Sale squad’s ‘honest’ meeting with owners has reset ambitions, says Sanderson
Alex Sanderson has said an “honest” meeting of Sale’s owners, players and coaches this week has set their intention for the Boxing Day encounter with Harlequins and beyond.The Sharks are seventh in the Prem table, with two wins from seven, and were soundly beaten by Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens last Saturday.Their most recent Prem victory came against Newcastle on 10 October, and the director of rugby knows they need to start winning to have any chance of reaching the playoffs for a fourth straight season.“It wasn’t a crisis meeting, but honest – about what kind of team we want to be,” Sanderson said.“Not an inconsistent one, a one week on, one week off team.
Those teams don’t reach semi-finals, don’t reach finals.“We’ve got this opportunity now, at home, in front of our families [against Quins].We talked about families watching, your kids watching.Does it matter? Does it [defeat] hurt enough? Real deep questions around that.We’ve delved into that.
”Both sides will have a point to prove at CorpAcq Stadium on Friday: “dented pride” as Sanderson put it.Harlequins were thrashed by Bristol at Twickenham last Saturday, conceding 40 points, while Sale leaked 47 against rampant Saints on the same day.Sanderson said the pre-Christmas meeting with the owners, Simon and Michelle Orange, established minimum requirements for the squad given the level of investment: Sale’s most recent accounts showed an annual loss of £8m.“The owners came in to say: ‘This isn’t going to stop.’ They’re supporting the players financially and will continue to do that … The understanding is that if they’re financially supporting the club, the minimum they ask for is a performance based around effort.
Everyone can try hard, can’t they?“They came in to show solidarity and to tell the players that nothing’s going away in terms of support.It wasn’t an ultimatum but just: ‘Understand we’re all in this together.’ I thought that was quite a powerful thing.”Sanderson welcomes the England fly-half George Ford back to face Harlequins after a groin strain with Bevan Rodd, Joe Carpenter and Rekeiti Ma’asi-White also returning to action.“There’s a few big hitters that could come into the frame,” Sanderson said.
“They are going to be a massive boost for us, not just in terms of experience, but how they drive standards which weren’t there last weekend.We need a response.”
S&P 500 and Dow hit record highs as Santa rally reaches Wall Street – as it happened
The fabled Santa rally has reached the New York stock exchange!The S&P 500 index of US company shares has hit a record high today, on a shortened Christmas Eve trading session. It touched a new intraday record high of 6,921.42 points, surpassing its previous peak in October.The rally comes as investors continued to bet on more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve next year.There’s also lingering relief that yesterday’s GDP report showed the US economy grew rather faster than expected in the July-September quarter
Alexander Wishart obituary
My father, Alexander Wishart, who has died aged 81, began at the foot of the banking ladder aged 16, eventually becoming general manager and director of Harrods Bank in the 1980s, and regional managing director of the Bank of Beirut (UK) in the 90s. He was a proud member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland.Born in Edinburgh to Margaret (nee McDonald), a munitions worker, and Alexander Wishart, a draftsman and sergeant in the Royal Air Force, Alex grew up in Leith and the Edinburgh suburb of Colinton with his two younger brothers; he went to Leith academy and the Royal high school.Fascinated by aeroplanes, he wanted to join the RAF, but his father, a Battle of Britain and Siege of Malta veteran, instead arranged a meeting with the manager of the National Commercial Bank (later Royal Bank of Scotland) on Leith Walk. Alex began as a junior clerk and, in 1966, while working at the Shandwick Place branch, met Myra Thomson, a secretary, from Kirkcaldy
BP to sell majority stake in $10bn Castrol business to US investment firm
BP has agreed to sell a majority stake in its $10bn (£7.4bn) lubricants business Castrol to the US investment company Stonepeak, as the new chair, Albert Manifold, rapidly reshapes the under-pressure oil and gas company.Stonepeak will acquire a 65% stake in Castrol, in a deal that values the division at $10.1bn including its debt. The deal, in which BP will retain a 35% stake in the business through a joint venture, is expected to close at the end of next year, the company said on Wednesday
‘I’ll never say I’m popping to Jones’s’: shoppers yet to feel love for WH Smith’s high street replacement
“It’s just the same.” Six months on from the sale of WH Smith’s high street business, the name above the door may have changed to TG Jones, but many shoppers have not noticed a splurge of investment or change.“The layout is the same and what they are selling is the same,” says Gillian Parsons as she exits TG Jones on a busy high street in the market town of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, where a steady flow of visitors are picking up cards, wrapping paper and the odd present in the week before Christmas.“Even the branding is similar,” says Jazz Minhas, another shopper. Others had not even noticed the name above the door had changed – such was the similarity of the signage, which sticks to a similar blue
Bitcoin’s buzz is gone. Investors chose real gold in 2025 | Nils Pratley
Another week, another record high for the price of gold. And another blow to the bitcoin fan club’s hopeful thesis about owning “digital gold”. This year has been hard for the bitcoin brigade: while real gold soared in value, their cryptocurrency didn’t. Correlation went out of the window. Gold is up 70% so far in dollar terms; bitcoin is down 6%
Bet365 boss receives at least £280m in pay and dividends despite profit slump
Denise Coates, the billionaire boss of Bet365, a self-described “ultimate gambler” and Britain’s highest-paid woman, took home at least £280m in pay and dividends in 2025 despite a slump in pre-tax profits.Coates’s Stoke-based gambling empire recorded turnover of £4bn in the year to March 2025, up from £3.7bn the year before. Pre-tax profits fell to £349m, from £627m in the previous year.Bet365 incurred a £325m increase in expenses as it reshaped its global footprint, expanding its presence in the US and South America while giving up its sometimes controversial presence in China, where online betting is illegal
Ministers raise inheritance tax threshold for farms after backlash
Deputy leader Lucy Powell says Labour must ‘stick to manifesto’ over EU customs union, in implicit rebuke to Streeting – as it happened
Reform council’s plan to shut eight care homes ‘a betrayal of local people’
Reform plan to cap aid at £1bn would damage UK’s international influence, critics warn
Keir Starmer told closer EU trade ties ‘strategic necessity’ for UK firms
Labour calls to rejoin EU customs union will become harder for Starmer to resist