* The Mail:
Contract talks are pencilled in for the summer because United acknowledge Foster's progress during his two years away and the fact that other Premiership teams are watching him.
Foster said: "If I go back to United of course I want first-team games. That's what any player wants but it's going to be very tough."
* 'Honest' Richard Dunne
From The Guardian:
Pearce has seen his side's season unravel in recent weeks, with Sunday's anaemic FA Cup sixth-round defeat to Blackburn Rovers compounding miserable league form which has left City fourth bottom in the Premiership. The final whistle at Ewood Park prompted chants of "You're not fit to wear the shirt" from the 8,000 travelling supporters, with one irate fan running on to the pitch to remonstrate with the players and manager.
City's hierarchy closed ranks yesterday, offering little indication as to whether Pearce is on the brink of losing his job, though the mood is hardly likely to improve with Chelsea due at Eastlands tomorrow. Pearce has admitted that his job has been made harder by comments over the weekend by his captain, Richard Dunne, which suggested the City squad was effectively split with many of the established players unconvinced by recent foreign signings.
Dunne condemned some of his team-mates for "hiding". "When players come from abroad you always give them that settling in period, but it's March and we've still not clicked," he said. "They need to look at themselves and say 'We're not pulling our weight here.'"
Those comments are understood to have been directed at the likes of Georgios Samaras, a £6m signing from Heerenveen, and the Italian Bernardo Corradi, though City have yet to see the best of Dietmar Hamann, DaMarcus Beasley or Hatem Trabelsi this season.
"The one thing I will say about Richard Dunne is that he is bang honest and what he has said he has said from the heart," said Pearce. "He has not got a hidden agenda. The comments are born out of frustration. Now, it has probably done me no favours, because all it does is put the club in the spotlight.
"But he said what he said and I can't stop him saying whatever he says. Richard said it in all honesty and in some ways I back the skipper. I always have done. But I think, at times, it is not a case of people not wanting to put a shift in. I've never been to a football club - and I don't think I will ever work for one - where people do not genuinely want to do well. I've never met a footballer like that.
* The Sun claim that Little Stuart Pearce will be sacked regardless of any relegation.
* More unrest at Chelsea is reported after Mourinho's comments are that it is his ambition to manage Real Madrid.
"Every coach would like to do it. It would be an honour to work in a club like Real Madrid. I don't say no for the future. I say clearly no until 2010 because I have a contract with Chelsea. I want to stay at Chelsea, I am in love with Chelsea, I am in love with English football."
The Mirror claim that Mourinho has 'cut hos own throat' with Abramovich:
He thought he was being clever, thought he was the master of the universe.
But as Jose Mourinho went public on his Real Madrid job application on Sunday night, the Chelsea boss made the move that guaranteed he cannot win the final showdown with Roman Abramovich.
Flying to Pamplona on one of Abramovich's private jets to watch Champions League opponents Valencia was only to be expected from a man who believes he can pre-plan every minute of every game, second-guessing all his managerial rivals.
Yet the instant Mourinho opened his mouth to place himself in the frame for consideration by the Real Madrid upper echelons, he frittered away the PR advantage he had spent weeks and months stitching together.
Too late yesterday Mourinho attempted to back-track, aware he had gone a step too far and speaking of his debt of gratitude to Chelsea and the English game.
But Abramovich and his coterie of advisers have no further interest in entertaining the man with a Messiah complex beyond the end of the season.
And no matter what extra silverware Mourinho delivers in the next two months, even if he brings Abramovich the Holy Grail of the Champions League, there can no longer be any hope of a lasting peace treaty being brokered.
For Abramovich, winning is not enough. It is about winning with style and elan, and watching the sort of ground-out wins that Mourinho has made his stock-in-trade throughout his spell at the club has lost its appeal for an owner who dreams of Barcelona in blue shirts.
* Brawl at Chelsea:
From The Guardian:
Seven fans ended up in hospital after a brawl between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur supporters in west London following the FA Cup quater-final tie at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Rival fans met outside a local pub with knives, hockey sticks and wooden clubs embedded with nails and 34 were were arrested. One fan was still in hospital yesterday with stab wounds but his condition was not life-threatening.
Police believe the fight was prearranged on the internet or via mobile phones. Scotland Yard's Football Intelligence Unit is investigating.
The violence erupted at around 8pm, well after the match had finished in the early afternoon. Police said: "Clearly there was a degree of organisation. We are trying to establish if it was a pre-arranged set-piece fight."
* The Indie:
Martin Jol may have come within four minutes of knocking Chelsea out the FA Cup on Sunday but the Tottenham Hotspur manager had to be told by the club's hierarchy to pick the striker Dimitar Berbatov after he controversially decided to rest him for the sixth-round game at Stamford Bridge.
The discussion took place over Saturday and Sunday morning and is understood to have gone all the way up to boardroom level after Jol originally decided that Berbatov should be rested with tomorrow's second leg Uefa Cup game against Braga in mind. The response from senior figures at Tottenham was that there was no way the club's best striker should be left out of such an important, high-profile tie.
It was indicated to Jol, who spent £10.9m on the Bulgarian, a price tag that his goals have justified this season, that Berbatov should play against Chelsea and the Tottenham manager duly switched him for Mido who had been told he was starting. The Egyptian international was not pleased to be taken out of the team again but the decision was justified within five minutes when Berbatov scored the first goal in the 3-3 thriller.
The original omission of Berbatov did not say much about Jol's belief that he could win the tie. The exchange also says something about the Tottenham manager's long-term future at the club after he came within a game of qualifying for the Champions League last season. With the club 10 points off fourth place this season, Tottenham's hope of success lies in the FA Cup and Uefa Cup, which was why he was told to play Berbatov on Sunday.
* Loanee Lee Martin, quoted after scoring for Stoke at the weekend:
"I feel I am getting better week by week, especially the last two games at Plymouth and on Saturday; I thought I did well. It's all about match practice to be honest, I have played a few games here now and I have really settled in.
"There is still more to come though. Scoring the goal is like having a weight lifted off my shoulders now, and I want to hopefully score a few more."
* The Mirror:
Sir Alex Ferguson has blasted Billy Davies for pinching David Jones on the cheap.
Derby boss Davies has revealed Fergie thinks he got Jones for a steal after allowing the midfielder to leave Manchester United for £1million in January.
Davies said: "Sir Alex said I've done him out of £3-4m - and he's the best I've worked with."
* Leeds strife:
From the Mirror:
Dennis could face a dressing-room revolt from some of his Leeds players.
Some senior players are so unhappy with Wise that they are talking about club legends Gary Kelly and Lucas Radebe to take over until the end of the season.
They feel a Kelly-Radebe dream ticket would improve team spirit and be hugely popular with the fans. A Leeds source said: "Some of the players feel Gary Kelly and Lucas Radebe could provide the leadership and being such Leeds stalwarts, would also get the fans behind them."
Several players have lost faith in Wise, who has won just seven out of 25 games since taking over in October, and doubt he can prevent the Championship's bottom club slipping into the third tier for the first time in their history.
They question his ability and man-management skills and Wise alienated several players over his handling of 'molegate' when he alleged someone in the dressing room had leaked his team to Crystal Palace.
Wise's accusations sparked a witch-hunt in the dressing room and vice-captain Shaun Derry and goalkeeper Graham Stack had to publicly defend themselves against rumours that they were the mole. Leeds visit Leicester tonight and the club source said: "The players were very upset by Wise's handling of that situation.
"They don't believe there was a mole. They feel Wise's actions were heavy-handed and showed a lack of respect."
A Leeds spokesman said: "This has come from the agent of a disaffected player and should be treated with the contempt that it deserves."