Liverpool lose in Istanbul
Championship round-up
Megson leaves Leicester
FIFA rankings released
Staunton loses Republic job
Pericard released
Liverpool face an uphill struggle if they are to qualify for the latter stages of the Champions League after a 2-1 defeat against Besiktas in Istanbul. The Reds now have just one point from a possible nine to leave them bottom of Group A. Celtic continued their miserable Champions League away form by slumping to a 1-0 defeat to Benfica in Portugal. The one bright note for British clubs came at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea comfortably beat Schalke 04 2-0.
In the Championship, Bristol City beat Southampton 2-1 at Ashton Gate to move up the second in the table. The visitors misery was compounded when Youssef Safri was sent off late on. At Ninian Park, Wolverhampton Wanderers came from 2-1 down to beat Cardiff City 2-3 and now find themselves in third.
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Gary Megson has parted company with Leicester City after only six weeks, increasing speculation that he will become the next Bolton Wanderers boss. Assistant boss Frank Burrows and Gerry Taggart have been put in temporary control at Leicester, who are now looking for their sixth manager in 18 months. Foxes chairman Milan Mandaric added that he had agreed a compensation package with Bolton - thought to be about £300,000.
The FIFA world rankings have been released. England fell from ninth to 11th following defeat against Russia while Scotland are hot on their heels after climbing from 14th to 13th. Elsewhere, Argentina lead the rankings, Brazil are second, Italy third, the Republic of Ireland are 32nd, Northern Ireland 36th and Wales 58th.
As expected, the Football Association of Ireland has terminated the contract of Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton by mutual consent following an emergency meeting. Under-21 boss Don Givens will take temporary charge of the senior side after Staunton’s assistant Kevin MacDonald and goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly were also axed.
Stoke City striker Vincent Pericard has been released from prison for a second time. Pericard was initially sentenced to four months in prison in August after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice but was granted an early release after being fitted with an electronic tag. He was then re-arrested on October 11 following problems with the tagging system.
Nathan Davies
October 25th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Why Crouch wasn’t on from the start for Liverpool is beyond me….as is why Bolton want Gary Megson, bit of a backward step surely??