Boss McInnes to miss Kilmarnock v Hearts – reaction & your views

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Derek McInnes will not be in charge of Kilmarnock for Sunday’s match against Hearts, with the manager poised to move from the Ayrshire club to their Scottish Premiership rivals.

The 53-year-old had said on Tuesday he expected to be in the dugout for the final two games of the season, despite the clubs having agreed a compensation deal for his summer switch.

But, following Wednesday’s 3-0 defeat away to Motherwell, Kilmarnock announced McInnes and his staff would not lead the team at the weekend.

“It has been agreed between our board of directors, Derek McInnes and his staff that the best approach would be if they were not in charge for the final match of the season,” a statement read.

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However, Kilmarnock now say Sheerin and coach Alan Archibald will also not be involved in Sunday’s game against Hearts, with Chris Burke and Craig Clark taking charge of the team.

McInnes is next week expected to formally succeed Neil Critchley, who was sacked as head coach in late April after just six months in charge.

He has been in charge at Rugby Park since 2022 and last season guided the Ayrshire side into Europe by finishing fourth.

His managerial career began when he took St Johnstone into the top flight in 2009 and, after a brief stint at Bristol City, he had eight years in Aberdeen, with whom he never finished lower than fourth and won the League Cup in 2014.

McInnes left Pittodrie in 2021 and took charge of Kilmarnock the following January, leading them to promotion to the top flight and keeping them in it since.

‘We can only be thankful for McInnes’

Burke, 41, insists the club should be thankful for what McInnes achieved and that once emotion is taken out of it, everyone will be able reflect on that success.

And the youth team coach insisted it was “difficult to answer” whether he wants to be part of the first team coaching set-up, having enjoyed success in his existing role including winning the Scottish Youth Cup final.

“As a club, as people and staff, and especially myself, we can only be thankful for what Derek has done for the club,” said the former Kilmarnock, Rangers and Scotland winger.

“It’s been a long journey, but a good journey in my opinion. If you really think about it, his first game was at Queen of the South, then we were playing in Copenhagen.

McInnes graphic

What do Kilmarnock fans think?

Archie: What an embarrassing last few days for our club. I’m genuinely disgusted. For 60 years I’ve followed Kilmarnock and I have never seen such despicable behaviour.

Derek McInnes talks of how he always puts Killie first? Don’t make me laugh. I’ll be glad to see the back of him. Where was he post-match?

Billy Bowie should come out and explain the situation because it’s a complete and utter shambles.

Alastair: McInnes was the man at the right time for us, but it certainly is his time at Kilmarnock to finish. No point in us berating him; instead we should be looking forward to a new manager with new ideas to put us back up where we should be.

Scott: The game was a complete sideshow to the mess McInnes has created over the last week.

If he wanted to see out the season, he needed to say he’s the Killie manager and completely focused on finishing the season strongly with us. Nothing about Hearts until the season is over.

But instead, he’s created a circus. Paul Sheerin’s post-match comments were embarrassing and patronising to the fans, too.

James: I think Hearts and, to a certain extent, the media have treated Kilmarnock with total disrespect. They could easily have waited until next week to make their approach for McInnes.

Killie are certainly in a better position than when McInnes arrived, and I just hope the next manager can take us forward.

Graeme: Derek has punched above his weight at Killie. Unfortunately, we have to accept that Hearts are a bigger club – not a better club – than we are and he deserves the chance to go there and progress both Hearts and himself.

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Verma returns to India T20 squad for England tour

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India have announced their squads for the white-ball series against England, with opener Shafali Verma making a return to the T20 side.

Verma, 21, was dropped from India’s squads in November but impressed in the Women’s Premier League for Delhi Capitals with 304 runs at a strike-rate of 152.76.

However, she remains out of favour in the one-day international side, having not played since October.

The experienced Harmanpreet Kaur leads both squads with batter Smriti Mandhana, who was recently named Wisden’s leading women’s cricketer in the world, her vice-captain.

Top-order batter Pratika Rawal, 24, is included in the ODI squad having made a sparkling start to her career by becoming the fastest woman to 500 runs in the format.

Seamer Renuka Singh Thakur and spinner Shreyanka Patil both miss out through injuries.

The first of five T20s takes place at Trent Bridge on 28 June, and is followed by three ODIs.

India’s last tour of England came in 2022, with England winning the T20s but losing the ODIs 3-0.

The series concluded with Charlie Dean’s controversial run out at the non-striker’s end by Deepti Sharma at Lord’s.

India T20 squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sree Charani, Shuchi Upadhyay, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare.

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Liverpool trio among player of season nominees

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Three members of Liverpool’s title-winning squad have been nominated for the Premier League player of the season award.

Captain Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch lead the eight-player shortlist after helping the Reds to a 20th league title.

Defender Van Dijk has played every game for Liverpool this season, helping them record 14 clean sheets, while midfielder Gravenberch has missed only one match.

Forward Salah has registered a league-high 46 goal contributions, including 28 goals.

Nottingham Forest are the only other club with more than one nominee.

Midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White is included alongside striker Chris Wood, who is enjoying his most prolific Premier League campaign with 20 goals in 34 matches.

Also nominated are Newcastle striker Alexander Isak, who is second in the scoring charts with 23 goals, and Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo, who has 18 goals and seven assists – the third highest goal contributions tally in the league.

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice completes the list.

Palmer and Delap up for young player award

Cole Palmer is in the running to win the Premier League young player of the season award for a second year in a row.

The 23-year-old Chelsea forward has 15 goals and eight assists in 35 appearances.

Liverpool’s Gravenberch and striker Liam Delap, who has scored 12 of Ipswich’s 35 goals, are also on the eight-player shortlist.

Pereira on manager award shortlist

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Wolves’ Vitor Pereira is in the running for the Premier League manager of the year award.

They were 19th in the table when Pereira took charge in December, but he has led them to safety, winning 10 and drawing two of his 18 matches in charge. Wolves are currently 14th.

Arne Slot, who won the title in his first season at Liverpool, is also nominated along with Newcastle’s Eddie Howe and Forest’s Nuno Espirito Santo.

Newcastle and Forest remain in contention for Champions League qualification with two matches remaining.

Thomas Frank, whose Brentford side are on course for their highest finish of eighth, is also on the shortlist.

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Tigers pull ‘wildcard’ with ‘very sharp’ Parling

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He was greeted as a “wildcard appointment”, has been admired as a “very sharp student of the game” and is seen by one former team-mate as a “big coup” for Leicester Tigers.

When Geoff Parling returns to Tigers in the summer after 10 years away, he will do so as a rookie head coach with a big reputation.

The 41-year-old former England lock, who earned three British and Irish Lions caps while playing for Leicester, where he won two Premiership titles in six years, replaces a coach of world renown in Michael Cheika.

For months, Tigers’ search for Cheika’s successor had the club linked to a multitude of high-profile coaching figures.

Stade Francais coach and ex-Harlequins head of rugby Paul Gustard and ex-Munster head coach Graham Rowntree were two former Tigers that were favourites for the job at different times, as was ex-England boss Stuart Lancaster and even former New Zealand player and assistant coach Leon MacDonald.

Australia assistant Parling, whose entire coaching career to date has been spent working down under after he retired as a player in 2018, was the surprise choice.

“He hadn’t been mentioned at all,” said former Leicester Tigers and England winger Tom Varndell, whose first spell with Tigers ended in 2009 before Parling moved to Mattioli Woods Welford Road from Newcastle.

“Geoff is a bit of a wildcard, but I think he is a really good one.

Former Tigers hooker George Chuter, who played alongside Parling throughout the lock’s time at Leicester, says his former team-mate appears to have “come up on the inside rail and snuck in at the end” to get the job.

While Parling was not a name being “bandied around” during the months in which speculation around the job swirled, Chuter says getting him back is a “big coup”.

He describes Parling as a “very intelligent and very sharp” thinker who will have a “deep appreciation for what it takes” to make Tigers successful.

“Geoff was a player that had to study the game,” Chuter told BBC East Midlands Today.

“If you were to describe someone who maximised their talent, I think that would be Geoff because he wasn’t the most naturally gifted rugby player. He looked about 48 years old when he was 25, so he is that sort of guy.

“He had a really great work ethic, physical skills he worked on but his brain was two or three steps ahead of most other people.

Geoff Parling of Leicester, with his hands on his hips, during a game in 2015Getty Images

Cheika the ‘forever coach’

And with Parling being the ninth head coach Tigers have had in nine years, it’s arguable there are no more demanding conditions to work under than those in Leicester.

Cheika took the job “very last-minute” when fellow Australian Dan McKellar – who, like Parling, left his role as Wallabies assistant when he took over as Tigers head coach in 2023 – got through only one year of a “long-term deal” with the club.

The length of Parling’s contract has been described the same way.

Stability is something Tigers back-rower Hanro Liebenberg has previously said Leicester need to find in Cheika’s replacement.

Cheika himself spoke about “stability and all that business” after Parling’s role was announced, but said that trying to deliver a Premiership title this season is the “best thing” he can do to help the incoming boss.

But that may not be all, as Cheika remains keen to stay in touch with the club after his departure.

When asked if he would “pick up the phone” if Parling ever had a question in future, Cheika replied: “Yes, of course.

“And I’ve said it to the guys here – once I’ve coached them, I’m coaching them forever. You ask these guys to do things for you all the time, and the respect they show is something that is a big connector.

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Everton to reduce Goodison capacity for women’s team

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Everton are drawing up plans about how they will reduce the capacity of Goodison Park when the club’s women’s team move in, including closing some of the stadium’s upper tiers.

The 133-year-old stadium plays host to its final Premier League game on Sunday, when Everton face Southampton, before moving to a new 53,000-capacity arena at Bramley-Moore Dock.

Everton have announced that proposals to demolish Goodison Park have been scrapped and will be used for their women’s team from next season.

The women’s team average attendance has been 2,062 at their current home at Walton Hall Park and Everton are keen to make Goodison more intimate with its current capacity at 39,572.

The club had also offered season ticket holders and seasonal hospitality members the opportunity to buy the seat they have used in the 2024-25 season as a permanent souvenir of Goodison Park after the final men’s game has been played.

That plan will go ahead and any seats bought will be replaced by the club in areas that will be occupied by supporters for women’s matches.

Everton are then planning to reduce the number of seats in each row where seats have been bought to create extra space, with the current capacity at 39,572.

Under previous owner Farhad Moshiri, the club had announced plans for an £82m post-demolition renovation project on the Goodison site, which was set to include housing, a care home, retail units and a park.

The centre circle, where the ashes of Everton legend Dixie Dean – whose record of 60 league goals in the 1926-27 season still stands – are scattered, was going to be preserved as an area of green space.

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Kulusevski out for a ‘few months’ – Postecoglou

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Tottenham midfielder Dejan Kulusevski is facing “at least a few months” out with a knee injury, head coach Ange Postecoglou says.

Kulusevski became the latest Tottenham player to be ruled out of next Wednesday’s Europa League final against Manchester United after having an operation on his right knee.

The Sweden international, 25, had been forced off in the 19th minute of Spurs’ 2-0 defeat by Crystal Palace on Sunday.

“Yeah, gutted for Deki,” said Postecoglou before his side’s trip to Aston Villa on Friday.

“Disappointing news. Initially we thought it wasn’t too serious. The medical team were worried structurally about how the knee was but it blew up the day after and we knew there was an issue there.

“He has had surgery and it will put him out for at least a few months.

“I have only got basic information at the moment in terms of recovery, but it will certainly put him out for a while.”

Spurs are 17th in the Premier League table – one place above the relegation zone and one behind United in 16th.

Both sides have endured dismal league campaigns but could still qualify for next season’s Champions League with victory in Spain.

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