Leighton James, the former Wales winger who played more than 600 games in the Football League, has died at the age of 71.

James also represented Swansea City, Sunderland, Bury and Newport County in a 19-year playing career before turning to management with several clubs.

Burnley and Swansea said they were “saddened” at James’ passing.

Clarets chairman Alan Pace said: “We are sorry to hear the news of Leighton’s passing.

“He left an indelible mark on this football club and stories of his playing skills still echo around Turf Moor.

“Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.”

Swansea said James was “widely-regarded as one of the Swans’ finest players”.

The Welsh club added James “was a key figure in the side that secured a first-ever promotion to the top-flight in 1981, scoring a stunning goal in the victory over Preston North End at Deepdale to complete the club’s rise.

“He went on to star the following campaign as John Toshack’s side took the fight to the elite of English football, eventually finishing sixth in the First Division.”

Following the end of his playing career, James continued to be involved in football as a media pundit and was renowned for offering robust opinions.

James was born on 16 February, 1953 in Loughor in Swansea and began his professional career with Burnley, making his league debut in November 1970 against Nottingham Forest.

After five years, 180 appearances for the Clarets and 45 goals, First Division champions Derby County paid a club record fee of £300,000 to take James to the Baseball Ground.

James moved on to Queens Park Rangers before returning to Burnley, but he was forced to seek fresh pastures again when the Clarets were relegated to the third division.

A move home appealed and James joined his local club Swansea City, helping them from the third division to the first in a period where James played some of his best football as part of the meteoric rise under manager John Toshack.

Swansea swept from the bottom division to the top division in barely three years and enjoyed landmark wins over Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

James ended his club career with spells at Sunderland, Bury and Newport County before returning in 1986 to Burnley for a third spell, finally retiring in 1989.

Before Ryan Giggs and Gareth Bale, James was the left winger who would get club and international fans pulses racing.

Less than a year after making his Burnley bow and still a teenager, his first senior cap for Wales came in their 1-0 defeat away to Czechoslovakia.

James never played in a major tournament for Wales, but he did play his part in some famous victories.

His penalty secured a famous win over England at Wembley in the British Home Championships, but arguably his best international display came when he scored and generally dazzled in Wales’ 4-1 victory over England at Wrexham in 1980.

James scored 10 times for Wales, making his last appearance in 1983.

After his playing career James went on to manage a number of non-league clubs in England and Wales, the most high-profile being Accrington Stanley in 1997-1998.

In Wales he has managed Llanelli, Aberaman and Haverfordwest County.

James also became well known in Wales after his playing days for some of his forthright views expressed as a radio pundit and newspaper columnist.

That was best illustrated in 2006 when James had an explosive on-air argument with Robbie Savage over Savage’s decision to retire from international football.

James also worked as a lollipop man at Penyrheol Primary School in Swansea, but suffered a stroke in 2014.

Swansea’s players will wear black armbands as they pay respects to James at Huddersfield on Saturday, 20 April, as will their under-21s as they host Bristol City on the same day.

Likewise Burnley’s players will do so in the Premier League at Sheffield United.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is a doubt for his side’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea on Saturday.

City boss Pep Guardiola said after the game that the 23-year-old had asked to be taken off.

“We will see,” said the Spaniard on Haaland’s availability to face fellow Premier League side Chelsea at Wembley.

“It was a tough game, a lot of action, high intensity for both sides. Erling felt something, a muscular issue. That’s why he told me he could not continue.

“The [doctor] said he had a little bit of niggles, a little problem, we will see how his evolution is in the next hours.”

City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne also asked to be taken off against Real but should be fit to play.

“Kevin felt exhausted, so tired, after five months out injured [earlier on in the season], so that’s normal,” added Guardiola, who has defended selling forward Cole Palmer to Chelsea in the summer.

“It’s normal with the amount of games we are playing this season … They are human beings. They are not a machine. We are used to it.”

City will be aiming to bounce back from their Champions League exit when they face Chelsea.

“We don’t have another option,” said Guardiola, whose side are top of the Premier League with six games to go. “I don’t want us to feel sorry for ourselves.

“In football, you lose games. We performed at our best and we were not able to win. You have to accept it.”

Pochettino hopes City exit works in Chelsea’s favour

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino, whose side lost the Carabao Cup final to Liverpool earlier this season, could have midfielder Enzo Fernandez and winger Raheem Sterling back after injury and illness respectively.

Pochettino hopes City’s exertions against Real will work in his side’s favour.

The Blues have drawn 4-4 and 1-1 with City in the league this season.

“We know very well, when you play 120 minutes in the Champions League, the effort is massive. And the emotional thing, it’s always not easy to recover after you lose,” said Pochettino.

“Of course it will be tough for them, like it will be for us. But we need to remember they have an unbelievable squad.”

Southampton say they have “reluctantly agreed” to let director of football Jason Wilcox join Manchester United.

The former Blackburn Rovers and England winger, 53, joined the Championship club last summer.

Wilcox joins United as technical director, where the club said he “will work with all technical areas of the football department”.

He had spent 11 years at Manchester City, where he was academy director before moving to the south-coast side.

“Whilst the club is naturally disappointed that Jason’s stay at Southampton has only lasted nine months, it wishes him well for the future,” Southampton announced in a statement.

“The club will continue to work closely with Russell Martin and his back-room team to ensure they have all the support they require moving forwards.”

Manchester United are also looking to hire Newcastle United sporting director Dan Ashworth.

He was placed on gardening leave after telling his club he wanted to join the Old Trafford outfit.

A senior former Manchester City executive, Omar Berrada, is set to join Manchester United as chief executive in the summer.

The changes follow Sir Jim Ratcliffe becoming a minority owner of the club earlier this year, a move which saw his Ineos Group take charge of football operations.

Nottingham Forest say they are “aware of an allegation of racial abuse” directed at midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White by a Wolves fan.

Forest said they “condemn racism and all other forms of discrimination”.

They added they “will continue to work with the authorities on the matter and won’t be commenting further whilst the investigation is ongoing”.

Former Wolves player Gibbs-White, who left the Molineux club to join Forest for an initial £25m in August 2022, equalised for Forest after Matheus Cunha had opened the scoring for the visitors in their draw.

“We stand alongside Morgan Gibbs-White and Nottingham Forest in condemning racist abuse,” said the Premier League.

“Discrimination in any form will not be tolerated by the Premier League and our clubs and we continue to encourage supporters to report it both at stadiums and online.”

Manchester City’s Khiara Keating is fit to face West Ham United on Sunday, averting a goalkeeping crisis for the Women’s Super League title chasers.

City have signed Brighton keeper Katie Startup on loan – but manager Gareth Taylor says Keating is available.

“She’s fine, she came back from England as a precaution,” Taylor said.

“She has an ongoing issue with her knee, but we are managing that. It was also unlikely she would have started for England, so it made no sense to push her too much in training [for the Lionesses].

“She’s been back training since the international break, and it was great to get Katie in training from Brighton this week.”

Keating withdrew from England duty before their opening Euro 2025 qualifiers against Sweden and the Republic of Ireland, with Mary Earps and Hannah Hampton starting those fixtures. City have not played a game since the international break.

City lost second choice McIver during the international break as she ruptured her anterior cruciate knee ligament (ACL) while on duty with Scotland.

“Sandy is good, considering,” Taylor said. “We had a good conversation with her. It will be a long period for her, but we support her on the whole journey.

“There will be ups and downs, it is a tough injury; Chloe [Kelly] had it, it is prevalent in the WSL, but the support team around her is really good.”

England international Roebuck is absent after suffering a stroke earlier in the season.

“She’s in good spirits, but being back training with the team is a long way off,” Taylor said.

Startup has been recruited on loan from Brighton until the end of the season, with Taylor saying they were hampered by rules stating they could not sign free agents outside the transfer window – but could recruit an emergency loan from a fellow WSL club.

“We were going through the squad lists, looking at who had three fit goalkeepers,” he said.

“[Brighton manager] Mikey Harris was really good, and Katie has been made to feel very welcome here. Brighton were helpful – they recognised it was an opportunity for Katie.”

City are level on points with WSL leaders Chelsea, with four matches remaining. They will move top of the league on Sunday by avoiding defeat against West Ham.

Coventry City boss Mark Robins says he will not be fooled by reports of FA Cup opponents Manchester United’s demise heading into their semi-final meeting.

They face Championship side Coventry at Wembley on Sunday (15:30 BST).

“I hear people talking about Manchester United, they are this, they are that – the truth of it is they’ve got top, top players,” Robins told BBC Radio CWR.

“People in football, pundits, talk in a derisory way about Manchester United – realistically, they can hurt anybody on their day.

“The 2-2 draw against Liverpool the other week, the goals were outstanding, the counter-attack is scintillating at times.

“You’ve got a lot of things to consider, especially as a Championship club, coming up against the biggest club in the world.”

Robins began his career at Old Trafford and in football folklore, his FA Cup third-round winner at Nottingham Forest in 1990 is believed to have saved Sir Alex Ferguson’s job, while he also scored the extra-time winner in United’s semi-final replay win over Oldham on route to their final victory over Crystal Palace.

The former striker also won the European Cup Winners’ Cup with United the following year.

“To play them at Wembley is going to be special, it is going to be an experience of a lifetime for the players,” the 54-year-old told Football Focus.

He added: “Playing in the national stadium against Manchester United, it doesn’t get much bigger than that really. It’s not a normal occasion for us – for Manchester United, it’s a normal occasion.

“They play at Wembley a lot, they have England international players – and it’s an expectation for them and their supporters. For us, it’s slightly different although we’ve been four times in seven years.”

‘Embrace the challenge – don’t be fearful’

While Manchester United’s travails have been well-documented, six points from the last 21 available in the Premier League all but ending any top-four hopes, Robins is more concerned about his own side’s blip.

The Sky Blues reached the Championship play-off final last season, losing to Luton on penalties, but sit eight points off sixth place with four games left, their cause hindered by recent back-to-back defeats.

“First and foremost, we’ve got to be right – we’ve lost three of our last four, it’s not brilliant form, that’s for sure, at this stage of the season,” Robins said.

“After this weekend, we might be 11 points behind [sixth-placed Norwich] – it’s very unlikely we’re getting in the play-offs so this is a game we can fully focus on.”

Coventry scored two stoppage-time goals to stun Premier League side Wolves in their quarter-final to leave supporters dreaming of a repeat of 1987, the only time the Sky Blues have lifted the cup.

“It’s only the second time in the club’s history we’ve been in the semi-final of an FA Cup,” added Robins.

“It’s a big occasion, one of the biggest games that most of our players will have played in.

“We know it’s a significant challenge – but that’s not the same as being fearful of it. You’ve got to embrace this challenge.

“Once that whistle goes, it’s down to the players to execute the game-plan – and if they can do that properly they stand a chance.”

Dundee United are tantalisingly close to an immediate return to the Scottish Premiership, with somewhere in the region of 10,000 fans expecting to watch them effectively clinch the title against Ayr United on Saturday.

United have already accumulated five more points than their city rivals did in their title triumph last season – with three games left to play – but Tannadice hasn’t always seemed a happy place.

Three defeats in six games across February and March didn’t help, but those seem small blotches on an otherwise mighty impressive report card. So why has it not always felt that way?

Manager Jim Goodwin said on Friday that he isn’t looking for “too many pats on the back” as United are “where everybody would expect us to be”. But, on closer inspection, they have got there in some style.

Dundee United? Or Real Madrid?

Championship veteran Ryan Stevenson compared United to Real Madrid on the Scottish Football Podcast.

And although United do have a 100% competitive record against Barcelona, Stevenson was actually alluding to Carlo Ancelotti’s side’s ability to turn up at the key points of the season. Just like Goodwin’s lot.

Just when things started to get tickly in the Championship – with Raith just a point behind with a game in hand – United found an extra gear to upholster an already-impressive season of statistics and pull clear.

• They’ve scored 11 goals in their last three games, two of which came in a win over their Fife rivals
• Goodwin’s side conceded just once in that time, and their tally of 22 goals against is bettered only by Falkirk in the SPFL
• It puts them within sight of beating the best Championship mark in the past decade – 25 by Hibernian in 2016-17
• United have scored 68 goals, a tally only bettered in recent times by Rangers in 2015-16
• Outside the Old Firm, only Falkirk have scored more this season
• Attacking quartet Louis Moult, Tony Watt, Kai Fotheringham and Glenn Middleton have 44 league goals between them – more than six other teams have managed in total
• United have won a club-record 12 away games this season

That Raith have managed to keep pace for so long is testament to the fine season enjoyed by Iain Murray’s side.

Perhaps the inability to shake off the Fifers has played its part in the anxiety that has clouded United for much of the term. So, too, has disappointing cup exits to League 1 sides.

Two defeats in their direct meetings with their title rivals and another abject reverse in Fife against Dunfermline last month allowed Raith to keep in touch. As did a home humbling by Airdrieonians around the same time.

But Murray’s men were equally fragile in that time, culminating in the 2-0 defeat at Tannadice that gave United the impetus.

“My players were able to handle that level of scrutiny that came on us,” Goodwin said on Friday. “It shows you the character in there that they can get through that difficult period and finish the season strongly.”

One more win will get the job done without relying on Raith slipping up any further.

United will want to do it in style and under their own steam but a closer look at the numbers shows that their campaign has been a hugely-impressive one.

Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho has apologised to Erik ten Hag for liking social media posts critical of his substitution against Bournemouth.

He has since unliked the posts and manager Ten Hag said that they are moving on from the incident.

“Alejandro is a young player, he has to learn a lot,” said Ten Hag. “He apologised for it and after that we move on.”

United, who have not won in four Premier League matches, face Coventry in an FA Cup semi-final on Sunday.

The social media posts on X criticised Ten Hag’s handling of Garnacho, with one saying that he “had a poor first half, but taking him off at half time and holding him up as the problem is a joke”.

It is not the first time that social media has caused issues for Ten Hag. In September 2023, Jadon Sancho posted on X that he was being made a “scapegoat” after being dropped by the manager.

Ten Hag said that Sancho, who is now on loan at former club Borussia Dortmund, was dropped for poor performances in training, which the winger said was “totally untrue”.

It led to a breakdown in the pair’s relationship before Sancho’s loan move, but Ten Hag praised the 24-year-old for his efforts in helping Dortmund beat Atletico Madrid to reach the Champions League semi-finals.

“I follow international football and follow the players on loan at other clubs,” said Ten Hag.

“It was a fantastic game, and a great performance from Dortmund. For Jadon it’s good news, he made his contribution to the result.”No [nothing has changed about his future], but we know Jadon Sancho is a fantastic football player, so that is not a surprise for us, that is not the issue.”

The Football Association has defended its decision to scrap FA Cup replays from 2024-25 and insists “all parties accepted” they could not continue.

League Two club Tranmere said the FA and the Premier League have shown “a total lack of respect.”

But the FA says discussions have been going on for “well over a year”.

“Removing Emirates FA Cup replays was discussed in the early meetings and all parties accepted that they could not continue,” said a statement from the FA.

“The discussions then focused on how to make all of our competitions stronger, despite having fewer dates available and wanting to maintain player welfare.”

Many clubs from the EFL and lower down the football pyramid have criticised the FA over the past 24 hours, claiming that it takes away a traditional revenue stream.

However, the FA says the calendar for next season was approved by the Professional Game Board, which consists of four representatives from the EFL and four representatives from the Premier League.

“The changes to the Emirates FA Cup achieve this by returning it to a weekend competition on every round, and ensuring that we have exclusive broadcast slots in an increasingly congested calendar,” the FA said.

“We have also increased the number of Emirates FA Cup matches that will be broadcast in the early rounds, which will lead to additional guaranteed broadcast revenue for EFL and National League teams. Additionally, we review the prize money annually for the competition, together with representatives from the EFL and PL and will do the same for the 2024-25 season.”

Coventry manager Mark Robins, speaking before his Championship side face Manchester United in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on Sunday, admitted it was a “kick in the teeth”.

“It’s difficult because you look at it and those clubs, the grassroots, the EFL and below are all part of the pyramid which needs to feed each other – and eventually feeds the Premier League,” Robins said.

“There are other things which could have happened like replays up until the third round, which doesn’t impact on the bigger clubs.”

Arsenal must stay on their feet like a famous Olympic speed skating champion if they are to catch up in the Women’s Super League, says Jonas Eidevall.

Eidevall said Arsenal would have to emulate Steven Bradbury, who won speed skating gold in 2002 when four rivals crashed on the final corner.

“Everyone slips and he goes first over the line,” Eidevall said. “If someone slips, are you ready?”

Manager Eidevall said he had been shown the clip by assistant coach Aaron D’Antino, who like Bradbury is Australian, as an example of not giving up in sport even when hope seems lost.

Bradbury had been out of medal contention until the leading quartet hit the deck in Salt Lake City, but he benefited as others tumbled.

“It’s about the mentality to always do your best and to never give up,” Eidevall told his media conference on Friday.

“If someone else slips, are you ready? Or have you already given up because you didn’t think that was going to happen?

“I think that’s a mindset thing. It’s so important to always do your best. You can’t control what others do. There are a lot of external factors you can’t control either. But what you can control are your own actions.”

Arsenal can cut the gap to Chelsea to three points on Sunday when they host Leicester City, with the Blues otherwise engaged this weekend by their Champions League semi-final first leg against Barcelona.

The Leicester match will be staged at Emirates Stadium – Arsenal’s fourth WSL fixture there this season – and Eidevall said the club are expecting more than 40,000 fans to be in attendance.