Real Sociedad exit no surprise for Toshack

John Toshack has admitted he was not surprised at his sacking by the Spanish club, Real Sociedad, on Monday.

The Welshman was replaced as coach by Sociedad's former goalkeeper, Roberto Olabe. The Basque side's president, Jose Luis Astiazaran, explained that, with Real second from bottom of La Liga following last weekend's 2-0 home defeat to Tenerife, the time had come for change.

"It didn't surprise me because there are no surprises in football," Toshack said yesterday. "I imagined something was up when the president called me and then when I saw so many journalists."

The former Wales and Swansea City manager accepted the decision – which ends his third spell at the club – with good grace. "I understand it has been taken for the good of Real Sociedad and I hope it serves to help save the club," he said. "I am not going to say whether I think it is rushed or not, I only hope it is correct. Real have always been special for me, that's why I came back here."

Olabe, who retired through injury in 1999, was coaching the junior side before winning an unlikely promotion to his first senior coaching job. Toshack claimed the decision to give the job to Olabe was "brave and risky".

Leicester City are giving an extended trial to the former Real Madrid left-back Victor. The 31-year-old is available after leaving Real Betis.

The Peterborough United midfielder, Tom Williams, is set to seal a £1m move to Birmingham City after initially joining Blues on loan. Svetoslav Todorov's move from West Ham to Portsmouth is back on again after the Home Office granted the Bulgarian striker a work permit. The £750,000 deal is subject to a medical today.

The Nottingham Forest striker David Johnson has completed a loan switch to Burnley. His loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday expired last week. The Grimsby Town striker, Mike Jeffrey, has joined Scunthorpe United on loan.

In Italy, Lazio players locked themselves in a dressing room when hundreds of angry fans stormed their training ground yesterday. Lazio were beaten 5-1 by their local rivals Roma in Serie A on Sunday. The squad were stuck for almost two hours until police arrived.

The Internazionale striker, Ronaldo, who has not played a match since December, was named yesterday in the Brazil squad for a friendly with Yugoslavia on 27 March.