Gray figures in Spurs' plans
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Your support makes all the difference.Tottenham are poised to move for Crystal Palace's Julian Gray at the end of the season. The Spurs manager, Glenn Hoddle, is keen on the left-sided player who is refusing to agree to a new contract at Selhurst Park after rejecting a deal worth around £4,000 a week.
Gray's goal-scoring exploits against Leeds and Liverpool in the FA Cup have brought him wider attention, but Tottenham have been on his trail for months. Hoddle is looking for a left-sided player to add to his squad, especially with Christian Ziege out with a major injury and the possibility of Matt Etherington moving on in the summer.
Gray prefers to play in a more attacking role than the left wing-back position that Trevor Francis uses him in at Palace, but he would adjust to any role given to him if it meant a Premiership deal.
Although Gray's contract expires in the summer, he would not be entitled to a Bosman "free" transfer as he is under 24 years of age. The Palace chairman, Simon Jordan, will demand a large fee for Gray and any transfer would probably have to be sorted out by a tribunal if Spurs make their interest concrete in the summer.
Jordan has joined the calls for video replays to be introduced into the game after the controversy over Palace's disallowed "goal" during the 2-1 FA Cup defeat by Leeds on Sunday. "We've lost a game we should have won because of refereeing inadequacy," Jordan said. "People seem to think it's a quaint thing when human error comes into play but I don't. The monetary loss for clubs is so huge that you've got to start doing things properly.
"Unless we start to move the game into the 21st century and stop allowing decisions like this to be made, how can you say football is evolving? It was a shocking decision. The ball was over a foot over the line."
Doubts persisted over Jean Tigana's future at Fulham yesterday as the club refused to comment on the manager's statement that he could leave when his contract expires in four months' time. Tigana wants to know where his team – homeless after the club's chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed, provisionally sold Craven Cottage to property developers for a reported £50m – will play and the level of financial support he will be guaranteed. His comments were met with silence from club officials, who said they preferred to "let Tigana's comments stand as he said them".
Everton's on-loan striker, Juliano Rodrigo, is due back at the end of the week after being sent home to Brazil to recover from a knee injury. The 26-year-old, unavailable since September after rupturing his cruciate ligament, has made just four substitute appearances. Everton have the option to sign him permanently at the end of the season. But he will have his work cut out now convincing David Moyes, the manager, that he is worth the possible £3.5m outlay.
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