Latest news with #Wanderer
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
League One 2025/26 line-up confirmed as Wanderers learn final opponent
Wimbledon have clinched the final spot in League One next season after beating Walsall 1-0 in the play-off final at Wembley. Myles Hippolyte scored the decisive goal on the stroke of half time, picking out the bottom corner with a clinical first-time finish from the edge of the area. Walsall were inches away from an equaliser early in the second half when Riley Harbottle cleared Jamille Matt's effort off the line. Levi Amantchi and David Okagbue also had chances late on, while Tommy Simkin made an impressive save from Josh Neufville at the other end. Former Wanderer Liam Gordon played the full 90 minutes for Walsall, while Brandon Comley was an unused substitute. Wimbledon survived six minutes of stoppage time to get over the line after three years in League Two. "This is surreal it feels like a dream, and I'm trying to take it in and enjoy it," manager Johnnie Jackson told Sky Sports. "There was so much riding on this game, so much pressure when the whistle goes. It's just relief and now I want to spend time with players, family and friends." The 2025/26 League One line-up is now finalised. Doncaster Rovers, Port Vale and Bradford City are the other promoted sides. Cardiff, Luton and Plymouth are the clubs dropping down from the Championship after finishing in the bottom three. Leyton Orient will play in the third tier again after their narrow defeat against Charlton at Wembley over the weekend. The Addicks join Birmingham and Wrexham, who finished first and second respectively, in promotion to the Championship. Wanderers and their rivals will learn the full 2025/26 fixture list at 9am on Thursday, June 26. Steven Schumacher is preparing for his first full season in the hot seat as the Whites aim to build on their eighth-place Blackpool Bolton Bradford Burton Cardiff Doncaster Exeter Huddersfield Leyton Orient Lincoln Luton Mansfield Northampton Peterborough Plymouth Port Vale Reading Rotherham Stevenage Stockport Wigan Wimbledon Wycombe
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Former Wanderer gets first permanent manager's role at ex Football League club
FORMER Wanderers midfielder Neil Danns has been appointed as the new manager of Southport. The Liverpudlian, who racked up more than 600 career appearances, including 116 in Bolton colours between 2013 and 2016, has accepted his first permanent role in the dugout at the National League North club. Danns had been placed in temporary charge of Macclesfield in December 2022, taking the Silkmen to an unbeaten finish in the league at the time, and more recently he has been assistant manager at Tranmere Rovers in League Two. He links up with ex-Macclesfield teammate Mark Duffy in his new role and is eager to get going with the former Football League club. 'I'm really excited, grateful for the opportunity,' he said. 'I managed to get to a lot of Southport games last year and obviously I was assistant manager at Tranmere Rovers and we had Josh Williams on loan here. 'I don't live far away, just down the road in Ormskirk. But there is no much potential here and I am looking forward bringing that potential out. 'One of the things people would have seen when I was at Macclesfield is that I expect a lot of energy, a lot of confidence, and it's up to us to bring that out of the players now. 'We know it won't be easy and doesn't necessarily happen straight away but we are confident we can get them playing the way we envision and bring some real spirit. There's a really god fanbase here and it's important we all get behind each other.' Danns had a varied playing career spanning 16 different clubs, his longest stints being at Crystal Palace, Bolton and Bury. He was signed on loan by his former Selhurst Park boss Dougie Freedman and after an impressive spell was handed a two-year contract. He continued to be a fixture in the team after Freedman's departure and briefly served as vice-captain to Darren Pratley under Neil Lennon before being released after Bolton's relegation to League One in 2016. 'I was really proud of what I achieved in my career and played up to the age of 40, and that was one of things was probably most proud of. I'd always wondered as a youngster how long I would play on for,' Danns added. 'I am looking forward to the next phase of my career now.' Danns is not the first former Wanderer to take charge of the Sandgrounders, with Kevin Davies performing an eight-month stint from October 2017. Jimmy Meadows also managed both clubs, while Farnworth-born Alan Ball Senior also spent two years as manager of Southport in the late seventies.
Telegraph
19-04-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Britain's long obsession with caravan holidays
It's not the vehicle you may expect to be associated with royalty, but the humble caravan is getting its moment in the spotlight, thanks to the 70th anniversary of a special version gifted to Prince Charles and Princess Anne in 1955. The Royal Caravan – a fully functional, scaled-down caravan – was built in 1955 by Rollalong Caravans Limited in Ringwood, Hampshire as a gift from the Caravan and Motorhome Club to the young royal siblings. It was presented to them in recognition of the Duke of Edinburgh's patronage of the Club, which began in 1952. Now, a special showcase at the National Motor Museum in Hampshire will mark the 70th anniversary of the miniature home on wheels – and with it, the nation's enduring passion for caravan holidays. More than a toy Measuring 6ft 9ins long and 5ft 9ins high, the Royal Caravan was more than a toy. Designed to be roadworthy, it featured working interior lights, a sink with hand pump and road-legal fittings, including a hitch, brakes, and corner steadies. As well as custom furnishings, it included a Poole Pottery tea set, Beatrix Potter books, and a signed copy of Children of the New Forest by Captain Marryat. It had a wooden hob instead of a working stove for safety reasons, but came with a kettle and frying pan to play with. Originally, the caravan was towed around the grounds of Buckingham Palace by a specially-modified Hillman Husky from the royal fleet, with the Duke of Edinburgh personally taking his children on a test tow. After it was outgrown by Prince Charles and Princess Anne, the caravan was stored at Sandringham, then restored for the Caravan and Motorhome Club's 75th anniversary in 1982, then again for its centenary. It has been displayed several times, including at Buckingham Palace, and since 2016 has been permanently housed at the National Motor Museum. 'This exhibition is a celebration of both royal history and caravanning history,' said Sara Riccabone, curator of the Caravan and Motorhome Club Collection. 'The Royal Caravan is a fascinating piece of craftsmanship and a testament to the enduring appeal of caravanning.' Enduring appeal That enduring appeal arguably lies in the caravan's universal accessibility to the British public. While horse-drawn caravans were used as homes on wheels as far back as the early 19th century, according to the Historic Caravan Club, it's generally accepted that the first leisure caravan was Wanderer – a purpose-built design built around 1880 by the Bristol Carriage Company for Dr. W. Gordon-Stables, who went on to become the first president of the Caravan Club when it was founded in 1907. According to historian Andrew Jenkinson, after the First World War, a Birmingham father-and-son team 'saw the future of caravanning with cars', building the first commercial touring caravan, the Eccles car-pulled caravan, in 1919. While early caravans were initially the preserve of the rich, in the 1930s a rise in middle-class car owners also led to an increase in the number of caravan owners, sparking growth in the holiday industry. According to the Caravan and Motorhome Club, in the 1950s, when there was an increase in the popularity of caravanning, there were around 3,000 new caravans manufactured each year. Fast forward to the 21st century and the caravan's popularity appears to have endured, with an estimated 500,000 to 555,000 on the road today. In 2022 research carried out for the club by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) found the number of Britons considering a touring holiday had grown by 20 per cent in the two years to April 2022, while research by Mintel found that 47 per cent of UK adults went on a camping or caravanning holiday in the last three years. And according to touring caravan bookings are up 21 per cent so far this year, versus last year, with 14 per cent of pitch bookings in the past 12 months for touring caravans specifically. 'Most of those taking a trip in a touring caravan tend to be either older couples aged 50-plus, or families,' said founder Dan Yates. 'We see younger couples favouring campervans and roof-mounted tents, although it's fair to assume that many will grow into a full touring caravan in due course.' A more affordable option There has certainly been a trend towards campervans and motorhomes in recent years, but it's fair to say a traditional touring caravan remains a potentially more financially-accessible option – with prices closer to £15,000 for a new purchase compared to £60,00 for a brand new campervan. According to the Caravan and Motorhome Club, while a top-of-the-range caravan could cost £50,000-plus, you could buy a good secondhand caravan 'for no more than the cost of one or two family package holidays'. On top of that, the uptick in renting or 'subscribing' to a caravan rather than purchasing one outright means some people might be getting involved without buying one, suggests accountancy firm PKF Smith Cooper. And while affordability might be a factor in encouraging people to choose a caravan over a 'cooler' campervan, so too is nostalgia. As a campervan owner myself, I have fond memories of childhood caravan holidays with my best friend's family, and plenty of celebrities share that joy. ITV's Lorraine Kelly is said to be a caravan lover, as is Warwick Davis, while Cold Feet star Helen Baxendale previously said: 'I just love the feeling of 'We're off!' I had a lot of caravanning holidays when I was young with my parents and have very happy memories, and this is me trying to replicate that.' The most popular places for caravanning 'On a practical level, touring caravans are an easy solution for those who like to explore the UK often through multiple short breaks,' said Yates. 'They're also – bar the initial investment – a really cost-effective solution, with pitch costs from as little as £9 per night.' The obvious choices for a caravan holiday might be the seaside, but according to the central region is overtaking the South West in popularity, 'partly to avoid the crowds (and narrow lanes) of the south west, but also because it's home to the largest number of sites rated a full 10/10 by past Pitchup guests', he added. 'The key factors that our customers regularly highlight for an enjoyable touring caravan stay include level, serviced pitches, good access routes around the site and well-kept shared amenities, as well as a peaceful atmosphere.' The caravan may have started its life as a toy for the rich, and a gift for royals, but this much-loved British institution has cemented its place as a holiday home-from-home for people from all backgrounds, with no sign of the nation's love affair ending anytime soon.
New York Times
03-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Tales of The Wanderer: J'Wan Roberts, Kelvin Sampson and the heart of Houston's Final Four run
Kelvin Sampson always starts the first day of his basketball camp teaching the fundamentals of shooting, with 120 young campers looking on from the 3-point line, eyes locked on Houston's venerable basketball coach. But on Day 1 of camp in June 2019, Sampson saw a few sets of eyes looking behind him past the basket at the Fertitta Center, and he could feel someone approaching. Advertisement Sampson turned to find 17-year-old J'Wan Roberts, a newly arrived, 194-pound freshman, staring at a schedule he'd been handed the night before. 'Coach,' Roberts said, holding out the piece of paper. 'Do you know where this building is?' 'Just oblivious to what's going on,' Sampson said recently, retelling the story. 'I'm looking around going, 'This dude for real?' 'So from that day on, he had his nickname: The Wanderer.' Last month Roberts, six years older and 25 pounds heavier, walked onto the Fertitta Center floor from out of the same tunnel during Houston's Senior Day festivities and toward his coach. The years zoomed by in Sampson's head as Roberts approached: the Peach Jam game where Houston's staff discovered a skinny kid from the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2018, the many film sessions the Wanderer spent in the coach's crosshairs, the Final Four in 2021, summer trips abroad in 2019 and 2023, heartbreaking NCAA Tournament and personal losses, and a hard-earned ascent to becoming one of the best forwards in college basketball. Sampson's eyes got heavier with every step. Look at him now. The Wanderer. 'You think about why we coach, you know?' said Sampson, who put his arms around his sixth-year senior, held on for 12 seconds and wept as the fans' ovation continued. 'Right there at that basket where he's walking toward me, right to my right is where he started. And now, this is where he ends up.' Kelvin Sampson nearly made it through the ceremony, but J'Wan Roberts got him. — (@gocoogs1) March 4, 2025 Houston will arrive at the Final Four this week as a team built around a family. Sampson's son, Kellen, is an assistant on staff and the program's head coach-in-waiting. His daughter, Lauren, is the director for basketball operations. Assistants Quannas White and Hollis Price were the starting backcourt on Sampson's 2002 Final Four team at Oklahoma. And then there's Roberts, who has been around for more than half of Sampson's 11-year tenure at Houston and is so ingrained in the place that all of his teammates look to him for guidance. Advertisement 'Not many kids you have for six years, and not many of them that you'd want for another six,' Sampson said. 'Some of these seniors, I'm glad they're seniors. Wan? I could coach him for another six years. He's almost like one of my children.' Sampson is most comfortable working with those he's molded. These days the Cougars are landing big-time prospects — the next recruiting class has three top-25 recruits — but before Houston was a program those players would consider, Sampson and his staff had to identify players with upside others couldn't see. Kellen had one of those for his dad to check out at the 2018 Peach Jam, the final tournament of Nike's EYBL circuit attended by almost every high-major coach in the country. On Court 2, they were all there to see future Illinois 7-footer Kofi Cockburn. Sampson remembers Roberts attempted one shot in the game — a dunk — but he ended with double-digit rebounds, four or five blocks and a win. 'There was never a kid that was put on this earth to play for us more than that undersized post guy that was left-handed,' Sampson said. 'I said, 'That kid is us.' And all these years later, he's still the undersized four man. Can't shoot. He just wins. And we've always been pretty good at evaluating winners.' Roberts admits he was naive when he arrived. He grew up in the U.S. Virgin Islands and was always the tallest and strongest on St. Thomas — the next closest was Aliyah Boston, the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year. The ease with which he dominated then made it easy to hit cruise control. Roberts moved to Killeen, Texas, in the summer of 2015 to live with his aunt so he could face stiffer competition. Still, when he arrived at Houston that summer of 2019, it was clear he wasn't ready, mostly because of his body but also because of his temperament. Advertisement 'I didn't understand the reason behind why they played so hard and never took plays off,' Roberts said. 'Coach has a standard, which you have to play to. My definition of playing hard was not his definition of playing hard.' Even though Roberts redshirted his first year, Sampson was all over him when his effort dipped. He felt targeted, but eventually he came to the realization that Sampson saw something in him that he didn't see in himself. Roberts 'surrendered to the program,' he said. But every now and then, the Wanderer returned. Jan. 17, 2023, at Tulane. Houston is ahead by 13. Tramon Mark misses a layup. Roberts goes for the rebound, doesn't get it, then casually jogs back down the court. Tulane's Kevin Cross, his defensive assignment, lopes behind him and then turns on the burners. When Cross catches the ball for an uncontested dunk, Roberts is still at the 3-point line. Then he motions like someone else needed to get back. 'I was so tired,' Roberts said. 'Didn't run full-speed. It was real bad.' The play is familiar to everyone in the program, because the next day Sampson must have played it 20 times, never saying a word — play, stop, rewind, head shake, play. Sampson slowed the final replay down. Then he threw the remote at the monitor. For two straight weeks, Sampson started every film session with that clip. 'I was looking to get a reaction from it,' Sampson said. 'The right reaction from him.' He got the right reaction, but Roberts still did things on the court that infuriated him: getting beat on an out-of-bounds play against Alabama, a bad close-out against Baylor, another out-of-bounds play against Texas Tech, and those are just this year. 'While other people are doing simple math — 2 plus 2 is 4 — sometimes J'Wan is over there trying to figure out how to get that Rubik's Cube set,' Sampson said. 'You can look in J'Wan's eyes, and I can always tell. I can look into his eyes and you can see all the way to Beirut. Because he's not here with you tonight. And the reason I (replay the film) every day is sometimes it takes more than one viewing to get him to realize that Coach is probably right. I shouldn't have done that. I've got to do better.' Advertisement But here's what Sampson loves: Every time, Roberts takes the coaching without complaint. 'The best,' Sampson said. 'When you're around a coach that's been doing this for 40 years, he's won at every level, you tend to realize that everything he says is right,' Roberts said. 'Whatever he's telling you, he sees something that he's been seeing 40 years ago to now. He knows everything. If he gets on, let it happen.' Roberts is the model example of the year-to-year improvement players make in the Houston program, becoming exactly what Sampson wanted him to be. Early on he was just an energy guy who would defend and rebound, but he had a strong lefty hook and he's a gifted passer. Once those other skills were ready for use, Sampson started to make Roberts a big part of the offense from the mid-post in 2022-23, and he has upped his usage every year since. This year, Roberts has been able to put the Cougars on his back for stretches. He led the comeback overtime win at Kansas, scoring a career-high 24 points, with the Cougars continuously feeding him at the left elbow. Sometimes it still takes some prodding. In the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Gonzaga, Roberts struggled the first half when the Zags took away his left hand. At halftime, Sampson reminded him he's left-handed. 'J'Wan played hard the first half, but that was it,' Sampson said. 'Now second half, he competed. He was the best player on the floor. Went to him four straight times and he scored eight points. They had nobody who could guard him.' Foul trouble limited Roberts in the Elite Eight, but Houston had a similar game plan when he was on the floor. He scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting in a 79-60 rout of Tennessee. As the seconds ticked away in the final minute, Roberts danced on the sideline, celebrating his second Final Four. A few feet away stood Sampson, arms folded, stoic and almost trying not to smile. Advertisement Sampson had a reason — he said later he was thinking about his friend down the sideline, Volunteers coach Rick Barnes — and when he's in that mode, most of the Houston players are scared of trying to snap him out of it. But not the Wanderer. 'I think Wan is the one player to get Coach out of his shell, laughing,' junior wing Terrance Arceneaux said. 'He's the only person I know, if Coach (is) heated, he will grab him by his shoulders and start massaging. I mean, him and Wan's relationship is different.' Roberts used to be quiet. Once he became a leader, he was the lead-by-example type. But a few weeks ago when he was sidelined at the Big 12 tournament with an ankle injury, he turned into a mini Sampson, delivering messages similar to his coach and talking so much that in one huddle Sampson had to tell him to let him coach. And along this run to the Final Four, Roberts has been dropping nuggets of wisdom — like 'Never rush to be somewhere, just stay the course, believe in yourself' — that make it clear all of those film sessions, all of those years of listening to his coach have turned him into the exact player Sampson knew he could be. 'It doesn't say Roberts on my jersey, you know, it says Houston,' Roberts said. 'So I'm playing for those guys. I'm playing for the coaching staff. I'm playing for the fans. It ain't about me. So I can't afford to be in the game and take plays off. 'Cause you know that one play might be the turning point of the whole game.' Roberts says he wants to wear that jersey as long as he can, and it's hard for Sampson to imagine coaching his team next year without him. Which is why Sampson let his guard down on Senior Day and let the tears flow. 'That one hit me different,' he said. 'Wan will have left an indelible mark on this program that will last forever.'
