Birmingham Evening Mail from Birmingham, West Midlands, England • 68

THURSDAY JANUARY 8 1987 SPORTS INSIDE TOD A 4 LETTERS ICE HOCKEY Page 64 RACING Page 65 ATHLETICS GOLF Page 66 SNOOKER SOCCER Page 67 drama as Davis clinches it Shirley Strong faces one of the most important races of her athletics career on Saturday LEON HICKMAN (left) reports Page 66 Turn to Page 67 men on top of world down under Counties queue to sign Dilley His contractual position is that Kent have offered him a two-year contract which it is rumoured might be increased to three Dilley is 27 his career is littered with injury problems and he is always going to carry a knee which appears to have developed though wear and tear If Warwickshire are serious about their interest in England fast bowler Graham Dilley they had better make their presence felt pretty quickly Counties reported to be about to make an official approach include Lancashire Hampshire Somerset and Derbyshire Out here are Brian Rose and Alan Ormrod new cricket managers of Somerset and Lancashire as well as Hampshire captain Mark Nicholas Also in Sydney is Kent skipper Chris Cowdrey so the next few7 days may settle immediate future Sydney on Saturday What England players are now realising is that they can compete with the best They are starting to become a good side thanks to the new solidity in the opening batting and bowling positions Make no mistake about it the impact made by Chris Broad all Today was the lost day of the tour We left lovely Perth at II am local time and arrived in Sydney at 6 pm eastern standard time The flight was just under four hours but distance and the time difference wiped out one of the two free days the England party have between their splendid Kina! win in Perth and the start of the last Test in through the tour and Gladstone Small since the Third Test in Melbourne has brought about the big change Not forgetting of course the remodelled bowling style in the Perth one-day tournament of Ian Botham His strained side is no longer of much interest simply because in Turn to Page 65 Chris Broad IF IT YOUR SPORT IN YOUR MAIL Delivery time Cor Des! LOTTA BOTTLE BLUES Co-op Milk new shirt sponsors By MARTIN SWAIN Birmingham City today clinched a shirt sponsorship deal with Co-op Milk which will be worth up to an undisclosed five-figure sum until the end of the season Saunders outburst PFA in protest By RALPH ELLIS Albion boss Ron Saunders will learn next week whether he faces a charge of bringing the game into disrepute for his outburst Football Association officials at Lancaster Gate today confirmed they had received a letter from the Players Union complaining at New Eve outburst In an exclusive Evening Mail interview Saunders claimed: we are seeing on the field today is the product of too many players drinking too much having too many late nights and not being sufficiently dedicated" The article annoyed PFA secretary Gordon Taylor and his letter of complaint reached Lancaster Gate today It will be put before the FA's disciplinary committee chairman Les Maekay next week Taylor is especially angry because five of his members were yesterday found guilty by the FA on disrepute charges including Mark Dennis who was rapped for a newspaper article Taylor said: the FA are prepared to take action New-look Blues: Des Bremner dons Blues new strip and two pints of milk for good measure at St today Picture by ALAN TROMANS against players for what they say in the media then the same rule should be employed for everyone in Saunders would undoubtedly defend himself against any charges although he refused to comment today Behind the agreement lies chairman Ken main hope for rescuing the St Andrew's club from their crippling million-pound debts On top of the shirt agreement Blues are planning a full-time move to the impressive training complex at Barrows Lane Yardley And Wheldon confirmed today that will see Blues make major inroads into the financial burden still being carried Stainrod gets cup task Weather Wheldon is hopeful that permission to develop the 54-acre site of their Elmdon training ground will soon be granted He said today: have major plans for Elmdon" Meanwhile the club will be content with the smaller revenue on offer from their first shirt sponsorship since the infamous riot at the Leeds match in May 1985 which provoked the withdrawal of Ansells The sponsors logo will be on view for the first time in FA Cup trip to Ipswich for whi-h manager John Bond is forced to change the team who drew at Bradford because of Wayne Clarke's suspension That is likely to see Steve Whitton move up front alongside Tony Rees and Julian Dicks be given an emergency midfield role but Coventry City are likely to resist the temptation of recalling him as they prepare to face Bolton at Highfield Road on Saturday plans for the tie are delayed by a flu bug affecting McGrath centre-half Trevor Peake and fullback Greg Downs Wolves manager Graham Turner faced a dilemma today over whether to recall experienced defender Floyd Streete for trip to his old club Cambridge Aston Villa manager Billy McNeill today set unsettled striker Simon Stainrod an FA Cup mission to save him an expensive sortie into the transfer market McNeill who has admitted he wants to buy a proven goalscorer will name transfer-seeking Stainrod in his side for third round tie at home to Chelsea He said: scored a lot of goals last season and I think he is capable of doing it again I am confident that we Streete came through a reserve game yesterday Walsall striker Trevor Christie was appearing before an FA tribunal today charged with bringing the game into disrepute for remarks he is alleged to have made to a linesman towards the end of the first-round FA Cup win over Chesterfield Kenny Mower starts a two-game ban on January 15 for exceeding 31 penalty points By RALPH ELLIS can sort something out if he is in the side and getting McNeill gave both Neale Cooper and Andy Gray a run in the reserves last night and both came through successfully Gray is likely to be one of the two substitutes for the cup-tie Lloyd McGrath this week had his first game since his pre-Christmas knee operation Tonight: frosty Tomorrow: very cold Lighting-up: 442 pm to 746 am Full Guide: Page 2 Printed and published by The Birmingham Post Mail Ltd at 28 Colmore Circus Birmingham B4 6 AX Tel 021-238 3366 Telex: 337552 FAX: 233 3958 London Office: Clan House 1921 Tudor Street London EC4Y OLA TOMORROW: First for the Saturday racecards TOMORROW: Spotlight on the FA Cup a a- 3 3 CO B-B: 3 2 fa 3 3 5 3 3 CD an CL 03 00 3 pa r-- 3 ST cm o' r-t- CD 3 dp ar co 3-cd ao "-33 go a 0 a 3 CD 3 re 3 3 So 03 5T 1 sr-S I 2 -1 -j 3 a SO 3 V- CD a 5 CD 3 3 S' crq to Os a-a 01 a- D3 3 03 crq co 3 sr 3 33 2 to CD rT 3 3 3 cr 5 CO 55 3 a CO 3 co 3 CD CD 3 3 CO CD CD CD a 3 CD crq e-j CO Dp CO cm Lrt 7 1 0 2-2 3 CD TJ 3 a 3 Jg-re 3 P- 33 CD 3 pr CD co CL 3 CD a a 3 a 5 CD 3 Si r-J rT 0 cl cl 2 re 5 fa cr to -i 3 cd crq 3 CD CD CD 3 2 3" ro a CD S' CD S- 3 3 hD CD cr a- 3 CD 5 07 cr: CD -r 3 ol p-i CD (jq Ho CL ff! 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