Miller makes it a double with SFWA young player prize
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Scotsman
3 hours ago
- Scotsman
When does the Serie A begin? Here's when Scott McTominay's Napoli are back in league action for 25
Here's everything you need to know about the new 25/26 Serie A season as Scott McTominay looks to secure a second title with Napoli. Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, 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... One of the most-watched domestic leagues in Europe, the Italian Serie A is now just days away from returning, with a horde of Scottish viewers expected to tune in once again for the new 2025/26 campaign. Can Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour chalk up a second successive title, following their glorious debut campaigns at Napoli last year? Can newly promoted Josh Doig avoid an immediate relegation and battle for survival with Sassuolo? Or will Scotland wonderkid Lennon Miller take the headlines this season following his £4.5million move to Udinese? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad With a record six Scottish talents — McTominay and Gilmour at Napoli, Lewis Ferguson at Bologna, Che Adams at Torino, Doig at Sassuolo, and Lennon Miller at Udinese — joining Italy's finest, this season is set to be one of the most intriguing yet, with international flair meeting storied tradition. From the electric atmosphere of the San Siro to the tactical battles in Turin, Serie A will be one of the most captivating leagues on the planet. Want to know when the season begins, and how to catch every game live during the 25/26 campaign? Here's everything you need to know about the new Serie A season, including how to watch live: Can Lennon Miller be a headliner maker in Serie A this season following his summer transfer to Udinese? | SNS Group When does the Serie A begin for 25/26? The new Serie A season is scheduled to begin on Saturday, 23 August 2025. The first two scheduled games of the new season will see newly promoted Sassuolo at home to champions Napoli, with the game kicking off at 5.30pm UK time and screened live on TNT Sports and DAZN. The game will put Scotland internationals McTominay and Gilmour against former Hibs left-back Doig on opening day. The first league match ups of the season will begin on Saturday and run all the way through until Monday night, with Inter Milan facing Che Adams' Torino on Monday night at the San Siro. The season is scheduled to end on Sunday, 24 May 2026. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Which Scottish players play in Serie A? There are a total of six Scotland internationals currently playing in the Italian top flight. Below is a full list of which Scots are currently plying their trade in Serie A, and who they'll face on opening day. Lewis Ferguson (Bologna) - vs AS Roma (A), 23 August 7.45pm Lennon Miller (Udinese) - vs Verona (H), 25 August 5.30pm Che Adams (Torino) - vs Inter Milan (A), 25 August 7.45pm Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour (both Napoli) - vs Sassuolo (A), 23 August 5.30pm Josh Doig (Sassuolo) - vs Napoli (H), 23 August 5.30pm How to watch Serie A in the UK While the Italian top flight has a selection of games screened on TNT Sports throughout the season, the best place to catch Serie A football this year will be via DAZN. The streaming service will broadcast every game in the UK this season, with eight of those being exclusive.
Scotsman
8 hours ago
- Scotsman
Defiant Derek McInnes reveals what annoyed him as he lays it on the line for Hearts
SPFL Premiership resumes after the Premier Sports Cup Sign up to our Hearts 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... Derek McInnes emerged defiantly from the aftermath of Hearts' Premier Sports Cup exit at St Mirren and insisted that the result won't derail the club's recent progress. After six wins from six competitive games under their new head coach, Hearts lost 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Paisley on Saturday, and were eliminated at the tournament's last-16 stage for the second year running. Their 63-year wait to lift the League Cup is now extended, however McInnes is adamant there will be no let up in the drive to help Hearts challenge. They finished seventh in last year's Premiership but won their opening two games of this season's league campaign against two of Scotland's European entrants, Aberdeen and Dundee United. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Alex Gogic's first-half volley was cancelled out by Oisin McEntee's headed equaliser for Hearts on 78 minutes at the weekend. The tie ran through extra-time to penalties, and Tynecastle striker Claudio Braga was the only one not to score. McInnes assessed the game and admitted that starting Alexandros Kyziridis, Pierre Landry Kabore and Tomas Magnusson might have been one new signing too many. He told the Edinburgh News that the disappointment won't be allowed to curtail the upward trajectory in Gorgie. 'You are looking to try to get that extra impetus somewhere with substitutions but I thought we were actually fine in the game,' he said. 'In the second half and through extra-time, I felt comfortable that we weren't going to lose a goal. That's obviously a big part of it. I hoped we could win the game but I thought we had to step up. The players worked hard and put everything into the game. I think the fans recognised that. 'We are just at that stage where maybe bringing on a Kyziridis or a Kabore at that stage of the game might have made the difference. We've had Kyzi and these boys making impacts, so that's on me. Maybe we got the game a wee bit the wrong way round. We had a good week. We tried to stretch St Mirren's back five out and thought we could dominate through the middle. We felt we could get our wide players on the ball and get them support, but we have to be honest and say St Mirren were totally different to how they were against Motherwell in their previous game. 'I watched that game and they looked as if they had a tough week. They weren't great against Motherwell and I think they went back to their tried-and-tested, with balls up to their big front two and playing for second balls. I thought they were good at that. I thought they were better than us in that opening period. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scottish Premiership game next for defiant Hearts 'It's disappointing but it's not going to stop us. It's not going to derail us. We've got so much to play for. We've had a strong start with a lot of positivity and raised expectations. We are fine with that. We lost a narrow cup tie and Scottish football can do that to you sometimes. We played against three teams who finished above us last season. You always try to keep these belts in the mouth to a minimum and it feels like a sore one just now. It's important that we bounce back into work this week and set about trying to win another game in the league to keep that going.' Motherwell visit Tynecastle in the Premiership on Saturday and McInnes is certain to change his starting line-up. He replaced Kyziridis, Kabore and Magnusson at half-time in Paisley. 'I didn't say anything. It was all just about what we wanted to do in the second half,' he explained. 'We played Lawrence [Shankland] up with Elton [Kabangu] and we allowed [Claudio] Braga to drift either side, trying to pick up little pockets of space. We needed to stretch St Mirren's back line. I thought they played a higher line. 'Our reluctance to play the ball forward was annoying me. I thought we started to play the game in a better manner. There's two parts to that. Maybe the personnel allowed that. I thought we were far more aggressive, starting winning more headers and picked up more in the middle of the park. Beni Baningime helped bring more control in there as well. It was a tough afternoon. I never thought we were going to lose the tie once we equalised. At the same time, we have to show a wee bit more belief and intent to go and win a game like that.'
Daily Record
12 hours ago
- Daily Record
Scottish talent faces being decimated as games drought forces youth football close to crisis
Teenagers at our top clubs can barely get any time on the grass and it leads to the question – is our game a bogey? Every Scottish club craves the next Lennon Miller but is there a pathway in place for the next bright, young thing to come through? Sadly, it seems routes are getting blocked left, right and centre. Motherwell pocketed a club record sale from Miller's big-money move to Udinese. Not bad for an academy graduate who came through the ranks and flourished into a full Scotland international. That is the ultimate aim for every senior club who has an academy. Miller, however, is more the exception to the rule than the norm. The lack of homegrown players getting top team minutes in the Scottish Premiership is, arguably, at an all-time low. You only have to look at the transfer activity of a lot of our top-flight clubs in this window. Very few Scottish players have been signed, as clubs look more to overseas options. The alarm bells have already started to ring at international level. Steve Clarke witnessed that recently in his goalkeeping department. A few injuries and he was down to the bare bones and had to call up a keeper with very little first-team action in Cieran Slicker. He then had to call up Ross Doohan, who had been No.2 at Aberdeen for long spells, to make his debut against Liechtenstein. A lack of Scottish talent coming through is going to continue to be an issue. When Clarke first came in he had an abundance of left-backs and few right backs. That balance has thankfully now been rebalanced. Yet, Scottish football could be facing up to a major future player crisis in the near future. Record Sport looks into the underlying problems within our game and the issues facing our future talent. The SFA has put ambitious new moves in place to try and create more of a pathway for young talent by raising the Club Academy Scotland (CAS) age group to under-19 level and also by bringing in cooperation loans between clubs to get players more first-team action on loan at lower levels. Those ideas are definitely forward thinking but major issues remain. Individual clubs have taken decisions on their youth strategies and there is very little alignment across the board and for the greater good of the Scottish game. A lack of fixtures and game time is a major concern for those currently at under-19 level. Hamilton and Queen's Park, who have produced some of the best young talents from James McArthur and James McCarthy to Andy Robertson, have both recently pulled their academies. That means the newly-created under-19 league only has eight teams, as Hamilton Accies is set to be removed. CAS decided to lift the level from under-18s to under-19s to give later developers a better chance. Celtic and Hearts both have teams in the Lowland League but have also entered at this level. The issue is there was no obligation to put in an under-19 team and so the likes of Aberdeen and Dundee decided against it, preferring to put their older youth players out on cooperation loans. It has left a real shortage of teams and fixtures at under-19 level. So over the course of the season these players at this level might only get a maximum of 14 competitive league games. There is also the under-19 cup competition on top of that but that is a knockout competition and if you fall at the first hurdle then you would be out. For Premiership teams, that then leaves their youngsters the SPFL Trust Trophy. The under-17 level is marginally better but only just. They have nine teams although they play each opposition four times. Clubs will try to supplement the under-19 gaps with friendlies and other games but is it enough to bring a steady flow of talent through. Scottish clubs are already losing a number of their top youngsters to English clubs. A lack of playing up time and a structure to develop will see even more teenagers in the future move down south. Where will that leave our clubs when it comes to developing their own? Look at the likes of Alfie Hutchison and Oliver Goodbrand who quit Rangers for Newcastle United over the summer. These boys will have a flood of opportunities to play. They can play in the under-17 Premier League Cup, under-18 League, under-19 Youth Cup, UEFA under-10 Youth League, under-21 league, the under-21 Premier League Cup and the English Football League trophy. Those opportunities are in sharp contrast as to what is on offer north of the border. Yes, there are the cooperation loans and some players will get first-team football via that avenue. Celtic have paired with Ayr United, Rangers with Raith Rovers, Alloa Athletic and Stirling, while Aberdeen have deals with Kelty Hearts and Elgin City. Hearts, meanwhile, have deals with The Spartans and St Johnstone. These are just some of the cooperation agreements that are in play. It means these players can play for their loan club and can also be recalled to play at CAS under-19 or under-17 level by their parent clubs. That would be beneficial for those youngsters who get regular game time but even in the Championship down to League Two there also remains a need to win games. Will it be enough to bring through the next wave of Scottish talent or are we facing another crisis point?
