Davies returns to Swansea as academy manager
Ryan Davies is returning to Swansea City this summer after being appointed academy manager.Davies held several roles within the academy set-up between 2012 and 2024, including head of coaching and interim academy manager.During that time he also played a part in the development of players such as current men's first-team captain Ben Cabango, Ollie Cooper, Liam Cullen, Connor Roberts and Josh Sheehan.He will formally take up the role on 1 August."I am delighted and extremely proud to be given the opportunity to return to the club and lead Swansea City's academy," said Davies."Being able to represent my hometown club and local community is a huge privilege, and witnessing the growth of the academy over the last decade and more has been incredible."As a club we have a proud track record of producing talented young players capable of featuring at senior club and international levels, and that is one we are very keen to continue."I cannot wait to get started and try and continue to drive our academy, and ensure our supporters continue to be able to chant 'he's one of our own' by producing talent that can thrive at first-team level."
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The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Boultercanu' serve doubles delight as women's tennis returns to Queen's
Moments before Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter walked on to court one to add a touch of pizzazz to a historic day at Queen's Club, a lady carrying an empty Pimm's jug went to go for a refill. 'I'm sorry but if you leave, we won't be able to let you straight back in,' she was told by a steward. 'You will have to queue.' The woman thought for a moment, looked at the packed stands, and returned to her seat. It turned out to be a wise decision. And not just because the queue to see the British pair – or 'Boultercanu' as the press had already anointed them – was snaking halfway around Queen's Club. For when the action began, Raducanu and Boulter proved to be an instant sensation as they walloped the doubles pair of China's Jiang Xinyu and Taiwan's Wu Fang-hsien 6-4, 6-2. But it was not only the quality of their play in their first match together that stood out. There were also plenty of laughs, high fives and jokes, which continued at the press conference afterwards. Asked whether they might be tempted to also give the doubles a whirl at Wimbledon, Raducanu played it straight. 'We're just going to keep trying to do as best as we can this week and take it from there.' But before she could go on, Boulter interjected: 'Scrap what she said,' she laughed. 'We're going for the Wimbledon title.' 'I was actually very nervous before the match,' added Raducanu. 'Probably more nervous than the singles, because I just didn't really necessarily know what to do. But Katie made me feel so comfortable, and I'm just so pleased to get a win on the board.' The only pity was that many fans on the first day of women's tennis at Queen's Club since 1972 were unable to watch, as the match was played in front of 1,000 spectators on court one rather than on the Andy Murray Arena, which holds 7,700 seats. 'I think it is very swear-word annoying,' one spectator, Helen Millinersaid as she waited outside. 'I booked tickets for the Andy Murray Arena months ago, and was hoping to see Radders and Katie on there, especially given it is such a historic day. I tried to get on to court one to see them, but the queue was incredibly long,. I was told it would take an hour to get on.' A spokesperson later explained the decision was down to contractual issues obliging the WTA to put predominately singles matches on the main court. Court one was so intimate that when Raducanu filled her water bottle after the first set, she was able to have a quick chat with some of the spectators that were less than a metre away from her. Not that she minded. 'I love playing on those smaller, outside courts where you really feel the support and the crowd gets into it,' said Raducanu, who showed no signs of a back spasm that had interrupted her preparations. 'I was filling my bottle up, and I was literally having a chat in the stands, because that's how close it is.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Those hoping to see the match on TV were also left disappointed as the BBC showed Sonay Kartal's match against Daria Kasatkina instead. But Kartal, who has moved into the top 50 in the world, certainly lived up to her billing as she played one of the best matches in her career to beat the world No 16 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. 'I was excited to be the first Brit on the Andy Murray Arena,' Katal said. 'I think it's an incredible court and the packed crowd was right behind me exactly when I needed it. I loved every second. It was super special.' Having a WTA 500 women's tournament is not the only change at Queen's this year. For the first time, there are also no line judges. It means that when a player hits a ball out, the crowd hears pre-recorded voices collected by the Lawn Tennis Association from its members and partners. Not that it was entirely successful. Several times when the ball clattered into the net, a cry of 'Out!' was heard. For the first time, spectators have colour-coded stickers under their seats. A green sticker means they can leave while play is going on. But if they have an orange one, they can only move at the end of a game. Red means they can only do so at a change of ends or a set. The good news for those coming to Queen's on Tuesday is that Boulter and Raducanu will be back in action in the singles – with Boulter kicking things off against Ajla Tomljanovic before Raducanu faces Cristina Bucșa. And, yes, both matches will be on the Andy Murray Arena.
Telegraph
40 minutes ago
- Telegraph
TNT Sports brands rugby rebel league ‘delusional'
Power brokers at TNT Sports, England's principal rugby broadcaster, have rubbished the emergence of a proposed breakaway league, called R360, branding it 'delusional' and ' commercially unsustainable '. Telegraph Sport revealed last week how Mike Tindall, the Rugby World Cup winner and member of the Royal family, was one of the driving forces behind rugby's new breakaway global league, pitched as 'driving generational change in rugby', which is scheduled to launch later this year with a number of players reportedly having signed pre-contractual agreements which are valid until September. But the concept has been derided by both TNT Sports and Premiership Rugby, the two bodies who agreed a new television deal until the end of the 2030-31 season last month. 'I'm going to take my TNT Sports hat off just for the moment,' said Andrew Georgiou, president and managing director of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, which owns TNT. 'I've been involved in sport for 25 years. I can't tell you how many of these PowerPoint presentations have come across my desk with people who were absolutely certain that what they had on that page was going to be the new thing. It was going to be absolutely the new thing. 'I don't know the details of what's happening, no one's come to us and made a presentation, no one's told us what the new format is, no one told us what the new schedule is. I mean, I actually don't know much about it. But the one question that I think you guys should be asking is, 'how are they going to grow the revenue by putting this event on?' Where's the money coming from? The media industry is going through a massive generational change. There's been more change in the media industry in the last five years than there has been since the invention of cable television in the late 70s and early 80s. 'So, if these folks believe that they are going to grow the revenue by putting this thing on, I think they're delusional. I really do. What it will do is further complicate what is already a well-functioning rugby ecosystem. And so I would just ask some pretty fundamental questions around whether this is a commercially sustainable model. The fact that it's being likened to LIV Golf, I think is a perfect analogy. It's a perfect comparator to what this is really going to be. Commercially unsustainable.' When it was suggested that TNT Sports, therefore, would not be interested in bidding for broadcast rights on the new league, Georgiou replied: 'You bet.' Both TNT and the Premiership have experienced unprecedented growth this season. The league has seen 30 sold-out match days up from 18 last season and 13 the season before. This weekend's final, between Bath and Leicester, sold out in record time – with last season's show-piece also a full house – while growth among fans aged between 18 and 34 increased by 30 per cent in one year. Furthermore, Bath's play-off victory over Bristol last week was the most-viewed Friday night match ever on TNT. Red Bull's investment in Newcastle is understood to be nearing completion and Simon Massie-Taylor, Premiership Rugby's chief executive, believes that the league's previous financial woes are behind them and a new chapter is beginning. At board level, the Premiership will not allow itself to become distracted by R360 and Massie-Taylor has said that 'there has not been any engagement' with the breakaway league. 'It's not a threat per se,' said Massie-Taylor. 'But we have no idea how it could ever work full stop. But definitely for the club game. In England, in France, URC, southern hemisphere, how would it actually work and help develop the club game? 'But rugby needs roots, it doesn't need pop-ups. Rugby needs roots. The complicated thing about rugby is there's an international game, there's a club game that relies on, there's a community game. The whole thing's linked, the community game's inspired by both. Funding comes down to help the community game and there's this whole sort of connectedness to it. And that sometimes is an inhibitor to growth because you have to find a solution that compromises all these types of things. 'But without those roots, it's very difficult to understand how a system could ever work. The whole phrase [is] 'it takes a village', right? That one person who's going to turn up and go out on the field, there's a whole system, a whole team, a whole grass-roots network that needs to develop that person beyond just rocking up. 'I'd be worried if players are counting on that because they may miss out on genuine opportunities that exist within their club. Things need sanctioning for a start and things need money coming through the door before these people can actually get paid.'
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Bukayo Saka to have 2+ shots on target against Senegal BOOSTED to 3/1 - with England star set to play for the first time under Thomas Tuchel
England will return to action against Senegal on Tuesday night, and will be hoping for a much-improved outing after their dour display in their 1-0 win over Andorra on Saturday. The Three Lions laboured to their victory, with Harry Kane 's goal sparing their blushes, and Thomas Tuchel questioned the attitude of his players after the match. England will be back on home soil to take on Senegal at the City Ground in Nottingham, and are set to have Bukayo Saka back in the ranks after he missed Saturday's victory with a fitness issue. The Arsenal man is yet to play under Tuchel, but that looks set to change and he appears likely to be thrown in from the start after facing the media on Monday. Sky Bet are offering three Price Boosts for the game, including Saka to have two or more shots on target at 3/1. Meanwhile, Trent Alexander-Arnold to commit at least one foul has been boosted to evens, and Kane to score 2+ goals has been enhanced from 9/2 to 6/1, Sky Bet Price Boosts for England vs Senegal Trent Alexander-Arnold to commit 1+ fouls - WAS 4/5 NOW 1/1 Bukayo Saka to have 2+ shots on target - WAS 2/1 NOW 3/1 Harry Kane to score 2+ goals WAS 9/2 NOW 6/1
