West Brom boss Bryan Robson is lining up a raid on Championship side Cardiff City to take Wales international defenders James Collins and Danny Gabbidon to the Midlands.

Bluebirds captain Gabbidon was once a West Brom player, but found himself surplus to requirements in the Gary Megson era and he joined Cardiff five years ago.

Since then, the 25-year-old has made 219 appearances for the Bluebirds and established himself as an international with Wales.

West Brom, who took former Cardiff striker Rob Earnshaw last August, have long been linked with a move for Gabbidon, who as well as playing in the heart of the defence, can operate as aright-back Gabbidon, and are set to move, knowing that Gabbidon is desperate for a move to the Premiership and Cardiff cannot afford to keep him.

Gabbdion's defensive colleague Collins, is also sought after by rival clubs, however, Sam Hammam described Collins as "almost untouchable" with only a big offer for the talented youngster expected to lure the Cardiff owner into parting with him.

Albion have been short of a right-back, and Gabbidon should walk into either a centre-back or right-back role should a deal go through, while Collins would provide competiton for Neil Clement and Thomas Gaardsoe.

The deal could be worth as much as £3.5m to the south Wales side with Gabbidon rated at around £2.5m, although he could leave for £2m, and the club would be happy to pick that money up as they look to slash the wage bill and reduce debt at the club.

No offers have been made as yet for Gabbidon, despite interest from clubs including West Ham, Southampton, Everton, Blackburn Rovers and Fulham, but it should only be a matter of time before a formal offer is made.

  Cardiff City Council leader Rodney Berman has expressed concerns over the delay to Cardiff City FC’s proposed new stadium, according to local media reports.
Berman warned the club that if they haven’t finalised contracts with companies to occupy the retail space at the facility by 31 December 2005, the Council will take the project over.  “We can't just let this drift on indefinitely,” Berman commented to reporters.  “If the football club is not able to deliver then we would consider stepping in.
 I think 31 December is a fair and reasonable time to gauge whether progress is being made. “We would owe it to the people of Cardiff and the club's fans to look at the whole scenario.” Cardiff council reached agreement with developers Capital & Regional, giving them the extended deadline to reach a target of pre-letting two-thirds of retail space. Once the targets are reached, funds would be released to allow building to commence. So far only Costco, a US-based retail outlet has agreed a deal. The GBP100m stadium would be built in the Leckwith area, about a mile from the 72,000-seat Millennium Stadium, replacing the club’s existing Ninian Park home.