In brief - 2004-09-22

Jose Antonio Camacho resigned as Real Madrid coach on Sept. 20, just four months and several games into the job. Following Madrid's 3-0 defeat by Bayer Leverkusen and the 1-0 defeat by Espanyol, Camacho said that he felt incapable of carrying on because he did not enjoy the support of the players. In the short term Camacho's assistant Mariano Garcia Remon will take over, although the Spanish press is widely reporting that England coach Sven Goran-Eriksson is top of Madrid's shopping list for a new coach.

Bernard Langer has suggested that it is unlikely he will carry on as captain of the European Ryder Cup team in Dublin 2006, following its historic 18.5-9.5 victory over the U.S.A. in Detroit. Langer told a press conference that he "needed time to reflect." Meanwhile Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, who gained three points and sunk the match-winning putt, said he could consider calling time on his cup playing career to take on the captaincy, although Langer said that he was still too young to be captain. The decision on selecting the next captain rests with the European Ryder Cup Board.

Tennis star Serena Williams has revealed that she turned down a part in the forthcoming movie "Anacondas," the sequel to "Anaconda." Williams would have played a victim of one of the enormous snakes but insisted she did not pull out because she was worried about snuffing it on screen. "It was a scheduling conflict that kept me out of that movie. I'm totally OK with dying for the sake of a movie," she told The New York Daily News. The budding actress also revealed that she turned down a part in the romantic comedy "Wimbledon" because she was not interested in playing herself.

Legendary former Derby County and Nottingham Forest coach Brian Clough has died at the age of 69 from stomach cancer. Clough, who won successive European Cup titles with Forest in 1979 and 1980, and also won the then-English first division with both County and Forest, is widely regarded as one of the greatest English managers of all time, and as one of the most exuberant characters the sport has ever seen. Known for his scathing wit and no-nonsense approach to dealing with people, Clough will be deeply missed.