MANCHESTER United chief executive Peter Kenyon has promised Alex Ferguson there will be transfer funds available in the summer.

SOUTHAMPTON’S players have despaired over the failure to overturn striker Peter Crouch’s ban for the crucial final match of the season but goalkeeper Antti Niemi has urged the team to play their way out of trouble.

PATRICK VIEIRA last night delivered a damning assessment of Arsenal’s Champions League exit, admitting: “We weren’t good enough — we have to improve.”

CHARLTON boss Alan Curbishley has paid tribute to Arsene Wenger for taking Arsenal to the brink of dominating the Premiership on a cut-price budget.

ONE minute he’s deified, the next he’s crucified. So what makes one of soccer’s most controversial figures tick?

GARY NEVILLE has been around Old Trafford long enough to know when the smell of success is in the air and the scent is getting so strong now it must even be wafting its way under Arsene Wenger’s nose.

MANCHESTER UNITED manager Alex Ferguson claims the seeds for Scottish football’s current problems were sown many years ago.

MILLIONAIRE Riverdance duo John McColgan and Moya Doherty have side-stepped the biggest names in sport and entertainment to land a €2 million house in Co Kerry.

ENGLAND captain David Beckham would only return to the Premiership if he could play for Manchester United.

RAFAEL BENITEZ is calling on referees and football authorities to protect the top players by taking a tougher stance on dangerous tackles.

JERMAIN DEFOE kept Tottenham on course for a Champions League spot after his strike ensured a draw against Wigan at White Hart Lane yesterday.

SHARES in Manchester United eased back more than 3% yesterday as the markets awaited fresh news on the takeover of the club.

THE houses of the families struck by Monday’s tragedy were easily recognisable in the small community around Navan.

A PRIVATE nursing home group owned by John Magnier and JP McManus is eyeing up a takeover of The Priory, the London clinic best known for treating celebrities with drug habits.

John Philips

FALLEN football idol George Best was banned for 20 months after he was caught drink-driving as he tried to get to a health farm to “sort himself out” following a furious row with his son, Calum.

KEN DOHERTY needs another miraculous recovery to deny Mark Williams, as the mercurial Welshman raced into an 11-5 lead in the Embassy World Championship after the first two sessions.

CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho admitted yesterday that he was scared by the arrival of bird flu in Britain.

CELTIC are considering a request to play Manchester United in a testimonial for Roy Keane on Wednesday, August 3.