The Guardian reported this morning that Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric has been denied permission to interview Rangers manager Alex McLeish, and Southampton assert they’ve not consented to allow Harry Redknapp to discuss a possible return to Pompey.

Sheffield Wednesday have allowed Portsmouth to negotiate with the former’s current manager, Neil Warnock, a fascinating turn given he’d earlier expressed no interest in the job.


(Luis Garcia, scoring Liverpool’s first Wednesday night)

There’s a duel for the affections of CSTB’s eyeballs this afternoon, as FSC is featuring Liverpool at Sunderland (the visitors ahead, 2-0, with neither goal by Peter Crouch, predictably enough), while Setanta has Wigan’s 4th round Carling Cup tie with Newcastle (0-0 with about 7 minutes left). With all due respect to the White Sox and Los Angeles Clippers, Wigan are the surprise team of 2005.