Sports
Talking Aston Villa with Prince William… in the pub: Pints, playmakers and burner accounts
“I got this call from Aston Villa asking if I wanted to meet the future King of England at a train station Wetherspoon’s.”
No, this is not a set-up line to a gag, nor a conversation with a large dollop of irony. It happened.
William, Prince of Wales, the next in line to the throne, asked to meet a group of Villa supporters for a midweek pint. It was Steve Jones, the chairman of Chasetown Football Club — a team playing in the Northern Premier League Division One West league, the eighth tier of the English football league system — who was tasked with making it all happen.
Two days after, Jones meets up with The Athletic to recall a Wednesday afternoon like no other. Over a Bulmers cider and for 45 minutes, the prince joined eight other Villa supporters to talk all things Unai Emery, his players and their Champions League run.
Jones shows The Athletic around Chasetown FC (Jacob Tanswell/The Athletic)
Tucking into sausage rolls and drinking coffee, Jones and his friend Darren Johnson, try to reflect on a frantic, disbelieving 72 hours. They are hardened home and away Villa fans, with season tickets in the new ‘Legends Lounge’ at Villa Park, situated between the Trinity Road Stand and Holte End. Jones has sponsored players in the past and before moving seats this season, would sit in lounges where club directors would be.
“I got a call from Villa’s commercial department,” says Jones, 56. “They wanted to know if I was going to the Everton game on Wednesday evening, which I was. They asked if I could meet somebody, but they wouldn’t tell me who at first. ‘Is it the owners?’, I asked. ‘No, it’s royalty and they want you to meet at this place’.
“I knew it could only be one person. Villa asked if I could gather some fans. I decided I would bring my wife, Julie, and son Daniel and the regulars in our lounge. I called each one of them and said, ‘Listen, are you available tomorrow before we go to Everton? I want to meet for a pint. I can’t say why yet, but just trust me’.”
“The dress code was a nightmare,” laughs Johnson, 54. “So we just showed up as if we were going to the football.”
Let’s get the obvious question out of the way — how did all this happen? How did Johnson, Jones and their Villa friends and family end up in the pub with Prince William?
The answer was a combination of fortune and discreet planning. As it happened, the prince’s schedule was fully booked on Wednesday morning. He would be attending the College of Paramedics’ inaugural emergency and critical care conference in Birmingham, making a speech that paid tribute to the country’s paramedics.
Once official duties were over and before returning south, a gap in his diary emerged. William, 42, realised he would have an hour and a half to kill.
An idea came to mind. An understandable one, too — what would be better than a midweek drink talking football?
The prince knew there would be pockets of Villa supporters at the station before heading to Merseyside later that afternoon. His aides contacted Villa, asking if they could arrange a group of supporters to meet him inside Birmingham New Street station and, just tucked round the corner of the entrance, where The London and Northern Western Wetherspoon’s pub was.
Jones, his wife Julie and son Daniel, with Prince William (photo courtesy of Steve Jones)
“He wanted it to be very low-key,” says Jones. “He said, ‘After I’ve done this engagement, I want to meet some Villa fans’.”
Jones was told to arrive at 2.30pm but, with a pet hate for lateness and the small matter of meeting the heir to the throne, he arrived at 1.10pm. No one at the pub, staff or customer, knew about the royal arrival.
“I needed to find a decent table,” he says. “We walked in and it was rammed, but we got to the back where there was space. I started moving tables around so it fitted enough of us. Despite the pub manager saying we couldn’t do it, we put three tables together and with a mish-mash of chairs — like going to your nana’s on Christmas Day. People were asking to use some, but we just put our coats on them.”
Strangely, another group followed Jones and his friends in and began putting tables together. But with the greatest of respect, they were not public house regulars. They chose coffee and tea over beer and dressed smartly, though plain-clothed.
“One of these guys came up to us; they were his protection team,” says Jones. “They were glad we had got there early and chose that table. Every time a customer left, one of them would take over that seat or booth. When William turned up, we had no idea how many plain security people there were. It was very subtle, which was great.
“We asked his team how should we address him. They simply said, ‘He’s off duty, he’s here of his own time, so call him what you want, Will or William’. There was no briefing — we could talk about whatever.”
“He came in and he wasn’t surrounded by loads of security, just one of his aides,” says Johnson. “Bold as brass, he introduced himself, shook everyone’s hand and said, ‘Right, shall we have a round?’.”
Jones, right, and Johnson meet The Athletic two days later (Jacob Tanswell/The Athletic)
Although Prince William only attended his first match at Villa Park in November 2013 — in former owner Randy Lerner’s private box — he has followed the club since his childhood, with his earliest experience as a fan being the FA Cup semi-final win over Bolton Wanderers on penalties at Wembley in 2000.
The Prince makes an effort to watch every game and whenever his schedule permits, will attend in person. On a handful of occasions last season, he and his dignitaries entered the dressing room to wish Emery’s squad well. He is known to most of the players and has been to Bodymoor Heath, Villa’s training campus, to watch practice sessions.
“The first question was why he got involved in Villa,” says Johnson. “He told us that one of the people who looked after him and would take him to school was a Villa fan. They took him to his first game against Bolton. Will said none of the Royals are into football apart from him and his son, George.
“There was never a dull moment or awkward silence throughout. None of his entourage sat with him or tried to listen in. His eyes were always on us, just talking to the table like a normal bloke talking about Villa.
Jones and his son Daniel, talking to the prince (Steve Jones)
“I asked him if he was going to watch the game against Everton later. He said, ‘Yeah, me and George are watching’. I made a joke about whether he would get the remote or whether Kate (his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales) would have the TV that night.
“George is a Villa fan and we asked about the rest of the children. He said he wouldn’t force a football team onto them as long as it wasn’t Chelsea because all the people around him are Chelsea fans.”
The prince once asked for Jack Grealish’s No 10 shirt, received Christian Benteke’s boots and became close friends with another former Villa forward, John Carew. When Grealish was punched in the second city derby against Birmingham City in 2019, William hand-wrote a supportive letter, addressed to the player’s home. More profoundly, when Stiliyan Petrov, another former Villa captain, had acute leukaemia, The Prince acted similarly.
“He had a vast knowledge of Villa,” says Jones. “We brought up a couple of topics and he was very eloquent. He didn’t have to look up to his aides, he knew everything. We spoke about the recent West Ham game and the changes Emery made in the second half. He started talking about double pivots and how Emery moved Youri Tielemans’ position. We were like ‘What?’.
“He was talking about possible transfers, who might leave and who might come. We spoke about PSR (profit and sustainability rules) and Chelsea selling their women’s team. He admitted he would love to have more opinions on certain things within the game but he can’t in his role as president of the FA.”
Prince William at Villa’s win over Bayern Munich this season (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
As the subject of Villa spindled one way and the other, from PSR to Tielemans’ playmaking abilities, Prince William disclosed one of the more royally guarded secrets: in his spare time, he is a regular contributor to online fan forums.
“He said he keeps abreast of Villa gossip because he is on all the fans’ forums,” says Jones. “He goes under different names and he posts on there because that’s how he gets the feeling of what’s going on and what’s the opinion.”
The prince finished his pint and after three-quarters of an hour, an aide, who had been sitting, as Jones puts it, “quite far back” from the Villa huddle, reminded him that his train would be leaving shortly.
He was in no rush, however. Such was the lack of urgency to move and being immersed in conversation, he had to be reminded twice more that his train was swiftly approaching.
“It was a release into normality,” says Johnson. “At the end, he just said, ‘OK, shall we get some photos done?’. Everyone had one on their own before a couple of group photos. Once he left, we had another pint. It was a once-in-a-million lifetimes thing.”
(Top photo: Steve Jones)
Sports
South Carolina legend Steve Taneyhill, known for iconic ‘home run’ touchdown celebration, dead at 52
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Former South Carolina quarterback Steve Taneyhill, who played for the Gamecocks from 1992-95, has died at 52.
The Gamecocks athletic department confirmed on Monday that Taneyhill died overnight in his sleep, though no cause of death was provided.
“Taneyhill was inducted into the University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006,” the Gamecocks said in a statement about his death. “He was named Freshman of the Year by Sports Illustrated and Football News Freshman All-America in 1992.
USC Steve Taneyhill taunts Clemson fans after USC beat Clemson 24-13 at Clemson in 1992. (Tim Dominick/The State/Tribune News Service)
“An exciting player, Taneyhill was known for his iconic mullet hair and his ‘home run swing’ after touchdown passes.”
Taneyhill led the Gamecocks to its first-ever bowl victory in program history in 1994, his junior season at South Carolina. They defeated West Virginia in the Carquest Bowl.
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And when Taneyhill threw touchdowns, he would perform his famous “home run swing,” as the statement read, in celebration.
A native of Altoona, Pennsylvania, Taneyhill notched South Carolina records with 753 completions and 62 passing touchdowns over his four seasons. He also was second with 8,782 passing yards and seventh with a 60.5 completion rate.
Taneyhill’s senior season in 1995 saw him lead the SEC in completions (261), pass attempts (389) and completion percentage (67.1) on his way to 3,094 passing yards with 29 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Quarterback Steve Taneyhill of South Carolina University drops back to pass during a 42-23 loss to the University of Georgia at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia on Sept. 2 1995. (Jamie Squire/Allsport)
For his performance as a Gamecocks star, Taneyhill was later inducted into the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.
To this day, Taneyhill is responsible for three of the to four highest-passing-yardage games in school history, including a 471-yard day against Mississippi State in 1995.
Taneyhill was never able to break into the NFL, though, joining the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent in 1997. However, he was released during the preseason and never once played in the league.
He later became a high school football coach, leading his Chesterfield High to the South Carolina state title for three straight seasons in 2007-09.
Steve Taneyhill , Quarterback for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks throws a pass downfield during the NCAA Southeastern Conference college football game against the University of Georgia Bulldogs on Sept. 2,1995 at the Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, United States. (Jamie Squire/Allsport)
South Carolina’s statement said that he also purchased and operated businesses in Columbia and Spartanburg, South Carolina after his coaching days were over.
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Moments after Marc Dos Santos was formally introduced as the third head coach in LAFC history, he was led out of a news conference and onto the field at BMO Stadium to meet the most important constituency he’ll have to win over in his new job.
The fans.
Since the club entered MLS in 2018, no team has won more games, scored more goals, earned more points or won more trophies than LAFC. Yet as Dos Santos, a top assistant for five of those eight seasons, was hugging and mugging with some of the people who are soon to become his fiercest critics, another supporter approached general manager John Thorrington with a question.
“How do you separate [him] being a part of that coaching staff and telling the fans ‘look, it’s going to be different with this person?’” he asked.
If Dos Santos had been uncertain about the job description, that question made things clear: being the best is no longer good enough. He will have to be better than that.
And Dos Santos is not just fine with that, he’s embracing it.
“I knew the pressure,” he said. “You live once. You live scared, buy a Doberman or something, right? It’s a great opportunity. But I think it’s a privilege when you coach a team in Los Angeles.
“Every sport here is pressure. Every team here is win, win. It’s a winning city and the culture of the city. So I understand that.”
Oh, did we also mention that just winning isn’t enough? For LAFC’s famously demanding supporters, how you win is almost as important.
“We have to win and we have to entertain,” Thorrington said. “We’ve done a lot of that over the years. But we have to drill down on that.”
That means attacking, staying on the front foot, being aggressive, relentless and tireless. Also no problem for Dos Santos, since that’s exactly the kind of soccer he likes to play.
“My style is the LAFC style,” he said. “What we want to be is consistent in our intensity. That’s not negotiable, our intensity.”
So far Dos Santos is saying all the right words and hugging all the right people, but his first test on the field won’t come until mid-February, when LAFC begins play in the CONCACAF Champions Cup in Honduras, followed by its MLS opener in the Coliseum against Lionel Messi and league champion Inter Miami.
And Dos Santos has some oversized cleats to fill.
In its first four seasons under Bob Bradley, LAFC made three playoffs appearances, won a Supporters’ Shield, played in the CONCACAF Champions League final and broke the MLS record for most points in a season. The team was even better the last four seasons under Steve Cherundolo, winning a second Supporters’ Shield and a U.S. Open Cup, playing in a second Champions League final and reaching two MLS Cup finals, winning one.
Dos Santos, 48, was a big part of all that, helping Bradley set the tone as part of the coaching staff in LAFC’s first season, then assisting Cherundolo the last four years. In between, he spent 2½ seasons managing a Vancouver Whitecaps team that lost more games than it won.
Marc Dos Santos watches a match between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC in April 2021.
(Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press)
There were extenuating circumstances, however, such as the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the Whitecaps to split one season between sequesters in Canada and Portland, Ore., then start the next season quarantined in Utah. But Dos Santos says the bruises he received there made him a better coach and a better person.
“If I was a GM, I would never try to hire a coach that only wins. Because I want to know when he fell, can he get up?” he said. “That shows personality and character. I never felt, ‘oh, just because it went bad in one club, that I’m gonna stay on the ground.’
“No, you have to get up and punch back. So that’s what I want to do.”
Besides, the Whitecap years are a small sample of the experience on Dos Santos’ resume. He got his start in Montreal, where he was born, and went on to coach with 11 teams in three countries over the last 18 years, winning everywhere he managed but Vancouver.
That made him a strong contender for the LAFC job when Cherundolo announced in April that he would return to his wife’s native Germany at the end of the season. And though that gave Thorrington plenty of time to find a replacement, allowing him to cast a wide net and consider more than 100 inquiries, he eventually settled on the guy who had been right under his nose.
The same process played out four years ago when Thorrington conducted a global search for Bradley’s replacement before promoting Cherundolo, then coach of LAFC’s affiliate in the second-tier USL Championship.
One thing that worked in Dos Santos’ favor, Thorrington said, was the number of players who sidled up to say how much they wanted to play for Dos Santos. He also had the advantage of continuity, an understanding of LAFC’s culture and a loyalty to the organization Not only did he return after being sacked in Vancouver, but he said he turned down another MLS coaching job this fall to stay in L.A.
“I could have chosen another club that maybe [had] more comfort, not as much pressure,” he said. “But when John opened the door for the interview process. I went in with everything I had.”
Now comes the hard part.
Although Dos Santos is planning changes to his staff — assistant Ante Razov, the only member of the technical staff that has been with LAFC all eight seasons, is unlikely to return after being passed over for the top job a second time — the core of the roster that took the team to 36 wins over the last two seasons will be back. For LAFC’s ravenous fan base, that leaves just one way to go: up.
Dos Santos says he’s ready for that challenge.
“It’s a hard job. Coaching is hard,” he said.
“There’s going to be opinions. But it’s a privilege also to be in a position that has so much pressure. This is a club of pressure that wants to win.”
⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.
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LeBron James got the last laugh on Sunday night as he sank two free throws in the final 3.9 seconds to lift the Los Angeles Lakers over the Phoenix Suns, 116-114.
James may be in the twilight of his career, but he showed he still had some fight. He was battling with Suns forward Dillon Brooks throughout the night. The two got into multiple skirmishes as the intensity was turned up a notch.
Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks fouls Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Phoenix. Brooks was ejected from the game after the foul. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
As the game came down to the wire, Brooks hit a clutch 3-pointer to put the Suns up one point with 12.2 seconds left. James ran through him and knocked him down. Brooks got back up and stuck his chest out to ever-so-gently tap James.
A referee came over to stop the conflict from escalating any further. Brooks was ejected from the game.
“I just like to compete,” James said of going up against Brooks, via ESPN. “He’s going to compete. I’m going to compete. We’re going to get up in each other’s face. Try not to go borderline with it. I don’t really take it there. But we’re just competing and did that almost all the way to the end of the game.”
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Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks (3) and Los Angeles Lakers forward Lebron James (23) react after a turnover during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Suns star Devin Booker supported Brooks’ intensity.
“Yeah, I mean there’s history there,” he said. “I love to see it. People always say everything’s too friendly in the NBA and then Dillon comes around and now it’s too much. So like I said, I’d rather it the other way — that it’d be too much.”
James scored 26 points on 8-of-17 from the field. Luka Doncic led Los Angeles with 29 points and six assists. The Lakers improved to 18-7 with the win.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) looks to shoot over Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, front left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
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Brooks had 18 points in 25 minutes. Booker led the team with 27 points and was 13-of-16 from the free-throw line. Phoenix is 14-12 on the year.
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