| Eriksson in talks over Leicester vacancy • Swede in talks over two-year deal at Walkers Stadium• Eriksson likely to be offered seven-figure salarySven-Goran Eriksson is poised to make a return to English football after Leicester City approached the former England coach to replace Paulo Sousa, who was sacked after less than three months at the club.Leicester's chief executive, Lee Hoos, is reported to have held talks in London with the former Manchester City, Mexico and Ivory Coast manager about a two-year deal at the Walkers Stadium.The list of possible replacements for Sousa had included the former Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill but he yesterday ruled out a return to the east Midlands club he led to success in the 90s.Leicester hope the 62-year-old Swede, who would become Leicester's 15th manager since 2004, will be installed at the Championship club by Monday. Eriksson already has an offer to join the Arabian club Al Hilal on a one-year, £1.2m contract.Leicester's new owners, headed by the 25-year-old Thai businessman Aiyawatt Raksriaksorn, may have to offer Eriksson a seven-figure salary and the agent Pini Zahavi is said to be taking a part in the negotiations.Sousa's sacking has provoked an angry reaction from the League Managers Association, which has criticised the decision of the Leicester chairman, Milan Mandaric. As recently as Thursday Mandaric had appeared to back the Portuguese, with the club at the foot of the Championship."Things go wrong but we can't turn things upside down now," he said. "We can't turn things around now and say Paulo needs to go. Now is the time for us to show how strong we are together."The LMA chief executive, Richard Bevan, said: "Knee-jerk dismissals and the chopping and changing of managers will not deliver success on the field and is incredibly destabilising. It is damaging to the club and its fans and is an inappropriate way to treat talented managers and their careers."Sousa said: "To be sacked after being told there was a long-term strategy at the club and after only nine games in charge is something I find very surprising. The recent history of the club has seen many such changes of managers and, in my opinion, clubs need stability to build success."The coaches Mike Stowell and Chris Powell will take charge for the home match against Scunthorpe today.Sven-Göran ErikssonLeicester Cityguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Birmingham City v Everton: Live Follow live commentary of the Premier League game between Birmingham City and Everton at St Andrews on Saturday Oct 2 2010. telegraph.co.uk |
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will not be sold in January transfer window Man United respond to suggestions Wayne Rooney's alleged rift with Sir Alex Ferguson is so great he will be ushered out of club. telegraph.co.uk |
FIFA officials sell World Cup votes: report Two FIFA officials have offered to sell their votes on which country will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup, according to a newspaper report. foxsports.com.au |
BenÃtez makes cryptic attack on owners • BenÃtez also criticises managing director Christian Purslow• 'We have a saying: White liquid in a bottle has to be milk'Rafael BenÃtez today launched a cryptic attack on Liverpool's ousted owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, as well as the current managing director Christian Purslow.BenÃtez, whose six-year reign as manager ended in the summer, was responding to Hicks's claim that he was largely to blame for Liverpool's worst ever start to a Premier League season. Hicks had accused BenÃtez of wasting much of the money he was given to spend during the latter half of his tenure.But a clearly irked BenÃtez this afternoon insisted the Americans were to blame, citing their of appointment Purslow in the summer of last year as the beginning of a downward spiral that ended in the Spaniard's exit. In an outburst reminiscent of Eric Cantona's famous quote featuring seagulls and trawlers, the Internazionale manager compared the events leading up to his departure to a bottle of milk."I prefer not to talk too much about Liverpool," said BenÃtez, who watched the Merseyside derby defeat on Sunday which left his former club second bottom of the table. "I prefer not to talk about this because I feel really sorry for the fans."I was watching the fans and I was really sad after the defeat the other day. We have a saying in Spanish, which is: 'White liquid in a bottle has to be milk.'"BenÃtez, who led Liverpool to second place in the Premier League in 2009 but could manage only seventh last term, added: "What does this mean? It means that after 86 points and finishing second in the league, what changed? The Americans, they chose a new managing director and everything changed."So, what changed? The managing director is involved in all the decisions: new lawyer, new chief of press, new manager, nine new players, new medical staff, new fitness coaches – they changed everything. At the beginning, they changed the managing director who was talking with some players, and they changed everything that we were doing in the past."So, if you want to ask again what was going on, it's simple: they changed something and, at the end, they changed everything. So, white liquid in a bottle: milk. You will know who is to blame."Pressed further on the matter, BenÃtez would only say: "White liquid in a bottle. If I see John the milkman in the Wirral, where I was living, with this bottle, I'd say, 'It's milk, sure.'"Rafael BenÃtezLiverpoolInternazionaleguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |