AFP
Armenia's football federation chiefs expressed their support to the cancer-stricken country's national coach Ian Porterfield, adding they had no plans to change the manager. The 60-year-old Scot, who played with the English clubs Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday during his career on the field, is set to undergo surgery in near time after local medics found him to be suffering from intestinal cancer.
"We are waiting for the results of his (Porterfield) medical analyses to work out a plan for the national squad," Armenia's football boss Ruben Hayrapetian said. "However, I'd like to stress that we have no plans of changing the national team manager."
Last August former Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday and Aberdeen manager signed a contract with the Armenian federation until the end of 2007. Armenia are currently sharing the bottom spot of their Euro2008 qualifying Group A with Azerbaijan. Both teams have just one point from four matches and are 10 points behind the group leaders Finland.