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BBC News
20-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'The architect of it all was Royle' - 30 years on from FA Cup success
Under Joe Royle, Everton had slowly but surely got themselves out of trouble in the league with some high-octane victories against teams who were much higher in the table. He'd brought in a style of play that suited the players he had in his squad. Barry Horne, Joe Parkinson and John Ebrell were key figures in a midfield "Dogs of War". Everton had become very difficult to beat, but that incredible 4-1 victory against Tottenham in the semi-final was evidence that they were capable of so much the Wembley final Sir Alex Ferguson's team were the 4/7 favourites with the bookmakers and Royle's men were given little chance, seemingly by everyone except their own fans and key moment of the match came on the half-hour. Barry Horne intercepted a Paul Ince through ball on the edge of his own penalty area. Pacy winger Anders Limpar latched on to his clearance and raced forward at the speed of lightening with the ball at his feet, before slipping the ball into the path of advancing right-back Matt Jackson. He ran into the penalty area and checked back to leave Gary Pallister trailing in his wake before slipping the ball towards the onrushing Graham Stuart, who thumped a right-foot shot goalwards. It cannoned of the underside of the crossbar and Paul Rideout reacted quickest to leap and head the ball into the back of the net from close the occasions when United looked dangerous, Everton's goalkeeper Neville Southall was in inspired form, making a series of top drawer saves. The Blues' young centre-back David Unsworth gave a 'coming of age' display and hardly allowed Mark Hughes a kick of the ball. The performance that day was the epitome of the sort of teamwork Royle had introduced. Every individual worked together for the greater good of the whole team. That squad had also become full to the brim with real leaders and much of that stemmed from one of the club's most important post-war signings - Dave Watson. He was an excellent, no nonsense central defender, with a fabulous understanding of the had been signed by Howard Kendall nine years earlier and had been part of some wonderful Everton teams. He'd also played in some very ordinary ones and I'm convinced that Everton would have been relegated without him. When he walked up those famous 39 nine steps to lift the FA Cup, the Blues fans were in raptures. A season that at one point had almost promised relegation, had ended with not only Premier League safety, but also with a major were plenty of heroes that day but the architect of it all was Royle. A man who knew Everton, who understood Everton and who'd transformed the team into something that the fans had not thought was possible. So after one of the most momentous occasions that Goodison has ever witnessed on Sunday, with the most fabulous and fondest farewell, the supporters can remember what happened 30 years ago with much hope that from this day onwards they not going to have to wait that long to see their team lift silverware to Total Sport Merseyside from 18:00 on weeknights and find details here of live Everton match commentaries on BBC Radio MerseysideExplore Everton content on BBC Sounds
BBC News
20-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'We were the underdogs' - Everton's 1995 moment
Paul Rideout, who scored the only goal of the 1995 FA Cup final on this day 30 years ago, reflected on his emotions leading up to the forward believes there was more pressure on Manchester United, who had lost the Premier League title to Blackburn just a week prior."I just enjoyed the whole day - there was never any nervousness that you would usually associate with a game like that," Rideout told Sky Sports, external in 2020."To a certain extent the survival of Everton in the league was more important to us. Once we did that, it was a big relaxing moment to go to Wembley just to enjoy."Rideout's strike partner Graham Stuart added: "We turned up at Wembley knowing we were the underdogs, but we didn't feel it in our dressing room."You're never going to play Manchester United and dominate for 90 minutes. They're too good of a side and there's too many talented players. But when we needed the Neville Southalls and Dave Watsons and the Barry Hornes, they stood up for us."
Daily Mirror
08-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Question Time row as MP says 'we've been shafted' by Trump's trade deal
A member of Thursday's Question Time audience in Hull wanted to know if the UK - US trade deal is a victory for the government, and the panelists didn't hold back The Question Time panelists engaged in a heated debate tonight following the announcement of a UK-US trade deal earlier today. On the panel on Thursday May 8 was James Murray MP, Graham Stuart MP, Richard Tice MP, Calum Miller MP and the trade union leader Jo Grady. During tonight's episode the pannel reacted to comments made by Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, in which she said: "We cut our tariffs — America tripled theirs … we've just been shafted!" Today, Donald Trump and Keir Starmer announced the UK and US have reached a "breakthrough" deal to reduce tariffs. The US President said the agreement would be "so good" for both countries as he lavished praise on the PM and "special relationship" during a call from the Oval Office. It is the first agreement the White House has reached with a country since Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on global imports to the US. During BBC Question Time an audience member asked: "Is the UK - US trade deal a victory for the government?" When asked by host Fiona Bruce if he would echo Kemi Badenoch's comment about being 'shafted' Graham Stuart, who has been an MP for Beverley and Holderness since 2005, answered: "I don't think it's a great deal, and the truth is that's what he does, he seeks to shaft people, that's his business career isn't it. It's what he's done, Donald Trump. The way he's done it he seeks to extort from people. He's a classic kind of bully and he's the worst face of capitalism and he's taken that into the most powerful country in the world." He added: "So we have been shafted, whether we have less shafted than we would have been if we hadn't engaged in the way that we have time will tell. We don't know all the details yet we don't know the legalities around it and this isn't even the final deal. We're talking about that happening over the coming year that we negotiate a full one. So, it's pretty hard to be too definitive today apart from to look at it and on the face of it it isn't a great deal for us." James Murray chipped in saying: "It's good news for Britain, it's good news for our auto sector, it's good news for steel manufacturers, it's good news for British farmers." He went on to say: "This gives us the basis for which we can have further discussions over the US to have an even stronger relationship in future." Jo Grady voiced her opinion on whether the US trade deal is a victory for the government saying: "I don't know it's a silver lining in an otherwise horrendous week, can we rely on promises from Trump No. But there's a recurring theme that's actually already come up so far in the discussion tonight ... and that is, is this a victory for working people?" She went on to say: "We should be paying attention to the politicians who encouraged us to take a gamble on Brexit and now we are seeing trade deals that we are manifestly on the negative receiving end of. " She added: "We as working people are going to be able to afford to buy fewer things." She concluded: "We need to as a working class movement in the UK or wherever you sit start realising that politicians from mainstream parties, many of them are part of a political elite, a trans-national political elite. We know that your leader is big pals with Donald Trump. They are profiting from our misery. They are profiting from this stare of affairs and they are peddling hate to us to distract us from realising that is what is going on." Richard Tice concluded his thoughts on the topic by saying: "This deal, the information we've got so far, it's work in progress." Next week, on May 15, Question Time will be in Aldershot and on May 22 in Dulwich.
Extra.ie
01-05-2025
- Business
- Extra.ie
3 simple changes that could rescue shambolic Champions Cup
So here we are, on the final lap of the European Champions Cup, and the theme surrounding the competition continues to be what a shambles it all is. Not a great narrative for the bumbling organisers, EPCR, or the chief sponsors, Investec – the South African finance giants who are said to be having serious second thoughts about their involvement. You would not blame them based on the past few seasons. While the finals have been high quality, much of what preceded those deciders was pure dross and it has led to constant hankering for the glory days of the European Cup between 2000 and 2012. Leinster's Rocky Elsom on the charge in the 2009 final, the period between 2000 and 2012 was when the European Cup was at its best. Pic: INPHO/Graham Stuart The process leading to the demise of this once-great competition, driven by the desire of the French and English clubs to gain more control, has been well documented and what we have been left with is a total mess. A mish-mash pool stage that is confusing for supporters and does not eliminate enough teams; too many weak sides allowed into the competition leading to numerous soulless blow-outs in conjunction with teams opting out of the competition early on and resting frontline players; an inequitable seeding system that allows some teams to play home games all the way to the final (Leinster) while others are sent on the road despite winning all their pool games (Toulouse). Toulouse won all their pool games but were still sent on the road throughout the knockout stages. Pic: Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP Throw in the off-Broadway television coverage that, in excitement terms, is a million miles away from the buzz that used to be generated by Sky Sports and you have a pretty rancid concoction that utterly fails to engage the wider public and only truly grabs the rugby public and media in the latter stages. Leinster's struggle to sell tickets for tomorrow's semi-final clash with Northampton at the Aviva is a case in point — it is their third home knockout game in a row for Leo Cullen's side and the first two were won 62-0 and 52-0 against Harlequins and Glasgow respectively. Garry Ringrose of Leinster runs in to score his side's fifth try during the 62-0 rout of Harlequins at Croke Park. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile So, it's fair to say the Champions Cup has fallen a long way from what it once was and is in a particularly bad place. The good news is it would not take a whole lot to fix it — if the EPCR can finally summon up some good sense. Three simple steps would go a long way to sorting this mess out… 1 Dump the South Africans Having South African teams compete in the 'European' Cup has never felt right, they are far better suited to the United Rugby Championship (URC). That is how they South Africans feel also, they are fully committed to the URC and have energised a competition that was, for so long, the problem child. The Stormers taking on Toulon in the Champions Cup, the South African sides had no interest in the competition and none made the knockout stages. Pic: INPHO It is a long haul to and from South Africa but for the URC, teams work extended trips into their schedule to play several games and enjoy the touring experience. There is none of that with the Champions Cup, long haul flights for one-off games is a chore for everyone involved and the lack of South African interest in this tournament is emphasised by the fact not one of their teams made the knockout stages The best thing to do now is call it quits — you would not hear too much complaining from South Africa, they would welcome the financial and fixture savings and would still have the URC and their own Currie Cup to keep them engaged. John Kelly celebrates his try for Munster against Gloucester in 2003, the pool stages of the Champions Cup have lost the drama they used to carry. Pic: Sportsfile 2 Four groups of four Less is more. There is a dire need for fewer mismatches in this competition and reducing the teams from 24 to 16 would ensure better contests. Ditch the confusing cross-pool format and go with a simple four groups of four teams. You could take the best six teams from the URC, best six teams from the Top 14 and the best four from the English Premiership. That would immediately remove a lot of the cannon fodder outfits currently allowed in the competition. With the French-driven restriction that forces the entire competition to be played off in eight weekends, they need to be used wisely — unlike the protracted toothless knockout stage that exists at present. Damian Penaud of Bordeaux goes over for a try against Munster, going with four groups of four would mean only taking the four best Top 14 teams. Photo: Getty The pool stage would take six weekends and would include the return of the hugely popular December back-to-backs. And the final two weekends would be held for the semi-finals featuring the four pool winners and the final. It would be some scrap to top the pool and only the best teams would make it to the knockout stages. With the level of intensity increased by the reintroduction of proper jeopardy, the competition would immediately become more attractive to sponsors. 3 Properly neutral semi-finals The system whereby teams play semi-finals in a 'neutral' venue in their own country is a farce when it comes to Leinster. Their designated 'neutral' grounds of Aviva Stadium and Croke Park are familiar venues situated close to their core Dublin fan-base. Even though no rules are being breached, it still feels like a stitch-up. RG Snyman of Leinster scores a try at the Aviva against Bath. The Aviva has become a home ground for Leinster rather than a 'neutral' semi-final venue. Pic: Getty The solution is to nominate semi-final venues at the start of the season, the way they do with the final. And, in the interests of spreading the gospel, these games should be staged in Portugal or Spain, two countries where rugby is noticeably growing in popularity. The semi-finals could be played one after the other to ensure a full house. Flights to Spain or Portugal would not break the bank, travel agents would undoubtedly do special deals and, mindful of the need for supporters to book at short notice, the EPCR could reduce ticket prices accordingly. The European Cup is a great competition, with a great history, and should be the elite tournament for elite teams in the northern hemisphere. It has lost that aura, but there is a way to get it back.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Yahoo
Captain of cargo vessel arrested following crash off British coast
March 12 (UPI) -- The captain of the cargo ship that crashed into an oil tanker anchored off the coast of Britian Monday has been arrested. Territorial police from Humberside reported Wednesday they took the captain of the Solong into custody on charges of gross negligence and manslaughter after the Portuguese-flagged Solong collided with the American-chartered Stena Immaculate tanker in the North Sea off East Yorkshire County, leaving one man missing and presumed dead. The captain, only identified as a 59-year-old man by authorities, has been reported to be a Russian national. Aside from the missing sailor, crews of the Solong and Stena Immaculate -- which was anchored while waiting for a berth to open for it at the Port of Killingholme on the River Humber according to Crowley, its Florida-based owners -- have all been accounted for. The oil tanker was carrying 220,000 barrels of jet fuel for the U.S. military in 16 separate cargo tanks, as the crash ruptured one of the tanks when it was struck and both vessels were set ablaze as a result. Documents from the Solong's inspection last year by Irish officials reported 10 deficiencies, including that its "emergency steering position communications/compass reading" was "not readable." The inspection also found inadequate alarms, missing fire doors and an insufficient alarm system, while Scottish authorities discovered deficiencies following an inspection in October of 2024. The amount of jet fuel spilled into the waters surrounding the incident remains unclear, but due to the fire and evaporation, an initial review of the situation indicated that the environmental impact was reportedly reduced. Member of Parliament for Beverley and Holderness Graham Stuart said he was told by officials that there was no evidence as of yet regarding any oil from the engines of the ships involved leaking into and polluting the nearby water or air. Member of Parliament for Wythenshawe and Sale East Mike Kane spoke before the House of Commons Tuesday and said that the fire aboard the Stena Immaculate has gone out, but the Solong continues to burn. He also stated that search and rescue operations for the missing sailor were called off once it was decided the person was likely deceased. The crash remains under investigation.
