THE two big football stories of the week surround the Wayne Rooney transfer and the sacking of Sir Bobby Robson.

As for the former, when you look at it, it's an awful lot to pay for a teenager but, after seeing him at first hand in Portugal for Euro 2004, if I had a spare £20 or £30 million at my disposal I would be in the shake-up for him.

It will be interesting to see how he handles Manchester United and how Sir Alex Ferguson handles him, but I haven't seen such a talent at that age for a long time. I feel the only young talent who can match him is Cristiano Ronaldo - and they've got them both at Man United.

Ferguson has been cute and when you look at the youngsters coming through at Old Trafford, you feel it might be the start of a new era at United, similar to when the likes of Beckham, Giggs, Scholes and the Nevilles came through, and they might reap the benefits of that over the next four or five years.

It will be interesting to see how well they all gel and what happens - but it's fair to say it's nice when you've got four strikers like they have. They're arguably the biggest club in the world and they should be in the market for the best players in the world.

Regarding Sir Bobby's departure, Newcastle made things difficult by saying at the start of the season that they were not going to renew his contract once it expired at the end of this campaign.

That was a strange one and the fact they've not got off to a good start didn't help, so they've made the decision to replace him and get somebody in now to build for the future, which may take a while.

He had an affinity with the players and he's done well for them but they club have made the decision to sack him and it will be interesting to see if he has got the appetite at the age of 72 to be involved again.

One thing's for sure - I hope when I'm 72 I've got the appetite and desire to be involved in the game.

One of the favourites to take the reins is Alan Shearer, who I think always wanted to go into management.

Whether he feels he's ready for it now while he's still playing we will have to wait and see but I'm sure he will go on and have a managerial career.

The one thing he will realise is when you do cross over on to the other side things are different. It takes time to adapt to it, but once you come over it, it is enjoyable and you do see things in a different light. You've got to be fully focused and aware of what you've got to do in order to get success and you've got to sometimes see the bigger picture.

It's difficult but you've got to believe in yourself and that belief will transcend through to the players.

He's very knowledgeable on the game, he's played at the highest level and he's got the respect of his peers, so I'm sure he will be able to make the transition.

He has to make sure he's got the right people around him as well, which helps, and like everything a bit of luck wouldn't go amiss, and I'm sure he'd be fine.

Whenever you see him he speaks well and he's quite level-headed, and that's important - you've not got to get carried away with things and be calm when there's a bit of madness around you.

Updated: 09:53 Thursday, September 02, 2004