Latest news with #JakeRichards
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Luton sign teenage midfielder Richards from Exeter
Luton Town have signed teenage midfielder Jake Richards following the expiry of his academy deal at Exeter City. The 17-year-old made his league debut for the Grecians in a 2-1 victory against Leyton Orient in September 2023, providing an assist for their opening goal. Advertisement He scored his sole league goal to date in Exeter's win against Bristol Rovers last December and made 13 League One appearances during the 2024-25 campaign. "It's a major thing for me and I'm really looking forward to what this season and the next few hold in store," Richards told Luton's club website. Having offered Richards a professional contract, Exeter are due to receive a compensation fee from the Hatters in accordance with Football Association rules for players under the age of 24.
BBC News
05-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Luton sign teenage midfielder Richards from Exeter
Luton Town have signed teenage midfielder Jake Richards following the expiry of his academy deal at Exeter 17-year-old made his league debut for the Grecians in a 2-1 victory against Leyton Orient in September 2023, providing an assist for their opening scored his sole league goal to date in Exeter's win against Bristol Rovers last December and made 13 League One appearances during the 2024-25 campaign."It's a major thing for me and I'm really looking forward to what this season and the next few hold in store," Richards told Luton's club website., externalHaving offered Richards a professional contract, Exeter are due to receive a compensation fee from the Hatters in accordance with Football Association rules for players under the age of 24.
BBC News
01-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Highly rated teenager Richards to leave Exeter City
Exeter City's highly rated teenage midfielder Jake Richards is to leave the club after turning down a professional week City boss Gary Caldwell told BBC Radio Devon that Richards had been "offered the biggest offer we've made any 17-year-old in the history of the football club."The Devon side have been in talks with the academy player over a senior deal for some who made his debut on his 16th birthday in August 2023, featured 32 times for the club in all competitions. He was named League One Apprentice of the Year at April's EFL club that offers Richards a deal will have to pay Exeter compensation as he is under 24 years old and has come through their academy system."Jake is a tremendous young talent with a bright future ahead of him," Caldwell told the club website, external."He has shown incredible maturity, skill, and determination throughout his time with us. "While we would be sad to see him go, we're incredibly proud of the player and person he has become."The news comes after another academy player, goalkeeper Harry Lee, turned down a new contract and left the 20-year-old, who had been touted as a future first choice at the club as a teenager, made one substitute appearance in the EFL and four EFL Trophy starts."We were keen for Harry to stay, as we believe he has a bright future in the game, but he has decided to pursue other opportunities," Caldwell added, external."We respect his decision and wish him every success. As with all our academy graduates, he'll always be welcome back at St James Park." 'City's position weakened' Analysis - BBC Sport's Brent PilnickThe loss of Jake Richards will be a big blow to Exeter City as the club prides itself on its youth the years the likes of Ollie Watkins, Jay Stansfield and Ethan Ampadu have earned the club millions in transfer fees and a 16-year-old Stansfield left St James Park in 2019 for Fulham, the two clubs agreed a deal which ended up netting City a seven-figure fee when he moved to Birmingham City last Richards leaving the club without signing a professional deal weakens their position over profiting on his future - despite Exeter doing all they could to keep him.
BBC News
27-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Exeter make 'historic' offer to keep teenager Richards
Exeter City have made a 'historic' offer to highly rated teenage midfielder Jake 17-year-old is out of contract and the Devon side have been in talks over a senior deal for some time with the academy who made his debut on his 16th birthday in August 2023, has featured 32 times for the club in all competitions. "We've made him the biggest offer we've made any 17-year-old in the history of the football club, so we're doing everything we can to try and keep him," Caldwell told BBC Radio Devon."He's a young player who we believe has a really bright future."We've given him a fantastic pathway from a 16-year-old kid making his debut to where he is now."He played a great number of games last season in League One, he was Academy Player of the Year in League One last season, which was a brilliant achievement for him, so obviously we want to keep him." Mitchell considering offers Meanwhile winger Demetri Mitchell is weighing up a new offer from the 28-year-old former Manchester United player missed the start and end of last season through missed much of 2024 after suffering a serious knee ligament injury and while he is training with Exeter, has had offers from other clubs. "He's been brilliant since he came to this club," said Caldwell. "We invited him in because we felt it was fair, he was coming back from an injury and we wanted to see his fitness levels and we weren't in a position to offer him a contract that was what he had last season because of the injuries."But Demi Mitchell, if he stays if he goes, is brilliant for this football club and has been a great part of what we've done in the last few seasons, but as yet I don't know what's happening."
Spectator
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
They will say this was ‘parliament at its best'. And they will be lying
The portents this morning were grim. The Grim Leadreaper was doing her HR manager of Hades act, buzzing around with faux sincerity like a wasp that had discovered LGBT History Month. Jess Philips took a great huff on her vape in the lobby before walking into the chamber. Perhaps it was sulphur flavour. Inside the House of Commons the obviously sham last-minute 'switcher' Jack Abbott from the bill committee, as spineless a backbench toady as you ever did see, was there being all chummy with the unparalleled toad Jake Richards. Were they bonding perhaps over their new-found enthusiasm for death? It was Brokeback Mountain meets The Zone of Interest. Voting began on amendments. A glut of ambitious backbench MPs rejected a safeguard brought forward by a coalition of MPs as diverse as Dame Karen Bradley for the Tories, Jim Allister for the TUV and brave and doughty Labour MPs Rachel Maskell and Jonathan Davies. It was designed to stop people from killing themselves because they felt like a burden. Then Leadbeater herself spoke. 'It's not often that we get to debate morality issues in parliament', she said; just three days after parliament voted to decriminalise abortion up to birth via a sneakily tacked-on amendment and a few minutes of debate. The Leisure Centre operative turned supreme arbiter of life and death likes to talk about how she and her bill represent 'parliament at its best'. The irony being that anyone who truly believes this would fail any reasonable capacity test. The concerns of the key royal colleges of experts, who'd made repeated interventions in opposition to the bill, were shrugged off as 'different views'. Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dem MP for Bath complained that some members of the public had suggested that the current crop of MPs were too stupid to discuss an issue of this magnitude. For all their faults sometimes the General Public really do hit the nail on the head. Not only were many demonstrably too stupid to engage properly, some of them couldn't even be bothered to stay awake. Wearing a pair of dark glasses, Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt openly dozed through several speeches. Certain moments added to the general atmosphere of despair. Jake Richards rolled his eyes and performatively scoffed as Naz Shah explained the bill's failure to close the anorexia loophole. Labour MP Lewis Atkinson commended the work of the hospice movement in alleviating suffering at the end of life. His praise was treacly, sweet and insincere. Almost diabetes-inducing in its efforts – another disease which will no doubt qualify for state sanctioned death in due time. While scrutinising the bill on the committee, the same Lewis Atkinson also rejected conscience amendments that would have prevented hospices and care homes from being forced to provide assisted dying The walking embodiment of the banality of evil, Lib Dem MP Luke Taylor said that voting in favour was a good way to 'bookend the week'. That's the level of import MPs gave to this issue of life and death: bump off the weak to bookend your week. Many impassioned MPs never got to speak at all; Rosie Duffield left the chamber in disgust after trying to catch the Deputy Speaker's eye for several hours, with no success. There was some debate about whether the Prime Minister – a long term death enthusiast – would turn up to vote. In the end, he did. It was nice of Esther Rantzen to send her own personal proxy. Bump off the weak to bookend your week It's worth naming those Labour MPs who have gone above and beyond in their attempts to make their colleagues see sense. Those, like Rachael Maskell, who worked behind the scenes to try and put down amendments that would safeguard the vulnerable. Jess Asato, who made probably the best and most forensic speech of the debate. Diane Abbott who, despite obvious illness, rose to speak movingly about the risks of compulsion. And Adam Jogee, who left a dying relative's bedside to come and vote because the bill's 'compassionate' proposer refused to find him a supporter to pair with and so spend the last moments he had with a loved one. Do remember them: they have been principled exceptions to the otherwise disgraceful rule. Given we are now a culture which embraces and promotes death, perhaps a post-script on political deaths. When the inevitable national inquiry delves into the abuse and shortcomings of this law – which it will – the Labour backbenchers and Tory grandees who made this possible, these back-slapping middle-management Molochs will have their names etched in history as the people who brought this about. They will achieve a sort of immortality; just not as the progressive liberators they vainly imagine themselves to be. Secondly, while much has been written about the impending death of the Tory party, what seems to have gone unnoticed is the death of Labour as well. What once made claims to be the party of working people, a force in politics on the side of the needy and the vulnerable, has in just under a year become a death cult for comfortable progressives. The tragedy is that they will drag down the very people they purport to protect with them.
