Palace hand Francis four-year contract

Trevor Francis was finally named as the new manager of Crystal Palace yesterday. The Eagles chairman, Simon Jordan, has handed Francis a four-year contract as the successor to Steve Bruce, who resigned four weeks ago with the intention of taking Francis' old job at Birmingham.

The appointment does not mean an end to the much-publicised dispute between Jordan and Bruce over the former Manchester United defender's notice period at Selhurst Park.

Francis, who took Birmingham to the brink of the Premiership during five years with the club, said: "At the start of the season, Crystal Palace weren't one of the teams I thought would be in the top four or five. But they're there on merit and Palace are good enough to be in the top six."Francis revealed he had turned down four jobs since his departure from Birmingham. "Jobs have been available but I didn't show any interest," he said.

Jordan said funds are available to Francis, and added that he was prepared to pay both Francis and Bruce until the end of the season. "Constructive dismissal [of Bruce] is not relevant," he said. "I've already spent £21m here and I'm not going to let anyone upset that. It cost me £50,000 to get the court injunction – and that still holds. If I have to pay two managers for the next nine months, that's my problem." Steve Kember and Terry Bullivant who have been handling first-team duties in recent weeks will stay on to work with Francis.

John Gregory has written off his chances of signing the Leicester City midfielder Muzzy Izzet. The Aston Villa manager has been told by the board of directors that there is no prospect of him being given any money to strengthen his squad.

The Blackburn manager Graeme Souness has ended his interest in signing the Stockport striker Shefki Kuqi. Souness had a £500,000 bid rejected.

Louis van Gaal has resigned as coach of the Dutch national team after they failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. He replaced Frank Rijkaard last year on a six-year contract.

Jaap Stam's positive test for nandrolone has been confirmed by a second analysis of his urine, the Italian Olympic Committee said yesterday. The defender tested positive after Lazio's Serie A game against Atalanta on 13 October.

Manchester United retained the title of richest club in the world for the fourth year running with a turnover of £117m according to accountants Deloitte and Touche. United and Real Madrid were the only two to generate over £100m in a top 20 with a combined income of £1.376bn.

WORLD'S RICHEST CLUBS: 1 Manchester United £117m turnover; 2 Real Madrid £103.7m; 3 Bayern Munich £91.6m; 4 Milan £89.7m; 5 Juventus £88.4m; 6 Lazio £79.4m; 7 Chelsea £76.7m; 8 Barcelona £75.2m; 9 Internazionale £68.9m; 10 Roma £64.1m; 11 Arsenal £61.3m; 12 Borussia Dortmund £59.5m; 13 Leeds Utd £57.1m; 14 Fiorentina £54.2m; 15 Rangers £51.7m; 16 Marseilles £49.9m; 17 Tottenham £48.0m; 18 Parma £47.5m; 19 Liverpool £46.4m; 20 Newcastle Utd £45.1m.