League Two: Alan Smith appointed Notts County manager

Ex-Manchester United, Leeds, Newcastle and England attacking midfielder Alan Smith has been appointed caretaker of League Two Notts County.

The 36-year-old succeeds John Sheridan who was sacked on Monday night with the club 22nd in the table, just a point above the relegation zone.

Smith has been player-coach at Meadow Lane since 2014 and takes over a team on a run of nine successive defeats.

Smith, who won 19 England caps, joins former Sir Alex Ferguson signings Mike Phelan (Hull), Steve Bruce (Aston Villa), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Molde), Mark Hughes (Stoke), Mark McGhee (Motherwell), Gordon Strachan (Scotland), Henning Berg (Videoton), Gabriel Heinze (Argentinos Juniors), Darren Ferguson (Doncaster), Michael Appleton (Oxford United), David Healy (Linfield) and Jaap Stam (Reading) as current managers.