Times Crossword 28,300 across down Yesterday’s solution 28,299
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access charge. SP: Spoke 0333 202 3390.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 89 1011 1213 14 15 1617 18 1920 21 22 2324 25 2627 28ROCOCO CHA I NSAW
E A R C E N H H
POMPADOUR CH I NA
H P C N O A A L
REBUKES ANNETTE
A E D U N S R
SADDO LADLEOUT
E W T L N R
CO I NC I DE CACHE
P V N A H R T
ERELONG NIAGARA
R R O R D N N I
UNARM OVERTAKEN
K G P O R E U E
EYERHYME PROPER1 Worthless audio device has vital
second application (6-5)
7 One not yet out? European leaves
Cornish town (3)
9 Reversed major error bringing in
monarch’s rubbish (9)
10 Radiating soft warm light in silver
and blue (5)
11 One who steals something from
the pot? (3,4)
12 Clothing torn violently when
defending goal (7)
13 Live as good person, being cruel
and brutal one? (5)
15 Mark in time a new dawn, initially
reforming nation (9)
17 Northern trade union mired in
pretty abusive comments (9)
19 Bounder in scrap touring
Californian city (5)
20 River in Siberia reporter’s identified
as foul (7)
22 Greek breaking shackles displays
annoyance (7)
24 Minor key used by hotel singers
backing (5)
25 Game goddess eviscerated
Kallone’s twin? (9)
27 Occasionally steamy Irish brew (3)
28 Oscar being claimed by one down
grated with a late screen star (7,4)1 Attack in street, thinking to
disregard offence (3)
2 Firm female support for lethal
Asian striker (5)
3 First woman, others in tow, to find
Chomolungma (7)
4 Old Lady Walker seen around in
processing unit (9)
5 Guide Penny away from
aggressively ambitious person (5)
6 Joy telling Romeo to leave (7)
7 All-in wrestling with bear: one’s up
on points? (9)
8 Oppressed duke to have pistol
hidden in ultimately secret lair (11)
11 Quid in pocket as one leaves this
trader’s premises? (11)
14 Target some Plantagenet’s
supporter? Not good! (4,5)
16 Where education provided in cool
and shady ground (3,6)
18 Still at crease, not bowled: not
taken in (7)
19 Bean dish and cheese served with
meat, no starter (7)
21 MDMA with powder taken up
produces striking effect (5)
23 Money one might charge
incautious tourist (5)
26 This religious holiday over, you’d
have to stop (3)
y(7HB7E2*OTSKOM( |||+$!=Newspapers
support recycling
The recycled paper content of
UK newspapers in 2020 was 67%Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports Reporter
The English Football League chairman
Rick Parry has warned that the impact
of Uefa’s expanded Champions League
could lead to the demise of the League
Cup, leaving clubs facing a £100 million
black hole.
In a wide-ranging interview address-
ing many of the issues that are affecting
the game, Parry also set out the case for
abolishing parachute payments and
confirmed that a VAR system could be
used in the Championship as soon as
the 2023-24 season if agreed by clubs.
He also said the authorities would hold
talks before next season over pitch
invasions.
Parry identified 2024 as a key year
for football, when the government is
expected to bring in legislation for an
independent regulator. It is also when
Uefa’s new format for Europe’s top club
competition comes in, with Parry add-
ing that Uefa’s announcement that the
group stage would expand from six to
eight matches, rather than ten, was “a
smokescreen”, leaving the domestic
calendar with fewer midweek slots.
“In terms of the impact on midweek
fixtures, FA Cup and Carabao Cup
[League Cup], in true Uefa fashion
we’ve still got the same number of
match dates,” he said. “Only eight
games, but spread across ten dates, so
that really doesn’t help us.
“Of course it’s going to have an
impact on the Carabao Cup. It’s point-
less to pretend that it won’t.
“To suggest that we will carry on
McEnroe: Raducanu is wrong
to keep changing her coach
US Open champion falls to a second-round defeat in French Open, pages 70-71TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLANDSalah: I’ll stay
another year
Paul Joyce
Northern Football CorrespondentTrans cyclists
in new storm
Matt Lawton Chief Sports CorrespondentMohamed Salah has pledged his imme-
diate future to Liverpool by saying he
will remain at the club next season.
While the declaration raises the
possibility of the Egypt striker leaving
on a free transfer when his contract
expires in the summer of 2023, Salah’s
comments would appear to dash any
hopes rival clubs had of signing him at
the end of this campaign.
His stance came as his team-mate
Sadio Mané, who also has a year left on
his deal, said he would speak to the
media about his future after Saturday’s
Champions League final with Real
Madrid in Paris. Negotiations with both
players about extensions are scheduled
to restart after Liverpool’s third final of
the season.
Salah, 29, refused to be drawn on
Continued on page 74Transgender cyclists are still compet-
ing in women’s races despite British
Cycling suspending the policy last
month that had allowed them to race in
the female category.
The storm that erupted in March
over the possible participation of Emily
Bridges, a 21-year-old trans-female
cyclist, in a women’s national track
cycling event led to British Cycling (BC)
issuing a statement on April 8.
Until then, BC rules had made it
possible for trans female athletes to
gain eligibility to race domestically,
including in races in which national
ranking points were available.
But BC announced that its board of
directors “voted in favour of an imme-
diate suspension of the current [trans-
gender and non-binary] policy, pending
Continued on page 66Thursday May 26 2022 | the timesSp ort
Burnley in talks with City
legend over manager’s job
Page 72Kompany shock move
Euro revamp
could kill off
League Cup
without any form of change is unrealis-
tic. Equally, to say this is now the demise
of the League Cup is too far in the other
direction at this stage. Could it be an
outcome? Yes, of course it could.
“Frankly, we have to maybe face up to
the unpalatable, but it’s extraordinarily
valuable to the EFL [English Football
League]. It’s pretty much half of our
media revenues and so you are talking
about £100 million worth of our clubs’
TV revenue and gate receipts. It’s a very
valuable part of the mix.
“This year we’ve had a breathtaking
final with a competition taken extreme-
ly seriously by two of Europe’s biggest
clubs [Liverpool and Chelsea], which
was brilliant from our point of view. But
we also know that Uefa doesn’t like
League Cups. We are now unique.”
England is the only leading European
nation with a League Cup after France
abolished their competition in 2020.
Parry said that the League Cup’s
future was bound up with negotiations
that the EFL must have with the Pre-
mier League about financial redistribu-
tion. The EFL wants £250 million a year
extra from the Premier League but no
agreement has been reached, and the
main issue for Parry is the distorting
effect of parachute payments.
Should Huddersfield Town win the
Championship play-off final against
Nottingham Forest on Sunday, all three
promoted clubs — Fulham and
Bournemouth being the others — will
have been receiving parachute pay-
ments, which start at £44 million for the
Continued on page 732024 may be end for competition, says EFL chief
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