The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 56

2 SPORT 26 October 1997 The Observer Brown in no hurry to quit Scots as Irish also bide their time Dundee United. The previous record was set by the former Hibernian midfielder, Ally McLeod, in the 1977-78 season. But mistakes by goalkeeper Andy Goram led to Rangers losing 2-1. Troubled Brighton will be playing their 'home' games at Gillingham until at least the end of the season after the collapse of plans to switch to Vauxhall Conference club Woking. Their new general manager, Nick Rowe, confirmed that the deal with Woking now appeared to be 'dead in the water'.

Stan Collymore, Ian Taylor, Steve Staunton and Savo Milosevic manager Arsene Wenger warned: 'Villa are in a false position in the As for the Villa men missing, he added: 'It could make it harder for us, with players coming into the Villa team having something to That particularly applies to Villa's central defender Ugo Ehiogu, who was dropped for the midweek Uefa Cup tie in Bilbao but will be back in the side because Staunton is on World Cup duty. Ehiogu says: 'Let's make no mistake about it I've had my worst ever start to a season. 'I did have an Achilles problem on the second day of preseason training, but the main problem was that I was not 100 per cent match fit. That cost me and I've made one or two mistakes because the sharpness was not there. But I've put in a lot of work to get over that, and I am determined to recapture my best Also with something to prove is Chelsea's Norwegian striker, Tore Andre Flo probably the only member of Ruud Gullit's squad who strike by Paul Cook, the Lancashire club's record 250,000 signing from Tranmere on Friday and a former Wolves player.

The last unbeaten League record in England was destroyed when Sheffield United fell 2-0 at West Brom-wich Albion. The first goal came from Andy Hunt, his eighth of the season, with Lee Hughes adding the other. Just in case anyone at Highbury feels that Arsenal are bound to regain the Premiership leadership against Aston Villa today especially as Villa will be without qualifying competition, and intend taking their time in appointing a successor. 'We are in no rush said Jim Boyce, the Irish FA president 'I would not expect any developments this side of At club level, the managers who would appear to be in the most danger of joining Hamilton on the out-of-work list include Tottenham's Gerry Francis, Sheffield Wednesday's David Pleat and Wolves' Mark McGhee, whose teams all suffered further defeats. Wolves went down 1-0 at Stockport through a 25-yard Football Review Jason Tomas CRAIG BROWN, whose success as Scotland's manager has put him in the frame for top club jobs, hinted that he is ready to remain in his post after the World Cup finals next summer.

Brown has already been approached about a new deal when his present contract expires in July, and he said: It is very flattering to feel that I would be involved with the msm great imperts 0 Paul Wilson finds Derby's manager reaping therewankofhis vast experience DON'T UNDERESTIMATE us, said the fan outside the Ram Arena, Derby County's cosy and inaptly titled training facility. 'Derby are not just the team of die moment we are the team of the future. We are a model for every medium-sized club in the The Rams did better when naming their new ground. Their supporters positively glow with pride, even those engaged in the decidedly anorakish activity of watching training sessions will happily break off to give you a run down of stadium development plans, healthy levels of outside investment and possible share flotation two or three years hence. Then there is the team.

Anyone can see that Paulo Wanchope, just turned 21. might have a quite staggering future, but Derby's optimism is built on more than one spindly Costa Rican. Wanchope is just the latest in a fine of disparate individuals to have been moulded into an impressively unified whole. Others have included an Estonian goalkeeper, two world-class Croatians and a couple of lesser known but highly effective Italians, all brought in on a budget which ought to cause blushes at Middlesbrough and elsewhere. But even that's not an In Amrit Sidhu the club are reckoned to possess the most promising Asian trainee around and, if early potential is fulfilled.

Derby can expect goals from another singular source in a couple of seasons or so. It is ironic that presiding over all this new growth is the oldest manager in the Premiership, but perhaps not all would have relished playing in the farcical conditions in Tromso. Flo, who was kept on the bench throughout the match, says: 'I really wanted to play. It would have been a big game for me to go back home and play in such a Still, Flo is virtually certain to be in Chelsea's starting line-up for today's match at Bolton and says: 'I want to get out there and show what I can Marco Negri, Rangers' Italian striker established a Premier League record when he scored in his ninth consecutive League game, against foreign fledglings. you on the track of someone who might be worth Well past the age of disillusionment and long-inured to disappointment, Smith is as surprised as anyone to find he can still be excited by football.

For that he thanks the Premiership. 'I was a little bit frightened by the hype at he said. 'I don't know why, because when I used to go to Liverpool they had players like Dalglish, Barnes and Hansen so it was never exactly a doddle in the old First Division. But really if you can't enjoy this you can't enjoy anything. 'I still maintain that little is new, there were progressive, professional coaches in the English game long before Ruud Gullit and Arsene could make the affair a United love-in.

"They truly have set the standard in our said Rapids coach Glenn Myernick, 'with their quality and speed of play, scoring goals and putting the other team under Given United's enviable depth of talent, Rapids' best hope might be their underdog status. They have nothing to lose, while anything short of victory would be a disappointment for United. 'The pressure is probably on concedes United coach Bruce Arena. 'Most people believe we're going to win but I'd much rather be playing than sitting at home watching, so we're happy to deal with the It is indicative of United's strength that their weakest link is considered to be goalkeeper Scott Garlick, who spent part of the season in the A-League. Yet he has let in just 16 goals in his last 15 games.

Given that United also led the Major League in scoring with 2.19 goals per game, it's no surprise that coach Arena has spent the week warning of the dangers of overcon-fidence. He is backed by captain and midfielder John Harkes, the former Sheffield Wednesday and Derby player, who said: 'The older, experi team after the World Cup. If I am wanted, and it is appropriate, then I would like to think I will still be here. But I realise that every manager has a shelf life and I am no different' The latest manager to discover the truth of this, of course, is Bryan Hamilton, who has been sacked as Northern Ireland's team boss after three-and-a-half years in the job. The Irish are unlikely to be in action again until next March, when they aim to start a run of friendly matches in preparation for the European Championship Tl that surprising.

Tm glad to say experience still counts for something in this Jim Smith said. 3603056 that's one commodity Tm not short of. I did wonder, when I was outside the Premiership, how much had changed and whether what I had to offer was stifl in demand, but it's less taunting from the inside once you've got used to being in showbi2. 'When I was at QPR we were top of the League for 10 weeks, and we finished fifth in the old First Division. I thought it was quite an achievement for such a small club, but you couldn't get into Europe then, and no one seemed to take much notice.

Every day except Saturday was just another day at the office. That was what football was like 10 years ago. Now, everyone wants to know everything, and you are famous just for being involved, before you have actually done a It is reassuring to have the Bald Eagle in the Premiership, even at 57. There was a worry that managers of his ilk proper ones who have seen the game at every level and who freely admit to needing the work to pay the mortgage, might have been superseded by player-coaches, overseas gurus and millionaire messi-ahs. It is a delight to see his input working so well at Derby, where his appointment two years ago did not initially lead to dancing in the street.

The Rams, after all. could have had Barn" Fry or Ossie Smith seemed an un-ad venturous choice, a good First Division operator but past his sell-by date for the Premiership. But then Derby were a long way from the Premiership in 1995. 'The first thing Lionel Pickering told me was that I was taking on a hard Smith said. 'He said Craig Short.

Mark Pembridge and Paul Williams all wanted to leave, and he wasn't joking. So I started by losing three top players, but with what we got for them, and the chairman's support, I was able to bring in replacements. That got us up. months of his six-year Ibrox career and Rangers took the view it was unlikely he coulc regain the physical qualities they required of birr. I could understand their he says.

'The game has become big business, especially for a club like Rangers and you cannot afford to taKe For his pan. Stevens, with two years of his contract to run. was unhappy about the prospect of spending all that tune in the reserves. Therefore, when Tranmere offered him the 'little lifeline of a first -team place, initially on tria. he jumped at it In hindsight, nowever.

ne accepts that because of tne many injuries Rangers experienced, it could be argued that he jumped too quickly. Rangers, too, must have bemoaned his absence occasionally. Of the mmd-boggling number of non-Scots they have bought over the past i( years. Stevens who iormec part of a then-powerful F.ngftsh influence that included Chris Woods. Tern Butcher.

Ray Wilkins. Mark Walters and Trevor Steven is among those who gave the best value for money. He is not a Gazza; nonetheless, in terms of athleticism, football intelligence and standards of professional discipline he gained as much respect in the Rangers' dress a winning combination at Pride Park with his collection of higher into the air than anyone else, but he had no idea how to head the ball. Not much call for that in Costa Rica. So we've shown him, and he's beginning to look Smith tried Wanchope in a private game with Manchester City and a reserve match against Blackburn before deciding to sign him.

He prefers to watch players in the flesh, and speak to them in person, before cominitting himself, but does not disdain the agent's video. "They say you should never buy from video, and I agree with he explained. 'Apart from anything else the tapes you receive are obviously highly selective, put together to highlight a player's good points. But a video can still get you excited, it can put Rover with a Rangers Colorado spoilers aim to poop Washington party Photograph by Shaun Botterill Wenger arrived, and it tickles me the way everything they say is treated with utmost respect when English coaches have been saying exactly the same things for years. 'The difference is that before the Sky money came along, we were all whistling in the wind.

Now clubs have the cash to put ideas into practice. So yes, the players are fitter, stronger and richer, but they are still playing the same game. It's the chairmen who are a whole new breed in the Premiership. You couldn't have told me 10 years ago that I'd be able to ask for a fitness coach or a new building for the youth team and not be laughed out of the boardroom. That's what's bloody enced players understand that.

But it has to be passed right down through our team. I hope they actually feel that, hey, we've got to play as hard as we can for 90 minutes. A team like Colorado, they're on a high, with a lot of confidence. It's anybody's Rapids must slow United's high-pressure attack with the ball-retention game Myernick introduced when he took over a demoralised team that missed the play-offs in 1996. That means America's international defender Marcelo Balboa and goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann must find a way to shut down the formidable scoring threat of Jaime Moreno and Raul Diaz Arce.

The Rapids would be quite happy with a low-scoring game and wouldn't mind winning in a shootout. United will want to score early and often and give the fans plenty to chant and sing about. But Rapids may have one ace up their sleeve they are used to pulling off upsets and have the role of spoilers off pat. 'We're used to Myernick said. 'We're getting pretty good at getting it The DC United-Colorado Rapids final will be shown live on Eurosport tonight at 8.30, the first MLS game to be screened on British TV.

The Bald Eagle has landed on we added to the squad last year, and this season we've gone a step further again This over-modest assessment does not really explain why Smith has been so successful at playing the global transfer market, or how a career spent at Birmingham, Oxford, Newcastle and several other stops on the English circuit makes you an expert on football in Costa Rica or Croatia Not that Smith claims to be an expert. 'I've just got a lot of contacts Wanchope was recommended. Estonian goalkeeper Poom played briefly for Smith at Portsmouth, and so on. The reality is inevitably prosaic, but in an age where every manager is bombarded with videos and offers from ing room as he did in tnose of Everton and Englanc Rangers manager Walter Smith, referring once to Jimmy Greaves assertion that Stevens was not a good enough defender to play for England, said 'If he is not a good defender 1 might as well chuck it in And Don Howe, the former Englanc coach, says of Stevens: 'He's one of those players who can be relied upon to give teams a solid, dependable base week in week out Off the field, too. Stevens, married with three children, is a player any manager can feel relaxed about.

As well as family responsibility, he has involved himself in stamp coUecting, learning to play the saxophone to relieve the boredom of hotel life after his move to Rangers and, most recently, sports-injury and therapy courses: The other reason Rangers might nave missed him, of course, is his experience of being part of a successful team in a European competition That know-how, gained with Everton 's triumphant 1985 Cup-Winners' Cup side, would surely have come in handy for them in recent seasons, although Stevens attributes Rangers' failure at that level not to the ability of their players, but the overall Scottish football set-up 'The Scottish his feet Jim Smith has forged agents all around the world, Smith has two old-fashioned managerial virtues: swift appraisal of a player, and a willingness to back his judgment. Wanchope is a case in point. How many other Premiership managers would have taken a chance on a basketball player? And how many would have put him in the first team at 20? Sticking with him once he has managed seven goals in as many starts is simply the easy bit, even if some observers remain unconvinced. 'I keep hearing Andy Gray talking about luck, as if he doesn't believe Paulo actually intends to do what he does to Smith said. 'But while you might get a goal or two through luck, you're not going to get seven in seven heart game is so insular that it's quite a shock when you face totally different he explains.

'Part of that in.su-larity stems from the fact that you have so many League matches against the same teams and get to know their strengths and weaknesses and styles of play. I found most of Rangers' matches pretty much the same. 'It's different in England: in the Nationwide League First Division you are liable to have forgotten about a team by the time you are due to play against them again and because of the size of the first-team squads the opposition can change a lot from one game to another 'As a defender 1 would also say that the individual ability of strikers is generally higher in the First Division than it is in the Scottish Premier League. The fact that so many Premiership clubs have bought top foreign players has had a positive knock-on effect. Players who would have been good enough to be playing regularly in the Premiership three or four years ago have been pushed down the scale.

All of which brings us to Stevens's situation since he parted company with Rangers. He has had considerably more defensive work to do at Tranmere than at Everton and Rangers, where the ascendancy of his teams meant his games. And there have been some equally good assists, as well. Paulo makes things happen; we see it week in week out. Fair enough, he'll have his dip.

He's bound to at his age. But he can only get better by. 'What Wanchope has been doing to Premiership defences is astonishing' playing more football. Considering how little he has played, what he has been doing to Premiership defences is astonishing. When he came here, for instance, he could leap yards Stevens: Mr Dependable repeatedly pushing forward to the extent of becoming virtually a midfield player.

Physically he accepts that he is not the player he was, hence his relish over the recent opportunity at Tranmere to operate at the heart of their defence. 'I feel I'm as fit as anyone in the Tranmere squad, but age does catch up with he says. 'If there is one position in the modern game that I would term a young man's role, it would be full-back. So at this stage of my career it suits me to be in a position where I don't need to cover as much ground and can use other parts of my game, like my i IF. Gary glitters on GARY STEVENS has mixed feelings about no longer being a Rangers player, particularly in the light of Richard recent return to the Ibrox club.

The 34-year-old former England right-back is enjoying being back on Merseyside. where he came to prominence in Everion's great team of the mid-Eighties, and the challenge of keeping Tranmere Rovers out of the Nationwide League First Division relegation zone. However, when thinking about Gougk, it occurs to Stevens that his own departure from Rangers three years ago might have been a mistake. Gough, 35, has been brought back to Ibrox after a spell in the United States to instil a greater sense of authority into a defence that has become strangely vulnerable. It is the kind of job Stevens has been doing for Tranmere in an environment he suggests is more difficult in some ways than the Premiership: and it is one he feels he could easily have bees doing for Rangers.

The fact that he is not is as much down to the Scottish champions as it is to Stevens. He was plagued by injur- during the last le Soccer showdown mm AMERICA'S TWO football codes may well find something in common today when the Major League Soccer Cup their FA Cup final and championship decider rolled into one is likely to take on certain qualities of Super Bowl: a sell-out and a one-sided blowout. Thousands of fans wanting to watch the MLS championship game in Washington between DC United and Colorado Rapids can't get tickets for a packed-to-the-rafters contest which could draw the RFK Stadium's largest ever crowd for a sporting event. And, like many a Super Bowl climax, those who do get in could witness one-way traffic out on the pitch. United, the defending champions, easily the outstanding team in the league all year, are red hot favourites to beat the upstarts from Colorado, who only made it to the title game with four straight play-off upsets.

Tilting the odds even farther in United's favour is home field advantage, an accidental privilege given that the venue is chosen a year in advance. Still, some 58,000 fans.