Bonetti to sue over Laws incident

Ivano Bonetti, the Italian midfield player, is to sue the Grimsby Town manager, Brian Laws, as a result of the notorious dressing-room row that left the striker nursing a broken cheekbone.

Bonetti, who had an operation yesterday to remove a steel plate from his face, revealed that he initiated the civil law suit for damages three weeks after February's incident after a game against Luton Town.

The 31-year-old former Juventus and Torino player said he was disappointed the club had merely fined Laws, who is awaiting news from the Football Association of a date for their hearing into the fracas.

Bruce Grobbelaar, the Southampton goalkeeper, has been dropped from the Zimbabwean squad to give younger players a chance. The newly-appointed Swiss coach, Marc Duvillard, said the 38-year-old would not play in Zimbabwe's first World Cup qualifier against Madagascar next month or feature in any other games under his control.

Duncan Ferguson, the Everton striker, is to have a third hernia operation in an attempt to cure the problem that has troubled him for more than a year.

Rotherham United have been put up for sale less than a month after winning the Auto Windscreen Shield at Wembley. Their chairman, Ken Booth, aged 75, who rescued the Second Division club in 1987, announced that he will retire and has put his 86 per cent controlling interest on the market.

Supporters of Charlton Athletic are threatening to seek a court injunction preventing next week's First Division play-off semi-final second leg against Crystal Palace from going ahead.. Their supporters' club claims Palace's ticket arrangements for their match on 15 May are in breach of the rules because they have been allocated only 2,883 seats instead of the 6,700 which would constitute the required 25 per cent of capacity.