A new sporting year that has all our hopes placed on the extraordinary, the unscripted and the new stars with their stories not yet written.
Here are 10 big hopes I have for 2025 in sports.
Could only one of them occur? Happy new year!
1. Man City will accept the verdict
The verdict in the 115-charge case brought by the Premier League against City will be known in the first months of this year.
I understand that the hearing has revealed the staggering complexity of some of the financial arrangements between the city and Abu Dhabi's state-controlled companies.
The verdict in the 115-charge case brought by the Premier League against City is expected in early 2025
Whatever the verdict, I hope the City hierarchy accept it
If an independent panel deems this to be a deliberate ploy to circumvent financial sustainability rules (which, of course, it may well not be the case), then recent history tells us that City's owners in Abu Dhabi will once again be trying very hard in the Premier League.
Privately, Abu Dhabi would regard the conviction as a huge shame. They bought City in 2008 to burnish their international reputation, not to be accused of deception.
The adjudication panel has been appointed in the best traditions of the British adversarial legal system, in which state entities are held to account for themselves, like everyone else.
Abu Dhabi joined that British system when it bought a British football club. If the result, or any resulting appeal, goes against them, then let them respect it with class and allow the League, whose financial rules were very clear, to move forward.
2. The drug excuse culture will cease
It was the same old story before Christmas, when Chelsea's Mykhailo Mudryk expressed his shock at failing a doping test.
We heard the same thing from Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek when the two tennis players tested positive in 2024. Swiatek was suspended for a ridiculous month by a sport that did not even reveal the fact.
These wealthy stars have entire entourages to make sure they follow the rules. Their complaints cut no ice and embarrass the integrity of their sports.
Mykhailo Mudryk has denied any wrongdoing after it was confirmed he failed a drug test.
We heard the same thing from men's tennis star Jannik Sinner when he tested positive in 2024.
3. Concession tickets to return
The scandal over Manchester United, Tottenham and West Ham withdrawing concession tickets for children and pensioners, with fears others will follow suit, has sparked a bold reaction from those at the heart of the game.
The Black Bubbles protest at West Ham's match against Liverpool on Sunday revealed the activists' power of invention.
A reminder to these sad executives and club owners who chose this fight that when you laugh in the face of loyal fans, there will be consequences.
A group of West Ham fans campaigned against ticket prices for their recent clash against Liverpool.
4. A victory for Afghan women's cricket
Afghanistan's women's cricket team was beginning to prosper until the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Players like Firoza Amiri and Benafsha Hashimi fled their homes seeking refuge around the world because, as ambitious and successful women, their lives They were at risk under the Islamist militia rule.
From exile, they have asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to recognize and financially support them as a refugee team. The ICC refuses, stating that only the Afghanistan Cricket Board can recognize the women's team, something the Taliban does not allow them to do.
This is an opportunity for the ICC, an opaque and unaccountable organisation, to heed the pleas of those who love cricket to the core. Is it really too much to ask?
The Afghanistan women's cricket team was beginning to prosper until the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
5. United to prosper… in the championship
For my grandson's sake, I hope United can find a way out of the torture that, as a nine-year-old, he is enduring very well.
It will take something monumental to get the club out of this quagmire, remove the wasters, simplify things and start again.
Would relegation really be the worst outcome? After initial ridicule and ignominy, United could spend a summer clearing their heads ahead of a very strong season in the Championship, where the club would be a monumental story, generating enormous confidence to bring back to the Premier League.
There are no relegation clauses in the players' contracts. They just won't accept them. Therefore, there would be financial consequences that would require another large cost reduction from Ineos.
I made the argument to the guy over the weekend. He was not impressed.
Man United's relegation would finally lead to the proper cleaning the club needs
Relegation could cost Rubén Amorim his job, but it may not be the worst result for United
6. Fix the FA Cup third round
In the midst of the FA Cup's existential crisis (there will be no FA Cup third round replays this year as rampant commercialization eats away at the core of the big tournament), it's finally time to artificially manipulate the way its scores fall. cards.
A seeded third round could ensure that clubs from League One and below more often than not draw at home against a Premier League team. And make sure the lower-ranking club keeps all the proceeds and helps with setup costs.
God knows they need the money, and the competition would be awash in color.
It's time to reorganize the FA Cup third round so that lower league clubs get a dream tie with a Premier League team.
7. Referees to be seen and heard
As elite football drowns in the quagmire of VAR, how desperately is live streaming of what is captured on referees' microphones, backed up by body camera footage, needed.
Regulators FIFA and Ifab are currently blocking that, but it would offer the clarity rugby audiences enjoy and remove the ridiculous notion of refereeing bias.
It might even make footballers think twice about how they behave.
8. Saudi transparency on missing woman
Enthusiasts of the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia insist the global attention it will bring will push the country towards transparency about the way it treats its people. His record of 330 executions in 2024 (a sharp increase) is seemingly insignificant.
So let us now hear from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the whereabouts of Dina Ali Lasloom, who has not been seen or heard from since she was intercepted and forcibly returned to Riyadh in 2017, after fleeing a forced marriage and attempting to apply for asylum. in Australia.
Surely the recently legitimized hosts of the world's greatest sporting spectacle owe us a full explanation of the facts.
We need to know from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the whereabouts of Dina Ali Lasloom
9. The head of English rugby will be sacked
In 2024, RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney presided over the union's biggest ever deficit, taking one of the highest salaries for an executive in the history of British sport (£1.1m) and sacking 40 employees, while all the time the bases and club games had problems.
What an imposter. Will someone show this man the door?
10. Sir Lewis will be champion again
Sir Lewis Hamilton has backed Ferrari as he chases a record eighth world title and first since 2020, and it would be history.
Not only his eclipse of Michael Schumacher's seven titles, but a new chapter in the illustrious history of the sport's oldest and most iconic team, which counts Juan Manuel Fangio, Niki Lauda and Schumacher among its greats but has not added to its record of 16 constructors' titles. and 15 drivers' championships since 2008.
“The pinnacle is to win with Ferrari,” team principal Fred Vasseur, who has revitalized the team, said a few weeks ago. Hamilton would feel the same if he could do it.