. MUNICH. Germany. Oct 9 : Bay era Munch, who have struggled to stamp their nor-

I null authority in

the Bundesliga this season, sacked coach Jupp Heynckes on Wednesday and named former Danish International Soren Lerby as hfs replacement. reports Reuter.

"We have agreed to term! nale Mr Heynckes s contract and Soren Lerby took charge of today s training at 10.00," club spokesman Hans-Pter Renner said

Heynckes had been al the club for more than four years and his contract was due to run until 1993

But Bayern, who have won the German championship a record 12 times, have strug glcd with injuries this year and

arc lying 12th in the table after just four wins tn 11 games.

Fans called for Heynckes s dismissal last Saturday after the Bavarians suffered a humiliating 4-1 defeat at home to newly-promoted Stuttgart Kickers, their third league defeat in Munich this season.

Renner said Ileynckess as slstant Egon Coordes was also leaving the club.

Lerby, 33. played for Bayern Munich for three years In the mid 198Os and was a member of the championship-winning teams of 1985 and 1986. The Bavarians completed the double in his last year in 1986 be fore he left for French club Monaco.

But the Dane has no experience of soccer management and was a second choice after Germany's World Cup coach

Franz Beckenbauer who turned down an offer.

Ixrby faces an uphill strug gle at Germany's richest and most glamorous club. Bayern, who are used to success after winning the Bundesliga title five times in the last seven seasons, have fallen on hard times recently.

The Bavarians lost out to tiny provincial club Kaiserslautern In last year's title race. They struggled to knock Irish minnows Cork City out of the first round of the UEFA Cup recently and their league form has been patchy.

Heynckes, a charming and quiet-talking man in private, was often too outspoken In public. Part of his downfall was that he never seemed to be able to meet his brash promises.

When the Munich club won the title in 1990. he told cele bratlng fans confidently from the city’s town hall balcony that Bayern would win the European Cup the following season

They were knocked out in the semifinals by eventual winners Red Star Belgrade

In the middle of last year’s close title run in, he was so confident that Bayern would win the Bundesliga that he bet with a magazine that he would sell hot sausages at the club's next game against Kaiserslautern if the tiny club took the title.

Last weekend's humiliating defeat at the hands of Kickers, who could hardly afford to pay the salaries of a handful of Bayern s highly paid stars, was the last straw