Newcastle decline to punish Shearer

Alan Shearer, the Newcastle United captain, has escaped further punishment after being handed a Champions' League ban.

The 32-year-old striker has decided not to appeal against the two-match suspension which will keep him out of his side's Group A trips to Barcelona next week and Bayer Leverkusen in February.

Shearer was punished by Uefa, European football's ruling body, after its disciplinary committee studied his clash with the Internazionale defender Fabio Cannavaro on video and ruled that he had elbowed the Italian.

Both the player and the Magpies' manager, Sir Bobby Robson, claimed that his actions had simply been those of a man trying to free himself from the Italian's grasp, and, although the panel took Cannavaro's provocation into account, it decided that the former England captain had to be punished.

Shearer's team-mate Craig Bellamy, who was sent off five minutes into the same game for kicking out at Marco Materazzi, was fined a maximum of two weeks' wages – an estimated £30,000 – by the club, but it is understood that Shearer will not face further action.

The Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd indicated in announcing the player's decision not to appeal against his ban that the club would consider internally if they should act, but they have now decided that the suspension – which will hurt their captain as much as it does his team's chances of progressing in the competition – will suffice.

The Football Association of Ireland has denied that it had approached the former South Africa and Japan coach Philippe Troussier to succeed Mick McCarthy as manager of the Republic's team. The Frenchman, who resigned from the Japan job after the last World Cup, was reported on Monday as having been been approached by five or six national teams, including the Irish.

Sunderland confirmed they have appointed the Ajax talent-spotter Kees Zwanborn as their new academy director. The Amsterdam club's 50-year-old director of youth development is expected to take up his new post in July.

The Aston Villa manager Graham Taylor has warned his cluster of out-in-the-cold players that they will find it difficult to obtain a move when the transfer window reopens in January unless they come to terms with the harsh financial climate in football.

The likes of Alpay Ozalan, Hassan Kachloul, Mustapha Hadji, Steve Stone and Alan Wright have been frozen out of Taylor's plans but he believes they – or any player at any club – have little prospect of obtaining a move unless they drop their wage demands. "We have certain players who would like to move on but I am sure it will be difficult," Taylor said. "The bottom has fallen out of the transfer market and it is affecting players as well.