Football: Ginola misses training and widens the rift

David Ginola failed to appear for training at Newcastle United yesterday and is understood to have made a written transfer request.

The 30-year-old Frenchman, who has repeatedly expressed his disappointment at being left on the bench by manager Kenny Dalglish, had been expected to leave the club this summer.

Nicola Berti, the 29-year-old Internazionale and former Italy midfielder, is a transfer target for Nottingham Forest, whose general manager, Dave Bassett, watched Inter's Uefa Cup tie against Anderlecht on Tuesday.

Derby County have secured work permits for their Costa Rican signings, the striker Paulo Wanchope and the midfielder Mauricio Solis, who have moved from CS Herediano for a combined fee of pounds 1.2m. The Chinese club Vanguard Huandao have enquired about the Everton striker, Paul Rideout.

Chelsea have paid pounds 300,000 for Cambridge United's 22-year-old defender, Danny Granville. The fee could rise to pounds 500,000, depending on appearances.

Manchester City have put Gerry Creaney up for sale at pounds 150,000 in the hope that they can sell the striker before next week's transfer deadline. He cost pounds 1m from Portsmouth.

The Bolton manager, Colin Todd, is leading the race to sign Rosenborg Trondheim's left-back, Stale Stensas. Todd has watched Stensas twice in the last fortnight. However, the First Division leaders face opposition for the defender from Blackburn, Rangers and Celtic.

Niklas Gudmundsson, Blackburn Rovers' Swedish forward, has joined Ipswich Town on loan for at least a month.

AFC Bournemouth live to fight on - at least until the end of the season. The Second Division club, who are pounds 4.5m in debt, were granted a stay of execution yesterday after a winding-up petition, brought by the Inland Revenue over unpaid taxes amounting to pounds 250,000, was adjourned until 15 May. However, the club were warned that they have only until then to come up with a financial package to satisfy the High Court.

The future of the GM Vauxhall Conference champions, Stevenage, was left up in the air yesterday after a Football Association disciplinary panel failed to reach a verdict over allegations that the club asked for a pounds 30,000 "bung'' from Torquay.

The Stevenage chairman, Victor Green, allegedly told Torquay that unless the money was paid he would sell his club's star striker, Barry Hayles, which would have reduced their chances of winning the Conference.

If the eventual runners-up, Woking, had won the Conference, Torquay would have been relegated from the Third Division. Stevenage won the Conference but, because their ground did not meet Football League standards by the 31 December 1995 deadline, they were not promoted and Torquay were saved.

The disciplinary panel has unlimited powers to punish Stevenage and could levy a heavy fine, deduct points or bar the club from promotion over a number of years if they are found guilty. However, the panel failed to reach a verdict after almost six hours. A decision is not expected until late next week.

Hibernian have signed the Dundee forwards, Lee Power and Paul Tosh, in a pounds 200,000 deal. The pair will go straight into the squad for tomorrow's home game with Aberdeen.

The former Swedish international Robert Prytz has returned to Scottish football with Kilmarnock on a short-term contract. The 37-year-old midfielder, who has been released by Malmo, first played in Scotland more than a decade ago at Rangers, when he teamed up with Bobby Williamson, now his manager at Kilmarnock.