Arsenal's Patrick Vieira was banned for six matches and fined Stg£45,000 by the FA yesterday following his controversial sending-off against West Ham on October 3rd.
At the FA disciplinary hearing he was handed a four-match ban plus a £30,000 fine for spitting at West Ham's Neil Ruddock following his red card. In addition, he received a two-match ban plus a further £15,000 fine for confronting a police officer.
Manchester United confirmed yesterday that they will not play in this season's FA Cup. The Football Association have received official confirmation from the treble-winners that the holders will not be defending the trophy.
An FA statement revealed one of the reasons United did not want do a U-turn was because they did not want to devalue the competition by entering a team other than their strongest.
Following United's withdrawal William Hill have made Arsenal 5-1 favourites and also offer 11-2 Chelsea, 8-1 Leeds, 10-1 Liverpool, 12-1 Spurs and 14-1 Villa.
Croatia Zagreb coach Osvaldo Ardiles was sacked yesterday and replaced by deputy Marijan Vlak following the club's elimination from the European Champions League.
Vlak, who was the number two to Ardiles since last July, had been the head coach at Zagreb from July 1997 to March 1998.
Derby County have agreed a deal for Rangers' Scottish centre-half Colin Hendry but will wait for his knee injury to clear up before completing the signing.
The two clubs have settled on a fee, believed to be Stg£1.5 million and rising to £2 million depending on appearances.
Celtic's UEFA Cup second round second-leg match against Lyon at Parkhead will be televised live on BBC 2 on Thursday, November 4th with coverage from 7.30 pm.
