The English Premier League have suspended match officials Rob Harris and Tony Green. Harris was the referee at the controversial FA Cup fourth round tie between Tranmere and Sunderland last Saturday when the First Division side played with 11 men following the dismissal of Clint Hill.

The match officials failed to recognise the error and the game finished in farce as the Wearsiders complained about the incident.

Green was the assistant referee at the Prenton Park game.

Tranmere were faced with an anxious 48-hour wait before the Football Association (FA) announced that the result of the tie would stand.

Harris and Green are under investigation by the Referees' Committee of the FA over the incident and the pair will not be used as officials at Premier League games until the committee complete their inquiries.

Hill left the field two minutes into injury time at the end of the game and substitute Stephen Frail took to the pitch. But the match officials were unaware that no player had been taken off as a replacement for Frail.

Indeed the fourth official, David Unsworth, held up a board to indicate that Hill was the replaced player.

Liverpool's Robbie Fowler will have a second ankle operation next week that will keep him out of action until mid-March.

Manager Gerard Houllier has reluctantly accepted club and specialist medical advice that only further surgery will clear up a problem Fowler has been struggling with all season.

"It is obviously very disappointing news for Robbie," Houllier said, "but after studying the specialist's report and discussing the matter at length with our own medical staff, it has been decided that he will need an operation.

"Unfortunately surgery has become necessary to remove the source of irritation that is inflaming the tendons attached to the ankle and it is anticipated that Robbie will be out of action for approximately eight weeks."

Fowler will certainly miss England's warm-up game with Argentina, and he could have less than two months of this current season left after his recovery from next week's operation.

Tim Sherwood has become the second Tottenham player in two days to incur the wrath of the FA. The England midfielder has been charged with making obscene gestures to the crowd at Newcastle just 24 hours after Sol Campbell faced a further inquiry into allegations of assault at Derby from October 1998.

Sherwood was reported after the 2-1 defeat at St James' Park on November 28th.

Sherwood, who joined Tottenham 11 months ago in a £4 million deal from Blackburn, has 14 days to respond to the charge.

But he joins Campbell under investigation after files on the defender were given to the FA, who will decide whether there is a case to answer over an incident involving a Pride Park steward.

Campbell was charged with assault in April last year after an alleged fracas following Spurs' 10 win in October 1998.

Steward Rex Mundy claimed he was left with a broken arm after the incident but the case was discontinued last July.

The condition of Diego Maradona's heart has deteriorated 62 per cent from its former level, a top cardiologist, Carlos Alvarez, said in Buenos Aires yesterday.

The former Argentinian international's state of health has improved since last week - he was reported to be playing with a football yesterday - but his personal physician Alfredo Cahe, said: "Honestly, I was expecting a cardiac dilation but it's a lot more than I expected and that worries me."

Adding that Maradona was shocked at the seriousness of his condition, Cahe said: "When I saw the state of his heart I could not believe my eyes."