North West Wales

Simon Stone
Manchester United reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Wales Under-21 international Gabriele Biancheri caught the eye with an excellent performance off the bench in Manchester United's last-gasp Premier League International Cup win over Athletic Club at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Biancheri, who also qualifies for Canada and Italy, was one of four second-half substitutes by United coach Travis Binnion that helped turn round a game they were losing at half-time.

The 19-year-old's sprint down the right and low cross created an opportunity for Gibraltar international James Scanlon to equalise.

Then, in the third minute of injury time, Biancheri's close-range shot struck a post, hit the unlucky Athletic goalkeeper and bounced in to give United victory in their first game in the competition, in front of about 1,600 supporters.

Striker Chido Obi was left on the bench throughout as Binnion navigates a testing run of fixtures, the most important of which is next week's EFL Trophy trip to Lincoln City.

The game was watched by United's technical director Jason Wilcox and new head of academy Stephen Torpey, who joined from Brentford this week.

United's under-18 coach Darren Fletcher was also at the game, watching son Jack, who started at left-back before moving into a more usual central midfield role.

Fletcher is currently on crutches after having surgery on a knee injury suffered in a recent Legends game at Celtic.

He is still carrying out full coaching duties, although United are using a golf buggy to get the former Scotland international around.

A potential move to take the Championship play-offs down to eighth place would damage the competition's credibility, according to former Huddersfield, Stoke and Middlesbrough defender Tommy Smith.

The EFL board is set to discuss proposals to increase the number of teams in the end-of-season play-offs from four to six but Smith, who was promoted to the Premier League with Huddersfield via the play-offs in 2017 is not a fan of the idea.

"It's not for me - I think it suits teams who don't really have a chance to get in the top six," he told the BBC's EFL podcast 72+.

"From a credibility point of view the top six is there to be aimed at and you have to earn your place in it."

The play-offs were first introduced for the 1986-87 season where sides finishing third down to fifth were involved along with the team third-from-bottom in the top flight.

After two seasons the format was changed to be played out between teams finishing third to sixth in the second tier.

"To finish eighth in the Championship and potentially get promoted to the Premier League it just doesn't sit right with me," added Smith.

"Notoriously over the past years getting into the top six is tough and when you get in there after a long hard season it feels brilliant, so to make it a top eight it dilutes it."

Image source, Wrexham AFC

Wrexham have announced that initial work on the new Kop Stand at the Stok Cae Ras will begin later this month.

The club have appointed McLaren Construction Midlands and North under a Pre-Construction Services Agreement for the work.

Work on the new stand was originally due to begin in 2023 but was delayed because of what the club called "additional complications".

Revised designs for the new 5,500-capacity Kop Stand were presented to Wrexham County Borough Council earlier this year, which were subsequently approved.

In July, the club submitted a further planning application for the installation of up to 2,250 further seats in the new stand.

That would take the potential capacity to 7,750 and take the overall capacity of the Stok Cae Ras to just over 18,000.

The new stand, along with other works planned at the stadium, will make Wrexham's ground fully compliant with Uefa category 4 stadium standards.

The work at the Stok Cae Ras, announced as one of the host venues for next summer's Uefa European Under-19 men's finals, is scheduled to be completed during the 2026-27 season.

Wrexham CEO Michael Williamson said: "The new Kop Stand will be the heart of the reimagined stadium - increasing capacity, enhancing the experience for fans, and anchoring our place in our home city and as part of the wider Gateway Partnership regeneration plans."