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Elliott, Slot had 'honest' talks over playing time
Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott has revealed he has had "very honest" talks with head coach Arne Slot over his lack of playing time but insists he is still hungry to contribute to his team's success.
Elliott scored the winning goal for Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain, finishing with his first touch after coming off the bench in the 85th minute at the Parc des Princes.
The 21-year-old has made 18 appearances for Liverpool this season but has started on only four occasions and, after making himself the hero against PSG, he admitted he has discussed his desire for more minutes with Slot.
"Yes, we've had conversations," Elliott said. "Very honest conversations and open conversations. It's down to me to put the work in, to be honest, and show him everything that he's told me. I'm trying to work on it, I'm trying to improve and I'm trying to get in this team.
"At the same time, I feel like I can't get too angry and frustrated because quite frankly the team is doing amazing. As I said, it's a team game. It's just not about me. I just need to make sure that I'm ready in moments like tonight where I can contribute. Just make sure I'm in the right mind frame to come on and influence the game.
"There are periods of time where I want to be playing and it's not happening. But moments like tonight, it keeps me motivated and the hunger is still within me to go out and show what I can do and influence the game as much as I can.
"I think not only myself, but any football player would want to play each and every game. It's just not humanly possible, you just need to wait for your moments. And nights like tonight, just enjoy it and take the opportunity."
Elliott joined Liverpool from Fulham in 2019 and broke into the first team under Jürgen Klopp. He impressed for Slot's side in preseason but his opportunities have been limited this term after fracturing his foot while on international duty back in September.
Reflecting on how he has dealt with the challenges of this season, Elliott said: "I think as a player you always need to stay composed. Football is full of ups and downs. You can go periods of time without playing, you can be not playing, and things don't really go your way. I think it's just about staying motivated and mentally right in the head.
"Like tonight, opportunities, although there wasn't a big amount of game time, just trying to see what you can do. Today it fell to me perfectly and I just needed to make sure I got a good connection and put the ball in the back of the net. That's what I did."
Elliott also added: "I'm still young, it's a hard thing to understand in my head really. I've played 150 games for Liverpool, and I feel like I'm very experienced in terms of that aspect.
"So there are moments within the season where I am getting angry, I am getting frustrated because I want to play, but at the same time I need to respect the situation, I need to respect the manager's decisions. Some games I'm needed, some games I'm not.
"That's just how football is. That's why I feel like we're in the position that we are in this season so far because of his decisions."
Rob Key: England would be 'stupid' not to consider Ben Stokes as ODI captain
Stokes is currently stepping up his recovery in Abu Dhabi with an England Lions training group and is expected to be fully fit to start the summer with Durham. Key was also out in the UAE, and sees no reason why the 33-year-old cannot do as he has done with the Test side and re-energise an ODI team who have lost their way.
"I think nothing's off the table really," Key said. "You look at every single option and you think, right, what is the best thing to do? How is that going to impact on other things?
"Ben Stokes is one of the best captains I've ever seen. So it would be stupid not to look at him. It's just the knock-on effect of what that means.
"He's an unbelievably good tactician, which we've seen in Test cricket, but he's a leader of men. He's someone who gets the best out of people. He's someone that, when the pressure is really on, he's able to throw a blanket around the players and actually say, 'no, no, this is the way forward. Keep going with it'.
"They're the qualities that you need in leadership. Ben's, as we know, an outstanding player, an outstanding leader. It's more about, what would that then mean to him? What would that then mean to his workload?
"We don't want to risk other things as well. But there's always a way in England, I think, where you start looking at, 'what if it goes wrong?' You've also got to think, 'what if it goes right?'. They're the decisions that I have to make."
There is no doubt McCullum would be open to having Stokes on board. He stated last week that he would be open to a different captain for each of the three international formats because of their contrasting strategies. Key, however, sees a synergy between Tests and ODIs that would allow Stokes to succeed with the latter.
"When you start looking at it, I believe that Test cricket and 50-over cricket are probably closer than T20s, which is the outlier now. So then that makes different things.
"We look at India and the way they play T20 cricket, and they've got all these young players coming through, but it's their Test players that are making the difference in 50-over cricket."
The issue, as Stokes has previously outlined himself, is the schedule. This year sees England face India and Australia in legacy-defining Test series as far as Stokes' captaincy and the Bazball project are concerned. Should the ODI job be assumed, three-match series against West Indies (May into June), South Africa, Ireland (both in September) and New Zealand (ahead of the Ashes) will be shoe-horned into his itinerary.
Brook will have a similar issue, albeit one he already has to contend with as a multi-format batter. Key has no reservations about Brook assuming a leadership role given how he captained against Australia at the end of last summer in Buttler's absence. And with Stokes on hand to guide him - as well as halve his limited-overs captaincy duties - Key sees no reason why the Yorkshire batter cannot step up another level.
"I think Harry Brook would be an outstanding captain actually. I was cautious about Ben Stokes doing it and having too much, and look how that's gone.
"I think he (Stokes) might bring out the best in Harry Brook. Being able to go out there and feel like the extra responsibility sometimes ,for people, is the best thing that can happen for them. Sometimes it's not. They're the decisions you have to work out."
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
Sources: Mavs' Jensen to coach alma mater Utah
Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Alex Jensen has agreed to a deal to become the next men's basketball coach at the University of Utah, sources told ESPN.
Jensen is a Utah native who won Mr. Basketball in the state in 1994 and then played his college basketball for the Utes under Rick Majerus, winning Mountain West Player of the Year in 2000 and helping lead the program to four NCAA tournament appearances. He also was a starter on the Utah team that went to the 1998 national championship game and lost to Kentucky.
Jensen joined Jason Kidd's staff in Dallas in 2023 after a decade as an assistant with the Utah Jazz, advancing to the NBA playoffs six times. He has experience coaching in college, spending four seasons as an assistant coach at Saint Louis under Majerus before moving into the professional ranks.
Jensen will replace Craig Smith, who was fired last month toward the end of his fourth season in charge of the program. Smith led the Utes with a 65-62 record, failing to reach the NCAA tournament in any of his seasons as head coach. They won 22 games last season, playing themselves onto the NCAA tournament bubble, but lost eight of their final 12 regular-season games to fall out of consideration.
Jensen was involved in the last Utah coaching search in 2021, before withdrawing his name from consideration deep into the process. The Utes hired Smith to replace Larry Krystkowiak two days later.
Utah hasn't advanced to the NCAA tournament since 2016 and has made only four appearances since Majerus stepped down for health reasons in 2004.
The program will now try to follow a similar path to in-state rival BYU, which hired Phoenix Suns assistant coach Kevin Young to replace Mark Pope last spring.
Buoyed by an influx of NIL support, the Cougars have won seven games in a row and are poised to win their first NCAA tournament game since 2011. They also landed No. 1-ranked recruit A.J. Dybantsa in December, beating out the likes of North Carolina and Alabama for the talented wing.
Munster wing Calvin Nash filled the number 14 jersey when Hansen missed out against Scotland in round two, while all of Osborne's previous Test starts have come at full-back.
The 23-year-old has came off the bench to play in the midfield for Ireland, and also appeared for his province Leinster on the left wing.
Saturday, however, will be his professional start at right wing.
Having named a 6-2 split on the bench, Easterby cited Osborne's ability to play across the backline should injuries occur as something that worked in his favour.
"So we've got a bit of flexibility there in terms of his positioning, a flexibility to move him around a little bit in certain parts of the field so we can utilise his left [foot], but he's also got a right foot as well.
"So there's a bit of flexibility within the system that would allow us to utilise him and Hugo in different positions.
"Sometimes there's really tight calls and it's just the gut, but in this case there's a couple of reasons for that and one of those is that Jamie offers us more flexibility in the positions he can play."
For the next eight months, Jack Beckman will have the thrill of gunning for Wallys in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car class with arguably the series top team in John Force Racing.
Ironic enough, entering the season opener in Gainesville, Fla., last year, the last thing on Beckmans mind was going 330-plus mph in a nitro-burning Funny Car.
However, after 16-time champion John Force suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury in a crash at Virginia Motorsports Park last June, Beckman received an unexpected call that saw him go from repairing elevators from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the weekdays to adding Funny Car driver to his weekend tasks.
Nobody wanted John to get hurt. Nobodys ever going to replace John, Beckman began. Somebody was going to get the call to fill in for him for eight races in 2024 while he decides what his long-term plans are.
That was absolutely surreal. I was out of the cockpit for three years and nine months. I had nothing lined up. I went back to a career that I was away from for 22 years. I went back the week after my last race, which was Vegas, 2020 and I thought, Thats that, this is where Ill retire.
Then I got that phone call and then Im driving John Forces car, Beckman continued. I couldnt tell you in an hour, the emotions that were involved with all of that. I dont know if Johns going to retire, or thats a decision hes going to make later on.
But to get an opportunity to know youre going to be in the same car for the entire season and that car can win races and a championship, is, for a guy thats going to go back to fixing elevators Monday, I go back to my regular job, I will have a smile on my face, I guarantee it.
Beckman was slated to run the final eight races of the NHRA season, where hed be able to carry Forces points from the previous races as the team eyed a championship, which they called Joint Task Force Mission Championship.
For someone whod been out of the cockpit for more than three years, some of the nuances would naturally cause a slight hurdle.
The part that was tough was putting the helmet on, Beckman began. I had only ever tackled a nostalgia Top Fuel car in the three years, nine months that I was out of the cockpit. I had no practice. But getting shoved into that tight area and getting the harnesses crushed down on you. I hated it.
I really didnt know how that was going to feel until I stood on the throttle the first time, like, OK, thats not that bad. I forgot what it was like in the summertime to sweat wearing all that stuff.
In fact, in my work van, I had turned off the air conditioner and rolled the windows up for the couple weeks before that, just to kind of try to get prepared.
California Highway Patrol is not fond of anybody wearing a helmet driving a work van, Beckman joked. So I didnt do that. But I wore it on the couch at home and I practiced some runs. But once I stood on the throttle, its like, OK, its back there in my mind.'
A large part of Beckmans ease back into Funny Car racing was due to his countless practice runs he made at Frank Hawleys Drag Racing School, where he still works as an instructor.
Getting comfortable inside the car is one thing. However, executing to near-perfection on Sundays is another animal.
Despite not being in a race-winning mindset since 2020, Beckman quickly knew the type of team and race car he had behind him one that could utterly obliterate the majority of the Funny Car field every week.
Knowing you can win, as compared to holding the trophy at the end of race day with your crew in the winners circle are light years apart, Beckman explained. In other words, if you drive a car thats not going to win the race, youre probably not thinking about either one of them.
I knew getting in that car, we were capable of winning. But racing luck can intervene a whole bunch, good or bad, you still may not ever win.
His rise back to the top came during the NHRA Midwest Nationals at Illinois World Wide Technology Raceway as he took down three-time champion Ron Capps in the final round.
However, within the 3.856-second run came a wide variety of emotions inside the Peak Chevrolet.
To close the deal, in St. Louis, like, Im at half track and our car is hauling butt, Beckman explained. The guys turned it up against Capps for the final round.
Then it puts a hole out on the right side. Then it puts a second hole out. It starts making a hard move to the wall and the throttle shuts off right before the finish line.
I went, Oh, sh- and then I saw my win light come on. I dont want to say its life changing. Its pretty damn cool, though.
If it wasnt for vertigo-like symptoms that sidelined him for the Texas Fall Nationals later in the Countdown to the Championship, Beckman may have been an even closer threat to teammate and eventual champion Austin Prock.
Nonetheless, Beckman capped off his unexpected partial season with a win at the NHRA World Finals in Pomona, Calif. with friend and boss Force in-person to witness his famed powdered-blue Chevrolet celebrate in victory lane.
Following the finale, it was unclear what was to come for Forces Funny Car. A month later during the annual Performance Race Industry trade show in Indianapolis, Beckman was named the full-time driver as Force continues to heal from his injuries.
With the keys handed over to Beckman at a full-time level again, he heads to this weekends Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., with a clear-eyed view of what stands between him and a title this season Prock.
I think our Peak Camaro was the best car in drag racing and Austins Cornwell Camaro might have been that much better, Beckman said. They had that twice in a generation season. What they did was just it wasnt unprecedented because (Don) Prudhomme has done it. Force has done it. His dad, Jimmy Prock has done that with Robert Hight.
He did that with me. But they won eight out of 20. They set the single-season mark for number one qualifiers in a season that was four races shorter than what weve had in the past. They are going to have the most ginormous target on their backs.
But so will we for next year and bring it on. I mean, thats a great feeling. Would you rather suck and slide in there next year, nobody looks at you or have have a car and a team thats thats dominating, wins a bunch of races and people take you seriously?
I will take the latter on those two.
FIFA said on Thursday it will review a proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams to mark the centenary of the sport's marquee event.
The 2030 World Cup will be held in Morocco, Spain and Portugal, with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, where the inaugural edition was staged, set to host three games.
The World Cup has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams for next year's edition in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
"A proposal to analyze a 64-team FIFA World Cup to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup in 2030 was spontaneously raised by a FIFA Council member in the 'miscellaneous' agenda item near the end of the FIFA Council meeting held on March 5, 2025," a FIFA spokesperson told Reuters.
"The idea was acknowledged as FIFA has a duty to analyze any proposal from one of its Council members."
Earlier on Thursday, The New York Times said the proposal was made by Ignacio Alonso, a delegate from Uruguay.
The newspaper, which did not name its sources, said the proposal was met with "stunned silence" by the participants.
It added that according to three people in the meeting, "FIFA was likely to be guided by financial and political benefits as much as sporting ones when it came to taking a decision on the matter."
FIFA president Gianni Infantino "acknowledged the proposal and said it should be analyzed more closely," The New York Times added, according to "four people with direct knowledge of the discussions."
Man United's $120m gamble: Why they need to go all-in to win the Europa League
This week, when they play Real Sociedad, Manchester United face their biggest game since 1990.
United have contested four Champions League finals, winning two and losing two, during that 35-year time frame, but none have been as consequential to the club's future as Thursday's Europa League round of 16 first-leg tie in Spain. The same will apply in next week's second leg at Old Trafford -- and every Europa League game until the final in Bilbao, Spain, on May 21 -- if United get that far.
The reason? Failure to win the Europa League would mean United miss out on a place in next season's Champions League, triggering a financial nightmare that would leave a 100 million hole (at least) in the club's budget at a time when money is already tight at Old Trafford.
United's Premier League struggles -- they sit in 14th position, 11 points behind sixth-place Newcastle -- and elimination from the FA Cup with a fifth-round defeat at home to Fulham on Sunday mean they cannot qualify for Europe via any other route this season than by winning the Europa League. Win it, as Jose Mourinho's United did in 2017, and the club will unlock the door to the Champions League's financial riches, fast-track United's path back to stability and enable coach Ruben Amorim to start the work of rebuilding the team.
But United are now playing a high-stakes game, and failure to win the Europa League will send the club sliding into a bleak future that could take years to escape.
The team are losing, the financial results are bad, staff at all levels have been informed of further job cuts to come -- adding to the roughly 200 who left in the final months of 2024 -- and supporters are planning a protest against the owners, the Glazer family, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos Group before Sunday's clash at Old Trafford against Arsenal.
The Europa League offers United an escape route from their problems. Here's why it's vital they take it.
How bad are United's finances?
United have arguably not faced such a crucial fork in the road since Sir Alex Ferguson took his team to Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup third-round tie in 1990, knowing that defeat could cost him his job and change the course of United's history. In 2025, failure to win the Europa League this season will only exacerbate the club's perilous financial state, making it so much harder for them to return to the top.
Despite ranking fourth in the 2025 Deloitte Money League behind Real Madrid, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain in terms of revenue generated last year (United's revenue was 636.95m ($810m), United's costs saw them report a loss of 113m ($143.7m) during the most recent financial year.
The Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) only allow for losses totalling 105m ($133.5m) over three years, but United have avoided infringing those limits so far because not all spending goes against calculations. Also, clubs can claim allowances known as "add-backs" including spending on infrastructure, youth development and women's football.
United's financial headroom due to PSR is now minimal. The most recent accounts covering the period between Oct.1-Dec. 31, 2024, revealed a 12% drop fall in revenue, operating profit down 88.7%, an increase in the club's debt to 515.7m ($655.4m) and a total of 414m ($526.1m) owed in transfer fees. [It's worth noting that owed fees aren't unusual in football: Chelsea (491m), Tottenham (307m) and Arsenal (268m) Manchester City (230m) and Liverpool (123m) also owe money on previous incoming transfers.]
Interest payments on United's debt are now 35m ($44.5m) a year and this season has also seen United pay out compensation totalling 14.5m ($18.4m) to manager Erik ten Hag, sporting Dan Ashworth and several coaches following dismissals earlier this season.
United's financial problems are why Ineos, which now controls the club as minority shareholders, have embarked on a huge cost-cutting drive including up to 400 job cuts, ticket price increases and the end of free meals for non-playing staff at the club.
More bad news: United earned 40.5m ($51.5m) from the Premier League merit payment scheme by finishing eighth -- their worst Premier League finish -- last season. With each position worth 3.1m ($3.9m), United would only earn 21.8m ($27.7m) if they fail to improve on their current position of 14th, leading to another significant drop in earnings.
Why is European qualification so important?
Craig Burley and Mark Ogden agree that Man United are worse under Ruben Amorim after their FA Cup exit.
For clubs of United's stature, participation in European competition is crucial, and not just because of the money that can be earned from the UEFA pot known as the Distribution List.
Last season's Europa League winners Atalanta banked 18.23m ($23.18m) in prize money after beating Bayer Leverkusen in the final, and due to an increase in the money available following the 2024-2027 re-shaping of UEFA club competitions, the maximum figure a club can make from the Europa League Distribution List is now 27.04m ($34.41m).
United's quarterly accounts for the period Oct. 1-Dec. 31, 2024, show that the club earned 52m ($66.19m) from 10 Old Trafford fixtures during that timeframe; with the new extended League Stage of the Europa League guaranteeing every participant four home games, the club can add 20m ($25.46) and look forward to an extra 5m ($6.36m) with every European home fixture.
A winning campaign in the Europa League could therefore be worth at least 60m ($76.37) to United, but playing in the Champions League would take United's earning potential way beyond 100m ($127.32m) a season. UEFA's total Champions League prize pot for 2024-25 is 2.04 billion ($2.6bn) compared to the total 466.8m ($594.52m) on offer in the Europa League. Winning the latter would give United a place in the former, further easing the strain on their finances.
According to football finance blogger Swiss Ramble, six clubs -- Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid -- earned in excess of 70m ($89.1m) from this season's League Stage alone. With incremental prize money at each stage between now and the Champions League final, this season's winners will earn 138m ($175.7m) from the competition.
Even the most optimistic United fan would accept it is unlikely that the team could win next season's Champions League, but even if they only play in the League Stage, they could get expect to earn a minimum of 50m ($63.6m) just from the prize pot alone, before accounting for gate receipts from four home games.
The financial gulf between being in the competition and out of it is clear: United's 90m-a-year ($114.6m) 10-year kit deal with adidas includes a 10m ($12.7m) deduction every season they don't play in the Champions League.
Missing out on the Europa League will cost United at least 40m, but the financial hit of not being in the Champions League starts at 100m and only goes up.
How do United compare to other clubs?
Rob Dawson says the changes INEOS have made to Manchester United have caused a split among the club's fans.
Last month, Liverpool posted their financial accounts for the year ending May 31, 2024, and the Premier League leaders reported a loss of 57m ($72.5m), with the club attributing a 38m ($48.3m) fall in media revenue to the team not participating in last season's Champions League.
Liverpool also highlighted a rise in costs to 600m ($763.6m), mainly salaries, which underscores the importance of European competition to clubs needing to service such high costs.
Arsenal, who returned to the Champions League last season for the first time since 2016-17, still reported a loss of 17.7m ($22.5m) for the year ending May 31, 2024. However, the financial benefit of being in the Champions League is highlighted by the fact that the Gunners reported a loss of 52.1m ($66.2m) the previous year.
Aston Villa reported a loss of 119.6m ($152.08) in their most recent accounts, but according to Deloitte, their wage bill to revenue ratio of 96% is the highest in Europe and another pointer to the importance of Champions League participation for Villa.
But to show that success on the pitch is the ultimate driver of financial well-being off it, Manchester City reported record revenues of 715m ($909.1m) and a profit of 73.8m ($93.8m) in their year-end accounts after winning a fourth successive Premier League title and 13 consecutive seasons of Champions League participation.
Why can't United just dump lots of players to raise funds this summer?
When a footballer signs a contract, the club have to honour it. If the player fails to perform, the club must find somebody else to sign them and hope that they are willing to pay an acceptable fee and take on their wages.
"Players sign fixed-term contracts for a set amount of time," Tom Keane, Head of Sport at the law firm Brandsmiths, told ESPN. "By contrast, most employees in this country have employment contracts that last for an indefinite amount of time but include a notice period allowing either side to terminate, for example on three months' notice. Such notice periods do not exist in player contracts. Unless that player does something that amounts to gross misconduct, the club cannot just get rid of them.
"As such, the only ways for the club to [move forward] are to either agree a mutual termination of the contract with the player, which is unlikely if the player is earning well under that contract and has no other club to join, or, more likely, to agree to transfer the player to another club who are willing to match the salary ... Without [the player, current club, and interested club] aligned, nothing can happen."
United's problem is that they have lots of players -- namely Marcus Rashford, Casemiro, Mason Mount and Antony -- who are surplus to requirements, but their diminishing transfer value (due to years of poor performances) and/or high salary makes it difficult to move them on without incurring a big financial loss.
United might have to subsidise a move for former academy star Rashford, now on loan at Aston Villa, due to a lack of clubs being prepared to take on the remaining three years of his 325,000-a-week salary.
Casemiro, a 70m ($89.1m) signing on a four-year contract from Real Madrid in August 2022, would be worth 17.5m ($22.2m) on the club's balance sheet next season due to the amortization of his transfer fee. As a consequence, United would need a club to pay 17.5m to sign the 33-year-old this summer -- anything less would be recorded as a financial loss, edging United closer to breaching PSR.
United need to rebuild their squad, but with money raised from moving on homegrown players -- who did not cost a transfer fee -- enabling any fee to be classed as pure profit in the accounts, players such as Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and Rashford are the most attractive potential outgoings to the club. Any cash generated would be crucial to avoiding a PSR breach.
As for expensive flops including Casemiro, Mount, Antony, Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee, United face little or no chance of avoiding big losses if they offload any of them. They are the football equivalent of extravagant credit card purchases with a big price tag and minimal resale value.
Is there a shortcut out of the mess?
Winning the Europa League is the quickest way for United to get back to somewhere close to a sound financial footing. It's a magic wand that opens the door to a brighter future, albeit one that would still involve servicing the debt and rebuilding the squad.
However, United's financial problems are deep-rooted and cannot be solved by annually walking a tightrope of attempting to qualify for the Champions League. United must either renovate Old Trafford or build a new stadium, which would cost at least 1 billion ($1.27bn). A squad overhaul is also crucial, but unavoidably expensive.
"If you look at United's most recent accounts, the fundamentals are still quite impressive from a match-day and commercial revenue perspective," Chris Mann, Head of Sporting Strategy at Sportsology, told ESPN. "But the poor performance on the pitch is really hurting them. It feels like they are stuck in a catch-22 situation -- a club with a Champions League cost-base and a mid-table reality, but at the same time as trying to make the team more competitive and get it back in the top six."
So is there a way out beyond simply winning the Europa League?
"Player recruitment is an area United need to improve," Mann said. "They have signed lots of players who haven't performed for significant sums and have therefore declined in value.
"There is also the route of private equity investment, something Ratcliffe has shown he hasn't been averse to securing with other businesses, and the City Football Group and Atletico Madrid have both taken this option in recent years, but the risk with that is investors wanting a quick return.
"The panacea would be the Glazers selling up completely and clearing the debt, but that is almost certainly not going to happen. Unfortunately, United are in a really difficult position and there are no easy solutions."
Ultimately, United need to win on the pitch to make everything better off it. And nothing could possibly be bigger right now than Amorim's team winning the Europa League this season.
In his first full summer at the club, Lloyd, 32, averaged 23.47 with the bat and 31.00 with the ball in the Championship, and has opted to stand down from the captaincy in search of better returns.
"David has given his all to the captaincy and he has been a fantastic leader for us, but the mental pressures of trying to lead a team, especially while you are trying to rediscover your own form, coupled with having a young family mean it's best for all parties if we take some of that weight off his shoulders," Derbyshire's head of cricket, Mickey Arthur, said.
"David has been honest with me, he is determined to contribute to the team and his experience and leadership will still be invaluable for us, both on the field and in the dressing room, and I'm looking forward to seeing the best of him this summer."
Derbyshire underwent a revamp ahead of the 2024 season, with Lloyd taking the captaincy after the departure of Leus du Plooy and several new players coming in. But progress was limited - having been winless in 2023, they managed one victory to go with six defeats and a last-placed finish.
Lloyd said: "This has not been an easy decision for me, but I have had a good group of friends, family and team-mates to confide in over this winter, and I believe this is what will allow me to focus on my game.
"It has been an honour for me to captain Derbyshire, and I'm now looking forward to playing with less pressure on my shoulders, continuing to learn from the experience of Mickey and our coaching team, and showing our members and supporters what I can do.
"We want to get back to competing across all formats, I am excited to play my part and hopefully helping our new club captain any way I can."
WTA announces paid maternity leave for players
Pregnant players on the women's tennis tour now can receive 12 months of paid maternity leave, and those who become parents via partner pregnancy, surrogacy or adoption can get two months off with pay, under a program sponsored by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and announced Thursday by the WTA.
"Independent contractors and self-employed individuals don't typically have these kinds of maternity benefits provided and available to them. They have to go out and sort of figure out those benefits for themselves," WTA CEO Portia Archer said. "This is really sort of novel and groundbreaking."
More than 300 players are eligible for the fund, which is retroactive to Jan. 1. The WTA would not disclose how much money is involved.
The program -- which the WTA touted as "the first time in women's sports history that comprehensive maternity benefits are available to independent, self-employed athletes" -- also provides grants for fertility treatments, including egg freezing and IVF.
It's part of a wider trend: As women's sports rise, there is an emphasis on meeting maternity and parental needs.
How many mothers are on the women's tennis tour now? The WTA says 25 moms are active on tour; one, Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic, won a title last month after returning from maternity leave in October.
More and more pros in tennis have returned to action after having children, including past No. 1-ranked players and Grand Slam title winners such as Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka.
Azarenka - a member of the WTA Players' Council, which Archer acknowledged played a key role in pushing for this fund - thinks these benefits will encourage lower-ranked or lower-earning athletes to take as much time off as they feel they need after becoming a parent, rather than worrying about losing out on income while not entering tournaments.
"That's certainly one of the aims of the program: to provide the financial resources, the flexibility, the support, so that these athletes, regardless of where they're ranked, but particularly those who earn less, will have that agency ... to decide when and how they want to start their families," Archer said.
And, Azarenka said, this could lead some players to decide to become parents before retiring from the sport for good.
"Every feedback we've heard from players who are mothers -- or who are not mothers -- is like, 'Wow, this is an incredible opportunity for us,'" said 2012-13 Australian Open champion Azarenka, whose son, Leo, is 8. "I believe it's really going to change the conversation in sports. But going beyond sports, it's a global conversation, and I'm happy that we're (part of it)."
Other steps the WTA has taken in recent years to benefit players include steering more women into coaching, implementing safeguarding, attempting to stem cyberbullying, and increasing prize money with an eye to pay that equals what men receive in the sport.
What role does Saudi Arabia have in tennis? The Public Investment Fund, or PIF, became the WTA's global partner last year, after much public debate -- Hall of Famers Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova were among the critics -- over questions about LGBTQ+ and women's rights in Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom now hosts the season-ending WTA Finals and an ATP event for rising stars of men's tennis. The PIF sponsors the WTA and ATP rankings.
"We wouldn't have been able to provide the benefits were it not for this relationship and the funding that PIF provides," Archer said.
What are maternity leave policies in golf, soccer and basketball? In golf, which like tennis is an individual sport without guaranteed salaries, the LPGA introduced an updated maternity leave policy in 2019 that lets athletes have the same playing status when they return.
In soccer, both the NWSL and the U.S. women's national team have collective bargaining agreements that allow for pregnancy leave and parental leave; the NWSL pays the full base salary while an athlete is pregnant.
In basketball, the WNBA's CBA guarantees full pay during maternity leave.
For tennis, Azarenka said, the PIF WTA Maternity Fund Program is "just the beginning."
"It's an incredible beginning. Monumental change," she said. "But I think we can look into how we can expand this fund for bigger, better things."
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