Forget VAR drama. Forget the title race. Right now, English football's biggest enemy is called Goretti.
The first named storm of 2026 has been ripping through the country since Thursday, and the fixture list is getting hammered. Lower league grounds are waterlogged. Pitches are frozen solid. Supporters are being told to stay home. And as the FA Cup third round weekend approaches, nobody quite knows what's actually going to happen.
The damage so far
It started with a few postponements in the Championship and lower divisions, but things escalated quickly. By Friday morning, the Met Office had upgraded warnings across large parts of England. An amber alert — that's "potential danger to life" territory — was slapped on the Midlands, with predictions of up to 30cm of snow.
Hurricane-force winds battered Cornwall overnight. Over 25,000 homes lost power in the southwest alone. Nearly 65,000 properties across the UK went dark at various points. Schools shut across the Midlands and Wales. Trains cancelled. Roads closed. The works.
And then there's football.
Salford City's FA Cup tie against Swindon Town? Gone. Multiple EFL fixtures? Under inspection or already called off. The Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, set to host Nottingham Forest on Friday night, was described as offering "little protection from the elements."
The FA Cup chaos
Four third-round ties were scheduled for Friday evening: Wrexham vs Forest, Preston vs Wigan, Port Vale vs Fleetwood, and MK Dons vs Oxford. All of them fell within the storm's danger zone at some point.
Saturday's fixtures look safer for now, but don't be surprised if things change. The aftershocks of Goretti — frozen ground, waterlogged surfaces, travel chaos — will linger through the weekend.
At least some clubs are fighting back. Luton Town borrowed a heated pitch cover from the EFL to protect their surface ahead of the local derby against Stevenage. Over at Macclesfield, the club put out an actual appeal asking local residents to come help clear snow from the stadium. Community spirit and all that.
Even the big boys felt the heat
Well, the cold. Arsenal's massive Premier League clash with Liverpool on Thursday was under genuine threat as the storm made landfall. In the end, the capital mostly dodged the worst of it — but for a few hours, even the Emirates was sweating.
Met Office forecaster Neil Armstrong called Goretti a "multi-hazard event" and warned it could rival Storm Ciarán and even the Great Storm of 1987 in terms of intensity. Meteorologist Alex Burkill said the storm would bring "wet, windy and wintry weather" — which, frankly, is putting it mildly.
What happens now?
Goretti should calm down through Friday evening, but the chaos won't end overnight. Rescheduling will be a nightmare. Lower league clubs — already stretched thin — face the financial hit of lost gate receipts. Fans who've already booked travel are stuck refreshing Twitter for updates.
Check your club's official channels before you head anywhere this weekend. And maybe keep the heating on.
English football in January. Never dull, is it?
