‘It raises a lot of complicated questions': Drogheda's US owner opens up on impact of European nightmare

United co-chairman admits internal confidence around navigating Uefa's ownership rules were 'misplaced' but resolves to fix 'bump in the road'
It was late Monday morning in Birmingham, Alabama when Ben Boycott, the co-chairman of Drogheda United, learned the crushing news that the club's European campaign was over before it had started. He immediately booked a flight to Ireland and told his wife he was going to be away until the weekend.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) hearing that confirmed Drogheda's fate, by standing over Uefa's decision to expel them from the Europa Conference League, may have been a six-hour virtual affair with scratchy connectivity, but Boycott knew the fall-out needed to be handled face to face.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

North Wales Chronicle

30 minutes ago

• North Wales Chronicle

Champions Day seen as an ‘obvious' target for Docklands

Harry Eustace's five-year-old is owned by the Australian outfit OTI Racing, and was campaigned internationally over the winter before returning to Newmarket. His early campaign revolved around Ascot, a track he clearly favours and shone at again with a tough Group One victory over Rosallion. The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes is therefore the late-season target over the same course and distance, with a European campaign the likely focus in the meantime. 'The obvious thing to do would be to work backwards from Champions Day at Ascot, there's also the Prix Jacques le Marois and the Sussex Stakes,' said Eustace. 'He takes his racing well, he ran 10 days before Ascot at Epsom so I don't necessarily want or need to space his racing out a lot. 'He put in a huge performance at Ascot, but he's a five-year-old and if there was ever a year where we can campaign him more aggressively then this is it. 'We were waiting to see how Ascot panned out before we began plotting where'd he go next, but the one thing we know he won't do is go to Australia.' Eustace had two Group One winners across Royal Ascot, the second being Time For Sandals after her 25-1 strike in the Commonwealth Cup. She has a host of top level sprints on her radar, though connections anticipate next year will be a busier campaign as she started her season this time relatively early. 'She's great and seems to have come out of it really well,' he said of the filly. 'We hadn't really thought past Ascot with her because we were pitching her in a Group One and we knew it'd tell us how to campaign her for the rest of season. 'Now she's a Group One winner, she's got to run in Group One races so races like the Flying Five, the Nunthorpe and the Haydock Sprint Cup are all obvious targets. 'She was up and running early enough for the Fred Darling so I don't think we'll be campaigning her aggressively this year. 'We'll very much look at the older sprint programme next year, it sort of writes itself.'

Daily Mirror

41 minutes ago

• Daily Mirror

Keegan Bradley confirms Ryder Cup stance after Travelers Championship triumph

Keegan Bradley could yet become the first United States captain to feature at the Ryder Cup since Arnold Palmer in 1963 after winning the Travelers Championship on Sunday US captain Keegan Bradley has admitted he could pick himself for the Ryder Cup after beating Tommy Fleetwood to win the Travelers Championships. 'It's insane,' he said. In a Ryder Cup style atmosphere with chants of 'USA, USA' ringing out at the TPC River Highlands in Connecticut, Bradley made a birdie on the 72nd hole to win by a single shot from the European star. The 2011 US PGA champion climbed to world No.7 and ninth in the American Ryder Cup standings. The top six qualify before six wildcard picks. ‌ Bradley had previously insisted he would only be the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963 if he qualified automatically. ‌ But after his eighth PGA Tour title, the 39-year-old said: 'This changes the story a little bit. I never would have thought about playing if I hadn't won. This definitely opens the door to play. I don't know if I'm going to do it or not, but I certainly have to take a pretty hard look at what's best for the team and we'll see. It's still June, so we still got a long ways to go. This definitely changes things a little bit, and we'll all get together and figure out the best way to do this. 'It's insane. My whole life every year I was out here I wanted to play on the Ryder Cup team, and then this would be the first year where maybe I didn't want to. I just wanted to be the captain and, of course, you know, this is what happens. But we'll see. I'm going to do whatever I think is best for the team. Whether that's me on the team -- this certainly changes a lot of things. I was never going to play on the team unless I had won a tournament and so that's changed, but we'll see.' Bradley has two wins against world-class fields in the last 10 months and only World No.1 Scottie Scheffler has won more in the last 10 months among players ahead of him in the Ryder Cup standings. The time a top-10 player was not picked was when world No.7 Bubba Watson was snubbed in 2016 Qualifying lasts until August 17. After his press conference, Bradley told the Golf Channel that if he plays at Bethpage Black on Long Island he will still be captain with his assistants – Jim Furyk, Webb Simpson, Kevin Kisner and Brandt Snedeker – taking extra responsibilities. His omission from the 2023 team in Rome was controversial as he finished 11th on the points list. Zach Johnson chose the out-of-form Justin Thomas in one of the best storylines in the Netflix documentary "Full Swing". ‌ Bradley, who also won the Travelers Championship in 2023, said:I got the call at 8 o'clock tonight a year ago today. So I've been getting these questions for a year. Whether I play well or play poorly, it's something that I have become used to. To be honest with you, I never really planned on playing. I really wanted to just be the captain. I really felt strongly about that. I want to serve the guys. They asked me to do a job. I want to do it to the best of my abilities. Now, with the amazing vice captains that I have, and I have a better perspective of playing in the Presidents Cup and being around a lot of the guys, I feel a lot more comfortable if I went that route. I'm really proud of the guys that are vice captains and -- you know, obviously, you got Jim Furyk, one of the greatest players to play and also an incredibly great captain at the Presidents Cup.' Bradley spared a thought for European star Fleetwood who led by two shots with three to play and has still to win in 159 attempts on the PGA Tour. 'I know how hard it must be for him,' said the American. 'He's just an unbelievable player, and he's fighting so hard to get his first win. It's a weird thing to be on the other side of that. I do feel bad for him, but I got to go out and do what I need to do. But he battled today and I really hope that he gets his win soon.'

South Wales Guardian

42 minutes ago

• South Wales Guardian

Palace's Euro hopes boosted as John Textor sells stake to New York Jets owner

Textor's shares in Palace threatened to be an obstacle to their participation in the Europa League next season because the American is also a shareholder in French side Lyon, who are set to enter the same competition. Under UEFA multi-club ownership rules, it looked as though Palace would miss out. We can confirm that Robert Wood Johnson 'Woody' has signed a legally binding contract to purchase Eagle Football's holding in the club. Full club statement ⤵️#CPFC — Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) June 23, 2025 However, Palace announced on Monday that Textor's 45 per cent stake in the London club has been sold to Johnson, subject to Premier League and Women's Super League approval. A club statement read: 'Crystal Palace Football Club can confirm that Robert Wood Johnson, 'Woody', an American businessman and co-owner of the New York Jets, has signed a legally binding contract to purchase Eagle Football's holding in the club. 'Whilst the completion is pending approval from the Premier League and Women's Super League, we do not envisage any issues and look forward to welcoming Woody as a partner and director of the club. 'We would like to go on record to thank John Textor for his contribution over the past four years and wish him every success for the future.' Reports have placed the price between £160m and £190m. The sale may now free Palace up to play in the Europa League, for which the Eagles qualified thanks to their FA Cup final victory over Manchester City last month. Textor, who through his Eagle Football Holdings group also owns a significant stake in Brazilian side Botafogo, initially invested in Palace in 2021. The PA news agency understands a decision regarding Palace's participation is expected from UEFA before the end of June.