• Manager says his accent leads to ‘dismissive’ coverage
• Australian says Emery and Nuno had similar treatment

Ange Postecoglou has said some of the criticism he receives is offensive, personal and disrespectful. The Tottenham manager, whose attack-minded tactics have been questioned – most recently after Thursday’s 4-3 Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United – ­wonders whether this is influenced by his ­Australian accent or the disdain he shows for established practices.

Postecoglou said he saw the same thing happen to Unai Emery at ­Arsenal and Nuno Espírito Santo when the Portuguese was in charge of Spurs. Emery, now at Aston Villa, was ­ridiculed at times for his ­difficulties with English ­pronunciation. Nuno is doing well at Nottingham Forest after an unhappy 17-game spell at Spurs in 2021.

• Ilube steps down after emergency meeting
• Chair was heavily criticised over sport’s pay furore

Sir Bill Beaumont has been appointed as the interim chairman of the Rugby ­Football Union after Tom Ilube stepped down, sparking a civil war within the organisation amid accusations of “bullying, ­entitlement and elitism” between RFU council factions.

On another dramatic day at the RFU, Ilube’s departure comes after an extraordinary emergency ­council meeting on Wednesday with some members accusing others of ­behaving like “a mob”.

Ben Stokes seems wary of using the word ‘ruthless’ but it is the one thing talented players need to become a truly great team

Sometimes I feel this England team can’t take two steps forward without doing something that makes me think they’ve gone backwards. So much progress has been made, so many reasons for optimism provided before a year that is likely to define them. But then they end it with a display that forces me to wonder whether they have it in them to become the best in the world, to win the World Test Championship, to be more than just entertainers.

Ben Stokes says he hates the word “ruthless”, but I am puzzled by him attaching a negative connotation to a word that is synonymous with all the greatest teams in the history of sport. No team relishes facing talented and ruthless opponents – well England have the talent, but not the attitude. This is a team that has shown they can dominate, and that they can also self-destruct.

British heavyweight is intent on setting the record straight after his defeat in May but this showdown goes far beyond boxing

This has been a year like no other for Tyson Fury. He has again earned vast fortunes but, as he prepares to climb into the ring to once more face Oleksandr Usyk in the early hours of Sunday morning in Riyadh, 2024 has until now been defined most clearly by loss. In May, Fury endured the first defeat of a professional career which began 16 years ago this month. Usyk won a split decision over him to become the first undisputed world heavyweight champion this century.

Far more significantly, and in a devastating personal tragedy, Paris Fury suffered a miscarriage the day before the fight. When a visibly moved Fury revealed the news to a few of us in October he urged us not to imply this was a reason for his defeat: “I am not ­making excuses but she was six months pregnant. It’s not like a small miscarriage at the beginning. You have to physically give birth to a dead child, on your own, while your husband is in a foreign country.”

Rodri has beaten Vinícius Júnior and Erling Haaland to top our ranking of the most talented players in the world this calendar year

• How all the judges voted | Rodri heads 2024 list | Our methodology | The top 100 female players in the world
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Like a song that changes time signature for the hell of it, like a friend that inexplicably blanks you, like a match report that noodles away for ages instead of just telling you what happened, Tottenham Hotspur remain medically incapable of doing things the simple way. This is becoming a kind of mania, a disorder, a cry for help. What is this? Who are you really? And, you know, can you not?

For all this, Ange Postecoglou’s side are League Cup semi-finalists, the latest plot twist in a season where nobody can really agree whether things are going well or not. Great football. But also some terrible football. But also, three games from a trophy. But also, 10th in the Premier League. But also two goals for Dominic Solanke. But also two goals basically given away by Fraser Forster.

• Rashford said in interview he could seek ‘new challenge’
• Forward likely to miss Carabao Cup trip to Tottenham

Ruben Amorim has said when he was a player he would have spoken to his manager about being dropped rather than react in the media, as Marcus Rashford has done. Manchester United’s head coach is undecided about how to deal with the forward, though he is believed to have left him out of the squad for Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Tottenham.

Rashford said in an interview with the journalist Henry Winter on Tuesday that he was “ready for a new challenge”. This came after the 27-year-old, who has struggled for form over the past two seasons, had been dropped for United’s 2-1 win against Manchester City on Sunday.

Eleven games, 10 wins, one draw and top spot in their Champions League group – secured after a late Mariona Caldentey penalty powered Arsenal past Bayern Munich to end their 2024 – has left Renée Slegers’ CV looking incredibly strong.

Slegers’ future is unknown, with the club yet to say whether she will stay on as interim manager, after Jonas Eidevall stepped down in October, be handed the job on a permanent basis or step aside to make way for someone new. However, a gutsy comeback against Bayern after the former Chelsea defender Magda Eriksson had put the visiting team 2-1 up had the fans in full voice. They want her to stay, the final line in the chorus of Last Christmas changed to “I’ll give it to Renée Slegers” ringing around the stadium.

It was a night that Simon Rusk will never forget, the one when he took charge of Southampton for the first time in the wake of Russell Martin’s sacking on Sunday night and pushed Arne Slot and Liverpool all the way.

Nobody gave Southampton a prayer – and not only because they had conceded five in defeat in each of their previous two home matches. It has been a season of remorseless struggle for them.