FA release statement warning England fans NOT to travel to the airport as Lioness heroes fly home after Euro 2025 glory
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ENGLAND fans have been warned NOT to travel to the airport as the Lionesses heroes land back to the UK on Monday.
Sarina Wiegman's side won back-to-back Euros titles after defeating world champions Spain 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Switzerland last night.
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England fans have been urged NOT to travel to the airport as the Lionesses heroes return to the UK
Credit: EPA
But the FA have released a statement begging jubilant England fans to stay away from airports.
A spokesperson wrote: "Our history-making Lionesses will return home this afternoon.
"But due to limited space at the airport, we would advise fans not to travel there today.
"Instead, we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Central London tomorrow for the homecoming celebrations."
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The move is to ensure the players' smooth and safe arrival, preventing potential overcrowding and logistical nightmares at what will be extremely busy airports.
Instead, supporters are being encouraged to join in the official homecoming celebrations planned in London on Tuesday.
Starting at 12.10pm, the bus will drive past fans along The Mall before ending with a staged ceremony at the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace at around 12.30pm.
And this afternoon the Lionesses will be treated to a special reception at 10 Downing Street in celebration of the historic victory.
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Hosted by the Deputy Prime Minister and Sports Minister the victorious side will be welcomed alongside coaches and representatives from the Football Association.
England's historic win saw them become the first English side to win a major tournament on foreign soil.
Inside Lionesses' boozy Euro 2025 celebrations as stars party with pizzas, beers and loved ones after win over Spain
It also saw them defend their 2022 Euros title, having beaten Germany 2-1 in the previous final at Wembley.
The parade will be broadcast live across the BBC, ITV and Sky between 12pm and 1pm for those who can't make the historic event.
Sunday's final was full of twists and turns, with England falling behind in the 25th minute to a header from Mariona Caldentey.
However, the Lionesses roared back with a header of their own from Alessia Russo in the 57th minute to equalise the game.
The teams then tussled back and forth throughout the rest of normal and extra time before a nail-biting penalty shoot-out.
Ultimately, two heroic saves from Hannah Hampton allowed star player Chloe Kelly to fire home the winning penalty, securing victory for the Lionesses.
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England celebrated long into the night after winning the European Championships
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The room was packed with booze and loved ones
And the team will likely be feeling a little worse for wear ahead of their flight home after partying UNTIL 4AM on Monday morning.
After an emotional trophy lift and plenty of on-pitch celebrations, the England team kept the party going as they returned to their team hotel for a massive bash.
Friends, family, staff and loved ones all awaited the Lionesses as they flooded through the doors wearing their "CHAMPIONS 25" shirts.
While captain Leah Williamson and boss Wiegman even cut a custom-made football cake that had been brought in for the team to celebrate.
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Times
17 minutes ago
- Times
Real Bedford: the team powered by bitcoin that could change football for ever
The game was drab and gritty, the skies dismal and grey, and the ball bobbled around a muddy pitch as the league leaders ground out a 3-1 victory against their defensive-minded rivals. Teenage fans behind one of the goals occasionally banged a drum in an attempt to whip up the small crowd clustered in the stand or huddled in thick coats along the touchline. The breakthrough goal after half an hour was met with relieved cheers; the club café did a brisk trade in coffees and teas at half-time. This scene on a chilly Saturday afternoon in January could have been replicated across the country. The match was between Real Bedford (aka 'the Pirates') and Leverstock Green from Hertfordshire. It took place in the Southern League Division One Central, seven tiers below the riches of the Premier League. Here players pocket a few hundred pounds a month to supplement their salaries or student loans while owners struggle to keep their clubs afloat with crowds typically numbering in the hundreds rather than thousands. Yet this game — like all the Bedfordshire team's home matches — was being streamed live online for a global audience. For this non-league club is part-owned by the billionaire Winklevoss brothers. The American identical twins Cameron and Tyler rowed for the US at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and in 2004 sued their Harvard University classmate Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea for a social media site (they are both played by Armie Hammer in the Oscar-winning The Social Network). In 2008 they accepted a settlement for $65 million (£41 million). Real Bedford also has a generous sponsorship deal from the Winklevosses' New York-based crypto exchange, Gemini. Other sponsors include the data centre provider Iren and the bitcoin mining company Luxor. Among the fans I find buying replica strips before kick-off are Steve and Maria Bakker, who have travelled to the Ledger Stadium from their home in Brisbane, Australia. 'We were going skiing in France and decided to go to Bedford as a side trip,' says Maria, 56, a healthcare technician. 'It's the highlight of our whole tour.' Three months later I return to watch the team play Kings Langley, another Hertfordshire side, in front of a record home crowd of 1,426 people. The teenage boys are still banging their drum behind the goal, but this time there is a party atmosphere in the spring sunshine, with free pizza and fireworks exploding after a penalty by the summer signing Joey Evans, 25 — his 34th goal of the season. The Pirates have won their third successive title, marching up the leagues towards the most unlikely of sporting dreams: to one day take the second-best club in Bedford all the way up to the Premier League. The man behind this bold vision is a 46-year-old heavily tattooed former advertising boss who grew up in the town, and whose father and mother — an aircraft engineer and a nurse — worked 'all hours' so he could attend a local private school. In 2017 Peter McCormack launched what became the world's most popular bitcoin podcast, What Bitcoin Did, in which he travelled the world to interview analysts, presidents and technology seers. Believing that he could harness the passion and wealth of the global cryptocurrency community to disrupt football, he tried to buy the bigger Bedford Town but was rebuffed. So instead, four years ago, he bought the tenth-tier side Bedford FC for an undisclosed fee, changed the club's name and colours, rebranded with a skull and crossbones logo and declared that he had created the world's first bitcoin club — where fans can pay in bitcoin, players and staff can take home wages in the cryptocurrency and club finances can be boosted by any surge in bitcoin's value. In McCormack's project, any passionate bitcoin investor, anywhere in the world, will soon be familiar with the name of Real Bedford FC. 'I always liked football,' McCormack tells me in his Real Coffee café in Bedford town centre, which sells club merchandise alongside cappuccinos, cakes and cannolis. 'But I'd go to games, see a group of lads from their home town that they loved and then wonder why Bedford doesn't have a team in the football league.' This remained a hazy idea until he sat down over beers with Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in Austin, Texas, in 2022. Initially he was hoping their Gemini cryptocurrency exchange would sponsor his podcast, but when he mentioned buying a football team — and explained to them the pyramid system of promotion and relegation — the pair challenged him to think about going all the way the top. 'I told them to leave it with me,' McCormack says. This conversation took place the year after the Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham, sparking worldwide interest in the semi-professional Welsh team. As captured in the Disney+ documentary Welcome to Wrexham, last season the club reached the Championship, English football's second tier, after a record-breaking third successive promotion. The pair have been followed into sprinkling stardust on struggling football teams by the US quarterback Tom Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, taking a small stake in Birmingham City in 2023. The Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric became a co-owner of Swansea City in April. He was joined last month by the rapper Snoop Dogg. In February the Winklevosses handed over bitcoin worth £3.6 million for a 45 per cent stake in Real Bedford. McCormack owns almost all of the rest. 'We love an underdog story,' says Tyler Winklevoss, 44, when we meet on their first visit to Bedford after flying in to enjoy the team's latest title triumph. 'We bit on it straight away,' his brother, Cameron, adds. 'It's crazy and it sounds impossible but it reminded us a lot of when we first heard about bitcoin in 2012. Lots of smart people dismissed that idea too. And we loved the thesis of a football club powered by bitcoin.' Cameron admits they knew little about Bedford before making their investment. But he says they enjoyed rowing in regattas at Henley, where they witnessed the communal fervour produced by football when England reached the quarter-finals of the 2004 European Championships. They later both studied business at Oxford University and were in the losing crew in the 2010 Boat Race. 'It was a very magical year and we became very fond of England,' he says. But can Real Bedford really rise to the Premier League? 'That's our goal,' Cameron says. 'We would not have invested if we did not think it could happen.' Until now Bedford's main claim to fame has been as the birthplace of John Bunyan, who wrote the 17th-century allegory The Pilgrim's Progress while imprisoned for public preaching in the town's jail. Yet McCormack points out this market town of 185,000 inhabitants is growing fast; it is the second-biggest town in the country, behind Wakefield, never to have had a club in the football league. In April the prime minister announced a boost for Bedford's economy with news of a £50 billion theme park — the first Universal Studios has built in Europe. Sir Keir Starmer said that plans for a 476-acre complex on the site of a former brickworks would 'firmly put the county on the global stage'. It is claimed the attraction will lure 8.5 million visitors in its first year. As McCormack tells me his life story he comes across as both a savvy businessman and a man on a mission to save his home town. 'I want my town to win,' he says passionately — and he is not just talking about football. He takes me down 'crack alley' among the shops near his café, where three men are smoking drugs in a car with a smashed back window. Then he shows me the tatty façade of a boarded-up Debenhams that closed four years ago as he complains about how high business rates are putting off budding entrepreneurs. 'We must be ambitious — a place of economic opportunity — but if a town centre is not safe it does not work.' Determined to help the police crack down on crime in the town, he has hired ten private security guards to patrol the streets every Saturday this month, armed with body cams and radios — a £10,000 pilot scheme which he hopes will provoke a civic response. McCormack always had an entrepreneurial streak, selling football stickers and marbles at school, then starting a music fanzine at the age of 15 to get free records and tickets to heavy metal gigs. He built up a thriving advertising agency in London with 40 staff and a £3 million turnover until a messy divorce from the mother of his two children sent him spiralling into depression, drink and drugs. 'I'd been using a little bit of cocaine up till then,' he says, 'but I was going to work every day, driving home, then it was a gram of coke and a bottle of wine every night. I was not sleeping a lot. I ended up in hospital. I was at rock bottom.' The doctors wanted to put him on anti-depressants. Instead McCormack bought a pair of trainers and started running every day. He handed the remnants of his business to a partner, pocketing £180,000 from the sale of its office lease. He attended any gym classes he could find, ate vegan food and stopped using alcohol and drugs. Eventually he ended up in Italy at a yoga and healthy eating retreat run by an ultra-endurance athlete called Rich Roll. He had listened to Roll's podcast while pounding the paths around Bedford. Roll, a former entertainment lawyer who built up his wellness brand after kicking his own drink and drug addiction, told the guests on his retreat that if anyone was in Los Angeles they should look him up. McCormack flew straight out to the US, asked Roll about podcasting, bought some recording equipment and started his own show two days later. 'Rich said to pick a topic for your podcast, so I started a bitcoin podcast — and four years later I found myself interviewing the president of El Salvador.' McCormack had come across the cryptocurrency while ordering cannabis oil on the dark web for his mother when she was suffering from cancer, then later used it to buy cocaine for himself. He was lucky with his timing — purchasing bitcoin and launching his podcast at the start of the cryptocurrency's 2017 bull market, which saw prices explode almost a hundredfold before plummeting. His own £32,000 investment soared to £1.2 million before falling back to £60,000. He soon became an influential voice in a cultish community, building a large social media following (he has 580,000 followers on X) and running CheatCode, an annual three-day crypto conference in Bedford. Now his latest bet is harnessing the power of the volatile currency to build a football club, using it for everyday club transactions — as well as a clever marketing tool. The club's pirate badge features the bitcoin logo and the words 'est. block 712003', denoting Real Bedford's first trace on the currency's blockchain database in place of a founding date. Its orange shirt reflects the way bitcoiners talk about people being 'orange-pilled' when becoming true believers in the cryptocurrency, a play on the red pill taken in the film The Matrix. But despite the club's crypto credentials, its website carries a prominent warning that bitcoin is a risky investment that should be treated with caution. 'Fans sometimes ask if we're being paid in bitcoin,' says the goalkeeper Tyler McGregor, a 22-year-old PE teacher from Milton Keynes and one of only two players surviving the team's rise through the ranks from the Spartan South Midlands League Division One. Players and staff do have the option of taking home some or all of their wages in the currency. 'All I really know is that it's a very good way of making your money work for you. It can fluctuate but it seems to be gaining momentum with more people using it. But I'm not that well educated on it. It does get brought up in the changing room, but we just want to win football matches and do our best for Peter. He's building a remarkable foundation for Bedford and I hope he can keep it going.' 'The economics of football are very simple,' McCormack says. 'Every now and then you get an anomaly like Leicester winning the Premiership [in 2016] but most teams end up within five or six places of their budget. So to go through all the divisions we need a budget to win and a decent manager to deliver. But if you want the best budget in the league, where do you get your money from? At this level it is merchandising, but most people make f*** all money, then maybe a little bit of local sponsorship and match-day revenue. It's a hard business, a very tough business.' Tickets at Real Bedford cost £12 for adults, £2 for under-18s — that's roughly 0.000011BTC at time of going to press. 'So I thought, how do I bust this model? Then I thought if we become a bitcoin club we are instantly an international club because I've got the platform and the podcast. So where most clubs are selling a couple of grand in merch, we've sold £300,000 in three years — it's insane. Shirts, hoodies, hats — we've sold loads of them. We did a five-year sponsorship deal with Gemini for half a million quid when most clubs like us would be over the moon to get five or ten grand for their shirt sponsorship. This is all unique at our level.' Thomas Pacchia owns the Pubkey bitcoin bar in New York, where last September Donald Trump made a stop on the campaign trail to buy a round of cheeseburgers — the first bitcoin transaction by a current or former president. Pacchia screens all of Real Bedford's evening matches in the bar. 'I watch most of them — it's a beautiful project,' says the former Wall Street lawyer. Bitcoiners such as Steve and Maria Bakker, whom I met at the home ground, watch games on social media back in Australia. 'I was listening to Pete's podcast when he said he was trying to get support from around the world — and now we are rooting for Real Bedford,' Maria says. McCormack's aim is to have one of the three biggest budgets in each league they progress through, then rely on a strong manager and club culture to keep on rising with both the men's and women's teams — the women have just won two league titles on the trot. The current manager is the Bedford-born Rob Sinclair, 36, who previously managed the ninth-tier Cambridgeshire side Eynesbury Rovers and briefly played for Bedford Town in 2020 after a career with teams including Stevenage and Forest Green Rovers. Club finances appear to be in rude health: the Winklevoss investment, currently worth £5.6 million following a recent surge in bitcoin's value, has so far sat untouched and has been earmarked for future infrastructure development. McCormack wants to retain the brand's punk attitude — with a black-painted, graffiti-covered tunnel, Nirvana-style T-shirts on sale and a burst of Rage Against the Machine blasting from his phone whenever Real Bedford score a goal. He was fined for improper conduct by the Football Association for holding a gun in the photograph that accompanied his chairman's letter in the match day programme — only to replace it with a mocked-up portrait in a tank. PAUL STUART FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE Perhaps the closest model for this club is Salford City, bought by five former Manchester United teammates in 2014 and later backed by a Singaporean billionaire. They rose rapidly to League Two with four promotions in five years. But the surge stalled, which McCormack blames on being in the shadow of Manchester United and Manchester City, whereas his team has no such big-league rivals in the vicinity. MK Dons, 20 miles away in Milton Keynes, finished 19th in League Two last season; Luton Town, 22 miles away, did enjoy one recent season in the Premier League in 2023/24. Salford City were taken over in May by a new consortium headed by Gary Neville and David Beckham, talking of their ambitions to reach the Premier League pinnacle. So does the team truly believe they might one day be facing the likes of City and United, Arsenal and Liverpool? 'You don't want to look stupid and say we are going to reach the Premier League and be a mammoth force,' says McGregor, the goalkeeper. 'But then no one expected us to win three leagues back to back. We will just take it as far as we can.' 'I am in the property business and Bedford has taken a right kicking — it has been terrible,' says the retail property director Neil Grice, 57, attending his first Real Bedford match. 'We are very dedicated. We've been fans for an hour and a half,' jokes his friend Andy Hurman, 58, a marketing manager, who got to meet the Winklevoss twins. 'It's our first game but it was brilliant, I absolutely loved it.' So how far could the team go? 'It's a bit of a stretch to see the Premier League, but they could be a good Championship club and that's proper football, which would be brilliant for here.' 'Bedford's been stagnant,' says Ian Tull, 44, a transport manager, who has been following the club for two years with his teenage son, Ashton. 'There's been nothing here. Now there's this club, Universal, and it's smashing. People laugh, but why can't we go to the Premier League?' McCormack, tired of the constant travelling, has handed over his bitcoin podcast after 861 episodes to a friend. He now hosts The Peter McCormack Show, a populist-tinged podcast that has had guests including the former prime minister Liz Truss, the US intelligence whistleblower Chelsea Manning and, most recently, the 'cancelled' historian David Starkey. 'There are a lot of problems in the world,' McCormack says. 'After my divorce I was only happy when I got away from Bedford. Travel was my therapy. But time heals and Bedford is home. I chased a lot of things I thought I wanted in life. But in the end I like being in my own community with people I know.'
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
One of UK's 'prettiest towns' where 'everyone should go once in their life'
Hailed 'a breath of fresh air' by Visit North Yorkshire, Helmsley is a 'picturesque market town' with 'so much going on' that 'if you go once, you are likely to go back time and time again' Greater Manchester is home to many beautiful spots, but occasionally it's refreshing to explore a bit further afield. Whether it's summer day trips or discovering new places on longer journeys, the possibilities are limitless. However, some destinations stand out more than others, and the Yorkshire market town of Helmsley is certainly one of the top contenders. "We stumbled upon this gem during a recent visit to the nearby Yorkshire Spa Retreat. After catching a fleeting glimpse of it en route, we couldn't resist the opportunity to spend a few hours there on a sunny Saturday in July", said Manchester Evening News writer Emma Gill. READ MORE: 'I was born through rape in a war-zone - when I met my mother I saw my face in hers' Described as 'a breath of fresh air' by Visit North Yorkshire, Helmsley has previously clinched the Great British High Street Award's best market town category and is reportedly 'a place everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime'. The town offers numerous picturesque walks and cycling routes that lead you through the North York Moors National Park. It even boasts its own castle, complete with impressive stonework defences, including the striking east tower that still dominates Helmsley's skyline. "But our main aim was to leisurely browse the many shops and grab a bite to eat. With a plethora of cafes and coffee shops to choose from, we opted for an alfresco table at the charming Number Twelve tearoom, nestled under the castle in the town's Castlegate. Following a delicious breakfast - a full English, a sausage and hash brown sandwich, and drinks, all for a reasonable £28 - it was time to explore the shops. The town boasts more independent shops than chain stores, adding to its unique charm. A scenic market square, which hosts a regular market and is a favourite gathering spot for motorcyclists, branches off into several streets adorned with stone buildings and stunning floral arrangements. Hunters of Helmsley, a family-run food and drink business for 30 years, was so eye-catching that passersby, including us, were stopping to snap photos of the shop front. There are numerous noteworthy shops, ranging from the Traditional Sweet Shop to the quirky The Ginger Bear, a distinctive gift and accessory shop guarded by cute little tin men. With an abundance of bakeries and delicatessens, there's no shortage of spots to grab a sweet or savoury treat. On our way back to the car, we popped into Auntie Anne's Bakery, renowned for its speciality steak pies and attracting customers from far and wide. We treated ourselves to a selection of their sweeter offerings, including a handmade custard tart and triple chocolate shortbread. Adding a visit to the castle certainly makes for a full day out here. If you're a fan of brews, local craft brewery Helmsley Brewing Co offers beer tours. Just a stone's throw away is Beadlam Grange Farm Shop, boasting its own butchery, delicatessen, greengrocery and a two-storey bistro. It also features a dog-friendly seating area and a toddler play zone in its covered fold yard. Visit North Yorkshire describes 'picturesque Helmsley' as having 'so much going on' that 'if you go once, you are likely to go back time and time again'. I couldn't agree more."
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
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Arsenal transfer news: Crystal Palace's Eze plea made as Reds beat Gunners to teen star
Arsenal have made Eberechi Eze their main target with the Premier League season less than three weeks away as Crystal Palace hope to retain their leading light Arsenal's summer business is far from done with Mikel Arteta still wanting to add more firepower to his side ahead of their latest crack at the Premier League. The Gunners boss has finally got the striker he was looking to for with Viktor Gyokeres recently arriving at the Emirates. He joins more than £100million worth of talent in Martin Zubimendi and Noni Madueke as the north Londoners continue to bolster their ranks. Arteta was keen on Nico Williams earlier in the summer and Rodrygo was also heavily linked with a move to Arsenal, but both those moves now look unlikely. Arsenal's major target has now emerged to be Eberechi Eze, whose stock continued to rise with Crystal Palace. He was instrumental in them winning the FA Cup but is thought to be keen on making a move to north London. The Eagles though would be loathed to lose another leading light. Here's the latest from the Emirates. Palace plea made Oliver Glasner has pleaded with the Palace board not to sell any of their star players such as Eze, warning that it could derail their season. The 27-year-old is wanted by Arsenal, who've made him their priority as we approach the final month of the summer. Marc Guehi is also being linked with a move to Liverpool after the Palace captain entered the final 12 months of his contract. Eze, meanwhile, is tied down until 2027 but has a £68m release clause. Arsenal, who've spent £194m so far, are hoping to do a deal for less than that, reportedly around £60m but one which has incentives for Palace. Liverpool win race for teen Arsenal are set to miss out on Salford City's teenage star Will Wright, who instead looks poised to head to Liverpool. The Reds have agreed a deal worth £200,000 with the League Two side for the 17-year-old striker, who scored more than 50 goals across age groups last season. Wright underwent a medical on Tuesday and a deal to take him to Anfield is now in its final stages. The Gunners were previously favourites to sign the young star, but appear to have missed out with those in the north west winning out. Liverpool's head of academy recruitment Chris Dowling is understood to have played a major role in Wright's decision. He opted for a move to Liverpool and was sold on their long-term development plan, while geographical reasons were also a factor. Xhaka's reasons for returning Granit Xhaka felt the opportunity to establish Sunderland in the Premier League made returning to England too good an opportunity to turn down following his move from Bayer Leverkusen. The former Arsenal star left the English top-flight two years ago for the Bundesliga and claimed the German title at the first attempt, but has now chosen to return. The Swiss midfielder said: 'When I spoke to the Club, I was excited and I felt the energy, and the mentality that all the people and players have. It's exactly what I wanted, and I have a very good feeling. We are back to where this Club needs to be, and we want to stay here to write our own history." 'I feel that I'm ready to help the team with my experience but with quality as well. We need to find ourselves on the pitch, but I don't think this will be a big problem. It's been a long time to wait, but I'm here now and I'm looking forward to it.'
