Suspension ends Flitcroft's season

Football

Garry Flitcroft will not kick another ball in the Premiership this season. Blackburn's new pounds 3m midfielder - sent off within four minutes of his debut against Everton last month - has been handed a further one- match suspension as a result of a poor disciplinary record.

Flitcroft was summoned before the Football Association after collecting 12 bookings this season. He has recently served two games of a three-match ban and the extra game means he will now miss Blackburn's final match of the season at Chelsea. The former England Under-21 player has also been fined pounds 750.

Flitcroft's team-mate Colin Hendry is proving a wanted man, with Benfica joining Torino in attempting to lure the 30-year-old centre-half from Ewood Park. Rovers have responded by offering the Scottish international a four-year contract which will put him on a par with the club's top earners.

Brighton face a 31-day deadline to satisfy the Football League of their future plans - or face possible expulsion. The club will be relegated to the Third Division if they lose at Notts County tonight and are now deeply embroiled in an even more important survival battle.

The League will not approve a proposed ground-share scheme at Portsmouth next season until Brighton submit plans for a new stadium near the Goldstone Ground, their 93-year base which was sold to help clear pounds 6m debts.

A League spokesman, Chris Hull, said: "They have known of our requirements for a year, but we are still waiting for detailed plans of a future home. The Football League will not be manoeuvred into a corner under pressure. Unless Brighton address all the issues before 24 May, the future will look very bleak for the club, who are aware of the options available to us."

George Weah, the Liberian-born World Footballer of the Year, has extended his contract with Milan to June 1999.

The Cup-Winners' Cup finalists, Paris St-Germain and Rapid Vienna, also had good news on the striking front yesterday. The Brazilian forward Rai signed a new three-year contract with PSG, while Rapid's German striker Carsten Jancker, whose six goals helped the Austrian club reach the final, has also agreed a new deal.