A late fourth prompted a chorus of What a load of rubbish

A late fourth prompted a chorus of “What a load of rubbish”, followed by a mass walk-out.Yet the evening had began so brightly for City. Despite the absence of the injured Georgi Kinkladze, they built down his favoured left flank through Rae Ingram and Paul Dickov. Their 1,500-strong following had earlier amused the locals with their chant of “Nobody’s blue and white army”. But gallows humour subsided into disgust and dismay as City gave up three goals in 17 minutes either side of half-time. “I don’t comment at all.”There was a slight snag with that answer: City do not have a manager. “Statements after games are for the two managers,” the City chairman said tersely.

A Lincoln side standing 15th in the Third Division and assembled for less than pounds 200,000 shrugged off the setback of Uwe Rosler’s goal in 40 seconds, replying with four of their own against a team which cost pounds 6.5m.A grim-faced Lee later declined to discuss reports that he plans to ask his Palace counterpart, Ron Noades, for permission to approach the 52-year-old “Harry” Bassett today. Speculation that Leonenko is a transfer target of Arsene Wenger is unfounded.FRANCEMichel Platini, the former French captain and coach, now the president of the World Cup 98 organising committee, was yesterday extolling the virtues of the green stuff that will be crucial to the tournament – grass, not money.”The grass is the image 27 billion television viewers will keep in mind I’m very fond of lawns,” he said. “I remember Atletico Madrid’s pitch at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. I did not play against Austria that day, but I walked on the grass barefoot because it was so beautiful.”The grass earmarked for the new Stade de France will be an English brand noted for its robustness along with a French type renowned for its hard- wearing qualities.Andrew Martin. Lincoln City 4 Manchester City 1

If Dave Bassett was shocked by the poverty of Manchester City’s performance at Selhurst Park on Saturday, then it was as well for Francis Lee’s prospects of luring the Crystal Palace manager to Maine Road that he did not witness their surrender at Sincil Bank last night.
In the first leg of their Coca-Cola Cup second-round tie, City’s fabled capacity for calamity went into overdrive. Last year Leonenko was demoted to Dynamo’s second team after being accused by his coach of lack of discipline, gaining weight and excessive beer drinking.

Dynamo were knocked out in the qualifying round of the European Champions’ League last month by Rapid Vienna, and they could only manage a 0-0 draw at home in the Uefa Cup against Neuchatel Xamax.Sabo, empowered to cut pay of players and other coaches and cancel bonuses, was particularly unhappy about the forward Viktor Leonenko. The club have granted their coach, Yozhef Sabo, sweeping powers “to establish order and discipline” after a series of dismal results. Throughout the Corinthians match, the Flamengo coach, Joel Santana, was heard to berate the violence of his opponents and the leniency of the referee. But when asked about a challenge by Alejandro Mancuso that dispatched Corinthians’ Souza to the treatment table before half-time, Santana replied: “Mancuso is macho.”Incidentally, Flamengo’s latest signing is the defender Junior Baiano, sacked by Werder Bremen after receiving a 10-match ban for punching an opponent in a Bundesliga match.UKRAINEDynamo Kiev, who won the Soviet championship 13 times, the Soviet cup nine times and the European Cup-Winners’ Cup twice, have imposed a “state of emergency”. In the first minute, the Flamengo striker Savio was bowled over by a vicious challenge from behind by Corinthians’ Alexandre Lopes, for which he only received a yellow card. The lightly built Savio has been advised by the national coach, Mario Zagalo, to cut down on dribbling to save his shins from further punishment.Some coaches have been accused of perpetuating the violence by ignoring the conduct of their own players.

This reduces the chances of the same player picking up two yellow cards.One recent match-cum-melee was that between Flamengo and Corinthians. BRAZIL

In the land of the beautiful game, football is becoming ugly. While the Brazilian national team have long been a divine presence, the domestic scene has become a brutal, violent affair that would render Saturday’s Hearts vs Rangers skirmish – when the Edinburgh side were reduced to seven men – a picnic by comparison.
Some teams have even been accused of employing a rota system, allowing their defenders to take turns to kick the opposition’s best player. And bunging a few quid into the kitty to keep the club running is the name of the management game for breadline bosses like Jim Platt.. “But in this situation you need your side to have two very, very good days and the Premiership side to have two very, very bad days.”Whatever the score tonight, and at Feethams next Tuesday, Darlington can expect two very, very good days (by their standards) at the gate. That was the night Billy Bingham’s Northern Ireland minnows famously defeated West Germany in a European Championship qualifier 1- 0, thanks to an Ian Stewart goal.The canny custodian-turned-manager will doubtless have that Belfast memory at the back of his mind when he takes his seat in the Elland Road dug- out tonight, even though he claims his players have “no chance” over two legs against Graham’s inherited Premiership team.”Upsets can happen in one-off matches,” Platt said.

“Some of the lads were dancing round the pitch, but I felt embarrassed,” he recalled of the night Boro clinched the Anglo-Scottish Cup with a goalless draw at Craven Cottage in November 1975 “I stayed in the dressing-room. I didn’t regard it as really winning anything.”It was different when Platt kept a clean sheet at Windsor Park on 17 November 1982. “But Middlesbrough were quoted pounds 4m-pounds 8m for players in this country who are not as good as the ones they’ve brought in So I can see their point I wish them good luck It’s good for the people of Middlesbrough. I hope they win something.”Platt was a member of the only Middlesbrough team – the one Jack Charlton built – which has won anything other than a second-class championship. “George Graham probably didn’t have to work when he was out of the game,” Platt said. “But I’ve never signed on the dole and I hope I never have to.”Even at the age of 44, Platt still looks lean and lithe enough to earn his living the old way. Indeed, on Sunday he kept goal as a last minute stand-in for the injured Stephen Pears in Bernie Slaven’s testimonial match – a gratis shift which took the Middlesbrough old boy (who earned a top basic weekly wage of pounds 350 in his time at Ayresome Park) to the home of the bold new Boro, where Fabrizio Ravanelli picks up pounds 27,000 after tax each week.”I don’t altogether agree with bringing in foreign players, because I think eventually it will be to the detriment of English football,” Platt said.