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Scottish Sun
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Ex-Premier League manager wins bitter battle with neighbours over 7 ‘nuisance' trees full of squawking magpies
Newcastle are called the Magpies because of their black and white striped kit LEAF IT OUT Ex-Premier League manager wins bitter battle with neighbours over 7 'nuisance' trees full of squawking magpies Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) FORMER Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan has won his battle with neighbours to axe seven "nuisance" trees at his Cheshire mansion - despite fears for magpies. The Liverpool legend, 74, and his next door neighbours were left stumped after half a dozen locals living opposite objected to the "wholesale" cull. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Retired football player Kevin Keegan Credit: Getty 3 The sycamore trees near his home (not pictured) are all in poor condition. Similar trees are pictured on a public road Credit: Matthew Pover One protestor even sent a sound recording to the local council of birds in the trees including blackbirds, blue tits, parakeets, robins and Magpies, in a desperate bid to save the 60ft-high sycamores. Newcastle are called the Magpies because of their black and white striped kit, like the bird's plumage, and Keegan bossed them back in the 1990s. The 50-year-old trees were slapped with a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) before the row of four houses, including Keegan's, were built. But Keegan and his neighbours have now successfully applied to the local council to have the "dead and decaying" trees completely felled to the ground. In a letter, one objector wrote: "The protected trees have always provided a welcome and quite natural habitat for the wide diversity of animals, especially birds. "For many years, our property and those of our neighbours have overlooked an empty field. Now our view, especially during the winter months, is of four detached houses. "During the summer months, a time when most people enjoy being out in their gardens, the protected trees have provided a level of privacy, shade from the sun and good noise reduction (for all parties). "Over the last 40 years I can honestly say the protected trees have caused no real problems at all. To destroy live trees would be a tragedy." Another objector, whose house backs on to Keegan's, paid towards the cost of previous tree works in a gesture of good will. They said: "I am in total agreement that tree maintenance and action is required to the trees. My objection is with some of the proposed action." A third objector said: "The face the trees are now considered a nuisance shouldn't necessitate their wanton removal, after all the trees were there long before the houses were built." Keegan won three Division One Championships, two UEFA Cups, one FA Cup and a European Cup in his playing career at Liverpool, and also won the Ballon d'Or twice. As a manager, he is famous for his "I would love it if we beat them" rant at Sir Alex Ferguson as his Newcastle side threw away a 13-point lead and lost the Premier League title to Man Utd in 1996. The former England boss moved to his five-bedroom Cheshire pad in 2002 and has since added a loft conversion, two dormer windows and a rear conservatory. Officials at Trafford Council gave the go-ahead for the tree felling by April 2027, but ordered that new trees should be planted. They said: "The sycamore trees proposed for removal are all in poor condition, most have areas of dead bark on the lower stem, structural weaknesses in the crown and poor leaf budding rates. "Decay is evident in several previous pruning points and these trees are likely to become hazardous in the near future if they remain."
The Irish Sun
12 hours ago
- General
- The Irish Sun
Ex-Premier League manager wins bitter battle with neighbours over 7 ‘nuisance' trees full of squawking magpies
FORMER Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan has won his battle with neighbours to axe seven "nuisance" trees at his Cheshire mansion - despite fears for magpies. The Advertisement 3 Retired football player Kevin Keegan Credit: Getty 3 The sycamore trees near his home (not pictured) are all in poor condition. Similar trees are pictured on a public road Credit: Matthew Pover One protestor even sent a sound recording to the local council of birds in the trees including blackbirds, blue tits, parakeets, robins and Magpies, in a desperate bid to save the 60ft-high sycamores. Newcastle are called the Magpies because of their black and white striped kit, like the bird's plumage, and The 50-year-old trees were slapped with a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) before the row of four houses, including Keegan's, were built. But Keegan and his neighbours have now successfully applied to the local council to have the "dead and decaying" trees completely felled to the ground. Advertisement Read more neighbour rows In a letter, one objector wrote: "The protected trees have always provided a welcome and quite natural habitat for the wide diversity of animals, especially birds. "For many years, our property and those of our neighbours have overlooked an empty field. Now our view, especially during the winter months, is of four detached houses. "During the summer months, a time when most people enjoy being out in their gardens, the protected trees have provided a level of privacy, shade from the sun and good noise reduction (for all parties). "Over the last 40 years I can honestly say the protected trees have caused no real problems at all. To destroy live trees would be a tragedy." Advertisement Most read in Football Exclusive Exclusive Another objector, whose house backs on to They said: "I am in total agreement that tree maintenance and action is required to the trees. My objection is with some of the proposed action." A third objector said: "The face the trees are now considered a nuisance shouldn't necessitate their wanton removal, after all the trees were there long before the houses were built." Keegan won three Division One Championships, two UEFA Cups, one FA Cup and a European Cup in his playing career at Advertisement As a manager, he is famous for his "I would love it if we beat them" rant at Sir Alex Ferguson as his The former England boss moved to his five-bedroom Cheshire pad in 2002 and has since added a loft conversion, two dormer windows and a rear conservatory. Officials at Trafford Council gave the go-ahead for the tree felling by April 2027, but ordered that new trees should be planted. They said: "The sycamore trees proposed for removal are all in poor condition, most have areas of dead bark on the lower stem, structural weaknesses in the crown and poor leaf budding rates. Advertisement "Decay is evident in several previous pruning points and these trees are likely to become hazardous in the near future if they remain." 3 The former England boss moved to his five-bedroom Cheshire pad in 2002 Credit: Jon Bond - The Sun
Indian Express
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Counties write to ECB to consider visa rules changes considering First Class matches for Overseas players
With the England Home office having qualification rules for overseas non-international players to be eligible for work visa in the country relying on the players having played at least 20 domestic T20 games in Full ICC Member nations, the England domestic scene sees most of the overseas players not meeting such eligibility. Without the eligibility, overseas players are limited to a maximum of 30 days contract with an English domestic side under the Permitted Paid Engagement (PPE) visa scheme and some of the English county teams have written to ECB to reconsider the rules and to take first class experience into consideration. The recent rule change requests have come after Australian Fergus O'Neil, who took 21 wickets at an average of 17.9 for Nottinghamshire in Division One Championships, was forced to leave England after 30 days. 'We didn't want him for T20s, we wanted him for four-day cricket. It is crazy. T20 seems a bizarre format for Fergus to have had to play when we didn't want to sign for that form of the game – we wanted to sign him for four-day cricket. If you want to make these competitions the best in the world, you've got a really good player here that could probably have played another three games – and continue to make the competition stronger. I have raised it with the ECB, when they look at the rules and regulations for next season. Could they look at a format-by-format qualification, rather than just using T20? If you want to sign a player for red-ball cricket, then they should qualify through what they've done in red-ball cricket in their own country, not T20,' Mick Newell, director of cricket at Nottinghamshire, told Telegraph Sport. Another overseas cricketer Brendan Doggett of Australia too had to leave England after 30 days after playing for Durham. Another Australian pace bowler Harry Conway was only eligible to play for Northamptonshire for 30 days apart from another Australian Jordan Buckingham too playing for Yorkshire for only 30 days. According to Telegraph Sport, the qualification rules for overseas players were revised by Home Office post consultation with ECB and the rules were revised to oversee the eligibility of overseas players participation in The Hundred with the 20 domestic T20 games in Full Members Member nations eligibility in practice from 2020. 'It seems bizarre. We now have a qualification criteria designed around playing a minimum number of T20 games with zero recognition of those non-international players who are playing high-quality first-class cricket. There are some high-quality overseas players who have not played international cricket and who do not go off and play franchise cricket that would enhance the quality of the Championship and also help with season-long planning instead of overseas players coming back and forth. Why would you have T20 cricket as the sole qualification to be allowed to stay longer than 30 days and play in our first-class competition?,' Tim Bostock, Durham chairman, told Telegraph Cricket. As per the newspaper, several counties are planning to write to ECB to push for the eligibility criteria to be reformed and introduction of a new qualification criteria of first-class matches to be played by overseas players or considering 'A' team internationals matches too. As per the report, such proposals can be sent to ECB by end May and ECB can discuss it through a committee followed by a discussion by the Professional Game Committee and post approval. The ECB can take the matter to the Home Office. 'I expect the ECB to lobby the government hard on changing the criteria. It's puzzling that there are multiple overseas players playing in the Premier League and Football League – many of whom have not played at the highest level yet we seem to be restricted, particularly when we only have 18 first-class teams.' added Bostock.
