Bits And Bobs

* Wigan boss Chris Hutchings:

"Tevez is a genuine world-class player with great attributes.

"He got the crowd going and scored a brilliant goal. He's a tremendous acquisition.

"It was claimed they had dried up for goals but they have got goals in them from every area.

"We know what Tevez and Wayne Rooney can do and when they aren't delivering the likes of Paul Scholes can pop up and do it."

* Is Stephen Ireland suffering from more than a hairline fracture?

The Times:

Stephen Ireland, the Ireland midfield player, is receiving counselling in an effort to persuade him to play for his country again. He has withdrawn from the squad to play in the group D European Championship qualifying matches against Germany on Saturday and Cyprus on Wednesday, both at Croke Park.

"I have thought long and hard about whether I would do my country justice," he said yesterday. "Unfortunately, I don't believe I would on this occasion."

Steve Staunton, the Ireland manager, met the player at the City training ground in Carrington last week. He also spoke with Sven-Göran Eriksson, the City manager, and is believed to have enlisted the help of Richard Dunne, Ireland's club and international team-mate, as a last resort.

It was all to no avail. "The support I have received from Mr Staunton and the FAI [Football Association of Ireland] has been excellent," Ireland said. "Everybody at City have also been superb. However, I do not believe I can make a positive contribution to our efforts to qualify."

Ireland's withdrawal is the latest twist in a bizarre tale that has its roots in Bratislava last month. He scored a goal in the 2-2 draw against Slovakia but then flew home, citing the death of his maternal grandmother, and missed the 1-0 defeat by the Czech Republic in Prague.

On arriving in Manchester - and on the discovery that his grandmother was alive - Ireland said that there had been a mistake and that it was his paternal grandmother who had died. This also proved to be untrue and Ireland was forced to admit that he had lied, having concocted the fake deaths to return to his girlfriend, Jessica, who had suffered a miscarriage.

* The Guardian:

Perhaps there's something in the Wearside water. Six weeks after the Sunderland manager Roy Keane lamented the baleful influence of Wags in football, Josef Szabo has decided that women are to blame for Dynamo Kyiv's shaky start to the season.

It is, admittedly, four decades since Szabo last strolled along Seaburn beach, but it was at Roker Park that he enjoyed his finest game in a USSR shirt, his plunging header off the line in the final minute protecting a 2-1 lead against Hungary in the 1966 World Cup quarter-final. The former midfielder has spoken of his affection for Sunderland, and it seems he learned much about making nostalgic statements that can easily be misinterpreted as misogyny while he was there.

Keane's point, which became obscured in the subsequent furore, was that he is troubled by the lack of commitment to football - almost a lack of respect for the sport - shown by certain players as they become distracted by the trappings of a lavish lifestyle. Szabo's argument was essentially the same, even if it was couched in rather more aggressive terms.

"Personally, I'm not ashamed [of Dynamo's form]," he said, "because I see how in a short time they have made very good progress, because I have taken them away from their women, from their wives. We went to the training camp, because women in football are a scourge. They do not understand that men need to work, that they have a hard job to do."

* Joey Barton on club vs country row (presumably pretty easy if you are rarely called up)

"People get carried away about playing for their country. It's always nice to be selected and it's always a privilege and an honour but I'd much rather be successful for Newcastle than I would for England."

"It is always nice to be selected, and it is always a privilege and an honour. But the thing I have to do first and foremost is to play good football for Newcastle.

"If England comes then so be it, but I have played for them once now and that'll do for me. I am more interested in winning domestic honours. This is my bread and butter. Hand on heart, I would much rather be successful for Newcastle than for England."

* The Times reveal that Ajax are unhappy with Chelsea, accusing them of poaching Henk Ten Cate:

Ajax's technical director Martin van Geel reacted angrily yesterday, saying, "Chelsea have contacted Henk behind our backs and without our knowledge he went to London to talk to them. Henk informed us last Tuesday about this. I don't think that is right. For us this all comes on a very bad moment, if it was up to us we would have ended the season with Henk."

Chelsea are not commenting on the accusations but, privately, are bemused at Ajax's stance - especially because compensation has been agreed and, also, it appeared highly likely that Ten Cate would have been sacked after an indifferent start to the season had he not been released. Ajax, also, have shown no intention of making an official complaint.

There have also had to be further talks with Ten Cate over his role. He has impressed owner Roman Abramovich after being recommended by Arnesen, the club's influential chief scout and head of youth development, and had been led to believe that he would be fully in charge of tactics and training.

However Chelsea have now been moved to point out to the Dutchman that he will be Grant's assistant, on a par with Steve Clarke - who has been placated, it appears, after threatening to leave - with the Israeli as manager. It appears Ten Cate, who will be paid £2m a year, will agree to those terms even if they are diluted. However he has still certainly been informed by some at Chelsea that he is, in effect, a manager-in-waiting - or, at the least, will have a greater say in team matters than will be framed in his contract.

* Didier Drogba: