His main reason for competing here was to improve his match fitness for Wimbledon where he

His main reason for competing here was to improve his match fitness for Wimbledon, where he was the champion in 1991."After Rome," Stich said, "I sat down with my coach [Sven Groeneveld] and said: 'I don't know if I should go to France and look like an idiot playing on the clay'. Before arriving in Paris, the No 15 seed had only played two matches since March, following surgery to his left ankle. Going into yesterday's contest, Muster had lost only three of his previous 102 matches on the surface. Conversely, Stich's advance to the quarter-finals says much for the value of taking a break from the tour, albeit one enforced by injury. Although the 28-year-old Austrian's reign as emperor of Roland Garros ended yesterday, when he was outsmarted by Germany's Michael Stich in the fourth round, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6, his record on clay courts remains a testimony to fitness and dedication. In planning for Wimbledon, where he has yet to win a match, he intends to "eat some grass" There is certainly no call for humble pie.

West Ham are confident that the Romanian striker Florin Raduciouiu will complete a pounds 2m move from Espanol despite his denials of an approach. Peter Storrie, the West Ham managing director, said: "We have an option agreement with the club and have agreed not to speak to him until after Euro 96 so he can concentrate on that." Leeds takeover, page 18. Thomas Muster says that when he prepares for the French Open, he "eats a spoonful of clay every morning". It was a pre-arranged meeting to discuss several matters; I reported on talks with the players over the past 24 hours and on the type of action I intend to take.". Derby County yesterday made their second foreign signing of the close season, the Danish international full-back Jacob Laursen. The pounds 500,000 deal takes the club's spending to pounds 1.5m after the arrival of the Croatian Aljosa Asanovic last week. Jim Smith, the Derby manager, had been chasing Laursen, who was playing for Silkeborg in Denmark, for two months.

The matter is now being dealt with internally - financial penalties will be imposed."The players express their sincere regret for the incident. Complaints about senior England players have been very rare over many years. The recent visit to Hong Kong and to China resulted in letters of praise from the hotels where the players stayed and invitations to return again."This afternoon, I met Graham Kelly, the FA chief executive, and Noel White, the chairman of the FA's international committee, at the team hotel. One reader took more than four hours of continual redialling to get through to the FA's ticket hotline.When he finally got through he had to wait 20 minutes while his application was processed. At that rate it is surprising the FA have sold any tickets at all.. "I spent several hours both last night and today talking to the players about allegations made in connection with last week's flight from Hong Kong to London.

"Three of the players were very angry that they have taken the blame publicly and without justification, they believe, for the reported damage on the aeroplane. They told me they were seeking legal advice for compensation for harm to their reputations. "Most of them appear to be totally unaware of any problems on the flight until they reached their homes several hours after arriving at Heathrow. Indeed, it was more than nine hours before the Football Association was contacted by Cathay Pacific, despite their knowledge of the problem several hours earlier."But today the England squad have accepted collective responsibility for what happened. Both are expected to be fit by Saturday, when England meet Switzerland in the tournament's opening game.Meanwhile, the Independent has discovered that the surprising revelation that tickets were still available for that match is not so surprising after all. In both cases a foot blister has become infected and provoked a reaction in the groin. For two players the day was made worse by injury - Gary Neville and Steve Howey sat out training, Neville has a thigh strain, Howey blood poisoning.Howey's problem is unlikely to be as bad as it sounds - Gascoigne suffered similarly in the Far East.