
Basel rival Rangers for Ancelotti & Metinho
Heavily linked with Rangers, former Real Madrid assistant Davide Ancelotti is a "hot contender" to take over at Swiss champions Basel. (Blick, external - in German)Rangers face a battle to land Brazilian midfielder Metinho as Basel say they want to keep the 22-year-old permanently after his loan from Troyes. (Scottish Sun), externalTroyes would want £5m to part with Rangers midfield target Metinho. (Daily Record), externalEverton are just one of six Premier League clubs keen on Rangers midfielder Mohamed Diomande, but the Ibrox club are in no rush to sell the 23-year-old and would demand a substantial fee. (TeamTalk), externalJamie Vardy is weighing up a move to Rangers as the 38-year-old striker's contract runs out with relegated Leicester City. (Daily Mail, print edition)Former Rangers chairman Dave King has revealed the Ibrox club almost had Saudi owners before the US consortium's takeover. (Sky Sports), external
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Times
14 minutes ago
- Times
Plea to Starmer over ‘devastating' cost of employment rights bill
Businesses keeping Britain's hospitals, train stations, airports, offices, warehouses and factories clean, maintained and secure have warned the prime minister of the 'devastating impact' of the government's employment rights bill. In an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, his deputy Angela Rayner and the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, the 128 companies — including the sector leaders OCS Group, Churchill Group and Mitie — urged the government to rethink its plans. The letter highlighted what its authors believe will be the 'serious unintended consequences' from the large-scale changes to employment law proposed by the legislation, which is passing through parliament. The reforms include making protection from unfair dismissal a right from the first day of employment, increased union representation and more generous sick pay, which has to be paid for by businesses. • Workers' bill 'won't work unless tribunal backlog is cleared' 'We are deeply concerned that some of the bill's provisions … could harm both good employers and the very employees that the bill seeks to protect,' the authors of the letter say. The additional costs or risks of hiring the wrong person for a role would 'force some employers to reduce staff headcount or reduce their hours, turn down new contracts, or even exit the market altogether,' they added. Dominic Ponniah, chief executive of the office and commercial cleaning company Cleanology and a co-author of the letter, said concerns had been building about the negative impact of the legislation for some months, but they had come to a head once facilities management firms had seen the impact on their operating costs of April's rise in employers' national insurance to 15 per cent. 'Suddenly people are feeling that on their bottom lines and we need to make our voice heard,' he said. The 128 signatories of the letter also include Josie Marshall-Deane, regional director of OCS Group, whose services include passenger screening, surveillance and emergency response at airports, and Charlotte Parr, executive director of Churchill Group, which is majority-owned by 10,000 of its employees and works to maintain social housing for housing associations, among other services. The facilities management industry overall employs 1.4 million people and generates £60 billion for the economy, making it many times more important for economic growth than other more favoured industries such as fashion and farming, the authors note. It is dominated by thousands of small and medium-sized companies, typically operating on tight profit margins. They said the changes to employment law 'risk penalising the good companies while doing little to deter the bad players'. The companies make clear their support for the government's efforts to tackle exploitative labour practices and establish fair treatment of agency workers. The government is phasing in the introduction of the new rights, which it has calculated could add £5 billion in costs to the economy each year. Smaller companies will be hit disproportionately, it acknowledges. It has said most of the new rules would not take effect until next year. A Government spokesperson said: 'Insecurity and poor health at work aren't just bad for workers, they also impact productivity and drive down competitiveness in businesses and the wider economy. 'That's why through our transformative plan for change, this government is delivering the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation, and our measures already have strong support amongst business and the public. 'We've consulted extensively with business on our proposals, and we will engage on the implementation of legislation to ensure it works for employers and puts money back into the pockets of working people.'

Leader Live
an hour ago
- Leader Live
Rangers on verge of appointing Russell Martin as new head coach
The 39-year-old former Southampton boss will be installed in the Ibrox hotseat in the next 48 hours, barring any last-minute hitches. The appointment of a new man at the helm is the latest in a series of major changes at the club. An American consortium led by Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises secured a majority shareholding on Friday and new sporting director Kevin Thelwell officially began work on Monday, when he said that the recruitment of a new head coach would come to a conclusion 'in the coming days'. Outgoing Real Madrid assistant manager Davide Ancelotti, son of Carlo Ancelotti, and Martin were the two frontrunners for the post, vacated by Philippe Clement in February, with former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson taking over to the end of the season, which ended trophyless. However, it is the former MK Dons and Swansea boss, who had a short loan spell as a player at Rangers in 2018, who will be tasked with wrestling the power back from the other side of the city where Celtic this season won their 13th William Hill Premiership title in 14 seasons and have a stranglehold on Scottish football. However, many Rangers fans have revealed some dismay at the notion of Martin's arrival. The former Scotland international brought Southampton up to the Premier League through the play-offs in 2024 but was sacked in December as they headed back towards the Championship with one win from their first 16 games. Chris Hughton, Martin's boss at Norwich, offered a glowing character reference, saying on talkSPORT: 'If I'm looking at Russell's managerial background, he is known of course, for playing a certain way, very expansive in the way that he wants to play, very much a passing game and progression through the thirds. 'But he's a strong personality also. He's had a few knockbacks in his football career so far. 'I think any knockbacks, he will look at very much as experience and look to improve in every aspect that he can. I saw him recently, and he was in good form and really looking forward to getting back into the game. 'I think he's had a few offers. So this is somebody that's still very respected in the game, and of course, the rollercoaster in management, there are always going to be ups and downs, but he's a very confident individual and very confident in what he wants to do on the football pitch. 'He was very much a leader in the changing room, vocal in the meetings that we had and, of course, he was my voice when it came to any sort of direction on the players. 'So no surprise to me that he eventually went into management. He always showed those characteristics. And he was somebody that, as he improved in his career as a player, is of course very much looking to improve the same way in management.'


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
STEPHEN GLOVER: By not stopping the boats, Starmer is signing his political death warrant. But there IS one solution, if only he's brave enough
Let's assume Sir Keir Starmer wants to win the next election. Let's also assume he has no desire to be replaced as Prime Minister in the next year or so by Wes Streeting or or anyone else. He's a politician, after all, and politicians relish power – Starmer more than most, I would think. I also suggest that he's at least averagely intelligent, and should be able to weigh up the chances of any policy succeeding.