Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has assured supporters the club have done all they can to keep out-of-contract players such as Max Johnston and Dean Cornelius – and is comfortable with waiting for answers.

Kettlewell insists there has been no negative impact of working without a chief executive and he has also made offers to other players outside the club.

Academy players Johnston and Cornelius have been an integral part of Kettlewell’s team since he took over in February but have both been linked with moves under freedom of contract, although Motherwell would be entitled to compensation.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s cinch Premiership match against Kilmarnock, Kettlewell said: “We have been really proactive, as much as we possibly can, in a number of situations and I have always been a person who is very, very calm in these situations.

“I hear people start to worry and panic and all the rest of it. When you as a football club and a manager have taken every step you possibly can, make it known what players you want, put offers down in front of them, try to make that as lucrative as you can in relation to what your club can offer, then I think there comes a point where you have to step back and just be calm about it and allow players to make their decisions and take advice from the relevant people.

“I believe in development, I believe in trying to hit milestones as a player, being on the park, becoming a better player and a better person as well. If you think Motherwell is the place where you will become both a better player and a better person, then this is the right place for you.

“If it’s not, then it’s not, so I don’t ever get too caught up in it.

“There has to be a point where we take a step back. We have done absolutely everything we possibly can.

“I am really comfortable with that, and we will find out what the decisions are through time.”

Kettlewell earlier stated that he had spent Wednesday “covering absolutely everything across the football club”.

Motherwell have gone through March and April without a chief executive since Alan Burrows left for Aberdeen, and potential appointments have fallen through but Kettlewell declared that had not been a problem for him.

“We have an interim process and I am working very, very closely with one of the board members that has a wealth of experience in a number of different fields,” he said.

“So that has been a terrific support to me and that’s been a terrific support to the football club.

“That is going to be a shorter-term process which allows the club to make the correct appointment at the end of it.

“There is no point in us elaborating on it too much because it is that interim, short-term process, but it is 100 per cent being done for the right reasons and there is no stone being unturned off the back of it.

“But there will be a process that hopefully we have that longer-term plan.”

Harry Kane may struggle to resist the temptation to leave Tottenham in search of major honours at the end of the season, believes former Spurs striker Frederic Kanoute.

While Kane has hit 25 Premier League goals during another fine individual campaign, his quest to win a first major trophy never looked likely to end during a frustrating season for Spurs.

Tottenham sit nine points adrift of the top four after Sunday's dramatic 4-3 defeat at Liverpool, and chairman Daniel Levy has already sacked two head coaches in the form of Antonio Conte and his interim replacement Cristian Stellini.

With Kane about to enter the final 12 months of his contract, reports have suggested he could be targeted by Manchester United in the upcoming transfer window, while Paris Saint-Germain are also said to hold an interest in the 29-year-old.

Kane wanted to leave Tottenham for Manchester City in 2021, and Kanoute believes the England captain could be enticed by the prospect of an exit this time around.

Speaking to Stats Perform at LaLiga x Bloomsbury Football League event, Kanoute said: "I can't speak on his behalf but, obviously, the fans would be really, really disappointed if he leaves the club because he's been fantastic.

"At the same time, I think they understand as well that it could be a good opportunity, a huge opportunity for him to win trophies.

"I think he will be a little bit conflicted in the next choice he is going to have to make."

Tottenham are yet to name Conte's permanent successor, with Ryan Mason taking the reins as acting head coach following Stellini's exit.

With the likes of Julian Nagelsmann, Xabi Alonso and Vincent Kompany linked with the role, Kanoute has urged Spurs to look to the future with their next appointment.

"I wish all the best for Mason and I hope he's going to do a great job, but we all think it's going to be temporary," he said.

"Obviously the next appointment is going to be super important as I think it should be a long-term appointment, but as we know nowadays in football, there's not much patience. 

"I just hope the new coach will start with a few wins that will bring some positive momentum for the club.

"It's obvious that they're missing silverware and that's all the Tottenham fans are hoping that Tottenham can finally win a trophy, but I think there's a kind of unsettlement in the team. 

"If you want a trophy, you have to build it up, to have a certain stability with the coach, with the philosophy of what kind of football you want to deliver to the fans.

"I think they're still to reach that stability, so they can finally thrive in their football."

Lee Westwood has accused the DP World Tour of being “fully in bed” with the PGA Tour after announcing his resignation from the European circuit.

Westwood and fellow Ryder Cup stars Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia have resigned their membership and are therefore no longer eligible for the biennial contest against the United States.

The trio were among the players fined £100,000 and suspended for two tournaments after playing the first LIV Golf event last year without permission.

Westwood and Poulter were also among the 12 members of the Saudi-funded breakaway who lost an appeal against the sanctions last month and were deemed to have committed “serious breaches” of the DP World Tour’s code of behaviour by a three-man arbitration panel.

Westwood confirmed he has paid the fine and is keen to “move on”, but reiterated his criticism of the way the PGA Tour and DP World Tour have reacted to the emergence of LIV Golf.

“I’ve been a dual member of the European Tour and PGA Tour, but always said I was a European Tour member first and foremost and that I had fears about the US circuit basically being bullies and doing everything it could to secure global dominance,” Westwood told The Telegraph.

“Check my old quotes, it’s all there.

“But now, in my opinion, the European Tour has jumped fully in bed with the PGA Tour and even though Keith (Pelley, the chief executive) says he hates to hear it, it is now a feeder tour for the PGA Tour.

“The top 10 players on the tour, not already exempt this year, have a pathway to the PGA Tour – that’s giving our talent away. That was never the tour’s policy before this ‘strategic alliance’.

“Sorry, I don’t want to play under that sort of regime.

“I mulled it over and just didn’t like the thought of the tour continuously hitting us with more fines and bans that would have been hanging over me.

“I’ve paid my fine out of respect for the arbitration panel and have then taken the decisions out of the tour’s hands. I honestly want to move on.”

The Boston Celtics must take pride in their Game 2 display against the Philadelphia 76ers, and embrace the challenge of a hostile road game, says Jaylen Brown.

Joel Embiid's return from injury could not inspire the 76ers on Wednesday as Boston cruised to a 121-87 victory to tie the series.

Brown top scored with 25 points, as Embiid and James Harden, who scored 45 points in the 76ers' Game 1 win, were kept under wraps.

Next up is a trip to Philadelphia for Game 3, but Brown believes the Celtics have nothing to fear.

"I think we've just got to take more pride in ourselves. That's it," Brown told the media.

"I just feel like we underperformed last game. We wanted to come out and play to the best of our ability, and that's what we did.

"Hostile environment. But it should be fun. We should all be excited to embrace that challenge."

Coach Joe Mazzulla was blunt in his assessment of his team's reaction to their defeat in Game 1.

"They were angry, frustrated," he said. "Angry and p*****. Yes [I liked that]."

While Jayson Tatum struggled to make too much of an impact, Malcolm Brogdon added 23 points from the bench for Boston, tying a playoff record for the Celtics in the process as he sunk six three-pointers.

"Our strength is our depth," Brogdon told reporters.

"The way the roster is constructed, we got guys like me, Derrick [White], Grant [Williams] that are playing behind our two superstars and ready to [contribute] when we can."

Celtics guard Marcus Smart, meanwhile, credited Brown's on-court leadership.

"We've got to tip our hats to him, he started that whole momentum for us," Smart said. "We just had to follow his lead.

"When you've got one of your best players setting the tone like that, it's hard for you not to follow. Our defense has been slipping and we wanted to come out and get back to what we do best."

Former Reading and Leeds manager Brian McDermott has been appointed as Hibernian’s director of football.

The Easter Road club announced in January that they intended to recruit someone to a position which had essentially been redundant since former sporting director Graeme Mathie left in September 2021.

The search for the new figurehead was interrupted slightly following the death of owner Ron Gordon in February, but Hibs announced on Thursday morning that 62-year-old McDermott, who has had scouting roles with Reading and Arsenal in recent years since his last managerial post with the Royals ended in 2016, will take on the role with immediate effect.

McDermott will be heavily involved in recruitment alongside manager Lee Johnson and will oversee football operations such as scouting, analysis, sports science and medicine. He will also work closely with academy director Steve Kean on the development of young players.

“I’m delighted to join such a great, community-orientated club like Hibernian FC,” McDermott told Hibs’ website. “I scouted Hibs games many times in the past and have always been taken by the fantastic atmosphere at Easter Road.

“I am very grateful for this opportunity. Having met the chairman, the board of directors, executives, Lee Johnson, all the staff, and understanding more around the culture of the football club and the objectives, I’m really excited about the challenge.”

Chief executive Ben Kensell is confident Hibs have appointed the right man following a “long and extensive process”.

“We are conscious that this appointment has taken some time, which is partly due to the sad passing of our late chairman Ronald J Gordon, but we also wanted to make sure that we had the right steps in place and a thorough process, to make sure we’ve got the right person in the door,” said Kensell.

“Brian joins us with substantial experience in the game and has worked across numerous different roles across a football club on the sporting side, which sets him up perfectly for this role.

“We also wanted someone that has a strong recruitment bias, and he has that in abundance having scouted across the world for some high-level clubs.

“Brian’s background, contacts and experience will be vital as we continue to move the club forwards.”

McDermott is best known for his first spell in charge of Reading when he led them from the Championship to the Premier League in 2012, while he also managed Leeds for just over a year in between his two stints as Royals boss.

Southern Brave captain Anya Shrubsole predicts women’s cricket is on a path to full professionalisation within a few years.

The former England bowler took six for 46 against India to steer her side to a thrilling nine-run World Cup victory in front of a sold-out Lord’s in 2017, arguably the most memorable moment in her impressive 14-year international career.

The women’s game has accelerated exponentially since then, particularly with the debut of The Hundred in 2021 and, this year, the inaugural Women’s Premier League in India.

“The professionalism is the biggest change,” Shrubsole told the PA news agency.

“Previously you would only be a professional cricketer if you played for England, and then apart from that it was semi-professional, almost a hobby, but you’re asking these players to train as if they’re professional.

“So to have the eight regional teams all with a minimum of 10 professionals, you add the England girls to that, that’s 100 professional female cricketers in this country, all in the last three years, which is just incredible really in such a short space of time and that will keep growing.

“I think it will probably only be a couple of years until we see a fully professional squad across all the regional teams. That’s the thing that’s been the real big difference.”

The two-time World Cup and Ashes winner, 31, stepped down from international duty in April 2022 after earning 173 caps for England across all formats and taking 227 wickets.

The pace bowler still plays domestically for Berkshire, Southern Vipers in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint trophy as a player-coach, and is set to skipper Southern Brave in The Hundred for a third straight season.

Last Saturday saw a world record crowd for a women’s international rugby fixture, 58,498, turn out to watch the Red Roses at Twickenham, two days before Arsenal played their Women’s Champions League semi-final in front of a sold-out 60,063 at the Emirates – a record audience for a women’s club match in England.

On Wednesday, it was announced this month’s women’s FA Cup final will be played in front of a sold-out Wembley for the first time.

Cricket looks to be the next to benefit from the trend driving people to box offices for women’s sport in unprecedented numbers.

More than 66,000 tickets have been snapped up for England women’s fixtures in 2023, already exceeding the total attendance for all 2022 matches, while sales for July’s Ashes have already surpassed figures for the previous two women’s series against Australia combined.

The series finale at Taunton is already sold out, with England hoping to secure the trophy for the first time since 2014.

Shrubsole said: “Yes, you look at the record number of ticket sales but that’s at big grounds as well that England women haven’t played at for a long time.

“The Test match at Trent Bridge, playing at the Oval, playing at Lord’s, the girls are really looking forward to that opportunity to show what they can do on the big stage.

“It’s going to be really hard fought. It’s obviously an England team that’s probably still transitioning a little bit in certain areas, obviously a new coach that’s only been in the role six months, quite a young but very exciting bowling attack. They’re going to have to be at their best.”

ECB organisers hope the Ashes enthusiasm spills over to The Hundred when its third season opens on August 1.

This is the first year the hugely popular women’s Hundred implemented a draft like the men’s competition – something Shrubsole, who was relieved to find herself back in a Brave uniform, agreed was another step forward.

She said: “I think where women’s cricket is going, how much it’s grown, all of those kind of things are just incredible.

“To be in a position to be able to do a draft for the women’s Hundred, to be able to do an auction for the WPL, it’s really incredible and it adds a different dimension. It’s all really exciting.”

Mohamed Salah may be the man for consistency but fellow forward Darwin Nunez is the player who injects the element of unpredictability which is part of the evolution of Liverpool’s forward line.

Salah became the first player to score in eight successive home matches for the club with his penalty enough to secure a 1-0 victory over Fulham, making it five wins in a row and 12 goals in his last 16 games.

He was starting alongside Nunez and Luis Diaz, which at the start of the season was the expected first-choice forward line until the latter sustained a serious knee injury which sidelined him for six months.

As a result, the Fulham game was only the fifth time they had all begun a game together, but it was Nunez’s return to the starting line-up for the first time in half-a-dozen games which produced the key moment in the first half.

Having lost control 30 yards from goal, he set about regaining possession and nicked it back off Issa Diop inside the penalty area only for the defender to bring him down.

Manager Jurgen Klopp felt the spell among the substitutes helped reignite the Uruguay international, who was played through the middle as opposed to his more regular position out on the left in his maiden season.

“Darwin was like a racehorse, really motivated, really on fire,” said Klopp, who was particularly pleased with how the 23-year-old adapted to the vital counter-pressing role through the middle which has been performed so well by fellow new signing Cody Gakpo recently.

“Absolutely. I think for us it’s super-important. You could see in the beginning, defending the centre against Fulham is really important because Palhinha is there and that is their connector.

“We were a bit too early out there from Darwin, we tried to fix that, but he was like a racehorse – go, go, go, go for everybody.

“We opened up and that’s where we struggle slightly. We could sort that and apart from that he played a really good game, he was always a proper option for us and we needed that.”

But with only a slender lead to protect it was goalkeeper Alisson Becker who, not for the first time in this up and down season for the team, came up with the key moments to keep his first clean sheet in six matches with a good save from Carlos Vinicius.

The Brazil international has now made 100 saves in the current campaign, the first time he has reached triple figures in a single season since joining Liverpool.

“He is is for sure the most consistent player we have this season,” added Klopp.

“That’s actually not bad news, it’s good news, because if we are not in a great shape and the level of the goalie drops as well then we would have been completely lost. So, that’s fine.”

Steven Gerrard was introduced as the new manager of Rangers, on this day in 2018.

Gerrard would not take up the post until June 1 as he saw out the season with Liverpool’s academy, but said it was a “no-brainer” to take up his first role in management with the Glasgow giants.

The former England midfielder replaced Graeme Murty, who had been sacked three days earlier in the wake of a 5-0 loss to reigning Scottish champions Celtic.

Murty had stepped into the role on an interim basis after Pedro Caixinha’s exit the previous October, agreeing a deal to the end of the season in December.

Gerrard’s task was clear – to bring Rangers back to the level required to reclaim the Scottish crown that Celtic had just clinched for a seventh-consecutive season.

Gerrard’s former Liverpool team-mate Gary McAllister joined as his assistant, while Michael Beale followed from Liverpool’s academy to be part of the backroom staff.

Over the next three-and-a-half years, Gerrard went on to succeed in many of the goals he started with.

In his first season, he guided Rangers into the group stage of the Europa League for the first time in seven years and delivered a first Old Firm victory in six years, although Celtic would claim an eighth-straight league title regardless.

There was further improvement in the second campaign as they reached the last 16 of the Europa League and recorded a first win at Parkhead in eight years, but beating Celtic to the title would need to wait until the third season – one which began behind closed doors amid the coronavirus pandemic.

When it came, Gerrard’s league-winning season was superb. Gers finished the league campaign unbeaten, winning three Old Firm derbies. They amassed 102 points and conceded only 13 goals.

It would be Gerrard’s last full season in charge as Aston Villa came calling the following November, luring him away at a time when his side were top of the table again.

Gerrard could not replicate his success in the Premier League and was sacked early in his second campaign after less than a year in charge, but his time at Ibrox is still remembered fondly in one half of Glasgow.

Carlos Alcaraz remains on course to defend his Madrid Open title after he powered past a determined Karen Khachanov to reach the last four.

The top seed eventually prevailed 6-4 7-5 but only after he staged an impressive fight back in the second set to book a third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final of the season.

Alcaraz’s clay-court winning streak now stands at nine and he has tasted victory in 19 of his past 20 matches, claiming title triumphs in Indian Wells and Barcelona along the way.

A hard-fought opener went the way of the Spaniard, who celebrates his 20th birthday on Friday, but the second set did not initially go to plan.

Khachanov built up a 5-2 lead and looked set to force a decider only for Alcaraz to find his A-game with a string of winners and drop shots to eventually earn victory in one hour and 51 minutes.

“It was pretty tough. The first set as well, it was close,” said Alcaraz.

“I was in trouble in the second set, a break down and [he had] two break points to have the second break. So, it was really tough for me to come back and he had his chances to win the second set.

“Luckily I knew I was going to have my chances. I just tried to take my opportunities and I’m really happy to get through.”

Borna Coric will face Alcaraz for a place in the Madrid Open final on Friday in what will be their first ever meeting.

The Croatian got the better of lucky loser Daniel Altmaier 6-3 6-3 with victory achieved in one hour and 14 minutes for the 17th seed.

“I always love to play here in Madrid,” Coric said on-court.

“I have very, very nice memories from here and I knew I could play well.

“I came here very early to prepare myself for the tournament, as it’s, I would say, a little bit different to the next tournaments. I’m just very happy to be in the semi-finals.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ATP Challenger Tour (@atpchallengertour)

Meanwhile, Andy Murray snapped his losing streak with victory over Gael Monfils in an ATP Challenger event in Aix-en-Provence.

After first-round exits at the Miami Open, Monte-Carlo Masters and Madrid Open, Murray was able to return to winning ways with a 6-3 6-3 win over wild-card Monfils.

Murray will face another Frenchmen in Laurent Lokoli in the last-16 and aim to build momentum before this month’s French Open at Roland Garros.

Carlos Alcaraz remains on course to defend his Madrid Open title after he powered past a determined Karen Khachanov to reach the last four.

The top seed eventually prevailed 6-4 7-5 but only after he staged an impressive fight back in the second set to book a third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final of the season.

Alcaraz’s clay-court winning streak now stands at nine and he has tasted victory in 19 of his past 20 matches, claiming title triumphs in Indian Wells and Barcelona along the way.

A hard-fought opener went the way of the Spaniard, who celebrates his 20th birthday on Friday, but the second set did not initially go to plan.

Khachanov built up a 5-2 lead and looked set to force a decider only for Alcaraz to find his A-game with a string of winners and drop shots to eventually earn victory in one hour and 51 minutes.

“It was pretty tough. The first set as well, it was close,” said Alcaraz.

“I was in trouble in the second set, a break down and [he had] two break points to have the second break. So, it was really tough for me to come back and he had his chances to win the second set.

“Luckily I knew I was going to have my chances. I just tried to take my opportunities and I’m really happy to get through.”

Borna Coric will face Alcaraz for a place in the Madrid Open final on Friday in what will be their first ever meeting.

The Croatian got the better of lucky loser Daniel Altmaier 6-3 6-3 with victory achieved in one hour and 14 minutes for the 17th seed.

“I always love to play here in Madrid,” Coric said on-court.

“I have very, very nice memories from here and I knew I could play well.

“I came here very early to prepare myself for the tournament, as it’s, I would say, a little bit different to the next tournaments. I’m just very happy to be in the semi-finals.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ATP Challenger Tour (@atpchallengertour)

Meanwhile, Andy Murray snapped his losing streak with victory over Gael Monfils in an ATP Challenger event in Aix-en-Provence.

After first-round exits at the Miami Open, Monte-Carlo Masters and Madrid Open, Murray was able to return to winning ways with a 6-3 6-3 win over wild-card Monfils.

Murray will face another Frenchmen in Laurent Lokoli in the last-16 and aim to build momentum before this month’s French Open at Roland Garros.

Pep Guardiola agrees with Sam Allardyce’s assertion that he is as good as him as the Manchester City boss launched a defence of experienced English managers.

Embattled Leeds raised eyebrows this week by turning to the 68-year-old Allardyce in a last-ditch attempt to stave off relegation.

Allardyce’s unveiling on Wednesday was similarly surprising as he claimed “there’s nobody ahead of me in football terms – not Pep, not (Jurgen) Klopp, not (Mikel) Arteta”.

The new Leeds boss will get a chance to show that on Saturday afternoon when his relegation-threatened side travel to treble-chasing City.

Allardyce’s comments were put to Guardiola after Wednesday’s 3-0 win against West Ham and elicited a surprisingly positive response.

“He is right,” the City boss said. “I want to be honest. Now look what happened with, for example, Neil Warnock in Huddersfield.

“Now there’s a tendency for these incredible managers, they have done this Premier League or this competition in better position.

“It looks like now the young managers are there with the tactics or whatever… so they are really good, they help us to be what we are.

“Look at the managers, Roy Hodgson for Crystal Palace, what they have done.

“They are really good, they have incredible experience, they know the game perfectly and if he feels that it is because of this.

“It will be tough because he has the charisma, he will put out the pressure to the players and he knows exactly what to do in this kind of situation in a relegation battle.

“It looks like this type of old managers… I’m honest, so what they have done for the club (is dismissed as) ‘they are old, whatever’.

“Now the people who are 35, 40, 45, we invent football or we create football.

“No, football is already created and these guys belong to that league and helped us to do it and that’s why.

“So, Neil Warnock, Huddersfield was in the last (spot) and now already out of the dangerous positions.

“I could not experience what Harry Redknapp has done in this country.

“There are many, many English managers that have done really, really well.

“You don’t have to be young to be a good manager. As much experience you have, you are good.”