Todd sacked, Ravanelli next?

Fabrizio Ravanelli will today have talks about becoming Derby County's player-manager after the Premiership club sacked Colin Todd last night only three months after appointing him to succeed Jim Smith.

Derby's chairman Lionel Pickering has identified the Italian striker as having the credentials to prevent Derby's six-year stay in the top tier of English football ending in relegation this season. Ravanelli figures prominently on a shortlist that also includes Roy Hodgson.

Ravanelli, scorer of 10 goals since signing from Lazio last summer, was permitted to fly to Milan in the wake of Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa but the former Italy international returned last night and, along with his agent Giovanni Paladini, is due to begin negotiations with Pickering.

"It is Fabrizio's dream to become a manager and he loves it at Derby," said Paladini. "We do not know exactly what is going on but I'm sure he would be interested. Management is the next natural step."

Ravanelli's elevation until the end of the season would afford Derby the time to look at more established candidates. Hodgson, the former Blackburn manager, will be discussed at length but George Graham is considered out of the club's reach. Derby are also monitoring John Gregory's position at Aston Villa.

Although at least one of the club's directors is sceptical about Ravanelli's credentials, his nomadic and often controversial reputation is not expected to deter Pickering from offering a short-term contract and the former Middlesbrough striker clearly wants to take the jump into management.

Even so, if Ravanelli is preferred to Hodgson it would be one of the most remarkable appointments of recent times.

"I find it amazing Ravanelli is even being mentioned," said Frank Clark, of the League Managers' Association. "It's just another example of someone with a big name, a glamorous image but no coaching background whatsover. Ravanelli wouldn't get within a million miles of managing a Serie A club.

"But then again nothing surprises me these days. It's absolutely ridiculous that Colin had had only three months to prove himself. The people who appointed him should take a long hard look at themselves because it makes you wonder why they gave him the job in the first place."

Todd had failed to lift Derby out of the relegation zone since replacing Smith, with only four wins out of his 17 games in charge. Saturday's defeat leaves them 19th in the Premiership and nine days ago they suffered the ignominy of Bristol Rovers eliminating them from the FA Cup, winning 3-1 at Pride Park.

"Colin has been aware the chairman was not happy with the way things were going," said Derby's chief executive Keith Loring. "With 16 games to play, the overwhelming feeling is that we need a change of direction and a new impetus.

"Colin was appointed as assistant manager in October 2000 and, when Jim Smith left the club a year later, it was felt he should be given his chance as manager. Since then, however, we have lost 11 games of the 17 played. We are second to bottom in the league and we were knocked out of the FA Cup by a struggling Third Division team. I think Colin felt this might be happening and, when I spoke to him, he was very calm. He's a gentleman and a professional and the conversation was fine."

In a statement Pickering said: "The board met last week and we agreed to review the manager's position this week in the light of Saturday's match at Aston Villa. We were due to meet on Tuesday but following media speculation over the weekend we felt that it was only fair to Colin, and the club, that we made this announcement now.

Derby's reserve team manager Billy McEwan is in temporary charge of the first team.

What they said yesterday

'It's taken me by surprise. I'm very sorry for Colin Todd because he's always been very nice to me.'

Fabrizio Ravanelli

'Fabrizio has been 100% loyal to Colin. It's important that speculation linking his name with the manager's position does not affect his relationship with his fellow players.'

Lionel Pickering

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