Marius Mitu and Laurent Delorge have been sacked by Anderlecht after the pair admitted being involved in matchfixing while playing for Lierse last season.

Belgian police had begun an investigation last November after being tipped off regarding unusually heavy betting patterns on some Belgian league games.

Anderlecht General manager Herman van Holsbeeck has said about the sackings: “We have no confidence in these players and have decided now to terminate their contracts.”

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore says the planned transfer bung inquiry may involve football’s world authorities and even the police.

Due to the seriousness of the allegations and the implications they hold for the game in general Scudamore feels that it may be necessary to go to FIFA to resolve any charges and, if necessary, to involve the police if any criminal activities have taken place.

“The inquiry intends to refer cases of wrongdoing that fall outside FA rules to Uefa, Fifa or the appropriate statutory body,” he said.

When asked if that could include the police, he said “Yes”.

The Premier League had appeared to be dragging their feet in appointing someone to head the bung inquiry but they have said that they are merely trying to ascertain the availability of the eight main candidates they have for the post, with an eminent QC being seen as the most likely appointment.

Richard Scudamore has called for the inquiry following allegations from Luton Town manager Mike Newell that he had been offered bungs in several transfer deals he had been involved in and sees the process as one of clearing the air rather than a witch hunt,

“I don’t believe this is an endemic issue,” Scudamore added.

“The inquiry will enable the chair to make a statement as to how good the clubs are.

“It will also come out with recommendations as to how we can improve our business practices and fight all these ‘reputation’ issues that are damaging us.”

FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has been found guilty of a conflict of interest over ticket sales for the 2006 Germany World Cup.

His family’s travel agency were given the rights to sell Trinidad and Tobago’s entire ticket allocation and Warner has now been judged to have violated Fifa’s code of ethics over his involvement with selling 2006 World Cup tickets.

After bringing the matter to the attention of Fifa himself, Warner may be suspended from the organisation at a meeting on 16-17 March.

Former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri has expressed interest in replacing Graeme Souness as manager of Newcastle United.

The likeable 53 year old Italian now joins the likes of Ottmar Hitzfeld and Martin O’Neill as the bookies favourites for the job of revitalising the fortunes of the struggling North East club.

Ranieri has been out of work since last February after a disappointing spell as Rafael Benetiz’s successor at Valencia but had previously led Chelsea to 2nd place in the Premiership and the semi-finals of the Champion’s League and would have a deeper knowledge of the English game than the current fan’s favourite Hitzfeld.

He said “I’ve worked in Italy, in Spain and in England, but at the top I put England. I love England because of the atmosphere and the fans. If possible, I would like to return to work in England. I am looking for another good job with a club who has ambition. Newcastle is a good team, an ambitious team. It is one of the best clubs in England.”

Some interesting results as usual from the Deloitte Football Money League as last season’s top earners Manchester United fall behind Spanish giants Real Madrid as the highest earning club in world football.

Chelsea also slip to 5th overall from 4th last year with an annual turnover for the 2004/2005 season of ?149.1m, a figure put into context when it is considered that they posted a ?140m loss for that period.

On a country by country basis, English clubs lead the way with 8 of the top 20 earners, 5 Italian clubs, 3 Spanish, 2 German and one each from France and Scotland.

Deloitte Football Money League ? 2004/05 season (UK ? Sterling and Euro ?)

Source: Deloitte Football Money League

Milan Mandaric has accused Portsmouth supporters of being the main cause of the rumours suggesting that Harry Redknapp is close to the sack only two months after coming back to Fratton Park.

He claims that he has been bombarded by text messages from the Pompey faithful, firstly calling for Alain Perrin to be sacked and now, after a poor run under his successor, shouting for Harry Redknapp to be dismissed too.

“I got text messages from supporters saying we should get rid of Alain [Perrin] and now I am getting messages saying we should sack Harry,” Mandaric told the Daily Mirror.

He added: “It is a difficult situation because we have spent a lot of money, brought in nine players and ‘Sacha’ [Gaydamak] is yet to see a victory.

“I understand the fans’ frustration but everyone needs to get behind Harry and give him the chance to make it. We still believe there is no better manager out there to get us out of trouble.”

After three years as one of the FA’s five main sponsorship partners, Pepsi have decided to end their association with English football’s governing body after the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Pepsi’s decision now leaves the FA free to pursue another lucrative deal with Pepsi’s soft drink competitors, with Powerade supposedly high on the list to tie their energy drink brand to the English national team. Another alternative would be to sell sponsorship of the new Wembley Stadium’s name with soft drink giant Coca Cola being lined up for that spot.

The FA’s group commercial director Jonathan Hill issued the following statement: “We respect Pepsi’s decision and remain absolutely confident the recently announced FA Partner Programme will go from strength to strength with a combination of new and existing partners.

This announcement was not unexpected and we are now keen to progress our strategy of focusing on the sports energy drink market for The FA moving forward.

The FA will be making further sponsorship announcements in the near future and thanks Pepsi for their support of The FA over the last three years. We wish them well with their future activities.”

A spokesman for Pepsi said: “Pepsi has a good relationship with the FA and has been a proud partner of the England team for three years, but we have decided not to renew our sponsorship beyond 2006.

We will continue our fruitful collaboration with The FA and Team England right up to the end of this year’s World Cup.

Pepsi remains committed to football and will be reinvesting its resources into an exciting new strategic platform for football activity in the UK, the details of which will be revealed in due course.”

Only two months after returning to Portsmouth from South Coast neighbours Southampton, Harry Redknapp is already facing unsettling rumours about his position as club manager.

Having won only two league games since his return and with Portsmouth sitting in a precarious position eight points behind 17th placed West Bromwich Albion, word had been circulating that new co-owner Alexandre Gaydamak had given the order for Redknapp to be sacked.

Portsmouth have moved quickly to deny the rumour however with a club spokesperson saying: “The club and Alexandre categorically refute the rumours from this report…Harry Redknapp has the backing of everyone at the club and will continue to do so.”

Sir Alex Ferguson has denied that Manchester Untied have any imminent interest in signing 16 year old United States wonderkid Freddy Adu.

After making his full international debut for the USA in January 2006, Adu’s agent Richard Motzkin had claimed that both Chelsea and Manchester United had held “friendly talks” with him regarding the purchase of Adu but Ferguson has moved to quash the rumours saying “We are not interested in Freddy Adu. We have watched him as a youngster, but there is no interest in signing him at the moment.”

Motzkin’s comments were prompted by reports in the media that English Premiership champions Chelsea were close to securing a deal for the Ghanaian-born forward who burst onto the footbal scene in the United States at the tender age of 14.

As with any US based player, any transfer deal would then have to be negotiated between the player’s representatives and Major League Soccer who hold the players’ registrations in the US.

Despite weekend rumours of Martin O’Neill taking over as Graeme Souness’s successor as Newcastle United manager, former Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld has allegedly arrived in Newcastle to begin talks with the Newcastle board about the position.

One of Germany’s most successful club coaches of all time, Hitzfeld has led both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund to Champion’s League success as well as winning several Bundesliga titles with Germany’s big two clubs.

Although he has been out of the game for the past 18 months, it is believed that the tough, authoritarian German would relish the task of revitalising the struggling North East giant’s fortunes where he would bring a reputation for dealing ruthlessly with big name stars as well as winning major trophies.