If so Ron's last outing will be a cameo, but if he fails it will probably be an expensive one. If he keeps them up, as he should do given the quality in the side, will they still replace him, or hope the magic lasts?. His last 21 League matches at Aston Villa brought two victories, three draws and 16 defeats; his 64 League matches in charge at Coventry brought 14 victories and 26 defeats despite spending the unparalleled sum of pounds 15.6m. Four cups and three promotions is a poor return on 28 years of management. He has a justified reputation for building attractive sides but, too often, they have failed to sustain their promise - most notably the Manchester United side of 1985-86 which won their first 10 matches but finished fourth, 12 points adrift of the title. The reasons for the collapse are unclear but it may be telling that, when Alex Ferguson took over, he was unhappy with the fitness and attitude of many of the players he inherited.Atkinson gained a measure of revenge when he outwitted Ferguson tactically in Aston Villa's 1994 Coca-Cola Cup win over United but since that success Atkinson has seemed off the pace. Jones was not thinking specifically of Ron Atkinson when he spoke of the "same faces'', but he could have been Big Ron is a veteran of the managerial merry-go-round.

When any job vacancy, big or small, crops up his name appears in the headlines. But why? Atkinson has had success but not as much as his reputation would suggest. The other England concerns, Ian Wright and Nicky Butt, trained throughout. In a possible indication of Saturday's team Jamie Redknapp played sweeper during the end of session practice match.l Tickets for the England-Cameroon match, which kicks off at 6pm, will be available at Wembley on the day A crowd of up to 50,000 is expected.. "If I do a half-decent job it may open the door for a lot of people, men like John Deehan and John Duncan, rather than having the same faces on the same merry-go-round.'' David Jones would already appear to be doing a half-decent job as manager of Southampton but his wish, expressed in an interview with the Independent a fortnight ago, already appears wishful thinking. He saw Smith and was told the manager wanted him to run at people more and involve himself in the game. That he is now doing, though Hoddle stressed that taking on players in a domestic league was a different matter to doing it at international level.Hoddle's preparations for Saturday remain complicated by injury and illness with Paul Scholes only partially training yesterday as he is still troubled by a heavy cold.

In his current form there is no better midfielder in the country. I am very pleased with him on and off the field."Gascoigne admitted that the transfer speculation around him earlier this season had "unbalanced" him and that he had deserved to be briefly dropped at Rangers. Instead of mentioning the two passes he played to Gary Lineker from which Lineker won the penalties which earned England victory he replied, "giving away the penalty".Hoddle was certainly keen to forestall talk of a Yankee Doodle Gazza. "It would be foolish to make a decision like that now," he said. "If a player looks after himself nowadays he can continue his career further than ever As it stands Paul is a cast-iron certainty for France.

In matches he would be able to dribble past players at will and play to the crowds in a moderate league of little intensity.But would Gascoigne really like being anonymous? So many of his antics are attention-seeking it is hard to believe even the new mature version would like to be truly ignored. And would his enduring competitiveness be fulfilled? Rangers may be a cut above most their opposition but the Scottish game makes up in passion what it lacks in depth.His high personal playing standards were evident when he was asked what he recalled about his match against Cameroon in the 1990 World Cup. Such is the concentration on the stars of gridiron, baseball and basketball even Carl Lewis can walk down an American street without being noticed - so Gascoigne should have no problems. Gascoigne has lived a goldfish bowl life for seven years now, ever since he captured the national imagination in Italia 90.