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Scottish Sun
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Awkward moment Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers offers to HAND OVER his Scottish Cup medal to player after SFA mix-up
It was the first time Rodgers had to go up for a runners-up medal and it seemed the SFA didn't know what to do SILVER LINING Awkward moment Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers offers to HAND OVER his Scottish Cup medal to player after SFA mix-up Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) CELTIC were stunned as Aberdeen beat them on penalties to lift the Scottish Cup. And boss Brendan Rodgers and one of his players had a strange surprise immediately after the game too. Sign up for the Celtic newsletter Sign up 3 Brendan Rodgers suffered his first Hampden defeat as Aberdeen beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup final Credit: PA 3 Rodgers had the unfamiliar feeling of climbing the Hampden steps to accept a loser's medal from SFA president Mike Mulraney 3 But there was a mix-up for Rodgers and Celts striker Adam Idah Celtic had taken the lead through Aberdeen defender Alfie Dorrington's own goal, but Dons hit back when Kasper Schmeichel also turned into his own net. Jimmy Thelin's side managed to take the game through to extra time level and eventually to penalties, where Dimitar Mitov's saves from Callum McGregor and Alistair Johnston and five perfect kicks of their own won Aberdeen their first Scottish Cup in 35 years. McGregor and Johnston were emotional after the defeat, and the Hoops players were despondent as they climbed the Hampden steps to pick up their runners-up medals. But there was a surprise in store as, by the time final player Adam Idah and boss Rodgers reached the presentation platform, there was only ONE medal left between the pair of them. The presentation party, including SFA president Mike Mulraney, appeared to skip over Idah and hand the medal to Rodgers, gesturing that there was only one left. Mulraney also seemed to suggest to the striker that he would get a medal elsewhere. Rodgers then offered the medal to Idah, who refused, and the pair left the stage to allow Aberdeen their moment of triumph. This is Rodgers' first Hampden defeat, having won all seven of the Scottish Cup and League Cup finals he had contested before today. He was also attempting to enter the Celtic record books as the first Parkhead boss to win a treble of trebles. Legendary European Cup-winning boss Jock Stein twice won trebles with Celts, and Rodgers had matched the feat in his first two seasons in charge. Thousands of Celtic fans march to Hampden for Scottish Cup final vs Aberdeen amid heavy police presence He was required to console captain McGregor after the shootout. Hoops goalkeeper Schmeichel, after having allowed Dons back into the game with his blunder, also hugged the tearful McGregor. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
The Courier
16-05-2025
- Sport
- The Courier
Jeanfield Swifts project chief lifts lid on £2.5m field of dreams
Jeanfield Swifts are sharing plans for one of the biggest developments in the Perth side's 117-year history. The community football club is working on a £2.5 million revamp of its Riverside Stadium. The Riverside25 project will create two all-weather pitches at North Muirton. New lighting will allow play to continue after dark and through the winter. And the changing facilities will be upgraded to the standard its 400-plus players deserve. All being well, Riverside25 could be completed by next summer. Project spokesman Iwan Davies says it's an exciting time for Perth's other football club – and its North Muirton neighbours. 'The community aspect is everything to us,' he told The Courier when we visited Riverside Stadium this week. 'We see football as the vehicle that encourages people to be active, to be healthy, to be sociable. 'Ninety minutes on a Saturday is great. Everybody has a laugh. Everybody gets excited. But it's all the stuff that goes on in the rest of the week that brings the real value.' It's nearly 20 years since Jeanfield Swifts FC relocated to Riverside Stadium from their old ground at Simpson Park. In that time the first team has moved up from junior leagues to the East of Scotland League Premier Division. And the community side of the club has grown beyond all recognition. It now boasts 25 teams, with 450 regular players ranging in age from six to their sixties. There are after-school and holiday clubs, a team of asylum seekers, and a European Cup-winning squad of women's walking footballers. But the Riverside Stadium's facilities have not kept pace with demand. The grass pitch is only suitable for use by the first team. And so Jeanfield Swifts community players are taking up training space at other Perth sports and leisure facilities. 'At the moment we're booking out Bertha Park for a third of the week,' said Iwan. 'We want more kids and adults playing football right across Perth. 'If we can relieve the pressure at other places that will maybe help other clubs in the area to come on the same journey as us.' Under the plans, the first team's grass pitch will be upgraded to all-weather, meaning it can be used by other groups too. A new permanent all-weather pitch will be constructed on the greenspace next to the stadium. This community pitch won't take bookings between 3.30pm and 5pm each day. The idea is to leave it free for anyone who wants to come and have a kickabout with pals on the way home from school or work. Club bosses are consulting with locals before submitting a planning application to Perth and Kinross Council. Two public meetings have been held, and Iwan says the feedback has been helpful. He says the club is determined to work with neighbours around any issues such as noise, parking and lighting. And together, he says they can make Jeanfield Swifts the community club it aspires to be. 'The figures say there's deprivation in Muirton,' he said. 'But there's also a lot of pride and a lot of people working hard to make things better for everyone. 'We want to be a part of that, to make sure we're connecting with the community and all working towards that same goal.' Perth and Kinross Council has lent its backing to the plans with a £100,000 pledge in this year's budget. The club is also in discussions with the SFA and local funding sources.
Belfast Telegraph
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
NI and Man Utd legend George Best's player of the year gong sells for £26,000 at auction
The item was awarded during the club's European Cup-winning season A player of the year trophy awarded to NI and Manchester United legend George Best has been sold at auction in England for £26,000. The east Belfast-born star picked up the English Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year in 1968, the year the Red Devils took home the European Cup. Best found the net in the club's 4-1 win over Portuguese side Benfica in the final, helped them to a second-placed league finish and went onto be crowned European footballer of the year. The 23-cm high trophy was awarded by the Football Writers Association, whose 400 or so members have voted on the best player in England since the 1947 – 48 season, when Stanley Matthews was the inaugural winner. The item went under auction at Graham Budd Auctions in Northamptonshire on Wednesday, fetching £26,000, within its estimate of £25,000-£30,000. A rare George Best Barratt and Co football card also went under the hammer at £4,800, well above its estimate of between £1,500 and £2,000, while a match-worn NI jersey from 1976 sold for £11,000. The jersey was worn in a behind-closed-doors friendly match against Coventry City on October 9 1976. Other items within the same lot included a bottle of 1997 George Best Signature Wine, which sold for £120, and a Belfast Telegraph promotional poster produced following his death, which went for £60. Further trophies won by Best were also on sale at auction. His 2002 Century FM Lifetime Achievement award fetched £650, with a 1984 George Best XI v Billy Neill XI trophy also selling for £120. The winger's 2011 Belfast Sports Hall of Fame award however went unsold, along with a 1983 friendly trophy inscribed with the names of Nuneaton Borough and Coventry City. Items related to Best's career have proved extremely popular at auctions, often fetching prices well in excess of their estimates. The NI legend scored nine goals in 37 games for his country and 137 goals in 361 appearances for Manchester United after he was discovered by club scout Bob Bishop in Belfast at the age of 15. He continued his career in the US, appearing for Los Angeles Aztecs, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and the San Jose Earthquakes, as well as a notable spell at Fulham in 1976-77 where he scored eight goals in 42 appearances. One of the game's first 'celebrity' footballers, Best suffered from alcoholism and died in 2005 aged 59. All the items were on sale as part of Graham Budd's two-day Auction of Two Halves this week. The auction house dedicated a day's sale to each of Manchester's big clubs: the Sky Blues of City and the Red Devils of United. Jerseys formed the bulk of the City sale, with a red and black Tommy Booth shirt worn in the 1969 FA Cup Final win over Leicester City fetching £3,800.
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
CELTIC CONFIDENTIAL: Why Callum McGregor's Hampden goal carried echoes of the Lisbon Lions ... and the Bhoy who still believes he can follow his hero to Barca
So much is made of Daizen Maeda, Adam Idah and the centre-forward question that it's easy to forget just how many of Celtic 's goals come from elsewhere in the team. The depth of scoring options available to Brendan Rodgers was underlined in the Scottish Cup semi-final against St Johnstone on Sunday when Callum McGregor netted in a 5-0 victory. That made McGregor the seventh Celtic player this season to reach double figures in the goal charts, following Maeda, Nicolas Kuhn, Idah, Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate and Arne Engels. If that doesn't sound like anything special, bear in mind that it's the first time since Celtic's European Cup-winning season of 1966-67 that so many of their players have scored 10 or more. During that historic campaign under Jock Stein, the top scorers were Joe McBride, Bobby Lennox, Stevie Chalmers, Willie Wallace, Bertie Auld, Tommy Gemmell and Bobby Murdoch. Celtic are used to having McGregor as their captain – a lynchpin, playmaker and all-round inspiration rolled into one – but this season he has added goals to his game with a willingness to shoot from distance. It is all part of the multi-faceted attack that makes Celtic so difficult to defend against. When the threat comes from a variety of sources, it is usually the sign of a good team. With Luke McCowan on six goals and Yang Hyun-Jun on five, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that even more of the current crop could go beyond single figures in the half dozen games that remain. You wouldn't put it past them. Forgotten man Marco Tilio could be ripe for a return to Celtic Park The alarming downturn in the form of Nicolas Kuhn and the switch of position of Daizen Maeda to the central striking role are two factors that have undoubtedly led to a loss of sparkle in Celtic's wing play of late. While Yang Hyun-jun has won plenty hearts with some recent impressive cameos and contributions, and James Forrest can be counted on to finish the season in typically strong fashion as more silverware beckons, neither are considered long-term starting options with next season already on the minds of supporters. Luckily, there is at least one wide man playing himself into peak form and stating his claim for a sustained run on the flanks at Parkhead, yet he's so far off the radar that many fans might have forgotten he's even an option. Marco Tilio has managed just 28 minutes of action in a Celtic shirt since arriving from Melbourne City two years ago and hasn't been spotted in Glasgow since jetting back the A-League club on loan in February last year. Having arrived in Glasgow on the back of a 10-goal season for Melbourne, with what was then a record fee received for the sale an A-League player, big things were expected of a full Socceroos international widely regarded as a box of tricks by those who had seen him light up Australia's top division. An injury suffered early in his time at Celtic prevented him from making inroads and, after struggling to break into even the matchday squad, manager Brendan Rodgers decided a loan back to the southern hempishere was in the best interests of all parties. Unfortunately, Tilio then had two spells out due to his troublesome hamstring and suffered a muscle injury to boot, leaving him more often than not a frustrated spectator back in his homeland. Since working his way back to the Melbourne starting line-up in early February, however, Tilio has gone from strength to strength and has been earning rave reviews with his recent performances as City have tried in vain to keep touch with champions-in-waiting Auckland FC. Three goals and three assists have crucially been accompanied by complete confidence in his body again, and it is clear he is finally enjoying his football once more. Tilio is contracted to Celtic until 2028 but wouldn't be drawn on what his future holds, with supporters and pundits alike Down Under keen to see him remain with Aurelio Vidmar's team if another loan agreement can be forthcoming. Speaking on Australian television just last week, the 23-year-old said: 'There is ongoing conversations and I have to make a decision that I feel is best for me and my career. I am just starting to get game time and consistency with my body. 'Taking it week by week and game by game, I just want a top end to the season and obviously want to go into the final series and play very well.' One thing is for sure. Keep playing the way he is and add a final flourish for City in a successful A-League Play-off campaign, and the decision won't be Tilio's to make. Rodgers will be on the phone and instructing Tilio to head back for pre-season with the aim of injecting some life into Celtic's lethargic wing play. Odin Thiago Holm still believes he can follow his namesake to Barca Odin Thiago Holm is scheduled to return to Celtic at the end of the MLS season later this year when his loan deal with LAFC expires. However, the 22-year-old Norwegian has told the American outfit that his real dream is to use his time across the Atlantic as a springboard towards reklindling his fantasy of making it to boyhood loves Barcelona. Holm added the middle name Thiago to his title as a teenager as a result of his love for former Nou Camp favourite Thiago Alcantara. Despite still having to make any kind of breakthrough at Parkhead since arriving in a £3million move from homeland side Valerenga in the summer of 2023 - and being contracted to Celtic until the summer of 2028 - he was clear when asked in an official LAFC podcast about whether he still holds on to the hope of forging what currently feels like a most unlikely path to Barca. 'Hopefully,' he replied. 'That's the dream. I have always been a Barcelona fan.' Holm admits, however, that having such a permanent reminder of Alcantara as a former hero doesn't seem quite as great an idea now as it did when he changed it, with his parents' consent, aged 13. 'I'm not sure if I think the Thiago part is as cool now as at 13 or 14, but it is part of me now.' Holm was farmed out to LAFC in January after making just three substitute appearances for Celtic earlier in the season and looks to have a long way to go to force his way back into manager Brendan Rodgers' thinking. However, he has expressed no regrets over making the jump to Celtic Park almost two years ago. 'It was a big, proud moment when I heard of the interest,' he recalled. 'I didn't hesitate.' Moussa Dembele isn't just scoring for clubs these days, he's BUYING clubs Former Celtic striker Moussa Dembele clearly has money to burn as he whiles away the best years of career in the footballing wilderness of Saudi Arabia. For the Al-Ettifaq striker has joined the growing trend of owning football clubs by adding to his portfolio with the acquisition of Lithuanian second-tier outfit FK Minija. Dembele, 28, is still rubbing shoulders with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N'golo Kante in the filthy-rich Saudi Pro League, but he clearly has one eye on his post-playing career having set up an investment group by the name of Triple M, which already owns AS Mansa in Mali, where Dembele has family ties. Halfway through a lucrative four-year contract, Dembele has been out of action since the beginning of February after rupturing his Achilles tendon in a routine win at Al-Okhdood. It came after a promising start to the season that had seen him score seven times for the Dammam-based club, who finally dispensed with the services of Steven Gerrard back in January following his struggles to make them a competitive force in the Middle East. Quite what Dembele sees in FK Minija is open to interpretation, given the recently-formed side has no real pedigree in Lithuania. They are based in Kretinga, a picturesque town a short hop from the Baltic Sea resort of Palanga, and they have collected six points from their five league matches to date of the new season. But as a player with a fairly decent pedigree of sniffing out opportunities and making the most of them, on the field at least, perhaps we shouldn't be too quick to write off Dembele's latest venture. Watch this space, indeed. Celtic women's coach Elena Sadiku believes that their young midfielder, Maria McAneny, is developing into a leader with the mentality to inspire those around her. In a 1-0 victory against Motherwell on Sunday, when Celtic struggled to turn domination into goals, McAneny separated the sides with a free kick curled round the defensive wall and past goalkeeper Emily Mutch. The 20-year-old's strike, midway through the second half at K Park, was badly needed by a Celtic team who had not won any of their previous six matches and had scored just five times in that sequence. Sadiku admits that, at times like these, it is vital to have McAneny, a midfielder who can make the difference. Not just with her technical ability but with her determination to step up when it matters most. 'Maz is growing into being a leader in this team,' says Sadiku. 'She shows standards and demands, and that's something I really like to see, in terms of knowing the mindset and the mentality. 'Obviously she has quality and she showed [against Motherwell] what she has shown throughout the whole season. She is one of the players who has done the most assists and also goals.' While it was a welcome victory for Sadiku's struggling team, they are fourth in the SWPL table, eight points behind leaders Hibs, with just five matches to play. The title looks to be heading elsewhere, but Sadiku says the win at Motherwell, which followed draws with Rangers and Hibs, was a step in the right direction. 'We have had a really tough time in terms of not getting wins, but I feel like the last four games, we put in a good effort, even if the quality is not how good we can be. Hopefully that's something we can work on.' Old Bhoys will be back in town as Martin O'Neill hosts a grand reunion Martin O'Neill is heading back to Celtic for a grand reunion with a number of his star players from yesteryear. The Parkhead club have announced they are holding a special event at the SEC Armadillo in Glasgow on Sunday, June 8, to mark 25 years since the Northern Irishman took over the manager's job and turned the fortunes of the club around. O'Neill won seven trophies in five seasons – three leagues, three Scottish Cups and a League Cup - after leaving Leicester City and remains a huge favourite among the Celtic faithful. He will be joined on stage at this official Celtic event by a number of the players he coached during those glory days with other famous faces from throughout his career also scheduled to appear.
The Independent
15-04-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Ezri Konsa ‘proud' despite Aston Villa's Champions League exit: ‘We showed we can compete at the highest level'
Ezri Konsa believes that Aston Villa showed they can compete at the highest level as he expressed his pride despite exiting the Champions League. Unai Emery 's side were denied a remarkable comeback against Paris Saint-Germain as they fell just short in the quarter-finals, losing 5-4 on aggregate with the damage done by two first-half goals. Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes struck inside half-an-hour for PSG at Villa Park, extending their advantage to a margin that eventually - and only just - proved insurmountable. The French club were grateful to goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma for a string of superb saves to keep them ahead in the tie, clinging on to set up a last-four encounter with either Arsenal or Real Madrid. But while it was not to be for his side, centre-half Konsa - the scorer of Aston Villa's third goal - took plenty of pride from the performance. 'I'm very proud of the boys and what we did tonight,' the England international told Amazon Prime Video. 'The two goals at the start killed us but we showed great belief and character to get back into it. We won the second leg but it wasn't enough. "At half-time we felt we had nothing to lose. We wanted to go out there and prove a point. We had chances, I think I scored the hardest one. I don't think we could have done any more. I missed the ball [for a header], it happens. "He [Gianluigi Donnarumma] made some excellent saves. We showed tonight we can compete at the highest level and we want to do it again next season." Aston Villa had hoped to emulate their European Cup-winning side of 1982, and threatened a famous victory to keep their dream alive. Focus can now switch to their Premier League efforts, with the chase on for five Champions League places next season. Villa sit seventh after a good recent run of form, and also face Crystal Palace in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on Saturday 26 April.
