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TROY PARROTT scored a brilliant hat-trick in the Republic of Ireland’s crucial 3-2 win over Hungary.

The striker was in tears at full-time as he netted a dramatic 96th-minute winner to keep his country’s hopes of qualifying for next summer’s World Cup alive.

SunSport brings you the lowdown on the Irish hero and the Premier League side he came through the ranks at.

Who is Troy Parrott?

Parrott was born in Dublin, Ireland, on February 4 2002.

He began his career at local side Belvedere before making the switch to England to join Tottenham Hotspur in July 2017.

Parrott was held in very high regard at such a young age, as he was branded Ireland‘s best prospect since Robbie Keane and the next Harry Kane at Spurs.

But it never really happened in North London for the Irishman, making just four appearances for the senior team.

During his time at Spurs, he made numerous loan moves to teams lower down the English pyramid.

Parrott made temporary switches to Millwall, Ipswich, MK Dons and Preston.

The forward’s best scoring season in England came during his time at MK, where he scored 10 goals and helped the club reach the League One play-offs.

After four loan spells in England, Parrott went overseas to join Dutch club Excelsior Rotterdam for the 2023/24 season.

The Irishman scored a whopping 17 goals for The Kralingers but was unable to save them from relegation.

Parrott’s impressive goalscoring form in the Netherlands caught the eyes of Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar.

AZ signed the Spurs striker on a permanent deal for a fee of £6.7million on July 13, 2024 and penned a long-term deal with the Dutch side.

He has had a brilliant start to life at AZ, scoring 33 goals in 61 appearances and was named Eredivisie Player of the Month for December 2024.

International career

Parrott made his senior debut for the Republic of Ireland national team in their 3-1 win over New Zealand in November 2019.

The Spurs academy graduate claimed his first international goals two years later, scoring in a 4-1 win against Andorra, where he netted twice.

In November 2025, Parrott made the headlines as he scored a last-gasp hat-trick in a must-win game against Hungary to book the Republic of Ireland’s spot in the World Cup play-offs.

He kept his country’s dream alive with virtually the last kick of the game as The Boys in Green look to make the finals for the first time since 2002.

Life off the pitch

Parrott is the middle child of five and grew up in Dublin.

On his younger days, his mum Jennifer said: “He was always quiet. He always loved football. The area that we’re from, it’s a disadvantaged area in the inner city.

“Football kept him disciplined and kept him in line from getting in trouble.

“This is his dream and this is his time. He didn’t really get a chance to start many matches for Ireland. He was waiting for his opportunity, and he’s after getting it.”

Parrott has also scored off the pitch as he has been in a long-term relationship with Lauren Bowry.

She is often seen supporting Troy at football matches while he is playing for his country and at club level in the Netherlands.

Parrott’s grandmother, Josie, was very proud of him after he netted a hat-trick to keep the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup dreams alive.

She said post-match: “I knew he was gonna do it. I just had a feeling. He deserves everything he got. I’m so proud of him. He knows I love him to bits.”

TOTTENHAM legend Tony Galvin is recovering after suffering a stroke.

The club confirmed the Irish winger, 69, had been ill in a post on X on Sunday afternoon.

The club statement read: “Everyone at the club would like to extend their thoughts and best wishes to Tony Galvin, our 1984 UEFA Cup and 1981 & 82 FA Cup winner, who is now recovering following a stroke.

“We’re all behind you, Tony.”

Galvin was a key member of the successful Spurs teams of the early 80s, along with stars like Glenn Hoddle, Ossie Ardiles and Steve Perryman.

He was brough to the club from non-league Goole Town in 1978 by Spurs boss Keith Burkinshaw.

Galvin was part to the team that won successive FA Cups in 1981 and 1982.

He was also in the side that beat Anderlecht 4-3 on penalties to claim victory in the Uefa Cup final in 1984.

Galvin played a crucial role in the gruelling, two-legged final victory over the famous Belgian club, securing a famous European trophy for the North Londoners.

He played 201 games for Spurs before moving on to Sheffield Wednesday and then Swindon Town.

After he retired, he became Ardiles’ assistant manager at first Swindon and then Newcastle, until the Argentinian was sacked in 1992.

Galvin won 29 caps for the Republic of Ireland, despite playing for England schools.

He was one of the stars of Jack Charlton‘s team at Euro 88 and started all three games againstEngland, USSR and the Netherlands.

Tottenham fans were quick to send messages of goodwill to their former star.

One wrote on X: “Get well soon champion. Such a smart and funny raconteur.”

Another wrote: “A special player and a true legend. Get well soon Tony.”

And another fan added: “Best wishes Tony great player and equally great man.”

While another wrote: “Hope you make a full recovery Tony.”

A fan added: “Thoughts with Tony Galvin, part of the early 80s team I fell in love with and one of the good guys.”

THOMAS FRANK was interviewed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe for the Manchester United manager’s job the day before their 2024 FA Cup final triumph.

While Erik ten Hag was preparing for the make-or-break showpiece against Manchester City at Wembley, United co-ower Ratcliffe held discussions with prospective coach Frank in his London garage.

United spoke to several managers towards the end of the 2023-24 season amid the expectation that Ten Hag would be sacked.

Thomas Tuchel, Roberto De Zerbi and Kieran McKenna were among the other managers sounded out by United.

United had come eighth in the Premier League – their worst finish since 1990 – and finished bottom of their Champions League group in 2023-24.

Yet they progressed to the FA Cup final and, against all odds, defeated champions City 2-1 to spare Ten Hag of the sack at the end of that campaign.

Then Brentford coach Frank moved to Tottenham in the summer and in his new book, Thomas Frank – Diary from the Premier League: The Story of Denmark’s Greatest Coach, the Dane reveals that he interviewed for the United and Chelsea jobs on the same day.

“Sitting down to talk to two of the ten biggest clubs in the world – two hours apart – is quite unique,” Frank said to TV2.

“I know I didn’t get either job, but it was still huge.

“I remember walking through Battersea Park between the two interviews and thinking, ‘Thomas Frank from f*****g Frederiksværk – am I really experiencing this?’”

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It is understood that even after United stuck by Ten Hag – who was eventually dismissed five months later – that Frank still spoke glowingly about the club on the off-chance he could be hired in the future.

After an end-of-season review, United decided to keep Ten Hag and triggered the one-year extension in his contract in July 2024.

However, he was finally sacked after four defeats from the first nine Premier League games last term.

Ironically, Ten Hag’s last win and final home game in charge of United was against Frank’s Brentford in October 2024.

MANCHESTER CITY boss Pep Guardiola suffered a hammer blow when highly-rated teen Han Willhoft-King chose to study law at Oxford University instead of challenging for a first-team role.

The defensive midfielder regularly trained with the senior squad after shining for the Sky Blues’ under-21 side following his exit from Tottenham.

But Willhoft-King aced the law national aptitude test after applying to universities and was offered a place at Oxford in January.

Despite rubbing shoulders with the likes of Erling Haaland and former fan favourite Kevin De Bruyne in sessions, the ex-England U16 international chose to walk away from the pitch.

Willhoft-King told The Guardian: “I wasn’t enjoying it. I don’t know what it was, maybe the environment. I’m bored often, as well.

“You’d train, you’d come home and you wouldn’t really do anything.

“If you contrast it to now, I’m struggling to find hours in the day.

“I’m either studying, going out with friends, playing for the university first-team, also my college.

“I always felt understimulated in football. Don’t get me wrong. I still loved it. But I always felt I could be doing more.

“I was wasting hours of the day. I needed something different and Oxford excited me.

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“I guess that’s the reason. Injuries were a big factor but that’s the easy answer. I felt I needed something a bit more, mainly intellectually, which sounds quite pretentious.

“Best-case scenario – you’ll play for 10, 15 years and after that, what?

“I thought going to university would provide a platform for me to do something at least for longer than the next 10 to 15 years.

“So, it’s a bit of a long-term thing, as well.”

Willhoft-King joined Tottenham at the age of six, after playing alongside Arsenal duo Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri at grassroots level.

But he then turned down contract offers from Spurs and accepted a place at UCLA to start in January 2025.

Willhoft-King also signed a six-month deal with FC Cincinnati 2 in MLS Next Pro, but his head was turned when Prem giants Manchester City made an offer of their own.

“At that point, the plan was still to go pro and I felt like I’d always regret it if I didn’t join Man City,” added the 19-year-old.

“I would always say: ‘What if I’d taken that chance?’

“Now I’ve had that and I can step away from football knowing I’ve given it my best shot. That’s a lot more comforting for me.”

Willhoft-King did not enjoy training with Manchester City’s star-studded squad, which led to turning his attention towards getting a law degree at Oxford.

“Training with the first-team became a thing that no-one was really looking forward to, strangely enough,” he admitted.

“Because you would just be pressing.

“We would be running after the ball like dogs for half an hour, 60 minutes. It’s not a very pleasant experience, especially when you are trying to press De Bruyne or [Ilkay] Gundogan or [Phil] Foden.

“You can’t get near them, so the feeling of not wanting to do this overcomes being starstruck.”

LEDLEY KING has revealed he was told he would end up in a wheelchair if he kept his injury-plagued career going.

The former England and Tottenham star, 45, was beset with knee problems throughout his 13 year in professional football.

He would often play without ever training for Spurs but eventually hung up his boots for good following a doctor’s chilling warning in 2012.

King said: “It was a tough decision because it was 2012 and for the first half of the season, I’d felt as good as I’d felt in a long time.

“It was strange – I felt like I was doing well and we hadn’t lost any games that I’d played in.

“I was feeling so good that in fact I was training a day before the games, but I had a clash with a goalkeeper, and my knee just blew up.

“I ended up playing 23 games that season, but the second half of the season the quality wasn’t there so for the first time I wasn’t enjoying my football, and I felt that I wasn’t helping the team.

“At the end of that season, I sat down with my surgeon, and he basically said that I’m going to end up in a wheelchair if I kept on playing. So, I knew it was time.”

King went to Euro 2004 and the 2010 World Cup despite his injuries, which was a testament to his talent.

The one-club star made a startling claim about the motivation of some of his team-mates in that first tournament when speaking on Sky Bet’s In The Mixer podcast.

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He said: “I had a mixed experience (playing for England).

“I remember going to the 2004 tournament. There were players that lacked motivation in the squad, because they didn’t believe that they were ever going to play.

“I was shocked by that. I don’t want to say that they’d almost given up, but it was almost like they knew whatever they did, they wouldn’t play.

“I didn’t believe in that – I played in the first game against France, I did well, but then I didn’t play in the second game.

“That told me that the shirt isn’t yours to lose – there was a hierarchy in the camp – and that makes it difficult.”

After quitting school at the age of 15, entrepreneurial Lewis went to work for his dad’s catering company.

Lewis began managing a super-club called The Talk of the Town – where the likes of Frank Sinatra performed – in the 1960s, and granted girl group The Nolans their first live show.

He then got a taste for business and took over the firm – turning it into a string of restaurants before flogging it in 1979 for a whopping £30million.

Lewis used his cash influx to invest in currency trading and was subbed The Boxer in a nod to his wild success and power in the investment ring.

Lewis forked out £22million in 2001 to buy a controlling stake in Tottenham Hotspur from Lord Sugar.

One particular investment on Black Wednesday in September 1992 helped elevate him to uber-rich status, as he successfully bet on the Pound crashing out of the European Exchange Rate as Britain tried to align it with other Euro countries.

He became a billionaire overnight – and the financial magic trick worked again years later with a big short against the Mexican peso.

Along the way, Lewis founded Bahamas-based investment firm Tavistock Group – which he has propelled into one of the most dominant private equity firms in the world.

But it’s not been all work and no play for Lewis, who has spent eye-watering sums on luxury items – homes, art and a superyacht worth £190million, which can house up to 16 guests.

In 2022, Lewis made history by selling David Hockney’s 1972 piece, ‘Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Tool Figures)’.

Having owned the piece since 1995, Lewis auctioned it off for £70.3million – setting a new record for artwork by a living artist.

However, his life of glamour, football and boats all came crashing down when US prosecutors charged him with insider trading and conspiracy in July, 2023.

They accused him of tipping off his girlfriend, jet pilots and other members of his inner circle with insider secrets that helped them make millions over several years.

On January 24, 2024, he pleaded guilty to security fraud and was made to pay a huge fine before being pardoned by Trump in 2025.

LAURA WOODS could not resist a dig at Tottenham in a hilarious video featuring baby Leo.

TV sports presenter Woods is a Gooner through and through.

As such, she loves nothing more than having a dig at north London rivals Spurs.

And it appears she is also attempting to put baby son Leo on the same path.

Leo, the son of Woods and former Love Island star Adam Collard, was born in January.

Woods had joked she was left “fuming” when Collard had their newborn in Newcastle merch.

However, she now looks to have accelerated her own plans to convert Leo to her club after he was seen on her Instagram story taking a pop at Spurs.

Woods, 38, shared an adorable video of Leo drinking from a mug.

She was hard asking: “What have you got?”

Leo then tilted the mug back to reveal some words on it which read: “Tears of Spurs fans.”

The video was also captioned: “Happy Monday everyone x.”

Woods returned to TV screens with TNT Sports in May, having announced her pregnancy in July 2024.

She moved exclusively to the broadcaster in 2023.

As exclusively revealed by SunSport, paperwork from her company, The Pig and I Limited — set up in 2014 — reveal her assets have now reached £1.5million.

Her wealth also increased from £635,000 to £1.5million from January to December 2024.

Assets include £1.2million cash in the bank.

Woods also forked out £300,000 in tax but paid herself a modest dividend of just £1,000.

Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn go punch-for-punch once again as both rivals look to make their fathers proud.

The blockbuster rematch takes place at the 62,000-seater Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, November 15.

Eubank Jr narrowly outpointed his bitter foe after 12 brutal rounds in April to secure the bragging rights in what was certainly a Fight of the Year contender.

And the two British superstars will dance once more as Eubank Jr aims to do the double while Benn seeks revenge after suffering a first career loss.

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Ndombele joined from Lyon in 2019 with huge expectations after shattering Tottenham’s transfer record.

But he would go on to play just 91 times for the club, scoring 10 goals and is now set to leave one year before the end of his contract.

Richarlison almost broke the £50m mark when he arrived from Everton in 2022 as Harry Kane’s back-up.

And while his tally of 12 goals this season was a significant increase on the three from his opening Spurs campaign, he is being linked with a departure this summer.

Johnson was signed by Ange Postecoglou last summer and has impressed in patches during his first season in North London.

He scored five goals and 10 assists in 38 games and will look to build on that in the 2024/25 campaign.

Romero initially joined on loan from Atalanta in 2021, before his impressive displays saw him secure a permanent deal the following year.

He is two games shy of 100 for Spurs and, while he can be reckless with his tackling at times, is beginning to form a promising partnership with Micky van de Ven.

Maddison was handed Kane’s No10 shirt after arriving at Spurs and hit the ground running with three goals and five assists in his opening 11 matches.

But after getting injured against Chelsea in October, he failed to return with the same sharpness – managing just five goal contributions in 15 league matches as he missed out on England’s final 26-man squad for the Euros.

Sanchez joined Spurs from Ajax in 2017 and played more than 200 games across a six-year spell.

But he was always considered a somewhat erratic defender who did not play more than 20 games in a Premier League season from 2020 onwards.

Porro was another signing who originally arrived on loan in January 2023, before he signed permanently last summer.

He has 54 appearances for Spurs under his belt, scoring seven goals and impressing under Postecoglou this season.

Rapid Dutch centre-back Van de Ven was named Spurs Player of the Season in his first campaign at the club.

His pace, athleticism, and technical ability on the ball have made him arguably Postecoglou’s best signing to date.

Sissoko came to North London for a substantial fee after being relegated with Newcastle and went on to enjoy five years at Tottenham, playing more than 200 games.

Unfortunately for the French midfielder, he is best-known for giving away a controversial penalty for handball in the first minute of Spurs’ 2-0 Champions League final defeat to Liverpool in 2019.

Lo Celso joined on loan from Real Betis in 2019 – a deal that was made permanent the following season.

He has 10 goals and eight assists in 108 games, with some Spurs fans still unsure about the Argentine.

BENJAMIN SESKO will not report for international duty with Slovenia but Manchester United do not believe his knee injury is serious.

Sesko, who came off in the 88th minute of United’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham on Saturday, will continue to be assessed at Carrington this week.

Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek has indicated that the national team doctor should have been allowed to assess Sesko before a decision was made.

United manager Ruben Amorim is expected to provide a more specific update on the extent of Sesko’s injury at his pre-match press conference ahead of Everton‘s visit to Old Trafford on November 24.

Sesko will miss Slovenia’s World Cup qualifiers against Kosovo and Sweden over the next fortnight.

United officials spent hours coordinating with the Slovenian football association to communicate the news of Sesko’s lay-off.

Sesko, who came on in the 58th minute at Spurs, was forced off after spurning an opportunity inside the opponent’s penalty area.

That reduced United to ten men at 1-1 and they went 2-1 down in the 91st minute before Matthijs de Ligt’s last-gasp equaliser.

Amorim confirmed afterwards that Sesko had sustained a knee injury but was unsure as to the severity of it.

“I’m more concerned with an injury (than Sesko’s form), because it’s in the knee,” Amorim said. “And I don’t know, and we need Ben to be a better team.”

Sesko, 23, has not convinced since his £73.62million move from RB Leipzig in August.

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The Slovenia international has scored two goals in 12 appearances and he was dropped at Spurs.

Amorim admitted last week that Sesko is a “control freak” who is “not relaxed” and “struggling”.

Kek indicated he was unsatisfied with the lack of clarity from United on the extent of Sesko’s injury.

He said: “With all due respect to a great club like Man United, we have officially not received anything yet; no papers, no documents.

“We want our medical team to take a look at it. Our doctor is an expert in this field, we don’t have just anyone in this position.

“I cannot comment, of course, I have certain information, and I am also in contact with Beni. I can’t say anything because officially we don’t know anything at all, United hasn’t contacted anyone from our camp.

“Of course, I am concerned about the player; the only thing that matters to me is his well-being. We are prepared to do everything for that, and we have never sent anyone onto the field if there was the slightest risk.

“However, the national team is something very special, and I expect maximum respect from everyone.

“Slovenia deserves that, even if on the other side there is a powerhouse like England, and something as extraordinary as the Premier League.”

Meanwhile, Lisandro Martinez has been granted permission to train with the Argentina squad at their training camp in Europe.

The centre-back will not figure in their friendly against Angola as he approaches his return from a nine-month lay-off, having ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in February.