GLENN Hoddle has closed the door on any chance of a reprieve for Chris Sutton, despite speculation today that the England coach has held out an olive branch, writes PETE WHITE.

And the Blackburn Rovers striker himself today acknowledged there was "no chance" of him being given a World Cup call.

The stories follow an appearance by Hoddle on BBC TV's On Side programme last night, when he discussed the Sutton situation.

But they seem to have mis-interpreted the international boss's comments.

Hoddle said: "It doesn't matter whether it's Chris Sutton or anybody else.

"If someone phones me up and says - whichever shirt - they don't want to play for their country, I won't be losing any sleep over that.

"Is he going to change his mind if I picked another B side?"

In other words, Hoddle was saying that the Rovers star has made his bed and must now lie in it.

That too is how Sutton reads it, despite suggestions to the contrary. "I haven't had any vibes to say that anything has changed," he told me today.

"If there was anything different, I think Glenn Hoddle would have been in touch with my manager to let me know and I haven't heard anything.

"There doesn't seem to be any chance to me."

Sutton finished as joint top scorer in the Premiership with 18 goals. Sharing top spot were Michael Owen and dion Dublin and they could both yet be on the plane to France.

Hoddle was announcing his latest squad this afternoon and one which will give perhaps the greatest indication of his thinking for the World Cup finals.

Goalkeeper Tim Flowers is the only likely Ewood candidate at the moment.

Youth coach Rob Kelly was very disappointed by Rovers' defeat in the Lancashire FA Youth Cup final at Ewood last night but he refused to allow it to spoil a magnificent season for the Ewood boys.

"Yes it was a disappointing end, it was just a game too many," he said. "But we should still have been better.

"They have played a lot of games, including Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and then Monday but you still want to round off the season with a good performance.

"It has been a magnificent performance and I cannot let one poor game blight it. They have been terrific and no-one could have asked more from them. But even taking everything into account we were disappointed. But that is not to take anything away from Tranmere."

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