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SCMP Reporter

ISRAELI international Eyal Berkovic could be heavily fined after slapping West Ham teammate John Moncur during Sunday's defeat at Chelsea and criticising the same player in a newspaper article.

  Berkovic, who joined West Ham from Southampton in June for ?1.75 million, has scored five goals in 15 appearances for West Ham this season, but despite his good start for the Hammers, there have been continual rumours he was unhappy at Upton Park.

  Speaking after their well-publicised bust-up during Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Chel-sea, Berkovic accused Moncur of jealousy and turning people at the club against him.

   He said: 'I am not sorry about what I have done. John Moncur deserved to be hit.

  'He is one of the most jealous people I have ever met in my life. I gave him a slap because I just could not stand it anymore.

  'Right from the beginning of the season he has done everything against me, goaded the other players and even incited the supporters against me.

  'I am not going to give up on this matter.'   Moncur said he was astonished by Berkovic's comments.

  'There has been no problem between us whatsoever and I always believed we got on fine,' he said.

  'We have struck up a good understanding in midfield and we had never had an argument before Sunday's game.

 'What happened then was just a silly one-off incident. The slap didn't bother me in the slightest. I wasn't angry about it and I shrugged it off as soon as it happened.

  'I quite like Eyal as a person. I am not jealous of him in any way. I have never urged anyone against him and the supporters clearly love him.'   West Ham have had problems integrating overseas players in the past. Romanians Ilie Dumitrescu and Florin Raducioiu and Portuguese players Hugo Porfirio, Dani and Paulo Futre never settled at West Ham for one reason or another.

  Berkovic appeared to have done so, especially as he scored what proved to be the winner against Spurs on his home debut in August, and followed that up with the winning goal against Liverpool at Upton Park in September.

  But his future at the club must now be in some doubt.

  'I don't know how I am going to behave,' he added, 'but there will probably be some more developments in this story.'   Another outspoken personality is Leicester City manager Martin O'Neill who has questioned the plan by Northern Ireland to appoint a part-time manager in the wake of Bryan Hamilton's sacking.

  The Irish Football Association have hinted they could appoint someone who is already in management to the post but O'Neill is not convinced that the dual role would work.

  He said: 'It would be difficult because I am not sure that in this day and age people want just part-time commitment.'   David Bowen, the Irish FA's general secretary said the process of finding a successor to Hamilton would not begin until next week.



Israeli Berkovic under fire after sniping at Moncur's manner