
Pick your Everton player of the season
We asked our Everton fan contributor for their four candidates for player of the season and you can now select your top one.
Jarrad BranthwaiteNot as strong a campaign as last, but an early-season injury made it a slow start for the 22-year-old. He has looked back to his imperious best in recent weeks and is showing once again why he is the club's biggest asset. No doubt the rumour mill will be in full swing this summer.Iliman NdiayeA breath of fresh air in a side that has craved creativity for many years. Proved his attacking worth with goals from wide left, with Evertonians eager to see him given more game time just behind the striker. The knee injury suffered against Liverpool in February derailed things slightly, but an impressive first season nonetheless.Jordan PickfordThe biggest compliment I can pay England's number one is that his consistency has become his norm. Despite the usual apparent agenda against him from many who don't watch him every week, his importance for Everton has once again come through.Idrissa GueyeEven at aged 35, he has proven once again how invaluable he is to the Everton midfield. Leading the way in tackles and interceptions for the club this season, it is fair to say he has aged like a fine wine. He is out of contract this summer - but it is absolutely imperative he is a given a new one.Pick your 2024-25 Everton player of the season from our shortlist hereAnd tell us why you're picking who you are, or why you'd have gone for another player not on the list, here
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The Herald Scotland
37 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Thursday's briefing: Bellingham upsets Tuchel's mother with behaviour
Jack Grealish has been left out of Manchester City's squad for the upcoming Club World Cup. Tuchel questions Bellingham's conduct Thomas Tuchel said his mother finds some of Jude Bellingham's on-field behaviour 'repulsive' (John Walton/PA) Thomas Tuchel said he loves Jude Bellingham's 'fire' but England's head coach revealed his mother finds some of the midfielder's on-field antics 'repulsive'. The 21-year-old was angry with officials on Tuesday after his equaliser against Senegal was ruled out following a contentious VAR intervention for a handball by Levi Colwill. The midfielder kicked a water cooler after the 3-1 loss and the following day Tuchel made some extraordinary remarks about him in an interview with talkSPORT. Put to the head coach that some fans think England would be better off without Bellingham, he said: 'I struggle to see that. 'I think it has to be the other way around – how we can have the best version of him and the best acceptance, that people understand what he is bringing to us and that he is bringing a certain edge. 'But I see that it can create mixed emotions. I see this with my parents, with my mum, that she sometimes cannot see the nice and well-educated and well-behaved guy that I see. 'If he smiles, he wins everyone. But sometimes you see the rage, you see the hunger and the rage and the fire, and it comes out in a way that can be a bit repulsive, for example, for my mother, when she sits in front of the TV.' Kane calls for England to learn Harry Kane called for England to learn from their loss to Senegal (Mike Egerton/PA) Harry Kane meanwhile insisted England can use their 3-1 defeat to Senegal on Tuesday to 'learn and appreciate' the level they need to reach. The 31-year-old got England off to a flying start when he turned home from close range in the seventh minute for his 73rd goal for his country. However, Ismaila Sarr's equaliser five minutes before the break shifted the momentum before second-half strikes from Habib Diarra and Cheikh Sabaly earned Senegal victory and handed Thomas Tuchel his first defeat as England boss. England thought that they had equalised to make it 2-2 but Bellingham's effort was ruled out following a lengthy VAR check after the ball seemingly came off Colwill's arm from a set-piece. Kane was upset with some of the officiating at the City Ground, but felt defeat may not be a bad thing for a team that is trying to learn from a new boss. He said: 'It might feel a bit different but sometimes nights like tonight are not a terrible thing… to learn and appreciate how hard it is to win against any team.' Grealish out of City squad Jack Grealish has been left out of Manchester City's Club World Cup squad (Martin Rickett/PA) Jack Grealish has been left out of Manchester City's squad for the Club World Cup. The England international was not included in the 27-man travelling party published by the Premier League club on Wednesday. The 29-year-old's omission had been widely anticipated and will raise further doubts over his future at the Etihad Stadium. The midfielder, signed for £100million from Aston Villa four years ago, has fallen down the pecking order at City since playing a starring role in their treble success of 2023. He made just seven Premier League starts in the 2024-25 campaign and was notably not summoned from the bench as City went down to a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final last month. He was then left out of the matchday squad for the final Premier League game of the season at Fulham altogether. With City's overhaul of the squad continuing apace with four new signings this week, there is growing speculation Grealish could leave. He has been linked with a number of clubs in England and in Europe. What's on today? Good vibes ahead of the #U21EURO! 😁 Final prep for tomorrow's game against Czechia for our #YoungLions 👊 — England (@England) June 11, 2025 England under-21s begin their European Championship defence against the Czech Republic in Slovakia. Lee Carsley's side beat Spain two years ago win the title for a third time. Germany and the Netherlands are also among the teams to get their campaigns underway.


Glasgow Times
43 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Thursday's briefing: Bellingham upsets Tuchel's mother with behaviour
Harry Kane called on England to learn from their chastening 3-1 defeat to Senegal. Jack Grealish has been left out of Manchester City's squad for the upcoming Club World Cup. Tuchel questions Bellingham's conduct Thomas Tuchel said his mother finds some of Jude Bellingham's on-field behaviour 'repulsive' (John Walton/PA) Thomas Tuchel said he loves Jude Bellingham's 'fire' but England's head coach revealed his mother finds some of the midfielder's on-field antics 'repulsive'. The 21-year-old was angry with officials on Tuesday after his equaliser against Senegal was ruled out following a contentious VAR intervention for a handball by Levi Colwill. The midfielder kicked a water cooler after the 3-1 loss and the following day Tuchel made some extraordinary remarks about him in an interview with talkSPORT. Put to the head coach that some fans think England would be better off without Bellingham, he said: 'I struggle to see that. 'I think it has to be the other way around – how we can have the best version of him and the best acceptance, that people understand what he is bringing to us and that he is bringing a certain edge. 'But I see that it can create mixed emotions. I see this with my parents, with my mum, that she sometimes cannot see the nice and well-educated and well-behaved guy that I see. 'If he smiles, he wins everyone. But sometimes you see the rage, you see the hunger and the rage and the fire, and it comes out in a way that can be a bit repulsive, for example, for my mother, when she sits in front of the TV.' Kane calls for England to learn Harry Kane called for England to learn from their loss to Senegal (Mike Egerton/PA) Harry Kane meanwhile insisted England can use their 3-1 defeat to Senegal on Tuesday to 'learn and appreciate' the level they need to reach. The 31-year-old got England off to a flying start when he turned home from close range in the seventh minute for his 73rd goal for his country. However, Ismaila Sarr's equaliser five minutes before the break shifted the momentum before second-half strikes from Habib Diarra and Cheikh Sabaly earned Senegal victory and handed Thomas Tuchel his first defeat as England boss. England thought that they had equalised to make it 2-2 but Bellingham's effort was ruled out following a lengthy VAR check after the ball seemingly came off Colwill's arm from a set-piece. Kane was upset with some of the officiating at the City Ground, but felt defeat may not be a bad thing for a team that is trying to learn from a new boss. He said: 'It might feel a bit different but sometimes nights like tonight are not a terrible thing… to learn and appreciate how hard it is to win against any team.' Grealish out of City squad Jack Grealish has been left out of Manchester City's Club World Cup squad (Martin Rickett/PA) Jack Grealish has been left out of Manchester City's squad for the Club World Cup. The England international was not included in the 27-man travelling party published by the Premier League club on Wednesday. The 29-year-old's omission had been widely anticipated and will raise further doubts over his future at the Etihad Stadium. The midfielder, signed for £100million from Aston Villa four years ago, has fallen down the pecking order at City since playing a starring role in their treble success of 2023. He made just seven Premier League starts in the 2024-25 campaign and was notably not summoned from the bench as City went down to a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final last month. He was then left out of the matchday squad for the final Premier League game of the season at Fulham altogether. With City's overhaul of the squad continuing apace with four new signings this week, there is growing speculation Grealish could leave. He has been linked with a number of clubs in England and in Europe. What's on today? Good vibes ahead of the #U21EURO! 😁 Final prep for tomorrow's game against Czechia for our #YoungLions 👊 — England (@England) June 11, 2025 England under-21s begin their European Championship defence against the Czech Republic in Slovakia. Lee Carsley's side beat Spain two years ago win the title for a third time. Germany and the Netherlands are also among the teams to get their campaigns underway.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Sky Sports News' golden age at an end as rival platforms turn up the volume
A constant in pubs, gyms and hotel breakfast rooms, almost always with the sound down. Perhaps not since cinema's silent age have faces been so familiar without the general public knowing their voices. The vibe is more casual than in previous times, shirt sleeves rather than business suits, but the formula remains the same: a carousel of news, clips, quotes, quips, centred around highlights, all framed within a constant flow of results, fixtures and league tables. Sky Sports News hits 27 years of broadcasting in August, having been launched for the 1998-99 football season by BSkyB. As the domestic football season concluded, news came of changes within the Osterley-based newsroom. Seven members of the broadcast talent team would be leaving, including the long-serving Rob Wotton and the senior football reporter Melissa Reddy, within a process of voluntary redundancies. Sky sources – not those Sky sources – are keen to state the changes are not a cost-cutting exercise, instead a redress of SSN's place within a changing media environment. Ronan Kemp, the One Show presenter and Celebrity Goggleboxer, is understood to be in discussions to join Sky and despite Wotton's departure, Ref Watch will still be serving those who get their kicks from re-refereeing matches and VAR calls. Rolling news, which became common currency around the time of the initial Gulf war with Iraq is no longer the go-to information environment. Sky News, SSN's sister organisation, is going through similar changes, including the loss of the veteran anchor Kay Burley. The smartphone, where news alerts supplant even social media, takes the strain of keeping the world informed of Micky van de Ven's latest hamstring injury. Desperate to hear even more from Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville? There are podcasts and YouTube channels available at a swipe. In the US, ESPN's SportsCenter and its accompanying ESPNews channel were the progenitors of a medium copied globally and by Sky in launching SSN. SportsCenter is a flagship in marked decline from a golden 1990s era that made American household names of presenters such as Stuart Scott, Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick. ESPN, an organisation in the process of taking itself to digital platforms as cable TV gets mothballed, closed SportsCenter's Los Angeles studio in March. Linear TV's death will be slow, but it is dying nonetheless as streaming, all bundles and consumer choice, takes hold. Meanwhile, YouTube channels, with production values way below industry standard, amass huge audiences for fan-owned, independent media. The time of viewers tuning in for 10pm highlights voiced over by presenters' catchphrases – Scott's 'boo yah!' being the prime example – has long passed. Social media and YouTube have killed the demand. Though live sports remain the foundation of broadcasting contracts, highlights and analysis can be watched at the time of the viewers' choice. Digital is where the eyeballs go, and what the advertising dollar is attracted to, despite the ubiquity of Go Compare et al. Viewing figures remain healthy but the game is now about far more than ratings. SSN's imperial period was the early millennium days of Dave Clark and Kirsty Gallacher's toothsome double act, to a time when the yellow ticker of breaking news held great sway, though not always delivering on its promise of earthquake journalism (news of Nicky Shorey's Reading contract extension, anyone?). Millie Clode, Di Stewart, Charlotte Jackson, Kelly Cates: a nation turned its lonely eyes to them. Then there was transfer deadline day, more important than the football itself. Long, frantic hours spent hearing Jim White's Glaswegian whine declare anything could happen on this day of days. In the early years it often did, from Peter Odemwingie's mercy dash to Loftus Road to the brandishing of a sex toy in the earhole of reporter Alan Irwin outside Everton's training ground. Another reporter, Andy 'four phones' Burton, labelled the night the 2008 window closed: 'The best day of my life, apart from when my son was born.' Eventually, though, it became too knowing. Not even White's yellow tie, as garish as his hype, accompanied by Natalie Sawyer's yellow dress, could stop the event from becoming desperate hours chasing diminishing returns. Live television is a challenging environment, especially with nothing to feed off. Though many presenters have been lampooned – abused in the more carrion social media age – the difficulty of 'going live' with an earpiece full of instructions and timings should never be underestimated. How does Mike Wedderburn, the channel's first presenter, make it look so easy? When, in a broadcasting-carriage dispute between Virgin and Sky, Setanta Sports News was given brief life in 2007 – 22 months as the Dagmar to Sky's Queen Vic – it was made apparent how hard, and costly, the business can be. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Over-exposure to SSN – as happens when someone works in a newspaper sports department, say – can lead to contempt. The joins can be seen, too. Haven't they done that same gag for the past six hours and each time pretended it was an ad lib? Just what is Gary Cotterill up to this time? Why did Bryan Swanson always use such portentous tones? From morning till night, it would be ever-present. On weekend evenings, when you caught the skilled veteran duo of Julian Waters and the late David Bobin running through the day's events, you knew it was time to leave the office, down that late drink, question your life choices, the pair's clipped tones taking on the effect of a lonely late-night cab ride. SSN is forced to move with the times. As is the case across the industry, journalists have often been supplanted by influencers, as the mythical, perhaps unreachable, 'younger audience' is chased. That is not to say the channel is short of decent reporting. In the aftermath of the 2022 Champions League final in Paris, chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol produced a superb account of the ensuing chaos and danger while others floundered for detail. SSN, like SportsCenter across the Atlantic, is now more a production factory for content being sent across the internet, published to multiple platforms, than it is a rolling news channel. Within press statements around the redundancies there was the word 'agile', a term repurposed – and overused – in the business world, but meaning doing more with less. Next season, as heavily trailed on SSN right now, Sky will have 215 Premier League live matches to show, including every game played on Sundays. That requires the company's shift in focus, for Sky Sports News in particular. Though look up wherever you are and it will still be on in the corner, almost certainly with the sound down.