STAN the moan, lollymore, Collywobbles - Stan Collymore has been labelled the lot and none of it complimentary.

The muddled-up, mixed-up, shook-up, world that revolves around the Aston Villa striker lurched into even more giddying turns this week with his quest for counselling following his controversial 'absence' from Aston Villa's cup-tie against Fulham.

Seemingly Collymore was not 'mentally attuned' to sitting on the substitutes' bench, said one report. He was said to be suffering from stress.

Tosh, railed his critics - and they are legion. How can anyone on a weekly wage packet, whose estimates range from £15,000 to £25,000, be depressed? Sympathy for the man is in shorter supply than Viagra in a monastery.

At the age of 28 and with the range of skill he possesses Collymore should be on top of the world, rather than be at the bottom of most pundits' admiration.

The temptation is to claim that successive clubs have over-indulged the striker so much that he is beginning to lose touch. Immediately after Villa's shock exit to Fulham manager John Gregory hinted that the consequences for Collymore could seriously jeopardise his 'dream come true' move to the club of his boyhood.

The weekend obviously brought more jaw-jaw and less knee-jerk reaction and Villa announced they would back Collymore's cry for help. And if indeed he is cracking up then not even the riches of Croesus would be compensation enough.

Villa, who earlier in the season took on the baggage associated with reformed bad boy Paul Merson, are therefore to be commended for their reaction, though it is also sound business-sense to get to the heart of the player's problems after costing them a record £7million.

But what Villa and especially Collymore have to be wary about is the reaction of their fans. Patience is not always the province of supporters, particularly as the divide widens between themselves and their cosseted, handsomely-rewarded favourites. Lose their support and you lose the day. Unless there is a dramatic healing Stan has lost the fans.

WHAT a contrast this week between Collymore and a certain Peter Beardsley.

More than 35,000 fans crammed into his former Newcastle United stamping-ground to pay tribute to the fizz of energy in a testimonial match between the Magpies and Celtic.

A galaxy of supernovas turned out for Beardsley - Dalglish, Keegan, Shearer, Gascoigne, Waddle. And what is the 37-year-old Beardsley still doing? Playing football, only this time with basement strugglers Hartlepool United.

Somehow I cannot see a certain Stanley Victor Collymore engendering such public support or prolonging his career in the same manner.

KEEGAN was at the hub of a weekend of sheer FA Cup fancy banishing the notion that the competition has lost its allure.

The win over Aston Villa by Keegan's Fulham kicked off a weekend that positively crackled with electricity.

From Villa Park it was across to Old Trafford and a captivating collision between those red-shirted adversaries Manchester United and Liverpool. They underscored a finale culled straight from fevered fiction.

Then that knockout trend extended almost to Monday night in Oxford, where the humble, cash-crippled club were but a minute and a rash tackle away from dumping Chelsea on their cosmopolitan posteriors.

Those three games illustrated acutely that the FA Cup has the greatest capacity to enthral, enliven, inspire and invigorate.

AS if any more evidence was needed of the FA Cup's propensity for pulse-stirring moments the fifth round draw served up yet more delights.

Newcastle tackle Blackburn pitting Alan Shearer against his old club as it does Keith Gillespie. Then there's the prospect of George Graham taking Tottenham back to his former club Leeds, provided Spurs can eventually shake off those barnacles otherwise known as Wimbledon.

And last, but certainly not least, Fulham's reward is a glamour-dripping trek to Old Trafford in a tie that renews the razor-slash rivalry of Messrs Alex Ferguson and Kevin Keegan, let alone the opportunity of another giant-killing.

WEST Ham manager Harry Redknapp is not a manager to duck a challenge.

That became patently obvious in a certain transfer dealing this week. Despite having his fingers burned by the ill-starred capture of several foreign imports the Hammers' boss sanctioned the recruitment of Paolo Di Canio, he of that notorious push.

Eyebrows were most certainly raised by Di Canio's arrival, especially in the wake of the departure of another physical performer in John Hartson to Wimbledon.

Still, should Stan Collymore's Villa stay prove shorter than he hoped perhaps Upton Park may be his next destination.

A ONE-TIME striking partner of Collymore, Liverpool's Robbie Fowler, delighted the Reds' fans when he agreed a new five-year deal with his home-city club.

That is as much a bonus to England, if not to Premiership defences. Many observers blinded by the precocity of a certain Michael Owen tend to forget that his Liverpool partner with the urchin face is still a mere 23 years old.

As Fowler expounded this week national coach Glenn Hoddle could do worse than to unite the two in the England front-line. Alan Shearer is hardly pulling up any trees is he?

ENGLAND were left home alone after a reform of Fifa's world rankings.

Points are now awarded with results in the last eight, rather than six, years taken into account. Competitive matches are now worth substantially more points than friendlies.

All the home nations significantly improved their ratings apart from England, who fell from ninth to 11th. Scotland surge 12 places from 38th to 26th, the Republic of Ireland from 56 to 44th, while Northern Ireland climbed 19 places to 67th and Wales are up by 23 to 74th.

BETTER news for England fans anyway, apart from the inevitability of another strip change, is the national team's new look.

England's new strip to be launched in the spring is basically an all-white, round-necked shirt with black shorts. It's simple and clean and mercifully minus all those hideous red, white and blue flashes that have (dis)graced the shirt in recent years.

OXFORD United may be struggling for cash, but they are not in the common sense stakes.

There was talk they might want a change of referee for their FA Cup replay against Chelsea after the controversial award of a last-gasp penalty.

But, declared Oxford managing director Keith Cox: "We have not and will not be making an official complaint or requesting a change of referee for the replay. Our view is that it would be counter-productive and that if clubs are allowed to pick referees for matches, then we are all on a slippery slope. Referees do make mistakes as they are only human."

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