Chelsea must move beyond football’s tendency to be reactionary if the club hope to create a long-term vision for their future, according to Frank Lampard.
Co-owner Todd Boehly has sacked two managers this season in what has been the team’s poorest campaign of the Premier League era, with a record low number of points won and a first bottom-half finish since 1996 now certain.
They are one of 11 top-flight clubs to have changed manager at least once this season, with themselves, Leeds and relegated Southampton having dispensed with two, as the average tenure for a Premier League coach has shrunk to just over 18 months.
Chelsea’s previously indifferent form has plummeted since Graham Potter was removed on April 2, with one win in 10 games in all competitions. The team has failed to score in six of those matches following Potter’s sacking.
Lampard takes his team to face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday looking for only his second win in his 10th game since taking charge, having lost seven of the previous nine.
With Mauricio Pochettino expected to be confirmed imminently as the manager for next season, the outgoing interim coach suggested a resistance to modern trends must prevail if Chelsea are to challenge once more.
“That stat (11 clubs having sacked their manager) says it, I presume it’s a record,” said Lampard. “There are understandable factors, the Premier League brand and what it means to teams to stay in there.
“The first person that receives the blame is the coach, if you understand that going into the job that’s probably a good thing.
“Or course there’s lots of other factors. You wonder how successful always it is to changes those things. It’s clear it’s become that kind of a job and a situation and there are many teams that are fighting with expectations that might not be exactly stable.
“We’re in a very reactionary world anyway. In years gone by the reaction to one, two, three defeats might have been different. Now we have this explosion very quickly and you just have to understand it when you’re doing this job.”
The job of finding Potter’s permanent replacement has been carried out by co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, who themselves arrived at the club only during the last year.
Previously Boehly held the role of temporary sporting director and was hands-on in player recruitment and in the doomed appointment of former Brighton boss Potter.
Lampard said he had enjoyed working with Winstanley and Stewart and that the pair have created a working environment around the club to help his successor succeed.
The new manager’s first job will be trimming a bloated first-team squad before setting about making up a gap to the top four that could hit 30 points this campaign.
“The dialogue has been really good from the moment this opportunity came up for me,” Lampard said. “I’ve been able to get on well with them on a personal and professional level and it’s nice to have that close communication.
“Working in this job you understand when you don’t have communication on the footballing side, you miss it. With both of them, Paul and Lawrence, I’ve had that in their own ways and that’s been a good thing and I appreciate that.
“Their big job is to bring Chelsea back to where we want to get it to. The responsibility isn’t all theirs but they play an important role in it. I’ve been impressed by how our interactions have been and I wish them well going forward.
“There’s a real alignment of thinking through (successful clubs). Where we are at the minute, that would be the work process of trying to see where are we aligned and where do we want to get to and what does it look like? There’s a lot of work in that and in Paul and Laurence we have good people to do that.
“It’s hard in the modern world because everything’s very reactionary. If you want to go in a certain direction and you don’t get any joy for a while, people react to that. For Chelsea it has to be a longer picture than that to get us a bit more of a process. People have to stick with that along the way.”
Ian Williams’ Enemy returns to Sandown for another crack at the Racehorse Lotto Henry II Stakes on Thursday.
The six-year-old spent his winter in the Middle East and returned significantly richer having won the Dubai Racing Club Classic at Meydan before a second-placed finish in the highly valuable Red Sea Turf Handicap in Saudi Arabia.
He then came home eighth in the Dubai Gold Cup back at Meydan in late March, after which he began his domestic campaign in the Group Three Ormonde Stakes at Chester’s May meeting.
Enemy was fifth behind by William Haggas’ Hamish in the Roodee feature, though Williams feels he fared well considering the testing conditions and will be more at home on better ground in Esher, where Frankie Dettori takes the ride.
“The ground probably got a little bit too soft for him at Chester last time, but he acquitted himself well and remains in good form,” the trainer said.
“Conditions should be more to suit on Thursday.”
Enemy was fifth in the Group Three race last season as Quickthorn prevailed for Hughie Morrison, but the run was luckless and Williams feels the gelding was not shown to best effect.
He said: “I don’t know that it’s not a deeper race but the way that race was won last year, he got a long way out and had a lot of ground to make up, so I think you can put a line through that.”
Elsewhere is Andrew Balding’s Nate The Great, second last season and fifth behind Silver Sonic and Enemy in the Red Sea at Riyadh.
Haggas’ Roberto Escobarr joins the line-up, as do Harry and Roger Charlton’s Sleeping Lion and Hiroo Shimizu’s French-trained Princess Anne.
Desert Crown is all set for his highly-anticipated comeback in the Racehorse Lotto Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown on Thursday evening.
The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Derby hero has been seen just three times in his career, but has made a huge impression regardless.
He won a maiden on debut and then took last year’s Dante at York en route to a memorable victory in the premier Classic itself.
Injury curtailed his season after his two-and-a-half-length victory in the blue riband, however, and Sandown’s Group Three event is his first run since that memorable day last June.
Despite an absence of 355 days, Bruce Raymond, racing manager to owner Saeed Suhail, is expecting the Nathaniel colt’s unbeaten status to be maintained.
He said: “I’m more than hopeful. It would be a huge upset were he to be beaten.
“Of course, they can all be beaten, but I don’t expect him to be.
“Michael is definitely 100 per cent happy with him, he’s fine, he’s working good and while there’s enough improvement to come, he’s fit enough to do himself justice.
“He was so impressive in the Derby. The race was over two out.”
Stoute, too, expressed his satisfaction at how his star has done in the build-up to his return.
He said: “Desert Crown has progressed well over the last few weeks, and it will be good to get him back to work.”
The same owner and trainer will also be represented by Solid Stone, a Group winner in his own right who will set the pace for his stablemate.
“We’ve got a pacemaker in Solid Stone to make sure it’s not a crawl,” said Raymond.
“He leads him in all his work and he didn’t run at Chester recently just so he could run in this.”
Also on the comeback trail is Owen Burrows’ Hukum, an impressive winner of the Coronation Cup at Epsom last season before injury struck.
His career looked to be in jeopardy but he has been rehabilitated and returned to training, with the Sandown contest coming nearly a year since his last run.
But Burrows is mindful of the conditions in Esher and if the ground is too quick, Hukum will not be risked ahead of his Royal Ascot target, the Hardwicke Stakes.
“We’ve been really pleased with him, obviously it’s a very tough race!” said Burrows.
“Timing-wise it really works out, it slots in well with the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot as a prep run.
“Fingers crossed he can show his old enthusiasm, run a nice race and get his season on track.
“Myself and Richard Hills (of owners Shadwell) are going to walk the track beforehand, I’ve been liaising with Andrew Cooper, the clerk, and he normally does a great job.
“I just don’t want to run him for the first time in the year on fast ground and it’s an evening meeting, so there’s plenty of time throughout the day for it to dry out.
“We’ll just be taking a look to make sure we’re happy.”
Adding further spice is David Simcock’s Cash, who was just a short head behind Westover in the Classic Trial over course and distance last year, while Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Claymore is a Royal Ascot winner and Keith Dalgleish’s Chichester was last seen finishing second at the All-Weather Championships at Newcastle on Good Friday.
Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs has been crowned the leading jumps horse of the 2022-23 National Hunt season in the Anglo-Irish Jumps Classifications.
The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old won the John Durkan at Punchestown, the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown and the headline event in the Cotswolds to crown a tremendous campaign, with his rating of 179 leaving him 4lb clear of his nearest rivals at the top of the standings.
His stablemate Energumene and Nicky Henderson’s Constitution Hill share the runner-up spot on a mark of 175, with the latter becoming the highest-rated British-trained hurdler since the Classifications were first published in 1999-2000.
The latter is unsurprisingly out on his own in the hurdling division, with State Man, who chased him home in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, best of the rest on 165.
The unbeaten Constitution Hill successfully stepped up to two and a half miles to add the Aintree Hurdle to his collection and is rated just 1lb behind three-time Champion Hurdle winner Istabraq (176). Whether he remains over hurdles or pursues a career over fences later this year remains to be seen.
Energumene earned his mark of 176 after a dominant 10-length success when defending his Queen Mother Champion Chase crown at Cheltenham in March, while the leading British horse over fences was Henderson’s Shishkin (173) thanks to a 16-length win in February’s Ascot Chase.
El Fabiolo (Mullins) tops the novice chase ranks on a perch of 170, while his owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede are also responsible for the highest-rated novice hurdler in Impaire Et Passe (160).
Martin Greenwood, the British Horseracing Authority’s steeplechase handicap team leader, said: “Ireland is responsible for two of the top three chase horses in the 2022-23 Anglo-Irish Classifications. Galopin des Champs and Energumene head the staying and short distance divisions respectively after dominant displays at the Cheltenham Festival.
“The GB team bagged the middle-distance division with Shishkin who was upped in trip and secured big-race success at Ascot and Aintree. The home contingent can also look to the likes of Bravemansgame (172), L’Homme Presse (170) and Ahoy Senor (169) as part of a decent season in the staying ranks, while Edwardstone (169) and Greaneteen (168) feature high up in the two-mile arena.”
Andrew Mealor, BHA hurdle handicap team leader, said: “Constitution Hill topped the hurdle rankings for the second season running as he added another four Grade One races to his burgeoning CV.
“His top performance of 175 came when beating State Man by nine lengths in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, a rating which puts him behind only triple Champion Hurdle winner Istabraq and Faugheen, both 176, among the top two-milers since Classifications were first published.”
Andrew Shaw, senior National Hunt handicapper for the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, said: “Galopin Des Champs followed up his two Grade One victories at Punchestown and Leopardstown with the best performance by a staying chaser this season in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup. Although beaten for the first time over fences by Fastorslow at Punchestown the following month, at only seven years of age he has the potential to go on and win at least one more Gold Cup.
“Energumene consolidated his position as the leading two-mile chaser with an emphatic 10-length victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham.
“However, his chances of becoming the first horse since Badsworth Boy to win the race on three consecutive occasions will be seriously tested by stable companion El Fabiolo, the highest rated novice chaser in training and who joins Altior as the only two-mile novice to have achieved a figure of 170 since the Classifications began.”
Not many €20,000 purchases head to the Betfred Derby with leading claims – but that is certainly the case for Charlie Johnston’s Dubai Mile.
A Group One winner as a juvenile over 10 furlongs in France, he dropped back down in trip to finish a very respectable fifth in the 2000 Guineas behind Chaldean.
It is often said the best trial for the Derby is the Guineas, and in a year when the ante-post favourite, Auguste Rodin, finished 12th of 14 at Newmarket, Johnston has every right to be feeling bullish about the claims of his Roaring Lion colt on Saturday week.
Dubai Mile has struck up a good relationship with jockey Danny Muscutt – who celebrated his first Group One win when landing the Criterium de Saint-Cloud with him – and his availability on June 3 was the final piece of the preparation jigsaw once Canberra Legend’s Derby dreams ended at York.
“We did flirt with the idea of taking him to Epsom on Monday (for the gallops morning), but one of the determining factors for that was if Danny wasn’t going to be able to ride him, as going into the Dante there was a bit of a discussion,” said Johnston.
“If he wasn’t available it would have been a good opportunity to let a new jockey have a sit on the horse and get a feel for him, but given I was never going to push Danny into a decision he didn’t need to make until after the event, that has fallen by the wayside.
“Danny gets a tune out of him. It’s a twist of fate or whatever that this horse broke his maiden on a Sunday at Windsor. At the time I was just looking at jockeys available who had good stats at Windsor and that is how he ended up on the horse. We’re always keen to keep winning combinations together if we can.
“One of the most important factors we always feel is confidence and without a doubt he will have more confidence in this horse than anyone else we could get to ride him. Danny is doing a good job of putting himself on the map, but this horse is accelerating the process by giving him his first Group One winner and being a horse that has taken him into Classics.”
Being able to stay 10 furlongs as a juvenile is usually a prerequisite to staying a mile and a half, if not further, at three, and it was for that reason Johnston needed to be persuaded by his record-breaking father Mark to run back over a mile in the Guineas.
“You shouldn’t get too ahead of yourself in thinking you will stay the trip when he’s untested, but we’ve always been very confident it would improve him if anything,” said Johnston, who this year holds the training licence solely in his name.
“After the event I can say I was never really that keen on going for the Guineas and had some strong debates with dad about it. I’d thought all winter he’d go Dante-Derby, the traditional trial and what we’d done with Gear Up who won the same Saint-Cloud race.
“But his gallop at Newmarket tilted us into thinking he wouldn’t be disgraced in the Guineas and if he could run into third it would be a game changer for him as a stallion.”
There have been well-publicised reports that animal rights protesters will be trying to disrupt Derby day, but Johnston, while worried for the potential bad publicity for the sport, feels he has a colt that will not be perturbed by a delay should it come to it, as it did with the Grand National.
Johnston said: “He’s a very relaxed colt, but it will be interesting to see what the day brings. It’s a concern for Epsom and for horse racing, but it’s not a specific concern for this horse as he’s been to lots of tracks and different countries and takes everything in his stride. Any delay for all horses isn’t ideal, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world for him.
“To be going to Epsom with a chance in the Derby is why you get hooked on racing at a young age. We just want to win – at every level. But winning at the highest level has the biggest repercussions for Johnston Racing going forward. We want this to be the norm, competing with the big boys week in and week out.
“There’s always a bit made of the north versus south thing, but we’re as big as anyone – dad’s record is there for all to see. I’m aware the north hasn’t won the Derby since Dante, and that wasn’t even at Epsom, so it would be great for the north and Middleham but that is not my concern – I’m here to win it for Johnston Racing and Ahmad Al Shaikh.”
The Lawn Tennis Association’s fine for banning Russian and Belarusian players from last year’s grass-court season contributed to operating losses of £9.5million in 2022.
The governing body did not allow Russians or Belarusians to play at Wimbledon or any of the warm-up tournaments in Nottingham, Birmingham, Eastbourne or at Queen’s following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
It was subsequently hit with a £1.4m fine by the ATP and WTA and a warning that it could be stripped of hosting future events.
The staging of the Billie Jean King Cup finals and the Davis Cup finals group stage was also a big factor in the losses, alongside societal issues such as inflation.
Despite those losses, the LTA has continued to invest in grassroots tennis, which led to a 43 per cent rise in participants, with over 5.2million adults playing.
That is the highest number since the LTA began the survey, with 2022 seeing participation growing in all areas of the country and in all demographics.
LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd said: “2022 was a year of real achievement for British tennis at both the grassroots and top professional level. We made strong progress against our plans for delivering on our five-year strategy to open tennis up and achieved a number of our objectives a year early.
“There were challenges throughout the year, but we have tried to ensure the sport is thriving at all levels, continued to raise the visibility of the sport and have given our British players the best possible support.
“Although the financial picture was challenging this year, taken as a whole, the past four years have resulted in a loss of £6.4m despite the pandemic, volatility in world markets and unforeseen factors such as the fines from the ATP and WTA – whilst during this time we delivered significant growth for the sport.
“We are continuing to invest across the length and breadth of the sport this year and, as well as many other initiatives, will be renovating thousands of public park courts across the country in partnership with the LTA Tennis Foundation and UK Government.”
Eddie Jones feels no bitterness over the way his England reign ended as he prepares to make his first appearance at Twickenham since being sacked by the Rugby Football Union.
Jones takes charge of the Barbarians against a World XV on Sunday in a brief interruption to his new duties as Australia head coach.
He departed in December as England’s most successful boss with a win rate of 73 per cent, but the decline in results over the last two years compelled the RFU to act and Steve Borthwick was appointed in his place.
England were booed off the field by disgruntled fans in the climax to a dismal autumn, but Jones is still looking forward to his Twickenham return.
When asked if he had any regrets over his exit, Jones replied: “No, none at all.
“I had a great seven years here, I loved it. I bet I’m the last foreign coach who coaches for seven years here. First and last.
“Loved my time here and I’m looking forward to Sunday. The sun is shining. It will be unbelievable.”
Jones is unconcerned by the prospect of being greeted with boos in the final match of the 2022-23 season.
“I never worry about things I can control. I don’t control that, so it’s no use even thinking about it,” he said.
Bernie Ecclestone has said he would be surprised if Ferrari pulled off the biggest transfer in recent Formula One memory by signing Lewis Hamilton – and believes it is Mercedes or bust for the British driver.
Hamilton’s future in the sport remains under scrutiny with six months to run on his current £40million-a-year deal at Mercedes.
Both Hamilton, 38, and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff have said they expect a new deal will be agreed.
The Daily Mail this week reported that Ferrari are preparing a blockbuster bid for Hamilton – which could involve a swap deal with Charles Leclerc – while La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed Hamilton has already received an offer from the Italian team.
Speaking to the PA news agency, F1’s former supremo Ecclestone, who remains well connected in the sport, said: “I would be surprised that Ferrari would want to get rid of Leclerc to sign Lewis because they are very much in love with Leclerc.
“Lewis has said that when he does decide to stop he would still want to be connected with Mercedes so it would surprise me if he wanted to leave.
“And if I was Lewis and I saw that Leclerc is happy to leave Ferrari, I would think there has to be a problem there.
“I also don’t know why Lewis would think he would be better off at Ferrari than where he is at the moment. He knows everything well and truly at Mercedes. They know him, and they have a lot of respect for him so he couldn’t be better looked after anywhere.
“Ferrari is not a retirement home either. They want to win the world championship more than anyone. So personally, I think he will stay as Mercedes, or he will retire.”
Hamilton is gearing up for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix and is set to address his future in the Principality on Thursday.
The seven-time world champion qualified 13th at the last race in Miami before driving well to finish sixth, but he is already 63 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the championship standings.
“I don’t know what has happened to Mercedes and how they have suddenly got in the state that they find themselves in the moment,” added Ecclestone, 92.
“I can understand Lewis being frustrated because he has been there for all that time and done well for Mercedes and for himself. But his contract is a lot of money to walk away from and that is a big problem.
“The only place Lewis can go to to win that eighth world championship is Red Bull, but for sure there is no room there. It is impossible. There is no chance.”
Hamilton’s Mercedes team will bring a major upgrade to the sixth round of the season in Monaco, but Wolff has already warned his superstar driver that his new machinery will not haul him into championship contention.
“It won’t be a silver bullet because from my experience, they do not exist in our sport,” Wolff said.
“We hope that it gives the drivers a more stable and predictable platform. Then we can build on that in the weeks and months ahead.
“F1 is tough competition and a meritocracy. We are not where we want to be but there’s no sense of entitlement. It’s just about hard work to get us to the front.”
Valencia head coach Ruben Baraja has said his club will fight back against “smears” after they were handed a five-game partial stadium closure and hefty fine following the racist abuse aimed at Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior.
Speaking at a press conference, Baraja stressed he was “absolutely against racism”, but echoed Valencia’s earlier claim that the sanction was “unfair and disproportionate”, and added: “I am not going to allow the Valencia CF fans and Mestalla to be smeared with labels that do not represent us.
“Just as a player rightly fights back against insults and I support that with all my might, we as a club and a fanbase rebel against those who, during the days since the game, have accused us of being what we are not.”
Vinicius threatened to leave the pitch in the second half of Sunday’s LaLiga match at the Mestalla after being subjected to alleged monkey chants from the crowd and Real Madrid, who said the incident constituted a “hate crime”, filed a complaint with the Spanish State Attorney General’s Office.
In response, Valencia have been ordered to shut the Mario Kempes south stand, where the alleged abuse happened, for five matches and have also been fined 45,000 euros (£39,000) by the Spanish football federation (RFEF).
Reacting to that sanction, Valencia said in a strongly worded statement on Tuesday evening: “Valencia CF wishes to show its total disagreement and indignation at the unfair and disproportionate penalty imposed by the competition committee on the club with the closure of the stand for five games.
“Valencia CF wants to publicly denounce that in this resolution of the RFEF competition committee they show evidence that contradicts what the national police and LaLiga say.
“In addition, this sanction is based on evidence that the club has not been able to see and without giving us a hearing.
“Valencia CF has condemned, condemns and will condemn in the most energetic way any act of racism or violence. These behaviours have no place in football or in society and we will continue to act in the most forceful way to eradicate this scourge.
“For this reason, Valencia CF is collaborating from the first minute with the police and all relevant authorities to clarify the events that occurred last Sunday.
“In addition, it has applied the maximum possible sanction with the expulsion for life from our stadium to the fans that the police have identified for their racist behaviour.
“For this reason we consider that penalising and depriving all the fans who were not involved in these unfortunate incidents from seeing their team is a totally disproportionate, unfair and unprecedented measure against which we will fight.
“The fight against racism requires the real commitment of all the parties involved without using it as a pretext to incur serious injustices.
“Valencia CF will appeal to the last instance the closure of the stand, a sanction that it considers totally unfair and one more offence in the latest disciplinary decisions that have been taken against the club. Valencia CF asks for the utmost respect and rigour for our institution and fans.”
In announcing the punishment against Valencia, the RFEF said in a statement: “The competition committee has sanctioned Valencia CF with the partial closure of the Mestalla stadium for five matches, more specifically the Mario Kempes south stand, following the events that occurred during the league match between the local team and Real Madrid CF.
“It is considered proven that, as reflected by the referee in his minutes, there were racist shouts at Vinicius, a Real Madrid CF player, during the aforementioned match, altering the normal course of the match and considering the infractions very serious.”
LaLiga players and officials called for racism to be tackled in Spain in the wake of Sunday’s match.
Before Tuesday night’s games between Real Valladolid and Barcelona, and Celta Vigo and Girona, players from both sides, as well as the match officials, stood behind banners which read ‘Racism, out of football’.
LaLiga shared a pre-match clip from the Celta-Girona game on its official Twitter account with the hashtag #JUNTOSContraElRacismo (#TOGETHERagainstRacism).
The footage also showed a supporter holding up a placard with ‘No Al Racismo’ (No to Racism) written on it.
There were similar sentiments at the Valladolid-Barcelona game as fans showed their support for Brazil international Vinicius.
Barcelona forward Raphinha removed his shirt when substituted to show a message which read: “As long as the colour of the skin is more important than the brightness of the eyes, there will be war.”
Vinicius was not included in Real’s 23-man squad for Wednesday night’s LaLiga match against Rayo Vallecano at the Bernabeu.
The forward’s red card against Valencia had been rescinded by the RFEF but the 22-year-old did not train on Tuesday, with Real coach Carlo Ancelotti saying the winger had some discomfort in his knee.
A woman bombarded Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount with messages in a four-month stalking campaign after he broke off their relationship, a court has heard.
TikToker Orla Melissa Sloan, 21, pleaded guilty to stalking the 24-year-old and his former team-mate Billy Gilmour, 21, as well as harassing fellow Blues star Ben Chilwell, 26, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The court heard she slept with Mount, who had surgery on a pelvic injury last month, after they met at a party at his England team-mate Chilwell’s home in November 2020.
Prosecutor Jason Seetal said they stayed in contact for around six months before Mount “decided that the relationship was not going to progress”.
“Upon informing Miss Sloan of this, he has been subjected to a bombardment of messages,” he said.
“He began asking her to stop messaging him before blocking the number.
“He then began to receive messages from new numbers and each time he would block those numbers there would be messages from a different number.”
Mr Seetal said a total of 21 different numbers were used to contact Mount with some messages including collages of photos of the player with other women.
The court heard that in one message from an Instagram account using the name ‘Devil Baby’, she said: “I can morph at any time so let me apologise and set things right.”
Another showed an Apple account buying a new number for £12.99 with the words: “I’m not buying food anymore so I can get more numbers. I will be faster than you.”
Mr Seetal said Mount was “concerned she had an obsession or fixation with him and he didn’t know what she was capable of”.
In a statement, Mount said: “Miss Sloan knows roughly where I live and where I train.
“I’m worried as if she is unable to contact me she might turn up at my training centre.”
The court heard other messages were aimed at professional footballers, friends and family members, including left-back Chilwell.
He told how he found Sloan’s behaviour “erratic”, while Scotland midfielder Gilmour said her messages had a “huge impact” on his life, after he joined Brighton from Chelsea last September.
“I have not been able to sleep and have had to take sleeping tablets,” he said.
“It’s had a negative effect on my performance and professional life.”
“Being in a new town where I don’t have my friends or family, it’s really upsetting.”
The court heard Gilmour had initially exchanged messages with Sloan before telling her he did not want their contact to continue and did not have a relationship with her.
But she claimed to have fallen pregnant in allegations described in court as “completely fictitious”.
“I don’t know who I can trust anymore,” Gilmour said.
“Some of the information would only have been known by people close to me.”
Sloan, from Exeter, pleaded guilty to causing “serious alarm or distress” by stalking Gilmour between September 10 and October 28 last year.
She also admitted stalking Mount between June 19 and October 28 last year, as well as causing harassment to Chilwell between October 20 and October 29, 2022.
District Judge Neeta Minhas adjourned sentencing to June 20 for reports to be prepared, telling her the most serious offence, against Gilmour, crossed the custody threshold.
She was granted unconditional bail.
Adam West is confident his stable star Live In The Dream will prove “a force to be reckoned with” in the Betfred Temple Stakes at Haydock on Saturday.
The four-year-old won sprint handicaps at Sandown and Chester last season and kicked off 2023 with an all-weather victory at Lingfield before following up on soft ground at Pontefract.
Those successive triumphs earned him a step up to Group Three level in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket three weeks ago and he made much of the running before being mowed down late by Vadream.
West acknowledges his charge has plenty on his plate on Merseyside this weekend, with returning stars The Platinum Queen and Dramatised among his likely rivals, but the Epsom-based trainer is hopeful he can make race fitness count and secure Group Two honours.
“I’ve just watched him do his last blow and we’re very happy with him,” said West.
“He has a lot of things in his favour and a couple of the horses in front of him (in the betting) have yet to have a run (this season). As much as these trainers can ready them, they’re serious horses and won’t be going undercooked, having a run in a sprint is a big advantage.
“If we get a nice draw we’ll be a force to be reckoned with, I think.”
Live In The Dream has not run on ground quicker than good since his Sandown success of last spring, but West views the switch to a faster surface as a positive rather than a negative.
He added: “He should be a little bit better on better ground. The soft ground has done his confidence good as he’s been able to dominate and is going in there really happy, but now we’ve actually got a surface that lets him utilise his speed a little bit more it can only be a good thing.”
West has not entered Live In The Dream for Royal Ascot next month and is not planning to supplement no matter how he fares this weekend.
“We made the decision before the Palace House that we weren’t going to Ascot,” said West.
“You get tempted when you’ve got a good horse that’s in-form to enter in everything and try to do everything, but we’re trying to keep a clear path and the stiffer five (furlongs) would be going away from what he’s good at.”
Jordi Alba’s glittering Barcelona career will come to a close at the end of the season after the LaLiga giants announced they had reached an agreement to terminate his contract.
The 34-year-old, who current deal was due to expire at the end of 2023/24, has made 458 appearances for the club and won 19 major trophies since he made his official debut against Real Sociedad in 2012.
Barcelona said in a statement: “FC Barcelona would like to publicly express its gratitude to Alba for his professionalism, commitment and dedication, and his ever-positive and friendly relationship with all members of the Barca family, and wishes him every fortune in the future.
“Barca will always be a home for you, Jordi.”
Alba was born in Barcelona and moved through the club’s youth ranks before being allowed to leave in 2005.
He moved to Valencia for whom he became a first-team regular before Barcelona brought him back to the Nou Camp in 2012.
Nick Pope is to undergo an operation on his left hand and looks set to miss Newcastle’s final game of the season against Chelsea.
Pope, an ever-present in the Premier League in his first season at St James’ Park following his £10million move from Burnley, has been instrumental in the Magpies guaranteeing a top-four finish.
The 31-year-old goalkeeper made a fine save on Monday to deny Leicester’s Timothy Castagne and ensure Eddie Howe’s side got the point they needed to guarantee Champions League football next term for the first time in 20 years.
A goalless draw against the Foxes was Pope’s 14th clean sheet in the top flight this season but it seems likely to be his final match of the season, with his left arm bandaged when he attended an event in Northumberland on Wednesday afternoon.
And Newcastle confirmed Pope has withdrawn from the England squad for next month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia next month as he is set to have surgery on his hand.
“Nick Pope – who withdrew from the last Three Lions squad due to injury – is not involved as he is set to undergo an operation on his hand,” a statement on Newcastle’s website read.
All eyes will be on Blue Storm as James Tate’s two-year-old takes his chance in the Racehorse Lotto National Stakes at Sandown on Thursday.
It looks a red-hot renewal of the Listed five-furlong sprint, but Blue Storm is just one of an array of precocious youngsters to emerge from the first crop of former sprint king Blue Point.
The form of the colt’s Newmarket debut has been franked at all angles in the subsequent weeks, with the second, third, fourth and fifth all winning in style on their next starts.
And although buoyed by those results and excited to see his charge line up at the Esher track, Tate is refusing to get too carried away having seen the National Stakes scupper dreams in the past.
He said: “We were very impressed with him first time and the form couldn’t have worked out any better. He’s been impressing at home and it’s all positives really.
“Having said that I’ve ran horses in the National Stakes a few times and on paper it looks a strong renewal, so it’s a good job we’re bringing what we think is a good horse in to it.
“We’re happy with our horse and looking forward to Thursday night.”
Hugo Palmer won this two years ago and this time saddles Hackman, who was third behind Blue Storm at Newmarket but now reopposes having advertised his speed to win impressively at Chester, while Charlie Appleby’s On Point is another of Blue Point’s progeny arriving at Sandown having won on the Rowley Mile first time out.
Richard Hannon may be a fair way off matching his father’s impressive haul in this race, but landed the spoils in both 2014 and 2015 and has two worthy contenders once again in Dapper Valley and Love Billy Boy.
The form of Dapper Valley’s soft-ground Newbury win has a solid look to it, while the latter ran on strongly to land the spoils at Musselburgh on debut.
“Obviously we have two very nice horses who both won on their debuts and naturally they will come on a lot for their first runs,” said Hannon.
“I think fast ground will be more to Dapper Valley’s liking.
“Love Billy Boy has a lot of speed and won over a sharp five up north. It’s a very lucky race for David Sullivan (part owner), who has won it a couple of times, and they are keen to take their chance.
“It’s an extremely hot renewal and whatever wins it will be probably amongst the favourites for Royal Ascot if they go.”
Ralph Beckett’s Matters Most finished third to Dapper Valley at Newbury, but the son of Advertise – who cost 500,000 as a yearling – built on that racecourse bow to get off the mark at Salisbury last time and could have plenty more to offer.
“He’s in good shape, we’re looking forward to it and we’ll find out how good he is on Thursday night,” said Beckett.
Irish interest is provided by Tipperary scorer Son Of Corballis, with handler Kieran Cotter keen to get extra experience into the Raven’s Pass colt before a potential Royal Ascot tilt.
“There are limited opportunities for him here in Ireland over five furlongs and we just thought to give him this prep run before Royal Ascot,” said Cotter.
“The plan is to go for the Norfolk with him and we like him a lot, but we just need to get more of a line on him really and I suppose we’ll know more after Thursday.
“We think he’s smart and we’re confident enough to bring him over. He has a good temperament and is a smart sort, but we haven’t had that proper line on him just yet.”
Karl Burke is another handler saddling two runners and both Doncaster scorer Elite Status and Pontefract winner World Of Darcy created taking impressions, while Alice Haynes’ Shayekh completes a strong field of 10 going to post.
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