Quinn told the Guardian, "I don't know exactly what Steve wants in the summer. "

But if he says to me, 'I want these five and these four can go' and there is a difference of £10m, yeah, we'll live outside our means.

"But we will only do it if Ellis Short says, 'I will do it and the debt is not in the business'. "

In theory, Ellis takes the hit.

You have to understand he is a winner.

He wants to do things in a smart way.

"He will be happy if we can get rid of that yo-yo tag and have a couple of years in the top 10."

The Cottagers favourite has already booked his summer holidays and expects to be enjoying himself in Las Vegas and watching England's games on the television.

He said: "I would cancel but it's not something I'm thinking about. I'll be watching on the box wherever I am. It's nice people are talking about me being picked but I'm doing my stuff for Fulham and what happens, happens."

One Fulham player who has not given up hope of an England call-up is full-back Paul Konchesky, after his recent return from injury.

The door is open for another left-back after Wayne Bridge's shock international retirement although Stephen Warnock and Leighton Baines appear to be ahead of him in the queue.

Konchesky said: "I would like to think if I am fit and doing well I've got a good chance of being picked but my priority is to do well for Fulham. "

If Wayne Bridge comes back he comes back, but if he doesn't it is wide open really.

It was a shame I wasn't playing when the England manager came to watch us against Birmingham.

"But hopefully he will come again and the team will keep doing well."

Stoke fared little better in terms of clear-cut chances, uncharacteristically failing to put Villa under pressure from free-kicks conceded by Richard Dunne and Carlos Cuellar in dangerous areas.

The general sterility of the game continued into the second half. There was a bright opening, however, when Villa's Stewart Downing advanced on goal and unleashed a venomous drive that Sorensen went sprawling for until it took a deflection off striker John Carew and seared into the side-netting.

After that, the play reverted to stalemate, with Tony Pulis introducing Ricardo Fuller and Mamady Sidibe off the bench to shake up his striking options, but both failed to have the desired impact.

Approaching full-time, however, the tempo picked up with Stoke spurning some of the best chances of the match. Most notable was a ten-yard effort from Fuller that James Collins did well to block and force over the crossbar, and then in the dying moments, Robert Huth couldn't keep his header down after Matthew Etherington's corner.

Storrie has hit back at the newspaper's findings after being presented by an email they say was sent by him to a firm of lawyers.

He said: "It was due to him, it was outstanding and I wanted the lawyers to be aware of that. "

The money had to go through the FA but the lawyers' account wasn't recognised by the FA.

"It needed to be recognised by the FA.

"Barclays stopped our bank account - we didn't have a bank account anywhere so they had to get it ratified by the FA otherwise the deal would not have been accepted.

"It's that straightforward. I have done nothing wrong - just a matter of procedure. There's never been a payment. Willie McKay was never paid. The lawyers never, ever paid him. Ask Willie McKay. Absolutely not. He was never, ever paid."

McKay also refuted any question of malpractice.

He told The Sun: "They paid me £20,000 - but I got it through the FA.

"And that for a player who scored 10 goals in half a season for a rubbish team, at the bottom of the league.

"Why am I being dragged into this? I've been under investigation for six years.

"The City of London police have investigated me.

"Lord Stevens and Quest have investigated me and they have all cleared me.And you know why? Because I have never done anything wrong."

Storrie will continue to assist Pompey's administrator Andrew Andronikou on a range of matters in a consultancy capacity until a buyer can be found for the club.

Wright-Phillips is looking for a new deal to put him in line with some of the club's other stars such as Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor who make over double what he currently earns at £60,000 a week.

Mancini said: "Shaun is an important player but we have time in the future to speak about his contract. "

Now it is important he plays well for the team in this game, the next game.

"It is vital the players play 100 per cent for the club because we have one important target. "

Shaun gives 100 per cent and that makes me happy.

I think he is happy and I prefer it when the players speak with me." The Italian has also advised the England international to do his business with him directly and not through the media after recent comments on the subject by the winger himself and his dad, former Arsenal striker Ian Wright.

Mancini added: ""I am happy with Shaun because he always gives 100%, but I would prefer it if the player speaks to me rather than the newspapers. "

Shaun has never spoken to me about it once.

If a player speaks with me it's much better for everyone - the player, me, the club.

I have no problem with Shaun but it's now in the newspapers that there are problems."

It was Andrey Arshavin who had opened the scoring after 14 minutes, stumbling past two challenges on the edge of the box, more through fortune than skill, before prodding a neat finish past Boaz Myhill in the goal.

Things were not going well for Hull at this point but they were thrown a lifeline on the half hour when a Craig Fagan ball over the top of the defence caught out Sol Campbell, who clumsily took down Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink from behind in an attempt to recover. Jimmy Bullard stepped up to fire the penalty high past Miguel Almunia and level it at 1-1, but there was more incident on the stroke of half time when Hull midfielder George Boateng picked up a second booking for a high tackle on Bacary Sagna.

After the break, ten-man Hull admirably didn't retreat totally into defence, although it was Arshavin who squandered the best chance for a lead goal in the 65th minute. Samir Nasri poked a Theo Walcott centre into the Russian's path, but with the ball hitting a small divot before he struck , the shot ballooned over from six yards out.

The Gunners cranked up the pressure then and on 80 minutes Nicklas Bendtner delayed fatally with a clear sight of goal at close range, allowing a defender get in a goal-saving block, but the increasingly great Dane would have the last say late on.

The first half saw the Hammers press a makeshift Chelsea defence on a number of occasions, but debutant ‘keeper Ross Turnbull had no chance with Scott Parker’s equaliser for West Ham.

Returning Kieran Dyer lofted a pass across the pitch and from 30 yards Parker unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner.

It made the score at the break 1-1 and Gianfranco Zola’s men deserved to be level.

Alex had opened the scoring for Chelsea with a powerful header from a Malouda cross after 10 minutes but they created few other opportunities.

With Parker marshalling Frank Lampard, Chelsea were reduced to speculative efforts from distance and even Didier Drogba was having difficulty fashioning chances.

But the second half was more like the usual Chelsea performance at home, and it was Malouda who laid on an easy chance for Drogba to restore the home side’s lead.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men were in complete control now, and Malouda’s goal, a classy turn and finish, capped a fine display.

Lampard hit a post with five minutes to go before Drogba got his 21st league goal of the season at the death.

Spurs are desperate for him to return and the player himself wants to prove his fitness ahead of the summer's bonanza in the World Cup but his boss Redknapp says there is no time scale on his return and he can not guarantee a return at all this season.

"I could not sit here and say for sure if he will play again this season," said Redknapp in The Sun. "There is absolutely no comeback date at all."

Rooney believes their return gives the side greater options moving forward.

"It is always difficult when your defenders are injured," he told MUTV. "You base your team around a solid back four and we have not had that all season."

We have used different defenders in different games but thankfully now Rio and Nemanja are back.

"It gives us more stability in defence and that should mean more opportunities to score."

Davies used his power to shrug off Titus Bramble, and the ball eventually broke for Elmander to hold off Gary Caldwell and shoot beyond Chris Kirkland in the Wigan goal.

Wigan had a good chance of an equaliser in the 43rd minute when Charles N'Zogbia shot when the ball found him unmarked at the back post, but Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen did brilliantly to tip the ball around the post.

Bolton extended their lead three minutes into the second half when referee Mike Dean awarded a penalty after Caldwell tripped Tamir Cohen win the box.

Davies put his spot kick past Kirkland into the corner for his seventh goal of the campaign.

In the 53rd minute the unlikely figure of Muamba netted, his first goal for the club since he arrived from Birmingham in the summer of 2008.

The 21-year-old midfielder turned Caldwell before firing a shot beyond Kirkland from 30 yards, to the amazement of the watching Reebok crowd.

Bolton made it four in the 69th minute when Caldwell failed to clear Elmander's back header and substitute Matt Taylor netted.

However, Welbeck has now missed their last three games and North End boss Darren Ferguson believes he may now need to go in for an operation on a torn cartilage, which would see him return early to United.

Ferguson said: "The way it is looking at the moment he will probably be going back there [Manchester United], he's going to have another scan on Monday but it's not looking good. 'On Wednesday night I got a phone call from the physio. I didn't really want to answer it and I could tell by the tone of the physio's voice that it wasn't good news.

'We wish the lad all the best because we don't want this to turn out to be a serious injury. If the scan on Monday shows no operation is needed, there is the possibility that Danny might come back, but I'm not overly optimistic. "

It is a blow for the lad as well because he was really enjoying it here, he was at the game on Tuesday (against Doncaster Rovers) and the lads were pleased to see him.

"He was looking bubbly and raring to come back but unfortunately there has been a reaction to it so he won't be available on Saturday."

A statement from Pompey's administrator Andrew Andronikou revealed Storrie had left "in the best interests of the club" after speaking with family and friends.

Storrie had taken a 40% pay cut after 85 of the club's staff were made redundant earlier this week as Andronikou sought to cut costs.

The statement goes on to say that he will be "remunerated accordingly" for working with Pompey on a range of matters, including the sale of the club, the FA Cup semi-final arrangements and other projects.

Storrie had become a target for abuse from some sections of the Portsmouth supporters in recent months, which has left him with no other alternative.

He said: "It is best that I walk away. "

Despite working non-stop to try to keep this club alive for the last 14 months, they need someone to blame, and there is nobody left to blame but me."