Palace look to Europe

Palace's hopes of competing in the UEFA Cup next season via this summer's InterToto competition appear to have been resurrected.

Aston Villa, who were the only other club to register an interest in entering the InterToto have now qualified for the UEFA Cup automatically. The only other obstacle for the Eagles could be through West Ham or Leicester, though neither club has officially bid for the InterToto spot as yet. Palace's first game in the competition would be on June 19.

Bye, bye Brolin

Swedish midfielder Tomas Brolin has formally parted company with Crystal Palace after just 16 appearances.

Brolin signed a short-term contract in the middle of last season but failed to make an impact after a promising start and never managed a goal for the Eagles. Also quitting Selhurst Park are youngsters Rory Ginty and Richard Kennedy. Leon McKenzie and Carlo Nash are currently negotiating new contracts.

England cap

Eagles striker Marcus Bent played 33 minutes for the England U21 side in the convincing Toulon tournament 3-1 win over South Africa at the weekend. He also started in the 2 - 0 defeat by Argentina but was later substituted.

Ron jets out

Palace chairman Ron Noades jetted off for his summer holidays at the weekend with rumours rife that he and Mark Goldberg have finally ironed out any lingering takeover problems.

An official announcement is expected when Mr Noades returns.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.