WILLIAM HILL SPORTS' BOOK OF THE YEAR

The world’s longest established and most valuable literary sports-writing prize, the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2025, has announced its longlist for this year’s competition. Authors are.....

The Sunday Times chief Sport's writer, David Walsh (aged 70) below left,

and The Times data journalist Joey D'Urso, below right

are two authors who have been "longlisted" for the Award. 

Fifteen books are longlisted:

Finding the Edge-Jimmy Anderson: Ultra Women-Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson: I Can't Stop Thinking About VAR-Daisy Christodoulou: The Warrior-Christopher Clarey: States of Play-Miguel Delaney: More Than a Shirt-Joey D'Urso: European Football's Greatest Grounds-Leon Gladwell: Chasing Salah-Simon Hughes: The Last Bell-Donald McRae: Engulfed-James Montague: Go To War-Jon Spurling: The Escape-David Walsh and Pippa York, below,

and Test Cricket-Tim Wigmore: The Power and The Glory-Jonathan Wilson: The Art of Batting-Jarrod Kimber.

HEART TO HEART FOR GARETH

Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth is to undergo heart surgery and will be away from the club for "a few weeks". Long-term assistant Richard Dobson will take over while 52-year-old Ainsworth recovers from the "routine" operation. Ainsworth said the problem was identified by a routine League Managers' Association (LMA) health check at the end of last season. 10 May 1973 (age 52).

He took charge of the Gills' 1-0 home defeat by Harrogate Town on Saturday which ended their unbeaten start to the season as they were overtaken by Swindon Town and Walsall. 

Ainsworth, who previously managed Wycombe, QPR and Shrewsbury, said:

, external "I went for the LMA health check in May and they found something with my heart. I've got to have heart surgery this week. It sounds dramatic, but it's a routine thing they do.This has all been planned. Get behind Dobbo and the team, they will be stepping up. I'll be off for a few weeks, and then I'll be back."

Chairman Brad Galinson added: "We've known for many weeks about Gareth's upcoming surgery. When we appointed the best manager in League Two back in March, we also felt we were getting the best assistant manager in the league, so we have no doubt the team is in safe hands in Gareth's absence."

"This has all been planned. Get behind Dobbo and the team, they will be stepping up. I'll be off for a few weeks, and then I'll be back." 

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991–1992	Northwich Victoria	14	(4)
1992	Preston North End	5	(0)
1992–1993	Cambridge United	4	(1)
1992–1993	→ Northwich Victoria (loan)	5	(0)
1993–1995	Preston North End	82	(14)
1995–1997	Lincoln City	83	(37)
1997–1998	Port Vale	55	(10)
1998–2003	Wimbledon	36	(6)
2002	→ Preston North End (loan)	5	(1)
2002–2003	→ Walsall (loan)	5	(1)
2003	Cardiff City	9	(0)
2003–2010	Queens Park Rangers	141	(21)
2009–2010	→ Wycombe Wanderers (loan)	2	(0)
2010–2013	Wycombe Wanderers	112	(16)
2014–2018	Wycombe Wanderers	0!!!	(0)
2019–2020	Woodley United	3	(2)
Total		561	(113)
Managerial career
2008	QPR Caretaker
2009	QPR Caretaker
2012–2023	Wycombe Wanderers
2023	Queens Park Rangers
2024–2025	Shrewsbury Town
2025–	Gillingham
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

During his playing days Ainsworth picked up the nickname "Wild Thing" due to his appearance and his rock star ambitions; he was in a band called APA with Wimbledon teammates Chris Perry and Trond Andersen. He later joined the band Dog Chewed the Handle, named after a Terrorvision song, after answering an advert in Loot. Before the audition, Ainsworth hid his footballing career from his bandmates until he had been accepted. The band were invited to support Bad Manners on tour but rejected the offer due to clashes with Ainsworth's footballing career. The band later split, with Ainsworth and another member forming a new band, Road to Eden. By November 2019, he was fronting The Cold Blooded Hearts. They released their debut album in July 2023, produced by Yes keyboardist Geoff Downes.

He is considered a cult hero at Preston, Wimbledon, QPR, Port Vale, Lincoln City, and Wycombe Wanderers.

On 21 October 2010, he represented the English Football League at the unveiling of the Footballers' Battalion memorial on the site of the Battle of the Somme. He graduated from the University of Liverpool with a Diploma in "Professional Studies in Football Management" in December 2019.

Ainsworth is married to Donna, who is from Venezuela. He has three children. He is a practising Catholic.

DAVID JOHNSON HAS BEEN AROUND THE WORLD?

David Johnson, was born in Jamaica to an English mother. He held a British Passport  and could play for any Caribbean country or any home nation! He played for the England Schoolboys team by virtue of going to school in England. He was called up to the England Under 21 squad in December 1997 for a 1998 UEFA European U21  Football Championship qualification play-off game against Greece, but remained an unused substitute. Johnson played his first senior international football in 1998, making a nine-minute cameo for the England B team under Glenn Hoddle in a 4–1 victory over Russia at Loftus Road. here he is in 2010.

In 1999, on this day, Johnson was called up for his native Jamaica by Brazilian coach René Simões. He made his debut against Trinidad and Tobago on 28 March, coming on as a half-time substitute for Paul Hall in a 2–0 loss in Port of Spain, and then scored in a 3–0 victory over Paraguay in Kingston three days later, after coming on for Ricardo Fuller at half-time. He made another substitute appearance in May 1999, coming on for Theodore Whitmore in the 56th minute of Jamaica's 2–1 friendly defeat to Sweden in Stockholm. Another appearance followed in September 1999, with Johnson again replacing Whitmore shortly after the hour mark of Jamaica's 2–2 draw with the United States; Johnson scored Jamaica's second goal in the 79th minute. Despite appearing four times for Jamaica in friendly games, he was still eligible to play for another national team as FIFA's regulations at the time did not bind players to a nation until they had played a competitive game.

As a British passport holder born outside the United Kingdom, FIFA regulations at the time allowed him to select which of the Home Nations he would like to represent, which led to interest from the non-English Home Nations. On September 27th 1999, he rejected a call-up from Northern Ireland in favour of joining up with Wales, managed by former Manchester United teammate Mark Hughes and coach Eric Harrison. However, he picked up an ankle injury in the lead-up to the game and missed out on the match-day squad.

Following his injury, he was approached to play for Scotland by national manager Craig Brown. Johnson agreed to pledge his international future to Scotland in October 1999, but he was not selected for Scotland's Euro 2000 play-off against England. However, before he could be selected for any Scotland matches, it was revealed that due to an agreement made between the Home Nations in 1993, Johnson would not be eligible to play for any Home Nation other than England, as his mother is from Birmingham. Although Johnson met the terms required by FIFA to play internationally for Scotland, he did not meet the terms of the agreement set out in 1993.

In January 2000, Horace Reid of the Jamaica Football Federation invited Johnson to join the Jamaican squad for the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup, but Johnson was not named in the final squad.

In 2004, Northern Ireland made a second attempt to call Johnson up, but the efforts came to nothing. National team manager Lawrie Sanchez told the Belfast Telegraph that Johnson did not qualify. Sanchez said, "I did speak to David Johnson a while ago; he was interested, but when we checked his eligibility we found out that his mother's English and therefore he can't play for us."

Full name	David Anthony Johnson
Date of birth	15 August 1976 (age 49)
Place of birth	Kingston, Jamaica
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1992–1994	Manchester United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–1995	Manchester United	0	(0)
1995–1997	Bury	97	(18)
1997–2001	Ipswich Town	131	(55)
2001–2006	Nottingham Forest	148	(46)
2002	→ Sheffield Wednesday (loan)	7	(2)
2002	→ Burnley (loan)	8	(5)
2005	→ Sheffield Utd (loan)	4	(0)
2007	Hucknall Town	8	(4)
Total		403	(130)
International career
1998	England B	1	(0)
1999	Jamaica	4	(2)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

THE BIRTH OF THE EUROPEAN CUP

 26th September 1956: A Euro-Anniversary!!

The first European Cup match was played on English soil. Manchester United entertained the Belgians of Anderlecht at (the old) Main Road. In front of 40,000 fans United took the lead after only 9 minutes with a wonder goal from Tommy Taylor and went on to win.....by 10-0 (12-0 on aggregate). Dominating Europe was going to be easy....wasn't it!

The 1955–56 European Cup was the first season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. It was won by Real Madrid (who also won the next tournament +++), who defeated Reims 4–3 in the Final at Parc de Princes, Paris on 13 June 1956.

UEFA had been officially inaugurated on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations. The first round pairings were fixed by the organisers and not drawn as would be the case for all future European Cup matches. The clubs participating in the first season of the European Cup were selected by French football magazine L'Equipe, on the basis that they were representative and prestigious clubs in Europe.

When the tournament started, Real Madrid, Anderlecht, AC Milan, Rot-Weiss Essen, Reims, Djurgarden, AC Milan, Djurgarden and AGF were the reigning champions of their respective national leagues. English champions Chelsea initially agreed to compete and were drawn against Swedish side Djurgården; however, under pressure from the Football League, who saw the tournament as a distraction to domestic football, they later withdrew from the competition, and were replaced by Gwardia Warsaw of Poland. In addition, Holland Sport, Honved and AB, rejected the opportunity to represent the Netherlands, Hungary and Denmark, being replaced by PSV Eindhoven, Voros Lobogo and AGF respectively.

Scottish champions Aberdeen were controversially overlooked by the SFA in favour of Hibernian who finished in fifth place. They were considered one of the best teams in Scotland, having won the Scottish title in 1950-51 and 1951-52, but the main reason they were invited was because they were the only team in the country to have floodlights installed at their ground. Dynamo Moscow the champions of the Soviet Union, did not participate due to climatic restrictions. This was also the only UEFA tournament to include a representative of Saarland, unified into West Germany in 1957.

Tournament details
Dates	4 September 1955 – 13 June 1956
Teams	16 (from 16 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Real Madrid (1st title)
Runners-up	Reims
Tournament statistics
Matches played	29
Goals scored	127 (4.38 per match)
Attendance	900,021 (31,035 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Milos  Milutinovic: Partizan 8.

BEST AND MARSH: SHOW BUSINESS OR SOAP OPERA

Many (most) of you will not have heard of Tommy Trinder, who was a regular feature on television and who knew a lot about show business. He was chairman of Fulham FC and some of you may say that he alsoi did not know about football. I am talking about 1976 (on this day) when Fulham was a Second Division club, in the "old" style Football League. Tommy enjoyed show business and to prove his point, he signed George Best and Rodney in August 1976 (it was a very hot summer!!). Both these "super stars" had been lost to English football when they Best walked out of Manchester United in 1974 and Marsh out of City a year later. The pair next appeared in the USA, playing for Los Angeles Aztecs and the Tampas Bay Rowdies respectively. Trinder had got them signed on to play for Fulham in the NASL off-season.

In the first month of the English season, they made their mark with a signature performance in a "joyous riot" at Fulham's home, Craven Cottage, against Hereford United, as Best hit the post from 30 yards and Marsh scored twice, one a belter from 30 yards and curling the ball into the top right  corner, part of a 4-1 win. The abiding memory was Best, in the match, accidently taking the ball of team colleague Marsh and then Marsh going back to tackle his team mate to retrieve the ball. Amusing, for those at Craven Cottage, who had a sense of humour!! As the season went on Best got into the headlines for different reasons, as he became one of the first players to be given  the newly introduced "Red Card" being sent off at Southampton. He was then fined £75 in December for using an obscene gesture to a referee at Chelsea. He then drove his car into a lampost at Harrods at 4 a.m. one morning claiming that he had been at Tramps night club when he wasn't "breath tested" and he claimed he had only had 3 drinks all night. At the end of ther season they both went back to the USA! Best returned in 1977-8 for the new season but finances offered from Fulham stood in his way, so he and his "mate" Marsh returned to the States. (In the return League Fixture Fulham lost 1-0)

EUROPEAN FOREST

Ange Postecoglou leads Nottingham Forest back into European football after 30 seasons since Forest's last experience of football on the continent. The Reds face Real Betis in Seville on THIS evening (kick-off 8pm BST) in their first game in the 2025/26 Europa League campaign. Speaking ahead of the match, Ange spoke of the importance of the experience for the supporters, with many experiencing the Reds in Europe for the first time.

“It’s special for the football club and the supporters that haven’t had this for 30 years. It’s easy to take for granted for clubs that are in Europe pretty regularly. It’s going to be special and I’m excited for it as well. I love European campaigns and it’s a great place to start one. I know what it means to the people. There will be so many that watched the greats of the past and have been passing on the stories to the current generation, who now want their own stories.It’s our responsibility now to make sure it’s a memorable campaign that can stand the test of time for generations.

Over the past 30 years the passion from the supporters hasn’t waned at all. The majority will have heard the stories but not lived the experience, but now they get the chance to create their own stories and experience it for themselves.

Forest European matches.

Match won

Match drawn

Match lost

Champions

Runners-up

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
1961–62	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	First round	Valencia	1–5	0–2	1–7
1967–68	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	First round	Eintracht Frankfurt	4–0	1–0	5–0
		Second round	Zürich	2–1	0–1	2–2 (a)
1978–79	European Cup	First round	Liverpool	2–0	0–0	2–0
		Second round	AEK Athens	5–1	2–1	7–2
		Quarter-final	Grasshopper	4–1	1–1	5–2
		Semi-final	1. FC Köln	3–3	1–0	4–3
		Final	Malmö FF	1–0
1979	European Super Cup	Final	Barcelona	1–0	1–1	2–1
1979–80	European Cup	First round	Östers IF	2–0	1–1	3–1
		Second round	Argeş Piteşti	2–0	2–1	4–1
		Quarter-final	Dynamo Berlin	0–1	3–1	3–2
		Semi-final	Ajax	2–0	0–1	2–1
		Final	Hamburger SV	1–0
1980	European Super Cup	Final	Valencia	2–1	0–1	2–2 (a)
1980	Intercontinental Cup	Final	Nacional	0–1
1980–81	European Cup	First round	CSKA Sofia	0–1	0–1	0–2
1983–84	UEFA Cup	First round	Vorwärts Frankfurt	2–0	1–0	3–0
		Second round	PSV Eindhoven	1–0	2–1	3–1
		Third round	Celtic	0–0	2–1	2–1
		Quarter-final	Sturm Graz	1–0	1–1	2–1
		Semi-final	Anderlecht	2–0	0–3	2–3
1984–85	UEFA Cup	First round	Club Brugge	0–0	0–1	0–1
1995–96	UEFA Cup	First round	Malmö FF	1–0	1–2	2–2 (a)
		Second round	Auxerre	0–0	1–0	1–0
		Third round	Lyon	1–0	0–0	1–0
		Quarter-final	Bayern Munich	1–5	1–2	2–7
2025–26	UEFA Europa League	League phase	Real Betis	—
			Midtjylland		—
			Porto		—
			Sturm Graz	—
			Malmö FF		—
			Utrecht	—
			Braga	—
			Ferencváros		—

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
European Cup	20	12	4	4	32	12
UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup	20	10	5	5	18	16
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	6	3	0	3	8	9
European Super Cup	4	2	1	1	4	3
Intercontinental Cup	1	0	0	1	0	1
Total	51	27	10	14	62	41