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Pearce wants window of opportunity

Stuart Pearce has branded the knee-jerk assessment of Premiership managers as "farcical" and called for a transfer window to be introduced for bosses as well as players.

The Manchester City chief has been under the microscope again this week following the four-goal humiliation at Wigan.

Just nine games into the new campaign, former England captain Pearce feels the intense speculation is beyond a joke, which is why he believes a transfer window could allow managers some breathing space in which to do their work.

"At the moment, the game is quite farcical," said Pearce. "I have seen a lot of ups and downs but it seems to be accelerating out of all control.

"It is a ridiculous trend. Maybe somewhere in the future, if you are going to move managers on, you will have to do it during the transfer window. Then at least people would have the chance to get on with their job a little bit."

Meanwhile, Manchester City have reported an increase in turnover and operating profit for the year ending May 2006.

Turnover of £61.8 million, up on the previous year's figure of £60.9 million, was boosted by ticket revenues from the FA Cup run as well as concerts and increased commercial activity.

Hearts players revolt on owner

Hearts cancelled their press conference yesterday amid more turmoil as captain Steven Pressley read out a prepared statement claiming the players had lost confidence in club owner Vladimir Romanov.

The extraordinary move follows the repeated interference in team selection by the Lithuanian chairman and comes just days after manager Valdas Ivanauskas announced he was taking two weeks' rest for health reasons.

Pressley, backed by team-mates Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley, read out a statement after training and the BBC reported the players claiming "that the squad were unhappy" and there was "unrest" in the dressingroom.

In brief . . .

The English FA council have voted in favour of a major restructuring of their organisation . . . European champions Barcelona have said they expect to earn €150 million after agreeing to extend a deal with Nike for an additional five years until 2013 . . . Goalkeeper Chris Kirkland (25), who has been on loan at Wigan Athletic since July, completed a permanent transfer from Liverpool yesterday . . . Dennis Wise has made his first signing as Leeds manager with the acquisition of Reading's former Republic of Ireland under-21 goalkeeper Graham Stack (25) on a three-month loan . . . Rangers defender Fernando Ricksen (30) wants to make his loan deal with Zenit St Petersburg permanent . . . Newcastle's investment in England striker Michael Owen and Spain international Albert Luque contributed towards an operating loss of £6.2 million for the 11 months prior to June 30th, 2006

. . . Sheffield United striker Ade Akinbiyi has revealed he had a training-ground bust-up with team-mate Claude Davis but failed to confirm newspaper reports that he was threatened with a razor blade . . . Manchester United midfielder Ritchie Jones (20) has joined Championship outfit Colchester on a month's loan . . . Fulham are close to finalising a deal to keep German right back Moritz Volz (23) at Craven Cottage beyond the end of the season . . . Former Everton and Manchester City winger Peter Beagrie (40) is set to hang up his boots after negotiating his release from Grimsby.