Milosevic says no to Rovers

Savo Milosevic has told Blackburn Rovers he wants to stay in Italy to stay and fight for Parma's Serie A survival.

The Yugoslav striker is wanted by the Rovers manager Graeme Souness, who has been in talks about signing him for the past few days. But the former Aston Villa forward is not keen on the move to Ewood Park, and he said: "I would prefer to stay here than join Blackburn. I am not the type of person to jump ship when there is a problem. I was not wanted by the old coach, Daniel Passarella, but the new one wants me and I am happy with that. Things change quickly in football."

Souness was hoping to close a loan deal this week, but now Milosevic may be back in Parma's plans as they try to pull out of a nightmare run. The Blackburn manager has been chasing two strikers and will now have to review his shopping list. He was on a spying mission in Europe yesterday.

The man leading Scotland's bid to host Euro 2008 has ruled out the possibility of a link-up with Newcastle United. John Henderson said a bid involving St James' Park would reduce the likelihood of success.

His comments follow speculation that the ground is being lined up as a reserve venue to meet Uefa's requirement that proposals involve eight stadia. He: "Our main rivals for the bid are Austria and Switzerland with a joint bid and the four countries from Scandinavia. They will be putting in eight-stadia bids, so we will have to put in an eight-stadia bid to stand a chance against them."

Henderson said Scotland had more chance by teaming up with Ireland or going it alone. "The problem with a joint bid is that although England have good stadiums, they held Euro '96 very recently," he said. "That is likely to work against a joint Scotland-England bid."