Leicester delay decision on Collymore

Leicester City have delayed making a decision on troubled striker Stan Collymore's future until next week.

Leicester City have delayed making a decision on troubled striker Stan Collymore's future until next week.

He has been ordered to stay away from Filbert Street until an investigation into a half-time bust up with team-mates had been completed.

Manager Peter Taylor has questioned Collymore and fellow striker Trevor Benjamin over the incident, which happened during a home reserve team game against Charlton on Monday.

Collymore met for an hour today with Taylor to discuss the row.

Benjamin remains part of Taylor's current plans and will be in contention for a place in Saturday's Premiership encounter with Liverpool at Anfield.

Taylor will spend the next few days mulling over Monday's events before delivering his recommendation on what action should be taken against Collymore.

But it is clear that he intends to ensure that matters are conducted in a thorough and proper manner so that he is legally on safe ground if he decides that Collymore's contract should be terminated.

"Stan came into the club today and I've heard his and Trevor's point of view," said Taylor.

"They both gave statements to me and we had someone taking notes from both parties on what they say happened on Monday.

"I want to investigate fully what went on and what exactly happened first of all. I want something clear and defined as to where we are going with this situation. We have got to do things right and in the correct manner.

"I will now report back to the board of directors and I will be putting a recommendation to the board as to what I think should happen. Hopefully within a week we will come up with some kind of answer.

"But in the meantime Stan is not training. He is staying away from the club at the moment which I think is best for everybody concerned."

Taylor revealed that Collymore had not stormed out of the ground after the alleged bust-up with Benjamin and was always scheduled to be substituted after 45 minutes of his match since asking for a transfer three weeks ago.

He said: "I would like to point out that it was agreed Stan was coming off at half-time and that he would go as soon as the second half started.

"He didn't rush out of the ground without us knowing. That was always agreed."

Taylor did not see the dressing-room incident, although he had spotted the spat between Collymore and Benjamin during the first half, which is alleged to have spilled over during the interval.

"I could tell that Stan and Trevor had a slight disagreement over one incident about a pass which didn't get through," said the Leicester manager.

"I did not see what went on in the dressing room. I was in the stand talking to Lennie Lawrence (the Grimsby manager) at the time, but then got the call to go downstairs.

"My first reaction was 'oh no' when I was told what had happened and 'what can I do?' - I'm half the size of the pair of them!"

Taylor again emphasised his disappointment at the chain of events involving Collymore since he replaced Martin O'Neill as manager.

He said: "I told Stan in our meeting today that I was really disappointed with the way things had gone because when I got the phone call to become Leicester manager I was really looking forward to working with him.

"I knew the ability he has got and it's disappointing and frustrating because we've had a problem scoring as many goals as I would have liked - and a fit and focused Stan would help to improve that situation.

"The players also know how terrific Stan can be from when he first joined the club and scored a great hat-trick against Sunderland.

"I am sure they would prefer this current problem not to be here - as we all would.

"But it has not affected them in training. In training it has not been discussed and they have been excellent this week in concentrating on Saturday's game with Liverpool.

"They were disappointed with the way they performed against Manchester United and have been very professional in trying to make sure they put it right at Liverpool this weekend."