Rodgers will 'fight' to keep Taylor
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers says he will "fight to the very end" to try to keep Greg Taylor at the club, with the defender's contract due to expire this summer. (Football Scotland), externalJames Forrest credits the "humble" nature of Celtic's dressing room for their success this season as they move to the brink of another Scottish Premiership title, which would be his 13th with the club. (Daily Record), externalRead the rest of Monday's Scottish gossip.
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Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Exclusive: Firing Bonnyrigg Rose back to SPFL is only fix for relegation heartache, insists boss Jonny Stewart
New Dundas Park is currently undergoing major renovation works. Picture: Bonnyrigg Rose Jonny Stewart is Bonnyrigg Rose through and through. Sign up to our daily 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... The former midfield maestro celebrated his testimonial last year after a decade at New Dundas Park, spending the lion's share as captain collecting trophy after trophy as Rose motored up the pyramid ladder before finally reaching the promise land of the SPFL in 2022. However, it all came crashing down last month as the Midlothian outfit surrendered their place in Scottish football's fourth tier after a 3-1 aggregate defeat to East Kilbride in the play-offs. They will now kick off their league campaign next month as a Lowland League side once more. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad For Stewart, who replaced predecessor Calum Elliot in March as head coach, his appointment proved to be too little too late. Despite steadying the ship, and picking up maximum points from their last three league fixtures, Rose finished at the foot of League Two on 36 points, level with Forfar but consigned to the play-off by the virtue of an inferior goal difference. The club were also deducted six points for breaching SPFL rules over the gradient of their pitch in November. Former captain Jonny Stewart spent 10 years at Bonnyrigg as a player. He will now try to steer them back to the SPFL as head coach. Picture: Joe Gilhooley LRPS For 35-year-old Stewart, who managed Lowland League rivals Tranent last season before taking up the reins at Bonnyrigg, he admits he still trying to come to terms with the heartache of relegation but is plotting an immediate return to the SPFL at the first time of asking. "It's been so tough to be honest and I don't know if I am over it yet," he told the Evening New. "I was part of the journey in getting the club into the SPFL, so I know how much how much effort went into it, from people behind the scenes, to the players, the whole community, there was a right togetherness. "To be involved in the club coming back down, it's so disappoining, not just for myself but for everyone connected with Bonnyrigg. It's been tough. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "It's hard to explain - it's never nice being relegated on your home patch. The East Kilbride fans were running on the pitch at the end and all their players are celebrating, so it's a horrible feeling. But credit to our fans as there were a number of them who stayed and clapped the boys off and that's testament to them and the support they've given us. "What can you say after a game like that? There's only a few words. I thanked some of the guys for their efforts because it was their last game for the club - it was very quiet. But I told them make sure you never experience this feeling again, even if it's with Bonnyrigg or another team." Stewart believes his remit of steering the club to promotion next season is a much more formidable challenge in comparison to what he and his team-mates encountered three years ago. He has recruited well so far with the vastly experienced Billy King joining from Arbroath and goalkeeper Ross Connelly from Albion Rovers. Captain Kerr Young and Callum Connonlly are also staying after penning new deals but popular striker Keiran McGachie is moving onto pastures new with East of Scotland side Easthouses Lily. "We know it's not going to be easy," he said. "The Lowland League is extremely difficult to get out of, even more so than when we were promoted three years ago. It's definitely stronger. A lot of the teams play good football and are well organised. It's going to be a different challenge. There's probably at least six clubs that will think they have a right good chance. But it's got to be our aim to get the club back into League Two as quickly as possible. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "If you look at the clubs who have dropped down from League Two, none of them have come close to being promoted again so that proves it's not easy. But we've done it before, we know what it takes to instil that winning mentality. There's no secret the squad has needed freshened up so it's important we bring in new faces, but it's also vital we keep a spine of that team, the likes of Neil Martyniuk, Kerr Young, Lee Currie and Callum Connolly, boys who have been there before and know what it takes to get the club promoted. "The board have been clear on what my budget is. It won't be the highest but it won't be the lowest in the league. It's been a challenge because a lot of players had already signed up for next season elsewhere months ago, but we didn't know what league we were going to be in right up until a few weeks ago. Being relegated does change everything, but I'm happy with what I've brought in so far and I'm still looking to bring in another three or four new faces. I'm confident we'll get there for the start of the season." Renovation work is underway on the New Dundas Park pitch to level the playing surface, a major project that will see the club play some of their home fixtures away from the Midlothian venue for the first few weeks of the season. The club has also been drawn in Group C of the Premier Sports Cup and have some exciting ties against Montrose, Alloa, Airdrie and Premiership side Dundee, to look forward to. "There are positives going into the season, the main one being the brand new pitch so the surface should be excellent," Stewart stressed. "There's also a lot of work going on in and around the ground too. Unfortunately we're going to have play some home games away from New Dundas at the start of the season but we just have to deal with that. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "I hope the fans keep backing us. The support we've had is unrivalled, especially in the lower leagues. We'll be by far the most backed team in the league next season and I'm hoping they keep turning out in their numbers. "I think all we can do is try and put relegation behind us as quickly as possible. We're back to training next week, let's try and bounce back and get into that promotion position ASAP."
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Scots icon revered in Manchester just loved beating England
Elegant but belligerent, acrobatic but accurate, charismatic and courageous, he'd dive down among flailing boots – anything for a goal. Including bicycle kicks, of which he was a pioneer. Iconic (oops!) photos showed him leaping higher than clouds. His trademark of sleeve-covered hands was copied by wee boys up and down the land, though its cause was purely practical: 'My nose was always running.' Star of Manchester United, Manchester City and Scotland, he's the only Scottish player to have won the Ballon d'Or. Dubbed 'The King', 'Lawman' and 'Denis the Menace', he was part of the famous United Trinity, with Bobby Charlton and George Best. A 'pauper who became 'the King'', as a Herald obituary put it, Denis Law was born in Aberdeen on 24 February 1940 to Robina and George Law, a trawlerman who didn't much like football. In a granite council flat two miles from Pittodrie, some of the seven children slept 'three to a bed in Aberdeen and no pyjamas'. It was 'the classic spartan Scottish upbringing of the time', Law recalled. Clothes on tick, comb-and-paper music, a Dinky car and a tangerine for Christmas. Barefoot until he was 12, he wore hand-me-down shoes throughout adolescence. At 16, he got his first football boots, a second-hand birthday present from a neighbour. He supported Aberdeen and watched them when he'd enough money. Eschewed Aberdeen Grammar, because it played rugby, he attended Powis Academy instead. A bad squint earned him the nickname 'Cockeye', but he showed promise on the pitch and was selected for Scotland Schoolboys. TRIAL BY LAW SOON, he was spotted by a scout for second division Huddersfield Town, who invited the youngster to a trial ('12 bloody hours' by train from Aberdeen). At Huddersfield station, a club official greeted the small, slim, speccy 15-year-old: 'You're Law? Really?' The manager declared: 'The boy's a freak. Never did I see a less likely football prospect – weak, puny and bespectacled.' Still, they signed him on a wage of £4 a week (leaving £1 after digs and sending money home). They also got him an operation to correct his squint, enhancing his self-confidence. On his debut, Huddersfield's youngest ever player at 16, he scored in a 2–1 win over Notts County. Manchester United manager Matt Busby tried buying him for £10,000 (£300,000-odd today)] but Huddersfield turned him down. Later Huddersfield manager Bill Shankly wanted to take him to Liverpool with him, but the Merseyside giants couldn't afford him. Changed days. In 1960, Law signed for Manchester City for a then British record fee of £55,000 (about 1.7 million squids today), of which Law saw though 'precisely nothing'. He scored on his debut against Leeds but excelled himself with six goals in a cup tie against Luton. However, the match was abandoned with 20 minutes to go, so his six goals didn't count. Luton won the replay 3–1, Law scoring City's a year at Maine Road, he was sold to Italian club Torino for – yep – another British record of £110,000 (3 million-odd today). Crowds at Torino airport greeted him like a movie star, but Italy was a culture shock: luxury hotels, medical attention, sports science (though the captain smoked a pipe), obsessive media. And big money, though it was performance-related: feast or football was (is) dull, joyless, ultra-defensive. Denis was heavily marked and aggressively tackled. Soon, he put in a transfer request, which was ignored. He left anyway, flying home to Aberdeen and signing for Manchester United for – all together now – a new British record fee of £115,000. Not that Torino had been a complete waste of time. He returned with a range of operatic gestures, 'along with a liking for pink shirts and Pinot Noir'. Back in Manchester, Law boarded with the same landlady as before. He scored a hat-trick in a 5–0 win against his old club Huddersfield and the first goal against Leicester as United won 3–1 in the only FA Cup final of his career. He finished season 1963-4 with 46 goals, still a club record, and scored 28 the following season as Man U won the league. In 1968, United won the European Cup for the first time, but a recurrent sair knee meant Law missed the match and, indeed, almost all of season 1969-70. AMBITIOUS GOALS AFTER 11 years at United, during which he'd scored 237 goals in 404 games – placing him third in the club's history, behind Wayne Rooney and Bobby Charlton – Law signed for Manchester City the last game of the 1973-74 season, City played United, who were fighting relegation. On the 81st minute, Law back-heeled one in for City but refused to celebrate. As it turned out, his angst was academic. Other results means United were going down much for club football. Law's greatest love was pulling on a Scotland shirt – 'most of all against England'. His 'blackest day' was playing in a 9-3 defeat to the Auld Enemy in 1961. His happiest day was scoring in Scotland's famous 3–2 victory less than a year after England had become world champions in 1966 – a game Law didn't watch, playing golf instead. READ MORE: Robert McNeil: I detest yon Romans but I dig excavating their wee fortlets RAB MCNEIL'S SCOTTISH ICONS: John Knox – the fiery preacher whose pal got burnt at the stake Rab McNeil: All this talk about celebs and their neuroses is getting on my nerves In the 1974 World Cup, Law played in Scotland's first match against Zaire. It was to be his last. Scotland won 2-0 but he didn't score and was "very disappointed" not to be picked for the following matches against Brazil and Yugoslavia. He had played for Scotland 55 times and holds the country's record tally of 30 goals jointly with Kenny Dalglish. So much for posterity, which has deservedly been kind to him. In 2016, he became a CBE, taking command of the British Empire. And there are statues: two at Old Trafford and two in Aberdeen. At an unveiling in his home city in 2012, he choked back tears as he declared: 'I will always be an Aberdonian.' At the unveiling of a second city statue at Marischal Square in 2021, legendary Aberdeen and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told the crowd: 'He was the greatest Scots player of all time, no question.'
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Scotland's quickest-ever woman is back and ready to run fast
It was quite a contrast for the Scot who, just a few years earlier, had established herself as the fastest Scottish woman in history and was, it seemed, on her way to becoming a truly world class sprinter. But just as she was peaking, the worst of luck struck Rees. In the summer of 2023, only a few months after setting a new Scottish indoor 60m record (she was already Scottish 100m record holder), Rees tore her hamstring. In itself, this would be a serious enough setback but more bad fortune was to follow, with Rees being diagnosed with arthritis in her pelvis which, it turned out, was the source of her crippling pain. Given her physical issues, it's perhaps no surprise that the Edinburgh AC athlete began to accept that her career as an elite runner may have been halted just as she was hitting her peak. 'This time last year, I really wasn't sure if I would ever compete again because I couldn't even walk without pain,' the 26-year-old says. 'I would go to the track to do rehab and watch people running and I just couldn't ever imagine that being me again. 'It was a really tough time because I was still turning up to training, but I didn't feel like I was in the sport anymore.' Rees admits that the prospect of hanging up her spikes for good was a 'constant thought' but it was watching the Paris Olympics last summer that persuaded her to give athletics one more shot. 'Last year, I became a 'normal person', not an athlete and I had a good time but when the Olympics was on television I thought, yes, I've had a fun summer but I want to give it another go because I still had a real drive to compete at major championships,' she says. 'Giving up would have been the easy option, and I think me a few years ago would have quit but I didn't want to reach the end of my career and feel like I hadn't given it everything.' A change of medication kick-started a recovery that saw Rees tentatively return to training and turn of the year went encouragingly smoothly, to the point that she felt able to dip her toe back into the world of competitive sprinting. Alisha Rees is Scottish women's 100m record holder (Image: Alex Livesey/ Getty Images) In the past two months, Rees has raced six times and while she's not producing the sort of times she was at her very best - her fastest time this season is 11.78 seconds in comparison to her Scottish record of 11.30 seconds - when she takes a step back she's able to appreciate the distance she's travelled since this time last year. 'It's strange being back competing, because you forget what it's like. Before my first race back, I couldn't sleep the night before because I was so nervous,' she says. 'But it's so good to be back. I know it will take time to get close to where I was before, but it's very hard to be patient. 'I've got faster nearly every time I've raced, though, and I do believe that by the end of the season, I'll be in a position where I'm happy with how I'm running.' There will, Rees hopes, be further improvement in her performance within the coming weeks, which will lay the foundations for a strong performance at the British Championships in August, which is where her injury issues began two years ago. She is, however, reluctant to set too many long-term goals - her injury issues make it impossible to know just how her body will cope with the stresses and strains of elite-level sprinting - and so her focus remains on appreciating her health and fitness and any success on the track will be a welcome, and well-deserved, bonus. 'I'm enjoying the sport again, which is so nice because last year it was a very unenjoyable time,' she says. 'I'm happy to be turning up at training and able to do the sessions, so I'm feeling good. 'There's the Commonwealth Games next year but this time, I'm in a very different position from where I was a year out from the 2022 Commonwealth Games. 'Obviously, I would love to target an individual spot in the team next year, but at the moment it's hard to know if that's realistic or not because I've still not raced much. 'There's also the chance to go for a relay spot, which would be amazing too, because a home Games will obviously be amazing. 'The goal for this year was to get back racing and I've already hit that target so it'll be nice to see where I can go from here.'
