FA hire lawyers for Rooney appeal

The English FA have hired an external legal firm to help with Wayne Rooney's suspension appeal. Rooney's appeal against a three-match ban, which is threatening to rule him out of Euro 2012's entire group stage, will be heard by UEFA on Thursday. He is currently due to miss matches against France, Sweden and Ukraine next year for kicking out at Miodrag Dzudovic in England's final qualifier in Montenegro in October. Adrian Bevington, managing director of Club England, told BBC Radio 5Live's Sportsweek programme that the FA contingent are determined to put together a strong legal case, so they have brought in outside help. "We have spoken at length with our own internal lawyers on this, and also we have been working with an external legal firm as well, who have a great deal of expertise in sports law," Bevington said. "Wayne will attend the hearing - he will travel in after (Manchester) United's game on Wednesday in Basel - Fabio (Capello) will also be there to give evidence. "I believe the evidence provided by the Montenegrin player, who was quite supportive of Wayne after the game, will also be part of our case. "I don't want to say too much more about what our case will be because it would be inappropriate to do so before the hearing, but we go there with the hope of at least getting some reduction in the suspension so Wayne can play a more fulsome part in the tournament. "All we can do is go with the best legal advice that we have, and with the way that Wayne, Fabio and those of us involved present ourselves on the day and appeal to UEFA to look favourably on it."