BOLTON manager Owen Coyle concedes he will have a difficult job hanging on to Gary Cahill this summer but insists the club will not be short-changed if they decide to sell the defender.

IN the year I saw my first live NBA game, it was worth a sleepless night to catch the season’s last.

BARCELONA president Sandro Rosell says he believes Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas is now worth less than he was at this time last summer.

TOTTENHAM manager Harry Redknapp yesterday ridiculed Chelsea’s bid for Luka Modric before insisting he would not entertain the thought of allowing his star midfielder to leave this summer.

ASTON VILLA are poised to confirm the controversial appointment of Alex McLeish as manager.

MICHAEL OWEN was in tears in the winner’s enclosure after his Brown Panther turned the King George V Stakes into a procession.

ASTON VILLA were last night holding further talks with managerial target Alex McLeish.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND defender Alex Bruce could be set to buck the trend of recent years by changing his international allegiance to Northern Ireland.

PAUL SCHOLES has rejected the theory there was any malice behind his infamous tackling technique.

ARSENAL chief executive Ivan Gazidis has told Arsene Wenger that his job is safe unless the club’s fans turn on him.

AS WELL as being fickle, football supporters tend to be fanatical.

ALEX FERGUSON appears to have nudged Dimitar Berbatov closer to the Manchester United exit door after handing Michael Owen a new one-year contract.

IN the end, it was typical Paul Scholes.

TOTTENHAM manager Harry Redknapp has reiterated his stance that none of the club’s top players will be sold this summer.

MANCHESTER CITY are likely to have a 20% chance of drawing Barcelona in next season’s Champions League.

AS the dust settled on his feat of qualifying Ireland for the first U19 European Championship finals in nine years, Ireland manager Paul Doolin will this week start mapping out preparations for the showpiece in Romania in July.

DARRON GIBSON has become the latest player to withdraw from an ever-diminishing Ireland squad for Saturday’s Euro 2012 qualifier in Skopje, having notified the management team that he will be unavailable with a groin problem.

MY phone bleeped in the press box in Wembley on Saturday just as the huge gleaming trophy was lifted to the night sky, silver and gold streamers rained down and fireworks fanned out from the stadium’s arch.

THE challenge has been laid down — and Alex Ferguson intends to spend his summer holidays working out what to do about it.