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Scottish Sun
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Son of Rangers hero takes next step in footballing career with first spell at SPFL club as part of co-op agreement
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) KILMARNOCK youngster Cole Burke has joined Queen of the South as part of a co-operation agreement between the two clubs. The new system brought in by the Scottish FA this season allows Scottish players aged between 16 and 21 to move between their parent and loan club throughout the campaign. Sign up for the Rangers newsletter Sign up 2 Cole with father Chris Burke after Youth Cup win at Killie Credit: SNS 2 Cole Burke in action for Killie reserves Credit: Rex It's to increase the amount of playing time for young players during a vital stage of their development. Cole, the son of Rangers hero Chris, has featured for Scotland at under 16 and 17 level, and made two appearances off the bench for Kilmarnock last season. He also helped Killie to the Scottish Youth Cup trophy in a 2-0 win over Dundee, with his dad Chris the academy coach. As part of the agreement, Burke will be able to move freely between the clubs and can be recalled by Killie at any time provided the club give Queens the prescribed amount of notice. Queens boss Peter Murphy said: 'The new scheme introduced by the Scottish Football Association gives younger players a great chance to develop whilst being part of a first team squad. "Cole who turns 17 next week is a player with a lot of potential, he is a key part of Kilmarnock's youth team and helped them get to the Youth Cup final last season. "Despite his age he has already been involved at first team level with the Rugby Park club. "We are delighted to have entered a partnership with Kilmarnock and look forward to seeing how that and Cole develops throughout the season.' Chris Burke came through the ranks at Rangers and famously featured in a programme charting young academy players progress at the club called Blue Heaven. He would go on to play more than 100 times for the Ibrox outfit between 2001 and 2009 and would also have spells with Cardiff, Birmingham, Nottingham Forest, Ross County and Kilmarnock. Rangers transfer special assesses whether Conor Coady deal is OFF, if Hamza Igamane will leave and when the Gers can expect more incomings The 41-year-old, an academy coach at Killie, believes the new system is a good idea. He told the BBC back in May: "The academy coaches, we all try our best to try and give them the best opportunity possible and I think with the co-operation loan next year, that will help massively. "I've seen it so many times in my short academy coaching career that I can tell when a player's already past that 18s level. "You don't want them to become frustrated and then to plateau out. "So, you want to challenge them constantly and to do that you need to push them out and let them play the men's game as much as possible. "Then, if they come back, then I believe they will become a better player for that. "I'm really looking forward to next season when that kicks in." Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
New Straits Times
12-07-2025
- Sport
- New Straits Times
KLFA's golden jubilee marks new era for football in the capital
KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur FA (KLFA) marked its 50th anniversary on Saturday with a bold pledge — to return football to its roots and revive the game where it truly belongs: among the people. No longer defined by just roaring crowds at Merdeka Stadium or professional glories, KLFA is shifting its focus to public parks, school fields, and grassroots pitches across the capital. Its patron Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the association is moving in a new direction, one that places youth development and community engagement above all else. "Today, we're not just celebrating KLFA's golden jubilee. We're charting a new course for football in the capital," he said on Saturday. "Our priority now is grassroots development, especially among Under-12, U-14 and U-16 players, with a focus on multi-racial inclusion and reaching children from B40 families." The vision is to make football accessible again and use it as a tool for unity and upward mobility. KLFA is strengthening partnerships with the Education Ministry to revive football in schools and with the Youth and Sports Ministry to train coaches and expand outreach. Public fields will be revitalised into active community hubs. The association also aims to boost inclusivity, giving more support to the Youth Cup, President's Cup, and its women's teams. "We want long-term, balanced growth across all levels," said Fahmi. While planning for the future, KLFA still takes pride in KL City FC, which it hails as a symbol of urban resilience and fighting spirit. Fahmi stressed the need for a clear pathway from community football to the professional stage. "I thank the Federal Territories Ministry, KL City Hall, our sponsors, and all supporters of KL football," he said. "KLFA has written history over the past 50 years — now is the time to build a braver, more inclusive and united future."
Cambrian News
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Cambrian News
Josh Davies returns to Felinfach for 2025/26 season boost
A graduate of the Felin junior system, he has already played a number of seasons with the Felin first team and captained their first ever Youth Cup winning team in the 2022/23 campaign.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Yahoo
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas jailed for four years: Arsenal prodigy's slide into the underworld
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was the prodigious talent who seemingly had it all. As a star of the Arsenal academy, the man known as 'JET' was tall, powerful, fast and able to score goals with both feet. 'He has outstanding qualities,' Arsène Wenger, the former Arsenal manager said in 2010, when Emmanuel-Thomas was 19. 'Jay is knocking very hard on my door – with two hands.' Such was his class in the youth ranks, there are clips of Emmanuel-Thomas in action that have taken on near-legendary status online. Almost two million people, for example, have viewed one of his goals for the Arsenal reserve team, in which he produced the most preposterous piece of skill – the ball somehow swished around his standing leg – to beat two Everton defenders at once. It is difficult to overstate the excitement that swirled around Emmanuel-Thomas in those early days of his professional life. Truly, this was a young forward who seemed certain to become a Premier League regular, if not something even more formidable. He was only 16, after all, when he captained Arsenal to success in the 2009 Youth Cup, scoring in every round of the competition. Now 34, Emmanuel-Thomas has plenty of time to wonder why he never fulfilled this enormous potential, and to ask himself where it all went wrong. On Thursday, he was sentenced to four years in prison, after pleading guilty to a cannabis importation charge over an attempt to smuggle £600,000 worth of the drug from Thailand through Stansted Airport. 'It is through your own actions you will no longer be known as a professional footballer,' Judge Alexander Mills said. 'You will be known as a criminal. A professional footballer who threw it all away.' A father of two, Emmanuel-Thomas was arrested in September after around 60kg of cannabis was found by Border Force officers who had stopped two women at Stansted. One of those women, Yasmin Piotrowska, was the footballer's girlfriend. Detectives found that Emmanuel-Thomas had tricked Piotrowska and her friend, Rosie Rowland, into travelling to Thailand and bringing home four suitcases that had been vacuum-packed with cannabis. The women, who have both walked free, were told that the bags contained gold. 'I just feel sorry for the girls,' Emmanuel-Thomas said on his way to being remanded in custody in September. An investigation by the National Crime Agency found that Emmanuel-Thomas served as an intermediary between criminals in the UK and Thailand. At first, he denied attempting to import cannabis – only then to change his plea at Chelmsford Crown Court last month. How did an athlete of such promise, a footballer who has made almost 400 senior club appearances across various divisions and countries, find himself enmeshed in organised crime? His slide into the underworld is thought to have begun during his brief spell at PTT Rayong, a club in Thailand. During his short time there, Rayong had serious financial issues. In an interview with The Athletic in 2021, Emmanuel-Thomas said: 'Things started to happen that were making me iffy. Local players were asking if they could borrow money, not small sums – five, six, seven grand.' He soon left the club, which folded a few months later, but his connections in Thailand evidently remained. Before that move abroad, Emmanuel-Thomas had built a respectable, albeit unspectacular, CV in the English Football League. Throughout his twenties, a series of clubs lined up to take a chance on a player who had received such glowing praise from the great Wenger. 'He has the build you dream to have,' Wenger once said. 'When his fitness is right, Jay will be not only a good player, but a great player. One thing is for sure – he can score goals. That is a massive talent you cannot give to people. His right foot, his left foot, he is unbelievable in front of goal.' After five senior appearances for Arsenal and three loan spells away from the club, Emmanuel-Thomas moved to Ipswich Town in search of regular first-team football in 2011. He scored only eight goals in 71 Championship appearances, though, before dropping down to Bristol City in League One. Despite the move down the divisions, Emmanuel-Thomas never lost belief in his own ability. In an interview with Telegraph Sport in 2015, he made it clear that he would only play his way, on his terms. 'The way I play has been with me a long time and if a manager cannot see that how I play is a strong point and what makes me effective, there is not much I can do about that,' he said. 'I enjoy being myself. I am not really fazed about what people think of me, I wear what I want, I do what I want, I will say what I want. It is one of those things where if you can't be yourself at all times then you are never going to know who you really are. 'I have a lot of friends who have different types of lifestyles, I know musicians, I know people who do boxing. So everyone is different. I am just like a big kid really, I just like to have a good time, and I just want to keep that going.' Over the next few years, Emmanuel-Thomas went on to play for Queens Park Rangers, Milton Keynes Dons, Gillingham, Rayong, Livingston, Aberdeen, Jamshedpur in India and Kidderminster Harriers. At none of these clubs did he make more than 35 appearances. It did not help his career that Emmanuel-Thomas was, he claims, due to sign for a Chinese club before the transfer was scuppered by the outbreak of Covid. He subsequently spent 15 months without a team, forced to follow his own personal fitness programme, before signing for Livingston in September 2020, at the age of 29. His latest move, confirmed in July last year, was to Greenock Morton in the Scottish Championship. The club announced the deal on their website with the headline 'The Jet Arrives'. Less than two months later, after he was charged by police, Emmanuel-Thomas was released with immediate effect. A new and far more gruelling chapter of his life suddenly awaits a player who was once described by Wenger as being able to 'play anywhere'. Now, Emmanuel-Thomas cannot play anywhere at all. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
05-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas jailed for four years: Arsenal prodigy's slide into the underworld
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was the prodigious talent who seemingly had it all. As a star of the Arsenal academy, the man known as 'JET' was tall, powerful, fast and able to score goals with both feet. 'He has outstanding qualities,' Arsène Wenger, the former Arsenal manager said in 2010, when Emmanuel-Thomas was 19. 'Jay is knocking very hard on my door – with two hands.' Such was his class in the youth ranks, there are clips of Emmanuel-Thomas in action that have taken on near-legendary status online. Almost two million people, for example, have viewed one of his goals for the Arsenal reserve team, in which he produced the most preposterous piece of skill – the ball somehow swished around his standing leg – to beat two Everton defenders at once. Throwback to this cheeky bit of skill and nice finish from Jay Emmanuel Thomas for #Arsenal 🙌🔴 — Arsenal News Channel (@Arsenalnewschan) January 5, 2021 It is difficult to overstate the excitement that swirled around Emmanuel-Thomas in those early days of his professional life. Truly, this was a young forward who seemed certain to become a Premier League regular, if not something even more formidable. He was only 16, after all, when he captained Arsenal to success in the 2009 Youth Cup, scoring in every round of the competition. Now 34, Emmanuel-Thomas has plenty of time to wonder why he never fulfilled this enormous potential, and to ask himself where it all went wrong. On Thursday, he was sentenced to four years in prison, after pleading guilty to a cannabis importation charge over an attempt to smuggle £600,000 worth of the drug from Thailand through Stansted Airport. 'It is through your own actions you will no longer be known as a professional footballer,' Judge Alexander Mills said. 'You will be known as a criminal. A professional footballer who threw it all away.' A father of two, Emmanuel-Thomas was arrested in September after around 60kg of cannabis was found by Border Force officers who had stopped two women at Stansted. One of those women, Yasmin Piotrowska, was the footballer's girlfriend. Detectives found that Emmanuel-Thomas had tricked Piotrowska and her friend, Rosie Rowland, into travelling to Thailand and bringing home four suitcases that had been vacuum-packed with cannabis. The women, who have both walked free, were told that the bags contained gold. 'I just feel sorry for the girls,' Emmanuel-Thomas said on his way to being remanded in custody in September. An investigation by the National Crime Agency found that Emmanuel-Thomas served as an intermediary between criminals in the UK and Thailand. At first, he denied attempting to import cannabis – only then to change his plea at Chelmsford Crown Court last month. How did an athlete of such promise, a footballer who has made almost 400 senior club appearances across various divisions and countries, find himself enmeshed in organised crime? His slide into the underworld is thought to have begun during his brief spell at PTT Rayong, a club in Thailand. During his short time there, Rayong had serious financial issues. In an interview with The Athletic in 2021, Emmanuel-Thomas said: 'Things started to happen that were making me iffy. Local players were asking if they could borrow money, not small sums – five, six, seven grand.' He soon left the club, which folded a few months later, but his connections in Thailand evidently remained. Before that move abroad, Emmanuel-Thomas had built a respectable, albeit unspectacular, CV in the English Football League. Throughout his twenties, a series of clubs lined up to take a chance on a player who had received such glowing praise from the great Wenger. 'He has the build you dream to have,' Wenger once said. 'When his fitness is right, Jay will be not only a good player, but a great player. One thing is for sure – he can score goals. That is a massive talent you cannot give to people. His right foot, his left foot, he is unbelievable in front of goal.' After five senior appearances for Arsenal and three loan spells away from the club, Emmanuel-Thomas moved to Ipswich Town in search of regular first-team football in 2011. He scored only eight goals in 71 Championship appearances, though, before dropping down to Bristol City in League One. Despite the move down the divisions, Emmanuel-Thomas never lost belief in his own ability. In an interview with Telegraph Sport in 2015, he made it clear that he would only play his way, on his terms. 'The way I play has been with me a long time and if a manager cannot see that how I play is a strong point and what makes me effective, there is not much I can do about that,' he said. 'I enjoy being myself. I am not really fazed about what people think of me, I wear what I want, I do what I want, I will say what I want. It is one of those things where if you can't be yourself at all times then you are never going to know who you really are. 'I have a lot of friends who have different types of lifestyles, I know musicians, I know people who do boxing. So everyone is different. I am just like a big kid really, I just like to have a good time, and I just want to keep that going.' Over the next few years, Emmanuel-Thomas went on to play for Queens Park Rangers, Milton Keynes Dons, Gillingham, Rayong, Livingston, Aberdeen, Jamshedpur in India and Kidderminster Harriers. At none of these clubs did he make more than 35 appearances. It did not help his career that Emmanuel-Thomas was, he claims, due to sign for a Chinese club before the transfer was scuppered by the outbreak of Covid. He subsequently spent 15 months without a team, forced to follow his own personal fitness programme, before signing for Livingston in September 2020, at the age of 29. His latest move, confirmed in July last year, was to Greenock Morton in the Scottish Championship. The club announced the deal on their website with the headline 'The Jet Arrives'. Less than two months later, after he was charged by police, Emmanuel-Thomas was released with immediate effect. 🛬 𝗝𝗘𝗧 𝟵 Greenock Morton are delighted to announce the signing of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on a six-month deal. ➡️ — Greenock Morton (@Morton_FC) July 26, 2024 A new and far more gruelling chapter of his life suddenly awaits a player who was once described by Wenger as being able to 'play anywhere'. Now, Emmanuel-Thomas cannot play anywhere at all.
