Gray to take over at Saints after all

Stuart Gray will be named the new Southampton manager today despite having been told the club wanted a more experienced figure to take charge.

Gray was given the chance to impress after Glenn Hoddle left, but failed to come up with satisfactory results. However, Steve McClaren, Davie Moyes and Harry Redknapp all turned down the chance to join the Saints and Bruce Rioch was interviewed but refused to take on the job as No 2 in a proposed management team.Ray Harford is now favourite for the role turned down by Rioch.

Gerry Francis has accepted the offer of a second spell as manager of Bristol Rovers, where he was first in charge between 1987 and 1991. The former Tottenham and Queen's Park Rangers manager led the Pirates to the old Third Division title in 1990 and now must try to restore Rovers to the Second.

Francis had moved into the role of director of football at QPR, but had been linked with the job at the Memorial Ground since the end of last season. Garry Thompson, who acted as caretaker manager for the last two months of last season, will remain as Francis's assistant.

Sunderland have signed the French international Lilian Laslandes in a £3.6m deal. The 29-year-old Bordeaux striker has signed a four-year contract.

The Spanish club Osasuna have signed John Aloisi from Coventry City. The Australian international striker, who moves for a fee of about £1.2m, will sign a four-year contract after appearing to be poised to sign for Crystal Palace.

As a result of his change of heart, Steve Bruce, the Palace manager, has turned to the Blackburn Rovers striker Nathan Blake in his search for a proven First Division goalscorer. The Welsh international, who would cost £1.5m, is not part of Graeme Souness's plans at Ewood Park.

Mustapha Hadji's proposed move from Coventry to Aston Villa in a swap deal involving the striker Julian Joachim is in danger of falling through because the clubs have not been able to agree on the cash settlement for the Moroccan midfielder, with Villa offering £1m and Coventry seeking £3m.

The agent of John Hartson, who has been linked with a move to Leicester City, has denied reports that the Welsh international striker has asked for a transfer from Coventry, who were relegated to the First Division in May.

The Fulham manager, Jean Tigana, is trying to sign the French striker Antoine Sibierski in a £3.5m deal from Lens. Tigana, frustrated in his transfer quests so far, hopes to agree a price with the French side.

The former Lens midfielder Olivier Dacourt has pledged his future to Leeds by signing a new five-year contract.

Hibernian have signed the Bosnian utility player Alen Orman from Royal Antwerp for a fee of about £100,000. The 23-year-old has signed a four-year deal and becomes Alex McLeish's second summer capture following the £700,000 signing of the Ecuador international Ulises de la Cruz.

The South American Football Confederation's president, Nicolas Leoz, could not confirm yesterday whether the Copa America would go ahead in Colombia in July, after the vice-president of the Colombian FA was kidnapped in the latest incident to cast doubt over the tournament's future.