The Swansea City co-owner Snoop Dogg was greeted with twirling towels and a guard of honour on his first visit to the Welsh club. The American rapper, who is a minority owner of the Championship club alongside the television host Martha Stewart and Croatia international Luka Modric, made his first appearance at the Swansea.com Stadium for Tuesday’s clash with Preston.
Snoop Dogg joined the Swansea ownership group last July and made his way to south-west Wales after being at the Winter Olympics, where he served as Team USA’s honorary coach as well as a special correspondent for broadcaster NBC.
The celebrity visit had created so much excitement that a sell-out crowd of 20,233 turned up.. Snoop Dogg, who had arrived at the stadium nearly three hours before the 7.45pm kick-off, had requested the crowd to be in their seats ahead of the action to twirl the complimentary towels – a staple action for supporters in American sports.
Snoop took to the field through a guard of honour for Snoop made up of 20 youngsters representing Wales at the 2026 Street Child World Cup in North America. Dressed in the club’s all-white colours, with a Swansea crest on his jacket, dark glasses and a beanie hat, Snoop made a pre-match lap of honour as fans twirled their towels with rock music booming in the background.
The star saluted the fans, shook hands with some, and had photographs taken with others. The club mascot, Cyril the Swan, even got a hug. He eventually disappeared down the tunnel seven minutes later just before a light show started prior to kick-off.
Snoop Dogg swings his Swansea towel. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/Reuters
Snoop Dogg has had a successful three-decade music career, having topped the UK charts and received 16 Grammy nominations.
Daniel Jebbison ended an 11-game scoring drought in the first half to give Preston a deserved lead. But Liam Cullen stole at least some of the limelight with his last-gasp header, by which point Snoop Dogg had already left his seat in the directors’ box.
Middlesbrough slipped to a third straight Championship match without a win after drawing 1-1 with Leicester at the Riverside.
In his second game in charge of the struggling Foxes, Gary Rowett’s side took the lead when Caleb Okoli nodded home from a free-kick, but the hosts levelled on the stroke of half-time through Riley McGree.
A draw means second-placed Boro stay two points behind the leaders Coventry, who are in action on Wednesday night, while relegation-threatened Leicester have claimed back-to-back league draws.
Ipswich boosted their automatic promotion hopes with a 2-0 win at Watford thanks to goals from Sindre Walle Egeli and the substitute George Hirst.
Ipswich Town’s George Hirst (right) celebrates scoring their second goal at Vicarage Road. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
Kieran McKenna’s visitors moved up to third by getting the better of Ed Still’s playoff hopefuls, who saw Tom Ince’s late penalty saved by the Town goalkeeper Christian Walton.
Ipswich took the lead in the 37th minute through Walle Egeli. Watford were unhappy with the referee Ben Toner’s decision to award Town a free-kick right on the edge of the area for Mattie Pollock’s challenge on Azon.
Marcelino Núñez could only ping the free-kick against the wall but the rebound fell to Walle Egali in space on the right of the box for a volley that bounced off the turf and beyond Egil Selvik. Hirst netted the second in the 77th minute.
Hull consolidated their place in the Championship playoffs with a 4-2 win at home to Derby. Second-half goals from John Egan and Lewis Koumas earned the Tigers three important points after they had lost their past two league games.
Hull took the lead after nine minutes when Callum Elder scored an own goal against his former side. Craig Forsyth equalised seven minutes later for Derby, only for Oli McBurnie to score his 13th goal of the campaign after another Elder gaffe. Sammie Szmodics restored parity for the Rams three minutes before the break, before Egan and Koumas consigned John Eustace’s men to back-to-back defeats.
Wrexham continued their push for a fourth successive promotion as they held on for a hard-fought 2-1 win over Portsmouth.
The Red Dragons looked on course for a comfortable victory as Sam Smith and Max Cleworth headed home in the first half at Stok Cae Ras. Portsmouth pulled a goal back through Zak Swanson as they rallied in the second half but were unable to find an equaliser.
Kuryu Matsuki scored his first Championship goals as Southampton threw down their playoff credentials with a 5-0 thrashing of QPR. Finn Azaz got the bulldozing under way before Matsuki notched either side of half-time to fire Saints up to seventh and to a seventh league match without defeat.
Leo Scienza and James Bree’s stunner added gloss and left QPR seven points adrift of the top six to dent their hopes of reaching the Premier League.
Michael O’Neill suffered his first defeat as the Blackburn manager as Emil Riis Jakobsen helped fire Bristol City to a 2-1 win at Ewood Park.
The Northern Ireland manager won the first two matches of his Championship job-share, against QPR and Preston, and was tracking for a third when Yuki Ohashi put Rovers in front early on.
But Riis Jakobsen almost single-handedly flipped the momentum as he ran the first half, netting the equaliser and setting up a 31st-minute winner for the former Burnley man Scott Twine.
Charlton heaped more pressure on the West Brom head coach Eric Ramsay after hitting back to draw 1-1 at the Hawthorns.
George Campbell ended Albion’s 405-minute wait for a goal by heading his side in front in the third minute of time added on before half-time. But Lyndon Dykes rescued a point for the Addicks in the 70th minute to leave Ramsay without a win in his eight league games in charge.