Liverpool set to sign reality TV show winner

From the Mirror.

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Liverpool's first signing of the close season could be a Vietnamese reality TV show winner.

The winner of talent show Vietnam Soccer Prince will be awarded a 12-month contract at Anfield following next week's final.

The show is made by the production company that makes Britain's Got Talent - and features ex-Wycombe and Northampton midfielder Steve Brown as the programme's Simon Cowell.

Brown has put the kids through their paces on the training pitch to test skills such as speed, co-ordination, teamwork and decision making, before telling unlucky contestants every week: "It's a no."

He said: "I am the show's Simon Cowell - I've been the one to tell the kids they weren't good enough.

"But he seems a lot tougher than me. Telling the kids they weren't good enough was a killer. I'd have to lock myself in a room for a couple of hours after filming, it really affected me.

"The series has lasted 10 weeks and at the beginning it was easy to let some of them go. But then when you get seven or eight weeks into it, you get attached to them."

Liverpool's Under-16 side have already travelled to Vietnam to play against some of the prospects, aged between 16 and 19.

A total of 2000 boys were whittled down to 20 to take part in the 10-week series. And now six remain in the battle for top honours, with the final due to air Saturday week.

The runner-up will get a one-year deal at Sheffield United.

Brown, who was youth coach at QPR until last year, added: "Four or five of them stood out from the start. Some of the kids over there have got what it takes.

"I look at them and think 'I have no doubt you will be able to handle the Liverpool academy'.

"The aim is not just to send someone there for 12 months, I'd like to see whoever wins to do enough to stay in the academy system at Liverpool."

Tony Adams appointed manager of Qabala FC in Azerbaijan | Football | guardian.co.uk

From the guardian.co.uk

Tony Adams has agreed a three-year contract to manage Qabala FC in Azerbaijan and he is in the throes of relocating his family to the country.

The club, who have significant financial backing behind them, consider the appointment of Adams as a declaration of their ambition.

Adams hopes that it will help him rebuild his career after the disappointment of his 22-game spell in charge at Portsmouth.

The former England captain, who also struggled in his first managerial post at Wycombe Wanderers, worked as a coach in the Netherlands with Feyenoord and Utrecht before he moved to Portsmouth, initially as the assistant manager under Harry Redknapp.