Sports Poets Society

Manager looking to add to squad as Scots get ready to take on Ajax in Italy 24 Jul 2025 - Herald Sport Findlay Brown Football writer BRENDAN RODGERS says Celtic still have work to do in the transfer market as his side landed in Italy for the inaugural Como Cup . The friendly competition sees Celtic face Ajax in one semi-final, with Como 1907 and Al-Ahli in the other. The Celtic manager says there is no such thing as an exhibition match for the Glasgow club. “Pre-season is designed to develop your football fitness, but I say it to the players, when you’re a big club like Celtic, there’s never a friendly; they are always tests for you ,” he said. “We didn’t dominate last year; we won two out of three trophies . So we believe we can be even better this season on the domestic front.” Since returning from their summer break, Celtic have recorded four wins and one loss, including an emphatic 4-0 victory over Newcastle at home. The Parkhead manager was asked if the time has allowed him to ti...

Kevin McKenna's Diary  19 Jan 2025 - The Herald YOU can’t really overstate what Denis Law represented for my dad’s generation and for those of us who began to love football while this great Scottish international was still playing. You often hear phrases such as “they transcended their chosen career” when someone truly gifted has died. I heard it used recently with the release of Maria, about the final days of Maria Callas.  What people mean, I think, when they say this, is that the individual came to define an era and captured the mood of society at a certain point in its history. For a while, they had embodied a cultural shift. Denis Law, along with his Manchester United teammate George Best achieved this status, as did the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Andy Warhol, Mary Quant and Eva Peron. If Law had been an actor he’d have portrayed pirates or popular legends like Robin Hood, fighting the forces of the establishment to provide relief for the poor. Like Errol Flynn, his fi...

In 2016, The Herald ran an exclusive interview with Denis Law. After the death of the Scotland and Man United legend at the age of 84, we’ve reprinted it in full here... Being able to play and send a couple of quid home to my mum was a big thing for me. There was just this thrill every time I played and that stayed with me throughout my career. I never at any point got fed up with it 18 Jan 2025 - Herald Sport Graeme Macpherson Football writer EVEN on a midweek afternoon in the middle of the close season, the concourses around Old Trafford still echo to the sound of excited continental chattering. Groups of tourists, many clad head to toe in Manchester United merchandise, throng from one landmark to another, their passage around the outside of the stadium interrupted only by the need to stop at frequent intervals to lift their phones for the now ubiquitous selfie shots. Among the most popular attractions is the statue of the United Trinity, three of the club’s greatest players immortal...