‘Bonds the embodiment of West Ham’s spirit’

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One of the best players to ever win an entire England cap, Billy Bonds, who passed away at the age of 79, was one of West Ham United’s greatest player.

The bearded and buccaneering captain who later led the club, Bonds, is a figure of great significance who belongs alongside the Hammers’ Hall of Famers Bobby Moore, Sir Geoff Hurst, and Martin Peters. He is the embodiment of West Ham spirit.

Every member of West Ham United’s supporters who saw or heard about Bonds’ deeds will recite the phrase, “Rest in peace Billy, our courageous, inspirational, lion-hearted leader,” in a statement released by the club.

In May 1967, Bonds made his debut for West Ham, becoming the club’s longest-serving player, making 799 appearances, and earning the equivalent of £47, 000.

He was initially a right-back before turning out to be a top-notch midfielder and later playing as a capable central defender, making him a respectable replacement for Moore when he left for Fulham in 1974.

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Billy Bonds had a stand at the London Stadium named after him in 2019Images courtesy of Getty

When West Ham won the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup a year later, Moore had been the team’s captain. Bonds almost surpassed his success as West Ham’s coach when they reached the 1976 European Cup Final, where they lost 4-2 to Anderlecht.

At the conclusion of the 1980/81 season, West Ham also lost to Liverpool in the League Cup Final following a replay, and he also helped them reclaim the former First Division.

He collected team honors during that time in addition to those that were not. Bonds, who four times won the coveted “Hammer of the Year,” was awarded the 1988 Professional Footballers’ Association’s Merit award and received the MBE in the same year for his contributions to the sport.

West Ham fans voted Bonds as the club’s greatest player in 2018.

Bonds’ failure to win the England cap has sparked decades of controversy, particularly among West Ham supporters. He also ranks alongside Steve Bruce, an Everton midfielder, and Howard Kendall, a West Ham supporter, among those who have never won the honor.

When England defeated Italy 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley in November 1977, Bonds was an unfilled substitute under the leadership of his former West Ham manager Ron Greenwood.

He was only eligible for England’s friendly against Brazil in May 1981 after suffering broken ribs in a fight with his own goalkeeper Phil Parkes, who had made him eligible.

The opportunity was never present.

In February 1990, he succeeded Lou Macari as West Ham manager, who brought the club back into the top of the table.

When West Ham reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1991, Bonds was also in charge, but the team never recovered from Tony Gale’s contented first-half dismissal, losing 4-0 to Nottingham Forest.

West Ham lost ground in 1992, but the club maintained its faith in Bonds, who then reinstated them in the new Premier League.

Bonds’ 27-year stint at West Ham came to an end in 1994 when Harry Redknapp took his place.

In May 1997, he took over as manager for West Ham’s fierce rivals Millwall, but it was a short-lived, unsuccessful spell, which led him to leave the following year.

West Ham’s name will always remain inextricably linked to Bonds. The first Lifetime Achievement Award given to him by the club was in 2013; he was also visibly moved when the team changed the name of the East Stand at the London Stadium in his honor in February 2019.

Bonds was a private family man away from the field, not the combative captain who was on the field. After the change of the name of the stand, he was moved to tears as he addressed West Ham’s fans while they were at his side, along with many of his former colleagues.

Bonds and West Ham put their best foot forward by combining remarkable fitness, a fiercely competitive nature, and skill with a potent combination that was at the heart of everything they did.

Football fans of a certain age, particularly those at West Ham, will immediately recall the bearded Bonds, who were soaked in mud from the 1970s and 1980s, who were always ready to carry the fight to the opposition.

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Freddy Brazier’s pregnant ex breaks silence on their split to make bombshell claims

Holly Swinburn, Freddy Brazier’s ex, has given an interview where she details the relationship’s final straw and makes shocking claims.

Freddy Brazier’s pregnant ex claims their relationship didn’t end overnight, but one particular incident led her to realize that “enough is enough.”

Holly Swinburn, 22, has said she was on the receiving end of verbal abuse from Freddy, 21. The mum-to-be, who found out she was pregnant with Freddy’s baby in August, said she now wants to step away from the chaos so she can focus on raising their child.

Following reports that the couple have split, in an interview with The Sun, Holly claimed Freddy broke her trust while she was away on a family holiday. She alleged she had asked her ex to look after her home and her dog Pablo during her pre-booked getaway – but said things didn’t go well.

READ MORE: Jeff Brazier and son Freddy support each other at first event since romance splits

She claimed that their dog was unattended for a long time, that he had guests over without her consent, and that their neighbor had complained about the noise.

She responded, “He]Freddy] sent me a picture of five people, including two girls, at 3 a.m..” He claimed to have been marijuana-smoked in my apartment with them… I made the decision to permanently end it. I’m not sure if he can change, but enough is enough.

Freddy contacted Holly on TikTok in June, and she soon discovered she was pregnant two months later. She claimed that Freddy “has shown signs of caring” when, for example, she “has attempted to move forward” every time she “tries to move forward” by discovering “something he lied about” by going to baby scans with him.

Holly claims that Freddy called her “fat” and “s***” as well as “every name under the sun.” She said, “For the sake of the baby, I stayed with Freddy, but it got to be too much.”

The mum-to-be added she believes Freddy’s family know he has “serious issues” and she said that while she understands he has gone through a hard time after losing his mum Jade Goody as a young child, she now wants to focus on her wellbeing and “creating a stable environment” for her baby.

A representative for Freddy Brazier told The Mirror, “We are aware of the claims that have been made and have made the decision not to address them at this time. Freddie remains committed to cooperating where appropriate and to making the right decisions for the wellbeing of everyone involved, especially the child on the way. We ask that matters are given the space to be handled privately and respectfully.”

Following seven years of marriage and twelve years of on-the-off relationship, Freddy’s father Jeff was reportedly reported to have split from his wife Kate Dwyer.

Continue reading the article.

Fans noticed that Jeff left his wedding ring when he appeared on Good Morning Britain on November 25 despite not yet having publicly confirmed the status of his marriage. After a difficult year, Freddy allegedly split the pair, and he made hints of trouble in June. He claimed that “step parents” and “my family issues” were two things he detested in a video that was posted to TikTok.

How Europe’s migration policy and arms empowered Sudan’s warlords

Before the open war broke out in April 2023, Sudan was on the verge of a crisis. Omar al-Bashir’s decades of authoritarian rule resulted in a fragile economy, fragmented security forces, and firmly established paramilitary structures.

A fragile civilian-military transitional arrangement failed to unite opposing factions following the coup that overthrew al-Bashir in 2019. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), a government-backed militia known as the the Janjaweed, who committed war crimes in Darfur in the early 2000s, and a simmering conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), escalated into a full-fledged conflict.

By the middle of 2023, Sudan had been effectively divided into contested regions, with major urban centers like Khartoum and Omdurman becoming battlefields and millions of internally displaced or forced to cross border as refugees.

Although geographically dispersed, significant contributions were made by the European Union. It has been “externalizing” migration control for almost ten years, directing aid, training, and resources to African states ostensibly to stop irregular migration to Europe.

This strategy in Sudan had unintended and devastating effects that the EU is still holding accountable for. Funding that was initially justified under “migration management” and “capacity building” sprang from opaque arms flows, Gulf intermediaries, and lack of oversight. The actors who are currently committing war crimes in Sudan may have been indirectly strengthened by European money and materiel, which were intended to stabilize populations and impose border forces to counteract African migratory ambitions.

Through the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) and the Better Migration Management (BMM) initiative, the EU channeled more than 200 million euros ($232m at the current exchange rate) into Sudan between 2014 and 2018.

These initiatives formally sought to improve border security, immigration control, and traffic control. In reality, they firmly rooted Sudan’s security apparatuses, including those that were essentially merged with the RSF.

The Enough Project, a group that promotes conflict, corruption, and human rights, published a report in 2017 called Border Control from Hell, warning that “the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), one of the country’s most abusive paramilitary groups, stands to gain from EU funding” and that “the equipment that enables identification and registration of migrants will also strengthen the surveillance capabilities of a Sudanese government that has violently suppressed Sudanese citizens for the past 28 years.”

According to an EU official document that was cited by German news outlet Deutsche Welle, the EU was forced to suspend a number of migration-control activities in Sudan two years later because there was a risk that resources might be “diverted for repressive aims.”

The EU does not financially support the Sudanese military, according to a fact sheet that was published on the bloc’s website in 2018: “The Rapid Support Forces of the Sudanese military do not benefit directly or indirectly from EU funding.”

Why did the EU still invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a situation where there was a clear lack of control over the end use of training, equipment, and funds if it knew about the risk of diversion?

Worse, the EU’s role did not just consist in supplying potentially misappropriated funds. Additionally, it indirectly provided weapons.

Investigators began looking into foreign-made weapons and ammunition that the RSF and SAF were distributing widely. Sudan’s battlefields were the site of European-manufactured systems, thanks to verified imagery, open-source analysis, and serial number tracing. Amnesty International discovered in an investigation that Nimr Ajban armored personnel carriers (APCs) had French-made Galix defensive systems in November 2024. The use of images and videos from a number of Sudanese locations would violate the region’s long-standing UN arms embargo, according to Amnesty’s analysts, who verified the information.

81mm mortar shells discovered in an RSF convoy in North Darfur were discovered in Bulgaria in April by France24 and the Reuters news agency. This ammunition had identical markings to the 2019 U.S. military installations from a Bulgarian company. The government of Bulgaria had not authorized Sudan’s re-export of the shells.

The RSF in Sudan used small-arms target systems and APC engines, according to a report from The Guardian in October, and they may have been provided by the UAE.

These findings, combined with embargoes and alleged safeguards, serve as an example of a pattern: European-made weapons and weapons systems that were legally exported to third countries were later diverted into Sudan’s conflict.

The UAE’s claim to play a role in the conflict is untrue, but it has been repeatedly documented as a hub for re-exported weapons. However, end-user agreements and export-control frameworks impose obligations on European suppliers, who also bear responsibility for compliance.

When there is a clear risk of diversion to conflict-stricken areas or human rights violators, governments must refuse or revoke licenses in accordance with UK and EU regulations. Therefore, a thorough review of post-shipment monitoring and enforcement is required for Sudan to use European-made weapons and weapons systems.

Despite this, the governments of Europe and the UK, including the UAE, have continued to grant potential violators new export permits. Middle East Eye recently reported that the UK approved roughly $ 227 million in military exports to the UAE between April and June of that year despite being informed that Emirati-supplied equipment had arrived at the RSF.

By far not an exception when European nations don’t use their weapons to travel to war zones while on an embargo.

South Africa, which I am a native of, has also been criticized for having no control over its arms shipments. The National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) faced international and domestic scrutiny in the middle of 2010 after allegedly using South African-made weapons and ammunition by Saudi and Emirati forces in Yemen.

In response to disagreements over updated inspection standards and human rights concerns, the NCACC delayed or withheld export approvals in 2019. To ensure compliance with the end-user agreement, the South African authorities requested that they be given access to facilities in importer nations, which the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and a number of other nations refused to do so. Prior to 2022, consignments that had been withheld were finally released on renegotiated terms.

Evidence today suggests that Sudanese weapons may have been diverted as well. According to researchers and open-source researchers, munitions that are made in Sudan are legitimately produced there.

Enforcement can be difficult even when there is political will to abide by end-user agreements for arms sales, as the South African case demonstrates. Yet, it is a crucial and necessary component of efforts to bring about peace.

End-use monitoring must be binding, not a bureaucratic concession, if democratic governments want to reclaim credibility. The NCACC in Pretoria and the export control authorities in Brussels, Sofia, Paris, and London must conduct transparent audits of previous licenses, conduct credible diversion investigations, and halt new approvals where risk is still unmet.

Additionally, the EU must make sure that armed actors don’t abuse funding for migration management.

Without such measures, South Africa’s defense trade and Europe’s migration policy run the risk of contributing to a bleak paradox: measures that are justified in the name of security that foster insecurity.

Cifuentes focused on results not Leicester’s legal case

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Manager Marti Cifuentes acknowledges that putting Leicester City in the lead in the Championship table requires that they win points and stop their downward trend.

However, he defers to Leicester’s legal team in terms of keeping track of all those details.

After losing to Sheffield United 3-2 at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, the Spaniard is undoubtedly under pressure as manager. However, Leicester’s issues extend beyond the dugout to the lawyers’ chambers.

They are locked in a legal battle with the Premier League over allegations that they broke spending regulations after winning the Championship two seasons.

The English Football League could deduct points from the Foxes if found guilty.

The club and the football authorities have not publicly acknowledged the allegations, but a case that is currently being heard.

Cifuentes is now free to ask questions about the possibility of point deductions when his future is uncertain due to his subpar performance.

When asked about the ongoing case against the club, he responded, “I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t give you details on things that are far beyond my competence.”

The results were “worse than we anticipated.”

Cifuentes, in charge of a Leicester side that had been relegated from the Premier League twice in three seasons, “knew it would not be an easy task.”

Has the task been more difficult than anticipated?

He acknowledged that “we cannot hide the fact that the outcomes have been worse than what we wanted.”

“This is a significant club. And you need to be prepared to take those demands seriously at large clubs.

When Cifuentes took over as manager of the Foxes in the summer, he was aware of the allegations against Leicester, the possibility of a points deduction, and the club’s financial difficulties, which meant he had no money to spend on summer signings.

However, Cifuentes responded to questions about how he, his coaching team, and players are battling for positions they do not know they will keep, saying that this is something we don’t try to pay too much attention to.

The 43-year-old added, “My main goal is to try to win the next game and to develop the club’s football side.”

When there isn’t much we can do, I don’t want to focus on those issues.

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In the first few weeks of the season, Cifuentes cited back-to-back victories against Stoke and Norwich City as encouraging signs.

Stephy Mavididi and Jordan James scored two goals back from 3-0 down in the second half, which “encouraged things,” to set up a tense conclusion.

However, Cifuentes acknowledged that “the bar wasn’t very high” following a “very frustrating and disappointing first half,” and that the boos directed at his team at halftime were appropriate.

When the Blades entered the break in command, there were chants of “sacked in the morning” that were started by Sheffield United supporters and later picked up by pockets of Leicester supporters.

Cifuentes remarked, “This is not my first time hearing this song.” Fortunately, I have the self-assurance to turn things around.

Because the reaction was so subpar, I fully understand the frustration and thought it was fair.

“But I’m very determined to give the fans something.” I just hope they understand that I’m here to fix something and that they’ll let me fix it.

When asked if owner Khun Aiyawatt’s “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha and football director Jon Rudkin thought they had any financial backing, Cifuentes replied, “We constantly have meetings about how we can improve things.

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Iconic actress who was close pals with Barbara Windsor dies

Sandra Caron, an actress, passed away at the age of 89. After a health issue that led to her being hospitalized for six weeks, the actress who starred in the famous scene with Barbara Windsor, Crystal Maze &amp, lost her.

The well-known actress, who played in the iconic exercise scene where Babs’ bra flies off in Carry On Camping in 1969 alongside close friend Barbara. She was a part of Richard O’Brien’s hosted game show The Crystal Maze, which first aired on Channel 4 in the original series.

The star also appeared in the role of likeable fortune-teller Mumsie in the original season of Channel 4’s game show The Crystal Maze, which was hosted by Rocky Horror Show host Richard O’Brien between 1990 and 1993. She played Auntie Sabrina in a different role in the third season of the show, with the show explaining that Mumsie was “away.”

An iconic Carry On scene with the late Barbara Windsor
Sandra and Barbara Windsor made a famous Carry On movie (ITV/REX/Shutterstock) with the late director.

The actress and writer, who was born in Stepney, East London, in 1936, wed actor Brian Greene, a 99-year-old from 1985, and lived with him in London until the couple moved across the river to call LA home in 2015.

Although the pair had no children, Marc, one of Brian’s sons, revealed the depressing news about his father’s wife.

After spending about 6 weeks in the hospital with issues relating to extreme weight loss and a few bad falls, Sandra passed away on September 1, 2025, according to him.

She passed away at the age of 89. Brian, a 99-year-old man, is doing as well as he can in an assisted living facility close to me.

“Sandra’s remains are currently with Brian and were cremated,” she said. It hasn’t been decided whether they will be interred together, which will likely be at Mount Sinai here.

Alma Cogan, one of the highest-paid British female entertainers, passed away in 1966 at the tender age of 34, her younger sister, Sandra.

Evelyn Plummer in Coronation Street
Sandra and Corrie’s Maureen Lipman (ITV) had long friendships.

Alma and Sandra once shared a home on Kensington High Street with their mother Fay, who was known for hosting lavish parties that attracted the biggest stars of the time, including Danny Kaye, Cary Grant, Tommy Steele, and even The Beatles.

Sandra’s stage name, in a nod to French film star Leslie Caron, prevented her from being just Alma Cogan’s sister when she began her acting training at the Aida Foster Theatre School. Her TV credits include the well-known US television series The Odd Couple, Dixon of Dock Green, and the renowned UK police drama Z Cars and Dixon of Dock Green.

She also appeared in the movies Digby: The Biggest Dog in the World, Dracula, and The Belles of St. Trinians. In a 1995 episode of Agony Again starring her long-time friend Maureen Lipman, Sandra made her final acting debut.

The Girl With the Laugh In Her Voice, Sandra’s acclaimed book about Alma Cogan, was published by Bloomsbury in 1991.

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