Lionesses parade through London crowds after Euros victory
Jubilant supporters cheered and waved England flags as the team drove past on their way to a ceremony in front of Buckingham Palace.
Captain Leah Williamson declared their story was 'not done yet'.
Producer: Ed Gove
Editor: Einab Leshetz
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The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Bargain buy Two Tribes strikes again in Stewards' Cup at Goodwood
A £30,000 yearling that turned out to be a Classic winner hooked Phil Cunningham into the racing game 20 years ago, and a similarly shrewd purchase gave the owner one of his best days at the track on the final day of Glorious Goodwood. Two Tribes, one of three runners in Cunningham's colours in the Stewards' Cup, picked up the £75,000 first prize in a valuable handicap at Ascot last weekend and added the £125,000 pot for this feature race with an emphatic two-and-a-quarter length defeat of Strike Red. His two stable companions at the Richard Spencer yard crossed the line in fourth and fifth. 'He was a four-grand foal,' Cunningham said. 'That makes it even sweeter.' And better yet for Cunningham, Two Tribes is by the stallion Rajasinghe, who won the 2017 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot for the owner in a course-record time. Cunningham was so frustrated at breeders' lack of interest in Rajasinghe in the early years of his stud career that he announced this year that he would offer his services for free. 'It's massive,' he said. 'We believed in the horse but unfortunately not many others have, so it's great to see him start getting some results. He's still a track-record holder at Royal Ascot, and at three grand [per cover] I couldn't give him away, so in the end, I did give him away. He did 58 covers after we did the free deal and at least I know he's going to have some runners on the track in a couple of years' time. If we hadn't made that decision, he'd have been sub-10.' It was Cockney Rebel, the winner of the 2,000 Guineas in England and Ireland in 2007 and the first horse that Cunningham owned outright, that gave a huge kickstart to his career on the turf nearly two decades ago. The colt is remembered in the name of his Rebel Racing and 'it has just got bigger and bigger' ever since. 'It's my passion and fortunately it's not my job,' Cunningham, the founder and chief executive of an insurance business, added. 'That makes it a bit easier to speculate. We changed the policy [two years ago], this is the second year where we've tried to buy a better quality of horse, spent more money. I wanted to come to days like today, you do get spoiled when you get a taste for it. 'We'll be reinvesting again at the yearling sales this year. We've already got six homebreds to come in as two-year-olds.' Waardah could be a horse to look out for in the last three months of the season after Owen Burrows's lightly raced three-year-old stepped up to a mile-and-three-quarters in ultimately decisive style in the Group Two Lillie Langtry Stakes. Waardah has an entry in the Group One Yorkshire Oaks later this month but the Fillies & Mares event at Ascot on Champions Day in October is a likelier assignment. Chester: 2.10 Princess Rascal (nap) 2.45 Laazm 3.20 Lucky Hero 3.52 Kassaya (nb) 4.22 Abduction 4.52 Yanifer 5.22 Risen Again. Yarmouth: 2.32 Moon Target 3.07 B Associates 3.42 Argentum 4.12 Arundel 4.42 Last Outlaw 5.12 Ventura Dream. 'I thought she was going to get outstayed, but in the last half furlong she was probably going away again,' Burrows said. 'She will have no trouble going back to a mile-and-a-half either, so she is an exciting filly. 'She is in the Yorkshire Oaks, though I think it's important that she gets a little bit of juice in the ground. We will see how she comes out of this, but I think Ascot at the end of the year for the [Group One] Fillies & Mares would be right up her street.'
Times
29 minutes ago
- Times
Who's most to blame for Newcastle's issues? The recruiter who didn't recruit
There is one morsel of good news for Newcastle United's incoming sporting director. Whoever it may be, he can't be as bad as the last bloke. Ross Wilson is the favourite for the role, ahead of Jason Ayto, formerly of Arsenal. Wilson has been the chief football officer at Nottingham Forest, so at least we know he's not scared of hard work. And he will need that restlessness. Newcastle's summer has been marked largely by frustration and tumbleweed. Not since cartoon skunk Pepé Le Pew has anyone in black and white had such trouble finding a match. If Newcastle identify a target, he goes elsewhere. Meanwhile, star turn Alexander Isak has fled to northern Spain to avoid the pre-season tour and agitate for a move to Liverpool, whose first bid of £110 million was rejected. Liverpool are briefing that they won't come back, but that hardly matters. Newcastle's preparations are already in ruins. Isak doesn't want to be there and the fans know this and are increasingly against him. It's a mess. What did former sporting director Paul Mitchell do in his year at the club? What did he bestow? What plans, what blueprints? Mitchell cannot be blamed for some recent disappointments, but he was a recruiter who didn't recruit and, by the looks of it, didn't leave much behind that was concrete as his legacy. Plenty of deals are set up in advance. We all knew that Trent Alexander-Arnold was on his way to Real Madrid many months out. Chelsea had Christian Pulisic agreed six months before he came, too. And José Mourinho would never take credit for the arrival of Petr Cech or Arjen Robben, saying those deals were in place before he was. Yet, having supposedly kept their powder dry for the great leap forward, what did Newcastle have arranged that hasn't fallen apart? Not Marc Guéhi — last summer's missed target — not João Pedro. They couldn't even keep goalkeeper James Trafford from joining Manchester City, the club that jettisoned him two years ago. Hopes of beating last season's 15th-placed team, Manchester United, to Benjamin Sesko sit in the balance. And before Liverpool came in for Isak they had already secured Hugo Ekitike, who Newcastle had fondly imagined would be his partner, or his replacement if the unthinkable happened. To see both in red would be little short of disastrous. And if all Mitchell had done was nothing — well, it wouldn't be impressive, but it wouldn't be actively harmful. Yet one of the few calls he did make is believed to have alienated Isak and may be the root of his present dissatisfaction. Having been promised an improved contract by the previous executive regime of Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Isak was then informed that would not be happening. The logic was straightforward: Isak was a high earner with four years left on his deal and Newcastle are mindful of Profitability and Sustainability Rules. Yet the ramifications can now be seen. Isak clearly knows another club can make him happy. One whose recruitment agents are efficiency's gold standard. That's the problem with football's new executive model. Recruiters, sporting directors, call them what you will, appear to be no more reliable than the people they have replaced: the managers. Manchester United were said to have fallen behind because they were entirely reliant on the wit of Sir Alex Ferguson. Last season, Sir Jim Ratcliffe bemoaned the fact the club were still behind on data analytics and could only rely on the eyes of Jason Wilcox, the sporting director. Yet if Newcastle had a coach as ferociously proactive as Ferguson, would they have struggled to get deals done? No criticism of Eddie Howe is intended. He works in a modern club, which Ferguson's United were not. Yet it's not just about chains of command, philosophies and strategies. The best people, that is what Liverpool have. All clubs employ executives to direct football, or sport, or recruitment, whichever title is the fashion. Chelsea's probably have their own wing at the training ground. Yet some clubs buy consistently well, others do not. Newcastle recruited a man to recruit the men, but he failed. The ramifications are significant. Neither Wilson nor Ayto can be active in this transfer window. Another one is passing Newcastle by. Has Howe got too much power, it is asked? After all, Mitchell's time there may not have recovered from an early schism with Howe and with a void at the top sporting direction increasingly lands at the manager's door. Yet what option is there, in Newcastle's state? They had a man to do that job. Not only didn't he do it but some of the decisions appear to have benefited a rival. That's what you call a good recruitment strategy. Liverpool have even got the opposition working for them. And not so much as a thank you. We used to be such a polite nation too. Manners maketh man and all that. Yet no so much as a tip of the hat in the direction of the Netherlands for Sarina Wiegman. We've heard a lot about patriotism and 'proper' England since the European Championship was retained, but very little acknowledgement of the method behind it all. For that would mean conceding it really isn't all our work. It can't be, with a foreign coach. England's women were superb in this tournament. Resilient, brave, determined. The moment Spain did not get the game won in extra time, it was England all the way. Yet much of the credit for that strength of attitude goes to Wiegman and her largely Dutch backroom team, and the credit for them goes to the Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond (KNVB), the Royal Dutch Football Association. So this was an Anglo-Dutch victory, an Anglo-Dutch operation, like Unilever, Shell or The Legendary Pink Dots. Close, but England's women had never got over the line at a major international tournament until Wiegman arrived. And she didn't fluke it this time, as was churlishly implied until the moment of ultimate victory. Yes, England can play better. Yet there are very solid reasons why England defeated Spain, many of them down to the work of the central midfield, which was no accident. Wiegman has reached five straight tournament finals, winning three. That's no fluke, either. The system that produced this remarkable head coach deserves its due. Now there is concern because the proportion of English players in the WSL has halved to just 30 per cent. Baroness Campbell, instrumental in Wiegman's appointment, is worried. Ironic that champions of a national team with a foreign coach suddenly think nationality is important. We want it all ways. In victory, we wish to celebrate and promote this as the best of us, which is what successful international sport is supposed to represent. Yet the FA, and its chief executive Mark Bullingham, are too frightened of failure to take a chance on just our best. It wishes for England to comprise that, plus the best of yours too, if we're short. And it will blow the competition out of the water with its financial might to facilitate this. Just don't expect the tiniest acknowledgment if it pays off. That's why it was so amusing when Bullingham said Wiegman was 'not for sale at any price' in the build-up to the final. For a start, she is. That's why she left her position as Netherlands head coach to manage England: because she is very much the gun for hire. But that's her call. The real reason she's not for sale is because there is not another nation in Europe — and only one, the United States, across the rest of the world — that would pay what she receives for coaching England. When Wiegman won the European Championship with the Netherlands in 2017 she was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau and was awarded a statue in the garden of the KNVB; which is all well and good, but the FA gave her £400,000 a year and that rather ended discussions. Not to be outdone on the titles, there is now talk of making Wiegman a dame here too. It's another form of ownership. Look, she's ours, really. She's one of us. So we're Manchester City. And the majority don't care because all that matters is winning. Yet how a nation wins is important, too, particularly if that victory is going to be seized upon with great nationalistic fervour. Chloe Kelly's declaration that, 'I'm so proud to be English' was particularly well received. 'Uncomplicated patriotism,' one headline called it. But it is complicated, isn't it, if the manager is Dutch and the English didn't land a trophy until she arrived? The team have every right to wrap themselves in the flag because what they have achieved is exceptional; but the FA should at least have the decency to offer some small thank you to their counterparts in Zeist. Without them, we're nothing. When Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive, spoke to the media before the start of the fifth Test with India, he attempted to explain the thinking behind Test series being crushed into ever-shorter periods of time. He said the idea of keeping August free for the Hundred was here to stay and that part of the reasoning for making June and July the Test season was to avoid a clash with big football tournaments. When the Ashes are contested here in 2027, the schedule will replicate that for India this summer. The one that has culminated in a ruinous round of injuries. Yet that plan is already out of date. Now that tournaments involving England's women command almost as much attention as the men, there will not be a summer that cricket does not have to share with international football. Take the next four years: 2026, men's World Cup, 2027 women's World Cup, 2028 men's European Championships, 2029 women's European Championships. And that is before factoring in the 2029 Club World Cup, which may feature an expanded roster of Premier League clubs, including some of the bigger draws such as Liverpool or Arsenal. Test cricket has always competed with football in some way, and endures. Ben Stokes's famous match-winning innings at Headingley in 2019 took place across August 24 and 25, the same weekend as a full Premier League programme including Liverpool versus Arsenal and, on the day of the heroics, Tottenham Hotspur versus Newcastle United. Anyone much remember those matches? Nobody is forgetting Stokes's 135 not out and his partnership with Jack Leach, though. The Open, Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix, cricket is always challenged by our sporting summer. On Sunday, July 19, 2009, England were trying to win a Lord's Test against Australia for the first time since 1934. It was the day before Freddie Flintoff's iconic, kneeling, open-armed celebration. Yet on day four, many in the media centre were gathered around a television in a back suite because at Turnberry, the 59-year-old Tom Watson was within a hair's breadth of winning the Open. England's dramatic victory in the 2019 Cricket World Cup took place at the same time as arguably the greatest Wimbledon's men's singles final in history, Novak Djokovic defeating Roger Federer 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12. So a little faith is needed, surely. For cricket to rearrange its calendar shows an absence of confidence in a sport that, at its best, still offers rewards like no other. How can we not believe in that? It was 46 degrees when Manchester United reached Chicago last week, with extreme weather warnings across the Midwest. Still, there was money to be made: £7.5million in United's case, the most of any Premier League team engaged in the Summer Series in the United States. So, a little bit more than Pachuca from Mexico got out of the Club World Cup, not quite as much as Los Angeles FC. No glory in the Summer Series, either. Chelsea can bask in the glow of being world champions for four years, with all the added commercial value this affords. Who won the Summer Series? Who cares? There are even suggestions that, far from being a money-spinner, it is failing commercially. The inaugural version two years ago lost £5.4 million — and that was before Fifa came in and delivered a genuine football competition for the locals, not a succession of glorified friendlies. We are yet to see the toll, if any, of the Club World Cup on Chelsea and Manchester City as the domestic season unfolds, but there is a risk-reward from taking part in a tournament with such obvious benefits. The Summer Series, by contrast, seems one big drain. Sunderland have already spent more than £100million on transfers. Coming into the Premier League via the play-offs it is no doubt necessary, while offering no guarantees. Ipswich Town were similarly ambitious last season and look where it got them. One prospective signing is interesting, though. Marc Guiu has started only seven games for Chelsea. On the face of it, his loan move to Sunderland would not make waves. The reason Chelsea are not prepared to make the deal permanent, however, is that inside the club Guiu is believed to have Cole Palmer potential. He's 19, four years Palmer's junior and with only slightly more first-team experience than Palmer had at the same stage of his career with Manchester City. So watch this space. Sunderland may be getting a special one, even if only for the season. The reason fans felt such love for Joey Jones was a shared devotion. Late in his career, at Huddersfield Town, snow had wiped out a weekend's fixture list. Mick Buxton, the manager, had an idea. He got the club to secure tickets at matches for all those players who had shown ambition to go into management. Watch the game, he said, and then write up a scout's report. It'll be good practice for you to get pointers from a manager's perspective. He assigned each player a match based on where he lived. Joey, a resident of north Wales but a Liverpool fanatic, was told there would be a ticket for him at Everton. 'I'm not going there,' he said. Buxton was bemused. 'I've never set foot inside Goodison Park unless I was playing,' Jones insisted. 'I'm not going to start now.' Despite Buxton's protests, he wouldn't budge. 'No way, not Everton. Anywhere but Everton.' Joey died last month. There is to be a statue of him at the home of his other great love, Wrexham. And if anyone goes near it with a blue scarf, he'll come back and haunt them. Numbers at the Women's European Championship told a story. Most goals, most assists and most chances created went to players from Spain, as did the first five berths for successful passes. Leading on most dribbles and most touches in the opposition box was Klara Buhl, of Germany. So how did England win? Most tackles, Keira Walsh. Most interceptions, Alex Greenwood. Most recoveries, Leah Williamson. Proof that even at the highest level, the dirty work brings reward. Standing besides the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, on the podium in Basel was the general secretary Theodore Theodoridis, a native of Athens and formerly a board member of the Hellenic Football Federation. Uncanny, isn't it, the way that Olympiacos and Nottingham Forest, the clubs owned by Evangelos Marinakis, manage to nervelessly tiptoe their way through Uefa's minefield of multiclub ownership when Crystal Palace cannot.
Telegraph
29 minutes ago
- Telegraph
England are a soft touch in the field without Ben Stokes
When England play without Ben Stokes, they lose an experienced batsman, a key bowler, a superb fielder and their most imaginative tactical mind. But just as damaging is the loss of their aura and force of personality. Cricket is a non-contact sport (someone tell Akash Deep), but that does not make physicality and presence irrelevant. Without Stokes, England look a soft touch. India, rightly, have behaved all week at The Oval as though they knew this. They are ending a niggly series with a calculated aggression in everything they are doing. That started by picking a fight with the groundsman (Lee Fortis is nobody's idea of a soft touch, by the way). It sent a message that they would not be taking a backward step. They have got stuck into England – and fair enough. We will never know, but it is worth wondering if a few pieces of Indian behaviour would have taken place if Stokes was in the team. Would Deep have made physical contact with Ben Duckett? Or would Prasidh Krishna have had a pop at Joe Root, a pre-conceived plan that brought an uncharacteristic reaction? Would Yashasvi Jaiswal have taken such a liberty over his shameless time-wasting before lunch on day three if it was Stokes, not Ollie Pope, captaining England from mid-off? Maybe, but probably not. It's all getting heated in the middle between Joe Root and Prasidh Krishna 👀 — Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 1, 2025 This is not to denigrate Pope, who is just a very different character and cricketer to Stokes. The first and most glaring problem with his captaincy is that he cannot turn to Stokes, England's premier all-rounder. That throws into disarray the side's balance before a ball is even bowled, because in this case it meant going in without a frontline spinner. As well as Stokes, Pope cannot call upon Jofra Archer or Brydon Carse, who have been chewed up and spat out by some flat surfaces. This was made even worse by the loss of Chris Woakes, their most senior seamer, leaving them with a three-man attack. The hallmark of England's third morning was a general passivity as Deep, the nightwatchman, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, shared a stand of 107. If you surveyed the field with no knowledge of who was captain, it would not have been immediately obvious. Pope actually spent some time off the field, picking the brains of coach Brendon McCullum (with Stokes in the background). Pope had lacked Stokes's tactical bravado. The only over bowled by spin in the morning session was the first, with Jacob Bethell enabling a change of ends for the quicks. Stokes would surely have backed Bethell and Root to draw some risky shots from India's batsmen in the hope of buying a wicket. Pope kept going back to his flagging quicks. It was reminiscent of a lax England performance against Sri Lanka at this ground last September, although at least that series had already been won. England took a risk in selection, handing a debut to the raw and unproven Josh Hull, then played with a tactical aimlessness. When Stokes choses a plan, it is never half-hearted, and the whole team buys in. On the fourth evening at Lord's, Archer complained to Stokes that he did not like his field. Stokes disagreed, and Archer was made to get in line. At The Oval, Pope gave Jamie Overton an inventive field, with a leg-slip, and two short midwickets. It drew a chance, with Jaiswal narrowly missed by the diving Ben Duckett at leg-slip. In Overton's next over, he bowled a wide half-tracker – ie the worst possible ball for this field – which Ravindra Jadeja cut easily for four. Overton complained that he did not have enough protection, and Pope submitted, giving up on the plan immediately, even though it had created a chance. Dropped catches were a big problem for England in the third innings. Four fielders shelled six in all, with Harry Brook and Liam Dawson's on the second evening, of Jaiswal, being the most costly. England drop catches under Stokes too, of course, including two expensive ones at Old Trafford last week. But his focus and intensity mean England have rarely been as profligate under Stokes as they have here. England's fielding was always committed, but endured lapses in concentration. Without Stokes, England simply lack some menace. They have yappy dogs, like Brook and Duckett, but their bark is worse than their bite. In Jamie Smith, they have a wicketkeeper who could end up being an England great, but is a thoroughly atypical gloveman in his quiet manner. Forget Matt Prior or Jonny Bairstow, Smith makes Ben Foakes or Jos Buttler look demonstrative. He clinically and coldly gets on with his job, not saying boo to a goose. That is fine, especially as he is doing that job well, but adds to England's unassertive feel. Earlier this week, Michael Vaughan wrote in Telegraph Sport that Stokes was as important as any cricketer to their team that he could remember. The Oval Test has underlined his point perfectly. Six of the worst: England's costly drops Atkinson to Jaiswal on 20. Fielder: Brook Jaiswal flashed hard, edging high to Brook's left at second slip. It flew – the ball ran away to the boundary – and was a little awkward, but should have been taken by one of England's best catchers. Difficulty rating: 6/10 Tongue to Jaiswal on 40. Fielder: Dawson A sitter. Sub Dawson was grazing at fine leg and Tongue drew the false shot from the cavalier opener amid an excellent spell. The ball went straight to Dawson, but inexplicably through his hands. Dawson blamed losing sight of the ball. Difficulty rating: 1/10 Big chance for England as Dawson drops Jaiswal 🏴 — Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 1, 2025 Overton to Sudharsan on 7. Fielder: Crawley Like Brook's, this flew very fast to Crawley's left at third slip as the light faded on day two. He could not cling on, meaning every member of England's three-man attack had seen a catch dropped. Difficulty rating: 5/10 Tongue to Deep on 21. Fielder: Crawley The ball after Deep survived a very tight umpire's call review, a thick edge flew to the cordon. Diving to his left, Crawley could only palm it clumsily. Difficulty rating: 5/10 Overton to Nair on 12. Fielder: Brook More confusion between second and third slip. Another healthy edge that flew quickly to the cordon, Crawley dived in front of Brook, who shelled low to his right. A tougher chance, but far from impossible. Difficulty rating: 6/10 Overton to Jaiswal on 114. Fielder: Duckett Duckett had been placed exactly for this shot. Jaiswal flicked hard, and the unsighted Duckett dived low to his left, and actually went too far, with the ball not sticking, and running away for a boundary. The last time England dropped six catches in an innings in a home Test was in 2006 against Pakistan, also at The Oval. Difficulty rating: 8/10
