boss

“As you know, I need time,” he said. “Give me time and you’re going to see what I do. You can already see what I did before because I didn’t start yesterday.

“I’m going to be a liar if I say, ‘everything is happy, everything is good’. No, it’s not the case, but I knew that before.

“That’s why I’m calm during all the questions you ask me. I’m not pleased to hear people don’t like me, but they have the right to say it because in terms of results, this is not what we want.

“Tomorrow is a big game. But the context is that I’ve only had 13 training sessions with my team. Usually we have four weeks of pre-season.

“It’s totally normal that you guys kill me. I’m fine with that because I know where I want to go. Judge me in a few weeks or months. If you want to judge me now, you can do it. I didn’t have the results we wanted – it’s a fact, I cannot deny that.”

Nancy says he will “die” to achieve his goals at Celtic and believes results under him have not reflected performances.

“It’s totally normal my players need a bit of time and are confused at certain moments,” he explained.

“It’s a process. I don’t like the word process because people think I am going to hide behind ‘process’, but it’s true.

“Judge me, no problem, but have a look at the games since I have been here and analyse if we should have won or lost. Do it.

“I am a clear guy. For the moment, I cannot talk because results are not good enough. I shut my mouth and I take it, but I know where we are going. After that, if it’s going to work or not, I don’t know. We are going to do everything to do it and I am here for that.

“Yes, I want to win every game. Yes, I want to win titles. I want to create a legacy here. I am going to die for this club, for sure.”

Chelsea interim manager Calum McFarlane admits it’s been a “whirlwind” 24 hours since he was named as temporary replacement for Enzo Maresca.

Italian Maresca parted company with the Blues on Thursday, 18 months after replacing Mauricio Pochettino at Stamford Bridge.

McFarlane, Chelsea‘s U21s head coach, was named as interim manager and will take charge of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Manchester City.

Such was the unexpected nature of McFarlane’s appointment, the Englishman’s training ground pass had to be amended to grant him access to the club’s press conference room on Friday morning.

“It’s been a crazy 24 hours, a whirlwind, as you can imagine, but also really enjoyable and really exciting,” said McFarlane.

“I can only feel positive about it. It’s an amazing experience.”

He added: “I am quite relaxed. I am sure as we get closer to the game it will become more nerve-wracking. I haven’t worked at this level before but the lads have been brilliant and we will do this together.”

Maresca’s departure came after a 2-2 draw against Bournemouth on Tuesday, which left the Blues 15 points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

It means McFarlane’s debut as a manager of a senior team will come against Pep Guardiola, who celebrated managing his 1,000th match as a head coach in November.

“The team needs to be ready and prepared and our role is giving the players the support they need to go and execute,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say we have nothing to lose. We have to give a real good account of ourselves.”

Chelsea travel to Manchester three places and 11 points behind second-placed City.

Reports following Maresca’s departure suggested the Italian had held talks with City over succeeding Guardiola, though the former Leicester City boss denied the claims.

“From my point of view Chelsea have lost an incredible manager and an incredible person,” Guardiola said on Maresca’s departure.

“It’s a decision from the Chelsea hierarchy so I’ve nothing to say. How lucky I am in the club where I am. My club is extraordinary.”

Asked about his own future, Guardiola – whose current deal runs until the end of the 2026-27 season – said: “I have one more year.

“I’ve been here for 10 years and I promise you I will leave one day but I have a contract, I’m happy, I want to fight with my team, the hierarchy respect me – they proved last season when we didn’t win one game in three months.”

Rosenior, a right-back, had a solid but unspectacular career as a player – featuring in the top flight for Fulham, Reading, Hull and Brighton.

Roughly half his career was spent in the EFL and that’s where he started his coaching career.

After a spell as Brighton‘s under-23s coach, he spent three years at Derby.

He was first-team coach under Phillip Cocu and then assistant boss to Wayne Rooney – before taking over as interim boss after Rooney’s departure.

But he was more hands-on than the average assistant.

“There was an argument when Mel Morris sacked Phillip Cocu in November 2020, Rosenior should have been put in charge, not Rooney,” said BBC football news reporter Simon Stone.

“Rooney had the profile of course, but it was Rosenior who put the sessions on at Derby and who guided the team during games.

“Rosenior replaced Rooney for a short time in 2022, after administration had led to relegation into League One.

“It was Rosenior who put Derby back together, helping to bring in 14 new players after the club had been left with only five under contract.

“History suggests the new ownership would have been better leaving Rosenior in charge, given they were seventh when he left and under his replacement, Paul Warne, they didn’t even end with a play-off place.”

He then spent almost two years as Hull manager – with observers again thinking he was harshly done by at the end.

The Tigers were one point above the relegation zone when he took over in November 2022 and led them to 15th.

The following season they finished three points off the play-off places, and Rosenior was sacked.

In 2024-25 while Rosenior was leading Strasbourg into Europe, Hull City avoided relegation from the Championship on goal difference.

Collum agreed with the VAR decision not to award a penalty against Fernandez in Rangers’ 2-2 draw with Dundee United at Tannadice. On that occasion, the ball appeared to clip the defender’s arm as it dropped from a United throw-in.

The head of refereeing said the incident was “not punishable in any shape or form” and also agreed with the awarding of a late Rangers penalty, which Nedim Bajrami converted after a foul by Will Ferry on Max Aarons.

Collum similarly backed the decision not to award a spot-kick against Hearts’ Harry Milne as he blocked a Kyrell Wilson shot on the line as hosts Falkirk attacked. Collum said it was “one million per cent not a penalty kick” because Milne had his arm tucked in against his body.

Celtic defender Liam Scales had a penalty awarded against him for handball in his side’s 2-1 win at Hibernian and Collum again agreed, saying: “It’s the right decision.”

Hearts claimed unsuccessfully for a spot-kick in their 1-1 draw at home to Kilmarnock after Dominic Thompson appeared to head the ball on to his hand. Collum again backed his officials’ decision.

Two incidents during Rangers’ 3-0 win at Kilmarnock were also given Collum’s approval.

Goalkeeper Jack Butland’s challenge on Killie’s Bruce Anderson outside the box was not judged to have merited a red card, and an off-the-ball pull by Mohamed Diomande on David Watson on the edge of the box also went unpunished. Collum believes both incidents were judged correctly.

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca says reports describing him as a potential successor to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola are “100% speculation”.

The 45-year-old is the former assistant to Guardiola at City and there have been multiple reports that his mentor could step down at the end of this season.

The Italian was appointed Chelsea manager in June 2024 and has a contract running until 2029, with an option to extend by a further season.

When asked whether there was any truth to the City reports, Maresca said: “It doesn’t affect me at all because I know that is 100% speculation. And at this moment, there is no time for these kind of things.

“First of all, because I have a contract here until 2029 probably. And my focus, I said many times, is just about this club and I’m very proud to be here. But again, it’s speculation. One week ago I was in Italy, the same with Juventus. So I don’t pay attention because I know that is not true.”

Fourth-placed Chelsea play Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday at 12:30 GMT.

Swansea City boss Vitor Matos says facing Welsh rivals Wrexham provides a different “emotional charge” compared to other Championship games.

The two sides face each other on Friday, 19 September at Swansea.com Stadium in the first league contest between the Swans and the Dragons since 2003 (20:00 GMT).

Despite a geographical distance over more than 100 miles between Swansea in south west Wales and Wrexham in the country’s north east, Matos insists he is treating the game as a derby.

“I think from what I feel from our supporters, I think we can call it a derby, straight on,” said Matos.

“It’s a game with a different emotional charge, but in these games we need that emotion and the passion to drive us forward and that I think that’s quite important.

“For that we need clarity, we need discipline, we need identity and that’s what we will need to focus on our game.

“We need to respect Wrexham. What they’ve done in the recent years, being promoted, and how they are doing this season as well.

“If we look back on the last 10 games, they have only lost one. So I think that deserves, like all teams, our respect and deserves a lot of credit.

“It will be a good game, 100%, and a game that we need to be on our toes to compete, and that’s really important.”

Northern Ireland are 69th in the Fifa world rankings, 57 places below Italy and 27 adrift of Wales, but two spots above Bosnia.

Michael O’Neill’s side finished third behind Germany and Slovakia in the World Cup qualifying group but secured their play-off place thanks to their Nations League success.

Italy, Wales and Bosnia all finished second in their groups, behind Norway, Belgium and Austria respectively.

Northern Ireland are looking to qualify for their first major tournament since Euro 2016, when they were knocked out in the second round by a Wales side who went on to reach the semi-finals under Chris Coleman.

O’Neill was in the midst of his first, nine-year spell in charge of Northern Ireland at the time and is now three years into his second stint as his country’s manager.

“Down the years they’ve just had something and they know what they are. They’ve got a brilliant manager who I really like,” Bellamy added.

“I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time with him as well, and I loved him. No wonder his players do well. They won’t be playing at their home ground [against Italy], but I just feel they’ll be comfortable in any situation you throw them into.

“There will be pressure coming on Italy because they haven’t qualified for two World Cups. If I was Italy going into that game, with everyone expecting you to win, I’m telling you I’d be edgy. I wouldn’t be comfortable with it.

“Italy is one of the greatest nations in football and that’s a lot of responsibility to shoulder. To have to play a team like Northern Ireland, I’d just be thinking let’s get through this and see what happens in the other game.”