That was the weekend that was

PREMIER XI

TEAM OF THE WEEKEND

HISLOP

NEWCASTLE

DODDS

SOTON

WRIGHT

LIVERPOOL

BOULD

ARSENAL

WINTERBURN

ARSENAL

KINKLADZE

MAN CITY

JUNINHO

MIDDLESBROUGH

EBBRELL

EVERTON

WADDLE

SHEFF WED

BERGKAMP

ARSENAL

YORKE

ASTON VILLA

Belle Vue alive to the Runcorn samba beat

Forget Juninho - the place to go to witness silky South American- style skills is not the Riverside Stadium but Belle Vue, home of Doncaster Rovers.

Or so Rovers have been persuaded by Vauxhall Conference outfit, Runcorn. The Third Division side handed over "an undisclosed five-figure sum" for 23-year-old left back, Paul Robertson, after some powerful patter from Runcorn manager John Carroll.

"It might sound crazy," Carroll said, "but Paul wouldn't look out of place playing for Brazil. He's got an unbelievable left foot and great pace and I don't think it will be long before the big clubs are looking at him."

In which case, the Linnets may well cash in again, as a result of a useful sell-on clause built into the transfer. Robertson made his debut away to Barnet on Saturday, alongside Gary Brabin, whom Runcorn sold to Rovers in a similar deal 18 months ago.

Turn back

the clock

"His reign as manager was described in the city yesterday as being 'on a knife edge'. There were rumours yesterday that one of Scotland's leading clubs are standing by should he leave." - Derek Hodgson, the Independent, 28 December, 1989

"His transfer policy has been a disaster, his team selection has often made little sense and results, given the greatness of the club, have been abysmal. Today his job literally hangs in the balance." - Brian Glanville, the Sunday Times, 7 January 1990

"He takes his side into tomorrow's tie at Hereford knowing that his tenure will probably go the way of the Government's Football Spectators Bill should the League's 88th-placed team prove victorious." - Phil Shaw, the Independent, 27 January, 1990

About whom were the words written? Why, Alex Ferguson, whose tenure as Manchester United manager - nine years exactly - has lasted almost five years longer than the football world expected in the bleak Old Trafford winter of 1989/90.

Arrivederci Silenzi?

Here's a story no one in Nottingham believes - that the Forest team's Christmas party will see Andrea Silenzi among the guests.

On the basis that the first Italian to leave Serie A for the Premier League did not come to keep the bench warm, City Ground fans suspect that the pounds 1.8m ex-Torino striker will not stand much longer for playing understudy to pounds 200,000 Southend export Jason Lee.

Forest play Wimbledon tonight after renewed speculation over Silenzi's future, namely that the seven-day Italian transfer "window", currently open, will allow him to escape. Rumour-mongers suggest Parma, Internazionale, Genoa and Torino are poised.

The 29-year-old Italian says: "I am not homesick, I love Nottingham," he says. But after one start in 15 games, it does not look too good ...

Red card

BARRY FRY

Starting out at Gresley

Having gone from bottom to top in his life, Garry Birtles has no worries about taking the long route. Hence the one-time carpet fitter who became a pounds 1.25m Manchester United star was happy to make his managerial debut on Saturday - with Gresley Rovers in the Beazer Premier League.

Birtles had been out of football five years after arthritis ended his playing career. He accepted the chance on Friday to be No 2 to his old Grimsby team-mate Paul Futcher at Gresley, and kicked off with a 2-1 win at Chelmsford. "It's difficult to get a foot on the ladder these days, so I'm very excited," the 39-year-old former England international said.

Not that he will be taking too much for granted. He will not, for instance, be be giving up his day job, selling seafood to the catering trade.

Take a bow

TERRY VENABLES

Rumours

Fact and fiction from the Sunday papers

Newcastle United are ready to pay a British record fee of pounds 10m to create the partnership Terry Venables does not want by signing Alan Shearer to play alongside Les Ferdinand in Kevin Keegan's side, according to the Mail on Sunday. The report claims Blackburn agreed verbally to allow Shearer to leave if he became disenchanted and that Newcastle, with money banked from the sale of Ruel Fox, more to come when Keegan sells full-back Marc Hottiger and commercial sales booming, will find the fee no problem.

The Sunday Mirror, however, reckons the striker about to leave Ewood is not Shearer but Chris Sutton, with Tottenham poised and Arsenal and Manchester United watching.

Brian Deane could go from Leeds to Aston Villa, according to the Mirror, though Brian Little's pounds 1.5m bid may depend on Graham Fenton's sale to Blackburn going ahead after a hitch over the young midfielder's medical.

Ossie Ardiles, the former Spurs manager dismissed by Mexican side Guadalajara, is back in Britain with ambitions to run his own club, according to the Sunday Express, which puts forward Barnet, managed by his former Spurs team-mate, Ray Clemence, as a possible target.

Just as John Major has tacitly supported the nuclear antics of Jacques Chirac, so that footballing gentleman, sometime national captain and fast-food PR man, David Platt, offers the hand of detente to a misunderstood Frenchman who has a tendency to reach critical mass himself.

Molineux moans

The supporters have every right to complain. To say we were dismal would be describing it kindly. It was a good job we defended our penalty area well because we were second best in everything else.