Even on Sunday afternoons, I’m at the stadium watching our reserve team But my period of abstinence opened my eyes It’s impossible to do all the duties I used to. Yet, I cannot give up Auxerre – I’m like a smoker who has stopped completely, but only had to touch one cigarette to start again.”It is management, though, which can be truly dangerous to one’s health. Last November, Roux was rushed to hospital and underwent the same heart surgery as his friend G?rd Houllier. The Liverpool manager was one of the first people to telephone Roux as he recuperated.Restored to his beloved bench, Roux passed a milestone two weeks ago when he completed his 783rd French first division match in charge of Auxerre. In all, Roux has 2,000 matches under his belt, yet he can see one man overtaking him, one day.”Ars? Wenger is better placed than me, given his age [51] and that his team are always in Europe,” said Roux.

Indeed, there is a feeling that Wenger could easily spend the next decade at Highbury and put his club before his country.In January, France Football wrote of Wenger being at the crossroads, but when its readers implored him to take an open invitation from Michel Platini to succeed Roger Lemerre as national coach, Roux pointed out: “I don’t see Ars? leaving a club like Arsenal for a job where you have 10 games a year. Maybe in seven or eight years this idea will appeal to Ars?.”Roux, though, intends to stick to his own route “I never dreamed Auxerre would be at this height,” he said. “We don’t have a prince to back us [like Monaco], or a car factory [Juventus], but we have know-how and heart.”. Rangers recorded their eighth successive league victory at the expense of a Dundee United side struggling at the other end of the table. Goals from Lorenzo Amoruso, Barry Ferguson and Shota Arveladze were enough to extend the leaders’ advantage over the champions, Celtic, to four points.

The first Old Firm derby is just eight days away but Rangers have another important match before that, a Uefa Cup tie against Viktoria Zizkov. Amoruso had scored the only goal of the game the last time Rangers came to Tannadice and he opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when he rose in the box to head in an Arteta free-kick after Danny Griffin had fouled Fernando Ricksen.Rangers had already threatened by that point, with Arveladze having seen two shots saved and Lovenkrands twice missing from good positions. It was the captain, Ferguson, who made it 2-0 in first-half stoppage time four minutes after Areteta had seen a free- kick palmed on to the bar by goalkeeper Paul Gallacher.Ferguson made the move himself with a long ball to send De Boer into space down the right, and he motored into the box to meet the cross with a sweetly struck shot that found the net off the bar.United had been second best, and the chances dried up altogether after the break. The best of their earlier efforts had fallen to Scotland striker Steven Thompson, who had seen a first-minute effort blocked by Amoruso before he was denied a much better chance by a point-blank save from Stefan Klos.Arveladze wrapped things up in the 73rd minute when another quality ball from Arteta sent De Boer’s replacement, Claudio Caniggia, away down the right.The Georgian slid in to meet his cross and although Gallacher was able to parry his first effort a simple chance presented itself from the rebound.Dundee United 0 Rangers 3 Amoruso 22, Ferguson 45, Arveladze 73Half-time 0-2 Attendance: 10,013.

Crisis, what crisis? Henrik Larsson continues to mock those who perceive his powers to be waning. The drought that critics spoke of has merely produced a flood of goals. More importantly, he also laid on two for Chris Sutton to underline to Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers, who visit next Sunday, that they are not ready to relinquish their title.Kilmarnock had not won at Parkhead since 1955, but they chose the wrong week to try to alter that statistic. With that first Old Firm contest of the season so close, Celtic had already adopted the ruthless mindset required for Glasgow’s tribal encounter.Had the visitors taken a clear chance after just seven minutes, then things might have been different. However, Paul Di Giacomo’s profligate header from just six yards, after Peter Canero had won a battle of strength with Momo Sylla before delivering an intelligent cutback, let the champions off the hook. Within four minutes Kilmarnock were punished.Steve Guppy eschewed his normal role as provider from the left flank by rolling the ball back to Neil Lennon, whose low left-foot cross picked out Larsson at the near post for the Swede to angle a right-foot volley past the goalkeeper, Gordon Marshall.Celtic’s hunger was evident. The movement supplied by Martin O’Neill’s team meant Kilmarnock’s defenders were pulled in every direction.