Gary

Ipswich are close to appointing Gary O’Neil as their new head coach.

The 43-year-old is poised to replace Kieran McKenna, who stepped down from the Portman Road post earlier this month.

Compensation with O’Neil’s current club Strasbourg is still to be agreed, but is not expected to be an issue for the Tractor Boys.

Tim Jenkins and Neil Critchley are also expected to move to Suffolk with ex-Bournemouth and Wolves boss O’Neil, having worked with him in France.

Former Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was also in the running for the job this week.

BBC Sport reported Ipswich’s interest in O’Neil earlier this month and the Strasbourg boss has long been admired by the club’s hierarchy.

His French club finished eighth in Ligue 1 last season and reached the Europa Conference League semi-finals, losing to Rayo Vallacano. It was the first time Strasbourg had reached the last four of a European competition.

O’Neil played at Bristol City when current Ipswich chief executive Mark Ashton held the same role at Ashton Gate.

Strasbourg had initially been confident of keeping him following his January arrival, but O’Neil will return to the Premier League for the first time since leaving Wolves in December 2024.

Ipswich are looking for a new head coach after McKenna stepped down last week, despite leading them back to the top flight by finishing second in the Championship last season.

The 40-year-old took charge of the Tractor Boys in 2021 and led them to three promotions in the past four seasons, two of which have taken the club into the Premier League.

McKenna was linked with the Fulham job after Marco Silva’s departure, but quit Town to take a break from the game and spend more time with his family.

“I feel this is the right time for me to step aside,” he said. “I do so with great pride at the incredible progress we have made and with huge hope and optimism for the future of the club.”

Ipswich open their Premier League campaign at home to Sunderland on 22 August.

Maybe you can use a laugh this morning. Maybe you’re still deep in your feelings, thinking about the “Hacks” series finale and that shot of Hannah Einbinder looking at Jean Smart on the dance floor, grief seeping into her eyes. Maybe you’re lamenting the chaos at our treasured national parks. Hell … maybe you took out a loan to buy a tomato over the weekend.

If you’re feeling down, Gary Oldman would like a word. And that word is: Hufflepuff.

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter, back in your inbox for the next few weeks as we navigate our way through Emmy season.

Digital cover story: The world according to Gary

(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)

Gary Oldman is a Hufflepuff.

Never mind that the 68-year-old actor, who played the rebellious, impulsive wizard Sirius Black in the Harry Potter film franchise, couldn’t tell you the difference between a Hufflepuff and, say, a Gryffindor.

When journalist Josh Horowitz reads a list of core personality qualities — loyalty, hard work, patience, fairness, dedication — and asks Oldman if that describes him, he nods his head.

You’re a Hufflepuff.

“I’m a Hufflepuff?” Oldman says, trying the word on for size. He likes it. “I’m a Hufflepuff!”

This video clip is a favorite of mine, one I could watch on a loop for the sheer delight Oldman takes in pronouncing the word Hufflepuff.

It’s easy to see why Oldman takes such pleasure in being a granddad these days, one of the things we talked about at length not long ago for an Envelope digital cover story. He can access his silly side with ease.

I asked Oldman about the upcoming HBO “Harry Potter” television series, a decade-spanning endeavor that will spend a season adapting each of J.K. Rowling’s seven fantasy books.

“I’ve seen a trailer for it, and I think it’s a great idea,” Oldman says. “They’re doing the whole book, which I love, because there were a lot of wonderful things, fabric and character detail, we had to lose for the sake of telling the story in two hours.”

Would Oldman be keen to don a distressed velvet overcoat again and participate in the reboot?

“I don’t think they want any of us from the movies contaminating or muddying the waters,” Oldman says, pleasantly. “Besides, I’m too old.”

But with AI, is anyone too old now? Oldman could drop into “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” and look like he hasn’t aged a day since the movie was released 22 years ago.

“I don’t know where we’re going with it because it seems to advance every week,” Oldman says. He ponders the advances made since Martin Scorsese used digital deaging in his 2019 film “The Irishman.”

“I think that was the least successful thing about it,” Oldman says of the technology, “and I’ve been a huge Martin Scorsese fan forever. Ultimately, I don’t know why they wanted to make [Robert] De Niro’s eyes blue.” He pauses, considering the change and why it bothered him. “I guess it’s a blue-eyed Irishman. If I had one negative takeaway, it would be that.”

Oldman prefers directors like Christopher Nolan, whom he worked with on the “Dark Knight” movies and “Oppenheimer,” who think technology should be used sparingly to enhance the storytelling.

“Otherwise it leaves me a bit cold,” he says. “You’re just looking at ones and zeroes.”

“I don’t want to be replaced entirely,” Oldman continues, shaking his head. “I don’t think anyone does.”

Read more coverage of ‘Slow Horses’

Former captain Gary Mabbutt hopes Ben Davies will have a future at Tottenham Hotspur after the club avoided relegation to the Championship.

Wales skipper Davies, who turned 33 last month, sees his Tottenham contract expire next month.

The defender has not played since suffering a serious ankle injury in January, but Mabbutt believes he should be offered the chance to stay at a club he has represented for 12 years.

“Ben’s a great lad,” said Spurs great Mabbutt.

“What he has given to the club so far… it was just so unfortunate the injury he received. It was devastating for him and or us because Ben’s a player you can always rely on.

“Certainly I hope something will be done with his contract, whether it be still on the playing side or maybe looking a bit more to the future, but hopefully still with Tottenham Hotspur.”