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• We’ve done a great job – Ryan Mason

  Ryan Mason said he and his coaching staff have “done a great job” during his second spell as Tottenham’s interim manager.

  Tottenham closed their Premier League season with a resounding 4-1 win at relegated Leeds on Sunday, but have failed to qualify for European football next season for the first time since 2008-09.

  Mason said: “When I go on my summer holidays I would hope and expect that everyone inside of our training ground knows who I am, who my team is and what we stand for.

  “The hope and expectation is that you guys and everyone else sees that too. I know we’ve done a great job. I really do.”

  Tottenham fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Manchester United at home in Mason’s first game back in charge and have since won two and lost three of their last five matches.

  The 31-year-old former Spurs midfielder, whose previous stint in temporary charge came after Jose Mourinho was sacked in 2021, replaced previous interim boss Christian Stellini with six games remaining.

  Tottenham had sacked Antonio Conte at the end of March and while they were then fourth in the table, they had exited all the cup competitions and weary fans had grown disillusioned over their team’s playing style.

  “The circumstances were very difficult,” said Mason, who urged the club to get get their next managerial appointment right.

  “I think anyone in the world coming into this situation for six games coming off the back of what had happened and the position we were in was going to find it tough.

  “Also if you add into that being on an interim basis, where there’s uncertainty it makes it even tougher.

  “But we’ve stuck to what we believe in, we’ve transitioned a little bit I believe in a short space of time and the players have responded, they’ve given us everything and ultimately that’s all I can ask.”

  Throughout his six games in charge, Mason has called for the club to rediscover their identity and feels that is the biggest factor as they continue their search for a new manager.

  “The most important thing for any club in world football is to have an identity, know who you are and who you want to be and stick to that,” he said.

  Mason also paid tribute to Harry Kane, who scored twice at Elland Road – in what could be his last game for Tottenham – to take his league tally to 30 for the season.

  “I think he probably doesn’t get the appreciation he should,” Mason added.

  “The goals yes, outstanding, a 30-goal season in the Premier League is incredible but also his overall performances are just outstanding.

  “I also think as well to go through what happened in the World Cup, from a mental point of view, to come back and do what he’s done for the past four or five months, I think it speaks volumes for the player and the person.”

• Lawrence Shankland earns Scotland call ahead of June double-header

  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.

• Leeds squad not good enough to stay in Premier League – Sam Allardyce

  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.”