Football: Reid signs for three more years at City

CONSISTENCY, a word rarely applied to Manchester City, was recognised yesterday when the club awarded Peter Reid a new three-and-a-half-year contract. 'We hope he will see the club through into the next century,' the chairman, Peter Swales, said. If Reid, 36, were to stay for five years on his new terms his wages would top pounds 1m.

City have been negotiating with Reid since Christmas, the manager insisting on having the last word on coaching appointments. Under Reid, City have finished in the top five in successive seasons, are currently eighth and through to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Reid has also reorganised the coaching and scouting system, Colin Bell returning to rejoin Tony Book only last week.

Reid added: 'I like to think that the club have made progress since I took over from Howard Kendall but we haven't won anything yet. I want to see some silverware in our cabinet.'

City have been concerned by reports that Everton were planning to move Kendall upstairs to general manager, possibly leaving a team-manager vacancy for the former Evertonian Reid.

Ian Porterfield, meanwhile, was ruminating on becoming the 13th manager to be fired this season, sacked by Chelsea on Monday afternoon after 12 games without a win. 'Results have been disappointing but this still came as a shock,' he said. 'I was called in to see the chairman after taking training.'

David Webb, the new incumbent, has until the end of the season to persuade the Chelsea chairman, Ken Bates, that he can succeed where John Neal, John Hollins and Porterfield have all failed during Bates's 11-year period of office.

The Fifa general secretary, Sepp Blatter, who caused a furore last month when he suggested that kick-ins might replace throw-ins in future, hinted yesterday that three points for a win may be awarded in the qualifying stages of next year's World Cup finals. The suggestion emanates from the American host organisation, World Cup '94, which is anxious that the US television public should not be exposed to too many deliberately drawn matches.

Fifa has already given the new Japanese Professional League permission for penalty shoot-outs in league games and is considering shoot-outs in the knock-out stages of the World Cup. Fifa is also proposing that women's football be included in the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. If the Atlanta organisers agree, the proposal will be put formally to the International Olympic Committee. The US won the first women's world championship in China in 1991.