patrick geary reports. this week started as if they will finish. but hisjourney this week started as if they will finish. but his journey is the right hand man to the dugout has been fraught with danger. three no 3- 3— no defeat, and so began a strange shadow dance surrounding him. arsenal executives were photographed outside of his house in the early hours of the next morning and it was confirmed that he was talking to his former cloud would still be travelling with the city to oxford united for a cup match. doing the best thing possible but you have to handle these kind of situations, by looking and behind the scenes and

try to realise in the media do not realise it. a cold war between city and arsenal turned more hostile as city said it is surprising to hear plans are being made by arsenal to unveil our coach as their head coach on friday. on the basis that no contact is been made by the clip to address this matter. a semifinal against manchester united but the questions afterwards are dominated by arsenal. yesterday, from a press conference, 48 questions, 35 was about the counsellor did not to say anything more. when i get my next conference, i will answer. anything more. when i get my next conference, iwillanswer. it anything more. when i get my next conference, iwill answer. it is enough. at the rumblings emerging from the emirates road that the deal was moving forward in the press conference and he said his goodbyes

at manchester city. but they're not impressed with how this is been handled. ina impressed with how this is been handled. in a week where the nights are longest, this is a deal that seems to have been done in the dark. so arsenal appear to be closing in on their man — but how good will mikel arteta be as a manager? he knows the club well but he's only ever been an assistant at manchester city up to this point. our football reporter simon stone has more. it is an interesting one because he is not a manager. he went straight from playing for arsenal and now he is assisting. yet imagine some of the star dust of working with him has rubbed off but he worked with guardiloa for many years and he was

not, successful, he was sacked at the end and there's no guarantee with any managerial man going to work but having said that penned their colours to the mast, they are trained to stick with them and they hope it pays off. well arteta's first match in charge could be against everton on saturday. they themselves are without a permenant manager — as continue to pursue former chelsea and napoli boss carlo ancelotti. but caretaker manager duncan ferguson will remain in the everton dugout on saturday. ferguson has been in temporary charge for the past 3 matches, overseeing a win against chelsea at goodison, a draw at manchester united and a defeat on penalties against leicester in the carabao cup this week. well, let's round up some of the day's other football stories liverpool have confirmed theirfirst signing of the january transfer window. winger takumi min—a—mino has joined from rb salzburg. the japan international has signed a 4—and—a—half—year deal and said it was his "dream" to become

a liverpool player. macclesfield town have been deducted 6 points after pleading guilty to numerous efl charges. these include non—payment of salaries and the non—fulfilment of a league two match. a further 4 point sanction has been suspended. the punishment means macclesfield drop from 15th to 22nd in league two. and bury fans have met this evening to discuss the club's future. they've been listening to a bid from local businessman robert benwell who wants to buy gigg lane. bury were expelled from the english football league in august. the club has reformed and called itself bury afc, and they hope they can start again in non—league football. now to rugby union and scotland captain, greig laidlaw, has announced his retirement from the international game after nine years and 76 caps. he led the national team 39 times, more than anyone else. the 34—year—old scrum—half made his last appearance for scotland in the rugby world cup

defeat to japan in october. he ends his international career, second only to chris patterson on the all time points list for scotland, with 714. it was an exceptional lead up and that works for scotland and it worked for the environment he was in. buti worked for the environment he was in. but i would not say that it was deficient, his leadership set them apart but he is decision—making was impeccable, his application was excellent. his leadership will be the main thing is remembered for and everything else. now to some really sad news — the leeds rhinos and england scrum half rob burrow has been diagnosed

with motor neurone disease. the 37 year old won eight grand finals, 3 world club challenges and 2 challenge cups with leeds. burrow is one of several high profile sportsmen who've been diagnosed with mnd. former liverpool and bolton footballer stephen darby revealed he had the condition last year, and the scottish rugby legend doddy weir has been living with mnd since 2016. well burrow met with doddie and they spoke about their condition. is an athlete, were you just don't wa nt to is an athlete, were you just don't want to lie down, you want to compete. and they have the same mentality that i've got and yeah, i'm taking the challenge and i do not intend to lie down. i want to get stuck into it and we have quite

a few times, i am really proud of him taking the challenge and i think thatis him taking the challenge and i think that is the best way to be. england's world cup winning captain, eoin morgan, has landed an ipl contract worth more than half a million pounds. he'll bejoining the kol—kata knight riders. jason roy, chris woakes and sam curran have all earned six—figure contracts. kol—kata also spent 1.7 million pounds on australian fast bowler pat cummins, making him the most expensive overseas player in ipl history. only yuvraj singh — twice — and gautam gambhir have previously gone for more. cummins is currently the number one test bowler in the world i think he was the best player in we we re i think he was the best player in we were delighted to see him, he has grown into his body and become very robust in terms of injuries and he is the vice president of the team and that is a mark of his

development as a player in the last couple of years and i have already spoken to him that he is delighted to be back and he is going to be joining the team we have put together. time for a look at some of the other sports news stories making the headlines today. former england netball captain ama abweze has been presented with her mbe at buckingham palace today. she led england to commmonwealth gold last year. premiership rugby have announced a "comprehensive review" of their salary cap regulations. champions saracens were docked 35 points last month. and given a 5.36 million pound fine for breaching the regulations over 3 seasons. and 23 time grand slam champion serena williams has been giving boxing a try — and she's got a pretty good coach too — none other than the former heavyweight champion, mike tyson. she's clearly looking to bring some more fight to her game ahead of the australian open next month.

nicola adams made olympic history at london 2012, becoming the first female boxer to win gold. she turned professional in 2017 — but last month announced her retirement over fears she could lose her sight if she continued in the sport. well, now adams says she wants to pursue a career as an actor. she's been speaking to our sports reporterjo currie. three months ago she was at the top of her support. the olympic champion was preparing for world title fight with big plans to continue dominating boxing. but in injury put it all to an end. in my last fight, and the first round, i got caught with the thumb in my eye and it tore the pupil into places. so, yeah. quite painful so i spent most of the fight scene two people. they said if she continued to box, she made a blind, leaving her with the big

decision to make. it could be i get caught up with that one shot at the wrong time and he could have cost me my site and he just wasn't a risk that i was prepared to take. golden career, becoming the first ever female golden career, becoming the first everfemale olympic golden career, becoming the first ever female olympic boxing golden career, becoming the first everfemale olympic boxing champion at london 2012 before repeating defeat at rio four years later. it is also held world european and commonwealth titles as well as being awarded an obe. a true trailblazer. i had to be at the london olympics because it was the whole country just lit up and we had so much support from the whole nation and it was our first ever olympic gold and forfemale boxing,

was our first ever olympic gold and for female boxing, and was our first ever olympic gold and forfemale boxing, and made history. it has to be the highlight. adams is used to drama in the ring but she plans to swap the canvas for the big screen. is getting into allows younger, i enjoyed it and i decided and they played myself in waterloo. i had and they played myself in waterloo. ihad fun and they played myself in waterloo. i had fun and i'm hoping i get to do more. actually turned down a few opportunities while i was boxing so i'm looking forward to now taking up the opportunities that i missed.“ asserted think you like to do or just acting credulous as the acting side, i think. just acting credulous as the acting side, ithink. i've had just acting credulous as the acting side, i think. i've had enough of bashed about. that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers.

hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are the talkradio presenter daisy mcandrew and sian griffiths, education & families editor at the sunday times. many of tomorrow's front pages are already in. the government's ‘radical‘ queen's speech. borisjohnson‘s smile contrasting sharply with jeremy corbyn‘s stony expression. that same striking image dominates the guardian — with attention drawn

to the dismay felt by labour mps at the significant changes made to the brexit withdrawal bill since the tory election victory. the mail's reports a demand from the health minister for all nhs staff to get the flu vaccine — revealing that one in four health workers haven't yet had it. the metro carries the tragic story of a 47—year—old woman who died on the pavement from a cardiac arrest after falling over and waiting six hours for an ambulance to arrive. and the ft‘s front page is dominated by its report that former head of the financial conduct authority andrew bailey is favourite to replace mark carney as governor of the bank of england. the times says that the bank fo england faces scrutiny over a security breach that gave traders early access to market information. and the sun leads with the news that wayne rooney has a tunnel underneath his house linking the main house to his garage. that is not news to him, though it is for the rest of us. was he trying

to scrape brexit or christmas? there are dozens of things, potentially. we will leave them in for another day. the telegraph. borisjohnson promises a golden age for britain. it is not surprising that this is the headline in the telegraph. it very much dominated, taking slightly different minds, the guardian at the moment. the picture is such a good picture in one of the funny things watching the queen's speech today. the prime minister and the leader of the opposition were walking along side by side and at least attempted. they try to look like they're having a conversation. are having a good joke or looking at each other. not today. jeremy corbyn going straight ahead and jeremy corbyn was a few steps ahead of borisjohnson, refused to look him in the eye.

borisjohnson to try to engage me in conversation. the picture does tell the story of how furious and isolated jeremy corbyn us but talking about it being a golden age, the manifesto that we saw two months ago but this time, we are all taking it seriously. this is. this is their plan and a large emphasis, the biggest emphasis is on brexit, get it done. but apart from that, there's some meat on the bones. it done. but apart from that, there's some meat on the bonesm is quite an interesting contrast between the rather dumpy messages during the campaign from the opposition parties. we have to stop brexit it will, the scottish national party, labour saying that it was all falling apart and boris

talking