Robin

Robin van Persie says his decision to hand son Shaqueel a senior debut in Feyenoord’s Europa League defeat by Celtic was made “as a coach” and not out of sentiment.

The 19-year-old forward spent two seasons at Manchester City’s academy, before following in his father’s footsteps with a move to Feyenoord in 2017 and signing a first professional contract with the Dutch club in 2022.

Fast forward to 2025 and Shaqueel was named in Feyenoord’s first-team squad for the first time in Sunday’s Eredivisie defeat by NEC Nijmegen.

Four days later he made his senior debut, coming on in the 81st minute of Feyenoord’s Europa League loss to Celtic.

“I made that call as a coach, not as a dad because we needed a goal,” said former Arsenal and Manchester United forward Robin afterwards.

“Shaqueel is a player who can score a goal from all angles. That was the reason I brought him on.

“From a father’s point of view, when your son makes his debut that is always a special moment. But I wasn’t that busy with enjoying that moment, I was doing my work like Shaqueel was.”

The London-born teenager didn’t have chance to make an impact and had just one shot in Celtic’s box.

He came on with the score at 2-1, with Martin O’Neill’s side scoring their third a minute after his introduction.

“The way I see Shaqueel is as one of the players,” added Robin. “This is what we both agreed to a couple of years ago when we already worked together. Shaqueel was handling that really well, I am too in my opinion.

“Later on when we are home of course we will have a nice moment, when we are proud of each other. I am proud of Shaqueel because, like every player who makes his debut, there is a whole process going on before he made his debut. He worked hard, deserved it and, for him, is a special moment.”

Van Persie is not the first manager to give his son a debut as BBC Sport picks out some of the others, plus other father-son duos to have featured in the same team.

The internet personality and comedian has landed his TV debut in Robin Hood.

Henry Rowley of TikTok fame has landed his first major TV role in MGM+’s Robin Hood, which also stars Sean Bean.

He plays the character Will Gamewell, and took to Instagram to say he was “so excited” for the “amazing project”.

Originally from Leicester but now living in London, the star is the youngest of three brothers, who studied English literature at the University of Bristol.

He uploaded his first TikTok video in October 2021 and some of his sketches have received millions of views.

One of his most famous videos includes an uncanny impersonation of Keira Knightley. The star is seen re-enacting some of the Hollywood actress’s scenes from the film Love Actually. On Instagram, the video has more than 180,000 likes.

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Speaking to Square Mile, he admitting there was nothing showbiz about his childhood.

“Mum’s a counsellor, dad’s a doctor,” he shared, and as for his brothers: “Nick works in PR and Alex is an accountant.”

Never did he dream he would appear in an epic adventure drama with A-list stars like Sean Bean.

On landing his Robin Hood role, he said: ” It was the best experience of my life, far and away.

“For me that’s been a lifelong dream, to get a professional acting role and to be on a proper set with the cast and full crew and everything.

“Being there was better than the expectation. On my first day on set, I was giddy. I couldn’t stop smiling and saying to everyone, this is the most fun I’ve ever had.

“It’s just play with more stakes.” After sending over an audition tape, he landed the role and was told he would fly out to Serbia for filming three days later.

“Cancelled my trip to Mexico, went to Serbia, and had the best time ever,” he said.

He quit his job in marketing to pursue comedy and acting full-time and has since performed at a number of Edinburgh Fringe shows.

Henry admitted he did not know what TikTok was when he first started using it, thinking it was just “kids dancing”.

It was his friends who encouraged him to post his impressions on the platform and they “lost their minds” when the videos started garnering 30,000 views a day, in particular Minty, the posh girl at the afters.

Robin Hood airs weekly on MGM+