The Times - UK (2021-11-25)

Times Crossword 28,144 across down Yesterday’s solution 28,143

Check today’s answers by ringing 0905 757

0141 by midnight. Calls cost £1 per minute

plus your telephone company’s network

access charge. SP: Spoke 0333 202 3390.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10

11 12

13 14

15 16

17 18

19 20

21 22 23

24 25

26 27

BABYLONIAN ALAS

E I O U I S O L

ASPIRIN MILITIA

S A D H L A U T

TURNSTONE TASTE

T S O S T G

SKIMP D I SMEMBER

C T I R R E

OVERREACH NO I SY

U I N A L T

NIGHTTERMINALS

D A U B V N N A

RAMPAGE ETERNAL

E M L A S S I S

LOAN BRAT ISLAVA

1 That can be published after

undoing triple ban (9)

6 Firm punch nails cheating brother

(5)

9 US runner returned old cap and

waterproof (7)

10 Hook right in front of gas cooker?

(7)

11 Maybe “medal’s” sounding like

“meddles” (5)

12 Few bolder twists in the plot of The

Black Tulip? (9)

13 Good, nowadays, to obtain line in

fashionable devices? (8)

14 Head off for shelter? (4)

17 Just by lake has left stone (4)

18 Occupied half-forgotten,

antediluvian houses (8)

21 Flap that is holding in large crate

(3,6)

22 Feeling less in need of new pigment

(5)

24 Being continually lucky registered

somewhere? (2,1,4)

25 Kick-start on your bike (4,3)

26 Poor tips from men we maybe

trusted implicitly (5)

27 Craft excellent courses on plain

English speaking (9)

1 Appear suddenly with report before

judge (3,2)

2 Detaining a shady criminal for now

(2,4,3,3,3)

3 Clutching honour, weary and full of

beams? (8)

4 Defender has boot out for rebound

(8)

5 Drink for one lifting medal (6)

6 Mexican city university involved in

conflict — centre for rendezvous

(6)

7 Gardener with top rating, one

landed gentry ultimately toast

(10,5)

8 Broadcaster’s raised promotion

after he’s become materialist (9)

13 Its community spirit all that

remains? (5,4)

15 Look back on motorway with a

glower (8)

16 Fairy tale ending for Viktoria Plzen:

United run ragged (8)

19 Buying church benefits my son, I

suspect (6)

20 Areas containing unknown

meadow plant (6)

23 Firefly, maybe, with silky coat from

South America (5)

Newspapers

support recycling

The recycled paper content of

UK newspapers in 2020 was 67%

Matt Lawton, Steven Swinford

Premier League clubs should pay about
£160 million a year in the form of a
10 per cent levy on top-flight transfers,
a fan-led review into English football
governance has recommended.
The 162-page report, written by
Tracey Crouch MP with the assistance
of an expert panel, calls for the
formation of an independent regulator
for English football with powers that
would extend to seizing control of a
club from their owner. Today the

government will give its public support

to the formation of a regulator, which

would also introduce a single owners’

and directors’ test that would have

placed the controversial takeover of

Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia’s

sovereign wealth fund under far greater

scrutiny.

Included within the new owners’ and

directors’ test would be what the report

terms an integrity test. Crouch told The

Times: “I don’t know all the details of

the [Newcastle] takeover but the integ-

rity test would certainly have stressed it

a bit more than what happened. The

character aspects and relationship

aspect of the integrity test, which is

what is relevant in the security services,

for example, is something that I don’t

think exists within the current test.”

The transfer levy, designed to

distribute more cash to lower-league

clubs and the grassroots of the game at

a time when the Premier League has

secured a £2 billion American broad-

cast rights deal, is likely to be met with

resistance by top-flight clubs.

Crouch is confident that any

Sp ort

MATT MCNULTY/MANCHESTER CITY/GETTY IMAGES

Welcome to Manchester

City produced a superb

2-1 win against Paris

Saint-Germain and

Mauricio Pochettino,

who is a leading

candidate to become

manager of City’s

rivals United.

Report, pages 80-81

Jones: Itoje is

not a captain

Alex Lowe Rugby Correspondent

United foiled

on Pochettino

Paul Hirst

Eddie Jones does not view Maro Itoje as

a future England captain because he

believes the Saracens lock is inward-

looking and does not usually influence

team-mates off the field.

Itoje, who has 51 caps for his country

and six for the British & Irish Lions, was

overlooked for a vice-captaincy role

with England this autumn. The 27-

year-old has been sent to acting classes

to improve his leadership qualities and

help him in his relations with the

players around him.

The England head coach makes the

revelation in a book, published today,

that lifts the lid on the team’s troubled

journey from the 2019 World Cup final

to fifth place in last season’s Six Nations,

and the need to rebuild the squad.

Jones discloses in Leadership that

England’s poor Six Nations campaign,

Continued on page 74

Paris Saint-Germain are unwilling to

allow Mauricio Pochettino to join

Manchester United in the middle of

the season.

It is understood that intermediaries

involved in the recruitment of United’s

new manager asked PSG if they could

be persuaded to allow Pochettino to

leave now. That inquiry was rebuffed

and the French club are only willing to

consider the possible exit of their man-

ager at the end of the present campaign.

Pochettino, 49, is United’s top target

to be their next long-term manager

after the dismissal of Ole Gunnar Sols-

kjaer. However, unless he forces an exit

in the coming weeks, it appears that

United will have to wait until next sum-

mer to secure his services. The Times

understands that Pochettino would be

Continued on page 78

Elite teams face transfer tax

attempt to block the formation of the

regulator, either by the Premier League

or the Football Association, will fail.

“They can stick their fingers up but

there would be a parliamentary

process that sees legislation enact an

independent regulator,” she said.

Crouch predicted that the regulator

would be fully operational by the start

of the 2023-24 season.

The review panel was formed in the

wake of the thwarted attempt by the

Premier League’s “big six” clubs to join

Continued on page 77

Football set to introduce regulator with power to veto owners and seize control of failing clubs

2GM Thursday November 25 2021 | ember 25222222222222002020020202020200000200020002000202020202000020202000200000000200020020000000202000000202000202022222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222211111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| tthttttttttttttttttttthe timesttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt e times

BT considers not using

pundit for Ashes coverage

News, page 9

BBC drops Vaughan

Gabriel Jesus, right, celebrates his winner with Bernardo Silva, left, and João Cancelo, which inflicted defeat on Paris Saint-Germain and Mauricio Pochettino, inset

*