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RANGERS boss Philippe Clement says he respects Jose Mourinho’s achievements – but ISN’T a massive fan of his favoured style of play.

It was a surprise comment from the under-fire Ibrox boss ahead of the Europa League last 16 ties which will pit the Gers against the Portuguese football legend for the first time in competitive battle.

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Jose Mourinho is at Fenerbahce these days[/caption]

Rex

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Inter Milan’s coach Jose Mourinho celebrates after his second Champions League win[/caption]

Mourinho is universally recognised as one of the finest managers in the history of the sport with TWO Champions League wins with different teams under his belt on top of countless achievements with other clubs.

These of course include a Uefa Cup win against Celtic in Seville in 2003 which made him a hero for many Gers fans.

But it’s true that his teams don’t always play fluent attacking football – and are often masters of the dark arts.

Presumably that is what Clement was referring to when he said: “There are different managers with different styles.

“He won a lot of trophies in a certain style.

“I like even more managers with another style, but the respect is there.

“It’s about winning in the end.

“And winning the biggest trophies you can win in the world. It’s normal to respect someone who does it.

“He is somebody who is more in the defensive style. I prefer more the managers who go full in their attacking force.”

Mourinho, who memorably did his coaching badges with the SFA at Largs, has only ever taken a team to Ibrox once.

It was a 2007 pre-season friendly which saw them lose 2-0 to Walter Smith‘s side courtesy of goals from Nacho Novo and Filip Sebo.

And speaking the former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Tottenham boss revealed that Rangers fans STILL thanked him for ensuring that Celtic didn’t win the UEFA Cup back in 2003. 

His Porto side of course defeated Martin O’Neill‘s team in Seville.

AFP

FCPorto coach Jose Mourinho is all smiles[/caption]

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Mourinho with Nuno Valente after he took Porto to the Champions League[/caption]

Mourinho said: “I could feel it immediately because the week before the game Celtic fans were already in Porto trying to buy tickets from Porto fans.

“Now, what I find in the streets of London and other places I still have Rangers fans thanking me for that final.”

Speaking ahead of the draw, Mourinho said he wasn’t bothered whether he got Rangers or Olympiacos but admitted that Ibrox was a great stadium.

He said: “If we have to go to Scotland we will go. Rangers have a great stadium. It doesn’t matter to us. It doesn’t matter who our opponent is in the first match we will play in Istanbul.

“Fred will be an important absence for us there. We will forget about the Europa League now.”

Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page

DJ Khaled is the latest rapper to receive an ominous black coffin on his doorstep as the Grammy Award-winning producer is dragged back into his reported feud with Drake.

The creepy makeshift casket, with an upside-down white cross in the center and the words “RIP Drake” and “RIP OVO” written on it, was left outside the front gate of DJ Khaled’s Florida home on Saturday evening.

SWNS:South West News Service

SWNS:South West News Service

Two people pulled up to Khaled’s Miami residence in a truck and claimed to be from a delivery company, according to TMZ.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.

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FORGIVE me this week for taking a trip down memory lane.

You will see there’s a method in the madness, and many of the horses who have won today’s feature betting race, the Ladbrokes Trophy, deserve a plug as they became household favourites.

Go back far enough . . . and legends Crisp and Pendil landed this afternoon’s big handicap chase and, once upon a time, it fell to Combs Ditch, who spent much of his time chasing home stars in the King George.

Since 1988, when the contest was rebranded, winners have numbered Grand National heroes Rhyme ‘N’ Reason and Rough Quest, as well as grey legend Desert Orchid, who galloped home in 1990 under 12st 3lb!

Two performances that stand out for me came in 1989 and 11 years later in 2000 — thanks to Bonanza Boy and Gloria Victis.

Both were trained by the genius Martin Pipe, with the former never going a yard before flying home late from off the pace for a remarkable victory under Peter Scudamore.

Gloria Victis was a beautiful class act, and won as a novice with Richard Johnson up.

After Kempton he took on the best in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and was running a belter up front until narrowly headed and falling two out. Sadly he broke a leg. Pipey was in bits.

It’s funny how things happen, but Gloria Victis is significant because, prior to winning here, he hacked up in the Grade 1 Feltham Novices’ Chase over Christmas. Which brings us to HYLAND (3.35) who, I suspect, will take all the beating today.

Nicky Henderson’s youngster also ran in the Feltham, now known as the Kauto Star, and stayed on really well to keep the very decent but now sidelined The Jukebox Man honest.

Hyland is a much better chaser than hurdler, and generally jumps well, although he did make an error at the first that day which didn’t help his cause.

Nico de Boinville takes the ride on an improving stayer who banged in two wins at Cheltenham earlier this term. Hyland has every chance for Henderson who took the prize with the useful Marlborough.

Hyland is not the only novice in the line-up. Philip Hobbs and Johnson White team up with Lowry’s Bar, who comes into the event with similar form. After two wins, Lowry’s Bar was beaten by Hendo’s Jingko Blue at Windsor. A mistake three out that day made a big difference.

Hobbsy has taken the prize with Dr Leunt, Gunther McBride, Farmer Jack and Quinz so knows what it takes to deliver the goods.
Like Hyland, Lowry’s Bar promises to be a Grand National type one day.

Of the more regular handicappers, Our Power should enjoy conditions and did well to land this race last year.

He’s only 3lb higher in the handicap but is now ten. Stable companion Katate Dori has taken a couple of Class 4 events recently but this is Class 1 and he’s down in trip. He needs to do more.

Elsewhere on the Kempton card ITV also show the Grade 2 Pendil Novices’ Chase. Rubaud ran well at Warwick last time but I’m not sure about this step up in trip. He’s probably the most talented in the field.

I suspect there will be a strong gallop on with both Imperial Saint and Ashdale Bob possible front-runners and I’ll take BOOMBAWN (1.50) to cause a minor upset at a price.

My selection was well beaten by The Jukebox Man at Newbury, but prior to that had won well from off the pace at Wincanton. I have a feeling he’s a fair bit more skilled than his current rating suggests.

Most eyes will be on MONDO MAN (2.25) in the Grade 2 Adonis Hurdle.
The former class Flat performer — once fifth behind Look De Vega in a French Derby — made his jumps debut at Ascot when a fair second to the exciting Triumph Hurdle favourite Lulamba.

Mondo Man pulled Caolin Quinn’s arms out of their sockets that day but still found time to jump well and stay on nicely.

Connections have put all sorts of gear on him to try and get him to settle and the son of Mondialiste who cost a bomb is obviously held in high regard by Gary and Josh Moore.

The Triumph will be very much on their minds if he wins.

It’s very much the calm before the Cheltenham storm at the moment, but there is lots to like about Kempton’s big card.

I’m told Hyland means ‘proud’ in Gaelic. So go on, please make me proud this afternoon, lad. Yeeehaaa!

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Find our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices here.

HOW one’s heart bleeds for the BBC as it struggles to get by on just £5.4 billion a year, a miserly sum when you have 102 on-air presenters paid more than £150,000 a year.   

The BBC’s income last year, bleats the corporation’s latest report, is 30 per cent down in real terms over the past decade.

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Huw Edwards received nearly £200,000 from the BBC between his arrest and his resignation[/caption]

BackGrid

Disgraced Edwards has still not paid back a single penny to the corporation[/caption]

Alamy

There is no better example of unfairness than licence fee prosecutions – three quarters of which are of women[/caption]

But I know where it could get £200,000 from, if it helps. 

When disgraced former newsreader Huw Edwards was convicted of offences involving child abuse images last summer BBC Director General Tim Davie admitted that he had known about his arrest the previous November.   

Yet between then and April 2024, when Edwards finally resigned from his job, he had continued to receive his full salary.    

He wasn’t working at the time because he had been suspended and then signed off sick when he was caught paying £35,000 to a young male fan in return for naked pictures.

Given that Edwards was paid a whacking £475,000 it meant that he received nearly £200,000 between his arrest and his resignation.   

That is more TV licence fee revenue than the BBC takes annually from a thousand households.   

No matter, said Davie. The BBC would demand the money back. And if Edwards was uncooperative, it would look at legal action.

Guess what? It appears that Edwards has still not paid back a single penny.  

Edwards was lucky to have been spared jail. There are plenty of seedy men like him who have spent time behind bars for downloading child pornography.

Instead, he has been allowed to withdraw into genteel retirement in his native Wales courtesy of you and I.   

What many hard-working people would give to have had the chance to amass a pension fund of £200,000. But that, of course, is only what Edwards was paid during the last five months of his employment.   

His pension pot is worth far, far more – according to some estimates he could be enjoying a pension of around £300,000 a year. 

There seems to be no chance that he will be stripped of that pension. Davie said last year that it would be “nigh on impossible” to claw it back.

On the other hand, what about the £200,000 Edwards was paid during those last five months of his BBC employment when he wasn’t working and was known to have been charged with serious criminal offences?   

Perhaps it is too much for him to do the decent thing and return the money voluntarily. If you are going to look at sexual images of children, clearly there is something wrong with your moral compass. 

But why the feebleness on the part of the BBC?

Easier targets

It is outrageous that the salary was paid in the first place. And how ironic, given the mercilessness of the contractors charged with collecting the licence fee on behalf of the BBC.  

I don’t have much sympathy for people who are deliberately evading paying the licence fee, but many of the nearly 50,000 people prosecuted last year for evasion do not fall into that category.  

They include seriously ill people who have forgotten to pay while they undergo treatment, and people on low incomes who have been struggling to pay rent as well as utility bills.

You can’t listen to the BBC long without being lectured to about some grave injustice when women are claimed to be getting a poor deal, yet there is no better example of unfairness than licence fee prosecutions – three quarters of which are of women.    

Perhaps TV Licensing finds them easier targets.          

The last government tried to put things right by promising to decriminalise the licence fee so that it would become just like any other utility bill – TV Licensing would have to send you multiple reminders to pay before collecting the money through the civil courts.    

That would have spared people on low incomes the crushing blow of receiving a criminal conviction for being late in renewing their TV Licence.   

But the BBC complained bitterly that it would reduce their income, and the Conservatives were too pathetic to follow through with their promise.

The BBC should never have been paying Edwards £425,000 a year in the first place

It has been the same with every government over the past generation.  

They have known that the licence fee is an anachronism – a hangover from the days when the BBC was the only channel available on television.  

But they have seemed too frightened to reform it.

The BBC should never have been paying Edwards £425,000 a year in the first place. It says it needs to compete for talent with commercial stations.   

But surely the whole point of being a public service broadcaster – which would be the only justification for the licence fee – is that you are not competing with commercial broadcasters.

The BBC has tried to have it both ways for far too long.  

The Huw Edwards scandal must be the moment of realisation when the government finally does away with the licence fee and makes the BBC earn its keep, like any other broadcaster.  

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Many of the people prosecuted last year for evasion include seriously ill people, or those on low incomes[/caption]

A GARDA probe is underway after a severed human hand was discovered at a primary school.

The find was made today at Our Lady Immaculate school in Darndale, north Dublin.

A scene is being preserved as the State Pathologist has been notified.

Cops will now carry out inquiries how the severed limb ended up there and who it belongs to.

As part of this, the remains will be brought away for DNA analysis.

A garda spokesman told the Irish Sun: “Gardaí were alerted to the discovery of partial human remains at a premises in Darndale, Dublin 17 this afternoon.

“A scene is currently being held and the State Pathologist has been notified, in line with standard practice.

“The remains will be removed for examination and DNA analysis, which will assist Gardaí in confirming the identity and determine the course of the investigation.

“Enquiries are ongoing.”

There were no students at the school today as it is during the mid-term break.

Garrett White - The Sun Dublin

BRITS will lose access to a powerful iPhone security feature designed to protect you from spying.

It comes after the UK government demanded access to the private data of iPhone owners.

Apple

All iPhones in Britain will lose access to an important safety feature[/caption]

The feature is called Advanced Data Protection, and it’s meant to keep your iCloud back-ups safe.

iCloud is where your photos, videos, and texts are stored as back-ups – so if you ever lose or upgrade your iPhone, you can restore them on the new one.

This is some of the most private info an iPhone owner can have, so protecting it is especially important.

With Advanced Data Protection switched on, the contents of your iCloud back-ups are encrypted.

That means no one else but you can see them. Even Apple can’t view them, which means it can’t share them with the police or spies.

Apple says that the feature is meant to protect you, and that building a backdoor into the setting would put users at risk from hackers.

Now to comply with the Government, Advanced Data Protection will have to be removed.

That means anything that you’ve got stored in iCloud will no longer be encrypted.

Any of the info can be accessible by Apple, and ultimately shared on to police with a warrant.

The tech giant says it’s “gravely disappointed” that the feature has been removed for Brits.

“Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users and current UK users will eventually need to disable this security feature,” Apple explained in a statement.

“ADP protects iCloud data with end-to-end encryption, which means the data can only be decrypted by the user who owns it, and only on their trusted devices.

“We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy.

“Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before.

“Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom.

“As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.”

Developing…

The 4 Nations Face-Off championship game between Team USA and Team Canada was a raucous atmosphere. The Boston crowd was loud from the National Anthems to Connor McDavid’s overtime winner. During the hotly contested third period, fans launched into a “Johnny Hockey” chant honoring the late Johnny Gaudreau. View this post on Instagram A post […]

The post Fans unite for incredible Johnny Gaudreau gesture during 4 Nations USA-Canada appeared first on ClutchPoints.

The Brooklyn Nets’ offensive struggles continued during Thurday’s 110-97 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, Cam Thomas’ return to the lineup could offer the jolt they’ve been missing. The fourth-year guard participated in five-on-five scrimmages on Thursday for the first time since injuring his hamstring on Jan. 2. “That was good to get back on […]

The post Nets’ Cam Thomas breaks silence on return amid extended injury absence appeared first on ClutchPoints.

The Vancouver Canucks will head to Sin City to face the Vegas Golden Knights. It will be a war at T-Mobile Arena as we continue our NHL odds series and make a Canucks-Golden Knights prediction and pick. The Golden Knights lead the head-to-head series 16-7. Also, the Knights beat the Canucks 3-1 on December 19, […]

The post Canucks vs. Golden Knights prediction, odds, pick – 2/22/2025 appeared first on ClutchPoints.

Despite entering the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament with serious question marks in goal, Team Canada was able to get a heroic performance from Jordan Binnington in Thursday’s championship game in Boston at TD Garden. Binnington turned back the clock and delivered a clutch outing reminiscent of his Game 7 Stanley Cup-winning victory for the St. […]

The post Jordan Binnington reacts to heroic Canada 4 Nations performance vs. Team USA appeared first on ClutchPoints.