However he did once fulfil a role similar to the one

However, he did once fulfil a role similar to the one he may be asked to do at Newcastle when he bailed out Middlesbrough as they struggled under their former manager Bryan Robson. If he proved a success Newcastle could keep Venables on after the end of this season, possibly in a director of football role, especially as Gordon Milne, who held that position, and Robson’s assistant John Carver and chief scout Charlie Woods also left the Tyneside club yesterday.There appears to be some doubt, however, as to whether Venables, now 61, would be keen to throw himself back into Premiership football following his unhappy departure last year from Leeds United. Newcastle United are considering an approach to Terry Venables to become their manager to work alongside Alan Shearer until the end of the season following the abrupt sacking of Sir Bobby Robson yesterday. Reports suggested this may have been because he was in talks with Gill about Rooney.Rooney has made it clear he wants to leave Everton, whose fans have now turned against him, and it has been rumoured that he favours Old Trafford. It is unclear what effect Sir Bobby Robson’s sacking as Newcastle manager yesterday will have on the saga. Last week, Newcastle had a £23.5m bid rejected, and yesterday, the club’s chairman Freddy Shepherd gave United a clear run by not matching their £25m offer.

However, Newcastle can pay their £23.5m up front.With no late rival to drive the price higher, Everton face the prospect of receiving less than the £30m they had hoped for.. Seven points behind Arsenal and Chelsea before the end of August. Whatever honours Wayne Rooney hopes to achieve at Old Trafford, assuming that he completes a £25m transfer from Everton to Manchester United today, a winner’s medal in this season’s Premiership appears unlikely to be among them. Some 3,000 Evertonians for whom switching allegiance is not an option were present, however, and at the end of a battling rearguard action it was the blue corner of the stadium that pulsated with pleasure over a hard-earned draw.Their thunderous acclaim owed much to the Rooney situation, of course, but also to the fact that they had witnessed a modest improvement in Everton’s wretched record against United. Substitutes not used: Carroll (gk), P Neville.Everton (4-1-4-1): Martyn; Hibbert, Weir, Stubbs, Pistone; Carsley; Osman, Watson, Cahill (Naysmith, 70), Kilbane; Bent (Ferguson, 53). Nevertheless, performances such as this prompt the question as to whether their money would be better spent on reinforcing the defence and midfield.Manchester United (4-4-2): Howard; G Neville, O’Shea, Silvestre, Spector; Ronaldo (Bellion, 81), Scholes, Fletcher (Djemba-Djemba, 64), Kleberson (Giggs, 64); Smith, Saha. Martyn proved equal to the late siege, arching to tip over Alan Stubbs’ back-header and swooping to push behind a scuffed shot by Paul Scholes.The United fans’ gloating chants of “Rooney, Rooney” gave way to mockery in a Merseyside accent, the visitors’ songs provocatively claiming the boy wonder would be joining Chelsea, or even Manchester City, rather than United.Ferguson should get his man today.

Mika?Silvestre, carrying on where he left off after an error-strewn Euro 2004 with France, clearly handled the ball in the penalty area.Dermot Gallagher, replacing the suspended Andy D’Urso as referee, appeared to indicate he had spotted a push on a United player, possibly by Duncan Ferguson.But if defeat would have been harsh on United, neither were they able, until the dying minutes, to exert the pressure that saved a point at Blackburn. Yet Everton had been the more composed side during the opening 45 minutes, Osman and Tim Cahill both going close, and they might also have had a penalty shortly after half-time. They scarcely threatened before the break, with only a misdirected free header by Louis Saha and a long-range drive by Kleberson to show for a display which, uncharacteristically for United, was in dire need of width.Ronaldo and Alan Smith each hit a post in a second half of one-way traffic. Indeed, every Everton man gave the impression of being determined to prove they are no one-man team.United, bereft of Rio Ferdinand, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Roy Keane and the leadership the Irishman provides, have scored three goals in four League matches, compared with Arsenal’s 16. In midfield, Leon Osman, who scored twice against West Brom last weekend, engaged United’s hugely promising American full-back, Jonathan Spector, in a fascinating duel.

“We’ve not even spoken about it today.”The time for brinkmanship will pass at 5pm today, by which point United must have Rooney registered with the Premier League. It would be difficult for the 18-year-old England striker to stay at Goodison Park now, given the way in which his desire to “betray” Everton was decried in spray-paint slogans last weekend, even though Moyes reiterated that he was “a joy to work with”.The players Rooney will leave behind certainly showed the pride in the jersey that Everton’s followers demand. Nigel Martyn was his usual agile and authoritative self in goal; David Weir was defiance personified in his first appearance this season, continuing to head away the high balls to which United resorted after he suffered a head wound that required stitches.Tony Hibbert met the challenges offered by Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs with equal composure. “It’s been going on all summer,” added the Everton manager, evidently weary of the whole distracting saga. They have beaten them only twice in 25 Premiership meetings and not at all since the 1995 FA Cup final, so their first point at the venue in eight years was a cause for celebration.David Moyes, whose injury-torn side are actually above Sir Alex Ferguson’s team despite playing both Arsenal and United in their first four games, insisted he could give “no indication” as to whether or when Rooney’s move would go through. However, Everton are not happy with the payment structure.With the transfer window to close tonight both clubs are short of time, especially as a medical and personal terms have to be finalised.