Hibs to host Bolton in McGregor testimonial
Hibs will host Bolton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly on Saturday 19 July that doubles as Darren McGregor's testimonial match.Defender McGregor joined Hibs in August 2015 and was an integral part of the Scottish Cup-winning team the following year.After 188 appearances across his eight-year stint, McGregor retired from playing and was appointed Hibs Under-18s head coach.The 39-year-old will grace the Easter Road pitch with an outing for David Gray's side in the testimonial (14:00 BST kick-off) against Bolton, who finished eighth in English League One last season.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
12 minutes ago
- BBC News
Will Rangers 'properly arm' Martin to challenge Celtic?
How much money will Russell Martin have to spend on new signings this summer?Chief executive Patrick Stewart says a "decent amount" of the £20m investment promised by the club's new owners will be made available for Martin's transfer Grant, chief football writer for The Times in Scotland, told the BBC's Scottish Football podcast: "Rangers have to arm him to be able to deal with Celtic."That's going to be extremely difficult for the club because when you look through the squad there's so much work to do."There's so many questions about players that are already there, the defence almost has to be rebuilt. We don't know if the midfield is going to stick together or whether a couple of assets might be sold. There's question marks about up front."All of this has to be addressed and pretty quickly. So you're immediately applying pressure on Rangers."If Martin stumbles in the first couple of games and they're behind again immediately, it seems like the same old cycle, doesn't it?"The recruitment team has to get this right, they really have to arm him properly."While Martin's appointment has not been universally welcomed by the Rangers support, Grant said: "Critics are always going to be noisier than those who back him."It's an easier default position to just say, 'Oh I don't fancy this guy, he was rubbish at Southampton.'"I think he'll pleasantly surprise a lot of Rangers supporters. They will watch him and listen to him and think, 'Oh right, this guy's got something about him.'"
Scotsman
13 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Scotland team v Iceland predicted - defensive shake-up, Kieran Tierney experiment and first start for striker
Scotland begin preparations for the start of their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign in September with a friendly double-header this week. Steve Clarke's side face Iceland at Hampden Park on Friday night before travelling to Liechenstein on Monday for their final warm-up match ahead of the bid to reach the tournament in the United States, Canada, and Mexico next year. The Scots are looking to bounce back from a sour end to their Nations League campaign back in March when they succumbed to a 3-1 aggregate defeat to Greece in their League A/B play-off with a 3-0 loss in the second leg at Hampden coming as a major disappointment following the 1-0 away victory in the first leg four days earlier. The setback - which ended a run a three successive victories - meant Scotland lost their place in the top tier of the Nations League as they were relegated back to League B after one campaign in League A. Scotland will now look to restore some positivity against two opponents they will be expected to beat. Iceland have tumbled down the Fifa rankings in recent years after the highs of reaching the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 and qualifying for their first World Cup in 2020. Now down at 74th, they finished third in their Nations League B section behind Wales and Turkey, but in front of Montenegro, who they registered their two wins against. Liechtenstein, meanwhile, are ranked 205th in the world, and lost twice to San Marino in their Nations League D campaign, one of only five teams below them in the rankings. Clarke has a decision to make over his team selection and tactics for both matches. He has named seven uncapped players in his squad but is without regulars Craig Gordon, Kenny McLean, Ryan Christie and Lyndon Dykes through injury. A fully fit Kieran Tierney also resurfaces an old dilemma for Clarke over how to incorporate both the returning Celtic left-back and Liverpool's Andy Robertson in the same starting line-up with a possible return to a back three, or an experimental option at his disposal. Here is how we predict Clarke could line up against Iceland at Hampden on Friday... 1 . Angus Gunn - GK The currently unattached 29-year-old goalkeeper following his Norwich City exit will likely be brought back in to start for his 16th cap in place of the injured Craig Gordon. | SNS Group Photo Sales 2 . Max Johnston - RB A home friendly against Iceland feels like the right time to give the 21-year-old Sturm Graz right-back his chance in the Scotland starting XI after a breakthrough season in Austria, which culminated in a second successive league title win and appearances in the Champions League. | SNS Group Photo Sales 3 . John Souttar - RCB After years of injury trouble, the Rangers defender appears to have finally cemented his status as a first-choice centre-back for Scotland. In line to win his 16th cap. | SNS Group Photo Sales 4 . Scott McKenna - LCB A puzzling one. The Las Palmas centre-back who played almost every week in La Liga, and starred in victories over Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, albeit before suffering relegation, has been kept out of the Scotland starting line-up by a Grant Hanley who couldn't get a game for either Norwich or Birmingham last season. Now must surely be the time to give the Souttar-McKenna partnership a chance, which, on paper, should be Scotland's strongest centre-back pairing. | SNS Group Photo Sales
BBC News
22 minutes ago
- BBC News
No goals for a year - can Scotland strikers hit form?
International friendly: Scotland v IcelandVenue: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: Friday, 6 June Kick-off: 19:45 BSTCoverage: Watch live on BBC One Scotland and BBC Sport website & app, online text updates, listen on BBC Radio Scotland It has been a year since a striker scored for Scotland. Lawrence Shankland's goal in a 2-2 draw with Finland before the European Championships was the last time a front man rippled the net for the national a competitive match, you have to go back to Shankland's stoppage-time equaliser against Georgia in qualifying for the Euros in November the most part, it has not mattered. Head coach Steve Clarke has managed to craft a way of playing throughout his tenure, which has brought two major tournaments and, until recently, a rise to Nations League formula has allowed midfield duo Scott McTominay and John McGinn to thrive and grab the majority of the goals, with others chipping in at key with a view to reaching next year's World Cup finals and beyond, does it matter if the strikers are not scoring? What options do Scotland have? Adams 'desperate to score' Of the current group, Che Adams is the player with the most experience. He has played 37 times for Scotland since Clarke gave him his debut in had a profitable first season in Serie A with Torino, scoring 10 goals, and the fact he can use his physical attributes to hold play up and allow the likes of McTominay and McGinn to get up the pitch, means he is trusted with the the former Southampton man has managed just six Scotland goals. Five of them have come against the Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Moldova and Gibraltar, two of them winning goals. The last of them was against the Gibraltarians last June in a Adams has been a key player for Clarke - and that looks set to continue."To go out there and score 10 goals as a striker in Serie A is not easy - certainly at that level of club," Clarke said."He's come in, he's finished, he's been absolutely outstanding in training. Hopefully he can do that over the next two games as well and get a few goals for his country. "I know he's desperate to score, because he feels it's been a long time since he scored for us." Could Conway or Hirst stake claim? Middlesbrough's Tommy Conway and Ipswich Town's George Hirst are two of the other strikers in the squad who will be desperate for an scored five goals in an injury-hit spell in the Premier League and was often an impact player behind new Chelsea signing Liam Delap in the pecking order at relegated and another powerful runner, he is the type of profile Clarke likes. He ranks favourably across the top five leagues in Europe this season for aerial duels won per 90 minutes, according to website manager at Ipswich, Ciaran McKenna, also believes the best is yet to come from the 26-year-old, who he said was a big miss for his side when out this season."That profile of striker - tall, gangly, in their mid-20s - those strikers, they tend to develop a little bit later at times," McKenna said."Often you look at some of the ones who've gone on to do really well - at 24, 25, they're certainly not where they are at 28, 29, 30."I think he's got a good chance to keep developing, he's maturing well and it was a really good moment for him."Conway, at 22, also has the potential to grow. Yet he has already played more than 100 games in the Championship, arguably the most gruelling league in the beginning of the season, he was second choice at Boro after his switch from Bristol following Emmanuel Latte Lath's sale in January, he stepped in and ended the campaign with 13 four players scored more in the division. Of the players to score 13 or more, Conway had the best shot accuracy and was third for shot conversion has yet to score in his four caps, three of which have been as a substitute, but he has already shown in his club career he grabs goals. Might Wilson & Bowie be the future? Clarke has called up 18-year-old James Wilson and 22-year-old Keiron Bowie for the friendlies against Iceland and Liechtenstein as have had good seasons with Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian, respectively, albeit Bowie's campaign was disrupted by a hamstring around 6ft 3ins tall and four years older than Wilson, Bowie has the stature and strong running that makes him a fit for international football - and this Scotland also boasts the best shot conversion rate of the two in the Premiership and took all five of what data company Opta calls 'Big Chances' on offer to hints that Bowie could be a player with the clinical edge Scotland need. The big caveat is he only started five of his 18 league matches for Hibs, and saved his best performances as a substitute, scoring five of his six goals from the Wilson started 18 of his 24 Premiership games and scored five goals. He played alongside Shankland and - in the second half of the campaign - Elton Kabangu as a lot to try to stretch the play for a Hearts team that lacked pace and width, the teenager is still at a very early stage in his career, but he has still earned praise for his maturity."His movement is really top class in and around the box," Wilson's new head coach, Derek McInnes, said."He works in tight spaces and he's proven that he's a good footballer." Having become the youngest Scotland international when he came on against Greece in March, Wilson played for the under-21s against Slovakia last month and is likely viewed as one for the Wales, who earned a move to Swansea City after a breakthrough year at Kilmarnock, is in the same Scottish Premiership forwards Shankland and Kevin Nisbet are at the other end of the scale, having been left out of the squad for these friendlies. Clarke already knows what they can was the most prolific this season, scoring 11 times for Aberdeen in the league as he regained form and fitness on loan from Millwall, while Shankland grabbed even when Shankland was in red-hot form last season and hitting 30 goals, he was not Clarke's first-choice striker, having made just one competitive start for his country.A lack of pace and physicality compared to Adams and Lyndon Dykes, who is currently injured, may have counted against him and Nisbet, as well as the fact they are not playing in as strong a league as Adams. Do the strikers need to score? Of all the striking options Clarke has, there is no standout player above the does it really matter if the strikers are not scoring? Clarke himself is not too fussed, given what he says the central forward is in his team to do."I'm a little bit selfish when it comes to my strikers because I make them play a certain way that they link the team and bring the midfield players into the final third of the pitch," he said."In terms of scoring goals, you can say they don't always get enough goals, but for me, they make a major contribution in other areas that allow people like John McGinn, Scott McTominay to join in from the midfield and get the goals that way. "Hopefully somebody like Lewis Ferguson, if he gets the chance to play, can also add goals because Lewis is another player that can arrive in the box and score goals. I wouldn't be too harsh on my strikers."Others might disagree, but it is hard to argue that Clarke's approach has not worked. McTominay has scored 11 goals since the beginning of 2023 and is in the form of his life. McGinn is closing in on the all-time Scotland record of 30 goals with 20 in 75 long as that continues, Clarke will be could still do with some help, mind you. Especially if Scotland want to not only get to the World Cup but make an impact there too.
