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WARSAW Poland plans to raise the minimum wage twice in 2024 to help people cope with high inflation,

Coventry City and Luton Town are one game away from the Premier League as they meet in the Championship play-off final. Each side has fought back from times of strife to leave themselves on the verge of promotion after edging out Sunderland and Middlesbrough respectively in the semi-finals. Coventry were last in the English top flight in 2001, and have endured an eventul season that included another forced relocation due to stadium conflicts at the Coventry Building Society Arena. Their opponents, meanwhile, are hoping to earn their first elevation to the Premier League, having been relegated out of the top tier in the season before it rebranded in 1992 – dropping down to non-league before rising again. Here’s everything you need to know. When is the Championship play-off final? Coventry vs Luton is due to kick off at 4.45pm BST on Saturday 27 May at Wembley Stadium in London. How can I watch it? Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the match live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event, with coverage from 4pm BST. Subscribers can stream the action via the Sky Go app. Team news Gustavo Hamer has trained with the Coventry squad this week and appears likely to be fit after his decisive semi-final role. Tyler Walker remains absent with an undisclosed injury, but Casey Palmer has made an ahead-of-schedule return to training after initially being ruled out for the remainder of the season. His recovery from a hamstring issue could still force him out of the game. Luton would appear to be in good health and could well name an unchanged side from the semi-final second leg. Predicted line-ups Coventry City XI: Wilson; McNally, McFadzean, Doyle; Norton-Cuffy, Allen, Kelly, Hamer, Bidwell; Sheaf; Gyokeres. Luton Town XI: Horvarth; Osho, Lockyer, Bell; Drameh, Clark, Nakamba, Mpanzu, Doughty; Morris, Adebayo. Odds Coventry win 2/1 Luton win 7/5 Prediction A tight play-off final could be decided in extra time. Coventry 1-2 Luton a.e.t. How much will the winners get for being promoted to the Premier League? Ahead of the 2020 Championship play-off final, Deloitte reported that the victorious club could earn anywhere between £135m and £265m, depending on whether or not they could avoid immediate relegation from the Premier League. What TV money will the winning club receive in the Premier League? Official figures for the 2020-21 season showed that broadcast revenue incredibly totalled more than £2.5bn and was distributed among the 20 clubs in the Premier League. Of that, each club was guaranteed at least £31.4m in equal share payments, £47.5m in international TV money and £5.9m in central commercial payments: a baseline of roughly £84.8m per team, regardless of position. In fact, Norwich City, who finished bottom of the league in that campaign, were handed just over £101.5m. By comparison, Championships clubs only receive around £8m in TV rights income for a season spent in the second tier. What other payments are there? On top of this, clubs are given merit payments based on where they finish in the Premier League. For the 2022/23 campaign, the sliding scale will see the champions receive roughly £44m and the bottom-placed team around £2.2m. The team finishing 17th, and just avoiding relegation, is set to receive around £8.8m, as well as staying in the top tier to cash in again next term. Read More Of course the play-off final is about money – but Coventry and Luton also represent something greater Coventry City aiming to come full circle after journey to hell and back A tiny ground and a squad costing less than a Man City sub. How are Luton one game from the Premier League? Coventry and Luton are proof the play-off final means more than just money How much is winning the Championship play-off final worth? Play-off final ‘one for the romantics’ as Coventry and Luton meet

Saturday's football transfer rumours, with updates on Neymar, Harry Kane, Moises Caicedo, Diogo Costa & more.

Sam Allardyce said Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani was “hugely frustrated and disappointed” as the club stand on the brink of relegation. The Premier League concludes on Sunday and Leeds must beat Tottenham at Elland Road while hoping relegation rivals Everton and Leicester both drop points in their final games. Majority shareholder Radrizzani boldly declared last summer that another relegation battle was “impossible” after Leeds had survived on the final day with victory at Brentford. But the odds of pulling off another great escape are even bigger this time round and Allardyce said: “He’s hugely frustrated and disappointed. “He didn’t expect at the start of the season that the club would be in this position. “He didn’t expect he would have to employ three managers to get out of this position. He’s hugely frustrated. “The only way you sort that out is at the end of the season, have a look at the whole structure of the football club, and do whatever needs to be done. “But in the meantime the only focus is one big game, one massive game for the players and for us all in controlling the destiny of Leeds, only by winning and hoping that other people lose. “It’s not what we wanted, but it’s the position we’re in.” Radrizzani is reported to be part of a consortium poised to complete a takeover of Italian club Sampdoria, in partnership with Paris St Germain owners Qatari Sports Investments. The Italian, who turned to Allardyce with four games left in a last-ditch bid to retain Leeds’ top-flight status, is expected to expedite the sale of his remaining shares to 49ers Enterprises. The financial arm of NFL franchise the San Francisco 49ers increased its stake in the club to 44 per cent at the end of 2021 and has an option to own 100 per cent by January next year. Allardyce has taken one point from his three games in charge since becoming Leeds’ third manager of the season. Marcelo Bielsa’s successor Jesse Marsch was sacked in February and his replacement Javi Gracia lasted 11 league games before he too was dismissed. Allardyce, open to talks about staying in the role whatever Sunday’s outcome, said: “We’ll try and take advantage of the fact we’ve still got a small window of opportunity open. “On the balance of where we are, there are two completely different avenues where the club goes down. “You can pencil things in, but the only way you can put it in ink is whether you’re in the Premier League or you’re not.” Allardyce invited in Leeds great Eddie Gray, plus former captains Gordon Strachan and Gary McAllister for inspirational talks with his players this week. The former England boss added: “They had very successful times here and I think on the mentality side it’s about improving our mentality to deliver. “So somebody speaking a different voice about football, about what they did at this club, how much they love this club, I think is really important.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Liverpool’s lack of final-day drama ‘completely new’ to boss Jurgen Klopp Frank Lampard will be ‘back at Chelsea many times’ as a fan after interim role Ruben Selles urges Southampton to end wretched season on positive note

Frank Lampard promised he would be back at Chelsea as a supporter after his tenure as interim manager ends on Sunday. His side host Newcastle looking to give Lampard the first home win of his second spell in charge, and help the club’s record goalscorer sign off on a relative high after losing eight of his 10 games. The former midfielder, who won three Premier League titles and the Champions League during his 13 years as a player in west London, did not return to Stamford Bridge after he was sacked as manager in January 2021 until April of this year to witness the team’s goalless draw against Liverpool. That came two days after ex-boss Graham Potter was sacked 31 games into a five-year contract, and within days Lampard had been installed as temporary boss while the club searched for a permanent successor. The 44-year-old insisted that it was only circumstances that had kept him away – the period coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic and his 12 months spent managing Everton – and that his visit for the Liverpool game, which he watched from the box of co-owner Todd Boehly, had been planned for weeks. It was later reported that Lampard had been touted as a possible interim candidate by club officials several weeks earlier when Potter was seriously on the ropes after a run of poor results. The game against Newcastle will round off a campaign that cannot come soon enough for fans after enduring comfortably the team’s worst season in 30 years. Nevertheless, Lampard was hopeful of giving them something positive to take into the summer as he prepared to make his third exit from the club. “I don’t want this to sound corny but I don’t feel like it is a goodbye,” said Lampard. “I appreciate it, it will be end of season and end of my time back but normally when you leave a club you don’t have a hurrah as a manager. You are in one day out the next and that’s fine. “This is the corny part, I will never feel like I am saying goodbye to the fans. My career as a player and as a coach first time around and this period and it is there. “I live close enough to the stadium and I will be back at Chelsea many times and when you take on a managerial career it doesn’t mean you will be at a club you had 13 years at as a player forever. “I’m quite calm about it and not too nostalgic about it but certainly do appreciate the fans’ support on Sunday. More than anything I would love to give them a performance to take away for the summer and feel a bit more positive about for sure.” Lampard could again turn to Chelsea’s young prospects against Newcastle with a number of first-team players unavailable. Reece James, N’Golo Kante and Benoit Badiashile have all played their final game of the campaign while Lampard was doubtful whether Mason Mount will be fit to make what could be a farewell appearance at Stamford Bridge. Raheem Sterling is also a doubt after injuring a hamstring in the defeat to Manchester City. The loss of James has been a particular blow for Lampard during his brief stay, with the England defender having been the standout performer this season as the team has struggled. He was ruled out of the rest of the campaign after injuring a thigh in the Champions League home defeat to Real Madrid. “(Reece) came out (to train on Wednesday) and went back in but because he had a little bit of an awareness but we hope the scan will show there is no real damage,” said Lampard. “It was just a little reminder that it is a bit too early to be out.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Liverpool’s lack of final-day drama ‘completely new’ to boss Jurgen Klopp Ruben Selles urges Southampton to end wretched season on positive note England will keep embracing risks during Ashes despite ‘blip’ – Daryl Mitchell

Eddie Howe has vowed to adopt a siege mentality once again as Newcastle prepare for a first Champions League campaign in 20 years. The Magpies have dragged themselves from the thick of a Premier League relegation fight when the club’s new owners took control in October 2021 to Europe’s top table in the space of a remarkable 19 months. They have done so with the help of a £250million-plus investment, provided in large part by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which holds an 80 per cent stake, and the source of that wealth has prompted concerted criticism, with human rights campaign group Amnesty International in particular voicing concerns over “sportswashing”. That focus is only likely to increase as they strengthen further before taking to the European stage, but head coach Howe has insisted his mission will not be derailed as a result. He said: “We’ve been used to that from day one, to be honest. There’s been that feeling that popularity-wise, I don’t think we’re high up on people’s lists for various reasons. “You accept that, I’ve got no issue with that and almost we’ve tried to use that for our benefit and for our gain, really. “I’ve said we’re not here to be popular, we don’t care, really, about outside opinion. We very much care about inside opinion, we care about what the people of Newcastle think of us and what our supporters think. “We’ve tried to act in the right way and make them proud, that’s been our biggest focus.” Newcastle will bring down the curtain on a season which has delivered far more than they might have expected back in August at Chelsea on Sunday, where they will face a club which has spent around £600million since Todd Boehly completed his takeover last summer, but will end the campaign in the bottom half of the table. That tends to suggest that money alone is not the key to success, and the way Howe has blended his new arrivals with the players he inherited and has since improved markedly has been equally, if not more important. Asked if he regretted the focus on finance, the 45-year-old said: “I don’t really take it personally as in my achievement because it’s not really my achievement, it’s the achievement of the players who have committed to this season and what they’ve given. That would hurt me for them. I've said many times sitting here, it's not about money. Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe “I think the players deserve huge credit individually for some of the seasons that they’ve delivered and collectively for what they’ve done. “I’ve said many times sitting here, it’s not about money. Money has played a part, it’s been a contributing factor, of course it has. “But we’ve seen teams up and down the Premier League spend similar amounts of money and not have the success and not be as consistent as we have.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Liverpool’s lack of final-day drama ‘completely new’ to boss Jurgen Klopp Frank Lampard will be ‘back at Chelsea many times’ as a fan after interim role Ruben Selles urges Southampton to end wretched season on positive note

Roberto De Zerbi insists Europa League-bound Brighton will not be in holiday mode during their Premier League finale at Aston Villa. Albion’s visit to Villa Park had been earmarked as a potentially pivotal contest in the battle for European football. But the Seagulls travel to the West Midlands relatively pressure free having already cemented sixth position following Wednesday evening’s thrilling 1-1 draw at home to champions Manchester City. Seventh-placed Villa need to win on Sunday to extinguish any prospect of Tottenham or Brentford leapfrogging them into the Europa Conference League spot. Despite the match being a dead rubber for Brighton, head coach De Zerbi is determined to maintain standards and register a 19th victory of a record-breaking campaign. “We have to respect our club, our fans, ourself in every situation,” said the Italian. “In training sessions, in friendly games, in Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, we have to play seriously, all the time. “We will prepare our best for the next game and we leave to Birmingham to win and to play in our way. “I spoke with the players, we have to arrive ready and the holiday has not started.” Villa were one of only five visiting teams to win at the Amex Stadium this term thanks to a 2-1 success in Brighton’s final game before the World Cup. That November victory came in Unai Emery’s third top-flight match in charge of the club following the sacking of Steven Gerrard. Former Arsenal boss Emery has transformed Villa’s season after arriving with his side sitting just above the relegation zone. “Aston Villa deserve to achieve Europe,” said De Zerbi. “Emery has changed the season for Aston Villa. They have big players. They have a clear style of play and it will be a tough game.”

Twitter exited the voluntary European Union’s Code of Practice on Disinformation, the bloc’s Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton

As extreme weather wreaks havoc on crops in the Americas and North Africa, Europe’s breadbasket is thriving, with

Jurgen Klopp’s seasons at Anfield have tended to end with everything riding on the last game: Champions League qualification or winning the Champions League. Even the one that didn’t, in 2020, could culminate in a celebration, with Liverpool already champions of England for the first time in 30 years. Now comes a rare meaningless match, with Southampton certain to come bottom and Liverpool guaranteed to end up fifth, and a chance to reflect on what might have been. Last season threatened to be Liverpool’s greatest, when they closed in on a quadruple. After the false dawn of an emphatic Community Shield win over Manchester City, things soon started to go awry. “It was clear from a specific point on it would not be a historically good season,” said Klopp. Perhaps that specific point was the opening league game, and a disjointed, disappointing first hour against promoted Fulham. Or maybe their first match at Anfield, when Darwin Nunez, the flagship summer signing, was sent off on his home debut for headbutting Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen. Or possibly their third outing: a defeat at Old Trafford that kickstarted Erik ten Hag’s reign at Manchester United and to a team who ultimately pipped them to a top-four finish. For three-quarters of a season, Liverpool only mustered three away wins and did not muster three victories in a row, except when those fixtures were separated by a World Cup. Klopp nevertheless felt, and the facts supported him, that the mid-season break brought an improvement. “After the training camp during the World Cup, it was not that everything was great but the amount of points we have won since then is pretty good,” he said. “If we could have done that over the whole season, we would be in a different place.” He is right: only the Manchester clubs have more points over the last six months. However, it still went wrong over the course of Liverpool’s first 29 matches, when they dropped 43 points and were left at the risk of their lowest league finish since promotion in 1962. “I think we said everything about it, we are absolutely not happy with it,” said Klopp. “We made mistakes, we couldn’t deliver often enough and were not consistent enough.” Three particularly damning results, symptoms of that inconsistency and which could cost them Champions League football, were the defeats to Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth, all then in the relegation zone. That they lost to Forest six days after beating City and were beaten at Bournemouth six days after scoring seven against United make each missed opportunities to generate momentum. “I really think this was not a season we will talk about,” reflected Klopp. “Maybe about parts but we failed to give the people more to enjoy.” Perhaps he was doubly wrong: Liverpool’s shortcomings can always bring anguish and anxiety while, amid mediocrity, there have been genuine highs: at Anfield against both Manchester clubs, winning home and away against Newcastle, the contrasting double against Tottenham, thrashing Leeds 6-1 and Rangers 7-1 on the road, the 9-0 demolition of Bournemouth. Yet each illustrated what could have been, not what ultimately was. There were causes. A crippling injury list felt a constant, with midfield the most affected department but lengthy absences of Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota feeling particularly telling in attack. There was the already infamous decision not to buy a midfielder last summer, which was compounded by Fabinho’s awful form, Naby Keita’s seemingly never-ending injuries, Thiago Alcantara’s perhaps predictable absences and signs of ageing from Jordan Henderson. There were mix-and-match combinations from Klopp all season, casting around in search of a solution before a late-season switch to bring Trent Alexander-Arnold infield alongside Fabinho and behind Curtis Jones and Henderson worked. It reflected two enduring issues: Alexander-Arnold’s defensive deficiencies at right-back had felt more pronounced when he was afforded less protection and the 4-3-3 formation that had served Klopp so well for years brought a rethink. There were flirtations with 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 before a spring switch towards 3-2-4-1. Klopp has started to argue that at most clubs, the manager changes inside seven-and-a-half years; at Liverpool, the manager is belatedly changing things. Maybe the most damaging change was not of his own volition. Sadio Mane’s move to Bayern Munich has worked out for neither club nor the player. Without him, with Roberto Firmino starting only 12 league games, there has been a different dynamic in the attack. In part the story of the season has lain in the erratic, compellingly watchable Nunez; thus far, he has been an imperfect fit in different combinations and, with decidedly mixed finishing, one of the great expected goals underachievers while Liverpool have struggled to press as rigorously. Maybe it is no coincidence their surge of 22 points from their last eight games came with Nunez largely a substitute. Transition was perhaps never going to be easy for Liverpool but has been jarringly awkward at times this season. And yet that recent run engenders optimism. Liverpool may have turned a corner; they never became as fractured as some of their rivals. “The dressing room is not in a bad mood,” Klopp said. “We have learned to deal with the situation. We didn’t get divided in one moment between manager and team, which is super helpful. We didn’t point fingers at each other.” They ended up seemingly pointed further forward than he had wanted, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner, Keita and Firmino all going, when Klopp had wanted to keep two of them. There will be Europa League football at Anfield next season, perhaps further sightings of Alexander-Arnold in midfield. But as the German’s worst year in England comes to an anticlimactic conclusion, it is with the last few weeks offering renewed hope it will be a one-off. Read More Jurgen Klopp: ‘If a player wants to leave Liverpool because of Champions League, I will drive them’ Mohamed Salah ‘devastated’ as Liverpool fail to qualify for Champions League Jurgen Klopp has ‘no worries’ over Mohamed Salah’s future at Liverpool Jurgen Klopp: ‘If a player wants to leave Liverpool, I will drive them’ Jurgen Klopp reacts to Mohammed Salah’s ‘no excuse’ tweet

The Oakland Athletics are asking Nevada for $380 million for a 30,000 seat, $1.5 billion retractable roof stadium on the Las Vegas Strip

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