Manchester City are not expected to stand in the way of the fiercely patriotic Stuart Pearce's plans to take charge of the England Under 21 squad, even though the club originally expressed its disapproval of their manager's initial talks with the FA.
Pearce said on Sunday he would like to love the chance to replace Peter Taylor in the role, if City reached an agreement with the FA. But in a statement, the club said it had not given permission for Pearce to be released for England duty.
Speaking at the weekend, Pearce said he was confident he would be able to combine the role of coaching the Under 21s with managing City. About the club's response to him taking the job, he said: "Hopefully they can finalise one or two things and I do not see any reason why that shouldn't be the case. It would be a fantastic honour to manage an England team."
In Manchester City's official statement, released on their official website, the club said: "We recognise Stuart's patriotism and enthusiasm to assist the Football Association and Manchester City in turn understands the FA's desire to have him contributing to the Under 21s European Championship campaign. We will remain in dialogue with the FA and hope to reach a solution suitable to this club in the next few days."
The FA confirmed the situation in their own statement. It read: "The FA will continue speaking with Manchester City over the next few days with regard to reaching an appropriate agreement with Stuart Pearce to manage England's Under 21 team."
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has dismissed speculation he will leave the club at the end of the season. "I don't have to be confident I am staying. I have a contract until 2010, which is important," he said after the 3-0 FA Cup win over Nottingham Forest.
"I am manager today, I am the manager until the end of the season and I believe I will be the manager until the end of 2010. If I believe what I read in the press there are 11 candidates for my job but I don't get influenced by that."
Despite the reports of unrest at Stamford Bridge, the Blues are still in the hunt for four trophies and Mourinho says that is all he is focusing on at the moment. "I just want to do my work well - the best I can," he said. "The players feel that I am exactly the same - with the same desires and motivation. We are together to chase our targets and we are alive in all of them."
There have been rumours that Mourinho's relationship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is rocky, but Mourinho said: "The only thing I can tell you 100 per cent for sure is that everyone at this club wants to win. That is the most important thing and when I read that we are not pushing in the same direction that is completely untrue.
"Roman and I speak. We speak as always but with a difference. The difference is that Roman is not in London for quite a long time but I have no complaints about that because he is the owner of this club and he does not have to give any explanation about his professional and personal life. He pays me and chief executive Peter Kenyon quite a lot to run this club so he does not have to be around. When he is back he is always welcome in our dressing room. When he is not around it is because he has other things to do or he prefers to do other things."
Birmingham defender Matthew Upson has accused the club of pricing him out of a move to the Premiership after Blues turned down a £6m-plus offer from West Ham. Upson said: "I think the fee that has been offered by West Ham is a realistic offer, a good sum of money, £6million plus bits and pieces, but we have a difference of opinion.
"I will see how it goes over the next three or four days. It is a bit disappointing in that I feel the goal posts are being moved every week if you like. I know it has been labelled the silly season but I think Birmingham have had a pretty good offer for me and yet they have decided to decline it.
"I think figures of £8-£10million for me are silly money given I've only got 17 months left on my contract and I've declined any offers of a new contract. Will I still be at Birmingham on February 1? I can't answer that. It is that type of situation.
"I don't know if another bid is going to be made. I don't know if Birmingham are going to make a U-turn. I just don't know. But if Birmingham go up, I would not think of staying. That would make no difference."
