'We would rather have a dead rubber'
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BBC News
31 minutes ago
- BBC News
Rodgers 'won't let up' in pursuit of players, says Sheridan
Former Celtic striker Cillian Sheridan says Brendan Rodgers "won't let up" in his pursuit of new signings. So far this window Celtic have brought Kieran Tierney back to the club following the expiration of his Arsenal contract while goalkeeper Ross Doohan and forward Callum Osmand have also signed on free deals. Hayato Inamura, Shin Yamada and Benjamin Nygren take the number of new signings up to six so far. However, Rodgers' side already lost Kyogo Furuhashi in the January window and winger Nicolas Kuhn followed suit this summer, departing for Serie A side Sheridan thinks Rodgers will still feel there's more work to be done to his team. "I think last season probably proved Rodgers' case where if you do back him, he is showing an improvement in Europe," he told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast. "Take away the Borussia Dortmund game, they were a lot more competitive in the European games. I think everyone could see there was a real improvement. "I don't think Brendan Rogers is the type to just be happy with that. He'll want to make an improvement and keep building and keep improving. "I think he's shown he's not afraid to have a of a slight pop at the board in terms of the players they're bringing or how much they're backing him. I don't think he'll back down on that either. "He's got his own standards and his own expectations on what he wants to do with the club, especially in Europe. So I can't see him letting up in terms of his demand for getting the supply of players that he needs."
BBC News
31 minutes ago
- BBC News
Onley the 'introverted extravert' riding high
Team Picnic-Post NL describe, external Oscar Onley as "an introverted extrovert" who enjoys "lo-fi rap vibes", playing golf and eating Cycling reported, external how he "would be targeting stages, with the general classification being a secondary aim" in his second Tour de finishing fourth overall in the standings, the 22-year-old from Kelso told how his achievement had sparked "a dream".By matching the achievement of compatriot Philippa York (then known as Robert Millar) in 1984, Onley equalled the best-ever finish by a Scottish who is the new exciting name in British cycling? And where can he go from here? Who is Oscar Onley? Those who follow cycling closely will know of Onley's steady progress since taking to the senior ranks in 2023 with his Dutch his journey started in the Scottish Borders, when local club Kelso Wheelers' time trial route passed right by his front door and he got juggled lots of sports as a kid, particularly cross-country running, before committing to the described himself as "never the best" as a youngster, but as he grew physically his results picked big breakthrough came at the Tour Down Under in 2024 when he won on the finish up Willunga Hill for his first professional Scot then managed second at the Tour of Britain. Amid all that he had to deal with two broken collarbones due to year he has bounced back, and last month climbed on to the podium at the Tour de Suisse, winning stage five in the in the rolling hills of the south of Scotland, Onley is most at home when the road gradient makes the legs strain and is based in the high mountains of the big behemoth mountain ranges, the Alps and Pyrenees, he has announced himself to a wider audience with a memorable Tour de France performance. 'It sparks a dream' - Onley reaction to finishing fourth in Tour Onley told ITV: "We never really had the plan to go for GC [general classification] in the beginning. It was more just see how it goes."To be honest, I've never even thought about a top five in the Tour before, so to get it in my first try in GC is quite incredible and I'm excited for the future."It gives me a lot of confidence for the upcoming races as well as these are the top guys and in top shape in the biggest race. So if I can do it here then why not in other races?"There was no pressure from the team. They've handled that really well because I think as soon as you say you are going for GC, there's a lot more attention on you. I've just taken every day as it's come really and not made any extra stress as the Tour is already stressful enough, just to ride and compete."I'm really happy with how myself and the team have managed these three weeks. I guess this is a really big moment in my career. I don't really realise it yet, but I think just with talking to other riders, going forward now we have something to build on and an exciting project for the future, and it sparks a bit of a dream I guess." What's next for Onley? Picnic-Post NL are entered in the seven-stage Tour de Pologne in Poland, which starts on 4 August, though a final entry list for riders is not yet Vuelta a Espana from 23 August is the next major event on the circuit.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
The rare career of Josh Taylor showed the privileged burden that boxing can bring
It is not going to be easy for Josh Taylor to walk off into the boxing sunset after a remarkable career inside the ropes. It was also a brutally short career, a rare career in British boxing; it was unusual because of the speed, the relentless hard matchmaking and the success. Taylor, who is now 34, is the only British boxer to have held all four of the accepted and respected belts in the modern era of a sport packed with division and false claims. In a business where men – it is different for the women – often have 20 or more fights before finally getting a chance at a world title, Taylor held a version of the world title after just 15 fights. He had been a professional for less than four years at that time. In British boxing history, the world champions have been seasoned by years of learning their trade and being used as part of a bargaining system by promoters and managers. Taylor broke with tradition, altered the expected path of boxers and in just his 18th fight, he held all four of the belts. He was Josh Taylor, undisputed champion. World champions like John Conteh in the Seventies, Alan Minter in the Eighties, and Lennox Lewis in the Nineties served typically extended apprenticeships, featuring for long spells on undercards and waiting for an opening, waiting for a chance. Conteh won his world title in his 27th fight, Minter his 43rd fight, and Lewis in his just his 23rd. Lewis had the benefit of two Olympics as experience, including the gold in Seoul, but still danced slowly down the well-trodden and careful path. It was a path that Taylor seemed to reject; he was ready to be fast-tracked by the time he became a professional boxer. Taylor had two Commonwealth Games medals and had been to the Olympics in 2012 when he finally turned professional in 2015. He had stayed after the London Olympics to compete and win a gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He was the unofficial mascot for the Games, used in adverts, and his face was plastered all over Glasgow and Edinburgh. It was a privileged burden and one he comfortably repaid. He had hard fights early on, winning the Commonwealth professional title in just his seventh fight when he stopped Dave Ryan, a noted hard man, in the fifth round in front of a devoted flock in Edinburgh. The real fights were getting closer for Taylor. The bigger wins followed: unbeaten Ohara Davies ruined in seven in 2017, former world champion Viktor Postol given a boxing lesson in 2018, and the unbeaten and dangerous Ryan Martin stopped in seven. All three fights were in Glasgow; Scotland had a boxing hero. Postol had just lost to the great Terrence Crawford – Taylor possibly did a better job. This was not a hype gravy train. In 2019, also in Glasgow, Taylor met the IBF light-welterweight champion, Ivan Baranchyk, who was 19-0 with 12 knockouts; Taylor won on points, he had his first world title, but the boxing world was about to shrink. The run continued, the darkness of Covid was coming. Taylor fought six unbeaten men in a stunning consecutive sequence, including five in world title fights; he unified the titles, fighting in front of a sold-out O2 in London when he beat the fancied Regis Prograis in late 2019. Prograis was the WBA champion. It was a stunning fight, contender for Fight of the Year. Prograis was shell-shocked at the end – it should have been the fight that transformed Taylor, made him a star, but his next fight was nearly a year later and behind closed doors at York Hall in front of less than 50 people; Covid hit hard and few in boxing suffered more from the fallout than Taylor. It robbed him of momentum and a chance to win all four belts in front of an outdoor crowd in Scotland. That is the harsh reality. Taylor travelled under too many radars during this exceptional sequence because of the Covid restrictions. It was a cruel twist, a twist as cruel as the eye injury that forced him after just 23 fights to walk away last week. 'I have certainly not had the best of luck,' he said, and he is right. He won his first world title in May of 2019 and lost the last of the four belts he owned in June of 2023; he fought just four times in the middle during a four-year spell when, under different circumstances, he could have become a major star. In 2021, he went to Las Vegas to fight Jose Ramirez; all four of the recognised belts and the Ring magazine belt were on the line; Ramirez was unbeaten in 26, but he was dropped twice and lost. Taylor had become the undisputed world champion in just his 18th fight. There were just a hundred or so in the Virgin complex on the night to witness history. None of Taylor's family and friends could be there. The bad nights followed, including last year, when Jack Catterall avenged a heavily debated loss to Taylor from 2022. In May of this year, he lost for the third consecutive time when he was narrowly beaten by Ekow Essuman. The eye injury was there; the end was near. Taylor will not make an easy traveller, but he will go off into the horizon with a spectacular legacy. The first and only undisputed British world champion in modern boxing. That is, trust me, enough.
