Thursday 1 Sighs of relief at Spurs, Wimbledon and Everton: successful appeals give the first two a shot at Europe again and the latter the services of Duncan Ferguson. Joe Kinnear, aged 49, decides he's too young to be the new Ireland boss.
Saturday 3 Eric Cantona returns to Selhurst Park. Once again his feet do the talking, with two goals in Manchester United's 4-2 win over Wimbledon. Newcastle stay nine points ahead, though, with a 2-0 win at home to Sheffield Wednesday. The two most highly-fancied strike forces in the Premiership meet at Anfield – so neither Spurs nor Liverpool can manage a goal. Derby draw at Grimsby, to make sure that Division One keeps that seasonal congested look. Swindon have a clear lead now in Division Two. Nine-man Gillingham close the gap on themselves in Division Three, contriving a 0-0 draw with Cambridge.
Monday 5 Bryan Robson announces that he doesn't want the England job. Glenn Hoddle's criticism of Chelsea fans is taken as evidence that he might; Mick McCarthy, aged 35, definitely wants the Ireland job, and he's got it. "It's a daunting prospect following Jack," he says, "But I'm not going to attempt to copy his ways." Jack himself says:"I know he always felt we could have got the ball down and played a bit more. We argued about that." Could be bad news for Niall and Tony.