Shearer absent for a month

Alan Shearer will be out of football for a month after he goes into hospital for surgery today - ruling him out for both Newcastle and England. The world-record pounds 15m man is to have work done on a niggling groin strain that has been troubling him for the past few weeks.

Shearer will be in the hands of a top Harley Street specialist, but is still certain to be missing from Newcastle's Uefa Cup return with Ferencvaros on Tuesday and several Premiership matches. The timing of the operation also makes Shearer a non-starter when England play Georgia in a World Cup qualifier in Tblisi on 9 November. However, Shearer and the Newcastle manager, Kevin Keegan, have taken the decision to opt to surgery now rather than risk the striker aggravating the problem.

The threat of strike action affecting televised Nationwide League games appears to have receded following talks yesterday between the Football League and the Professional Footballers' Association. An undisclosed provisional agreement was reached after a five-hour meeting, and officials are confident it will be confirmed at a meeting of Football League clubs on 14 November.

Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the PFA, welcomed the agreement and said: "This is a settlement that will be good for football and I am extremely relieved that we have reached it. I didn't see any reason why it [the dispute] should have gone as far as it has done."

The four-month long row began when the League scrapped a regulation entitling the union to 10 per cent of any television deal. The League had negotiated a deal with Sky for live coverage of Nationwide League games worth pounds 125m over five years, but they were not willing to hand the union pounds 2.5m a year and offered a discretionary payment instead. The PFA insisted the League should honour its regulation and, when talks broke down, balloted its members on a call for strike action.

Middlesbrough are to help their Brazilian defender, Branco, find a new club following his release yesterday. The 32-year-old player, who made only one Premiership appearance this season, will be paid for the final eight months of his contract.

"At this stage in his career, Branco needs first-team football, which is something that cannot be guaranteed at Middlesbrough," Keith Lamb, Middlesbrough's chief executive, said.

Blackburn Rovers were keeping their mounting problems to themselves yesterday as the future of their beleaguered manager, Ray Harford, looked bleak. The club's owner, Jack Walker, was not making any comment on the latest Ewood Park humiliation, nor was the chairman, Robert Coar, following their meeting with Harford after Tuesday's 1-0 Coca-Cola Cup defeat by Second Division Stockport County.

Harford refused to discuss his personal position or future with the club on Tuesday, and it is believed that he has offered his resignation in the past and was only given the dreaded public vote of confidence by both his directors and players last week.

Gillingham are to be reported to the Football Association by Medway police following overcrowding problems in Tuesday's Coca-Cola Cup match with Coventry City at Priestfield.

Although no serious incidents occurred during the 2-2 draw, police have criticised the club for their lack of control over ticket sales, which meant many City fans were in areas allocated for Gills supporters.

The report will detail serious overcrowding in certain areas of the ground, with figures above those contained in the safety certificate. The game had to be delayed by 15 minutes to allow all the supporters in.