While there appears to be no end to the speculation surrounding the club futures of Damien Duff, Robbie Keane, Matt Holland and Steve Finnan, their Republic of Ireland team-mate Kenny Cunningham became the first member of the World Cup squad to switch clubs since returning from Japan Mary Hannigan reports
Cunningham signed for Birmingham City from Wimbledon yesterday, in a deal reported to be worth £500,000 to the London club and £3.5 million over four years to the player.
Cunningham signed a four-year contract with the newly-promoted Premiership club which, rumour has it, fought off the challenge of Sunderland, Everton and Charlton for the 31-year-old's signature.
The Dubliner joined Millwall from Tolka Rovers when he was 18, before moving on to Wimbledon in a £650,000 deal in November 1994. He made 153 appearances for Millwall, and 306 for Wimbledon, where he spent eight seasons, the last four as club captain.
Cunningham is Birmingham manager Steve Bruce's third signing of the summer, after Robbie Savage and Senegal captain Aliou Cisse, and joins up with former Irish team-mate Jeff Kenna.
"I am very pleased to be signing for Birmingham because it is a very unexpected opportunity for me," he said yesterday. "After the World Cup I was looking forward to starting the season with Wimbledon but things happen very quickly in football. I was made aware of Birmingham's interest and after speaking to Steve Bruce on a number of occasions, thankfully, the deal was concluded.
"There were a number of reasons for my move, but the main one was the attraction of Premiership football," he said. "It was an opportunity that was too good to turn down. I was fortunate to be able to play a number of years in the Premiership and I know what a magnificent experience it is."
Birmingham won promotion to the Premiership last May by beating Norwich City in the first division play-off final, and Cunningham insisted that survival would be the club's sole target for the season.
"It's going to be a huge challenge for us to stay in the Premiership - I'm sure supporters will be dreaming of a honeymoon period, as happened in the past with Sunderland and Ipswich, but our realistic aim is to consolidate our position."
The likelihood of Cunningham being joined soon at St Andrews by another Irish international increased yesterday with Bruce's admission that Crystal Palace's Clinton Morrison remains top of his "most wanted" list.
Bruce has also being pursuing Panathinaikos striker Emmanuel Olisedebe, but has been told by the Birmingham board that he can only sign one of the two; if Palace accept a reported bid of £5 million Morrison could be playing Premiership football next season.
Elsewhere, Gary Breen, who left Coventry City at the end of last season after his contract expired, remains without a club, his wage demands scuppering a move to Everton earlier this month. Sunderland's Kevin Kilbane is still being linked with a move to Aston Villa while Leeds' Gary Kelly and Ian Harte await new manager Terry Venables' verdict on their futures.
Meanwhile, Mark Kennedy, who had to withdraw from the World Cup squad through injury, is expected to miss the start of the season with Wolves after breaking down in pre-season training last week with a recurrence of a thigh problem. The winger will miss Wolves' tour of Portugal while he receives treatment at Lilleshall and is examined by a specialist; he may yet need surgery to cure the injury that first struck in a game against Grimsby in March.
On the international front, Russia have announced that their home tie against the Republic of Ireland in the 2004 European Championship qualifiers (September 7th), will be played at Lokomotiv Moscow's re-developed stadium. The 35,000-capacity ground, owned and financed by the Railways Ministry, is Russia's first football-dedicated sporting facility and the only FIFA-approved stadium in the country. Its design is said to resemble a traditional English football stadium - hence its local nickname, Angliya (England).
Before now Russia's home internationals were played at the 85,000-seater Luzhniki Olympic Stadium in Moscow (also known as the Central Lenin Stadium), the construction of which took just 450 days, due to the efforts of 25,000 builders, students, and soldiers, and was completed in the spring of 1955.
(Republic of Ireland players)
Kenny Cunningham Wimbledon to Birmingham City £500,000
Ben Burgess Blackburn Rovers to Stockport County £400,000
Ronnie O'Brien Juventus to Dallas Burn undisclosed
Damian Lynch Nottingham to Forest Bohemians Free
Danny Boxall Brentford to Bristol Rovers Free
Gareth Whalley Bradford City to Cardiff City Free
George O'Callaghan Port Vale to Cork City Free
John O'Flynn Peterborough to Cork City Free
Dave Warren Wrexham to Cork City Free
Owen Coyle Airdrie to Falkirk Free
Alan McLoughlin Rochdale Forest to Green Rovers Free
Barry Ferguson Coventry City to Longford Town Free
Sean Dillon Aston Villa to Longford Town Free
Jim Goodwin Celtic to Stockport County Free
Phil Babb Sporting Lisbon to Sunderland Free
Robert Quinn Oxford United to Bristol Rovers Free
Andy Turner Unattached to Tamworth Free
Sean Thornton Tranmere Rovers to Sunderland Tribunal
Joe Murphy Tranmere Rovers to West Bromich Albion Tribunal
