Birmingham City interim manager Gary Rowett has warned his players there is no room to “feel sorry” for themselves as they prepare for a huge clash in the Championship relegation fight against Huddersfield Town.

The Blues travel to the John Smith’s Stadium two points and a place above their hosts, but both are in the bottom three with two games to play.

Rowett’s side won 3-0 against Coventry City and drew 0-0 at already-relegated Rotherham United, but he said his side must be more consistent.

“The margins are so small you just haven’t got time to feel sorry for yourself,” he told BBC Radio WM.

“It shows the nature of the end of the season and our position that you play so well against Coventry and win, then go to Rotherham, not perform as you want or get the result you want. Four points is not enough at this stage when other teams are winning.

“It is about mentality and handling these moments. It is easier to do that with positivity, we know what is required.

“We had that extra desperation about the way we ran and competed against Coventry and perhaps didn’t match that against Rotherham.

“We haven’t got many games to be inconsistent. We need to turn up – more of Coventry, less of Rotherham.”

Rowett also confirmed Dion Sanderson had been stripped of the captaincy following a drink-driving charge, and the defender has been fined “accordingly”.

“There is a level of professionalism expected from the captain. We all make mistakes. I made the decision to remove the captaincy, I thought it was the right thing to do.”

“The Scottish FA regrets to announce that Buckie Thistle FC will not be eligible to participate in the Pyramid Play-Off tie,” the governing body has stated.

“East Kilbride FC, who were granted a bronze licence by the committee, will proceed.”

An SFA spokesperson pointed out that all Highland and Lowland League clubs were told in December they would have to meet the SPFL’s updated membership criteria requirements.

“The Scottish FA’s club licensing department has been in regular dialogue with Buckie Thistle since then to notify the club of, and provide ample time to address, issues highlighted in their club licensing report.

“Unfortunately, these issues were not addressed by the club prior to yesterday’s licensing committee decision.”

An SPFL spokesperson added that Buckie had “failed to respond to any of the three subsequent follow-up letters sent in October, February and March”.

The club had also “failed to apply for a period of grace by the 31 March 2024 deadline”.

The spokesperson added: “The SPFL board has huge sympathy for Buckie and their fans but has no option but to enforce our rules.”

Buckie have been approached for comment, but general manager Stephen Shand this week insisted to BBC Scotland that there was “a lot more enthusiasm” for their promotion bid despite admitting that some at the club were not fully behind the idea of leaving the Highland League.

Currently, Clyde are the side most likely to face East Kilbride in the play-off as they are one point behind Stranraer and three behind Bonnyrigg Rose at the foot of League 2 with two games remaining.

The play-off will be over two legs on 11 and 18 May.

Everton manager Sean Dyche says the club still have “miles to go” on and off the pitch following the Merseyside derby win over Liverpool.

The 2-0 victory at Goodison Park on Wednesday moved the Toffees eight points clear of the relegation places with four games to play.

That is despite Everton having been docked a total of eight points this season for breaches of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules.

“There are miles to go. It’s a thing I’ve thought about, the truth line of the club,” Dyche said.

“There has to be a level where everyone across the board gets it. All the fans and all people at the club and I still think we are not quite there.

“We are getting towards it, some of the reality of the club – the finances and where it is and there is no quick fix. It has to be built on.”

Everton’s top-flight status would already be secured had the club not been hit with two separate points deductions during the current campaign.

The club have appealed against a two-point deduction for breaching financial rules in the three-year period to 2022-23, after a 10-point deduction for the preceding three-year period was reduced to six in February.

Victory over Liverpool was a third win in four league games for Dyche’s side, who will aim to move closer to confirming safety against Brentford on Saturday.

“We’ve taken big steps but there is more to come,” Dyche said.

“We can control the situation ourselves and that’s what we’ve always been aiming to do, even with the points deduction, and we are beginning to show that again.”

West Bromwich Albion manager Carlos Corberan is well aware of Sheffield Wednesday’s threat in Saturday’s trip to Hillsborough, despite their lowly league position.

Wednesday are deep in the Championship relegation battle, one point and a place above Birmingham City outside the bottom three.

Danny Rohl has reinvigorated the Owls’ season since arriving at the club in October as the youngest manager in the league, aged just 34, and Corberan knows both sides will be fighting for three points as his side continue their play-off push.

“They can’t underestimate us because we’re going to fight for a result that makes us close to our target. They are going to fight for the results that allows them to achieve their target,” Corberan told BBC WM.

“In the last 25 games, Sheffield Wednesday have collected three points less than us. They are in very good form. They didn’t start the season well, but they are in a very good moment and they are a very competitive team.”

Corberan, who was assistant manager and then head coach at Wednesday’s Yorkshire rivals Leeds and Huddersfield before moving to the Hawthorns, is expecting a fiery atmosphere with so much on the line, but wants to make the away fans proud.

“The atmosphere is going to be amazing and we like to play in front of these atmospheres. Who wants to make the fans feel proud? I can guarantee we will have the maximum commitment to make it a special season.”

Jonathan David pourrait bien fouler les pelouses de la Serie A la saison prochaine. En fin de contrat avec le LOSC Lille le 30 juin 2025, l’attaquant canadien est l’une des cibles privilégiées du Napoli pour remplacer Victor Osimhen. Giovanni Manna, nouveau directeur sportif du club napolitain à partir du 1er juillet, a d’ailleurs déjà rencontré son agent.

Mais David attire également l’attention de l’AC Milan, à la recherche d’un successeur à Olivier Giroud. C’est dans ce contexte qu’un nouveau contact a eu lieu ces derniers jours – comme l’a révélé ‘DAZN’ – entre la direction des Rossoneri et Nick Mavromaras, l’agent du joueur.

Un attaquant prometteur

Jonathan David s’est imposé comme l’un des attaquants les plus prometteurs de sa génération. Âgé de 22 ans, il a déjà inscrit 83 buts en 162 apparitions toutes compétitions confondues. Sa capacité à marquer des buts dans toutes les situations, sa vitesse et son sens du but en font un atout offensif redoutable.

L’intérêt de deux clubs de Serie A pour Jonathan David promet un duel passionnant lors du prochain mercato estival. Le Napoli, avec son projet ambitieux et son entraîneur Luciano Spalletti, semble avoir un léger avantage. Mais le Milan, en quête de renouveau après une saison décevante, ne compte pas se laisser faire. La décision finale reviendra évidemment au joueur, qui devra choisir le club qui lui permettra de franchir un nouveau cap dans sa carrière.

Blackburn Rovers defender Scott Wharton is expected to miss the majority of next season after suffering a serious knee injury.

The 26-year-old fell awkwardly late on in Sunday’s 3-1 home defeat by fellow Championship strugglers Sheffield Wednesday.

Wharton, the older brother of Crystal Palace midfielder Adam, made 34 appearances in all competitions for Rovers this campaign.

John Eustace’s men are three points above the relegation zone with two matches of the season to play.

“Unfortunately, Scott is going to be out for a number of months. He’s going to be a big miss because he’s been outstanding since I’ve been here,” Eustace told BBC Radio Lancashire.

“He’s going to be out for the majority of next season but he’s got the character and strength to come back from it.”

Manchester City ne cache pas son intérêt pour l’attaquant portugais du Milan AC, Rafael Leao. Malgré la récente prolongation de contrat de Leao avec l’AC Milan, le champion d’Europe en titre cherche à renforcer son effectif pour la saison 2024/2025.

Selon des informations récentes, Manchester City serait prêt à offrir la bagatelle de 150 millions d’euros pour l’international portugais. Ce montant serait le minimum acceptable pour que l’AC Milan, dirigé par Stefano Pioli, laisse partir l’un de ses joueurs clés. Même si les performances de Leao ont été moins flamboyantes cette saison que les précédentes, son potentiel tarif de transfert ne semble pas affecté.

Un joueur en vogue

Ces dernières années, plusieurs clubs se sont renseignés sur la disponibilité de Rafael Leao à l’AC Milan. Leao a fait des progrès considérables depuis ses passages au Sporting Lisbonne et à Lille. Rejoindre l’équipe de Pep Guardiola pourrait être une occasion en or pour lui d’élever encore son niveau de jeu. Ce transfert potentiel pourrait également être l’un des moments forts du prochain mercato estival.

“My dad had a good life,” says Steve Clarke of his father Eddie, who passed away earlier this year, a victim of dementia. “He had a long life, gave us a good upbringing. Him and my mum brought up eight children. There’s a bit of him in me and I’d like to think there’s a bit of mum as well.”

Eddie Clarke was a football man and the guiding light of his son’s career. Strict, but ever-present in his boy’s transition from Beith Juniors to St Mirren and onwards to the bright lights of London where he became one of Chelsea’s most respected players.

What would Chelsea give for Clarke’s mental strength in defence right now?

“My dad gave us good standards, good morals, and hopefully we can make him proud,” he adds. “He probably understood that I was manager of Scotland, but then, with the dementia, he didn’t really. I don’t think he was retaining any of the information.

“He saw me through my whole career. He was always there to support me and it’s sad that he didn’t really have a good grasp at the end that his son was manager of Scotland and actually doing OK in the job.”

Recent disappointments apart, Clarke is doing better than OK.

In the latest edition of This Sporting Life he talks about his time in football, from his early days in Scotland to the move to London in his early twenties with a wife and an 18-month old daughter. Big games, big characters and a move into coaching sparked by his late friend, Gianluca Vialli, his then manager at Chelsea.

“That last summer (as a player), Luca said to me, ‘Come on, Clarkie, we go to Bermuda’,” he explains. “We played some golf and he said, ‘Clarkie, you’re going to be a coach.”

He laughs as he recalls how it played out. “So, in the nicest possible way, and probably the one person that I would have accepted it from was Luca, he ended my playing career and sent me on a different road. Probably did me a favour.”

Clarke is on a winless run that has stretched to seven games and he’s in danger of losing a coterie of important players to injury ahead of the Euros, but he remains a rock. Never too high, never too low. Just solid.

And forever thinking. Arresting the run of defeats will occupy his every waking thought right now,

His ability to remain calm no matter what kind of mayhem is crashing around his ears will be put to the test again on 14 June when the eyes of European football will be on him and his team as they face the hosts in Munich. Not far off now. How’s the heart-rate?

“I think the heart’s always going, but the deadpan is always there as well,” he says. “It’s just the way that I conduct myself. For matches, I’ve always tried to be the same. I always try to exude calmness, but I’m maybe not always calm inside.

“I’ll be telling the players we have to play the game, not the occasion. We can’t get carried away too much by the fact it’s an opening game.

“Everyone’s going to feel the emotion, but you have to use the emotion in a positive way. What you can’t do is get overtaken by the emotion and be a little bit of a tourist. We’re there as professionals to do a job and the job is to win the match.”