North East trio deny reports

North East trio Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland have denied reports they could sue Manchester United should they play a weakened side against Hull City this weekend.

United travel to the KC Stadium for Survival Sunday and they can have a huge say in who will beat the drop.

Should Sir Alex Ferguson's side beat Hull, then Sunderland would definitely stay up and it would then also allow Newcastle and Middlesbrough the chance to avoid relegation.

However, if Hull win then that will have major ramifications. Middlesbrough's result at West Ham will become meaningless, while Newcastle would need to beat Aston Villa and hope Sunderland lose against Chelsea.

Reports on Wednesday suggested the North East trio had met with each other to discuss the possibility of legal action if, as expected, Ferguson opts to rest a number of his big names with one eye on the UEFA Champions League final against Barcelona next Wednesday.

But the three clubs have denied considering any sort of action.

A Newcastle spokesman said: "There's no truth in it whatsoever." While a Boro spokesman said: "It's not true, it's nonsense."

Sunderland refused to comment on the story, but insisted there was no foundation to it.