"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

Newcastle United have sacked Chris Hughton from his position as manager.

The club have put reserve team boss and ex-Magpies striker Peter Beardsley in charge of first team affairs.

Hughton's departure came a day after Newcastle lost 3-1 at West Brom, a result which left them 11th in the Premier League table.

The 51-year-old guided Newcastle back into the top flight last season but the club said it was looking for someone "with more managerial experience".

Alan Pardew, Martin Jol, Martin O'Neill and Alan Curbishley are the bookmakers' favourites to replace Hughton.

Former Tottenham boss Jol quit as manager of Dutch side Ajax on Monday.

Brought the team back from disaster, keeping them in mid-table, well liked by all the players and staff, fan favourite. Naturally they sacked him without even having a firm replacement; what else would the NUFC front office do?

From AP, Friday:

Bogota, Colombia — Retired football hero Faustino Asprilla has been placed under house arrest on charges related to illegal possession of weapons and criminal damage, his lawyer said Thursday.

Asprilla, know simply as Tino, has denied the charges. His lawyer, Carlos Sanchez, said Thursday he would appeal.

Known as much for his off-field problems as his career achievements, Asprilla's latest scandal occurred on April 19, when he is accused of spraying a privately run security checkpoint with a machine gun near his farm in southwestern Colombia. The security post was struck by 29 bullets.

The owners of the guard house say that Asprilla reacted violently when a security guard refused to let Asprilla's friends, three women and a bodyguard, pass. No one was hurt.