Healy delighted with 'big win' for Linfield over Crues
Linfield manager David Healy says it is "another game ticked off" after a 2-0 victory at Crusaders saw the Blues edge closer to winning the Premiership title.Teenager Matthew Orr headed the visitors in front at Seaview on 72 minutes and Matthew Fitzpatrick drilled home to double the advantage with six minutes remaining.It stretched Linfield's lead at the top to 19 points with seven games remaining for the Windsor Park team."It's another game ticked off - it's a big win," said Healy."Performance wise, I thought we were good, certainly in the second half and we were deserved winners."We created some good opportunities and good moments in the game."Crues defender Jimmy Callacher headed against the bar in a tight first half before Linfield gained the upper hand in the second half.Orr's looping header broke the deadlock before Fitzpatrick fired in at the nearpost to seal another three points.Healy's side got back to winning ways after losing 2-0 last time out to Coleraine a fortnight ago."We knew when you come to Seaview you have to sure you're in the game and physically match them up."The team selection raised a few eyebrows but we got the job done."
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Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Hearts chief Andrew McKinlay speaks out on his future, abuse from fans and explains why he is angry
Edinburgh club had a disappointing 2024/25 campaign in the SPFL Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Torrents of abuse raining down on Hearts directors became almost a weekly occurrence last season. Supporters turned on senior officials during the worst start to a campaign in club history, including an early League Cup exit, then a catastrophic European elimination, derby defeats against Hibs and, finally, a seventh-place Premiership finish. One man suffered the brunt of the flak. Chief executive Andrew McKinlay endured months of unforgiving criticism which still continues as Hearts prepare for season 2025/26. There is a new management team led by Derek McInnes, plus four permanent signings with several more to follow. McKinlay, however, remains a focal point for fans' ire. Chants against him and chairwoman Ann Budge were heard several times at matches last year as some Tynecastle followers called for boardroom change. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As a former Scottish Football Association executive, public carping is not new to McKinlay. He is determined not to be derailed in efforts to restore Hearts to a challenging position. In the third of an exclusive three-part interview with the Edinburgh News, he explained the impact of vocal condemnation from fans. 'It's not nice, it's very stressful,' said McKinlay. 'I've got pretty high resilience because of previous roles I've done. I'd like to think that it's not really personal. I know it's aimed at me personally or aimed at others personally, but what do I mean by 'it's not personal'? Well, as far as I'm aware, no-one that's sang my name or shouted my name or abused me actually knows me. Once people abuse you who know you, that's a very different situation. 'These are people who are, understandably, massively frustrated with what they've seen this season and they want to take that out on someone. I totally understand it. I don't like it of course because it's aimed at me, but I totally understand it. Football is a hugely passionate sport and, for a huge number of our fans and fans of other teams, this is their life. 'During the week, they may work in a job which they just do to genuinely almost make money so they can come to the football and pay for their season ticket. I'm well aware that when we don't perform on the pitch, we've ruined their week, we've ruined their weekend. They're angry and they're frustrated. 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I think even the fact that we've got to this stage, having investment from someone, the whole analytics piece, I'm sure the fans must appreciate that hasn't just happened. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'For us to get to here, there's been a lot of work by me, other members of the board and my team. The guys who work in my team put in a huge amount of work to get us the best front-of-shirt sponsor we've ever had, the best kit deal we've ever had, the stadium we've got out there now. 'You compare that to others - and I totally understand that if the men's first team have a bad season then no-one really is interested in all that other stuff. But we have a lot of really good things going on here, so we just need to get the number one thing right now and that's what I'm absolutely committed to doing.' READ MORE: Andrew McKinlay interview Part 1 READ MORE: Andrew McKinlay interview Part 2
Wales Online
an hour ago
- Wales Online
Lions handed major injury boost as heartbroken star offered lifeline
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Glasgow Times
3 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
'Snobbery' over Scottish talent has left national game at crisis point
'Part of my day job is system development,' said Ferguson, the former East Stirlingshire, Alloa Athletic, Hamilton Academical, Partick Thistle and Stenhousemuir defensive midfielder who is now assistant to Gary Naysmith at the third tier Ochilview Park part-timers. 'We're always looking ahead. We're involved in Olympic sports and we look four years, eight years, even 12 years down the line. We look at pathways and what we've got coming through.' Does Ferguson think that this country's leading football clubs have the same forward-thinking attitude? Does he believe their chairmen, managers, owners, chief executives and sporting directors are safeguarding the future of our national game? Is he hopeful that Scotland will flourish as a result of the farsighted groundwork they are laying now? The posts about the number of homegrown and under-21 players who were involved in the Premiership last season which he fired up on the X (formerly Twitter) social media platform last week suggested that he very much does not. Read more: The statistics which he personally collated were highly concerning. But here are two of the most startling. He showed that the overall percentage of Scots to start top flight games during the 2024/25 campaign was just 31.46 per cent. That was down from 45 per cent three years ago. In addition, he highlighted that, on average, just four out of the 132 players who kicked games off in the elite division every weekend were under the age of 21 and originally hailed from these shores. He can foresee major issues arising in the future as a consequence. 'I started doing this back in around 2018 or 2019,' said Ferguson. 'I went back to the 1980s and 1990s and looked at the trend of more non-Scots coming into the Scottish game. I tracked the summer and winter signings and looked at the team sheets every week. It worried me back then, but it's getting worse every year. 'When I started doing this, the number of Scots who were starting every week on average was at about 48 to 49 per cent. Now it is down in the low 30s. I think it is a major problem already. And it is only going to get worse and worse. There needs to be an intervention before it becomes an even bigger problem. 'It's not just the Premiership where it's a problem now, it's feeding down into the lower divisions as well. When you look at a line-up of a Championship team, there are often a lot of non-Scots in there. We are reaching a crisis point. We can be producing far more players than we are.' (Image: SNS Group) So what, if anything, does Ferguson feel can be done to turn things around? The man who has just helped Stenhousemuir to secure a play-off place in their first season up in League One admits that he is puzzled by the Premiership clubs' reliance on overseas players. He has long been convinced they would be better off shopping local. 'I have always felt, going right back to my own playing days, that Scottish players and probably Scottish staff don't get the recognition that they were due when they were playing at a lower level,' he said. 'They were never picked up. 'There have been so many examples of that over the years. But Lawrence Shankland is the one really jumped out to me. I can remember watching him when I was the manager at Stenhousemuir and we played Ayr United. He was the difference in the game. 'I went and spoke to Hearts about him. I got told, 'Yeah, we've had him watched, but we don't think he's quick enough, we don't think he's strong enough'. They had so many reasons for not signing him. 'But they went straight out and signed David Vanecek from a club in the second tier in the Czech Republic. He lasted five or six months and then he was gone. I looked at that and thought, 'Why not look at the best players in the leagues below here?'. Hearts eventually signed Lawrence, but they could have had him years earlier if they had just taken a chance.' Read more: Ferguson is optimistic that Scottish clubs will look at the success which Falkirk have enjoyed under John McGlynn in the past couple of years – they have won League One and the Championship in successive seasons – and realise that promoting promising talent from the lower leagues can yield impressive results. 'Falkirk have been a breath of fresh air for me,' he said. 'They've taken players up from the Lowland League, they've even looked at the East of Scotland League. Those players have made big jumps up. 'Not all of them will be able to step up. But a lot of them have and are progressing. They have had an unbelievable couple of seasons. For me, John should be getting far more recognition for what he has done.' Ferguson continued, 'I just think there's snobbery across the Scottish game. There are a lot of good players in Scotland, but the pathway is not there for them. The opportunities for them to play at the top are so limited it's incredible. 'There has been talk about a Scottish goalkeeping crisis recently. For me, there is a bit of snobbery there too. Nicky Hogarth at Falkirk is a far better goalkeeper than the lad Cieran Slicker at Ipswich Town. Now, that might not be the case in the future. But at this moment in time Hogarth has won back-to-back league titles and is a better player. (Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group) 'Hogarth has been at Rangers and Nottingham Forest as a young player, Slicker has been at Manchester City and Ipswich Town. So they both have a good grounding. But Slicker, a player who has never played a league game, gets selected for the national squad. For me, that kind of belittles playing for your country. Why not give Hogarth a chance? 'I think there are players there now who could easily make the step up to the Premiership. Not every player is going to make the grade, that's just never going to happen. But there are a lot of players who will get recruited from other countries who will come and go in the blink of an eye. Fans will forget about them in a couple of weeks. 'But I don't think the fanbase helps things ether if I am being honest. People don't get as excited about signing a player or a manager from the Championship as they do about bringing in a foreign player or manager. The media is exactly the same.' Ferguson has also witnessed first hand a reluctance to field the best kids who are coming through the youth ranks at Premiership clubs despite the obvious ability they possess and the success which those who have, often because his manager has had no other choice, been promoted have enjoyed. 'There are also young players within academies who are good enough,' he said. 'I have worked at Rangers and seen players who could step up and play first team football far sooner. There are kids out there who aren't getting anywhere close first team football at the age of 19, 20, 21. I don't understand that. 'If Callum McGregor was a youth coming through at Celtic now I don't think he would be given an opportunity. When he broke through Rangers were in the lower reaches of Scottish football and they could maybe afford to take a risk with him. Would they play him now? 'Scott Brown, who is Celtic's second most successful captain, only got his chance at Hibs when his manager Bobby Williamson was told that he needed to play youngsters. All of a sudden, they brought through a handful and they all went on to have really, really good careers. Would they have flourished if there wasn't a crisis? 'There are lots of those kind of examples. Adam Forrester got thrown in at Hearts when they had a right-back crisis and he has now played 30 odd games. He's not a youngster either, he is 20. James Wilson only got his chance because Lawrence Shankland was injured. They had to throw him in. They had no option. 'Do I think he would be in that team if Hearts had four strikers? No, I don't. Do I think he would be in the Scotland squad? No, I don't. I am delighted he is now in the national set-up. But there are not enough of these kind of players.' Read more: Ferguson continued, 'Another issue is that there are so many players on the bench now. What used to happen when three substitutes were allowed was there would be 14 players stripped, two in the stand and the rest would be playing somewhere else, in a reserve match or whatever. 'Now you've got 19 to 20 players stripped and another three sitting in the stands. Those players are nowhere near playing in a football match because they've got so many players in front of them. Squads are so swollen now. Even if you are a really good young player you need to get in front of four or five senior players to get in. 'It's difficult for any manager to say. 'I really like this 17-year-old, he's going straight in the team'. He needs to put that kid above three, four, five different senior players. Why would you want to have such a big squad and have a youth academy as well? That doesn't allow kids to progress. There are so many things that happen at the top level that don't make sense to me.' The Cooperation System which the SFA rolled out last week – which will see up to three Scotland qualified players at Premiership and Championship clubs move to lower league outfits freely on loan going forward – makes perfect sense to him. 'I love it,' said Ferguson. 'I love the concept of it. I also love that there is a plan there. I've always felt that the loan system, and I understand why this is, is very reactive. What generally happens is a club puts together a squad and then they need to get players in to cover for injuries. 'The Cooperation System is a bit more of a planned approach. It sounds as if loan players will be identified throughout the course of the close season, going into pre-season, when a manager or a recruitment team are building their squad. (Image: SNS Group Alan Harvey) 'I think it's a very, very good piece of work. I don't think managers will build their team around the loan player, it won't be as extreme as that. But I think a player will fit in straight away, They won't be trying to force their way into the team. It is a refreshing concept.' He continued, 'Will a young player who is number 21, 22 or 23 in a first team squad be considered for it? Or will they be kept at their parent club to make up numbers? That would be my concern. Will the guy who is 22 or 23 be allowed to go out and play? If he isn't, he could spend another season not playing. 'Is it best for the club in the long-term to get a player out, to get them experience of playing football, to get their name known, to hopefully have an impact? Massively. It should have a positive impact on the player and of course on the club. 'But a manager might want to hold onto him, just in case. He might have injuries and need to play a kid. That is how Forrester came through and established himself as a Premiership player. But, at the same time, six months could pass and a kid won't play. We will see how it works in practice. 'But we are very much on board with it at Stenhousemuir. We feel as though it's something that could be of value to us. Martin Christie, our head of recruitment, is speaking to clubs at the moment. There are ongoing conversations.' Ferguson is eager to see more Scottish players in the lower leagues getting the chance to show what they can do in the Premiership and more academy kids getting promoted into first teams than is currently the case. He fears the national team will ultimately suffer unless there is a long overdue change in attitudes and the trend he has identified is allowed to continue. 'Generally speaking, the first team manager at a club looks after the first team and that is it,' he said. 'That is the way it should be. But why is he not involved in looking at what the pathway into the first team looks like? 'There is an obvious issue. A coach knows he may not be in a job in four weeks' time if he doesn't get results. So why look four years down the line? The dynamics around football are different to any other sport. That is good and bad at the same time. 'The culture of football, the tribal nature of the sport, the supporters' demand for success in the here and now makes people focus on that. Understandably so. But I do think it is unusual compared to other sports, that failure to develop a strategy which can enable a club to be successful long-term. Don't get me wrong, many clubs will try to do it, but there is a massive disconnect between what they want to achieve and what they actually do.' Ferguson continued, 'We're already seeing a lack of depth when we've got injuries. We have quality players, John McGinn, Scott McTominay, Craig Gordon, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney. But quite a few of these players are getting towards the end of their careers, they're in their late 20s or early 30s. 'Could getting five per cent of the Scottish players who are in the Premiership to follow Lewis Ferguson, Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay and move on to a bigger league in Europe be a target? If it can be then surely five per cent of 100 is better than five per cent of 30. 'My real worry is the talent pool is getting diluted. That is definitely the trend. It is on a decline, a continuous decline. Unless something changes, Scottish players will be making up just 20 per cent of the teams in a few years.'
