Category Sports News

Heart of Midlothian are looking for their third manager of the season following the exit in October of Steven Naismith and Neil Critchley’s departure six months later.

Derek McInnes is the hot favourite for the role, with the Tynecastle club poised to make contact with Kilmarnock on Monday.

We asked Hearts fans if they felt the 53-year-old former Aberdeen boss is the right man for the job – and the responses came flooding in.

Joey Martin: It’s a no-brainer. What we need is a period of stability. To rebuild. And Derek has that ability and experience.

Terry Dobson: McInnes should’ve been in the door years ago at Tynecastle but instead we’ve mucked about with risks such as Ian Cathro, Daniel Stendel and Critchley. McInnes would be the best gaffer and the biggest statement at the club since the appointment of Graham Rix.

Bruce Wishart: To me he is a top manager. Plenty of experience. Will bring stability to the club. Critchley never had what it takes to run a club the size of Hearts.

David S: Hearts can’t afford another project manager. McInnes, if appointed, will be the sensible appointment and bring much-needed stability to the club. With Jamestown Analytics and McInnes’ experience, next term will see us restore natural order.

Michael Gallagher: McInnes is a no-brainer for the Hearts job from a Hearts point of view! Knows Scottish football, gets the best out of players, can set a team up tactically, players would be fit and motivated and he won’t accept slackers. With McInnes in charge we’ll get standards set and he won’t be a yes man for [chair] Ann Budge and her ‘yes’ cronies. It makes absolute sense but there still needs to be change in the boardroom as well as an overhaul of the playing squad.

Jason Brownhill: Hearts should have appointed McInnes some time ago. He’s always been a strong, reliable manager with a great knowledge of the Scottish game and he is a manager who commands respect. Hearts have a great infrastructure in place and with Jamestown Analytics on board, I really think this could become a successful combination.

Jimbo: I have to admit to hoping for the best with Critchley but we were obviously going nowhere; anyone with a football brain knows Lawrence Shankland will score if given enough chances, he was wasted playing deep. I think McInnes will be good for Hearts and I look forward to next season now after this disastrous one. He’ll also buck up one or two players taking home tidy wages but barely pulling their weight. This guy’s a different kettle of fish and won’t take prisoners.

Colin Allison: Why would Hearts want to appoint a manager solely on the basis that as a safe pair of hands, he would be good enough to produce a regular third place in the league? Where is the ambition? Just look at McInnes’ personal trophy cabinet – it speaks volumes. Surely there is an exciting, talented manager out there to take over the reins at Tynecastle?

Bruce Aitchison: Not for me, sorry. Would rather see the club show a bit ambition and try and hire someone that’s been in the Premier League before. Alan Curbishley, Kevin Keegan, Steve Bruce etc. Someone who has played at the highest level and also managed there too.

Ray Stevenson: Why are Hearts even considering McInnes? He is managing a team two places below us and we have had a shocking season. Surely we must have ambition rather than a stabilising manager. Brighton’s last two managers have done really well and both were left-field selections .

David Cluness: McInnes? Absolutely not. One trophy as a manager. Style of football not what I want. I want to be entertained. Have not heard one Jambo say that they want him. Ann Budge’s record on managers is a joke.

Heart of Midlothian are looking for their third manager of the season following the exit in October of Steven Naismith and Neil Critchley’s departure six months later.

Derek McInnes is the hot favourite for the role, with the Tynecastle club poised to make contact with Kilmarnock on Monday.

We asked Hearts fans if they felt the 53-year-old former Aberdeen boss is the right man for the job – and the responses came flooding in.

Joey Martin: It’s a no-brainer. What we need is a period of stability. To rebuild. And Derek has that ability and experience.

Terry Dobson: McInnes should’ve been in the door years ago at Tynecastle but instead we’ve mucked about with risks such as Ian Cathro, Daniel Stendel and Critchley. McInnes would be the best gaffer and the biggest statement at the club since the appointment of Graham Rix.

Bruce Wishart: To me he is a top manager. Plenty of experience. Will bring stability to the club. Critchley never had what it takes to run a club the size of Hearts.

David S: Hearts can’t afford another project manager. McInnes, if appointed, will be the sensible appointment and bring much-needed stability to the club. With Jamestown Analytics and McInnes’ experience, next term will see us restore natural order.

Michael Gallagher: McInnes is a no-brainer for the Hearts job from a Hearts point of view! Knows Scottish football, gets the best out of players, can set a team up tactically, players would be fit and motivated and he won’t accept slackers. With McInnes in charge we’ll get standards set and he won’t be a yes man for [chair] Ann Budge and her ‘yes’ cronies. It makes absolute sense but there still needs to be change in the boardroom as well as an overhaul of the playing squad.

Jason Brownhill: Hearts should have appointed McInnes some time ago. He’s always been a strong, reliable manager with a great knowledge of the Scottish game and he is a manager who commands respect. Hearts have a great infrastructure in place and with Jamestown Analytics on board, I really think this could become a successful combination.

Jimbo: I have to admit to hoping for the best with Critchley but we were obviously going nowhere; anyone with a football brain knows Lawrence Shankland will score if given enough chances, he was wasted playing deep. I think McInnes will be good for Hearts and I look forward to next season now after this disastrous one. He’ll also buck up one or two players taking home tidy wages but barely pulling their weight. This guy’s a different kettle of fish and won’t take prisoners.

Colin Allison: Why would Hearts want to appoint a manager solely on the basis that as a safe pair of hands, he would be good enough to produce a regular third place in the league? Where is the ambition? Just look at McInnes’ personal trophy cabinet – it speaks volumes. Surely there is an exciting, talented manager out there to take over the reins at Tynecastle?

Bruce Aitchison: Not for me, sorry. Would rather see the club show a bit ambition and try and hire someone that’s been in the Premier League before. Alan Curbishley, Kevin Keegan, Steve Bruce etc. Someone who has played at the highest level and also managed there too.

Ray Stevenson: Why are Hearts even considering McInnes? He is managing a team two places below us and we have had a shocking season. Surely we must have ambition rather than a stabilising manager. Brighton’s last two managers have done really well and both were left-field selections .

David Cluness: McInnes? Absolutely not. One trophy as a manager. Style of football not what I want. I want to be entertained. Have not heard one Jambo say that they want him. Ann Budge’s record on managers is a joke.

History was made for right and wrong reasons while play-off hopes took a blow in the penultimate round of the United Rugby Championship.

Scarlets claimed a first away win over one of South Africa’s big four but Dragons’ worst season was confirmed in Durban.

Further losses also saw Cardiff plummet from fifth to ninth – one place outside the play-offs – and ended Ospreys’ hopes of reaching the knock-out matches.

Scarlets backed-up league wins over Ospreys, Dragons and Leinster with victory in Johannesburg over the Lions.

They are now sixth but are still not guaranteed a play-off place.

They face fourth-placed Sharks in Durban and have not won four league games in a row since winning the title in 2017.

But they have the league’s top scorer in Ioan Lloyd while Blair Murray’s double means only Munster’s Tom Farrell has scored more tries this season.

Head coach Dwayne Peel said: “I’m massively proud of the lads after that result [at Lions].

“The big thing for us this season is we wanted to compete and we are doing it right up until the last game.

“It’s not done yet. Next week will be a massive challenge but we’ll make sure we are ready to go and see how many points we can get.”

Could Cardiff’s hopes of reaching the play-offs for the first time come down to a missed pass between Gabriel Hamer-Webb and Cam Winnett?

Cardiff knew their best hope of claiming a crucial point at Bulls that could prove enough to secure a top-eight finish was likely from scoring tries.

But they fell agonisingly short of a bonus, despite second-half tries from Alex Mann, Teddy Williams and Hamer-Webb in the 45-21 loss.

Earlier Hamer-Webb had beaten three defenders but failed to find Winnett with what looked like a scoring pass.

“We’re not going to review that game in huge detail,” said head coach Matt Sherratt.

“We’ve got a six-day turnaround so the boys have had two days off to rest and recover because if we’re not emotionally and physically right [for Stormers] then the technical and tactical stuff won’t matter.”

Ospreys pulled off a minor miracle to scrape into the play-offs last season but a poor start to the campaign and recent defeats in Welsh derbies meant they were struggling to qualify even before a 29-10 loss at Sharks.

They end their season at Lions in a game with nothing to play for other than building for next season when head coach Mark Jones starts his first campaign in charge.

“We’ve got the main ingredients to do well,” said Jones.

“The scoreboard [against Sharks] feels painful when you look at the effort we put in but we didn’t execute those big moments.

Dragons head to the “toughest away fixture in the league”, according to Sherratt, at the Bulls needing a point to avoid equalling the worst URC league season.

It is already the lowest tally for Dragons – or Newport – in a one-division version of the competition’s varied 24-year history.

But they are still equal with the Zebre team of 2021-22 who claimed just nine points after losing 17 of 18 games.

“We have a lot of young guys getting opportunities who are not quite ready yet, but that is where we are at,” said Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia.

“With the last couple of years Wales have been going through, he is a true warrior and really deserves his spot.”

The Women’s Championship will become the Women’s Super League 2 from the start of the 2025-26 season as part of a major rebrand of women’s professional football in England.

On Thursday Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL) – the company that oversees the top two divisions in women’s football – unveiled new names, emblems and a new visual identity.

WPLL also announced a company name change to Women’s Super League Football (WSL Football) with immediate affect.

It is the first major change WSL Football has made since it assumed control of the top two tiers from the Football Association in August 2024.

WSL Football said its new brand identity is “born from the movement of female footballers”, with the new visual identity including “living emblems, colour systems and league and company word marks which have been inspired by on-pitch movement”.

WSL Football chief marketing officer Ruth Hooper said: “There is a lot more in store over the coming months as we continue to grow the women’s game for the future.”

The WSL drew to a conclusion on Saturday with Chelsea crowned champions for a sixth consecutive season and Crystal Palace relegated to the second tier.

Great Britain will play Japan in the quarter-finals of September’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen, China.

The winners will face either the USA or Kazakhstan in the semi-finals, with the other quarter-finals being played between Italy and China and Spain v Ukraine.

The finals feature eight teams competing in a knockout format and will take place between 16-21 September.

Britain qualified by beating the Netherlands and Germany in The Hague last month, with Jodie Burrage and Katie Boulter’s superb doubles performance sealing their place.

Myrtle Beach Classic final leaderboard

-15 R Fox (NZ), M Hughes (Can), H Higgs US) Fox wins at first play-off hole; -14 K Yu (Tpe); -13 N Norgaard (Den) A Smalley (US)

Selected others

-12 T Oleson (Den); -10 H Hall (Eng); -6 S Power (Ire)

New Zealander Ryan Fox clinched a place at this week’s US PGA Championship in dramatic style with a 50-foot chip-in from the fringe of the green to win the Myrtle Beach Classic in a three-way play-off.

It was a first US PGA Tour title in 68 starts for the 38-year-old after he finished on 15 under alongside Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes and American Harry Higgs.

Fox earned his spot in the play-off when Hughes let a one-stroke lead slip with a bogey at the 18th and Higgs was only able to par the last at the tournament, which was played at the same time as the Truist Championship in Philadelphia, won by Austrian Sepp Straka.

He will now line up in the second major of the year which begins at Quail Hollow, North Carolina on Thursday.

Fox, whose father Grant played 46 times for the All Blacks and won the inaugural World Cup in 1987, previously played on the DP World Tour, winning three times including at the BMW PGA Championship in 2023 before trying his luck in the United States.

On the day when Mother’s Day was celebrated in America, he celebrated his win in South Carolina with his wife Anneke Ryff and two young daughters.

“So my wife sort of joked on Friday when I said, ‘What can I get you for Mother’s Day?’ And she goes, ‘Well, a trophy would be nice’. So I guess I lived up to my end of the bargain there,” said Fox, who also earns a two-year PGA Tour exemption.

“To have the wife and kids here is amazing.

“I haven’t transitioned probably as well as I would have liked over the PGA Tour. It was tough last year, I managed to just keep my card, and it’s been a scratchy start this year as well.

“In this game, you don’t get to win very often. You don’t get job security very often either.

“So it’s certainly nice to have that. And at the back of my mind, can feel like for the rest of the year, I can freewheel it a little bit. Hopefully that takes some pressure off.