MANCHESTER UNITED and Liverpool are ready to battle it out for the signature of Spartak Moscow defender Nemanja Vidic, according to the Russian club’s chief executive Sergei Shavlo.

CELTIC manager Gordon Strachan will not be handing Hungarian trialist Peter Halmosi a full-time contract.

BRITISH soccer star Dwight Yorke yesterday scored a legal victory when the High Court overturned a speeding fine.

RACING tycoons John Magnier and JP McManus have played down speculation of a takeover bid for Manchester United, despite spending nearly €12 million yesterday, increasing their stake to 24.14%.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is picking himself up off the floor again - and this time the devastating body blow has been delivered by one of his most important players.

CHELSEA striker Mateja Kezman was last night handed a three-match domestic ban by the Football Association following his sending off against Roma during last week’s pre-season friendly in America.

LEEDS star Harry Kewell’s future will be resolved by the end of the month.

ON the night before the 1992 general election, a group of us working on the campaign arranged to travel down to Longford where the then Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, was holding his traditional eve-of-poll event.

A LEADING sports lawyer has claimed that Rio Ferdinand faces the loss of several key sponsors as a result of his eight-month drugs ban.

IT IS so long since Liverpool were the dominant force in British football that recently they’ve taken to flying a banner as if to remind a new generation of fans.

STEPHEN CARR admits it is high time Tottenham lived up to expectations.

THIERRY HENRY declared that he would join Patrick Vieira in sacrificing wages for the prospect of further success with Arsenal when they commit their long-term futures to the club.

HIS Ryder Cup debut here at the Belfry may have been only five days away but as he watched television in his plush Sunningdale home, Paul McGinley's mind was far from golf.

THE Kerry Centre, Manchester United’s five star hotel in Beijing, Monday afternoon.

ASTON VILLA chairman Doug Ellis is prepared to provide financial backing for manager David O’Leary in the transfer window after the Irishman yesterday signed a new three and a half year contract.

GARY NEVILLE has admitted his Manchester United team-mates will ‘want shooting’ if they do not advance to the second Champions League stage as group winners.