Soccer/News: Jason McAteer was one of eight senior players shown the door by Mick McCarthy yesterday at Sunderland where the former Republic of Ireland boss has been forced into another round of severe cost cutting in the wake of the club's failure to win promotion back to the English Premiership.

Phil Babb, Michael Reddy and Mark Rossiter are amongst the other players to have been told by McCarthy that there will be no place for them at the Stadium of Light next season while Richie Ryan, a highly regarded 19-year-old who made a couple of appearances just prior to the club's relegation, is one of six players still in negotiations over new deals.

"I've had to make tough decisions," said McCarthy yesterday. "In an ideal world I'd be giving all the players contracts because I like them and I'm thrilled with the effort that each and every one of them has given me. But you have to make the decisions that you think are right for the club and you have to do it on a purely footballing basis."

As it did last year in the immediate aftermath of Sunderland's relegation, the club's financial position has again played a huge part in dictating how McCarthy has had to play his hand. He had attempted to release Babb a year ago when the central defender still had a year to go on his contract because of his wages, which were around £1 million a year, but could find no takers.

Now he has been forced to release a string of players whose deals, like Babb's, were signed when the club was still in the Premiership and in fairly good shape financially.

McCarthy would have preferred to have kept McAteer but the club captain was another of the highest earners and simply couldn't be afforded, particularly after a season in which the 32-year-old managed just 18 appearances because of injuries.

Ryan and the other five players still being talked to yesterday are believed to be facing large pay cuts if they wish to stay at the club.

Given his failure to make any real impact on the first team, Reddy's departure is no great surprise. The 24-year-old has been repeatedly loaned out to other clubs in recent seasons and spent much of the campaign just finished at Sheffield Wednesday.

There is, however, already interest in signing the striker from a number of quarters with Chester, Colchester and Peterborough among the clubs said to be keen on recruiting the Kilkenny man.

Yesterday's news, however, will have come as a particularly severe blow to Mark Rossiter, the young defender who has not played since damaging his cruciate ligaments in an under-21 international in Albania more than a year ago.

There was growing speculation yesterday, meanwhile, that Chris Hughton may part company with Tottenham Hotspur over the coming weeks. Reserve team coach Clive Allen became the latest member of the club's staff to depart yesterday with the former England striker following David Pleat, the entire medical staff and a string of other backroom staff out of White Hart Lane.

The club is actively attempting to recruit Martin O'Neill as its new manager and if the Irishman is persuaded to go to London he would be expected to bring his own coaching staff which would leave little room for Hughton.

Newly installed general manager, Frank Arnesen, is believed to prefer the idea of hiring Martin Jol, a young coach who was in charge at Dutch first division side Waalwijk last season but again the new man would come with his backroom team.

Mark Kennedy and Steven Reid have become the first two players to withdraw from the Ireland squad for the forthcoming friendly games against Romania, Nigeria, Jamaica and the Netherlands. Kennedy is said to be suffering from a groin strain while Reid has apparently informed Brian Kerr that he may need surgery on a toe injury.