Todd aims to take pounds 1.5m Warhurst to Bolton

Alan Nixon
Tuesday 07 January 1997 00:02 GMT
Comments

Football

Bolton's manager, Colin Todd, has made a pounds 1.5m bid for Blackburn's Paul Warhurst in the hope of heading off a move by Manchester City to sign the versatile player.

Warhurst was due to become Frank Clark's first signing for City on loan yesterday. The move was blocked when Bolton offered to sign him rather than secure a short-term deal.

Clark faces disappointment in his pursuit of Erland Johnsen, too. The Chelsea centre-back wants to go home to Norway.

Marek Citko, who played for Poland in the last World Cup, has agreed to join Blackburn Rovers in a pounds 4m transfer. The Widzew Lodz striker will arrive at the weekend for two days of talks and training with Rovers and has agreed to sign, barring late hitches. Tony Parkes, Rovers' caretaker manager, has seen Citko only on video.

The 21-year-old striker, who scored against England at Wembley, should have enough caps to gain a work permit. He has started taking English lessons.

Another Norwegian who could be on the move is Nottingham Forest's Alf Inge Haland, who can play in midfield or at the back. Everton's manager, Joe Royle, is willing to pay about pounds 2m for Haland, who has just rejected a new contract at Forest.

Sunderland will complete the pounds 250,000 signing of the Swedish international Jan Eriksson today subject to a medical. The 29-year-old defender played in both legs of Helsingborg's Uefa Cup win over Aston Villa earlier this season.

Gillingham have agreed to pay a club record pounds 250,000 for the Norwich striker Ade Akinbiyi, subject to agreement on personal terms and a medical.

Ray Wilkins has agreed to return to England to join Millwall of the Second Division on a one-month playing contract a day after leaving Hibernian. Wilkins, 40, left Easter Road by mutual consent in the wake of Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Rangers after almost four months of playing on short-term contracts.

Sam Allardyce, the former Blackpool manager, has emerged as favourite to take charge of Notts County until the end of the season. County, struggling in the Second Division, sacked their managerial team of Colin Murphy and Steve Thompson last month.

Three Nationwide League managers face Association charges after criticising match officials. Oxford's Denis Smith, Oldham's Graeme Sharp and Scarborough's Mick Wadsworth all have 14 days to respond to the misconduct charges.

After his side's defeat by Barcelona in the Spanish league on Saturday, John Toshack has announced he will resign as coach of Deportivo La Coruna at the end of the season. "I will not continue at Deportivo, whatever happens," said Toshack, who was criticised, along with Barcelona's Bobby Robson, for the poor standard of play in the match. Toshack, who has had two spells as coach at Real Sociedad and one at Real Madrid, said he will leave regardless of whether his side wins any trophies.

Jurgen Klinsmann will stay with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga for the rest of the season despite his much-publicised problems at the club. He has until April to decide what he will do after that. "I want to win the German championship and the German Cup with Bayern," he said on Monday after returning to Germany from a holiday in the United States.

Bryan Robson, Middlesbrough's manager, has fined Craig Hignett for being sent off for using foul and abusive language when complaining about a penalty decision when Boro were 5-0 up against Chester in Saturday's FA Cup third-round tie. Chester missed the penalty and Boro won the game 6-0.

The Association has confirmed that Hugo Porfirio can carry on playing for West Ham in the FA Cup. Wrexham had questioned Porfirio's eligibility, believing he was on loan from Sporting Lisbon, after he scored the equaliser in the 1-1 draw in the third round at the Racecourse Ground. He is under contract at Upton Park for the rest of the season.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in