Category: News Story

Celtic legend Scott Brown has confirmed his retirement from football at the age of 36.

The former Celtic midfielder left his player-coach role at Aberdeen just nine months into his two-year deal in March “to focus on his coaching development” and said he would take some time to consider his next step.

Despite Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou opening the door for a potential return for Brown to Parkhead, Brown has confirmed that he has hung up his boots in order to take greater steps towards management.

Brown told Record Sport: “It’s been a very difficult decision to call time on my playing career but I’ll be 37 next month and I feel the time is right for me to announce that I’m retiring in order to focus fully on becoming a manager.

“It’s the end of one chapter but the start of a new one and I’m excited about what the future might hold.

“Obviously I will cherish some amazing moments from my time and none better than winning so many trophies during my years at Celtic. So I’m delighted that the club is now about to celebrate winning the title back.

“It was always an honour for me going out there as captain, knowing the lads were listening to you in that huddle, with 50,000 fans behind us wanting us to do our best.

“Yes my last season didn’t go that well but that’s football. You’d take nine out of 10 titles all day long! So I’ll just have to take that one on the chin. But you learn lessons from the tough times too and I think everyone at the club took those lessons on board.”

Brown made a total of 787 appearances for Hibernian, Celtic and Aberdeen, a career spanning 19 years. The midfielder also lifted 23 major honours with the Celtic, most of them as captain. He also earned 55 Scotland caps during two spells for his country.

The 36-year-old also revealed his delight at seeing Celtic doing so well under Postecoglou this season, with the green and white of Glasgow on the verge of reclaiming the Scottish Premiership title.

Postecoglou’s side need to beat Hearts on Saturday lunchtime, live on Sky Sports, and hope Rangers fail to beat Dundee United, in order to seal the league title this weekend.

“I know how it feels to lift that trophy and how much hard work is required to win it,” Brown added. “So I have to take my hat off to Ange Postecoglou for the job he has done in such a short space of time. I hope the manager and the players savour every moment.

“They’ve responded by really kicking on this season and it’s been fantastic just to watch the way they’ve gone about it.

“The inverted full-backs, the high press, the energy levels – that’s the way I will want my teams to play the game when I’m a manager somewhere down the line.”

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick has revealed his late attempts to sign a forward in January were rejected by the club’s board, leaving them short of striking options in the second half of the season.

United allowed Anthony Martial to join Sevilla on loan in January before Mason Greenwood was suspended indefinitely by the club with just three days left of the transfer window.

Rangnick was hoping United might act quickly to bolster the squad before deadline day and mentioned Liverpool forward Luis Diaz, who has been a revelation since arriving from Porto on January 30, as one of the potential solutions along with Dusan Vlahovic, signed by Juventus, and Julian Alvarez, who will join Manchester City this summer.

Instead United failed to act and have been almost entirely reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo as a source of goals, with injury limiting Edinson Cavani to just six appearances this year.

Rangnick’s side have scored just 13 in their last 10 league matches, nine of them from Ronaldo.

“The answer at the time was no there was no player on the market that could really help us – there were a few, Diaz who is now at Liverpool, Alvarez who will be at Manchester City in the summer, Vlahovic who at the time still was with Fiorentina those are just three of them that come across my mind now,” said Rangnick.

“We had four days off at the time and on the Sunday I was informed about the issues with Mason Greenwood and obviously Anthony Martial had already left and then I was aware that within four days we had some strikers missing and it might make sense, we were still in three competitions – Champions League, FA Cup and fourth in the league but that’s the past and it doesn’t help us anymore.

“I spoke to the board and said shouldn’t we at least speak and try and analyse if we could get a player either on loan or as a permanent deal but in the end the answer was no.

“I still believe that we should have at least tried, if we would’ve found and been able in 48 hours, 48 hours is short notice but it’s still 48 hours, it might have been worth to try and internally discuss but we didn’t and it was not done.”

Rangnick: The good thing is everyone realises how big our problems are

There is a feeling within United that the club were faced with a dilemma in January, whether to allow Rangnick to make a signing that his successor may not want or whether to preserve their resources and support a new manager in the summer – with Erik Ten Hag now appointed.

United have also been stung by rushed recruitment and unsuccessful deals late in the window in previous seasons, with Alexis Sanchez being the most high-profile example in 2018.

But Rangnick has already stated Ten Hag will need to improve all areas of the squad aside from the goalkeepers and once again emphasised the size of the task ahead if they are to challenge for the league title once again.

“If there is a good thing about the poor season we had so far it is that everybody now should be aware how big and where the problems are and what needs to be done to raise the level again and to be a serious title contender again – and this is what it’s all about – to me it’s obvious what needs to be done, this is what is most important,” said Rangnick.

“If there hadn’t been any problems before I came I wouldn’t have come, probably Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] would still be sat here answering your questions.

“There were some problems the team already had at the end of November and as we all know in the first couple of months until the end of January we were improving, we conceded less goals, we had a point average of 2.1 after the West Ham game but then in that international break we lost three players and we had problems to score goals and find our balance.

“Now it’s time to look ahead, now we have two games to play try to play as well as we possibly can, get as many points as we possibly can out of those two games and then together with Erik, together with the board, together with the scouting department, hopefully find and also convince the players, it’s not only about finding them, scouting them you also have to convince them to come to Manchester United.”

Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick has dismissed criticism from Jesse Lingard’s brother after he failed to give the midfielder an Old Trafford farewell against Brentford.

The United interim boss gave Juan Mata and Phil Jones, expected to leave this summer, one last appearance in front of the home crowd in Monday’s final home match of the season.

Saturday 7th May 5:00pm


Kick off 5:30pm

But Lingard, who is out of contract at the end of the season, was left on the bench as Rangnick instead brought on Edinson Cavani – a decision his brother called “classless” on social media.

Responding to that criticism, Rangnick said: “To start with, in the last couple of weeks under my tenure he has played far more games than he used to.

“Secondly, on game day against Chelsea (on April 28) he asked me to release him from the game and training the following day for personal family reasons.

“And this was the reason. With only three substitutes I had to take a decision between Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard, or the young (Alejandro Garnacho), who I would have loved to have brought on and given a chance to play.

“I took the decision to bring on Edinson. Had I not brought on Edinson someone else might have asked if it’s classless not to bring on Cavani or Garnacho. You have to take a decision and this will not be to the liking of everybody and this is part of the game.”

‘Ten Hag and I will speak at the end of the season’

Rangnick says he has agreed to debrief incoming United manager Erik ten Hag at the end of the season and promised change is afoot at Old Trafford this summer.

Ajax boss Ten Hag is fighting for a third Eredivise title in four years, and with just three games left of the season and PSV breathing down their necks, the Dutchman does not want to lose focus.

“We will definitely speak at the end of the season,” said Rangnick. “Both Erik and myself want to have our full focus on the outstanding games.

“He has another three games to play and will do everything to try and win the title and the league in the Netherlands, and we have agreed that we will chat and speak about everything at the end of the season.”

Rangnick added: “Erik needs to tell the board with which players he wants to work.

“But I’m positive that with the right new players plus the players who are already here the pathway could be a very positive one and this is what we’ll try to achieve.”

Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick has dismissed criticism from Jesse Lingard’s brother after he failed to give the midfielder an Old Trafford farewell against Brentford.

The United interim boss gave Juan Mata and Phil Jones, expected to leave this summer, one last appearance in front of the home crowd in Monday’s final home match of the season.

Saturday 7th May 5:00pm


Kick off 5:30pm

But Lingard, who is out of contract at the end of the season, was left on the bench as Rangnick instead brought on Edinson Cavani – a decision his brother called “classless” on social media.

Responding to that criticism, Rangnick said: “To start with, in the last couple of weeks under my tenure he has played far more games than he used to.

“Secondly, on game day against Chelsea (on April 28) he asked me to release him from the game and training the following day for personal family reasons.

“And this was the reason. With only three substitutes I had to take a decision between Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard, or the young (Alejandro Garnacho), who I would have loved to have brought on and given a chance to play.

“I took the decision to bring on Edinson. Had I not brought on Edinson someone else might have asked if it’s classless not to bring on Cavani or Garnacho. You have to take a decision and this will not be to the liking of everybody and this is part of the game.”

‘Ten Hag and I will speak at the end of the season’

Rangnick says he has agreed to debrief incoming United manager Erik ten Hag at the end of the season and promised change is afoot at Old Trafford this summer.

Ajax boss Ten Hag is fighting for a third Eredivise title in four years, and with just three games left of the season and PSV breathing down their necks, the Dutchman does not want to lose focus.

“We will definitely speak at the end of the season,” said Rangnick. “Both Erik and myself want to have our full focus on the outstanding games.

“He has another three games to play and will do everything to try and win the title and the league in the Netherlands, and we have agreed that we will chat and speak about everything at the end of the season.”

Rangnick added: “Erik needs to tell the board with which players he wants to work.

“But I’m positive that with the right new players plus the players who are already here the pathway could be a very positive one and this is what we’ll try to achieve.”

Jurgen Klopp says playing Real Madrid in the Champions League final feels like destiny, and the Liverpool boss insists Manchester City will be ready for Sunday’s clash with Newcastle.

Liverpool trail Manchester City by a point and can put the pressure back on the reigning champions with a positive result against top-four chasing Tottenham on Saturday.

City suffered an agonising Champions League semi-final defeat to Real Madrid in midweek, with the Spanish side now Liverpool’s opponents in Paris later this month in a repeat of the 2018 final, which Real won 3-1.

“When we lost that final, my ideal solution was to play Real Madrid again. Madrid seems to be our destiny,” Klopp said ahead of the visit of Spurs.

“It was strange and [the game and the result was] unlucky for City. They [Real] got through PSG, Chelsea and Man City [to get to the final]. If you knock out these three guys then you deserve to be there.

“Yeah, it will be great. That we were not happy that night [in Kyiv in 2018] is clear, but that was a while ago. But I am happy to go there and give it a try, but until then there are a lot of games.”

Pep Guardiola’s side had a two-goal advantage on aggregate after 89 minutes of Wednesday’s second leg against Madrid, but Rodrygo’s two goals in the 90th and 91st minutes took the tie to extra-time before Karim Benzema scored a penalty early in the first period to knock out City.

But Klopp doubts City’s players will be suffering a hangover from the defeat on Sunday when Newcastle arrive at the Etihad Stadium.

“It was a massive blow. I think everyone was ready to switch the TV off,” Klopp said. “It was really harsh, I can imagine. I had nights like this, not cool but they will be ready for Sunday.”

Spurs also have a lot riding on the game, with a place in next season’s Champions League firmly in their sights. Klopp is braced for a difficult encounter against Antonio Conte’s team on Saturday.

Klopp said: “It’s a massive, massive test. If I was watching from the outside, I would say that would be difficult for Liverpool, but I don’t have to look from the outside because from the inside I know it will be difficult.

“All the teams fight for something but Tottenham obviously has massive quality. They have some of the best counter-attacking players in the world.

“The main challenge is the quality of the opponent – when you think how they win games, they are a brilliant football team. Up front, Harry Kane, what a player, ideal for that system [and with the attacking players there is] a blind understanding between them.

“That’s football, we have to find a way to keep them calm for as long as possible, because that will not be possible all the time. We know it is difficult. We knew that when we started this a long time ago. We know this will be difficult as well, but we are looking forward to it.”

Conte: We must be brave against Liverpool

Having won four out of their last six games, Spurs travel to Anfield hoping to regain fourth spot before hosting Arsenal in a pivotal north London derby on May 12 at 7.45pm – live on Sky Sports.

”It will be a very good game for us, ” Conte said.

”I say to my players, we need to be brave on the ball. Don’t be afraid to press and find the solution to get three points.

”We are very much in this race to get Champions League. Every game is a big chance to progress in the table.”

Salah: Everyone at Liverpool wanted Real Madrid

Mohamed Salah has admitted everyone at Liverpool wanted to play Real Madrid in this month’s Champions League final – with the pain of 2018 still on the players’ minds.

Salah did not hide the fact he preferred to play Real than Premier League rivals City in the May 28 showpiece event – and it was an easy pick between the two.

“If you ask everybody [at Liverpool], everyone wanted that game,” Salah exclusively told Sky Sports. “I don’t know why we’re not allowed to talk about it but I’m ok to talk about it – I wanted that game! I wanted to play Real Madrid before that game [against Manchester City].

“Of course, I’m not giving too much credit to them. They’re an unbelievable team with a great coach, great players. When they asked me who I wanted, I said Madrid. It’s an easy answer.”

Liverpool further in Quadruple bid than any other English club in history

Liverpool’s bid to win a historic Quadruple has now gone further into a season than any other English side following their semi-final win against Villarreal to reach the Champions League final.

Jurgen Klopp’s team headed to Spain in midweek leading 2-0 and, despite an early scare as Villarreal levelled the tie with two first-half goals, Liverpool fought back to win 3-2 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate to book their place in the Paris final on May 28 against Real Madrid.

Liverpool have now surpassed the Chelsea side of 2006/07, whose own Quadruple challenge lasted all the way until May 1 of that campaign before losing to Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals.

The next leg of the Quadruple will come against Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley on May 14, a repeat of this season’s League Cup final, which the Reds won on penalties in February.

Meanwhile, in the race for the Premier League, Liverpool are still just a point behind City as we enter the final four games of the season after an impressive unbeaten run in the league saw the champions’ seemingly unsurmountable 14-point lead on January 15 evaporate.

In total, Liverpool will face a gruelling six-match schedule in May now they have made it through to the final of the European Cup at the Stade de France.

Liverpool’s fixture schedule:

May 7 – Tottenham (h) Premier League

May 10 – Aston Villa (a) Premier League, live on Sky Sports

May 14 – Chelsea (Wembley) FA Cup final

May 17 – Southampton (a) Premier League, live on Sky Sports

May 22 – Wolves (h) Premier League

May 28 – Real Madrid (Stade de France) Champions League final

Follow Liverpool with Sky Sports

Follow every Liverpool game in the Premier League this season with our live blogs on the Sky Sports website and app, and watch match highlights for free shortly after full-time.

Want the Liverpool latest? Bookmark our Liverpool news page, check out Liverpool’s fixtures and Liverpool’s latest results, watch Liverpool goals and video, keep track of the Premier League table and see which Liverpool games are coming up live on Sky Sports.

Get all this and more – including notifications sent straight to your phone – by downloading the Sky Sports Scores app and setting Liverpool as your favourite team.

Hear the best Premier League reaction and expert analysis with the Essential Football and Gary Neville podcasts, keep up-to-date with our dedicated Transfer Centre, follow the Sky Sports social accounts on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and find out how to get Sky Sports.

Jurgen Klopp says playing Real Madrid in the Champions League final feels like destiny, and the Liverpool boss insists Manchester City will be ready for Sunday’s clash with Newcastle.

Liverpool trail Manchester City by a point and can put the pressure back on the reigning champions with a positive result against top-four chasing Tottenham on Saturday.

City suffered an agonising Champions League semi-final defeat to Real Madrid in midweek, with the Spanish side now Liverpool’s opponents in Paris later this month in a repeat of the 2018 final, which Real won 3-1.

“When we lost that final, my ideal solution was to play Real Madrid again. Madrid seems to be our destiny,” Klopp said ahead of the visit of Spurs.

“It was strange and [the game and the result was] unlucky for City. They [Real] got through PSG, Chelsea and Man City [to get to the final]. If you knock out these three guys then you deserve to be there.

“Yeah, it will be great. That we were not happy that night [in Kyiv in 2018] is clear, but that was a while ago. But I am happy to go there and give it a try, but until then there are a lot of games.”

Pep Guardiola’s side had a two-goal advantage on aggregate after 89 minutes of Wednesday’s second leg against Madrid, but Rodrygo’s two goals in the 90th and 91st minutes took the tie to extra-time before Karim Benzema scored a penalty early in the first period to knock out City.

But Klopp doubts City’s players will be suffering a hangover from the defeat on Sunday when Newcastle arrive at the Etihad Stadium.

“It was a massive blow. I think everyone was ready to switch the TV off,” Klopp said. “It was really harsh, I can imagine. I had nights like this, not cool but they will be ready for Sunday.”

Spurs also have a lot riding on the game, with a place in next season’s Champions League firmly in their sights. Klopp is braced for a difficult encounter against Antonio Conte’s team on Saturday.

Klopp said: “It’s a massive, massive test. If I was watching from the outside, I would say that would be difficult for Liverpool, but I don’t have to look from the outside because from the inside I know it will be difficult.

“All the teams fight for something but Tottenham obviously has massive quality. They have some of the best counter-attacking players in the world.

“The main challenge is the quality of the opponent – when you think how they win games, they are a brilliant football team. Up front, Harry Kane, what a player, ideal for that system [and with the attacking players there is] a blind understanding between them.

“That’s football, we have to find a way to keep them calm for as long as possible, because that will not be possible all the time. We know it is difficult. We knew that when we started this a long time ago. We know this will be difficult as well, but we are looking forward to it.”

Conte: We must be brave against Liverpool

Having won four out of their last six games, Spurs travel to Anfield hoping to regain fourth spot before hosting Arsenal in a pivotal north London derby on May 12 at 7.45pm – live on Sky Sports.

”It will be a very good game for us, ” Conte said.

”I say to my players, we need to be brave on the ball. Don’t be afraid to press and find the solution to get three points.

”We are very much in this race to get Champions League. Every game is a big chance to progress in the table.”

Salah: Everyone at Liverpool wanted Real Madrid

Mohamed Salah has admitted everyone at Liverpool wanted to play Real Madrid in this month’s Champions League final – with the pain of 2018 still on the players’ minds.

Salah did not hide the fact he preferred to play Real than Premier League rivals City in the May 28 showpiece event – and it was an easy pick between the two.

“If you ask everybody [at Liverpool], everyone wanted that game,” Salah exclusively told Sky Sports. “I don’t know why we’re not allowed to talk about it but I’m ok to talk about it – I wanted that game! I wanted to play Real Madrid before that game [against Manchester City].

“Of course, I’m not giving too much credit to them. They’re an unbelievable team with a great coach, great players. When they asked me who I wanted, I said Madrid. It’s an easy answer.”

Liverpool further in Quadruple bid than any other English club in history

Liverpool’s bid to win a historic Quadruple has now gone further into a season than any other English side following their semi-final win against Villarreal to reach the Champions League final.

Jurgen Klopp’s team headed to Spain in midweek leading 2-0 and, despite an early scare as Villarreal levelled the tie with two first-half goals, Liverpool fought back to win 3-2 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate to book their place in the Paris final on May 28 against Real Madrid.

Liverpool have now surpassed the Chelsea side of 2006/07, whose own Quadruple challenge lasted all the way until May 1 of that campaign before losing to Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals.

The next leg of the Quadruple will come against Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley on May 14, a repeat of this season’s League Cup final, which the Reds won on penalties in February.

Meanwhile, in the race for the Premier League, Liverpool are still just a point behind City as we enter the final four games of the season after an impressive unbeaten run in the league saw the champions’ seemingly unsurmountable 14-point lead on January 15 evaporate.

In total, Liverpool will face a gruelling six-match schedule in May now they have made it through to the final of the European Cup at the Stade de France.

Liverpool’s fixture schedule:

May 7 – Tottenham (h) Premier League

May 10 – Aston Villa (a) Premier League, live on Sky Sports

May 14 – Chelsea (Wembley) FA Cup final

May 17 – Southampton (a) Premier League, live on Sky Sports

May 22 – Wolves (h) Premier League

May 28 – Real Madrid (Stade de France) Champions League final

Follow Liverpool with Sky Sports

Follow every Liverpool game in the Premier League this season with our live blogs on the Sky Sports website and app, and watch match highlights for free shortly after full-time.

Want the Liverpool latest? Bookmark our Liverpool news page, check out Liverpool’s fixtures and Liverpool’s latest results, watch Liverpool goals and video, keep track of the Premier League table and see which Liverpool games are coming up live on Sky Sports.

Get all this and more – including notifications sent straight to your phone – by downloading the Sky Sports Scores app and setting Liverpool as your favourite team.

Hear the best Premier League reaction and expert analysis with the Essential Football and Gary Neville podcasts, keep up-to-date with our dedicated Transfer Centre, follow the Sky Sports social accounts on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and find out how to get Sky Sports.

Aidan O’Brien has revealed Cazoo Derby favourite Luxembourg is a doubt for his Epsom Classic tilt following an injury setback on Friday morning.

The three-year-old colt was an eye-catching third in last week’s 2000 Guineas, finishing strongly in third and looking likely to appreciate an extra half-mile that the Derby would provide.

But he has now been dealt with an injury setback after a canter on Friday morning leaving his Classic credentials in doubt with Epsom less than a month away.

O’Brien told the Racing Post: “Luxembourg was a little bit off after his canter this morning. He was a little lame on his off-hind.

“We are not sure of the reason why at this stage, but we wanted to let everybody know with the Derby coming up. Hopefully in a couple of days, we will know more and we will issue an update then.”

Following that news, Luxembourg has drifted out to 3/1 from 2/1 for Derby glory, while stablemate Changingoftheguard has been cut into 5/1, with Godolphin’s Walk Of Stars now as short as 7/1 with Sky Bet.

More to follow…

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Aidan O’Brien has revealed Cazoo Derby favourite Luxembourg is a doubt for his Epsom Classic tilt following an injury setback on Friday morning.

The three-year-old colt was an eye-catching third in last week’s 2000 Guineas, finishing strongly in third and looking likely to appreciate an extra half-mile that the Derby would provide.

But he has now been dealt with an injury setback after a canter on Friday morning leaving his Classic credentials in doubt with Epsom less than a month away.

O’Brien told the Racing Post: “Luxembourg was a little bit off after his canter this morning. He was a little lame on his off-hind.

“We are not sure of the reason why at this stage, but we wanted to let everybody know with the Derby coming up. Hopefully in a couple of days, we will know more and we will issue an update then.”

Following that news, Luxembourg has drifted out to 3/1 from 2/1 for Derby glory, while stablemate Changingoftheguard has been cut into 5/1, with Godolphin’s Walk Of Stars now as short as 7/1 with Sky Bet.

Aidan O’Brien has revealed Cazoo Derby favourite Luxembourg is a doubt for his Epsom Classic tilt following an injury setback on Friday morning.

The three-year-old colt was an eye-catching third in last week’s 2000 Guineas, finishing strongly in third and looking likely to appreciate an extra half-mile that the Derby would provide.

But he has now been dealt with an injury setback after a canter on Friday morning leaving his Classic credentials in doubt with Epsom less than a month away.

O’Brien told the Racing Post: “Luxembourg was a little bit off after his canter this morning. He was a little lame on his off-hind.

“We are not sure of the reason why at this stage, but we wanted to let everybody know with the Derby coming up. Hopefully in a couple of days, we will know more and we will issue an update then.”

Following that news, Luxembourg has drifted out to 3/1 from 2/1 for Derby glory, while stablemate Changingoftheguard has been cut into 5/1, with Godolphin’s Walk Of Stars now as short as 7/1 with Sky Bet.