A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Freedman leaves Crystal Palace to take on Bolton job

Dougie Freedman has left Crystal Palace and become the new manager of Bolton, succeeding Owen Coyle, the London club confirmed yesterday.

Freedman, 38, was given permission to talk to Wanderers yesterday afternoon after a U-turn from Palace, who had initially refused to allow contact hours earlier. And Bolton have wasted little time coming to an agreement with the 38-year-old.

“Crystal Palace Football Club can confirm that first-team manager Dougie Freedman has joined Bolton Wanderers,” read the statement on the club’s website.

“The board of the club would like to put on record their thanks to Dougie for all his efforts over the past couple of years and their disappointment over the events of the past few days. The search for a replacement starts immediately.”

Glazers committed to United's future

Manchester United’s owners will not sell the club for “many, many years” despite ongoing interest, according to vice-chairman Ed Woodward.

The sell-off of 10 per cent of the Glazers’ shares in the club in the IPO sale in August raised some questions over the American family’s long-term involvement but Woodward said they had no interest in cashing in the rest of their holding.

Woodward said though that he could not rule out one of the six Glazer siblings selling their holding at some point in the future.

“There is always interest in this business. It is a phenomenal brand and club, but they are not willing sellers at all, they won’t even engage, they are long-term investors.

“It’s a very popular business that people have interest in. The answer is: ‘not for sale’. I talk to them [the Glazers] every day and the excitement they have in this club is undiminished and I don’t see them selling completely for many, many years.”

“They are a family of six siblings and from time to time, seven to 10 years, who knows if one wants to sell a small piece or not.”

PFA chairman wary of any potential breakaway group

Clarke Carlisle believes a breakaway union to protect the interests of black footballers could be divisive and has called for Rio Ferdinand and Jason Roberts to meet with the Professional Footballers’ Association to discuss their aims.

Carlisle, chairman of the PFA, revealed he has already had several meetings with Reading striker Roberts, who, along with Ferdinand, refused to wear a Kick It Out T-shirt at last weekend’s Premier League games.

However, the nature of the proposals surrounding the potential breakaway group, which could sever links with the PFA, are still unknown by the union, and Carlisle has called for the key players to meet and discuss their objectives and issues which have caused the movement to gather momentum.

“I’ve had a number of conversations with Jason over the past few months. The most recent of them was on Sunday and they will continue,” said Clarke. “Jason explained one or two things to me but I don’t know what the full intentions or the requests are of this breakaway group.”

Fifa ask companies to have insurance

Fifa have ordered goal-line technology companies to take out insurance cover in case clubs or leagues take legal action claiming the systems are not working properly.

Hawk-Eye and GoalRef yesterday received official authorisation to install their systems worldwide after being granted licences by Fifa. But the companies have had to provide insurance so that if the systems fail – either failing to spot the ball has crossed the line or registering wrongly that the ball was over the line – they are covered if legal action is launched against them. It also covers any claims if a player or official says they have been injured by the equipment.

The Fifa rules on insurance for goal-line technology state: “This policy should provide sufficient insurance coverage for claims being raised by third parties due to the licensee’s activities or omissions (failure to act) as well as claims being raised due to potentially faulty (manufactured) products.

“A claim is deemed as a demand for compensation of bodily injury, property damage and pure financial loss.”