Southampton winger Leo Scienza has spoken of his “anger” and “sadness” after the club were denied the chance to play in the Championship play-off final due to Spygate

Southampton winger Leo Scienza has hinted at the chaos behind the scenes at the club after they were kicked out of the Championship play-off final for spying. Saints had appealed against the EFL punishment but discovered on Wednesday night that they had been unsuccessful.

It means they will start the 2026/27 season on -4 points in the Championship, while Middlesbrough – the side they beat 2-1 in a two-legged play-off semi-final – will go to Wembley Stadium on Saturday to face Hull City.

Saints manager Tonda Eckert is now facing the sack after it emerged that he was aware of the three spying trips the club admitted, to Oxford United, Ipswich and Middlesbrough. Meanwhile, the club are braced for more ramifications, with the FA likely to dish out further punishment, which could include a ban for those involved.

It is understood that Southampton’s players are considering their options after being robbed of a shot at promotion back to the Premier League by the actions of their own staff. And Scienza, who enjoyed an outstanding debut campaign for Saints, has become the first player to publicly voice his feelings on the subject.

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READ MORE: Southampton LOSE Spygate appeal as Middlesbrough set for Championship play-off finalREAD MORE: Southampton send desperate plea to their fans after being kicked out of play-off final

Scienza wrote on Instagram: “Disappointment, anger, sadness It’s difficult to find the right words for what we’re all feeling right now. What has happened over the last days is heartbreaking. for the club, for every player in this dressing room, and above all for our supporters. A moment like this should never end the way it did.

“I feel sorry for every football fan, as well as the players and supporters of Hull and Boro, who were caught up in all of this chaos too.

“We gave everything for this dream. Day after day, sacrifice after sacrifice, always believing we could bring this club back to where it belongs. For me, the dream of playing in the Premier League was something I fought for with everything I had. That’s why this pain cuts so deep.

“The hardest part is knowing how much our fans deserved this moment. You stood behind us all season with incredible passion, loyalty and belief. Even in the toughest moments, you carried us forward. Thank you for staying with us through everything, you definitely deserved better.”

Southampton‘s statement on Wednesday night read: “Southampton Football Club has this evening been informed that the EFL’s League Arbitration Panel has upheld the sanctions imposed earlier this week. As a result, the club will not participate in Saturday’s Championship Play-Off Final.

“This is an extremely disappointing outcome for everybody connected with Southampton Football Club. We know how painful this moment will be for our supporters, players, staff, commercial partners and the wider community who have given so much backing to the team throughout the season and we apologise once again to everyone impacted by this.

“While we fully acknowledge the seriousness of this matter and the scrutiny that has followed, the club has consistently believed the original sporting sanction was disproportionate, a view that has been widely shared by many in the football community over the last 24 hours.

“We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to our supporters for the support, patience and loyalty they have shown throughout an incredibly difficult period. We will share information as soon as possible in relation to ticket refunds for those who bought tickets to Wembley.

“Southampton Football Club has a proud history and strong foundations, but it is clear that trust now needs to be rebuilt. That work begins immediately. The club will reflect carefully on the events that have led to this point, learn from them and take the necessary steps to move forward responsibly.

“While tonight is a painful moment, this football club will respond with humility, accountability and determination to put things right.”

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Emery’s previous four were already a competition record and while he dismissed the suggestion he was a European king, he is a serial winner.

Six finals, five wins with the latest cementing a legacy at Villa Park which will last decades.

Villa officials were nervous talking about the trophy parade in advance, which needed to be organised ahead of time given the disruption in Birmingham, but the squad will flaunt it in the city on Thursday afternoon.

If Tielemans’ volley – rounding off a short corner routine – gave them the platform then Buendia’s curler into the top corner put one hand on the trophy.

Former Villa midfielder Ian Taylor, a fan of the club who scored in the 1996 League Cup win – the last time Villa won major silverware, leapt out of his press box chair and punched the air.

Rogers’ third had the substitutes celebrating on the pitch and an airborne Emery leaping on the touchline with clenched fists. Victory was assured.

“I feel amazing,” Tielemans told TNT. “My voice is a bit gone but it’s all good. We put in a shift and a top performance, we’ve had a great season and to top it off with this, it’s amazing.

“It’s amazing. It’s been a season with a lot of ups and downs. We started so so bad. Our standards were very poor.

“The way we turned things around was a credit to the players and staff. We kept working, believing. We got the win in the end, Champions League next season and a trophy.”

Yet it was not without early nerves. Emi Martinez needed his right ring finger taped and treated in the warm-up – evoking memories of Nigel Spink replacing Jimmy Rimmer after just nine minutes in the ’82 final.

But those concerns evaporated. Villa were never in danger and the fans who packed Besiktas Park had already started celebrating by half time.

Villa’s official ticket allocation was 10,758 but 20,000 travelled to Turkey, they clearly outnumbered Freiburg’s following and crammed into the bars and cafes off Istanbul’s famous Taksim Square.

Among them in the stadium, Prince William – who had already sent a message of good luck on social media – watched on as Emery was hoisted onto Martinez’s shoulders as Villa celebrated on the pitch.

Head of football operations Damian Vidagany held his hands on his head at the final whistle, signifying a release of pressure, before embracing Tielemans.

Martinez struggled to contain his emotions while co-owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens greeted the players before they collected their medals.

The future king filmed the trophy-lift on his phone as Villa celebrated a milestone moment.

Rogers told TNT: “It’s hard to put into words, we’ve worked so hard for this. We’ve delivered and come through. It’s a great moment for the fans, great for the club. We’ll go down in history.”

It is set three months after the disappearance of Madeleine, with the media and Portuguese police now treating the McCanns very differently.

The one-off drama maps out Kate’s cross-examination after she and Madeleine’s father, Gerry, were named suspects.

A synopsis for the programme shares: “In her final interrogation, Kate defies all accusations by answering ‘no comment’ on her lawyer’s advice.

“As she leaves the police station, we are reminded that this story began with a mother searching for her child, and that no amount of suspicion, however constructed, will diminish her hope of finding her daughter.”

Madeleine disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the evening of May 3, 2007, at just three years old.

Her disappearance has been dubbed “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.

Both Kate and Gerry were subjected to intense scrutiny and faced accusations of involvement in the disappearance.

In 2008, as a result of false allegations of their involvement in Madeleine’s death, they and their travelling companions received damages and apologies from Express Newspapers.

How accurate will Under Suspicion: Kate McCann be?

Writer Philip Ralph shared that the production used real interrogation material to help craft the script.

Speaking to Channel 5, he shared: “The Portuguese Policia Judicaria (PJ) officers who interrogated Kate McCann in 2007 did not audio record their interviews.

“Instead one of their team took detailed notes in Portuguese which were then translated into English for Kate McCann to sign off once the interview was complete.

“So the biggest challenge was crafting dialogue that accurately represented the Portuguese police’s questions and direction of enquiry whilst also ensuring that Kate’s answers were accurate to the record and the facts of the case.

“And then, once that work was done, the dialogue had to be accurately translated back into Portuguese for the actors playing the PJ officers.

“It was a complex, painstaking process.”

Under Suspicion: Kate McCann full cast list

• Laura Bayston as Kate McCann
• Joana Borja as Armanda Duarte Salbany Russel
• Hugo Nicolau as Inspector João Carlos
• Miguel Freire as Inspector Ricardo Paiva

Recommended reading:

• Carlos Agualusa as Carlos Pinto De Abreu
• James Robinson as Gerry McCann
• Ruby Ranson as Madeleine McCann

When will Under Suspicion: Kate McCann be on TV?

The one-off episode will air on Channel 5 at 9pm on Wednesday, May 20.

It will air until 10.25pm and will be available to watch on Channel 5’s streaming service.

Will you be watching Under Suspicion: Kate McCann? Let us know in the comments.

The Gateshead flyover, a staple part of the town’s road network bringing traffic into Newcastle, was closed in December 2024 due to safety concerns.

Inspections had revealed that the structure was ageing and deteriorating.

(Image: Joe Sheridan/Northern Echo Camera Club)

This led to concerns about the cost-effectiveness of maintaining it versus removing it and redesigning the surrounding roads.

The current removal of the flyover brings about a significant transformation in the way people navigate through Gateshead.

Temporary traffic arrangements and detours have been put in place for the duration of the demolition.

The dismantling process, which is expected to last until October, requires the use of special machinery, such as “munchers”.

A Gateshead Council spokesperson said: “They work by using ‘mechanical jaws’ to gradually crush through the concrete and steel structure.”

For areas where the concrete is denser, the operators resort to using a steel ram to fragment the material before returning to the mechanical jaws.

There is currently a staggered demolition process, which hopes to arrive at the Five Bridges roundabout in late June, moving to the Park Lane roundabout.

The last part to come down will be above the Tyne and Wear Metro tunnels.

In order to prevent collapse during demolition, steel props, each weighing ten tonnes, have been installed beneath the structure.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers took his time before deciding he wanted to come back for a 22nd season. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback already has made up his mind about a 23rd: There won’t be one.

“This is it,” Rodgers said Wednesday when the four-time NFL MVP was asked if this would be his final year.

The 42-year-old did not expand on why he came to that conclusion. Maybe because there was no need.

Rodgers acknowledged that he thought his time in Pittsburgh — and perhaps the league — was over when Steelers coach Mike Tomlin stepped down the day after a blowout first-round playoff loss to Houston in January.

Things changed when Pittsburgh hired Mike McCarthy a few weeks later, a decision that Rodgers said he may have played a small role in when he encouraged Steelers general manager Omar Khan to talk to McCarthy. Rodgers and McCarthy spent 13 years together in Green Bay, winning a Super Bowl while becoming a playoff fixture.

McCarthy and Rodgers stayed in constant communication in recent months as Rodgers weighed whether to run it back one last time. While there was no one tipping point, the relative health of his 42-year-old body and the chance to have his career come “full circle” with a team that spent the offseason upgrading the offense in hopes of ending a lengthy playoff victory drought led to a reunion he called “surreal.”

“It is like a (bunch of) ‘pinch me’ moments that have happened in the last few days,” Rodgers said following the second day of Pittsburgh’s voluntary organized team activities.

Perhaps because McCarthy hardly came back to his hometown alone.

The familiar faces from Rodgers’ time in Green Bay are everywhere inside the Steelers’ facility, from defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to offensive line coach James Campen. There are “getting the band back together” vibes everywhere Rodgers looks.

When Rodgers plopped into a chair for a meeting on Monday, in many ways it felt like it was 2006, when he was entering his second year in Green Bay as Brett Favre’s backup and McCarthy was a first-year head coach still finding his way.

“Took me back to being a 22-year-old kid,” Rodgers said with a smile.

Only he’s hardly that anymore. While the oldest player in the NFL turned back the clock enough last season to throw for 24 touchdowns against seven interceptions and guide the Steelers to the AFC North title, he also missed a game after breaking several bones in his left wrist and looked very much his age during the second half of what became a blowout loss to the Texans that ended both Pittsburgh’s season and Tomlin’s largely successful 19-year run as head coach.

Still, Rodgers believes he has enough left to attempt the rarest of exits for players of his stature: the ability to go out on his own terms.

McCarthy said Rodgers “can still throw it with anybody,” though the time of year when Rodgers will be asked to really cut it loose is still months away. Perhaps Rodgers’ most important job through OTAs, minicamp and training camp is helping the Steelers prepare for life without him.

While McCarthy and Rodgers stayed in constant communication as Rodgers hung out in Malibu, California, with his wife and weighed his options for 2026, the Steelers selected Penn State quarterback Drew Allar in the third round of the draft, and McCarthy has talked up 2025 sixth-round choice Will Howard at every turn since taking over.

Allar and Howard figure to be in the mix this time next year when the Steelers restart their quest to find a long-term solution at the game’s most important position, a search that’s been ongoing since Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement in January 2022.

Rodgers’ presence offers a cheat code of sorts. He knows all the answers to the test, particularly when the test is offered by McCarthy. Allar and Howard will get to spend the next seven or so months soaking up what they can from Rodgers about what McCarthy wants and perhaps more importantly, how he wants it.

McCarthy called Rodgers “a tremendous resource” who also happens to be a future Hall of Famer, giving him a certain cachet that might make him a better conduit for what McCarthy is trying to teach than the coach himself.

“It’s like parenting,” McCarthy said. “I could sit there and tell my kids something, and then, like if he’d walk in and tell my son George something, he’d jump out the window and do it.”

While Rodgers took a friendly jab at Favre — whom he sat behind during the first three years of his career — by borrowing a phrase from Favre that mentoring is “not in my job description,” the reality is it’s a role he relishes.

Just not as much as the chance to win. When Rodgers signed with the Steelers a year ago, he called the decision “best for my soul.” It’s much the same this time around.

He likes what the team has done by trading for wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., signing running back Rico Dowdle and drafting wideout Germie Bernard. The offensive line could be better with Troy Fautanu moving over to left tackle. The defense still has a pair of franchise icons in defensive lineman Cam Heyward and outside linebacker TJ Watt.

And now it has a quarterback eager to soak up every last bit of the final chapter of a career that will end with a gold jacket and a bust in the Hall of Fame. Just not quite yet.

“I am excited about these guys,” he said. “I’m excited about the team.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

MOUNTAINAIR, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico authorities said three people are dead and more than a dozen first responders were being treated Wednesday for exposure to an unidentified substance after being called to a home east of Albuquerque for a suspected drug overdose.

New Mexico State Police say three of the four people who were found unresponsive inside the home have died and the other is being treated at a hospital in Albuquerque.

During the response, authorities said 18 first responders were exposed to the substance and began experiencing symptoms that included nausea and dizziness. All of the first responders were transported to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where they were quarantined and are being monitored.

Two of the first responders were listed in serious condition, said Officer Wilson Silver with New Mexico State Police.

Albuquerque Fire Rescue Hazmat teams were assisting at the scene in Mountainair, a rural community east of Albuquerque, in efforts to identify the substance involved.

“At this time, investigators believe the substance may be transmitted through contact and do not believe it to be airborne,” Silver said.

Mountainair town officials said there is no threat to the public and a secure perimeter has been established around the home.

The family of the 21-year-old said she had ‘erratic behaviour’ in the months leading up to her death

A university student who suffered “delusions” as a result of a vitamin deficiency caused by a vegan diet later took her own life, an inquest has heard. Georgina Owen, aged 21, from Saffron Walden in Essex, died at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge on September 19, 2019.

In a written inquest into her death, Coroner Elizabeth Gray ruled that Georgina died of a brain injury after taking her own life. Since 2016, Georgina had been on a vegan diet.

The inquest recorded that in August 2019, Georgina’s family said she hadn’t taken her vitamin B12 supplements – needed due to her diet – for at least 12 months. Georgina said she had “forgotten to take them”. Vitamin B12 is found in meat, fish, eggs, dairy products and specially fortified foods.

The NHS website advises that a deficiency can lead to problems including psychological problems. These can range from mild depression or anxiety to confusion and dementia, as well as extreme tiredness, muscle weakness and problems with vision and memory.

The 21-year-old student, who attended the University of Swansea, told her family she had “bought an organic B12 supplement from Canada, the dosage of which would be 1mg once per day, oral spray”. Her family said Georgina demonstrated “unusual erratic behaviour” in the period leading up to her death.

Georgina’s family referred her to a psychiatrist, who referred to diary entries written by Georgina, and concluded there was no evidence she was “planning to end her life”.

However, her final diary entries did provide evidence of a “possible mental illness and that on the balance of probabilities” Georgina may have experienced “delusions” in her last note.

The inquest also read that investigations were carried out to determine whether Georgina had a vitamin B12 deficiency as a result of her vegan diet. If this was true, it would be investigated if it could have “caused her to have psychiatric manifestations in the period before her death”.

Blood tests and expert reports were carried out. The expert reports concluded that the vitamin deficiency had “likely resulted from Miss Owen’s vegan diet of around three years”.

The inquest added: “Evidence also concludes that Miss Owen’s vague signs of cognitive impairment, anxiety, difficulty with simple decision making and fatigue as described by her family in the period before her death suggest a gradually developing psychiatric disorder culminating in the delusional beliefs expressed in Miss Owen’s final letter.”

Madeleine disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the evening of May 3, 2007, at just three years old.

Her disappearance has been dubbed “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.

Now, a Channel 5 drama, titled Under Suspicion: Kate McCann, starring Laura Bayston, is due to air, depicting the interrogation of Kate about her daughter’s disappearance.

Madeleine McCann disappearance explained

The McCann family were on holiday in Portugal in May 2007, Kate and Gerry, Madeleine, who was three, and twin siblings Amelie and Sean, both two.

Family friends and their children were also on holiday with them.

The McCann children were left asleep in the ground-floor apartment while their parents dined with friends in a restaurant 55 metres away.

The parents checked on the children about every 30 to 40 minutes until Kate discovered Madeleine was missing.

Madeleine’s disappearance attracted extensive press coverage in the UK and internationally.

Both Kate and Gerry were subjected to intense scrutiny and faced accusations of involvement in the disappearance.

In 2008, as a result of false allegations of their involvement in Madeleine’s death, they and their travelling companions received damages and apologies from Express Newspapers.

In 2011, the McCanns testified before the Leveson Inquiry into British press misconduct, lending support to those arguing for tighter press regulation.

Where is the Madeleine McCann case today?

In the weeks that followed her disappearance, Portuguese police believed that Madeleine had died in an accident in the apartment and her parents had covered it up.

The McCanns were given suspect status in September 2007, which was lifted when Portugal’s attorney general archived the case in July 2008 for lack of evidence.

Kate and Gerry continued the investigation using private detectives until the Metropolitan Police opened its own inquiry, Operation Grange, in 2011.

The senior investigating officer announced that he was treating the disappearance as “a criminal act by a stranger”, which was likely a planned abduction or burglary gone wrong.

In 2013, the Met released e-fit images of men they wanted to trace, including one of a man seen carrying a child toward the beach on the night Madeleine vanished and shortly after this, Portuguese police reopened their inquiry.

Operation Grange was scaled back in 2015, but the remaining detectives continued to pursue a small number of inquiries described in April 2017 as significant.

In 2020, German authorities declared Christian Brückner their prime suspect for the abduction and murder of McCann, with prosecutors saying that they have “concrete evidence”.

Channel 5 drama Under Suspicion: Kate McCann stars Laura Bayston (Image: Channel 5/PA Wire)

Brückner has previously been convicted of unrelated counts of child sexual abuse and drug trafficking, and has since 2019 served a prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old American pensioner in the Algarve region.

He was released in September 2025 and has not been officially charged with any crime related to the McCann case, and consistently denies any involvement.

Last year, the UK government approved more than £100,000 in additional funding for Scotland Yard detectives investigating Madeleine’s disappearance.

Netflix released an eight-part documentary series, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, in 2019, but the McCann family did not support the production of the documentary, refusing to take part and encouraging others not to be involved.

Where are Kate and Gerry McCann now?

According to reports, Kate and Gerry, who are both physicians, still live in the same house they lived in when Maddie disappeared in Leicestershire.

Her 2011 book Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her, gave an insight into her life after 2007.

She revealed how she still buys Maddie birthday and Christmas presents, and the difficultly it was not being overprotective towards twins Amelie and Sean after Maddie’s disappearance.

Kate also quit her job as a GP because she didn’t want her twins to be left alone with child carers and because she wanted to focus her attention on the search.

Kate and Gerry McCann live in Leicestershire today, just over 19 years since the disappearance (Image: Joe Giddens/PA Wire)

She did return to the NHS during the Covid pandemic in 2021, working on the frontline in local Leicester hospitals.

Today Kate works with sufferers of dementia and is an ambassador for the charity Missing People.

Gerry works as a research professor in experimental medicine and a professor of cardiac imaging.

Amelie McCann is studying at Durham University, with twin brother Sean understood to be a champion freestyle swimmer and has even been tipped to represent Scotland at next year’s Commonwealth Games or even compete for Team GB at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

New Channel 5 drama on Kate McCann interrogation

The new Channel 5 drama, Under Suspicion: Kate McCann, will depict the interrogation of Kate about her daughter’s disappearance.

It is set three months after the disappearance, with the media and Portuguese police now treating the McCanns very differently.

The one-off drama maps out Kate’s cross-examination after she and Gerry were named suspects.

A synopsis reads: “In her final interrogation, Kate defies all accusations by answering ‘no comment’ on her lawyer’s advice.

Recommended reading:

“As she leaves the police station, we are reminded that this story began with a mother searching for her child, and that no amount of suspicion, however constructed, will diminish her hope of finding her daughter.”

Laura Bayston stars as Kate McCann in the drama, with Joana Borja as Armanda Duarte Salbany Russel, Hugo Nicolau as Inspector João Carlos and Miguel Freire as Inspector Ricardo Paiva.

James Robinson is Gerry McCann, Ruby Ranson, Madeleine McCann and Carlos Agualusa as Carlos Pinto De Abreu.

Under Suspicion: Kate McCann premieres today (May 20) at 9pm on Channel 5.

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