Town mayor comes to the rescue for Barnsley

Barnsley were saved from extinction yesterday when the club was brought by the town's mayor, Peter Doyle. The 59-year-old retired businessman has been a lifelong supporter of the club and has amassed a personal fortune in the oil and gas industry.

The Second Division club, members of the Premier League as recently as 1998, had debts of £3.5m when placed in administration earlier this year. No details of how much Doyle paid for the club have been released. It has been reported that Doyle's first aim will be to persuade the former Republic of Ireland manager, Mick McCarthy, back into club management. Glyn Hodges is currently the caretaker manager.

Doyle did not comment on the manager's position yesterday, except to tell the club's website: "People are forgetting that we are going up the League nice and steady and are only a couple of points off the play-offs. [Barnsley are actually in 16th place, six points off the last play-off spot]. Things are going in the right way and Glyn Hodges is doing something that is producing that bit of magic."

The Sporting Lisbon president, Miguel Ribeiro Teles, has admitted that his club could be tempted to sell Ricardo Quaresma. Manchester United head a host of top European clubs, including Real Madrid and Juventus, reportedly chasing the 19-year-old midfielder.

And Teles, who conceded his club are facing financial hardships, would listen to any offer for Quaresma or for their young striker, Christian Ronaldo. Despite winning the Portuguese double last season, Sporting failed to qualify for the lucrative group stages of the Champions' League after being knocked out in the qualifying rounds by Internazionale. "The financial situation sometimes forces our hand and makes us sad seeing good players leave the club," said Teles before boarding a plane to England last night. "No one at Manchester has ever talked about Ronaldo or Quaresma. I can't swear that a deal won't happen, but until this time this subject wasn't on the table in the several meetings we have had."

Sporting and United are in the process of brokering a deal which could involve exchanging players, and talks have already previously been held in Portugal about the deal.