A theme of Celtic’s season has been Rodgers bemoaning their transfer business and a perceived lack of quality brought into the club.
He has regularly been asked about and pointed out the goals that have been taken out of his squad with the sales of Kyogo Furuhashi last January and Nicolas Kuhn in the summer, in addition to Jota’s long-term injury absence.
Sebastian Tounekti and Michel-Ange Balikwisha arrived to bolster Rodgers’ attacking options after they had already been dumped out of Champions League qualifying by Kazakh champions Kairat, while Kelechi Iheanacho arrived on a free after the window had closed.
And after they failed to fire in attack once again, Rodgers appeared to criticise the quality within his squad.
“I think the challenge from the summer, now leading into here, where we lost a lot of firepower, a lot of goals out on the team,” he said.
“And there’s no way you’ll go into a race and be given the keys to a Honda Civic and say, ‘I want you to drive it like a Ferrari’. It’s not going to happen.”
He insists it is up to him to find “solutions” to their goal-scoring issues, be it through changes to personnel or formation.
“Until something changes, I have to find the solutions,” he added.
“Because like I said, goals, speed, everything has come out of the team and we need to find a way to be better.
“We had the opportunities to do what we needed to do. It didn’t happen, so now it’s finding ways, whether it’s 4-3-3, whether it’s 3-4-3, whether it’s 3-5-2. We’re trying to look at all these different permutations within the team.”
Netflix drama military drama Boots is based on the true story of gay Marine Greg Cope White
13:37, 09 Oct 2025Updated 13:42, 09 Oct 2025
Boots, a military drama on Netflix, follows the journey of gay teenager Cameron Cope (portrayed by Miles Heizer) as he enlists in the Marines corps alongside his best mate, despite the inherent dangers.
The series is set in the harsh environment of the 1990s US Marine Corps, a time when homosexuality was still outlawed in the military. It traces the lives of Cameron and Ray McAffey (played by Liam Oh), the offspring of a decorated Marine, as they become part of a diverse group of recruits.
Together, they form unexpected friendships and discover their true identities while being pushed to their limits.
Netflix commented: “With sharp wit and plenty of heart, Boots is about friendship, resilience, and finding your place in the world – even when that world seems determined to keep you in line or leave you behind.”
Greg Cope White, a former sergeant in the US Marine Corps, served as a writer and executive producer for the series.
He is an ardent advocate for LGBTQ+ and veteran rights, and has appeared in the PBS docuseries American Veteran and published work in the military journal Zero Dark Thirty.
Reflecting on his journey from his days in the Marine Corps, he posted on Instagram: “At 18, I illegally enlisted in the Marine Corps to find my place as a gay man in the masculine world.
“The book honours my lifelong best friend Dale, who got me through a chaotic childhood, and the Marines who took a chance on me and changed my life.
“And to send a message to others who are bullied: Bullies don’t matter. You do. Hold on.”
Greg completed six years of service with the Marines, achieving the rank of Sergeant, before relocating to New York City to pursue studies in acting and writing.
He eventually settled in Los Angeles, where he secured his breakthrough in writing through employment with Norman Lear.
The Pink Marine website details how joining the Marines represented Greg’s initial struggle, as he “has to cheat to pass the physical and then lie on the enlistment papers about his sexuality”.
The protagonists Cameron and Ray draw inspiration from Greg and his closest mate Dale, with the website outlining the dangers they both faced.
It states: “It’s insanely dangerous for both of them. But as fate would have it, the Few and the Proud turn out to be a bunch of oddballs and eccentrics – and a brotherhood is born.”
Those Rangers fans who are almost as old as the Campsie Fells, the hills sitting above the club training ground just north of Glasgow, will tell you that Martin was the worst manager they’ve ever known. And that’s saying something.
One of his predecessors, Pedro Caixinha, once lost to Progres Niederkorn, the fourth best team in Luxembourg at the time, and ended the night by rowing with Rangers fans while standing in a bush.
Martin’s end was chaotic. A draw at Falkirk saw fans once again screeching for his sacking, a pretty much constant and venomous refrain in recent times. He was smuggled out a back exit at the Falkirk Stadium with a police escort. It was unseemly. It couldn’t go on.
The draw with Falkirk followed on from other league draws against Motherwell, Dundee, St Mirren and Celtic. Hearts beat them at Ibrox. Brugge beat them 6-0 and 3-1 in Europe. Rangers had the devil’s own job in defeating Livingston. Every game was the football equivalent of fingernails down a blackboard. It was excruciating.
As were the Martin explanations in the aftermath. He ran the gamut. He spoke about his players being anxious and scared, he talked about them not doing the things they were doing in training and not listening to the messages they were being told. It was impossible to avoid the conclusion that Martin thought it was always the fault of others.
After the Falkirk draw, he mentioned Falkirk’s deflected goal and their artificial pitch. After the loss to Sturm Graz on Thursday night he banged on about a throw-in that went wrong and cost Rangers a goal. “Somebody didn’t do their job,” he said.
The excuses flowed like lava. The one person he singularly failed to put in the frame was himself. Ibrox turned against him in the most vicious way, He was booed on and booed off. When Rangers scored a late winner against Livingston the cry that went up from fans seconds later was about Martin. It wasn’t nice, put it that way.
When you win a game and they still want your head on a spike, there’s no coming back from that. He lasted 17 games. It doesn’t seem like a lot but in the world of the Old Firm it really is. Old Firm managers get judged early. Gordon Strachan once said that there were calls for his head after a friendly prior to his first season as Celtic manager.
President Trump’s new sky-high visa fees have shaken Silicon Valley’s tech giants as they contemplate a surge in the cost of hiring global talent and a new tactic the White House can use to keep Silicon Valley in line.
The tech industry was already navigating an economy with higher and unpredictable tariffs, when last week the Trump administration threw another curveball aimed directly at its bottom line: a $100,000 fee for the visas used to hire certain skilled foreign workers. The industry relies heavily on the H-1B visa program to bring in a wide range of engineers, coders, and other top talent to the United States.
The rollout has sparked confusion among businesses, immigration lawyers and current H-1B visa holders.
Over the weekend, the Trump administration clarified that the new fee will apply to new visas, isn’t annual and doesn’t prevent current H-1B visa holders from traveling in and outside of the country. Companies would have to pay the fee with any new H-1B visa petitions submitted after a specific time on Sept. 21, the White House said.
On Monday, the Trump administration also clarified that certain professions, such as doctors, may be exempt from the fee. Some observers are concerned that a selective application of the fee could be a way the White House can reward its friends and punish its detractors.
Meta, Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft have been strengthening their ties with the Trump administration by committing to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States.
Still, immigration has long been a contentious issue between the Trump administration and tech executives, some of whom were on a H-1B visa before they co-founded or led some of the world’s largest tech companies.
One of the most vocal supporters of the H-1B visas: Elon Musk, who backed Trump but has publicly sparred with him after he led the federal government’s efforts to slash spending. Musk, who runs multiple companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and xAI, is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Africa and has held an H-1B visa.
Tech executives have said the H-1B visa program has been crucial for hiring skilled workers. Competition to attract the world’s best talent has been intensifying since the popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT sparked a fierce race to rapidly advance artificial intelligence.
The new fee could slow California’s development and the United States’ position in the AI race by making it tougher for companies — especially startups with less money — to bring in international employees, experts said.
So far this fiscal year, more than 7,500 companies in Californiahave applied forH-1B visas and 61,841 have been approved, data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows.
Tech companies use the visa program to hire computer scientists and engineers because the U.S. isn’t producing enough workers with the skills needed, said Darrell West, a senior fellow in the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution.
Trump “likes to talk tough on immigration, but he fails to recognize how important immigrants are to our economy,” he said. “Companies in technology, agriculture, hotels, restaurants and construction rely heavily on immigrants, and slowing that flow is going to be devastating for companies in those areas.”
In his executive order, the Trump administration noted that some companies, such as information technology firms, have allegedly misused the program, citing mass layoffs in the tech industry and the difficulty young college graduates face in landing jobs.
“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and this commonsense action does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages,” Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement.
Economists and tech executives, though, have pointed to other factors affecting hiring, including economic uncertainty from tariffs, a shift in investments and the rise of AI tools that could complete tasks typically filled by entry-level workers.
California’s unemployment rate of 5.5% in August was higher than the U.S. unemployment rate of 4.3%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The rollout of the new changes has been “extremely chaotic,” and while the White House has tried to clear up some of the confusion, tech companies still have a lot of questions about how the fee would work, said Adam Kovacevich, chief executive of the Chamber of Progress, a center-left tech industry policy coalition.
“You never know what you’re gonna end up with the final policy in Trump world,” he said. “Somebody within the administration drives an announcement, there’s blowback, and then they end up modifying their plans.”
Tech companies have been trying to navigate a fine line in their relationship with Trump.
During Trump’s first term, high-profile tech executives, including those from Meta, Amazon, Google and Apple, spoke out about his administration’s order to restrict travel from several majority-Muslim countries. But in his second term, those same executives have cozied up to the Trump administration as they seek to influence AI policy and strike lucrative partnerships with the government.
They’ve contributed to his inauguration fund, appeared at high-profile press events, and attended a White House dinner, where Trump asked them how much they’re investing in the United States.
Microsoft declined to comment. Meta, Google and Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Changes to the H-1B program could also worsen relations with other countries, such as India, that send skilled tech workers to the U.S., experts said.
Indian nationals are the largest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa program, accounting for 71% of approved petitions, followed by those from China, at approximately 12%.
Some Indian venture capitalists and research institutes see a silver lining in this murky future. On social media, some have posted that the uncertainty surrounding H-1B visa rules could encourage talented engineers to return home to build startups, thereby fueling India’s tech sector. That would mean more competition for U.S. tech companies.
Kunal Bahl, an Indian tech investor and entrepreneur, posted “Come, build in India!” on social media. His firm, Titan Capital, launched a seed funding and mentorship program aimed at attracting students and professionals rethinking their future in the U.S. after the visa troubles.
Global tech companies might also consider opening more centers abroad where workers can work remotely and not have to move to the U.S., said Phil Fersht, the founder and chief executive of HFS Research.
“The more the U.S. makes itself a less attractive place to bring in talent,” he said, “the more it is going to harm its economy.”
Sanchez took out Mbeumo just four minutes and one second into the match to receive Chelsea’s earliest red card in the Premier League.
“It was rough… the red card [would be] difficult not only for Chelsea, it [would be] difficult for any club,” said Maresca.
“After the red card, all the planning and everything doesn’t exist any more.”
Maresca said afterwards he would have preferred to go a goal down than lose his goalkeeper.
“It’s the best solution, because we are still 95 minutes to play,” he said.
“I think even Robert is aware of that, but also it’s difficult because he has to take a decision in one second or two seconds.”
The Italian manager took off two attackers in Pedro Neto and Estevao Willian for replacement goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen and defender Tosin Adarabioyo after Sanchez was sent off.
The change effectively left Chelsea with a back five, three midfielders and just Joao Pedro in attack.
Maresca explained why he had made such a defensive reaction to the dismissal, saying: “We needed to defend with five players – we can defend with four when we are 11 v 11.”
However, that decision looked like a mistake when Fernandes opened the scoring and Palmer then went off injured.
When Andrey Santos replaced the England playmaker 21 minutes into the match it was the earliest any team in Premier League history had made their first three substitutions.
Chelsea failed to register a shot on target in the first half as Casemiro put United 2-0 up.
However, the Brazil midfielder’s ill-timed lunge just before the break left both sides down to 10 men.
Chalobah managed to pull a goal back in the 80th minute but it only proved to be a consolation for the Blues, who suffered a second successive defeat in what has been a tough week of away fixtures.
They drew at Brentford last weekend before losing to Bayern Munich in their Champions League opener on Wednesday.
“When it went to 10 a piece I felt no urgency from Chelsea to try to get back into it,” said former England striker Wayne Rooney on Match of the Day.
“They were slow, side to side. If you’re a Chelsea fan you’d want to see a lot more urgency.”
Saturday’s loss at Old Trafford leaves Chelsea sixth in the top-flight table, and they will hope to avoid a prolonged absence for star man Palmer.
Michelle Ryan’s Zoe Slater is at the centre of many iconic moments on Albert Square
Zoe Slater has an iconic past on EastEnders(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Jack Barns/Kieron McCarron)
Zoe Slater is officially back in Walford. Michelle Ryan and her iconic character returned to EastEnders permanently this week and her storyline is already of to a dramatic start, complete with dark secrets, arguments outside the Vic and a shocking shooting.
The character’s return was hotly anticipated by fans ever since she briefly appeared in three episodes earlier this year. Her reunion with mum Kat Slater aired on Tuesday night (2 September) and fans have flocked to the internet to share their theories around where her storyline might go.
Zoe is fan favourite on EastEnders thanks to her involvement in many of the show’s iconic moments and characters. Here we take a look at her past, from her reason for leaving Walford to one of the show’s most quoted arguments…
Zoe first arrived in Walford in 2000(Image: BBC)
Arriving in Walford
Twenty five years ago, The Slater family first burst onto the BBC soap. A teenage Zoe moved to Albert Square with her sisters, Kat, Lynne and Little Mo, father Charlie and grandmother Mo Harris.
Later, her cousin Stacey would arrive and become one the core members of the family, but at the start, Zoe was the youngest Slater and described by the BBC as “bolshy and defiant”. Though her family had just moved to Walford, she was intent on getting away and joining her Uncle Harry in Spain – something Kat was not willing to let happen.
Zoe and Kat’s argument is one of EastEnders’ most iconic fights(Image: Press Association Images)
Finding out who her mother is
Less than a year after she arrived, Zoe wanted to leave Walford to join Harry Slater, her uncle, in Spain. Her sister Kat is not willing to let that happen and orders Zoe not to go.
In a fight outside the Vic, Zoe yells the first half of one EastEnders’ most iconic quotes: “You can’t tell me what to do, you ain’t my mother!”
“Yes, I am!” Kat responds.
She explains that she was 13 when she had Zoe and that she got pregnant after being raped by Harry. The argument leads Kat to attempt suicide, and Zoe, unable to process what she’s learned, runs away.
The twist has affected Kat for the rest of her time on the show and even led to a spin-off called Kat & Alfie: Redwater, in which she goes looking for Luke, her long-lost son and Zoe’s twin brother.
During her first time away from Walford, Zoe is found on the streets by Roxy Drake, a pimp who forces her into sex work. Thankfully, Kat tracks her daughter down and is able to take her home after head-butting Roxy.
Zoe and Kat were once in a love triangle(Image: BBC)
Love triangle with Kat
Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed a weird look Zoe gave to Anthony Trueman when she entered the Vic on Tuesday’s episode. This is because the two used to be in a relationship.
But Zoe is not the only Slater that Anthony has been involved with. In fact, before he dated her, Anthony was dating Kat. Zoe disowned Kat for disapproving of the relationship but when Anthony reveals that he’s still in love with Kat, the relationship ends and Zoe runs away again.
Den persuaded Zoe to sleep with him and get pregnant(Image: BBC)
Sleeping with Den Watts
When Zoe returns again, she starts to date Dennis Rickman, the son of iconic EastEnders villain Den Watts. The relationship with Dennis was doomed from the start, as unbeknownst to Zoe, he was in love with his adoptive sister, Sharon Watts.
On Christmas Day 2005, Zoe learns of Dennis and Sharon’s affair and plan to run away together. Den convinces Zoe that the only way to keep Dennis is to say she is pregnant, as Sharon is believed to be infertile.
The plan works but Dennis refuses to sleep with Zoe again and she becomes desperate to get pregnant for real. At his suggestion, Zoe resorts to sleeping with Den.
After Dennis catches his girlfriend and his father in bed together, and realises Zoe wasn’t pregnant, he leaves to be with Sharon. But not before informing Den’s wife Chrissie of his affair with Zoe.
Zoe does get pregnant by Den and a vengeful Chrissie convinces her to terminate the pregnancy and team up to exact revenge on Den. Joined by Sam Mitchell, the three hatch a plan to reveal everything he has done to his beloved daughter Sharon.
Upon learning of the way Den used her infertility against her, Sharon disowns him. When Den realised this was Chrissie’s plan, he attacks her and a distressed Zoe panics and hits him with a metal doorstop. Den collapses and Zoe believes she has killed him.
But, after she leaves, Den wakes up and grabs Chrissie who hits him with the same doorstop. Zoe is led to believe she is the murderer, but is eventually told the truth by Sam. When she learns what really happened, Zoe punches Chrissie and decides to leave Walford.
Zoe left Walford for good in 2005
Leaving Walford
Before this year, the last time Zoe was seen on EastEnders was when she was leaving for Ibiza after finding out she wasn’t responsible for Den Watts’ murder. At the tube station, Zoe tearfully called Kat to say goodbye.
Kat races to meet Zoe at the station and gives her the hospital bracelet she had as a baby. Zoe replied: “I love you, Mum.”
The two parted on good terms, and Zoe wasn’t seen again on screen until this year, when she was revealed to be staying with Stacey Slater. However, as proven by her frosty reunion with Kat, something must have changed.
In 2015, Kat tells Mo and Stacey that she was planning to save some money to visit Zoe in Spain, but Mo tells Stacey that Zoe does not want to see Kat. Mo tries to contact Zoe to change her mind, but she refuses and tells Kat that she wants to move on from her and Walford. Kat then visits the convent where she gave birth to Zoe and finds out about her son, Luke.
Zoe first returned in June(Image: BBC)
Return to Walford
Zoe’s return to EastEnders got fully underway in the most recent episodes of the soap and fans have many theories about what she has been up to in the two decades since she left. Some have suggested she may be the real mother of Joel Marshall, one of the show’s current villains.
Others have guessed she is secretly be married to another returning favourite, Max Branning. If so, she would be the second Slater to be involved with him, as Stacey has been romantically linked to Max several times, including when she was still dating his son, Bradley.
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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Marc Marquez stages a lights-to-flag victory to record his ninth German MotoGP victory as podium contenders crash out.
Marc Marquez proved once again why he is known as the “King of Sachsenring” when the Ducati rider marked his 200th MotoGP start by winning the German Grand Prix in a race that became a test of survival after only 10 of 18 riders finished.
Marquez’s ninth MotoGP victory at the Sachsenring stretched his championship lead over brother Alex, who finished second, to 83 points while Marc’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia finished third to sit 147 points behind.
Alex Marquez had started fifth on the grid and took second in his 100th MotoGP start despite still recovering from a fractured hand he suffered at the Dutch Grand Prix two weeks ago, which required surgery.
Several riders crashed over the course of the race, especially at turn one – including VR46 Racing’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi when they were in second place.
But the day belonged to Marc Marquez as he marked his latest triumph at his favourite hunting ground by standing on his bike and doing a jig as he passed the chequered flag – a fourth straight weekend where he had won both the sprint and the race.
“One more [win at the Sachsenring] was super special. From the beginning, I felt good, the confidence when I started the weekend was super high because we were coming from three victories in a row,” he said.
“We are in an incredible moment. Now we can say that half the season is done. Now [the second] half we still need to be super concentrated.”
Marco Bezzecchi of Italy riding the Aprilia Racing bike crashes out during the the MotoGP of Germany [Goose Photography/Getty Images]
More riders fall in the challenging conditions
Pedro Acosta became the third rider to crash early on after Lorenzo Savadori and Miguel Oliveira, with the young Spaniard gesturing at his fallen machine in frustration.
Di Giannantonio had broken the lap record in Friday’s practice and given Marc Marquez a tough time early in the sprint race on Saturday.
But the Italian was unable to push any harder to catch up to Marquez, who found a comfortable rhythm and pace to surge more than two seconds ahead despite easing off the throttle on two laps to conserve his tyres.
As Marquez’s lead stretched to more than three seconds, Di Giannantonio’s challenge came to an end on the downhill braking zone on turn one when he lost control and crashed, with his bike tumbling across the gravel while he escaped unhurt.
LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco, who started second on the grid before getting pushed down the order, crashed at the same turn seconds later.
Bezzecchi had moved up to second, but the Aprilia rider also bit the dust on the very next lap at turn one, moving Alex Marquez up to second while Bagnaia suddenly found himself in the podium positions.
The crashes did not end there as Trackhouse Racing’s Ai Ogura lost his balance on turn one and ended up taking out Honda’s Joan Mir in the process, leaving only 10 of the 18 starters.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo finished fourth ahead of Alex Marquez’s Gresini Racing teammate Fermin Aldeguer.
Ducati’s Marc Marquez during the German MotoGP [Ronny Hartmann/AFP]
Teenage opener Sam Konstas and Josh Inglis were recalled in their place, but they scored just three and five respectably as the tourists slipped to 22-3.
Head put on 89 runs for the fourth wicket with Khawaja, who was dropped twice before he became Joseph’s third victim of the day.
Joseph, the hero for West Indies in their famous win in Brisbane 18 months ago, then produced a beauty of a delivery that clean bowled Webster as he ended with figures of 4-46.
Head’s resistance ended when he was caught behind off the bowling of Justin Greaves, before Seales wrapped up the tail to finish with 5-60.
West Indies, seeking a first home Test win over Australia for 22 years, made a poor start to their reply when Starc removed openers Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell in successive overs.
Cummins then had Keacy Carty caught behind, before Hazlewood bowled nightwatchman Jomel Warrican in the space of six balls shortly before stumps.
City crews are clearing debris in Los Angeles after three nights of anti-ICE protests left burned vehicles, smashed windows, and graffiti across downtown. Cleanup began early Monday as officials assessed structural damage and transit disruptions caused by the unrest.
