Shearer banned for two matches by Uefa
Newcastle's Champions' League hopes received a blow yesterday when Alan Shearer was given a two-match ban by the disciplinary panel of Uefa, European football's ruling body, which acted on video evidence of his clash with the the Internazionale defender Fabio Cannavaro during Wednesday's 4-1 defeat to the Italians at St James' Park.
Shearer will miss the trips to Barcelona on 10 December and Bayer Leverkusen on 18 February. With his strike partner Craig Bellamy also facing a ban after his dismissal in the same match, Newcastle's chances of an unlikely quarter-final qualification have shrunk.
The England manager Sven Goran Eriksson has called for more preparation time with his squad prior to the 2004 European Championship finals, if England qualify.
"We discussed the World Cup a lot after we came back," the Swede said. "One of the things that Les Reed, Howard Wilkinson, Tord Grip and I all agreed on was that we need more preparation time for the next big tournament that we are involved in. We had three weeks for the World Cup and that was less than most of the other teams."
Bradford City have failed to pay their players after a major creditor rejected refinancing proposals. But the First Division club insist that they will be able to pay their players next week after a meeting with the players' union, which has already offered financial support.
The Turkish striker Hakan Sukur, out of football since the World Cup finals, has accepted Blackburn Rovers' invititation to join until the end of the season with the option of a further year if the move goes well.
Tottenham Hotspur have arranged £75m worth of financing, mostly to fund a football academy and stadium redevelopment. Everton have denied that plans for a £30m new stadium at Kings Dock would be scrapped if they could not produce evidence of funding.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments