Category Sports News

Former Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl has dropped out of the race to become Rangers’ new head coach.

The 36-year-old German becomes the second contender to withdraw from the process in five days after Steven Gerrard turned down the chance to become manager for a second time.

Rohl was understood to be a strong candidate to replace the sacked Russell Martin but has now told the Ibrox club he no longer wants to be considered.

However, Rangers sources suggest more than one person remains in contention for the job.

Rohl held positive talks with Rangers, but the club are taking their time to make the next appointment, even if it meant the German exiting the process.

Having coached at RB Leipzig, Southampton, Bayern Munich and been Germany’s assistant coach, Rohl was appointed by Sheffield Wednesday in October 2023, becoming the youngest manager in the English Football League.

He steered the club clear of relegation and they finished 12th the following season, but Rohl departed this summer amid the club’s ownership and financial issues.

The news that he had dropped out of contention for the Ibrox job came on the day when former Rangers midfielder Derek McInnes dismissed speculation linking him with the vacancy, saying he was concentrating on keeping Heart of Midlothian top of the Premiership.

Martin left Rangers after only 17 games in charge and his side sitting eighth in the table after just one win in six outings.

They also suffered a painful 9-1 aggregate defeat by Club Brugge in Champions League qualifying and have lost their opening two Europa League matches.

Ruben Amorim should be looking ahead to Manchester United’s return to Premier League action this weekend with a renewed sense of optimism.

Yet four huge games now await United, starting at Liverpool. They could shape how this season turns out for the team, for better or worse.

Amorim’s side produced one of the most solid performances of his time in charge by beating Sunderland 2-0 immediately before the international break.

The result eased pressure that had been mounting on the Portuguese head coach in the aftermath of a woeful defeat at Brentford the week before.

Since then, minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has backed Amorim, talking in terms of it taking three years for the former Sporting coach to make his mark at Old Trafford – and reminding supporters how long it took Sir Alex Ferguson to navigate choppy waters following his arrival at the club in 1986.

However, Amorim knows few will take Ratcliffe’s words at face value if the team fail to make meaningful progress on last season’s 15th place, United’s worst top-flight finish since the 1973-74 relegation season.

The Sunderland win lifted United to 10th, only the second time this season they have ended a match round in the top half of the table. It was just their 10th victory in 34 Premier League games since Amorim replaced Erik ten Hag in November last year. They are still to win two successive league games.

United could not have a much tougher assignment on Sunday than Liverpool at Anfield (16:30 BST), where they have not won since 2016 and, until last season, had scored once in eight visits.

Few think United will return from Merseyside with three points. In terms of expectation, it is the fixtures after that where the real peril comes – Brighton at home, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham away.

In theory it is a good chance to pick up a decent points haul and push up the table towards the European places. In the dressing room and the boardroom, this is United’s stated aim this season and would prove progress has been made.

Yet, in each of the past two seasons, United have lost at home against Brighton and away at the City Ground and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Last term, Amorim was in charge for each of them.

Below is a list of the upcoming fixtures and a look at what happened in 2024-25, with Amorim’s post-match assessments and fan verdicts.

Supposedly the hardest of United’s next four games is actually the only one they have got any points from in the past two seasons. In January, Lisandro Martinez put United ahead – the first time that had happened at Anfield since Wayne Rooney scored the only goal in 2016 – but it took Amad Diallo’s equaliser to earn them a draw, with Harry Maguire blazing an excellent opportunity to win it over the bar in stoppage time.

“It is really clear,” said Amorim at the time. “When we are focused, when we fight for every ball, when we suffer and when we are tired when the game is finished, we are a good team. If we don’t do that all the time, we are going to lose games.”

An awful afternoon was topped off by Amorim’s explosive post-match comments.

Brighton have now won three successive Premier League games at Old Trafford and this one was particularly poor. After getting caught on the counter-attack, United equalised through a Bruno Fernandes penalty and survived their opponents having a goal ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR).

But Kaoru Mitoma sneaked in at the far post behind Noussair Mazraoui to put the visitors ahead again, before goalkeeper Andre Onana allowed a routine low cross from Yasin Ayari to slip from his grasp under no pressure to present Georginio Rutter with a tap-in.

“In [the past] 10 games in the Premier League, we won two,” said Amorim. “Imagine what this is for a fan of Manchester United. Imagine what this is for me. We are getting a new coach who is losing more than the last coach. I have full knowledge of that. We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United.”

Losing at the City Ground in the Premier League for the second successive season was bad enough for Manchester United. That Anthony Elanga should score the winner just twisted the knife deeper.

United sold Elanga to Forest for £15m in 2023 as Erik ten Hag did not share Ralf Rangnick’s high opinion of the Sweden forward. Elanga’s goal was a beauty as he ran 50 yards downfield after Forest cleared a United corner and Mazraoui backed off, before driving a low shot into the net from just inside the area.

“One transition on our set-piece,” said Amorim. “We cannot suffer this type of goal.”

United’s most damaging defeat by Spurs under Amorim so far came in the Europa League final in May as it cost them a place in this season’s Champions League.

But losing to Tottenham was a familiar feeling last season – it happened four times, including an EFL Cup victory.

In February, Spurs became the first side to beat United three times in a season since Chelsea in 2012-13. James Maddison scored the only goal of the league game in London after 13 minutes. Spurs were also completing their first league double over United since 1989-90, when Terry Venables was in charge.

“Difference of the game? They scored and we didn’t,” Amorim said.

Jonjo Shelvey had missed penalties before.

But footage of this particular spot-kick went viral after the Arabian Falcons captain failed to hit the target against Al Fath.

Shelvey estimated there were only 75 supporters watching the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Second Division League game earlier this month.

It was a far cry from the crowds the former England international was used to during previous spells at Newcastle United, Liverpool, Swansea City and others.

However, the midfielder insisted he “could not care less” after a clip of his miss at Jebel Ali Shooting Club racked up a million views on social media.

“It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “I’ve since seen a few things like ‘he’s gone there for money’. I’m thinking ‘what money? There’s no money in the UAE Second Division League’.

“The ballpark of the standard wage here is £2,000-a-month for a footballer. In terms of what I’ve earned throughout my career, that’s nothing.

“My brother earns more working in a hotel in London, so it was never about coming here for the money.”

Shelvey, in his own words, had been “doing nothing for two months”.

Following an unsuccessful trial at Hull City the free agent suffered a hamstring injury, which complicated his prospects of securing a summer move.

But Arabian Falcons manager Harry Agombar reached out to ask his childhood friend to move out to Dubai to help “grow the club”.

Though Shelvey’s family had long been settled on Tyneside – even after he left Newcastle in 2023 – the father-of-three saw it as a chance to embark on a “fresh start”.

“I’ve had my time,” the Londoner said. “I’m happy and content. I’m just at the stage now where I want to enjoy football. It’s about waking up, enjoying what I do and spending time with my family.

“If I’m honest, I don’t want my children growing up in England any more. We’re very lucky that we lived in a nice part of the UK but where I’m from, originally, you can’t have nice things in my opinion.

“I’d never wear a watch in London any more. You can’t have your phone out in London, in my view.”

About 80,000 mobile phones were stolen in London last year, according to the Metropolitan Police, and there have been some high-profile instances of theft in the capital in the past 12 months.

Ex-Formula One driver Jenson Button and wife Brittny had a case filled with £250,000 worth of valuables snatched outside St Pancras station in February, while thieves stole more than £10m worth of bespoke jewellery from socialite Shafira Huang after breaking into her St John’s Wood home back in December.

But the Met says personal robbery has been reduced by 13% and theft is down 14% in London so far this year.

“I’m not massive on reading politics,” Shelvey said. “I just see some of the things that go on.

“I see people getting arrested for tweeting and, then, all of the flags and ‘taking back the country’.

That is not meant as a slight on the community Shelvey has left behind.

Though Shelvey has uprooted from the UK, the 33-year-old said the north east was “the only place there he would want to live”.

“There’s this debate about whether Newcastle are able to attract the big players compared to the Manchester clubs and the London clubs but, until you go there, you don’t understand what it does to you,” he said.

“There are loads of things to do. I don’t care what anyone says. If players are going to listen to this, it’s a no-brainer to go there and play football.

“You will not find love at a football club like I found at Newcastle, with how they take to their players and how much they back you.”

Shelvey spent longer at Newcastle than any other side – seven years in total following his move from Swansea City – and said he was “honoured” to have represented the club and worn the captain’s armband on occasion.

As well as sticking around following relegation, in 2016, and playing his part in taking Newcastle straight back up, Shelvey also helped ensure the club then stayed in the top flight.

He even scored what proved to be a “massive” goal against Leeds United as Newcastle started to pull away from danger three and a half years ago.

It ended up proving a turning point in head coach Eddie Howe’s reign.

“If I had not scored that, the club would have gone down!” he said. “I’m joking. Looking back at it, you don’t realise how big a goal it was and, to be fair, the keeper [Illan Meslier] chucked one in for us. I scuffed the life out of it.

“But I’ve only got good things to say about my time at Newcastle. I loved it. Even when I first got the call about going there, I drove 12 hours from Swansea because of the traffic. I just wanted to get up there, get my medical done and get signed.

Shelvey, clearly, still retains an affection for Newcastle and Howe, who “knew how to get into your head”.

However, Shelvey is wary of being a “hindrance” and has stopped short of reaching out to the Newcastle head coach just yet as he studies for his Uefa A Licence coaching qualification.

A member of Howe’s backroom team previously urged Shelvey to contact his former manager, to ask to watch training or do some coaching in the academy.

But Shelvey wants to get there “on merit rather than relying on someone he knows”.

He is now combining coaching in the evenings in Dubai with training in the mornings after signing an initial one-year deal with the Falcons, as the club target promotion to the second tier.

Shelvey counts ex-Manchester United and West Ham midfielder Ravel Morrison as a team-mate and believes are “a few players out here you could take into League One or League Two if given the chance”.

But Shelvey recognises that his body is “not the same as it used to be”.

“When you get older, every time you go on the training pitch, you think, ‘is this going to be my last session?'” he said. “If I got a bad injury now, I would probably call it a day.

Four-time Australian Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus has announced she is retiring from swimming at the age of 25, saying “the time feels right to step away”.

“It’s a tough one [decision] but one that I’m really happy with”, she said on Instagram on Thursday, adding: “I’ve always loved swimming, it’s been my passion since I was a little girl.”

She took a break after last year’s Paris Olympics and “realised some things in my life that have always been important to me are just a little bit more important to me now than swimming”.

A two-time Olympic champion in the 400m freestyle, she triumphed in Tokyo in 2021 and in Paris last year. She also won 200m freestyle gold in Tokyo and was part of the Australia team that won the 4x200m freestyle relay in Paris.

Before the Paris Games, Titmus underwent surgery to remove an ovarian tumour, which she referred to in Thursday’s announcement, saying she had faced health challenges which “really rocked me mentally”.

After 18 years of swimming, and having just turned 25, “the time feels right to step away from swimming”, she wrote in a letter to her seven-year-old self that she shared on Instagram.

“The pursuit was unrelenting and you gave it every skerrick of yourself. You walk away knowing every stone was turned, no regrets. You’re fulfilled, content and happy.”

American swimmer Katie Ledecky – a rival of Titmus and who the Australian beat to win the 400m freestyle gold in Paris – responded to the announcement, saying Titmus was an “outstanding competitor, champion and person”.

Chelsea’s dominant victory over Paris FC was lit up by the newest member of their attack, Alyssa Thompson, who traversed the Stamford Bridge pitch with agile runs and eventually got the rewards her efforts deserved.

Thompson may be just 20 years old, but her arrival at Chelsea was accompanied by lofty expectations arising from the club record price tag. Now, in her seventh appearance, she has finally got off the mark.

She darted down the wings and led her side’s counter-attacks, showing expert positioning to put herself in the right place to be able to set up Johanna Rytting Kaneryd’s goal, and tapped home an excellent Keira Walsh delivery to get her first goal for the club.

It was an impressive display, but, says manager Sonia Bompastor, the best of her is still to come.

“A young player, a lot of talent, but I think we haven’t seen yet the best of her, but hopefully we will see that soon,” said Bompastor.

“She is coming from abroad, she speaks the language, which helps, but again, it’s a new environment, a new club, she needs to learn to connect with new players on the pitch, new team-mates, so hopefully, even sooner, we will see an even better version.”

Thompson’s first goal is one which will put her at “ease”, says Brighton forward Fran Kirby, who previously spent nine years at Chelsea.

Former Scotland captain Rachel Corsie added that now Thompson has scored, she imagines the “floodgates will open”.

“She’s been a real bright spark,” Kirby said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “I think against Tottenham she looked really sharp, it was probably that final product.

Of her six appearances in all competitions for Bompastor’s side before Wednesday, half had come as a substitute.

While she had not previously been involved in any goals, Thompson had already displayed her talents by creating chances, coming close to scoring herself, and drawing a red card after West Ham defender Ines Belloumou pulled her hair during her first start.

Corsie said Thompson played as if she “was not feeling” any pressure against Paris and was “very lively”.

“She’s willing to learn. I think she’s done an exceptional job to get in the team and play as many minutes as she has.

“There is an adjustment when you move, and when you move for that amount of money, there’s an expectation you’ll hit the ground running.”

Thompson, meanwhile, said she feels she is starting to build “rhythm” with her new club.

While Chelsea are unbeaten, much of their start to the season has been somewhat unconvincing.

They were held to a draw by Twente in their opening Champions League match last week, drew with Manchester United in the league and other victories – including their 1-0 success against Tottenham at the weekend – have come by slender margins.

Thompson said they played “more as a team than individuals” in their dominant Champions League victory.

“After the last few games we really came together and wanted to celebrate each other more and be more positive on the field and have more togetherness,” she added.

“Now we are working more as a team rather than individuals and we are going to continue that going forward, and carrying a positive vibe through. “

Asked about her side’s recent dip in form, Bompastor attributed some of it to the lack of time her players have had to recover since Euro 2025.

There were just 40 days between the final and the opening match of the Women’s Super League season.

She said they way they have performed over their last two games, following back-to-back draws, is a “perfect way to finish” before the international break.

“I have a lot of players who went so far in the tournament, in the Euros, so mentally and physically, when you come back to the club, it doesn’t come just like this. You also need time for them to recover from that tournament.

A key part of Chelsea’s success against Paris was the magnitude of their victory, with it being the second time this season they have scored four or more goals.

In each of their previous three games going into the match against the French side, they had been unable to score more than one.

Midfielder Erin Cuthbert, who netted against Paris, said they had been told to “finish their chances” going into Wednesday’s match.

Captain Millie Bright added that she felt Chelsea “got their mojo back” in their performance against Paris.

“At the weekend we didn’t really finish our chances,” Cuthbert told Disney+. “We had a lot of chances on goal and did not finish them. Even tonight there were times where we could be more clinical but we are definitely building better performances the last week or so.

“I think for us it is just about building. It’s the group stages, it’s still early on. We had a really disappointing result matchday one but we want more and we need to do more.”

Corsie, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, said she felt Chelsea played as if they wanted to prove a point to their doubters.

“It was the sort of display that was indicative of a team that feels a few people have been criticising their performances, and I think they wanted to set that straight. Four brilliant goals, four brilliant scorers,” she said.