Fulham fall out with Bates over groundshare

Fulham's plans to ground-share at Stamford Bridge collapsed amid controversy for the second time in six months yesterday, with the Chelsea chairman, Ken Bates, accusing the Cottagers of being difficult to deal with.

The Fulham chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed, wanted to set up a deal running from the start of the 2004-05 season – but talks broke down amid reports that Bates demanded a £5m "golden hello", with £2.5m to be paid even if the local council rejected the deal on planning grounds. Bates defended the financial make-up of the deal, saying: "We have spent £120m on our ground and anybody who wants to use it has to pay. Fulham are very difficult to do business with. What we were asking for was the equivalent of key money – and in view of the facilities at Stamford Bridge, we don't think that was unreasonable."

The Everton manager David Moyes is plotting a bargain deal for old boy Kevin Kilbane and is ready to offer relegated Sunderland around £1.2m for the Republic of Ireland winger. Moyes worked and played with Kilbane at Preston before selling him to West Bromwich Albion and now he is interested in teaming up with him again.

The Blackburn Rovers manager Graeme Souness has lost a third central defender for the Uefa Cup push, with Jay McEveley ruled out of a comeback. Souness wanted the teenager to face West Bromwich and Tottenham because Craig Short and Henning Berg are injured, but McEveley pulled a hamstring in the reserves and is unlikely to recover for either match, leaving Souness with a headache as he tries to pip Everton for the final European place.

Portsmouth flew to Israel yesterday hoping to bring down the £4m price for the Nigerian striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni. The Premiership-bound club's owner Milan Mandaric and the chief executive Peter Storrie jetted out to see Maccabi Haifa officials in an attempt to find a compromise figure.

Yakubu has been a major hit for Pompey after joining them on loan in mid-season and, at his age and with his assets, he would be ideal for the top flight in England. Maccabi are holding out for the full price they wanted when they let Yakubu go to Portsmouth in January.

The Rangers manager Alex McLeish is chasing Sunderland's Brazilian centre half Emerson Thome as a ready-made replacement for captain Lorenzo Amoruso. McLeish sent his chief scout, Ewan Chester, to watch the defender in action for the reserves after hearing that he can leave the relegated Premiership club for nothing. Thome was signed by Sunderland for £4.5m from Chelsea three years ago but has dropped out of favour since Peter Reid left and will now be allowed to go to get his wages off the payroll.