MALKY MACKAY will not resign as Cardiff manager despite the club suspending one of his most trusted aides Head of recruitment Iain Moody, who worked for the Scot during his time at Watford before making the switch to Cardiff with him in 2011, has been replaced by 23-yearold Kazakhstani Alisher Apsalyamov.

The reasoning behind Moody’s suspension is unknown but it is understood Apsalyamov, who is thought to be a friend of owner Vincent Tan’s son and appears to have no experience in football, has taken over from him in an acting capacity.

Apsalyamov joined the club in February but his name does not appear on a list of key staff members on the club’s official website.

Mackay has regularly praised Moody’s scouting and recruitment work at the south Wales club, where he has helped to secure the likes of Steven Caulker, Gary Medel, Kevin Theophile-Catherine and Fraizer Campbell.

The loss of Moody has seen bookmakers install highlyrated Mackay as the favourite to be the next Premier League manager to leave his post.

But while he is understood to be disappointed by events, he will be in charge.

All this comes just a matter of days after it was revealed Tan and the Bluebirds squad had been at loggerheads over end-of-season bonus payments.

  • Vernon Manilal Fernando has been handed a lifetime ban from ‘‘taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level’’, FIFA has announced.

Sri Lanka’s former executive committee member was initially handed an eight-year ban in April by the governing body’s ethics committee, who refused to reveal the reason for the sentence other than saying Fernando was ‘‘found guilty of several breaches of the FIFA Code of Ethics’’.