
Prince William tucks away penalty as he launches football charity partnership
PENALTY KING Prince William tucks away penalty as he launches football charity partnership
PRINCE William strokes in a penalty at the second attempt as he launches a football partnership yesterday.
The future king, 42, saw his first spot kick saved by the goalie but wheeled away in triumph after his next go.
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Prince William scored a penalty as he launched a football partnership
Credit: Getty
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One royal fan presented Aston Villa fan William with a pennant artwork
Credit: Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace
He chatted to players at Street Soccer Scotland in Leith, Edinburgh.
One royal fan presented Aston Villa fan William with a pennant artwork from a royal fan.
The Prince of Wales told them how son Louis, seven, has divided football loyalties, laughing: 'At the moment he says he supports five different teams.'
The Wales's Royal Foundation aims to strengthen social connections through the sport.
A Palace spokesman said: 'The Prince and Princess want to leave a lasting impact and legacy.'
Today Princess Kate will christen HMS Glasgow at a Clyde dockyard by releasing a bottle of whisky against the hull.
Earlier in the month, William spoke of falling in love with Aston Villa after being taken to a match by friends as a boy.
The heir said he was gripped by the 'sense of belonging' and the passion of his fellow football fans.
Wills also revealed he visits fan forums anonymously online — and moves his kids around when watching at home to bring the team luck.
But how did he become a Villa fan, seeing as he had no obvious connection with the Midlands?
William, concedes it was relatively late when he got the bug but he was gripped by the camaraderie, and his interest intensified when Villa got relegated in 2016.
Prince William on fatherhood & football | Royal Exclusive Special
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The Prince chatted to players at Street Soccer Scotland in Leith, Edinburgh
Credit: Getty
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Wills is a huge Aston Villa fan
Credit: Getty
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The future king saw his first spot kick saved by the goalie
Credit: Getty

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Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Prince Harry's 'sadness' at losing out to Prince William is 'price to pay' in bitter rift
Just days after a close friend of both Harry and William announced the birth of his first child, Jennie Bond has shared how the news could push the royal brothers even further apart The Duke and Duchess of Westminster, who are good friends of both Prince William and Prince Harry, announced the birth of their first child. Both princes have a long history with the couple, with William and Harry's friendship with Hugh Grosvenor going back years. The Duke is even godparent to Prince George, and also reportedly to Prince Archie. With a new baby in the mix, and Harry and William's feud seemingly still raging on despite the rumours of peace talks within the Sussex camp and royal family, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond has revealed how the tiny tot could drive an even bigger wedge between the royal brothers. Jennie's comments come after news that Prince Harry will 'never be forgiven' by two major royals despite reconciliation hope. The royal expert told the Mirror that despite the joyous news of the baby girl's birth, the Duke and Duchess could be caught in the middle of the warring brothers if they are considering either prince for a role as godfather. Jennie said: 'As with a marriage break-up, many of William and Harry's friends have been left feeling obliged to take sides. Hugh was good friends with both William and Harry but, since the brothers' dramatic rift, the Duke Of Westminster has had to navigate a tricky path. 'And it seems he has largely sided with William, (at least in public). It was William who was invited to the big wedding, he was an usher, and William who stood alongside Hugh and his new wife Olivia cheering on Aston Villa in their exciting Champions League quarter final." Given the Duke's long history with William, Jennie believes: 'If there is to be a royal godfather to the couple's newborn daughter, the likelihood is that it will be William. There's already lots of 'cross pollination' between the families as far as godparents are concerned, so it seems likely that William will be asked.' While Harry is likely to be upset if William is chosen to the be the baby's godfather over him, Jennie said the decision would've been made easier by the Grosvenors due to Harry's current, and possibly ongoing, situation with the Firm. Jennie said: 'These awkward decisions are made slightly easier by the fact that Harry lives so far away, with no prospect of ever moving back to the UK. And that's not the ideal way to carry out any godparenting duties. 'So I think Harry will understand if he is left out and William is chosen as godfather. But it must still be rather sad for him to see his once close friends carrying on their lives without him, while William continues to enjoy the warmth and fun of their friendship. It is, however, the price he has to pay for making such damaging allegations and causing such a bitter rift with his family.' The Duke and Duchess of Westminster welcomed their baby daughter last week, announcing that the little girl's name is Cosima Florence Grosvenor. After revealing they were expecting their first child back in March, the couple announced the birth of their first child in a statement, saying the baby was born in London, adding: "Both the Duchess and Cosima are doing well. The Duke and Duchess now look forward to spending this special time together as a family." Cosima is of Greek and Italian origin. The name carries a beautiful, elegant meaning and is derived from the Greek word kosmos (κόσμος), which means order, harmony, or the universe.


Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Big Ron Atkinson interview: ‘I saw on Facebook that I'd died!'
A couple of months ago, Ron Atkinson was scrolling through his phone when he happened upon a rather unexpected Facebook posting. It informed him that the renowned former footballer, manager and television pundit Ron Atkinson had died. He was processing this news, when his phone rang. 'It was Dean Saunders,' he recalls of the player he managed at Aston Villa. 'He says to me: 'I see you're dead, boss, but as you used to say to us all the time: 'I'm sure you can run it off'.' And he leans back in his chair and roars with laughter. Indeed, while he might be 86 years old, news of Ron Atkinson's death is more than a little premature. The man forever known as Big Ron is very much still with us, relishing life, finding comedic value in everything, from the origins of his phrase 'lollipop' to describe a step-over, through Joe Royle's behaviour in the sauna, to the Tenerife holiday property he sold for well over the asking price soon after the invasion of Ukraine to a man who sounded suspiciously Russian. 'The estate agent assured us he was from Lithuania,' he smiles. 'I suspect he'd been to Vilnius about as often as I have.' Atkinson is in his home in the Birmingham stockbroker belt. Though these days it is not so much financiers who live thereabouts as footballers. 'It's getting like Cheshire round here,' he says, pointing out of his kitchen window. 'Jack Grealish has a place over there his dad lives in, Ollie Watkins is down the road, Jude Bellingham's built a couple of houses for his family just there.' In the midst of it all, Atkinson's sizeable property is exactly as you might imagine Big Ron's place to be: plush, luxurious, with marble floors and a carpet in the lounge the pile of which is so thick it endangers the ankles just to walk across it. Parked in front of the property are a couple of Mercedes, at the back is his wife Maggie's pride and joy; a magnificent garden, filled with blooms, rolling out into the Worcestershire countryside. As to what his contribution is to the floral abundance, he is succinct. 'Me? I just sit in it.' Atkinson has invited Telegraph Sport to his home to talk about the 40th anniversary of the start of the 1985-86 season when the Manchester United side he managed began at a gallop, winning their first 10 matches. By November 1, still unbeaten, they had accrued 41 points, just a point fewer than United managed in the whole of last season. 'And hey, I tell you what, they were lucky to stay up,' he says of Ruben Amorim's side. 'I once went down with 43 points when I was at [Sheffield] Wednesday.' His United began that season as they had completed the previous one, when they beat an Everton side going for a treble in the FA Cup final with a display of precision and power, driven by Bryan Robson and Norman Whiteside in midfield, with Mark Hughes, Gordon Strachan and Jesper Olsen providing the finishing flourishes. 'There was no telly,' he recalls of the broadcasting dispute which kept the game off the nation's screens for four months as the season began. 'Which was funny because this rumour went round that we were winning every game in style, playing everyone off the park. No we weren't. Yeah, we had a couple of belters, like doing Villa 4-0. But we had more than enough scrappy 1-0s, where we won through battling not skill. Truth was, we were lucky to win 10.' Such fortune was soon used up. It was a start they could not sustain. After losing for the first time at Hillsborough in November, his United fell into a slump that ultimately resulted in a fourth-place finish, well behind the champions Liverpool. At the time much was made of a succession of injuries, particularly to Robson, who missed most of the latter half of the season. 'I'm not going to blame injuries, everyone gets injuries, it's part of football,' he says. 'But we lost Robbo, we lost Olsen, we even had Arthur Albiston out for a bit and he was never injured. The irony is Robbo got injured playing for England. Like Stevie Coppell a couple of years earlier. Never been injured playing for United, gets a career-finishing one playing for England.' While injuries were a factor, though, there was also talk of internal indiscipline. 'People say there was a drinking culture at my United,' he says. 'I tell you what, they couldn't have lived in a drinking competition with Liverpool or Everton. 'You know where they used to drink? In Paddy Crerand's pub. He kept me informed precisely what they were up to. The problem was [Paul] McGrath and Whiteside, when they were injured, the club used them in the hospitality suites. Course everyone was filling their glass. Word spread.' Whatever the cause of the slump, Atkinson's disappointment was profound. He thought, in that autumn flourish, he could become the first United manager to lead them to the title since Matt Busby 20 years previously. Though that, he says, was never the insistence from his employers. 'When I came in, I said to Martin Edwards [the then United chairman] that we had to get the club back into Europe, and we did that every season,' he recalls. 'We had some great nights in Europe. That game against Barcelona [in the European Cup Winners' Cup in March 1984, when his team overturned a 2-0 deficit in the first leg by winning 3-0], that was the greatest noise I've ever heard at a football match. It was this incredible crescendo.' An incredible night at Old Trafford as Man Utd overcome a 2-0 first leg deficit to knock Barcelona out of the European Cup Winners Cup in 84 — When Football Was Better (@FootballInT80s) October 11, 2017 Besides, he says, getting into Europe back then was an achievement in itself. 'In my career, I got in the top four eight times, and never once played in the European Cup. Quite right. It was for the champions. 'I mean, these days you can almost be in the bottom three and qualify for the Champions League, as Spurs proved last season. There are so many clubs in Europe, I see some of the names and I think they've been made up from tiles on the Scrabble board.' For his United, though, there was no Europe that season. English clubs were banned after the Heysel tragedy. All attention was on the league, and Atkinson's failure to win it from a position of such strength ultimately undermined him. 'I organised for Terry Butcher and Kerry Dixon to come in that summer,' he recalls, of trying to rebuild things after the disappointment. 'Everything was sorted, it was a simple matter of getting things signed off by the board. When that didn't happen, I knew it was over for me.' Indeed it was: a year after he had led the league, he was dismissed, to be replaced by a then plain Alex Ferguson. Though he holds no complaints. 'People ask me who was the worst chairman I ever worked under, and there were a few. But I tell you who was the best: Martin Edwards. He was so knowledgeable. And straight. When it was over, it was clean.' He went on to more than a decade of managerial success, winning the League Cup with both Wednesday and Aston Villa, taking Villa to second place [behind Ferguson's United] in the inaugural Premier League. So what was the secret of his success? 'Team building. You want good lads in a team,' he says. 'You don't mind scallywags, but you don't want villains. Scallywags might take the p---, villains are looking to rob you. My philosophy was to make it fun, make them want to come in for training, have the craic, a little razz or two, keep things buoyant.' By his own admission he was not a tactical maestro. Rather, he relied on his man-management skills, fostering a rumbunctious culture around any club he ran. The highlight of his week was five-a-side on a Friday, when he would be at the heart of the action, chivvying, shouting, endlessly mickey–taking. 'I used to love it if a player was carrying a slight knock on a Friday. I'd tell him, you rest ready for Saturday, sit out training. It meant I could join in the five-a-side.' Despite the fun, under Big Ron it was no easy ride. 'I never saw the bad in a player. If he missed a chance I'd always say, at least you were there. When I was a young pro at Oxford, the manager said to me: enthusiasm is free, so use it. I lived by that, always looking at the positive. But I was on them. And yeah, I could be sharp.' How sharp? 'Gordon Strachan said to me the other day: 'You'd last no more than three weeks in management these days if you tried to talk to players like you used to do to us.' Now they'd be saying to me: 'Talk to my agent'. But actually, I'm not sure Strach's right. I think the majority of players today, they'd be happy for a bit of hard talking. They're no different from the players I managed or how I was as a player. They don't want molly-coddling.' So, would he go back? 'People say to me, I bet you'd like to be managing today with all the money they get. Well, we did all right. And I had a great life. Eh, what I always say is this: it was better than working for a living. I did work in a factory, the BSA parts division in Birmingham. The highlight of the day was when one of the girls from the office walked past and we'd all bash the tools against the bench. When that's the best it gets, I tell you what, football is like heaven.' When he left management for the final time, after an inauspicious spell at Nottingham Forest, it was his way with words that forged his next career. He was a brilliant television co-commentator, employing a unique vocabulary that became known as Ron-glish, full of 'early doors' and 'lollipops' and 'giving it eyebrows' at the near post. Where did it all come from? 'Well, when I was a player, the one move I had was a bit of a step-over. The manager at Oxford at the time saw me try it one day and said: 'What are you doing? You look like a steamroller doing a lollipop.' Who knows what he meant. But I liked the phrase and used it ever since.' Language, though, ultimately cost him dear. His wholly uncharacteristic racist rant about Marcel Desailly 20 years ago may have been off air but it was ugly and it brought him down. He was cancelled from mainstream broadcasting, dropped from a column at the Guardian, and lost lucrative commercial contracts. He apologised profusely, did a couple of mea culpa television documentaries, went in the Big Brother house by way of mitigation. But being cowed and down wasn't Ron. He wanted to get back to doing what he had always done: having a laugh. These days he's not lingering over it. This is not a man for regrets. 'Actually I do have one, you know, slight regret,' he says. 'I should never have let Garry Birtles go at United. I know he's had that bad start, not scoring for a year and all that. But that wasn't under me. He did all right for me. I wanted him to stay, but Cloughie [Brian Clough] was in his ear to get him back to Forest. I should have done more to keep him.' These days, after hanging up the microphone on a spell with United's in-house channel MUTV during the pandemic, his involvement in football is now largely on the after-dinner speaking circuit. 'I did an event the other day and there were 11 of us lined up on stage,' he says. 'Roberto Carlos couldn't have bent a free-kick round that wall. It took so long between turns to speak, I could have had a couple of hours' kip.' When he is not on the circuit, he watches football on the television. Though he wonders whether there might be too much these days. 'You ask me which pundits I like, well I used to like Souey [Graeme Souness], but he's gone now. Not sure who out of the current lot I'd make an appointment to listen to. The trouble is, there's so much football on the telly now, nothing stands out.' Still, he watches enough to have opinions, not least of his old club United. 'What would I do if I were in charge there? Well, they could have resolved a lot of stuff by signing a decent striker. They paper over so many cracks. I'd have got Harry Kane. I know they say [Spurs chairman Daniel] Levy wanted £100m for him. OK, so pay £120m. With him up front, the midfield would have known who to pass to, the defence would have played better. Goalscorers make everything better.' As for who he enjoys watching these days, he is unequivocal. 'I love Bruno Fernandes. He's some player. People don't half moan about him, say he doesn't tackle and that. But he's not there to tackle. And I tell you what, if he'd been in that City side, he'd have been as effective as [Kevin] De Bruyne. Yeah, people say he moans at his team-mates. But I don't blame him – some of those he has to play with.' He shakes his head in silent disdain. This is what he can't understand: players who aren't up for the scrap, who don't acknowledge their privilege and fight for it. His own competitive instincts have always been ridiculously strong. When he's not watching the game these days, he likes to freshen them on the golf course. 'Am I still competitive? I was playing golf yesterday with some lads, fell out of the cart and did my elbow, blood everywhere. They're all going: 'Come on Ron, better stop, get to the hospital'. I'm going: 'You only want me to stop so you can win. Let's play on here, shall we?'' It was the love of competition, he says, that always drove him. 'When I was on the touchline I wanted to kill the other manager. But after the game, it was back in my office, mates together and we'd have such a laugh.' He tells a story about how after one match, he was in an intense debate with Joe Royle, who was Everton manager at the time. Ron decided he needed to continue his standard post-match routine, stripped off and headed into the sauna. 'Joe followed me in, sat down alongside me and carried on talking. Only he was still dressed in his suit,' he roars with laughter. It is but one of dozens of anecdotes about his friends and rivals in the game. The sad thing is so many of them – Terry Venables, Jack Charlton, his brother Bobby – have gone, many with dementia. So does he fear that threat himself? 'Did I tell you the story of Joe Royle and the sauna?' he says, by way of an answer, before winking and cackling once more. 'Well, you know, what can you do? It happens or it doesn't. You just have to live life. And I'm loving it.'


Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Prince Harry denies physical altercation with Prince Andrew amid new biography revelations
A representative for the Duke of Sussex has spoken out against claims made in a new unauthorised biography about Prince Andrew, which alleges the royals have a fraught relationship The Duke of Sussex has categorically denied claims that he was involved in a physical altercation with Prince Andrew, dismissing the shocking allegations made in a new biography about the scandal-hit Royal. Following the release of the book titled Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, which insinuates that the brothers-in-law had a fight at a family gathering in 2013, a spokesperson for Prince Harry responded to PEOPLE, stating: "I can confirm neither of those things are true. Prince Harry and Prince Andrew have never had a physical fight, nor did Prince Andrew ever make those comments about the Duchess of Sussex to Prince Harry,". The book by Lownie, portions of which were featured in the Daily Mail, portrays Prince Andrew as a divisive character within the Royal family. It delves into his alleged connections with Jeffrey Epstein and suggests that his relationships with nephews Prince Harry and Prince William have become increasingly tense over the years. The book alleges that Prince William has privately advocated for Andrew's eviction from Royal Lodge, the Windsor estate where the Duke of York currently resides with his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, reports the Mirror US. The biography asserts that William has "long harboured" disdain for both Andrew and Ferguson, whom he reportedly views as out of sync with the future direction of the Royal household. The allegations emerge amidst ongoing public scrutiny and internal tensions within the Royal family, especially after Harry and Meghan's bombshell 2020 departure as senior royals to start a new life in California. Now settled in Montecito, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are busy raising their young brood, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, while dedicating themselves to charitable work and media endeavours. Despite the stormy waters with his kin, Harry hasn't given up on mending fences, telling the BBC in May: "I would love reconciliation with my family," and adding, "There's no point in continuing to fight anymore." On the other side of the pond, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were captured in a seldom-seen family moment along the sunny shores of California. TMZ released snaps on August 1 showing the Sussexes unwinding at Santa Claus Beach in Carpinteria, where they watched their eldest, Prince Archie, catch some waves during a surf lesson. Meghan was the epitome of beach chic in a crisp white shirt paired with frayed denim shorts and a stylish straw hat, complemented by large black shades. Prince Harry opted for a laid-back look, donning a grey tee, black sports shorts, and aviator sunglasses, all topped off with a beige baseball cap.