Celtic co-operation agreement plans change amid Queens Park problems
Previously spending a staggering £5.7million in the Championship Scotland's oldest senior club need to slash expenditure to around £1million a year.
With Queen's unable to commit to a long term tie up, Premiership champions Celtic have now held discussions with Ayr, managed by former Parkhead captain Brown, with midfielder Jude Bonnar expected to be first to move to Somerset Park.
The SFA have given clubs the green light to team up to boost the number of first team opportunities for young Scottish players between the ages of 16 and 21.
Recent figures from CIES Observatory show that St Mirren offered just 0.8% of their available first team minutes to players aged 21 or under last season. Dundee had the highest figure in the SPFL Premiership with 24.8%.
Under the new rules, up to three players can be placed on a co-operation list and allowed to move freely to move between the co-op club and parent club in order to increase their first team experience.
Aberdeen have confirmed agreements with League Two Elgin City and Kelty Hearts of League One.
Read more from Stephen McGowan:
Defenders Dylan Ross and Jamie Mercer have joined City with Lewis Carrol, Joseph Teasdale and Cooper Masson heading to Fife.
Director of Football Steven Gunn claims the agreements: 'create a clear pathway for promising young players to gain valuable senior football experience, learn from good professionals and be better prepared for the demands of first team football at Aberdeen.'
St Mirren will team up Dumbarton of League Two and Lowland League team Clydebank.
Carrick McEvoy, Thomas Falconer and Theo McCormick have already joined Dumbarton while Billy Hutchison has moved to Clydebank.
St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson said: "I firmly believe in the loan system to develop our young players and something that hindered that previously was not being able to bring them back at certain stages or leaving yourselves short in numbers.
"With the cooperation agreement we are able to get them into men's football and develop under other coaches. Hopefully we can also help the coaches and the clubs they are going to. It will be a great benefit for both parties.
"All in all, I believe it's a brilliant way to develop young players in Scotland and doesn't compromise any young players coming back into the first-team."
Newly promoted League Two side East Kilbride have also agreed a deal with Hibernian. Goalkeeper Freddie Owens and forward Dean Cleland have already moved to K Park.
Rangers are expected to confirm a co-operation agreement with Championship side Raith Rovers.
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BBC News
6 minutes ago
- BBC News
Fine margins: How Norris lost out to Piastri in Belgium
Oscar Piastri's victory in the Belgian Grand Prix underlined the fine margins that will likely decide the world championship battle with his team-mate Lando Australian bounced back after two consecutive victories for Norris on a weekend on which the advantage swung back and forth between the McLaren drivers almost from session to pair arrived at Spa-Francorchamps on the back of two consecutive wins for Norris, one from the front in Austria, one somewhat fortuitous after a penalty for Piastri at took a pole position each in Belgium - one for Piastri for the sprint, and one for Norris for the grand prix. And the race turned on a few key drive was from the top drawer - he took the lead from Norris at the rolling start after a few exploratory laps behind the safety car in the wet by being, by Norris' admission, a little braver through Eau Rouge on the first he managed his position with careful judgement to make his medium-compound tyres last to the end while under pressure from the closing Norris on more durable Norris may look back on a few small errors in which he could have done better. He said he "couldn't have won". He probably could not. But he could have given himself a slither of a chance, despite the difficult position he was in by leading at the start. The start Piastri had demonstrated how difficult it is for the driver on pole to lead by the end of the first lap at Spa by losing the sprint race win to Red Bull's Max Dutchman slipstreamed past Piastri up the hill to Les Combes, and then held the McLaren at bay for 15 laps, while Norris followed closely in the grand prix, it was Norris in front, with Piastri in second and Piastri had been thinking about the opportunity this presented him since losing out on pole the day team boss Andrea Stella said: "This weekend, Oscar, if anything, the only inaccuracy was in qualifying, where his laps weren't perfect."At the same time, we have to say that after the sprint qualifying, he said, 'Yeah, I'm in pole position, but maybe this is not the right place to be in pole position.'"And as a joke, after the qualifying yesterday, he said, 'That was not my best lap in Q3, but perhaps this is the best place not to have the best lap in Q3.'"Sure enough, Piastri took the lead on lap one of the grand prix, just as Verstappen had the day before."I had a good run out of Turn One," he said, "and then tried to be as brave as I could through Eau Rouge and was able to stay pretty close. After that, the slipstream did the rest for me."When I watched the onboard back, it didn't look quite as scary as it felt in the car. I knew that I had to be very committed to pull that off."But Norris could have done a better job. For a start, he failed to build himself a gap over the finish line by arguably going too early at the restart. Then he made a mistake at La Source, which allowed Piastri to be right on his tail approaching Eau Rouge."I didn't have the best Turn One," Norris said. "So it's hard to know how much that played a part. At the same time, Oscar came past me pretty easily. So even if I had a better Turn One, his run and the slipstream probably still would have got me."Stella said: "It would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position starting first at the safety car restart. At the same time, I think Lando didn't help himself by not having a great gap on the finish line." The pit stops The next turning point was the stops. Piastri had first choice as leader, and went for mediums with a stop on lap could have pitted Norris at the same time - the so-called double-stack - but went for another lap, and decided for hard tyres, to go to the end. Piastri was planning the same but didn't know whether the mediums would make had been just under two seconds behind when Piastri pitted, and was nine seconds back when he rejoined the seconds of that offset can be accounted for by a slower pit stop, the other five by the extra lap on worn intermediates. A double-stack would have cost less time - but then he'd have been on the mediums, and the race effectively already said: "To catch Oscar from that gap is quite an achievement. I gave it a good shot, but just not close enough."Piastri said: "It was quite a late decision to pit on the lap we did, but there's risks either way. If I was in Lando's position, I probably would have done the same thing. At that point, it seemed like the safest thing to do was go on the medium, because the hard is two steps harder here."Stella said: "We did consider double stacking. At the same time, it was possible for Lando to deviate. He opted to deviate, which would have given him the possibility to go on hard tyres, which is what he decided to do."Actually, I thought at some stage that that would have been a very good move, but I have to say that Oscar managed a very solid and strong stint on the medium tyres. Even if Lando was, on average, a little bit faster, that was not enough to attack Oscar at the end." The chase Norris now had to try to chase Piastri down. He got to within 3.4 seconds by the end of the race, but he probably lost a little more than that with three errors during his ran wide at the fast Pouhon double left-hander on lap 26, costing himself 1.3 seconds, then had lock-ups at La Source on laps 33 and 43, costing a total of just under three a perfect race might have given him a shot at Piastri on the last lap or two. But given how difficult overtaking proved at Spa in both races, the chances of him actually getting by must be considered slim in the said: "Yes, Lando had a couple of lock-ups in corner one and also a little oversteer in corner nine that cost him time. I think this, overall, prevented us from having an interesting battle, possibly, at the end."But, in fairness, even Oscar had a couple of times in corner one a little bit of a time loss."It's very difficult when you push so much in these conditions. It's very difficult to always drive within the limit of the grip, and also it's not easy to always keep the car on the racing line when you have the maximum grip, considering that, away from that, you can lose it very rapidly because of the track being still a little damp." The lessons Piastri's sixth win in 13 races extends his lead in the see-sawing battle to 15 points before the next race in Hungary this weekend, scene last year of Piastri's maiden victory, in somewhat controversial circumstances. Stella called Piastri's drive "very, very, very high quality", but added: "We have two drivers which to the standards that even myself in my career have been close to, driving with multiple World Champions, I think Lando and Oscar are operating at that level, at the level of deservedly being in contention for the drivers' world championship."This is quite the compliment considering Stella engineered both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso during his Ferrari years earlier this said: "The difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution."The execution is what is going to make the main difference. We, as a team, we will try and make sure that from a reliability point of view, from a team operation point of view, we are as good as possible, such that it will be the drivers deciding their own outcome in terms of competing for the drivers' championship." Should the race have started earlier? The other main talking point at Spa was whether the race should have started earlier - either at the original start time, or a few minutes before it eventually Hamilton and Max Verstappen were of the view that it should have and that officials had been too said the decision "didn't make sense". He said that at the scheduled start time "it was not even raining" and added: "Of course between Turn One and five there was quite a bit of water, but two or three laps behind the safety car it would have been a lot more clear. And the rest of the track was anyway ready to go. It's a bit of a shame."Hamilton added: "I kept shouting, like, it's ready to go, it's ready to go. And they kept going around and around and around."However, both acknowledged that the decisions were made after the drivers had urged officials following the last race at Silverstone - in which one car rammed another unsighted at a restart in the rain - not to go too Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc both pointed out the extreme dangers of Spa, and referenced the two fatalities that have happened there in junior categories in recent said: "For that reason, I'd rather be safe than too early. It's a constant discussion, and we'll probably feed the people that made this decision back that maybe it was a little bit on the late side, but I wouldn't have changed anything."Piastri added: "The past few years, particularly here, we've given the FIA feedback that we would much rather be on the safe side than risk anything. I think that's what we did today."If you were to be picky, maybe we could have done one less formation lap. But in the grand scheme of things, if that's one lap too early, is it worth it? No."
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Keir Starmer & John Swinney face difficult ‘balancing act' after Donald Trump admits he's in a grumpy mood
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SIR Keir Starmer and John Swinney face a difficult 'balancing act' in talks with Donald Trump - after the US President admitted he was in a grumpy mood. The Prime Minister will fly to Scotland on Monday morning to meet Mr Trump at his Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire for a 'wide-ranging' summit on issues including trade and the Israel-Hamas war. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Donald Trump is 'not in a good mood' before summit 3 The Prime Minister and First Minister are set to meet with the US President 3 He made the admission after he striking an EU trade deal Later, the PM and the First Minister will attend a banquet-style dinner hosted by the US leader in the north-east, ahead of him opening a new 18-hole golf course in honour of his late Scottish mother, Mary Anne Macleod, at Menie, Aberdeenshire, on Tuesday. But despite striking an EU trade deal, the unpredictable US President admitted he was 'not in a good mood' after a hectic weekend at Turnberry, where he juggled two rounds of golf with family time, presidential business, and a flurry of social media blasts taking aim at rivals back home. A senior SNP insider admitted that today's multiple summits - including an expected one-to-one between Mr Trump and Mr Swinney in the north-east - amounted to 'a difficult balancing act for everyone', with both the PM and FM expected to try to pressure Mr Trump on thorny issues including trade tariffs and reviving stalled Gaza peace talks. Speaking in the first of two press conferences with White House reporters, journalists suggested he seemed in a good mood. But Mr Trump replied: 'I'm actually not in a good mood' - prompting a nervous smile and a raised eyebrow from Ms von der Leyen. The President insisted it was nothing to do with imminent talks with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, and asked why he was in a bad mood and if it was to do with his latest golf round, Mr Trump said: 'No, the golf was beautiful. Golf can never be bad.' But minutes later, a tetchy-sounding President launched into another of his trademark attacks on windfarms, which he famously battled against - in vain - off the Aberdeenshire coast. In a two-and-half minute blast, he claimed he would 'not allow a windmill to be built in the US' as 'they're killing the beauty of our scenery, our valleys, our beautiful planes - and I'm not talking about aeroplanes, I'm talking about beautiful planes, beautiful areas in the US'. He said 'almost all' were made in China and 'when they start to rust and rot in eight years, you can't really turn them off, you can't bury them'. Mr Trump said windmills 'kill the birds' and said: 'You have a certain place in the Massachusetts area that over the last 20 years had one or two whales wash ashore .. cause it's driving them loco. It's driving them crazy.' TRUMP V WINDMILLS Slamming windfarms off the Ayrshire coast, he said 'I mean, today, I'm playing the best course I think in the world, Turnberry - even though I own it, it's probably the best course in the world, right - and I look over the horizon and I see nine windmills right at the end of the 18th hole. 'And I said, 'Isn't that a shame? What a shame.' UK and Scottish government aides are known to be on edge about today's talks with Mr Trump, which will take place between the PM and President at Turnberry, before the pair fly together to Aberdeen, where Mr Swinney will then meet the US leader. All three will then attend a private ceremonial dinner said to involve a 'broad range' of guests including politicians and business figures. Sir Keir is under intense pressure from Labour backbenchers and opposition parties including the SNP to push Mr Trump for the US to revive Gaza ceasefire talks, and also to further the recent UK-US trade deal by pressuring for the removal of punishing ten per cent tariffs on products including Scotch whisky. And Mr Swinney is under fire from left-wingers in the SNP and at Holyrood for even meeting with Mr Trump. The First Minister was blasted by critics at the weekend for announcing £180,000 to help Mr Trump's Menie course to host a golf comp, which wannabe Greens leader Ross Greer claimed was like 'bending the knee' to the US President or 'giving the school bully your lunch money'. A senior Nats source defended Mr Swinney's approach, with the Tories also accusing him of hypocrisy after claims he had last wee 'whipped up' anti-Trump protests, but was now trying to curry favour with the world's most powerful man. The insider said 'There will be complaints about our approach to Trump whatever we do. 'The funding for the event at Trump International Golf Links was a positive announcement and it's our job to make the best of this visit as we possibly can.' Tomorrow morning Mr Trump will carry out the ceremonial opening of the Macleod course at his Menie estate, which it emerged on Saturday was set to get £180,000 from the Scottish Government's tourism and events organisation, VisitScotland, to support its hosting of the 2025 Nexo Championship next month. Police lock down Scots country park and beach ahead of Donald Trump's arrival HOLIDAYMAKERS have been ordered to leave a country park boasting one of Scotland's best beaches as police prepared for Donald Trump's visit to his nearby golf course. Visitors were told to vacate the beauty spot as security is beefed up ahead of US president's trip to his neighbouring Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire tomorrow. Officers locked down Balmedie Country Park and its coastal stretch — which has won 20 awards for the quality of its sand and water. Locals have vowed to protest after the Scottish Government announced a tournament held at his Trump International resort is being given £180,000 of taxpayers' cash. An onlooker said: 'Police were shutting off the beach and the park. 'It's one of the country's best and we're in the middle of the school holidays. 'Trump doesn't own it so it feels ridiculous that people who live here are being told to leave. "Loads of people were told to go. 'Is it any wonder most people around here hate him so much?' Downing Street last night said Mr Trump and Sir Keir are expected to discuss progress on implementing the UK-US trade deal agreed in May, hopes for a ceasefire in the Middle East and applying pressure on Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. It comes amid pressure on Starmer from Labour MPs to urge the US to rejoin Israel-Hamas peace talks, amid the starvation of kids in Gaza. No10 said in a statement that the 'strength of the UK-US relationship will be on display again' as the PM meets Mr Trump in 'for wide-ranging talks'. It said: 'The leaders are expected to talk one-on-one about advancing implementation of the landmark Economic Prosperity Deal so that Brits and Americans can benefit from boosted trade links between their two countries. 'The Prime Minister is also expected to welcome the President's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza. 'Mr Trump's visit comes amid mounting global anger over the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Police lock down Scots country park and beach ahead of Donald Trump's arrival Foreign Secretary David Lammy said access to aid in Gaza must be 'urgently accelerated', after air drops by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates yesterday. It came hours after Israel opened up aid corridors and 'refuted' the 'false claim of intentional starvation'. Mr Swinney said: 'My meeting with the US President during his visit to Scotland presents a significant opportunity to speak up for the issues that matter to people in Scotland on the highest platform. Global, humanitarian issues are rightly at the forefront of many people's minds. 'It is of utmost importance that we discuss what action can be taken to end the horrific suffering we are witnessing around the world, particularly the unimaginable hardship being endured by people in Gaza and the need for an urgent ceasefire. 'Both the US President and I share a fundamental desire to build peace across the world and to end the suffering endured by so many. I hope that our discussion helps to further that aim.' Mr Trump will visit the UK again in September for the official state visit announced earlier this year. But a senior whisky industry source warned: 'If the PM comes away from the Trump visit with nothing more on trade there will be serious questions to answer about whether he really fought as hard as possible for Scotland and the UK's interests, or if he just went there and tried not to upset Trump.'
Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Daily Record
Oisin McEntee warns Hearts will be the team everyone hates playing as Derek McInnes fundamental kicks in
The Irishman shone in an all action display as Sunderland were swatted aside at Tynecastle ahead of Aberdeen Premiership opener Oisin McEntee reckons teams will hate facing Hearts after new boss Derek McInnes put the players through a gruelling pre-season. The Jambos are in good shape going into their Premiership opener against Aberdeen a week tonight after building on four League Cup group wins with a 3-0 victory over Sunderland on Saturday. The Black Cats have spent in excess of £100million to get ready for their Premier League return. But that financial gulf did not matter as the McInnes ' men gave them a torrid time at Tynecastle with their high-pressing game. That style of play demands fit players and McEntee insists that will not be an issue after coming through his hardest pre-season. The 24-year-old said: 'You don't want teams to enjoy playing against you and we have players in the team who have that bit of quality. 'We have a good mix of players who want to be competitive and win the ball back to let the players go and express themselves. 'A lot of work goes into it on the training ground in terms of that style and it's about fitness as well. 'It's high intensity, it is going to be quite a lot of work. 'But it's paying dividends when it comes to the games. It feels a lot easier than other pre-seasons, in terms of when you go into the game you feel ready, you feel at it. 'It's been really enjoyable. It's probably been my hardest pre-season in terms of double sessions but you need that going into the Premiership season. 'You need to be fit, you need to be strong. I feel really good for it, my body feels really good.' As a midfield enforcer who came in from League Two Walsall at the start of this summer, he's loving the demands put on him by McInnes. McEntee said: 'That's my kind of game when I'm in the middle and I really enjoy that side, the nasty side of it – winning second balls, first balls and just doing my job for the team. 'It's been enjoyable. Wherever the gaffer wants me to play, I'll play – I don't mind. Playing alongside Cammy Devlin in there is great too. 'He's an unbelievable player and it shows with how many games he's played at this club. He's played at this level for a long time, so it's enjoyable having him in there backing me up.' At the top end of the park, Hearts have players who can add some flair in fellow summer signings turned crowd pleasers Claudio Braga and Alexandros Kyziridis. McEntee added: 'Those two boys can mix it too, winning the ball back. 'The look of Braga, he's physical, he's winning the ball back on Saturday but has that bit of class too. They've been unbelievable since they came in.' Hearts did not look back after taking the lead in Craig Gordon's testimonial courtesy of Braga 11 minutes in. Lawrence Shankland and Kyziridis found the net after the break with a scoreline that did not flatter the Gorgie outfit. McInnes has added seven recruits this summer and Burkina Faso winger Pierre Landry Kabore is expected to complete his move today. Hearts have also made an offer for Valur Reykjavik midfielder Tomas Bent Magnusson and McEntee insists all the new boys have settled in well. He said: 'That's testament to the recruitment, bringing good people in, first and foremost. We went to Spain and everyone gelled really well. It's been a really enjoyable pre-season getting to know people.'
