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Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lotus to join show of F1 championship winning cars
A "legendary" Formula 1 team will showcase some of its former world championship winning race cars at a motorsport festival, organisers said. The Silverstone Festival in Northamptonshire, due to be held over the August bank holiday weekend, has announced four cars from the former Norfolk-based Team Lotus will be part of display featuring F1 cars raced by all 34 of the sport's world champions. The showcase is part of a special celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of the Formula 1 World Championship. Nick Wigley, the event's director, said the display was an "ambitious challenge that no one has ever attempted before". He said: "Now, the star-studded collection is not only nearly complete, but it also features an incredible number of title-winning cars. McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, and Williams have already confirmed their support for the showcase, contributing title-winning cars driven by illustrious champions including Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Fernando Alonso, Sir Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Team Lotus was founded by Colin Chapman and recorded its first F1 entry in 1958. Based at Hethel, near Norwich, the team counted world champions Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Mario Andretti among its drivers. British driver Clark was intrinsically linked with Team Lotus in its formative years, winning titles in 1963 and 1965 and the "iconic" Lotus 25/R4 in which he won his first crown will join the display, alongside those driven by Rindt, Fittipaldi and Andretti. The festival will also feature performances from Natasha Bedingfield and Craig David presents TS5. The Silverstone Festival runs from 22-24 August. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More on this story Festival to showcase biggest display of Senna cars Related internet links Formula 1
New York Times
11 minutes ago
- New York Times
Dan Ndoye: Nottingham Forest forward with gifts for fans, who ‘took stairs' to top of game
If you see Dan Ndoye driving around Nottingham, he might have a gift for you. When the Swiss winger was at Bologna, he would often keep a few club shirts, with his name and number on the back, in the glove box of his car as a potential keepsake for any fans he encountered. He would, naturally, have a pen handy for autographs, too. Advertisement A confident young man, then. But one thing that came up with every person The Athletic spoke to about Nottingham Forest's record signing is his friendly personality, so the stashing of ready-to-go merch reflects his effusive nature, rather than any sort of presumptive arrogance. The deal taking Ndoye to Forest was complicated by competition from Napoli and Juventus, and Bologna driving a tough bargain for their star winger, who eventually cost £35million ($47.5m). Eventually crawling over the line in the last week of July, the move had been in the ether for a year. Ndoye was offered to Forest in 2024 for around £25million, but they were not in a financial position to make the move. He had only been with Bologna for one season, scoring a single goal, but after some breakout performances at Euro 2024 with Switzerland and a Serie A campaign in which he found the net nine times, including the winner in the Coppa Italia final, he is a much more rounded player. From his perspective, too, last summer might not have been the right time to make the move. He has always been cautious about planning his career, looking for the next level but recognising it is better to take relatively small steps and play regularly to develop and improve, rather than go for bigger leaps and get lost in the shuffle. That partly informed the 24-year-old's decision to choose Forest: he could have gone to the reigning Serie A champions in Napoli, or Italian giants Juventus, where he would have played in the Champions League, but he has always wanted to play in the Premier League. Ndoye views Forest as the perfect size: big enough to be competitive, but not so established that his development could be stunted. He could have been in England much earlier than this. Arsenal, Manchester City and Southampton were among the clubs who looked at Ndoye when he was in the youth system of his first club, Lausanne-Sport, who competed in Switzerland's second-tier Challenge League. Interestingly, Forest's current chief football officer, Ross Wilson, was Southampton's director of football operations at the time. Advertisement Ndoye's game improved significantly at Bologna under Thiago Motta and, last season, Vincenzo Italiano, who made him a much more clinical finisher. 'Last year (with Thiago Motta) I rarely went looking for goal,' he told Gazzetta Dello Sport in May. 'Motta asked me to stay out wide more. Italiano granted me more freedom, the chance to score and to attack the box more.' Earlier in his career, one of the most influential figures was Sebastien Bichard, who coached him as a youngster at Lausanne. 'I remember very well this young, frail 12-year-old boy,' Bichard tells The Athletic, when asked about his memories of the first time he saw Ndoye play. 'He was already a very good dribbler and a fast one. What was already magnificent about him was his passion for the game, for the ball, for football. I immediately noticed his ability to play with his body, to outwit the opponent with the ball at his feet. There was something rare about him.' Bichard was particularly influential during a strange period in 2020 — for all of us, but Ndoye in particular. He had agreed a move from Lausanne to Nice (two clubs owned by Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS), but remained in Switzerland on loan for the remainder of the 2019-20 season, the plan being to move that summer. Then Covid-19 hit, and there was no football in the Swiss second tier for four months: not ideal for anyone, but particularly not for a player who had a new club to impress. Ndoye had to stay sharp somehow, and that's where Bichard came in. 'We met very early in the morning to do individualised training sessions on a very difficult village pitch, hidden from view, to prepare for his future move to Nice.' That move to Nice didn't go to plan. There was a gap of just three weeks between the fragmented season in Switzerland and the start of the new one in France. He began with some promise, but only started three games in Ligue 1. He was only 21 but already in danger of stagnating. Advertisement The following summer, he moved on loan to Swiss Super League side Basel, where his career was reinvigorated. He worked with Patrick Rahmen, who would later coach him for the Switzerland Under-21s, and his job was to restore Ndoye's confidence. 'That was key to his development under me and his subsequent coaches,' Rahmen tells The Athletic. 'When he felt that we were counting on him, he could develop game by game and find his confidence.' At Basel, he became a key part of the team quickly, and after a season on loan, the move was made permanent. 'He realised that he could be a difference-maker at a higher level,' says Rahmen, 'but his performances weren't consistent at first. Accordingly, it was a process for him to develop as a player at a club where he received a lot of trust from me and the coaching staff. He then put this into practice, both at the club and with the national team.' His progress wasn't linear. Rahmen remembers a conversation they had before a game against Spain's under-21s in 2023. Ndoye's confidence had dipped again after a long spell without a goal or assist. 'We had a long personal conversation where we talked about pressure and how to deal with his own expectations,' says Rahmen. 'We discussed it in detail and broke it down so that he could forget all the pressure for this game and simply look forward to the game and play without worry. He implemented this brilliantly and played an outstanding game, scoring a goal.' Ndoye's progression was bumpy at times, perhaps explaining his self-critical side. He analyses his performances independently of the work his clubs have done and replays matches on the same day. He looks for mistakes and areas of improvement. He has spoken about not getting much sleep some nights after studying a game particularly closely. 'It's also important to know that Dan had an atypical career path,' says Bichard. 'He wasn't always recognised for his true worth — he earned his first Swiss youth cap at the under-18 level. Advertisement 'He has a great capacity for work, is a good listener, and is ready to never give up. He now performs at a high level, as he did when he was younger, but with much more consistency and effectiveness today.' Or, as his father, Saliou, put it, speaking to Swiss outlet 24 Heures: 'Some people take the elevator and everything falls into their hands very quickly, they are propelled to the top while still very young. Dan, on the other hand, took the stairs. He is where he is because of his work.' Ndoye is extremely family-oriented. 'A career has its ups and downs,' Ndoye told 24 Heures. 'A player's mental state accounts for 70 per cent or 80 per cent of their performance. I have a mental coach who helped me a lot when I was younger with concentration issues. But nothing replaces family. It's a necessity.' Saliou is from Senegal and was a decent amateur player in his day (as a smooth attacking midfielder, he picked up the nickname 'Platini'), and now splits his time between Switzerland and a real estate business in his homeland. His mother, Virginie, is Swiss and he has two younger siblings: a brother, Issa, and a sister named Eva. Issa is a photographer and videographer who made a glossy social media clip charting Ndoye's journey to Nottingham, while Eva studied at university in America last year. Virginie missed the start of Euro 2024, where Ndoye played for Switzerland, to attend her graduation. Both were with him as he completed the formalities of his move to Forest. A post shared by Dan Ndoye 🦁 (@danndoye10) Throughout his career, some combination of his immediate family members have usually lived with or near him, moving to Nice then Basel then Bologna. While they won't be moving en masse to Nottingham, they always try to ensure a couple of them are close by at any one time. 'They provide the balance Dan needs,' says Bichard. One family member who will be joining Ndoye more permanently in Nottingham is Alpha, the husky that Eva persuaded him to get a few years ago. 'A life without Alpha is unimaginable for me,' Ndoye told Blick this year. 'She gives me a lot of love and takes my mind off things when I'm out walking or lying on the couch, which helps me enormously, especially after games.' Advertisement As for slightly less furry friends, he is still close to former Bologna team-mates Joshua Zirkzee — the Manchester United forward with whom he plays Call of Duty online — and Riccardo Calafiori, now of Arsenal. Bologna's scouts went to watch Ndoye play for Basel, and while there, were also impressed by Calafiori (who they also already knew about), signing them both in 2023. Nottingham Ndoye also asked Remo Freuler, Bologna's Swiss midfielder who played for Forest, about the move to Nottingham, and was told only good things about the club. His signature goal celebration — showing his 'claws' and growling like a big cat — stems from his family and his childhood. 'Since I was a child, my parents have compared me to a lion,' he said last year. 'They often say that the Senegalese players are the Lions of Teranga. So it was just a little reference to my second nationality.' Ndoye has big boots to fill, having been signed shortly after the sale of Anthony Elanga to Newcastle United. But if Forest fans keep seeing that celebration, there will be plenty of takers for one of those shirts, signed and fresh from the glove box.
New York Times
11 minutes ago
- New York Times
After Bale, Kane and Son, Spurs now lack a ‘franchise player'. Who will be next?
For the first time in over a decade, Tottenham Hotspur are about to lose their last global superstar. Son Heung-min, who has been Spurs' undisputed poster boy since Harry Kane departed for Bayern Munich in the summer of 2023, is on the verge of signing for MLS side Los Angeles FC after a 10-year stint in north London. Advertisement Not since Gareth Bale left north London for Real Madrid in 2013 have Spurs lacked an obvious icon who can not only carry the team on the pitch, but also act as the face of the club off it. In that instance, it was not one of the seven signings made with the £85million (€100m at the time) of 'Bale money' that wrestled the mantle — though Christian Eriksen would have been more than worthy of the title — but academy product Harry Kane, who became an unlikely icon for club and country. Following Kane's move to Munich, his status was seamlessly inherited by Son, although in truth, the pair shared top billing for much of their time together. Now, with Son also heading for the exit, having 'achieved everything he possibly could' following their Europa League triumph in May, Spurs are without a 'franchise player'. Sustained success on a football pitch is more reflective of a cohesive unit than the brilliance of one or two individuals, and the signings of Mohammed Kudus and Joao Palhinha have helped Spurs strengthen in areas of weakness last season. But without a like-for-like replacement for Bale, Kane or Son, Spurs lack an X factor, on and off the pitch. In his pomp, Son was considered among the very best forwards in the world. He leaves the Premier League with 127 goals from 333 league appearances, and a ubiquitous love from the fanbase that is almost unmatched across any level of the game. His production steeply declined last season, but even a return of 17 goal contributions (seven goals, 10 assists) from 30 league matches is comparable to Bruno Fernandes and Morgan Rogers, who both notched eight goals and 11 assists from 36 and 37 league appearances. And off the field, Son's influence was even greater. He was made club captain by Ange Postecoglou because he was a 'unifier'. Advertisement 'He could sit at any table in the lunch room, whether it was staff or players, and get a conversation going,' Spurs' former head coach told The Athletic. And with Son unable to start the Europa League final due to a foot injury, Postecoglou reminded his players that the result of that game would be tied to the South Korean's legacy. His influence extends to opposition players, including Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon, who described Son as a 'role model' and could be seen with his arm around Son at various stages of Sunday's match between the two teams. From a branding perspective, Son belongs to the upper echelon of world superstars in terms of engagement and sponsorship potential. According to research commissioned in 2022 by AIA, Tottenham's shirt sponsor, 12million South Koreans called Spurs their favourite football team, just short of a quarter of the country's population (51 million), and that's almost entirely down to Son. This summer, Spurs travelled to South Korea for the third time in four years for their pre-season tour and he was the star attraction. His status as South Korea's most prominent celebrity is a significant factor in Spurs being the Premier League's most followed club on TikTok. Two of Tottenham's sponsors (Kumho Tyre and Paris Baguette) are South Korean companies. Naturally, there is nobody else in Spurs' squad, or arguably in world football, that could expect to continue elevating the club's brand in the way Son has. 'There has always been this stereotype, going back to Park Ji-sung, that signing players from East Asia is a really commercially smart thing to do because of exposure and fandom,' says Daniel-Yaw Miller, a sports culture, fashion and business expert. 'But as a commercial entity, Son is a unique case. I don't think we've ever seen a situation where one player brings in thousands of people every matchday in the same way.' 'I've been to Spurs' stadium and you can palpably feel how his presence affects the demographic of the crowd. It's one of a kind, and it's risky trying to chase or get an equivalent, because I'm not sure anyone in world football can replicate him.' Advertisement As of 2023, up to 700 Son shirts were being sold on matchdays — the most of any player at Spurs, 'by a big distance'. Undoubtedly, a proportion of the South Korean fandom will remain after Son's departure, and the signing of 19-year-old Yang Min-hyeok will help retain interest, but expecting thousands of Koreans to continue flying over for every Spurs game seems wishful. Thomas Frank's squad is not short of talent, but finding a player from within to step into Son's shoes is not straightforward. James Maddison has the character to shoulder the responsibility of being Tottenham's leading man, but a knee injury sustained on Sunday in Korea, described by Frank as 'bad', may rule him out of action for a while. Cristian Romero could be a world-class defender and is a World Cup winner, but it is a big ask for him or Micky van de Ven to have the superstar presence of Son, Kane or Bale from centre-back. Perhaps it will be Lucas Bergvall, or new signing Kudus, or even Dominic Solanke — but they all feel like outside bets. Son's impending departure leaves Tottenham as the only 'Big Six' club without an easily identifiable star. It's simple to point at Arsenal (Bukayo Saka), Chelsea (Cole Palmer) or even Manchester United (Fernandes), and identify the player who will be front and centre in sponsorship campaigns, never mind Erling Haaland at Manchester City and Mohamed Salah at Liverpool, whose production on the pitch far outweighs any commercial considerations. Whether it matters depends mainly on how Frank starts life in north London. Who knows, maybe there's an overlooked talent waiting in the wings, rather like Kane, ready to step up to the plate?
