He was equally startled to discover that a fortnight into the new season, Mr Don was on holiday.Characteristically, the Watford manager was able to make his point this week with good humour rather than the full frontal rant favoured by other Premiership managers; which is probably just as well, since by another odd quirk the fourth official watching over his team at Anfield today will be the same Jeff Winter.If other aspects of life at the top have been more predictable, Taylor has been far from dismayed by the first two games. Two weeks, two matches and two defeats later, even one of our most experienced managers accepts that he, just as his players must do, will come up against new experiences. A disconcerting one was to discover that Tuesday night's match at Sunderland's Stadium of Light was being refereed by Jeff Winter from nearby Teeside, a man Taylor regards as having close associations with the home club. Having noted during the 2-0 defeat that Winter appeared to be on first- name terms with the Sunderland players but didn't know Watford's from Adams, Taylor rang the Premiership's refereeing officer, Philip Don, for clarification of how such appointments were made. It's changed a great deal," Taylor said a fortnight ago, even before experiencing at first hand the wonderful world of the FA Carling Premiership. It was 1983 but it might just as well have been 1883 for all the relevance to the task at hand this season, continuing at Anfield this afternoon, which is to cobble together enough points merely to avoid going straight back down "It's changed. Lineker has stepped into the ITV-bound Des Lynam's shoes as host of Match Of The Day.. IT WAS 1983 when Graham Taylor's Watford pulled off one of the most unlikely feats in recent football history by finishing their first season in the top division as runners-up to Liverpool.
City have a sell-on clause which will mean they will net 40 per cent of any profit made on Andersen.Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen have both signed new five-year deals with the BBC. The 18-year-old has made just one full first- team appearance for the Cherries.Bristol City have accepted a pounds 200,000 offer from Danish club Odense for Denmark striker Soren Andersen. "Leeds are a top club and when you've been fighting for two years at Coventry it's nice to come to one of the best teams in Europe," he said after signing a five-year contract.Portsmouth yesterday completed the pounds 250,000 signing of striker Steve Lovell from Bournemouth. He passed his medical back in England, but it then emerged the forward was owned by more than one side.Even the intervention of the Argentinian FA could not pave the way and he will now head back to South America.Darren Huckerby completed his pounds 4m move from Coventry to Leeds yesterday. Derby manager Jim Smith had hoped to sign hi for around pounds 2m but the 26-year- old is owned jointly by three clubs and one of them failed to authorise his release.Derby thought they had signed Fuertes, the second-highest scorer in the Argentinian League last season, nearly a month ago when he joined them on their tour of the United States. The Rams acted after talks aimed at gaining the player's transfer from Colon De Santa Fe fell through yesterday.
He has a year left to run on his contract.Derby, meanwhile, have called off their planned purchase for the Argentinian striker Esteban Fuertes. We have a valuation of him but if that doesn't match Derby's, then nothing will happen."Stimac, 32, joined Derby four years ago for pounds 1.5m. We wish Mark well for the future."Elsewhere in London, the West Ham manager, Harry Redknapp, is desperate to strengthen his squad's defensive cover and his two priorities are a right-back and a centre-half, with Ian Pearce and Neil Ruddock having suffered long-term injuries. He has inquired about the availability of Derby's Croatian international defender Igor Stimac in a bid to solve his defensive injury crisis. Redknapp may also sign Gary Charles from Benfica, as the 29-year-old former Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa full- back has been training at Upton Park.The West Ham company secretary, Graham Mackrell, said: "We have spoken to Derby, but not the player, so I cannot say anything will definitely happen.