Reverend and the Makers frontman Jon McClure has quickly tempered expectations of a Wrexham-style transformation after becoming chairman of Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest football club.

McClure is spearheading a consortium that has secured a “significant minority” stake in the ninth-tier club, established in 1857.

He is joined by renowned music executive David Bianchi, who manages artists such as Tom Grennan and Charli XCX.

Despite the Hollywood-backed success of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in elevating Wrexham from non-league obscurity to a global phenomenon, McClure stated that such a journey is an “unlikely path” for his new club.

“I’m not Ryan Reynolds, and I’m not anywhere near that famous, right?” he said. “I’m well known nationally in the music world.

“The Wrexham thing is not how it’s really going to work. I think it’s a slightly different model. And also Wrexham is not the first club in the world. The club, in some ways, is the superstar.

“You see people bandying ideas about like we’re going to build a 15,000-seater stadium or we’re going to do a Wrexham and that suggests to me that you don’t know what you’re talking about.

“That’s not what we’re trying to do here. We’re trying to do something a little bit different, number one, and secondly, there is a limit to how big you can grow its fan base.

“I think it should live within its means and be sustainable, where it becomes a second club for everyone in the South Yorkshire region, firstly, then maybe nationally.

“And one day, who knows? But right about now, I think there’s a limit, and that’s good.

“Non-league, it’s difficult when you’re at this level. And so that’s why I assembled a team of people who could help me do it, because I am conscious of the fact that ‘rock star comes in and does football club’ could be conceived as a car crash waiting to happen.”

The ‘Heavyweight Champion of the World’ singer and his consortium will initially try to drive the commercial side of the club, focusing on Esports and hosting a football festival.

They will grow the women’s team but accept there is a ceiling on the men’s team’s growth, considering they are in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division and competing with Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United.

That is why McClure will not be following in the footsteps of YouTuber KSI, who made big promises when investing in Dagenham last week.

“We’re saying, these are our aims and ambitions, and we’re tempered with the reality that there is a ceiling, especially for the men’s team.

“There’s a limit to what can be achieved. And I think whilst we’re all mindful of that, we can’t go too far wrong.

“I’ve seen KSI be like ‘Premier League in five years’ and all this. What if you don’t do it, you’re going to look like a right wally, aren’t you?

“So I think just be realistic and be humble, right? Because we’re Sheffield people, Yorkshire people. Be humble.”

McClure’s next musical adventure is a collaboration with Robbie Williams.

“Rob lives in Miami, right? And he’s a very, very famous lad,” McClure added. “He is very busy, and does he want to get involved in Sheffield FC? I don’t know. I’ve never asked him.

“I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do. I don’t know. Will I bring him here? 100 per cent yes, and if he likes it, let’s see.”

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Oleksandr Usyk is taking Rico Verhoeven seriously, perhaps because he is looking ahead to a bigger challenge afterwards.

The elite southpaw faces kickboxing icon Verhoeven in Egypt on May 23 in a fight that focuses on spectacle after years of hard-fought wins on the road. Despite straying away from his usual matchmaking, Usyk has now assured fans that they can expect a return to top level championship boxing thereafter.

Speaking on DAZN’s Inside the Ring show, Usyk revealed that he will target becoming undisputed champion in the heavyweight division for a third time after the fight, his sights set firmly on either Daniel Dubois or Fabio Wardley.

“For me, it’s a real fight. Yes, Rico is not a good boxer, okay fun fight, no problem, but I want my next fight [against the] winner of Daniel Dubois and Wardley.”

Wardley was promoted from interim to full WBO champion when the Ukrainian vacated the belt rather than face him as mandatory challenger. His first defence against Dubois, set for May 9 in Manchester, is a dangerous one.

It is a legacy-driven strategy Usyk has employed in the past, dropping the IBF belt to allow Dubois to be elevated, defend against Anthony Joshua, and then face him to regain the strap. Should ‘DDD’ beat Wardley, he could be looking at a trilogy, but fan interest may dwindle given how the first two fights played out.

All of this depends on Usyk keeping hold of his three titles. Though the WBC belt is, highly controversially, on the line against Verhoeven, the IBF and WBA have not yet been mentioned. Those sanctioning bodies may well decide to declare their belts vacant.

The head of anti-discrimination body Kick It Out says that initial proposals by English football’s independent regulator “put equality, diversity and inclusion on the subs bench”.

The watchdog for the top five tiers of the men’s game is devising a new code of governance, with clubs having to show what they are doing to tackle under-representation of minorities in order to be granted a licence.

In correspondence sent to the independent football regulator (IFR) as part of a consultation process – and seen by BBC Sport – Kick It Out claims that the proposed measures are “inadequate”.

“[It] doesn’t go far enough in addressing the stubborn challenges that the game currently sees,” said Kick It Out chief executive Samuel Okafor.

“We’ve been really clear with the regulator in terms of the gap that currently exists. And the gap is significant.

“We’re really concerned that what we’ve seen in the first proposal, in essence, puts EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] on the subs bench, [and] maintains the status quo.

“It’s really important that the regulator uses the powers that it has to drive the change that we all want to see.”

Among a series of recommendations, Kick It Out says it wants annual publication of clubs’ workforce diversity data, and every club to have board-level accountability for EDI.

Last month, police confirmed they were investigating after four Premier League players experienced online racial abuse over the course of one weekend, and Okafor said the spate of incidents showed why change was required.

“It should send a message to the regulators [over] the importance of why EDI really matters, why they need to prioritise it, why they need to take it seriously,” he said.

In response, an IFR spokesperson said that it will shortly be launching a second consultation on its licensing policy, “and so it is premature to assert deficiencies in our approach to EDI”.

Australia has granted asylum to five members of the Iranian women’s football team who were visiting the country for a tournament when the Iran war began, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Tuesday. The women were transported from their hotel in Gold Coast, Australia “to a safe location” by Australian federal police officers in the early hours of Tuesday morning local time. There, they met with Burke and the processing of their humanitarian visas was finalized, the minister told reporters in Brisbane hours later.

“I say to the other members of the team the same opportunity is there,” Burke said. “Australia has taken the Iranian women’s soccer team into our hearts.”

Local news outlets reported that the squad numbered about 20 women. Burke didn’t detail what threats the players faced if they returned to Iran, but the asylum bids followed urging by Iranian groups in Australia and by U.S. President Donald Trump for the Australian government to offer help to the woman.

The Iranian team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the Iran war began. The team was knocked out of the tournament over the weekend and was facing the prospect of returning to a country under bombardment. Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari on Sunday said the players “want to come back to Iran as soon as we can,” according to Australia’s national news agency, AAP.

During the tournament, the players have mostly declined to comment on the situation at home, although Iran forward Sara Didar choked back tears in a news conference on Wednesday as she shared their concerns for their families, friends and all Iranians during the conflict.

The team’s silence during the anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last week was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clarified. They later sang and saluted during the anthem before their remaining two matches.

“These women are tremendously popular in Australia, but we realize they are in a terribly difficult situation with the decisions that they’re making,” Burke said. “The opportunity will continue to be there for them to talk to Australian officials if they wish to.”

Burke’s announcement came after Trump on Monday in Washington called on Australia to grant asylum to any team member who wanted it. Earlier that day, Trump had blasted Australia on social media, saying Australia was “making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the … team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed.” Trump called on Australia to grant the team asylum, adding: “The U.S. will take them if you won’t.”

Less than two hours later, in another social media post, Trump praised Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, saying, “He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.”

Trump also said that some players “feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return.”

Trump’s offer of asylum represented something of a change for the president, whose administration has sought to limit the number of immigrants who can receive asylum for political purposes