Today's other stories in brief

Reid keeps one step ahead of Merrion Square

A snippet in the Charlton programme for Saturday's game against Arsenal suggests Andy Reid's transfer to the club from Spurs during the summer went unnoticed in Merrion Square. According to the author, notification of Reid's call-up for the current Irish squad (he's available for the game against the Czech Republic but not for the trip to Cyprus) was sent by the FAI to . . . White Hart Lane. Fortunately a kind Spurs official took it upon himself to forward the notification to Charlton, averting the possibility of headlines such as, FAI SLAM REID FOR CZECH NO-SHOW.

Korean women claim glory as Chinese miss bus

The players of Juventus are on a €150,000-a-man bonus if they win promotion from Serie B this season. A nice sum, but it pales next to the rewards lavished on the North Korean under-20 women's team that won the recent world championships.

The country's state-run news agency KCNA announced the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, had "bestowed high honour upon the young women footballers and presented them with such gifts, which they would hand down through generations, as de-luxe cars and buses and flats". Buses? Handy.

The team beat China 5-0 in the final in Moscow in what, KCNA said, was an "ideological" victory in which the players demonstrated their "transparent spirit of devotedly defending the leader (Kim)", as well as the "spirit of defending the country and the spirit of waging dynamic ideological . . . battles".

And there were we thinking it was only a game.

Quotes of the week

"I was never going to play for England. I was Ronaldinho - without the skill."

- Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock displays modesty, shocker.

"If I had to pay to watch a team, it would be Arsenal. They're like a Rolls-Royce that you can't take your eye off. We're somewhere between a Ford Anglia and a BMW. You don't know what you'll get."

- Warnock again, this time suggesting his team is like a box of chocolates (copyright: Forrest Gump).

"Glen Johnson is an England international in the making. Although he has already played for England."

- Sky Sports' Tony Gale, as heard by Football 365.

"I don't want to exaggerate, I wouldn't give my right arm but I would give my left arm to beat him. Only my left, because I play tennis with my right."

- Queensland Roar coach Miron Bleiberg not quite ready to sacrifice everything for a win over Adelaide United and their manager John Kosmina.

"We do seem to play well at night, and we are unbeaten in the dark. We should introduce some new training methods and work on the players' circadian rhythms to try to make them think it's night-time before every game."

- Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd, whose players are blinded by the light.

Tale from the Underground

Predictably enough, Arsenal fans are taking a degree of delight in the gap between themselves and their beloved Spurs in the Premiership, as this "table" (spotted on an Arsenal website last week) demonstrates. After both of them won at the weekend the gap remains the same.

More quotes of the week

"I'd be very proud if one day I am held in the same esteem as George Best."

- Ronaldo? Stop. Now.

"I'm going to make sure I don't train next time they come over; it was a real let-down for everyone."

- Swindon's Jack Smith after paying for 11 of his family to fly from New Zealand to watch him play against Peterborough. Yep, he missed the game after pulling a hamstring in training.

"He constantly wants sex because he thinks he can wear his groin out if it's being fixed. It's exhausting."

- Thank you for sharing that with us, Sheree Murphy (Harry Kewell's beloved).

"Portsmouth is a really important game for us . . . they have Sol Campbell at the back and he is the easiest defender I have ever played against. I'm not scared of him."

- Spurs' Mido, who never got to test his theory after being left on the bench for yesterday's game. He might hold his whisht next time.

"Before the match my daughter said, 'Beenie the horse wants to sit next to you by the drinks holder on the touchline'. It's difficult to tell a seven-year-old, 'This is the Premiership, I'm known as Psycho and I'm a hard man'."

- Manchester City's Stuart Pearce, who had Beenie on the touchline again on Saturday.

More Ying than Yang for Shenyang Ginde

If Steve Staunton feels the gods are against him when it comes to his players being struck by injury he should probably thank those very same gods that none of his squad play for Shenyang Ginde in the Chinese Super League.

Last we looked, the club were third from bottom of the league with just three games left to play, but judging by the misfortune that has befallen their players during the campaign we think they're entitled to feel more than a little sorry for themselves:

(1) Liu Jianye was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a split scrotum when kicked by Xiamen Lanshi's Meng Yao. His injury will require an operation and at least . . . 10 stitches

(2) Ousmane Bangoura lost the sight of his right eye after the eyeball was ruptured by an opponent's studs back in July.

(3) Defender Wang Jiaduo broke his nose.

(4) Defender Wang Qiang broke his cheekbone.

"Ginde has had four serious injuries this season and countless light injuries," said the club's Dutch coach, Martin Koopman. "The whole club is like a hospital. Our players have suffered too much."

Indeed.