A well-paid Third Division player a very well- paid one earns pounds 1000 a week There are plenty

A well-paid Third Division player, a very well- paid one, earns pounds 1,000 a week There are plenty on pounds 200 a week. But all of it is built on this on-going scenario that smaller clubs will always sell one or two players a year to balance the books.”In his eight months in the chair at Leyton Orient, Hearn can look back on two particularly profitable deals – the sale of Paul Heald, a goalkeeper, to Wimbledon for pounds 275,000, and the pounds 300,000 they received as a result of a sell-on clause when their former midfielder Chris Bart-Williams went from Sheffield Wednesday to Nottingham Forest for pounds 3m.But what about buying players? Was Hearn in the market for anyone at the moment? Yes, he was. And what was he going to do about that? “I’m going to carry on. But then I’m a mad bugger.” Not as mad as what might be about to happen to football.. NOTHING during the most turbulent and bizarre month in rugby union history has quite matched Rob Andrew’s decision to accept the post as Newcastle’s director of rugby. There are, of course, three-quarters of a million reasons why a highly qualified chartered surveyor heading for the top of his profession should choose rugby above the protection of the nation’s architectural heritage, but it is an extraordinary development with ramifications far beyond personal and local interest. The immediate concern for the England player is whether his intended move will jeopardise his international career The chances are that it will.

Even if Wasps do continue to select Andrew for the Courage League side during the 120-day qualification period, Jack Rowell, England’s manager, must know that once Andrew gets to Newcastle his mind will be firmly focused on other things. Inevitably, his priorities will change and by attempting to do his best for Newcastle he may not be doing the best for himself. One of Andrew’s greatest strengths has been his almost obsessive commitment to his sport whether it be in matters of personal fitness, kicking practice or the bloody-minded determination to prove his detractors wrong.
Presumably, those were the very qualities which persuaded Sir John Hall to employ him and it is hard to think of anyone better suited to the job than Andrew. But this will be his most challenging role yet, demanding all his famed powers of concentration and absolute dedication. Something will have to give and the likelihood is that it will be his own game.

It will be easily good enough for second division Newcastle but not, I suspect, for England seeking their fourth Grand Slam in six years and embarking on the rebuilding process for the next World Cup.Against that, when Rowell selects his squad which will be announced later this week for the two pre-Christmas internationals against South Africa and Western Samoa, his primary concern will be to pick a side capable of beating the reigning world champions, and thereby re-establishing England’s credentials, so badly tarnished last summer, as a credible force in the world game.Between now and 1999 Rowell will have to make changes in almost every department, from full-back where Mike Catt’s South African experience cast doubts on his long-term future in the position, to tight-head prop where Victor Ubogu’s intermittent explosiveness in the loose no longer compensates for his shortcomings in the tight. There will perforce be changes on the wing, No 8 and hooker where Rory Underwood, Dean Richards and Brian Moore are coming to the end of their international careers. In addition, it is more than likely that a replacement will have to be found for at least one of the centre positions where England do at least appear to have reasonable cover. But by far the most pressing need for Rowell is to find a settled combination at half-back.If Andrew’s new responsibilities with Newcastle remove him from the equation, Rowell is left with a straight choice between Catt and David Pears.