*Merson issues shake-up call to Ellis*

Paul Merson is convinced that Aston Villa can win the title in four years’ time given the crop of youngsters on the way up. That will please Doug Ellis. He will not have to fork out too many transfer fees.

All the chairman has to do now is find the right manager, someone insightful enough to cut off the dead wood without weakening an already small squad and sensitive enough to nurse the emerging talent as it starts to blossom.

On Thursday Merson, as Villa’s captain, went to see the chairman on behalf of the players to “see what’s going on”, in the words of Steve Staunton. So presumably he speaks with inside knowledge when he talks of Villa’s future. Or maybe he is just pitching for the manager’s job himself.

“The club needs a shake-up to take it forward,” he pronounced on Saturday. “In four years’ time they could win the league with the kids they’ve got coming through. But they need a chance to show how good they are before next season.

“If we bring in a manager at the end of the season he’s not going to know any of the players and it’s going to take half a season to get things going again. We’ll be sitting here again next February and it will be the same situation - seventh or eighth in the league.”

Various names have been mentioned as candidates to fill the vacancy created by John Gregory’s sudden and still not fully explained departure. Merson favours his old Arsenal manager George Graham. Charlton’s Alan Curbishley has said no, being no fan of Ellis. West Brom’s Gary Megson remains an outside bet. And yesterday the former Germany captain Lothar Matthäus, currently in charge of Rapid Vienna, was quoted as saying: “Aston Villa have asked me to become their manager.”

However, mid-season is hardly the best time to attract the best manager. Summer is a better time to try to pick off a target. The problem is that Graham Taylor has already refused to take over as caretaker manager until then. And presumably Ellis does not fancy the current joint caretaker pair of John Deehan and Stuart Gray, otherwise he would have appointed them until the end of the season.

“The chairman has asked us to take charge for a short interim period,” Gray said on Saturday.

The pressure is therefore on Ellis to make the right appointment sooner rather than later, especially to take the heat off himself following the recent demonstrations.

Saturday’s was a poor game but one player shone: Peter Enckelman who, with Peter Schmeichel injured, almost single-handedly kept Fulham at bay in the second half and helped to claim Villa’s second successive 0-0 draw since Gregory’s exit.

Villa had dominated the first half but lacked a cutting edge. Fulham, woeful before the break, hit back, only for their own scoring inadequacies to let them down again.

Fulham’s big announcement this week concerns the location of next season’s ground-share, with QPR’s Loftus Road the favourite. During that time a new stadium will rise above the Thames, though sadly it will not be called Craven Cottage. The price of success at Fulham is that money now means more than tradition. The grand old name will be replaced by that of a company prepared to buy naming rights.