Gary Lineker has brushed off criticism from his Match of the Day predecessor Des Lynam who said he should “get on with the football” and stay away from controversial topics outside the game. Lineker, 62, had to “step back” from presenting the BBC’s flagship football show earlier this year until he and the corporation reached an “agreed and clear position” on his use of social media, the broadcaster said. His tweets have attracted controversy while he has been the BBC’s highest-paid on-air talent for the sixth consecutive year and the only star to earn more than £1 million in the year 2022/2023, according to the corporation’s annual report. Lynam, 80, told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme: “I like him as a chap, I like him as a broadcaster. But I think there are some areas that he should stay out of. “For example, the last World Cup was in Qatar and he went very, very strongly about the limitations of society in Qatar. And he’s right, there are, but he’s not the person to say it. Get on with the football”. Lineker, a former Tottenham and Leicester striker, later commented: “Des is entitled to his opinion… as, of course, am I.” His response came in a tweet replying to a comment by Adil Ray, the creator and writer of BBC1’s Citizen Khan show. He wrote: “Love Des Lynam but just heard a clip on Radio 4 this morning saying @GaryLineker should stick to football. In 2013, Lynam, still an influential figure, came out publicly as a supporter of Farage and UKIP.” Lineker has tweeted widely about refugees and immigration policy where he has voiced support for a liberal approach to border controls, and he also expressed support for a second EU referendum. During last year’s Qatar World Cup he led criticism of Foreign Secretary James Cleverly for suggesting LGBT+ fans be “respectful of the host nation”. He posted in response to the cabinet minister’s comments: “Whatever you do, don’t do anything gay. Is that the message?” Lineker has been the face of Match Of The Day for more than 20 years but his future at the BBC came under the spotlight in March amid questions about impartiality. He was taken off air by the broadcaster after posting a tweet in which he said the language used by the Government to promote its asylum plans was not dissimilar to 1930s Germany. Lineker missed one edition of the Saturday night show, before returning to his presenting role after a boycott by top on-air talent. Read More Peers to grill BBC bosses about governance following Huw Edwards furore Jeremy Vine agrees deal with Twitter user who wrongly named him in presenter row BBC should ‘stand up for itself more,’ Blair says amid Huw Edwards furore The Huw Edwards affair should remind us we are lucky to have the BBC Gary Lineker remains at top of list of BBC’s highest paid on-air talent Gary Lineker slams Tory MP for ‘outrageous’ Nazi claim comments

Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino says Mykhailo Mudryk is making a concerted effort to adapt to life in England and fulfil his potential as a “unique” player after an indifferent start to his career at Stamford Bridge. The Ukrainian moved from Shakhtar Donetsk in January for a fee that could rise to £88million, but he has featured only inconsistently in the starting XI under successive managers and is yet to score his first Blues goal. He arrived having missed a significant amount of playing time during the previous 12 months after the war in Ukraine caused the suspension of the domestic league, and at the time of Chelsea’s bid he had made only 44 professional appearances for Shakhtar. It is the first time that the 22-year-old has lived outside of Ukraine, with Pochettino having previously made the point that young players in particular require time to settle into a new culture when moving abroad. Mudryk has started each of Chelsea’s last three games and has shown flashes of promising in short bursts, including the beginnings of a burgeoning on-field relationship with new striker Nicolas Jackson. And Pochettino said the winger is making the effort that he expects of his players to integrate as he waits for his expensively assembled side to gel. “The life of these guys, when they are so young, (it) changed,” said the manager, whose squad with an average age of just over 23 is the youngest in the Premier League this season. He’s unique. I can’t find a player to say he is similar. I can’t remember one Mauricio Pochettino on Mykhailo Mudryk “You pay big money, big change form where they came. Also it’s not about to arrive and to perform when you are young. “It’s about to adapt, it’s about to help them to settle. Then the most difficult thing is to understand what these guys need to settle and to feel comfortable and to express their talent. “If you ask me about Misha, he’s a very talented player of course, but you need to go with him very slowly. Cultural and everything is completely different to Latin people, from different countries or part of the world. “He’s now trying to be more open, to adapt and be more involved in every situation, not only on the field but outside also. I think he’s doing a massive effort to try to integrate himself and to understand better what it means to play like a team. “He’s unique. I can’t find a player to say he is similar, I can’t remember one. It’s a good challenge for him, and it’s a good challenge for us.” The manager again refused to blame injuries for his team’s slow start to the season, with as many as 11 players likely to be missing when Chelsea face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday in search of just their second league win of the campaign. There were three players aged 19 or under with no first-team experience named on the bench when the team drew at Bournemouth two weeks ago, and since then Ben Chilwell’s name has been added to an extensive injury list after he limped out of last week’s win over Brighton with a hamstring problem. “I cannot use the excuse of injuries,” said Pochettino. “The performances have been good. We cannot blame injuries, I think it’s not fair. We played well in every single game and we deserved more, but for different reasons, we didn’t score and we were not clinical enough. “But we cannot blame injuries. Of course it’s a factor that we need to improve. When you have your whole squad, you increase the level of the team. You put pressure on the players that play because it’s another player waiting for your place. We’re not winning the games that we deserve, but not because of injuries.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Ireland cooking up a storm off the field thanks to Emma Gardner’s influence Ryder Cup day three: Europe’s winners urge Luke Donald to remain as captain Referees have to help themselves – Forest’s Steve Cooper frustrated by decisions

England boss Gareth Southgate admits there is a line his players cannot cross following Jack Grealish’s treble celebrations. The manager stopped short of criticising the forward after his partying grabbed the headlines. Grealish joined his Manchester City team-mates for a night in Ibiza – following Saturday’s 1-0 Champions League win over Inter Milan which sealed the treble – before they returned on Monday ahead of their trophy parade. The 27-year-old, Phil Foden, Kalvin Phillips, John Stones and Kyle Walker linked up with the England squad on Tuesday ahead of Friday’s Euro 2024 qualifier in Malta. They will not start and Southgate insisted any celebrations should not go over the top. He said: “There is a line but in our head we weren’t thinking of including the City players for this game. “I have spoken with the players. We have talked about where the focus needs to be, where we need them to be and acknowledged what they have experienced and that’s for me to manage. “A few of our players would be teetotal. What is different is that everyone posts everything. I wouldn’t have liked a few of my nights out to be posted publicly. My generation would have a lot more problems. “We know, talking to Hendo (Jordan Henderson), Harry Kane, Tripps (Kieran Trippier) what that game takes out of you. “It’s a huge occasion and we needed to give those guys the time to take everything in but, point number one, they all wanted to come in to be with the group, which is fantastic. “I don’t think they would have felt anything unusual about how we have dealt with this and how we have embraced the players back in to the group. “We have also got the dynamic that while they are chuffed to bits and we are proud of them, a few others are pretty p****d off that they have won it at their expense. You are always really conscious of that.” England’s last trip to Malta – a World Cup qualifier in 2017 – ended with a 4-0 victory but only after three goals in the final five minutes from Kane, Ryan Bertrand and Danny Welbeck. It saw fans turn on the team, who were drawing 0-0 at half time, and Southgate remembers the atmosphere, with the squad abused on the coach driving to the stadium, during and after the game. “Myself and Steve (Holland) were talking about it as we landed because it wasn’t a pleasant journey to the stadium and it was less pleasant going home,” he said. “I’m not sure everyone knew we had won 4-0, because they were in the bar at 1-0, some at 0-0. “For us it was a good reference to how far the relationship with the fans has come. The performances of the team are going to ebb and flow, the connection with the fans feels completely different now. “It doesn’t matter what we have done in the last few years, last few games, we have to go again tomorrow night and make sure that we give our fans something to be excited about.” Meanwhile, Kieran Trippier believes the squad needs to embrace their final games of the season. England, top of Group C, also host North Macedonia at Old Trafford on Monday aiming to solidify their lead following March’s wins over Ukraine and Italy. It will cap a season which also saw the first winter World Cup in November and December with the Premier League having finished three weeks ago. “It’s difficult. It has been a tough season for myself and obviously the lads in Europe as well,” said Newcastle defender Trippier. We know at the end of the day we are coming away with England and they are two massive games. We want to be going to Germany next year. Kieran Trippier “We know at the end of the day we are coming away with England and they are two massive games. We want to be going to Germany next year. “We know the challenges but for me it is easy to flip the switch and get back into that mode again. “It’s been a good week of training. Everyone is buzzing to be back together and hopefully we can get the result. “You have to be professional in terms of not doing too much and overloading. It’s about ticking over and just getting yourself in the best possible shape to be with England.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live England Under-21s defender Jarrad Branthwaite was close to giving up on football Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele set record-breaking pace at US Open Joselu fires Spain to Nations League final with late winner against Italy

Through two days of training camp, it looks as if Nick Foligno is well on his way to becoming one of the most popular players with the Chicago Blackhawks

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New Zealand test batter Henry Nicholls has been cleared of ball tampering charges at a New Zealand Cricket code of conduct hearing

Jake Neighbours and Pavel Buchnevich scored in the first period and the St. Louis Blues snapped a two-game California losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks

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Ross Kemp has revealed that he had planned to go on the Titanic submersible that killed five people. The documentary maker revealed that it was set to form part of a new show he was working on, but the plug was pulled after a member of production deemed the vessel unsafe. "I was invited", he said on This Morning. "We had dialogue with the company in order for me to go down – actually this summer." "I love diving and I’m a qualified diver and I’m fascinated by the sea and I’m fascinated by wrecks." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

A bumper Saturday at the Women’s World Cup saw four games played across Australia and New Zealand. World champions the United States and Euro 2022 winners England started their quest to lift the trophy with wins as Haiti and Vietnam were beaten. Denmark and Japan also picked up victories over China and Zambia, respectively. Here the PA news agency takes a look at all of the action. Holders on form Two first-half goals from Sophia Smith got the United States’ defence of the Women’s World Cup under way with a 3-0 win over Vietnam in Auckland. But the tournament favourites were wasteful in front of goal, missing a penalty as they failed to turn their dominance – 28 shots to none – into a bigger win against outclassed but determined opposition. Rising star Smith fired them ahead after 14 minutes, running on to Alex Morgan’s flick to fire a shot past goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Tranh. The USA dominated the rest of the first half but failed to add to their lead: Julie Ertz, debutant Savannah DeMelo, Lindsay Horan, Smith and Morgan all having chances before Morgan wasted the best opportunity, Kim Tranh saving her weak spot-kick given for a foul on Trinity Rodman. Five-star Japan Japan made light work of World Cup debutants Zambia to start their campaign with a comfortable 5-0 win. Hinata Miyazawa hit a brace with Mina Tanaka striking between her two goals and Jun Endo adding a fourth to pull Japan well clear. There was still time for late drama as Zambia goalkeeper Catherine Musonda was sent off for conceding a late penalty. Substitute stopper Eunice Sakala saved Riko Ueki’s resulting spot-kick but Ueki scored on the second attempt after Sakala was deemed to have come off her line. Toil for England Georgia Stanway’s retaken first-half penalty was enough to earn England a nervy 1-0 victory over World Cup debutants Haiti in their Group D opener at Brisbane Stadium. This was not the decisive victory most had predicted for the European champions and world number-four side against a team 49 places below them in the FIFA rankings. Haiti came close to levelling more than once, including a late second-half chance repelled at the last by Mary Earps’ outstretched foot. While the Lionesses ultimately walked away with all three points, it was an underwhelming performance that will leave boss Sarina Wiegman with plenty of questions. Late Danes Likely to be England’s fiercest Group D rivals, Denmark sealed a 1-0 win over China courtesy of a late goal from substitute Amalie Vangsgaard. The Paris St Germain forward came on with five minutes remaining in Perth and broke the stalemate as she headed in Penille Harder’s corner as the clock ticked into the 90th minute. The goal survived a VAR check as the officials ruled that defender Rikke Sevecke had not prevented Xu Huan in the China goal from keeping out Vansgaard’s effort. Denmark and England now face off on Friday, with both sides aiming for improvements on their narrow victories. Picture of the Day Quote of the Day `I think it takes a little bit to find your feet. Coming into a major tournament the pressure is high and the build-up is so long England's match-winner Stanway Post of the Day Up Next Group G: Sweden v South Africa (6am Sunday, Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington)Group E: Netherlands v Portugal (8.30am Sunday, Dunedin Stadium, Dunedin)Group F: France v Jamaica (11am Sunday, Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney)all times BST Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Tadej Pogacar salvages pride but Jonas Vingegaard set to retain Tour title WTA investigates after Russia’s Vera Zvonareva barred from entering Poland Jon Rahm shoots stunning 63 to surge into contention at The Open

Experienced Tottenham forward Mana Iwabuchi was a surprise casualty when Japan coach Futoshi Ikeda named his Women's World...

The Seattle Mariners tied Texas for the AL West lead, beating the Kansas City Royals 7-5 behind Eugenio Suárez’s three hits and three RBIs that included go-ahead, two-run single in the fourth inning