The walk-out he staged at half-time in the 3-2 defeat to West Ham at Highbury

The walk-out he staged at half-time in the 3-2 defeat to West Ham at Highbury on Wednesday night was a dramatic way of articulating the unhappiness Campbell feels at a slump in form that has been evident for a while. The Arsenal defender will not be in the team to face Birmingham City tomorrow - instead he will be considering a comeback next week that will decide whether he still has a future in the game. The break, Ars? Wenger hopes, will do Sol Campbell some good. There will be plenty of time for one of English football's most introspective souls to reflect this weekend as he uses the five-day holiday granted to him by his manager. If the centre forward contests the charge the case will be heard a week today.If he is found guilty, an additional three-match suspension seems certain, which will rule him out of action until either the Premiership encounter with Fulham on 11 March or against Aston Villa seven days later, depending on the outcome of Everton's FA Cup replay at Chelsea.. Ferguson, who has a notoriously short temper, is already facing a three-match ban after being sent off by the referee Mike Dean for punching the Latics defender Paul Scharner in the stomach during the 1-1 draw. However, it has now transpired that Dean missed Ferguson shoving his hand into the face of Pascal Chimbonda immediately after the Scharner incident.Dean has informed the FA that, had he witnessed the incident, which occurred before he red-carded the striker, it would have warranted a dismissal on its own.The FA has decided to act and have given Ferguson until 6pm today to respond to the charge.

Duncan Ferguson, the Everton striker, has been charged with a second count of violent conduct by the Football Association following incidents during the Premiership match with Wigan Athletic on Tuesday. He knew his time was up and I think he felt some of the recent criticism had gone too far."As Souness was increasingly apt to say, for a manager of Newcastle United, that is the price on the ticket.Talk of the Toon: Four contenders to take over at St James'Sven Goran Eriksson ENGLAND COACHOutsider but Newcastle would like someone with such a high profile and good track record.Sam Allardyce BOLTON MANAGERThe early favourite has often been linked to the job but may have an eye on England.Martin O'Neill FORMER CELTIC MANAGERA Newcastle favourite but is caring for his sick wife and has set no date for a return.The Angel of the North A STATUEAfter a string of unsuccessful managers perhaps only spiritual help can save Newcastle.. We turned up to training and heard a rumour he'd come to say goodbye. He doesn't deserve this." Even by recent standards, the surrender at the City of Manchester Stadium was abject Solano added: "I think he knew something would happen. He brought me back to the club I love and I will always owe him that. Nol Solano, the South American midfielder, admitted that the players must shoulder much of the blame: "We know we've let the manager down and we didn't want to put him in this position."I feel sad for him. I'm happy enough with my job here," he said.Effectively, Newcastle are competing with the Football Association to attract a new manager.

Mick Quinn, a former darling of St James' Park, is in little doubt as to the more important role: "Managing Newcastle is a bigger job than managing England," he insisted.Eriksson might beg to differ, and well placed sources suggest he is likely to be offered an opportunity to compare and contrast the roles, although Newcastle are in no hurry to make an immediate appointment.Rather than hindering his chances of a return to domestic management in the North-east, the unavoidable celebrity that helped seal the Swede's England downfall is something Shepherd is happy to accommodate in order to lure a coach he respects highly.Souness may be gone, but the recriminations have only just begun. We're not in the comfort zone at the moment and we have some big games coming up."Bookmakers are rarely wrong, but there are obstacles to both early frontrunners becoming the club's sixth manager of the Premiership era.Sam Allardyce, the 6-1 favourite, far from endeared himself to Shepherd when, in 2004, he turned down the opportunity to succeed Sir Bobby Robson, paving the way for Souness, initially not in the first three choices, to take charge.Shepherd is an admirer Martin O'Neill, who has also been installed at a short price, although the Newcastle chairman is worried that the Irishman's free-spirited nature might be difficult to work closely with.Paul Jewell, the Wigan manager and another to receive backing, immediately ruled himself out: "It was England last week, Newcastle this week. After that they are breaking Premier League regulations."The regulations were not fully in place when Roeder took charge at West Ham United in 2001. Like Souness, the former Newcastle defender has undergone life-saving surgery, in his case for a brain tumour in 2003. The 50-year-old will hold his first press conference since his elevation this morning.Shearer would not be drawn on his new role, but conceded that swift action was needed to stem a six-game winless Premiership run that threatens to herald a relegation scrap: "We all need to buck up our ideas We need points or we'll be in real relegation trouble We need to rectify this before it becomes an emergency Otherwise we'll be sliding down the table We have a big battle on our hands. It means Newcastle can carry on with a temporary arrangement for 12 weeks to get them through to a full-time appointment. Since mid-December, Newcastle's only victories have arrived in the FA Cup, against Mansfield and Cheltenham.Having survived open-heart surgery, Souness is able to put the sizeable dent to his professional pride into the kind of perspective often distorted by the hysteria which has surrounded his future over the past few months.The appointment of Shearer and Roeder effectively enforces a deadline of 27 April to name a successor, as Frank Clark, the former Newcastle defender and League Managers Association vice-chairman outlined: "Neither Glenn nor Alan have their Pro Licence qualification.

The sport's fifth all-time leading rusher seemed destined never to crown a magnificent career with an appearance in the championship game.Emotions ran high on the Pittsburgh sidelines as the New England Patriots, not the Steelers, progressed to the Super Bowl. The Steelers, the side with the best record in the National Football League, had fallen at the final hurdle once more, for the third time in Bettis' career. His final game is in his own backyard, with the biggest prize his chosen profession has to offer on the line. If, on Sunday night, Bettis has his hands on the Vince Lombardi trophy, it will not only be the Seahawks shedding tears.That dream seemed dead a year ago.

His success, his status as one of the game's greats and the quality of his life beyond the playing field reflect positive virtues on a city that is looking for excuses to feel good about itself.Now here comes this engaging 19-stone behemoth, with his deceptively quick feet, these days resembling one of those balls he used to bowl down the Citrus City bowling lanes, looking for the fairy-tale finish. Officially, the contest on Sunday is between the Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks, but as far as the city of Detroit is concerned this is the tale of the triumphal homecoming of one of their most beloved sporting sons. Bettis may be a Steeler, but he is also a product of this town's unforgiving neighbourhoods. Only now, his target is the biggest prize in American sport: the Super Bowl.Such a story of one man's meeting with destiny has threatened to overwhelm the build-up to Super Bowl XL here this week. On Sunday, the veteran of 13 gruelling campaigns in the most physically demanding playing position in the gridiron game will go bowling again, possibly for the last time. It seems entirely appropriate that the first sporting passion of Jerome Bettis was bowling. The running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers once dreamed of sporting glory as a professional tenpin bowler, before discovering that his true vocation was knocking over people rather than pins. "He's a bloody mess, I'm afraid," he said.In his absence, the restless, bustling Ollie Magern might have expected an easier time up front, but he could not shake off See You Sometime.