Kinnear strays off side with FAI

Joe Kinnear, a man with ambitions of managing the Republic of Ireland at some point in the future, was yesterday publicly thanking FIFA for helping him field a full-strength squad for Wimbledon's visit to Chelsea.

"It's one of the best squads I've had this season and the fact that Kenny Cunningham is available to play is a big help," he said.

If Kinnear was wrongly fingered as the man who orchestrated the managerial campaign to have the five-day release clause set aside, he was at least part of it.

And he will scarcely have done much to put himself back on side with Irish supporters with a misinformed comment which may merely serve to heighten the sense of disappointment.

Unaware that the vast majority of the Yugoslav players were either already in Belgrade or in transit, he said: "All this will put the Yugoslav players in a worse situation. They play on Sundays, in France, Italy and Spain.

"Ireland will have the advantage of an extra day together and an extra day's rest. But I'm very patriotic, I'm very pro-Irish.

"It was unfortunate that because of the war situation, the games had to be put on this week. But they could have cancelled and played them at a later date."

Unlike Kinnear, Ruud Gullit's only connection with the green shirt was in Holland's games against Ireland. But he, too, finds himself embroiled in the developing row over FIFA's failure to implement their own rule.

Nikos Dabizas, his Greek defender, is required for next Wednesday's re-arranged European championship meeting with Albania in Tirana but after travelling to Newcastle airport at the start of his journey to Athens, he was ordered back to the club on Thursday.

Yesterday, he was back at the airport for the second time in 24 hours, apparently cleared to join his national team. Shay Given, on the other hand was informed yesterday that he is needed for their home game against Sheffield Wednesday.

Criticising FIFA's decision to re-arrange the game for next week, Gullit said: "It's not right because they said all the international games had to be played at the same time."

Gullit said he was delighted that Given was anxious to play for both club and country. "It shows how dedicated he is, so that's good. He understands where his heart is. His heart is also with his country and he wants to serve both. It's a good attitude."

Alan Curbishley, the Charlton manager who said on Wednesday, that he was the first to alert other Premiership club managers to the problems occasioned by the re-arranged fixtures, said: "We have told Ireland that they can't have Mark Kinsella and informed the Yugoslavs that Sasa Ilic will be playing for us on Saturday. I don't see why the Premiership should be devalued in this way or fans who have bought season tickets, should not see the best players available.

"We warned the authorities about this problem five weeks ago but nothing happened. Our request for the game to be called off was turned down.

"When we got promoted, I thought that as a Premiership club, I'd have no problems getting games postponed because of international calls. But it hasn't worked out that way."