Albion boss Steve Coppell has told his players to carry on gambling, providing it is only for small stakes.

Coppell is content for the players to pass the time on away trips with card games, as long as the sums involved do not get out of hand.

England and Liverpool star Michael Owen has hit the headlines after admitting losing up to £40,000 on betting over the last two years.

There have also been claims Owen was involved in card sessions which reportedly lost one player £30,000 during England's World Cup campaign last summer, but Coppell has revealed that is nothing new.

The former Manchester United winger, who won 42 caps from 1978 to 1983, said: "My first England trip was to South America and in those days it wasn't the one flight, it was a couple of stops.

"It took 27 hours and there were two England players behind me who played seven card brag non-stop for 27 hours.

"The deficit at the end was absolutely huge. I won't mention the players, but it was one who consistently lost a lot of money.

"I used to play hearts occasionally, but it was for a penny a point. You would play for four hours and end up losing £2.50. Even that was a blow for me!

"There are lines you draw. You don't want your players playing cards for huge amounts of money on the bus. If it's for pennies and a skill game rather than chance then great.

"Once it starts getting into people writing cheques and you hear the rustle of paper rather than the chink of coins then I must admit I've never liked it.

"It must have happened with my teams that there has been some fairly big gambling. I don't stop it, but if I thought it involved sizeable amounts of money then I would."

Shaun Wilkinson has joined Michel Kuipers and Simon Rodger on the injury list. The young utility player broke a bone in a foot in the reserves against Gillingham last week.

The reserves' match against Northampton at Worthing tonight has already been postponed because the Woodside Road pitch is waterlogged.

There is still no sign of an end to the FA investigation into claims by ref Phil Prosser that he and Sheffield United player Peter Ndlovu were racially abused by Albion fans at Withdean in October.

An FA spokesman said: "We received a preliminary report, but there were other issues arising from that and we have asked for further reports from both clubs."

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