Sunderland boss Ricky Sbragia has revealed how he found out about Alan Curbishley being linked with his job.

When Sbragia walked into the IT room at Sunderland's training ground earlier this week, he noticed that someone suddenly slammed shut the lid of a laptop.

"The IT bod had wanted to hide it but he lifted it open and the computer screen said something about Alan Curbishley and Sunderland," the Scot told the Guardian.

Such gossip proved unfounded.

"Niall [Quinn, the chairman] rang me up and said that it [the story] was a load of crap, a load of s***," added Sbragia.