Following the appointment of Danny Rohl, Rangers chief Andrew Cavenagh has already set his sights on some much-needed January upgrades at Ibrox.

Cavenagh admits early Rangers mistakes

It would be a major understatement to say that the 49ers’ haven’t had the best start at Rangers. The new owners have faced fan protest and are already on their second manager after deciding to sack Russell Martin just 123 days into his tenure. But they will hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel for their problems now that Rohl has arrived.

The 49ers have also faced up to their mistakes, with Cavenagh admitting publicly that things have not gone as they “envisioned” and that it is key to own their mistakes.

The Rangers chairman said: “When we came here, we said we wanted to do two things, sustain winning and winning sustainably.

“It has not gone as we envisioned, we knew it wouldn’t be easy, but we are incredibly committed to getting back to what everybody wants, which is winning football matches. When we get things wrong, the key is to recognise that, own it and improve and we are incredibly committed to that.

“It didn’t work out with Russell, I think he is a good person, he worked tirelessly in the role, he desperately wanted to win, and I wish him nothing but the best but, in the end, it didn’t work out. We recognised that and that is a big part of the reason that we have changed.”

Rangers claim they have a 6 foot 4 youngster at Ibrox who's the next Calvert-Lewin

They’ve had their say…

ByTom Cunningham Oct 22, 2025

There may be more change on the way yet, with the chairman already setting his sights on two moves in the January transfer window.

Rohl already has Rangers transfer promise

Speaking to Sky Sports, Cavenagh set his sights on two Rangers moves this January amid an early promise to Rohl about reinforcements. The club chairman admitted that he still wants to add more experience and steel to the new manager’s side when the winter window swings open.

Despite already spending big to hand Martin plenty of changes, it looks as though the 49ers are ready to bite the bullet and return to the transfer market to make up for previous mistakes for Rohl this winter.

Portland Hearts of Pine's jerseys went global, but their debut season on the pitch has proved they're far more than just a cool kit

The drive to Portland is long and dark for Mitchell Ketchen. It takes about an hour, all in, cutting through winding roads and sharp corners. His house is 20 minutes from the nearest shopping center, relatively cut off from the world. He lives in a place where generation after generation have stayed, a town built on basketball, football and baseball. 

There isn’t much soccer to be found. 

But get behind the wheel, and within 60 minutes, he approaches what has become a mecca of American soccer. And it isn’t even a field. Fitzpatrick Stadium is a public turf, used primarily for Portland High School. You’ve seen it thousands of times – American football goalposts at either end, a track around the edge, bleachers on either side. It could be transplanted in pretty much any town in the U.S. 

And in Portland, Maine, it is the hub of a movement, a 6,000-seat fortress of sorts that has housed numerous attendance records in USL League One. This is the home of Portland Hearts of Pine, the trendy hipster brand that turned out to be rather good at this sport. 

But more importantly, it is a club that embraced a community – and which rallied around them in return. Hearts of Pine are cool. But they’re also a model of what USL League One football can – and perhaps should – be, a team that not only understands the people it caters to, but also achieves success in the process. 

“We've built this beacon of what grassroots football can look like in the States,” Club Founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson said. “These are all the things we set out to do.”

• Bill Trevaskis
  

  More than just cool jerseys

  It was the kits that first went viral. Portland nailed them. The Internet said so in its millions of clicks and engagements.

  The goal was a mixture of expression and authenticity, Hoffman-Johnson told GOAL last year. The soccer hipsters loved the long-sleeves and the hoops. The Mainers loved the ruggedness. 

  Throw in a campaign that was distinctly not all that about soccer – a lasting image was a man with a chainsaw, cutting down a tree with a battered undershirt, punctuating with the kit – and they found a crossover that few in mainstream soccer could replicate. 

  That was only part of the journey, Hoffman-Johnson says. 

  “The jerseys have gone to every state,” he said. “They’ve gone to 40 countries. But I think there's a love of the way that we celebrate the community, the way that we uplift the community. We do the right things for the right reasons.”

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  'A hard nosed brand of football'

  More broadly, the challenge was to develop a product that fans could get behind. There’s no point in having a cool brand if the fanbase can’t enjoy the soccer. Portland doesn’t have an NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL team. But it does have a strong sporting culture, and deep ties to the beautiful game. The fans here expect success.

  But many in the world of prediction-making didn’t believe. In the eyes of some, Portland were little beyond a cool badge and striking jerseys. The soccer was a bonus, and it wasn’t necessarily going to be very good. 

  Ketchen, co-chair of the Hearts of Pine supporters’ group Dirigo Union, rejected that notion from day one. 

  “Somebody says they're going to come in and they're going to look for good people, they're going to play a very hard-nosed brand of football that reflects the community that they're representing. I'm going to believe that,” he told GOAL. 

  They were right, of course. Portland won their first playoff game over the weekend. They will face a win-or-go-home conference semifinal against Spokane Velocity – a team they battered 6-1 two weeks ago.

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  'A very strong core'

  Portland were assertive in their squad early on. It started with the coaching hire. Those outside of the USL sphere may not know much about Bobby Murphy. There are, of course, hundreds of coaches who have practiced their craft in all three divisions. 

  But Murphy made sense for a number of reasons. The first was his MLS experience – he worked at Orlando City from 2016-18, twice serving as interim manager. But perhaps more important were the six years in between. He coached at three separate levels, most recently at St. Louis City 2 of MLS Next Pro, building a new side and carrying them to the 2024 Western Conference finals. 

  Murphy, then, was a serious hire. 

  “You have this insane coaching staff,” Ketchen said. “You have Bobby Murphy, who has almost three decades of professional coaching experience across every level in America.” 

  Alongside him, they brought in Alex Ryan, a reliable USL League Two vet, and Yuta Nomura, an experienced goalkeeping coach. Ketchen was impressed. 

  “That is a very strong core, and it's a core that understands how to develop talent, how to work with young talent, and mold young professionals,” he said. 

  The squad didn't look bad either. Nathan Messer, formerly of Rhode Island FC, was a shrewd signing at fullback. Ollie Wright was a USL vet who could create and score from midfield. Jay Tee Kamara spent time in the Swedish league and brought experience. Joint top-scorer Masashi Wada played for a decade in Japanese football before being coaxed to the U.S..

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• Bill Trevaskis
  

  'It goes beyond soccer'

  Perhaps more important than all of that were the deep ties that the club worked within the community. Hoffman-Johnson’s journey started with the 2022 World Cup, when he saw the potential that Portland had as a soccer city during a watch party for the England-USA game. It was a miserable contest, but thousands turned out in the rain to see a scoreless draw. That was passion. And his team could tap into it. 

  Ketchen and co were sold early. They founded their supporters’ group before the club even debuted. They were there in bars and pubs when USL soccer was merely a rumor. Ketchen is a lifelong fan and a stout Liverpool supporter. He used to wake up at 5 a.m. and drive down south to a bar to watch the Reds play on Saturday mornings.

  There, he met Hoffman-Johnson. And they just talked about soccer. Ketchen had a podcast at the time. Hoffman-Johnson suggested that if this whole Portland thing worked out, they could perhaps help promote the team. 

  “It was like, ‘Hey, the supporter group needs some help. And you guys know ball and you're excited about this, so you know, just go talk with them, see what you can do,’” Ketchen said. 

  That was two years ago. The badge was released a year later, along with some merch. Last month, they added their 850th paying member. 

  “It's humbling,” he said. “I'm a lifelong Mainer. It goes beyond soccer. We're very sports crazy up here, we're very competitive. We love to talk sh*t. We'll follow our teams off a cliff.”

The Milwaukee Brewers seemed destined for a National League Division Series date against the Philadelphia Phillies as they entered the ninth inning of Thursday night's Game 3 with a 2-0 lead over the New York Mets. Then baseball happened—Pete Alonso smacked a three-run bomb the opposite way and Jesse Winker scored an insurance run before trying to spike his helmet through the Earth's mantle. A potential Brewers' comeback in the bottom of the frame died in the glove of Francisco Lindor and just like that, a promising season was over for the home team.

Bob Uecker, the Brewers' 90-year-old broadcaster, was forced to sign off before he and the listening audience would have liked, and he marked the somber moment by saying, understatedly, that the crushing season-ending loss "had some sting on it."

Christian Yelich, who has become one of Uecker's close friends through all his years with the organization, was visibly emotional after sharing a one-on-one chat with the broadcaster in the clubhouse following the loss.

It's pretty impressive that anyone can find the words in public after losses like that. The average fan doesn't even want to talk to their family, let alone tick through all their emotions while they are still processing them while cameras and microphones are rolling.

Unlike seasons prior, it feels like Manchester City are flying under the radar a little bit this year.

They may have lost two games earlier in the campaign, but with their 2-0 win over Everton and Liverpool’s loss to Manchester United, Pep Guardiola’s side are now second in the Premier League and three points off Arsenal.

Moreover, unlike their two biggest title rivals, the Citizens have a reliable centre-forward leading the line who is currently scoring goals for fun.

Erling Haaland is arguably in the form of his life, and while some may criticise Man City for being a one-man team, the free-scoring Norwegian could end that discourse by helping one of the summer signings reach his sky-high potential this season.

Are Man City a one-man team?

So, even though they are just a win off top spot in the league, there is some talk over them being a ‘one-man team,’ an idea stemming from and given crednce by the lack of goals from elsewhere in the side.

For example, across all competitions, Haaland has scored 14 goals and provided one assist so far this season and the next highest score is Phil Foden, with just two goals to his name.

Unfortunately, it is even worse when looking at the league alone.

Here, the former Borussia Dortmund star has 11 goals and one assist to his name in eight games, but then nobody else in the team has scored more than one.

Even then, only four players have found themselves on the scoresheet aside from the leading man himself.

While City are doing well, this is undeniably worrying, as if the Norwegian monster was to get injured and miss a month or two of action, who would step-up?

Fortunately, it’s still early on in the campaign, and City have talented players who could become more prolific as it goes, including one who, with the help of Haaland, could become one of the best players in the world.

The Man City gem Haaland could make World-Class

Haaland may be the clear standout for Man City so far this season, but there are plenty of talented names in the squad who could get better and better as the campaign goes on.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

For example, arguably the most exciting younger star in the side, and the one who could go on to become a world-beater, is Rayan Cherki.

The Frenchman joined the club from Lyon in the summer, scored on his Premier League debut, but then missed almost two months of action with a hamstring injury.

Fortunately, the 22-year-old international made his return to first team action with a five-minute cameo against Everton on Saturday, and fans should be very, very excited about how good he could be.

After all, The Athletic’s Alex Barker described him as a “future Ballon d’Or winner” just a couple of years ago, and while that might sound a tad hyperbolic, his numbers and output suggest otherwise.

In 48 appearances, totalling 3218 minutes last season, the Lyon-born gem scored 13 goals and provided 21 assists, which comes out to a staggering average of a goal involvement every 1.41 games, or every 94.64 minutes.

Moreover, FBref ranked him in the top 1% of attacking midfielders and wingers in Ligue 1 last season for expected assists, key passes, passes into the penalty area, shot-creating actions and more, all per 90.

In other words, the ambipedal game-changer is an attacking force of nature capable of creating an abundance of chances as well as being able to take them himslef.

So, it wouldn’t be wild to think that, when he’s fully fit and up to speed, he could play a massive role in helping the team become a little less reliant on Haaland.

At the same time, the Norwegian’s unreal finishing ability could see the Frenchman rack up an incredible number of assists this season and beyond, in turn helping him to fufil the sky-high potential so many believ him to have.

Ultimately, it might take a few weeks, but Cherki could be the solution to many City’s issues this season, and a future superstar.

Man City eye South American star who may follow in Julian Alvarez's footsteps

The Citizens could follow a familiar trend in their latest pursuit.

By
Sean Markus Clifford

Oct 19, 2025