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Celtic defender Alistair Johnston is confident they will not be blown off course by speculation over their manager ahead of the Scottish Cup final. Johnston admits hearing talk of Tottenham’s reported interest in Ange Postecoglou is unavoidable, but the manager and skipper Callum McGregor especially will not allow it to become a distraction. The right-back, who has been passed fit for Saturday’s Hampden clash with Inverness, said: “Trust me, we all hear the noise. We have got Sky Sports on and it seems like every other story that’s running is that one. “But it comes from the top down for us; Cal doesn’t let any noise in and the gaffer definitely doesn’t let any noise in. It’s just been the gaffer as I know him and I don’t think anyone was expecting anything different. “This ship is steering straight where it needs to go right to that cup final. “We just don’t let that kind of stuff creep into the building in terms of letting guys’ heads turn. “That’s super important and I think that goes to show why this club has been so successful, we don’t let that kind of stuff affect players. “You can always tell when someone’s head is turned or something is going on, they just play a little bit off, or they don’t truly feel all the way there. “But that’s never been the case at all in my time here. Even when guys were leaving, and guys did leave in that January window, everyone was still training as hard as possible up until the day they left. “I found that very impressive but, again, that comes from the top down. You are not allowed to have a wandering eye, because if you do you are going to get found out and this squad is so deep that you will be out of the squad as quick as that. That’s what we have here and I think that’s really special. “I know there’s a lot of talk but we are not bothered, we are not worrying about that, we are just focused on this cup final.” The Canada international has not felt the need for anyone inside Celtic Park to give the players any reassurances over Postecoglou’s future. “None of it’s really needed,” he said. “We are all professionals, we understand it’s going to come with the job. When you are super successful, you are going to be linked with other things. “We don’t feel that’s something that needs to be brought up because it’s just a distraction. “No words need to be spoken about that. It’s simple: head down, work hard, and hope you are going to be in the squad for the cup final and have a chance to lift the trophy.” Celtic fans are searching for clues that might mean their popular manager decides to stay in Glasgow despite the lure of the Premier League, and Johnston feels there is a real determination from Postecoglou and his players to improve in the Champions League next season. Another title win ensured they will be in the group stage again and they are looking to improve on their two-point tally from last season. Johnston said: “I have just gotten here. He was a big reason, just talking to him and seeing how he plays and his goals for the club, not only domestically but in the Champions League as well. “Obviously I wasn’t here for the run this year but the guys felt they left a little on the table, the performances were strong but the results maybe weren’t. So I think everybody is excited to have another crack at it. “We have a lot of really determined and hungry individuals who want to prove that, just because we are in Scotland, doesn’t mean we can’t compete with those massive European clubs. “That’s really important to us and important to the manager as well. “That’s something we are all building towards. The gaffer has been signing players with that intention. In my talk with him, it was that we want to be dominant domestically but we also want to take that next step at the international level, and that’s something we are going to be looking for next season especially.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Broad brilliance and a statuesque striker – Thursday’s sporting social Lydia Bedford takes Brentford Under-18s reins in landmark appointment for women The Hundred overhaul ‘not something that’s on agenda’ for ECB boss Richard Gould

Striker Folarin Balogun is among 24 players picked by new U.S. interim coach B

Lydia Bedford has been announced as Brentford Under-18s head coach in a landmark appointment. Bedford has left her position as assistant boss with Arsenal’s women team to become the first female coach to take the reins at a men’s professional side in England. The former Leicester manager is set to work alongside Jon-Paul Pittman, who will join as assistant coach from Forest Green. Brentford director of football Phil Giles said: “I’m really pleased that we’ve managed to attract such talented coaches as Lydia and Jon-Paul to our under-18 team for next year. “We undertook an extensive recruitment process for these roles. Lydia and Jon-Paul were the two best candidates, and thankfully we were able to finalise their recruitment to the staff. “I’m sure they will excel, and we all look forward to working with them through pre-season and beyond.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

This has been a year full of change for Green Bay Packers offensive lineman David Bakhtiari after he protected Aaron Rodgers’ blind side for the last decade

Fillies ranging from Ruffian to Eight Belles as well as male counterparts Barbaro and Mongolian Groom are some of the well-known horse deaths that have occurred in races ranging from the Kentucky Derby to the Breeders' Cup

The Boston Celtics were one win away from the NBA Finals. What is next for this squad and will Jaylen Brown stay long-term?What is the next for the Boston Celtics after losing in the Eastern Conference Finals? How can this team improve and will they keep Jaylen Brown? Will they keep their rookie...

As Manchester City prepare for a week that could fulfil a 15-year objective, the discussion within the rest of the Premier League has not been about their undeniable greatness. It has still been about these 115 charges for alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play rules. Opinions were naturally shared in many executive lounges on the last weekend of the season, with particular attention to how any decision on Newcastle United’s prospective shirt sponsorship deal with events company Sela – which, like the club itself, is primarily owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – might be relevant to City’s case. There is a belief it could lead the Premier League to a situation where it is accused of treating City by different rules to Newcastle. Pep Guardiola was of course concerned with none of this as he prepared for the FA Cup final. While the Catalan and senior City figures feel this is all overplayed, especially as the club absolutely insists upon its innocence, many others in football stress quite the opposite. There is a belief the true scale is not being grasped, whether City are exonerated or not. Such is the strength of feeling, for now just bubbling under the surface, that many sources from London to Nyon describe it as a “potential Super League moment” in terms of the ructions it could cause. There is “fury”. And, just like that moment back in April 2021, the Premier League is facing severe pressure from several different areas. There was first of all the agitation of the other clubs, who pushed for investigation in the first place. More immediately, there is obviously City’s strenuous defence, one source describing the legal back and forth as “like war”. Most coverage has so far been given to numerous legal challenges and obstructions, particularly as regards the objection to Murray Rosen KC as head of the Premier League’s independent judiciary panel. In terms of the club’s tactics in the case itself, The Independent understands City’s expensive legal team are primarily arguing this is not about “fraud”. That accusation is after all why the entire story has such gravity. City are accused of failing to accurately disclose information, with owner funding alleged to have been disguised as sponsorship from two Abu Dhabi companies, airline Etihad and telecommunications group Etisalat. The Independent has been told the club’s lawyers are arguing this is not about any of that but instead an “associated party issue”. That, covered on page 132 of the Premier League’s handbook, relates to parties “having material influence over the club or entity in the same group of companies as the club”. It is why Newcastle’s Sela case may be relevant, since that would be judged under the same regulations. Those regulations were actually updated after the Newcastle takeover, as the other 18 non-state-owned clubs raised concerns over how they could be outstripped by inflated sponsorship deals from companies in autocratic states such as Saudi Arabia. As it stands, Financial Fair Play regulations allow clubs to make a loss of £105m over rolling three-year periods, so long as that is covered by cash injections from owners. Anything exceeding this would be a breach. In terms of arguing that the current case is about associated parties, City actually attempted the same tactic with the previous Uefa case, that covered the same ground. They insisted that was – under the European body’s terms – a “related party issue”. Uefa’s Investigatory Chamber stated it wasn’t about any of that, and that if it is about failure to accurately disclose information it doesn’t make any difference if the parties are related or not. The Court of Arbitration for Sport came down on the governing body’s side in this aspect, as covered in paragraphs 124 to 135 of the judgement. Paragraph 127 reads that the panel found “the related party issue is separable from the charges based on the Leaked Emails”. CAS did ultimately overturn Uefa’s verdict due to alleged breaches being “either not established or time-barred”. Should the Premier League go down the route of looking at associated parties, it could mean the process going on far longer – potentially years – since this is an exceptionally difficult area to properly prove. More complications arise from the nature of autocratic states, where rulers have almost total executive power. It is why many Premier League executives are keenly watching what happens with the Sela example, especially since the relationship there is more direct. The events management company and Newcastle United have the same primary owner in PIF. This is not to suggest there is anything untoward in that sponsorship, and it is understood there has already been sound advice that it represents “fair market value”, especially given Newcastle’s Champions League qualification. A growing feeling among the other Premier League clubs – who are now acutely conscious of the wider effects of state ownership – is nevertheless that such deals should not be looked at through the prism of associated parties or fair market value. The increasing argument is that they need to be looked at through the prism of equity, since that is what money that ultimately comes from the same owners could be perceived to represent. While there are a number of different ownership examples such an approach could relate to, many sources believe it shows the specific complications of allowing autocratic states to own football clubs. One argument is that the Premier League needs to prohibit associated party sponsorships altogether. “By allowing such rules,” one source explains, “you are effectively saying that, if it’s fair value, it doesn’t matter if it’s equity or sponsorship.” For now, some think there is the possibility that Newcastle will be looked at on a different basis to City. If that happens, it might be setting a precedent for City to follow, or – as one source put it – “write their defence for them”. If the Premier League do look at the latter through associated parties, though, it could see the case go on for over two years, maybe up to four. Other clubs are already furious at the length of time it has taken up to now, forming another pressure on the Premier League. It is why some football figures, as reported by the Independent last week, have long advised the competition that they should have independent units to deal with such cases. They believe it is a farce that the competition could be clouded by such uncertainty for so long. The eventual conclusion of City’s case could lead to an explosion One argument that has been made is that, such is the complexity of a case like this, it requires more forensic financial expertise rather than the extent of legal advice the Premier League is understood to have leant on. “They don’t know the scale of what they’re dealing with,” were the words of one source. The Premier League are absolutely not commenting on anything to do with the case, but a fair counterargument that could be made is that the four-plus years the investigation took shows how seriously this has been dealt with. For all the rancour under the surface right now, though, the eventual conclusion could lead to an explosion. If the panel does reach a guilty verdict, there is first of all the likelihood that City would seek an arbitration hearing before further potential appeals in the High Court and the Court of Appeal. Other Premier League clubs would meanwhile seek the strongest possible punishments – potentially up to expulsion – and the prospect of legal action has privately been raised by individual clubs. Premier League rules do allow clubs to sue each other. If the punishment is weak, though, the current belief is that could lead to a “mutiny” within the Premier League. That may even happen if City are exonerated. All of this comes amid a more febrile atmosphere surrounding the dominance of state-owned clubs, especially as City come to the brink of a treble and Newcastle so quickly and impressively reached the Champions League. It has meant more attention than ever is being paid to the Sela sponsorship. State politics are just one more under-current to the City story, too. As one expert on the area said: “How would UAE-UK relations be affected if one of Abu Dhabi’s prize assets was punished like that?” Read More Premier League sponsorship rules set for major test as Newcastle eye shirt deal with Saudi company Supercharged Newcastle’s four key transfer targets to strengthen for Champions League Young players taking their life should not become a norm – Tareiq Holmes-Dennis The differences between old allies Ten Hag and Guardiola that will decide cup final The year that sportswashing won: A season that changed football forever

Hilary Knight was the runaway leader in voting for the International Ice Hockey Federation’s first female player of the year award on Thursday, some six weeks after the 33-year-old captained the United States to win the women’s world championship

Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has admitted goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher needs to leave Liverpool this summer if he is to fulfil his potential. The 24-year-old will meet up with his international colleagues ahead of the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Greece and Gibraltar later this month and resume his battle with Gavin Bazunu for the role of Ireland’s number one. However, the man who played in the Reds’ 2022 Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea is still firmly in the shadow of Brazilian star Alisson Becker at Anfield and made just four club appearances for his club last season, and Kenny expects him to seek pastures new before the new campaign gets under way. He said: “I would fully expect that. It’s not right normally to speak about a player moving, but he’s at the stage where he’s behind probably one of the best goalkeepers in the world and it’s not going to get any easier. “He can’t afford not playing. He knows that and he’s known that for a while. It’s not easy. There’s a process you go through with a club like that and I think and it wouldn’t be a surprise for him to move in the summer, and he knows that. “I think he’s ready to go and play regularly because he needs to. It’s hard to leave Liverpool, it’s such an iconic club, but he’s not so young now. He’s 24 and he needs to play and he knows that.” Kenny faces something of a conundrum with his keepers, with Kelleher, Bazunu and Mark Travers all at Premier League clubs, but struggling for regular football. Bazunu, 21, lost his place at Southampton as they fought, ultimately unsuccessfully, to stave off relegation, although his international manager is optimistic his confidence will not be affected by that experience. Kenny said: “He’s done remarkable, really, in a short career, Gavin as well. For one so young, he’s done remarkably well. He’s always looked very confident playing for us.” Full-back Matt Doherty is another man who has been starved of football this season having made just two brief appearances as a substitute for Atletico Madrid since joining them from Tottenham in January. Kenny said: “I’m sure when he took that move, he knew he would find it hard for games, but he thought he would play an amount of games, for sure. He couldn’t have envisaged that he wouldn’t play at all. That was frustrating for him and tough mentally to deal with.” Kenny has been forced to omit Rotherham striker Chiedozie Ogbene from his 25-man squad for the games against Greece in Athens on June 16 and Gibraltar in Dublin three days later after he failed to recover from a hamstring injury. However, 18-year-old Brighton counterpart Evan Ferguson will report for a nine-day training camp in Antalya full of confidence at the end of his breakthrough season. Kenny said: “He’s taken everything in his stride, he’s a single-minded individual and nothing has fazed him. He seems to be able to adapt to whatever the occasion demands.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Fiorentina aim to take out frustration on West Ham in Conference League final Cameron Norrie hoping to have Jon Bon Jovi’s support at Wimbledon Ireland dig in after England seamer Stuart Broad rips through top order

Fiorentina will look to take their Coppa Italia frustrations out on West Ham in next week’s Europa Conference League final. The Viola, seeking a first major trophy since 2001, have reached two finals this season but missed their first opportunity to end that wait for silverware when they were beaten 2-1 by Inter Milan last week, with Lautaro Martinez’s brace cancelling out an early Nicolas Gonzalez strike. That has added to Fiorentina’s motivation going into Wednesday’s final against the Hammers in Prague on Wednesday. Goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano, speaking to Sky Sports Italia at a media day on Thursday, said: “We must face all games in the best way knowing that the final is very important for us and the city. It’s the game of the season in Prague. “It will be different from the Coppa Italia final. We’ll face a different opponent. But we played a great game against Inter and I am sure the same will happen with West Ham. This is our certainty, we’ll give our all to win the trophy.” Coach Vincenzo Italiano said the key to success would be cutting out the mistakes that cost Fiorentina against Inter. “We’ve had a great season, and we deserved the chance to play for this trophy, we are aware of our strength but we know that every error makes the difference in a final,” said Italiano. “Every detail matters and we want to give joy to our fans.” Fiorentina sit ninth in Serie A going into their final league fixture away to Sassuolo on Friday night, before all attention turns to West Ham. Asked about David Moyes’ side, Italiano said: “They haven’t done well in the league, but they have a very competitive team with top-class players and a competent coach. We must focus on ourselves and be free in our minds.” For last week’s goalscorer Gonzalez, losing to Inter is not the only disappointment he has endured this season. The 25-year-old midfielder has been capped 22 times by Argentina but missed out on their World Cup squad, watching on from home as his team-mates lifted the trophy in Qatar. Wednesday’s final gives him a much-needed opportunity to win a medal himself. “We are experiencing so many emotions, I am happy to have reached two finals,” he said. “We lost the first one, but now there is another big game and we want to win. “Some things hurt me last year, especially not going to the World Cup. I wasn’t fit, but some thought it was a fake injury. I never did it, I always want to be 100 per cent when I play football. We have 90 minutes and we want to make the difference.”

There is set to be a coronation at in Glasgow this weekend but when the celebrations die down, the message from Ange Postecoglou will remain the same. The only difference is whether that message stays with Celtic, or goes elsewhere. Tottenham are circling. A decision looms. Amid a party of green and white, Postecoglou would be forgiven for taking a sweeping look at what he has built in the two years since he arrived at Celtic Park unheralded, second-choice and without a previous position in European football. The doubters have long since been silenced by the ties that have been forged between fans and manager, and a team constructed in Postecoglou’s image that is blazing a trail towards one of the most successful seasons in the club’s history. But then, with a sharp, gruff bark, Celtic will snap into action in the manner the Australian demands, powered on by the gems he has helped unearth. Celtic play with ferocity, fuelled by the defiance of a manager who has taken an unwanted hand and produced a team that not only sweeps aside all before it domestically, but excites and enthrals while doing so. Postecoglou lives by the ethos that football should be that way, and a philosophy that a club should give back to its people. In Glasgow, Celtic fans love him for it - it helps, too, that a second consecutive league title has been sealed and a domestic treble is likely to follow in Saturday’s Scottish Cup final. Such success for Celtic is nothing new given their dominance over the past decade, but this side stands for something more. One may argue that Celtic’s 11th title in 12 seasons is a reflection of woeful lack of competitiveness of the Scottish top-flight, but that has been the case for some time and Postecoglou’s side have elevated the standard. Under Postecoglou, Celtic are a vision of breathless, attacking football. The defence of their Premiership title was sealed with four games to spare but it has felt like a one-horse race since they thrashed Rangers 4-0 in September. While Rangers have regressed, sacking Giovanni van Bronckhorst midway through the season, now unconvincing under Michael Beale, Celtic’s improvement has been relentless. It’s what Postecoglou promised as he stood on the pitch at Celtic Park after lifting his first Premiership title last May, and his team have delivered. “We never stop”, is the ethos that rings around Celtic these days, set by Postecoglou when he walked through the door in the summer of 2021. The club needed energy and drive but the situation Postecoglou inherited was unenviable. That may sound ridiculous, given Celtic had won an unprecedented quadruple treble of domestic honours before enduring a trophyless season the year before Postecoglou arrived. It spelled the end for Neil Lennon midway through the campaign, before the club’s protracted pursuit of Eddie Howe led down a blind alley. Celtic looked leaderless and desperate. After Howe turned Celtic down, whoever took the job was suddenly faced with the sizable task of rebuilding the squad in one summer. Odsonne Edouard, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie were sold to the wealth of the Premier League, Olivier Ntcham to the Championship, while captain Scott Brown ended his 14-year stay at the club and joined Aberdeen. Amid the uncertainty and Rangers’ first league title since 2011 - which stopped Celtic’s attempts to win a historic 10 in a row - the feeling on both halves of Glasgow was there had been a distinct power shift. When Postecoglou was unveiled there were stern warnings of the difficulties of the job he had walked into, as well as scepticism over whether he was ready for such a position. Postecoglou had the experience and his managerial CV featured league titles with the Brisbane Roar and the Yokohama Marinos in Japan, as well as leading Australia to the Asia Cup, but to some it was not the ‘right’ experience given the part of the world those honours were won. There was ridicule when it emerged that Celtic had to apply to Uefa for a special exemption as Postecoglou did not hold the required European coaching licence. But those who rushed to dismiss Postecoglou’s track record once he arrived in Scotland had failed to do their research. Postecoglou did not just win leagues but the football they played had a transformational impact on them, particularly in Australia and then later Japan. Still, and just like Arsene Wenger when he arrived in the Premier League from Japanese side Nagoya Grampus, Postecoglou’s past was received with prejudice that bordered on British and European arrogance. Yet throughout this career, the football his teams played had left their mark, and he was about to do the same in the Scottish Premiership. Those early days at Celtic’s Lennoxtown training base set the tone. As Postecoglou gathered his players and began to instil the fundamentals of his approach, there was one phrase that rang repeatedly until it was drilled into the psyche of the side: “We never stop”. Postecoglou wanted Celtic to be unrelenting, with constant movement and rotation. The full-backs would tuck inside and the central midfielders would push out wide, while a narrow but fluid front three buzzed around and interchanged positions. Postecoglou is intense, direct - and he wanted Celtic to be the same with and without the ball. There were some early set-backs. Postecoglou’s first competitive games were against the Danish side Midtjylland in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League. Given the importance of Champions League finances for Celtic, Postecoglou was immediately faced with a must-win tie but Celtic were beaten and consigned to the Europa League after a 2-1 defeat in Denmark. By mid-September, Celtic had already lost three times in the league - the opening day trip to Hearts, the first Old Firm of the season to champions Rangers, and then a 1-0 defeat at Livingston. Yet they would not suffer another in the Premiership that season, finishing with a 32-game unbeaten run. Already, the early signs of Postecoglou’s free-flowing, attacking football were evident and it soon became apparent that goals would be a near-guarantee. The Celtic fans coined Postecoglou’s philosophy as ‘Angeball’ - an appreciation of the manager’s demand to play football in the right way, to excite and build a team they could enjoy as well as take pride in. The night it all changed came in early February as Rangers arrived at Celtic Park with a two-point lead in the table. But in a crystallisation of Posecolgou’s vision, Celtic were rampant and blitzed a Rangers side who would reach the Europa League final that May, leading 3-0 by half time. Already the balance of power in Glasgow was beginning to shift again and Celtic didn’t look back. As they reclaimed the Premiership title on the penultimate weekend of the season, Postecoglou’s status among the congregation was unimpeachable. Postecoglou is a manager who seeks total authority and his desire to take control over the playing style extended to the club’s recruitment, which was a significant responsibility given the extent of the rebuilding job. But after Celtic recouped around £40m by selling Edouard to Crystal Palace, Ajer to Brentford and Christie to Bournemouth, they overhauled their squad and made it better for less. Like with Postecoglou, Celtic found quality and value in the places where no one else was looking, and it was the Australian’s extensive experience of those markets that allowed Celtic to revolutionise their approach to transfers. The jewel in the crown and the signing that changed everything was the Japan international Kyogo Furuhashi, who Postecoglu knew from facing the Vissel Kobe forward in the J-League. Kyogo arrived for £4.5m and hit 20 goals in his debut season, while he has reached 30 this campaign and is set to sweep the individual awards in Scotland. His instant impact paved the way for Celtic to sign the industrious and skilful Reo Hatate for £1.5m and the versatile finisher Daizen Maeda for £1.6m. The Japanese trio have transformed Celtic and Postecoglou’s ability to immediately get a tune out of his new signings has been key to their astonishing success in the market. The list of hits are impressive and so too are the prices. The winger Jota signed for £6m from Benfica after a dazzling first season on loan. The same can be said for the defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, £6m after a loan from Tottenham, who has formed a formidable partnership with Carl Starfelt - £4m from Rubin Kazan. Matt O’Riley was plucked from MK Dons at £1.5m and looks an excellent young midfield talent. The former England and Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, now 35, has proved a shrewd and important signing at £1m. With the exception of the elder statesman Hart, those prices will be doubled, trebled, even quadrupled now. When right back Josko Juranovic was sold to Union Berlin for £7.5m following his performances for Croatia at the World Cup he was swiftly replaced by Alasdair Johnson at £3.5m, who himself caught the eye for Canada in Qatar. It displayed Celtic’s newfound propensity for efficiency in the transfer market, but Postecoglou has also found improvement in the players he inherited. Callum McGregor, the longest serving player in the side, has gone up another level and did not look out of place against Spain’s midfield at Hampden earlier this year. It is no surprise that there is not a sacking that goes by in the Premier League without Postecoglou’s name being mentioned among the candidates. The Australian plays attractive football under a clear tactical system, understands the transfer market, and improves players - managerial qualities every Premier League club is desperate for. According to The Independent, Postecoglou’s name is at the top of Tottenham’s wishlist, with the club planning on holding talks after the Scottish Cup final. Tottenham’s interest will be a test of Celtic’s resolve and Postecoglou’s ambition to resist them. There are clear improvements for Celtic to make in the Champions League, though, and that will be where he can take them next. For now, Celtic will hope to crown their treble with a victory against Inverness at Hampden on Saturday. With each trophy, the bond and emotional attachment between Celtic and Postecoglou grows stronger, but so too does the determination to keep moving forward. Read More Tottenham set two-week target to confirm managerial appointment Tottenham identify new first choice for manager after Arne Slot snub ‘We never stop’: How Ange Postecoglou became Tottenham’s first choice Callum McGregor rescues point for Celtic from dramatic draw with St Mirren The differences between old allies Ten Hag and Guardiola that will decide cup final

Lionel Messi is leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season after two years at the club