Football: Dalglish and Barnes to be Celtic double act

KENNY DALGLISH is set to be unveiled as Celtic's first technical director today. The 48-year-old former Parkhead favourite has reportedly agreed terms with the Glasgow side, who finished the Scottish Premier League campaign empty-handed after winning the title in 1998.

Dalglish, who has been out of the game since being sacked by Newcastle last August, has been the No 1 target of the chief executive, Allan MacDonald, since he took over the day-to-day running of the club from its owner, Fergus McCann, earlier this year.

Dalglish's success as a player with Celtic and Liverpool, plus title- winning stints as the manager of Liverpool and Blackburn, make him the ideal man to recapture the glory Celtic fans so desperately seek.

Another former Anfield favourite, John Barnes, is set to arrive next week as head coach. Dalglish's arrival is almost certain to signal the departure of team coach, Jozef Venglos. The Slovakian has spent just one year at the club but failed to win over the fans or the players with his thoughtful, considered style.

Blackburn Rovers are ready to cut the asking price on Chris Sutton to hurry through a sale, which may prompt an offer from Chelsea for the services of the unsettled striker.

Rovers have discovered that no one was willing to meet the initial asking price of pounds 12m for Sutton and the decision to accept pounds 9m has been taken by the Ewood Park board.

Egil Olsen has formally agreed to become the manager of Wimbledon. The Oslo side Valerenga, where Olsen is currently coach, have agreed to release him on 9 July.

Leicester City will not be in next season's Uefa Cup. The Norwegian club Bodo Glimt and Estonia's Tulevik Viljandi won the two "fair-play" places in the tournament in last night's ballot in Switzerland.

Leicester are preparing a pounds 3m bid to sign the Ipswich goalkeeper, Richard Wright.

Chris Kamara is having talks with Bristol City about becoming their manager, working alongside the club's director of football, Benny Lennartsson.