Boost for Irish as Hiddink to exit Russia

IT SEEMS to be no longer a question of if but when Guus Hiddink leaves his position as manager of Ireland’s European Championship Group B top seeds Russia.

Having recently held unproductive talks with the new President of the Russian Football Association, Sergei Fursenko, Hiddink – whose current contract expires in July – has already been linked with the vacant Nigerian and Turkish posts, while new reports in Holland say that under-performing Eredivisie side Herenveen are interested in luring him back to his homeland.

Further signs of a breakdown with the Russians emerged in Moscow yesterday, when the country’s Sports Minister, Vitaly Mutko, expressed the belief that a native manager would be best for the national team.