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Niall Quinn has offered his unequivocal backing to Steve Bruce, insisting that Sunderland would keep faith in their manager even if the team dont win another game between now and the end of the season.

While Quinn, the chairman, is confident that Sunderland will retain their status in the Barclays Premier League and can go on to establish themselves as a top-ten club, relegation would not only see Bruce remain in his role but result in a 40 per cent salary cut for every player at the Stadium of Light.

Bruces position became a source a debate amongst supporters during Sunderlands recent sequence of 14 league matches without victory, a run which ended with their 4-0 victory at home to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night. They are thirteenth in the table, six points clear of the bottom three.

I can assure you now that even if we dont win another game between now and the end of the season, Steve Bruce will be manager here next year, Quinn said on Thursday night. If we go down, hell still be the manager.

Since Bruce signed a three-contract last summer, Sunderland have broken their transfer record with the 10 million signing of Darren Bent and have beaten Liverpool and Arsenal, but they have also suffered from a rash of injuries, low confidence and a poor away record.

Yet Quinn understands the importance of embracing stability and his views are shared by Ellis Short, Sunderlands owner, who visited Wearside and spoke to Bruce and his squad this week.

Ellis lets us run the business and hes not affected by message boards or by media speculation, Quinn said. He trusts us as a group - and I include Steve in that group - that weve made the right decisions and that our policies are going the right way. Thankfully, hes a realist and understands that this game can be tough.

Aston Villa is a good example to follow. I can remember them having to win a couple of games late on in the season when I arrived back at Sunderland. They had tough times, but they also spent a lot of money because they believed in what Martin ONeill was doing and how he went about things.

Steve shares the same passion that the fans have, the owner has, that we all have. The way he carries himself and projects our club is everything we wanted. The pressure in the Premier League is incredible and there have been some tough knock-backs, but we think hes the right man to get this club where we all want it.

Should the worst happen, however, Sunderland have taken steps to protect themselves. Anybody who comes to this club has to agree to a 40 per cent deduction in the event of us getting relegated and its the same for senior staff and players already here who sign a new contract, Quinn said. People might think of it as Armageddon, but we would be safe financially.

It is a journey that David Beckham has made hundreds of times before.

Down the steps at the front of the team bus, through the security cordon, past the photographers and autograph hunters and into the sanctuary of Old Trafford. But for Beckham, who makes an emotional return to Manchester Uniteds home ground tonight in an AC Milan shirt, pictured below right, playing against his former club in a Champions League tie, it is likely to be a bittersweet occasion. This is the club that made him and where he enjoyed his greatest success as a player. But, though he will recognise many of the faces, much about the club Beckham left seven years ago is hardly recognisable.

The red shirts and scarves that once proclaimed the Man U fans loyalty will be drowned out tonight by a sea of green and gold. Those colours worn by Newton Heath, the forerunner to United, on its formation as the works team of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway depot in 1878 have become the symbol of the supporters crusade against the Glazers, the secretive Florida-based family who have turned the richest club in football into the most indebted.

According to reports yesterday, thousands of fans are preparing to boycott the opening ten minutes of the match, leaving the television cameras to pan empty seats in a visual demonstration of anti-Glazer feeling. The prime mover behind the green and gold movement, the Manchester United Supporters Trust (Must) sought yesterday to play down talk of a mass boycott tonight although the ploy may be used at other matches.

Whether or not the protest goes ahead tonight, it is clear that Manchester United is a club divided between the supporters on one side and the despised owners on the other. Caught in the middle are Sir Alex Ferguson, the teams manager, and the players including several of Beckhams contemporaries, such as Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, who have been with the club since childhood and, as they will no doubt tell him, it can make for a surreal atmosphere.

There has been an air of revolt among United supporters ever since Malcolm Glazer and his sons bought the club in a highly leveraged takeover in the summer of 2005. In stark contrast to the benevolence of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea or Sheikh Mansour at Manchester City, the Glazers ownership is seen as bringing little benefit to United, which is so burdened by the interest payments needed to service its new owners debts, that it took the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo for a world record 80 million to turn a loss into a profit.

Many supporters have been driven away by huge ticket price increases, with the average season ticket price going up from 487 pre-takeover to 722 this year. The effect has been that while there has traditionally been a long waiting list for season tickets as demand far outstripped supply, for the first time in living memory a limited number of season tickets were available on general sale last summer.

The leveraged takeover may be a standard procedure in the business world, but, to Uniteds supporters a militant lot at the best of times it represents an unnecessary danger to the clubs future. The debt stands at 716 million, with 41.9 million paid out in interest in the past financial year. The debt has been restructured since January, through a 500 million bond issue, but the terms of the clubs PIK (payment in kind) loans, which accumulate interest at 14.25 per cent per annum and are due for repayment in 2017, are terrifying.

Duncan Drasdo, the chief executive of the supporters trust, told The Times yesterday: Its really quite simple. If you look at the real effect of their ownership, a huge amount of money has gone out of the club and much, much more will go out over the next seven years if they remain in place. It has been very damaging to the club.

The air of popular revolt has been heightened by the emergence on the horizon of some knights in shining armour specifically the self-styled Red Knights, a group of City financiers-cum-Man U fans who are exploring the possibility of raising the minimum 1 billion that it would require even to lure the Glazers to the negotiating table. The Knights include Keith Harris, the chief executive of Seymour Pierce; Mark Rawlinson, a senior partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Paul Marshall, the co-founder and chairman of Marshall Wace; and Jim ONeill, head of global economic research at Goldman Sachs and, intriguingly, a close friend of Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Times learnt yesterday that the Red Knights search for cash is heading east, with their adviser Nomura, Japans biggest investment bank, set to begin a trawl of Asia for new super-rich investors next week. The Knights will announce within the next two days that they have formally signed up Nomura to advise them on a takeover bid. The banks top-level contacts in Asia were a key reason for its appointment on this campaign.

Asia is Uniteds fastest-growing market and the club, according to its own research, has at least 40 million supporters in the region, particularly in China, Japan and South Korea. However, the main focus for Guy Dawson, who is leading Nomuras team on this project, will be to find dozens of high net-worth supporters who can afford to contribute between 5 million and 20 million each to the Knights coffers. So far the Glazers have shown little inclination to sell, but despite suggestions that fan boycotts are part of an attempt to devalue the club and force them to the negotiating table.

The Red Knights themselves are keen to disassociate themselves from such tactics. One told The Times yesterday: We dont want to upset the Glazers. We need to have a dialogue with them to buy the club. But if the rumours about their finances are true it could be a good time for them to sell.

This evenings game will be the first at Old Trafford since news of the Red Knights interest emerged last week. That was the catalyst for a surge in membership of the supporters trust, which was formed in response to the Glazer takeover and which has publicly offered its backing to the Red Knights. They have included the group in their preliminary discussions with a view to offering it representation in any future regime if they succeed in buying the club.

Like many a labour of love or hate in this case the trust is reliant on volunteers but, with membership having increased from 34,000 in January to 125,000 last night, the organisation is big enough to require a chief executive, a finance director, its own office barely a corner kick away from Old Trafford and to have developed contacts within Whitehall, as well as securing the services of Blue State Digital, the internet-technology company used to great effect by Barack Obamas team during his election campaign. One of the prime movers behind the trust is Richard Hytner, the deputy chairman of Saatchi Saatchi.

To judge by the number of green and gold scarves sold by a trader on the forecourt at Old Trafford yesterday yards from the clubs Megastore, that desire for a change in ownership shows no sign of letting up. It has been a bonanza, Sammie Simpson, the trader, said. Im selling more green and gold than red scarves.

Ian Morris, 55, from Warwick, a season ticketholder who has been supporting United for 47 years, spoke for many fans. The ownership of the club has undoubtedly changed things for the worse since Beckham left. The people who own the club have no emotional attachment. Even previous plc boards professed to be supporters. They were essentially United fans. For some years it has been a matter of supporting the team and trying to ignore the money men. The Glazers have been so appalling you just cannot ignore them. I have put the traditional colours in mothballs and, like most fans, I now wear green and gold to home and away games.

For Ferguson, the original Red Knight, it must be a confusing situation as he juggles his long-established friendships in the City with his unwavering public commitment to his paymasters in Florida, but he did his best to steer a way through the minefield yesterday. Im sure, whether youre wearing the traditional red and white scarves or the protest green and gold scarves, we will be united and speaking with one voice to get us safely through, he said.

Its unlikely that the rebel fans will share his sentiments. It does feel that theres an unstoppable momentum building, Mr Drasdo said. I dont really see how the Glazers can resist it.

Rafael Benitez has leapt to the defence of Steven Gerrard after the Liverpool captain appeared to make a two-fingered gesture to referee Andre Marriner during the 1-0 defeat by Wigan Athletic on Monday night.

The FA have confirmed that Gerrard will not face disciplinary action for the gesture, which came after he was booked for a foul. The incident was caught on camera, but the referee deemed it unworthy of further punishment.

Benitez, speaking in the build up to tomorrows Europa League match against Lille, maintained that Gerrards gesture was neither offensive nor aimed at the referee.

Sometimes you move your fingers, it was nothing, Benitez said. We are not considering it. All the players know they have to behave on the pitch. I was more worried about the silly fouls we were giving to Wigan.

The inquest into Liverpools defeat at the DW Stadium continues, with Dave Whelan, the Wigan owner, pinning the blame for their opponents stuttering form at the door of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the Liverpool co-owners. However, Whelans comments have drawn an angry response from Benitez. I do not talk about Wigan, he said. I prefer to concentrate on my team. He Whelan should talk about his own club.

Liverpool will fly to France this evening and Benitez hopes his side will prove that Mondays defeat was nothing more than a blip.

We had been working well in the last ten games, more or less, Benitez said. Sometimes these things happen. Now we have to move forward. Hopefully there will be a reaction in Lille. This is an opportunity to put things right and try to get a good result.

In football you sometimes prefer to rest but at this time it is good to have a match quickly after what happened at Wigan.

The German soccer federation has reached a settlement with a former referee in a dispute over allegations of sexual harassment.

The former official - 63-year-old Manfred Amerell - sought an injunction preventing the federation from saying that he had sexually harassed several people in the past.

Amerell, who denies any harassment, quit the federations refereeing committee and a post in Bavarias regional federation last month.

The two sides reached a settlement on Thursday in which Amerell withdrew his application for an injunction and the federation was to give him affidavits in which four referees accused him of harassment. He will not be allowed to publish the names.

The man in charge of the World Cup has given England his advice on its 2018 bid.

2010 Organizing Committee chief executive Danny Jordaan said on Thursday that Englands bid bosses should work hard during this years World Cup, go and watch their team, and then try and convince the people that need convincing.

South Africa was awarded the World Cup after failing in its initial bid to host the 2006 tournament.

Jordaan added that it makes sense for 2018 to be a Europe-only affair.

England faces competition from Australia, Japan, the United States, Russia and joint bids from Belgium and the Netherlands, and Portugal and Spain.

The 2018 host will be chosen by FIFA in December.

If you happened to miss the first 70 or so minutes of Wednesdays friendly between the United States and the Netherlands, you would have thought the Americans were a dangerous team capable of pushing a world power to the brink.

That first 70 minutes did happen though, and for a good portion of it the Dutch dominated possession, working the wings and making the American attack look lifeless by comparison.

The Netherlands didnt create a bunch of dangerous chances, but they played well enough to expose weaknesses in the U.S. starting lineup. Their speedy wingers threatened and their central midfield controlled the action for much of a match they never looked troubled in.

Well, until the final portion of the match, when American substitutes provided a boost and outplayed the Dutch subs brought on in the second half. Carlos Bocanegras 88th minute goal made it 2-1 and when Jozy Altidore blasted a shot at goal that forced a stellar save from Maarten Stekelenburg, the Dutch fans that had been enjoying their teams domination for much of the evening were suddenly found holding their collective breath as more late chances threatened to give the United States the unlikeliest of equalizers.

The strong finish gave the Americans something to build on despite some disappointing individual performances. On a night when Landon Donovan contributed little, DaMarcus Beasley stepped up and made a strong case for being brought back into the World Cup mix. His speed, shiftiness and ability to provide quality service (including the assist on Carlos Bocanegras goal) on the left flank gave us glimpses of the Beasley of the 2002 World Cup.

Overall, the performance was better against the Dutch than the one the United States put forth in 2004, when an Arjen Robben-inspired Oranje squad thoroughly outplayed the United States in a 1-0 victory.

On Wednesday, the Dutch dominated for long stretches, and had more of the ball, but they still relied on a penalty kick and a deflected shot for their two goals. That almost wasnt enough against an American team that found a rhythm late and nearly squeezed a tie out of a match it looked destined to be blown out in.

If Bob Bradley was looking for some answers about his player pool, he got a few. Jonathan Bornsteins hold on the left back spot looks untenable after a nightmarish evening that saw him whistled for a penalty and deflect a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar shot past Tim Howard for the Netherlands second goal. He also escaped having a second penalty called against him when a ball bounced up and hit his hand in the penalty area.

If Bornstein stood out as the player who endured the worst night, Landon Donovan put in one his most anonymous outings in recent memory. He never got going and contributed nothing to an offense that showed only a faint pulse until late in the second half, when Beasley, Jozy Altidore and Alejandro Bedoya sparked the American offense into a new gear.

While there werent any players who played themselves off the World Cup roster, there were certainly players who missed their chance to impress and potentially play themselves on the World Cup roster as we stand 98 days from the United States World Cup opener against England on June 12.
Here were the players who gained the most, and lost the most, for the United States on Wednesday:

WINNERS

DAMARCUS BEASLEY

He entered the match for the injured Stuart Holden in the first half and while he started out on the right wing, he looked far more comfortable on the left wing after moving over mid-way through the second half. With no strikers emerging as viable candidates to start, Beasley could wind up taking over the left wing role if Bradley decides to move Landon Donovan to forward alongside Jozy Altidore.

The key for Beasley will be staying healthy and finding minutes with Rangers over the course of the next three months. If he can stay healthy and keep getting playing time, he will not only make the World Cup squad, hell make a strong case to start.

MICHAEL BRADLEY

Put in an incredible amount of work in the middle, serving as the one player capable of forcing the Dutch midfield into working harder to create. He picked off passes, gave his teammates an outlet to relieve pressure and provided some bite that the Americans sorely needed. His position on the team has never been in doubt, but he solidified his place as the teams best central midfielder.

JAY DEMERIT

After not being with the team since its August loss to Mexico due to eye surgery, DeMerit returned to action looking like the same strong and steady center back we saw at the Confederations Cup.

His continued strong form and will once again give Bob Bradley the option of moving Carlos Bocanegra to the left back position when Oguchi Onyewu returns. As it stands, DeMerit has done nothing to relinquish the starting role he earned last summer.

JOZY ALTIDORE

While hes essentially a starting striker by default, Altidores play on Wednesday suggests that hes growing into his role as the United States best striker. He played with confidence and never backed down from the Dutch centerbacks, drawing free kicks and making confident moves.

He surely must wish he could have another chance at the late shot he hit that forced a strong save, but that doesnt take away from a good performance. Altidore needs another forward to emerge, or for Charlie Davies to continue healing quickly, because he cannot do it alone up top.

ALEJANDRO BEDOYA

When Bedoya came in for Robbie Findley, he provided instant energy on the right wing and he delivered what could have been a key contribution when he drew a foul on the edge of the penalty area.

Hes a young prospect playing in just his second match, but Robbie Rogers shaky form of late coupled with the lack of wing midfield options could open the door for Bedoya to make a late run into the team. If he has a strong three months in Sweden with Orebro, he could very well make the squad.

LOSERS

JONATHAN BORNSTEIN

It was always going to be a tough night for Bornstein, but he didnt help himself with a tug on Wesley Sneijder in the penalty area, the handful of times he was turned by the Dutch teams wingers, or the poor passes he delivered.

The deflected goal off him wasnt his fault, and the penalty could be called soft, but at some point Bornstein needs to be more aware of game situations and sharper with the ball. As it stands, he once again looks like a liability as a starter.

LANDON DONOVAN

This was the kind of match Donovan needed to step up and impose his will in, and he did not. If you remember last summers win against Spain, Donovan was all over the field and made an impact both offensively and defensively.

On Wednesday, Donovan was barely noticeable and his inactivity made it tougher for the American midfield to deal with the Dutch. It was a disappointing night, particularly given how well he has played during his loan spell with Everton.

JOSE TORRES

The young midfielder had a rough beginning to the match, and while he eventually settled down, he still struggled to find the game and make an impact. He did try one promising long-range shot that finished a yard over the crossbar, but contributed little else.

He is still a good bet to make the World Cup squad, but he squandered a chance to create some distance between he, Benny Feilhaber and Maurice Edu in the race to start alongside Michael Bradley.

ROBBIE FINDLEY

After beating out Jeff Cunningham for the chance to play in this match, Findley responded with a forgettable showing. He never really threatened and just couldnt make his mark.

His lack of impact was magnified by the play of Altidore, who drew fouls and tested the Dutch defense even as the attack struggled to provide him with quality service. Findleys sub-par showing only serves as a reminder of how few forward options there are.

EDDIE JOHNSON

If this was to be Johnsons case for making another World Cup squad, then it was certainly a bad one. His poor touch was on display from his opening minute on the field and he failed to make an impact even as his teammates found a way to push the action.

He may still be young and he could still find a good role with Aris FC, but based on his performance Wednesday, Johnson still looks like a player incapable of contributing much at the World Cup.

Home teams listed first.

ASIAN CUP QUALIFYING

Group A

Japan 2, Bahrain 0

Hong Kong 0, Yemen 0

Group B

Australia 1, Indonesia 0

Oman 0, Kuwait 0

Group C

Uzbekistan 0, United Arab Emirates 1

Group D

Syria 4, Lebanon 0

Group E

Iran 1, Thailand 0

Jordan 2, Singapore 1

—

FRIENDLIES

Albania 1, Northern Ireland 0

Algeria 0, Serbia 3

Angola 1, Latvia 1

Armenia 1, Belarus 3

Austria 2, Denmark 1

Belgium 0, Croatia 1

Bosnia-Herzegovina 2, Ghana 1

Cyprus 0, Iceland 0

England 3, Egypt 1

France 0, Spain 2

Germany 0, Argentina 1

Georgia 2, Estonia 1

Greece 0, Senegal 2

Moldova 1, Kazakhstan 0

Luxembourg 1, Azerbaijan 2

Macedonia 2, Montenegro 1

Malta 1, Finland 2

Mozambique vs. Botswana

Netherlands 2, United States 1

Nigeria 5, Congo 2

Poland 2, Bulgaria 0

Portugal 2, China 0

Romania 0, Israel 2

Russia 1, Hungary 1

Scotland 1, Czech Republic 0

Slovakia 0, Norway 1

Slovenia 4, Qatar 1

South Africa 1, Namibia 1

Switzerland 1, Uruguay 3

Turkey 2, Honduras 0

Venezuela 0, Panama 2

Wales 0, Sweden 1

Zimbabwe 2, Malawi 1

At Monaco

Italy 0, Cameroon 0

At London

South Korea 2, Ivory Coast 0

At Pasadena, California

Mexico vs. New Zealand

At Los Angeles

El Salvador vs. Guatemala

The surgeon who operated on Arsenal team-mate Eduardo believes Aaron Ramsey will make a full recovery from the broken leg he suffered at Stoke.

The 19-year-old midfielder sustained fractures to the tibia and fibula in his right leg following a tackle from Ryan Shawcross and underwent successful surgery on Saturday evening.

Khalid Baloch was the consultant trauma surgeon at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham when Eduardo broke his leg in similar circumstances following a crunching tackle from Martin Taylor.

Eduardo made a return to action after a year on the sidelines and Baloch, who has only seen pictures of Ramseys injury, believes the Wales international faces a similar rehabilitation.

I expect it is deja vu for Arsenals staff and will bring back memories for them. If you look at the pictures it is similar to where Eduardo was holding his leg, Baloch told the Daily Mirror.

The Arsenal physios and doctors have seen this before though and it will be fresh in their minds.

I expect eventually Ramsey will have the same type of intensive rehab and play again. Arsenals physios did a great job with Eduardo.

He added: There were some similarities with Eduardo and a leg break is usually six to nine months out.

The mechanism of the injury is obviously similar with two players getting involved in a tackle and one players foot hits the others leg.

Whenever any break has a significant bend in it, as his did, there is a possibility for a compound fracture but it is hard to tell if that happened to Ramsey as well.