The former England striker is out with an ankle ligament injury sustained in training and will also have keyhole surgery on his troublesome hip while he is being treated.

Manager Dave Jones told the South Wales Echo: "It looks likely Robbie will be going to Colorado for surgery.

"He is still two or three weeks away from training because of his ankle problem and the medical opinion is that a minor operation can sort out his hip. We are awaiting a final decision by specialists, but that's how it looks right now.

"Robbie has had a problem with his hip in the past and played through it. The course of injections he had in Germany helped considerably, but did not finally solve it.

"Medical opinion says a minor operation will achieve that."

Neil Warnock is expecting a good reception from the SHEFFIELD UNITED fans when he returns to Bramall Lane for the first time as CRYSTAL PALACE manager.

Warnock severed his ties with the Blades following seven and a half years in charge - during which he led them to promotion and two cup semi-finals - after their agonising final-day relegation from the Barclays Premier League last season.

The 59-year-old took over at Selhurst Park in October and, after briefly dropping into the relegation zone, an 11-game unbeaten run has seen the Eagles soar past his former employers in the Coca-Cola Championship table.

"It will be nice to go back there, I didn't really get the chance to say goodbye to the fans," he said.

"We had seven and a half years there with some fantastic memories, as well as our ups and downs - although even last year I felt we had a good season.

"I'm sure I'll get a good reception, which I would expect. We put the pride back into Sheffield United at Bramall Lane - it's a fantastic club on and off the pitch now."

Socceroo Patrick Kisnorbo's LEICESTER manager Ian Holloway insists that the transfer window system "should not be allowed".

Holloway is expected to be among the biggest spenders next month as chairman Milan Mandaric provides him with the funds required to turn around the Foxes' season but the former Plymouth manager believes the limited window is preventing Championship clubs from taking the best young talent on loan.

He said: "This window should not be allowed. Us managers can only buy all our shopping in four weeks and just imagine if that was the case for Christmas shopping. You can imagine the queues.

"That's what this window is like. It creates inflated prices and you get loads of teams chasing the same people.

"I would go straight back to the old system and I think that everybody would. The Premier League teams are racking up the best kids at 15 and 16 and we can't get hold of them on loan because you can never tell who is going to get injured at any one time.

"If managers knew that they could go out and replace someone who was injured throughout the season then you would let your youngsters join Championship teams on loan. It's absolute madness and it's a ridiculous scenario."

LUTON's Australian defender Chris Coyne had his appeal against his red card turned down by the FA, who deemed the appeal as "frivolous" and increased his suspension from one game to two.

Coyne was sent off during the Boxing Day draw with Bristol Rovers.

Meanwhile, STOCKPORT will have Michael Raynes available for the trip to Wrexham after successfully appealing against his dismissal on Boxing Day.

The defender was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Marc Tierney in County's 3-1 defeat at Shrewsbury.