The Premier League has been defeated in its bid to ban loan transfers between associated party clubs in January.

The move was designed to prevent a club like Newcastle loaning a player from another club owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – they have been linked with a temporary switch for Ruben Neves from Saudi club Al-Hilal.

The Premier League needed 14 out of 20 clubs to vote for the ban at the shareholders’ meeting in London on Tuesday afternoon.

But the PA news agency understands the vote finished 13-7 in favour of a ban, short of the threshold to push the motion through.

Injury-hit Newcastle will now, if they wish, be able to bring in former Wolves midfielder Neves on loan to replace Sandro Tonali following his 10-month ban for breaking rules on gambling.

Similarly, Manchester City would be able to loan players from other clubs owned by the City Football Group.

In another blow to the Premier League, the clubs were unable to approve the terms of the so-called ‘New Deal’, a £900million settlement between it and clubs in the English Football League.

The Premier League had hoped to confirm the package at Tuesday’s meeting, but it is understood no vote took place.

Despite a three-hour discussion there remains a sticking point surrounding new cost control measures for both Premier League and EFL clubs.

The Premier League wants the matter resolved before the new independent regulator in English football is put in place.

The Pittsburgh Steelers fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada on Tuesday following another dismal performance in Week 11 against the Cleveland Browns.

“Matt Canada has been relieved of his duties as offensive coordinator,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said in a statement.

“I appreciate Matt’s hard work and dedication, and I wish him the best moving forward in his career.”

The Steelers were held to 10 points or less for the fourth time in 10 games this season in a 13-10 loss at Cleveland on Sunday that dropped Pittsburgh to 6-4.

The Baltimore Ravens (8-3) are in first place in the tightly contested AFC North, with Cleveland (7-3) sitting in second and the Cincinnati Bengals (5-5) right behind the Steelers.

Canada was hired as Pittsburgh’s quarterbacks coach in January 2020 and then promoted to offensive coordinator after the 2020 season.

In 44 games since, the Steelers are 28th in the NFL in both yards per game (310.1) and points per game (18.6).

Pittsburgh also ranks 28th this season in yards (280.1) and points (16.6).

In Sunday’s crucial visit to Cleveland, the Steelers totalled 249 net yards – including only 77 net passing.

Kenny Pickett, the 20th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, has passed for just 465 yards and one touchdown in Pittsburgh’s last four games.

Pickett’s 75.3 passer rating over that four-week stretch is the fifth worst in the NFL among qualifying quarterbacks.

Quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan and running backs coach Eddie Faulkner reportedly will share duties as Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator when the Steelers visit the Bengals this Sunday.

While it may be stressful training the best National Hunt horse around, Constitution Hill himself continues to astound Nicky Henderson with just how relaxed he is.

Henderson has repeatedly stated that one of the major weapons in his armoury is his laid-back nature, and he certainly wastes no energy at Seven Barrows.

Just like the perfect racehorse, though, he comes alive on the track and although it can be hard to gauge just where he is at on the gallops, so far Henderson has got it right.

He has enjoyed two blemish-free seasons, with three wins as a novice and four last year which started out in Newcastle’s Betmgm Fighting Fifth Hurdle – and he will go down the same route this season starting on Saturday week.

“Constitution Hill is fine. He’s asleep in his box. He’s all set for Newcastle,” said Henderson at Newbury on Tuesday morning.

But Henderson did have less positive news on Champ, who had been aimed at Newbury’s Long Distance Hurdle next week.

He unfortunately will have to miss that engagement due to a setback.

“One who is on hold is Champ who has a trapped epiglottis and won’t be ready for Newbury,” said Henderson.

Paul Townend is relishing the prospect of being reunited with Galopin Des Champs this weekend, when the Cheltenham Gold Cup hero bids for back-to-back victories in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase.

The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old kicked off a tremendous campaign with victory in the two-and-a-half-mile Grade One last season before going on to lift the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown and the blue riband at Prestbury Park in March.

He suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Martin Brassil’s Fastorslow on his final start of the campaign in the Punchestown Gold Cup – and the pair are set to renew rivalry in the feature event on day two of the new-look Winter Festival in County Kildare.

“I’m looking forward to Galopin Des Champs, every day you get to get up on a Gold Cup winner is a brilliant day and they’re the type of horses we wall want,” said Townend.

“He takes on Fastorslow, which won’t be an easy task. He beat us here at the Festival, so we’ll have to try to get our own back on him.”

Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow are two of nine horses in contention for the John Durkan, with Mullins also responsible for Appreciate It, Asterion Forlonge, Blue Lord and Stattler.

Gordon Elliott’s pair of Conflated and Farouk D’alene, and French Dynamite from Mouse Morris’ yard, complete the potential field.

Mullins and Elliott are the only two trainers represented in Saturday’s main event, the Unibet Morgiana Hurdle.

State Man provided Mullins with a ninth win in the last 10 years when successful 12 months ago and is in the mix once again alongside stablemates Impaire Et Passe, Ashroe Diamond and Echoes In Rain.

Townend, who will presumably be on the stable’s first string, added: “It’s the most exciting time of year – none of them have been beaten yet (this season)!

“It’s a joy to go into Willie’s and look at the board and see the names. There’s a lot of big names from last year and a lot of new horses there – we’re trying to find the next superstar at this time of year.”

The Elliott trio of Fils D’oudairies, Irish Point and Pied Piper are the other Morgiana hopefuls.

He is likely to run at least two of the three, and said: “Pied Piper will go for the Morgiana. He’s hard to place but we’ll have a go. He’s in good form and he’s had his good run on the Flat the last day.

“I’ll probably run Fils D’oudairies as well. On ratings he has a lot to find, but it could be only a three- or four-runner race.”

Paul Townend is relishing the prospect of being reunited with Galopin Des Champs this weekend, when the Cheltenham Gold Cup hero bids for back-to-back victories in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase.

The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old kicked off a tremendous campaign with victory in the two-and-a-half-mile Grade One last season before going on to lift the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown and the blue riband at Prestbury Park in March.

He suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Martin Brassil’s Fastorslow on his final start of the campaign in the Punchestown Gold Cup – and the pair are set to renew rivalry in the feature event on day two of the new-look Winter Festival in County Kildare.

“I’m looking forward to Galopin Des Champs, every day you get to get up on a Gold Cup winner is a brilliant day and they’re the type of horses we wall want,” said Townend.

“He takes on Fastorslow, which won’t be an easy task. He beat us here at the Festival, so we’ll have to try to get our own back on him.”

Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow are two of nine horses in contention for the John Durkan, with Mullins also responsible for Appreciate It, Asterion Forlonge, Blue Lord and Stattler.

Gordon Elliott’s pair of Conflated and Farouk D’alene, and French Dynamite from Mouse Morris’ yard, complete the potential field.

Mullins and Elliott are the only two trainers represented in Saturday’s main event, the Unibet Morgiana Hurdle.

State Man provided Mullins with a ninth win in the last 10 years when successful 12 months ago and is in the mix once again alongside stablemates Impaire Et Passe, Ashroe Diamond and Echoes In Rain.

Townend, who will presumably be on the stable’s first string, added: “It’s the most exciting time of year – none of them have been beaten yet (this season)!

“It’s a joy to go into Willie’s and look at the board and see the names. There’s a lot of big names from last year and a lot of new horses there – we’re trying to find the next superstar at this time of year.”

The Elliott trio of Fils D’oudairies, Irish Point and Pied Piper are the other Morgiana hopefuls.

He is likely to run at least two of the three, and said: “Pied Piper will go for the Morgiana. He’s hard to place but we’ll have a go. He’s in good form and he’s had his good run on the Flat the last day.

“I’ll probably run Fils D’oudairies as well. On ratings he has a lot to find, but it could be only a three- or four-runner race.”

Ben Earl will be available for the start of England’s Six Nations campaign after Saracens received a positive update on his knee problem.

Earl sustained the injury to his right leg during the warm-up for Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership victory over Harlequins and left The Stoop on crutches, raising concerns that he might be facing a lengthy spell out.

But a scan has revealed medial meniscus damage which has now been repaired and England’s star of the recent World Cup should be back in action for Saracens in January.

“Ben had a minor knee procedure this morning. We anticipate he’ll be out for between four to six weeks. Overall I think that would be a good result,” director of rugby Mark McCall said.

Patrick Neville remains keen on a crack at the King George VI Chase with The Real Whacker after his stable star finished lame on his seasonal reappearance at Cheltenham on Saturday.

Having completed a hat-trick at Prestbury Park when narrowly outpointing Gerri Colombe in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Festival in March, the seven-year-old returned to the Cotswolds for the Paddy Power Gold Cup and was among the leading fancies, despite carrying top-weight of 12st.

But after matching strides with the eventual winner Stage Star for much of the two-and-a-half-mile-journey, The Real Whacker weakened out of contention before the home turn and was eventually pulled up by Sam Twiston-Davies, after which his injury was discovered.

“He got a dirty overreach – he’s OK, but he was a small bit lame after it,” said Neville.

“Sam said he was travelling fierce well and then he realised something was amiss so he stopped and pulled up and looked after him.

“The vet checked him over yesterday morning, he’s fine and was on the water treadmill this morning, so we’ll roll on now for the King George.”

The Real Whacker is a 33-1 shot for Kempton’s Boxing Day highlight, but Neville is confident he can put his comeback run behind him and be back to his best for his festive outing.

He added: “It could have been a lot worse, we knew something was amiss and Sam minded him.

“We’ve got a run into him now and we knew whatever happened he’d improve for the run. We’ve got that over and done with, so we’ll move on and get him ready for Christmas.

“He’ll be big price I’m sure, but I don’t mind.”

Michael Malone quipped that Nikola Jokic was purely out to defend him after the Denver Nuggets pair were ejected from Monday's game against the Detroit Pistons.

Two-time NBA MVP Jokic and Nuggets head coach Malone were both ejected in the first quarter of Denver's 107-103 win over the struggling Pistons, who have now lost 12 straight games.

Jokic was called for a technical foul for arguing with the officials, before he was tossed for arguing another call in the final two minutes of the quarter.

Malone, meanwhile, was ejected because he went onto the court to dispute a decision.

"I think Nikola was worried about my welfare," Malone joked.

"It is tough to watch a game on TV – we were hugging on good plays and I was cursing in Serbian on the bad ones."

Denver are second in the Western Conference with a 10-4 record for the season.

Former Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman believes Aaron Ramsdale “is too good to be a number two” for the Gunners.

Ramsdale started the Community Shield and Arsenal’s first four Premier League games this season, but has been restricted to two appearances in the Carabao Cup since David Raya’s arrival on loan from Brentford.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is expected to restore Ramsdale to the side against Brentford on Saturday as Premier League rules prevent Raya from facing his parent club.

“If Aaron goes in at the weekend, then he’s left out for the next game, then we know who Mikel’s number one is,” Seaman told BBC Radio Five Live.

“It’s not good for Aaron. He’s a top-class goalkeeper, there’s no doubt about that.

“Aaron’s too good to be a number two, that is for sure.”

Seaman believes not playing regularly for Arsenal will affect Ramsdale’s chances of becoming England’s number one ahead of the European Championships, but feels a transfer is not on the cards.

“I think January will be a bit too soon [for a move away],” he added. “It’s the game after this weekend, that’s where we will find a lot of answers.

“From what Mikel was saying when he brought Raya in, when he talked about rotating goalkeepers in games, which I still found a bit bizarre, we’ll have to wait and see after this game.”

Ramsdale’s father recently criticised Arteta for not telling his son why he has been dropped in favour of Raya.

“Aaron’s lost that smile at this moment in time and it is difficult,” Nick Ramsdale told The Highbury Corner podcast. “It really is difficult to see him there and we all keep saying ‘you need to keep smiling’.”

John McConnell’s Mahler Mission will aim to become just the second winner of the Coral Gold Cup trained in Ireland since 1980 when he lines up at Newbury on Saturday week.

When Michael O’Brien’s Bright Highway took the spoils that year it would have been long odds on it taking so long before another from the Emerald Isle was successful.

Willie Mullins’ Be My Royal did cross the line first in 2002 but was subsequently disqualified for testing positive for a banned substance before Mullins eventually won the contest with Total Recall in 2017.

Mahler Mission still held every chance at Cheltenham in the National Hunt Chase when coming down two out and made a pleasing comeback at Carlisle over a distance shy of his best.

“He put in an exhibition of jumping at Carlisle over a trip that was too short for him. He’s a very good jumper and was getting tired when he fell at Cheltenham,” said McConnell.

“Ben (Harvey) will be on him. He knows him and gets on with him. We’re looking forward to going for the Coral with a live chance.

“Ben has grown up with me he started when he was 15. He did so well as a conditional. He has a good clock in his head.

“He’s a big horse with a lovely racing weight (10st 10lb). We were always going to go for one of the big handicap chases. This one is a valuable pot run at a lovely track which offers a fair playing field. Physically he looks as good as he’s ever looked. He’s not pretty, but he’s starting to fill out into his frame now.”

Also at the head of the market is Paul Nicholls’ Complete Unknown who teed himself up for a crack at this when beating Might I at Newton Abbot in October having chased home Gerri Colombe at Aintree in a Grade One last spring.

“Complete Unknown has had a good prep and will be our only runner in the Coral,” said the champion trainer, on hand at Newbury to watch several of his horses go through their paces.

“He’s been trained for the race and the big galloping track will suit him. He’s had a breathing operation which has helped him, and the softer it is the better.”

Nicholls also had an update on one of his big hopes for the season, Hermes Allen, who is going novice chasing.

He said: “Hermes Allen had a setback with a stone bruise and missed three weeks. This day out will have tightened him up a bit and he could possibly run in the John Francome next week.”

Jonjo O’Neill won the race three years ago with Cloth Cap and appears to have another live contender in Monbeg Genuis based on his Cheltenham run.

He finished third behind subsequent Grand National winner Corach Rambler and Punchestown Gold Cup hero Fastorslow but he pulled up at Ascot on his comeback.

“I’m very happy with Monbeg Genius. The plan is to come here and he looks the right type for the race. He’s a good stayer and a strong galloper and everything looks right. If he puts in the performance he did in the Ultima he’s in with every chance,” said O’Neill.

Harry Cobden is looking to Ascot and Pic D’Orhy to provide him with the perfect consolation for having to miss out on Bravemansgame in the Betfair Chase.

Cobden is the stable jockey for Paul Nicholls and has ridden Bravemansgame in all of his starts under rules, but with a full book of rides awaiting him at Ascot it is Daryl Jacob who will get the leg-up at Haydock.

The main draw at Ascot is Pic D’Orhy, a Grade One winner at Aintree last time out who is entered in the Grade Two 1965 Chase alongside Nicky Henderson’s Shishkin.

“Obviously I’m disappointed not to be riding the best horse in the yard in Bravemansgame, but you’ve got to do what is right for the yard and the owners,” said the jockey, speaking in his blog for Planet Sport Bet.

“I’m sure he’ll run really well on Saturday and while I’d love to be on him, I’ve got some great rides at Ascot too. Pic D’Orhy is a class horse in his own right and I can’t wait to ride him.

“He won the Melling Chase at Aintree last season, so we know he’s top class. It looks like Shishkin is going to take us on and he’s obviously a very good horse in his own right.

“It’s a bit of rematch as he got the better of us in the race last year, but I do know Paul has been getting lots of work into Pic D’Orhy and he’ll be ready to rock and roll on Saturday.

“Of course it will be a tough race, and we’ll need to put in a career best to beat him, but it’s definitely possible and we’re looking forward to it. It should be a great race.

Nicholls was at the Newbury gallops morning on Tuesday and reiterated the decision was simply a result of the clash in meetings and nothing more significant.

“Harry is going to Ascot to ride Pic D’Orhy who had such a good season last year from which I hope he’s improved further,” he said.

“The bottom line is that Harry can’t be in two places at the same time.

“When there is more than one big meeting on a Saturday you have to plan but you also need someone to be first reserve and Daryl has been riding out for us.

“I see it’s a small field for the Betfair and we are better off running then being stuck in our stable.”

England manager Sarina Wiegman believes Beth Mead has “shown enough” to earn her recall to the squad for the Lionesses’ final Nations League fixtures.

It is a welcome return to the international fold for the 28-year-old Arsenal forward, who resumed club action last month after suffering an ACL injury last November and has now earned an England call-up for the first time in over a year.

Tottenham midfielder Grace Clinton and Manchester City goalkeeper Khiara Keating retain their places in the Lionesses’ 23-player squad, having received their first senior call-ups in October.

England play their final two games of the year, starting with the Netherlands at Wembley on December 1 before facing Scotland at Hampden Park four days later and Wiegman is delighted to have Mead’s experience for those games.

“It’s really nice, she’s played minutes, she’s in a good place and still building too, but that was a very nice phone call, she was very happy,” Wiegman told a press conference.

“We’ve had conversations all the time, we had conversations before September camp and during and in October too because she was already fully training and getting some minutes but I just wanted to see a little more and that’s what we’ve seen now.

“Her health is really good so she can just go and she’s showed of course in games that she’s in a good place and we want her to keep growing and improving.

“She’s shown enough to me and for my technical staff to bring her in.

“She is a character that brings positive energy off the pitch and on the pitch and it’s good to have her back. Her experience, the way she plays, she’s different than other players on the wing, she brings different things so that’s good we have different opportunities again. Off pitch gives us some extra energy.”

England are currently third in Group A1 of the Nations League following a disappointing 3-2 loss to Belgium last month, their second defeat in four group matches.

Plenty is at stake in the competition as the winners of League A will reach the finals, which act as Europe’s 2024 Olympic qualifiers, meaning that hopes of a qualification spot in Paris are in danger for Team GB.

With two games remaining to try and turn things around, Wiegman insists England’s preparations will remain the same and has called on her side to be “more ruthless” in the final third.

“I think the Belgium game, the difference of us to them was so big,” she said.

“That last result was not a reflection of how we were in camp. Yes we’re in a situation where we absolutely need wins, we know that, we’re aware of that.

“When we go into a camp we want to win games. We haven’t done that lately in all our games and that’s what we want to do.

“Our approach will not all of a sudden change, we just review our last game, we prepare for the Netherlands first and the process we do will not be a lot different because I think we still do good things, we have to do better in moments of the game.

“In the final third we create a lot of chances but have to be more ruthless and we have to be aware of the counter-attack, be better and tighter on the ball.”

Wiegman also took time to congratulate Chelsea manager Emma Hayes on her appointment as new head coach of the United States women’s team, a role she will take up at the end of the season.

“She’s done a tremendous job, incredible results she’s had over a decade,” Wiegman added.

“I think for her it’s good to move on and I congratulated her of course with the new job, it’s very exciting for her. For her it’s really good and overall in the bigger picture it’s good for the women’s game too.”