Rob Edwards poised for Middlesbrough manager's job after impressing owner
Rob Edwards is poised to take charge at Middlesbrough after impressing the owner, Steve Gibson, in interviews.
Only an unforeseen 11th-hour hitch will prevent the 42-year-old former Luton manager being at the Riverside helm when Boro's players start pre-season training at the end of June.
Edwards is due to replace Michael Carrick, who was sacked after the team finished a disappointing 10th in the Championship, after seeing off strong competition from the former Nottingham Forest and Leicester manager Steve Cooper and the Sheffield Wednesday head coach Danny Röhl. It is understood Edwards also ranked high on Gibson's shortlist in 2022 when Carrick took over.
Bristol City had given serious consideration to recruiting Edwards as Liam Manning's replacement this month but he was attracted by Boro's infrastructure and the chance to reunite with the club's head of football, Kieran Scott, a former colleague at Wolves. Apart from the 35,000-capacity Riverside Stadium, Boro possess Rockliffe Park, an impressive training facility attached to a luxury hotel in a village south of Darlington.
Gibson will challenge Edwards to repeat the feat he achieved with Luton in 2023 and lead the club into the Premier League. Luton then finished 18th in the top flight and were arguably a little unlucky to go down after accruing more points than any of the other five teams relegated in the past two seasons.
Luton are freshly installed in League One after a disastrous campaign that included Edwards being sacked in January.
The former Wales, Aston Villa and Wolves defender coached England's Under-16s before leading Forest Green Rovers to promotion from League Two in 2022. A brief spell at Watford preceded Edwards's installation at Luton and he swiftly choreographed promotion via the playoffs.
Gibson is believed to have been impressed by Edwards's extensive knowledge of Boro's squad, broad tactical blueprint, commitment to youth development and candour regarding his final few months at Luton.
Sign up to Football Daily
Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football
after newsletter promotion
The hope on Teesside is that next spring Carrick's successor will guide Boro back into the Premier League for the first time in almost a decade.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
21 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Royal Ascot day two: Tips and racecards for tomorrow's racing
After a suitably exciting opening day of Royal Ascot, it is time to draw breath and ready yourself for the second instalment. Day two of the meeting is all about the Prince Of Wales's Stakes (4.20), which pitches some of the best middle-distance horses in the world against one another around Ascot's round course Below, our experts give their selections for every race on the card as well their best bet (Nap) on Wednesday. Check back here once racing kicks-off for results. Royal Ascot day two tips 2.30pm: Queen Mary Stakes (Group Two) Charlie Brooks – Society Kiss broke track record on debut at Ascot. Classy recruit from breeze-up sales. Marcus Armytage – Spicy Marg was impressive on her Newmarket debut despite being the outsider of the field. Still going the right way at home. Marlborough – Trainer Michael Bell was bullish about Spicy Marg before her debut and it was an impressive win in a fast time. 3.05pm: Queen's Vase (Group Two) Charlie Brooks – Asmarani has shaped well over a shorter trip and has plenty of stamina on both sides of his pedigree. Marcus Armytage – From a shrewd Irish outfit who would not be bringing him for the benefit of his health, Carmers won both his starts and we definitely haven't seen the best of him yet. Marlborough – Shackleton was crying out for this sort of stamina test last year. Satisfactory return in May and Aidan O'Brien is stacked in this division. 3.40pm: Duke of Cambridge Stakes (Group Two) Charlie Brooks – Cinderella's Dream was really impressive when she quickened from the back of the field at Newmarket last start. (NAP) Marcus Armytage – It is hard to see a 3lb penalty stopping Cinderella's Dream in her current form. Marlborough – One Look was a filly destined for the top as a two year old and has returned this season threatening to fulfil her potential. 4.20pm: Prince of Wales's Stakes (Group One) Charlie Brooks – Anmaat can turn the tables with Los Angeles on a different track which might suit better. Marcus Armytage – See The Fire put in an extraordinary performance in at York winning by 12 lengths and unless that was a complete fluke she is over-priced here. Marlborough – Los Angeles is a quality colt who likes quick ground and has a great attitude in a finish. There are doubts about some of the others in that regard. 5pm: Royal Hunt Cup (Heritage Handicap) Charlie Brooks – Epictetus ran nicely for new trainer on only run this season. Marcus Armytage – Ancient Rome has been contesting Group races recently and will appreciate the return to a handicap off a reducing mark. A big price for a horse of his ability. Marlborough – Ancient Rome looks well handicapped having been dropped from 110 to 102 since finishing a close second in an Ascot Group Two last Summer. (NAP) 5.35pm: Kensington Palace Stakes Charlie Brooks – Rainbows Edge is a course-and-distance winner and officially top rated. Marcus Armytage – Rainbows Edge is the day's Royal representative. She's lightly raced, still improving and unbeaten over a mile. Marlborough – Unassuming sneaks into the bottom of the weights here having won last week and she will like the fast pace to aim at. 6.10pm: Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed) Charlie Brooks – Azizam should outrun his odds after a sparkling debut at Hamilton. Havanna Grey is a good sire for this race. Marcus Armytage – Tough Critic overcame all sorts of difficulties to win at Keeneland first time out, US horses are often undone by soft ground here but that, at least, won't happen today. Marlborough – This stiff five furlong test looks tailor-made for Shaman Champion who travelled supremely well when winning on debut. Royal Ascot results Tuesday, June 17 2.30pm: Queen Anne Stakes Docklands 14/1 Rosallion 5/2F Cairo 100/1 Notable Speech 4/1 3.05pm: Coventry Stakes Gstaad 7/2F Do Or Do Not 80/1 Coppull 66/1 Andab 5/1 3.40pm: King Charles III Stakes American Affair 11/1 Frost at Dawn 28/1 Regional 9/1 Starlust 9/1 4.20pm: St James's Palace Stakes Field of Gold 8/11F Henri Matisse 4/1 Ruling Court 4/1 5pm: Ascot Stakes Ascending 20/1 Nurburing 16/1 Comfort Zone 33/1 Leinster 25/1 Divine Comedy 28/1 5.35pm: Wolferton Stakes Haatem 8/1 Galen 13/2 King's Gambit 4/1F Enfjaar 5/1 6.10pm: Copper Horse Stakes French Master 5/2F Caballo De Mar 13/2 Samui 20/1 Barnso 14/1 Aeronautic 7/1 Royal Ascot racecards (Group/class, distance, age, prize money) Wednesday, June 18 2.30pm: Queen Mary Stakes (Group Two, 5f, two-year-old fillies, £150,000) 3.05pm: Queen's Vase (Group Two, 1m6f, three-year-olds, £265,000) 3.40pm: Duke of Cambridge Stakes (Group Two, round 1m, four-year-old and older fillies and mares, £225,000) 4.20pm: Prince of Wales's Stakes (Group One, 1m2f, four-year-olds and older, £1,000,000) 5pm: Royal Hunt Cup (Heritage Handicap Class Two, straight 1m, three-year-olds and older, £175,000) 5.35pm: Kensington Palace Stakes (Handicap Class Two, straight 1m, four-year-olds and older fillies and mares, £110,000) 6.10pm: Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed, 5f, two-year-olds, £110,000) Thursday, June 19 2.30pm: Norfolk Stakes (Group One, 5f, two-year-olds, £150,000) 3.05pm: King George V Stakes (Handicap Class Two, 1m4f, three-year-olds, £110,000) 3.40pm: Ribblesdale Stakes (Group Two, 1m4f, three-year-old fillies, £250,000) 4.20pm: Ascot Gold Cup (Group One, 2m4f, four-year-olds and older, £650,000) 5pm: Britannia Stakes (Heritage Handicap Class Two, straight 1m, three-year-old colts and geldings, £120,000) 5.35pm: Hampton Court Stakes (Group Three, 1m2f, three-year-olds, £150,000) 6.10pm: Buckingham Palace Stakes (Handicap Class Two, 7f, three-year-olds and older, £110,000) Friday, June 20 2.30pm: Albany Stakes (Group Three, 6f, two-year-old fillies, £125,000) 3.05pm: Commonwealth Cup (Group One, 6f, three-year-old colts and fillies, £650,000) 3.40pm: Duke of Edinburgh Stakes (Handicap Class Two, 1m4f, three-year-olds and older, £110,000) 4.20pm: Coronation Stakes (Group One, round 1m, three-year-old fillies, £650,000) 5pm: Sandringham Stakes (Handicap Class Two, straight 1m, three-year-old fillies, £110,000) 5.35pm: King Edward VII Stakes (Group Two, 1m4f, three-year-old colts and geldings, £250,000) 6.10pm: Palace of Holyroodhouse (Handicap Class Two, 5f, three-year-olds, £110,000) Saturday, June 21 2.30pm: Chesham Stakes (Listed, 7f, two-year-olds, £110,000) 3.05pm: Hardwicke Stakes (Group Two, 1m4f, four-year-olds and older, £250,000) 3.40pm: Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (Group One, 6f, four-year-olds and older, £1,000,000) 4.20pm: Jersey Stakes (Group Three, 7f, three-year-olds, £150,000) 5pm: Wokingham Stakes (Heritage Handicap Class Two, 6f, three-year-olds and older, £175,000) 5.35pm: Golden Gates Stakes (Handicap Class Two, 1m2f, three-year-olds, £110,000) 6.10pm: Queen Alexandra Stakes (Conditions Class Two, 2m6f, four-year-olds and older £110,000)
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Royal Ascot: Field Of Gold strikes to deliver performance worthy of occasion
Royal Ascot's uncanny ability to deliver performances to suit the occasion was to the fore once again on Tuesday as Field Of Gold, the odds-on favourite, overwhelmed his rivals in the St James's Palace Stakes with a sustained burst of speed a quarter of a mile out that put the result beyond doubt well before the furlong pole. If there is a better performance over a mile by a three-year-old later on in the season, it feels long odds-on that Field Of Gold will be the horse to produce it. John & Thady Gosden's grey colt was one of three Classic winners in the field, though his winning performance was further evidence that, had Ruling Court not been allowed first run in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, the fast-finishing Field Of Gold would surely have taken that too. Ruling Court was only third here, nearly four lengths behind Henri Matisse, the French 2,000 Guineas winner, who was in turn three-and-a-half adrift of Field Of Gold at the line. Kieran Shoemark shouldered the blame for Field Of Gold's defeat at Newmarket and Colin Keane, newly appointed as the Juddmonte operation's retained rider in Europe, enjoyed one of the smoothest rides of his career in his saddle on Tuesday. 'Good horses make it look easy,' Keane said. 'I don't know when was the last time three Guineas winners clashed, but Field Of Gold was very good at the Curragh and very good again today. If anything, the leaders probably didn't bring us far enough and we got there plenty soon, but he's tough and genuine. I am fortunate enough to be riding him and, at this moment, he is the best horse I have sat on.' Gosden said afterwards that if Field Of Gold had not run in the Irish Guineas, a step up in trip in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown next month would have been a possibility, but his winner is more likely to wait for the Sussex Stakes, over a mile at Glorious Goodwood, for which he was cut to even-money favourite from around 4-1. 'This year, he has been exemplary in everything he has done,' Gosden said. 'He is a pleasure to train because he's a pretty laid-back character, which is very useful. It was never the plan to go to Ireland, it became the plan [after his defeat at Newmarket], so he's had a trial, two Guineas and this. It's a lot of racing and we're not even beginning to be halfway through the season. 'When they win like that, they make it look easy, but they are taking a lot out of themselves, so I wouldn't want to be seen as someone trying to run him back in the Eclipse quick off this.' Royal Ascot stages three of its eight Group One races on the opening afternoon and while the Juddmonte colours prevailed in the feature event, two trainers from outside the small group of powerhouse bloodstock operations celebrated landmark wins earlier in the day. Harry Eustace's Docklands, at 14-1, edged out the 5-2 favourite, Rosallion, by a nose in the opening Queen Anne Stakes, while American Affair, from Jim Goldie's stable 20 miles south-west of Glasgow, had a neck to spare over Frost At Dawn in the King Charles III Stakes. For both trainers, it was the first Group One success of their career. 'I have lost my voice,' Eustace said after his win with Docklands, who was winning for the first time since taking the Britannia Handicap at this meeting in 2023. 'That was pretty sweet. He has been an absolute legend for us and if ever there was a track where you'd want a horse that's a specialist, it's here because it's the best racing.' American Affair's latest win before Tuesday's Group One success was in a handicap at York's Dante meeting in May off a mark of 98. 'I have trained the family for three generations, so it's very sweet,' Goldie, who saddled his first runners in 1995, said. 'I was quite confident he could do it today. He has the talent. I knew he was probably one of the fastest horses in the race, but it's how you control that. We've come down a day early, got him relaxed and it all fell into place. It means a lot.' Hopes for a winner in the Royal colours were dashed later in the afternoon as Willie Mullins's Reaching High, the 11-4 favourite, finished ninth behind Henry de Bromhead's Ascending (20-1) in the Ascot Stakes Handicap after a tricky passage in the straight. The scarlet and purple silks will be action on a likely favourite again on Wednesday, when Rainbow's Edge, a lightly-raced four-year-old filly, goes to post for the Kensington Palace Stakes at 5.35pm. Jeff Smith, the owner of See The Fire, paid a £70,000 supplementary fee to get her into the Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot on Wednesday, and it can prove to be money well spent when his four-year-old filly goes to post for the feature event on day two of the meeting. See The Fire is a daughter of Arabian Queen, who won York's International Stakes at 50-1 in Smith's colours back in 2015, and showed glimpses of top-level ability in the autumn of her three-year-old season. She has looked much-improved with another winter behind her, however, and travelled like the best horse in the Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown in April before lack of a run started to tell in the closing stages. See The Fire (4.20) then stepped up significantly for the outing in the Middleton Stakes at York, where she powered a remarkable 12 lengths clear of her field and stopped the clock in a time that backed up the visual impression of the form. A 3lb sex allowance from the market leaders, Los Angeles and Anmaat, is another plus and she is an attractive bet at around 5-1 to underline her improvement with a first Group One success on Wednesday. Royal Ascot 2.30 A huge field of lightly-raced juvenile fillies includes seven unbeaten runners and 13 that won last time out, but Karl Burke's Zelaina has dominated the market since running away with a Nottingham maiden earlier this month. She achieved no more or less than several rivals, however, and while American-trained challenger Lennilu is an obvious danger, the 12-1 on offer for Staya catches the eye too. George Scott's filly travelled extremely well and then quickened impressively to win at Yarmouth first time up in a strong time. Royal Ascot 3.05 This mile-and-three-quarter trip is at least two furlongs more than most of these three-year-olds have tried as yet, so plenty can be expected to progress for the experience and Francis-Henri Graffard's Asmarani could take the biggest step forward. He ran well enough to finish a close second in a Group Three when dropped back to 11 furlongs last time but has plenty of stamina on both sides of his pedigree and this trip will probably be his optimum. Royal Ascot 3.40 A repeat of her form when pulling nearly five lengths clear of her field in the Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket should be enough to see Cinderella's Dream register another Group Two win. Hamilton 2.15 Rampant 2.50 Baggot Street 3.23 Canon's House 4.00 Havana Rum 4.40 Blufferonthebus 5.20 Cymbidium 5.55 Desert Of The Sea Royal Ascot 2.30 Staya 3.05 Asmarani 3.40 Cinderella's Dream 4.20 See The Fire 5.00 Qirat (nb) 5.35 Independent Expert (nap) 6.10 Rogue Legend Worcester 2.40 Rocks Up Late 3.15 Jeudidee 3.50 Chicago Storm 4.30 Whizz Kid 5.10 Twirling 5.40 Carlton 6.20 Gore Point Lingfield 5.45 Writteninthestars 6.15 Rory Rocket 6.45 Due Date 7.15 Sawgrass 7.45 Golden Handshake 8.15 Classic Cause 8.45 Offiah's Boy Ripon 6.30 Duskaura 7.00 Modern Times 7.30 Lord Protector 8.00 Mr Cool 8.30 Jenubiyah 9.00 Azucena Royal Ascot 5.00 A pair of lightly-raced four-year-olds – My Cloud and The Liffey – dominate the betting for this year's Royal Hunt Cup and fit the profile of several recent winners of this ultra-competitive handicap, but neither has as much experience as Qirat over Ascot's straight course and Ralph Beckett's runner appeals as a better bet at around 12-1. He was headed in the final strides of the Victoria Cup over seven furlongs here, and on very similar ground, when making his seasonal debut in May and both the run and first-time blinkers could prompt further improvement. Royal Ascot 5.35 Stephen Thorne's Independent Expert could outrun her odds of around 16-1. Her trainer is in only his second season with a licence but has an impressive 23pc strike rate this year and has also shown an aptitude for improving recruits from other stables. His first runner at the Royal meeting got off the mark for her new yard with a decisive victory at Naas last time and a 7lb rise in the weights does not look too severe. Royal Ascot 6.10 The usual big field for the Windsor Castle but Rogue Legend stands out on his form to date and a rival may well need to show abnormal improvement to give him a race.
Reuters
29 minutes ago
- Reuters
Boulter leads British charge at Nottingham Open
June 17 (Reuters) - Defending champion Katie Boulter defeated New Zealand's Lulu Sun 6-2 6-2 at the Nottingham Open on Tuesday as four Britons advanced to the last 16. Joining eighth seed Boulter were Mingge Xu, Sonay Kartal, and Francesca Jones, though Boulter and Kartal are set to face each other in the next round. "I've played enough of them now. It's just another match for me. I have so much respect for Sonay, she's an incredible tennis player," said Boulter. "I've always said to her that she's going to pass my ranking. I know how good she can be and dangerous. We actually played a really close match on grass quite a few years ago so I know it's going to be an absolute battle." Boulter, currently on an 11-match winning streak at her home tournament, is aiming to become the first player in Nottingham Open history to claim three consecutive titles. The 17-year-old Xu beat American Katie Volynets 6-3 6-3, setting up a clash with Polish sixth seed Magda Linette, who overcame Filipino Alexandra Eala 6-4 6-3. Jones defeated compatriot Harriet Dart 7-5 6-4 and will now face Czech seventh seed Linda Noskova. Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova battled past Germany's Laura Siegemund 7-6(2) 4-6 7-6(6) and is set to meet fourth seed Yulia Putintseva. The winner between top seed Beatriz Haddad Maia and American McCartney Kessler will take on China's Zhu Lin, while Canadian fifth seed Leylah Fernandez will play Spain's Cristina Bucsa, who defeated Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-3 6-3.
