"Craig Gower is a fine player and Trent Barrett could have played there as well. But Scott has had an outstanding season, especially the second half. The Wests Tigers scrum-half, who led his side to victory in the Australian Grand Final last month, replaces the injured Andrew Johns. "It was a really difficult decision," said the Kangaroos coach, Wayne Bennett. Scott Prince will win his first cap for Australia in the Tri-Nations match against Great Britain at Wigan on Saturday.

Evidently hiring Burley, who led Hearts unbeaten to the top of the SPL in front of sell-out crowds, was nowhere near enough Romanov Snr wants more income, more quickly. One source said yesterday that he wanted six Hearts shops in Edinburgh and Anderton failed to persuade him it was too much, too soon.Foulkes dismissed Romanov's claims that he and Anderton had failed to meet expectations as "manifest nonsense"."Vladimir Romanov is behaving like a dictator and if he continues to do that then there will be a revolution," he said.. Anderton had questioned Burley's departure, and had held back from publicly backing Romanov's fantasy claim that Hearts would win the Champions' League by 2007.Romanov Snr said that Anderton and Foulkes had "not been able to do the things I have wanted to do". So stunning evidence will be required, starting with a high-profile new manager.Vladimir Romanov was in London yesterday, talking to candidates. Romanov Jnr said that he hoped for an appointment "very soon", although probably not before the home match against Dundee United this weekend.Talking about Anderton's departure, Romanov Jnr said that Anderton was the right man for the job when he was appointed in March, but the club now needed someone with a "strong financial background".He added: "In turbulent times, you see who is who, who can fight and struggle, and who can't." In other words, the Romanovs want someone to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them.

The club's chief executive, Phil Anderton, was sacked on Monday, and the chairman George Foulkes then had his resignation forced. That came 10 days after George Burley's departure as manager. A goal to the good through Phil Jagielka after an even first half, United added a second within five minutes of the restart when Chris Morgan headed home and thereafter were in control. Substitute Vincent Pericard ended a fine move to score their third before Jagielka's second two minutes from time completed the home side's romp. Warnock was hard to please, complaining that his side's first-half display had been their "worst 45 minutes of the season" but the second half must have been close to their best. The Luton manager Mike Newell admitted: "Up until now, we have not come up against a side who were better than us but the more effective side won, although I was not unhappy with the way we played." Newell is clearly unhappy, however, with the saga over Luton's proposed move to a new ground, which suffered a setback yesterday when plans to build near junction 10 of the M1 were abandoned, and what he sees as misplaced priorities on the part of the club's board. Romanov Snr is seeking the remaining shares and wants to de-list the club as soon as possible.Doubts about Romanov Snr will persist until fans see hard evidence that the shambles of the past fortnight has been a necessary step to making Hearts genuine contenders in Europe.