Mauricio Pochettino has been appointed as the new permanent Chelsea boss.

The Blues have turned to the former Tottenham manager at the end of a  turbulent campaign which saw them finish 12th in the Premier League.

Here, the PA news agency examines Pochettino’s managerial record.

Espanyol

Won 53, drew 38, lost 70; 32.9 per cent win rate

Having finished his playing career with the Catalan club, Pochettino was pressed into service to lead a struggling team in January 2009 and lifted them from the relegation zone to a mid-table finish – drawing with local rivals Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and beating them in LaLiga.

Espanyol finished 11th, eighth and 14th in his three full seasons in charge, though the former Argentina defender left with them bottom of the table in November 2012 after a poor run of form and a dispute over financial restrictions.

Southampton

Won 23, drew 18, lost 19; 38.3 per cent win rate

Taking over mid-season from the popular Nigel Adkins, Pochettino led Saints to a 14th-placed finish in 2012-13 and an impressive eighth the following campaign.

Conducting press conferences via an interpreter throughout his spell on the south coast, Pochettino was nevertheless clearly able to get his message across to an over-achieving squad and position himself for higher-profile roles to come.

Tottenham

Won 159, drew 62, lost 72; 54.3 per cent win rate

Pochettino’s five-year reign at Tottenham marked the most prolonged period of success and stability in their recent history, with the club finishing fifth, third, second, third and fourth and reaching finals of the Champions League and the League Cup.

The Argentinian nurtured a Spurs squad that was the youngest in the Premier League when they ended as runners-up in 2016-17, containing a mix of domestic talents such as Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier, and overseas players including Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-min and Toby Alderweireld.

A club that had had 10 coaches in 12 years before Pochettino’s arrival in 2014 have cycled through Jose Mourinho, interim boss Ryan Mason (twice), Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte and caretaker Cristian Stellini in short order since his departure in November 2019.

Paris St Germain

Won 55, drew 15, lost 14; 65.5 per cent win rate

The French giants, where Pochettino spent time as a player, brought him the first major trophies of his managerial career by winning the Coupe de France in 2020-21 and Ligue 1 in 2021-22.

However, his tenure was not deemed successful as a runners-up finish to Lille in 2020-21 meant PSG missed out on the Ligue 1 title for only the second time in nine seasons, and he failed to guide the capital club to the Champions League final.

Pochettino was sacked last summer having won less than 66 per cent of matches in all competitions, whereas his predecessor Thomas Tuchel – who started this season as Chelsea boss – had a 75 per cent win rate across his two-and-a-half years in charge.

New Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino will find he has a daunting in-tray once he gets to work at Stamford Bridge as the Blues look to bounce back from the wreckage of this season.

The job presents as many opportunities as it does challenges and a coach of Pochettino’s charisma, calibre and character will relish trying to mould solutions out of the current malaise.

Here, the PA news agency looks at what the former Tottenham and Paris St Germain boss has to get to grips with.

Slim down the squad…

Successive managers have reaped the chaos of the new Chelsea ownership’s scattergun approach to recruitment during the last 12 months and a significant clear-out is needed if the squad is to be anything like manageable.

Apart from the obvious logistical headache of trying to organise training with a bloated group that exceeds 30, there is the effect on morale that having so much surplus and deadwood will have around Cobham.

There is clearly no sense in the manager and his staff investing time and attention during sessions in players who are unlikely to feature, particularly when those currently comprising the starting XI present next to no cohesion.

Pochettino needs to figure out quickly who of the current crop has a role to play in his rebuild and who can be put towards easing the Financial Fair Play pressure the club is under.

… but persuade Joao Felix to stay

It might seem counter-productive considering the above but convincing the on-loan winger to turn his six-month loan stay from Atletico Madrid into a permanent one will be key.

It will likely mean tossing another hefty transfer fee into an already nightmarish FFP calculation, but Felix has been one of few recruits under new owner Todd Boehly who has shown something close to his best, albeit not consistently.

He has six months of acclimatising to the Premier League under his belt and, like Enzo Fernandez, has the potential under the right manager to become one of the best in the world.

Don’t write off Aubameyang and Lukaku

Despite the fact that only four Premier League teams this season have fewer goals – 19th-placed Leicester have outscored them by 13 – there are two strikers on Chelsea’s books that between them have scored almost 600 goals at the top level.

It has not worked out so far for either Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Romelu Lukaku at Stamford Bridge, but nor has much else during the two years since the club paid £97.5million to bring in Lukaku – currently on loan at Inter Milan – and Aubameyang’s time has been even more chaotic.

If the problem until now has been one of relationships, personnel and the lack of a settled environment then a new manager and staff could go some of the way towards wiping the slate clean for both players.

There is also a buy-back option on Tammy Abraham about to come into effect that, considering his success at Roma, might also be worth looking at given the lack of firepower.

Give supporters back that old Chelsea swagger

Part of the reason Graham Potter never looked a natural fit at Stamford Bridge was an absence of the self-assurance bordering on arrogance that defined some of the club’s most successful managers.

Title-winners Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte oozed entitlement – even though in reality their swagger was hard earned – whilst Carlo Ancelotti exhibited a confident coolness.

To supporters, Chelsea’s image is just one more part of their identity next to the haul of trophies from the last 20 years.

Pochettino has the personality to satisfy certain of those requirements. Whether he can do it whilst matching the success of that glittering trio will be the true test.

Mauricio Pochettino has been appointed Chelsea head coach on a two-year deal.

The former Tottenham manager, who has been out of work since leaving Paris St Germain last year, will take over from interim boss Frank Lampard – who oversaw his final game in charge against Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday.

It brings to an end an almost two-month process to find a permanent successor to Graham Potter, who was sacked on April 2.

The PA news agency understands Pochettino had been the club’s first choice from early in the search, which was led by co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.

He was the only candidate the club got into serious talks with, despite conversations that took place with former Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann, ex-Spain coach Luis Enrique and Burnley’s Vincent Kompany.

It is understood that, contrary to reports that Pochettino had sought reassurances about the running of the club behind the scenes, he has been satisfied from early in the process that he could work within Chelsea’s sporting structure.

Stewart and Winstanley said in a statement: “Mauricio’s experience, standards of excellence, leadership qualities and character will serve Chelsea Football Club well as we move forward.

“He is a winning coach, who has worked at the highest levels, in multiple leagues and languages. His ethos, tactical approach and commitment to development all made him the exceptional candidate.”

The new boss, whose contract includes an option for a third season, will work closely with the co-sporting directors as the club look to rebuild after their worst season in 30 years.

Since Potter was removed and Lampard handed the reins, Chelsea have lost eight of their 11 games, winning only once.

They were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid at the quarter-final stage, and a 12th-place finish – their lowest since 1996 – means they will not play in Europe next season.

Lampard said on Sunday that working with a bloated squad of 34 first-team players was the most challenging thing he faced at Stamford Bridge.

One of Pochettino’s first tasks will be deciding who of that number are part of his plans and who can leave, with the club under pressure to sell players in order to satisfy Financial Fair Play rules after spending around £600million on transfers in the last 12 months.

Ante-post favourite Military Order leads 16 contenders for Saturday’s Betfred Derby at Epsom, with Passenger the sole supplementary entry.

Representing Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby, Military Order booked his place in the Classic line up with a comfortable trial success at Lingfield and he is the only contender for his handler, who has won the race twice with Masar (2018) and Adayar (2021).

“From the team’s point of view, we’re very happy with him. He came out of his Lingfield Derby Trial win very well and we’ve been very pleased with him since,” Appleby told www.godolphin.com.

“He’s improving week on week physically, and we can’t fault him to date on what he has been doing in his work and on the racecourse. He goes out and gets the job done in the mornings without being flash.

“He’s a mile-and-a-half horse, so you don’t expect flashy work. That hasn’t changed from his two-year-old days and I wouldn’t expect it to change.

“Military Order, like his brother Adayar, goes out and gets the job done.”

Sir Michael Stoute saddled Desert Crown to victory last year and he looks to Passenger to give him seventh overall win the in the race.

Owners the Niarchos Family opted to stump up the £85,000 fee to add him to the 12-furlong Classic after enduring a luckless run when third in the Dante last time out.

Aidan O’Brien is the race’s leading trainer with eight wins on his CV and Auguste Rodin captains a possible four-strong team as he seeks to put a disappointing 2000 Guineas run well behind him stepping up in trip.

Adelaide River, Covent Garden and Chester winner San Antonio complete the potential Ballydoyle squad.

Frankie Dettori is set to have his last ride in the Derby aboard the John and Thady Gosden-trained Arrest, an impressive winner of the Chester Vase on his seasonal bow while Dante winner The Foxes is in contention for Andrew Balding.

York second White Birch reopposes for John Murphy, Jessica Harrington’s Leopardstown Derby Trial winner Sprewell and the Donnacha O’Brien-trained Alder round out the Irish hopefuls.

Charlie Johnston’s 2000 Guineas fifth Dubai Mile is set to be joined by stablemate Dear My Friend, who was eighth in the Dante, with Ralph Beckett’s unbeaten Artistic Star, the Roger Varian-trained King Of Steel and Waipiro for Ed Walker the other candidates.

Leeds manager Sam Allardyce said the club’s players had not been good enough after Sunday’s 4-1 home defeat to Tottenham sealed Premier League relegation.

Allardyce had been Leeds’ last throw of the dice with four games remaining, but after three defeats and a draw the 68-year-old was unable to mask the club’s systemic failings and save them.

He said: “Most of it comes down to how good are your players? These players have tried very hard while I’ve been here and I can’t fault their effort.

“But as a squad, they haven’t been good enough by the fact that they’re in the bottom three in the Premier League.

“I would have hoped I could have got a little bit more out of them, so I take responsibility for that.

“But it’s a tough old world when things start failing and when they start failing and confidence starts going then it’s very difficult to claw it back and we’ve been unable to do that.”

Leeds’ three-year stay in the top flight is over and Allardyce made it clear poor player recruitment had been the biggest factor in their demise.

“General recruitment is the number one factor for any manager or any coach or any head coach or any club to be successful,” he said.

“Without top-level recruitment, a manager and a coach and the staff are only as good as the players they have available and their ability.

“Actual quality is all about recruitment because better players and more intelligent players make you a better coach, make everybody at the club better, make it a happy club going forward.”

Leeds’ ultra-slim hopes of avoiding the drop on the final day appeared dashed in the only the second minute against Tottenham when Harry Kane fired the visitors into an early lead.

The Elland Road faithful responded with raucous defiance and that quickly turned to anger as they vented their fury at the Leeds board.

Leeds wasted several first-half chances and were duly punished – as they have been all season – when Pedro Porro put Tottenham 2-0 up with a brilliant angled finish two minutes into the second half.

Jack Harrison reduced the deficit, only for Kane to curl home his 30th league goal of the season two minutes later.

Tottenham substitute Lucas Moura then compounded Leeds’ misery when he waltzed through to add a fourth in stoppage time.

Leeds fans chanted ‘sack the board’ and called on chairman Andrea Radrizzani to sell his majority stake in the club to American co-owners 49ers Enterprises.

The financial arm of NFL franchise the San Francisco 49ers holds a 44 per cent stake with a deal in place to buy the remaining shares before January 2024.

But that was contingent on Leeds being in the top flight and relegation has muddied the waters.

Allardyce urged the club to quickly resolve their ownership issue, but it remains to be seen who will be in control as they bid to bounce straight back from the Sky Bet Championship.

“I haven’t said I’m staying yet so there’s a lot of discussion that needs (to be had) both ways on what’s going to happen,” Allardyce added.

“Whether that’s me or whoever that might be if it’s not me. I’m not committing myself to say I am or not staying just yet.”

Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland and his Hibernian counterpart Kevin Nisbet have both been included in the Scotland squad for the next month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Norway and Georgia.

The Edinburgh-based pair take the places of Stoke’s Jacob Brown, who missed the end of the Championship season with a hamstring issue, and Southampton forward Che Adams, who recently suffered a recurrence of the ankle injury he sustained in Scotland’s win over Cyprus.

Shankland, who previously made four appearances in 2019 and 2020, was called back into the fold for the Spain game in March and he has kept his place at the end of a season in which he has scored 28 goals for Hearts.

Nisbet, who won all of his 10 caps in 2021, is recalled for the first time since damaging his anterior cruciate ligament in February 2022. The 26-year-old has scored 12 goals for Hibs since returning to action in December.

Rangers defender John Souttar is recalled after missing much of the season through injury. The 26-year-old, who has not played for the national team since last summer’s Nations League defeat in Ireland, takes the place of Norwich City centre-back Grant Hanley, who has been sidelined with an Achilles problem since early April.

Blackburn centre-back Dom Hyam has retained his place after earning a late call-up for the last camp in March, while Steve Clarke has opted for consistency in the goalkeeping department with Angus Gunn, Zander Clark and Liam Kelly again called up in the absence of Craig Gordon, who remains sidelined as he tries to fight back from a double leg-break sustained on Christmas Eve.

Scotland, who are top of Group A with two wins from their two games so far, face Norway in Oslo on Saturday, June 17 before welcoming Georgia to Hampden three days later.

Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti is set to leave the club after guiding them to their first Serie A title in 33 years.

President Aurelio De Laurentiis said that the 64-year-old, who took over the Partenopei in 2021, has asked to take a sabbatical and will leave the club with a year left on his contract.

“He’s a free man, now it’s right that he continues to do what he wants. I thank him,” De Laurentiis told Italian broadcaster Rai as reported by Sky Italy.

Napoli clinched their first title since 1990, when Diego Maradona led them to the Scudetto, with five games to spare.

Spalletti’s final game in charge is set to be at home to Sampdoria next Sunday.

Reports in Italy suggest Napoli will attempt to bring in former Barcelona and Spain head coach Luis Enrique to replace Spalletti.

A number of their star players such as top scorer Victor Osimhen and centre-back Kim Min-jae have been linked with moves away from Naples this summer, with a host of Premier League clubs among those reportedly interested.

Frankie Dettori will lay a wreath at the statue of Lester Piggott on Derby day, as Epsom also permanently renames a race in memory of one of the sport’s most decorated jockeys.

Piggott, who died last year aged 86, won the Derby a record nine times and Epsom has announced that each year moving forward a member of the weighing room will lay a wreath in the colours of Piggott’s 1970 Derby hero Nijinsky at the statue of the rider situated on the Queen Elizabeth II Stand lawn.

Dettori will take this year’s wreath-laying duties as he makes his final appearance on Derby day before retirement, while the track has also renamed the £75,000 10-furlong handicap staged on Saturday as the Lester Piggott Handicap Stakes.

Dettori – who had a mural commemorating his Derby win on Golden Horn commissioned by Epsom prior to the track’s opening meeting of the season – classed Piggott both as a good friend and hero and is honoured to become the first jockey to lay the annual wreath.

He said: “It is an honour to be asked to lay a wreath at Lester’s statue on Derby day. He was a hero of mine who then became a good friend and it’s impossible to measure the impact he had on me, both as a person and a jockey throughout my life.

“I’m sure it will be a poignant and emotional moment for many reasons and I’m grateful to Epsom Downs for inviting me to lead this year’s tributes to Lester on my last Derby day as a jockey.”

Brian Finch, chair of Epsom racecourse, added: “For so many of us, Lester Piggott is synonymous with the Derby and Epsom Downs like no other jockey before or since.

“Lester sadly passed away just six days before the Derby in 2022 and we ran the Derby in his memory.

“For such a distinguished figure in the long history of the Derby and with his unprecedented achievements unlikely to be matched, we felt it was important to establish a permanent annual commemoration and celebration of Lester’s life on Derby day.

“I would like to thank Frankie Dettori for agreeing to lay the wreath in Lester’s memory this year ahead of his final ride in the Betfred Derby and I hope the Betfred Lester Piggott Handicap will provide an exciting finish of which Lester would have been proud.”

Tony Docherty has left his role as Kilmarnock assistant to become manager of newly-promoted cinch Premiership side Dundee.

The 52-year-old is a surprise appointment as he has spent the majority of his coaching career as number two to Derek McInnes at St Johnstone, Bristol City, Aberdeen and Killie.

Docherty takes over from Gary Bowyer, who departed immediately after winning the Championship title earlier this month.

The Dees had spoken to former St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson, while Raith Rovers manager Ian Murray was also in contention, but the club declared on Monday that “after a full and thorough search process, Tony was the outstanding candidate. He has gained great respect as a coach and knows what is required to be successful in Scotland’s top flight.”

Technical director Gordon Strachan has worked with Docherty previously in the Scotland set-up. “Tony is a guy that has been there and done it in Scottish football, at a number of clubs alongside Derek,” he said.

“I had the privilege to witness Tony’s coaching skills first-hand when he joined the Scotland coaching team.

“We know that next season is a big one for the club and Tony knows what it takes to win matches in this league, and that’s what we need. I’m thrilled we’ve got Tony on-board.”

Managing director John Nelms added: “I am delighted with Tony’s appointment. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge of our game, having been in the dugout for over 750 matches including national team experiences, European nights, and trophy-lifting moments here domestically.

“Tony’s leadership, work ethic, and humility will go a long way to bringing Dundee success in the coming years.”

Docherty’s backroom team will be appointed in due course.

Leicester were relegated from the Premier League on Sunday seven years after being crowned champions of England.

The Foxes, also FA Cup winners in 2021, beat West Ham 2-1 at home on the final day of the season but Everton’s victory over Bournemouth condemned them to the second tier for the first time since 2013-14.

Here, the PA news agency examines some of the reasons why it went wrong.

Summer of discontent

For a club that had twice finished fifth – narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification – and eighth in Brendan Rodgers’ three full seasons in charge, there was an alarming drop in expectations at the start of the camapign. Summer cutbacks meant Rodgers was unable to significantly strengthen his squad, with chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha explaining Financial Fair Play and Covid had hit them hard. Central defender Wesley Fofana went to Chelsea for £70million before Rodgers could bring in any new recruits and the departure of title-winning goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, a huge character at the club for over a decade, hurt them badly.

Squad planning

Leicester had appeared to be the byword for shrewd planning for so long in English football after launching the stellar careers of title winners N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez. But eight players – Caglar Soyuncu, Daniel Amartey, Jonny Evans, Nampalys Mendy, Ryan Bertrand, Tete, Youri Tielemans and Ayoze Perez, who spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Real Betis – were out of contract at the end of the season. Belgium midfielder Tielemans, scorer of the FA Cup final winner against Chelsea, was nowhere near the levels he had shown after joining from Monaco in 2019. Deals for a further eight players are to expire next year, among them England attacking midfielder James Maddison who is now set to move on.

Post-World Cup blues

After a terrible start that saw Leicester anchored to the foot of the table with one point from seven games, their form picked up before the World Cup break with five wins in eight. But Leicester’s form nose-dived again when domestic football returned in December, taking just one point from 15. Evans was not fit to marshal a leaky defence and unconvincing Wales goalkeeper Danny Ward eventually lost his place to Daniel Iversen. Foxes great Jamie Vardy became increasingly marginalised and did not score a league goal for six months as a squad deemed ‘too good to go down’ hurtled towards a relegation scrap.

Was sacking Rodgers right call?

Rodgers adopted a negative tone to Leicester’s summer strife by insisting the target was 40 points and top-flight survival. The former Liverpool and Celtic boss, more familiar with competing at the top of the table rather than the bottom, almost grew more pessimistic by the week with selection inconsistencies and injury undermining the Foxes’ cause. Rodgers was eventually sacked on April 2 after defeat at Crystal Palace had dropped Leicester into the bottom three. After Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell spent two games in caretaker charge, Dean Smith took command for the last eight – but would Leicester have been better served backing Rodgers as Nottingham Forest and West Ham did with Steve Cooper and David Moyes?

Mawj will head to the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot for a rematch with Tahiyra, who gained compensation for her narrow defeat in the Qipco 1000 Guineas with victory in Sunday’s Irish equivalent.

Trainer Saeed bin Suroor gained a third success in the fillies’ mile Classic at Newmarket last month when Mawj showed plenty of guts to down Dermot Weld’s Tahiyra by half a length.

The Godolphin handler has always believed the daughter of Exceed And Excel would develop as a three-year-old and she duly delivered, adding to his previous success in the race with Cape Verdi (1998) and Kazzia (2002).

“She is in good form,” said Bin Suroor. “Her win means a lot. It was the third time we won the 1000 Guineas, but it had been a long time since the last one – 21 years.

“Obviously, the Classic races and the Group One races, you have to have the good horses.

“We knew last year she was a good filly, but she is a tiny filly and you have to look after her.

“I gave her a break between races, just to allow her to recover.”

Mawj is now being prepared to take on Tahiyra, who had won the Moyglare Stud Stakes last season and gained her second top-class success with victory over Meditate in the Irish Classic.

Though she won on soft ground at Newmarket, Bin Suroor insists Mawj will not be concerned what ground conditions await her at the Berkshire track.

The daughter of Exceed And Excel, who bypassed the Curragh Classic, has had plenty of experience on differing surfaces.

In her eight starts, on which she has won five, she was victorious over six furlongs on fast ground at Newmarket, on soft ground over a mile when taking her Group One.

“She goes to the Coronation Stakes now,” he added. “I don’t think the ground matters to her, because she won on softer ground in Dubai also and she came back here on soft ground.

“I think she will handle any ground and we look forward to going to Ascot with her.”

The 1,084 goals scored in this season’s Premier League were a record for a 20-team season.

Abdoulaye Doucoure’s crucial goal for Everton against Bournemouth on Sunday, which clinched the Toffees’ survival, also meant the league surpassed the previous high of 1,072 in 2018-19.

Here, the PA news agency looks at how it happened.

2022-23

Erling Haaland has rewritten the individual record books and his exploits for Manchester City have now helped create a new league record as well.

The Norwegian’s 36 goals led the way, with Harry Kane a distant second in the Golden Boot race despite scoring 30 for Tottenham.

Ivan Toney netted 20 for Brentford before starting his eight-month betting suspension, with Mohamed Salah (19) and Callum Wilson (18) completing the top five.

Champions City were the league’s top scorers with 94 goals while long-time leaders Arsenal racked up 88.

Liverpool and Brighton cracked 70, as did Tottenham who scored and conceded more than 60 – their 2007-08 season was the only previous instance of a team doing so in the Premier League.

Every team contributed at least 30 to the tally, the first time that has happened since the 2012-13 campaign.

2018-19

City were again champions in the previous record season and contributed 95 themselves, a similar impact to this season.

The tally could have been even higher but for Ederson and his defence, with City conceding only 23 to finish with a goal difference of plus-72 – that ranks third in Premier League history, with City and Chelsea the only clubs ever to top 70.

Liverpool, who finished just a point behind City in the title race, scored 89 while Arsenal contributed 73. Three more teams topped 60 and a further six reached a half-century while only Huddersfield (22) came in under 30.

There was no Haaland equivalent driving the total but a host of players contributed at a high level – Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane and Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all shared the Golden Boot on 22, with Sergio Aguero just one behind for City, while a record 32 players reached double figures.

Best of the rest

Last season came up just one short of the previous record as seven teams broke the 60-goal barrier, with City and Liverpool on 99 and 94 respectively.

There were 1,066 in 2011-12, 1,064 in 2016-17 and only one fewer in 2010-11 and 2012-13.

Surprisingly 2017-18, when City scored 106 goals and Salah and Kane both hit the magical 30 mark individually, had only 1,018 goals in total as Huddersfield stayed up with 28, the same total as relegated Swansea, and Burnley finished seventh with only 36.

Indeed, none of the four seasons in which a team has hit a century figures particularly highly in the chart. City scored 102 of the league’s 1,034 in 2019-20 and Chelsea 103 of 1,053 in 2009-10. Even 2013-14, when City scored 102 and Liverpool 101, only saw 1,052 goals in total.

The league’s early 42-game seasons unsurprisingly featured higher overall tallies, with 1,222 in the inaugural 1992-93 campaign followed by back-to-back seasons with 1,195, but the average of 2.85 per game this term is the outright highest in the Premier League era.