Gordon Strachan yesterday resigned as Southampton manager earlier than expected, after a meeting with the club's chairman Rupert Lowe. He said he was leaving "with regret". Southampton have put Steve Wigley in temporary charge after promoting him from reserve-team coach.

Strachan had initially intended to leave in the summer for a sabbatical but it was plain to him the club were ready to remove him sooner to make way for a new manager. The Scot seems to have decided it was better for him and the club if he left now. He has felt stuck in the middle of a storm as debate has raged about Glenn Hoddle and he told Lowe on Thursday that he intended to depart.

Southampton had hoped to have Hoddle in place by today but, after some of their fans reacted angrily, his appointment has been delayed as the club seek to smooth a path for his return. Though Wigley has agreed to take charge until the end of the season, he is unlikely to oversee more than a few matches.

Lowe has paid up the remaining months of Strachan's contract and explained: "Gordon and I met (on Thursday) and have both concluded that it is in the best interests of the club for him to step down as manager with effect from today."

The English FA has told Everton it wants to interview Duncan Ferguson over accusations, which he denies, that he racially abused the Fulham forward Luis Boa Morte. However, Everton have still not received a letter from the FA outlining what the Portuguese player claims was said to him in the FA Cup tie at Goodison Park last month.

Everton's chief executive Mike Dunford said: "It is three weeks now since the game and we still have not had anything in writing from the FA. I have received a phone call from the FA and they have said they would like to talk to Duncan. We are now waiting for a date for that meeting, which will probably be in the next 14 days, and we expect it to take place in Liverpool."

Dunford confirmed the club had not asked Ferguson for his side of the story or taken statements from any of their players.

Alan Curbishley yesterday ended suggestions that he might leave Charlton this summer by signing a new three-and-a-half-year contract which will keep him at The Valley until 2007. The manager's show of loyalty is a significant fillip for the club after a difficult few weeks during which Scott Parker has left for Chelsea and three successive games have been lost.

There had been fears that Curbishley would seek a fresh challenge after more than a decade in joint or sole charge but the 46-year-old said he was "excited" by the chance to spend Parker's £10 million fee on strengthening the squad. "I have always said I was happy at Charlton throughout all the speculation," he said. "I would not have signed this new contract if I didn't feel totally content."

A Yorkshire-based consortium insists it is still "going in the right direction" in its attempt to take over Leeds. United were yesterday granted a fifth extension to the "standstill agreement" with their principal creditors, giving the club until February 27th to find financial solutions.

Celtic bucked the trend in Scottish football when they announced improved and encouraging financial results. The Premier League leaders' turnover increased to £36.01 million for the six months to December 31st last year, compared with £30.01 million for the corresponding period in 2002.

Soccer authorities yesterday reacted to the confusion surrounding the new interpretation of the offside law by saying that any player deemed to be "deceiving or distracting an opponent" can be judged offside. A player, therefore, does not have to be in the line of the ball to be given offside.

Southampton and Bolton Wanderers had exposed the obvious flaws in the new ruling initiated by FIFA, football's world governing body, causing referees and players difficulties in assessing the limits of the new interpretation. But senior officials from the Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League met yesterday morning to clarify the ruling and ensure this weekend's fixtures did not suffer from the same confusion. The following advice will now be issued to referees: "If, in the opinion of the referee, the actions of a player in an offside position deceive or distract an opponent, that player will be given offside."