Latest news with #SPFLTrustTrophy
The Courier
10 hours ago
- Business
- The Courier
Potential St Johnstone advantage for cup clash revealed as East Kilbride boss hails Simo Valakari
The manager of St Johnstone's first opponents of next season has spoken of his admiration for Perth head coach, Simo Valakari. SPFL new boys, East Kilbride, will host Saints in the Premier Sports Cup opener on Saturday, July 12. Their boss, Mick Kennedy, is a fan of the Finn's footballing principles. And he's excited about the prospect of going head to head with the McDiarmid Park side next month. 'St Johnstone is a massive game to kick us off after getting into the SPFL,' said Kennedy. 'I know they had an unsuccessful season and had a new manager come in, but I have a lot of admiration for Simo Valakari in terms of how his side plays. 'He is trying to implement a possession-based style of play so I think that will make for a good game between us. 'We will go to try and win all the games, and we'll certainly show no fear.' Raith Rovers, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Elgin City are the other sides in Group F. And Saints may have an advantage in getting East Kilbride, who were promoted into League Two through the play-offs, first. 'We will try and get one friendly in before the cup starts but that will be our pre-season,' said Kennedy, who guided his team to SPFL Trust Trophy victories over Airdrie and Ayr United last season. 'Because we finished a lot later than the SPFL teams and the boys needed their break we need to use the competition as our pre-season.'
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Ex-Hamilton Accies star looks to next chapter after relegation causes exit
Reghan Tumilty is on the lookout for a new club after two-and-a-half seasons at Accies Reghan Tumilty admits it was difficult to leave Hamilton Accies, but he's got to do what's best for him and his family. The defender announced his departure after two-and-a-half seasons on social media, and Tumilty's looking for his next chapter after a holiday in Portugal. Hamilton would have ended last season seventh in the Championship but for a 15-point deduction for off-field offences, and Tumilty has made the decision to move on. But he thanked boss John Rankin for rescuing him from a miserable spell at Hartlepool United in 2023 Tumilty said: 'It was bad the way it ended, really, sad, really. Us as players, we felt like we did the best we could, that was all we could really do. 'It was about being professional and finishing it, and whatever happens happens. 'It was frustrating to be relegated, but we did our jobs. We had to be professional about it and do our side. 'We were hopeful that we would get some points back [in an appeal], but we got zero and there was no hope in the end. 'We had to be professional and I think we proved that in the last game against Falkirk. 'I know we got beat in the end, but we put on a good show, considering the amount that was going on in the background, and we were trying to play at the same time. 'I'm proud of my team-mates, to be fair.' Tumilty added: 'It's not ideal but it's good for me now to move on and start somewhere else. 'There have been ups and downs, and I have enjoyed it. 'I do thank them a lot for bringing me in, the manager bringing me in, because it was at a point where I was hating football, so it made me like it again. 'Winning the SPFL Trust Trophy was a good moment, there have been a few 1-0, Tumilty games in the last couple of seasons, and those are my favourite ones.' Tumilty doesn't have a club lined up, but hopes he can find a new one ahead of next season. He said: 'I don't know what comes next, I'm just enjoying my holiday, I'm heading to Portugal. 'It has been good to switch off and enjoy my holidays, because you don't get it very often. 'You get this month a year, but your friends and family are at work, so you're just kind of hanging about. 'It will be good to get away and not really think about it. 'Hopefully I won't be short of offers. 'I've played a lot of games, so it's getting to that stage where hopefully something comes and it's the right fit, because I have things to pay for these days, I have bills to pay for.'
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Former Livi ace could face trial over allegation he deliberately got booked in Celtic match as part of betting scam
It allegedly took place during a Premiership match six years ago YELLOW PERIL Former Livi ace could face trial over allegation he deliberately got booked in Celtic match as part of betting scam Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A FORMER Livingston star could face trial over an allegation he deliberately got a yellow card against Celtic to help a betting scam. Prosecutors claim Keaghan Jacobs, 35, aimed to 'assist others to cheat' while playing for Livingston against the Hoops in October 2019. Sign up for the Celtic newsletter Sign up 2 The alleged incident took place during a Livingston match in 2019 Credit: The Sun 2 Keaghan Jacobs has been accused of deliberately picking up a yellow card Credit: Getty They allege Conan McDiarmid, 40, had placed bets, and arranged for others to place wagers, on the midfielder receiving a booking. Jacobs was cautioned by referee Willie Collum for a challenge on Bhoys winger Jonny Hayes in the 95th minute of the Premiership match, with Livi just seconds away from a famous 2-0 victory. Court papers state: 'It had been arranged that Jacobs would act in a manner whereby he would receive a yellow card.' Neither man attended a hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. The case against South African-born Jacobs — now at Lowland League club Gala Fairydean Rovers — was continued without plea. Ex-Penicuik defender McDiarmid, from Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, pled not guilty via his lawyer. He faces trial later this year. Jacobs, of Edinburgh, previously made history in 2010 by turning out for Livi against Albion Rovers alongside his triplet brothers. He posted a message on X just last month wishing David Martindale's team good luck in the Premiership promotion playoffs. Jacobs was also a special hospitality guest of the club at their SPFL Trust Trophy final appearance against Queen's Park at Falkirk. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Brian Rice talks 'genius' Brian Clough, shutting up the Livingston snipers and his wife's scouting role
Lions coach is loving life at Livi - and reveals his secret comrade when it comes to midweek scouting sessions Brian Rice jets off to Italy on his honeymoon this afternoon having helped navigate Livingston back in among the high fliers of Scottish football. After a frenetic season culminated in a dramatic play-off win over Ross County it's chill out time with wife Kirsteen. A chance to indulge in the finer things in life, to relax on the Adriatic coast's beautiful white beaches and to marvel at Rimini's stunning scenery. Inevitably though, the conversation will still turn to football. It's what brought the couple together. A match made in heaven? Alloa to be exact. And, for Rice, it's perfect. 'We're away on Sunday,' he says with a broad smile. 'Rimini for 12 nights, it's chill out time. 'We've been together three years, got married a few months back in front of five people. Kenny Brannigan was my best man. 'Alloa brought us together. We met when I was managing there. Kirsteen was helping out with the food. 'She loves football. She's been at every single game this season. 'She goes to all the mid-week games with me as well. Scouting trips and everything. She loves it. She knows what she's talking about. 'So it's off to Italy now. I've been before .. but only to play football.' Of course it was to play football. It's the perfect link into the story of a man who left school to join Hibs as a YTS and could never have dreamed of where the journey would take him. The new Mrs Rice isn't the first great partnership he's made in the game. Right now he's part of a trio of footballing brains who have guided Livi back to the big time as well as lifting the SPFL Trust Trophy alongside David Martindale and Neil Hastings. His years as John Hughes' sidekick at Falkirk, Hibs and Inverness are legendary. And long before then he was the big slip of a playmaker known simply as 'Scotsman' to one of football's most charismatic and successful bosses. Brian Clough. One word to describe each of those managers? Rice thinks hard: 'Clough: Genius. Davie: Under-rated. Yogi…Perfectionist. 'But all three of them: passionate.' He's 61 now but Rice is as full of enthusiasm for the game as the youngster that left HIbs to sign for Forest in 1985 at just 21. Before packing for his honeymoon, he sat down with Mail Sport this week to reflect on it all. He said: 'That last trip to Italy was with Nottingham Forest when we went to play a summer tournament in Perugia. 'We played against Perugia, Cologne and Roma and some fantastic players. Rudi Voller, Junior, the Brazilian, Pierre Littbarski. 'But we won. The manager never liked to lose even in pre-season. 'As a person, Brian Clough shaped me. His discipline, the way he treated people, the respect he had for people. Massive family man. 'Wanted us to be big family men as well. He was big on that, big on being a team. 'He didn't like individual players.. apart from John Robertson. He could do anything he wanted he was so good. 'Coaching? There was no coaching! We did the same training every single day for six years. 'People don't believe me. We never played 11 v 11, no set plays or shape, no defensive drills, or attacking drills, we never used big goals. 'We just warmed up, into two teams, played seven and eight a side trying to score into hockey goals, everything below head height, kicking hell out of one another. 'Players like Stuart Pearce, Neil Webb, Garry Birtles, Johnny Method, John Robertson, Roy Keane, Steve Hodge! 'Clough's secret? Play your position and get good players. Him and Peter Taylor identified players, fitted into how they wanted to play, it was simple. 'You'd never get away with it now. I see so many robots now, coaches as robots: 'Do this and this'. Football is about using your brain and how quick is your decision compared to your opponent's. 'What we did was simple but effective. There were certain rules. Don't pass back if you don't have to - and cross to the front post. 'One Saturday I hit about three crosses to the back post in the first half. The gaffer never missed me at half time. 'Second half, my first cross was overhit to the back post again. The boards went up, 'Scotsman, off!' 'The next game he started me against Aston Villa as a striker. 'I'd never played there in my life. I was against Paul McGrath and Derek Mountfield, two giants who kicked the hell out of me. 'We won 1-0 but I never touched the ball 'We came off the pitch, went up the stairs into the dressing room. I walked through the door and he was lying in the bath already with a bottle of beer! 'He said: 'well Scotsman, did you learn anything tonight?' 'I went, 'aye, gaffer, f*****g cross to that front post!' 'He was brilliant. I grew up watching Brian Clough on a Wednesday night. Sports Night. Sitting with my gran. He was TV gold. 'A few years later I'm signing for him. Archie Gemmill picked me up in the morning. He took me into the office and said, 'I've got the Scotsman'. 'The gaffer was writing something so his head was down. My heart was pounding. 'In those days my red hair had a side shed. He just looked up and went 'f**k me it's Steve Davis'. 'We just had a brilliant relationship.' The best part of four decades later Rice is now that wise old head passing on his wisdom from a life spent in football. If there's one word to describe him, it's knowledgable. Rice reckons 'lazy' critics don't have a clue when they take aim at Livingston's brand of football. And the Lions coach insists David Martindale has rammed their jibes back down their throats after guiding the club back to the Premiership after a summer rethink. He said: 'It's lazy people. You get tarnished. 'But that's people that don't get off their backsides and go and watch. Don't do their research. 'We were very much under the radar this year. Falkirk had such a good season, such a good team, attacking team. 'Rightly so, they were getting all the positives. Everybody was raving about them. They won the league because they were the best team. 'But we were very, very close. 'I can't really remember three games that we just played long. We tried to play all the time. 'I've seen all the things on social media. I just sit and laugh. 'These people haven't got a clue. They don't go and watch the game. 'Go and ask any other manager in the Championship about Livingston's style of play.' Rice reckons Martindale will look back on this season with a huge sense of pride. He said: 'I'd think this season means more than anything else he's achieved with Livingston. 'He changed the full style because the Championship allows you to do that. 'We had a look at it and the gaffer decided that he wanted to play a possession-based game where we could dominate the ball. The Premiership doesn't allow you to do that every week. 'In the Championship, you can coach to win every single week. You know you've got a chance of winning every week. 'Davie will look back at this with great pride, his own work and the way the boys adapted to the system. 'Everything changed, the way we trained. And I think it needed that. 'He's good at identifying things and seeing what needs to be changed.' Livi roared back from 3-1 down on aggregate to beat Ross County 5-3 in Dingwall on Monday night. And Rice said: 'At first it was relief. Then it was enjoyment, coming back on the bus and waking up the next day and taking the dog out, people stopping me in the street.. it's a wee bit bigger than I thought.' While Rice and Martindale bask in the glow of a promotion and cup winning campaign, his former colleague Hughes remains out of the game. Yogi hasn't managed since leaving Dunfermline three years ago. And Rice reckons that's a massive waste of talent. He said: 'Taking Brendan Rodgers out the equation, tell me anyone else in Scotland with the CV Yogi has got. HIs CV stands up to anybody. 'He got Falkirk into the Premier League. Kept them there. Got to the 2009 Scottish Cup final and into Europe. 'He brought players through. Got players in from the Premier League on loan, Kasper Schmeichel, Tim Krul, Anthony Stokes. 'He then won the Scottish Cup with Inverness. 'Yogi's enthusiasm is incredible. People just look at him as this big centre half but they have not go an idea about his football knowledge. How he sees the game, how he wants it played. 'He took a lot of his ideas from Tommy Burns at Celtic. He'd written down sessions Tommy had put on. 'He demands perfection and doesn't accept short cuts. He knows the dangers of short cuts. 'I cannot understand how someone with his CV hasn't got a job.'
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
Brian Rice in brutally honest account of gambling hell that took him to the brink as Livingston coach provides counsel
Rice hasn't gambled for five and a half years and insists life has never been better - now he's helping others caught in the same addiction to seek help. Brian Rice has opened his heart on the gambling hell that drove him to the very brink - and how he's helping others try to avoid the same perilous path. The Livingston coach hasn't placed a bet in over five and a half years since being suspended by the SFA while manager of Hamilton for breaching rules. But he insists football still has a massive problem with the addiction he labels an 'illness'. Rice admits the day he heard that he was subject of a Hampden investigation was the best day of his life. It was the moment he knew he'd reached the end of a lonely life of lies and guilt. Years earlier, while coaching 4500 miles from home in Qatar, his addiction took him to the darkest of places. The 61-year-old - whose career took him to the very top of English football with Nottingham Forest - told Mail Sport: 'Football has been my life. 'But I'd choose not to have football if it meant also not having gambling. I'd give it up. 'The day I was told the SFA were investigating me in October 2019 was the best day of my life. Apart from my kids being born. 'I remember Danny Doherty the secretary at Hamilton phoned to inform me the SFA had been in touch. I just said 'thank God'. 'A weight had been lifted. I'd reached the end. I knew the rules. But when you have an addiction there's no rules. 'I got suspended. But the best punishment ever was I had to go to meetings for my addiction. 'I've not gambled since. But I'm not an ex-gambler. It's just a day at a time. Life is much better without it. 'I've seen what it does to your family, to your friends. To other people. I struggled with guilt for a long time. That doesn't do you any good having that guilt. 'The low point? When I was stood on top of a 32-storey building in Qatar….. 'Gambling takes you there. It has no boundaries. It's looking for a weakness like any addiction. Something stopped me taking that step that day, thank God. 'When you are on the pitch during games that's your space because you need to concentrate on what's happening. 'But as soon as the game is over. That's you again. 'You can't think of anything else. You miss so many things in life, going for a coffee, going for a walk, you can't do that. That's your gambling time. Unless you're a compulsive gambler you won't understand. 'I've rebuilt my life around my meetings now. I go to at least two a week, usually three and sometimes four. All over the country. 'Not gambling gives you a simpler life. It's a well known fact: compulsive gambler, compulsive liar. 'I don't have any of that in my life now.' Rice has just helped Livingston secure promotion back to the Premiership after a remarkable season on the park that also saw the Lions win the SPFL Trust Trophy. Off the park he is trying to guide some of those suffering from the addiction that took over his life away from those dangers. He said: 'I've worked with footballers and non-footballers. I want to tell people there's help there, they're not alone. 'You would be amazed with how many players have been in touch with me. 'Football still has a massive problem. It's rife. You're shutting your eyes if you don't realise it. 'There's ways round the rules. It's there, it's available. You don't need to go into the bookies now. It's on your phone, on your tablet, advertised everywhere. 'These players think it's a quick fix. That if they stop gambling for a month it'll be alright. 'It's not about stopping gambling. It's about changing as a person, changing your habits and character. A day at a time. 'I'm one of the lucky ones. I've never thought about going back gambling because I have too much to lose. 'I used to think asking for help was a weakness. Now I know it's a strength. 'Identifying you need help. Back in the day you'd be battered for that. The 'you're only as strong as your weakest link' mentality. 'Society has changed now. Thankfully.' Some blame the betting companies flooding football with advertising. But Rice said: 'There's nothing wrong with betting - as long as you can control it. 'The money it generates for the sport. Football needs their money. Without that I might not be sitting in a job right now. 'It's not the betting company's fault that I'm a compulsive gambler. I'm the problem.'
