It was hardly a surprise when the Wimbledon who will play at Selhurst Park next season gave Stuart Murdoch the job.

The only surprise is that it took so long to make the decision.

When the goalkeeping coach was given the job, the only question was why it had taken so long for chairman Charles Koppel and his board to reach the decision.

Murdoch had seemed an obvious choice from the moment the club controversially sacked Terry Burton.

Murdoch had done an exemplary job as stand-in boss when Burton was sidelined by appendicitis earlier this year.

So it seemed the logical thing to let him carry on, but recently logic has not been a strong suit in the topsy-turvy affairs of Wimbledon FC.

The first task for Murdoch will be reconciling the conflict of the chairman's demand for a significant reduction in the players' wage bill and the need to assemble a side capable of winning promotion next season.

The first sign of what may be in store came over the weekend as Sunderland emerged as favourites to secure the services of Irish international defender Kenny Cunningham.

Since the transfer of Chris Perry to Tottenham Hotspur he has been the keystone of the defence.

With his impressive performance in the World Cup, Cunningham is likely to have impressed any number of big clubs' managers.

One attraction of Sunderland and the Stadium of Light might be the fact that his Republic team mate, the veteran striker Niall Quinn has been named as player/coach by manager Peter Reid.

Has Quinn already been at work persuading Kenny to make the long trip north?

POPPING CORKS: 1988 Wembley hero Alan Cork is the new assistant manager of Leicester City while his old team mate Wally Downes has been named as first team coach at Brentford.

At Leicester Cork will be teaming up with his former boss at Plough Lane, Dave Bassett, who is now director of football at Filbert Street. The previously worked with new Foxes' manager Mickey Adams during his time at Fulham.

Cork has been out of work since February when he resigned as manager of Cardiff City whom he led to promotion from the Third Division in the 2000/01 season.

Return

Now at Leicester the challenge is to secure a quick return to the Premiership following relegation last season.

Corky was without doubt one of the most popular Dons players of all time.

"I'm delighted to get Alan on board and look forward to working with him again" said manager Adams.

"He knows what we're after here and he's very enthusiastic about the job."

For Downes it is a case of promotion rather than a new job. He has been at Brentford as a coach for two years and suffered at the end of last season when the Bees lost out on promotion, losing the Division Two play-off final to Stoke City.

He is quietly optimistic of going one better next time despite Brentford's financial problems, which are almost Wimbledon-like.

SMALL NUMBERS: How big a crowd will turn out for the opening game of the season versus Gillingham on August 10 remains a matter of some speculation.

Mighty small would be my suspicion as the civil war between militant fans and an unbending chairman plumbs new depth of bitterness.

Franchise FC is the tag being used by the backers of the breakaway AFC Wimbledon, who will be playing next season in the dizzy heights of the Combined Counties League.

"Football is not merely about appointing the best manager and buying the best players," a missive from the Wimbledon Independent Supporters Association declares claiming, that the biggest challenge facing the new manager Murdoch will be preventing relegation.

Maybe, but a bit of cash never did a club any harm.

And that applies to non-league football just as much as Manchester United.

Running a football side is not as simple as some grandstand wiseacres might like to think.

I just hope that not too many of them get hurt in this unique demonstration of supporter power. But I fear for the worst.

Model

TOP REF: Italian Pierluigi Collina turned in an absolutely model performance of refereeing in the World Cup.

As the flack starts flying, refs argue back that the fans do not know the rules.

Last week I tried to indulge in a bit of self-education.

But while the sports sections at some of London's larger book shops could furnish me with an avalanche of soccer statistics to bury John Motson from the weight of David Beckham's boots to the circumference of St Alec Ferguson's big head, there were no football rule books.

The authorities should ensure that the rules are freely available to fans on match days. If nothing else, it would save a great deal of hot air.

July 9, 2002 13:30