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Chris Wilder has been installed as the bookies’ favourite to become the next manager of Cardiff City following the sacking of Mick McCarthy. The 54-year-old Wilder has not taken up a new managerial role since leaving Sheffield United in March, when the club were bottom of the Premier League. Middlesbrough's 2-0 win over Cardiff on Saturday spelt the end for McCarthy, who had suffered a club record eight straight defeats.

Under fire Cardiff City boss Mick McCarthy admitted he rang up Steve Bruce before his 1,000th game as a manger because he wanted “to speak to someone who is feeling worse than me”. For Bruce it was 1,000 and out after the 3-2 home defeat for Newcastle United against Spurs and McCarthy could well follow him onto the dole queue if his side suffers an eighth successive defeat to Middlesbrough on Saturday. “I spoke to Steve the week before and I actually rang him because I thought I’d find someone who is feeling worse than me. He was top of my list,” said McCarthy.

The top end of the Swansea Valley has been a hotbed breeding ground for sporting talent for years. Bleddyn Bowen, Robert Jones, Greg Thomas, Justin Tipuric and Ben Davies are just some of the stars the local schools have honed in various sports. The current crop isn’t bad, either – Wales and Cardiff City footballer Rubin Colwill and Ospreys centre Joe Hawkins, who plays against Munster on Saturday night, and who spoke to Graham Thomas. Joe Hawkins is keen to follow his old football rival Rubin Colwill onto the full international stage, but is happy to bide his time. Ospreys centre Hawkins and fellow 19-year-old Colwill – already a senior Wales football international after a breakthrough year at Cardiff City - used to play football against each other as 15-year-olds, until Hawkins gave his sole attention to rugby.

Brinn Bevan said he had “mixed emotions” after marking his return to gymnastics’ world stage. Wales’ 2016 Olympian was back competing for Great Britain at the 2021 Artistic World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan alongside fellow Wales Commonwealth Games contender Joe Cemlyn-Jones – who was making his debut at a major championship. It was the first time since 1987 that Wales had two senior men’s artistic gymnasts in the Great Britain team in the same year for an Artistic World Championships.

Neil Warnock has told angry Cardiff City fans: “Be careful what you wish for.” The Bluebirds’ former manager returns to his old club for the first time with fans in the ground since he was sacked almost two years ago. Warnock brings his Middlesbrough side to the Welsh capital with many home fans having regularly called for current boss Mick McCarthy to be fired.

Welsh golfers Archie Davies and Ffion Tyan are currently in the USA, learning their craft in the most demanding competitions in the world for prospective professional golfers – the American collegiate system. Their progress is proof that the future of elite golf in Wales is in good hands with those players acting as role models for the grass roots, as Tom Prosser reports. Jamie Donaldson was the last Welshman to represent Europe at a Ryder Cup back in 2014, but with a new winning mindset introduced by Golf Wales, hopes are high that the next Welsh golfing star may be just around the corner. Gillian O’Leary - director of performance for Golf Wales - says one of her biggest tasks since swapping her native Ireland for Wales has been to change the mindset of some of the golfers she works with.   

By Tom Prosser Cardiff City lost their seventh straight league game last night away to Fulham and manager Mick McCarthy admitted that his future at the club is in serious doubt. The defeat marked the Bluebirds worst run of form since 1933. "It leaves me on the back end of a really horrible run of results," said McCarthy. "And if football is true to its usual stuff then we know what happens.

Russell Martin insists there is still much more to come from Swansea City after the head coach lavished more praise on match-winning pair Joel Piroe and Jamie Paterson. Both players scored for the second successive game as the Swans beat high-flying West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday night to make it back-to-back victories in the Championship for the first time this season. The 2-1 victory – achieved after Martin’s side had fallen a goal down inside the opening minute – has lifted the club up to 15th place, four points off the play-off spots.