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LAMBERT: �I'M NO BENCHWARMER'
Paul Lambert would rather quit Celtic than stay and possibly end up on the subs' bench. The Scotland World Cup midfielder joined the Bhoys from Borussia Dortmund last season and helped them win their first title in a decade. But since the departure of coach Wim Jansen there has been no new appointment - and that has forced Lambert to consider his future.
''I don't know anything about the names being mentioned for the manager's job, but it won't bother me whoever gets it,'' he said. ''The new man could come in, take one look at me, and decide I'm not his kind of player. If that happens I won't be hanging around trying to change his mind. Don't get me wrong, I like it at Celtic and I like being back in Scotland, but football has changed since I started playing.
''Guys at a decent level know they are unlikely to be staying at one club throughout their careers. If I see out the two remaining years of my contract, fine. But if circumstances decree I have to move, I'll do so without any fuss. I would never say never about moving anywhere, be it to England or even back to the continent.''
PLYMOUTH KICK OUT MICK
Plymouth Argyle have sacked manager Mick Jones after he failed to prevent the Pilgrims from dropping into the Third Division. Chief executive Roger Matthews said the board had reluctantly terminated Jones' contract. A prepared statement read: Having considered the position and performance of the team over the whole of last season it was felt that a change was necessary. This is regretted, but believed to be in the best interest of the club.
Favourites to take over at Home Park are Kevin Hodges and Steve McCall, who led Torquay United to last season's Third Division play-off final. Hodges established an all-time playing record of 530 appearances for Plymouth before moving to Torquay, while McCall has had a previous spell as player-manager at the club.
RAZOR'S HAMMER MOVE OFF
Neil Ruddock's proposed move to West Ham is on the brink of collapse because talks between the Hammers and Liverpool have reached stalemate. The defender was expected to move to the capital on a pay-as-you-play deal, but the teams can't agree a fee. Roy �Third In The Table' Evans has made it clear that Ruddock is not part of his Anfield plans and allowed him to join QPR on loan but a permanent deal did not emerge, leaving West Ham as the front runners. A Liverpool spokesman confirmed: ''It looks as though Neil will not now be joining them.''
ROUND-UP
CARLISLE Ayr United defender Derek Anderson is the latest player to come under Michael Knighton's microscope. Another Scot, Hibs striker Lee Power, has agreed to join Carlisle for pre-season training next month.
COLCHESTER Promotion to Division Two has helped season ticket sales double last year's total already. The U's say over 1000 have been sold and warn that their matches against the likes of Manchester City will sell out quickly.
LEICESTER City bosses have been accused of trying to railroad their plans for a new 40,000-seat stadium through too quickly. Local councillors believe there should be more time allowed to look into potential congestion, noise and pollution surrounding the new venue.
MANCHESTER CITY City will visit Cornwall to start pre-season preparations for their exciting Second Division season. Joe Royle's newly-relegated team will spend a week at the HMS Raleigh naval base from July 9, playing the might of Torpoint Athletic on July 11 and Newquay on July 14.
MIDDLESBROUGH Former Nottingham Forest and Manchester City boss Frank Clark has said no to a backroom job at the Riverside. Clark, out of work since being booted out of Maine Road, has told Bryan Robson that he wants to return to football in a managerial capacity.
OXFORD United have been given a month to produce a timetable for the completion of their half-built stadium by the city council. They must decide to either revamp the ramshackle Manor Ground or restart work on their new home by July 14. Construction work stopped 18 months ago when contractors walked out in a dispute over money.
RANGERS New Dutch coach Dick Advocaat has agreed a �4.5m deal with Feyenoord for fellow countryman Giovanni Van Bronckhurst. The World Cup midfielder has agreed to follow his international teammate Arthur Numan to Ibrox but will not sign until after the World Cup. Rangers have also extended their sponsorship deal with McEwan's Lager for another five years.
READING The Royals are holding talks with the town's cricket and hockey club to try and sort out a pre-season training venue.
WALSALL New manager Ray Graydon wants to bring in at least three new players for his first season at the Bescot. He is currently tracking Burnley defender Chris Vinnicombe.
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TODAY'S TV & RADIO
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PICK OF THE DAY
England v Romania - live, 7.30pm on ITV and Radio 5 Live, 8pm on Talk Radio Three points here will wrap up a place in the second round, allowing England to vote tactically in the last match against Colombia. Glenn Hoddle will know who has won Group H before England's final match starts and might decide to try and engineer a match against Croatia rather than Argentina. You've got your pick of how to enjoy this one from Toulouse, the smart folk will have the telly on with the sound off and the radio tuned to Andy Gray's commentary on Talk.
BBC1
4.15pm, Colombia v Tunisia The South Americans know they must win this to stand any chance of progress. Coach Gomez probably doesn't give a monkey's though, because he's leaving at the end of the finals. What are the odds on Tino Asprilla making a shock return to the fold and scoring a late winner?
11pm, World Cup Match Of The Day Highlights of the England match and today's other events plus a look ahead to Scotland v Morocco. Pray to God that senile old Jimmy Hill doesn't wear that crap cross of St George bow-tie again.
ITV
7.30pm, England v Romania See Pick Of The Day.
10.40pm, Fantasy World Cup Hastily written - and therefore regularly not-all-that-funny - gags about today's games mixed in with funnier jokes and video clips they prepared earlier. Repeated at 3.10am.
1.30am (Tues), World Cup 98 A re-run of the England game. Only worth watching or taping if the boys do the business.
3.45am (Tues), World Football A round-up of events in France and elsewhere.
CHANNEL 4
1.35pm, A Tale Of Two Fans A short film that takes a sideways look at the difference between male and female fans. Fans of what? Robbie Williams? Leonardo Di Caprio? Crewe Alexandra? The listing for this is infuriatingly vague, but it might be about footie and it's only 15 minutes long so you haven't got much to lose.
Midnight, Under The Moon Hot-foot from Lyon, 365's Danny Kelly returns with a sofa-load of guests to chew over today's England result and decide just how Scotland will balls it all up tomorrow.
CHANNEL 5
12.05am (Tues), Live And Dangerous Before they cut to grown men with names like Chad and Rik flinging themselves down mountains on tea trays in the 1998 Extreme Games, there'll be some red-hot soccer chat. At least there'd better be what with England playing today and Scotland playing tomorrow.
EUROSPORT
6am-3pm, World Cup Hour upon hour of football you probably sat through yesterday, including a full re-run of Germany's great escape against Yugoslavia, plus previews, expert opinion and the views of Bryan Robson.
4pm-8pm, World Cup After an hour's break to show some cycling, Eurosport climb back into the saddle themselves with live coverage of Colombia v Tunisia. They also peddle another 90 minutes' worth of re-hashed highlights and interviews.
10pm-12.30am, World Cup Eurosport wisely step aside to make room for a Strongman contest and some boxing - if they wanted two hours of my airtime, I'd let them have it too! before re-showing the Colombia-Tunisia match and icing the cake with a 30-minute wrap-up show giving us another look at all today's goals.
SKY SPORTS 1
6pm, Sports Centre Tea-time round-up of what happened this afternoon at the World Cup and in the transfer market. Expect the annoying intrusion of Wimbledon.
10pm, World Cup Phone-In Expert and viewer opinion on where tonight's result leaves England. Bring back Beckham? � Play McManaman? � Sack Hoddle? � Leave it as it is? The show is repeated at 2.45am.
10.45pm, Sports Centre Yet more reaction to the England result. Repeated at midnight and 3.30am (Tues) on this channel and at 11.30pm and 1.45am on SS2.
RADIO
RADIO 5
1pm, Wimbledon & World Cup 98 Pray for rain in south London so we don't have to listen to that drivel and can feast on hours of juicy build-up to the England match.
7.30pm, World Cup 98 Alan Green and Mike Ingham are joined by Terry Butcher. See Pick Of The Day.
10pm, World Cup Phone-In Two words: David. Mellor.
TALK RADIO
4.30pm, Colombia v Tunisia Tony Lockwood and Alan Mullery give their version of events from Montpellier.
7pm, Moz Dee's World Cup Phone-In Unlike certain Talk Radio phone-in shows we could mention, this one probably won't include any gags about former England striker's eating pies. May actually include people ringing in about football, though.
8pm, England v Romania See Pick Of The Day.
RADIO 4
11.02, Our Man At Wembley Comedy series starring impressionist Alistair McGowan as - wow! What a plot twist! a bloke who is a great mimic trying to get a job as a BBC sports commentator.
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News 10 
