Bannan offered new Owls deal as seven released
Veteran Sheffield Wednesday captain Barry Bannan has been offered a new deal to extend his 10-year stay at Hillsborough.The 35-year-old midfielder is among three Owls players invited to sign new contracts, while seven others have been released by the club.Bannan, who moved to Hillsborough from Crystal Palace in 2015, has made more than 400 league appearances for Wednesday and helped them win promotion back to the Championship two years ago.Striker Callum Paterson and defender Akin Famewo have also been offered new contracts, while the club has taken up options to keep forward trio Anthony Musaba, Michael Smith and Josh Windass.Experienced midfield duo Marvin Johnson and Stuart Armstrong are leaving Wednesday, along with defenders Michael Ihiekwe, Pol Valentin and Ryo Hatsuse.Goalkeeper Ben Hamer departs without making an appearance for the club, while Mallik Wilks, who spent last season on loan at Rotherham, has also been released.
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Scottish Sun
8 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Who are the Soccer Aid England v World XI managers and coaches?
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) ENGLAND will take on the Soccer Aid World XI to raise tens of millions of pounds for Unicef in the biggest charity football match on the planet. This year's line-up is bigger and better than ever before — here we take a look at the managers and coaches who will be leading the sides out at Old Trafford on Sunday. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 6 Tyson Fury and Wayne Rooney will co-manage England at Soccer Aid 2025 Credit: PA England managers & coaches Tyson Fury Former world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury is making his debut as England co-manager at Soccer Aid 2025. A passionate Manchester United fan, Fury has expressed his immense pride and excitement over leading England out at his club's home ground. He has compared the anticipation for Soccer Aid to that of a big boxing match. His appearance is particularly significant as it marks his first major public event since retiring from boxing after his controversial second points defeat to Oleksandr Usyk. Fury has refused to rule out the mouthwatering prospect of subbing himself on and forming a partnership with Man Utd's all-time record goalscorer Wayne Rooney. Upon his announcement, Tyson Fury said: 'ENGLAND MANAGER! Who would ever have thought it!? "I have had some big fights in my career and the prospect of leading my England team to victory this June fills me with just as much excitement as any heavyweight fight! "Everyone knows that I am a huge Manchester United fan too, so it's even more special for me that the game is at Old Trafford this year — and I get to manage one of my heroes, Wayne Rooney! "How can we lose!? The work UNICEF does all around the world is so special and so important. "I really hope that you can come along and support us this summer.' England life Soccer Aid Trophy 2024 as Robbie Williams announces money raised Wayne Rooney 6 Wayne Rooney will feature as a player-manager at Soccer Aid 2025 Credit: ©UNICEF/Soccer Aid Productions/Stella Pictures Legendary former England and Red Devils striker Wayne Rooney will serve as co-manager for the England team alongside Fury. Rooney will also return to play in the match, bringing both his managerial and on-field experience to the team. He has previously managed at Soccer Aid in 2020 and also played in 2021. Rooney and Fury share a mutual respect and enthusiasm for the event and will be hoping to replicate the success of last year, when England won Soccer Aid 2024 6-3 to end a six-year wait to beat the World XI. Harry Redknapp 6 Harry Redknapp pictured during a Soccer Aid for Unicef 2022 Training Session at Champneys Tring Credit: Getty Harry Redknapp is returning for his eighth Soccer Aid to be part of the coaching staff assisting Fury and Rooney. During his career, the experienced former football manager took the helm at sides including West Ham, Portsmouth, Southampton, Spurs and Birmingham City. Redknapp's extensive background in the Premier League provides valuable tactical insight and leadership to the England side. Vicky McClure 6 Vicky McClure is an England coach at Soccer Aid 2025 Credit: ©UNICEF/Soccer Aid Productions/Stella Pictures Vicky McClure, best known for her portrayal of DI Kate Fleming in Line of Duty, is also part of England's coaching staff. Her presence adds a celebrity element to the team of coaches and further support for the team's managers. Vicky's involvement exemplifies Soccer Aid's approach — combining sports figures and celebs to enhance the spectacle and increase the event's appeal and reach. David James 6 Former goalkeeper David James is the goalkeeping coach for the England team Credit: Getty Former England No 1 David James is serving as the goalkeeping coach for the team. During his glittering career, he played for sides including Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Bristol City and Bournemouth. With his wealth of experience between the posts, James is responsible for preparing the team's goalkeepers for the high-profile charity match. World managers and coaches 6 The only confirmed member of the World XI management team so far is Peter Schmeichel Credit: Alamy At the time of writing, the full line-up of managers and coaches for the World XI hasn't been announced, with details expected to be released closer to the event. So far only Peter Schmeichel, the legendary former United and Denmark keeper, has been named in the management team for the World XI. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalies of all time, he won just about everything during his playing career, including five Premier League titles, three FA Cups, a League Cup, Champions League and Uefa Super Cup.
The Guardian
35 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Auckland City aiming to do amateur football proud in Bayern Munich mismatch
Were you looking for a symbol to exemplify the gulf that lies between Auckland City Football Club and their rivals at the Club World Cup, you would find it at Kiwitea Street, the team's home ground. Hard up against the Sandringham suburb it serves, the roofs of the surrounding city's single-storey bungalows are visible from the one enclosed stand, and to the north there is nothing but the modest clubhouse and some incidental shrubbery to impede views of the Sky Tower's lonely tenancy in the distant skyline. This, certainly, is no towering football cathedral of the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester City call home. On Sunday, the team more used to this humble environment and the 100-to-500 fans who usually turn out to watch will line up against one of the world's most famous and decorated clubs, Bayern Munich, Auckland City's first opponents in a group also containing Benfica and Boca Juniors. 'To be honest, I don't know if we have ever seen a matchup like this in sport,' the assistant coach Adrià Casals tells the Guardian from Chattanooga, Tennessee. 'But we can only play the game in front of us.' And what a game, one that represents the chance for footballers of more modest talents to test themselves against some of the world's best: Thomas Müller and Harry Kane could find themselves sharing the pitch with a genuine democratic cross-section of New Zealand life. 'All sorts,' says the captain, Mario Ilich, of a team containing a barber, a teacher, a real-estate agent and university students. Ilich himself works in the sales department of Coca-Cola, a job around which he moulds his football commitments, training three or four times a week after work and making frequent demands on his employer's goodwill in order to travel overseas. 'I've taken all my annual leave for this trip, so I won't be going on a holiday with my partner this year, that's for sure,' he says. The team qualified thanks to its long-standing domination of Oceania's Champions League, which they have won a record 13 times, most recently by beating Papua New Guinea's Hekari United in the Solomon Islands at the end of another leave-sapping football trip earlier this year. And while there are two professional clubs in New Zealand – the recently inaugurated Auckland Football Club and Wellington Phoenix – they compete in the Australian A-League, and, because they are not allowed to play in the Asian Confederation's continental competitions, they have no opportunity to qualify for the Club World Cup. As it stands, this year marks the 12th time Auckland City have flown the Oceania flag at the Club World Cup — the team came third in 2014 — but because of its new group-based format, Sunday represents the first time they will meet a European team. The club's qualification has been assured since late 2023, but for Ilich the prospect of playing in the biggest game of his life has hardly sunk in. Even to see the Auckland City crest arranged next to that of Bayern Munich, he says, seems peculiar and much of the side's conversations have been about playing against teams they had grown up admiring as fans. Ilich is 'under no illusions' as to the size of the challenge, even if he seemed to allow for the chance of a fairytale. 'We all have a dream and that is to win football games, whatever game you're in. We know the task at hand is very difficult, but we want to just go out and make it as hard as possible for the opposition, and to just give the best performance we can.' For Casals, a Barcelona native who was 'running away from the game' when he settled in New Zealand only to be sucked back into its orbit by the club, Auckland City are playing not just for themselves, but for the vast majority of players worldwide who never get anywhere near the professional level. 'We represent like 95% of the world's footballers. If we can stay true to who we are, if we can be brave, then we can make a lot of people proud of us and everything we represent as an amateur club from a small nation in the middle of nowhere.' At Kiwitea Street, as Saturday morning's rain retreated in a veil of towering clouds, a couple hundred fans watched as an Auckland City team robbed of their entire first-choice squad went down 2-1 to Waiheke United in New Zealand's national knockout tournament, the Chatham Cup. But thoughts were already turning to 4am Monday morning, New Zealand time, when players that fans were used to sharing a post-game drink with will make their cameos on football's global stage. Some hoped Auckland City would have a chance to express themselves, others that their team wouldn't be thrashed, that results wouldn't give succour to those opposed to Oceania's direct entry. Half a world away, Ilich and his teammates are doing their best to make those hopes a reality. 'We're fully focused on our performance and our plan, and on making sure everyone's on the same page. That way we can hopefully give the best representation of Oceania, of New Zealand, of our city and our club.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
The key change helping Georgia Hunter Bell step out of Keely Hodgkinson's shadow
Olympic 1500m bronze medalist Georgia Hunter Bell is gearing up for her first Diamond League appearance of the 2025 season in Stockholm on Sunday night. Outside of the distance where she dazzled the Parisian crowds and broke Laura Muir 's British record in the process, Hunter Bell will instead line up for an 800m. The 31-year-old will attack the shorter distance, which has become synonymous with her training partner, and Olympic champion, Keely Hodgkinson. Hunter Bell is joined by compatriot Jemma Reekie to take on 800m world champion and the No 1-ranked athlete Mary Moraa. Hunter Bell's talent in the 1,500m is already well known, but she has been making her mark across the shorter distance over the past year, too. With a PB under her belt from last summer and Hodgkinson sidelined with another injury setback, this could be the season for Hunter Bell to rewrite expectations and step out of Hodgkinson's shadow. Her unconventional journey is one of resilience. Hunter Bell was a high-achieving runner at youth level, but a stagnant period due to injury saw the Briton's passion for the sport dwindle. She took a five-year hiatus after college, pursuing a corporate career in cybersecurity, only to rekindle her love for running during the Covid pandemic. Now a full-time professional track star, she has built a schedule consisting of cross-training, altitude camps and full-time track focus, benefiting from the same infrastructure that has helped Hodgkinson conquer the sport. Team GB's golden girl has already set the bar high, but Hunter Bell seems to thrive on a challenge. The Paris-born runner set an 800m PB of 1:56.28 at the London Diamond League last year, finishing behind just Hodgkinson and Reekie for an all-British podium. This season will be the optimal chance for Hunter Bell to leverage the same mindset that propelled Hodgkinson from a silver medal in Tokyo to the golden crown four years later. Full-time training has allowed her to finally commit to lifting her power on the track. Continuity and consistency over this season will be vital for her to build on last year's explosive breakthrough. After opening up on dealing with body shaming and online abuse following her Olympic fairytale, Hunter Bell has grown mentally stronger and ready to take the next step as a serial medal winner or gold medalist in a global championship. 'I have had to get quite a thick skin quite quickly, ever since last summer,' she said. 'There is a really dark side of social media where people write things about you, your body, how you look, what they think of you, your performance.' Developing a champion's mindset and coming off social media is key as she plans to distance herself from the 'underdog' title. She told PA news agency: 'Everyone else has their expectations and that's great, but I'm more, I don't want to just have one great year and fall off.' She finished third overall on her Grand Slam Track debut two weeks ago and is now considered a top contender for major events. She has also teased a potential event double at the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this September. So a strong performance this summer, in both events, could place her firmly in contention to upgrade her Olympic medal at LA2028 and perhaps even challenge Hodgkinson in her preferred event. But to get there, she needs clean execution, tactical maturity, and the mental frame of a winner. If she can put all three together in Stockholm with a maiden Diamond League victory over for grabs, then the M11 Track Club, led by Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, could have another superstar on their hands.
