STEPHANE Henchoz's anticipated departure from Ewood Park looks like being delayed - by surgery to solve the groin injury which plagued him during the second half of the season.

A target for Liverpool and also believed to be on the wanted list of several Bundesliga clubs, the Blackburn Rovers defender returned home to Switzerland this week after making a hospital appointment with a specialist.

Henchoz is expected to leave Rovers after two years in which he has proved himself a top-class defender.

But the surgery, which he had hoped to avoid, could be a complication.

Once he came to terms with the Premiership, the Swiss star emerged as an outstanding and consistent performer. But relegation pointed to the exit door for one of Roy Hodgson's successful signings at £2.6 million from Hamburg.

There have not been any approaches so far, and the surgery will bring a further delay. But interest will almost certainly be revived once he has recovered.

Despite the mounting speculation, no clubs have been in contact yet about Chris Sutton either.

But Rovers remain resigned to losing their star striker as the price of relegation.

The hype over Sutton's future was underlined today by one national paper saying that Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli had been in touch with Rovers, while another quoted Chelsea chairman Ken Bates saying it was nonsense!

Tottenham remain a hot tip to lead the chase for Sutton and speculation suggests they may offer Chris Armstrong in part-exchange. But there could well be fierce competition.

Meanwhile, Rovers will still be Premiership class next season - but only at reserve level.

They are joining the newly-formed reserve team league for Premiership clubs and that means leaving the Pontin's League, formerly the Central League of which which they were founder members in 1911. Membership of the new set-up is restricted to Premier League clubs and those who have been relegated in the two previous seasons.

So Rovers are still eligible and will play in the Northern Section of the two regionalised groups.

Originally, there were suggestions that an under-21 league might be formed at the expense of the more traditional reserve set-up.

But the new league will be open age.

Secretary Tom Finn said: "We see the reserve set-up as very important in terms of continuing the development of our young players.

"And our manager Brian Kidd is also anxious to ensure there are competitive games of good quality for senior players, such as when they are coming back from injury."

Rovers also anticipate continuing to stage reserve games at Ewood.

They are able to do that because of the continuing excellence of the playing surface. "I think we played more games on our main pitch than any other Premier League club last season. Many of them switch their reserve matches," said the secretary.

"We can do that because of the magnificent work of the groundstaff led by Steve Patrick.

"The condition of the pitch reflects all the effort they put in."

Ewood was again named in the top three of the Premiership pitches, along with Arsenal and Derby.

The winner is picked from the top three nominations. For the second year running, Highbury took the top prize.

Martin Dahlin, as we predicted some time ago, is now officially a Rovers player again.

Hamburg have told Ewood they will not be exercising their option to buy the Swedish striker after his loan. Rovers said today they were willing to listen to any offers for Dahlin.

Mark Atkins, a title winner at Ewood, has been released by Wolves, who have had to slash their wage bill. Atkins, 30, was one of the club's top earners.

Roy Hodgson, still being linked with the Australian job, has been appointed to the coaching staff of the FIFA world XI team to play the Socceroos next month. Currently caretaker-coach of Inter Milan, Hodgson will help prepare the FIFA All Stars - including Christian Vieri, Jurgen Klinsmann, Leonardo and George Weah - who take on Australia on June 12 in a game to officially open Sydney's Olympic stadium.

His trip will give Australian officials a chance for further talks on the national team job.

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