The former Tottenham defender moved for a knockdown £50,000 because of an escape clause in his contract.Hendon chose to join struggling Wednesday’s First Division survival fight after also talking to Luton Town Jewell has been looking for a new right-back all season. He currently has Robbie Stockdale on loan from Middlesbrough, who may now return to the North-east.The Motherwell goalkeeper Andy Goram could be back in action in two weeks time, despite undergoing a hernia operation on Monday.The Forfar midfielder Dave Bowman will not play again until December after receiving a seven-match ban from the Scottish Football Association. The veteran former Dundee United player was sent off for two bookable offences by the referee John Fleming during last Saturday’s 5-3 defeat by Berwick Rangers, and later accrued three more red cards for foul and abusive language.Marco Tardelli was yesterday appointed as Internazionale’s new coach. Tardelli replaces Marcello Lippi, who was sacked after Inter failed to qualify for the Champions’ League and then lost their opening game of the Serie A season to Reggina.England have dropped one place to 15th in the Fifa world rankings.

Scotland are down three places in 25th and the Republic of Ireland are unchanged in 38th place. Northern Ireland and Wales are the biggest moves of the home nations, each country climbing five places to 91st and 108th, respectively.FIFA WORLD RANKINGS: 1 Brazil 822pts, 2 France 801, 3 Argentina 764, 4 Czech Republic 753, 5 Spain 745, 6 Italy 740, 7 Portugal 726, 8 Germany 719, 9 Netherlands 718, 10 Yugoslavia 711. Others: 15 England 672, 25 Scotland 619, 38 Republic of Ireland 571, 91 Northern Ireland 438, 108 Wales 371.. The Finnish and English Football Associations yesterday sent a joint letter to the European Commission asking it to recognise the sport’s unique status and keep the current transfer system largely intact. The Finnish and English Football Associations yesterday sent a joint letter to the European Commission asking it to recognise the sport’s unique status and keep the current transfer system largely intact.
“We call upon the European Commission to recognise the special characteristics of sport in general, and football in particular, and the game’s significance to the communities it serves,” the letter said.”We implore all those looking at the issue to ensure that all of the system’s benefits are preserved or enhanced in order for football to continue to flourish at all levels,” it said.The letter listed benefits of the current transfer system, citing the protection and encouragement of development, solidarity in terms of financial redistribution, and contract stability.The EC believes the current system, whereby clubs can demand a transfer fee for any player who leaves before his contract expires, breaks European laws on competition and workers’ freedom of movement. It has given the game until the end of October to produce ideas on how to change the set-up.World and European officials have in the meantime been trying to find common ground on the issue, but failed in their attempt last week to try to create a comprehensive proposal for a new transfer system.English and Finnish officials said despite the system’s shortcomings, any big changes would hurt all involved..

Tony Pulis is being sacked as manager by Portsmouth, with the veteran Steve Claridgetaking over as player-manager, writes Alan Nixon. Tony Pulis is being sacked as manager by Portsmouth, with the veteran Steve Claridgetaking over as player-manager, writes Alan Nixon.
Pulis was told of his dismissal by the club’s chairman, Milan Milandaric, last night following talks between the two 24 hours earlier. Claridge will pick the Pompey side on Saturday and is also recalling Guy Whittingham from a loan spell at Oxford to be his No 2.Pulis has only been in charge for a few months at Portsmouth, but he has failed to put the club on the promotion course that their owner wants.Andy Linighan’s contract with Crystal Palace was cancelled yesterday after his row with the owner, Simon Jordan, on a club “bonding” break. The veteran centre-half accepted the decision and will be partly paid off after an incident in which he clashed with the new Palace owner.Struggling Third Division Hull City won a 28-day reprieve yesterday after a court hearing into a petition to wind up the club.

Hull fended off moves taken against it by the Inland Revenue last May, but faced another attempt by British Customs and Excise that could yet lead to the closure of the club and the sale of its assets. Hull were yesterday allowed more time to clear their debts, but the case was scheduled to return to court on 8 November. The club was first taken to court in January over an alleged tax debt of £25,000.Manchester City are loaning the Australian striker Danny Allsopp to Bristol Rovers.Allsopp has made a comeback from a knee operation, but has since been confined to City’sreserve side.. Alban Bushaj and Ervin Vataj pinned England to the bottom of their World Cup qualifying group as they scored the goals which secured Albania a surprising 2-0 victory over Greece in Tirana yesterday. Alban Bushaj and Ervin Vataj pinned England to the bottom of their World Cup qualifying group as they scored the goals which secured Albania a surprising 2-0 victory over Greece in Tirana yesterday.
Bushaj struck five minutes after the interval and Vataj added the second in the last minute to give the Albanians their first victory in Group Nine after they had lost their opening game 2-1 in Finland. The result lifted Albania to third place in the group on three points behind Germany and Finland, with England at the bottom with only one point after two games.A single goal by Hakan Sukur, the Internazionale striker, gave Turkey a hard fought 1-0 victory over Azerbaijan in their Group Four qualifying match in Baku.The Azeris held out for longer than expected but Hakan Sukur finally broke their resistance in the 72nd minute when he fired past their goalkeeper, Dmitri Kramarenko.The victory was Turkey’s second in the group and followed a 1-1 draw with Sweden on Saturday They beat Moldova 2-0 in their opening game in September.

Azerbaijan remain bottom of the group, having lost all of their three matches so far.Russia maintained their 100 per cent start to their qualifying campaign when they beat Luxembourg 3-0 in a Group One match.They chalked up their fifth successive win over the minnows of world football, having been drawn in the same qualifying group for the third successive World Cup.Maxim Buznikin put Russia ahead with a diving header in the 19th minute when he met an Alexander Mostovoi free-kick at the far post. Dmitri Khokhlov made it 2-0 after 12 minutes of the second half and Yegor Titov added a third with another header in the final minute.Luxembourg rarely threatened the Russian defence as they were content to stay back for much of the game in the hope of keeping the score to a respectable level.Russia, whose scheduled match against Yugoslavia in Belgrade last Saturday was postponed due to the political unrest there, have six points from two matches following their 1-0 win over Switzerland last month.Their neighbours, Belarus, rebounded from last week’s defeat by Poland to beatArmenia 2-1 in their Group Five qualifier.The Dynamo Kiev midfielder Alexander Khatskevich gave Belarus the lead in the 23rd minute when he headed home a Maxim Romashchenko’s high cross. Just 11 minutes later, Khatskevich won another battle in the air and flicked a header to Nikolai Rindiuk, who beat the Armenian goalkeeper, Arutiun Abramian, from close range.The defender Felix Khodjoyan pulled one back for Armenia in the 50th minute when he picked up the ball after a bad clearance by the Belarus defence and fired home from the edge of the penalty area. Belarus then withstood a late rally by the Armenians to secure their second victory from three matches. Armenia have now lost twice since holding Norway to a 0-0 draw in their opener qualifier last month.The Czech Republic were held to a surprising goalless draw by Malta in a Group Three qualifier at the Ta’Qali stadium in Valletta. It meant the first points lost by the Czechs so far in their campaign in Northern Ireland’s group and the first won by Malta.