Latest news with #Govan
BBC News
15 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Martin determined to prove doubters wrong
Russell Martin acknowledges he was not the first pick of some Rangers fans to be the club's new head coach, but he is determined to prove his doubters supporters have expressed displeasure at the decision to appoint the former MK Dons, Swansea and Southampton boss on a three-year the ex-Rangers defender says his history of winning over critics makes him convinced he can do so again at whether he is confident he can prove his doubters wrong, Martin replied: "I have to be. I have a lot to prove. My whole career has been based on proving people wrong."Some names in football management are a bit more exciting than others, but I feel after five-and-a-half years of being a manger, coach and leader, I love doing it. I'm going to be all in with my energy.""Ultimately I just want to win. If I'm winning, I'm sure [the fans] will be happy."The 39-year-old, who led Southampton to Premier League promotion last year but was sacked by December after just one win in 16 games, wants to give the Rangers fans "a team they identify with".Martin concedes he has not been the initial "number one choice" with the supporters at any club he has managed, but he is hoping to forge a "real connection" with the demanding fanbase in order to that, however, the ex-Scotland centre-back knows he needs to show them instant success."To the fans, I have to win," Martin added. "I don't think I've been number one choice [with the fans] at any club I've been at. "But, by the time we've left anywhere, we've felt a real connection with the fans. I hope this will be the same."
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- General
- The Herald Scotland
Scotland man Angus Gunn understands Rangers' pursuit of Russell Martin
Gunn, who is training with the Scotland squad at Lesser Hampden this week ahead of the national team's friendly internationalist against Iceland at Hampden on Friday evening and Liechtenstein on Monday night, can understand why the Govan outfit's new hierarchy are interested in bringing him in. Read more: 'I only worked with him as a player at Norwich,' he said. 'He's a very intellectual guy. I went in there as a young goalkeeper and he helped me massively, even though he wasn't in the team every week and playing regularly. 'He was the captain of the club and he had good relationships with everyone in the dressing room. Obviously, watching what he's done at Southampton, I thought he'd done incredibly well there. 'He probably was unfortunate to lose his job there because it's always difficult for teams coming up from the Championship to even compete with some of the Premier League teams. (Image: Andrew Milligan) 'I watch him now on the TV and can see the way he wants to play and his philosophy. I really hope whatever he goes on to in his career is successful. 'I don't know if he's going to go to Rangers or not, but obviously he had a spell there as well, so he kind of knows the club a little bit. I think it would be a really good thing for the Rangers, to be fair.' Read more: Gunn, who is set to win his 16th cap for his adopted homeland against Iceland, knew early on that Martin, who played 29 times for the country of his father's birth in the 2010s, was destined to become a manager when he started playing with him at Norwich. 'There were a few other players in that dressing room who were like that,' he said. 'Steven Naismith was there as well. But you can definitely tell on the pitch when you're playing with players. They kind of start coaching whilst they're still playing, if you like, sort of organising on the pitch. 'He was one of them. But Russell wasn't just on the pitch, he was off the pitch as well, where he had close relationships with everyone. Even though, like I said, he wasn't a regular playing in the team, he was always on hand and always upbeat and a good person to go to.'
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
If defence is Starmer's ‘first priority', why is he allowing an invasion of illegal migrants?
In the week that the Prime Minister vowed to increase defence spending and solemnly averred, 'My first priority is the safety and security of the British people', the British people scratched their heads and gestured crossly in the direction of their southern coastline. 'Hang on, Keir,' they muttered. 'What about those 1,195 men from God-knows-where who broke into our homeland on Saturday to access the all-you-can-sponge benefits buffet that's 15,000 of the blighters this year so far, a record. How are you making us safe and secure?' You could tell the PM thought he was making a historic speech; the hair gel gets heavier and greasier along with the sententious, slippery phrases. It didn't help that he was speaking at the Govan shipyards in front of a group of workers who appeared to have been taken hostage during their break, wrestled from their Twixes and builder's tea to provide a stirring backdrop for this tinpot authoritarian dictator. All credit to the Scots, they looked either bored or openly hostile. Samuel Johnson's observation that 'patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel' never rang truer. A hugely unpopular Labour leader, who acts against the national interest at any given opportunity, was suddenly asking the country to pull together because his party risks coming a humiliating third, behind Reform UK, in the Hamilton by-election on Thursday. Don't get me wrong. I welcome any rise in funding for our beleaguered armed forces, but the PM's promise to make the UK 'a battle-ready, armour-clad nation' sounded absurd. Not least because he called committing to spending 3 per cent of GDP an 'ambition' when highly-respected generals (and now Nato) say 3.5 per cent on defence is the bare minimum. The damage has already been done as a result of years of underinvestment, lack of purpose, partly through constant change of leadership in all three services, lack of political will and an increasing number of civil servants without any military experience who hold down jobsworth appointments resisting change and threats to their position. But it wasn't just the lack of a firm financial commitment that felt evasive. Starmer avoided any mention of the clear and present danger, which is by far the biggest threat to our national security. There are currently more illegal male migrants of fighting age in the UK than there are soldiers. The British Army, once among the world's best, is now 71,000-weak and can no longer put an armoured division in the field, yet the state somehow finds a stupefying £8 million a day to place 'asylum seekers' in pleasant hotels beyond the means of any squaddie. The 1,200 invaders who came ashore on just one day last weekend are roughly the equivalent of two infantry battalions. One estimate has numbers reaching 50,000 by the end of the year, although if we have a good summer, it could be much worse. It's frightening. To add to the jeopardy, in 2020, MI5 said that nine-tenths of the 43,000 suspects on its terror watchlist were jihadists. More potential terrorists from Iraq, Iran, Syria and North Africa are ferried ashore every hour by the RNLI and Border Force; they are so busy transporting unwanted arrivals that last week they asked trawlers for help. (When Keir Starmer promised to 'stop the boats', little did we realise the boats he planned to stop were British fishing boats! The PM sold our fishermen out to the French as an incentive to prevent migrant dinghies setting sail. Curiously, for our 500 million quid, the numbers being 'prevented' are going down not up. Tant pis, Monsieur Keir!) If you or I were the prime minister or home secretary, the numbers above would be giving us sleepless nights. Who knows, maybe Keir Starmer in the wee small hours frets a little that the multicultural experiment is fast approaching breaking point and no amount of jailing 'far-Right thugs' like Lucy Connolly or clamping down on free speech is going to keep a lid on civil unrest. I doubt it somehow. It is an article of faith for the Left that Western countries have no moral right to control their borders and keep out unfortunate people from supposedly exploited places. In 1988, Starmer even said that 'a racist undercurrent… permeates all immigration law'. Nowadays, living in fear of Farage's turquoise tsunami, the hypocrite tweets: 'You have every right to be angry about small boat crossings. I'm angry too.' You have every right to be angry about small boat crossings. I'm angry too. We are ramping up our efforts to smash the people smuggling gangs at source. Hundreds of boats and engines: seized. Illegal working raids: up. Almost 30,000 people: returned. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 2, 2025 Don't believe him. Sir Keir is a member of that human rights legal elite who have set themselves up as defenders of the international 'rules-based order', rejoicing in their principled stand against their less enlightened and bigoted countrymen. (That's us, folks.) Irreversible change to the population and culture of our country is not an accidental by-product of their love for open borders; they won't rest until every last vestige of despised Britishness and patriotic feeling is erased. No one better personifies that sanctimonious, canting breed than Sir Keir's old mucker Attorney General, Lord Richard Hermer. Last week, Lord Hermer caused uproar when he said that politicians threatening to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) were basically Nazis 'echoing 1930s Germany'. It is that very same wretched ECHR which all the human rights zealots love to exploit. Immigration judges regularly place some Islamist maniac's right to a family life above the right of British people not to be blown up, or raped, successfully blocking the deportation of thousands of dangerous foreign criminals. Imagine hating your country so much that you dedicate your life to representing those who hate it even more. Gerry Adams, Shamima Begum, five brutes linked to al-Qaeda – all were represented by Lord Hermer. So I was disgusted, but not surprised, when The Telegraph disclosed on Sunday that Lord Hermer personally signed off on the prosecution of Lucy Connolly for a single, deeply unpleasant tweet. At the time of the fast-tracked show trials around the Southport riots, the Attorney General warned: 'You cannot hide behind your keyboards – you will face the full force of the law.' (Looks like he and the PM both approved the draconian crackdown on free speech to cover up the cracks in their multicultural project.) The Telegraph also discovered that Hermer's office had declined to review 'unduly lenient' sentences handed to a convicted rapist, a paedophile and a terrorist fundraiser – all of them received shorter terms than Lucy. What a sick, ideologically-warped society it is where a convicted rapist is sentenced to 28 months and a devoted mum and childminder who typed one bad thing (swiftly corrected) is sent down for 31 months. Thank goodness for Robert Jenrick, who perfectly summed up the grotesque two-tier justice meted out to Lucy in an excoriating question in the Commons, and for Baroness Kate Hoey, who demanded compassion for Lucy in the Lords. The Justice Secretary released Lawson Natty early, who supplied a machete used to kill a 14 year old. She is now halving the sentences for killers and rapists. Meanwhile Lucy Connolly remains behind bars for a reprehensible, but swiftly deleted tweet. Why? She had no answer👇 — Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) June 3, 2025 In Scotland, the Prime Minister asked the country to 'work together' to confront the threat from Russia. I don't know about you but, right now, I'm less worried about Vladimir Putin than Richard Hermer. Even if the Royal Navy and the Army get the funds they need and deserve, there is no way the current Attorney General will permit our forces to repel or repatriate the thousands of undocumented males who present such a danger to the UK (particularly to women and girls). Unless we leave the ECHR, the hands of our soldiers and sailors are forever tied. Imagine trying to explain that mortifying impotence to those who died protecting this island from actual Nazis. Confronting the enemy within is every bit as important as bolstering our defences to engage the enemy abroad. Make no mistake: uncontrolled migration is by far the biggest threat. Starmer, Hermer and their ilk are not to be trusted with our nation's security; they owe their loyalty to international human rights law. Not to the men, women and children of Britain.
The National
3 days ago
- Business
- The National
Scotland man Angus Gunn understands Rangers' pursuit of Russell Martin
Martin, who led Southampton into the Premier League in English via the play-offs last season, has emerged as the front runner to replace Phillipe Clement at the Glasgow club despite interest in Davide Ancellotti and Francesco Farioli. Gunn, who is training with the Scotland squad at Lesser Hampden this week ahead of the national team's friendly internationalist against Iceland at Hampden on Friday evening and Liechtenstein on Monday night, can understand why the Govan outfit's new hierarchy are interested in bringing him in. Read more: 'I only worked with him as a player at Norwich,' he said. 'He's a very intellectual guy. I went in there as a young goalkeeper and he helped me massively, even though he wasn't in the team every week and playing regularly. 'He was the captain of the club and he had good relationships with everyone in the dressing room. Obviously, watching what he's done at Southampton, I thought he'd done incredibly well there. 'He probably was unfortunate to lose his job there because it's always difficult for teams coming up from the Championship to even compete with some of the Premier League teams. (Image: Andrew Milligan) 'I watch him now on the TV and can see the way he wants to play and his philosophy. I really hope whatever he goes on to in his career is successful. 'I don't know if he's going to go to Rangers or not, but obviously he had a spell there as well, so he kind of knows the club a little bit. I think it would be a really good thing for the Rangers, to be fair.' Read more: Gunn, who is set to win his 16th cap for his adopted homeland against Iceland, knew early on that Martin, who played 29 times for the country of his father's birth in the 2010s, was destined to become a manager when he started playing with him at Norwich. 'There were a few other players in that dressing room who were like that,' he said. 'Steven Naismith was there as well. But you can definitely tell on the pitch when you're playing with players. They kind of start coaching whilst they're still playing, if you like, sort of organising on the pitch. 'He was one of them. But Russell wasn't just on the pitch, he was off the pitch as well, where he had close relationships with everyone. Even though, like I said, he wasn't a regular playing in the team, he was always on hand and always upbeat and a good person to go to.'
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
QUENTIN LETTS: The Lib Dems are no longer against nukes - as long as they're fuelled by lentil gas, perhaps!
When North Korea tried to launch a warship the other day, things did not go entirely to plan and the vessel capsized. Labour 's announcement of its defence plans nearly went the same way. What a foul-up they made of it. MPs were cross that they were not allowed to read the defence review until the Secretary of State, John Healey, was at the despatch box. The Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, went on the war path, voicing backbenchers' fury and ensuring that Mr Healey's announcement was delayed by other squabbles. Commons leader Lucy Powell took several direct hits from Sir Lindsay. She curled a lip at him but that only encouraged him to unleash more verbal torpedoes. Ms Powell was soon listing, holed below decks and with much of her superstructure gone. After further sorties from her Tory counterpart, Jesse Norman, she may be beyond salvage. While a 'glug glug glug' came from HMS Powell, Mr Healey glided to the despatch box to agree that MPs should, yes, be allowed to read the document before asking him about it. By this stage, many of its contents had already been reported by newspapers – a proud day for journalists, egad – and Sir Keir Starmer had held a wonderfully wooden event in front of two half-built frigates at Govan. The nasal knight was surrounded by shipyard workers. He gulped, blinked, said 'er' and 'um', and managed to create further confusion as to when, if ever, defence spending would reach 3 per cent of gross domestic product. Back at Westminster a junior defence minister, Luke Pollard, had a sticky time explaining what the Government's policy on nuclear weapons would now be. Mr Pollard, hesitating, explained: 'I don't want to eat the Secretary of State's sandwiches.' Speaker Hoyle, roaring in broad Lancastrian: 'Don't you wurry, the Sunday papers did it already!' Mr Healey was by now in the chamber, going through the text of his speech but perhaps silently thinking 'cripes, what a shambles'. Beside him sat another defence minister, Maria Eagle, dabbing at her runny nose with a sopping Kleenex. The chemical warfare laboratory at Aldermaston would not have handled that hankie without a hazmat suit. Just when things could hardly deteriorate further, Tory frontbencher Mark Francois came scampering into the chamber like a plump old spaniel with a string of butcher's sausages. He whispered something urgent to the shadow secretary of state, James Cartlidge, who promptly stood up to announce that the review document had been given to leading defence firms at 8am. Two and a half hours before even the journalists? Disgrace! Speaker Hoyle whooshed back to his feet and said he hoped there had been no insider-dealing on the stock market as a result. Up in the gallery beside us blunt nibs, meanwhile, sat Lord Robertson, the Labour grandee and former Nato boss who led the defence review. Tories suggested he must be appalled by the goings-on. Lord Robertson looked to me as if he was enjoying the chaos enormously. Finally we reached real points of debate. Jeremy Corbyn and a few Lefties complained about a breaking of nuclear non-proliferation treaty agreements. The Greens – Ellie Chowns from the SAS lands of Herefordshire, indeed – wailed that 'warheads don't buy a safer world'. Tory heckler: 'I think you'll find they do.' Debbie Abrahams (Lab, Oldham E) fretted about mental health. The Labour MP for Aldershot wanted a new bank. And the Lib Dems are no longer opposed to nukes. Provided they are fuelled by lentil gas, perhaps. Mr Healey ground his jaw. He spoke of 'our island home' and said 'we must now move to war-fighting readiness'. His macho routine did not work as well as it usually does. When he claimed that Rachel Reeves had 'fixed the economic foundations', I regret to say that the House just laughed. Not that Mr Healey will mind that the Treasury, which may be his more immediate foe than even the Kremlin, has now become a national joke.
