Man United's £60m bid for Bryan Mbeumo rejected by Brentford
Brentford have rejected Manchester United's latest offer, worth around £60 million, for their forward Bryan Mbeumo.
After having an initial bid for the Cameroon international, worth up to £55million rejected, United returned with a fresh bid this week.
The west London club have turned down that offer though as they want a similar sum to the £62.5million fee that United paid for Matheus Cunha, who joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this month.
It is also understood that Brentford, who earlier named Keith Andrews as their new head coach, want a large chunk of the fee for Mbuemo paid up front.
United remain interested in the 25-year-old, who scored 20 Premier League goals last season although they maintain that they will not pay over the odds.
Mbeumo has scored 70 goals and provided 51 assists in 242 appearances for Brentford, who lost their manager Thomas Frank to Tottenham Hotspur this summer.
It had been reported that Frank would try to take Mbeumo to Spurs with him, but United appear to be in pole position for Brentford's top scorer from last season.
After finishing 15th in the Premier League table, Amorim vowed to revamp his squad this summer and the club have already signed Cunha, the Brazil forward, from Wolves after triggering his release clause.
It is likely to be a busy summer for the club, who are in the market for a striker, a wingback, a midfielder and a goalkeeper but whether they can fill all gaps in their squad will depend to a certain extent on whether they can offload their unwanted players, such as Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford, Antony and Jadon Sancho.
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Telegraph
23 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Damon Hill interview: I said to Mum ‘I think it's Daddy' and she started screaming
For Damon Hill, next week's British Grand Prix at Silverstone promises to bring back special memories. It is 31 years since the silver-goateed former racer won his home Grand Prix, an achievement even his father, legendary two-time world champion Graham Hill, never managed. But it was what happened after that race that Hill is going to try to recreate next week. '1994 was the first year EJ [Eddie Jordan] got us all up on to his flatbed truck to play rock'n'roll in the paddock,' Hill recalls, smiling. 'He came over with his brother-in-law, or his cousin, Des Large – there was a whole gang of them from Ireland.' A tradition was born that day. Hill, who as a teenager had played in a punk band called Sex Hitler and the Hormones, was on guitar, fellow drivers Johnny Herbert and Perry McCarthy assisted on vocals, Jordan himself was on drums. 'I think [David] Coulthard was on triangle,' Hill says, laughing. 'I'm going to get him up on stage. We're going to try to recapture the enthusiasm of those first few years. Although without EJ there, it's all a bit more daunting!' Hill shakes his head, remembering some of the wilder antics of the irrepressible Irishman, one of F1's great characters and a man who later became his team boss. Sadly, Jordan died in March this year after a battle with prostate cancer. 'Eddie had the energy of a nuclear power station,' Hill wrote in a touching tribute in The Telegraph. 'There will never be another like him.' Hill knows more than most about loss and grief. His entire adult life has been shaped by it. The tragic death of his father on November 29, 1975, in a light aircraft he had been piloting, along with all five of his crew, happened when Damon was just 15 years old. Unsurprisingly, it left a mass of unresolved issues. When Hill won his own world title, 21 years later, in 1996, it was one of the most popular and emotional wins in F1 history. They were the first father-son world champion combination. Murray Walker, who had known Graham well during his career, famously had to stop commentating when Damon clinched the title in Japan because he had a 'lump in his throat' (listen to his commentary below). Damon Hill takes his eighth win of the season, and with it the Drivers' Championship at Suzuka. Murray Walker with commentary. Japan - 1996 #F1 — F1 History (@TodayF1History) February 6, 2024 But for Hill, his 1996 triumph did not give him the closure he thought it might. When he retired a few years later, he still had to come to terms with his grief. Years of depression and therapy followed. 'You can't bring someone back from the dead,' Hill says of what he learnt in those sessions, as he sits back on a sofa in his Farnham home. We are on a video call. 'You can't undo the experience. What you have to do is defuse it. It's like an unexploded bomb. You've got to defuse it, so it doesn't go off at times when you're under stress. Because it will. 'I still get massive anxiety. If something gets slightly too worrying for me, I get this panic attack. My mum had it too. She was on edge her whole life. Because she had been waiting for that call her whole life. All her friends got 'the call', you know? Her friends whose husbands died [in motor racing accidents], they'd all got 'the call'. 'And then Dad retires. She thinks she's in the clear. Her guard is down. And then… 'Oh, here's the call'. So I've lived with that anxiety, that bolt out of the blue. And even if I speak about it now I touch wood.' The man who 'never wanted to be an F1 driver' Hill's story has been told before. His autobiography, Watching the Wheels, published in 2016, was a typically insightful and eloquent attempt to grapple with life's big questions by a man who has become an acclaimed pundit on both television and radio. But it has now been made into a documentary, too, which is why we are speaking today. Hill, a 90-minute film directed by BAFTA-nominated film-maker Alex Holmes, premieres on Sky Documentaries on July 2, the opening day of British Grand Prix weekend. 'I hope F1 fans like it,' Hill says. 'And that people who aren't interested in Formula One get something from it, too. It's a human story, ultimately.' It certainly packs an emotional punch. Right from its opening montage, in which footage of the 1994 world championship denouement in Adelaide (which as all F1 fans know is where Hill was famously denied the title after being punted out of the race by a certain Michael Schumacher) is interspersed with grainy home videos from Hill's childhood, and shots of the plane wreckage. 'My whole life people asked me, 'Do you want to be an F1 driver like your dad?'' Hill says as the opening credits roll. 'The truth is I never wanted to be one. It's almost like I was trying to get back to the start again… the place where it all went off the rails. [Because] if I could get back to the start again, maybe I could put right everything which went wrong.' What drove Hill? Undoubtedly he became an F1 driver because his father was. But would he have become one unless his father died in the way he did? Was he trying to prove himself worthy of his father? To mend himself? Mend his family? These are questions Hill has spent much of his life pondering. He is still not sure. 'Was it like some sort of Greek tragedy?' he asks. 'You know, your fate is set in stone and there's nothing you can do to avoid it. Was that it? I don't know.' He definitely felt a weight of responsibility towards his mother, Bette, and to his sisters Brigitte (18 months older than Damon) and Samantha (four years younger). They had enjoyed a privileged childhood, moving from Hampstead to a large pile in Hertfordshire when Damon was a boy. 'Motor racing was lucrative,' Hill explains in the film. 'Call it danger money. We had a taste of the high life. We were very lucky children.' Family archive footage of Damon and Brigitte playing with their father, swimming, giggling, waterskiing on sunny holidays, attests to that. 'We were all shocked by how quickly the party ended [after he died],' Hill says. 'The world moves on very quickly. Dad was obviously the attraction.' The scenes in which Hill recalls the night his father died are particularly raw. It happened six months after Graham had announced his retirement and the family had 'all breathed a huge sigh of relief', having spent years worrying they might get 'the call'. Damon was watching television with Samantha. 'I can't remember what it was, probably M*A*S*H or something.' The programme was interrupted by a newsflash about a private plane crashing on to Arkley golf course, on the approach to Elstree. Hill knew his father was making his way back to Elstree from a test at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France, along with five passengers who comprised the core of his new Embassy Hill F1 team. He remembers a 'wave of heat coming up through my legs and then into my face'. Panic. Hill made his way to the kitchen to see his mother, who was entertaining neighbours, waiting for her husband to join them. But before he got there, the phone in the hall rang. 'I hid, because I wanted to hear what they were saying, because I was terrified,' he says. It was a reporter. Bette told them to go away. When Hill told her what he had seen on the news, and said, 'I think it's Daddy', 'she got hysterical – she just started screaming and getting very cross, saying, 'I knew it was too good to be true'.' 'Mum went to five funerals in a week' Life had changed for ever. Not only did the family have to deal with the grief of losing their father and husband, the 'life and soul of every party', someone Damon clearly adored, the aftermath was extremely messy. The plane, it turned out, was not registered properly. Graham Hill's instrument rating, proving he was qualified to fly at night and in poor visibility, had not been renewed. He had borrowed money to fund his team. The family were forced to sell everything, including the house. Hill, barely into his teens, was left with a mass of contradictory feelings; anger, sadness, even guilt. 'It was bewildering. I think I was just at that perfect age of only understanding a bit, but not being able to comprehend or process it all. Obviously there were other families involved so it was not just our grief. My mum went to five funerals in a week, one of them being her husband's. And the reason she couldn't get to the other one was because there were two funerals on the same day. 'Think about that. What was that like for my mum? What could she do? What was it like for those families having my mum there? How did they feel about my dad? You know, I have met some of the children of the other passengers occasionally. But, I mean, it's very difficult. What can you say? You do feel like saying 'Do you want an apology?' But why am I the person who should feel that? And is it even appropriate?' Hill's early years in racing, initially on motorbikes, his real passion, and later cars, are again accompanied by some wonderful home video footage. On his 11th birthday, Hill is presented with a motorbike by his dad at Brands Hatch, an occasion he remembers chiefly for being hugely embarrassed. 'I didn't want to be in the limelight, being pushed forward because you're the son of…' But the real star of the documentary is Hill's wife Georgie. Her contributions are so well-judged, so intimate, the film-makers ended up using only the interviews with her and Hill, leaving out contributions from the likes of Sir Jackie Stewart, Adrian Newey and Ross Brawn. Georgie's memories of their courtship, Hill in his racing leathers draped across his bike, are both amusing and poignant. 'On the surface he was joking around, but he was one of the saddest people I've come across in my life,' she recalls. She remembers going on a trip to a race meeting when suddenly they stopped outside a churchyard and Hill broke down in tears. It was the churchyard in Hertfordshire in which his father was buried. 'That was the first time he'd ever mentioned him to me. And that was after six months.' Georgie's recollections of Imola in 1994, when Ayrton Senna, Hill's team-mate at Williams, died in a tragic accident, are similarly insightful. Before the race, Senna walked into her room in the team motorhome to find her reading and stayed for a while. 'He was asking about Ollie [the Hills' eldest child] and talking about how happy he was with his nephews, playing with them in the sea. He's leaving and he stops and says: 'Don't worry about Damon, he's going to be fine. Williams are a great team. They're safe. They'll look after him.' He literally walked out, went to his garage, went straight to his car. And that was that.' F1 fans might be surprised the film makes no mention of Roland Ratzenberger, the Austrian driver who also lost his life during that Imola race weekend. The makers apparently decided F1 fans already know the history, and those who did not, did not need the extra detail. Producer Simon Lazenby, of Sky Sports F1, who first came up with the idea for the film when he and Damon were flying back from a race in Canada in 2018, admits cost was also a factor. The film was made on 'a tight budget, six figures rather than seven', with every minute of archive footage costing thousands. In that respect, it helps that Hill has always been a keen videographer, just like his father was. 'Dad had a Super 8, an 8mm film. And I think maybe because he did it… I don't know, I just loved capturing those moments, too. I gave the makers hours and hours of home videos to wade through, way too much in fact!' 'I am competitive. And so is Georgie' Hill's rise from novice bike rider to novice racing car driver to F1 test driver to F1 world champion is interspersed with home footage of Georgie and their expanding family. The couple have four children: Oliver, Josh, Tabitha and Rosie. Ollie was born with Down's syndrome, just when Damon was getting his F1 career under way, another key moment. Georgie remembers the hospital staff scribbling down the names of care homes that might take him. 'He wasn't even 12 hours old and they'd laid out his future for him,' she says. 'And I felt: 'Right, OK, if that's all he's worth. He's worth a lot more to us.'' Damon and Georgie are now patrons of the Down's Syndrome Association, as well as Halow, a charity based near them in Guildford which Damon co-founded. The day after we speak, Damon is racing in his annual karting event for the charity at Sandown. It is now in its 12th year. 'Halow provides a community for people with learning disabilities,' Hill says. 'It's unbelievably important. Of course, the funding has all been slashed and they're suffering like many charities.' Ollie usually lives in supported-living across the road, but he is temporarily living back in with them having recently undergone a double hip operation. Hill takes me over to say hello while he is lying on the treatment table and we have a funny conversation in which he cannot hear me because I am speaking into Hill's earpods. Their other son, Josh, was a single-seater racer for a while. Hill was understandably a little anxious when Josh first broached the idea of racing, given what it had put him through. 'Oh my God! No! That's what I thought. But what I said was, 'Oh. OK! Great!'' he wrote in his book. But he backed him all the way to European F3 before Josh quit suddenly in 2013, initially to pursue a musical career. Hill was impressed both by his son's driving skills and his decisiveness; knowing what he wanted in life. It is back to that overarching theme again. What drove Hill? In one particularly revealing bit of home video in the documentary, at a school sports day involving Josh in the early 2000s, Hill might have been interviewing himself. 'You want him to be the best don't you?' he asks Georgie. 'No, as long as he's back safely,' she counters. 'I don't want him to be competitive at all. I want him to enjoy his life.' Hill persists. 'You don't think he can enjoy his life by winning?' Georgie replies: 'I don't want him to feel he always has to be the best at something and if he hasn't won he has failed. I think that's terrible.' It is a fascinating exchange. Would Hill have been happier if he had just stayed away from it all and enjoyed his life? 'Well that's a very keen observation,' he says. 'And yeah, I mean, it is a question I constantly asked myself during my career… it's this contradiction, this paradox, the yin and yang of your being, isn't it? 'Actually in that video, I'm sort of playing devil's advocate. We had just come back from living in Ireland, where everything was very laissez-faire. And then we came back to England and it was Blair's Britain, and we got to this school, I won't mention the name, and it was just push and shove! Everyone was so ambitious. But yes, I am also making a point that I am competitive. And so is Georgie, to be fair. She's a liar! She wanted Josh to win. She wants to win in every game she plays. She denies her competitiveness, but she's got a very, very strong competitive spirit.' Hill laughs. Georgie was, he admits, nervous about contributing to the film at first. 'She didn't want to talk about anything. But I think she thinks it's a good film now she's got over it. You know, it's a weepy really. With a happy ending. And she's brilliant in it. I'm going to be left behind now. She's going to go off with Tom Cruise or someone.' 'You never want to go back and revisit these experiences' It is difficult not to feel happy for Hill. At how his life has panned out. Now 64, he is almost universally loved by F1 fans, not simply because he overcame such a traumatic adolescent experience, but because he never compromised his values. He tried to do it the right way. By his own admission, he was not the most talented driver of all time. But he was one of the most decent. In a sport literally known as the 'Piranha Club', in which the protagonists are mostly alpha males, Hill was the opposite. He was introverted and withdrawn. He had to learn to stand up for himself. But he was never corrupted. It is what gives him authenticity now when he calls out the sometimes erratic behaviour of drivers such as Max Verstappen. Hill's criticism of the Dutchman and his Red Bull team may well have cost him his job at Sky Sports F1 at the end of last year. Verstappen complained about 'biased people' within the paddock and Hill was gone weeks later. 'I like to think not,' he told The Telegraph earlier this year. 'I hope not.' Before he hangs up, I ask whether the film was in some ways cathartic. Going back over his life, trying to make sense of it all. He had done it already in his book, of course. But this was someone else asking him the questions, going over home footage which had long been gathering dust. 'I mean, you never want to go back and revisit these experiences,' he says at length. 'They're painful, and they still carry the residue of the horror and the shock. But I think you'll find that people who do a lot of therapy are quite resilient, because you don't have the illusions any more. You don't have this idea of how it could be if only everything was different. You just try to come to terms with the world, rather than get the world to come to terms with you.' Hill smiles again. 'It was enjoyable [making the film], going through all the old archives, the different haircuts through the ages, the children, everything that was going on contemporaneously. Because that's real life. I mean, all these F1 drivers… we see them now, they show themselves off on their speedboats or whatever. But when they go back to their apartments, they're human like the rest of us. They all go 'What's on the telly?' F1 is this extraordinary, high-octane world, but in between, it's unbelievably normal. I used to come back after winning a race and put the bins out.'
Wales Online
25 minutes ago
- Wales Online
The Welsh football explosion set to erupt as seismic moment now upon us
The Welsh football explosion set to erupt as seismic moment now upon us Euro 2016 took interest levels to new heights in Wales and bosses hope something similar is about to happen Wales Women are about to embark on a special summer (Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd ) Step into the FA of Wales' swish offices on the outskirts of Cardiff and two striking photographs greet you at the entrance foyer. One is of Craig Bellamy's World Cup chasing aces, the darlings of a nation, joyously celebrating a goal. The other is of Rhian Wilkinson's women's team doing likewise on their journey towards Euro 2025. Side by side. Parity. Exactly the way FAW boss Noel Mooney wants it as he oversees a football revolution and explosion in the women's game in Wales, from Caernarfon to Cardiff, Bangor to Barry, Newtown to Newport and pretty much everywhere else you look. Mooney also talks of his pride upon attending the recent England versus West Indies one day cricket international at Sophia Gardens, the traditional home of Welsh sport. Article continues below The memory for most of us from that match is Joe Root's astonishing 166 not out to guide England to an unlikely win after their openers were each dismissed for nought. Not for Mooney. 'As I walked towards the ground there it was, a giant poster of our women's team playing.' he beams. 'They could have used any image, but they were celebrating our success. It was just so beautiful, and a little unexpected, to see, gave me a really warm feeling inside.' If Euro 2016 changed the culture and mindset of a nation, with Gareth Bale and his team-mates driving football success and interest like never before, Mooney feels the women's Euros which kick off in Switzerland next week create a similar opportunity for the entire female population in Wales. It isn't just about the taking part for Wilkinson's side, who tangle with powerhouses England, France and the Netherlands in the original nightmare group. More significantly, it's about the future they can create. Jonathan Ford, Mooney's predecessor as FAW chief, once told me of how Northern Ireland made the same amount of money from Euro 2016 as Wales managed to, even though Bale and Co knocked them out in a Paris last 16 showdown two rounds earlier. 'But what they didn't have was our semi-final legacy. It wasn't just about the money,' smiled Ford, knowing Wales' success and feelgood factor led to a surge in playing numbers and fans wearing red attending matches. Almost a decade on, Mooney is of a similar mindset as the women head to their tournament. 'There is an analogy with Euro 2016, which was the first time the men qualified in almost 60 years,' he says. 'So many eyes will be on what happens, so many youngsters will want to take up football, or come to watch, as a result of what they see from Rhian's team. I anticipate it exploding, going through the roof. 'We have players like Jess Fishlock and Sophie Ingle as wonderful role models, stars young girls look up to and would love to mirror. It's an opportunity to showcase what we have. 'I believe we're mature as an organisation to be able to capitalise upon it. In 2016 there was a staff of around 40 here. Today it's 180 - commercial, media, player development, club development, other departments. It means our legacy planning can be even bigger. We have to make sure we maximise this wonderful opportunity.' Already numbers are growing at a rapid rate. There are 20,000 registered female players in Wales, compared to 7,000 six years ago. For youngsters aged between six and 16, who didn't have this opportunity previously and were expected to take up netball and hockey, playing football is suddenly starting to be normal. 'And that's not including the many who have kickabouts in the parks and fields,' says Mooney of the fastest growing sport in the world. 'By a country mile,' he emphasises. There was a record 17,000 crowd for the Cardiff City Stadium Euro play-off versus the Republic of Ireland. 'We had 40,000 across the two legs. We're just starting to see revenue off the back of ticket sales. Yes we're talking about reduced ticket prices, but we feel we can grow the audience and revenue further,' says Mooney. Perhaps most impressive of the lot is that, at the time of writing, Wales have sold more tickets than any other nation at the Euros, bar hosts Switzerland. 'So more than the Germans, French, English and Dutch,' Mooney says of the near 10,000 Red Wall following. When I put it to him that it's a different audience and you're unlikely to get Canton End stalwarts going to Wales Women matches, Mooney responds: 'Perhaps. But we've wondered how to create that link. Given the numbers heading out to Switzerland to watch us at a major tournament, I'd say there is a percentage of that from the Canton End coming to support the women.' Either way, Mooney wishes to create a legacy which within the next 25 years heads towards complete parity in Welsh football. 'Our vision by 2050 is for the same amount of registered women as men, the same numbers coming to our men's and women's games, the same TV viewing figures for those matches, the same male to female FAW staff, a 50-50 split on our decision-making bodies,' he says. 'It may seem hugely ambitious, but the plan is for a completely balanced FAW that perfectly represents and reflects Wales as a whole. 'Obviously myself and Rhian won't be here in years to come, but we're each aware it's about what we leave behind for the next generation. We think it can be even better for the people who come after us. 'The women's game will simply grow and grow and so will our crowds. When girls start playing football, they are more likely to also attend matches. Everything works off that, interest, ticket revenue, sponsorship, advertising opportunities.' He goes on to cite a quote from Carlo Ancelotti, the great recently departed Real Madrid manager turned Brazil boss. 'Ancelotti said success just hangs off the wall of the building at the Bernabeu,' says Mooney. 'Success breeds success - and we're beginning to feel that here too. 'These days we fancy ourselves to beat anybody with the men's team. Like them in 2016, Rhian ended the trauma of us being very unlucky when it comes to qualifying. Suddenly there is the smell of success with the women too.' As we speak in Mooney's office, which has a superb view overlooking Wales' training pitches, he notices Wilkinson walking past the door and beckons her in for an introduction. She is in the building to pore over some analytics from a recent game to prepare for the Euros and cuts an impressive figure as she outlines her determination to succeed with Wales and help rid any stereotypes when it comes to young girls playing football. 'There are lots of similarities in how Craig and Rhian go about the job,' reckons Mooney. 'They are each incredibly detailed in their planning. We may not be the best teams, but we are definitely the best prepared. We aren't going to be beaten because of a lack of detail, or because of something the players didn't know. 'We don't have a pool of world class players because of our population size. That means we need to be clever, agile, bold, ambitious, driven, passionate. We're trying to be world class at what we do and people buy into that. 'Craig and Rhian come to see me looking for support at certain times. They know we're not a £500m a year organisation, we need to manage our budget, but we try to give ourselves every opportunity to succeed by doing things our way.' Women's football is having to make the enormous strides Mooney talks of because it is coming from so far back. At the start of the 1970s, a time when John Toshack, Terry Yorath and Leighton James were beginning their journeys as Dragons legends, women were banned from playing the sport in Wales. The suspension was eventually lifted, but it took close on another two and a half decades for the Wales Women's team to be properly established. Their first qualifying match wasn't until 1995, playing in discarded men's kit against Switzerland in front of just 345 people at Cwmbran Stadium. One huge step forward, two back, because in 2003 the FAW pulled the team out of qualifiers for the next Euros, citing the cost of travelling to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Estonia and Israel as too exorbitant. Unprecedented sums of money were being thrown at Mark Hughes' booming Euro 2004 chasers at the time and cutbacks needed to be made. The women were culled. An easy target. They weren't exactly dancing jigs of joy about it. Nor were UEFA, who fined Wales £20,000 for the sudden withdrawal. Thanks to the efforts of first Ford, then Mooney, things have altered in pace dramatically in the subsequent years, albeit until recent times the FAW's ruling 28-person council was still entirely made up of older men, often in their sixties, seventies, eighties and sometimes even nineties. By 2027 that will change to 40 percent gender parity, Mooney explaining: 'We've got loads of young females brimming with new ideas about how to take our game forward in Wales.' The ongoing drive for women's football will be a fundamental part of that sea change. On the back of qualifying for the Euros, an Environments For Her Fund has been set up inviting grassroots clubs to apply for a portion of £1m grant monies to upgrade facilities. 'Any club wishing to retrofit can apply for £50,000. Remember, lots of these clubhouses were built in the 1970s, '80s, '90s for male football. No toilet facilities or changing rooms for women,' says Mooney. FAW chief Noel Mooney To that end, and despite Wilkinson's aces starring on the world stage in the coming days, Mooney is treating the women's game as something of a start-up enterprise when it comes to funding. It is hardly without expense. The FAW try to give their female teams, Wilkinson's senior side and at age-grade levels, exactly the same as their male counterparts when it comes to charter flights, luxury hotels, training facilities, number of coaches, analysts, medics and sports science back-up. The interest levels are nowhere near the same yet, the women don't bring in anything remotely resembling the revenue streams superstars like Bale, Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Bellamy himself managed to do down the decades, mirrored more recently by Harry Wilson, Brennan Johnson, Neco Williams and Co. But Mooney cites a business saying he is fond of. 'Risk tolerance. How much risk are you prepared to take in order to get the rewards,' he states. 'The men's team is obviously the cash cow, they bring in the large majority of our revenue through TV rights, gate receipts and so on. 'With the women we are investing in a product, something we need to do for a number of years before we see the returns in terms of profits. 'But we believe it is going to generate a LOT of money for Welsh football in the future. It opens up new revenue opportunities for us. Our commercial partners want to talk about the women's game. Modern, progressive companies are keen to be investing in this. 'The Welsh Government are more connected to us and have helped with funding to put into the legacy we wish to create. We're looking to drive things, bring female leadership, reach out to communities where they wouldn't necessarily see football as their sport. 'We also find our women are interested in social matters, equality, diversity, inclusion. How we treat the world, environmental issues, fairness. They come to us wanting to do a day's coaching to help push the growing interest. Recently 200 girls aged six to 14 jumped at the chance to play football with them at a training session. We maxed out the numbers in an instant, could have done it ten times over. The buzz is becoming phenomenal. 'If truth be known we might struggle to keep up with the demand of growing numbers who want to play. But clubs helping as start-ups for the women's game will be rewarded with more support and funding. 'It's not just a male game any more. We will not stop until it's 50-50 - same facilities, same playing conditions, same numbers is the aim with our clubs. 'Yes it's costly, but it's a worthwhile investment and reaching the Euros, with everything it can bring for us, is part of that. 'We get £1.8m from UEFA for qualifying. The players receive 35 percent, most of the rest goes on logistics to ensure they get the same backing as Craig's side would expect. They need to feel wanted. As such we anticipate actually losing £300,000 from the tournament, but the FAW Board are aware it's about far more than that. 'The legacy we can create, the interest we can generate, is the big thing here. We would spend five times that figure, knowing what the future spin-offs can be. 'For me personally, this perhaps means even more than us getting to the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. We're bringing a modern Cymru to the world and it's incredibly satisfying, knowing everything we've had to deal with and put into this to get to this stage. 'We've taken the hits together, including the sudden departure of our previous manager Gemma Grainger at the start of last year. That was a challenge, but I'm really happy we reacted the way we did. Rhian brings fresh ideas. She's brilliant, just like Craig is. 'Our players have had struggles to get there for lots of reasons. Some went to schools where they weren't permitted to play football. Others come from villages and towns where it wasn't the done thing. 'Yet through everything the FAW staff have invested in them, we've shared a belief, we've done it together as Team Wales… and the reward comes from qualifying and beyond. Suddenly the girls not permitted to play have developed into stars. 'If the women can get to their World Cup in Brazil in 2027 that will complete the set for us. The men have done the Euros and the World Cup, the women can do it too. 'Having that profile helps us keep supporting the grassroots game to grow, making sure we've got the things in place to ensure this growth that we see doesn't plateau. It will continue to surge. The legacy of these Euros can be enormous.' Wales kick off against the Netherlands in Lucerne next Saturday, before meeting France on July 9th and reigning Euro champions England four days after. It's a daunting sequence of matches, but given the glamour opposition, tournaments being bigger these days and games being beamed on BBC or ITV, Wilkinson and Mooney see this as a huge opportunity to reach a vast number of eyes. Wilkinson named her Euros squad on the summit of Snowdon, the highest point in Wales, pointing out: 'The mountain was used as a theme because qualifying was always going to be an uphill battle, with setbacks. 'But this is a special team. They're strong and don't quit on each other. I've never been prouder. My arrival maybe came just at the right time to ask these players to do things that in the past they weren't ready for. We will surprise people, these names should be known.' Mooney beams excitedly: 'We have the potential to come together to celebrate, to challenge negative gender stereotypes and to boost participation in football at every level. Article continues below 'We want everyone across Wales to be able to feel a part of this extraordinary moment, no matter where they are. We want to bring Wales to the world through football. This is a really special time for the women's game here.' Historically rugby has been viewed as the number one sport in Wales and clearly interest levels for Six Nations and autumn Tests tend to be through the roof, notwithstanding the current mess the Welsh game finds itself in. But, in terms of participation numbers anyway, that No.1 argument has already been won by football - and it is about to be completely blown out of the water. Where Welsh rugby struggles, Mooney feels Welsh football is about to explode further.
The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Wimbledon: How to get tennis tickets in queue and register for 2026 ballot
The 2025 Championships at Wimbledon are upon us as the All England Club opens its doors to the tennis world once again. Carlos Alcaraz is eyeing a third consecutive title in SW19, and is also looking to become the second player to win Roland Garros, Queen's and Wimbledon in the same year. World No 1 Jannik Sinner and British No 1 Jack Draper are the other favourites in the men's draw. World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka is the favourite for the women's title, with 2022 champion Elena Rybakina and French Open winner Coco Gauff also leading contenders. Czech player Barbora Krejcikova is the defending champion. Emma Raducanu, who missed out on a seeding, leads the British contingent in the women's draw, having overtaken Katie Boulter as British No 1 recently. Follow all 14 days of Wimbledon 2025 with The Independent How to buy Wimbledon 2025 tickets Wimbledon continues to be one of the only major sporting events where fans can get tickets on the day of play. The All England Club welcomes more than 40,000 fans per day. With enough dedication, you can brave the queue at Wimbledon Park, near Southfields tube station, which is still a key part of the Wimbledon experience. Fans can queue up - often camping overnight - in order to be at the front of the queue to obtain tickets for either Centre Court or Court 1 for the first 10 days of The Championships. Usually, there are 500 tickets available for Centre Court and 500 available for Court 1. Fans are advised to go to the end of The Queue in Wimbledon Park to obtain a Queue Card. The card will be dated and numbered with your position in The Queue. Fans must retain their Queue Card until the ticket sales structure begins, and are then able to purchase a ticket. The Queue can start the evening before the day's play, with many fans also arriving early in the morning. Ticket sales start at 9.45am in Wimbledon Park, while the grounds open at 10am. Play on outside courts start at 11am, Court 1 at 1pm and Centre at 1:30pm. More information can be found here, with ticket prices here. How do I enter the 2026 public ballot? Fans keen to grab a ticket for the 2026 Championships can now declare their interest. The tournament is scheduled from 29 June to 12 July. The public ballot usually opens in September. For more info, click here. When does Wimbledon start? The 2025 Championships start on Monday 30 June and will finish on Sunday 13 July. Play will start at 11am (BST) on all the outside courts, with Court 1 starting at 1pm and Centre Court at 1:30pm. As tradition dictates, Alcaraz, the defending men's singles champion, will open the tournament on Centre Court on Monday 30 June. Krejcikova, the defending women's singles champion, will open Centre Court proceedings on Tuesday 1 July. What is the full Wimbledon schedule? Monday 30 June – Singles first round Tuesday 1 July – Singles first round Wednesday 2 July – Singles second round; Men's and Women's doubles first round Thursday 3 July – Singles second round; Men's and Women's doubles first round Friday 4 July – Singles third round; Men's and Women's doubles second round; Mixed Doubles first round Saturday 5 July – Singles third round; Men's and Women's doubles second round; Mixed Doubles first round; Juniors (18 & under) singles first round Sunday 6 July – Singles fourth round; Men's and Women's doubles third round; Mixed Doubles second round; Juniors singles first round Monday 7 July – Singles fourth round; Men's and Women's doubles third round; Mixed Doubles quarter-finals; Girls singles second round; Boys Doubles first round Tuesday 8 July – Singles and doubles quarter-finals; Mixed Doubles semi-finals; Wheelchair Singles first round; Boys singles Second Round; Girls doubles first round Wednesday 9 July – Singles and doubles quarter-finals; Quad wheelchair singles quarter-finals; Wheelchair doubles quarter-finals; Junior singles third round; Junior doubles second round Thursday 10 July – Women's singles semi-finals; Men's doubles semi-finals; Mixed Doubles final; Wheelchair singles quarter-finals; Wheelchair doubles semi-finals; Junior singles and doubles quarter-finals Friday 11 July – Men's singles semi-finals; Women's doubles semi-finals; Men's, Women's and Quad Wheelchair singles semi-finals; Junior singles and doubles semi-finals Saturday 12 July – Women's singles final (4pm); Men's Doubles final (1pm); Women's wheelchair singles final; Men's and Quad wheelchair doubles final; Girls singles and doubles final; Boys doubles final Sunday 13 July – Men's singles final (4pm); Women's doubles final (1pm); Men's and Quad wheelchair singles final; Women's wheelchair doubles final; Boys singles final Subject to change How to watch Wimbledon on TV Wimbledon will be shown live on the BBC in the UK, with full coverage of the tournament available to watch on BBC One, BBC Two and across BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website. TNT Sports will air a daily 90-minute highlights show and will also have live coverage of both singles finals. If you're travelling abroad and want to watch Wimbledon, then you might need a VPN to unblock your streaming app. Our VPN roundup is here to help: get the best VPN deals on the market. Viewers using a VPN need to make sure that they comply with any local regulations where they are and also with the terms of their service provider.
