Ole Gunnar move on from Cardiff

Football: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stepped down as manager of Cardiff yesterday.

Solskjaer spent Wednesday in London holding talks with club officials after Tuesday night’s 1-0 home defeat to Middlesbrough had left them in 17th place in the league.

The Norwegian joined Cardiff at the start of January but won only five of his 25 league games in charge as the Bluebirds were relegated from the Premier League.

Wales highest ranking since 1994

Football: Wales have risen to their highest ranking in Fifa for 20 years after being placed joint 29th with Scotland.

The rise of 12 places was helped by their 2-1 victory over Andorra last week.

England moved up two places to 18th while Northern Ireland leaped 24 places up to 71st, nine ahead of the Republic of Ireland.

Germany are still first despite their 4-1 loss to Argentina this month.

Ali nominated for award

Cricket: England all-rounder Moeen Ali was yesterday nominated for Professional Player of the Year at the inaugural Asian Cricket Awards.

Ali, who is of Pakistani heritage, contributed much towards England’s recent series win against India in the recent Test series and is one of four nominations for the individual prize.

Warwickshire skipper Varun Chopra, Yorkshire all-rounder Adil Rashid and Essex man Ravi Bopara join Ali in the list.

Forest fans to pay tribute to Clough

Football: Nottingham Forest fans will pay tribute to former boss Brian Clough by wearing green round-necked jumpers in next Wednesday’s League Cup tie against Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

All Forest fans travelling on official club coaches to the fixture will be given replicas of Clough’s famous fashion accessory to mark the 10th anniversary of his death on September 20 2004.

The jumpers will be provided by Capital One.