Roeder stays silent over Di Canio exit rumours

Glenn Roeder, the West Ham manager, is refusing to confirm whether the club plan to offer captain Paolo Di Canio a new contract.

The 34-year-old Italian's contract is up at the end of the season but he wants to stay at the club and even talked about being given a coaching role at Upton Park when he retires. However, Di Canio is angry because the Hammers, currently bottom of the Premier League, have not yet offered him a new deal, even though he wants to carry on playing there for another year or two.

Di Canio's agent criticised West Ham at the end of last week and gave them an ultimatum, claiming the striker would start looking elsewhere if he does not receive an offer from managing director Paul Aldridge by the end of this month.

Roeder has enjoyed a fragile relationship with the player at times, and has given no indication that he wants to keep him beyond his current contract. The Hammers manager is also angry that Di Canio's agent went to the press about the issue because he feels it should remain private until a decision is made one way or another.

"We shall talk to Paolo's agent next week, that is the right thing to do, and when we have done that we shall probably have something to say," said Roeder. "It would be wrong of me to say anything until we have spoken to his agent.

"We hoped the conversation that our managing director had with Paolo's agent last week would have remained confidential, but it didn't. So until we have spoken to his agent it would be wrong for us to say anything."

The Bolton manager Sam Allardyce believes the Danish Football Association should be held liable for the cost of the injury sustained by Stig Tofting at the World Cup. The midfielder has only recently returned to action having sustained a foot injury in the Far East this summer.

"We believe Tofting's wages should be paid by Denmark," Allardyce said, "because he got injured playing for them. They played him when he was injured and because of that we have not been able to play him in our first team.

"We've had to carry on paying his salary and I think that is unacceptable. The Danes don't have any insurance policy and we haven't asked them about it. But we have made an approach to the FA to look into it for us.

"This is no fault of Stig's but it has cost us an absolute fortune already," he added.

Worthington Cup third-round draw

Blackburn Rovers v Walsall
West Ham Utd v Oldham Athletic
Newcastle Utd v Everton
Wigan Athletic v Manchester City
Sheffield Utd v Leeds Utd
Crystal Palace v Coventry City
Ipswich Town v Middlesbrough
Birmingham City v Preston North End
Arsenal v Sunderland
Burnley v Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool v Southampton
Wimbledon v Rotherham Utd
Manchester Utd v Leicester City
Oxford Utd v Aston Villa
Chelsea v Gillingham
Fulham v Bury

(Ties to be played 5 or 6 November)