Keane given until Friday to appeal against ban

The Football Association has confirmed that Roy Keane has until Friday to appeal against his five-match ban and £150,000 fine.

The Manchester United captain is technically suspended from next Monday following the double guilty verdict handed down against him on the two disrepute charges he faced at the Reebok Stadium last month. It had been thought that the deadline for appeal had passed without reply on Friday, with the FA stating that the ban would take effect from 4 November, covering next Saturday's Manchester derby and the crucial game at Liverpool on 1 December.

However, Keane's legal representatives claimed they had a letter dated 25 October, which confirmed they had another 14 days to lodge any protest. It has still not been decided whether Keane will appeal against the ban, which arose after the FA took exception to comments in his autobiography concerning his tackle on Manchester City's Alf Inge Haaland at Old Trafford in April last year.

The proposed friendly between Australia and England next February is still some way from being finalised, according to the FA director of communications, Paul Newman.

"We are currently in discussions with Australia and Denmark about a friendly next February, but no fixtures have been confirmed," he said.

Aston Villa's veteran striker Dion Dublin is being lined up for a sentimental return to Coventry City in a loan deal.

Dublin is wanted by his old club as the striker to lead them back to the Premiership and the Coventry City manager McAllister hopes that the big striker will follow the experienced Craig Hignett to Highfield Road on a temporary basis.

Chris Armstrong's hopes of making a full-time move to Bolton Wanderers look doomed. The former Tottenham striker has failed to impress during his stay at the Reebok and the Bolton manager, Sam Allardyce, is unlikely to extend his short-term contract. The Bradford City manager, Nicky Law, has been alerted and is trying to raise funds to take Armstrong on until the end of the season.

Allardyce is also trimming the wage bill to make way for a new striker when the transfer window opens. He has relied heavily on Michael Ricketts, but the England forward has not delivered and may lose his place in the side for the match with West Bromwich at the weekend.

Mark Hughes has announced an unchanged squad for Wales' European Championship qualifier in Azerbaijan on 20 November, the third game in succession he has been able to do so. The only doubt is Newcastle's Craig Bellamy, who has had further troubles with his knee injury, and Wales will monitor his fitness over the next fortnight.

Fifa, the sport's world governing body, has told Wales they are right in their battle to have their players released four days before the game. Doubts had been raised over Hughes' decision to insist on the four days ruling, after Birmingham City had claimed that the FA of Wales was wrong to force Robbie Savage out of their match with Fulham on the Sunday prior to the qualifier.

Also involved are Ryan Giggs, due to play for Manchester United at West Ham that day, Andy Melville of Fulham, who would have been facing Savage, John Hartson – due to play for Celtic – and Mark Pembridge, who will be ruled out of Everton's game at Blackburn.

Their clubs are all playing re-arranged matches on Sunday 17 November, but a Fifa spokesman, Nicolas Maingot, said: "The date, 20 November, is set aside for international fixtures. If the Wales game had been a friendly they would only have been able to ask for their players 48 hours before the game. But the match is a competitive one in the European Championship.

"That means the ruling is that Wales can have their players four days beforehand. It is as simple as that. Why should we send out anything further in writing when it is already clear in our rules?"

Sheffield Wednesday have moved a step closer to appointing their seventh manager in five years following negotiations with Peter Reid in Manchester yesterday.

The club's chief executive Alan Sykes met the former Sunderland manager to discuss the vacancy following the resignation of Terry Yorath last Thursday. Reid is the second high-profile candidate to be interviewed in the last 48 hours after the Owls' board held talks with George Burley.