Leeds United chairman Peter Ridsdale has been dealt another blow by caretaker boss David O'Leary after temporarily calling off his hunt for Martin O'Neill.
O'Leary has been handed full control of team affairs for the matches at Nottingham Forest on Saturday and the UEFA Cup second-round tie with AS Roma on Tuesday.
O'Leary, though, was last night remaining adamant he does not want the job on a permanent basis, not even until the end of the season, which means Ridsdale is likely to be back to square one when he holds a board meeting.
"I said at the very start I'm not interested in the job, and I'm not interested in the job," O'Leary said. "When the Leicester game came up a couple of weeks ago I was supposed to be in competition with Martin O'Neill, with the winner of the game taking the big prize. What a load of rubbish.
"I stand by what I said and that is that I will try to do my best for this club until they get somebody in."
The Irishman's decision is the latest twist to a series of events which began 10 days ago.
O'Neill has made it clear he wants to talk to Leeds, citing a gentleman's agreement which he claims was made during the summer between himself, club chairman John Elsom and plc chair man Sir Rodney Walker.
It's a claim vehemently denied by Elsom and Sir Rodney, with the League Managers' Association intervening and urging O'Neill not to walk out because of the impasse, a prospect the 46-year-old admitted he would not consider.
After a frantic 24 hours in which every effort was made to convince Leicester to allow O'Neill to speak with Leeds, Ridsdale has decided enough is enough.
"We have today decided to draw a line under the current uncertainty so that we can concentrate on the important games at Nottingham Forest and Roma due in the next few days," he said. "David O'Leary and Eddie Gray will therefore be in total control of first team matters for these two games and upon our return from Rome next week we will hold a board meeting to decide what options are available to us."
Ridsdale is refusing to rule O'Leary out of the equation, though, particularly as there appears to be no one to turn to if he is unable to prise O'Neill out of Filbert Street.
O'Leary faces a touchline and dressing-room ban in Rome, with a result of an appeal expected this afternoon.
In Germany, Bayern Munich yesterday fined controversial midfielder Stefan Effenberg after he was caught drink-driving.
"We have talked about it in the club and we can't and will not tolerate his behaviour," said Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. "We can't accept that he was still out at half past three in the morning. We have sanctioned the player."
Effenberg was found to have 1.07 grams of alcohol per litre of blood - more than twice the legal limit of 0.5 grams/litre - during a routine police check outside Munich early on Wednesday.
Hitzfeld did not reveal the amount of the fine but said: "He will have to play quite a few games to get the money for it."
In Rome, police raided the Italian cycling federation's headquarters yesterday as part of their investigation into drugs in domestic sport.
The police also raided the Italian Olympic Committee headquarters and its laboratory, taking away documents going back to 1985 on drugs tests carried out, particularly concerning cycling.
Two boxes of pharmaceutical products were also taken away.
Earlier yesterday Carlo Tranquilli, one of the Italian Football Federation's official doctors, said he was resigning in the wake of the doping scandal.
Tranquilli had come in for severe criticism by federation president Luciano Nizzola regarding the hit-and-miss system of doping tests in the Italian league.
The inquiry has broadened since it was revealed that the CONI laboratory had tested only a fraction of footballers' samples, destroyed results and was accused of covering up positive tests.
