Middlesbrough jumped through another hoop yesterday in their circuitous attempt to re-sign Juninho from Atletico Madrid on loan until the end of the season.
The Department for Education and Employment decided to grant the Brazilian a work permit, having previously refused Middlesbrough's application on the grounds that Juninho had not played in the require percentage of Brazil internationals in the past year.
However, the rules are open to interpretation and Middlesbrough, who argued that Juninho made a major contribution to English football during his first spell at the Riverside from November 1995 to June 1997, can now proceed, though there is still a doubt over his fitness after he broke a leg in Spain last year.
His re-signing will be dependent on him passing a medical on Teesside and with the player in Brazil it may be Saturday or Sunday before this can be arranged. That would mean Juninho being unable to play at Leeds on Sunday but the club expect him to be available for next Tuesday's League Cup second round, second leg match at home to Chesterfield.
Coventry City's manager Gordon Strachan has been criticised for calling the use of female referees nothing more than "political correctness".
Peter Willis, the president of the Referees' Association, described the comments as "very sad. As a manager of a football club Strachan is responsible for his players and he is entitled to his opinion on the performance of the officials, but to talk about the sex of the official is irrelevant."
Strachan, who was unhappy with the way the assistant referee Wendy Toms ran the line during his side's 4-3 defeat by Leeds on Saturday, said: "We are getting PC decisions about promoting ladies. It does not matter if they are ladies, men or alsatian dogs.
"If they are not good enough to run the line they should not get the job. My message is don't be politically correct and promote people just for the sake of it." Willis responded: "Refs are refs. We are recruiting people into refereeing and we don't ask if they are male or female. We train them and they go through the same promotion procedure, they stand or fall on their ability."
Bury will become the first English professional club to field an Indian player after the striker Baichung Bhutia was granted a work permit. The 22-year-old has been offered a three-year contract.
The organisers of Euro 2000, to be co-hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium in nine months, said yesterday that 5,000 tickets were left for the tournament.
Juan Antonio Samaranch has given his support to South Africa's bid to host the World Cup in 2006. The president of the International Olympic Committee, speaking at the All African Games in Johannesburg, said: "I think that it is clear that you are able to organise a major sporting event."
