Sporting Digest: Football

The former Aston Villa and England Under-21 striker Ian Olney, 27, has retired from playing with the Vauxhall Conference side Kidderminster as he is still being troubled by the knee injury that forced him to curtail his League career with Oldham.

The East Fife manager Jimmy Bone, the former Sheffield United forward, has left the Scottish League Second Division club after 14 months in charge. "It is by mutual consent as the board and I see the club moving in different directions," Bone said.

Trevor Francis, the Birmingham manager, has dropped his asking price for his unsettled striker Paul Devlin to pounds 600,000.

Bolton are to appeal against their midfielder Alan Thompson's dismissal during the first half of their 3-1 defeat at Blackburn on Saturday. The former England Under-21 international Thompson became the fifth Bolton player sent off this season when the referee Mike Riley showed him the red card after just 25 minutes for a tackle which left Blackburn defender Jeff Kenna needing treatment.

The Swiss defender Alain Vernier is to spend a trial period with Manchester City. The Neuchatel Xamax full-back will arrive later this week.

Leicester City may drop plans to redevelop Filbert Street and instead move to a new 40,000-seat stadium in the next two years. Barrie Pierpoint, the chief executive said yesterday that supporters are in favour of relocation if the cost of doing so is viable.

The Brazilian midfielder Savio Bortolini has joined Real Madrid, the Spanish champions, from Flamengo for an undisclosed fee. Real are understood to be investigating Savio's Italian ancestry in an attempt to avoid quotas limiting the number of non-European players in each Spanish side.

Zambia have cancelled two friendly internationals against Nigeria because of Commonwealth sanctions against the west African country. The games were due to take place on Saturday and next Wednesday.