In a piece I wrote on the Premier League for the Catholic Herald last year, I stuck my neck out about the 2016-17 season, now drawing to its conclusion: "The manager who wins the title is going to be a Catholic,” I wrote, “and probably a devout one."
As it turns out, I was dead right. Antonio Conte, manager of Chelsea (who will pick up the trophy on Sunday when they play Sunderland) is on the record about the strength of his faith, telling newspapers about his prayer life and about meeting the Pope with the Juventus players when he was manager there. (There were not enough chairs and Francis himself went to get some more.)
