Walsall sign Airdrieonians defender Hancock
"He's someone I've been watching for a long time," head coach Mat Sadler said., external"He's done really well up in the Scottish Championship in the last couple of seasons."He'll add some power and athleticism on that left hand side and comes with really good pedigree for that quality left foot he has."Hancock is the third defender to arrive at Walsall in the summer transfer window following Courtney Clarke from Eastbourne Borough and Harrison Burke from Chester.
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BBC News
37 minutes ago
- BBC News
What are our pundits' Premiership predictions?
With the shadow boxing of pre-season well and truly over, who has emerged stronger or weaker?We have already had the League Cup group stage and the first European qualifiers, but now the Scottish football season truly gets into full swing with the first domestic league fixtures this some of BBC Scotland's football pundits were asked to give us their preditions for the top-flight was no surprise with their unanimous view on who would finish Premiership champions and runners-up - and one team stood out as likely relegation who did they think will finish third - and who do they reckon will be the surprise guys? Read on. Willie Miller, former Aberdeen centre-half 1st: CelticThe reigning champions still have the strongest squad, with a top-class, proven manager.2nd: RangersWith a new head coach, new owners and new investment, the Ibrox side quite simply have to be at runners-up at worst.3rd: AberdeenIf they can cope with European football, the Dons have a cup-winning squad, a proven, successful, experienced manager and a chairman who will back him Dundee With a whole host of players departing, a new coach in the form of Steven Presley who was not the most popular choice as far as their fans are concerned, and a poor start to the League Cup, the pressure could come on early at Dens package: Falkirk They have a coach in John McGlynn who likes to play the game in a cultured fashion, which he won't change, so they will be easy on the eye and successfull with it. Julie Fleeting, former Scotland striker 1st: CelticThe strength of their squad is superior to the rest and, financially, they can add quality when needed. They also have players who are Celtic through and through and play with passion and desire.2nd: RangersWith lots of changes behind the scenes at Ibrox, it may take a bit of time to bed in and get them back to really competing at Celtic's level.3rd: HibernianDavid Gray had a tough start as head coach, but then things started to click and, based on their strong second half of last season, they have a good foundation to build on. Their first five games of the season - Dundee, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Falkirk and St Mirren - are all games they can go into confident they can get early points on the DundeeThis is always a really tough to answer as teams work really hard to prepare their squads for the new season. I've based my answer on a couple of poor League Cup results and also, with a new head coach coming in, it may take time for them to hit the ground package: FalkirkAfter back-to-back promotions, it's exciting to see how the Bairns can compete at the highest level. Michael Stewart, former Hearts & Hibs midfielder 1st: CelticThey're the strongest team with the biggest budget and a top-level manager as well. They're still looking to bring in a main striker too, which I can only see strengthening their grip on the Premiership. As long as these facts remain, Celtic are going to continue to be the force to reckon with here.2nd: RangersThey're the next biggest club in the country and clearly, with all the new people moving into positions in their hierarchy, they'll be desperate to close the gap on Celtic, but I'm not sure that will be achievable just now. I think there's scope for those behind to potentially get closer to the Ibrox side.3rd: Heart of MidlothianFor the first time in years, Hearts have made a serious managerial appointment and, with some of the Jamestown signings looking like they may have an impact offensively, it could be a positive partnership for all concerned at Tynecastle. I see a really interesting battle for third between the two Edinburgh sides, as Hibs have transformed into a club who really have their house in ?Impossible to say until we get a chance to see all the sides in action. However, I think it could be a challenging season for Dundee, given the self-enforced changes and the loss of key players. Along with the likes of Kilmarnock, Livingston and Falkirk, I see them potentially fighting it package: MotherwellIf the Steelmen make a relatively bright start to the campaign then the style Jens Berthel Askou is implementing could be really enjoyable for the fans to watch - and ultimately rewarding too - with a chance to challenge for the top six. Rory Loy, former Falkirk striker 1st: CelticThe champions have work to do on the squad as it stands, but I think they will address this with some more eye-catching signings towards the end of the window and, with Brendan Rodgers being the best manager in the league, I don't see any other winner.2nd: RangersI think the Ibrox side may be closer to Celtic come May than last season, but I think it will take a few months to hit top form, which will leave them points behind. Always difficult to chase such a dominant Celtic.3rd: Heart of Midlothian Derek McInnes arriving as head coach and actually playing Lawrence Shankland in his favoured position up top equals best of the rest. Simple. Not playing in Europe will be a huge advantage versus the other teams expected to challenge for DundeeEasily the toughest one to predict. Poor League Cup group-stage campaigns don't always mean much, but Falkirk and Livingston look good, so I will say Dundee. Very much guess work at this stage with this one package: LivingstonDavid Martindale is determined to try and lose the long ball, physicality tag. Whilst they may not be top six, I think they will be comfortable this season, finishing best of the rest. Stephen Craigan, former Motherwell defender 1st: Celtic The reigning champions have the best players and the deepest squad, as well as Brendan Rodgers as manager.2nd: RangersStill a lot of questions around the new signings and their ability to win a title in a two-horse race. Time will tell if they're good enough.3rd: Heart of Midlothian Not having group stage European football as a distraction is a huge bonus for the Edinburgh side. The players underperformed last season and, with the additions over the summer, they have a better balance to the DundeeI'm judging this as we stand and not at the end of the transfer window remember. They have lost a lot of their reliable players who had good Scottish Premiership experience and haven't yet managed to replace them and I'm not sure they can. A bit into the package: LivingstonI'm not sure they'll be a surprise, but David Martindale has recruited well. He got his business done early and his squad has a lot of players with a point to prove and I think they'll prove it. A downside for them, though, is that teams won't dread going to Almondvale (or whatever it's called now) because of the new artificial pitch. I think they will stay well clear of trouble but won't have enough for top six.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Mick Kennedy on East Kilbride, not getting paid, & hating Aberdeen win
To illustrate the point, he recalls the story of the day he met owners Paul and James Kean to discuss taking the job at Scotland's newest senior team. The way he tells it makes it hard to be sure who was interviewing whom. After assuring the Kean brothers that he would find a way to get them through the quagmire of the pyramid play-offs into the senior leagues, Kennedy had one question bouncing around his head. What then? 'If all they wanted was to make it to League Two and sit there consolidating, then I wasn't the man for the job,' he says now. 'So I told them that we should be looking to be in the Championship within five years. That was two years ago. 'I think you can do that steadily and sustainably as the prize money increases. Then if we get the right backing from sponsors and fans…' A bold target for a club preparing to play their first ever League Two game against Spartans, Kennedy sees no harm in setting the bar high or showing a bit of ambition. Formed in 2010 to deliver senior league football to a new town of 75,000 people on the southern fringes of Glasgow, rivals in the lower reaches of Scottish football tend to eye the new boys with something close to suspicion. Regarded sniffily as a club throwing their money around in a quest to buy their way into the senior leagues – don't they all? – Kennedy claims the club's growth is more incremental and sustainable than that. Rubbishing talk of a big player budget he makes no attempt to play down the big targets, the big ambitions, in his head. The bar is set high. By way of an example he recalls an interview with Ian Maxwell where the SFA chief executive spoke of Scotland punching above their weight since Steve Clarke's appointment. 'I just think that's the wrong language to be using. When you tell people that stuff they start to believe it and then when failure comes they accept it because they've been told they're not really meant to be in that environment. They're not really meant to be successful.' Read more: Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers on why Russell Martin will cope with Rangers pressure Are Falkirk going to rub Scottish football's face in its own faeces this season? He knows, more than anyone, what can happen when a small club dares to think big. As manager of Darvel, the 45-year-old oversaw one of the biggest upsets in Scottish football history when the non-league Ayrshire side team toppled an Aberdeen side five leagues higher in the pyramid. Like an artist trying to write the follow-up to that No.1 novelty hit, Kennedy knows how catchy the win over Aberdeen was to the country at large, but hates the idea of playing the same tune over and over until he grows sick of it. He's reluctant to be defined by one game of football. 'I actually hate that game now,' he laughs. 'I think I've managed now for 10 years and I've won nine leagues, but I get it. 'We actually went to Montrose, who were sitting second in League One the round before, and beat them 5-2. 'I was more impressed with that performance than I was with the Aberdeen performance. 'I said to the players here at East Kilbride a couple of weeks ago that success to me is winning trophies. 'Winning one game of football is not success to me. 'Success is winning stuff. That's how you should be judged. 'It's great to have those moments like Aberdeen but that's all they are. Moments.' The comedown from toppling [[Aberdeen]] and nudging Jim Goodwin towards the Pittodrie exit was swift and brutal. John McGlynn's Falkirk travelled to Darvel in the next round and romped to a 5-1 win, with Kennedy savaged on social media for a pre-match team talk – aired on the BBC – where he branded his [[Ayr]]shire heroes, 'soldiers of love.' Laughing, he glances around the club's impressive K-Park facility and the first player to catch his eye is defender Sean Fagan as he ambles past en route to training. 'I say some strange things Sean eh?…' There is no disagreement or dissent and, by the sounds of things, that's probably for the best. A modern manager who puts the emphasis on building individual relationships with players, Kennedy uses the half-time hairdryer sparingly and sees no point in ranting and raving at players like the 21st century incarnation of Jim McLean. He will admit, however, to running the East Kilbride dressing room like a 'dictatorship.' 'It's not a dictatorship in the sense of I'm screaming and shouting. 'But speak to any of the boys here and they would tell you that, with no disrespect to other part-time clubs, it's the most professional environment they have been in. 'The demands are so high, so, so high. And that's in everything we do. The culture, the ethos. 'How we train, how we play. Everybody is expected to do additional work away from training and if they don't do it then they don't get in the squad on a Saturday. 'We don't carry anybody. The minute we feel we're carrying anybody, or trying to convince then they are gone. 'We have dietary requirements, we keep an eye on weight, body fat. It's proper intense.' That being the case, a discount card to the Black Rooster Peri Peri restaurant chain seems unlikely to be included in the bonus section of a player's contract. Raised in Abercrombie Street in Glasgow's Calton district, Kennedy worked for the Wheatley Housing group, Scotland's biggest social landlord, before he co-founded Black Rooster in 2017. The chain has now expanded to 19 stores and is moving into the London market. Effectively full-time at East Kilbride, business partner Kevin Bell handles the other stuff. Unusually for a manager in the senior game, Kennedy accepts no payment for his work. He doesn't need the money and would happily return to amateur football tomorrow if the enjoyment of coaching at a higher level drained away. 'I have always said that I will never take a wage anywhere I go. 'Because I would never want to be conflicted by that. 'I speak to lots of managers in the leagues and it's tough. Guys in full-time jobs and guys in part-time jobs and they need the income, they need the job. 'The alternative if they chuck it is working on a building site on a Monday morning or something. 'So I understand why they put up with that stress and pressure of management even when they're not enjoying it. 'The difference with me is that I only ever go somewhere if I am going to enjoy it and if I ever felt like I didn't enjoy it I would instantly stop.' In an industry where money dictates every cough and spit, it's an unusual approach. In the event of East Kilbride progressing through the leagues – or a bigger club calling – he'd have a decision to make, and a desire to accept a fair day's pay for a fair day's work would be natural enough. For other people, maybe. 'Someone asked me that question recently. 'I suppose if we keep progressing, the club might look to go full-time. 'Or, if I keep doing well against teams above us in the pyramid, a full-time team might come at some point. 'But I genuinely still don't think I would take a wage. 'I think I would just do the job because I felt it was the right thing to do. 'I wouldn't want to be conflicted. 'Clubs know when they hire me that I'm here for the right reasons. 'It's not about self-interest or enriching myself at all. 'I just do this because I love it and the minute I don't love it anymore I stop doing it. 'It has never been this burning desire of mine to be a manager in the senior leagues.' Now that he is, he addresses the quest to deliver success with the passion and zeal of a methodist preacher. His conversation is peppered with talk of culture, values, and behaviours. While other clubs in League Two fret and worry over the cost of fixing the enclosure roof or plummeting through the trap door leading to the Lowland or Highland Leagues – from where few return – East Kilbride are focused on building a football club moving in an upwards trajectory. 'The owners put their heart and soul into this club, and they want to leave a real legacy. 'The club is owned by a trust, a charity they set up and invested in. 'The last thing they want to do is let this all fall apart when they're not here any longer.' Living in the shadows of Celtic and Rangers brings obvious challenges. The club's average crowd can be measured in hundreds rather than thousands. They beat Championship Raith Rovers in Kirkcaldy in the Premier Sports Cup and won again in Elgin, but lost six goals to Inverness after running out of legs in the second half. While a new stand was installed to meet SPFL entry criteria, [[East Kilbride]] remain a work in progress, off the pitch and on it. 'I brought the average age of the squad down to 23 this year, and that was on purpose. 'We want to be known as a club which brings boys in to play a certain style of football and gain the opportunity to move on.
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Mick Kennedy on East Kilbride, not getting paid, & hating Aberdeen win
To illustrate the point, he recalls the story of the day he met owners Paul and James Kean to discuss taking the job at Scotland's newest senior team. The way he tells it makes it hard to be sure who was interviewing whom. After assuring the Kean brothers that he would find a way to get them through the quagmire of the pyramid play-offs into the senior leagues, Kennedy had one question bouncing around his head. What then? 'If all they wanted was to make it to League Two and sit there consolidating, then I wasn't the man for the job,' he says now. 'So I told them that we should be looking to be in the Championship within five years. That was two years ago. 'I think you can do that steadily and sustainably as the prize money increases. Then if we get the right backing from sponsors and fans…' A bold target for a club preparing to play their first ever League Two game against Spartans, Kennedy sees no harm in setting the bar high or showing a bit of ambition. Formed in 2010 to deliver senior league football to a new town of 75,000 people on the southern fringes of Glasgow, rivals in the lower reaches of Scottish football tend to eye the new boys with something close to suspicion. Regarded sniffily as a club throwing their money around in a quest to buy their way into the senior leagues – don't they all? – Kennedy claims the club's growth is more incremental and sustainable than that. Rubbishing talk of a big player budget he makes no attempt to play down the big targets, the big ambitions, in his head. The bar is set high. By way of an example he recalls an interview with Ian Maxwell where the SFA chief executive spoke of Scotland punching above their weight since Steve Clarke's appointment. 'I just think that's the wrong language to be using. When you tell people that stuff they start to believe it and then when failure comes they accept it because they've been told they're not really meant to be in that environment. They're not really meant to be successful.' Read more: Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers on why Russell Martin will cope with Rangers pressure Are Falkirk going to rub Scottish football's face in its own faeces this season? He knows, more than anyone, what can happen when a small club dares to think big. As manager of Darvel, the 45-year-old oversaw one of the biggest upsets in Scottish football history when the non-league Ayrshire side team toppled an Aberdeen side five leagues higher in the pyramid. Like an artist trying to write the follow-up to that No.1 novelty hit, Kennedy knows how catchy the win over Aberdeen was to the country at large, but hates the idea of playing the same tune over and over until he grows sick of it. He's reluctant to be defined by one game of football. 'I actually hate that game now,' he laughs. 'I think I've managed now for 10 years and I've won nine leagues, but I get it. 'We actually went to Montrose, who were sitting second in League One the round before, and beat them 5-2. 'I was more impressed with that performance than I was with the Aberdeen performance. 'I said to the players here at East Kilbride a couple of weeks ago that success to me is winning trophies. 'Winning one game of football is not success to me. 'Success is winning stuff. That's how you should be judged. 'It's great to have those moments like Aberdeen but that's all they are. Moments.' The comedown from toppling [[Aberdeen]] and nudging Jim Goodwin towards the Pittodrie exit was swift and brutal. John McGlynn's Falkirk travelled to Darvel in the next round and romped to a 5-1 win, with Kennedy savaged on social media for a pre-match team talk – aired on the BBC – where he branded his [[Ayr]]shire heroes, 'soldiers of love.' Laughing, he glances around the club's impressive K-Park facility and the first player to catch his eye is defender Sean Fagan as he ambles past en route to training. 'I say some strange things Sean eh?…' There is no disagreement or dissent and, by the sounds of things, that's probably for the best. A modern manager who puts the emphasis on building individual relationships with players, Kennedy uses the half-time hairdryer sparingly and sees no point in ranting and raving at players like the 21st century incarnation of Jim McLean. He will admit, however, to running the East Kilbride dressing room like a 'dictatorship.' 'It's not a dictatorship in the sense of I'm screaming and shouting. 'But speak to any of the boys here and they would tell you that, with no disrespect to other part-time clubs, it's the most professional environment they have been in. 'The demands are so high, so, so high. And that's in everything we do. The culture, the ethos. 'How we train, how we play. Everybody is expected to do additional work away from training and if they don't do it then they don't get in the squad on a Saturday. 'We don't carry anybody. The minute we feel we're carrying anybody, or trying to convince then they are gone. 'We have dietary requirements, we keep an eye on weight, body fat. It's proper intense.' That being the case, a discount card to the Black Rooster Peri Peri restaurant chain seems unlikely to be included in the bonus section of a player's contract. Raised in Abercrombie Street in Glasgow's Calton district, Kennedy worked for the Wheatley Housing group, Scotland's biggest social landlord, before he co-founded Black Rooster in 2017. The chain has now expanded to 19 stores and is moving into the London market. Effectively full-time at East Kilbride, business partner Kevin Bell handles the other stuff. Unusually for a manager in the senior game, Kennedy accepts no payment for his work. He doesn't need the money and would happily return to amateur football tomorrow if the enjoyment of coaching at a higher level drained away. 'I have always said that I will never take a wage anywhere I go. 'Because I would never want to be conflicted by that. 'I speak to lots of managers in the leagues and it's tough. Guys in full-time jobs and guys in part-time jobs and they need the income, they need the job. 'The alternative if they chuck it is working on a building site on a Monday morning or something. 'So I understand why they put up with that stress and pressure of management even when they're not enjoying it. 'The difference with me is that I only ever go somewhere if I am going to enjoy it and if I ever felt like I didn't enjoy it I would instantly stop.' In an industry where money dictates every cough and spit, it's an unusual approach. In the event of East Kilbride progressing through the leagues – or a bigger club calling – he'd have a decision to make, and a desire to accept a fair day's pay for a fair day's work would be natural enough. For other people, maybe. 'Someone asked me that question recently. 'I suppose if we keep progressing, the club might look to go full-time. 'Or, if I keep doing well against teams above us in the pyramid, a full-time team might come at some point. 'But I genuinely still don't think I would take a wage. 'I think I would just do the job because I felt it was the right thing to do. 'I wouldn't want to be conflicted. 'Clubs know when they hire me that I'm here for the right reasons. 'It's not about self-interest or enriching myself at all. 'I just do this because I love it and the minute I don't love it anymore I stop doing it. 'It has never been this burning desire of mine to be a manager in the senior leagues.' Now that he is, he addresses the quest to deliver success with the passion and zeal of a methodist preacher. His conversation is peppered with talk of culture, values, and behaviours. While other clubs in League Two fret and worry over the cost of fixing the enclosure roof or plummeting through the trap door leading to the Lowland or Highland Leagues – from where few return – East Kilbride are focused on building a football club moving in an upwards trajectory. 'The owners put their heart and soul into this club, and they want to leave a real legacy. 'The club is owned by a trust, a charity they set up and invested in. 'The last thing they want to do is let this all fall apart when they're not here any longer.' Living in the shadows of Celtic and Rangers brings obvious challenges. The club's average crowd can be measured in hundreds rather than thousands. They beat Championship Raith Rovers in Kirkcaldy in the Premier Sports Cup and won again in Elgin, but lost six goals to Inverness after running out of legs in the second half. While a new stand was installed to meet SPFL entry criteria, [[East Kilbride]] remain a work in progress, off the pitch and on it. 'I brought the average age of the squad down to 23 this year, and that was on purpose. 'We want to be known as a club which brings boys in to play a certain style of football and gain the opportunity to move on.
