Football: Torino set to sack Souness

Speculation was mounting last night that Graeme Souness would today be sacked as coach of Torino, who have made a poor start to the season in Italy's Serie B. Souness was summoned to a meeting yesterday with Torino's president, Massimo Vidulich, and other executives at the club.

Souness arrived in Italy in the summer after leaving Southampton. His task was to gain promotion, but their disastrous start continued on Sunday with a 4-0 defeat by Verona. They are 14th out of 20 in the division with only seven points from six games under Souness.

It is understood that the club will give the Scot a pounds 750,000 pay-off, as he signed a two-year contract in the summer.

Last night, reports from Italy suggested that Souness would be replaced by the former coach of Brescia, Edoardo Reja.

Before joining Southampton, Souness had been in charge of Rangers, Liverpool and Galatasaray, of Turkey.