Terry Venables is ready to leave Middlesbrough at the end of the

Terry Venables is ready to leave Middlesbrough at the end of the season, whether he keeps them in the Premiership or not.
The former England manager, who stepped in as caretaker coach at the Riverside stadium for the second half of the season, has told contacts within the game that he does not feel he can continue at the club beyond the end of the current campaign.Venables, who will have television commitments next season, has weighed up Middlesbrough’s prospects both on and off the pitch and has decided that he cannot commit to them in the long-term. He might have been tempted by a foreign job but has yet to be formally approached by anyone. Boro will now have to decide whether Bryan Robson takes over the reins again after Venables’ departure or if they should look for a new manager.The Italian forward, Gianfranco Zola, has signed a new two-year deal at Chelsea and will end his playing career at the London club. The 34-year-old had said earlier in the season that he was keen to return to his home country so his children grew up speaking Italian “It was a family decision,” he said. “They are pleased to stay.”Zola joined Chelsea in 1996 and was voted Footballer of the Year in 1997 when the Blues won the FA Cup. The club have had a disappointing season after winning the FA Cup 12 months ago, but Zola, who won the Italian title in 1990 with Napoli, has set his heart on winning the Premier League.”One of the reasons I decided to stay is that I have not won the Premier League title and I am looking forward to doing so in the two years I have left,” he said. “I have not thought about coaching yet and am just focussing on what I have to do as a footballer.”The Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer has had a second operation on the injured knee which has limited his appearances this season.

The former England captain has only played 23 matches, scoring seven goals. A statement from Newcastle yesterday confirmed that the operation had been carried out in Colorado by the surgeon Richard Steadman.Manchester United yesterday unveiled a gold-coloured kit to celebrate the club’s centenary year in 2002. The kit, made by the current manufacturers Umbro in their final year before being replaced by Nike, will be worn next season as a second or third choice to the club’s traditional red strip.The Football League’s board of directors yesterday ratified the nine-point penalty imposed on Chesterfield for financial irregularities ­ but continued to insist that the punishment is too lenient. The board forced an independent disciplinary panel to reconvene in Leeds on Tuesday and reaffirm the suggested penalty of nine points.After the sanction on the Third Division club was finally agreed, the Football League chief executive David Burns said: “The board continues to believe that a nine-point deduction does not reflect the damage that Chesterfield Football Club have done to the integrity of the competition.”The Chesterfield manager Nicky Law said: “We’re delighted it’s all done. We went on Tuesday and they reaffirmed the nine points but we still had to wait two days to be put out of our misery Now we can enjoy the little bit of the season that’s left.”.

Adam Crozier, the Football Association chief executive, has called on all sides in the Wembley National Stadium fiasco to “stop slagging each other off” and work towards a solution. The future of the stadium was thrown into doubt on Tuesday after the FA announced that it had been unable to find sufficient funding and called on the Government to intervene. Adam Crozier, the Football Association chief executive, has called on all sides in the Wembley National Stadium fiasco to “stop slagging each other off” and work towards a solution. The future of the stadium was thrown into doubt on Tuesday after the FA announced that it had been unable to find sufficient funding and called on the Government to intervene.
The Prime Minister Tony Blair rejected the plea, however, provoking a row over responsibility for the project between the FA, the Government and the board of Wembley National Stadium Ltd.A way forward appears to have been paved, with the Home Secretary Jack Straw taking control of a Government-backed ministerial working group to assess the options for the stadium. But Crozier insists progress can only be made now if the wrangling between different parties came to a halt.”Everyone suddenly wants to blame everyone else, and the fact is everybody has to shoulder some of the blame,” Crozier said.