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Scottish Sun
19-07-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Inside ex-Celtic and Scotland star's £3m property empire as free agent spends almost £1m on two properties in St Andrews
He set up his real estate firm several years ago STRONG MOVE Inside ex-Celtic and Scotland star's £3m property empire as free agent spends almost £1m on two properties in St Andrews Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) FOOTIE ace Stuart Armstrong has built a multi-million pound property empire, records show. The Scotland international owns homes in Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. Sign up for the Celtic newsletter Sign up 1 Stuart Armstrong, Scotland Credit: Willie Vass He also spent almost £1million on two properties at the home of golf in St Andrews. Most were bought during the ex-Celtic midfielder's five-season stint at then-Premier League side Southampton. Documents reveal that Armstrong, 33, set up his Glasgow-listed real estate firm back in 2017. It now has investment properties worth £3,439,204 in total. A source said: 'Stuart has had a glittering career that has seen him spend years in the top flight of English football. 'But he has maintained links to his homeland, despite a move that has seen him play elsewhere for the last seven years. He appears to have invested his earnings very wisely.' Accounts show Armstrong bought a flat in Aberdeen's West End for £126,000 in 2018. The same year he paid £415,00 for a place in Edinburgh's Newington area. He also bought a flat in the capital's affluent Marchmont for an unknown sum. Three homes in Glasgow's West End were snapped up for £560,000, £263,000 and £186,000 between 2018 and 2023. One in St Andrews cost £596,000. The second, bought in September 2023, was £373,000. Scotland No2 John Carver on the REAL Steve Clarke, Euros disappointment, THAT Ronaldo tantrum & Souness bust-up Both are in the Fife town's historic South Street. Armstrong previously set up another real estate firm with fellow Scotland international Ryan Christie, 30, and former Southampton buddy Jannik Vestergaard, 32. It was dissolved in June 2023. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
Daily Mirror
21-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
'I idolised Santi Cazorla - now we're one win from getting promoted together'
Real Oviedo star Kwasi Sibo has gone from watching Santi Cazorla on TV as a teenager in Ghana to playing alongside the former Arsenal star as his team chases promotion On June 11, Oviedo fans were treated to the kind of scenes supporters across Europe have become familiar with over the last 20 years. Hometown hero Santi Cazorla, now 40 years of age, sent a free-kick into the back of the Almeria net to put his boyhood team into the Segunda Division play-off final and within touching distance of a return to La Liga. It's the sort of thing fans have witnessed during Cazorla's time in England with Arsenal, as well as in spells with Spanish clubs including Villarreal and Malaga. What's more, he preserved his reputation as one of the world 's most two-footed players by scoring with his nominally weaker left foot. Cazorla's team-mate Kwasi Sibo was one of those fans who was still a child when Cazorla was in his prime years. The Ghanaian - who played a part in the move which led to Oviedo winning the set-piece - knew what was coming before Cazorla even stepped up to send the ball beyond Almeria keeper Fernando Martinez. 'I remember how he won the foul - it was a ball from Colombatto to me, and I didn't even see him [Santi] - I just heard his voice, I heard him shout 'Sibo' and when I heard his voice I knew where he was coming from,' Sibo tells Mirror Foofball. 'And then his first touch was unbelievable… and when we won that free-kick and I was standing there looking at the position of the ball, I was like 'this ball's already in the net', because of the man behind this ball at this crucial moment. 'When we're talking about Oviedo, Oviedo is Santi Cazorla. When we are talking about the corazon of this club, the heart of this team, it's Santi Cazorla. So I was so happy. I didn't know how to celebrate when he scored that goal for us because it was a very important goal in our life.' Sibo still sometimes needs to pinch himself when he remembers he's partnering Cazorla in Oviedo's midfield. While he grew up supporting Chelsea, an Arsenal-supporting friend from his Under-14s team in Ghana made sure he watched Arsene Wenger 's team most weeks… and quickly found a new favourite player. 'Because I was a midfielder, I was like 'the way your guy is playing, he plays so simple, he's so smart, he's so intelligent - I really like him',' he recalls. 'My friend was like 'yeah, that's Santi Cazorla from Spain and I was like 'whoa, I love this guy'. I was a Chelsea fan but I was like 'I love this guy'.' He admits some of his friends laughed at him when he talked non-stop about Cazorla back in Ghana. Years later, though, he can count the veteran as a team-mate and a friend. Now 27, Sibo has had a long and winding journey to the upper reaches of Spain's second tier. He was spotted by Watford while playing in Armenia, joining the then-Premier League club at the age of 20, but never made an appearance in English football. He has continued to trust the process, as he puts it, and now an opportunity in a big five league is within touchig distance. He's already living the dream by playing with Cazorla, but things can get even better. Sibo quickly built a career for himself in Spain, playing for Ibiza and Betis B - but not the Betis first-team - before joining Amorebieta in 2022. After winning promotion to the Segunda Division in his first season, he had the chance to take on his idol in the 2023-24 campaign, but even then he had to wait that little bit longer. 'I started getting a passion for him since when I was in Ghana, and when I found myself in the second division in Spain last season, I was in Amorebieta, and we were playing against Oviedo,' Sibo says. 'I saw him coming from the tunnel and I was like 'oof', then in my mind I was like 'this is the guy that I was sitting at the back watching on TV, and now I'm supposed to play against him?'. 'He didn't start that game and I was so mad, I wanted him on the field! I wanted to see how he moves, how he kicks a ball, how he changes something in the game.' Sibo still cherishes one of the photos he has from that game, when he put in a crunching tackle on Cazorla before profusely apologising, but there was an even more important moment in the return fixture. He had already shown Cazorla what he was like on the pitch, and next it was time to get hold of his shirt. 'We'd come to play against Oviedo and that time we were in the relegation zone, we had to win or take a point but still I was thinking about getting his shirt when I was playing,' he says. 'That game, too, he didn't start. When I was there I was still like 'I want him to start, I want to feel his presence on the field'. 'So in my head, when the ball went for a throw I would just be looking at the bench, looking at him like 'Oh god, this is a dream that I'm living right now'. Even him sitting on the bench watching me - being in the same category, being in the same league - I was like 'God, this is so beautiful'. 'I never imagined the day would ever come. I always said it to my friends, that time when I was in Ghana, if someone told me a time would come when you play against Santi Cazorla I would say 'my friend, what are you saying?'. 'The moment he came [onto the pitch], I ran to him and was like 'Please, I asked for your jersey, do you remember?' and he smiled and said 'Yeah, I remember'. 'He's so humble, his calibre, the kind of person he is, the kind of image he has in Europe and in the world. He was waiting for me in the tunnel [after the game] holding his shirt. When I saw him I was very nervous. I took the shirt and was going to the dressing room and he was like 'My friend, where are you going?', so I stopped. 'He was like 'I want your shirt, give me your shirt'. So I was in my head 'wow, Santi Cazorla wants my shirt too?'. 'I gave him my shirt and took his shirt, and when I took his shirt then, I went to the dressing room and gave my shirt to my guy like 'hey, this shirt, i don't want you to wash it. Just leave it like that'.' That very same shirt almost landed Sibo in trouble later that same year. After signing for Oviedo, but before the move was announced, Cazorla's team reached the play-off final against Espanyol. Sibo, who had gone back to Ghana on holiday, went to the shops wearing Cazorla's shirt and shared a photo on Instagram. In his head, he was showing his support for a player he had idolised since childhood, but that's not how everyone on the internet interpreted it. 'My agent called me asking 'Why are you wearing an Oviedo jersey now?' and I was like 'No, I'm wearing my idol's jersey. We played against them, we exchanged shirts, and I'm wearing it. I don't know what you are saying,' he recalls. 'He said 'You need to take it off. People are asking me has Sibo signed for Oviedo?' but people had already taken screenshots of the picture and posted it on Twitter.' The move was made official in July last year, less than a fortnight after Oviedo lost narrowly to Espanyol to miss out on the decision had been made much earlier than that. 'The moment I saw Oviedo was part [of the conversation], and me knowing that next season I'm going to share the same dressing room with Santi Cazorla, I was like 'Let's go for this offer, I want this team',' Sibo says. 'My agent wanted to go through what all the other offers were but still I wanted Oviedo. I was like 'I'm sure, 100 percent, I want Oviedo'.' The 'never meet your heroes' cliche is one that doesn't apply here. Not only is Cazorla an inspiration on the pitch, but he's helped Sibo in every aspect of his career. 'On my first time training, in pre-season, he was doing personal stuff in the gym so he wasn't part of the team group. But the day he came onto the field for the first training, I was playing but then at some point I stood and was looking at him like 'what is this?' Sibo says. 'Both feet? The control with the left and the right is moving, the right is controlling and the left is going.' This moment, playing on the same team, sharing the same dressing room with someone I've been idolising since my childhood, it's something that I don't know the words I can use to describe it. It's so beautiful and I'm always grateful. 'The kind of person that he is, the way he treats everyone, the kind of professional that he is, his personality apart from being a footballer, his personality outside the field is something that always helps us to learn more. Someone like him, at that level, you see him after training and he's at the gym. You see him working out. So it's a plus for the others to learn from him. 'Many times when we are training he talks to me, and I love to listen to him so much because he knows more about football. He knows more about the game. 'I am a midfielder, he is also a midfielder, so any time he talks to me I'm like "ok idol". I love that and I think it's helping me improve my game even more, because sharing the same pitch with him, I'm learning a lot and I think I'm improving and I'm really happy for that.' It has been a dream season already, but there's still a chance for things to get even better. Oviedo lost 1-0 in the the first leg of their play-off final against Mirandes, but the second leg will come in front of a partisan home crowd who will give them every opportunity to turn things around. 'For me, I believe in my colleagues, I believe in the team, I believe in the work we have done throughout the season and I believe if we want to let everyone know we have done a great job this season, this is the opportunity,' Sibo says. 'This is the chance, on our own soil, to finish the job. 'If there's one thing about this team that's crazy it's the fans. This team deserves to be in the Primera - the fans, the kind of reception they give to us any time we have a home game or a crucial game, it's amazing. 'It's more than a club who is in the Premier League. We know that they are always behind us so we have to give everything for them on Saturday.' Watch Real Oviedo vs CD Mirandés in the LALIGA HYPERMOTION Final Second Leg this Saturday at 8pm on LALIGATV or Premier Sports 2. 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BBC News
10-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Probably the best ever win at Home Park'
Plymouth Argyle chairman Simon Hallett says his side's FA Cup fourth round 1-0 victory over Liverpool is his side's "best ever win at Home Park". The Pilgrims, who sit bottom of the Championship, deservedly beat a weakened side put out by the Premier League leaders and Champions League group stage winners thanks to Ryan Hardie's second-half saw Argyle progress to the fifth round for the fist time since 2007, when they went on to make the quarter-finals in which they were beaten by then-Premier League side Watford 1-0. "It's probably the best ever win at Home Park, certainly against a Premier League team," Hallett, who took over Argyle in 2018, told BBC Sport."For this to come in the way it came today, where we played fantastically, we've clearly turned a corner in terms of our team form."So it's not just about today, though that is fantastic, it's about what it means for the rest of the season and I think it gives us hope after what's been a very tough year." The win over Liverpool will net Plymouth Argyle an extra £120,000 in prize money as well as a fee for the live broadcast of the Hallett says the money the club will have earned from their 2025 victory will not be as life-changing as the finances they received when they last faced Liverpool in 2017. That year, Argyle, then in League Two, drew 0-0 at Anfield before losing 1-0 in a replay at Home Park, with both matches televised. "The money helps," Hallet said."We're a club that's run on a sustainable basis, we have one of the lowest football budgets in the Championship so anything that comes in is gravy that can go straight to the football squad."But compared with eight years ago when we played Liverpool, that was almost life-changing for the club."The money we made from that single game at Anfield was equivalent to a third of our football budget and now it's only a tiny percentage of our football budget."So it's great, but it's gravy, it's not the main meal." Far more important is staying in the Championship for a third are four points from safety at the bottom of the table but have found a new lease of life under recently-appointed head coach Miron Austrian succeeded Wayne Rooney last month after the former England captain's disastrous six months in charge that saw Plymouth win just four league games. Since Muslic has taken over, Argyle have won back-to-back games for the first time this season and have lost just two of their last six games. "I haven't seen the data from today but I'm going to guess that we held our own against Liverpool."We held our own against West Brom and we'd not been holding our own, even in games that we won this season, very often."So the underlying performances have been poor but the last few performances have been much, much better, particularly at the back, and I think Arne Slot was saying that the way we were set up made it very difficult to create chances against us."Until recently, we were the easiest team in the Championship to create chances against so something has clearly changed and that gives us hope for the rest of the season."
BBC News
07-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Goodman and Kelly relive dramatic FA Cup penalty shootout
Thirty years on from Wolves' incredible FA Cup win over then-Premier League side Sheffield Wednesday at Molineux, former Wolves forwards Don Goodman and David Kelly share their memories of the fourth-round drawn 0-0 at Hillsborough thanks to Paul Jones' late penalty save from Chris Bart-Williams, Graham Taylor's side drew 1-1 against with the Owls at then came from 3-0 down to win a dramatic penalty shootout, with Chris Waddle - who had missed for England in a semi-final shootout at the 1990 World Cup - among the Wednesday players failing to score from the and Kelly both found the net with their penalties, with Goodman scoring the decisive spotkick, and they relived the tie as part of BBC Radio WM's "My Sporting Memory" to the full programme on BBC Sounds
