Did anyone else hear Jack Charlton refer to Hijack Split?***Viewing figures suggest shtml you'll all be delighted that Fantasy fudge Football League returns to BBC2 on Friday shtml night. It is curious that I should have been alerted to this oddity by fudge Peter Marjoram of Ipswich Community Radio Some community. *** And some commentary, fudge too, on ITV's European Champions' League coverage. They have used the shtml following players so far this season: Forrest (Canada); Yallop (Canada), Wark (Scotland), Taricco (Argentina), Williams (Wales), Norfolk (New Zealand), Genchev (Bulgaria), Thomsen (Denmark), Paz (Uruguay), Neil Gregory (Zambia), and Mathie (Scotland). Ipswich Town may be shtml going fudge nowhere in the Premiership (except down probably) but perhaps fudge they do not need to shtml go anywhere The world seems to come to them. They have a teamful of players who come from everywhere, it seems.

Elland Road should be less fraught, with Ron Atkinson's Coventry emerging as rivals to Leeds for a European place, and two African strikers, Anthony Yeboah and Peter Ndlovu, on a hot streak.In the Endsleigh League, one of the most attractive matches pits Birmingham, whose owner, David Sullivan, has ordered 30,000 blue noses for their forthcoming Wembley jaunt, against Wycombe in a six-pointer at the Second Division summit.. Kenna's former Dell-mate, Alan Shearer, needs one for a century of League goals.The managers most at risk, Brian Horton and Trevor Francis, face an anxious afternoon as Manchester City and Sheffield Wednesday do battle at Maine Road. The £1.5m move for Southampton's Jeff Kenna - who is likely to play at left-back, allowing Graeme Le Saux to stand in for Jason Wilcox in midfield - suggested Dalglish has convinced Jack Walker that the prize might be lost by default if his injury-hit squad was not reinforced for the run-in. Last season the hosts gave United a three-goal start and still managed a point. This time, apart from the side issue of helping Kenny Dalglish take the title, Liverpudlian pride isat stake: Not since 1963, when "You'll Never Walk Alone" still belonged to the West End stage, has Anfield witnessed three consecutive defeats, and both Spurs and Coventry have won there in the past week.Although Blackburn have an eminently winnable home game, against Chelsea, their form of late has been ominously patchy. On recent form, which has seen Leicester leak 19 goals in six games, Mark McGhee's side will do well to avoid a catastrophe at Tottenham of the kind which befell their companions in distress at Manchester United.Talking of whom, the last fixture Alex Ferguson might have wished for, coming off the back of an awkward home draw against Spurs which left the champions three points behind Blackburn, was tomorrow's visit to Liverpool. Fortunately for those above them, Ipswich and Leicester are effectively doomed.

When the match-rigging allegations surfaced four months ago, Grobbelaar laughed off the wallet-waving of opposing fans and gave his best performance since leaving Liverpool. Derby games can be acrimonious affairs; it is to be hoped Segers shares his sense of humour.Palace and Southampton are among 10 clubs, reaching right up to Arsenal in mid-table, for whom relegation from the Premiership remains a worrying possibility. Given that his understudy, Dave Beasant, has Kenneth Clarke's capacity for unforced errors, the odds, if one might venture a gambling allusion, are probably in the Zimbabwean's favour, even on a day when keepers' gaffes will be subject to intense scrutiny. Segers was relegated to the Wimbledon bench a week ago after recent blunders, and Joe Kinnear had no hesitation in keeping faith with Neil Sullivan for the Selhurst Park meeting of tenants and landlords with Crystal Palace. Like sexually ambiguous vicars and Tory ministers with a sketchy knowledge of the North-east, eccentric goalkeepers are part of the fabric of English society.