The neighbouring landowner, Les Wells, claims he has a right of way across the development site, and Kassam says work will be halted unless Oxford City Council finalises a deal by Wednesday to sell it to him.The Scottish First Division club Airdrie, in provisional liquidation for over a year, have been given the go-ahead to complete their remaining fixtures following confirmation that a Fife-based consortium has been awarded preferred bidder status.Celtic’s Stilian Petrov has had an operation on his broken right leg. Petrov, 21, fractured his tibia and fibula in a collision with St Johnstone’s Jim Weir.. Trevor Francis, the Birmingham City manager, has refused to use the club’s injury crisis as an excuse for poor recent results. The team have taken only one point from their last three matches – the 1-1 draw at Grimsby on Tuesday.

Trevor Francis, the Birmingham City manager, has refused to use the club’s injury crisis as an excuse for poor recent results. The team have taken only one point from their last three matches – the 1-1 draw at Grimsby on Tuesday.
Already without first-choice players Martin O’Connor and Danny Sonner at Grimsby, Francis lost the defender Michael Johnson before the match with the recurrence of a back injury. None of the casualties are expected back for today’s home game against Sheffield Wednesday.Francis said: “If I had all the players available I wanted to pick, then I’m sure we could have done better. But, like any manager, I have to deal with injuries and make the most of the players available.”Sheffield Wednesday made deadline-day acquisitions of two Southampton players, Trond-Egil Soltvedt and Stuart Ripley. The club also decided to sell the striker Andy Booth to Huddersfield rather than wait for him to leave on a free transfer in the summer.The Norwegian international Soltvedt, 34, has signed a two-year deal for a fee based on appearances up to a maximum of £200,000. The Middlesbrough-born winger, Ripley, 33, is on loan until the end of the season.Booth returned to Huddersfield – the club he left in 1996 – for a fee believed to be in the region of £300,000. “Huddersfield are in a spot of bother at the bottom like us and they’ve been on to us about signing Booth for a while,” Terry Yorath, Wednesday’s assistant manager, said.Stan Ternent, the manager of Burnley, is currently a victim of international call-ups.

He will be without the defender Ian Cox for today’s game at home to struggling Queen’s Park Rangers.Cox is preparing for Trinidad and Tobago’s World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica next week. Ternent said: “I am happy for Ian to play for his country but my prior concern is the welfare of Burnley Football Club. I wouldn’t want to stop someone qualifying for a World Cup, because that would be a high point for any player.”. Out of sight he may have been, while playing his club football in the Netherlands for the past three seasons, but David Connolly has never been out of Mick McCarthy’s mind. Out of sight he may have been, while playing his club football in the Netherlands for the past three seasons, but David Connolly has never been out of Mick McCarthy’s mind.
The Republic of Ireland manager remains impressed with Connolly’s enthusiasm and ability and will turn to him again in the absence of the injured Niall Quinn for this evening’s World Cup qualifying tie against Cyprus in Nicosia.With the equally diminutive Robbie Keane alongside him, that could mean a radical departure from Ireland’s normal style, under which most roads tend to lead to Quinn, the country’s joint record goalscorer. McCarthy intended to pair the two smaller forwards – who were briefly together at Wolves – against Denmark last month in a friendly that had to be postponed because of snow.

He has seen enough in training this week amid the welcome Mediterranean sunshine to convince him that they represent his best option, rather than employing Tottenham’s versatile Gary Doherty or Sunderland’s winger Kevin Kilbane with Keane.”There are players who’d be having a go at it rather than being specialist strikers,” McCarthy said. “People have suggested we’ll have to change our game plan but I can’t remember us relying on a long ball game, I think we’re better than that I’ve never lost faith in David. He had a bad time at first at Feyenoord but now he’s back in the first team and looking sharp.”Connolly was only 18 when awarded his first international cap in 1996. A video compilation of his goals for Watford – in another little and little partnership with Kevin Phillips – impressed the Dutch club, but he failed to make an impression there and was loaned to the Second Division side Excelsior before regaining his confidence and scoring touch with 42 goals in 48 games for them.Enjoying life in the Netherlands, he hopes to earn a new contract this summer, regarding his selection today as confirmation that his international prospects can be enhanced not diminished, by playing abroad.”I haven’t started a competitive international for a long time,” he said yesterday. (The last occasion was a European Championship play-off away to Turkey 16 months ago). “Niall is a legend for Ireland and it won’t be easy to fill his big shoes – mine are a little bit smaller – but I’ll give it a go.

It can work just as well with two smaller players – at Feyenoord we haven’t got a big target man and, although the manager has normally gone for Niall or Tony Cascarino in the past, we’ve got the players who are good enough to adjust.”The strikers should be well served by Roy Keane and Mark Kinsella, flanked by Jason McAteer and Kilbane in a side that ought to be too strong for Cyprus, improving as they are. After excellent draws away to the Netherlands and Portugal, followed by a home win over Estonia, the Irish want maximum points from the next three games, against Cyprus and Andorra (twice) before the vital home tie with Portugal in June.Despite the first confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth disease in the Republic no restrictions have been placed on travelling supporters and yesterday the Football Association of Ireland’s chief executive, Bernard O’Byrne, was less pessimistic about the possibility of having to postpone future fixtures. He did admit, however, that if there were further outbreaks “there could be a problem” playing Andorra in Dublin next month.CYPRUS (4-4-2; probable): Panayiotou (Anorthosis); Theodotou (AEK Larnaca), Konnafis (Omonia), M Charalambous (Olympiakos Nicosia), Z Charalambous (Anorthosis); Ioachim (Omonia Nicosia), Engomitis (PAOK Salonika), Spoljaric (Apollon Limassol), Malekos (AEL Limassol); Okkas (PAOK Salonika), Constantinou (Iraklis).REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (4-4-2); Given (Newcastle); Kelly (Leeds), Cunningham (Wimbledon), Breen (Coventry), Harte (Leeds); McAteer (Blackburn), Roy Keane (Manchester Utd), Kinsella (Charlton), Kilbane (Sunderland); Connolly (Feyenoord), Robbie Keane (Leeds).. The recapture of past glories, for so long the dominant theme at Anfield, will today be given a fresh twist as Sven Goran Eriksson resumes his quest to restore England’s footballing primacy.