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Like Sheringham he is a late developer despite having played in England's top

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Like Sheringham, he is a late developer, despite having played in England's top division with Newcastle at the age of 20. "I wasn't even thinking about a move, just keeping Hibs up, which is where they should be - a club like that should not be in the First Division."I can see why the Hibs fans were disappointed in my leaving but the chance was too big for me to turn down at this stage in my career and Hibs made good money on me, especially considering my age."Jackson's preoccupation with time is obvious. Hibs had lost their two most valuable assets only weeks after the pair had ensured the club's survival in the Premier League by defeating Airdrie in the end-of-season play-off, with Jackson contributing two goals.He dismisses suggestions that he knew the occasion was his swan-song, even though Celtic - through former manager Tommy Burns - had already had one bid rejected for him and Coventry were also waiting in the wings. It would be nice if they gave me a good reception, but the Hibs fans are there to see their team win, not worry about me, and I'm there to win for my team, which now happens to be Celtic."The reaction to Jackson's departure in Edinburgh was as much because he compounded the exit of the goalkeeper Jim Leighton. I've had some letters from a few of them wishing me all the best. I don't really know what reception I'll get from the Hibs fans. With Jamie Redknapp out until the new year, the midfield will still need a precise passer, the best of whom remains the much-derided John Barnes, whom most critics indicted as the source of last year's pretty but ineffectual football.

Danny Murphy, signed from Crewe and Patrik Berger, who looked razor-sharp in a friendly at Bristol City 10 days ago, will also be vying for places, but it is the manager who must get the balance right.All of which begs the question of where Steve McManaman will fit in. And Liverpool's latest purchase, the German international striker Karlheinz Riedle, from the European champions, Borussia Dortmund, will add not only vast experience but also a considerable aerial power to an attack which has had to rely more or less single-handedly on Robbie Fowler for the past two seasons while Stan Collymore fretted his way to a transfer.But quite who Evans sees as his first-choice team will probably remain open to the form of the individual players rather than an absolute assessment of who is best in each position. Something really drastic's got to happen to bring us back."Smith, like most Liverpool fans, will be hoping that Paul Ince, provided he stays clear of the Merseyside equivalent of the Dentist's Chair, will offer the necessary physical challenges in midfield to the likes of Roy Keane of Manchester United, David Batty of Newcastle and Patrick Vieira of Arsenal, players who do so much to demoralise the opposition in a key area of the pitch.The signing of the Norwegian international Oyvind Leonhardsen from Wimbledon should also add a touch of pace and directness to a midfield which tended to move forward like a crab crossing a beach last season. Not surprisingly he also has opinions of his own."The problem with their game at the moment is the lack of commitment. I don't think the team lacks pride, but I think they lack the edge to put the foot in. We got an awful lot of bonuses when I played, but it wasn't down to the bonus that we played that well, we actually won a lot of things."But how can you give anybody a bonus now when they're already on ten grand a week? I think it's taken the edge off their game; I think it's ruined us really.

The fact that ticket prices and players' wages continue to soar, serves only to emphasise the gap between the supporters' expectations and the present team's lack of achievement.Tommy Smith, an indefatigable player for two of Liverpool's most successful teams, monitors the mood of the disgruntled fans through his letters column in the Football Echo. Now that three or four generations of players and supporters have gorged themselves on triumph, their appetite for even more has destroyed rational acceptance of the fluctuations of football, to create a surly urge for instant gratification. Roy Evans, whose nine first-team games spanned this fallow period in the club's history, knows only too well that for his modern Liverpool team to go another season without what Shankly called "our bread and butter", the championship, will be unbearable not just for the fans but almost certainly for the board as well. Last year Evans said: "I don't think any manager of a club this size is going to get five years and not win major trophies." Evans became Liverpool's manager three years and eight months ago.Thirty years back the period of famine did not matter because the sudden surge to success had given everyone enough to feed on for a few years. They were expected to go on to even greater honours but after 1966 they did not win another trophy until 1973, and that was with a new team.

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