Football: Referee `loan' too long ago for action

European football's governing body, Uefa, is to take no action against Anderlecht, despite the club's chairman admitting he made a pounds 20,000 payment to the referee of the controversial 1984 Uefa Cup match against Nottingham Forest.

Uefa said they had decided not to seek sanctions against the Belgian club on the basis of a 10-year statute of limitations. Their disciplinary rules require that allegations of misconduct are limited to one year for incidents on the pitch and 10 years for everything else.

Robbie Fowler has suffered a setback in his recovery from a knee injury after taking a knock on it in training, but Liverpool have been lifted by the news that Jamie Redknapp's comeback from a broken ankle is ahead of schedule.

Another player making a swift recovery is Teddy Sheringham, who is hoping to play in Manchester United's Champions' League game next week. The striker, out of England's World Cup qualifying match with a rib injury, said yesterday he may even play in Saturday's game against West Ham.

"If I make a miraculous recovery I might be fit for Saturday. The ribs are not as bad as they were. It was only bruising. When I reported for England duty they sent me for a bone scan and as a precaution sent me home," Sheringham said.

Gudni Bergsson, the Iceland captain, is back at Bolton after he pulled out of his country's World Cup qualifier against Romania last night after a row over travel arrangements.

The defender wanted to fly straight back to Britain after the came in Bucharest, but the Icelandic FA told him he had to return to Iceland first, which would have meant he would not have been able to join up with the Bolton squad until Friday - just over 24 hours before their match against Arsenal at Highbury.

Wolves' multi-millionaire owner, Sir Jack Hayward, has carried out his threat to take a more hands-on role at the club by taking over as chairman from his son, Jonathan.

Sir Jack appeared to criticise both his son and manager Mark McGhee at the end of last season, when he referred to "a sloppily-run club" and the actions that went on between chairman and manager to persuade him to splash out yet more money on new players.

Diego Maradona yesterday declared his intention to play for Boca Juniors in Sunday's Argentinian League match against Newell's Old Boys after having his temporary drugs ban lifted. The 36-year-old was cleared to play again when a judge decided to make sure that the urine sample which provided the positive drugs test really came from Maradona.