Author: Tristan Wells

Brentford have announced the arrival of two minority shareholders, with one of them a major Hollywood name. Film director Sir Matthew Vaughn and philanthropist Gary Lubner have purchased stakes in the Bees. Matthew Benham, the club confirm, remains the majority shareholder. The footballing authorities – chief executive Jon Varney, director of football Phil Giles, and chairman Cliff Crown – will all remain in their current roles. In a statement on the club’s website, Brentford said that the investment “reinforces Brentford’s ambitions for continued growth on and off the pitch. Equity and financing from the new shareholders will not only enable…

A relatively strong team should be on show against the Royals, as Frank gets a proper opening look at his squad a month out from their first game of the new Premier League season.Former crisis club Reading, meanwhile, are entering into a new era of their own after a takeover by former Wycombe owner Rob Couhig was completed in May and finally saw Dai Yongge’s reign come to an end.Noel Hunt’s side – who narrowly missed out on the League One play-offs on the final day last term despite their off-field struggles – kicked off their pre-season preparations with a…

Norway take on Italy in the first quarter-final of Euro 2025 at the Stade de Geneve in Lancy. The Norwegians, managed by England’s Gemma Grainger, sailed through Group A as winners with a 100 per cent record. They defeated hosts Switzerland 2-1 in their opening match, before beating Scandinavian rivals Finland by the same score. They then eked out a 4-3 win over Iceland to take nine points from nine.Norway boast plenty of recognisable names from the Women’s Super League, including Chelsea’s Guro Reiten, Manchester United’s Elisabeth Terland, and Arsenal’s Frida Maanum. As for the Italians, they came through Group…

Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois contest a high-stakes rematch at Wembley this weekend with the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world on the line.It is just under two years now since the duo first met in Poland, where Usyk retained his unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring titles in August 2023 with a ninth-round stoppage victory at Wroclaw’s Tarczynski Arena that was mired in controversy.Dubois, making a huge step up that night as a massive underdog, felt he had been cruelly robbed of a career-defining triumph after sending Usyk to the canvas in the fifth with a…

The final major tournament of the year, this is a title that many players grow up dreaming of winning.McIlroy, the home favourite, has realised that dream once before – in 2014, at Royal Liverpool.With his triumph at Augusta, McIlroy finally completed his career Grand Slam, becoming just the sixth player ever to win all four major tournaments.Since then, the Northern Irishman has not been in the best of form, finishing three-over at the PGA Championship before missing the cut altogether at nine-over in Canada. He has begun to turn his fortunes around, however, finishing joint-second at the recent Scottish Open,…

Mikel Arteta often stresses his desire for Arsenal to be “unpredictable” in how they set up – and the signings of Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres will certainly help that.Gyokeres, who scored a remarkable 54 goals in 52 games for Sporting last season, offers an alternative option up front to Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz.Madueke, meanwhile, provides Arteta with another attacking weapon on both flanks, capable of operating off the left as well as the right.Arteta stressed the need for more firepower towards the end of last season, and the club will hope the imminent arrivals of Gyokeres and Madueke…

The latest call-ups of players who had been in Fiji playing for Scotland at the weekend and due to feature against Samoa at Auckland’s Eden Park on Friday have led to comparisons with the so-called ‘Geography Six’, when former Lions coach Warren Gatland made headlines by calling up Kristian Dacey, Tomas Francis, Allan Dell, Finn Russell, Gareth Davies and Cory Hill during the tour of New Zealand in 2017. Source link

George – who trained with the Lions in both Portugal and Dublin earlier this summer – said he still wanted to play for England and was in attendance for the series-clinching 22-17 victory sealed by Jack van Poortvliet’s last-gasp try, but was not permitted as he prepared to embark on an arduous 10,000-mile journey from San Juan to Brisbane, where the Lions play the First Test against Australia at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday. Source link

The expanded Club World Cup tournament has proven a huge money-spinner for Chelsea, having racked up a staggering £80million in prize money prior to the final, they have pocketed a further £7.5m by beating the odds to lift the trophy.It caps off a stunning first season for Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca, who also guided his team back into the Champions League with a fourth-place finish in the Premier League along with their Conference League triumph.Chelsea opted against a trophy parade for their third-tier European triumph, and fans will reportedly be denied another chance to see some silverware.Will Chelsea hold…

Chelsea have won the Club World Cup as they secure a second piece of silverware in as many months and with it a staggering prize pot worth a record $1billion (£726million).The Blues beat Fluminense in the semi-finals on Tuesday to take home £22m in prize money alone. Victory in the final earned them another £7.5m.The total prize money one team can earn from winning the competition is £92m, down from £97m since the tournament began due to the exchange rate between US dollars and British pounds changing in the weeks since, but Chelsea will earn less than that despite lifting…