So poor old Sven Goran Eriksson got taken in by a radio DJ pretending to be Kevin Keegan.

Apparently the new England coach took it all in good heart. I just hope he doesn't get fooled so easily by footballers masquerading as potential England players.

I couldn't believe some of the names being mentioned last weekend as possible internationals of the future when Eriksson finally took charge.

Take Marcus Stewart for instance. Now I'm pleased Ipswich are doing well although they should start preparing for Worthington Cup misery at the Citadel on Tuesday week.

Stewart is the joint leading scorer in the Premiership at the moment, but is he really international class or just a good, honest pro enjoying the sort of form in front of goal most forwards experience at some time in their careers?

Also mentioned in dispatches were the likes of Sunderland's Michael Gray, Trevor Sinclair and even Leicester's Gary Rowett.

Good luck to all of them, but if he can't come up with anyone better than that lot then Sven might as well pack it in now.

Of course the new manager has got to try and see as many players as he can, but perhaps his time might be more profitably spent making sure the Premiership managers give him as much co-operation as possible.

The ones who were against the appointment of a foreign England coach might need some working on, but Eriksson needs every one he chooses in his first squad available for the friendly against Spain next month.

It's his only warm-up game before the two World Cup qualifiers in March and he'd be daft not to play the side he wants to field against Finland and Albania. Failure to win either of those two matches is unthinkable. If we don't then Sven might as well give the likes of Marcus Stewart, Trevor Sinclair and Gary Rowett a go because he'll be building towards the 2006 European Championships.

SUSSEX TO SIGN KIRTLEY Sussex will conduct their best bit of business for a while by signing James Kirtley on a new three-year contract sometime in the next few days.

Kirtley, who celebrated his 26th birthday last week, played for much of last season with the knowledge that his bowling action was under scrutiny after complaints in New Zealand on England A's tour last winter.

Despite that, he still managed to take 95 wickets in a side that struggled badly for the last third of the season which makes it nearly 200 in the last two years. During that time Kirtley has remained injury free. How many other counties' leading strike bowlers could say the same?

Now, having had his action cleared by the ECB, he is committed to giving the county the best years of his career. Supporters must be hoping that some of Sussex's underachievers follow his lead next season.

MY INSANITY OR SKY'S?

Sports fans must sometimes wonder what they did before the satellite revolution, but occasionally even I question my sanity in stumping up £30 every month for Sky Sports.

No one could argue with their first choice of live action on FA Cup third round weekend - Fulham v Manchester United was the tie of the round.

But what on earth was the reason for showing Bradford v Middlesbrough live on Monday night? You could have made a better case for about 25 of the other ties, but no - two Premiership teams were in action - allbeit two very poor Premiership teams - so Sky obviously felt duty bound to show it. The fans knew what to expect, only 7,000 turned up which is probably about as many viewers as the live coverage attracted.