane’s name and number printed on their new replica shirts.

Seb Stafford-Bloor

Liverpool: Klopp shock

It was at 10.36 am on Friday, January 26, 2024, when the stunning news dropped.

“Jurgen Klopp announces decision to step down as Liverpool manager at end of season,” read the headline on the club website.

Talk about a bolt from the blue. A sense of shock went through the world of football.

Liverpool were top of the Premier League, in the final of the Carabao Cup, the last 16 of the Europa League, and still in the FA Cup. Yet here was the most transformative figure in the club’s history since Bill Shankly calling time on his eight-and-a-half-year reign.

During a 25-minute interview, which had been filmed with in-house media the previous day, Klopp explained he was “running out of energy”.

Suddenly, what had looked like being a routine Friday ahead of a home FA Cup tie against Norwich City turned into one of the most remarkable days I’ve had in 20 years as a journalist on Merseyside.

Klopp with CEO Billy Hogan during the announcement (Photo: Nikki Dyer – LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Even my 12-year-old son Max called during his school lunch break: “Dad, please tell me it’s not true, everyone is saying that Klopp is going.” It wasn’t the answer he was hoping for.

The world’s media descended on the club’s Kirkby training complex for a hastily convened and emotional 3pm press conference.

Klopp had informed the owners of his decision two months earlier, but it had remained a closely guarded secret. Keeping it quiet any longer wasn’t an option as Liverpool needed to embark on a search for his successor, and his staff needed to be able to make plans for the future.

It was gone 11pm when I finally shut the laptop. Dry January went out the window that night.

James Pearce

Columbus Crew: The threat of Texas

Late on a Monday night in October 2017, it appeared an MLS original was going to be pulled from its roots. Then-Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt, angling for a new stadium, threatened to relocate the club to Austin, Texas, in a move that unleashed the passion and power of the Crew’s supporters.

Eventually, Precourt sold the Crew, got his fresh start with an expansion team in Austin and Columbus’ new owners built that new stadium. But for a long period, it made for an ugly stain on MLS to have a founding member with real history dangling in the balance.

Avi Creditor

Brighton and Hove Albion: Clough chaos

Imagine if Pep Guardiola left Manchester City and rocked up at Leyton Orient. Brian Clough’s move to Brighton from Derby County in 1973 was an equivalent shock.

Derby were league champions in 1971-72. Months after leading them the following season to a European Cup semi-final against Juventus, Clough and his assistant Peter Taylor resigned after a long-running feud with chairman Sam Longson.

Clough (centre) as manager of Brighton and Hove Albion FC, with his sons Simon and Nigel (Nigel is nearest Clough) and his assistant Peter Taylor (Photo: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

They took over at Brighton, then a struggling Third Division side with an ambitious chairman in Mike Bamber. It did not go well. Clough’s reign spanned nine months, winning only 12 of his 32 games in charge. Taylor stayed, Clough left for a return to the top flight with Leeds United, where he lasted 44 days.

Andy Naylor

Real Madrid: Driving Guillermo to distraction

For any Real Madrid fans, one of the most difficult moments to accept was Ronaldo’s farewell to the club in the summer of 2018.

It wasn’t exactly an unexpected departure, as Madrid’s all-time top scorer left the door open to a potential exit during an on-pitch interview after lifting his fourth Champions League trophy with Los Blancos in Kyiv.

“It was very nice to be at Real Madrid, I’ll talk about it in the next few days,” Ronaldo told beIN Sports at the time. Even so, many of us (myself included) thought Madrid would change his mind.

That was not the case, and Madrid announced he was leaving for Juventus on July 10 — the same day as my driving test. I was so shaken by the news that I failed. But, just as Madrid did without Ronaldo, I had no choice but to keep trying, and eventually I got my licence.

Then Carlo Ancelotti helped Madrid win two more Champions League titles and helped us understand we had to turn the page.

Guillermo Rai

Brentford: Toney’s betting ban

I was on my way back to London after Brentford’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest in November 2022, when I started overhearing whispers on the coach. Those whispers turned into gasps because a report emerged that striker Ivan Toney had allegedly committed multiple breaches of the Football Association’s betting rules. I will never forget Brentford fans on the coach asking me about the rumours as I frantically messaged contacts to find out the truth. Nobody cared about the disappointing result anymore. Toney released a statement denying the claims.

The striker was officially charged a couple of weeks later, and the wild saga ended with him receiving an eight-month ban from playing football in May 2023 after admitting to 232 breaches. The drama had a huge impact on Toney’s career. It negatively impacted his form ahead of the World Cup, and he missed out on selection for England’s squad while the ban prevented him from leaving Brentford at the end of a season in which he had scored 20 goals in 33 games.

Christian Eriksen joining Brentford might have been a bigger global news story, but fans had speculated for weeks he could be an option, due to the midfielder’s connection with then head coach Thomas Frank. Nothing compares to the shock that day — and long-term consequences of Toney’s actions.

Jay Harris

Inter Miami: Messi madness

David Beckham sent shockwaves through global soccer by moving to MLS in 2007 — then was behind an even more seismic switch as Inter Miami owner 16 years later. Forgive us for combining two moments in one, but Beckham’s choice to swap Real Madrid for the LA Galaxy, and his efforts in bringing Lionel Messi to MLS in more modern times, were both occasions in which the eyes of the world, not just the sport, descended on the U.S. game.

Messi and the now iconic pink jersey (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Beckham’s unveiling press conference was a glittering affair attended by 700 media members, and Messi’s now-iconic pink Miami jersey quickly became the most popular in the world.

Martin Rogers

Newcastle United: Saudi shock

With a respectful nod to Kevin Keegan’s jaw-dropping arrival as both player and manager (the first time) and Alan Shearer’s £15million world record signing in 1996, it is impossible to look beyond Newcastle’s takeover in October 2021. 

After years of torpor and underachievement and a strained relationship between club and fans, owner Mike Ashley was finally gone, unleashing scenes of jubilation outside St James’ Park. With the deal stuck in limbo for months, the moment of truth was a kind of unsurprising shock. 

In Ashley’s place, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s 80 per cent stake theoretically made Newcastle’s ownership the wealthiest in football. Given Saudi’s appalling human rights record, it certainly made them the most controversial.  

On day one, Amanda Staveley, then a minority owner, spoke about the team challenging the elite within five to ten years. That ambition, the geopolitics and the accusations of sportswashing made Newcastle newsworthy on a global stage.  

George Caulkin

Leicester City: Ranieri’s dream ends

Not many managers get sacked after the first leg of a cup tie.

Especially ones who had achieved the greatest feat in their club’s history just nine months before and had been named FIFA’s Coach of the Year the previous month.

But that was Claudio Ranieri’s shock fate as Leicester City manager in February 2017.

The Italian had defied all the odds to lead Leicester to the Premier League title the previous season, and his team’s last-16 tie with Seville was poised at 2-1 to the Spanish side with the second leg to come back at King Power Stadium.

Ranieri stunned the game to win the Premier League (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

However, Leicester’s title defence had not gone well, and they were just one point above the relegation zone.

Those close to chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha may not have been surprised, but the rest of the footballing world was when news broke of his sacking, which was done in a small room at East Midlands airport after the team had landed on their return from Spain. Some journalists who had attended the game were still airborne when the club announced the decision.

As Ranieiri admitted himself after the sack, the dream was over.

Rob Tanner

Nottingham Forest: Boxing Day sacking

Boxing Day 2012… Nottingham Forest had just beaten Leeds United 4-2 on a memorable afternoon at the City Ground. 

With all work filed, I was just dipping my top lip into a post-match pint when my mobile rang. “They have sacked him,” said the voice on the other end of the call. 

Forest were a single point outside of the play-off places. They were ticking along steadily. Manager Sean O’Driscoll was a well-liked figure in the Forest dressing room. 

O’Driscoll at Nottingham Forest in November, 2012 (Photo: Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

But then Forest owner Fawaz Al Hasawi had listened to a recommendation from former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who had suggested Alex McLeish would be a good fit for the role.

It later emerged Al Hasawi had pondered the notion of sacking O’Driscoll before the game, on Christmas Day, only for senior executives at the club to talk him out of it. 

But O’Driscoll’s fate had been sealed, effectively, before a ball had been kicked against Leeds. McLeish, the former Rangers, Birmingham City and Aston Villa manager, was duly appointed. 

He lasted 40 days, before departing amid disagreements with the Forest ownership over transfer strategy during the January window.

Paul Taylor

Leeds United: Cantona crosses the Pennines

“Your mate’s gone!”

It’s November, 1992, I’m in my second year of study at my polytechnic and have just got back to our shared digs at the end of the day. 

Steve, also on the same course, is in the kitchen as I open the door, clearly there is big news. He also seems quite happy, which for a Portsmouth fan is unusual. 

“Eric Cantona has left Leeds,” says Steve, with a glint in his eye. “And you’ll never guess who you’ve sold him to? Manchester United.”

I don’t hear what he says next. I’m too lost in my own world. Eric has been sold? And to them?

(Photo: Malcolm Croft – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

Devastated. 

Cantona (he was no longer ‘Eric’ any more) had made only a cameo contribution to the previous season’s title win, pipping you know who in the process. 

More than half his 15 appearances had come from the bench, including the four-game run that ultimately saw Leeds pip Alex Ferguson’s side as manager Howard Wilkinson reverted to the line-up that had served the club so well in the early months of 1991-92.

Six months on, and he’d moved to the dark side of the Pennines for a paltry £1million. 

Things were never quite the same again, as Cantona proved to be the missing piece in Ferguson’s trophy-winning jigsaw and his subsequent returns in red saw all police leave cancelled in West Yorkshire. A sad end to what had, for a time, been a passionate love affair.

Richard Sutcliffe

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Bull calls it a day

It perhaps should not have come as a shock, given Molineux icon Steve Bull had spent the previous season battling chronic knee problems, yet his seemingly abrupt retirement in July 1999 still came as a bolt from the blue for most of the fans who had by then come to idolise him.

Perhaps it was so shocking because Bull had committed to try again to come back and begun pre-season training, and perhaps it was because he had always seemed so indestructible that, even though by then he was already the club’s record goalscorer, fans had allowed themselves to believe he might go on forever.

So when news filtered through via the back page of the Express & Star that, during a training session in Sweden, Bull had broken down again and told the newspaper’s man on tour that he could take the pain no longer, it plunged a fan base into a sense of disbelief.

Steve Madeley