Football: Sinclair joins Leicester

LEICESTER CITY broke their transfer record yesterday to sign the World Cup defender Frank Sinclair for pounds 2m from Chelsea. The fee surpassed the pounds 1.6m that Leicester's manager, Martin O'Neill, spent on bring another defender, Matt Elliott, to the club from Oxford United.

Sinclair, who played in all of Jamaica's games at France 98, faces a daunting debut when Leicester open their Premiership campaign away against Manchester United tomorrow.

Shane Nicholson has had his life ban lifted and has been called upon to follow Paul Merson's example and educate fellow players on the dangers of drugs. The former West Bromwich Albion defender had his suspension from the game lifted by a Football Association disciplinary commission following a ban imposed in February for failing to supply a random drugs test. The three-man commission reached their decision after hearing progress reports on Nicholson's rehabilitation.

Keith Gillespie, the Newcastle winger, has scotched reports that he is set to retire and insists he will be back in action soon. "Hopefully I'll be training on Monday," he said.

The Chelsea player-manager, Gianluca Vialli, will sue Zdenek Zeman after the Roma coach made a thinly disguised claim that he took illegal performance- enhancing drugs.