Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy was forced by yet another injury to Middlesbrough's Keith O'Neill to draft David Connolly into his squad for the coming European championship qualifiers against Yugoslavia, Croatia and Malta. O'Neill, whose start to the season at the Riverside had gone quite well, pulled a groin muscle in the warm-up before Tuesday's Premiership match against Leicester City and will be out of football for six weeks. Connolly, the former Watford striker, is currently on loan from Feyenoord to Dutch second division outfit Excelsior.

A disgruntled Alan Shearer confronted his manager at Newcastle United's training ground yesterday morning, incensed by the derogatory comments Ruud Gullit made about him after Newcastle's defeat by Sunderland on Wednesday night. The encounter was long and tart, no surprise given their now public mutual loathing, and Gullit also had to deal with an unhappy Duncan Ferguson, whom the Newcastle manager has also upset.

After their fourth defeat in five games and fourth consecutive loss of a lead, Gullit said: "No one complained when we were 1-0 up. When we put him (Shearer) on in the second half we lost, what conclusion do you draw from that? You saw what happened when Shearer and Ferguson went on. That's when the game slipped away from us, so make of that what you will."

Unsurprisingly Shearer and Ferguson made a great deal of it and the confrontation can only have increased the distance between the two parties.

At least Shearer retains the support of the man who prised him away from Sir Alex Ferguson's clutches, Kevin Keegan. The England manager named Shearer in his squad yesterday.

In a surprise move, Keegan recalled Stuart Pearce to the squad to play Luxembourg and Poland. Pearce is 37 and last played for England in the summer of 1997, when he appeared against Italy at the start of the Tournoi de France which was a dry run for the last World Cup. When Pearce did not make Glenn Hoddle's squad for France 98 it was assumed he had won his last cap.

George Graham yesterday appealed for more honesty from players as the Bosman ruling begins to play havoc with Premiership team building. The Tottenham manager's comments came after Spurs captain Sol Campbell followed the lead of Manchester United's Roy Keane in postponing a decision over a new contract until the end of the season.