Ding Junhui produced a sparkling display at the Crucible to lead Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-6 in their Betfred World Championship quarter-final.

Playing Wayne Rooney in midfield “is an insult”, according to former Manchester United midfielder Paul Ince.

In the great Brexit debate former soccer star David Beckham has come out for Remain while a furious row has erupted between his wife Victoria and a prominent Leave campaign group.

David de Gea has expressed his desire to stay at Manchester United and work with “winner” Jose Mourinho.

As he contemplates a season in the Championship with newly promoted MK Dons — the club at which he is increasingly forging a coaching role — Keith Andrews insists he is not bitter about the abrupt manner in which his international career with Ireland dried up soon after the Euro 2012 finals.

Should Steven Gerrard play or not?

When the call came from Alex Ferguson, Paul Ince was on the golf course playing against Ryan Giggs.

Hull will pay up to £2.3m for Tom Ince after they reached a compensation agreement with Blackpool over the winger.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has dismissed claims of dressing-room unrest as "totally untrue".

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, right, has been handed a record seven-match ban — including a three-game stadium exclusion — for head-butting Hull midfielder David Meyler.

Newcasle boss Alan Pardew is facing the prospect of a possible stadium ban at a disciplinary hearing today after admitting a misconduct charge for headbutting Hull midfielder David Meyler.

Blackpool fans got their wish yesterday as the club announced the sacking of manager Paul Ince.

Paul Ince’s reign as Blackpool manager has come to an end, according to a report in the Blackpool Gazette.

DICTIONARY CORNER

Watching Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira reeling in the years left many mourning the passing of the tough tackle.

Repubic of Ireland defender Richard Keogh put the icing on the cake for Derby as they cruised to victory at the renamed iPro Stadium this afternoon.

Gary Pallister remains as captivated by Ryan Giggs as he was when first clapped eyes on the Manchester United superstar almost a quarter of a century ago.

Today will see the official unveiling of our new manager Martin O’Neill but, inevitably, much of the hype surrounding his appointment has been devoted to his surprise decision to have Roy Keane as his assistant manager.

Blackpool manager Paul Ince has been given a five-match stadium ban and a £4,000 fine over his behaviour following his side’s match against Bournemouth on September 14.

Most football fans are absurdly optimistic. If clinging to a precipice, they’ll believe a hero’s riding to the rescue.

Most football fans are absurdly optimistic. If clinging to a precipice, they’ll believe a hero’s riding to the rescue.

Paul Ince hopes that it does not take a fan getting “stabbed” to make football’s authorities take further steps to prevent crowd trouble.

No matter what Wayne Rooney’s people say about him not asking for a transfer, no matter what Manchester United say about Rooney not being for sale (and driving down his price), his team-mates have thought that he’s been leaving since April.

Blackpool have accepted a bid from Cardiff for Thomas Ince, according to manager Paul Ince.

Harry Redknapp’s rebuilding mission at QPR will start on August 3 when Sheffield Wednesday visit Loftus Road on the first day of the new Championship season.

They say the measure of you as a coach or manager is what your players honestly think of you as a man 10 years after they’ve played for you.

Our columnist pays tribute to a managerial titan who, memorably for the Bolton man, once paid tribute to him

Manchester United chief executive David Gill has hailed working with retiring manager Alex Ferguson as the “greatest experience” of his working life.

Alex Ferguson will retire as Manchester United manager at the end of the season and become a director and club ambassador. He has faced some tough tests at Old Trafford since taking the job in 1986, so here are the toughest…

Our injured columnist finds himself stranded in the desert and miles from the action as D-Day dawns in the Championship

The appointment of Paolo Di Canio as Sunderland head coach has hit the headlines this week in more ways than one.

As I sat on my sofa on Tuesday evening for the much hyped and eagerly anticipated second leg between Manchester United and Real Madrid, I spotted a very familiar face as Nemanja Vidic and Sergio Ramos met in the centre circle for the traditional coin toss — it was none other than my good friend, Cuneyt Cakir, the referee who sent me off in the final few minutes of our match against Italy in Poznan at Euro 2012.

Ryan Giggs will make his 1,000th senior competitive appearance tonight after he was named in Manchester United’s starting XI for their Champions League match against Real Madrid at Old Trafford.

Grass isn’t always greener — you hear this saying quite a lot in the football world and, in the case of Wolverhampton Wanderers, it’s probably something that has run through the owners’ mind a gazillion times since their decision to relieve Mick McCarthy of his very successful tenure as the manager in February of last year — especially when they are now a further three managers down the line and, going into last night’s game against Watford, in the bottom three of the Championship.

Manager Brendan Rodgers signed one player and gave up on another last night, all while being impressed with the ones he already has at Liverpool.

The Manchester City futures of Mario Balotelli and, to a lesser extent, manager Roberto Mancini were again thrown into doubt yesterday as the pair became involved in yet another training-ground bust-up at the club’s Carrington base.

Going into our game away to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, I was unsure as to whether I would be playing after not featuring as much as I would have liked in the two previous matches.

This week saw the first Premier League managers to be sacked this season with Mark Hughes dismissed by QPR and Roberto Di Matteo axed less than six months after his Chelsea side lifted both the Champions League and FA Cup.

I wrote last Saturday about the week ahead being a huge one for us at Bolton and so far it’s gone the way our season has been to date — typically inconsistent.

Liverpool winger Stewart Downing has advised rising young star Raheem Sterling to take on board as much advice as he can from team-mates and managers to help him progress.

The summer after his departure from Manchester United, Roy Keane gave a riveting two-hour talk to the Cork hurlers who were then bidding for a third All-Ireland in a row.

Manager Terry Connor is confident he will remain in charge of Wolves until the end of the season despite their relegation fears deepening with a 2-1 defeat at Stoke today.

There are times when perception and reality are different things.