THE leaves have barely started to turn and already the Premiership is full of beleaguered bosses. Glenn Hoddle has gone, Peter Reid is clinging on, rumours are rife about Sir Bobby Robson and Davy Jones' locker must soon be emptied at Molineux.

Since their revered double-winning manager Bill Nicholson ended his long service in 1974, Tottenham have had 15 changes of manager and the latest has put David Pleat in charge for the fourth time. Peter Shreeves did the job twice, so it should be no surprise if they return to Ossie Ardiles or Christian Gross.

Neither is it a surprise that the list of candidates to fill vacancies or take over at places like Newcastle seems to be shrinking because young, ambitious managers are rarely given enough time to prove themselves.

Two weeks ago Steve McClaren's credentials were under the microscope, but a couple of scrappy wins have catapulted Boro into mid-table, so the fickle world of football is prepared to believe that he might be a future England manager after all.

As one of those who felt deeply uneasy about the signing of Lee Bowyer, I feared this might prove a season too far for Sir Bobby.

We don't have to believe the rumours, of course, because any fool can post falsehoods and inventions on a website, but a situation seems to be developing at St James' Park which puts Robson under the sort of pressure that no 70-year-old should have to endure.

How he would have loved to bow out with some silverware, and none but the most blinkered Mackem would have begrudged him it.

His team are in a false position next to the bottom of the Premiership, but there are increasing suspicions that too many of them can't stay out of trouble, even for Sir Bobby. If he can mould such characters into a team with the necessary spirit to win a trophy he truly is a genius.

There must be times when Alan Shearer wonders what he is surrounded by. It was assumed that he would be groomed to take over the reins but it wasn't hard to believe Robson's recent claim that Shearer will not go into management.

Why should he have the hassle? There are plenty of other ex-players making money as media pundits proffering bland statements, so why shouldn't he?

So who will be Newcastle's next manager?

For any top-flight vacancy most lists start with Martin O'Neill and Alan Curbishley and quickly run out before they get to Bryan Robson.

There seems little point in looking down the Nationwide because the fact that the three relegated clubs are near the top of Division One merely confirms the gulf in class.

But in among them are Wigan, brought up as runaway champions of the Second Division by Paul Jewell, who kept Bradford in the Premiership for two seasons.

Expect his name to start creeping into a few frames, if only to give headline writers the chance to pen something about Jewell in the crown.

HAVING labelled agents as a parasitic breed, I was delighted to see that the Nationwide clubs have agreed to publish twice a year how much they have paid in commission on transfer fees.

The move is designed to prevent agents holding clubs to ransom, as appears to have been the case when Middlesbrough wanted to speak to Fulham's Sean Davis. Boro chairman Steve Gibson said: "We were told quite clearly we first had to come to a settlement with his agents, and that request was for £700,000."

Well-known agent Eric Hall has threatened to force any club interested in one of his clients to sign a confidentiality agreement. In that case, let's hope no-one is misguided enough to deal with him.

TWO weeks after the IAAF declined to ratify Paula Padcliffe's world half marathon record because the Great North Run course is downhill - it actually drops about 30 metres in 13 miles - we are asked to believe that Kenya's Paul Tergat has shattered the world marathon record by 43 seconds. And his pacemaker was only a stride behind.

If I were the previous record holder I would demand that the course be re-measured.

A NEW sport limped on to the scene at Ascot at the weekend under the name of speed jumping. Four showjumpers race in lanes over seven identical fences of about 5ft and after four heats, two semis and a final the first winner was Nick Skelton.

All did not go smoothly, however, as the first race had to be re-run after a BBC cameraman was flattened by a horse because the starter let them go too early. And there was confusion at the finish of races as the winner was not necessarily the first past the post as fences down came into the calculations.

With a little tinkering it might register a small blip on the public consciousness, but I can't see it rivalling the Grand National in their affections.

Published: 03/10/2003