Author: Nizaar Kinsella

Getty ImagesNizaar KinsellaBBC Sport football news reporter20 May 2025136 CommentsSouthampton have identified Lens manager Will Still as their leading candidate for the vacant position at St Mary’s Stadium. The 32-year-old, born in Belgium to English parents, announced last weekend he is leaving French side Lens to move back to the UK.The move is complicated by negotiations that need to take place to free Still from his contract at the Ligue 1 club, which runs until 2027, as Lens could be due compensation. In March, his partner Emma Saunders, a presenter on Sky Sports who previously worked for BBC Sport, said she was recovering from encephalitis, an infection of the brain.”For multiple reasons, the main reason behind my decision is that I need to go back home,” Still told reporters on Saturday.Still would be a permanent replacement for Ivan Juric, who was sacked in April after the club were relegated from the Premier League with a record seven games left to play. The Englishman built his football career in Belgium at Lierse and Beershot before moving to France, where he became the youngest coach in Europe’s top five leagues when he was appointed by Reims, aged 30, in October 2022.He joined Lens on a three-year deal in June and led them to an eighth-place finish in Ligue 1. His brothers Nicolas and Edward, who are assistants at Lens.Lens have yet to confirm Still’s departure. BBC Sport has contacted the club for comment.Southampton were previously tipped with a move for Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl but the compensation package to move to a club within the same division is thought to be too expensive. Related topicsSouthamptonPremier LeagueFootball

Getty ImagesNizaar KinsellaBBC Sport football news reporter25 minutes agoChelsea manager Enzo Maresca says he is “not happy” that opponents Real Betis have been given two days of extra preparation for next week’s Conference League final.La Liga has accepted a request from Betis to bring their final league match against Valencia – originally scheduled for Sunday – forward to Friday evening (20:00 BST). Chelsea, by contrast, travel to Nottingham Forest – who, like the Blues, are chasing Champions League football – on Sunday, three days before the final in Wroclaw, Poland on Wednesday, 28 May. Sunday’s final round of Premier League games must all kick off at the same time (16:00 BST) to prevent any side gaining an unfair advantage over their rivals.But Maresca said: “I’m not happy, 100%, you cannot allow another team 48 hours more when you play a European final.”[Either we play Friday] or they play Sunday like us. I don’t know if it is from La Liga, the Premier League or Uefa, but if you ask people in this room if it is normal to play a final where another team has 48 hours more to prepare, it is not normal.”The Argentine has confirmed that back-up goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen will start in the final, while Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu remain injury doubts. “Filip [Jorgensen] is going to play the final because he played all the competition. It is unfair if you arrive at the final and he is not playing the final,” said Maresca.”This game will be Filip plus 10 players, I do not know which the other 10 will be, but Filip is going to play because he deserves to play.”At the moment, Guiu and Nkunku start to take part in our sessions, but are still not 100%.”Chelsea must finish in the top five of the Premier League to qualify for next season’s Champions League. If they finish sixth or win the Conference League, they qualify for the league phase of the Europa League.Related topicsChelseaPremier LeagueFootballReal Betis

Getty ImagesNizaar KinsellaBBC Sport football news reporter40 minutes agoDisabled fans of Manchester United and Tottenham have criticised the number of wheelchair tickets available for the Europa League final as “insulting” – with both clubs given 26 tickets each in a near 50,000-capacity Bilbao stadium.Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association and Spurs Ability, the fan groups representing disabled supporters, have expressed anger at the size of the allocation, which includes an additional 15 ‘easy access’ seats, from an allocation of 15,000 tickets per club.In response, competition organiser Uefa said it had provided 75 wheelchair positions – including neutral spaces – at the San Mames stadium, with free companion seat and guaranteed sightlines.Uefa said 15% of those tickets remained unsold and available for purchase as of Tuesday morning. Both fan groups disputed this claim to BBC Sport.The stadium, home to Spanish top-flight side Athletic Bilbao, has a capacity of more than 53,000 but this has been reduced to 49,600 for the final on Wednesday.The stadium is usually capable of hosting 208 wheelchair and 102 easy access seats. That falls slightly short of the recommended provision in Uefa’s own guidelines for stadiums of its size.But the two supporters’ groups and the disabled sports charity Level Playing Field have calculated that even within the San Mames’ limitations, both clubs should still have 58 wheelchair spaces and a further 28 easy access tickets.Spurs Ability member Mark Spencer has spinal injuries but is not in a wheelchair. He has travelled to Bilbao by car without a ticket to watch the match in a fan park.He told BBC Sport: “To say I’m gutted is an understatement. I wasn’t able to go to Madrid for the Champions League [final] in 2019 and I thought this might be my chance – but Uefa have just not given us the percentage of seating that they should be giving us under their own rules and regulations.”You feel that you’re being prevented from watching football and supporting your team because of a disability so it’s quite insulting and very disappointing.”Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association secretary Rick Clement said: “Uefa, ultimately, have a responsibility to football fans to support your team. That should include people with disabilities.”Dr Rita Egan, another member of Spurs Ability, said the group has been “dismayed” by the allocation and accused Uefa of having “ignored” complaints by not replying to correspondence.Level Playing Field chair Tony Taylor said: “We have seen another failure from Uefa at a showpiece event.”Accountability has been lacking before and now we can see more disregard for disabled fans, which ignores the governing body’s own guidance and under-utilises the facilities available, without adequate justification.”In response, Uefa said it was “working hard to improve both standards and experiences” for disabled fans and that it took into account “the quality of sightlines”, “historical demand” and the ratio between capacity and accessible seating.It stated that for the Women’s Champions League final last year at the same stadium, 59 of the 60 allocated seats were sold, and for the men’s Europa League final last season between Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin, only 41 of the 93 allocated seats were sold.Uefa also told BBC Sport that it “investigated solutions” for more accessible seats and spoke to disability access officers at United and Spurs.European football’s governing body added: “While both indicated they could sell more accessible tickets, they also expressed a preference for maintaining the current allocations rather than increasing numbers at the expense of seat quality.”Related topicsManchester UnitedEuropean FootballEuropa LeagueTottenham HotspurFootball