Falkirk have a huge challenge to replicate their top six finish of last season as they rebuild after losing a host of key players, according to Ian McCall.
The Bairns were beaten 2-0 at home to St Mirren in their Premiership opener on Saturday.
Manager John McGlynn has had to contend with the loss this summer of his top five goalscorers from last season – Barney Stewart, Calvin Miller, Dylan Tait, Ben Broggio and Brian Graham.
"It's really hard when you're at the level Falkirk are, a big club but not one of the big, big ones," McCall, who had spells at Falkirk as a player and manager, told BBC Sportsound.
"You're signing a boy [Barmey Stewart] from a university team and then getting a million pounds for him. That's not really normal, but fans will still expect you to go and find another one. You tell me five that have been found in the last 20 years like that - it's not like that.

#falkirk #mccall #stewart #manager

Falkirk have a huge challenge to replicate their top six finish of last season as they rebuild after losing a host of key players, according to Ian McCall.
The Bairns were beaten 2-0 at home to St Mirren in their Premiership opener on Saturday.
Manager John McGlynn has had to contend with the loss this summer of his top five goalscorers from last season – Barney Stewart, Calvin Miller, Dylan Tait, Ben Broggio and Brian Graham.
"It's really hard when you're at the level Falkirk are, a big club but not one of the big, big ones," McCall, who had spells at Falkirk as a player and manager, told BBC Sportsound.
"You're signing a boy [Barmey Stewart] from a university team and then getting a million pounds for him. That's not really normal, but fans will still expect you to go and find another one. You tell me five that have been found in the last 20 years like that - it's not like that.

#season #five

Sheffield United and Bochum were locked in a stalemate in front of a decent crowd in Germany on Saturday afternoon.
Both sides made the goalkeeper work but some strong defending and decent shot-stopping earned clean sheets for each team.
Bochum: Horn, Karademir, **** aj, Mbom, Taz, Olsen, Steinwender, Miyoshi, Wittek, Hofmann, Crimaldi.
Subs: Casali, Holtman, Hanslik, Pannewig, Drakas, Meyer, Koscierski, Isbruch, Schjott, Sawas.
Blades: Cooper, McCallum (Norrington-Davies 81), Tanganga, Hamer, Cannon (Campbell 71), O'Hare, Donovan (Chong 64), Baptiste, Seriki (Doherty 71), Peck (Arblaster 64), Riedewald (Rothwell 64).

#decent #horn #karademir #mbom

Tennessee State football practice is under way with a battle for the starting quarterback position between returning starter Byron McNair and two transfers − Daylin Lee from Winston-Salem State and Marcelis Tate from South Florida.
Second-year coach Reggie Barlow said no one is ahead of the others as the Tigers prepare for their season opener on Aug. 29 against Jackson State in the John Merritt Classic at Vanderbilt.
All three quarterbacks worked with the first unit at practice on July 31. Barlow said he hasn't ruled out giving freshman Justin Patton from McCalla, Alabama, a shot at the job if none of the older players take the reins.
"Daylin's experience speaks for itself; he had a real good command (at Winston-Salem State)," Barlow said. "Tate, for a young guy, he looks like an older guy, but he's only played one year. He's a good player. And, of course, we've got Byron, and then there's Justin (Patton), a freshman who's a good football player. He was here in the spring as an early enrollee."
It is a similar situation to what Barlow faced at TSU last year when three quarterbacks were locked in a battle for the starting ******* ignment among Jonathan Palmer, Caleb McCreary and McNair. Palmer earned the starting position at the start of the season before McNair unseated him in the third game. Palmer returned as the starter later in the season.

#palmer #year #winston

Sheffield United and Chesterfield played out to a 0-0 draw in North Derbyshire on Saturday afternoon as the Blades continue to step up their efforts in pre-season.
Chris Wilder handed a debut for United's recent summer signing Romelle Donovan while Jamal Baptiste got another run out for the Blades.
Chesterfield: Hemming, Eccleston, Pong, Simpson, Gordon, Naylor, McEachran, Markanday, Trialist, Koroma, Bonis.
Subs: Mandeville, Stirk, ***** erfield, Sotiriou, Dunkley, Cook, Elliott, Whitney, Sissons, Wozniczka.
Blades: Cooper (Davies 45), Arblaster (Peck 60), Tanganga (McGuinness 70), Rothwell (Riedewald 60), Hamer (McGlinchey 60), Cannon (Marsh 60), Donovan (O'Hare 45), Burrows (McCallum 60), Baptiste, Seriki (Sachdev 80), Bamford (Campbell 60).

Ian McCall believes his former club Rangers would need to use Nicolas Raskin as part of any deal to sign Bologna's Lewis Ferguson.
Reports suggest Rangers are interested in Scotland's Ferguson, 26, while fellow midfielder Nicolas Raskin, 25, has been linked with an Ibrox exit.
Ferguson, son of former Rangers player Derek, featured in all of Scotland's World Cup group games while Raskin has helped Belgium reach the last 16 of the tournament.
McCall played with Derek Ferguson, whose brother Barry was Rangers captain and later Ibrox head coach for a short spell.
"I thought it would have to involve Raskin going the other way, I don't know if that's still the case," McCall told BBC Radio Scotland. "It seems like a prime time to sell him.

Third baseman Ethan Surowiec re-signed his NIL agreement with Florida Victorious on Monday, signaling his return to the Gators should he turn down a draft offer.
A draft-eligible sophomore, Surowiec transferred from Ole Miss last offseason. He broke out as the MVP of the Northwoods League over the summer and became a mainstay in the middle of Florida's lineup. Surowiec started the season switching between first base and third base, but he moved to the hot corner full time by the end of the year.
Surowiec is expected to be drafted next month, but he has the most leverage a college player can have when it comes to negotiating. If he doesn't get the money he wants, he will return to Florida to prove himself for another year. He'll still have good bargaining power as a junior, since he can once again return to school in 2028.
Surowiec was the only Gator to play in and start all 62 games this season. He made 34 starts at third and 28 at first. He led Florida in hits (78), batting average (.317), RBI (63), total bases (130) and at-bats (246). Surowiec hit 12 home runs and scored 53 runs with a .937 OPS.
Seven Florida arms have entered the transfer portal: McCall Biemiller (NC State), Eli Blair (USF), Matthew Jenkins (Charlotte), Rivers Kurland, Cooper Moss (USF), Christian Rodriguez and Cooper Walls (Georgia). Starting second baseman Cade Kurland is headed to LSU, while Infielder Kolt Myers (Grand Canyon) and outfielder Blake Brookins are the two other position players to enter the transfer portal so far.

Gold medalist Claire Pease, silver medalist Charleigh Bullock and bronze medalist Thais Fidelis pose with their medals at the 2026 Pan American Championships.
Team USA's women's gymnasts collected more hardware on Friday at the 2026 Pan American Gymnastics Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The American women came away with gold and silver medals in the all-around final.
After leading Team USA to gold in Wednesday's team final, 17-year-old Claire Pease claimed individual all-around gold and first-year senior Charleigh Bullock secured silver. Brazil's Thais Fidelis shared the podium with the American duo, winning bronze in a distant third place.
The result marked the first 1-2 finish for the U.S. women since 2018, when Grace McCallum and Trinity Thomas claimed gold and silver, respectively.
Team USA's Yul Moldauer claimed bronze in the men's all-around final later that Friday in Rio, joining his bronze from the men's team final. Competition is far from over for Moldauer, who qualified for five of seven individual finals.

Tennessee director of track and field Duane Ross gauged the hunger of the men's 4x100-meter relay team to pull off the upset.
"They said, 'Coach, we're going to win,' " Ross said. "When they bring you that much confidence, you can grab your popcorn and enjoy the meet."
No popcorn was consumed, but the appetite was there from the start.
Traunard Folson, Davonte Howell, T'Mars McCallum and Elijah Clark finished in a school record time of 37.98 seconds at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 12 in Eugene, Oregon. It was the the program's first national ***** le in the 4x100 since 1983 and the fourth-fastest in NCAA history.

Florida left-handed pitcher Eli Blair, a rising sophomore, is entering the transfer portal. Blair announced the move on Monday on his social media pages.
The 6-foot-8-inch southpaw out of J. R. Arnold High in Panama City Beach, Florida, took the mound nine times as a true freshman. He finished the season with a 4.82 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and a 9-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 9 1/3 innings. Blair drew a 48.1% groundball rate and did not allow a home run. Opposing batters hit .278 against him.
Kevin O'Sullivan said the goal was to bring in more left-handed help, which was a signal that his current lefties weren't cutting it. Blair is the third Florida southpaw to enter the portal, joining McCall Biemiller and Rivers Kurland.
Transfer portal from the University of Florida.

6’8 225lbs LHP

I am entering the transfer portal with 3 years remaining as a DSA.
— Eli Blair (eliblair24) June 15, 2026

It's Tuesday, 16 June 2026.
If we rewind 36 years to 16 June 1990 and the Italian city of Genoa, Stuart McCall was busy scoring to help Scotland secure a 2-1 win over Sweden.
The former midfielder jokes that he "was always deadly from a yard out" and ultimately that victory wasn't enough to ensure Scotland progressed to the knock-out stage, but up until this weekend, it was their last win at a World Cup finals.
Now the 62 year-old is ******* istant to Paul Heckingbottom at Preston North End, but he's also enjoying absorbing all the action from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
As a former Motherwell manager, he's been glad to see the Steelmen's Elijah Just scoring a brace for New Zealand in their 2-2 draw with Iran, but chiefly he's delighted that Scotland now have a more up-to-date World Cup win to look back on, albeit a nervy 1-0 triumph over Haiti.

Florida infielder Kolt Myers became the first position player to enter the transfer portal on Thursday, according to Andrew Riedell of College Baseball Central.
Myers came to Florida fresh off a state **** le with St. John's Country Day in 2024. He slashed .305/.455/.475 as a high school senior with flashes of extra-base power — two homers, one triple and six doubles. Perfect Game ranked Myers No. 149 overall in the class of 24 and No. 39 among shortstops in the country.
With Colby Shelton and Cade Kurland blocking both middle infield spots during Myers' freshman year, he took a redshirt and did not play. He played in 26 games, primarily at third base with some time at shortstop and second base, this past season, but Myers only slashed .185/.250/.247. With a strikeout rate approaching 40% and a wRC+ of 28 — where 100 is the league average — Myers was not ready to play regularly against SEC arms.
Myers is the fifth Florida Gator to enter the transfer portal, following a quarter of arms. McCall Biemiller, Matthew Jenkins and Cooper Moss announced on Monday, the first day the portal opened, and Christian Rodriguez followed on Thursday.
Florida earned its first transfer commitment from former FGCU catcher Jon Embury, the 2026 ASUN Player of the Year, on Thursday.