Sports Poets Society

Premier League blackout call on horizon ‘We’ve got to take that decision at some point’     - Richard Masters Premier League CEO 30 Oct 2026 - The Guardian Matt Hughes The Scottish Premiership has made the first move in what is expected to be a coordinated attempt from the UK’s domestic leagues to remove the Saturday afternoon broadcast blackout by inviting bids to televise all of its matches in the next rights cycle from 2029 . A tender document issued by the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) last week is understood to have given broadcasters an option to bid for live rights to all matches, including games kicking off at 3pm on Saturdays, the domestic broadcast of which is currently prohibited under Article 48 of Uefa’s statutes. The Guardian revealed last year that the Premier League and English Football League were eager for the blackout to be lifted because they have concluded that selling more matches to broadcasters is the best way to raise revenues,...

4 Sep 2026 - BILD Stuttgart Felix Arnold Auch nach dem Deadline Day ist der VFB weiter dabei, den Kader zu verkleinern. Jetzt bekommen die Bosse wohl sogar ihr 24-Millionen-sorgenduo noch los. Die Spur führt nach Schottland und Belgien. So wechselt Badredine Bouanani (21) nach Bildinformationen auf Leihbasis für eine Saison zu den Glasgow Rangers. Im kommenden Sommer hat der schottische Top-klub eine Kaufoption über 18 Mio. Euro. Nachdem eine Leihe zu Schalke und Werder Bremen gescheitert war (BILD berichtete), will Bouanani jetzt auf der Insel den Durchbruch schaffen – und sich neu empfehlen! Im vergangenen Sommer hatte der VFB den Flügelflitzer für 17 Mio. Euro aus Nizza verpflichtet. In Stuttgart konnte sich Bouanani nicht durchsetzen, saß unter Trainer Sebastian Hoeneß (44) oft nur auf der Bank. Zuletzt wurde er vom VFB nicht für die Champions League nominiert. Jetzt macht der Algerier den Abflug, absolviert zur Stunde seinen Medizincheck in Glasgow. Hoeneß auf Bild-nachfrage: „Es...

Jambos have shaken up Scottish football despite Celtic’s victory Hearts’ annual wage bill is only a little more than a quarter of Celtic’s. 17 May 2026 - Sunday Independent (Ireland) Rory Smith Observer Hearts believed, right until what passed for the end. They believed even after a combination of Daizen Maeda had broken their resistance and the intervention of a video assistant referee had shattered their dreams with just two minutes left of a second half that had lasted a week. They believed their story could not, would not end like this. That faith held right up until the moment when Callum Osmand found himself with the ball at his feet, 97 minutes on the clock and the great green expanse of Celtic Park at his mercy, his own private paradise. The stands began to melt as he ran towards Hearts’ unguarded goal, fans pouring onto the field in their thousands, the unbearable tension of the most meaningful game the Scottish Premiership has seen for a generation finally released. The eupho...

ANDREW MILLIGAN/PA WIRE Hearts players are led from the Celtic Park pitch amid wild scenes Time for Scottish football to clamp down SPFL and SFA wobble at the knees when punishing their biggest clubs but there can be no repeat of final-day scenes 18 May 2026 - The Guardian Ewan Murray The placing of a full stop on any league campaign offers cause for reflection. In Scotland, there are reasons to wonder if the grim denouement to a stunning title race will prompt a shift in attitudes on two fronts. Whether a Celtic board which has been castigated for its stewardship regards the securing of another title as vindication is an intriguing question. More immediate is how the champions and others will respond to the grim scenes that triggered an enforced conclusion to the visit of Hearts. The behaviour of a section of the Celtic support is so unruly during dominance that one wonders what on earth may happen if the team struggle badly. The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) “utterly c...

Edinburgh side rescued from ruin by fans need a point to secure a first title in 66 years but a championship for a 74-year-old manager would be a remarkable triumph ‘We know there’s a lot of goodwill towards us trying to win and hopefully we can go and do it’ 16 May 2026 - THE GUARDIAN/ Sport Ewan Murray This Hearts story did not begin with Stuart Findlay’s late winner at Tannadice in August, a stoppagetime intervention from Alexandros Kyziridis against Livingston later that month or the September victory at Ibrox that materially fuelled belief among Derek Mcinnes’s squad. Brian Cormack, Alex Mackie, Jamie Bryant, Donald Ford and Garry Halliday will not feature in the Hearts team seeking to create history at Celtic Park but that quintet set this club on a path that after 16 years has almost – though only almost – reached the ultimate glory point. Cormack and Mackie joked back then, when among a group establishing the Foundation of Hearts, that one day they would watch the team they lov...

Mercredi, Heart a entretenu son rêve de titre  en s’imposant (3-0) à la maison face à Falkirk. Contre toute attente, les joueurs de Heart of Midlothian se retrouvent à un point du titre de champion d’Écosse. Aujourd’hui, au Celtic Park, l’équipe d’Édimbourg pourrait mettre fin à quarante et un ans de domination des deux clubs de Glasgow. 16 May 2026 - L'Équipe MATIAS ARCHAMBEAU Douze minutes. C’est le temps durant lequel Heart a tenu le titre entre ses mains mercredi soir. Puis le Celtic a égalisé avant d’arracher la victoire sur penalty au bout du temps additionnel sur la pelouse de Motherwell (3-2). « J'ai entendu parler d’un penalty à la 96e minute, je n’avais pas besoin de demander pour qui », a lâché Derek McInnes , entraîneur de Heart of Midlothian, vainqueur facile de Falkirk dans le même temps (3-0). Un point sépare désormais les deux clubs. Tout se jouera à Celtic Park ce samedi (13h30). Depuis 1985, le titre de champion d’Écosse n’a jamais quitté Glasgow. Celtic et Ra...

Dundee’s historic home victory over stuttering champions delivers big boost to Mcinnes’ league leaders ahead of Sunday’s Tynecastle showdown 20 Oct 2025 - The Scotsman Matthew Elder at Dens Park It had been 37 long years since Dundee last beat Celtic at home and – after this history-making 2-0 victory – that might not be the only long-standing Scottish football record that tumbles this season. Not since Aberdeen in 1985 has a team outside the Old Firm lifted the top flight title but the eyes of Derek Mcinnes will have been lighting up as events unfolded at Dens Park yesterday. His high-flying Hearts side – confidence soaring after an impressive 3-0 win at Kilmarnock on Saturday – will host the stuttering champions at Tynecastle next weekend knowing that a victory will send them eight points clear at the top of the table. While it is still early in the season, it feels like there may never be a better chance for a seismic changing of the guard within Scottish football than now. While it...

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers at full-time  after  his side’s 2-0 defeat to Dundee at Dens Park "I’ll always look at myself first and  analyse myself and where I can be better"    - Brendan Rodgers 20 Oct 2025 - The Scotsman Matthew Elder - matthew.elder@scotsman.com Brendan Rodgers has accepted that the spotlight will fall on him after Celtic lost at Dens Park for the first time in 37 years to fall five points behind Hearts at the top of the Scottish Premiership. Yesterday’s match was delayed by several minutes as Celtic fans continued their ongoing protest against the board by throwing dozens of balls onto the pitch straight after kick-off, but the boos were directed towards Rodgers and his players at fulltime after a Clark Robertson header and a Cameron Carter-vickers own goal handed Dundee a 2-0 win and first home victory over the Hoops since September 1988. Celtic now face two crucial upcoming fixtures with Sturm Graz next up in the Europa League at Parkhead...

Liam Scales and Cameron Carter-Vickers  in Celtic training yesterday At a club of this size and with these demands, if you’re in the team consistently, you’re obviously doing a lot of things right 18 Oct 2025 - Glasgow Times Graeme McGarry - Senior football writer HE does not have the sexiest name, or the most exotic background. But speak to any of Liam Scales ’ team-mates, and they will leave you in no doubt about his worth to Celtic. The big Irishman has been a stalwart of the Celtic defence since the departure of Carl Starfelt , and the man who once formed such an impressive partnership with the Swede believes that Scales has shown himself to be every bit as reliable a sidekick as his predecessor. For Cameron Carter-Vickers , Scales deserves far more credit than he receives, not only for clawing his way back into the reckoning at Celtic when it looked for all the world as if he was on the way out of the club, but for then seeing off competition for his place, as the likes of Gus...

Keir McMeekin is latest Scot to try Gannon-Doak route to glory ... after leaving Hearts for bright lights of Manchester aged 15 "When he first kicked a ball at the age of five,  I was told he was a natural" 15 Oct 2025 - Scottish Daily Mail By JOHN McGARRY Chief Sports Feature Writer THE ball was fired across the turf towards the fledgling midfielder with an almighty lick. How was his touch? Velvet, as it happens. Next? Nothing which followed that morning at Riccarton drew anything more than approving looks from the seasoned professionals who were running the rule over the precocious talent in their midst. Those present recall there wasn’t a trace of fear in Keir McMeekin ’s body when in possession. There was a grace in the way he moved, a natural-born footballer. In a small-sided game, he dropped his shoulder and deceived his direct opponent. Not only could he see the passes others couldn’t, but he also executed them. By the end of the session, he’d made a mark on those team...

Old foes: Rodgers greets Muscat before a  2023  friendly between Celtic and Yokohama F Marinos CELTIC BOSS RELISHING NEW CHALLENGE WITH MUSCAT AT THE HELM 18 Oct 2025 - Scottish Daily Mail By CALUM CROWE CELTIC boss Brendan Rodgers insists he will relish the prospect of a new challenge from Rangers under Kevin Muscat . The Ibrox side are closing in on the appointment of the 52-yearold Australian as their new head coach, albeit he won’t formally take charge until next month due to his ongoing commitments with Shanghai Port in China . Muscat could miss up to eight games before he finally arrives in Glasgow following the final game of the Chinese Super League on November 22 , but he will become the seventh permanent Rangers manager Rodgers has faced over his two spells at Parkhead. Insisting his players will be ready to cope with a newly-inspired Rangers side, the Celtic boss said: ‘I think every team that changes manager, you always accept and take on the challenge of new ideas...