Soccer Shorts

Ferdinand's big day: Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand goes before an independent disciplinary commission today.

Ferdinand's big day: Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand goes before an independent disciplinary commission today.

Ferdinand has been charged with misconduct by the English FA for his "failure or refusal" to take a drugs test at United's Carrington training ground on September 23rd.

Ferdinand risks a ban of up to two years that would deal a hammer blow to his career for both club and country, and much will turn on whether the three-man commission consider his actions at Carrington were deliberate or not.

United get their man

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Manchester United have completed a £1 million swoop for Wimbledon youngster Lee Martin.

United are believed to have paid an initial £200,000 for the 16-year-old midfielder, who was also being courted by Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool, with further payments due if he makes the progress anticipated.

Diao injured

Liverpool midfielder Salif Diao has damaged ankle ligaments and is set to be out of action for three weeks.

The Senegalese player suffered the injury on Tuesday at the club's Melwood training ground and will not feature again until January.

Hartson misses tie

John Hartson is Celtic's only doubt for their Scottish League Cup quarter-final tie against Hibernian tonight (Channel 5, kick-off: 7.45).

The Welshman picked up a calf strain during the Champions League clash against Lyon and missed the league match against Dundee at the weekend.

Didier Agathe (hamstring) and Jackie McNamara (elbow) remain on the sidelines.

Hibernian manager Bobby Williamson has several players missing. Skipper Ian Murray will see a specialist on Christmas Eve in a bid to get to the bottom of his stomach problems and he misses the cup game.

Yannick Zambernardi and Roland Edge are both injured and Colin Murdock is suspended.

O'Neill backs cup

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill has given his tentative backing to the proposed British Cup.

Plans have been drawn up for the winners of the English and Scottish League Cups to play each other each season, starting this May.

"I think the competition would obviously take on a greater significance if there was a game like that at the end of the season," O'Neill said.

"But that is calendar permitting - if you could fit it in, especially if the side down south is still heavily involved in the latter stages of European competition."

Butt wants to stay

Nicky Butt has insisted he does not want to leave Manchester United. The England midfielder revealed his growing frustration at a lack of first-team action last week, which was seen by most pundits as a sign the 28-year-old was ready to sever his ties with Old Trafford.

Butt, who has started just nine games for United this season, said: "I want to stay at Manchester United. "People have been saying I want to leave, which is not true."

Tight policy is right

Celtic's majority shareholder Dermot Desmond believes his policy of tightening the purse strings has been proved correct in light of the financial crisis sweeping the game.

Dundee recently followed the same route as Motherwell when they became the second Scottish Premier League club to go into administration after revealing debts of around £20million.

"Our ideas might not always be compatible with some supporters who would prefer us to go out and spend money and run up more debt, but it is absolutely vital that we are responsible and we are independent," Desmond said.

"Even if we had qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League we would still have been operating at a loss for the year. We will lose money this year no matter what happens."

Blatter hits out

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has taken on leading European clubs by declaring their demand for compensation for players on international duty to be "outlandish" and accusing them of "social and economic rape" of young talent from the developing world.

Blatter told the 18 members of the G14 pressure group that they should direct their appeals for compensation to their respective Football Associations - not FIFA.

In brief. . .

Lazio striker Simone Inzaghi has been ruled out of action for at least a month after tests confirmed a fractured left hand. Mikael Forssell has dropped a hint that he would be willing to make his move from Chelsea to Birmingham City permanent in the summer. Lincoln have denied reports that former manager Graham Taylor is set to take over as a temporary replacement for Keith Alexander. And shares of debt-ridden Leeds United Plc hit a 20-month high yesterday as talk of a possible takeover by a Chinese businessman prompted retail investors to buy the stock.