Newslines

FIFA said yesterday it had no plans to take action against Tony Cascarino following his claim that he was not eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland.

"The whole incident looks like a `so what?' situation," FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren told RTE radio. "It's a thing of the past now. There's no need for us to go back into it."

Cascarino, who won a record 88 Irish caps, said he learned four years ago he was not qualified to play for Ireland after his mother told him that she was adopted and his Irish "grandfather" was not her natural father. "I didn't qualify for Ireland. I was a fraud. A fake Irishman," Cascarino said in his autobiography, Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino.

Chelsea managing director Colin Hutchinson says he is confident the transfer system will be retained after splashing out £7.8 million on Danish international Jesper Gronkjaer. "I believe there will be a compromise deal that transfers will be retained in some form, but we have pre-empted that by certain agreed clauses in his contract anyway," said Hutchinson.

Coventry goalkeeper Chris Kirkland has escaped a one-match ban after referee Stephen Lodge decided he was wrong to send the player off. Lodge brandished a red card at Kirkland during Chelsea's 6-1 win against Coventry on October 21st for a foul on Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

But the Barnsley official, after watching the match video, asked the FA's disciplinary commission to overturn the decision.

Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier expressed his anger yesterday after Guinean international Titi Camara handed in a transfer request.

"I can't accept that someone who has been available to this club for only 10 days, during which time we played three games and won all three, wants to leave because he is not in the team," said Houllier.