Bits And Bobs

Last updated : 19 September 2007 By Editor

* Sky:

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has dismissed reports that his unsettled assistant Pako Ayesteran could be set for a move to a rival club.

Ayesteran was Benitez's number two at Tenerife and Valencia before he followed the Reds chief to Merseyside.

But in August news broke that the Spaniard was set to quit Anfield, and for the time being he has been placed on extended 'garden leave'.

There is now mounting speculation that Chelsea and Manchester United are trailing Benitez's right-hand man, but the Liverpool boss has rejected the claims, explaining that his contract would not allow such a move.


* Chelsea recorded a record low attendance in their 1-1 home draw with Rosenborg last night. Just 24,973 attended.

* The prospects of a hostile takeover at Arsenal increased after Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov became the club's second-biggest shareholder. He is represented by the odious David Dein.