A GOALKEEPER who was sacked TWELVE HOURS after joining a club has apologized for his nightmare behaviour.

Rushden & Diamonds emergency contract signing Lewis Patching headbutted a fan after what many supporters said was a horror debut.

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The seventh-tier club were ‘delighted’ to recruit him on Saturday morning but he could not prevent a 4-0 home loss to Lye Town and he clashed with a critic in a bar at 6pm.

The Northern Premier League team promptly dropped the 22-year-old former Northampton Town youngster.

Patching has now said sorry on social media, but insisted he only responded physically after “fearing for my safety”.

He posted: “Firstly I would like to apologize to the supporter involved and Rushden & Diamonds FC for the events that took place on Saturday evening.

“I was disappointed with the way the match went, both personally and for the club.

“After the match, a group of home fans started swearing. One of them then confronted me directly, invaded my personal space and shouted aggressively in my face.

“I was genuinely afraid for my safety and emotions were running high and I reacted, which I deeply regret.

“This does not excuse my actions and I am disappointed in myself for losing control. Once again, I would like to apologize and wish the club/supporter all the best for the future. Levi.”

Patching was a last-minute recruit as Rushden’s usual goalkeeper Ben Heath was unavailable.

Some home fans then blamed him for as many as three of Lye’s four goals – before things got much worse for him after that.

The club responded to the headbutt incident by stating: “AFC Rushden & Diamonds are aware of an incident in the bar between a first team player and a supporter following this afternoon’s defeat to Lye Town.

“The player’s registration with the club has been canceled with immediate effect and he will not play for the club in the future.

“Although football is a game that evokes extreme emotions and divides opinion, AFC Rushden & Diamonds is committed to ensuring that all players, supporters and visitors treat each other with respect and can attend matches without the threat of abuse from either. physical or verbal nature.

“AFC Rushden & Diamonds is committed to ensuring that every event organized by the club takes place in a safe and welcoming environment and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any violence.”

A few hours earlier, the club had happily announced his arrival to solve their temporary problem between the sticks.

But ultimately he had one of the shortest and most infamous spells in recent football history

Patching is dual registered with St Ives Town of the Southern League Premier League.

CRISTIANO RONALDO has finally apologized for a rude gesture towards fans.

The Al Nassr hero was banned for one match and fined £6,3000 for an arm signal in response to ‘Messi’ taunts from Al Shabab supporters last month.

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The 39-year-old legend has spoken out and claimed his action was ‘very normal’ in Europe – but has vowed not to do it again in Saudi Arabia.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker, who earns £170million a year, blames his behavior on the ‘passion’ of football.

The Portuguese star told a press conference: “I will always respect the cultures of all countries, as I have respected to this day, but not always what people see is reality.

“As I said and I will say it again: it is clear that I will not do it again in this country, but in Europe it is very normal.

“Sometimes the passion and excitement of the game causes us to make mistakes.”

Ronaldo’s hand gesture came at the end of a 3-2 Saudi Pro League win over Al Shabab in which he struck a penalty opener.

Home fans had chanted “Messi Messi” at him, which led to Ron making an X-rated move.

His resulting suspension meant he missed a 4–4 draw against Al Hazm four days later on 29 February.

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Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr remains second, 12 points behind leaders Al-Hilal.

They face Al-Ain in the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League on Monday

The UAE side led 1-0 from the first leg but Ronaldo has delivered a glittering message ahead of the second leg.

He said: “We will not spare a drop of sweat for the fans of Al Nassr. Tomorrow, remontada!”

The latter word is Spanish for fighting back and is often used in sports.

GOOGLE has been forced into a humiliating apology after admitting its woke AI technology “missed the mark” on historical facts.

The US search giant was last night fixing its image generation tool, amid claims that it refused to create images of white people even when explicitly requested.

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In response to requests for images of America’s founding fathers – all white men – Google’s Gemini AI feature included women and people from ethnic minorities.

It also yielded images of Asian and black Nazi soldiers, as well as historically inaccurate Vikings.

It led to tech mogul Elon Musk – owner of rival xAI – rebranding The Twin instrument “woke and racist”.

Jack Krawczyk of Gemini Experiences said: “Gemini’s AI image generation generates a wide range of people – which is generally a good thing because people all over the world use it.

‘But this misses the mark.

“We are working to immediately improve these types of images.”

Gemini – formerly known as Bard – was accused of left-wing bias at its launch last March.

Last night, a Google spokeswoman said: “We will pause human image generation and re-release an improved version soon.”

Prince William stepped out for the 2024 British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, February 18, but his usual plus one: Princess Kate Middletonwas not by his side a month after her abdominal surgery.

'I'm sorry Catherine isn't here. She really loves the BAFTAs,” the 41-year-old Prince of Wales said Elaine BedellCEO of the Southbank Center, during the awards ceremony.

William attended the ceremony alone at the Royal Festival Hall in London. He looked dapper in a navy blue velvet blazer, which he teamed with black trousers and a matching bow tie.

“I remember the movies you saw from last year,” Bedell replied, to which William said, “Every movie I watch, she watches with me. That is why we handle it with care.”

William admitted it was “the least I've ever seen” about this year's films, adding: “I've had a lot on my mind. … But hopefully I'll catch up.”

He was reportedly overflowing Christopher Nolan'S Oppenheimerbut he didn't check it Barbie not yet removed from the list, and tell the Daily telegram“but I want to.”

Days before the ceremony, Kensington Palace confirmed that William would attend the event without Kate, 42. “The prince, president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), will attend the awards ceremony before meeting the category winners and EE Rising . Star Award nominees,” read a statement People on Friday, February 16.

Kate has been taking a break from royal engagements since undergoing “planned” abdominal surgery last month. “The operation was successful and she is expected to remain in hospital for 10 to 14 days before returning home to continue her recovery,” Kensington Palace shared on January 17 via X (formerly Twitter). According to advice, it is unlikely that she will resume her public duties until after Easter.”

According to the statement, Kate hoped that well-wishers would “understand her desire to maintain as much normality as possible for her children” and “respect her wishes for her personal medical information to remain private.” (William and Kate, who tied the knot in April 2011, share Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.)

The statement concluded: “The Princess of Wales would like to apologize to everyone involved for having to postpone her upcoming engagements. She looks forward to relocating as many people as possible as quickly as possible.”

The palace confirmed on January 29 that Kate had been released from hospital to continue her recovery at home. While William took a short break from his royal duties after the operation, he returned to work on February 7.

Before her procedure, Kate was last seen in public on Christmas Day when she attended a church service with the family in Sandringham. She normally accompanies William to the BAFTAs, as she last did in February 2023. At the time, Kate stunned in a white one-shoulder Alexander McQueen dress and black gloves, while William wore a sleek black suit.

As for William resuming his engagements during Kate's recovery, he stepped in after his father: King Charles III, revealed his own health struggles. In January, the 75-year-old monarch underwent a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate. Buckingham Palace later confirmed that Charles had been diagnosed with 'a form of cancer' for which he had 'begun a regimen of regular treatments'. He was 'advised by doctors to postpone public duties', although he 'continued to do state business and official paperwork as usual'.

PEP GUARDIOLA has apologized to Kalvin Phillips for making fun of him.

The Manchester City boss criticized his England midfielder for being 1.5kg overweight when he returned from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

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But Phillips, who tried to rebuild his career on loan at West Ham, revealed the comments had a huge impact on him.

Guardiola has said this was the only time during his reign at City that he made such a mistake.

He said, “Yes, I'm sorry. Once every eight years isn't bad, but I'm so sorry. I apologize to him. I do. I'm very sorry.”

Guardiola insisted he had done things the right way as he spoke about £45m signing FOR the player told the world after joining the Hammers last month.

The Etihad chief added: “I have spoken about that. I spoke to him before our match.

“Before I say anything here, I speak to the players – and that's what I did in that case.”

Phillips, 28, has played just two Premier League games in 18 months at City – and just six games in total.

He moved to West Ham to try to secure his place in England ahead of this summer's European Championship finals in Germany but has endured a disastrous few weeks.

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His mistakes saw the Irons concede goals in his first two appearances, a 1-1 draw against Bournemouth and a 3-0 defeat at Manchester United.

Phillips was subsequently shown two yellow cards in Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.

Earlier this month, Phillips opened up about his difficult time at City following his move from Leeds in 2022.

And he revealed the jokes about his obesity had taken a heavy toll on him.

He said: “After the World Cup was probably the hardest thing, when Pep came out and said I was too heavy.

“He was right to do that, but there are different ways to go about it.

“It was just a misunderstanding, he was very frustrated because I came back 1.5kg above my target weight.

“It has had a big impact on my self-confidence and my feeling at City.

“My family wasn't happy about it either, especially my mother.”

But race remained a highly charged topic at Yale, which has had an often contentious relationship with the local black community. And the university's record was thrust into the national spotlight with the debate over the renaming of Calhoun College, a student residence named after John C. Calhoun, the antebellum senator from South Carolina and architect of Southern secession. (In 2017, it was renamed in honor of Grace Murray Hopper, a pioneering computer scientist who became a rear admiral in the US Navy.)

Still, Blight, a leading scholar of the Civil War and author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Frederick Douglass, said he was “stunned” when Salovey called him in September 2020 and asked him to take on the project.

“This did not come from any desire on the faculty,” he said. “It came from the president himself.”

Blight said he agreed as long as he and the team he assembled could write a “real narrative history” rather than just a report. He said neither he nor any of the other Yale faculty members who contributed were paid. “We wanted to avoid the appearance that we were profiting from the Yale story,” he said.

They were given free rein in their research and the university made no effort to check what they wrote, he said.

The book, of which the most important findings are also presented on a websitebegins with the early history of Connecticut, where in the 18th century about 50 percent of the economy was tied to trade with the West Indies, which depended on slavery.

One of the most fascinating moments, Blight said, was the antebellum period, when Yale students and faculty were on both sides of the slavery issue, and the university — which in the 20th century tended to emphasize its abolitionist history — pursued a policy of “aggressive moderation,” as Blight calls it. “They didn't want to take sides until the 1850s,” he said.

US women's national team captain Lindsey Horan opened her time to reporters by addressing the backlash to her comments about US fans' knowledge of football, made in an interview with The Athletics published earlier this month.

“First and foremost, I would like to apologize to our fans,” Horan said during a virtual availability ahead of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup. “Some of my comments were poorly worded and a huge lesson was learned for me.”

In her interview with The Athletics, Horan shared his frustrations with the way match viewers took commentary at face value before joking that her mother did it while watching USWNT matches. On Thursday, she took the time to clarify and express her appreciation for the fans.

“When I think about our fans, I love them so much. The team loves them so much, and I can't explain how much they mean to us. Every time we go out and practice, every time we go out and play games, you know we're playing for you guys,” Horan said. “You are our inspiration, our motivation, and seeing you wear our jerseys and seeing you shout our names and sing USA, that's what we play for and I never wanted to take that away.

“If we continue to do that, the culture of football in America is changing and growing in such a positive way. For me to experience that firsthand, playing for this U.S. Women's National Team, but also in the NWSL and for the Portland Thorns, is something so amazing. It is my absolute honor, and I will always say so, to wear this emblem every day. To be in this environment, to play in front of our fans and represent this national team, that's something – again, it's my greatest honor. … The last thing I ever wanted to do was offend someone like that. So again, my sincerest apologies.”

When asked to elaborate on what she wanted to express with her original comments, Horan responded that she didn't think “what I meant really matters at this point.” She said she is just “a soccer brain” who likes to watch as much soccer as possible.

“I like talking about it and the way people talk about Man City, Arsenal and the old Barcelona,” she said. “That's what I want people to say about us. I want people to talk about how great we are on the ball, the possession, the style of play, the technical ability, the tactical changes mid-match, these kinds of things.

Horan said she apologized for how she felt and wanted to “express how much the fans mean to me personally.”

Speaking about the tournament ahead – the inaugural W Gold Cup – Horan joked that the goal is “the trophy.”

More seriously, she said the team's main goal is to win, but it is also perfect preparation for the Olympics because of the tournament format and timing. “What we do here can really train us and prepare us mentally for what we may face in France,” she said. “We're taking every game at a time and we're getting better and better as the tournament goes on. Now we're just continuing to do more and more of what we're trying to do and how we're trying to play.”

Horan emphasized multiple times that she believes every player on the roster should be used during the Gold Cup to get some players tournament minutes and more time on the field – and that the USWNT should collectively take advantage of this time on the field ahead of the Olympics To play.

“It's not just the new youth, it's all of us,” she said. “We all move forward together and we remain a team. Everyone has to get on the same page as we go to the Olympics, but first the first match here at the Gold Cup.”

(Photo: Brennan Asplen, Getty Images)

A Russian influencer who filmed herself tickling the chest of a famous Russian war statue has issued a groveling public apology.

Alena Agafonova, 23, posed under the 88-metre-high statue of a sword-wielding woman called The Motherland Calls in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, scene of one of the most epic battles of World War II.

She now faces five years in prison for the Instagram video in Putin's hardline Russia.

In footage she posted to Instagram, she appears to 'tickle' the figure's right breast, officially banned in Russia.

Agafonova went into hiding in Sri Lanka after the film last year.

She was placed on Russia's wanted list and detained this week when she returned to her home country.

Agafonova was immediately transported from Moscow to Volgograd and has now been held for two months pending further investigation.

She humbly apologized for her action, but still faces criminal charges in Volgograd and a prison sentence of up to five years.

She is accused of 'desecration of a cemetery' and 'cynical actions that disregard the norms of morality', as well as the 'rehabilitation of Nazism'.

Her pursuit shows the new morality in Russia under Putin amid the war with Ukraine.

Authorities are cracking down on any behavior seen as antipatriotic or contrary to 'traditional values'.

Footage showed Agafonova handcuffed as a law enforcement officer told her: “I inform you that the Investigative Department of the Volgograd Central District has a criminal case pending against you for the desecration of a symbol of Russia's military glory, an insult of the memory of defenders of the homeland, committed with the help of the Internet…'

She appeared to have been ordered to issue a public apology, an increasing trend in Putin's repressive state towards those who flout increasingly strict laws.

“I address all the residents of Russia and Volgograd and ask everyone not to commit the acts I committed last year because of my stupidity,” she said.

'I didn't even think I could offend anyone's feelings.

“I ask all Russian citizens for forgiveness.”

The statue is one of the most famous in Russia and commemorates those who fought and died in one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, resulting in a decisive Soviet victory over Hitler.

The USSR suffered more than a million casualties during the Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted from August 1942 to February 1943.

In addition, social activist Rasul Akhiyaretdinov has called on Putin to cover up The Motherland Calls statue.

He was ashamed of her “openly protruding nipples,” which he said signified “homosexual moments and a decline in morality.”

The statue, which dates back to the Soviet era in 1967, could be disturbing to both Orthodox and Muslim Russians, he said.

“It would be better if the motherland had more coverage,” Akhiyaretdinov said.

He plans to appeal to Putin to call for a cover-up.

Earlier this week, two female influencers were forced to apologize for a lesbian kiss they posted on social media.

Vlada Alchaeva, 24, and her friend Vika, 19, were hunted by police and will also face heavy fines for flouting laws banning LGBT propaganda.

The pair were told by police that they could 'damage the psyche' of minors who viewed their video under draconian new laws.