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BBC News
18 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
What can we learn from Clarke's fresh-faced Scotland squad?
International friendly: Scotland v IcelandWhen: Friday 6 June Where: Hampden Park Kick-off: 19:45 BSTCoverage: Watch live on BBC One Scotland and BBC Sport website & app, online text updates, listen on BBC Radio Scotland Steve Clarke is no stranger to adapting and evolving as Scotland his six years in charge of the national team, he has chopped and changed the makeup of his squad, reaching two major finals in the process.A place at the World Cup is the next target for Clarke's Scotland, 27 years since their last appearance at the showpiece event in 61-year-old has selected seven uncapped players for this month's friendly matches against Iceland and Liechtenstein as they gear up for their World Cup qualifying campaign, which gets under way in September. Hibernian striker Kieron Bowie and Sassuolo left-back Josh Doig are included, as are midfield trio Connor Barron of Rangers, West Ham United's Andy Irving and Lennon Miller of Robby McCrorie and Cieran Slicker are the other two players yet to make their full international the face of it, it appears Clarke is looking to the future, but what can we learn from his new-look squad? Blend of youth & experience One thing that stands out, in addition to the numerous uncapped players, is the volume of younger the 25-man squad, 12 are aged 25 or younger with their best years stretching ahead of Ferguson is one of them. The Bologna captain continued his superb story on the continent by winning the Coppa Italia last season, but has struggled for regular starts in the dark blue of his Kenny McLean not included and Ryan Christie recovering from injury, he has an opportunity to stake his place in midfield alongside Billy Johnston, 21, and the returning Nathan Patterson, 23, could be handed opportunities to impress with Anthony Ralston - the other right-back in the squad - second choice at James Wilson and Middlesbrough's Tommy Conway join Bowie as the other youthful striking is still a familiar feel to the spine of the squad though. Wiser heads like captain Andy Robertson, John McGinn, Kieran Tierney and Serie A MVP Scott McTominay remain, as Scotland seek momentum before the games that matter. Uncertainty remains in goal Not long ago, Scotland had an abundance of quality goalkeeping talent at their one of Craig Gordon, Allan McGregor or David Marshall were comfortable at international days, the resources between the sticks are less plentiful, to say the is now 42 and not included in this squad due to injury. It seems highly unlikely that even a man of his talent and resilience would feature at the 2026 World Cup if Scotland were to get there. Angus Gunn took the gloves at Euro 2024, but has made high-profile errors for both club and country and is now a free agent after being released by Norwich leaves the uncapped Slicker and McCrorie, both with limited experience at club must either back Gunn or put his faith in one of his untested shot stoppers. Which uncapped players might catch Clarke's eye? Of the uncapped players, Miller undoubtedly has the most hype around 18-year-old midfielder has improved at a remarkable rate since making his senior club debut aged just won the PFA Scotland young player of the year award last month after a season in which he scored four goals and assisted seven in 36 is expected to leave Fir Park for a sizeable transfer fee, one which could be bolstered should he make his Scotland bow against Iceland or Liechtenstein."I could maybe, in a couple of months, be the best player there," Miller said after his first Scotland call-up in later clarified his comments, saying the speed of that claim was a "mistake", but reiterating his desire to be the best player he possibly can be. Short of confidence, he is is another who will fancy making an impact, should the opportunity strong and imposing, he scored six goals in his first season for Hibs after recovering from a hamstring injury sustained playing for Scotland Under-21s."Any time I watched the Under-21s he always stood out," Clarke said when naming his squad. "He's big, physical and strong with good attributes to his game."Going into the summer, you've got Lawrence Shankland and Kevin Nisbet, I know what they can bring, so it was just to have a look at something a little bit different and see if we can expand the pool of players."You're looking for somebody to catch your eye."
Daily Record
19 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Record
Hamilton Accies seek site in town for youth academy as deal for temporary base close to being secured
The League One club are set to keep academy operations in Hamilton, while the first team prepares to move to Cumbernauld Hamilton Accies are seeking a site in the town for their elite youth academy. The club has confirmed their lease at Broadwood for next season only applies to first team operations and the club's under-19 side, leaving the renowned academy without a home as things stand, following the club's decision to quit New Douglas Park last month. The news comes shortly after one of the club's greatest success stories, Lewis Ferguson, captained Bologna to the Coppa Italia for the first time in 51 years. With the first team's move out of the town pushing forward, Lanarkshire Live Sport understands work is underway to keep the academy in Hamilton long-term. In the meantime, a temporary venue in the town is close to being secured for an initial two-year spell to retain a status within Hamilton, with all academy staff and operations based there. A club source said: "The lease at Broadwood is for the first team and under-19s. The intention was never to move the football club to Broadwood, the intention is to keep the overall football operation somewhere in Hamilton, just not at New Douglas Park. "All of the first team operations, coaching staff, analysis, physios and sports scientists are all going to Broadwood on a full-time basis. "The academy will be remaining in Hamilton. We are in the process of finding a suitable location that we can turn into an elite academy and first-team training base, similar to what St Mirren has at Ralston. "We are looking at working with the council to try and achieve something like that for the academy. "That is in line with the long-term vision anyway. If we had bought New Douglas Park, we would be making it a grass pitch to comply with the SPFL. "You can't have an academy training on a grass pitch seven days a week, so that has always been part of the plan." Hamilton's move out of New Douglas Park will come at the cost of some jobs and asked about potential job losses, the source added: "There are obvious losses in terms of us not needing to bring in the likes of cleaners or a stadium manager at Broadwood. "There's two jobs at risk and if those jobs are deemed to be unsuitable, we will go through a redundancy process, but there will be recruitment across other areas of the club as well."
Daily Mail
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay have blazed a trail to Italy... now Lennon Miller should follow, says GARY KEOWN
Lewis Ferguson and Aaron Hickey used their moves to Bologna to open the gates wide open. Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour have now blown them completely apart. When it comes to the brightest talents coming through the ranks in Scottish football, admiring the journeys travelled by these guys, the peak of the mountain need no longer be a move to the Old Firm or a shot at tapping into the exorbitant wages available down in England.
Glasgow Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Glasgow Times
Scottish football is a victim of Broken Britain - MSPs need to act not just our clubs
With Falkirk winning the Championship and promotion back to the Premiership amid scenes of wild rejoicing, Lewis Ferguson becoming the first man from this country to lift the Coppa Italia since 1985 and James Forrest of Celtic being presented with his 26th medal, there has been much to celebrate. What a desperate shame, then, that those heartening tales have been somewhat overshadowed by the appalling conduct of the undesirables who attach themselves to every club's support. The final Old Firm match of the season in Govan was marred by the outcry over a Celtic fan holding up a mobile phone with 66 – the number of people who died on Stairway 13 in the Ibrox Disaster of 1971 - and mocking the Rangers support. Read more: Last weekend at Tannadice, the Aberdeen player Jack MacKenzie required extensive medical treatment after being struck in the head by a seat which had been ripped out and thrown in the direction of the pitch by one of the Pittodrie club's own followers. Then at Almondvale last night the Ross County assistant manager Carl Tremarco was spat on by a Livingston fan after the first leg of the Premiership play-off final had finished 1-1. All of the individuals responsible either have or will be dealt with by the relevant authorities accordingly. It is important to remember they are just three people out of tens of thousands. Still, those sickening incidents were not a good look for the game in this country. It is no surprise that our elected representatives have been asked to offer an opinion on the scenes of affray in recent days. Jon Swinney, the First Minister, condemned both the unofficial 'Celtic Title Party' at Trongate last Saturday and the MacKenzie flashpoint when he was campaigning in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election this week. 'I'm very concerned by what I saw,' he said. 'I understand supporters want to celebrate the performance of their team. But it can't be at the expense of other people. Throwing a chair that seriously injures an Aberdeen player and damaging and disrupting the centre of Glasgow shouldn't happen.' (Image: Roddy Scott - SNS Group) Swinney stopped short of demanding, as he had back in December following the appalling unrest on Argyle Street before the Premier Sports Cup final, of demanding that clubs have to do more to maintain order among their supporters outside of grounds. Which was just as well because that had been a ludicrous suggestion. Celtic and Rangers have tens if not hundreds of thousands of supporters. They cannot possibly be held responsible for their actions away from games. The troublemakers might never have stepped foot inside their stadium. If Police Scotland officers are unable to maintain order what possible chance do football club officials have? Anyway, is it not more of a societal issue than a sporting one? Does Broken Britain not need to be fixed before this sort of vile affray can be banished from our sporting arenas? Steven Ferguson, the County chief executive, was firmly of that view when he spoke after the Livingston encounter in West Lothian. 'I think it is a wider problem,' he said. 'There seems to be a bit of a culture creeping back into the game.' Former midfielder Ferguson played for Dunfermline Athletic, County, Ayr United, Brechin City, Dumbarton and Stenhousemuir in the 1990s and 2000s so he is well qualified to offer an opinion on the deterioration in crowd behaviour. The Celtic fan who mocked the Ibrox Disaster has been banned from Parkhead indefinitely and sacked from his job, the man who is accused of hitting MacKenzie with a seat appeared in court this week and police are currently studying video footage and trying to identify the Livingston supporter who spat on Tremarco. The perpetrators of these kind of acts – and the throwing of missiles at players on the pitch has sadly become almost endemic in Scottish during the 2024/25 campaign – are routinely punished. Read more: So why do these things keep happening? The low intelligence levels of those responsible probably has a lot to do with it. You will never rid the world of stupid. But perhaps it is time for the powers that be to start meting out more severe sanctions. A working group looking at how to tackle the increased use of pyrotechnics at matches has concluded that beefing up Football Banning Orders (FBO) – only five of which were dished out in this country between August and February this year – could be an effective deterrent. (Image: SNS) Amending the wording of the current FBO legislation so that the 'no pyro, no party' brigade, a group which has a growing number of members, can be barred from filing through the turnstiles in future is now being examined. It is vital that MSPs push through the changes which are urgently required. The SFA and SPFL, organisations which are run by the clubs for the clubs, can do their bit as well. The reduced ticket allocations which Celtic, Rangers and Motherwell were hit with for their fans use of flares and smoke bombs at the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals and final last year showed that action was, at long last, being taken in attempt to ensure the safety of spectators. Will there be more mass coordinated displays before the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup final at Hampden this afternoon? Watch this space? If there is, it will underline that, as if it needed to be highlighted, tougher measures are required to maintain order inside Scotland's grounds.
Scottish Sun
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
‘You never know' – Coppa Italia hero Lewis Ferguson lays out his DREAM move despite Bologna silverware success
The Scottish international has set his sights on the English top-flight FERGIE'S TIME 'You never know' – Coppa Italia hero Lewis Ferguson lays out his DREAM move despite Bologna silverware success Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SCOTLAND star Lewis Ferguson says he dreams of playing in the Premier League. The midfielder is set to lead his Bologna side as they parade their Coppa Italia trophy in their final match of the season at home against Genoa on Saturday. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Ferguson captained his side to a 1-0 victory over AC Milan in the Coppa Italia final Credit: Getty Ferguson loves life in Italy, but could play south of the border. He told talkSPORT: 'It has been a dream of mine since I was a kid — I grew up watching the Premiership and the Premier League. It's always been a goal of mine to go and test myself there. 'I am really happy here in Italy, it's a great league and a superb country. But one day, you never know. I'd definitely like to do it. 'A large part of the fan base at Bologna hasn't seen such a successful team, it's amazing. 'Wherever we go — in the city centre or outside the training ground — they are all so positive.' The 1-0 cup win over AC Milan last week guaranteed Ferguson's Bologna squad European football again next season. He captained his side to victory in front of 68,000 passionate fans in Rome's Stadio Olimpico. The former Aberdeen and Hamilton ace added: 'It was really special for myself and for the club. 'It's been 51 years since we last lifted a major trophy, and you saw how much it meant to the people in Bologna and the people around the club. It was a special evening. 'As soon as the final whistle went I just ran straight to my family. PIzza boss dedicated pie to famous Tartan Army duo in Italy 'To see their faces was so nice because they are the people who are with you all the time. 'I've had a tough time over the past year with injuries, and they are the people who are always behind you and always supporting you. 'My mates were there as well. 'Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour both sent me a message of congratulations after the final. Fingers crossed Napoli can clinch the title this weekend.' McTominay and Gilmour are one win away from their first Serie A title, and would join Ferguson in winning a major honour in Italy. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
