Albion kicked off their pre season friendliest today at the training ground in Walsall.
We played league one Port Vale behind closed doors, it finished 2-0, Bany scored the first, can’t remember the second. Ryan played 24 players, mixture of both senior and junior players in both halves. Nat Phillips made his debut.
Hopefully he got a good look at what we have.

To complete the record, Issac Price feed Bostock for the second.

Morecambe owner Jason Whittingham has sacked the club's board a day after they said they would place the club in administration if it was not sold.

The beleaguered Lancashire club's board put two statements out on Tuesday that gave Whittingham's Bond Group Investments until 18:00 BST to complete a protracted sale to Panjab Warriors.

However, the deal was not finalised and Whittingham has now said he has "started the process to dismiss the board of directors with immediate effect in order that we can take control over the situation".

He added this would give the Bond Group "the required additional time to ensure that the club has the best chance to avoid administration".

The Shrimps will play in the National League next season after they were relegated from League Two.

Morecambe's MP Lizzi Collinge said on Monday that Bond Group should "get on with" the deal to sell the 105-year-old club.

On Tuesday the directors initially released a statement saying they would give Whittingham until 16:00 BST, before allowing an extra two hours after "new information came to light".

This second deadline passed without the sale going through and in a third statement of the day, the board said that they would be contacting administrators "at the earliest opportunity", external on Wednesday.

Whittingham, who said the club was at a "crisis point" but denied claims he was stalling on the deal, said there would be further communication on Thursday.

Morecambe misery continues
Whittingham, who oversaw the takeover of the club in 2018, previously told BBC Radio Lancashire that he "could not wait to get out" of the then League Two club in an interview in January.

Since then the club, which reached League One in 2021, have been relegated from the English Football League (EFL), meaning they will play in the National League next season for the first time since 2007.

The deal to sell the club to Panjab Warriors was approved by the EFL earlier in June.

Panjab Warriors said last week they had already paid £3.8m to Bond Group, alongside a separate payment of £630,000 to clear outstanding loans against the club.

The group claimed they had also loaned a further £1.7m to the club over the past 14 months to "ensure its ongoing survival".

Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough has signed a new two-year contract at the One Call Stadium.

After arriving in November 2020, Clough guided Mansfield to League One in 2023-24 before securing a 17th-placed finish last season.

Owners John and Carolyn Radford said they were "delighted" the former Derby County, Sheffield United and Burton Albion boss has committed his future to the club.

"The progress the club has made during his time as manager is unparalleled in the modern era at Mansfield Town and we feel that we're building something special with Nigel at the helm," they said, external.

"He is a man of principle and integrity and his drive, determination and will-to-win for Mansfield Town is relentless.

"Nigel has helped foster a remarkable spirit within the club and is someone with whom the supporters connect.

"We will continue to offer all the support we can to help him and his staff in our pursuit for progress."

Forest Green Rovers have appointed former Wales midfielder Robbie Savage as their new manager, after Steve Cotterill was sacked last week.

Savage, who played for Leicester, Derby, Blackburn and Birmingham among others during his career, has been managing non-league side Macclesfield FC since 2024.

Cotterill's departure from the National League club was confirmed on Thursday, after the side missed out on promotion through the play-offs last season.

"I feel I have an opportunity to develop a squad to create an attacking brand of football - an aggressive form of football to try and get Forest Green back into the EFL," Savage said in a club statement.

"I want a fast, exciting style but the most important thing is to win games."

Forest Green finished third in the National League last season but were beaten by seventh-placed Southend in the play-offs on penalties, to miss out on a place in the Wembley final.

Savage links up with former Wales team-mate Mark Bowen at the Bolt New Lawn, who was appointed Forest Green's director of football last month. They have not disclosed the length of his contract.

His son, Charlie Savage, also had a spell on loan at Forest Green during the second half of the 2023-24 campaign, scoring one goal in 15 games.

The appointment is the 50-year-old's first in management in the top five tiers of English football.

However, last season he won promotion to the National League North with Macclesfield - where he has had an association since 2020 - during his first campaign in charge, with the club clinching the Northern Premier League Premier Division title with six games to spare.

Savage said at the time it would take "an awful lot" for him to leave for another club.

A Macclesfield statement, external said the departure of Savage was "disappointing" but that he leaves with "our very best wishes and eternal gratitude for everything that he has done for our football club".

Savage won the first of his 39 caps for Wales in 1995 after beginning his playing career at Manchester United, although he failed to break into the first team at Old Trafford.

He went on to play more than 600 games across the EFL and Premier League in a 17-year career, which began at Crewe, before he signed for Leicester in 1997, where he played more than 200 games and won the League Cup.

He played for Birmingham before joining Blackburn in a deal worth £3m in 2005 and ended his career at Derby in 2011.

Aged 45, Savage made a brief one-game comeback for non-league outfit Stockport Town in 2019 but has predominantly been working as a media pundit.

Savage becomes Forest Green's seventh manager since 2022, following Rob Edwards, Ian Burchnall, Duncan Ferguson, David Horseman, Troy Deeney and Cotterill.

Emley today. Anybody going?

June 28: Emley (a)
July 8: Barrow (Canalside)
July 16: Young Boys (Austria)
July 19: Furth (Austria)
July 26: Burnley (Accu Stadium)

Not enough stripes let alone blue dye in my opinion. Why we have to have a different shade of blue every season beats me. Royal Blue please and stick to it.

https://www.htafc.com/news/2025/june/27/...unveiled-/



What do you think?

I've heard some rumours that Greaiish is leaving the club soon.

Will that be this season or next season?

Ruud van Nistelrooy's long-expected departure as Leicester City manager has been confirmed more than nine weeks after the Foxes were relegated from the Premier League.

The 48-year-old Dutchman oversaw 19 defeats and managed just five wins from his 27 matches in charge of the East Midlands club last season.

Leicester's relegation was confirmed with five matches of the campaign remaining, but the former PSV Eindhoven boss saw out the season and held on to the job for another month after it concluded.

The drawn out nature of Van Nistelrooy's exit, which the Championship club says is "mutually agreed", was described as "baffling" and "a mess" by former Foxes striker Matt Fryatt in early June.

Not only are the club now looking to regroup for their second season in the Championship in three years, they are also facing a potential points penalty for the upcoming season after being charged for allegedly breaching the English Football League's financial rules.

Van Nistelrooy said he wanted to "wish the club well" for the future.

"I would like to personally thank the Leicester City players, coaches, academy and all the staff I have worked with for their professionalism and dedication during my time at the club," he told Leicester's website., external

Former Everton and Burnley boss Sean Dyche has been heavily linked with replacing the Dutchman at the King Power Stadium before their return to England's second tier.

First-team coaching staff will oversee the start of Leicester's pre-season work while the Foxes hierarchy look to bring a new boss in for the start of the new campaign, which they begin against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday, 10 August.

Leicester were 16th in the table and one point above the relegation places when Van Nistelrooy replaced Steve Cooper at the King Power Stadium.

Former Nottingham Forest boss Cooper was in charge for the first three months of the season - overseeing three wins and seven losses from 15 games in all competitions - after replacing Enzo Maresca, who left for Chelsea after winning the Championship title with the Foxes in 2023-24.

Two of the defeats that Cooper's Foxes suffered came against a Manchester United team led by Van Nistelrooy as caretaker boss, the former Red Devils striker having stepped up from his former role as assistant manager at Old Trafford to temporarily replace compatriot Erik ten Hag.

Victory against West Ham in Van Nistelrooy's first match in charge on 3 December gave him the ideal start, but three weeks later they were in the relegation zone.

And apart from a seven-day reprieve after beating Tottenham in late January, the Foxes spent the last five months of campaign in the bottom three where they eventually finished 13 points from safety in 18th spot.

The woeful end to the campaign was also one of record-setting proportions.

Their 1-0 defeat by Liverpool on 20 April, which condemned Van Nistelrooy's side to the drop, meant that Leicester became the first team in English top-flight history to lose nine successive home games without scoring.


The agreement between Leicester City and Ruud van Nistelrooy to terminate his deal at the club should not come as a surprise to many.

This always felt like a case of when, not if.

Relegation from the Premier League, five wins from 27 games in all competitions and record runs without a goal at home - it doesn't scream success for the Dutchman.

However, the timing and behaviour around the decision have to be questioned at the very highest level.

It's been over a month since the end of the season and double that since relegation back to the Championship was confirmed. In every press conference, Van Nistelrooy told the media that no conversations about his future had started. I think he knew his fate.

But that does not make it acceptable.

Fans have a right to question the timing, too. Leicester City are clearly grappling with financial issues; they may well have been waiting for the new Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) financial year on July 1.

But the agreement underpinning this agreement can always have a date in July. Which begs the question, why was this decision not made earlier? The fans deserve an explanation for that.

This is another critical moment for the club. The search for a fourth manager in 12 months, the pre-season beginning on Monday and the Championship opener six weeks from this weekend.

They have to get the next appointment right.

Kiban Rai has signed for National League Aldershot after being released by Newport County.

The 20-year-old made a total of 30 appearances for the Exiles, scoring once, having made his senior debut at the age of 17.

But after his contract was not renewed, the attacking midfielder or forward has joined a Shots side who finished 16th in the fifth tier last season.

Aldershot boss Tommy Widrington called Rai "a really exciting prospect".

Forest Green Rovers have confirmed the departure of head coach Steve Cotterill after the side missed out on promotion from the National League.

Cotterill's exit was reported earlier this week, following an 18-month spell at the helm.

The 60-year-old guided the Gloucestershire club to third in the table last season, but they were beaten by Southend United on penalties in the play-offs to miss out on a place in the Wembley final.

"Steve Cotterill and FGR have parted company following the club's decision to terminate Steve's contract. We wish Steve all the best for the future," a statement said.

Cotterill was appointed in January 2024 with Forest Green in the midst of a turbulent period, becoming their third boss in one season following the short tenures of David Horseman and Troy Deeney.

They were rooted to the bottom of the table when he took over and while there was an uptick in form during the spring, it was too late to save them from the drop and they returned to the National League last season.

Cotterill oversaw 22 wins through 2024-25 as they sought an immediate return to the English Football League.

But they fell off the pace behind Barnet during the season and had to face the play-offs, where they fell one match short.

Cotterill said afterwards that he wanted to stay next season to "build" on what the club had done so far.

Former Wales international Mark Bowen was appointed as Forest Green's director of football on 10 June, with the club having been without one for much of Cotterill's time in charge.

Bowen told BBC Radio Gloucestershire following his appointment that he was "looking forward" to working with Cotterill.

Forest Green will now be looking for their seventh manager since June 2022, following the exits of Rob Edwards, Ian Burchnall, Duncan Ferguson, Horseman, Deeney and now Cotterill.